CHAPTER XVII 



COPPICE AND UNDERWOOD : THE MANAGEMENT 

 OF COPPICE WOOD 



ALTHOUGH coppice wood has deteriorated considerably in 

 value during late years, yet in certain districts and on suit- 

 able soils its cultivation is still to be recommended. Un- 

 fortunately, however, the uses to which coppice wood are in 

 the main applied are much localized, and this, with the 

 bulky nature of the commodity, will to a very considerable 

 extent restrict its sale to the localities in which it is used. 

 Thus in parts of Kent and Sussex hop poles find a ready 

 market, pea and bean stakes in the gardening districts 

 around London, crate wood in the neighbourhood of potter- 

 ies, willow and ash in basket-making localities, and faggot 

 wood wherever kilns abound, or in the environs of populous 

 districts generally. It will, therefore, be seen that next to 

 the question of soil probably the most important is that of 

 local demand, so that in forming a coppice plantation only 

 such underwood should be used as there is a demand for in 

 the particular district. Foreign importations and preferen- 

 tial carriage rates have also dealt hardly with the profitable 

 cultivation of coppice wood. Coppice wood may either be 

 grown alone or in company with large standard trees, but 

 the latter must at all times be kept sufficiently thin, so as not 

 to overshadow and kill out the undergrowth. There are 

 advantages, too, in employing standards for the protection 

 they afford to the young shoots in spring, as also in the 

 amount realized for the periodical thinnings to which they 

 may be subjected. For this purpose the oak is to be re- 

 commended, but such wide-spreading trees as the ash, elm 

 and beech, which produce so dense a shade as to kill out or 



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