THINNING. 



173 



to the stem, to supply its place. And this, in fact, 

 is the whole secret of the art ; for, if we can supply 

 the ship-builder with wood having the angular 

 shape, it belongs to himself to model it into the cur- 

 vilinear forms necessary for some of his timbers. 

 By bestowing a great deal of pains on trees when 

 young, we might, indeed, be successful in making 

 them assume the exact curves required, but the 

 trouble of such a process would far exceed the pro- 

 fit ; for though " as the twig is bent the tree " will 

 invariably be " inclined," it is not to be inferred 

 that this bending of the twig from the direction 

 which nature has given it, can be accomplished with- 

 out much vexation, care, and attention. 



SECTION XL 

 THINNING. 



In order that young trees may, as soon as possi- 

 ble, be in a capacity to shelter each other, we must, 

 in planting, as has already been observed, crowd 

 them into much less space than they will require 

 before they can arrive at maturity. This renders 



thinning a necessary part of the forester's labour ; 



1 



