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canopy

The assemblage or volume of leaves of all ages supported by branched stems that form the photosynthetic layers of a tree or crop.

cash cropping

Growing crops for sale either to a market or to agents, or at the 'farm gate'.

clear cutting

1.     Strictly, the removal of an entire standing crop of trees. In practice, may refer to exploitation that leaves much unsaleable material standing. Also termed 'clear felling'.

2.     An area from which the entire timber stand has been cut. Removal of the entire stand in one cut. Reproduction is then obtained with or without planting or artificial seeding.

clearing

[noun] A relatively small area within a forest that has no trees.

[verb] To dispose of undergrowth and vegetational debris that is left after trees have been felled and trimmed. Sometimes done by a burn. Clearing is also done by removal or controlled burning around forests, villages, homes or trees to act as a firebreak.

closed forest

Forest where trees are the dominant life form and the canopy is closed.

codominant trees

Trees with crowns forming the general level of the crown cover and receiving full light from above but comparatively little from the sides, usually with medium-sized crowns and more or less crowded on the sides.

community forestry

Forestry developed in areas marginal to agriculture, with many members of the community being landless or small-scale farmers, often characterized by ecological and cultural diversity and the employment of traditional technologies. Communal land development is basic to this type of forestry.

compost

1.     In plant nursery work, a mixture of inorganic and organic materials, perhaps with some soil of a particular suitable kind, in which seeds can be readily germinated or seedlings or young plants grown. Particular composts are made for particular purposes, and fertilizers are often added.

2.     A pile of decomposing organic matter of plant or animal origin. Soil and other amendments such as lime, nitrogen and phosphorus may be mixed with the organic matter.

3.     Organic residues, or a mixture of organic residues and soil that have been made into a pile and allowed to undergo biological decomposition.

conifers

Trees that usually but not always have needle leaves or scale leaves and that bear separate male and female cones. They are usually, but not always, evergreen. Some, for example, larch, are deciduous. Conifers belong to the class Gymnospermae.

conservation

The protection, use and improvement of natural resources according to principles that will assure their highest economic and social benefits.

contour

Linear demarcation of the land surface that indicates places of equal elevation; the lines on a map that connect these points.

contour cropping

Sowing a crop in rows or strips so that these follow along a contour.

contour furrow

A furrow ploughed on the contour on pasture or rangeland to prevent soil loss and so as to allow water to penetrate the soil; sometimes used in planting trees and shrubs on the contour.

contour tillage

The cultivation of land along the lines of uniform elevation, or contour lines, to reduce erosion.

coppice

1.     A method of cutting certain species of trees to encourage them to regrow from the remaining stump. A tree that coppices readily does not require frequent replanting and is, therefore, useful for producing fuel and poles.

2.     Shoot developed from a dormant bud on a main trunk.

3.     A small wood regularly cut over for regrowth.

corm

A specialized part of a stem; a short, enlarged base of a stem where food is stored.

cropping pattern

The yearly sequence and spatial arrangement of crops, or crops and fallow, on any given area.

cropping season

The period during the year when the environment is favourable for the growth of agricultural crops. In regions that have bimodal rainfall, there will be two such seasons. Trees may grow at other, less favourable, times.

cropping system

1.     The cropping patterns used on a farm and their interaction with farm resources, other farm enterprises and available technology.

2.     The crop production activity of a farm. It comprises all cropping patterns grown on the farm and their interaction with farm resources, other household enterprises, and the physical, biological, technological and social economic factors or environments.

3.     A land-use unit comprising soils, crops, weeds, pathogens and insect subsystems, which transforms solar energy, water, nutrients, labour and other inputs into food, feed, fuel and fibre. The cropping system is a subsystem of the farming system.

crop rotation

The growing of different crops on the same land in recurring succession.

crown

1.     A tree canopy, the upper part of a tree or other woody plant carrying the main branch system and foliage, and surmounting at the crown base a more or less clean stem.

2.     The branches and foliage of a tree or the upper portion of a tree. The leaves as foliage are an outgrowth of the vascular system and are mainly concerned with photosynthesis. The branches join the stem or other branches.

culm

The stem of grasses and bamboos, usually hollow except at the swollen nodes.

cultural practices

Crop care practices including land preparation, seed selection, weed control, fertilizer and insecticide application, and water control in the field.

cutting

A detached part of a plant (for example, stem, root or leaf) that is placed in suitable conditions to promote rooting and the subsequent production of a new leafy shoot. Stem cuttings can be 'hardwood' (secondarily thickened from previous seasons' tissue), 'semi-hardwood' (mature current or last season's tissue) or 'softwood' (young tissue from the current season). They can be cut nodally or internodally

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