56 Plant-life of the Oxford District 



of plants of the underwood botanically; and in virtue of its very neglect 

 sylviculturally, is most suggestive of the original condition of the indigenous 

 woodland, when the trees of high-forest had acquired full dominance. 



From the point of view of the sylviculturalist, the dense herbaceous under- 

 growth is not only useless, but is to be regarded as a growth of noxious weeds, 

 as are the weeds of arable land to the farmer or allotment-holder. To grow 

 trees alone, the entire area should be cleared of Brambles, Bracken, and all 

 herbaceous forms, and underplanted with Beech, to leave a floor-covering only 

 of dead leaves and humus ; in which case the indigenous flora would vanish, 

 or be left only as vestigia in hedges, ditches, and rides. Much of this type 

 of woodland at the present time has gone too far to be worth saving, and is 

 valued chiefly as a covert for pheasants. 



Oak-coppice on good ground is supposed to last for ever ; on poor ground 

 it begins to fall off after 100-150 years. The old moss-covered stools at 

 Bagley, in the last stages, some merest shells, may be 200-300 years old, 

 giving regeneration-shoots in irregular dwarfed growths, which are but a cari- 

 cature of an oak-tree. 



The custom of clearing underwood, and 'drawing' tall-coppice and 

 standards, which has been going on for at least 500 years, with no return 

 whatever to the soil, must have had an appreciable effect on the mineral and 

 especially phosphate-content. If pastures which have been long grazed are now 

 found to require superphosphate and basic slag, the same should apply with 

 greater force to the neglected woodlands, the food-supplies of which have been 

 apparently assumed to be inexhaustible. Stag-headed Oaks are devastated 

 by the Tortrix Moth, and regenerating underwood badly mildewed. It remains 

 to be seen to what extent matters can be improved by clear-felling the older 

 wood and replanting with Larch and Douglas Fir or other Conifers. 



Following the importation of coal by barge (the Birmingham-Oxford 

 canal completed in 1790, and still used for the purpose), the importance of 

 copses as fuel-supply was much diminished, or such material was left to 

 people beyond the urban area. Present examples are hence much reduced 

 and neglected, or are only utilized for purposes of game and investigated for 

 rabbits. The ground-flora fills up with small underwood, often becoming 

 almost impenetrable, with thorns, sloe, brambles and briars. Especially on 

 dry soils this degenerates to a condition which cannot be distinguished 

 from regressive thorn-scrub (Bagley, upper West Wood, Hutchcomb 

 Copse). 



In damp areas, as on the alluvial flats, Willows (Salix alba, S.fragilis) 

 were similarly utilized and planted as sets (10 ft.) along the sides of streams 

 and ditches. When pollarded, these assume a mop-headed brush-effect 

 which gives a characteristic appearance to the flood-level landscape, and 

 affords a case of special biological interest. 



No special rule is observed in pollarding. Shoots may be cut at 2 years 

 for bean-sticks, as growth in the first year may be 6 ft. Larger poles 20-30 ft. 

 are obtained in 10 years. Neglected trees may be pollarded and then left to 

 grow out indefinitely (' Mesopotamia '). 



All pollarded willows become subject to attacks of Fungi, and are ulti- 

 mately destroyed. After pollarding, strong new shoots send down roots of 

 their own, descending under the bark of the old trunk to the soil. The 

 original trunk, always decayed by Polyporus attack, infecting from the wounds, 

 ultimately becomes a mere hollow shell, and the functional head of the tree 

 stands on pillar-roots which are only revealed by tapping or slitting the bark. 

 In a further stage the old shell splits with the increase of new ' stems ', falling 

 asunder in 2-3-6 'split Willows', each supported on its own divergent 

 trunk, or falling over if not strong enough. A willow can be so pollarded 

 half a dozen times before badly decaying: they become hollow shells in 

 50 years. 



