124 COPPICE. 
a bad climate, but more frequently from an inhospitable sub- 
soil; and when such soil cannot be improved by drainage, it 
is most profitable to devote it to the growth of coppice. 
Whenever trees of any kind arrive at such a period of their 
growth that their yearly increase does not amount in value to 
the interest of the money which, ‘at the time, they would pro- 
duce, if revenue is purely the object, they, of course, should 
be cut down. This is more particularly the case with coppice, 
since it not only springs again, but in some situations yields 
a.far greater value and bulk of timber for particular purposes, 
when cropped two or three times in fifty years, than the trees 
would produce if allowed to stand during that period. The 
oak is a common coppice tree, and valuable chiefly on account 
of its bark. It is frequently found in woods, sometimes 
indigenous, and sometimes planted, where its growth becomes 
stunted even in youth, where there are no vigorous shoots on 
the extremities of the branches, but, instead of this, a curled 
and feeble termination of the spray. Dead twigs will occa- 
sionally be seen towards the top, and, above all, the bark will 
cease to expand, and no longer exhibit those light red and 
yellow perpendicular streaks in its crevices, which are sure 
evidence of its expansion, and of the consequent growth of 
the wood underneath. Stunted oak of this description is 
often found to grow freely for some time after being cut 
down, and in some soils such coppice is much improved by 
the insertion of larches as standards. 
For the sake of its bark the birch cannot be now profitably 
employed as a coppice-tree. Of the kinds of birch the com- 
mon tree is found superior to the weeping variety, as it 
springs more vigorously, and is more tenacious of life when 
cut down. But as all the birches are apt to shed their sap 
profusely on being cut down, none of them are reckoned very 
permanent. 
Besides the oak and birch, the chestnut, the ash, the hazel, 
and willow are commonly eultivated as coppice-wood, and: 
sometimes the elm, the maple, and the alder. All those 
spring from stools, . 
“i 
