13 



areas, they may be utilised for that purpose, if proper precautions are taken that 

 they do not choke the young trees. 



Both insects and fungi are liable to attack young trees, and watch must be 

 kept against both kinds of pests. It may even be necessary to destroy infected 

 or sickly plants. 



Whenever blanks occur through the failure of plants, they mnst be filled up 

 without loss of time so as to preserve the density most favourable to the well- 

 being of the wood. If young plants are only a few years old, the same species 

 may be used ; but if they are of that age that it is not likely they will be caught up 

 by those of the same kind, a quicker growing species must be used, or one that 

 can bear the shade of the surrounding saplings. 



If the trees are found to be too thinly scattered over the area to be regenerated 

 a quick-growing and thinly -foliaged species is planted amongst them which stimu- 

 lates their development. 



Sometimes the young seedlings are too crowded, when they are the result of 

 direct sowing or of natural regeneration. If no action is taken, they become half 

 choked, and those that survive grow up weedy and scarcely able to bear their own 

 weight. Some must be removed, and the best plan is to cut d >wn the weakest 

 close to the ground. If this operation has been unavoidably delayed until the 

 wood is 10 or 15 years old, the utmost caution is necessary in slowly and gradually 

 thinning out the weakest ; otherwise those that are left may lean over and 

 eventually fall. The best method to adopt is to cut narrow strips through the 

 thicket, so as to allow the plants along the edges of the strips to grow with more 

 vigour. 



After Early Youth. When the period of early youth is p issed, and the normal 

 density of canopy has been attained, many dangers are no longer t > be feared 

 and the forester has to attend more particularly to the development of the trees 

 so as to produce timber of high technical utility. 



While constantly maintaining the canopy of foliaga overhead, it is necessary 

 here and there to remove trees. Some have sprung up of undesirable kinds ; 

 others are sickly through unfavourable soil, or injuries received through either 

 such accidental causes as wind, or through the attacks of insects or fungi ; others 

 again are dying or dead. These must all be cleared away, to prevent crowding of 

 the selected trees, or to remove all breeding-places for insect pests and germin- 

 ating beds for fungoid diseases. 



When the object in the management of the wood is to produce valuable timber 

 which splits well and has few knots, it is necessary that the trees should not retain 

 their lower branches as they do when growing in the open, but have long clean 

 boles. When a close canopy of foliage is maintained the branches more or less 

 die off and sooner or later drop to the ground, and this process is the more 

 thorough in proportion as the species is unable to bear shade. It is frequently 

 necessary therefore to artificially remove dead, and even green branches. 



Pruning. Pruning may be necessary when a valuable species is outgrown by 

 another, which should not be removed altogether, but may have some branches 

 cut away; or when a coppice under high standard trees requires more light. 



There is however a danger in pruning off green branches, as the wound offers a 

 good germinating bed for the spores of fungi which cause decomposition and 

 lessen the value of the timber. If the tree is growing vigorously and the cut 

 does not exceed about 3 inches in size, it will heal naturally. 



The branches should in all cases be cut off close to the main stem, but without 

 injuring the bark. Heavy branches should first be cut off some distance from 

 the stem, and then by a second cut,the remaining stu npshould be removed, to insure 

 the production of an even cut and to avoid tearing the bark of the main stem. 



Wounds which are so large that they are not likely to be closed over by the 

 growth of the bark must be covered over with a coating of tar made sufficiently 

 fluid by the addition of oil of turpentine. 



THINNING. 



In all naturally formed woods there is crowding, and consequently a struggle 

 for existence amongst the trees. The same struggle takes place in artificially 

 formed woods, for close planting is adopted in order to have a continuous canopy 

 of foilage for the preservation of the soil and for the development of the trees in 

 height. Some of the trees outgrow the rest, and are called the dominant trees. 

 Between and below these are others that have only their leading shoots in enjoy- 



