Penjylvania t Germantown. 179 



tree, and even when {he flood in the way 

 of the wind, which blew directly from this 

 fhrub. But upon me this fpecies of fumach 

 has never exherted its power, though I 

 made above a hundred experiments upon 

 myfelf with the greateft items, and the 

 juice once fquirted into my eye, without 

 doing me any harm. On another perfon's 

 hand which I had covered very thick with 

 it, the {kin a few hours after became as 

 hard as a piece of tanned leather, and peeled 

 off in the following days, as if little fcales 

 fell from it. 



October the 10th. In the morning I ac- 

 companied Mr. Cock to his country feat, 

 which is about nine miles from Philadelphia 

 to the north. 



Though the woods of Penfyhania afford 

 many oaks, and more fpecies of them than, 

 are found further north, yet they do not 

 build fo many {hips in this province as they 

 do in the northern ones, and efpecially in 

 New England. But experience has taught 

 the people that the fame kind of trees is 

 more durable the further it grows to the; 

 north, and that this advantage decreafes 

 the more it grows in warm climates. It is 

 Hkewife plain that the trees in the fouth 

 grow more every year, and form thicker 

 ringlets than thofein the north. The for- 



M 2 mer 



