256 CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF OAK. 



the oak, but of the ash, elm, beech, plane, and 

 several other species, is undeniable ; but of the pro- 

 priety of the direction founded upon it, if it be in- 

 tended as a general rule, there is great reason to 

 doubt. When we see several large trunks springing 

 from one common root, it is generally in detached 

 situations, where there is ample scope for the spread- 

 ing of the branches on all sides. Even in these cir- 

 cumstances, it is somewhat problematical whether 

 such a plurality of stems be more advantageous to 

 the proprietor than a single one would have been '.^ 

 for we can easily conceive that the deficiency in 

 number might have been fully compensated by su- 

 perior size and quickness of growth. At all events, 

 common sense teaches, that it is only when a stool 

 stands alone and bv itself, not when it is in the near 

 vicinity of others, that the attempt to make it bring 

 more than one bole to maturity can at all deserve 

 approbation. 



The above directions, with the exception that the 

 whole number of shoots left at first is to be allowed 

 to remain, without farther thinning, are applicable, 

 though the crop be not intended for timber but cop- 

 pice. Coppice is chiefly valuable on account of its 

 bark, for the sake of which it is cut every twenty, 

 twenty-five, or thirty years, according to the quick- 



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