FELLING RULES. 241 



[In tropical countries, where large woody climbers abound in 

 forests, these should be severed near the ground, two years before 

 felling, so that the stems of the climbers which frequently enlace 

 several trees may become rotten before the felling takes place ; 

 otherwise a whole group of trees may have to be felled at once, if it is 

 desired to fell any of them. — Tr.] 



vi. Trees exceeding 6 inches in diameter, chest-Mgh, should 

 always be felled with the saw and axe ; smaller trees and 

 very large trees may be felled with the axe alone. 



In all cases the cut should be as near the soil as possible, and, 

 as a rule, the height of the stump should not exceed the third of 

 its diameter, or say one foot for large trees and six inches for 

 small ones. Exceptions, however, occur to this rule : thus in the 

 Harz, stumps three feet high are left, as they make the best 

 charcoal for blast-furnaces ; in other places forest rights compel 

 the managers to leave high stumps. [Mahogany and other 

 tropical trees which have large buttresses rising from the roots 

 are felled by erecting platforms above these buttresses. — Tr.] 

 Wherever the trees are uprooted, care must be taken that this 

 is thoroughly done, so as to save all rootwood over 1^ inches in 

 diameter, and the holes made in the ground must be carefully 

 filled again. 



vii. Wherever coppicing is effected, only the axe or billhook and 

 not the saw should be used, in order that smooth surfaces not 

 liable to decay may be left to the stools. 



The cut surface should be quite smooth and the stools must 

 not be split, nor the bark torn from them ; poles and saplings 

 must not therefore be bent over by the woodcutters whilst 

 they are being cut, and every woodcutter must use sharp 

 tools. 



In the case of all trees which reproduce by suckers (elm, white 

 alder, lime, aspen, common maple, hazel and most willows) and 

 of those which shoot out from collum-buds, provided the stools 

 are not very old, the cut should be as deep into the ground 

 as possible. In this way the shoots will come out close to, or 

 even below the surface of the ground, and will produce new 

 roots for themselves, and thus new stools will be formed. The 



VOL. V. R 



