AMONG THE OAKS 103 
circumstances, ninety years of age. When the 
bark was still easily saleable and highly remune- 
rative, oak was, of course, encouraged as one of 
the chief kinds of wood among the coppice. 
Owing to the fall in the price of oak-bark, how- 
ever, this must naturally be less the case in 
future than formerly. Thus, while efforts should 
be made to stock the coppice as thickly as pos-~ 
sible with oak, ash, sycamore, maple, beech, and 
hazel, according to the nature of the soil, the 
main value of the oak will probably in future be 
as a standard for the production of timber. The 
only other trees which are likely to compete with it 
in this respect are ash and larch. Often equally well 
paid, and even sometimes much more remunerative 
than the oak, these are, like it, trees making very 
strong demands on light and air, casting but a 
comparatively light shadow over the underwood 
growing around them, and thriving best when the 
soil is well protected by a thick undergrowth of 
densely-foliaged coppice. As the treatment for 
woods of this sort can be more appropriately 
described with reference to all the light-demand- 
ing trees, detailed consideration of the modern 
continental method of working copsewoods may 
