176 



MANAGEMENT OF WOODS. 



ty thousand which require relief, to these few such 

 relief should be immediately given ; and, when ope- 

 rations are once begun, on how small a scale soever, 

 the plantation should be regularly inspected, once 

 every two years, to ascertain whether a repetition of 

 the same be necessary. By proceedhig thus, all the 

 bad effects of the common mode of thinning will be 

 entirely avoided. The trees will neither be suffo- 

 cated for want of air, nor starved by the too copious 

 admission of it, inconveniences which can only be 

 shunned by beginning to thin at the early period, 

 and carrying on the process in the gradual and re- 

 gular manner here recommended. 



It is scarcely necessary to remark, that, in thin- 

 ning, the worst trees should be cut down and the 

 best spared, as the maxim is so obvious, that no one 

 whom it would be prudent to trust in a wood with 

 an axe, or any other edge-tool in his hand, can be 

 supposed ignorant of it. Sometimes it will hap- 

 pen that two fine trees interfere with one another, 

 while they are surrounded by inferior ones. In 

 such a case, both the former should be allowed to 

 stand, while all those in their vicinity, whose branches 

 touch theirs, should be cleared away. Their close 

 neighbourhood will thus do little hurt to either, as 

 they will accommodate their growth to each other, 



