168 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
ground, should always be the rule, but in addition 
to this the reproductive capacity of the chestnut 
for throwing up shoots and suckers is increased 
by heaping earth on the stubbs that are left. 
As coppice it protects the soil well, and en- 
riches it with a good mould. Hence, where small 
material is remunerative, coppices of chestnut can 
be worked with a lower rotation than any other 
kind of crop, except hazel and osier-holts, without 
unduly exposing the soil to deterioration. 
As previously remarked, ash, maple, and syca- 
more are all trees well worthy of cultivation in 
highwoods, and the treatment is much the same 
for all the three. In the case of each of these, its 
proper position is that of a subordinate tree grow- 
ing along with others, and best of all with beech, 
of a somewhat slower growth and better able to 
protect the soil against deterioration. On many 
a hillside, dingles and small water-courses will be 
found where growth of ash can be profitably en- 
couraged ; while on good, rather moist, low-lying 
patches of ground a mixture of oak, ash, maple, 
and sycamore, or even of willows and alder on 
wet spots, will add materially to the returns ob- 
tainable. When grown along with oak principally, 
