812 



WOO 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



WOO 



twelve years, according to their growth. This is usually 

 done in autumn, either with stools or young plants drawn 

 out of the woods ; but the latter are to be preferred. These 

 copses are most profitable when they consist of Ash and 

 Chestnut; because where they thrive, the pol^s are valuable; 

 they also furnish good hoops, and both find a ready sale. 

 Where the copses are intended to remain, there should be no 

 standard trees left for timber, because, as the heads of the 

 trees spread and overtop the under-wood, it will cause that 

 to decay, and where the standards are left upon the stumps 

 of the copse-wood, they will never grow to a large size, nor 

 will the timber be so valuable ns that produced immediately 

 from a young root. When, however, copses are planted 

 upon lands free from trees, it will be the better method to 

 sow the trees, especially if Chestnut, Oak, or Beech, be in- 

 tended ; for though the prevailing notion is that planting- 

 saves time, yet if the seedlings be kept clear from weeds 

 they will in eight or ten years outgrow those which are 

 planted, and will continue much longer in vigour: the ex- 

 pense also is trifling, compared with, that of planting. When 

 a large tract of land is designed for Wood, especially if it be 

 of an indifferent quality, it should be managed as follows : 

 Plough it in October and November, and plough and harrow 

 that the turf may be effectually destroyed; sow it with Tur- 

 nip-seed, about the third week in June; hoe the crop well, 

 and let it be fed off with sheep, if possible. If another crop 

 of Turnips be taken in the following year, the land will then 

 be in excellent condition for receiving the seeds of forest 

 trees. Some sow them with Oats, and others with a crop of 

 Spring-rye, with the acorns; but it is absolutely certain that 

 trees thus raised from seed, particularly where they are kept 

 well weeded, properly thinned, and very sparingly pruned, 

 will afford better timber, and come sooner to maturity, than 

 when they are drawn from a nursery. As much depends on 

 keeping the seedlings clean, drill-sowing is greatly prefer- 

 able to broadcast, because they may thus be horse-hoed at a 

 small expense. The usual time of felling is from November 

 to February. See Planting. 



Woodsia; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order Filices. 

 - GENERIC CHARACTER. Fructifications: in roundish groups, 

 on the back of the leaf. Involucrum : cup-like, open, small, 

 nearly flat, jagged, fringed with awl-shaped, incurved, 

 jointed hairs. Capsules : several, obovate, on short stalks, 

 crowded in the centre of the involucrum, each bound by a 

 vertical, jointed, elastic ring, and bursting irregularly at one 

 side. Seeds: numerous, kidney-shaped, granulated, extremely 

 minute. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Groups of Capsules 

 scattered, roundish, each seated on a capillary-fringed invo- 

 lucrum. The species are, 



1. Woodsia Ilvensis; Long-leaved Woodsia. Frond pin- 

 nate; leaflets lanceolate, deeply pinnatifid, with numerous, 

 nearly uniform, oblong lobes. Fronds five or six inches 

 high, erect, in dense tufts; their stalks nearly three inches 

 high, brown, bearing, like the midrib of each principal leuf- 

 let, many strap-shaped, taper-pointed, membranous scales. 

 Found on rocks in the north of Europe, and in all parts 

 of North America. 



2. Woodsia Hyperborea ; 'Round-leaved Woodsia. Frond 

 pinnate; leaflets heart-shaped, rounded, pinnatifid; lobes 

 rounded, waved, unequal. This is a smaller plant than the 

 preceding species, often not above an inch high, but gene- 

 rally about three inches. The leaflets are shorter and more 

 rounded, as well as their lobes, of a thinner tc-xUire, much 

 less deeply pinnatifid, except at their base, where the bottom 

 pair of lobes are often so deeply separated as to form two 

 little leaflets, wavy, or obscurely luberi, and sometimes of 



unequal' size. The main stalk is scaly; leaflets hairy on 

 both sides. Native of alpine rocks, principally in the north 

 of Europe: sometimes found upon the mountains of Wales 

 and Scotland. 



Wood-sorrel. See Oxalis. 



Woodwardia ; a genus of the class Cryptogamia, order 

 Filices. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Groups of Capsules 

 oblong, distinct, straight, ranged in a simple row, in bor- 

 dered cavities, parallel to each side of the rib. Involucrum 



superficial, vaulted, separating towards the rib. The 



species are, 



1. Woodwardia Angustifolia ; Narrow-leaved Woodwardia. 

 Fronds pinnate ; leaflets linear, acute, entire ; the barren ones 

 finely serrated. The root is creeping, scaly, and shaggy, 

 bearing several stalked, upright, smooth fronds, of a lanceo- 

 late figure, with a long taper point; the barren ones consist- 

 ing N entirely of lanceolate, acute, finely serrated leaflets, 

 decurrent at their buse, and somewhat confluent ; the fertile 

 of rather fewer, more distant, longer and narrower ones, 

 likewise slightly decurrent and confluent at their base, each 

 leaflet being nearly covered at the back, on each side of the 

 rib, with a close series of turgid nearly cylindrical groups, 

 a quarter of an inch long, of numerous capsules, every group 

 closely covered by its own convex involucrum, and encom- 

 passed with a considerably elevated uninterrupted line, bor- 

 dering the hollow in which it lies. It is perennial, flowers 

 in August, and is about a foot high. Found in the Cedar 

 and Cypress swamps, from New Jersey to Florida. 



2. Woodwardia Japonica; Blunt- lobed Japanese Wood- 

 wardia. Frond pinnate, two feet or more in height; leaflets 

 sessile, half pinnatifid, with close obtuse serrated lobes, five 

 or six inches long, quite sessile, scaly at the base; lobes 

 above an inch long, and half an inch broad, quite close, and 

 parallel at the sides, paler beneath ; groups oblong, three or 

 four in a continued line, close to the rib on each side. The 

 involucrum, reflexed to one side, after the capsules are fallen, 

 leaves the cavity exposed, and like a box with its lid. The 

 capsules appear to be all inserted into that margin of the 

 cavity to which the involucrum or lid is attached. Stalk 

 rougliish and somewhat scaly, not smooth. Found in Japan, 

 fructifying in June. 



3. Woodwardia Orientalis ; Sharp-lobed Japanese Wood- 

 wardia. Frond pinnate, more coriaceous than either the 

 second or seventh species, and rather glaucous; leaflets 

 stalked, deeply pinnatifid, with spreading acute serrated 

 lobes, the same size as in the preceding species, but taper at 

 their base into a short stalk ; groups slightly lunate outwards, 

 especially the upper and shorter ones, about seven in each 

 row, crowded, and close to the rib. Found in Japan. 



4. Woodwardia Virginica; Virginian Woodwardia. Frond 

 pinnate, eighteen inches or more in height, with a pale smooth 

 stalk ; leaflets sessile, deeply pinnatifid, with spreading, ob- 

 tus?, slightly crenate lobes, alternate, above a finger's length, 

 and about an inch or more in width, bright green, and smooth, 

 their numerous segments spreading moderately from each 

 other, forming an acute angle at the base, their margin is 

 somewhat revolute, and very obscurely crenate : rows of 

 fructification accompanying the midribs of the leaflets as 

 well as the ribs of the lobes. The fructification is most 

 abundant on the leaflets of the upper half of the frond, form- 

 ing lines along their principal rib, at each side as well as 

 along the rib of each segment; the groups finely confluent. 

 The depressions in which the groups are seated, are very 

 slight, though not imperceptible ; and the involucrum of each 

 is the narrowest, less vaulted, and soonest turned aside, of 

 any other species. The fructification is perfected iu July 



