54 A DISCOURSE

B o o k I. Balifade-hedges , Hop-yards , and Spars,Handles, Stocks for Tools ,

SpadeArees, &x. In sum, the Husbandman cannot be without theA/h forhis Carts, Ladders and other Tackling, from the Tike to the Blow,Spear and Bow ; for of Ajh were they formerly made, and thereforereckon’d amongst those Woods, which, after long Tension, has a naturalSpring, and recovers its Position ; so as in Teace and War it is a Woodin highest Request: In short, so useful and profitable is this Tree (nextto the Oak ) that every prudent Lord of a Mannor, should employ oneAcre of Ground with A/h or Acorns to every twenty Acres of otherLand ; since in as many Years, it would be more worth than the Land itself. There is extracted an Oyl from the A/h, by the Trocesis on otherWoods, which is excellent to recover the Hearing, some Drops of it beingdistilled warm into the Ears ; and for the Caries or Rot of the Bones,Tooth-ach, Pains in the Kidneys , and Spleen , the Anointing therewithis most soveraign. Some have used the Saw-dusi of this Wood insteadof Guiacum with Success. The Chymisis exceedingly commend theSeed of A/h to be an admirable Remedy for the Stone : But whetherby the Power of Magick or Nature , I determine not. I have heard it af-firmed with great'Confidence, and upon Experience, that the Rupture towhich many Children are obnoxious, is healed, by pasting the Infantthrough a wide Cleft made in the Bole or Stem of a growing A/h-tree,through which the Child is to be made pass ; and then carried a secondTime round the A/h, caused to repasis the same Aperture again, that theCleft osithe Tree suffered to close and coalesce, as it will, the Ruptureof the Child, being carefully bound up, will not only abate, but be per-fectly cured: The Manna of Calabria is found to exsiude out of theLeaves and Boughs of this Tree, during the hot Summer- Months. Easi-ly, the white and rotten dotard Part composes a Ground for .our GallantsSweet-powder, and the Trunchions make the third Sort of the most du-rable Coal, and is (of all other) the sweetest of our Forest Fuelling,and the fittest for Ladies Chambers; it will burn even whilst it is green,and may be reckoned amongst the au^g-irva £ua a. To conclude, Thevery dead Leaves afford (like those of the Elm) relief to our Cattlein Winter ; and there is a Dwarf-fort in France (if in Truth it be not,as I suspect, our Witchen-tree) whose Berries feed the poor People inscarce Years; but it bears no Keys, like to ours, which being pickledtender, afford a delicate Salading. But the Shade of the A/h is not tobe endured, because the Leaves produce a noxious In fe El ; and for dis-playing themselves so very late, and falling very early, not to be plant-ed for Umbrage or Ornament, especially near the Garden , since (be-sides their predatious Roots ) the Leaves dropping with so long a Stalk,are drawn by Clusters into the Worm-ho les, which foul the Alleys withtheir Keys, and suddenly infect the Ground. Note, that the Season forFelling of this Tree, must be when the Sap is fully at rest; for if youcut it down too early, or over-late in the Year, it will be so obnoxious tothe Worm, as greatly to prejudice the Timber ; therefore to be sure,fell not till the three Mid-winter Months, beginning about November :But in lopping of Bollards (as of soft Woods) Mr. Cook advises it shoulde towards the Spring, and that you do not luster the Lops to grow toogreat. Also, that so soon as a Bollard comes to be considerably hollowat t eHead, you suddenly cut it down, the Body decaying more thanV e jff a , lS W . ort ^ ' The fame he pronounces of taller Astoes, and wheret e Wood-peckers make Holes (who constantly indicate their being faul-' ty)

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