On Coppice Wood ; its Cutting or 

 Exploitation. 



By ALFRED J. BURROWS, OF PLUCKLEY, KENT, 



As the permanent productiveness of coppice depends so much 

 upon the time and manner in which cuttings from the stools are made, 

 and its growth in most parts of the country is so highly remunera- 

 tive, a few remarks under the above head may not be unacceptable to 

 readers of the Journal of Forestry. 



When we consider the loss arising from the premature decay o 

 stools and the expenses of replanting or filling up, it will be admitted 

 that the greatest possible attention should be bestowed upon the 

 cutting of underwood. In the present paper I propose to deal only 

 with pure coppice, in which no stores or standards are left at the 

 time of exploitation. It is, however, questionable whether a certain 

 proportion of such stores may not be advantageously left in every 

 coppice. In the cider-producing counties, such as Hereford and 

 Worcester, these stores command a high price in the market as 

 " hoop-ash," for making hogshead and larger hoops as well as hurdles ; 

 while in Kent and adjoining counties they are greatly in demand as 

 " use-poles," for fencing, and gate or hurdle-making. With careful 

 selection and distribution, also, a proportion of oaks and other stores 

 may remain for three rotations with little injury to the underwood; 

 and the superiority of coppice-grown bark is sufficiently attested by 

 its high price in the market. 



Where permanent coppice is intended it is not desirable to leave 

 the standards beyond this period, as reproduction from stools becomes 

 uncertain after the age of thirty-five or forty years. The shelter 

 from frosts which such standards afford to the young shoots of ash and 

 Spanish chestnut is an additional argument in their favour. 



To most of your readers it will appear superfluous to obseWe that 

 amongst trees the broad-leaved species alone are reproductive from 

 stools — the ash, willow, oak, maple, elm, Spanish chestnut, alder 

 hornbeam, birch, and, for a shorter period, the beech. The willow, 

 birch, lime, and some others are also reproduced freely from suckers. 



As many of the shoots upon a stool proceed from buds which are 

 called adventitious, and which are dependent for their proper develop- 



