218 FORESTRY IX THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



each, or one of 100 acres and two of fifty acres each, or any 

 other combination, the soil and situation being suitable for 

 the growth of oak, ash and larch. 



Determination of the Rotation of the Underwood. — The first 

 point to decide is what age the underwood is to reach. The 

 answer depends, of course, on local conditions. In some cases 

 the underwood is cut at the age of ten years, in others at 

 twelve, fifteen, twenty, or more years. In the High Meadow 

 woods it has been decided to cut it at thirty-five years. This 

 is a somewhat high age, but it has been adopted chiefly because 

 at that age the underwood yields material fit for pit-timber. 

 Short rotations of the underwood have the important dis- 

 advantage that the overwood will develop strong branches low 

 down and yield stems clear of branches only to a moderate 

 height, but the advantage that stools will send up vigorous 

 coppice shoots. Long rotations of the underwood have the 

 advantage that the overwood or standards will have boles 

 clear of branches to a considerable height and thus yield 

 timber of high value, but the disadvantage that a certain 

 portion of the stools will send up either feeble shoots or none 

 at all. A middle course is probably best. If the underwood 

 consists chiefly of ash, with an admixture of hazel, the 

 rotation of it might be fixed, on fairly good land, at twenty to 

 twenty-five years, according to local conditions. In this way, 

 the standards of oak and ash can be kept clear of branches to 

 a height of about thirty feet. Let us say, for the sake of 

 illustration, that twenty years has been chosen. 



To show^ the favourable effect of a fairly long rotation of the 

 underwood upon the shape of the standards, attention is 

 invited to the appended illustration of a coppice with standards 

 wood in the Prince d'Arenberg's forest near Valenciennes. 

 The rotation of the underwood is twenty-five years. 



Division of Area into Annual Coupes. — The second stej) is to 

 arrange the woods into twenty coupes, or cutting areas, of 

 approximately equal extent and to deal with one coupe in each 

 year. In our example that coupe would l)e equal to 200^20=10 



