as if we were to dip a Piece of Rope in melted Rozin, which will bend while the Rozin is warm, but when once it is throughly cold, it becomes ftiff and hard, and cannot be refolv'd into its firft Capacity of eafy bending, 'till the Rozin is again warm'd and becomes fluid.

The fecond Objection is, That by bending of Timber, these Veffels, which I say support the Strength of it, are fome ftrain'd and fome broken, and that there are none of them left in the Strength they had before. If it were fo, how is it then that in laying down Branches of Trees in the Ground to take Root, which bend them much more than I have mention'd; how then does it happen, that these Branches grow in all their Parts as well as they did before we bent them? Or if we bend the young Twigs of a Tree so much as to tie them in Knots, even then they do not refrain their Growth; and it is every where allow'd, that the Veffels we fpeak of convey Sap to every Part of the Tree, and if they were broken, the Current of the Sap muft be stopp'd, and all Growth must cease, so it is evident thefe Veffels are neither broken nor weaken❜d.

I have only to add, that of all the Experiments concerning the faving of Timber, and rightly applying it to Ufe, I know none which ever contributed fo much to the Good of our Country; for in the Affair of Ship-building only, where the bending of one Plant ufed to employ four or five Men a whole Day, befides a great deal of Expence in Firing, by Captain Cumberland's Method fixteen Planks

can be bent in a Day by two Men, with lefs Expence of Firing than one fingle Plank ufed to do before, befides preferving it of its full thickness and fquare edge, which is of very great Advantage in the cauking of Ships.

CHAP.

CHAP. VII.

Some Thoughts concerning the Preserva◄ tion of Timber.

ΤΗ

HE general Complaint of the Decay of Timber in Great Britain, notwithstanding several Acts of Parliament have been made for the Prefervation of it, has led me to bend my Studies more particularly to the Improvement of that ufeful and neceffary Commodity.

I observe, that where Woods are cut down, there are not always left a fufficient Number of Standils, or young Timber-Plants, to grow up in their room, as an Act of Queen Eliza beth directs; and in other Places, where there happens to be a due Number left ftanding, thofe are cut down, as foon as they become of any fmall Ufe, and others, which are no better than Twigs, are left to fupply their Place; and this Method being, as I am inform'd, practis'd Time after Time, is one Reason why Timber decays, and our future Hopes of it is loft.

It is likewife obfervable, that young thriving Trees are frequently cut down by the Rabble, notwithstanding the Penalties to be inflicted Ee 4

upon

upon the Aggreffors, directed in some late Acts of Parliament: But we do not find any of these Persons ever convicted of their Crimes, and therefore the Evil ftill continues; the Parties concern'd will not arraign one another, they wink at each others Faults, and fo the Timber is ftill deftroy'd.

From hence, I conceive, there can be no other Way propos'd for the Improvement and Prefervation of Timber, than to make it the Intereft of every one to plant and preferve it, and that I hope to do in the following Articles.

The Poor first, who make the greatest Body in the Nation, are, through their Neceffities, driven fometimes to make free with their Landlord's Woods and Coppices for FireWood, without being fenfible of the Damage they do in cutting down the young thriving Plants or fprouting Trees in the Vigour of their Growth, to make them become Pollards; thefe People, as they have no Trees of their own, cannot be fuppos'd capable of judging any farther of the Deftruction they make, than barely what they take is of no more Value than the Price of a common Faggot, or the fame Quantity of Wood fold in the Market, though perhaps the Damage done to the Owner of the Wood may be five hundred times as much, for one may spoil twenty young thriving Trees to make up a Faggot of a Penny Value.

I have obferv'd in my Travels about England, that in many Places Wood is so scarce, that Firing is of more Value than Bread; tho' here are large Commons, yet the Coun

try

try People have got a Notion that the Ground is barren, and will not bear Wood of any fort; but as we are affur'd by Experience, that there is no fuch Ground in England, and that every fort, how furly foever, will naturally nourish some Tree or other, so it would be for the Intereft of the People inhabiting fuch Places, to lay up a Parcel of their com mon Land for Wood, one Part for Firing, and another for Timber, which should be wholly for the Ufe of the Commoners or Poor, and another Parcel for the fole Ufe of the Lord of the Mannor; unless where it is a Foreft Land, and fuch Places where the King has a Right of Timber, and in fuch Cafe the King's Part fhould be planted with the reft, without Expence to his Majefty.

There is a Piece of Ground which has a promifing Crop of Oaks upon it, near Oxford, which are fo well guarded with Furze, that Cattle are turn'd into it, and do the Crop of Oaks no Harm; nor is there any Neceffity of weeding the tender Plants, because they thrive better without it; tho' it was once a Paradox to me, that Plants could be crouded together without injuring one another; but it is now plain, that Plants of different Tribes draw not only different forts of Food from the Earth, but shelter one another from hard Weather; fo by this Method we fave the Expence of fencing in our Plantations, and weeding them, which has been hitherto reckon'd the greatest Part of the Expence; and befides this, we have in three or four Years a Crop of Furze, which will be fit for the Poor to begin with, while their more profitable Crop is growing,

either