128 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
an ash-tree;" and the good offices of an "old experienced man," 
then resident in the village, but now deceased, were secured for 
the purpose. He selected a tree in a small wood or " plantation," 
about half a mile distant, at the head of the inlet of the Dart, 
north of Kings wear, and on the left of the road to Brixham. To 
guard against any invalidity, care was taken to choose a " Maiden " 
tree, which men skilled in wood-craft say is "a self-sown tree, 
that has neither been transplanted nor lopped in any way :" in 
fact, a tree with which man has had nothing to do. With the assis- 
tance of a second man, there was made through the middle of the 
tree a longitudinal slit of sufficient length, and wedges were inserted 
at top and bottom to make and keep an opening wide enough. 
It is not necessary that the patient should be of any definite 
age ; but it is held that " the younger the better." No particular 
dress, or date, or day of the week, or hour of the day, or age of the 
moon, or state of the tide, is required ; nor is it needful that the 
charm, as in the case of many others, should be wrought "on a 
fasting stomach." 
All being ready, the child was taken to the tree on the afternoon 
of January 18th, 1876, when it was eleven weeks old, and, "in its 
usual dress," passed through the slit three times at that visit, — that 
being the orthodox number in the case. A second visit was held 
to be unnecessary. 
In many charms it is supposed to be essential for the operator 
and the patient to be of different sexes ; but this is immaterial in 
the ash-tree charm. In fact, the ceremony was performed by the 
"experienced old man," assisted by the child's mother and another 
woman. One passed the infant through the opening, taking care 
that it went " head foremost •" another received it on the other 
side, and passed it, towards the left hand, to the third person, who 
carried it to the first in the same direction ; it being essential that 
it should " go round with the sun ;" and so on through the three 
transits. When completed, a memorandum of the occurrence was 
carefully " put down " by one of the child's grandmothers, who 
furnished me with the exact date. 
It is believed that if the tree thrives, and grows together after 
the wedges are taken out, the child will be cured and healthy ; but 
that if the tree dies, or is sickly, such will also be the fate of the 
patient ; and in order to make all secure, the severed portions of 
the tree are to be at once, not only brought into contact, but 
