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492 



PRODUCTION OF 



Sect.XVII. 3. 2. 



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ning, are in part expended on the young leaves ; which generally 

 pofTefs the tatle and qualities of the bark, though in a iefs degree. 



It may neverthelefs be obferved, that all thefe aftringent, or other 

 materials, may refide in the alburnum of the trunk or roots of all 



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perennial vegetables, as well as in their barks; becaufe the young 

 leaves, which pullulate on decorticated oaks, have the fame bitter 

 flavour as the leaves on thofe, which have not been decorticated ; 

 which may in part be derived from the bark of the root, which is ftill 

 ill the ground, and be carried up the veffels of the fap-wood to the 



new buds. 



2. Hence the bark of oak-trees (hould be taken off durincr the 



winter; but when the fap-julce refiding or afcending in the veffels 

 of the alburnum becomes more liquefied by the warmth of the fpring, 

 or is mixed with more moifture, and pufhed up with great force by 

 the abforbent veffels of the roots, it oozes out in fome degree be- 



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tween the alburnum and the bark ; and thus the bark becomes fo much 

 more readily feparated from the fap-wood ; whence this bufinefs is 

 generally done early in the fpring, and fhould be performed as foon 

 as this facility of detracting the bark appears, as mentioned in Sed. 

 111. 5 ; becaufe this procefs of the germination of the buds continues 

 to injure the bark, whether the tree be cut down or not ; as the bud's 



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expand their foliage on new felled trees, as they lie on the ground. 



3. The interior barks of fome trees, like the alburnum or roots 

 above defcribed, contain much mucilaginous or nutritious matter ; as 

 the bark of elm, ulmus, and of holly, ilex ; and probably of all thofe 

 trees or (hrubs v^^hich are armed with thorns or prickles, which are 

 defigned to prevent the depredations of animals on them, as the haw- 

 thorn, goofeberry, and gorfe, cretaegus, ribes groffularia, ulex. The 



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internal barks of thefe vegetables may be conceived to be their albur- 

 num Iefs indurated, and might probably all be ufed as food for our- 

 felves or other animals in years of fcarcity, or for the purpofe of 

 fermentation ; as I doubt not but the inner bark of elm-trees, ul- 



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musj, 



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