24 THE CANADIAN FORESTER S 



squirrels. The groves are gone, thougli barely twenty- 

 five years have elapsed since we took our pastime therein. 

 The cattle, as I said above, begin the destruction ; the 

 axe of the poor man sufferiiig from the cold of a rough 

 winter's day, carries on the work by felling the already 

 half-dead trees, and the rest, rotten, and with difficulty 

 retaining their hold on the soil, are up-rooted by the 

 fierce blast, and a weary desert occupies the once green 

 and smiling spot. 



Where the wood is still thick, though the grove may 

 be small, the remedy is easy : enclose it with a fence. 

 I expect to be told that this is impossible, or that the 

 work would be costly, if done on a large scale. To which 

 I reply that, the larger the wood, the better the enclosure 

 would pay, considering the great value it would gain 

 by the growth of the protected timber. The cattle would 

 no longer browse on the shoots, the trees would shed 

 their seed on the ground, the young plants would spring 

 up and take the place of their predecessors, which, when 

 arrived at maturity, or menaced with death from decay 

 would be carried off" to the mill or to the wood-pile. To 

 accomplish this is one of the easiest duties of the farmer. 



But there is more than this to do. Those who have 

 well-wooded property do not keep it for the mere 

 pleasure of looking at it. Each year, the owner takes 

 wrhat he requires for his own use. If he does this care- 

 lessly and hap-hazard fashion, in a few years his store 

 will have been expended, while, on the contrary, if he 

 knows how to treat it properly, it will last for ever. 



•Let us see how he should proceed to ensure this 

 durability. First, as before, all cattle should be excluded ; 

 then, no immature trees should be felled — from ten to 

 thirty young trees will be ready to take place of each of 

 those taken away. Indeed, the ground is covered with 



