CHAPTER XVII

COPPICE AND UNDERWOOD: THE MANAGEMENT OF COPPICE WOOD

Although coppice wood has deteriorated considerably in value during late years, yet in certain districts and on suitable soils its cultivation is still to be recommended. Unfortunately, however, the uses to which coppice wood are in the main applied are much localized, and this, with the bulky nature of the commodity, will to a very considerable extent restrict its sale to the localities in which it is used. Thus in parts of Kent and Sussex hop poles find a ready market, pea and bean stakes in the gardening districts around London, crate wood in the neighbourhood of potteries, willow and ash in basket-making localities, and faggot wood wherever kilns abound, or in the environs of populous districts generally. It will, therefore, be seen that next to the question of soil probably the most important is that of local demand, so that in forming a coppice plantation only such underwood should be used as there is a demand for in the particular district. Foreign importations and preferential carriage rates have also dealt hardly with the profitable cultivation of coppice wood. Coppice wood may either be grown alone or in company with large standard trees, but the latter must at all times be kept sufficiently thin, so as not to overshadow and kill out the undergrowth. There are advantages, too, in employing standards for the protection they afford to the young shoots in spring, as also in the amount realized for the periodical thinnings to which they may be subjected. For this purpose the oak is to be recommended, but such wide-spreading trees as the ash, elm and beech, which produce so dense a shade as to kill out or seriously injure all vegetation that might spring up beneath them, are to be avoided. Generally where the health and vigour of the coppice wood are points of first consideration, it will not be advisable to allow the standard trees to occupy altogether more than about one-fifth of the wooded area; and even then the lower branches should be pruned off, so that the effects of shade will be mitigated as much as possible. As to the woods which coppice most freely, the ash, oak and hazel occupy the first rank, at least in a profitable sense, the elm, willow, beech, birch, hornbeam, alder and sycamore occupying a second, but, as before stated, the nature of the soil, and less so the altitude and exposure, have everything to do with the particular species that will succeed best. Thus ash will do well where the soil is moist and loamy, the Spanish chestnut in sandy or gravelly districts, for rich plains and hollows the oak will be most remunerative, the alder and willow in marshy ground, and where bare and exposed, the birch, hazel, beech and hornbeam will succeed best.

The preparation of the land and planting for coppice are similar in all respects to that adopted for the growing of an ordinary timber crop. Where the ground is too wet, draining should be judiciously engaged in, while trenching, although expensive at first, is amply compensated for in the increased growth and vigour of the underwood. The pits for planting may be made from 3½ ft. to 4 ft. apart, and, if the ground was previously trenched, of sufficient size to hold the roots without undue cramping. It is always well to keep the stools tolerably close together, as the shoots take a more erect habit and are straighter and more valuable than when allowed too much space and side room. Two years after being planted, or at the end of the second autumn, the young trees, excepting such as it may be thought advisable to leave as standards, should be cut over near ground level. This cutting is a most important operation, and should only be performed by skilled workmen, with tools of the best description well sharpened. The cut should be clean and directed upwards, all splitting of the stems and tearing of the bark being assiduously guarded against as conducive to decay and early death to the stools. After four years’ growth the shoots should be thinned out, leaving, say, four on each stool, and these preferably the strongest, the work being carried out at any time from November to the end of March, but not during frosty weather.

Upon the kind of wood grown and uses for which it is designed will depend very much the length of rotation pursued, for while osiers might profitably be cut at the end of the second year, ash, oak and chestnut would not usually, even on the best quality of soil, be felled sooner than from ten to twelve years, and the poorer classes of coppice wood, especially on light soil, at from twelve to sixteen years. It should be remembered, however, that the duration of the stool is usually proportionate to the length of the rotation adopted, and with good management on fair soil the best class of coppice wood has a duration of nearly a century. In felling the coppice wood it is always advisable to cut as near the ground level as possible, the shoots sent up having the advantage of rooting in the ground and so extending the area of the stool. The system of allowing the stools, by careless cutting, to rise in some instances several feet from the ground is contrary to the methods adopted under the best management. A sharp billhook should be used for all smaller shoots, a light well-ground axe for those from 3 to, say, 6 inches in diameter, and the cross-cut saw for all over that size.

The coppice wood is usually sorted out after being cut down, the best poles being laid aside for the use of the hop grower, the next size for pit props, or fencing according to the demand of the moment, and so on until every pole has been sorted according to the use for which it may be intended, the lop and branches being bound into faggots for fire or oven-lighting.

The following are the various uses to which underwood is applied: hoops, hurdles, crate rods, pea stakes, spars for thatching, withes for faggot-tying, sheep cages, hop poles, brooms, broom handles, skewers for butchers, chisel handles, plant stakes, whip handles, gunpowder wood and faggots.

Profits will vary from 15_s._ to 25_s._ per acre, exclusive of the standards which are left, and the crop, according to age and quality, will realize from £5 per acre downwards.

Great care is necessary to avoid damage to the stools when removing the fall, which is not usually done until just before the young buds are shooting out, and consequently at the time when injury is most easily brought about. The trampling of horses and passage of wheels are most injurious, while the browsing of cattle should be carefully guarded against. Good roads are always a great advantage in a coppice plantation, and to these as much of the produce as possible should be carried for loading, thus avoiding damage to the stools.

Although the growth of coppice wood has its disadvantages, particularly in park scenery, yet it is valuable in this way, that should the crop from local circumstances not be found remunerative, the plantation can at any time be converted into a standing wood by allowing the best and strongest shoots from the stools to form the permanent crop.

The approximate cost of forming a coppice wood per acre is as follows:—

£ _s._ _d._ Trenching at 2_s._ per rod 16 0 0 5,000 trees at 35_s._ per 1,000 8 15 0 Pitting and planting 2 5 0 ———————————————— £27 0 0