"The species of trees which retain longest their reproductive capacity in this respect are Oak, Hornbeam, Elm, Common Alder, and Sweet Chestnut ; whilst it is lost soonest in Beech, Birch, Maple, Sycamore, and Ash. Conifers have no reproductive power of this sort to speak of, or at any rate which may be utilised sylviculturally on a large scale. Next to the broadleaved species of trees, in this respect, comes the Larch, and then the three-needled species of Pines. But having regard to those portions of the trees from which the reproduction principally takes place, there are likewise important differences between the various species of trees. Among those which reproduce themselves principally from the stool are comprised the Oak, Hazel, Hornbeam, Beech, Elm, Sweet Chestnut, Lime, Black Poplar, Common Alder, Ash, Maple, Sycamore, Field Maple, Willow, and Birch; Aspen, White Alder, Robinia, and Blackthorn reproduce themselves principally by suckers or stoles from the roots; whilst Willow and Poplar in particular, as also Lime, Elm, and Field Maple, possess the capacity of reproducing themselves both by stool-shoots and root-suckers, or from any portion of the stem." The kinds of trees best adapted for coppice-plantations are Ash, Elm, Oak, Poplar, Willow, Chestnut, Lime-tree, Mountain-Ash, Maple, Sycamore, Birch, Alder, Hazel, and Bird-Cherry. These again, according to the uses they are generally applied to, may be divided into four classes, viz. : 1. Coopers'-ware and Bobbin-wood-Ash, Mountain-Ash, Elm, Oak, Chestnut, Maple, Hazel, and Sycamore. 2. Charcoal-wood-Birch, Alder, Poplar, Lime-tree, Hazel, and Mountain-Ash. 3. Bark for Tanners-Oak. 4. Basket-ware-Osier-Willows. In the above division of the kinds of trees best suited for coppice, firewood has not been included, because all woods may be employed for fuel purposes, although not with like effect, as Ash, Oak, and Birch are more useful than any of the other sorts; but as, in general cases, it is only the refuse of the coppice which is utilised as firewood, it seems unnecessary to designate any class exclusively for that purpose. The above specification of Ash, Oak, and Birch as the most useful species for fuel is not in accordance with well-known experience throughout France and Germany, where Beech and Hornbeam are most in demand for domestic heating purposes. As Gayer says (Forstbenutzung, 1888, p. 81): "According to the every-day experiences made in the domestic use of fuel, the different species of wood, bulk for bulk, may be classified as follows with regard to their utility as firewood: "1. Possessing greatest heating-power: Hornbeam, Beech, Birch, Turkey Oak, Mountain Pine, Robinia, resinous old Scots Pine, Black Pine. "2. Possessing considerable heating-power: Maple and Sycamore, Ash, English Elm, resinous Larch, ordinary Scots Pine, Oak. "3. Possessing a fair heating-power: Scots Elm, Spruce, Silver Fir, Sweet Chestnut, Cembran Pine. "4. Possessing little heating-power: Weymouth Pine, Lime, Alder, diseased Oak, Aspen, Poplar, Willow." In laying out a coppice-plantation, it is necessary to consider well what sorts of coppice-wood will sell to the best advantage in the neighbourhood; and when this matter has been ascertained, the next consideration will be whether or not the area at disposal is of such a nature, with regard to soil and situation, as may profitably produce continuously the kind which is in best demand. To plant any species. of trees on land not really adapted to their natural requirements as to food-supplies and moisture can never be true economy. Were Ash, Elm, Lime-tree, or Poplar, for example, planted upon a dry, light, thin soil, or Sweet Chestnut, Hazel, Mountain-Ash, or Birch on cold, stiff, binding land, then probably in neither case would profitable returns be harvested. In localities where various kinds of coppice-growth are readily marketable, all bare hilly tracts, the soil of which is light and not more than a few inches deep, may be planted up with Birch, Mountain-Ash and Hazel, at about 3 ft. by 3 ft., so as to induce rapid development in height. Upon the lower hilly tracts, the soil of which is of a somewhat deeper and better description, Maple, Sycamore, Oak, Chestnut, and a sprinkling of Beech may be put out at about 3 ft. over all. But upon all the better portions of good loamy soil on uplands having an elevation less than either of the two former tracts, the most profitable crop will usually be a mixture of Ash, Elm, Lime-tree, Poplar, Chestnut and Oak, at 4 ft. apart, with a few Beech scattered here and there. In planting the various species of trees in the different soils and situations above named, each should be grouped in patches by itself, as this has been proved by experience to be productive of more advantageous results than the admixture of the various species as individual plants in any more or less regular and stencil-like manner. Were Mountain-Ash, Birch, and Hazel, for example, all mixed together only individually in a coppice-wood, the Mountain-Ash, from being of a more rapid growth than either of the other two, would shoot ahead; soon, by overshadowing them, it would hinder their normal development. Each species of wood, therefore, which is meant to form part of the permanent crop, should be planted in patches by itself, wherever the soil is better suited to it than to any other species. When coppice plantations are conducted on the principle of growing each species in patches, they can be more conveniently utilised at different periods, according as special conditions either of the crop itself or of the market at the moment may suggest this as desirable. If any purchaser, for example, wishes a certain quantity of hoop-wood of a particular size, and is prepared to give a remunerative price for young Hazel that will meet his requirements, it will be much easier "The species of trees which retain longest their reproductive capacity in this respect are Oak, Hornbeam, Elm, Common Alder, and Sweet Chestnut; whilst it is lost soonest in Beech, Birch, Maple, Sycamore, and Ash. Conifers have no reproductive power of this sort to speak of, or at any rate which may be utilised sylviculturally on a large scale. Next to the broadleaved species of trees, in this respect, comes the Larch, and then the three-needled species of Pines. But having regard to those portions of the trees from which the reproduction principally takes place, there are likewise important differences between the various species of trees. Among those which reproduce themselves principally from the stool are comprised the Oak, Hazel, Hornbeam, Beech, Elm, Sweet Chestnut, Lime, Black Poplar, Common Alder, Ash, Maple, Sycamore, Field Maple, Willow, and Birch; Aspen, White Alder, Robinia, and Blackthorn reproduce themselves principally by suckers or stoles from the roots; whilst Willow and Poplar in particular, as also Lime, Elm, and Field Maple, possess the capacity of reproducing themselves both by stool-shoots and root-suckers, or from any portion of the stem." The kinds of trees best adapted for coppice-plantations are Ash, Elm, Oak, Poplar, Willow, Chestnut, Lime-tree, Mountain-Ash, Maple, Sycamore, Birch, Alder, Hazel, and Bird-Cherry. These again, according to the uses they are generally applied to, may be divided into four classes, viz. : 1. Coopers'-ware and Bobbin-wood-Ash, Mountain-Ash, Elm, Oak, Chestnut, Maple, Hazel, and Sycamore. 2. Charcoal-wood-Birch, Alder, Poplar, Lime-tree, Hazel, and Mountain-Ash. 3. Bark for Tanners- -Oak. 4. Basket-ware-Osier-Willows. In the above division of the kinds of trees best suited for coppice, firewood has not been included, because all woods may be employed for fuel purposes, although not with like effect, as Ash, Oak, and Birch are more useful than any of the other sorts; but as, in general cases, it is only the refuse of the coppice which is utilised as firewood, it seems unnecessary to designate any class exclusively for that purpose. The above specification of Ash, Oak, and Birch as the most useful species for fuel is not in accordance with well-known experience throughout France and Germany, where Beech and Hornbeam are most in demand for domestic heating purposes. As Gayer says (Forstbenutzung, 1888, p. 81):81):— "According to the every-day experiences made in the domestic use of fuel, the different species of wood, bulk for bulk, may be classified as follows with regard to their utility as firewood: "1. Possessing greatest heating-power: Hornbeam, Beech, Birch, Turkey Oak, Mountain Pine, Robinia, resinous old Scots Pine, Black Pine. "2. Possessing considerable heating-power: Maple and Sycamore, Ash, English Elm, resinous Larch, ordinary Scots Pine, Oak. "3. Possessing a fair heating-power: Scots Elm, Spruce, Silver Fir, Sweet Chestnut, Cembran Pine. "4. Possessing little heating-power: Weymouth Pine, Lime, Alder, diseased Oak, Aspen, Poplar, Willow." In laying out a coppice-plantation, it is necessary to consider well what sorts of coppice-wood will sell to the best advantage in the neighbourhood; and when this matter has been ascertained, the next consideration will be whether or not the area at disposal is of such a nature, with regard to soil and situation, as may profitably produce continuously the kind which is in best demand. To plant any species of trees on land not really adapted to their natural requirements as to food-supplies and moisture can never be true economy. Were Ash, Elm, Lime-tree, or Poplar, for example, planted upon a dry, light, thin soil, or Sweet Chestnut, Hazel, Mountain-Ash, or Birch on cold, stiff, binding land, then probably in neither case would profitable returns be harvested. In localities where various kinds of coppice-growth are readily marketable, all bare hilly tracts, the soil of which is light and not more than a few inches deep, may be planted up with Birch, Mountain-Ash and Hazel, at about 3 ft. by 3 ft., so as to induce rapid development in height. Upon the lower hilly tracts, the soil of which is of a somewhat deeper and better description, Maple, Sycamore, Oak, Chestnut, and a sprinkling of Beech may be put out at about 3 ft. over all. But upon all the better portions of good loamy soil on uplands having an elevation less than either of the two former tracts, the most profitable crop will usually be a mixture of Ash, Elm, Lime-tree, Poplar, Chestnut and Oak, at 4 ft. apart, with a few Beech scattered here and there. In planting the various species of trees in the different soils and situations above named, each should be grouped in patches by itself, as this has been proved by experience to be productive of more advantageous results than the admixture of the various species as individual plants in any more or less regular and stencil-like manner. Were Mountain-Ash, Birch, and Hazel, for example, all mixed together only individually in a coppice-wood, the Mountain-Ash, from being of a more rapid growth than either of the other two, would shoot ahead; soon, by overshadowing them, it would hinder their normal development. Each species of wood, therefore, which is meant to form part of the permanent crop, should be planted in patches by itself, wherever the soil is better suited to it than to any other species. When coppice plantations are conducted on the principle of growing each species in patches, they can be more conveniently utilised at different periods, according as special conditions either of the crop itself or of the market at the moment may suggest this as desirable. If any purchaser, for example, wishes a certain quantity of hoop-wood of a particular size, and is prepared to give a remunerative price for young Hazel that will meet his requirements, it will be much easier for the forester to supply his demands when the crop is grown in patches of each species. At the same time the cost of harvesting is decreased, and the effects of the perhaps somewhat premature utilisation of the particular species, will not be attended with the same danger regarding reproduction as if the stools were scattered individually throughout the crop and necessarily overshadowed by the shoots of the other species left standing; for, as has above been pointed out, the reproductive vigour of the stools is materially diminished when an abundant supply of light is not available for their stimulation. The same may be said of Oak-coppice, as a purchaser would give much more per acre for a hag of pure Oak-coppice than for crops mixed with other woods for which he might have no desire at the moment. In forming permanent coppice-woods, a decided preference should, so far as the nature of the land admits of this, be given to species of hardwoods known to be of value and in steady demand. And whereever nurses require to be planted for the purpose of producing a temporary shelter, they should not be evergreen species like Pines or Firs, but lightly-foliaged and hardy species like Birch and Larch, that will not be so apt to injure the main crop by heavy overshadowing. Such nurses should be cut out whenever they can be spared as no longer necessary for the protection of the main crop against frost, &c. Sylvicultural Treatment of Coppice-Woods.--As, with the low period of rotation usual in coppice-woods, the soil is laid bare frequently, it is very necessary to take measures for safeguarding its productivity; and this is all the more requisite, the less fertile and fresh the soil may naturally be. The only economical and effective method by which this can be attained is by a judicious mixture of shade-bearing and soil-improving species, along with those of a more lightly-foliaged and light-demanding habit of growth. For all light or limy soils the Beech is to be recommended; whilst on moister land the Hornbeam yields good results in this direction. Within a matrix of one or other of these two species, the light-demanding kinds may most advantageously be grown in small patches. Thus, on loamy or limy soil, Maple, Sycamore, Elm, Lime, Oak, and Hornbeam often associate themselves naturally with the Beech, and by tending in the way of cleaning the young crops a good deal can be done, even without much sowing or planting, to obtain a favourable admixture of species; whilst on fresh sandy or mild loamy land the Softwoods (Birch, Willow, Poplar) usually spring up spontaneously to such an extent as to necessitate partial removal during the operations of weeding and cleaning. In coppice-woods the Beech is at a disadvantage in comparison with the other species of trees; for it is naturally endowed with a less vigorous reproductive capacity of this description, and its shoots are not of such rapid development as those of most other species. So far as the general growth and outturn of Beech is concerned, this particular species yields better returns when growing along with Ash, Hornbeam, and Birch, on good fresh land, than under any other circumstances. With reference to the characteristics of the various other species of wood grown in coppice, Gayer gives the following summary (Waldbau, 1889, p. 264): |