BIOGRAPHY. 57 



that weather does not injure well-seasoned wood, he was 

 wont to point to certain posts, gates, and other articles 

 made of oak, which had never been painted, and which 

 had been in the open air for some seven hundred years, 

 and were perfectly sound. The oak doors of the gateway 

 are fully seven hundred years old. They are pierced and ' 

 torn Avith musket-balls, but are still free from decay. 



When he had new doors made which would be exposed 

 to the weather he used every precaution to keep the wet 

 from lodging in them. N"o panels were seen on the outer 

 side, which was as smooth as it could be made. The 

 corners were bound with strong iron, painted before it was 

 put on. 



No matter how well-seasoned the wood might be, if the 

 doors were made of deal, three years were allowed to 

 elapse before painting, while, if of oak, it was never 

 painted until six years had passed, and very often was not 

 painted at all. It is also found that if holes were bored 

 transversely into posts, so as to allow free entrance of air, 

 the dry-rot scarcely ever made its appearance. If modern 

 builders would act upon a knowledge of this fact they 

 would render our houses, roofs of buildings, &c., far more 

 enduring than they are at present. 



Did we wish to show the wonderful command which 

 Waterton had over trees, we need only point to the holly- 

 trees in his park. The holly was a great favourite of his, 

 as it is very hardy when properly planted, possesses a 

 remarkable beauty of its own, affords shelter for birds in 

 winter as well as summer, and can be formed into a hedge 

 impenetrable to man and beast. 



As to laurel hedges, "Waterton never would plant them, 

 and he had found by experience that in ordinary hawthorn 

 hedges a bush would often die without any apparent 



