These restrictions were doubtless owing to the great scarcity of yew. The other woods most in request were elm, witch-hazel, and ash. By the statute 8th of Elizabeth, cap. 3., it was ordained that every bowyer residing in London should have always ready fifty bows of either of the before-mentioned woods. By this statute also the prices at which the bows were to be sold were regulated.
I believe the ancient bows were made of one piece; whether there is any advantage to be derived in having a bow of more than two pieces, I leave for some one better qualified than myself to determine.
As regards arrows, Ascham, in his _Toxophilus_, has enumerated fifteen sorts of wood of which arrows were made in his time, viz. brasell, turkie-wood, fusticke, sugercheste, hard-beam, byrche, ash, oak, service-tree, alder, blackthorn, elder, beach, aspe, and sallow; of these aspe and ash were accounted the best; the one for target-shooting, the other for war. The author of _The Field Book_ says:
"That an arrow weighing from twenty to four-and-twenty pennyweights, made of yew, was considered by archers the best that could be used."
The method of trying and proving a bow is stated by Ascham to be thus:
"By shooting it in the fields, and _sinking_ it with _dead heavy_ shafts; looking where it _comes_ most, and providing for that place betimes, lest it pinch and so fret. When the bow has thus been shot in, and appears to contain good shooting wood, it must be taken to a skilful workman, to be cut shorter, scraped, and dressed fitter, and made to come circularly round; and it should be whipped at the ends, lest it snap in sunder or fret sooner than the archer is aware of."
It is calculated that an arrow may be shot 110 yards for every 20 lbs. weight of the bow.
As regards the length of the old English bow, the statute 5th of Edward IV. cap. 4., runs thus:
"That every Englishman, and Irishmen that dwell with Englishmen and speak English, that be between sixteen and sixty in age, shall have an English bow of his own length."
Ascham recommended for men of average strength arrows made of birch, hornbeam, oak, and ash.
The foregoing is extracted from a work entitled _The English Bowman_, by T. Roberts, 1801.