COPPICE WITH STANDARDS. 157 



later on, the success of transplants is the less certain 

 the older they are ; for a certain number of roots 

 are always broken off in extracting them from the 

 nursery lines, in transporting them to the place to 

 be planted, and in putting them into the ground. 

 To take the case in question, even admitting the 

 success of the operation, some time must elapse before 

 equilibrium between the crown and roots is re-estab- 

 lished. By that time the transplants will be caught 

 up and outstripped by the coppice, and the advan- 

 tage of using odd plants will be lost. On the other 

 hand, old transplants are costly, and they often 

 require nurses, which swell the expenditure still 

 more. 



Another method, which has yielded excellent 

 results, consists in loosening the soil, after the 

 coppice is cut, along straight lines which intersect 

 each other. By this disposition of the lines, the 

 discovery of a single line leads to the discovery of 

 the rest, and the transplants therefore receive all 

 the care necessary. The transplants used are of 

 medium size, they are put in at intervals of three to 

 six feet, and are immediately cut back, an operation 

 by which equilibrium between the roots and crown 

 is established the very first year. By frequent 

 thinnings, which are facilitated by the regular 

 disposition of the lines, the coppice is prevented 

 from crowding against the transplants. In spite of 

 the excellent results obtained, this method is to be 

 recommended just as little as the first : the number 

 of plants used, the cultivation of the soil along the 

 lines, and repeated thinnings, render it costly, and 



