AMONG THE OAKS 125 



can very easily be still further hastened, by simple 

 and ingenious means, malpractices in the teak 

 forests of Burma have long shown. 



Within certain limits, something can be done 

 by pruning to improve the stems of oaks that 

 have been allowed to run prematurely in branches. 

 But the operation requires care, and is often 

 attended with danger, as will be more particularly 

 referred to in chapter ix. 



The decline in the price of tanning-bark has of 

 course also affected very prejudicially the remune- 

 rativeness of oak coppices grown specially for the 

 production of this material. In the early Jacobean 

 statute already referred to, the cutting of coppice 

 for oak-bark was directed to take place from 

 April till the last day of June, so that the young 

 shoots springing from the stools should have 

 time to become strong and stout before the early 

 frosts came in autumn. 



The treatment of oak coppice, in places where 

 it can still be grown with profit, is extremely 

 simple. In Belgium and Holland, along the 

 Rhine, and in the adjoining districts, coppice 

 woods of oak are still grown extensively, and 

 yield good returns ; but in Britain the growth of 



