6 S Y L V A BOOK in 



are a clearing, that the young, and the seedlings may 

 suffer the least interruption ; And if the winter pre- 

 vious to your felling copp'ces, you preserve them well 

 from cattle, it will recompence your care. 



5. It is advis'd not to cut off the browse-wood of 

 oaks in copp'ces, but to suffer it to fall off, as where 

 trees stand very close, it usually does : I do not well 

 comprehend why yet it should be spar'd so long. 



6. When you espy a cluster of plants growing as 

 it were all in a bunch, it shall suffice that you preserve 

 the fairest sapling, cutting all the rest away. And if 

 it chance to be a chesnut, service, or like profitable 

 tree, clear it from the droppings and incumbrances 

 of other trees, that it may thrive the better : Then, 

 as you pass along, prune and trim-up all the young 

 wavers, covering such roots as lie bare and expos'd, 

 with fresh mould. There are some who direct the 

 lopping of young oaks at a competent distance from 

 the stem, and that while the wounds are healing this 

 would advantage the under-wood ; but I cannot say 

 it would be without prejudice to the timber. 



7. Cut not above half a foot from the ground, nay 

 the closer the better, and that to the south, slope- 

 wise ; stripping up such as you spare from their 

 extravagant branches, water-boughs, &c. that hinder 

 the growth of others : Always remembring (before 

 you so much as enter upon this work) to preserve 

 sufficient plash-pole about the verge and bounds of 

 the copp'ce for fence and security of what you leave ; 

 and for this, something less than a rod may suffice : 

 Then raking your wood clear of spray, chips and all 

 incumbrances, shut it up from the cattle, the longer 

 the better. 



8. By the statute, men were bound to enclose 



