BOOK V. 



ORGANISATION OF COPSES. 



-^•o»*- 



A Copse is a forest crop composed in au essential manner of 

 stool-shoots grouped several together in clumps, or of suckers stand- 

 ing singly on the parent roots. Copses are exploited at a compara- 

 tively early age in order that they might reproduce themselves 

 completely by means of the regrowth from the stool, and in the 

 majority of cases a less or greater number ;of choice stems (Stan- 

 dards) are preserved when all the surrounding forest is cut back. 



Simple Copses differ from Compound Copses in that they do 

 not contain any standards, or, if they do, these are only of the 1st. 

 class. It need scarcely be mentioned that the standards are divi- 

 ded into classes according to their age. We will designate the vari- 

 ous classes as follows : — 



1st. Class Standards, those that have seen one exploitation of 

 the surrounding forest. 



2nd two exploitations. 



3rd three 



4th four 



5th five 



and so on. 



Standards of the 4th. and higher classes we will frequently speak 

 of under one general name as Veterans. 



It is only after they have continued their growth, with crowns 

 spreading out above the underwood, during an entire Rotation at 

 least, that the standards become formed, or, as we may term them, 



12 



