172 Practical Forestry 



decay and early death to the stools. After four years' 

 growth the shoots should be thinned out, leaving, say, four 

 on each stool, and these preferably the strongest, the work 

 being carried out at any time from November to the end of 

 March, but not during frosty weather. 



Upon the kind of wood grown and uses for which it is 

 designed will depend very much the length of rotation pur- 

 sued, for while osiers might profitably be cut at the end of 

 the second year, ash, oak and chestnut would not usually, 

 even on the best quality of soil, be felled sooner than from 

 ten to twelve years, and the poorer classes of coppice wood, 

 especially on light soil, at from twelve to sixteen years. It 

 should be remembered, however, that the duration of the 

 stool is usually proportionate to the length of the rotation 

 adopted, and with good management on fair soil the best 

 class of coppice wood has a duration of nearly a century. In 

 felling the coppice wood it is always advisable to cut as near 

 the ground level as possible, the shoots sent up having the 

 advantage of rooting in the ground and so extending the 

 area of the stool. The system of allowing the stools, by 

 careless cutting, to rise in some instances several feet from 

 the ground is contrary to the methods adopted under the 

 best management. A sharp billhook should be used for all 

 smaller shoots, a light well-ground axe for those from 3 to, 

 say, 6 inches in diameter, and the cross-cut saw for all over 

 that size. 



The coppice wood is usually sorted out after being cut 

 down, the best poles being laid aside for the use of the hop 

 grower, the next size for pit props, or fencing according to 

 the demand of the moment, and so on until every pole has 

 been sorted according to the use for which it may be in- 

 tended, the lop and branches being bound into faggots for 

 fire or oven-lighting. 



The following are the various uses to which underwood is 

 applied : hoops, hurdles, crate rods, pea stakes, spars for 

 thatching, withes for faggot-tying, sheep cages, hop poles, 

 brooms, broom handles, skewers for butchers, chisel handles, 

 plant stakes, whip handles, gunpowder wood and faggots. 



Profits will vary from 15s. to 25s. per acre, exclusive of 



