are less exposed to rot from the action of wetness and fungoid disease. In order to renew old and worn-out coppice plantations, the only sure, effectual, and profitable way is to replant. The Value of Coppice-Crops must in all cases depend greatly on the nature of the soil and situation, and also upon the management they may have received while in their young state. Save in the exceptional circumstances offered by a favourable market, high-forest crops are preferable to coppice-woods, for they conserve in a much higher degree the productive capacity of the soil. From the author's experience previous to the recent fall in the value of bark, 20s. per acre per annum was about the average return derivable from Oakcoppice; whilst Birch and Alder yielded on the average about 18s., and Ash about 30s. per acre. Coppice of a general mixed character he never found profitable, as it seldom realised more than 12s. per acre per annum. The above valuations are taken from coppice cut down at periods varying from 15 to 25 years. In Lancashire, even though there is a great demand for coppice-growth in Manchester and Liverpool, the land under such a crop seldom produces above 30s. an acre to the proprietor, while more frequently it merely yields from 12s. to 20s.; and that, too, in the case of land which, if put under good forest management for the cultivation of timber, would doubtless realise a considerably better nett annual return. Wherever such is the case, it would seem advisable to convert the coppice-woods into high-forest. Conversion of Coppice-Woods into High-Timber Forest.—There are two distinctly different methods of effecting this object. That generally adopted on the Continent is to select the best-grown shoots and to leave them as stores or standards at the time of cutting down the coppice. Only as many good shoots are thus selected as can ultimately become timber-trees upon the ground; and these are left standing at distances of from 20 to 30 ft., whilst all the rest of the coppice is cut over to bring forth another crop. The opportunity may at the same time be taken of introducing stout transplants of the more valuable species of trees, like Oak, Ash, Elm, Maple, and Sycamore, to form the ultimate crop, as seedlings possess greater longevity and develop better than stool-shoots, or even suckers, during the later stages of growth as high-timber forest. In the author's opinion the only sure way of converting a coppice plantation into healthy standing timber is as follows:— When the regular coppice has been thinned for the first time, say at two years old, have in view the raising of a regular portion of the best of the shoots for ultimate timber; and with this view thin out all the weakly shoots and such as are badly formed leaving none but the choicest, and those rather thinner upon the stock than if the plantation were merely thinned with the intention of its remaining under coppice. Having thinned the coppice rather severely at two years' standing, at four years let it receive another good thinning, by taking away from each stock the worst of the shoots, leaving none but the best, and not more at that age of these than from four to five upon the most healthy of the stocks. At six or eight years of age give another regular thinning; at about twelve, a fourth; and at fifteen years there should upon no stock be left more than one shoot, which is designed to be trained up as a timber-tree. After this period, such a plantation may be treated exactly in the way which has already been directed for hardwood plantations. The advantages of this system are evident: (1.) The trees are trained up gradually and naturally, and never suffer any check; (2.) a better selection can be made, from there being a continual choice of shoots at the command of the forester as they grow up at different stages; and (3.) by this method of selecting and training up, the plants, or trees as we may term them, at nearly twenty years old will be about twice the size of others that are merely chosen from the body of a thick coppice-wood and exposed all at once. Hence, by the time that they are thirty years old they will be three times as large, and, it may also be added, three times as healthy and valuable. The objection to this method is that it may frequently fail to secure that density of crop which is essential for the simultaneous protection of the productive capacity of the soil and the utilisation of this productivity to its fullest possible extent. It is, in fact, an arboricultural treatment of the crop, which cannot bear the full scrutiny requisite in purely sylvicultural, i.e., financial, utilisation of the soil. In Sylviculture, gradual transformations from coppice into high-forest can be best effected by forming a kind of copse or coppice under standards first of all, and then increasing the number of standards grown from seed; for stoles and suckers do not hold out the same periods of rotation as crops raised from seed, and do not assume the same dimensions of girth or attain the same marketable value before commencing to sink in average annual increment. As cases often occur where proprietors may wish to convert a coppice-plantation of some years' growth into a timber crop, it may be stated, for their guidance, that at whatever age they may wish to do this, they should never commence to cut down suddenly, and expose the shoots they wish to rear up as trees. The only sure way in a case of this kind is to select the very best of the shoots at proper distances from one another, and have them pruned and kept clear from the shoots upon the other stocks. Those also should alone be selected which appear to come away from the earth, and not those which have the appearance of coming away from the collar of the stock-for such never will form really good trees. As those that are made choice of advance in size, give them room gradually, and eventually good standing timber may be formed in this way by cutting away all the rejected shoots betimes, in the same manner as in the case of thinning away nurses from among young hardwood trees in any other timber plantation. There are many districts in this country where coppice-woods are more remunerative, and even more ornamental, than high-timber crops could be on the same sites; but where coppice-woods, growing on land adapted for high-forest, do not bring in a good return, it will generally be found more profitable to grow trees in the form of high-timber crops. Formation and Tending of Copse, Coppice under Standards, or Stored Coppice. This form of timber crop is common in many parts of the country, and of considerable importance upon many estates. In the rules framed by James I. for the conduct of forest operations in the New Forest, it was laid down that "all timber trees are to be excepted, and all saplings of oak that are likely to make timber, and that twelve standels be left in every acre." But previous to that a proclamation had been issued in 1608 (Lascelles, pamphlet on the Arboriculture of the New Forest, 1893, p. 7) to the effect that as "Great spoils and devastations are committed within our forests, parks, and chases. . . we therefore have endeavoured to take course to stop the said abuses, and to work the means not only of the better preservation of our said woods in time to come, but of a present multiplication and increase of wood to all ages, and to the end that our care may appear to the preservation and increase of timber as well to others as to ourselves . . . we do straightly command and charge all our loving subjects in general that in their own woods they presume not hereafter to defraud the true meaning of our statutes by cutting and felling the young stores when they usually fell their underwoods." Since legal pressure was thus brought to bear on the owners of woodlands at a comparatively recent date, measured by the standard of longevity of Oaks, it cannot be surprising that this form of woodlands has played so important a part in Britain. And more especially must this under any circumstances have been the case, when it is recollected how admirably this method of treatment was adapted to suit the growth of Oaks for naval purposes, as better trees and crooks would thus be obtainable than could possibly be grown in the close canopy of well-managed high-forests. When crops of Oak and other Hardwoods are cut down for the purpose of converting them into a copse or coppice-wood under standards, the whole of the fall should be removed immediately, in order that no damage may be done to the young shoots as they arise from the stools; for, if the wood be allowed to lie long upon the ground after it is cut, the young shoots will have grown to a considerable height, and they, being extremely tender, will be easily broken in the act of removing the poles at a later period. In order to prevent this, the purchaser of wood felled in the winter-time should be bound by the articles of sale to have all the produce removed by the middle of June at latest. If this be not done, the after-crop of coppice-shoots will be almost certain to be more or less damaged. And the work of extraction should always be done by the proprietor's own workmen. In order to prevent the lodgment of water between the bark and the wood of Oaks, the author considers that it is always a good plan to employ a man to go before the woodcutters, and, with a handbill and wooden mallet, cut the bark right through to the wood, in the form of a ring, all round the circumference of a tree, fully 2 in. above the surface of the ground. The first ring being cut all round, another should be made in like manner 2 or 3 ft. higher up on the bole of the tree, when the piece of bark situated between those two cuts can be removed, and the woodmen made to saw each tree across exactly by the lower mark, or bottom of the peeled wood. This forms a guide to the men not to injure the lower part left with the bark upon it, as well as, when any difficulty is experienced in bringing the tree down, avoiding all waste of bark. As soon as the wood and bark have been removed, all useless underwood should be carefully cleared away, excepting any young healthy shoots or plants which may be considered worth leaving upon the ground, with the view to their ultimately becoming trees. Immediately after the ground has been cleared, the stocks of the trees should be adzed in order to cause the young shoots to flush as near to the roots as possible. If the young coppice-shoots be allowed to proceed from that part of the old stock which rises 2 in. above ground, these shoots will always partake more of the character of branches than of trees, and never will make a valuable plantation; but if forced to proceed from the collar or part of the stock where the roots join with the main stem, and which lies immediately under the surface of the soil, they will partake of the character of trees, and will become independent of the parent stock by sending out roots of their own, which will materially assist in their subsequent development. In using the adze, care must be taken that the part where the roots issue from the main stem be not injured. The sooner the operation of adzing is done after the trees are cut, the greater is the chance of obtaining a good crop of healthy shoots. The forester, therefore, ought not to delay this until the work of clearing away the trees be finished; the whole ought, indeed, to be proceeding simultaneously. One way of conducting operations of this kind is to have a party of men with horses and carts, who begin upon one side of the ground, and clear away all the valuable wood as they proceed. Immediately following this first party comes a second, consisting of women and boys, headed by a man to superintend them, who gather up all the brushwood left by the men with the carts, carry it to convenient openings, and burn it at once, unless some other more economical use can be made of it. When the ground has been cleared by this second party, the adzemen follow and dress the stocks. If the stalks of the trees cut down are not numerous, as is more than likely to be the case if the trees were of any considerable age, there will not be nearly enough for a permanent crop upon the ground. If, for instance, they were eighty years old, there will not be more than from 60 to 70 trees to the acre. Now, to have a piece of woodland with only that number of stools per acre would never prove remunerative; therefore a crop of young Oak or other hardwood trees should be planted out wherever there are blanks between the stools, so as 1 "Chestnut, Oak, Hornbeam, Elm, and Alder retain the capacity for reproduction longest; Beech, Birch, Maple, Sycamore, and Ash lose it soonest. . . . Recent experiments conducted by M. Bartet at Nancy show that Oak and Hornbeam are capable of producing stool-shoots up to 60 or even 85 years of age" (Nisbet, British Forest Trees, p. 52). It must, however, be remarked that, as the flushing of stool-shoots is not a natural effort at regeneration, but at reproduction of injured parts, the recuperative power becomes weakened when once the individual tree has entered fully into the seed-producing stage. Hence only those stems can yield good crops of shoots which are cut back to the stool whilst still in the full energy of development. to fill up the whole to distances varying from 4 by 4 ft. to 5 by 5 ft. On suitable land it adds to the remunerativeness of the crop to sprinkle a few Larches here and there among those hardwoods that are not so light-demanding as Oak and Ash. When the young coppice-shoots have been allowed to grow undisturbed for two years, they should be cleaned by having all small and weakly shoots removed, thus only leaving the strongest. These selected shoots should be left for other two years, when a thinning should be made, so that only the strongest and healthiest shoots are again allowed to remain; and in no case should more than six shoots be left to stand permanently upon any individual stock, or fewer still if the stool seems in any way wanting in vigour. When the young shoots have thus been cleaned and thinned, they may at the same time receive a judicious pruning. And when they grow up, any Larch that have been planted out in blanks should be thinned away gradually in order to make room for the hardwoods as they develop. But the As a wood of this description grows up, the shoots from the old stools may be treated either as coppice or as timber, along with the planted trees, as may best suit the object of the proprietor. Many proprietors cultivate coppice of this description along with trees in their plantations, with the view of making cover for pheasants; and for this it answers admirably. In such cases the coppice growth is treated arboriculturally, for it is intentionally kept low and of a spreading habit by the shoots being headed down to a certain height, while the planted trees are trained up as timber above them. coppice is thus rendered of little economic value. Where sylvicultural treatment of the crop is the object, this plan of dealing with the coppice should not be adopted. In all cases where coppice is mixed with planted trees, and where it is desirable to obtain the highest nett returns from the land, the best way is to thin out the weaker portion of the shoots as the crop gradually develops, and to leave ultimately only the very best on each stock to attain the dimensions of trees along with those planted. Where, however, a portion of the coppice must be left in a thick state to answer the purpose of cover, then the least promising part of the crop may be left-one stock here and there with all its shoots-so as to produce a sufficiency of cover without materially affecting the well-being of the general crop. In training up a mixed coppice-and-timber plantation of this description, considerable attention is necessary to see that the coppice growths do not injure the young planted hardwoods. From the rapid growth of the former in the early stages of development, they are very apt to overtop the latter, which are of comparatively slow growth till they become well established and enter into the most vigorous period |