On the one hand there is the school of planters who would advocate the advisability of planting up to, say, 200 trees per acre, with subsequent thinning out by selection. At the other extreme there is the opinion that we should plant only a few more trees per acre than it is intended eventually to maintain, the argument being that by this method the growth and development of individual trees will be so much greater than in close planting that the necessity for drastic thinning out will not arise. Unfortunately for the latter school, a very important point is overlooked--viz., that size and general development are not criteria of yielding capacity. It might thus follow that a stand of ninety well-grown trees per acre might give very disappointing yields per acre. In a few instances this has been noted with 30 by 30 feet planting, but it is doubtful whether the factor influencing such results has been appreciated. The apostles of close-planting have this in their favour: that if the trees to be removed are selected on proper lines, it is possible to have all remaining trees of comparatively high-yielding strain. This is a very sound argument, but its practicability is limited very largely by the question of early growth and development. It would seem the sane course in any event not to plant more trees per acre than may grow normally, and without branch or root interference up to the fifth year (the normal first year of tapping). Before this stage has been reached, stunted or deformed trees will have been noted and removed, so that in the first year of tapping thinning proper can be commenced. In the past this has been effected wholly by selection of trees according to their general appearance and situation; but it is now safe to predict that future operations will be based upon sounder and more scientific lines. Trees will be selected for removal according to their individual yields, a standard which we have been advocating for years without much practical success. In Java and Sumatra much good work has been done in this direction, and recently a commencement has been made in the F.M.S. [Illustration: TYPICAL YOUNG PLANTED AREA. Heavy original jungle timber.] It is within the daily observation of all planters that certain trees regularly give greater yields than others, and that such trees are not to be distinguished by size or general development. Moreover, with slight variations, it has been found that a good yielding tree is consistently a good yielder, and the converse holds true.