348 NATURAL HEGKNERATION BY SEED. 



rapidly enough from the roots to the crown to meet the increased 

 waste by transpiration due to the brighter illumination, nor resist 

 the extreme atmospheric influences let in by the opening out the 

 leaf-canopy overhead. 



(ii) The seedlings have developed a sufficiently long tap-root and 

 numerous side-roots so as to be able not only to obtain the nourish- 

 ment they require, but also to be more or less independent of the 

 upper layer of the soil, which, we know, dries up in the hot 

 weather and is liable to wide and rapid variations of tempera- 

 ture. 



(iii) The young seedlings of broad-leaved trees have developed a 

 sufficient number of strong collum-buds, which alone can give them 

 the faculty of shooting up again as often as the over-ground por- 

 tion dies down. 



(iv) TJie young conifer seedlings have begun to develop a true 

 shoot, i.e., have ceased to consist merely of a thin stem crowned 

 with nothing more than the tuft of cotyledonary leaves. 



The following circumstances will also regulate the time for the 

 commencement of the after-fellings : — 



(a) The abundance of the new generation. The more plenti- 

 ful the seedlings are, the better will they be able to afford pro- 

 tection to one another and also to the soil, and to prevent the 

 establishment of a growth of masterful weeds. And not only 

 this, but in proportion to their abundance will be the number 

 that, can be spared for inevitable casualties. Hence, if seed- 

 lings are few and far between, the first after-felling must be 

 delayed. 



(6) The natural abundance or scarcity of invasive weeds and 

 brushwood. The more abundant such growth, the later must the 

 first felling be made, provided of course other more important con- 

 siderations do not order otherwise. 



(c) The age of the standing trees and of those removed in the 

 seed-felling with special refenence to the maximum coppicing age of 

 the component species. With a number of stools present still able 

 to throw up coppice shoots, it would be highly unadvisable to make 

 large openings in the leaf-canopy before the seedlings have acquired 

 a certain amount of strength. As opposed to Europe, where hardly 

 any trees coppice at all after the age of 60 years, many of our 

 species coppice vigorously after they are more than a century old, 

 e. g. Terminalia tomentosa, sal, &c. 



(d) The richness of the soil. The greater the fertility, the 



