[■XI] 



the ground as may unavoidably become exposed may be of most 

 essential service in preserving the health and vigor of the trees that 

 are to be retained. 



It is difiScult to lay down specific rules by which a novice could 

 be guided in the work of opening and thinning out the wood of a 

 native forest, except by fully impressing him with the importance 

 of preserving, so far as is possible, the conditions which nature 

 shows to be the most favorable to vigorous growth, and proceeding 

 very cautiously when it becomes necessary to change, the relative 

 proportions of the influences which affect the vitality of the trees. 

 The age and condition of the wood at the time the work is begun, 

 are, of course, important elements for consideration. If the growth 

 is not more than ten or fifteen years, and the trees have not sprung 

 up so thickly as already to have become a mere thicket of hoop- 

 poles, but have preserved a reasonable degree of symmetry, its 

 management can be much more easily controlled than if it has 

 attained a more mature age, and especially if the object is to cre- 

 ate an ornamental grove composed of fine specimens of individual 

 trees, a process by which the value of desirable residence sites in 

 the vicinity of cities or large towns might often be very greatly in- 

 creased. 



Whether this be the object, or the development of timber, the 

 first thing to be done is to select and place a distinguishing mark 

 upon every tree which is ultimately to be retained. Then remove 

 at first from its immediate vicinity only those which are actually 

 crowding it, or impeding its growth by shading or interfering with 

 its foliage. Those which simply shade the trunk or the ground 

 around it are serving a useful purpose, and should not be disturbed. 

 Indeed, if it is found that the necessary removals involve much in- 

 creased exposure of the surface soil around the tree, it should at 

 once be covered with the mulching of sufficient depth to prevent 

 the possibility of its becoming heated and dry. All other sources of 

 danger to the health of the trees are insignificant in comparison 

 with that of the rude check they are liable to receive from sudden 

 exposure of the trunks and surface roots to the influence of the sun 

 and wind, from which they have heretofore been protected, and to 

 which they can only become accustomed by a gradual change. 



The next year it will be found that the tree has gladly availed 

 itself of the opportunity for expansion, and has spread its Hmbs to 

 fill the vacant space around it, so that more trees must now be re- 

 naoved, while the increased mass of foliage it has developed renders 

 it less Uable to suffer injury from their loss. 



The removal of the undergrowth of shrubbery, should be very cau- 

 tiously conducted, and in no case should it be removed from the 

 outskirts of the wood, which should everywhere be left with as dense 

 a growth as possible, to prevent the entrance of the winds. 



The sirocco-like wind from the S. W., which often blows with 

 great violence for days together, especially in the spring and early 

 summer, when the trees are full of sap, and the young shoots and 

 leaves are tender and sensitive, is the one from which most danger 

 is to be apprehended. The merely mechanical injury it inflicts upon 

 the spray and foHage is often serious, but its worst effects are due 

 to its absorption of moisture and vitality. 



