would not have developed at all are impelled to grow up into twigs and branches (stool-shoots) from the lower parts of the cut tree. It was very usual at one time to grow oak in this way for the sake of the bark, which was employed in tanning, the trees being cut back again and again, and renewing the coppice growth after each cutting.
There are various other modes of growing oak in forests, but, whatever the system employed, the following facts have to be borne in mind and provided for: The oak is a tree that requires a soil of great depth, and sufficiently open to allow of the free penetration of air and water to the subsoil; consequently many soils, otherwise rich enough, are unsuited for the culture of this tree. Again, young seedlings and plants are apt to suffer from frost unless they are protected by suitable mixtures of other plants; but such mixtures must be chosen properly, for this tree demands light and space to a degree greater than most other European trees except the larch, birch, and one or two others, and rapidly suffers if shaded or unduly crowded. Further, as compared with other European trees, the oak is a tree of the plains, and requires a relatively high temperature. These requirements also accord with its adaptation to deep, rich, well-drained soil, and, taking it all round, we have to regard the oak as a tree which makes considerable demands on the locality (soil and climate) where it grows. In return for this, however, it yields the best of all temperate timbers.
