AMONG THE OAKS 121 



of big trees in spring, after most of the coppice 

 in the copses has come into leaf. In the 

 Selborne district of Hampshire the price of the 

 bark of large oaks has fallen, from a very high 

 figure formerly, to 6ys. 6d. a ton in 1895, and 

 down even to 405. in 1899; and throughout 

 the whole of Britain prices have greatly declined. 

 With such low rates it may sometimes be ques- 

 tionable if the margin of profit over the cost 

 of stripping makes spring felling and barking 

 remunerative, for the underwood will always be 

 damaged most in spring. 



Perhaps in this particular matter, too, we may 

 receive useful hints in considering what is done 

 in other countries. In the oakwoods near Hildes- 

 heim, in Hanover, the big oak trees, when they 

 have reached their full maturity and are marked 

 for felling, are barked in late spring, when the 

 flow of sap is most active. But as winter felling 

 is preferable to the fall in spring, both on account 

 of the greater durability of the timber and of the 

 damage that must be done to the young crop on 

 the ground, the barked stems are allowed to stand 

 till the following winter. There is, it is true, 

 the drawback of the loss of a season's growth, 



