HIGHWOODS, COPSES, ETC. 289 
inch of earth in the case of acorns and chestnuts. 
Although slower in attaining the object in view, 
the sowing and dibbling in of seeds of hard~- 
woods has the advantages over planting of being 
much the cheapest method of improving the 
crop, and of being far less exposed to danger 
from rabbits, as local experience has shown. 
Material assistance can also be effectively ren- 
dered by ‘plashing’ ash and other hardwoods, 
a cheap and simple method of layering strongly 
to be recommended in moist localities prone 
to heavy growth of weeds which would be likely 
to choke seedlings. Both of these measures 
should be carried out as early as convenient, 
so that the whole area may be gone over and 
improved within a very short period. It would 
also be advantageous if at the time of the next 
fall of coppice, the outer seedlings round all 
such dibbled patches should be plashed and the 
inner seedlings allowed to grow up to form the 
future stores. Wherever the copsewoods seem 
well suited for the growth of ash and sycamore, 
these species should be encouraged as largely 
as may be found practicable. Birch, saugh, and 
aspen should, in such cases, be treated as weeds, 
T 
