162 ARBORICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF KENT. 



Before hop growers adopted the system of dipping the poles in 

 creosote, coppice was not cut till it was eleven years old, the object 

 then being to get as much heartwood as possible; but by the 

 creosoting process, poles full of heartwood or full of sapwood are 

 brought more on a level, and made twice as durable. Had this 

 process not been introduced, the county could not have grown 

 poles to supply the demand ; and even now large quantities are 

 brought from Sussex, and also of late from Norway. For the 

 most part, the underwood is bought by farmers and hop growers, 

 who thus find winter employment for their men and horses in 

 carrying away the ware. Wood is also bought by industrious, 

 well-to-do workmen, who are able to pay 10 or 20 per cent, of the 

 purchase-money, the balance for which they must find security to 

 be paid that day twelve months. By this system we can realise 

 10 to 15 per cent, more for the coppice than by the payment of 

 ready money, as ten buyers may come in place of one — a great 

 consideration to the result of a public sale, as the price is thereby 

 greatly increased, and men of enterprise may better themselves. 



Underwood cutting is the chief outdoor work here during the 

 winter months. 



Birch is frequently cultivated as coppice for poles, on shallow, 

 poor, hard soil, unfit to grow chestnut, ash, alder, or willow, and 

 on such soil it often realises £8 to <£12 in ten years, and in good 

 soil £20 have been realised in some cases ; but the stubs often bleed 

 to death, and ground game kill the young shoots. The poles are 

 inferior to larch, chestnut, ash, and willow ; it is therefore not 

 much cultivated as coppice. 



In several districts, chiefly on the chalk formation, large plan- 

 tations of beech have heen planted, which thrive luxuriantly, and 

 yield a good profit for poor soil. At Sevenoaks, where the soil is 

 a shai-p sandy loam, resting on gravel, there are thriving planta- 

 tions of beech and oak. Many trees measure 150 to 200 cubic 

 feet; the beech realises Is. 3d. per foot, and is much used for 

 making windsor chairs, heavy planking, etc. These beeches often 

 measure 40 to 60 feet to the first branch, and many trees measure 

 2 feet on the side at the height of 20 feet. 



In the adjoining part of Sussex, on the estates of Eridge, 

 Crobore, and Ash Down Forest, larch fir, extensively cultivated 

 for hop poles and timber, thrives uncommonly well on a loamy 

 soil. A surprising number of telegraph poles are grown on an acre 

 of this soil, yielding a very handsome return ; and trees, 70 to 90 



