280 CORYLACE.E. 



from coppice, to say nothing of the constantly increasing 

 return they would make after this period for a long series 

 of years, or of the value of the crop of Oak that might 

 eventually be left to reach maturity or a scantling fit for 

 naval and building purposes. 



The principal inducement that some years ago existed, 

 to retain and cultivate copse wood Oak, is now greatly 

 diminished, for the bark, which constitutes the chief value 

 of coppice, as may be collected from the statements of 

 the author of the " Forester's Guide," the great advocate 

 of this system, which, during the war period, produced 

 upwards of fourteen pounds per ton, having now fallen to 

 less than half that price, the wood is, from its small 

 size, of little importance and value, and the greater part 

 cut in Scotland is either cut up into spokes for carriage 

 wheels, converted into charcoal, or distilled for the pyro- 

 ligneous acid it contains, which latter product is exten- 

 sively used in calico printing and bleaching operations. 



To procure the valuable bark of the Oak* the ope- 

 ration of felling must be performed in the spring, when 

 the sap is sufficiently up to allow of its being easily strip- 

 ped from the tree ; by some it has been supposed that 

 cutting at this season must be injurious to the timber, 

 but this, from the observations and experiments that have 

 been made, does not appear to be the case, and it is 

 found that the heart-wood of Oak cut down in the full 

 run of the sap, is equally as durable as that felled in 

 winter, or in the decline of the year, as well as of trees 

 that have been barked and allowed to stand a year or 

 two in that state previously to being cut down. 



In all cases the white or sap wood of Oak is equally 



* The bark alone of the great Gelonos Oak, felled in Monmouthshire in 1810, 

 is said to have sold for 200/.; this tree eventually produced 675/. 



