330 NATURAL HEGETTEEATION BY SEED. 



- question. In the event of complete success the ultimate result 

 must be the formation and maintenance of a normal forest, and 

 such success postulates the existence of normal conditions of 

 growth. Hence the second name adopted. 



The whole process of regeneration naturally divides itself into 

 three distinct stages~as follows : — 



I. The preparatory stage, during which the soil is prepared to 

 to receive the seed, and the parent treds to stand isolation and to 

 bear a large quantity of good seed ; 



II. The sowing stage, the sequel of which is the sowing of the 

 ground. and the "production of a sufficient number of seedlings ; 

 and 



III. The after-stage, during which the growing seedlings are 

 gradually admitted to an increasing enjoyment of light, dew and 

 other beneficent atmospheric influences, until at last the entire 

 original crop is removed. 



And we have thus a series of three distinct kinds of regeneration 

 feUings : — (a) the peeparatoey (h) the seed and (c) the after- 

 fellings. 



ARTICLE 1. 



The preparatory fellings. 



I. Object of the preparatory fellings. 



In a regular crop sprung up from seed and growing under nor- 

 mal conditions, the trees, up to the time they reach the age of 

 fertility, consist of a long thin bole surmounted by a small crown by 

 no means rich in branches or foliage. In other words, they are then 

 in the worst possible condition to produce good or abundant seed, 

 and, indeed, in the case of most species, even the most shade- 

 enduring, unless such trees were isolated and allowed to extend 

 their crowns, they either could not bear any seed at all or would 

 furnish a few barren or weak ones. Then again, in effecting this 

 isolation, unless they were gradually thinned out, the moment they 

 ceased to support one another their fragile stems would either 

 bend or break under the force of the wind and the pressure of the 

 crown, weighted or not with rain or snow, and many of the trees, 

 owing to their very limited root-apparatus, would even be up- 

 rooted. Besides this, the sudden exposure would kill many of the 

 trees by calling forth, in the sub-aerial portions at the expense of 

 the reserve matter, an outburst of activity with which the roots: 

 could not keep pace, so that when this reserve was exhaust- 

 ed, the limited and weak root-apparatus could not meet the 



