Practical Sylviculture. 601 



treated on the coppice system will live it is difficult to any, but it 

 would be safe to predict a long life to most eucalyptus stools, judging* 

 by present conditions. It must be remembered that a diseased tree 

 should be completely destroyed, as its stool will most probably pro- 

 duce diseased shoots. The method of cutting the stools is of vital 

 importance. 



In the sketches, 1 and 4 are both bad ; 1 will allow water to rest 

 on the stool and eventually rot it; 4 is too high, and cut badly; 

 2 and o are both good, no water can rest on them. The stools 

 should be cut as low as possible, so as to encourage the shoots to 

 burst through the bark close to the ground, or, better still, under the 

 surface, as these will then produce a root system of their own. The 

 bark too is thinner near the ground. Where, as unfortunately is 

 the case in most Victorian forests, insect pests, such as borers and 

 grubs, abound, the stools should be covered with earth. The system 

 is expensive, but well worth considering, as by doing so insects are 

 prevented from laying their eggs in the stool. 



The season when coppicing ought to be done will vary in different 

 parts of the State but, as a rule, early winter to early spring is the 

 best time. The sap has not then become very brisk, and the whole of 

 the reserved material stored in the roots will go to force on the growth 

 of the young stool shoots. In places where the danger from severe 

 frost is great early spring is the best time ; as frost often destroys 

 the stool by causing the bark to separate from the wood. The same 

 danger is to be feared if coppicing is done in hot, dry summer 

 weather. Summer grown shoots ai'e nevei so rapid in growth as 

 spring grown, and autumn shoots are, as often as not, too tender to 

 withstand frost. 



Coppice with Standards. — This is a moditication of the above 

 and in most of the Victorian forests it will be the best method to 

 follow. The system is to allow a certain number of trees per acre to 

 stand when the cutting operations are going on. These are left till 

 the second or third cutting takes place, when they are felled, and are 

 by then nearly or quite fully matured trees. The object in leaving 

 these trees is not only to secure a supply of milling timber, but also to 

 ensure a certain amount of regeneration by seed to fill any gaps that 

 may be caused by the failure of any of the stools to reproduce shoots. 

 This latter object is the only one required in Victoria, where the 

 forests, owing to past overfelling, are often too thin and the trees 

 very isolated. But it must be borne in mind that the greater the 

 number of standards left, the less chance have the stool shoots of 

 making good growth. They require light, and the shade thrown by 

 the standards, which will increase as soon as their crowns are isolated, 

 will tend either to suppress them or cause them to be drawn up thin 



