112 HEDGE-ROW TIMBER. 



wholly, or partly composed of it, the consumers 

 those who wear out the wagons and carts, the 

 ploughs and harrows are proportionate sufferers ; 

 for it cannot for a moment be supposed, that tim- 

 ber which is in the last stage of decay, or indeed, 

 approaching to that stage, will wear half so long 

 as that which is cut down as soon as it has arrived 

 at full maturity. The period when it has done so, 

 will be indicated to a practiced eye, at a single 

 glance, even with that class of trees which has 

 had fair play ; or in other words, where premature 

 decay has not been brought on by mal-treatment. 

 But the latter class is by far the most numerous, 

 and it requires very little either of science, or of 

 knowledge of a practical kind, to teach a man how 

 to deal with them. It is of no use to let them 

 stand. If they are not wanted for ornament, the 

 sooner they are felled the better, for the process of 

 decay is very rapid in this particular tree. Their 

 early removal is further necessary, because they 

 injuriously affect the Farmer in another way, as 

 I will show. 



The roots, &c. of one single Ash Tree are said 

 to amount to a million in number, and to extend 



