178 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
value of the crop. In all such cases, however, 
the question should first be considered whether 
a little expense in drainage and then a much 
larger proportion of ash, sycamore, and other 
trees may not promise more solid advantages 
than crops of alder. 
The best time of cutting alder coppice is 
when the ground is frozen hard, while the fall 
must be at once brought out to the drier 
parts. The drawback to this is that the stools 
are then rather apt to chip. If the land 
be not too marshy for late autumn or early 
spring felling, then the main point to be con- 
sidered is the danger of flooding at the time 
of the flush of the leaf. Where this is to be 
feared, it is well to leave a stump to protect 
the shoots against immersion and against rank 
growth of grass and other weeds; otherwise, of 
course, the curfe should be low down almost 
flush with the ground. In filling blanks and 
keeping a good thick stock of crop, planting 
is preferable to sowing, as such places are usually 
prone to a strong growth of weeds, apt to choke 
the young seedlings. 
Own cousin to the alder botanically, the Birch 
