284 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
below the crown, which intercept the passage of 
the sap in its upward flow, thus causing ‘stag- 
headedness’ and decay of the top of the crown. 
Where resorted to, such pruning should take 
place early in autumn, as soon as convenient 
after the fall of the leaf, when the trees 
contain their minimum amount of sap and 
moisture. 
Apart from such partial remedy, nothing can 
be done to correct the faults of uneconomic 
treatment. The only complete cure is to utilise 
over-mature and excessively-branching standards 
as early as may be convenient, and to replace 
them by the retention of a better class of over- 
wood. And that takes time. This is also the 
only way of providing anything like a regular 
distribution of standards over the area, and a 
normal gradation of age-classes among the over- 
wood; because it enables the young ‘stores,’ 
‘heirs,’ ‘saplings,’ or whatever their local name 
may be, to be more or less regularly distributed 
over each fall, in greater or less number, accord- 
ing to the quality of the soil. And in course 
of time it ultimately provides the regular grada- 
tion of standards in classes varying from each 
