COPPICE WITH STANDARDS. 155 



more fatal here than in high forests, since the rota- 

 tions are shorter, and independently of that, the soil 

 remains only too long exposed after each exploitation. 

 For this reason, the thinning must consist solely in 

 pruning some of the poles and in extracting a few 

 shoots. In a clump of shoots, only the strongest 

 grow up vertically, as there is nothing to keep them 

 down. The weaker shoots are more or less sup- 

 pressed ; they grow only in the direction whence 

 light can reach them, and thus become more and 

 more inclined, until they trail along the ground 

 (trailers). It is these trailers which injure seedlings 

 most, since they more immediately overhang them, 

 and they must be got rid of by the thinning. 



There may be some advantage in giving wider 

 space to the strong shoots to allow them to gain 

 in diameter ; but it must not be forgotten that in 

 a well-grown coppice with standards, containing 

 therefore a numerous reserve, the underwood has 

 quite a secondary importance, so far as forest 

 produce is concerned. The thinning ought not 

 therefore to overreach the object in view, viz., the 

 production of seedlings and the setting free of sap- 

 lings. It is only in simple coppice that it might more 

 particularly aim at favouring the growth of the finer 

 poles in order to obtain something better than mere 

 firewood. 



We are often recommended to preserve trailers 

 in the hope that, being in contact with the soil, 

 they may take root and form new stools. Without 

 denying that such a result is possible, it may be 

 observed that it is exceedingly difficult to cut any- 



