On the plan there will be noted a strip specially shaded, surrounding the entire plat (fig. 13, _a_), representing a strip of timber which should surround the farmer's wood lot, and which he should keep as dense as possible, especially favoring undergrowth. This part, if practicable, should be kept reproduced as coppice or by the method of selection, i. e., by taking out trees hero and there. When gaps are made, they should be filled, if possible, by introducing shade-enduring kinds, which, like the spruces and firs and beech, retain their branches down to the foot for a long time. This mantle is intended to protect the interior against the drying influence of winds, which are bound to enter the small wood lot and deteriorate the soil. The smaller the lot, the more necessary and desirable it is to maintain such a protective cover or wind-break. [Illustration: 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.