sowing or planting as the safest and quickest mode of securing the establishment of the 

 young forest. 



After the third or light felling follows the gradual removal of the old trees, or final 

 clearing, which is regulated in the first instance also by the requirements of the young 

 trees, and after this by the fixed yearly out-turn, as laid down in the working plan. As 

 a general rule, all these fellings are carried out gradually, without causing sudden changes 

 in the forest. The aiding of natural reproduction is either accomplished by sowing, if 

 failures are perceptible early, such as non-germination of the seed or death of the seed- 

 lings ; or by planting, if the seedlings get destroyed later by spring frosts, or are choked 

 by weeds. The sowing is carried out in the forest in strips two feet wide, in furrowsj or 

 in patches two to three feet square, prepared by hoeing for the purpose, and by loosening 

 and levelling of the soil ; while planting is done by seedlings two to three feet in height 

 taken from adjoining nursery beds, or from spots in the forest where there are more than 

 are necessary. 



" It is evident,'' says Mr. Mann, " that if, with all this care and attention to aid 

 natural reproduction, still occasional failures occur, how unreasonable it is to expect 

 forests in India to keep in an equally rich and thriving condition if left to themselves, 

 or worked only with a view of extracting the timber from them." I would also apply 

 the remark to Canada, and observe also that Captain Clarke respecting India, and Hon. M. 

 Joly concerning Canada, make precisely the same statement, to the effect that the forests 

 in both countries, cut over and carelessly managed, are often, so far as any available 

 supply of good timber is concerned, only forests in appearance. 



It may be noticed that the beech, of all other trees, is said to improve the land, 

 forming a rich vegetable mould, to gain the benefit of which other trees — oak, ash, maple, 

 larch, Scotch fir — are planted among the beeches, and do well. I may notice here that 

 in Canada, while clearing the forest, this did not appear to me. I generally found the 

 maple on the richest land, and where beech were intermixed a lighter loam. 



One description of forest much used in Germany is called " Middle Forest." It 

 contains a number of high trees cut at long intervals for timber, and below them a coppice 

 (smaller trees growing from roots of previously existing trees, and which will themselves, 

 when cut, be succeeded by similar ones) cut at much shorter periods for firewood. In 

 cutting the coppice, young trees are left to replace the tall ones when cut. 



A method of planting used here should be noticed. A small spade of solid iron, 

 about twenty pounds in weight, fourteen inches long, seven inches broad at top, five at 

 bottom, with a handle four inches long, is driven into the ground, and bent to all sides, 

 then drawn out. The plant, three to four years old, of beech, spruce, or oak, etc., is 

 dipped into a thin mixture of loam and water, which adheres easily. In this state it is 

 pushed with its roots into the hole as far as possible, and with continual shaking, by 

 which the roots get straight down into the hole, drawn up to the level at which the plant 

 should stand. Here it is held by one man, while another drives in the spade a second 

 time, about three inches from the first hole and parallel with it, and first presses with its 

 point towards the first hole, and then with the broader part, by which means the plant 

 gets very firmly pressed into the soil. If necessary the spade is driven in a third time, 

 to close up the second hole slightly. The soil is then beaten firm with a mallet all round 



