THE TREATMENT OF GAME PRESERVES. 223 



(2.) woods so arranged are just what pheasants like ; a 

 dense underwood, over which groups of trees (standards) 

 are scattered. In this case, the age classes of the 

 standards form separate groups. The area occupied 

 by the underwood on the one hand and the standards 

 (or patches of high forest) on the other, depends on 

 circumstances and more particularly on the objects 

 which the proprietor has in view. 

 Procedure to he followed at each Cuttin;/. — When the under- 

 wood has reached the desired age, in our case twent}' years, 

 the first business to be attended to is the selection of the new 

 standards, in our example twenty-five oaks and twenty-five ash 

 and larch, or any other species which may be desired. It is 

 essential to select, in the first instance, more than this number, 

 as some may be injured by the subsequent fall of the standards. 

 Then the rest of the underwood is cut. The next step is to 

 cut the standards which are to come down. As soon as the 

 material has been removed, the area must be examined for 

 seedling plants of the desired species. If a suflicient number 

 is found, no planting will be required ; but if this is not 

 the case, all vacant spaces must be filled up with healthy, 

 vigorous plants, or new groups of standards started. It is 

 impossible to say how many plants may be required, but in 

 the majority of cases 400 per acre will suffice, even if no 

 natural seedlings at all are found. Of these, about 100 should 

 be oak and 300 chiefly ash, with a moderate number of larch 

 and other desirable kinds. These will grow for twenty years, 

 when the fifty best will be left as new standards, and the 

 others, oak, ash and other hardwoods, are cut over to produce 

 new stools for coppice in the place of those which have died 

 or are too old to produce vigorous shoots. The final step is 

 to go over the coupes cut four, eight, twelve and sixteen 

 years ago, to free the plants from threatening stool- shoots 

 and perhaps thin out the shoots where there are too many on 

 one stool. 



In order to give sufficient time for all these operations, it 



