WOODLAND WORK AND WORKING PLANS 185 



to most estate owners within a reasonable distance of a 

 tanyard. 



But, however doubtful the financial aspect of bark-stripping 

 may be, there is little doubt that it is one of the most attrac- 

 tive and interesting operations that fall to the lot of the 

 woodman, when things go smoothly. The smell of the freshly 

 stripped bark, the satisfaction of seeing it tear off freely 

 under the outward pressure of the barking iron, and the sights 

 and sounds of the surrounding woodland, with its bursting 

 foliage, full-throated songsters, and carpet of anemone and 

 bluebell, invest bark-stripping with associations which can 

 never be forgotten by those taking part in it. The work 

 itself, though heavy enough in some respects, is, on the whole, 

 less laborious than ordinary wood-felling, the combination of 

 barking and felling forming a blend which no genuine 

 workman would complain about. The only drawback to 

 which it is often subjected is the pernicious effect of cold 

 drying winds or frosty nights, which prevent bark from 

 running with that freedom which is desirable both in the 

 interests of workman and tanner. Bark which clings to the 

 wood must be beaten or forced off in such a manner that it 

 is not only bruised and damaged, but the best part of it — that 

 which is richest in tannin — is often left on the tree, and its 

 weight and value reduced. Under such conditions barking 

 becomes irksome and trying to the patience, and unsatisfactory 

 from everyone's point of view. But every genuine forester 

 will regret the day, if the day should ever come, when the 

 familiar sight of a gang of bark-strippers can be no longer 

 seen in the month of May, for so long as bark-stripping 

 flourishes, so will the oak that produces it, and English 

 forestry without the British oak is an asset of doubtful 

 value. 



Undkr-Wood Cutting. 



The cutting and working up of under-wood is one of the 

 oldest branches of English forestry — as old, if not older, than 

 timber-felling itself. 



A hundred years back or more, when the produce of one 

 acre of coppice with standards was about four times of what 



