294 



The Thinning of Woods. 



that they be placed in the soil at such distances from plant 

 to plant as experience and the natural requirements of the 

 given kinds of trees prove to be most advantageous, and that 

 the timber crops receive proper tending throughout their 

 whole period of development. In addition to these points, 

 much — in some cases, everything — of course depends on the 

 market rates locally obtained for different kinds of timber ; 

 but, so far as the art of forestry is concerned, the above are 

 the chief factors upon which the ultimate value of the mature 

 timber crop depends. 



If the trees have been planted too far apart, then they 

 may have ramified to such an extent as to have their 

 boles spoiled before the crop forms canopy ; and tending 

 operations thereafter, in the shape of thinnings, often fail to 

 correct the initial errors made. It may easily happen that 

 woods too open at 20 or 25 years of age may be overcrowded 

 at twice or thrice that age ; and yet the stems may not be 

 clean, smooth and tall, as they should be if the plantations 

 had been originally formed with a suitable distance from 

 plant to plant. If, however, woods have been properly 

 formed and tended during the early stages of growth, then, 

 cceteris paribus^ their ultimate value as timber crops is princi- 

 pally affected by the manner in which thinning operations 

 are carried out. 



In sylvicultural operations two main factors, or assets, have 

 invariably to be dealt with in each concrete case. These are 

 first, the soil, and secondly, the timber crop or growing stock. 

 These form the capital entrusted to the charge of the forester ; 

 and his technical skill is shown in the manner in which — 

 unless interfered with by circumstances beyond his control- 

 he utilises them to most advantage. Even the destructive 

 influence of physical causes beyond his control, — as, for 

 example, wind, snow-breakage, &c., — can to a certain extent 

 be obviated by good management in the case of extensive 

 compact woodlands. The two factors, soil and crop, are both 

 invariably involved in the closest degree in the consideration 

 of any points connected with the growth of timber. Unless 

 the productive capacity of the soil be safeguarded in a practical 

 and judicious manner, the energy in growth displayed by the 



