308 On pruning Forest Trees. 



screens, or sheltering hedgelike boundaries, highly useful 

 in many cases of rural improvement. 



Ash timber is produced of superior quality, by being 

 planted and trained up in close order : its toughness, and its 

 cleanness of grain make it a desirable material for the coach- 

 maker. Straight smooth sticks of ash 50 ft. in length, and 

 from 8 in. to 1 2 in. square, are highly prized by all machine- 

 makers. Whether for timber or underwood, this tree should 

 always be grown in plantations by itself, not only because of 

 its greater rapidity of growth, but because it is a most noxious 

 tree in hedgerows, or when standing singly in cornfields or 

 meadows. 



Oaks and elms are best suited for hedgerows. It is in- 

 credible how much elm timber can be raised in hedgerow 

 order ; and as the superiors are cut down, a constant succes- 

 sion of young stems keeps rising from the old roots. No tree 

 bears pruning so well as the elm. So severely is this per- 

 formed in Middlesex and elsewhere, that, in many cases, a 

 very small branch only is left at the top every time the tree 

 is shredded. This property, of being unhurt by wholesale 

 pruning, is owing to the remarkable vitality of the tree, which, 

 being in every part studded with latent buds, throws out a 

 numerous spray over all the stem. This, though unequal to 

 increase the diameter of the trunk as a large branched head 

 would do in the same time, yet gives the timber a gnarled 

 character, particularly useful for the naves and fellies of car- 

 riage wheels, and other purposes where liability to split 

 would be a defect. 



In countries where fuel is scarce or dear, hedgerow trees 

 are pollarded, and periodically lopped for domestic purposes, 

 and for fencing stuff. Oak, elm, and ash are chosen for this 

 barbarous purpose. The boles are preserved, as being the 

 property of the landlord, while the loppings are considered 

 that of the tenant. The trunks soon become hollow, and, 

 consequently, useless as timber. Willow pollards are exten- 

 sively planted in low meadows, for the purpose of growing 

 poles, stakes, and headers for fencing. Willow holts, for 

 supplying basket-makers' rods, are generally cut every year. 

 Under this management, it is observable that every new crop 

 of shoots is perfected by a new growth of fibrous roots. 

 The centre of a willow pollard and that of a stool soon de- 

 cay ; and, in the rotten mass roots from the superior buds are 

 seen to strike and luxuriate. The spectacle of a hollow wil- 

 low tree being partly filled with roots, which from time to 

 time had descended from the shoots of the head, gave the 

 late Dr. Darwin, it is probable, the first idea of the wood of 



