128 COPPICE. 
The second year after the removal of the timber, the stools 
should be carefully gone over, and all supernumerary shoots 
should be cleared off. The number to be left must be re- 
gulated, in the judgment of the individual, according to the 
space which the stool occupies, and the purpose for which the 
timber is intended. In oak copse it is a common practice to 
leave a few more than those intended to remain until the 
general clearance of the timber, and these, the smallest and 
most crowded, are thinned out, and barked, when about eight 
or ten years old; with this exception, the whole of the copse- 
wood should be cleared off at one time, as any other method is 
injurious to the remaining crop. 
In forming a copse wood of oak, chestnut, and willow, the 
larger growing kinds should be planted at a distance of five or 
six feet apart, with larch or fir interspersed as nurses. It is 
usual to insert oak in fir plantations, after the firs have been 
a few years planted, and attained the height of a few feet. 
As larches are of quicker growth, stout plants form a shelter 
when planted along with the kinds intended for copse. Hazel, 
and such trees as are only required to attain a small size, should 
be planted at four or five feet apart; and willows, for basket 
work, at two feet. Trenching, though generally expensive at 
the outset, is ultimately found to be profitable. 
The inroads of cattle and sheep are not more destructive to 
any description of property than to copse-wood. The rubbing, 
the bite, and even the greasy touch of these animals, have a 
wonderful influence in retarding the growth of young plants. 
In the absence of more permanent enclosures, the coppice- 
wood affords materials for a cheap and effectual fence. Where 
it is cultivated to a considerable extent it is of much advan- 
tage to have it in perpetual rotation, so that a portion may be 
cleared and manufactured yearly. By this means a yearly 
revenue is derivable from the ground, and the labourers of a 
district are kept in the practice of thinning, cutting, barking, 
etc., which will cause these operations to advance more 
speedily, and in a manner superior to that usually performed 
by hands unaccustomed to the work. 
