68 



up ; and we have often seen growths of oak, Spanish 

 chesnut, ash, and plane, in three years, twelve and 

 fifteen feet high, and six inches in girth at the 

 roots j it is therefore always advisable, and more 

 profitable, to dress up the old stools properly, and 

 rear the saplings therefrom, if fresh and wholesome, 

 than to shift the shoot to be reared up to one of the 

 fibres of the old roots. If there is vacant ground on 

 any of the sides of the stool, the superabundant sap 

 may be saved to great advantage, by laying bare 

 some of the leading roots nearest it with an axe, and 

 it will send up a shoot or two which will fill new 

 ground ; this should be particularly attended to in 

 all coppice woods ;* but here we are treading in a 

 coppice of from ten to sixteen years old, — and will 

 thinning at this age do it good, either as to quality 

 or quantity ? I say it will. For example, I re- 

 quested a proprietor of oak coppice woods in Stir- 

 lingshire, for leave to try an experiment on two ne- 

 glected acres of oak coppice, at the age of fifteen 

 years. The wood contained about thirty acres, 

 which had been all cut in one year ; with the con- 

 sent of the proprietor and assistance of his land stew- 

 ard and forester, we selected and measured off two 

 acres as near a-kin to each other as it was possible, 

 and so similar in growth, &c. that not the least dif- 

 ference was perceivable betwixt them ; a halfpenny 

 being tossed up which was to be the acre thinned 

 out : one of the acres was immediately thinned, 

 leaving three, four, and not exceeding five shoots 

 on any one stool ; the thinnings were barked, 

 although of course, (as should always be done,) the 



* Sec Plate 2d. Figures 3d and 5th. 



