COPPICE WITH STANDARDS. 137 



On the other side there is a flattening out of the 

 foot, which contains the whole or a portion of the 

 englohed stool. 



As for suckers, they have a "better future before 

 them than stool shoots, inasmuch as they have their 

 own roots and are therefore independent. But the 

 species which throw up suckers are not generally 

 those which it is expedient to reserve. 



The choice of standards is regulated by species, 

 insomuch as only those ought to be reserved from 

 which we can expect useful timber. This is tanta- 

 mount to saying that the oak is the most valuable 

 of all species, and what is more, its very light cover 

 causes little injury to the underwood. After the 

 oak, for the same reasons, preference is to be given 

 to the ash, the common elm and the two large 

 maples (A. platanoides and A.pseudoplatanus). The 

 beech and hornbeam only come in the second place 

 especially on account of the facility with which they 

 reproduce themselves by seed in the underwood. 

 But it is necessary to preserve a few trees of these 

 species, because the beech does not copse as well as 

 other kinds, and the hornbeam, though it throws up 

 abundant shoots and that to an advanced age, has a 

 light seed which ripens nearly every year, and there- 

 fore makes it useful for filling up blanks. But only 

 a few are wanted, and these ought not generally to 

 be preserved for more than a few rotations. These 

 two species possess a very thick cover, which destroys 

 everything underneath, when the trees are old. 

 They do not gain perceptibly in quality by growing 

 isolated ; and sufficient timber is obtained from them 



