woo 



According to the profits of the underwood, the thicknef* 

 of the ftandard-trees is to be regulated ; for as they ftand 

 more or lefs thick, they more or lefs injure the underwood. 

 It is alfo to be confidered at what growth the underwood 

 is to be fold. The taller and larger the underwood of a 

 coppice in general is, the more profitable will it be for 

 firing, and all other ufes, and the ftandards will be the 

 better for its being left to grow to a proper height, for 

 their bodies will be always, unlefs very great accidents 

 occur, carried up ftraight as far as they are ihaded by the 

 coppice-wood. 



A deep foil makes the ftirubs as well as trees grow more 

 vigoroufly than any other, and they will be fooner fit for 

 cutting in fuch places. The perfon who owns thefe 

 woods muft contrive to cut down only a certain quantity 

 of them every year, and regulate this fo that he may have a 

 conftant fucceffion of a like quantity ; that part of the 

 wood which was at firft felled, may be grown up to its 

 fize for feUing again by the time the laft is cut. This is, 

 in different places, to be calculated to all the various num- 

 bers between eight years and twenty or thirty. 



The cutting of wood feldom yields the more and the 

 better timber ; but the cutting of it oftener has greater 

 advantages, in that it makes it grow thicker, and gives the 

 feedlings time to come up. If many timber-trees grow 

 in the coppice, and are to be cut down, they and the un- 

 derwood fiiould be felled together, cutting off the ftumps as 

 clofe to the ground as may be, in the trees, and in the 

 fhrubs and underwood the ffumps (hould be left about half 

 a foot high, and cut flanting and very fmooth. 



Sawing is the beft method of felling timber-trees ; but it 

 fometimes kills the root ; and if this is obferved to be the 

 cafe iu the coppice, no new (hoots arifing from the root, 

 then it is proper to ftub up the root, that it may not un- 

 neceffarily encumber the ground, and that the other young 

 plants may have the benefit of it. 



In the firft raifing of coppices from feed, the ground 

 mull be prepared by good tillage, as much as if it were 

 intended for corn. The feeds of the feveral trees are to 

 be fown in February, and if the foil be ftiallow, the 

 ground fhould be ploughed into great ridges ; this wiU 

 make the foil lie the thicker upon the top of each ridge, 

 by which means the roots will have more depth to run 

 to for nourifhment, and in a few years the furrow will 

 be filled up to the level of the reft with the dead leaves ; 

 and thefe, as they rot at the bottom, will make a kind 

 of foil, through which the young (hoots will fpread, and 

 be condufted from one ridge to another, and fo the 

 whole ground will be occupied by them. If the coppice 

 be to be raifed on the fide of a hill, plough the ridges 

 crofs-way of the defcent of the hill, that the water may 

 be detained among them, and not fuffered to run off, as 

 It otherwife would by the furrows ; but if it happen 

 that the ground be over-wet, which is more rarely the 

 cafe, then the contrary method is to be obferved, and 

 the furrows ploughed deep and ftraight downwards, that 

 sll water may be carried off by them, as by fo many 

 trenches or drains. 



Some fow a crop of corn along with the feeds of the 

 underwood, for the advantage of the firft year ; but as the 

 feafon of fowing the feeds of the trees is too late for the 

 lowing of the corn, it feldom turns to much advantage. 

 It it better to fow the trees alone, and keep them well 

 weeded the two firft years ; after which they are ftrong 

 enough to take care of themfelves againft fuch enemies. 



In very barren ground, where the young trees can 

 hardly ftand the heat in fummer, it it proper, after fowing 



^v o o 



them, to fcattcr a quantity of furze-feed over the hnd ; the 

 furze will grow quick, and over-top the trees at firft, but 

 It will ferve as a guard to them at this time, defending 

 them from injuries, and keeping the ground moift about 

 their roots. In a few years the trees will grow up beyond 

 thefe bulhes, and they will then foon deftroy them by their 

 dropping. 



In the raifing of coppices, the neareft diftance for the 

 plantations ought to be five feet for the underwood, but 

 as to what number, and fcantlings of timber are to be left 

 on each acre, the ftatutes in this cafe diredl ; but it 

 is an ordinary coppice, which will not afford three or 

 four firfts, fourteen feconds, twelve thirds, and eight 

 wavers, according to which proportion the fizes of young 

 trees in coppices are to fucceed one another. In coppice 

 or underwood felled at twenty-four years growth, there 

 are to be left twelve ftore-oaks upon every acre, or, in 

 defeft of them, the fame number of elms, beech, or a(h : 

 thefe are to be ftraight-bodied trees, and are to be 

 left till they are ten inches in diameter, at a yard from 

 the ground ; but it is better for the owner to have a 

 much greater number of timber-trees, efpecially in placei 

 where underwood is cheap ; and as to the felling, it ii 

 always neceffary to begin regularly with one fide, that 

 the carriages, neceffary to the taking off the wood, may 

 come on without injury to the reft : and in large woods, 

 a cart-way (hould always be left in the middle, quite 

 through the wood. The timber of the underwood may 

 be cut from the month of Oftober to February ; but the 

 laft month is much the beft, in places where there is 

 but a fmall quantity to be felled, and it can all be got 

 down before the fpring is too much advanced. All the 

 wood (hould be carried out by Midfummer, and made up 

 by April at the lateft ; for when the rows and brufh lie 

 longer than this unmade up, and unbound, many of the 

 fhoots and feedlings are fpoiled by them. It is always 

 worth the owner's while to inclofe the coppice well the 

 winter before felling, to keep out the cattle, which 

 would elfe greatly damage the fupply from the feedlings 

 and young (hoots. 



New-weaned calves are the leaft prejudicial to newly 

 cut woods of any creatures, and may be put in where there 

 is much grafs ; the next in harmleffnefs to thefe are 

 young colts, which, at about a year old, may be put in 

 to feed in the fame manner ; but about May they mutt all 

 be put out. 



If the woods happen to be cropped by cattle, it is beft 

 to cut them up, and they will make new (hoots ; for that 

 which has been bitten by the cattle will not grow for 

 feveral years in any degree. 



If the coppice-woods are too thin, this is to be remedied 

 by laying down the longeft and fmaUeft (hoots of thofe 

 (hrubs or trees which are the moil advantageous, in the 

 place, or of fuch as are neareft the bare place ; thefe 

 will each fend forth a great number of fuckers, and 

 the whole wood will be thickened as much as defired 

 in a very little time. Mortimer's Huibandry, vol. ii. 

 p. 64. See Coppice. 



Wood, Almlggim. See Almiggim. 



Wood Anemone. See Akemone. 



V/ooD-Bine, or Wood-bind, in Botany, a fpecies of lonictra ; 

 which fee. 



WooD-Bind, Spani/b, a fpecies of ipomcea ; which 

 fee. 



WoOB-Chat, in Ornithology, lanius minor primus of AI- 



drovaiidus, a fpecies of butcher-bird, wth a horn-coloufcd 



bill ; the feithers at the bafe are whiti(h ; above is a 



4 G 2 black 



