COPPICING. The wikipedia entry on pollarding makes reference to coppicing as being similar to pollarding in encouraging new growth. This wikipedia entry says that: “Coppicing is an English term for a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level.” A regularly coppiced tree will never die of old age. Some coppiced trees reach a diameter of 18 feet across. Here is an image of a coppiced alder tree after one year of regrowth.
The use of coppicing goes back to prehistory. “Timber in the Sweet Track in Somerset (built in the winter of 3807 and 3806 BC) has been identified as coppiced lime.”