148 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. thriven as well as the smaller wands. You may accelerate their springing 

 '^'y^^ by laying the keys in sand, and some moist fine earth, stratum super 

 stratum ; but laying them not too thick ; keep them in a covered, though 

 airy pluce for a winter, before you sow them ; and the second year they 

 will come away mainly, so you weed, trim, and cleanse them. Cut not 

 his head at all, (which being young is pithy,) nor by any means the 

 fibrous part of the roots, only that downright or tap-root (which gives 

 our husbandmen so much trouble in drawing) is to be totally abated : 

 but this work ought to be in the increase of October or November, and 

 not in the spring. We are, as I told you, willing to spare his head 

 rather than the side branches, (which, whilst young may be cut close,) 

 because, being yet young, it is of a spongy substance, but being once 

 well fixed, you may cut him as close to the earth as you please ; it will 

 cause him to shoot prodigiously, so as in a few years to be fit for pike- 

 staves ; whereas if you take him wild out of the forest, you must 

 of necessity strike off the head, which much impairs him. Hedge-row 

 Ashes may the oftener be decapitated, and will show their heads again 

 sooner than other trees so used. Young Ashes are sometimes in winter 

 frost-burnt, black as coals, and then to use the knife is seasonable, though 

 they do commonly recover of themselves slowly. In South Spain, 

 (where, as we said, are the best) after the first dressing, they let them 

 grow till they are so big, as being cleft into four parts, each part is suf- 

 ficient to make a pike-staff : I am told there is a Flemish Ash, planted 

 by the Dutchmen in Lincolnshire, which in six years grows to be worth 

 twenty shillings the tree ; but I am not assured whether it be the Ash 

 or Abele ; either of them were, upon this account, a worthy encourage- 

 ment, if at least the latter can be thought to bear that price, which 

 I much question : From these low cuttings come our Ground- Ashes, 

 so much sought after for arbours, espaliers, and other pole-works : they 

 will spring in abundance, and may be reduced to one for a standard-tree, 

 or for timber, if you design it ; for thus. Hydra-like, a ground-cut Ash 



Per damna, per caedes, ab ipso 



Ducit opes animumque ferro. hor. 



By havock, wounds, and blows. 

 More lively and luxuriant grows. 



Ash may be propagated from a bough slipt off with some of the old wood 

 a little before the bud swells, but with difficulty by layers. Such as they 



