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.