168 A MANUAL OF FORESTRY. 



stools, it may be necessary to cut below the ground, or 

 to cover up the stools with earth. 



e. Season of Cutting. 



The best season of the year for cutting is a few weeks 

 before the buds begin to swell. Various circumstances 

 may, however, prevent this being done, such as an 

 insufficiency of labour, the necessity for peeling the 

 wood, etc. Where labour is not available to do the 

 whole cutting at the most favourable period, a part must 

 be done (in Europe) in the autumn ; this has the draw- 

 back that frost during winter frequently separates the 

 bark from the wood of the stool, or that the stools are 

 killed outright. Again, stools which were cut over in 

 autumn send out shoots somewhat earlier in spring, and 

 thus render them more liable to be touched by late 

 frosts. 



Where the principal object is to obtain bark for 

 tanning, the cutting must be done during the full flow 

 of the sap, that is to say, in temperate Europe, in May 

 and the beginning of June. 



/. Standards. 



The reproduction is most complete if the wood be 

 clear-cut; the more standards are left, the less favour- 

 able will be the crop of shoots and suckers. 



2. Reproduction by Stem-Shoots, or Pollarding. 



Pollarding consists in the removal of the crown of a 

 tree, either leaving the main stem intact or cutting it 

 off at a certain height from the ground ; in the latter 



