PROFITABLE TIMBER TREES 87 



half that of a full crop. With a little attention a crop of 

 alder will pay better than many crops on better ground, and 

 it has the great advantage of neither requiring replanting 

 nor much expense in the way of draining, and even on 

 unfenced ground we have seen it grow into useful poles, 

 for few animals seem to care for it. Evelyn states that 

 the alder propagates itself by suckers ; and it does so to some 

 extent, but rarely so freely as poplar when growing on stiff 

 ground. In peaty soils, or on the banks of ponds and 

 streams, where the roots are near the surface, suckers are 

 more plentiful. 



One peculiarity of the shoots of alder stools is their 

 straight upright growth when standing at wide intervals, and 

 not confined in any way. Most stool shoots are apt to 

 spread out on all sides, and become crooked and branchy ; but 

 this the alder rarely does, and this renders it all the more 

 valuable in neglected coppice. When planted at the outset, 

 the trees should not be more than 6 feet apart, although an 

 average distance of 10 feet apart constitutes a thick coppice 

 in the later stages, and when the stools are well developed. 

 Worn-out or decayed stools may be easily replaced by laying 

 bare a few roots and inducing suckers to spring up, or by 

 cuttings, as in the case of willows. Suckers can also be 

 induced by cutting down old stools to the surface of the 

 ground, so as to concentrate the energy of the roots in that 

 direction. 



CONIFERS 

 THE LAECH (Larix Europcea). 



Although this tree has not been an ordinary forest tree 

 in the country more than a hundred and fifty years, it is 

 highly probable that larger numbers of it have been planted 

 than of any other one species alone. Before the larch 

 disease made itself such an undesirable reputation, planters 

 of almost all kinds of soils were almost universally in favour 

 of this tree ; and although a little more discrimination is 

 shown regarding the soil and situation it is planted in to-day, 



