BRITISH FOKI.ST TREES 335 



withes is then better than when some are taken, and others 

 left to develop into stronger material. Thus even in newly 

 formed osier beds all the shoots are harvested at the end of 

 the first year, although of course the out-turn is much less 

 than later on, when the stools have thoroughly established 

 themselves, and are in full vigorous production ; S. acutifolia, 

 however, is utilised for the first time at the end of the second 

 year. In other localities, no great weight is laid on the first 

 year's growth, but the three or four yearling shoots are cut 

 back during winter to about eight to twelve inches, the first 

 crop being harvested at the end of the second year. 



On somewhat marshy soils which, after having been 

 ploughed and planted up with slips at about sixteen inches 

 apart, are annually coppiced for basket withes, the stools are 

 apt to become weak and unproductive as early as the twelfth 

 to sixteenth year ; they may then be grubbed up, and the land 

 used agriculturally for several years without manuring being 

 requisite. Land that has been exhausted by continuous crops 

 of cereals can be essentially recruited by one such rotation 

 of willow-culture, and pasture-land similarly treated is said to 

 be characterised by exceptionally nutritive crops of grass. 



On other varieties of soil, the annual utilisation of the crop 

 of shoots affects the qualities of the stools so much, that a 

 re-formation of the osier-beds is generally necessary after 

 twenty years' coppicing. 



C. Smaller Trees^ Shrubs, anJ />V//y//<v/W /// Coppice. 



Along with the shoots and suckers of the forest in-. 

 great many minor trees (with the exception of the yew) and 

 shrubs find a suitable home in coppice grown under 

 standards, and often give fair remuneration in return, partly 

 in the wood and withes they yield, partly in protecting and 



