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sheep; and being set too near, inclining to one another, they soon chap. xx.
destroy each other.
7. The worst Sallows may be planted so near, yet as to be instead of’stakes in a hedge, and then their tops will supply their dwarfishnefs; and,to prevent hedge-breakers, many do thus plant them, because they cannoteasily be pulled up after once they have struck root.
8. If some be permitted to wear their tops five or six years, their palmswill be very ample, and yield the first and most plentiful relief to bees,even before our Apricots blofsom. The Hopping Sallows open and yieldtheir palms before other Sallows; and when they are blown, (which isabout the exit of May, or sometimes June,) the palms (orFrugiperdag as Homer terms them) are four inches long, and full of afine lanuginous cotton. Of this sort, there is a Salix near Darking inSurrey, in which the Julus bears a thick cottonous substance: A poorbody might in am hour’s space, gather a pound or two,of it, which re-sembling the finest silk, might doubtlefs be converted to some profitableuse by an ingenious housewife, if gathered in calm evenings, before thewind, rain, and dew impair them : I'am of opinion, if it were dried withcare, it might be fit for cushions, and pillows of chastity; for such of old'was the reputation of the shade of those trees.
9. Of these Hopping Sallows, after three years rooting, each plant will*yield about a score of staves of full eight feet in length, and so following,for use, as we noted above. Compute then how many fair pike-staves,perches, and other useful materials, that will amount to in an acre, if :planted at five feet interval; but a fat and moist soil requires indeed more-3 pace than a lean or- drier, namely, six or eight feet distance.
10. You may plant settlings of the very first year’s growth; but thesecond year they are better, and the third year better than the second, andthe fourth as good as the third, especially if they approach the water. A*,bank at a foot distance from the water, is kinder for them than a bog, or.to be altogether immersed in the water.
11. It is good to new-mould them about the roots every second or thirdyear; but men seldom take the pains. It seems that Sallows are more