SUCCESSION CROPS OF WOOD. 295 



from an old root will grow nearly as fast again as 

 a young plant brought from the nursery. 



The elm, ash, plane and beech, to say nothing of 

 the oak, which is treated of by itself, all reproduce 

 themselves in this way, though some of them with 

 less certainty than others. The roots of the elm 

 almost infallibly put forth suckers, whatever age 

 the tree may be when cut down. The same is 

 true of the ash, if it be cut down before it exceeds 

 a hundred, or a hundred and twenty years old. 

 The root of the plane is somewhat more shy than any 

 of the former in putting forth suckers, yet it seldom 

 fails to do so if the tree have not stood more than 

 a century. Last in the scale is the beech, which, 

 indeed, will scarce renew itself from the root if the 

 latter is very old. The birch, alder, willows and 

 poplars, likewise send forth suckers from the roots 

 after the trees are cut down, but these species are 

 of less consideration than those above mentioned. 



The treatment which the shoots thus arising 

 from all these varieties require, in order to train 

 them up into trees, is the same as for those of the 

 oak, and the reader is referred to Chapter VIII. 

 Section 5., in which the method of raising succession 

 crops of that tree is explained. It will not, how- 

 ever, be necessary to be at so great pains with 



