THE NEW FORESTRY. 47 



woods, and the nature of the demand would probably, in any 

 case, determine the number of divisions, their size, and the 

 period of rotation. The woods on any estate in this country 

 might be laid out and conducted on the foregoing method, 

 and once the divisions were set out, an estimate of their value 

 and the cost of stocking fully could easily be made out* In 

 German forests the ultimate or final cutting is the best, but is 

 not the only crop, as large quantities are cut before the end of 

 the rotation period. Where the forests are on a large scale 

 the above rotation periods are found to answer, but in order 

 that capital may not be too long locked-up in standing timber, 

 and to meet the most profitable demand, they may be 

 shortened. By way of illustration, supposing that on an 

 English estate it was found that the crop of larch could be 

 grown and disposed of most profitably within the space of forty 

 years, that period ought to be the end of the rotation, and so 

 on with other species, according to the age at which it was 

 found most profitable to reap the crop 



First, the general theory of the system is that thick 

 planting at the outset and dense culture throughout are the 

 first essentials in the production of good timber ; second, that 

 thick planting leads to the early establishment of the over-head 

 canopy, promotes height growth, and protects the soil, preser- 

 ving its fertility and keeping it at a more uniform degree of 

 temperature and moisture than is found in open woods or 

 where the ground is exposed ; third, that density, or crowding, 

 causes the struggle for existence to set in early, in which 

 struggle the trees begin to shed their lower branches while 

 they are still young, grow in the desired cylindrical shape in 

 their stems, are free from knots, and produce timber of the 

 best quality for all purposes ; lastly, that the quantity of 

 timber produced to the acre is greater than can be produced 

 by any other system, and the value of the crop proportionately 

 greater. (See Chapter XII.) 



In practice, the Germans often plant several young trees 

 in one hole, the holes being from two to four feet apart, 

 according to the situation and soil — poor and exposed situa- 

 tions receiving the most plants, and vice versa. Frequent and 

 severe thinnings are avoided as unmitigated evils, and so is 

 the admission of light and currents of air below the over-head 



* On the Raith estate, belonging to Mr. Munro Ferguson, M.P., in Fife, 800 

 acres of woods have been recently re-arranged on the above principle, and 

 are expected to render a sustained annual yield of at least 60,000 cubic feet 

 on a forty years' rotation. 



