RURAL ECONOMY IN YORKSHIRE IN l«4i. 121 



tills purpose a little broad snathinge axe, wheareof hee is to 

 have an especiaU care, that hee cutte not against stones or 

 yron ; for an axe will last some seaven yeares as well as others 

 a yeare ; for if they heede not, but choppe against stone or yron, 

 then is her edge turned againe, and then must sbee to the 

 grindstone ; and that taketh away and wasteth her best mettle. 

 The course that wee take with our white-wilfes and saughs is to 

 cutte them up by the rootes, or as close to the grownde as 

 possibly wee can, if wee can but preserve them from being eaten 

 with cattle : by this meanes have wee greate increase of them ; 

 for out of the rootes wiU growe many younge trees, which, in 

 fower or five yeares space, will come to that perfecktion and 

 bignesse, that they will serve for flayle-hande-staffes, cavinge- 

 rake-shaftes, heckestowers, and such other like uses : and in 

 Essex, by cuttinge up of saughs by tlie rootes, they will growe 

 up againe to that height and tallnesse that they serve them for 

 hoppe-poles ; and then, when they come to cutte them the 

 second time, they cutte them within two or three ynches, or as 

 close to the olde stumpe as possibly they can, and that causeth 

 them to putte out thicker still. For plantinge of these trees, 

 you neede doe noe more but take a branch of a willowe or 

 saugh-tree, and sticke it into the grownde, and it will take 

 presently ; especially if it bee neare the water-side ; for take 

 wilfes, and lye parte of them in a runninge water and parte of 

 them out, and, if it bee in the spring-time, they wiU budde as 

 they lye. As for reade-wilfes, the course that wee take with 

 them, to have profitte of them in a shorte space, is to take longe 

 branches aboute fower yards in leng-th, and to thrust them into 

 the grownde aboute halfe a yard within the grownde ; and this 

 should bee aboute the beginninge of March ; and afore yow 

 sette it, yow are to snath of all the small twigges and boughes, 

 leavinge onely the toppe-bough to drawe up the sappe ; and 

 yow are to take such course as nothinge may rubbe against it, 

 and loosen it at the roote, till such time as it have gotten good 

 roote hold ; and then, if it live and budde forth, yow may lette 

 it alone tiU that time of the yeare come againe, and then are 

 yow to dresse of aU the twigges againe, and to cutte of the 

 toppe allsoe, aboute eight foote or three yards from the grownde ; 

 or, howesoever, leave it of that height that cattle may not 

 reach to the toppe of it to eate of the buddes as it putteth forth, 

 and yow shall see that it will putte forth many boughes and 

 branches, rounde aboute the place wheare you cutte of the 

 toppe : and when these branches come to that bignesse that 

 yow intende to cutte them againe, yow are to cutte them as 

 neare to the olde head, or place wheare yow cutte it afore, as 



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