308 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
wise easily be obtained; and every penny of differ- 
ence this makes per cubic foot aggregates over £4 
per thousand cubic feet. This forms, of itself, an 
item of over £200 per penny per cubic foot thus 
sacrificed on any estate where the annual fall 
amounts to a thousand loads. But the buyer has 
every inducement to keep to a low offer, as he 
knows the timber must either be cleared out of 
the woods before nesting time or else it will have 
to be kept over for another year, and then 
similarly rushed on the market. Again, February 
and March are not the proper time for carrying 
out thinning operations in young woods—though, 
of course, in many of these rabbits render thinning 
quite unnecessary, and often, on the contrary, 
make blanks that can only be filled up at con- 
siderable expense. May and June are the most 
suitable months for thinning in the young woods 
and plantations, after the late frosts are over for the 
year and before the midsummer shoots are flushed. 
Planting has also to be hurried on without ade- 
quate preparation of the soil; and sowing, often 
a very much cheaper way of regenerating a wood- 
land crop than planting, is almost out of the 
question, because the woods must not be disturbed 
