518 



WOO 



W O 



New-England, even from its first 

 settlement, has been much infested 

 with wolves. And, notwithstand- 

 ing the bounties that have been 

 given by government for destroy- 

 ing them, the settlements bordering 

 on the wilderness are still subject 

 to their mischievous incursions ; so 

 that there is little safety for sheep 

 in these situations. Almost whole 

 flocks in a night are sometimes de- 

 stroyed by them. This exposure 

 to wolves is equal to a heavy tax 

 upon ourfirontier plantations. 



To secure the sheep from this 

 enemy, it is necessary that they be 

 pastured in the open fields by day, 

 and housed in strong places every 

 night : And even these precautions 

 do not always prove effectual. 



Some say, that smearing the 

 heads of sheep with a composition 

 of tar and gunpowder will prevent 

 their being attacked by the wolves ; 

 but I cannot certify this from my 

 own experience. 



WOOD, a solid substance, of 

 which the trunks and limbs of trees, 

 as well as their roots, consist. 



" The wood is all that part of a 

 tree included between the bark and 

 the pith." 



Dr. Grew has discovered, by the 

 assistance of the microscope, that 

 what we call wood, notwithstand- 

 ing its hardness and solidity, is only 

 an assemblage of minute pipes, or 

 hollow fibres, some of which rise 

 from the root upwards, and are dis- 

 posed in form of a circle; and the 

 others, which he calls insertions, 

 tend horizontally from the surface 

 to the centre •, so that they cross 

 each other, and are interwoven Uke 

 the threads of a weaver's web. 



Each year's growth in wood is 

 marked by circles visible to the 

 naked eye, by counting of which 

 circles the age of a tree is known. 



WOOD LAND, ground covered 

 with wood, or trees. They are 

 mostly designed for fuel and tim- 

 ber. In felling them, care should 

 be taken to injure the young growth 

 as little as possible. Fire wood, 

 as well as timber, should be felled, 

 when the sap is down. Otherwise 

 it will hiss and fry upon the fire, 

 and not burn freely, although it 

 should be ever so long dried. To 

 thicken a forest, or to increase the 

 number of trees in a wood lot, it 

 should be well fenced, and no cat- 

 tle be permitted to be in it. And 

 something may be done, if needful, 

 by layers and cuttings. 



The practice of the popu- 

 lous nations of Europe, whose 

 forests have been cut off centu- 

 ries ago, and who are compelled 

 to resort to measures of the strict- 

 est economy, to supply them- 

 selves with fuel, ought to have 

 great weight with us. France, in 

 an especial manner, ought to be 

 looked up to for wise lessons on 

 this subject. Her vast and thickly 

 settled population, her numerous 

 manufactures, her poverty in mi- 

 neral coal, the eminence, which 

 she has attained in all economical 

 arts, entitle her to great respect. 

 It is the practice of the French 

 people not to cut off their woods 

 oftener than once in twenty or 

 twenty-five years, and by law, when 

 they are cut over, the owner is 

 obliged to cut the whole smooth, 

 with the exception of a very few 

 trees, which the officers of the go- 



