REGENERATION BY STOOL-SHOOTS. 381 



base, the shoots that spring up from that region form a circle wide 

 enough to enable several of them to survive. Hence cutting by the 

 base serves to increase very considerably the number of stems at 

 each exploitation. The result of such increase is seen in an ever- 

 widening circle of clumps which may all be traced to the original 

 stool at the centre ; the circular arrangement of course becomes 

 eventually obscured, when several circles, widening out round 

 their respective adjacent original stools, begin to intersect one 

 another. The number of stools increase in geometrical progression 

 at eich successive exploitation, and an originally open forest may 

 hence become rapidly denser till the crop is complete. It is ob- 

 vious that if the stools are cut above a certain height, no increase 

 in their number is possible, for at each exploitation the very same 

 tree has to be cut over again. 



(vii) As a consequence of all the preceding advantages, each 

 stool cut flush with the ground produces a thick spreading clump 

 and contributes very powerfully to the early formation and closing 

 up of the leaf-canopy and the protection of the soil, which is laid 

 bare at every exploitation. 



(viii) As a further consequence of the preceding conditiors, 

 when the stools are cut back flush with the ground, the trees re- 

 main sound and healthy right down to the base, and thus not orf y 

 yield a larger quantity and higher quality of timber, but furrish 

 better stools for the production of the next generation. Moreover, 

 the coppicing power of the trees is thereby prolonged. 



Some species can throw up shoots from the lowest point of the 

 crown of the roots, and this even if the central porti >n of the 

 stool has been removed and the main roots completely disconnected 

 from each other, e. g. Zizyphus spp,, Acacia Catechu, teak, &c. 

 If wood is valuable and the price of the additional wood secured 

 covers or even nearly covers the cost of the special operation, 

 stems of such species, from about (> inches and upwards in dia- 

 meter, should be cut inside the ground or stubbed out altogether, 

 according to the circumstances of the case, thereby securing the 

 production of shoots which are equal in aspect, stability, and 

 soundness to the best seedlings. It is unnecessary to stub out 

 smaller stools, as their insignificant si/e cannot, interfere with the 

 soundness and health of the future coppice, and moreover the 

 small amount of wood in their underground portion would hardly 

 ever be worth the trouble or the expense of getting out. 



Tiler.- is only a single exe3ptioii to the general rule laid down 

 regarding the height at which stool-; sli3.il I bj cut, a:i 1 th.it o^ 



