Coppicing
Pollarding is a similar process carried out at a higher level on the tree in order to prevent grazing animals from eating new shoots.
[2][3] Many silviculture practices involve cutting and regrowth; coppicing has been of significance in many parts of lowland temperate Europe.
[citation needed] The widespread and long-term practice of coppicing as a landscape-scale industry is something that remains of special importance in southern England.
This curve occurs as the competing stems grow out from the stool in the early stages of the cycle, then up toward the sky as the canopy closes.
Timber in the Sweet Track in Somerset (built in the winter of 3807 and 3806 BCE) has been identified as coppiced Tilia species.
Later on in Mediaeval times, farmers encouraged pigs to feed from acorns, and so some trees were allowed to grow bigger.
As modern forestry (Hochwald in German, which translates as High forest) seeks to harvest timber mechanically, and pigs are generally no longer fed from acorns, both systems have declined.
However, there are cultural and wildlife benefits from these two silvicultural systems, so both can be found where timber production or some other main forestry purpose (such as a protection forest against an avalanche) is not the sole management objective of the woodland.
This was regulated by a statute of 1544[10] of Henry VIII, which required woods to be enclosed after cutting (to prevent browsing by animals) and 12 standels (standards or mature uncut trees) to be left in each acre, to be grown into timber.
The woodland provides the small material from the coppice as well as a range of larger timber for such uses as house building, bridge repair, cart-making and so on.
Epicormic buds develop and grow when the upper parts of the stem (which normally produce inhibitory plant hormone analogues) are removed.
Suckers refers to shoots growing from roots in response to felling to ground as seen in wild cherry or gean (Prunus avium) and aspen (Populus tremula) but also has been adopted in horticulture to refer to a competing shoot sprouting from a rootstock below the interface with the scion.
However, a range of ages of standards was managed-for to allow for continuity of oak production for timber (shipbuilding especially) and this was sometimes legislated for.
[citation needed] Waivers: (also 'wavers') Young oak trees (older than seedlings or saplings) that may become standards in due turn.
[citation needed] Some Eucalyptus species are coppiced in a number of countries, including Australia, North America, Uganda, and Sudan.
In southern Britain, coppice was traditionally hazel, hornbeam, field maple, ash, sweet chestnut, occasionally sallow, elm, small-leafed lime and rarely oak or beech, grown among pedunculate or sessile oak, ash or beech standards.
A minority of these woods are still operated for coppice today, often by conservation organisations, producing material for hurdle-making, thatching spars, local charcoal-burning or other crafts.
The only remaining large-scale commercial coppice crop in England is sweet chestnut which is grown in parts of Sussex and Kent.
[11] Much of this was established as plantations in the 19th century for hop-pole production (hop-poles are used to support the hop plant while growing hops) and is nowadays cut on a 12 to 18-year cycle for splitting and binding into cleft chestnut paling fence, or on a 20- to 35-year cycle for cleft post-and-rail fencing, or for sawing into small lengths to be finger-jointed for architectural use.
[11] After cutting, the increased light allows existing woodland-floor vegetation such as bluebell, anemone and primrose to grow vigorously.
Trees may be browsed or broken by large herbivorous animals, such as cattle or elephants, felled by beavers or blown over by the wind.
However, full life cycle analysis has shown that poplars have a lower effect in greenhouse gas emissions for energy production than alternatives.
