880 EEGBNEHATION BY COPPICE. 



to the top of the stool, (3) the tools to use, and (4) the actual mode 

 of effecting the cutting. 



Height of cutting. The stools should be cut as near the 

 ground as possible. The following are the advantages of cutting 

 back flush with the ground : — 



(i) The bark below that level, being protected by the surround- 

 ing soil, is thinner and softer than in the exposed parts of the stem 

 and thus allows the dormant buds to come through more easily. 



(ii) The most numerous and vigorous dormant buds lie in the 

 portion of the stem inside the soil, where, protected from drought 

 and atmospheric extremes, they have been multiplying rapidly 

 since the formation of the original collum buds in the first year 

 of seedling life. 



(iii) The shoots, coming up out of, or immediately in contact 

 with, the soil, develop roots of their own and become at one© 

 independent individuals, at the latest in their second year, and 

 thus continue growing up rapidly even after the reserve matter of 

 the parent stool has been exhausted. On the other hand, shoots 

 that come up at some height above the ground, never become 

 independent stems, but remain all their life mere branches of the 

 original stump, most of the roots of which die soon after the tree 

 has been cut down, so that when the reserve food in the stump has 

 been exhausted, the shoots suffer a sudden check of growth. 



(iv) The shoots resting up against the soil are less easily 

 broken off. When the shoots first come out, they are connected 

 with the parent stool only by a sort of articulation, and hence 

 break off very easily. Shoots that spring up at some height above 

 the ground, besides having no support, are more exposed to the 

 wind. Moreover, while such shoots remain fragile for many years, 

 until they have for'med several concentric layers of wood common 

 to themselves and the parent stump, the others soon anchor them- 

 selves firmly in the soil by means of the numerous new roots they 

 send out in every direction. 



(v) Stools cut flush with the ground soon get concealed under 

 the soil, which retards their inevitable decomposition, and the 

 rapid growth of their numerous daughter shoots causes the most 

 sensitive portion of the section, viz. the region of the cambium and 

 sapwood, to be quickly covered up, thus excluding further atmos- 

 pheric action. Where stools are cut high, the shoots, as a rule, 

 spring up from some point much below the section, which there- 

 fore always remains exposed to the weather. 



(vi) Owing to the greatest thickness of a tree being at its 



