] 80 THINNING. 



them to consist of a crop of mixed oak, ash, elm, 

 sycamore, birch, and maple, grown from old roots 

 from twenty to thirty years old. They were in a 

 very unsatisfactory condition, and had been allowed 

 to grow for twenty years without receiving any thin- 

 ning of any consequence. Thinning, certainly, had 

 been attempted in some places near to good roads, 

 when a few trees were wanted for estate purposes ; 

 but these thinnings had in almost every case been 

 overdone. The estate was owned by a thoroughly 

 enlightened gentleman, who knows how, when, and 

 where a thing should be done, and who was anxious 

 to have the woods put into good condition. During 

 these last five years we have endeavoured to improve 

 the woods properly, and the result is the improvement 

 of the plantations to an amount fully twice the value 

 they were at first, after taking from them a regular 

 income, in the shape of thinnings, every year. These 

 plantations have been giving an average yearly in- 

 come since 1861 of £2, 10s. per acre net, and similar 

 land on the estate is let with difficulty at 10s. per acre. 



" One instance, in particular, will show the increase 

 of value of woods when under a regular course of 

 thinning. A wood, consisting of a crop of oak and 

 ash, extending to 100 acres, was valued in 1864 

 by several foresters and timber merchants at £4000 ; 

 since then thinnings have been taken from it to the 

 amount of nearly £2000, and in the present year 

 (1866) I am offered £5000 for the standing crop. 



" I consider thinnings of very little value before the 

 plantation reaches the age of fifteen years — all that is 

 required up to this time is a careful going over, cutting 

 out any dead wood, and relieving any healthy tree that 

 requires it. I believe that most of our woods at the 



