1 66 The yov.rnal of Forestry. 



nient upon the close adhesion of the bark to the wood on the upper 

 edge 'of the cut stool, the importance of clean and careful cutting 

 cannot be over-rated. An adventitious bud appears as an excrescence 

 between the bark and wood at the edge of the severance. When the 

 cutting is made too early in the autumn the wood and bark become 

 separated by the rain and frost, and the formation of buds is checked ; 

 the same effect is produced by a ragged or careless cut. The use of 

 too heavy or too blunt an axe or other cutting tool produces the same 

 result. Besides, the shock upon the stool will often sever the 

 smaller fibres and destroy the continuity of the dormant buds. This 

 is more particularly the case with smaller stools and upon loose soils 

 where a light axe or billhook should invariably be used forcutting 

 the smaller poles, binders, withes, &c. It is almost unnecessary to 

 remark that in cutting the larger poles care should be taken not to 

 rend the bark. This can be prevented only by cutting on both side s 

 and directing the blows slightly upwards, so as to leave the stool with 

 a clean slanting cut. Pains should be taken to trim off the stool 

 smoothly and evenly, so as to afford no lodgment for the water. In 

 all except very wet situations the stools should be cut close to the 

 ground. While this favours the development of the adventitious 

 buds in situations where the future branches are not liable to be torn 

 from the stool by high winds or the weight of snow-drifts, it also 

 causes the dormant buds to appear from beneath the soil or in close 

 contact with it. The shoots thus formed root directly into the soil, 

 and to some extent become independent of the parent stool, which 

 they also laterally extend, a most desirable end in thinly-stocked 

 plantations. 



The dormant buds, before spoken of, proceed directly from the 

 medullary rays or processes of the wood of which they are merely 

 an external prolongation. Their position is always below that of the 

 adventitious buds. They are more certain of development from young 

 stools and early cut coppice. 



In low-lying and wet situations the stools should invariably be cut 

 so as to favour tlie production of shoots above the level of stagnant 

 water. 



Wherever, from neglect, the stools have been allowed to grow too 

 high they may, however large, be cut back slantingly by either one or 

 two cuts of the saw from the outside of the stool to the centre, and 

 afterwards finished off smoothly with an adze. This, however, is an 

 operation which will require considerable care and judgment. 



Where the falls of underwood are large it is a difficult matter 

 to limit purchasers to any particular period of the winter for 

 clearing the stub, but under no circumstances should the time for 

 falling extend beyond the first week in April. Considerable injury 



