PLANTING AND REGENERATION 121 



worked into the ground as soon as possible after their fall. 

 When a large proportion of the trees can be felled in late 

 autumn, this work itself will ensure a large number being 

 trodden or pressed into the ground, and the majority of 

 these will germinate at once, and appear as seedlings the 

 following spring. For the first season or so oak seedlings 

 will bear a good deal of shade, and the entire removal of the 

 old crop may not be necessary until the second or third 

 year after germination. After that time, however, the 

 seedlings must have light to ensure their vigorous growth, 

 and the sooner the entire crop of old timber is removed the 

 better. During the early stages a crop of oaks should stand 

 as thickly as possible, and beyond the filling up of blanks 

 with plants from the thick patches or with larch or beech, 

 little need be done for the first twenty years. 



Ash. — Ash is one of the easiest trees of all to regenerate, 

 so long as the mature trees are allowed sufficient space to 

 produce abundance of seed, which appears on an average 

 every second year. As is well known, ash seed does not 

 germinate until the second year, and as the seed is not 

 eaten by birds or animals to any great extent, it has every 

 chance of getting worked into the ground without artificial 

 assistance. In a mature ash wood, patches of seedlings 

 will make their appearance from time to time if not eaten 

 by ground game ; and these should be given light by 

 removing the old trees when the seedlings are from 2 to 

 3 feet high. Before that stage they are liable to be cut 

 back by late spring frosts, and in spots exceptionally 

 subject to these the old trees may be left much longer, 

 provided the latter are not too wide or deep in the crown. 

 As in the case of oak, young ash should stand thickly for 

 the first twenty years, and gaps may be filled up with oak 

 or larch. 



Beech. — The production of beech seed in large quantities 

 depends upon the partial isolation of the mature trees, 

 which must be brought about by thinning in a regular and 

 systematic manner eight or ten years before the young crop 

 is desired. This thinning admits light and air to their 

 crowns, and favours the development of flower buds, while 

 the reduction in the number of stems affords the remainder 



