PROSPECTS AND POSSIBILITIES OF FORESTRY 53 



and after the ground has been filled up with young trees. 

 On ground well adapted for ash this is not such an ex- 

 pensive process as in the case of most trees, as ash is a 

 rapid grower, requires little space for the first twenty years, 

 and is usually capable of taking care of itself when well 

 established. It is also a tree which requires plenty of 

 light and space for crown development, and, as it rarely 

 becomes coarse and knotty with moderate freedom, that 

 close order which is essential in growing most timber trees 

 by a sylvicultural system is not required. Douglas fir is 

 also another tree particularly suitable for replanting coppice, 

 as its rapid growth quickly places it out of the reach of 

 aU competition with the coppice shoots, which is the great 

 trouble with most species. This tree, planted at 6 to 12 

 feet apart, will, in the course of fifteen to twenty years, 

 form a thick and close plantation, and practically annihilate 

 the stools of the original crop. 



In fact, the majority of either fast-growing trees or 

 those capable of bearing a good deal of shade, such as beech 

 or silver fir, can be successfully employed in converting 

 an old coppice into ordinary plantation — a step which we 

 suppose no one will doubt the wisdom of, unless it be the 

 gamekeeper. 



