164 THE NEW FORESTRY. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

 CROPS FROM OLD STOOLS. 



Poles. — Coppice. — Underwood . 



SECTION I. — POLES. 



Nearly all the broad-leaved species of forest trees produce 

 shoots or suckers from old stools— notably the oak, elm, ash, 

 sycamore, alder, and Spanish chestnut; but the reproductive 

 power depends upon the age and vigour of the stool. Taking 

 the oak, for example, one of the most productive from the stool, 

 old trees in which the annual growth has become feeble, and 

 the heart-wood extends nearly to the bark, leaving the sap- 

 wood layer thin, rarely push strongly from the stool, and many 

 such stools never push at all. Reproduction in such cases 

 should be made by sowing or planting, and no depen- 

 dence placed on the stools. On the other hand, stools 

 of trees that have been felled in the flush of vigour, 

 always indicated by a broad layer of white sap-wood, 

 reproduce strong shoots quickly that form a plantation 

 much quicker than plants do under the most favourable 

 circumstances. Timber crops that are thriving are, however, 

 better left than felled, because they are laying on timber and 

 value much quicker than a second crop of trees from the stools 

 would do for a long time to come, the increment in all plan- 

 tations increasing with the size and age of the trees. These 

 remarks refer chiefly to crops that are clear cut. In mixed 

 woods which have to be thinned there are always crops of 

 suckers coming up more or less from the old stools, and these, 

 if looked after and properly regulated, soon re-stock a wood, 

 but, as a rule, the stools are neglected or the young shoots are 

 eaten down by rabbits as fast as they grow up, and the crop is 

 lost. We have, however, occasionally seen fine crops of poles 

 from stools, the number of poles to a stool averaging from three 

 to four. When a stool crop is expected the trees should be 



