THE TREATMENT OF GAME PRESERVES. 59 



first business to be attended to is the selection of the new 

 standards, in our example twenty-five oaks and twenty-five ash 

 and larch, or any other species which may be desired. It is 

 essential to select in the first instance more than this number, 

 as some may be injured by the subsequent fall of the standards. 

 Then the rest of the underwood is cut. The next step is to 

 cut the standards which are to come down. As soon as the 

 material has been removed, the area must be examined for 

 seedling plants of the desired species. If a sufficient number 

 is found no planting will be required ; but if this is not the 

 case, all vacant spaces must be filled up with healthy, vigor- 

 ous plants, or new groups of standards started. It is 

 impossible to say how many plants may be required, but in 

 the majority of cases, 400 per acre will suffice, even if no 

 natural seedlings at all are found. Of these, about 100 should 

 be oak, and 300 chiefly ash, with a moderate number of larch 

 and other desirable kinds. These will grow for 20 years, 

 when the fifty best will be left as new standards, and the 

 others, oak, ash, and other hardwoods, are cut over to produce 

 new stools for coppice in the place of those which have died, 

 or are too old to produce vigorous shoots. The final step is 

 to go over the coupes cut 4, 8, 12, and 16 years ago, to free 

 the plants from threatening stool-shoots, and perhaps thin out 

 the shoots where there are too many on one stool. 



In order to give sufficient time for all these operations, it 

 should be arranged that the wood, or block (in our example 

 one out of four), where forest work is to be done in any 

 one year, should be shot over early in the season, so that the 

 work may be commenced not later than December 1st, and be 

 completed by March. In this way the forest operations will 

 not interfere with the shooting, so that both objects can be 

 fully realised. 



Financial Results. It is impossible to say what the receipts 

 at each cutting would be during the first and perhaps second 

 rotation of 20 years, as they depend on the stock of timber 

 existing on the area at starting. When, however, the system 



