PREPARATORY FELLINGS IN THE UNIFORM METHOD. 837 



surveying instruments or even simply of flags. The lines may be 

 defined, for easy recognition, by means of blazes or splashes of 

 whitewash on trees sufficiently close together or of splashes on 

 the ground or the herbage and bushes covering it. Each sweep 

 should be just wide enough for the officer conducting the work of 

 selection, as he moves along the middle, to have an unobstructed 

 view of the trees on either side of himself ; so that the width in 

 any case will vary with the class of forest concerned. To assist 

 that officer in keeping his bearings two men should walk on a 

 few paces ahead, one along each edge of the sweep. 



The selecting officer's attention should be directed first of all 

 only to all suppressed, unhealthy, deformed and overtopping trees. 

 If, after these have been marked, it is found that their removal will 

 still leave the growth too close, then others should be selected in 

 accordance with the principles already explained in the foregoing 

 sub-article. 



A different mode of marking should show which trees are to be 

 felled by the base, which are to be only lopped, and which are to 

 be grubbed up by the roots. The first class should always be 

 marked in two places, one as near the ground as possible, the other 

 at about breast-height, so that there may always be an indicative 

 mark left on the stump wherewith to check the wood-cutters. It is 

 always advisable to mark the trees uniformly on the side on which 

 the sweeps follow each other, so that the marks may be seen di- 

 rectly from the next sweep taken up. To facilitate the recognition 

 of the selected trees, both for the marking party and for the wood- 

 cutters who are to come in later, a ring or splashes of white-wash 

 may also be put on those trees. 



It is unnecessary to add that, as the trees are selected and mark- 

 ed, they should be measured and their species and size (girth or 

 diameter, and also height, if necessary) recorded. 



VI. Execution of the preparatory fellings. 



As the trees to be left not only stand close together but are not to 

 be felled for a long period of years to come, too many precautions 

 cannot be taken to reduce the amount of damage inevitable in the 

 felling and export operations. The fall of the trees should be 

 directed with care and judgment, and, if necessary and practica- 

 ble, the larger and heavier crowned trees should be lopped, in 

 order to diminish the momentum with which they come down and 

 to restrict the area over which they can do damage. 



It is always advisable, when the state of the market permits of 



