256 BRITISH FOREST TR1 1 .> 



of reproduction. By felling the stems almost flush with the 

 ground, the stool-shoots can, however, be forced to throw 

 out roots for themselves, and thus become independent of the 

 parent stool. True stoles or suckers from roots are of com- 

 paratively infrequent occurrence, as these species have' not 

 usually a system of surface-roots. On the whole, maple and 

 sycamore are not well adapted for coppicing. They have 

 weaker recuperative power, and are much less able to heal 

 wounds than the ash, and consequently require more careful 

 treatment at the time of transplanting or of pruning. 



Like the ash, maple and sycamore are well placed in 

 copse as standards over the coppice, or in mixed forests 

 where fair enjoyment of light and air can be secured to them. 

 When cleared then at an age of 100 to 120 years, their boles 

 usually bring very fairly remunerative prices. 



Liability to Suffer from External Dangers. When special 

 measures are not taken to obviate danger from frost, both 

 species are apt to suffer severely, but especially the syca- 

 more ; late frosts in May are particularly dangerous to young 

 plants till they are over three feet in height. Endowed 

 with a good root-system, and on the whole bearing but a 

 moderate foliage, little danger is in general to be appre- 

 hended from storms. When fully exposed to the director 

 the refracted rays of the sun, a diseased condition of the 

 bole on the west or south-west side is often occasioned in 

 the sycamore, but is much less frequent on the thicker and 

 rougher-barked maple. Inundation is more fatal to them 

 than to any other species of forest tree, whilst roe, red-deer, 

 cattle, and hares all inflict wounds that are only healed with 

 difficulty ; but to counterbalance these weaknesses and de- 

 fects, maple and sycamore suffer less from injuries inflicted 

 by insect enemies than any other trees of the forest. 



They are not, however, altogether exempt from attacks by 

 insects. Lytta vesicatoria and species of Melolontha destroy 



