FORESTRY AND FIP]LD CROPS. 105 



and other inferior pieces being burnt. The following are the 

 two principal forms now practised in Europe : — 



(I. Coitpirc roinhiiicd icIIJi the Cultiratlon of Fiehl Craps. 



After each cutting over of the coppice wood the twigs and 

 other valueless pieces of wood, together with turf, are burned. 

 This process is efiected either by distributing the brushwood 

 evenly over the area and letting the fire run over it, or by 

 mixing it with turf, piling it up in heaps and burning after 

 the material has become sufficiently dry. In either case the 

 ashes are scattered, the soil is worked, and then used for one 

 or two seasons for the production of field crops, which grow 

 between the new coppice shoots. 



It is said that, with proper care, the yield of forests so 

 treated is not smaller than that of ordinary coppice woods. 

 The returns from the field crops do rarely more than cover 

 the outlay on account of labour, seed corn, etc. ; hence the 

 system is now restricted to hilly parts, where a sufficient area 

 of permanent fields is not available, and where additional 

 occupation for the existing population is wanted, the forest 

 lands not being of sufficiently good quality to make their 

 conversion into permanent fields desirable. 



The species of tree which is most commonly cultivated in 

 this manner is the oak, and next to it the birch and hornbeam, 

 while Scotch pine is frequently brought in after the cultivation 

 of cereals has ceased, to help in covering the ground and 

 increasing the revenue. 



The cereals usually grown are : — 



Buckwheat — Polijfionum Far/ojii/nnn and tdrtariruiii, L.. and 

 rye — Secale cereale Mhevnum. 



The buckwheat is sown immediately after the clearing and 

 burning, say in June, and harvested 6 or 7 weeks afterwards. 

 The rye is sown in autumn and reaped in the following 

 summer, when the cultivation of field crops ceases. In some 

 cases the buckwheat and rye are sown together, the former 



