164 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



are also apt to lose their reproductive power after 

 being coppiced once or twice, renewals will have 

 to be made if self-sown seedlings be not abundant ; 

 and layering of outside shoots will often prove 

 the cheapest and easiest method of providing the 

 new crop. 



Both maples thrive best in rather humid 

 localities, and in the vicinity of the sea-coast. A 

 considerable amount of soil-moisture is also re- 

 quisite for their best development, and the finest 

 growth is attainable where there is a fair amount 

 of moisture both in the soil and the subsoil. 

 Where the land is wet or the subsoil water- 

 logged, however, their larger development is apt 

 to be checked, and they remain stunted, or die 

 off prematurely. Except as regards dangers from 

 late spring frosts in damp, low-lying localities 

 they are hardy trees, and they are not at all difficult 

 to grow as regards soil. Few of our forest trees, 

 indeed, thrive on so many different soils and 

 situations as sycamore, which does well on all 

 sorts of lands from light sand to stiff clay, and 

 from low-lying, but well-drained, sheltered tracks 

 on to the breezy uplands, and even on wind-swept 

 exposures. But, as with most of the hardwoods, 



