400 POLLARDING. 



one, as it gives the shoots a broad base from which to spring up, and 

 thus prevents overcrowding, enables them to grow up more rapidly, 

 and facilitates their exploitation. In either case, the system of re- 

 moving the shoots at their point of insertion cannot be continued 

 indefinitely, as the head of the trunk or the stumps of the branches, 

 as the case may be, ultimately become extremely knotty and 

 covered with thick bark, whereby their reproductive power is very 

 considerably reduced. When this stage is reached, the larger 

 shoots should be cut off some distance above their point of insertion, 

 as in the original second mode of exploitation, and new parent 

 stumps formed. 



At each exploitation the entire poll may be removed or only 

 a selected number of shoots. As far as the pollarding is concerned, 

 it is of no consequence at all which plan is followed, provided 

 the cutting does not take place during the season of vegetation, in 

 which case of course some shoots must be left in order to elaborate 

 enough reserve food for the following season's growth. The 

 complete clearing of the poll is obviously less troublesome, and 

 is most easily effected with a light axe or bill-hook. For the 

 removal of selected shoots not more than an inch thick strong 

 shears (Fig. 115 and 116) constitute the best tool; for larger shoots 

 a pruning bill should be used. 



The exploitation may be annual or come round at intervals of 

 two or more years, according to the size of shoots required and 

 the object of the pollarding. Thus if an abundant supply of ten- 

 der succulent leaves is required, the exploitation ought to be annual 

 or, at the outside, biennial. So again, if various sizes of shoots 

 are required, a complete clearing may be made at regular intervals 

 of several years, the intermediate exploitations being only partial. 



2. Value and employment of the method. 



As said before, pollarding is not a mode of reproduction, but a 

 definite method of exploitation. Its adoption is often necessary 

 because no other mode of regeneration or exploitation would fulfil 

 the object required, and its furnishes much better shoots for wicker 

 work than can be obtained by any other method. Owing to the 

 great number of shoots growing together on one and the same 

 stump, they are thinner, longer between the nodes, and less well 

 lignified, and, therefore, more flexible than shoots springing up on 

 stools and roots. The very much brighter illumination enjoyed 

 by the elevated mass of shoots forming the pollard enables it to 

 produce much more leaf and wood, during the first few years at 



