COPPICE. 125 
‘The oak and birch are raised chiefly on account of their 
bark, and are lopped at various periods, according to soil and 
climate, from sixteen to twenty-five, or even thirty years. 
The season of the year for felling trees which yield bark is 
confined to the end of spring and first of summer, being that 
at which the bark is harvested. The root-ends, or largest 
pieces of oak coppice-wood, are usually employed in the 
manufacture of wheel-spokes, and the other parts generally 
sell for the purposes of smoking fish, making charcoal and 
firewood, at from 10s. to 15s. a ton. The value of oak 
coppice is very variable; but at the age of twenty-five years 
it commonly yields from £20 to £30 per acre, after paying 
all expenses. 
Birch is less valuable. The other kinds of coppice-wood 
are commonly used for poles, hoops, hurdles, handles to 
implements, charcoal, firewood, etc. As these timbers are 
bulky in proportion to their value, they do not afford to be 
carried to a great distance before being manufactured. The 
revenue of coppice-wood is much enhanced by a local demand 
in the vicinity of the ground where it is produced; and, next 
to that, it is rendered valuable by a cheap and easy mode of 
transmitting the timber to market. Chestnut is chiefly 
esteemed for hop-poles, posts, etc.; and is durable in all 
purposes where the wood comes in contact with the ground. 
Its value for these purposes, however, in many quarters, has 
been diminished by the thinnings of larch plantations having 
recently become so plentiful; which timber not only exceeds 
the chestnut, but almost every other kind, in durability. Ash 
coppice is generally preferred for handles to implements, 
hurdles, and for all purposes where strength and elasticity 
are required. It is esteemed for hoops, in the formation and 
manufacture of all dairy utensils; and is cut at various 
periods, according to the purposes for which there is a 
demand. 
The hazel is adapted to dry soil, and is more frequently 
cultivated as underwood than as coppice-wood. Although it 
does not attain a large size, yet it yields an early and profit- 
