COPPICE. 127 
‘diminish the quantity and deteriorate the quality, except in 
exposed situations, where a partial shelter may be required. 
A few standards of oak in favourable situations are sometimes 
left with advantage, as it comes into leaf at a late period, and 
consequently does not form a deep shadow, during the open- 
ing of the season. Although the larch is not a coppice tree, 
because it does not spring from the root, yet it is less objec- 
tionable than many kinds as a standard in coppice, as it rises 
in an upright figure, soon becomes valuable, and other trees 
generally thrive well in its vicinity—particularly the oak, 
whose roots penetrate to a great depth, while those of the larch 
spread over the surface ; and thus the two sorts at once bring 
the whole strength of the soil into operation. 
We have already stated that the sorts which yield valuable 
bark are felled at the season most suitable for the manufacture 
of that article, but the other sorts of coppice wood should be 
removed any time between the middle of autumn and the 
middle of spring. In cutting the timber it is necessary to 
bear in mind that the stools are intended to shoot forth an- 
other crop, and therefore require to be cut clean and smooth, 
so that water may not lodge, and so low or close to the 
ground, that the shoots which form the subsequent crop may 
proceed close to the roots, and not at some distance over 
them, in which case they would be liable to be blown off. 
A bill or hook is best adapted for cutting small timber. In 
removing stout oak coppice, it- is the practice to saw over 
all the stems which stand above four inches in diameter, and 
to cut the smaller ones with a hook or axe, which, in a prac- 
tised hand, cutting upwards, leaves the stool unblemished. 
Where a large oak trunk has been removed, the top of the 
stool, if it be intended to spring again, should be dressed up 
into a convex form, sufficient to discharge water. An adze 
~ is the most suitable implement for this purpose, care being 
taken that no part of the bark on the stool be injured. As 
large stools are often more stiff to yield young growths than 
stools of a smaller size, it is frequently necessary to remove the 
‘surface herbage all around such, to enable them to spring freely, 
