FOREST-TREES FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. 



35 



advance ideas — but I think the present system of mixed planta- 

 tions the best, so far as arrangement is concerned. 



The more important questions really come in when consider- 

 ing the formation and after-management of plantations. Hitherto 

 the so -many-feet apart arrangement has held good, thinning out 

 the trees with such frequency and regularity, or irregularity, 

 as would permit free access of light and air, the ready growth of 

 lateral branches, without any reference to the over-foliage, or 

 " canopy " as Dr. Nisbet very aptly calls this all-important con- 

 dition of over-leafage, as a necessary factor in a successful 

 plantation. 



It is now being urged that trees grown for profit should be so 

 treated as to prevent undue development of lateral branches by 

 planting so closely as to insure straightness of the tree-trunk 

 with the minimum branchings until the head is reached, and 

 with due balance and closeness of overhead cover to keep the 

 ground in sufficient moist and clean condition as to insure 

 maximum timber growth with minimum evaporation of earth 

 moisture or waste of soil products in under-scrub. 



To preserve the balance rightly as between the soil con- 

 stituents and the growth upon it, as between the commercially 

 valuable part of the tree itself and those parts of it which are 

 conducive to its health, safe development, and growth — these 

 are the problems that are seeking solution. These are the 

 difficulties which conferences of this character are asked to help 

 to solve. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF PLANTATIONS. * 



By Mr. A. C. Fobbes. 



Befobe going into any technical details regarding this subject , 

 it will not be amiss to take a retrospective glance at the con- 

 ditions under which woods and plantations have been planted 

 and managed during the last half-century in Great Britain. 

 While desiring to avoid the introduction of all irrelevant matter 

 as much as possible, the consideration of certain points which 

 have affected, and at present affect, British forestry are desirable 

 in order to show what factors are responsible for the present 

 condition and system of managing our woods. 



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