108 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
closely and thickly stocked with highwood trees, 
standards in copse, and coppice than now obtains 
as the practice, if our woodlands are to be worked 
so as to yield the largest returns on the capital 
represented by the land and the crops of timber 
it is bearing. : 
There is only one way of enabling the young 
trees to thicken rapidly in girth when once their 
main growth in height has been completed; and 
that is to allow them, from that time onwards, 
a larger space for the growth of each individual 
tree. But this should only be effected gradually, 
and it must never be carried to excess. If cut 
free suddenly, so that each tree has almost an 
isolated position, the effect of the freer enjoyment 
of light and air is often to cause a strong growth 
of young shoots below the crown of the tree, 
which then becomes ‘stag -headed,’ and dete- 
riorates in value as timber. Even when the 
damage does not actually proceed thus far, the 
giving of more light and air than is necessary 
under the circumstances tends always to make 
the crown of foliage and the branch development 
work down the stem, so as to interfere with 
the ultimate value of the bole as clean timber. 
