358 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1794. 



On the improvement of coppices, by 

 the bishop of Llandaff ; from Prtn- 

 •ic's General View of the Agricul- 

 ture of the county of Westmore- 

 land. 



IN some parts of Westmoreland, 

 considerable portions of land 

 are covered with coppices, consist- 

 ing principally of oak, ash, elder, 

 birch, and hazel. These under- 

 woods are usually cut down every 

 sixteenth year ; the uses to which 

 they are applied are chiefly two — 

 hoops and charcoal. The hcops 

 are sold in the wood at 51. a thou- 

 sand ; they are generally manufac- 

 tured in the country, and sent by 

 sea to Liverpool ; the charcoitl is 

 sent to the iron-furnaces in the 

 neighbourhood. The value of a 

 Ktatute-acre of coppice-wood, of 

 sixteen years growth, is variable 

 from 101. to 151. ; and if it consists 

 altogether of oak, its price may a- 

 mount to twenty guineas; 61. for 

 the charcoal, and 151. for the bark ; 

 it being the custom here to peel the 

 balls, and all the branches of the 

 oak, which are equal to the thick- 

 ness of a man's thumb. 



It is an extraordinary thing to see 

 any trees left to stand for timber in 

 these underwoods ; the high price 

 of bark is a temptation to cut the 

 whole down. Fine saplings, from 

 nine to twelve inches in circumfe- 

 rence, at five feet from the ground, 

 and with bark as splendid as po- 

 iicbed silver, are felled by the un- 

 feeling proprietor with as httle re- 

 gret, as if they were thorns or bri- 

 ars. Of late, indeed, some few 

 owners of underwoods have left 

 standards, and if they consult their 

 interest, the practice will become 

 general. As this is a point denied 

 by many proprietors of coppices, 



it may be of use to explain the prin- 

 ciples on which the observation is 

 founded. 



Suppose a statute-acre of under- 

 wood to be, in the spring of I79't» 

 sixteen years old, and that the whole 

 is then cut down and sold for l^l. 

 This sum will, in sixty-four years 

 (reckoning compound interest at 41, 

 per cent. ), amount to 1721. In 

 1810, another fall of underwood, 

 of the same value, will be made j 

 the Ml. then arising, improved 

 from forty-eight years, in the same 

 way, will produce 911. In 1826, 

 another 14'1. will arise from another 

 fall of the underwood, this sum im» 

 proved for thirty-two years, will 

 amount to 49l. In 18-1'2, another 

 fall will produce 141. which, in 

 sixteen years, will become 261.— 

 And, lastly, in 1858, or in sixty^ 

 four years fronn \'19\; another fall 

 will produce I'il. The amount of 

 the value of the five falls, thus esti- 

 mated and improved, will be 3521. 

 Let us nov\' calculate the profits 

 which would result, in the same 

 time, from the same acre of underi 

 wood, if it was managed in a dif- 

 ferent way. Instead of cutting the 

 whole down in 1794, let us sup- 

 pose that 150 of the best young oaks 

 are Jeft to stand for timber; the 

 then value of these, at 2d, a tree, 

 is 25s. this being subducted from 

 i4], the value of the whoje cop- 

 pice, leaves 121. 15s. Od. This 

 sum, improved as before, will a- 

 mount, in sixty-four years, to 1561. 

 (shilhngs and pence in these calcu- 

 lations being neglected). The next 

 fall in 1810 ought not tq be va- 

 lued at moro than 101. as 150 trees, 

 then of thirty-two years growth, 

 will do some injury to the under- 

 wood ; lOl. in forty-eight years, 

 will amount to ij5 1. The next fall 



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