314 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK nr. Even in the most craggy, uneven, cold, and exposed places, not fit for 

 """■'^'"^ arable, as in Biscay, &c. and in our very peaks of Derbyshire, and other 

 rocky places, Ashes grow about every village ; and we find that Oak, 

 Beech, Elm, and Ash will prosper in the most flinty soils. And it is truly 

 from these indications, more than from any other whatsoever, that a broken 

 and decaying farmer is to be distinguished from a substantial freeholder, 

 the very trees speaking the condition of the master. Let not, then, the 

 royal patrimony bear a bankrupt's reproach. But to descend yet lower : 



Had every acre but three or four trees, and as many of fruit in it as 

 would a little adorn the hedge-rows, the improvement would be of fair 

 advantage in a few years ; for it is a shame that turnip-planters should 

 demolish and undo hedge-rows near London, where the mounds and 

 fences are stripped naked, to give sun to a few miserable roots, which 

 would thrive altogetlier as well under them, being skilfully pruned and 

 lopped : our gardeners will not believe me, but I know it to be true, 

 though Pliny had not affirmed it. As for Elms, saith he, their shade is 

 so gentle and benign, that it nourishes whatsoever grows under it ; and 

 {lib. xvii. cap. xxii.) it is his opinion of all other trees, (very few ex- 

 cepted,) provided their branches be pared away ; which being discreetly 

 done, improves the timber, as we have already shewed. 



Indeed, where Elms are planted either about very small crofts or ave- 

 nues reserved for pasture, the roots are apt to spring up and annoy the 

 grass : but I speak of the larger field, and even in the former, that part 

 of the root which spreads into the field, may (as I have shewn) be hin- 

 dered from infecting it, by cutting away those fibres which run into the 

 field, without any impeachment to the growth of the trees, of which I 

 have some whose roots are cut off very near the main stems at one side, 

 thriving almost altogether as well as those which have their roots entire. 



Now let us calculate a little at adventure, and much within what is 

 both feasible and very possible, and we shall find, that four fruit-trees in 

 each acre throughout England, the product sold but at sixpence the 

 bushel, (but where do we now buy them so cheap ?) will be worth a mil- 

 lion yearly. What, then, may we reasonably judge of timber, admit but 

 at the growth of fourpence per acre yearly, (which is the lowest that can 

 be estimated,) amounting to near half a million, if (as is supposed) there 

 may be five or six and twenty millions of square acres in the kingdom. 



