THE NEW FORESTRY. 1 65 



cleanly felled close to the ground when the sap is down in 

 winter, as if felled in spring some species bleed freely. 

 Tending and thinning of stool crops is the same as in young 

 plantations. See Plate No. 7. 



SECTION II. — COPPICE. 



Simple coppice wood is usually originated from old stools, 

 as described in the foregoing remarks, but is cut down in the 

 young state for hop-poles, stakes and crate wood, etc., every 

 ten or twenty years, according to the purpose for which it is 

 required, and its size, the latter depending on soil and climate. 

 Coppice may occupy thin woods, or be grown by itself, but it 

 is not as remunerative as timber except in a few parts of 

 England. Mr. A. J. Burrows, of Pluckley, Kent, writing in the 

 " Journal of Forestry," some years ago, states that the returns 

 from coppice wood are seldom less than £1 per acre per 

 annum, from the time of planting to the period of the first 

 cutting, when the crop is well managed. Good management 

 consists in growing' the most useful species and such as grow 

 up quickly, like the ash, sweet chestnut, larch, and hazel, 

 and in regulating the crop at an early stage so as to produce 

 useful small poles or rails as soon as possible. The area 

 devoted to coppice should be divided into sections, which may 

 be cut in succession, so that when the last section is cut the 

 first may be ready to go down again. Where coppice is 

 specially planted for stakes and very small poles, there are no 

 species equal to the larch, ash, and Spanish chestnut, and these 

 should be sown or planted thickly. 



SECTION III. — UNDERWOOD. 



It has been stated in Chapter III. that underwood, in the 

 old sense of the word, is incompatible with dense forest-tree 

 culture ; and so it is. It is an advantage, however, to 

 have over-thinned woods stocked with good underwood, 

 because of its sheltering influence to the trees and soil, but in 

 dense timber it is inadmissible except as covert for game, and 

 then only the few shade-bearers will succeed that are named 

 in the list given elsewhere. It is not sufficiently understood 

 by owners of game preserves, who are constantly making 

 enquiries on this subject, that there are few if any species of 



