PRACTICAL FORESTRY. < 



against as conducive to decay and early death of the stoote. 

 After four years' growth the shoots should be thinned out, 

 leaving, say, four on each stool, and these preferably the 

 strongest, the work being carried out at any time from 

 November to the end of March, but not during frost. Upon 

 the kind of wood grown and uses for which it is designed 

 will depend very much the length of rotation pursued, for" 

 while Osiers might profitably be cut at the end of the second 

 year, ash, oak, and chestnut would not usually, even on 

 the best quality of soil, be felled sooner than from ten to 

 twelve years, and the poorer classes of coppice wood, 

 especially on light soil, at from twelve to sixteen years. It 

 should be remembered, however, that the duration of the 

 stool is usually proportionate to the length of the rotation 

 adopted, and with good management on fair soil the best 

 class of coppice wood has a duration of nearly a century. 

 In felling the coppice wood it is always advisable to cut as 

 near the ground level as possible, the shoots sent up having 

 the advantage of rooting in the ground and so extending 

 the area of the stool, the system of allowing the stools, by 

 careless cutting, to rise in some instances several feet from 

 the ground being averse to the best management. A sharp' 

 billhook should be used for all smaller shoots, alight well- 

 ground axe for those from 3 to say 6 inches in diameter, and 

 the cross-cut saw for all over that size. 



The coppice wood is usually sorted but after being cut 

 down, the best poles being laid aside for the use of the hop 

 grower, the next size for pit props or fencing as the demand! 

 may be, and so on until every pole has been arrange^ 

 according to what it may be intended for, the lop and ; 

 branches being bound into faggots for fire or oven-lighting. 

 Great care is necessary to avoid damage to the stools when 

 removing the fall, which is not usually done until just before 

 the young buds are shooting out, and consequently at the 

 time when injury is most easily brought about. The 

 trampling of horses and passage of wheels are most injurious 

 while the browsing of cattle should be carefully guarded 

 against. Good roads are always a great advantage in a' 

 coppice plantation, and to these as much of the produce aa 



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