Forestry for Farmers

by B. E. Fernow

Fig. 14.—Appearance of regeneration by group method.

COPPICE.

Besides reproducing a wood crop from the seed of mother trees or by planting, there is another reproduction possible by sprouts from the stump. This, to be sure, can be done only with broad-leaved species, since conifers, with but few exceptions, do not sprout from the stump. When a wood lot is cut over and over again, the reproduction taking place by such sprouts we call coppice.

Most wooded areas in the Eastern States have been so cut that reproduction from seed could not take place, and hence we have large areas of coppice, with very few seedling trees interspersed. As we have seen in the chapter on "How trees grow," the sprouts do not develop into as good trees as the seedlings. They grow faster, to be sure, in the beginning, but do not grow as tall and are apt to be shorter lived.

For the production of firewood, fence, and post material, coppice management may suffice, but not for dimension timber. And even to keep the coppice in good reproductive condition, care should be taken to secure a certain proportion of seedling trees, since the old stumps, after repeated cutting, tail to sprout and die out.

Soil and climate influence the success of the coppice; shallow soils produce weaker but more numerous sprouts and are more readily deteriorated by the repeated laying bare of the soil; a mild climate is most favorable to a continuance of the reproductive power of the stump.

Some species sprout more readily than others; hence the composition of the crop will change, unless attention is paid to it. In the coppice, as in any other management of a natural wood crop, a desirable composition must first be secured, which is done by timely improvement cuttings, as described in a previous section.

The best trees for coppice in the northeastern States are the chestnut, various oaks, hickory, ash, elm, maples, basswood, and black locust, which are all good sprouters.

When cutting is done for reproduction, the time and manner are the main care. The best results are probably obtained, both financially and with regard to satisfactory reproduction, when the coppice is cut between the twentieth and thirtieth years. All cutting must be done in early spring or in winter, avoiding, however, days of severe frost, which is apt to sever the bark from the trunk and to kill the cambium. Cutting in summer kills the stump, as a rule. The cut should be made slanting downward, and as smooth as possible, to prevent collection of moisture on the stump and the resulting decay, and as close as possible to the ground, where the stump is less exposed to injuries, and the new sprouts, starting close to the ground, may strike independent roots.

Fail places or gaps should be filled by planting. This can be readily done by bending to the ground some of the neighboring sprouts, when 2 to 3 years old, notching, fastening them down with a wooden hook or a stone, and covering them with soil a short distance (4 to 6 inches) from the end. The sprout will then strike root, and after a year or so may be severed from the mother stock by a sharp cut ([fig. 15]).