200 
Indian Forest Records. 
[VOL. I. 
PART IV. 
THE GROWTH OF THE STEM OF WHOLE WOODS. 
Section 1. — Preliminary Matters. 
In the following pages it is proposed to consider more particularly 
the development of even-aged woods, produced directly from seed, either 
naturally or artificially by sowing or by planting. In such a wood, fully 
stocked, a struggle for existence AviU very soon arise between the in- 
dividual members of the crop. In rare cases, with certain species, more 
particularly in abandoned artificial plantations, the struggle may be- 
come so prolonged, without any of the individuals obtaining a decided 
advantage, that the crowns become deficient, the crop ceases to grow, 
and eventually loses all power of re-establishing itself. But in the majo- 
rity of cases, certain individuals soon take the lead, whilst others lag 
behind, probably to die : so that the crop consists of trees in all stages 
of development — dominated, dead and dying, and dominant. 
It will, however, be found that each individual of a crop may be 
brought into one or other of the follovfing five classes, in accordance with 
G. Kraft’s classification, which is the one now adopted by all the Euro- 
pean Forest Research Institutes, namely : — 
Class I. — Predominant : trees with an exceptionally vigorous 
' crown. 
Class II. — Dominant : trees with a well developed crown. 
Class III. — Slightly dominant : trees with a poorly developed 
crown. 
Class IV.— Slightly suppressed : trees with an incomplete crown. 
Class V. — Wholly suppressed : trees ivith the crown wholly below 
the level of the dominant trees. 
As soon as a tree passes into the 4th or 5th class, as soon as its crown 
loses its shape and becomes attenuated, it can no longer be s-.n'd to form 
part of the growing wood ; it merely becomes so much exploitable ma- 
terial. Thus, the first three classes of dominant trees are said to form 
the major or primary part of the growing stock, whilst the remaining 
two classes form the minor or secondary part of Wood, or Intermediate 
Yield. 
As a direct result of this struggle for existence, causing year by year 
a decrease in the number of stems per unit of area, it is evident that the 
progress of the volume increment of a whole wood diSers altogether 
