152 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. the white and rotten dotard part composes the ground for our gallants' 

 "^^^''^^ sweet powder ; and the truncheons make the third sort of the most 

 durable coal, and is, of all other, the sweetest of our forest fuelling, and 

 the fittest for ladies' chambers : it will burn even whilst it is green, and 

 may be reckoned amongst the awuva. li\a. To conclude : The very dead 

 leaves afford, like those of the Elm, relief to our cattle in winter ; and 

 there is a dwarf sort in France, (if in truth it be not, as I suspect, our 

 Witchen-tree,) whose berries feed the poor people in scarce years ; but 

 it bears no keys like to ours, which, being pickled tender, afford a 

 delicate salading : but the shade of the Ash is not to be endured, 

 because the leaves produce a noxious insect ; and for displaying them- 

 selves so very late, and falling very early, not to be planted for umbrage 

 or ornament, especially near the garden, since (besides their predatious 

 roots) the leaves dropping with so long a stalk, are drawn by clusters 

 into the worm-holes, which foul the alleys with their keys, and suddenly 

 infect the ground. Note, that the season for felling of this tree must 

 be when the sap is fully at rest ; for if you cut it down too early, or over 

 late in the year, it will be so obnoxious to the worm, as greatly to 

 prejudice the timber; therefore, be sure not to fell but in the three 

 middle winter months, beginning about November. But in lopping of 

 pollards, as of soft woods, Mr. Cooke advises it should be towards the 

 spring, and that you do not suffer the lops to grow too great ; also, that 

 so soon as a pollard comes to be considerably hollow at the head, you 

 suddenly cut it down, the body decaying more than the head is worth : 

 The same he pronounces of taller ashes, and where the wood-peckers 

 make holes (which constantly indicates their being faulty) to fell it in 

 winter. I am astonished at the universal confidence of some, that 

 a serpent will rather creep into the fire than over a twig of Ash ; this 

 is an old imposture of Pliny, who either took it upon trusty or we mistake 

 the tre^. For other species, see Raii Dendrolog. torn. iii. lib. xxx. 

 p. 95. De Fraxino, torn. ii. p. 1704!. 



