SIMPLE COPPICE. 121 



inundations. In that case the stools ought to be cut 

 just a little higher than the level usually reached by 

 the water, so as to prevent their being covered. 

 The advantages of cutting down to the ground are 

 very great. As the most numerous shoots are 

 derived from dormant buds, by cutting the stool in 

 the manner indicated, they spring up from under the 

 ground, or at least in contact with it. This serves 

 them as a point d'appui, without which they could 

 not resist the force of the wind and the weight of 

 superincumbent snow or hoar-frost. But the chief 

 advantage lies in the fact that they will develop their 

 own roots and thus become entirely independent of 

 the parent stool. 



In this way may be explained the, so-to-say, 

 indefinite duration of simple coppice containing no 

 reserves, unable therefore to renew themselves by 

 seed, and in which, from time immemorial, planting 

 up has never been resorted to. Moreover, this fact 

 may be directly observed in all coppices. Frequently 

 clurqps of shoots may be seen entirely independent of 

 each other, but arranged in the form of a circle of 

 variable diameter. These clumps are derived from 

 a single original stool, the centre of which has dis- 

 appeared. This phenomenon may go on from the 

 formation of the clump, in the middle of which the 

 old stool is still to be seen, till the shoots become 

 quite separate owing to its gradual decay. This 

 circle, which is sometimes called a fairy ring, goes on 

 increasing until there is room enough in the middle 

 for shoots and fresh stools. The arrangement then 

 becomes indistinct, and is not easily recognised. 



