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A DISCOURSE

book i. hardy than even Willows and Oziers; of which Columella takes as muchcare as of Vines themselves. But it is cheaper to supply the vacuity ofaccidental decays by a new plantation, than to be at the charge ofdigging about them three times a year, as that author advises, seeingsome of them will decay whatever care be used.

12 . Sallows may also be propagated like Vines, by courbing and bow-ing them in arches, and covering some of their parts with mould, &c.also by cuttings and layers, and some years by the seeds likewise.

13. For settlings, those are to be preferred which grow nearest to thestock, and so (consequently) those worst which most approach the top.They should be planted in the first fair and. pleasant weather in February,before they begin to bud : we about London begin at the latter end ofDecember. They may be cut in spring for fuel, but best in autumn foruse ; but in , this work (as of Poplar) leave a twig or two, which beingtwisted arch-wise, will produce plentiful sprouts, and suddenly furnish ahead.

14. If in our copses every fourth set were a Sallow , amongst the rest ofvarieties, the profit would recompense the cafe; therefore where in woodsyou grub up trees, thrust in truncheons of Sallows , or some aquatic kind.In a word, an acre or two furnished with this tree, would prove of greatbenefit to the planter.

15. The swift-growing Sallow is not so tough and hardy for some usesas the slower, which makes stocks for gardeners’ spades.; but it is properfor rakes, pikes, mops, &c. Sallow-coal is tbe soonest consumed, but ofall others the most easy and accommodate for painters’ scriblets to designtheir work, and first sketches on paper, &c. as being fine, and apt to slitinto pencils. Of the Sallow (as of the Lime-tree) is made the shoemakers’carving or cutting boards, as best to preserve the edge of their-knives, forits equal softnefs every way.

oziER, 16. Oziers, or the aquatic and lefser Salix , are of innumerable kinds,commonly distinguished from Sallows, as Sallows are from Withies, beingso much smaller than the Sallows , and shorter lived, and requiring more