166 WOOD AND GARDEN 



and show a richness and depth of colour only surpassed 

 by that of the yew hedges. 



Copse-cutting is one of the harvests of the year for 

 labouring men, and all the more profitable that it can 

 go on through frosty weather. A handy man can 

 earn good wages at piece-work, and better still if he 

 can cleave and shave hoops. Hoop-making is quite 

 a large industry in these parts, employing many men 

 from Michaelmas to March. They are barrel-hoops, 

 made of straight poles of six years' growth. The wood 

 used is Birch, Ash, Hazel and Spanish Chestnut. Hazel 

 is the best, or as my friend in the busiuess says, " Hazel, 

 that's the master ! " The growths of the copses are 

 sold by auction in some near county town, as they 

 stand, the buyer clearing them during the winter. 

 They are cut every six years, and a good copse of 

 Chestnut has been known to fetch £54 an acre. 



A good hoop-maker can earn from twenty to twenty- 

 five shillings a week. He sets up his brake, while his 

 mate, who will cleave the rods, cuts a post about three 

 inches thick, and fixes it into the ground so that it 

 stands about three feet high. To steady it he drives 

 in another of rather cmdy shape by its side, so that 

 the tops of the two are nearly even, but the foot of 

 the curved spur is some nine inches away at the 

 bottom, with its top pressing hard against the upright. 

 To stiffen it still more he makes a long Avithe of a 

 straight hazel rod, which he twists into a rope by 

 holding the butt tightly under his left foot and 



