131. ¶ To fell wodde for housholde, or to sell.
[Sidenote: Fell underwood in winter; let the cattle browze on it.] If thou haue any woddes to felle, for thy householde to brenne, or to sell, than fell the vnder-wodde fyrste in wynter, that thy cattell or beastes maye eate and brouse the toppes, and to fell noo more on a daye but as moche 4 as the beastes wyll eate the same daye, or on the morowe after. And as soone as it is well eaten or broused, thanne kydde it, and set them on the endes, and that [Sidenote: Make it up into faggots.] wyll saue the bandes from rottynge, and they shall be 8 [Sidenote: [Fol. 52*.]] the lyghter to carye, and the better wyll they brenne, and lie in lesse rowme. And whan thou shalt bryng them [Sidenote: How to stack faggots.] home to make a stacke of them, set the nethermoste course vpon the endes, and the seconde course flat vppon 12 the syde, and the endes vpwarde, and the thyrde cou[r]se flatte on the syde ouerthwart the other. And so to peruse them, tyll thou haue layd all vp. And whan thou shalte brenne them, take the ouermoste fyrste. 16
[Sidenote: How to shred, lop, and crop trees.] If thou haue any trees to shrede, loppe, or croppe for the fyre-wodde, croppe them in wynter, that thy beastes maye eate the brouse, and the mosse of the bowes, and also the yues. And whanne they be broused 4 and eaten, dresse the wodde, and bowe it clene, and cutte it at every byghte, and rere the greatte wodde to the tree, and kydde the smal bowes, and set them on ende. And if thou shalte not haue sufficyent wodde, 8 [Sidenote: Do not head trees too low.] excepte thou heed thy trees, and cut of the toppes, than heed theym thre or foure fote aboue any tymber: and if it be noo tymbre tree, but a shaken tree, or a hedge-rote full of knottes, than heed hym thyrty foote hyghe, 12 [Sidenote: [Fol. 52*_b_.]] or twenty at the leaste, for soo ferre he wyll beare plentye of woode and bowes, and moche more, thanne [Sidenote: Trees grow only to a certain height; then they spread.] if he were not heeded. For a tree hath a propertye to growe to a certayne heyght, and whan he commeth to 16 that heyghte, he standeth styll, and groweth noo hyer, but in brede; and in conclusion the toppe wyll dye and decrease, and the body thryue. And if a tree be heeded, and vsed to be lopped and cropped at euerye 20 .xii. or .xvi. yeres ende, or there-about, it wyll beare moche more woode, by processe of time, than if it were not cropped, and moche more profyte to the owner.