106 NATURAL REGENERATION 



really "purging" the stand are now well recognized in France and are 

 avoided. Intermediate fellings should begin early, should be repeated 

 as often as necessary, and should be governed only by good silAdcs. 



Cleaning (and Freeing) Yotmg Stands.^ — Jolyet describes cleanings 

 as "the operation, which consists in retarding the development of 

 secondary or too ambitious species, tending to improve the normal 

 development of the future stand, consists in freeing these seedlings 

 or 'degagements.' " Boppe says that "cleanings should aid the normal 

 development of the best species, favor seedhngs against sprouts, and 

 should be started early, since they are only justified if in good time." 

 They should be repeated as often as necessary to protect the more valu- 

 able species. Schaeffer,^' one of the foremost French conservators, 

 recognized that cleanings referred especially to young stands. He 

 wrote: 



"It is admitted today that a cleaning should only include small timber, and con- 

 temporaneous authors reserve this term for the whole cultural assistance to be given 

 young stands. However broad this definition may be, it appears to me to be still in- 

 complete, for it lacks the idea of clearing brush from a soil imder a mature stand. ' Clean' 

 should signify: To make clean, clear; to relieve the soil of a forest of the weed growth 

 (shrubs) means to many the very essence of cleaning; this aspect of the question should 

 not be overlooked." 



But without doubt the most important aspect of cleaning is the 

 cutting of small immature timber to improve the stand. 



Most important timber species, such as sessile oak, even when 10 

 to 15 years old, have a slow rate of growth as compared with the weeds 

 or poorer species which surround them. Therefore it is necessary to 

 free them and assist them in their competition with weeds and poorer 

 species. It is not necessarily desired to entirely cut out interfering 

 shrubs or species, but rather to favor only the valuable species in their 

 fight for existence, provided the surrounding brush does not interfere 

 with the growth of the terminal shoot. It is even an advantage to 

 have it in mixture, since it promotes height growth and prevents snow 

 breakage or other damage. All weeds cut in a clearance are valueless. 

 To remove them would be expensive, to burn them often dangerous. 

 Where they must be cut level with the ground it would be imwise to 

 leave them, and the usual practice is to pile them around the base of 

 the reserved trees which still occupy the feUing area before the final 

 cutting. The forest guards are the ones who should make the cleanings 

 and it is essential that the same individual trees should always be favored 

 in subsequent operations, since it is obviously poor poUcy to favor one 



22 See Boppe, pp. 94, 134, 162, 200, 248, 254; and Jolyet, pp. 93, 114, 134, 154, 174, 

 186, 200, 239, 243, 248, 254, 385. 



'^ Du Nettoiement dans les Bois. Par A. Schaeflfer, Besangon. 



