375 



I never saw above ten trees of the kind 

 during the whole time I was in the 

 country. The wood is used for the shafts 

 of single-horse chaises, in preference to 

 any other, and sold at a very high price. 

 I had v a chaise, the shafts of which were 

 made of this wood. By an accident, one 

 of them was broken : the wood did not 

 appear to be of so elastic a nature as an 

 English ash. The charge for a pair of 

 shafts is three pounds fifteen shillings. 

 Jiiccory is sometimes used for the same 

 purpose, but is not so good : although re- 

 markably tough, it is more liable to bend. 



The English willows grow to an uncom- 

 mon size, very quick, and superior to those 

 in England, especially the weeping-willow; 

 particularly on dry hot land, and poor soil, 

 which to me is astonishing. I saw some 

 weeping-willows at Mount- Vernon grow^- 

 ing by the sides of the lawn before the hall- 

 door, the shoots of which, the growth of 

 one year, were from ten to fourteen feet 

 long, and no part of them thicker than a 



