Godalming.
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.