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The Principles of Forestry. 343 j 
The attention of landowners, too, has been drawn to the 
subject owing to the diminution of rents, and the desire to make | 
lip deficiencies by drawing upon their woods. This has led to 
inquiry, which has resulted in the discovery that the woodland j 
area is not so productive as it might be rendered. In other . 
words, land has not been supporting its full amount of timber, 
neither has it been developing that class and quality which 1 
alone will meet with a ready sale. The standard that should i 
be arrived at is the greatest possible amount of timber upon a 
given space, compatible with natural reproduction, and that of 
the highest possible quality and dimensions. Anything short 
of this leaves room for improvement and development. 
It may therefore be taken for granted that all the woodlands 
of England are capable of improvement, for no area has reached I 
this state of perfection. In a few instances, no doubt, present 
landowners and those who preceded them have grasped this j 
ideal, and have endeavoured to reach it, in which case the woods 
show signs of improvement. ' 
It is only too evident to those who understand the subject \ 
of forestry that the present condition of woodland is lamentable ' 
in this country ; and that it has arisen through a widespread dis- 
regard of the most ordinary rules of forestry is equally evident. 
In thinning, the best timber has been taken, the ill-conditioned 
left. Decay has not been checked, pruning has been ignored, ' 
trees have been allowed to pass maturity or have been realised 
before maturity has been reached, young germ ens have been 
either recklessly destroyed or allowed to run to waste, the thicket 
stage has been entirely ignored. In fact. Nature has been left 
to her own devices, and man has reaped the consequences of his 
neglect. It was never intended that the earth should yield full' ; 
increase without aid. 
ComjDare this unsatisfactory state of things with what might ' 
have been had true forestry been applied in years gone by. 
There would have been a regularity in management — a system ; 
natural reproduction would have been studied, and there would | 
have been a succession of timber trees following closely on those ! 
realised. Thei-e would have been trees in all stages of growth, 
from seedlings to matured timber. Each acre would have j 
carried its full complement of fine, long, straight-gi'ained i 
timber; any sign of decay brought about by broken branches 
and other injury would have been artificially stayed, pruning 
would have been scientifically performed, and final realisation 
would have been followed by natural or artificial reproduc- 
tion. 
The true spirit of forestry would have penetrated the minds 
