I S3 1 



management, been very fcant/i* yet they have 

 confifled of fuch valuable knees and crooks as the 

 merchants would have found it difficult to have 

 furnifhed. And if no provifion be made for grow- 

 ing fuch in future, we, like the French,f fhall be 

 reduced to the necelTity of ufing iron-braces in- 

 ftead of timber-knees.J In the prefent fcarcity of 

 thefe valuable articles, it is not only the bufinefs of 

 the furveyors, but the duty of every member of 

 the community, who is bled with the means, to try 

 at their produdion. The French have attempted 

 it by fufpending weights to the heads of (lender fap- 

 lings, bowing them haftily towards the ground, 

 which is not only an expenfive, but inefficacious 

 method, for it injures the plant by draining the 

 bark and rupturing the fap-veflfels. Let us take 

 nature for our guide, ftudy her means, and imitate 

 her ways, 



• Two thoufand loads yearly on an average of the lafl 20 years. 

 The confumption of the docks is 25,000 loads. 



f Vide Falconer's IVlarine Dictionary — article Knee. 



X The contraftors for India (hips have been already neceflltated 

 to ufe iron braces, through the fcarcity of large knees, and in tr> - 

 ding (hips they are found convenient, as leaving more room for tu 

 freight ; but in a man of war, the folidity of the timber knees adds 

 greatly to the ftrength and (lability of her fides, enabling them to 

 refill the batteries of the enemy for longer continuance, and pre- 

 ferving the men in great raeafure from the defhuftivQ power o , 

 fpUntcrs. 



E 3 Whoever 



