

156 PRACTICAL FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



coppice without a clear explanation of its divergence from Europ- 

 ean practice would convey a picture to the Europe-trained forester 

 quite unlike what he would see on the ground. ' The principal 

 differences are 



(a) Ordinarily coppice is felled and the shoots come up 

 principally from the same stools as before, i.e., one 

 stool supplies units of the crop in several successive 

 rotations. In Gorakhpur the definite aim is in theory 

 never to have the same stool producing a unit of the 

 crop more than once, i.e., at each felling stools from 

 which a pole is felled are discarded and new stools 

 obtained. This involves aiming at a dense under- 

 wood of poles from which come the stools which give 

 the new crop. Hence the treatment of the crop 

 between establishment and felling differs not only in 

 detail but in principle also from conventional coppico. 

 (6) We deliberately adopt a method of felling which forces 

 the shoots to appear at and below ground level. 

 Coming from very young, small stools, this means that 

 the new shoots rapidly become independent of the 

 present stool, especially as the sal in nature is inclined 

 to adopt this process itself in being burnt back and 

 dying back during the period of establishment. Hence 

 the crop soon assumes the appearance of high forest, 

 and also some of its attributes. Thinning admittedly 

 helps this, but can be ruled out as it ought to be a 

 routine measure in simple coppice as well. But quite 

 apart from that, if we have successfully obtained 

 our underwood of small poles, without any cleaning, 

 tending or thinning whatever, the forest will soon 

 assume, and continue in the outward and visible form 

 of high forest. In fact almost more so than high forest 

 itself, e.g., Amery's clear felling in Eanigarh, also 

 Domakhand sal, which contains trees up to 11' in girth 



