COPPICE WITH STANDARDS. 135 



there are different ages of standards. They may be 



thus termed : Standards of the 



1st class, or 1st class reserves, those of one rotation. 



2nd 2nd two 



3rd 3rd three 



4th 4th four 



Old reserves or standards (veterans), those which 



count five or more rotations. 



With respect to the action of cover exercised by 

 the reserve, it is provided against, as far as possible, 

 by the choice and the number of the standards. 

 Lastly it is necessary to pay attention to the 

 distribution of the standards in the interest of the 

 good vegetation of the reserve itself. 



CHOICE OF STANDARDS. In the selection of 

 standards, account must be taken of their origin, 

 the species to which they belong, and their shape. 



By origin is to be understood whether they are 

 derived from seedlings (tellers) or from shoots and 

 suckers. Theoretically seedlings alone ought to 

 form the reserve : they are longer lived. Although 

 at the beginning they grow much less rapidly than 

 shoots, they are not long in overtaking them, and, 

 after fifty or sixty years, they go ahead and reach 

 the largest dimensions that the species to which 

 they belong can attain. Their foot is always sound. 

 On the other hand, the shoot which has sprung up 

 on a thick stool has a misshapen foot, rotten to a 

 greater or less height, sometimes as much as six 

 feet. This arises from the fact that, as the shoot 

 increases in girth, it gradually grows round the 

 stool which has already begun to rot. This decay 



