164 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
are also apt to lose their reproductive power after 
being coppiced once or twice, renewals will have 
to be made if self-sown seedlings be not abundant ; 
and layering of outside shoots will often prove 
the cheapest and easiest method of providing the 
new crop. 
Both maples thrive best in rather humid 
localities, and in the vicinity of the sea-coast. A 
considerable amount of soil-moisture is also re- 
quisite for their best development, and the finest 
growth is attainable where there is a fair amount 
of moisture both in the soil and the subsoil. 
Where the land is wet or the subsoil water- 
logged, however, their larger development is apt 
to be checked, and they remain stunted, or die 
off prematurely. Except as regards dangers from 
late spring frosts in damp, low-lying localities 
they are hardy trees, and they are not at all difficult 
to grow as regards soil. Few of our forest trees, 
indeed, thrive on so many different soils and 
situations as sycamore, which does well on all 
sorts of lands from light sand to stiff clay, and 
from low-lying, but well-drained, sheltered tracks 
on to the breezy uplands, and even on wind-swept 
exposures. But, as with most of the hardwoods, 
