AMONG THE OAKS 121 
of big trees in spring, after most of the coppice 
in the copses has come into leaf. In the 
Selborne district of Hampshire the price of the 
bark of large oaks has fallen, from a very high 
figure formerly, to 67s. 6d. a ton in 1895, and 
down even to 40s. in 1899; and throughout 
the whole of Britain prices have greatly declined. 
With such low rates it may sometimes be ques- 
tionable if the margin of profit over the cost 
of stripping makes spring felling and barking 
remunerative, for the underwood will always be 
damaged most in spring. 
Perhaps in this particular matter, too, we may 
receive useful hints in considering what is done 
in other countries. In the oakwoods near Hildes- 
heim, in Hanover, the big oak trees, when they 
have reached their full maturity and are marked 
for felling, are barked in late spring, when the 
flow of sap is most active. But as winter felling 
is preferable to the fall in spring, both on account 
of the greater durability of the timber and of the 
damage that must be done to the young crop on 
the ground, the barked stems are allowed to stand 
till the following winter. There is, it is true, 
the drawback of the loss of a season’s growth, 
