224

A DISCOURSE

book x, ult that philosophical treatise of Dr. Vallemont *, which will at leastentertain them with a world of suprising things. But the most signal* Vallemont, honour it was ever employed in, and which might deservedly exalt thiscul't'ou'Train humble and common plant above all the trees of the wood, is thatde la Baguet of hurdles, especially the flexible white, the red, and brittle; not for thatDivinitoire, j t j s generally used for the folding of our innocent sheep, an emblem of

&c. But con- , , . r . . r

ceming the the church, but for making the walls of one of the first Christian Oratories

superstitious^ world ; and particularly in this island, that venerable and sacred

original, see fabrick at Glastonbury, founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea, which is

Bro-wne’sVul- stor ' ec i to have been first composed but of a few small Hasel-rods inter-

gar Errors, c. woven about certain stakes driven into the ground ;—and walls of this

and the^com- hind, instead of laths and punchions, super-induced with a coarse mortar,

mentators up- made of loam and straw, do to this day inclose divers humble cottages,

onHos.iv.i- 2 , anc ( 0 ut-houses in the country. It is strong and lasting for such

purposes, whole or cleft; and I have seen ample inclosures of courts and

gardens so secured.o

6 . There is a compendious expedient for the thickening of copseswhich are too transparent, by laying of a sampler, or pole, of an Iiasel,Ash, Poplar, &c. of twenty or thirty feet in length, the head a littlelopped into the ground, giving it a chop near the foot to make it succumb ;this fastened to the earth with a hook or two, and covered with somefresh mould at a competent depth, (as gardeners lay their carnations,)will produce a world of suckers, and thicken and furnish a copse speedily.I add no more of Filberts, a kinder and better sort of Hasel-nut, of largerand longer shape and beard: the kernels also covered with a fine mem-brane, of which the red is more delicate: they both are propagatedas the Hasel, and while more domestic, planted either asunder or inpalisade, are seldom found in the copses. They are brought amongother fruit to the best tables for desert, and are said to fatten; but, whentoo much eaten, are obnoxious to the asthmatic. In the mean time,of this I have had experience, that Hasel-nuts, but the Filbert especially,being full ripe and peeled in warm water, as they blanch Almonds,make a pudding very" little, if at all, inferior to that our ladies make ofAlmonds.