FUTAIE, OR FULL-GROWTH SYSTEM. 
319 
planting of the forest, and the care of the young growth. This 
is effected in the case of a forest, whether natural or artificial, 
which is to he subjected to regular management, by three 
operations. The first of these consists in felling about one 
third of the wood, in such way as to leave convenient spaces 
for the growth of young trees. The remaining two-thirds are 
relied upon to replant the vacancies, by natural sowing, which 
they seldom or never fail to do. The seedlings are watched, 
are thinned out when too dense, the ill formed and sickly, as 
well as those of inferior value, and the shrubs and thorns 
which might otherwise choke or too closely shade them, are 
pulled up. When they have attained sufficient strength and 
development of foliage to bear or to require more light and 
air, the second step is taken, by removing a suitable propor¬ 
tion of the old trees which had been spared at the first cutting; 
and when, finally, they are hardened enough to bear frost and 
sun without other protection than that which they mutually 
give to each other, the remainder of the original forest is felled, 
and the wood now consists wholly of young and vigorous trees. 
This result is obtained after about twenty years. At con¬ 
venient periods afterward, the unhealthy stocks and those 
injured by wind or other accidents are removed, and in some 
instances the growth of the remainder is promoted by irriga- 
ation or by fertilizing applications.* When the forest is ap- 
* The grounds which it is most important to clothe with wood as a 
conservative influence, and which, also, can best he spared from agricul¬ 
tural use, are steep hillsides. But the performance of all the oflices of the 
forester to the tree—seeding, planting, thinning, and finally felling and re¬ 
moving for consumption—is more laborious upon a rapid declivity than on 
a level soil, and at the same time it is difficult to apply irrigation or 
manures to trees so situated. Experience has shown that there is great 
advantage in terracing the face of a hill before planting it, both as pre¬ 
venting the wash of the earth by checking the flow of water down its 
slope, and as presenting a surface favorable for irrigation, as well as for 
manuring and cultivating the tree. But even without so expensive a pro¬ 
cess, very important results have been obtained by simply ditcliing de¬ 
clivities. “ In order to hasten the growth of wood on the flanks of a moun¬ 
tain, Mr. Eugene Chevandier divided the slope into zones forty or fifty 
