276 Poachers and Poaching. 



The enemies of the trees, and the only ones 

 which stop their growth, are two. Insects with 

 their borings, and rabbits. The latter, in severe 

 winters, eat the bark of the young trees to a 

 surprising height from the ground, and by so 

 doing impede their growth. 



The second industry to which the coppice 

 woods give rise, and by far the most interesting, 

 is the charcoal burning, almost peculiar to this 

 part of the country. We shall detail it as 

 practised in the extensive Honeybee Woods. 

 At the felling of the copse the wood is roughly 

 divided into two " sets." The thick upright 

 poles, of whatever tree, are stacked for " bobbin 

 wood," and the thinner parts await the charcoal 

 burners. These are also the men that from 

 autumn to spring are busily employed in cutting, 

 stacking, and arranging the wood. 



The first months of spring are employed in 

 peeling the oak for its bark, and from early 

 summer into autumn the actual charcoal burn- 

 ing is done. The men who take part in the 

 lonely trade live in rude huts in the woods, 

 thatched with heather and bracken. Heaps of 

 dried ferns serve them for beds, and their wants 

 are few. Their huts are fixed first as to shelter 

 and the presence of water, then with regard to 

 proximity to their labours. From this ground 

 they are never absent, the burning wood heaps 

 requiring constant attention and aid from a quick 



