COPPICE-UNDER-STANDARDS 



95 



and maple are good associates. Even with light foliaged oak three to 

 six per cent of the coppice is lost through shading. The alder and linden 

 are not so good on account of their thicker foliage, and beech can be 

 used only in exceptional circumstances. The foliage of the hornbeam 

 is too thin. Most stands of coppice-under-standards have been 

 ruined through careless selection of the trees to be reserved. These 

 reserved trees should be carefully distributed over the area so that the 

 crowns can be isolated. According to Inspecteur Galmiche [233] the 

 following space should be allowed for oak standards of the following 

 ages: 50 years, 22 square yards; 100 years, 89 square yards; 150 years, 

 145 square yards. According to Jolyet two-thirds to one-third the grow- 

 ing space should be reserved for the coppice and a normal number of 

 reserves 12 are per acre: 1R = 20, 2R = 12, 3R = 8, 4R = 4. Broil- 

 Hard prefers not to specify any exact number of reserves as an ideal, 

 but advises the forester to mark as many as possible if good trees can 

 be found. He cautions against stopping the reservation of standards 

 simply because 20 to 25 or more have been secured. If good trees can 

 be secured it is better to go ahead and mark them. In a coppice-under- 

 standards forest near Oloron in the Pyrenees the foresters are guard- 

 ing against keeping too many standards. They argue that, with too 

 much of a reserve, the coppice does not grow well in youth and the 

 reserves do not develop so thriftily. As explained by the local inspector 

 the Nancy Forest School teaches the value of retaining many standards 

 for the simple reason that they yield a larger percentage of timber, but 

 rather than adopt this practice the local inspector favored conversion 

 to a high forest. The normal number per acre in this section is four 3R, 

 twelve 2R, and twenty-four 1R standards. It is claimed that with 

 many reserves they cannot grow such good trees and the oak is pre- 

 vented from coming in as thriftily as it otherwise might. Major Hirsch, 

 the owner of the famous forest of Amboise, reserves all the standards he 

 can secure and in view of eventual conversions this seems the best policy 

 for those who can afford it. Badre believes in greatly increasing the number 

 of standards to secure quick conversions, especially in Normandy where up 



12 The French name their reserves as follows : 



