THE OTHER HARDWOODS _ 173 
considered one of the most profitable kinds of 
coppice when grown either pure or mixed with 
ash. If freed from overshadowing by standard 
trees, hazel grows vigorously and becomes 
marketable in about seven years’ time. Its finest 
growth is obtained on land of a loamy or clayey 
description. There is no special difficulty about 
its cultivation, the main point requiring attention 
being to see that blanks in the stock are carefully 
filled up at each fall of the crop. 
Of all the hardwoods dealt with in this chapter, 
ash is best suited to be grown as a standard tree 
in copses, either by itself or else along with oak. 
Its natural habit of growth gives it peculiar quali- 
fications for such a position, and the present 
prospects of the timber market point to this as 
being an exceedingly promising form of wood- 
land crop. But detailed consideration of its 
treatment there will more appropriately find a 
place in the chapter on Copsewoods. 
