AMONG THE OAKS 127 



In forming fresh coppices, or for filling up 

 blank spaces, planting or layering shoots from 

 the nearest stools is much preferable to sowing 

 acorns, as, though somewhat more expensive, it 

 attains the desired object in a much shorter space 

 of time. Except where the soil is shallow, copse- 

 woods will be more likely than pure coppice to 

 meet the general requirements of the market in 

 the near future. Wherever coppices are desired 

 to be transformed into copses, this can easily be 

 done by storing standards, though it takes a long 

 time to effect the change completely. 



It may be observed with regard to oak, and 

 the observation also holds good for all other 

 kinds of crops of wood, that in the management 

 of highwoods the rotation of the fall will be 

 longest on the better classes of soil, while in 

 copse and coppice the most favourable soils and 

 situations permit the shortest rotation, and conse- 

 quently give the largest area for the annual fall. 

 This will be easily understood by the tables of 

 average annual growth included within chap- 

 ters ix and xi. That is to say, when the 

 crops are grown as highwoods for timber, the 

 capital represented by the soil and the growing 



