218 ON NATURAL COPPICE WOOD 



■can "be said here, as no absolute method can be laid down suitable 

 for every district. 



Large plantations are frequently divided into lots and sold by 

 auction or by private tender. In the counties of Argyll, Dumbarton, 

 and Stirling there are merchants who purchase both the thinnings 

 and the entire crop by the acre or by the lot, and cut and carry the 

 whole to the market at their own expense ; while others purchase 

 the tliinnings after they have been cut and assorted by the 

 proprietor's men. On some estates the thinning and final 

 clearing is cut, assorted, and sent direct to the market by the 

 proprietor's men, or sold after being cut over. After noticing 

 and comparing several instances where the work was done each 

 way, we would recommend the system of allowing the purchaser 

 to perform all the work, as it is generally the most profitable for 

 the proprietor. 'No doubt there are some exceptional cases where 

 a really energetic forester, with a thorough system of forest 

 management, and perhaps a favourable market, can as economi- 

 cally manage the cutting and disposal as a wood merchant can ; 

 but as a rule, the latter have the advantage of efficient men who 

 are in almost daily practice, and are consequently able to do the 

 necessary work at less cost. And besides, the merchant not 

 uiifrequently lets the work by contract to practised men. 



Whatever method is adopted, the strictest attention should be 

 paid to have the wood carefully cut, so as to leave the stools 

 smooth and slightly/ convexed ; and as severe frosts are sometimes 

 injurious to newly cut stools, the cutting over should not, if 

 possible, be begun till the end of February, and finished (the 

 plantation being thoroughly cleared of prunings and rubbish) by 

 the middle of April. Immediately after this, if there are drains 

 they should be cleaned, and the fences sufficiently repaired to 

 keep out cattle. 



It is of comparatively little importance to state the returns 

 that may be expected from an acre of natural coppice, as no two 

 districts are exactly similar in regard to soil, situation, and 

 demand ; consequently the realised value of an acre in the one 

 district would be often fallacious in another. The profitable 

 growth of coppice, like all other forest produce, is to a consider- 

 able extent controlled by circumstances ; consequently many of 

 the statements that are given of its value per acre have a tendency 

 to mislead, owing to the crop that is valued being grown under 

 exceptionally favourable circumstances or the reverse. For 

 example, we have seen in the western district of Scotland a two- 

 year old coppice fully as strong as one of four years' growth in 

 one of the north-eastern counties. After considerable experience 

 in the thinning of coppice, we think that, unless in districts that 

 are unfavourably situated in regard to a market, the thinnings 

 will generally be found to pay the cost of rearing. In such 



