69 



unthrifty and dying shoots were taken away, still 

 there was from the thinnings one ton two hundred 

 weight of bark, which brought only about L.ll ; the 

 bark being not the best in quality. The two acres were 

 allowed to grow in this state for nine years, till the 

 age of twenty-four years from cutting time ; and it 

 is a notorious fact, that the acre thinned out pro- 

 duced near a fourth part more bark than the acre 

 not thinned, and the bark too of better quality, and 

 the timber of the thinned acre brought near double 

 the value of the other, as many of the shoots were 

 fit for cot-house purposes, and not a few for spokes. 

 This shows at once the propriety and advantage of 

 thinning coppice woods, even although neglected to 

 a considerable age. But it is the greatest loss and 

 folly imaginable to allow natural woods to come to 

 this age before being thinned, as the growth of the 

 whole is injured, and of course less productive ; but 

 when such has been allowed to stand too long ; still by 

 giving them a thinning, they will be found both pro- 

 fitable for the present crop, and advantageous for 

 the growths in future, by having fresh healthy roots 

 when cut over, to rear the new growths from. 



No. XII. 



Rearing up unenclosed Natural Stools, 



It is a notorious fact that throughout most of 

 the counties comprising the Highlands of Scot- 

 land, particularly the whole of Argyleshire, that 

 there are millions of stools or roots of oak and 

 some other kinds of trees detached throughout 



