METHODS AND PRACTICE 187 



employed for holding surplus plants at the end of the 

 season, and which come in for filling up blanks the 

 following year. It should, however, be more univer- 

 sally employed for all bad transplanters, and in all cases 

 in which doubtful ground or unfavourable sites have to be 

 planted, forming an intermediate stage between the public 

 nursery and the plantation. 



Suitable Systems 



At the present time there are three fairly distinct 

 systems in operation in the British Isles: even-aged high 

 forest, coppice luith standards, and the system of selection 

 fellings or uneven-aged high forest, which is worked more 

 often to suit the convenience of the owner than in the 

 interests of good forestry. 



The first named is practically the only sound system to 

 adopt where returns in the shape of high-class timber are 

 expected. Coppice with standards is practically obsolete 

 as a profitable system, while uneven-aged woods, although 

 capable of giving very high returns under skilful manage- 

 ment and on good soils and situations, invariably de- 

 generate under ordinary management into a policy of 

 taking as much out of, and putting as little into, the woods 

 as possible, resulting eventually in their exhaustion and 

 depreciation. 



But while the high forest can alone satisfy modern 

 requirements in timber and money, coppice with standards 

 may be still retained under special circumstances, as 

 where game cover is a primary consideration, or a special 

 class of timber is wanted. Selection fellings, again, are 

 well adapted for ornamental woodlands in which clear- 

 ings might be objected to on aesthetic grounds. 



But, apart from such cases, economically managed woods 

 must be worked on a system which enables the greatest 



