en) 
up fpontaneoufly, or are planted in them, will be 
liable to be cropped and kept down by the cattle, 
and few of them can come to perfection. 
And in weak decaying woods, there is a/ways a 
great deal of the underwood fo low, as never to get 
out of the reach of cattle, but is continually liable 
to be cropt and kept down by them, and the decay 
of the ftocks is thereby much haftened. 
Another caufe of early decay of woods, is the 
want of draining fuch parts of them as are fubject 
to be moift and damp; xofhing being fo prejudicial 
to wood as 100 much wet. 
Another caufe of decay, is the cuflom of Juffering 
woods to grow too old before cutting, whereby the {trong 
fhoots {mother the weak ones, and by their drop- 
ping, kill the ftocks on whichthey grow. To this 
may be added the practice of permitting the dzyer 
to cut the wood, thereby making it his ilereff to 
deftroy every fapling, and ¢o cut the underwood as 
clofe to the flock as poffible; (which in old woods is 
very prejudicial to the fucceeding fhoots)—as alfo 
the cuftom of not obliging the buyers /o clear the 
woods early in the fummer, fo as to prevent the new 
fhoots from being injured by their cattle and car- 
riages. 
Io recover Decayed Woods.—If it be profitable to 
plant new woods, it is certainly much more pro- 
fitable to protect thofe that are already planted, to 
fill 
