PT. IV. 



PEUNIXG AND TlIINNIiYG. 



* 189 



couraged, but an immense clioice for the permanent 

 plants is gained, and tlie soil, instead of being ex- 

 hausted by sucli cropping, is enriched by it, as has 

 been argued. 



No saying is more true than that ' fools may plants 

 but it requires a wise man to rear timber.' More than 

 this, it requires a succession of wise men. It is extra- 

 ordinary that those who by practice are annually con- Jjo^^e^g' 

 vinced of the importance, nay, necessity, of thinning thSng. 

 their turnips by hoeing, so often neglect this principle 

 in their plantations. The principle should be practised 

 from the beginning ; but if it has been neglected ever 

 so long, ' sapere aude, incipe' Nothing has done so 

 much harm to plantations as that, ' Oh, it is too late 

 now ! ' It is never too late. It can never be too late. Never too 



late to thin. 



Can it be too late to begin cutting out dead rubbish ? 

 Can it do harm to take out what is doing harm.^ Can 

 the wind be let into plantations by cutting out denuded 

 poles without heads ? Go into the plantation whose 

 thinning has been put off till it is too late, and, I w^as 

 going to say, boldly, but let us say quietly, cut out the 

 dead and the dying, gross cases of rubbish, and then 

 gradually and annually the worst plant worst placed, Cutthe 



worst 



leaving and relieving the best plants best placed. He plants 

 who perseveres on these principles will (besides eventu- ^^g^^^g 

 ally creating permanent fine plantations) very soon, bestpSed. 

 in his present thinnings, be cutting boards instead of 

 bavins. 



Do not think it a matter of no import whether the 



