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CHAPTER II. 



THE HARVESTING OP WOODLAND PRODUCE, AND ITS 

 PREPARATION AND SALE. 



HIGHWOODS allow of thinnings about once every 4 or 5 to 8 or 

 10 years, according to the kind and the age of the crop, before 

 they mature and give their final yield in timber. But in 

 addition to timber they may also yield minor produce in shape 

 of tanning-bark, tree-seeds, resin, &c. The harvesting of coppice- 

 growth and of timber from high woods takes place by cutting 

 or felling. Osier-holts are cut either with sharp knives for 

 small rods, or with clean-cutting light billhooks. Coppices and 

 small thinnings are cut with handbills or billhooks, while axes 

 and saws are used for felling timber; and when stumps are 

 removed they have to be extracted by jacks and other machines 

 giving strong leverage. 



The most effective bills for coppices and small thinnings are 

 those with a well-balanced handle and fairly heavy, and the 

 stroke is most effective when the pole can be slightly bent down 

 with the left hand while the stroke is being delivered by the 

 right. The cuts should be clean and slanting, and as near the 

 ground as possible ; for if the cut is ragged and splintered, rain- 

 water lodges and the stump soon rots ; while if high snags 

 are left, the stools do not shoot well, and soon get worn out. 

 Large poles and trees are cut either with axe or with axe and 

 saw. There are various kinds of axes, differing in the shape 



