FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. 6j 



cannot be refuted till those who ventilate their folly find they 

 have ruined themselves, and begin to cry for assistance against 

 the fruit of their own misdeeds. 



The cultivation of wood, as I shall show more fully when 

 I have to deal with faggots and other kinds of fuel, as well as 

 with timber, was profitable and fully appreciated in the period 

 before me. Woods were planted on wet ground and on stiff 

 white clays. An acre of wood, our ancestors thought, if pro- 

 perly managed, was as good as an acre of corn land or grass, 

 and often better. The acorns, ash keys, and nuts with which 

 the owner purposed planting his ground were put into earthen 

 pots to keep them moist during the winter, and then set out 

 in February and March. Some expense is incurred by fencing 

 young woodland, in order to keep cattle out of it. Fitzherbert 

 says nothing about the possible ravages of ground game, though 

 the mischief done by rabbits was already claiming the attention 

 of Parliament. Old trees must be lopped and cropped ; coppice 

 may be shredded, lopped, cropped, or felled. The felling of 

 timber and coppice would or should be taken in hand between 

 Candlemas and May. Gorsty ' land in some districts is more 

 valuable than woodland, especially where it is used for fuel. 

 Long-continued frost kills it, and then if the land on which 

 it has grown be ploughed up, it will soon be full of young gorse. 

 The best way to get rid of the young plants is to set sheep 

 on it, which will eat it bare. Broom grows on dry and sandy 

 ground, which will rear good rye and oats, but needs frequent 

 dressing. Broom makes excellent thatch, especially as an 

 upper layer to straw. Heathy ground is dressed with lime, 

 where limestone is abundant, and sea coal is at hand. In 

 other places it generally has marl below it, especially if the 

 upper soil is a white clay or a black earth. Marsh land may be 

 turned into good pasture by ditching, and in extreme cases by 

 soughs or underground drains, such as are made in coal, iron, 

 lead, or tin mines. 



Chiltern and flinty ground i. e. land full of stones and 

 chalk ground need constant manuring. But if they be culti- 



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