COMFLEMENTAEY WOEK IN THE OBGANISATION OP COPSES. 247 



a cop^j^^e a high forest, ought not to be thinned, except when 

 the crop coSldered as a whole is composed of individuals possess- 

 ing the dimensions of poles. 



The operation of Cleaning in copses has also for special object 

 the preservation and unhampered growth of seedlings that are later 

 on to become standards. The intermixture of species in simple 

 copses improves and augments their production. In the mixed 

 crop, the softwoods furnish a large quantity of produce, and as they 

 shoot up rapidly in height, the cover of their crowns is low only for 

 a short time. Hence, in simple copses, the cases in which Cleanings 

 are really of any use are few and exceptional. 



In copses with standards the r6le played by the softvroods and 

 by secondary species varies with each of them. The coppice re- 

 growth of the alder, for instance, forms during its first year a dense, 

 thicket, which seems to defy any of the hardwoods to grow under it. 

 Nevertheless, when towards the age of 20 years the alder crowns 

 have got up well above the ground, we find under them small seed- 

 lings of oak, which have persisted on in ?pite of the thick cover, and 

 which soon shoot up with considerable vigour, if the copse remains 

 unexploited for any length of time. Cut back at the next coppice 

 felling, or, when they are straight, even simply left to stand as they 

 are, they are able to keep pace with the new alder regrowth until 

 they get ahead of it and live on for centuries. It is scarcely pos- 

 sible, on account of the exuberant growth of the alder, to uncover 

 the young oak seedlings by means of cleaning operations. What is 

 required is rather an early Thinning made over the suppressed seed- 

 lings. 



With aspen in the copse the case is quite different. Young oak 

 is never wanting on the ground under the light cover of that species, 

 and it would even appear that it is the natural forerunner of the 

 oak in good soils and must hence be utilised accordingly. But It 

 does some harm by its extreme abundance. Nevertheless as it 

 shoots up with difficulty from the stool, it often suffices simply to 

 top it off when it overhangs young oak. 



Under birch the oaks and other hardwoods introduce them- 

 selves with even still greater freedom. To save young oak over- 



