( 35 ) 



every where, before the arts of draining were 

 in ufe. Nothing was neceffary in fuch places, 

 to produce the future phenomenon of fub- 

 terraneous timber ; but to cany the trees 

 upon the furface of the bog ; which might 

 eafily be done in dry fummers. Their own 

 weight, the ouzing of the fprings, and the 

 fwelling of the mofTy ground would foon 

 fink them; as they were generally ftripped 

 of their branches, which were probably burnt. 

 Dr. Plot, who had examined fubterraneous 

 timber with great exaclnefs, gives good rea- 

 fons for fuppofing, it might have been bu- 

 ried in this way merely to make way for 

 the plough 5 and imagines that the Englifh 

 might begin to clear their wood-lands for tillage 

 as early as the times of Alfred the great *. - 

 Others account for the phenomenon of fub- 

 tetraneous timber from the havoc made in 

 woods by the violence of ftorms. In marfhy 

 grounds efpecially, where trees take but 

 feeble hold, they would be moft liable to this 

 deftruclion. Both this hypothecs, and Dr. 

 Plot's may be equally true. 



* See Plot's hift. of Oxfordfhire, chap. 6. fed. 56. 



VOL. i. x But 



