200 TREATMENT OF COPPICE SYSTEMS 



grown, and for Spanish Chestnut 50 should be ample. Four- 

 or five-year-old plants should be used, and each must be 

 protected from rabbits. Small guards of wire netting put 

 round each tree and kept in place by a stake will cost about 

 id. each. But a cheaper method is to make a similar guard 

 of tarred felt, which will cost about |d. each, and be equally 

 effective. 



Sometimes bigger trees are planted out with a view 

 to lessening the liability of their being choked by the quick- 

 growing shoots from the stools ; but there is really no 

 advantage in this method. 



Large trees, say 7 feet high, usually make only a small 

 growth until their roots are established and the extra expense 

 of planting these large trees would be far greater than the 

 expense incurred in cutting back any strong shoots that 

 threaten the smaller trees after they have been planted out 

 for 3 or 5 years. 



The cost of planting 100 4-year-old plants, each pro- 

 tected with a piece of tarred felt, will be about IDS. 6d., 

 or say ijd. each, provided the plants be raised in a home 

 nursery ; except in the case of Spanish Chestnut, when the 

 cost would be about I2S. 6d. per 100, or i^d. each. 



In many cases the wire netting or tarred felt is omitted, 

 as it is not so serious if plants grown for coppice are bitten 

 by rabbits as is the case if they have been planted for the 

 production of timber ; but it is usually very indiscreet to 

 omit this protection. 



The plants are sometimes cut over at the collar at the 

 time of planting, with a view to numerous stool shoots being 

 thrown out during the current rotation, but it is best generally 

 to wait and cut them over at the beginning ' of the next 

 rotation. 



Occasionally sowing is resorted to instead of planting, and 

 in the case of Oak it has proved very successful. The acorns 

 should be dibbled in, where the underwood is thin, during 

 the autumn the underwood is cut ; and all underwood 

 should be cleared off the area by the middle of April. 



It is usually impossible to get the underwood converted 



