252

A DISCOURSE

3 Sal i ows grow much faster, if they are planted within reach of water,,or in a very moorish ground, or flat plain; and where the. soil is, byreason of extraordinary moisture, unfit for arable or meadow; for in thesecases it is an extraordinary improvement r In a word, where Birch andAlder will thrive. Before you plant them, it is. found best to turn theground with a spade, especially if you design them for a flat. We havethree sorts of Sallows amongst us, (which is one more than the antientschallenged, who name only the Black, and White, \yhich was theirjVitellina,) the Vulgar Round-leaved, which proves best in drier banks,and the Hopping Sallows, which require a moister soil, growing withincredible celerity; and a third kind, of a different colour from the othertwo, having the twigs reddish, the leaf not so long, and of a more duskygreen ; more brittle whilst it is growing in twigs, and more tough whenarrived to a competent size. All of them useful for the Thatcher.

4. Of these, the Hopping Sallows are in greatest esteem, beingof a clearer terse grain, and requiring a more succulent soil; best planteda foot deep, and a foot and a half above ground, (though some will allowbut a foot) for then every branch will prove excellent for future settlings.After three years growth, being cropped the second and third, the firstyear’s increase will be betwixt eight and twelve foot long generally; thethird year’s growth, strong enough to make rakes and pike-staves ; and.the fourth, for Mr. Blithe’s trenching plough, and other like utensils ofthe husbandman..

5 .. If you plant them at full height (as some do at four years growth,,setting them five or six feet in length, to avoid the biting of cattle) theywill be lefs useful for straight staves, and for settlings, and make lefsspeed in their growth j yet this also is a considerable improvement.

6. These would require to be planted at least five feet distance, (someset them at much more,) and in the quincunx order : If they affect thesoil, the leaf will become large, half as broad as a man. s hand, andof a more vivid green, always larger the first year than afterwards : Someplant them sloping, and crofs-wise, like a hedge ; but this impedes theirwonderful growth; and though Pliny seems to commend it, (teachingus how to excorticate some places of each set, for the sooner productionof shoots,) it is but a deceitful fence, neither fit to keep out swine nor