590 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



3739. Copse-woods are generally cut over when the shoots of the stools have attained 

 from three to five inches' diameter at their bases ; some grown chiefly for hop-poles, 

 and ware or stuff for crates, hampers, or wattled hurdles, arc cut over earlier, and 

 others, where small timber for fencing and other country purposes is wanted, are 

 left later. In some parts of Herefordshire, where the oak grows with great rapidity, 

 copse-woods are cut over every twelve years ; in the highlands of Scotland, where it 

 grows much slower, the time varies from twenty to twenty-five or thirty years. ** The 

 bark is there considered as having arrived at its utmost perfection and at its highest 

 value, at the age of between twenty and thirty years : under that age, its virtues are 

 weak ; above it, the bark becomes coarse and loses its sap. Another important rea- 

 son for cutting down oak coppice-wood about the above period, is suggested in the 

 Stirlingshire Report, p. 218. ; namely, ' that it is a fact established by experience, that it 

 will not renew itself, if it remains uncut, beyond the space of about forty years.* " 

 {Gen. Rep. of Scotland, 218.) Where there is a considerable tract of copse-wood, it is 

 common to divide it into portions, in number according to the period of cutting. These 

 are to be cut in rotation, so that when the last portion is cut over, the first is again ready 

 for cutting. 



3740. The season for cutting the kinds of trees whose barks are not made use of, is 

 winter and early in spring ; but the oak and other trees which are peeled, are left till the 

 middle of April or May. Birch and larch woods will peel nearly a month earlier than 

 the oak. Should there be no frost, birch and larch may be peeled about the beginning 

 of April ; but the birch is commonly allowed to stand till July, and the peeling of it is 

 commenced after that of the oak has been completed. The reason is, there is an outer 

 skin upon birch-bark which requires to be taken off, as it is of no use to the tanner, 

 and renders that part which is of use more difficult to be ground ; the month of July 

 is the only time at which the two barks can be separated with ease, as at this time the 

 juice or sap has made its circulation through the tree and bark, and this circumstance 

 renders the separation more easy. From the beginning of May to the middle of July 

 is the usual time for barking the oak. The earlier in the spring this operation is per- 

 formed on the oak, both for the growth, if a natural wood, and for the bark, the better. 

 When the sap has begun to rise, the bark will easily be detached from the wood, and it 

 ought then to be taken off without loss of time ; and if the whole could be taken oiF 

 before the leaf is completely developed, the bark would be better. After the sap has 

 arisen to the leaf and new growth, the bark becomes more dry, and requires more beating 

 to separate it from the wood. And when what is called the black sap is descending the 

 tree, the bark taken off is black, and loses its original color ; at this time also the 

 bark begins to throw off a scurf, more especially young bark without much cork on it ; 

 this outer skin having less of the proper sap or juice, and being much drier when taken 

 off, will weigh less, and consequently will not be so valuable. If possible, oaks should 

 be barked by the middle of June, as every ton of bark taken off after the first of July 

 will be deficient two cwt. per ton, compared with the same quantity taken off in May or 

 early in June. 



3741. The termination of cutting is generally fixed for the fifteenth day of July, and 

 after this date there should not be a single stool of oak wood cut that is intended for the 

 growth; and as soon as possible after the fifteenth, the -vVhole of the wood and bark 

 should be carried away, that the young growths may not be disturbed or injured, as at 

 this time they will have made considerable progress ; at any rate, there should neither be 

 wood nor bark remaining within the new cut hag after the first of August ; nor should 

 eitlier horse or cart be permitted to enter it after that period, for after the beginning of 

 August, oaks make what is termed a lammas growth, and the future prosperity and 

 health of the coppice, in a great measure, depend on the first year's growth, as far as 

 regards form and vigor of the shoots. [Forester s Guide, 69.) 



3742. The best mode of cutting is evidently that of using a saw, and cutting the shoots 

 over in a slanting direction close by the surface. When the stool, after having been cut 

 several times, has acquired considerable diameter, it is customary in the midland 

 counties, Marshal states, to hollow it out in the centre, from a notion that by rotting 

 away the central roots, the circumferential stems will grow more vigorously, and become 

 as it were separate plants. This is in fact the case in very old copses. For several 

 cuttings, however, it must evidently be the safer policy to keep the stool highest in the 

 middle to throw off the rain, and preserve it sound. 



3743. Monteith says, *' It will be found, upon experiment, perfectly evident, that 

 stools dressed down to the surface of the ground, (taking care always not to loosen 

 the bark from the root, or allow it to be peeled off in the smallest degree below the 

 earth, but rounded down level to it,) will send forth the most vigorous shoots, and 

 stand the weather, and be the stoutest and best throughout the age of the coppice." 

 {Forester s Guide, 61.} From the late season at which the trees to be barked are generally 



