COPPICE WITH STANDARDS. 159 



and grow more rapidly than a true seedling, and are 

 easy to recognize and set free in the cleaning opera- 

 tions. Moreover, to facilitate their recognition, 

 a stake, or simply the portions cut back, could be 

 fixed in the ground near them. The cost of planting 

 can be made as small as one could wish, and the 

 results obtained are very satisfactory. This method 

 is the one to be employed also in high forests to re- 

 introduce the oak at the moment the close primary 

 cutting is made ; only, in this case, the transplants 

 will, or will not, be cut back according to the amount 

 of cover overhead, and the quality of the plants. 



PRUNING OF THE STANDARDS. Under this general 

 heading, it is necessary to distinguish two operations. 



1. Bidding the boles of trees of the branches 

 which grow on them as soon as they are isolated 

 (epicormic branches). This we will specially desig- 

 nate pruning. 



2. Lopping off certain branches belonging to the 

 crown. This may be termed lopping. 



The pruning of oaks is always useful, and in no 

 case can it be neglected without danger. We have 

 already referred to it in speaking of the oak reserves 

 in high forest left after the final cutting. If these 

 epicormic branches are allowed to grow on, they 

 absorb, at the expense of the crown above, part of 

 the sap which ought to reach it. They do not 

 increase the quantity of the tree's foliage, but only 

 transfer a portion to the bole, so that the tree 

 soon becomes stag-headed and sickly. People are 

 hence tempted to attribute this to a natural and pre- 

 mature decay. Instead of seeking the cause in the 



