438 



EFFECTS OF THE COMPOSITION 



Extract of a Letter from Thomas Davis, Esq. Author of the 

 Agricultural Survey of Wiltshire, 



June 2Sy 1801. 



** I was happy in having an opportunity the 

 other day of shewing the effects of your plaster (in 

 recovering the bark of Oak-trees of 400 or 500 

 years old, which had begun to rot upwards from 

 the ground, and is now recovering downwards very 

 rapidly) to Lord Spencer, who was both pleased 

 and astonished with it. 



<* You may at any time refer to me for proofs if you 

 want them, I made a bold experiment seven years 

 ago on an oak tree forty feet high, and lt)i feet 

 round, worth 801. at least to a carpenter to cut to 

 pieces, and such a tree as the King has not ten in 

 his dominions. There was a craze in the side of 

 it, which looked like a shake, and spoiled its beauty. 

 I cut out the bark on each side the fissure, so as 

 to make the opening six or seven inches wide. 

 I coated it well withplaster, and it is now perfectly 

 united and sound. 



" In the annexed 

 Figure, a repre- 

 sents the Fissure 

 which separated the 

 Bark, but did not 

 affect the wood.*' 



