20 S Y L V A BOOK in 



best to free them of it : As for pollards (to which 

 I am no great friend, because it makes so many scrags 

 and dwarfes of many trees which would else be good 

 timber, endangering them with drips and the like 

 injuries) they should not be headed above once in ten 

 or twelve years, at the beginning of the Spring, or 

 end of the fall. And note, that all copp'cing and 

 cutting close, invigorates the roots and the stem of 

 whatsoever grows weak and untimely ; but you must 

 then take care it be not overgrown with weeds or 

 grass : Nothing (says my Lord Bacon exp. 586. and 

 truly) causes trees to last so long, as the frequent 

 cutting; every such diminution being a re-invigor- 

 ation of the plant's juice, so that it neither goes 

 too far, nor rises too faintly, as when 'tis not timely 

 refresh'd with this remedy ; and therefore we see, 

 that the most ancient trees in church-yards, and 

 about old buildings, are either pollards or dotards, 

 seldom arising to their full altitude. 'Tis true (as 

 Mr. Nourse observes) that elm and oak frequently 

 pollarded and cut, hindering their mounting, increases 

 the bulk and circumference, and makes a show 

 of substance ; when all the while 'tis but a hollow 

 trunk, fill'd with its own corruption, spending the 

 genuine moisture which should go to the growth of 

 the arms and head, and interior substance of useful 

 timber. 



7. For the improvement of the speedy growth of 

 trees, there is not a more excellent thing than the 

 frequent rubbing of the boal or stem, with some 

 piece of hair-cloath, or ruder stuff, at the beginning 

 of Spring: Some I have known done with seals-skin; 

 the more rugged bark with a piece of coat of mail, 

 which is made of small wyres : This done, when the 



