REGENERATION BY STOOL-BHOOTS. 383 



add tnat tools ishould at all times be sharp enough to cut one's 

 fingerj and for this reason they should never be struck into the 

 earth, and a grind- or whet-st(»le should invariably accompany the 

 workmen out in tiie forest. 



The ActUAi, cutting. The felling of the tree and the shaping 

 'of the stool shoiild never, if it can be helped, be two distinct Opera- 

 tions, but every stroke of the axe, hatchet or bill-hook intended 

 for bringing down the tree, should also contribute towards shaping 

 the stool, and vice versa. This recommendation is especially im- 

 portant in India, where every woodcutter, unless specially restrain- 

 ed, will first fell the tree high above the ground, and only then 

 think of catting back the stiunp and shaping-the stool, so that if the 

 stem is at all thick, he takes at least thrice as much time as he 

 would do if he combined both objects in a single operation. Cutting 

 as low as is required for coppice wiU be found a little irksome at 

 the commencement,, but untrained men will soon get into the way 

 of working properly, and an ordinarily skilful man will accomplish 

 the double work almost as quickly as if he had nothing moi:e to do 

 than to merely fell the tree. 



In finally trimming off any unevenness or irregularity in the 

 stooli the blows should always be deHvered from outside inwards, 

 inclined at an angle of 10-15 degrees with the circumference ; 

 otherwise eithe-r the stool will split or the work progress slowly and 

 the tool be quickly blunted. 



In whatever way the work is done, every endeavour ishould be 

 made not to split the stool or to separate the bark from the wood. 

 A split stool dries up quickly and decays more rapidly than a 

 whole one, and wherever the bark separates from, the wood, the 

 dormant buds get broken off or killed, rain and dbw collect 

 in the crevices and decomposition progresses rapidly downwards 

 along the cambium. To minimise the shaking of the roots, small 

 stems should be cut through in as few sharp blows as possible, and 

 to prevent their being split, they should be supported, on the side 

 opposite to that on which the blows are delivered, with a portable 

 block of wood pressed up against them. For; this purpose a tool 

 shaped something Hke a tent mallet (Fig, 121) wiU be found very 

 convenient^ 



Stools felled flush with the ground should be at once covered 

 up by drawing the soil and dead leaves over them. This protects 

 them from the sun and, to a certain extent, also from decomposi- 

 tion. "WhMi the stools are cut inside the ground or completely 



