250 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF OAK. 



dered necessary from the importance of not injuring 

 the roots of an oak in cutting down the trunk of the 

 tree. 



An oak plantation may, with proper care, be 

 made to renew itself as often as it is cut down. The 

 roots, or stools as they are sometimes termed, which 

 remain in the ground, will, if they are preserved from 

 the effects of bad treatment, send forth a young pro- 

 geny of shoots, which may be trained into a new 

 race of trees as valuable as the former. The growth 

 of these may, however, be greatly impeded, or even 

 entirely prevented, if the roots be considerably sha- 

 ken, if the bark be stripped off them, or if the stump 

 or stool be left in such a state as to lodge water. In 

 thinning oak, therefore, the forester should always 

 have an eye to the succession crop, and adopt such 

 means as will injure the roots the least possible. 



In cutting down an oak-tree, the saw should al- 

 ways be used in preference to the axe. The last- 

 mentioned instrument has not only a tendency to 

 shake and loosen the roots, by the repeated and vio- 

 lent percussion which is necessary in working it, but 

 in using it, the most expert woodman can hardly 

 avoid leaving a hollow in the middle of the stool. 

 This hollow retains all the rain that falls into it, 

 and rottenness is produced as a matter of course. 



