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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2), by John Evelyn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2)
+       Or A Discourse of Forest Trees
+
+Author: John Evelyn
+
+Commentator: John Nisbet
+
+Release Date: March 8, 2007 [EBook #20778]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SYLVA, VOL. 1 (OF 2) ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Louise Pryor and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian
+Libraries). This file is gratefully uploaded to the PG
+collection in honor of Distributed Proofreaders having
+posted over 10,000 ebooks.
+
+
+
+
+
+{Transcriber's note:
+
+The spelling and punctuation in the original are idiosyncratic and
+inconsistent. No changes have been made except as explicitly noted at
+the end of this etext.
+
+Greek has been transliterated and surrounded with ++: +Theos hylikos+.
+{oe} ligatures have been unpacked. The ounce sign is represented by
+{oz}.}
+
+
+
+
+
+
+      SYLVA: _OR A DISCOURSE
+      OF FOREST TREES & THE
+      PROPAGATION OF TIMBER_
+       _V O L U M E  O N E_
+
+
+
+
+  {Illustration: _John Evelyn_
+  _From the engraving by R. Nanteuil_}
+
+
+
+
+           S Y L V A
+
+   _OR A DISCOURSE OF FOREST
+  TREES_: BY JOHN EVELYN F.R.S.
+   _WITH AN ESSAY ON THE LIFE
+     AND WORKS OF THE AUTHOR_
+       BY JOHN NISBET D.OEc.
+
+     A REPRINT OF THE FOURTH
+     EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES
+
+           VOLUME ONE
+
+   LONDON: PUBLISHED BY ARTHUR
+   DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY LIMITED
+   AT 8 YORK BUILDINGS ADELPHI
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  VOLUME I.
+
+  Introduction                                              page    ix
+  Title Page of 4th Edition                                   " lxxiii
+  To the King                                                 "   lxxv
+  To the Reader                                               " lxxvii
+  Advertisement                                               "   xcix
+  Books published by the Author                               "     ci
+  Amico carissimo                                             "    cii
+  Nobilissimo Viro                                            "   ciii
+  +EIS TEN TOU PATROS DENDROLOGIAN+                           "    cvi
+  The Garden.--To J. Evelyn, Esq.                             "   cvii
+
+  BOOK I.
+
+  CHAPTER   I. Of the Earth, Soil, Seed, Air, and Water       "      1
+     "     II. Of the Seminary and of Transplanting           "     12
+     "    III. Of the Oak                                     "     30
+     "     IV. Of the Elm                                     "     62
+     "      V. Of the Beech                                   "     75
+     "     VI. Of the Horn-beam                               "     81
+     "    VII. Of the Ash                                     "     86
+     "   VIII. Of the Chesnut                                 "     94
+     "     IX. Of the Wallnut                                 "    101
+     "      X. Of the Service, and black cherry-tree          "    111
+     "     XI. Of the Maple                                   "    115
+     "    XII. Of the Sycomor                                 "    121
+     "   XIII. Of the Lime-Tree                               "    122
+     "    XIV. Of the Poplar, Aspen, and Abele                "    128
+     "     XV. Of the Quick-Beam                              "    134
+     "    XVI. Of the Hasel                                   "    136
+     "   XVII. Of the Birch                                   "    140
+     "  XVIII. Of the Alder                                   "    155
+     "    XIX. Of the Withy, Sallow, Ozier, and Willow        "    159
+     "     XX. Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c.                     "    175
+
+  BOOK II.
+
+  CHAPTER   I. Of the Mulberry                                "    203
+     "     II. Of the Platanus, Lotus, Cornus, Acacia, &c.    "    214
+     "    III. Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree,
+                 Larsh, and Subterranean trees                "    220
+     "     IV. Of the Cedar, Juniper, Cypress, Savine,
+                 Thuya, &c.                                   "    253
+     "      V. Of the Cork, Ilex, Alaternus, Celastrus,
+                 Ligustrum, Philyrea, Myrtil, Lentiscus,
+                 Olive, Granade, Syring, Jasmine and other
+                 Exoticks                                     "    282
+     "     VI. Of the Arbutus, Box, Yew, Holly, Pyracanth,
+                 Laurel, Bay, &c.                             "    293
+     "    VII. Of the infirmities of trees, &c.               "    314
+
+  VOLUME II.
+
+  BOOK III.
+
+  CHAPTER   I. Of Copp'ces                                  page     1
+     "     II. Of Pruning                                     "      8
+     "    III. Of the Age, Stature, and Felling of Trees      "     24
+     "     IV. Of Timber, the Seasoning and Uses, and of Fuel "     80
+     "      V. Aphorisms, or certain General Precepts of use
+                 to the foregoing Chapters                    "    130
+     "     VI. Of the Laws and Statutes for the Preservation
+                 and Improvement of Woods and Forests         "    138
+     "    VII. The paraenesis and conclusion, containing
+                 some encouragements and proposals for the
+                 planting and improvement of his Majesty's
+                 forests, and other amunities for shade,
+                 and ornament                                 "    157
+
+  BOOK IV.
+
+  An historical account of the sacredness and use
+    of standing groves, &c.                                   "    205
+
+  Renati Rapini                                               "    269
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+I
+
+_Evelyn & his literary contemporaries Isaac Walton & Samuel Pepys._
+
+Among the prose writers of the second half of the seventeenth century
+John Evelyn holds a very distinguished position. The age of the
+Restoration and the Revolution is indeed rich in many names that have
+won for themselves an enduring place in the history of English
+literature. South, Tillotson, and Barrow among theologians, Newton in
+mathematical science, Locke and Bentley in philosophy and classical
+learning, Clarendon and Burnet in history, L'Estrange, Butler, Marvell
+and Dryden in miscellaneous prose, and Temple as an essayist, have all
+made their mark by prose writings which will endure for all time. But
+the names which stand out most prominently in popular estimation as
+authors of great masterpieces in the prose of this period are certainly
+those of John Bunyan, John Evelyn, and Izaak Walton. And along with them
+Samuel Pepys is also well entitled to be ranked as a great contemporary
+writer, though he was at pains to try and ensure his being permitted to
+remain free from the publicity of authorship, for such time at least as
+the curious might allow his Diary to remain hidden in the cipher he
+employed.
+
+With the great though untrained genius of Bunyan none of these other
+three celebrated prose authors of this time has anything in common. He
+stands apart from them in his fervently religious and romantic
+temperament, in his richness of representation and ingenuity of
+analogy, and in his forcible quaintness of style, as completely as he
+did in social status and in personal surroundings. In complete contrast
+to the romantic productions of the self-educated tinker of Bedford, the
+works of Walton and Evelyn were at any rate influenced by, though they
+can hardly be said to have been moulded upon, the style of the preceding
+age of old English prose writers ending with Milton. The influence of
+the latter is, indeed, plainly noticeable both in the diction and in the
+general sentiment of these two great masters of the pure, nervous
+English of their period.
+
+It would serve no good purpose to make any attempt here to trace the
+points of resemblance between the works of Walton and Evelyn, and then
+to note their differences in style. Each has contributed a masterpiece
+towards our national literature, and it would be a mere waste of time to
+make comparisons between their chief productions. This much, however,
+may be remarked, that the conditions under which each worked were
+completely different from those surrounding the other. Izaak Walton, the
+author of many singularly interesting biographies, and of the quaint
+half-poetical _Compleat Angler or the Contemplative Man's Recreation_,
+the great classic "Discourse of Fish and Fishing," was a London
+tradesman, while his equally celebrated contemporary John Evelyn, author
+of _Sylva, or a Discourse of Forest Trees_, the classic of British
+Forestry, was a more highly cultured man, who wrote, in the leisure of
+official duties and amid the surroundings of easy refinement, many
+useful and tasteful works both in prose and poetry, ranging over a wide
+variety of subjects. Judging from the number of editions which appeared
+of their principal works, they were both held in great favour by the
+reading public, though on the whole the advantage in some respects lay
+with Evelyn. But during the present century the taste of the public,
+judged by this same rough and ready, practical standard, has undoubtedly
+awarded the prize of popularity to Izaac Walton.
+
+So far as the circumstances of their early life were concerned there was
+greater similarity between Walton and Pepys, than between either of them
+and Evelyn. Born in the lower middle class, the son of a tailor in
+London, and himself afterwards a member of the Clothworkers' guild,
+Pepys was a true Londoner. His tastes were centred entirely in the town,
+and his pleasures were never sought either among woods or green fields,
+or by the banks of trout streams and rivers. His thoughts seem often
+tainted with the fumes of the wine-bowl and the reek of the tavern; and
+even when he swore off drink, as he frequently did, he soon relapsed
+into his customary habits. Educated in London and then at Cambridge,
+where his love of a too flowing bowl already got him into trouble more
+than once, he was imprudent enough to incur the responsibilities of
+matrimony at the early age of twenty-three, with a beautiful girl only
+fifteen years old. Trouble soon stared this rash and improvident young
+couple in the face, but they were spared the pangs of permanent poverty
+through the aid and influence of Sir Edward Montagu, afterwards Earl of
+Sandwich, who was a distant relative of Pepys. Acting probably as
+Montagu's secretary for some time, he was first appointed to a clerkship
+in the Army pay office, and then soon afterwards became clerk of the
+Acts of the Navy. Later on, like Evelyn, he held various more important
+posts under the Crown, as well as being greatly distinguished by
+promotion to non-official positions of the highest honour. His official
+career was a very brilliant one, and deservedly so from the integrity of
+his work, from his application, despite frequent immoderation in
+partaking of wine, and from his business-like methods of work. As
+Commissioner for the Affairs of Tangier and Treasurer, he visited
+Tangier officially. He twice became Secretary to the Admiralty, and was
+twice elected to represent Harwich in Parliament, after having
+previously sat for Castle Rising. He was also twice chosen as Master of
+the Trinity House, and was twice committed to prison, once on a charge
+of high treason, and the other time (1690) on the charge of being
+affected to King James II., upon whose flight from England Pepys had
+laid down his office and withdrawn himself into retirement. Elected a
+Fellow of the Royal Society in 1665, he attained the distinction of
+being its President in 1684. He was Master of the Clothworkers' Company,
+Treasurer and Vice-President of Christ's Hospital, and one of the Barons
+of the Cinque Ports. In 1699, four years before he succumbed to a long
+and painful disease borne with fortitude under the depression of reduced
+circumstances, he received the freedom of the City of London,
+principally for his services in connection with Christ's Hospital.
+
+From the hasty sketch drafted in the above outlines, it will be seen
+that throughout all Pepys' manhood the circumstances of his daily life
+and environment were much more similar to those of Evelyn than to those
+of Walton, who may well be ranked as their senior by almost one
+generation. Like Evelyn, Izaak Walton was rather the child of the
+country than a boy of the town. Born in Stafford in 1593, he only came
+to settle in London after he had attained early manhood. Thus, though a
+citizen exposing his linen drapery and mens' millinery for sale first in
+the Gresham Exchange on the Cornhill, then in Fleet Street, and latterly
+in Chancery Lane, the Bond Street of that time, he ever cherished a
+longing for more rural surroundings and a desire to exchange life in the
+city for residence in a smaller provincial town. On the civil war
+breaking out in Charles the Ist's time, he retired from business and
+went to live near his birth place, Stafford, where he had previously
+bought some land. Here the last forty years of his long life were spent
+in ease and recreation. When not angling or visiting friends, mostly
+brethren of the angle, he engaged in the light literary work of
+compiling biographies and in collecting material for the enrichment of
+his _Compleat Angler_. Published in 1653, this ran through five editions
+in 23 years, besides a reprint in 1664 of the third edition (1661).
+
+In spite of the many similarities between Evelyn and Pepys as to
+university education, official position, political partisanship, and
+social and scientific status in London, there are yet such essential
+differences between what has been bequeathed to us by these two friends
+that comparison between them is almost impossible. They are both
+authors: but it was by chance rather than by design that Pepys
+ultimately acquired repute as an author, whereas Evelyn at once achieved
+the literary fame he desired and wrote for. Neither of the two works
+published by Pepys, _The Portugal History_ (1677) and the _Memories of
+the Royal Navy_ (1690), procured for him the gratification of revising
+them for a second edition, and it is indeed open to question if the
+_Diary_ upon which his undying fame rests was ever intended by him to be
+published after his death. This is a point that is never likely to be
+settled satisfactorily. The fact of its having been written in cipher
+looks as if it had been compiled solely for private amusement, and not
+with any intention of posthumous publication; and this view is greatly
+strengthened by the unblushing and complete manner in which he lays
+aside the mask of outward propriety and records his too frequent
+quaffing of the wine-cup, his household bickerings, his improprieties
+with fair women, and his graver conjugal infidelities. The improprieties
+of other persons, and especially those of higher social rank than
+himself, might very intelligibly have been written in cipher intended to
+have been transcribed and printed after his death; but it would be at
+variance with human nature to believe that he could so unreservedly have
+reduced to writing all the faults and follies of his life had even
+posthumous publication of his _Diary_ been contemplated by him at the
+time of writing it. For it is hardly capable of argument that, next to
+the instincts of self-preservation and of the maintenance of family
+ties, the desire to preserve outward appearances is undoubtedly one of
+the strongest of human feelings; and this great natural law, often the
+last remnant or the substitute of conscience, character, and
+self-respect, is even more fully operative in a highly civilised than in
+a savage or a semi-savage state of society. Of a truth, every human
+being is more or less of a Pharisee with regard to certain
+conventionalities of life. Complete disregard for the maintenance of
+some sort of standard of outward appearances is the absolute vanishing
+point of self-respect. Till that has been reached by any individual the
+hope of his reformation is not lost, though at the same time successful
+dissimulation makes the prospect of a turning point in a vicious career
+but remote. Still, "it is a long lane that has no turning." It is
+therefore most probable that the leaving behind of the key to the cipher
+was rather due to inadvertence than to intention and design. And if this
+view be correct, then Pepys' charming _Diary_ was the purely natural
+outpouring of his mind without ever a thought being bestowed on
+authorship and ultimate publication.
+
+With Evelyn's _Diary_, however, it was different. Although it was not
+published until 1818, and though it may never have been intended by its
+writer to have been given to the world in book form, yet it was very
+clearly intended to be an autobiographical legacy to his family. Hence
+it is no mere outpouring of the spirit upon pages meant only for the
+subsequent perusal of him who thus rendered in indelible characters his
+passing thoughts of the moment. And this being the case, comparison
+between the two Diaries would be just as unfair as it is unnecessary.
+The one is the fruit of unrestrained freedom and a mirthful mind, while
+the other is the product of cultured leisure and a refined literary
+method. When Evelyn was Commissioner for the maintenance of the Dutch
+prisoners (1664-70) he had frequent communications with Pepys, then of
+the Navy, and there are special references to him in Evelyn's memoirs.
+That an intimate friendship existed there is no doubt, and that they
+each held the other in great respect as a man of intellect, as well as
+of good business capacity, is equally clear. Thus, in June, 1669, he
+encouraged Pepys to be operated on 'when exceedingly afflicted with the
+stone;' and on 19 February, 1671, 'This day din'd with me Mr. Surveyor,
+Dr. Christopher Wren, and Mr. Pepys, Cleark of the Acts, two
+extraordinary ingenious and knowing persons, and other friends. I
+carried them to see the piece of carving which I had recommended to the
+King.' This was a masterpiece of Grinling Gibbon's work, which Charles
+admired but did not purchase; so Gibbon not long after sold it for L80,
+though 'well worth L100, without the frame, to Sir George Viner.' Evelyn
+at this time got Wren, however, to promise faithfully to employ Gibbon
+to do the choir carving in the new St. Paul's Cathedral.
+
+Each of their Diaries teems with reference to the other. Pepys asked
+Evelyn to sit to Kneller for his portrait which he desired for 'reasons
+I had (founded upon gratitude, affection, and esteeme) to covet that in
+effigie which I most truly value in the original.' This refers to the
+well-known portrait, now at Wotton, that has been copied and engraved.
+
+It appears to have been begun in October, 1685, but it was not till
+July, 1689, that the commission was actually completed. The portrait
+exhibits the face of an elderly man distinctly of a high-strung and
+nervous temperament, though not quite to the extent of being 'sicklied
+oer with the pale caste of thought.' His right hand, too, which grasps
+his _Sylva_ is one very characteristic of the nervous disposition. A
+bright, shrewd intellect, lofty thoughts, high motives, good resolves,
+and--last, tho' by no means least--a serene mind, the _mens conscia
+recti_ which Pepys bluntly called 'a little conceitedness,' are all
+stamped upon his well-marked and not unshapely features. It is eminently
+the face of a philosopher, an enthusiast, a studious scholar, and a
+gentleman.
+
+No one can ever know Evelyn so well as Pepys did; and here is his
+opinion of John Evelyn, expressed in the secret pages of his cipher
+Diary on November, 1665:--'In fine, a most excellent person he is, and
+must be allowed a little for a little conceitedness; but he may well be
+so, being a man so much above others.' And this just exactly bears out
+the rough general impression conveyed by the perusal of Evelyn's Diary
+and his other literary works. The long friendship of these two was only
+terminated by the death of Pepys on 26th May, 1703, not long before
+Evelyn had himself to depart from this life. 'This day died Mr. Sam.
+Pepys, a very courtly, industrious and curious person, none in England
+exceeding him in knowledge of the navy, in which he had passed through
+all the most considerable offices, Clerk of the Acts and Secretary of
+the Admiralty, all which he performed with great integrity. When King
+James II., went out of England, he laid down his office and would serve
+no more..... He was universally belov'd, hospitable, generous, learned
+in many things, skilled in music, a very great cherisher of learned men
+of whom he had the conversation..... Mr. Pepys had been for near 40
+yeares so much my particular friend, that Mr. Jackson sent me compleat
+mourning, desiring me to be one to hold up the pall at his magnificient
+obsequies, but my indisposition hinder'd me from doing him this last
+office.'
+
+
+II
+
+_Evelyn's Childhood, Early Education, and Youth._
+
+The essential facts of Evelyn's life, as he himself would have us know
+them, are set forth at full length in autobiographical form,
+chronologically arranged in what is always spoken of as his _Diary_,
+although evidently this was (much of it, at any rate) merely a
+subsequent personal compilation from an actual diary, kept in imitation
+of his father, from the age of 11 years onwards and down even to within
+one month of his death in 1706.
+
+The second son and the fourth child of Richard Evelyn of Wotton in
+Surrey, and of his wife Eleanor, daughter of John Stansfield 'of an
+ancient honorable family (though now extinct) in Shropshire,' he was
+born at Wotton on 31st. October, 1620. His father, 'was of a sanguine
+complexion, mixed with a dash of choler; his haire inclining to light,
+which tho' exceeding thick became hoary by the time he was 30 years of
+age; it was somewhat curled towards the extremity; his beard, which he
+wore a little picked, as the mode was, of a brownish colour, and so
+continued to the last, save that it was somewhat mingled with grey
+haires about his cheekes: which, with his countenance, was cleare, and
+fresh colour'd, his eyes quick and piercing, an ample forehead, manly
+aspect; low of stature, but very strong. He was for his life so exact
+and temperate, that I have heard he had never been surprised by excesse,
+being ascetic and sparing. His wisdom was greate, and judgment most
+acute; of solid discourse, affable, humble and in nothing affected; of a
+thriving, neat, silent and methodical genius; discretely severe, yet
+liberal on all just occasions to his children, strangers, and servants;
+a lover of hospitality; of a singular and Christian moderation in all
+his actions; a Justice of the Peace and of the Quorum; he served his
+country as High Sheriff for Surrey and Sussex together. He was a
+studious decliner of honours and titles, being already in that esteem
+with his country that they could have added little to him besides their
+burden. He was a person of that rare conversation, that upon frequent
+recollection, and calling to mind passages of his life and discourse, I
+could never charge him with the least passion or inadvertence. His
+estate was esteem'd about L4,000 per ann. well wooded and full of
+timber.' As for his mother, 'She was of proper personage; of a brown
+complexion; her eyes and haire of a lovely black; of constitution
+inclyned to a religious melancholy, or pious sadnesse; of a rare memory
+and most exemplary life; for oeconomie and prudence esteemed one of the
+most conspicuous in her Country.'
+
+Apparently John Evelyn thought he had made a very judicious choice of
+his father and mother when he wrote 'Thus much in brief touching my
+parents; nor was it reasonable I should speake lesse to them to whom I
+owe so much.'
+
+These passages, occurring in the first two pages of his _Diary_ serve at
+once to illustrate a very characteristic feature of Evelyn's mind, and
+one that is everywhere discernible in his writings. He was a man with a
+highly cultured and a very well balanced mind, but he was somewhat
+inclined to exaggerate; and he certainly had the rather enviable gift of
+considering everything pertaining to him, or approved or advocated by
+him, as very superior indeed. All his eggs had two yolks, and all his
+geese were swans. What he liked, he _loved_; and what he did not like,
+he _hated_. There was no golden mean with him; he was either very
+optimistic or else intensely pessimistic. Hence, naturally, he gave hard
+knocks to those who differed from him in opinion, and particularly after
+the Restoration; for he was one of the most expressive among King
+Charles II's courtiers. Direct evidence of this special temperament was
+characteristic of Evelyn throughout all his life, and was of course
+particularly noticeable in his writings, as we shall subsequently see.
+It is therefore only to be expected that he prized his father's little
+estate of Wotton in Surrey as one of the finest in the kingdom. 'Wotton,
+the mansion house of my Father, left him by my Grandfather, (now my
+eldest Brother's), is situated in the most Southern part of the Shire,
+and though in a valley, yet really upon part of Lyth Hill one of the
+most eminent in England for the prodigious prospect to be seen from its
+summit, tho' of few observed. From it may be discerned 12 or 13
+Counties, with part of the Sea on the Coast of Sussex, in a serene day.
+The house is large and ancient, suitable to those hospitable times, and
+so sweetly environed with those delicious streams and venerable woods,
+as in the judgment of Strangers as well as Englishmen it may be compared
+to one of the most tempting and pleasant Seats in the Nation, and most
+tempting for a great person and a wanton purse to render it conspicuous.
+It has rising grounds, meadows, woods, and water in abundance. The
+distance from London (is) little more than 20 miles, and yet (it is) so
+securely placed as if it were 100; three miles from Dorking, which
+serves it abundantly with provisions as well of land as sea; 6 from
+Guildford, 12 from Kingston. I will say nothing of the ayre, because the
+praeeminence is universally given to Surrey, the soil being dry and
+sandy: but I should speak much of the gardens, fountains, and groves
+that adorne it, were they not as generally knowne to be amongst the most
+natural, and (till this later and universal luxury of the whole nation,
+since abounding in such expenses) the most magnificent that England
+afforded, and which indeed gave one of the first examples to that
+elegancy since so much in vogue, and followed in the managing of their
+waters, and other ornaments of that nature. Let me add, the contiguity
+of five or six Mannors, the patronage of the livings about it, and, what
+is none of the least advantages, a good neighbourhood. All which
+conspire to render it fit for the present possessor, my worthy Brother,
+and his noble lady, whose constant liberality give them title both to
+the place and the affections of all that know them. Thus, with the poet,
+
+    Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos
+    Ducit, et im' emores non sinit esse sui!'
+
+This is a very good specimen of Evelyn's style, for it shews the
+optimistic quality which, along with refinement and a love of classical
+quotations, is ever present in his writings. Lythe Hill, from the summit
+of which the 'prodigious prospect' is so eminently belauded, attains a
+height of less than a thousand feet above the sea-level.
+
+At the early age of four John Evelyn was initiated into the rudiments
+of education by one Frier, who taught children at the church porch of
+Wotton; but soon after that he was sent to Lewes in Sussex, to be with
+his grandfather Standsfield, while a plague was raging in London. There
+he remained, after Standsfield's death in 1627, till 1630, when he was
+sent to the free school at Southover near Lewes and kept there until he
+went up to Balliol College, Oxford, as a fellow-commoner in 1637, being
+then 16 years of age. It was his father's intention to have placed him
+at Eton 'but I was so terrefied at the report of the severe discipline
+there that I was sent back to Lewes, which perverseness of mine I have
+since a thousand times deplored.' In that same year (1637) Evelyn had
+the misfortune to lose his mother, then only in the 37th year of her
+age. Having been 'extremely remisse' in his studies at school, he made
+no great mark during his University career. His application was not
+assiduous, while his tutor, Bradshaw, whom he disliked, was negligent;
+and he appears to have been subject to frequent attacks of ague,
+disposing him to casual recreation rather than to close study. He had
+also apparently the desire to acquire a smattering of many different
+things rather than to study hard at a few special subjects. 'I began to
+look on the rudiments of musick, in which I afterwards arriv'd to some
+formal knowledge though to small perfection of hand, because I was so
+frequently diverted by inclinations to newer trifles.'
+
+Completing his Oxford studies early in 1639, without taking any degree,
+he went into residence at the Middle Temple in April, and soon arrived
+at the conclusion that his 'being at the University in regard of these
+avocations, was of very small benefit.' Here he and his brother lodged
+in 'a very handsome apartment just over against the Halt Court, but four
+payre of stayres high, which gave us the advantage of fairer prospect,
+but did not much contribute to the love of that unpolish'd study, to
+which (I suppose,) my Father had design'd me!' While thus a law student,
+on 30th October, he saw 'his Majestie (coming from his Northern
+Expedition) ride in pomp, and a kind of ovation, with all the markes of
+a happy peace, restor'd to the affections of his people, being
+conducted through London with a most splendid cavalcade; and on 3rd
+November, following (a day never to be mentioned without a curse) to
+that long, ungratefull, foolish, and fatall Parliament, the beginning of
+all our sorrows for twenty years after, and the period of the most happy
+Monarch in the world: _Quis talia fando!_'
+
+In the closing days of 1640 Evelyn lost his father, when he abandoned
+the study of the law and betook himself abroad in preference to being
+mixed up in the disorders of the time. His resolutions were 'to absent
+myselfe from this ill face of things at home, which gave umbrage to
+wiser than myselfe, that the medaill was reversing, and our calamities
+but yet in their infancy.' Shortly before that he had 'beheld on Tower
+Hill the fatal stroake which sever'd the wisest head in England from the
+shoulders of the Earl of Strafford.'
+
+Landing at Flushing in July, 1641, Evelyn passed, accompanied by his
+tutor Mr. Caryll, through Midelbrogh, Der Veer, Dort, Rotterdam, and
+Delft, to the Hague, where he presented himself to the Queen of
+Bohemia's Court. Thence he went on to Leyden, Utrecht, Rynen, and
+Nimeguen, to where the Dutch army was encamped about Genep, a strong
+fortress on the Wahale river. Here he enrolled himself and served for a
+few days as a volunteer in the Queen's army 'according to the
+compliment,' being attached to the English company of Captain Apsley:
+and in this capacity he 'received many civilities.' Even when thus
+playing at soldering, he did not like the roughness of a soldier's life,
+'for the sun piercing the canvass of the tent, it was, during the day,
+unsufferable, and at night not seldom infested with mists and fogs,
+which ascended from the river.' However, during the few days he took his
+fair share in the work. 'As the turn came about, I watched on a horne
+work neere our quarters, and trailed a pike, being the next morning
+relieved by a company of French. This was our continual duty till the
+Castle was re-fortified, and all danger of quitting that station
+secured.' Retracing his steps to Rotterdam, Delft, the Hague and Leyden,
+he also visited Haerlem, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and various other
+towns before returning by way of Ostend, Dunkirk and Dover to Wotton,
+where he celebrated his 21st birthday.
+
+Although his _Diary_ does not contain any details on such matters as
+Pepys would have been free to record in his cipher, John Evelyn was
+probably rather a gay and pleasure-loving youth about this time. A
+suspicion of this seems justified by the fact that he 'was elected one
+of the Comptrolers of the Middle Temple-revellers, as the fashion of ye
+young Students and Gentlemen was, the Christmas being kept this year
+(1641) with great solemnity; but being desirous to passe it in the
+Country, I got leave to resign my staffe of office, and went with my
+brother Richard to Wotton.' From January till March he was back in
+London 'studying a little, but dancing and fooling more.'
+
+
+III
+
+_Evelyn's Early Manhood, Continental Travels and Studies, Voluntary
+Exile, and Return to England 1647._
+
+It was hardly possible that anyone situated as Evelyn was could hold
+aloof from the party strife when civil war broke out during the course
+of this year. And, of course, he was on the Royalist side. But he did
+not serve long with the troops. Here is his own record of that military
+service,--'Oct. 3rd. To Chichester, and hence the next day to see the
+siege of Portsmouth; for now was that bloody difference betweene the
+King and Parliament broken out, which ended in the fatal tragedy so many
+years after. It was on the day of its being render'd to Sir William
+Waller, which gave me an opportunity of taking my leave of Colonel
+Goring the Governor, now embarqueing for France. This day was fought
+that signal Battaile at Edgehill. Thence I went to Southampton and
+Winchester, where I visited the Castle, Schole, Church, and King
+Arthur's Round Table, but especially the Church, and its Saxon Kings'
+Monuments, which I esteemed a worthy antiquity. 12th. November, was the
+Battle of Braineford surprisingly fought, and to the greate
+consternation of the Citty had his Majesty (as twas believed he would)
+pursu'd his advantage. I came in with my horse and armes just at the
+retreate, but was not permitted to stay longer than the 15th. by reason
+of the Army's marching to Glocester, which would have left both me and
+my brother expos'd to ruine, without any advantage to his Majestie. Dec.
+7th. I went from Wotton to London to see the so much celebrated line of
+com'unication, and on the 10th. returned to Wotton, nobody knowing of my
+having been in his Majestie's Army.'
+
+During the first half of 1643 Evelyn employed himself entirely in rural
+occupations, visiting the garden and vineyard of Hatfield and similar
+places. From time to time, however, he made many journeys to and from
+London. What he sometimes saw there gave him much food for ample
+reflection. 'May 2nd. I went from Wotton to London, where I saw the
+furious and zelous people demolish that stately Crosse in Cheapside. On
+the 4th. I returned with no little regrett for the confusion that
+threatened us. Resolving to possess myself in some quiet if it might be,
+in a time of so great jealosy, I built by my Brother's permission a
+study, made a fishpond, an island, and some other solitudes and
+retirements, at Wotton, which gave the first occasion of improving them
+to those water-works and gardens which afterwards succeeded them, and
+became at that tyme the most famous of England.' But, willy nilly, he
+was bound to become dragged into action on the King's behalf. 'July
+12th. I sent my black manege horse and furniture with a friend to his
+Majestie then at Oxford. 23rd. The Covenant being pressed, I absented
+myselfe; but finding it impossible to evade the doing very unhandsome
+things, and which had been a greate cause of my perpetual motions
+hitherto between Wotton and London, Oct. 2nd. I obtayned a lycence of
+his Majestie, dated at Oxford and sign'd by the King, to travell
+againe.' Accordingly, on 7th. November, he took boat at the Tower wharf
+for Sittingbourne, 'being only a payre of oares, expos'd to a hideous
+storm, thence posting to Dover accompanied by an Oxford friend, Mr.
+Thicknesse, and crossing the Channel to Calais.'
+
+Proceeding by Boulogne, Monstreuil, Abbeville, Beauvais, Beaumont, and
+St. Denys to Paris, of which he gives a very interesting account, he
+threw himself into the social life of that gay capital. His first step
+was to make his duty to Sir Richard Browne, afterwards his
+father-in-law, then in charge of British affairs pending the arrival of
+the Earl of Norwich, who came immediately after that as Ambassador
+Extraordinary. That Evelyn's purse was fairly well lined the Parisian
+passages in his _Diary_ distinctly show. He appears to have taken part
+in many gay excursions and junkettings, though he sometimes reckoned the
+cost. 'At an inn in this village (St. Germains en Lay) is an host who
+treats all the greate persons in princely lodgings for furniture and
+plate, but they pay well for it, as I have don. Indeede the
+entertainment is very splendid, and not unreasonable, considering the
+excellent manner of dressing their meate, and of the service. Here are
+many debauches and excessive revellings, as being out of all noise and
+observance.' Wherever he visited the royal gardens and villas, or those
+of the great nobles and other magnates, he writes rapturously of what he
+saw. Sometimes, though, his joyous optimism rather leads one to doubt
+the quality of his taste, as when, writing of Richelieu's villa at
+Ruell, he says 'This leads to the Citroniere, which is a noble conserve
+of all those rarities; and at the end of it is the Arch of Constantine,
+painted on a wall in oyle, as large as the real one at Rome, so well don
+that even a man skilled in painting may mistake it for stone and
+sculpture. The skie and hills which seem to be between the arches are so
+naturall that swallows and other birds, thinking to fly through, have
+dashed themselves against the wall. I was infinitely taken with this
+agreeable cheate.' But he was certainly gradually acquiring the
+materials which were afterwards to be so well used by him in his great
+works on gardening. After a tour made in Normandy with Sir John Cotton,
+a Cambridgeshire knight, he quitted Paris in April, 1644. Marching
+across by Chartres and Estamps to Orleans, the party of which he formed
+one had an encounter with brigands, 'for no sooner were we entred two or
+three leagues into ye Forest of Orleans (which extends itself many
+miles), but the company behind us were set on by rogues, who, shooting
+from ye hedges and frequent covert, slew fowre upon the spot... I had
+greate cause to give God thankes for this escape.' Taking boat, he went
+down the Loire to St. Dieu, and thence rode to Blois and on to Tours,
+where he stayed till the autumn. 'Here I took a master of the language
+and studied the tongue very diligently, recreating myself sometimes at
+the maill, and sometymes about the towne.' Here, too, he paid his duty
+to the Queen of England, 'having newly arrived, and going for Paris.' In
+the latter part of September, still accompanied by his friend
+Thicknesse, he left Tours and 'travelled towards the more southerne part
+of France, minding now to shape my course so as I might winter in
+Italy.' Journeying southward, partly by road and partly by river, he
+visited Lyons, Avignon, and Marseilles, whither he wended his way
+deliciously 'thro' a country sweetely declining to the South and
+Mediterranean coasts, full of vineyards and olive-yards, orange-trees,
+myrtils, pomegranads, and the like sweete plantations, to which belong
+pleasantly-situated villas ...... as if they were so many heapes of snow
+dropp'd out of the clouds amongst these perennial greenes.' Taking mules
+to Cannes, he went by sea to Genoa 'having procur'd a bill of health
+(without which there is no admission at any towne in Italy).' On
+reaching 'Mongus, now cal'd Monaco' on the route, 'we were hastened
+away, having no time permitted us by our avaricious master to go up and
+see this strong and considerable place.'
+
+On Oct. 16th., after 'much ado and greate perill' he landed on Italian
+soil. He was fully prepared to have the most delicious pleasure in this
+classical land, having already, even during the stormy weather off the
+coast, 'smelt the peculiar joys of Italy in the perfumes of orange,
+citron, and jassmine flowers for divers leagues seaward.'
+
+It would be pleasant to ramble through Italy in Evelyn's company, and to
+share with him the many enjoyments recorded in his _Diary_: but space
+forbids. From Genoa he went to Leghorn and Pisa, from Pisa to Florence,
+thence to Sienna, and on to Rome. 'I came to Rome on the 4th November,
+1644, about 5 at night, and being perplexed for a convenient lodging,
+wandered up and down on horseback, till at last one conducted us to
+Monsieur Petits, a Frenchman, near the Piazza Spagnola. Here I alighted,
+and having bargained with my host for 20 crownes a moneth, I caused a
+good fire to be made in my chamber and went to bed, being so very wet.
+The next morning (for I was resolved to spend no time idly here) I got
+acquainted with several persons who had long lived at Rome.'
+
+Evelyn's description of the interesting sights he saw in Rome is so good
+that it might well be perused in place of modern guide-books by those
+visiting the city. There is a delightful attractiveness about it, in
+which these up-to-date works are sometimes wanting. But even his
+youthful energy began to tire, and his keen appetite to become sated
+with continuous sightseeing. After more than six months of it 'we now
+determined to desist from visiting any more curiosities, except what
+should happen to come in our way, when my companion Mr. Henshaw or
+myself should go out to take the aire.' Then, however, as now for some
+people, the crowning event of a visit to Rome was to receive the Papal
+blessing. This Evelyn desired and obtained, although the event is not
+recorded in his diary with any great enthusiasm. 'May, 4th. Having seen
+the entrie of ye ambassador of Lucca, I went to the Vatican, where, by
+favour of our Cardinal Protector, Frair Barberini, I was admitted into
+the consistorie, heard the ambassador make his ovation in Latine to the
+Pope, sitting on an elevated state or throne, and changing two
+pontifical miters; after which I was presented to kisse his toe, that
+is, his embroder'd slipper, two Cardinals holding up his vest and
+surplice, and then being sufficiently bless'd with his thumb and two
+fingers for that day, I return'd home to dinner.'
+
+He quitted Rome about the middle of May after a sojourn there of seven
+months, which had occasioned him so small an outlay that he remarked
+thereon in his Diary. 'The bills of exchange I took up from my first
+entering Italy till I went from Rome amounted but to 616 _ducanti di
+banco_, though I purchas'd many books, pictures, and curiosities.' Going
+northwards by Sienna, Leghorn, Lucca, Florence, Bologna, and Ferrara, he
+reached Venice early in June. Arriving 'extreamly weary and beaten' with
+the journey, he went and enjoyed the new luxury of a Turkish bath. 'This
+bath did so open my pores that it cost me one of the greatest colds I
+ever had in my life, for want of necessary caution in keeping myselfe
+warme for some time after; for coming out, I immediately began to visit
+the famous places of the city; and travellers who come in to Italy do
+nothing but run up and down to see sights.'
+
+Evelyn had the good fortune to see Venice _en fete_, and in those days
+that must have been a sight well worth seeing. He saw the Doge espouse
+the Adriatic by casting a gold ring into it on Ascension day with very
+great pomp and ceremony. 'It was now Ascension Weeke, and the greate
+mart or faire of ye whole yeare was kept, every body at liberty and
+jollie. The noblemen stalking with their ladys on _choppines_; these are
+high-heel'd shoes, particularly affected by these proude dames, or, as
+some say, invented to keepe them at home, it being very difficult to
+walke with them; whence one being asked how he liked the Venetian dames,
+replied, they were _mezzo carne, mezzo ligno_, half flesh, half wood,
+and he would have none of them. The truth is, their garb is very odd, as
+seeming always in masquerade; their other habits also totaly different
+from all nations.'
+
+In Venice Evelyn made arrangements for visiting the Holy Land and parts
+of Syria, Egypt, and Turkey; but they fell through owing to the vessel,
+in which he would have sailed, being requisitioned to carry provisions
+to Candia, then under attack from the Turks. Forced to abandon this
+project, he remained in Venice 'being resolved to spend some moneths
+here in study, especially physic and anatomie, of both which there was
+now the most famous professors in Europe.' But in the autumn Mr.
+Thicknesse, 'my dear friend, and till now my constant fellow traveller,'
+was obliged to return to England on private affairs; so Evelyn was left
+alone in Venice. Very shortly after that he had an illness which seems
+to have at one time threatened a fatal termination. 'Using to drink my
+wine cool'd with snow and ice, as the manner here is, I was so afflicted
+with the angina and soare-throat, that it had almost cost me my life.
+After all the remedies Cavalier Veslingius, cheife professor here, could
+apply, old Salvatico (that famous physician) being call'd made me be
+cupp'd and scarified in the back in foure places, which began to give me
+breath, and consequently life, for I was in ye utmost danger: but God
+being mercifull to me, I was after a fortnight abroad againe; when
+changing my lodging I went over against Pozzo Pinto, where I bought for
+winter provisions 3000 weight of excellent grapes, and pressed my owne
+wine, which proved incomparable liquor.' Its goodness, indeed, seems to
+have been the death of it. 'Oct. 31st. Being my birth-day, the nuns of
+St. Catherine's sent me flowers of silk-work. We were very studious all
+this winter till Christmas, when on twelfth day we invited all the
+English and Scotts in towne to feast, which sunk our excellent wine
+considerably.' In explanation of this passage, it needs to be said that
+he had soon again changed his lodging and gone to reside with three
+English friends 'neere St. Catherine's over against the monasterie of
+nunnes, where we hired the whole house and lived very nobly. Here I
+learned to play on ye theorbo, taught by Sig. Dominico Bassano.'
+
+After 'the folly and madnesse of the Carnevall' was over, Evelyn left
+Venice for Padua in January, 1646, but went back in March to take leave
+of his friends there, and at Easter set out on his return journey to
+England in company with the poet Waller, who had been glad to go abroad
+after being much worried by the Puritan party. They travelled by way of
+Vicenza, Verona, Brescia, Milan, the Lago Maggiore, the Simplon Pass,
+Sion, and St. Maurice to Geneva. Here again Evelyn became sick nigh unto
+death, from small-pox contracted at Beveretta, the night before reaching
+Geneva. 'Being extremely weary and complaining of my head, and finding
+little accommodation in the house, I caus'd one of our hostesses
+daughters to be removed out of her bed and went immediately into it
+whilst it was yet warme, being so heavy with pain and drowsinesse that I
+would not stay to have the sheets chang'd; but I shortly after payd
+dearly for my impatience, falling sick of the small-pox so soon as I
+came to Geneva, for by the smell of frankincense and ye tale of ye good
+woman told me of her daughter having had an ague, I afterwards concluded
+she had been newly recovered of the small-pox.' Becoming very ill he was
+bled of the physician 'a very learned old man..... He afterwards
+acknowledg'd that he should not have bled me had he suspected ye
+small-pox, which brake out a day after.' As nurse he had a Swiss matron
+afflicted with goitre, 'whose monstrous throat, when I sometimes awak'd
+out of unquiet slumbers, would affright me.' But again he was spared for
+the work he was destined to do. 'By God's mercy after five weeks keeping
+my chamber I went abroad.'
+
+Leaving Geneva on the 5th July 1646, Evelyn's party went by way of
+Lyons, La Charite, and Orleans to Paris, arriving 'rejoic'd that after
+so many disasters and accidents in a tedious peregrination, I was gotten
+so neere home, and here I resolv'd to rest myselfe before I went
+further. It was now October, and the onely time that in my whole life I
+spent most idly, tempted from my more profitable recesses; but I soon
+recover'd my better resolutions and fell to my study, learning the High
+Dutch and Spanish tongues, and now and then refreshing my danceing, and
+such exercises as I had long omitted, and which are not in much
+reputation amongst the sober Italians.'
+
+During the course of the following winter and spring he saw much of 'Sir
+Richard Browne, his Majesty's Resident at the Court of France, and with
+whose lady and family I had contracted a greate friendship (and
+particularly set my affections on a daughter).' To this young girl,
+Mary, the only child of Sir Richard Browne by a daughter of Sir John
+Pretyman, he was married on 27th June, 1647, by Dr. Earle, chaplain to
+the young Charles, then Prince of Wales, who was holding his court at
+St. Germains. In October he returned by Rouen, Dieppe, and Calais, and
+'got safe to Dover, for which I heartily put up my thanks to God who had
+conducted me safe to my owne country, and been mercifull to me through
+so many aberrations' during a period extending over four years. He
+returned alone, 'leaving my wife, yet very young, under the care of an
+excellent lady and prudent mother.' Indeed, she was a mere child, being
+then not more than twelve years of age, and her father was only Evelyn's
+senior by fifteen years.
+
+
+IV
+
+_Evelyn's Attitude during the Commonwealth 1647-1660._
+
+Arrived at Wotton, he at once went to kiss his Majesty's hand at Hampton
+Court and convey tidings from Paris, King Charles 'being now in the
+power of those execrable villains who not long after murder'd him.'
+Thence he betook himself to Sayes Court, near Deptford in Kent, the
+estate belonging to his father-in-law, where he 'had a lodging and some
+bookes.' It was here that he was living when his first literary work was
+published, _Of Liberty and Servitude_, a translation from the French of
+Le Vayer, in January, 1649, though the dedication of it to his brother
+George bears date 25th January, 1647. He was very near getting into
+trouble about the preface to this, because in his own copy he noted that
+'I was like to be call'd in question by the Rebells for this booke,
+being published a few days before his Majesty's decollation.' Although
+he took no prominent part in politics at this particular time, yet he
+could hardly help playing with the fire. Thus, on 11th December, 'I got
+privately into the council of ye rebell army at Whitehall, where I heard
+horrid villanies.' Having money in hand, either from savings during the
+four years' sojourn abroad, where his expenses (including all purchases
+of objects of art and vertu) did not amount to more than L300 a year, or
+else from his child-wife's dowry, he dabbled in land speculation with
+the fairly satisfactory result that on the whole he does not appear to
+have lost much by it.
+
+On 17th January, 1649, he 'heard the rebell Peters incite the rebell
+powers met in the Painted Chamber to destroy his Majesty, and saw that
+archtraytor Bradshaw, who not long after condemn'd him.' But his loyalty
+kept him from being present at the death-scene. 'The villanie of the
+rebells proceeding now so far as to trie, condemne and murder our
+excellent King on the 30th of this month, struck me with such horror
+that I kept the day of his martyrdom a fast, and would not be present at
+that execrable wickednesse, receiving the sad account of it from my
+Brother George and Mr. Owen, who came to visite me this afternoone, and
+recounted all the circumstances.'
+
+While he 'went through a course of chymestrie at Sayes Court,' and
+otherwise engaged in study and in the examination of works of art, he
+became disquieted about the condition of affairs in Paris.
+Communications with his wife appear to have been very few and far
+between, although with his father-in-law he 'kept up a political
+correspondence' in cipher 'with no small danger of being discovered.' In
+April he touched 'suddaine resolutions' of going to France, before he
+received the news that Conde's siege of Paris had ended by peace being
+concluded. The immediate carrying out of this intention was hindered by
+a rush of blood to the brain. 'I fell dangerously ill of my head: was
+blistered and let blood behind ye ears and forehead: on the 23rd. began
+to have ease by using the fumes of a cammomile on embers applied to my
+eares after all the physicians had don their best.' On 17th June,
+however, he 'got a passe from the rebell Bradshaw, then in greate
+power,' and on 12th July went via Gravesend to Dover and Calais,
+arriving at Paris on 1st. August. Curiously enough his Diary makes no
+mention of the child-wife, from whom he had 'been absent.... about a
+yeare and a halfe,' save that on 'Sept. 7th. Went with my Wife and dear
+cosin to St. Germains, and kissed the Queene-mother's hand.' He remained
+in Paris till the end of June, 1650, when he made a flying visit to
+England, and again obtained a pass from Bradshaw to proceed to France.
+On 30th August, he was back again in Paris, where he stayed till his
+final return to England in February 1652. His life in Paris at this time
+was that of a cultured _dilletante_. He studied, or at any rate dabbled
+in, chemistry, philosophy, theology, and music; and he found amusement
+in examining gardens and collections of all sorts of virtuosities and
+antiquities. He had 'much discourse of chymical matters' with Sir Kenelm
+Digby; 'but the truth is, Sir Kenelm was an arrant mountebank.' Here,
+too, he wrote his second literary composition, _The State of France, as
+it stood in the IXth yeer of this present monarch Lewis XIIII_, which
+was published in England in 1652. Apart from these occupations, his time
+was chiefly spent in the pleasures and amusements common to the court
+of France and to the throng of exiles from Britain who formed the Court
+of the uncrowned monarch, Charles II.
+
+Evelyn longed for settlement in England, because he saw that the
+Royalist cause was hopelessly lost for the time being. His
+father-in-law's estate of Sayes Court had been seized and sold by the
+rebels, but 'by the advice and endeavour of my friends I was advis'd to
+reside in it, and compound with the soldiers. This I was besides
+authoriz'd by his Majesty to do, and encourag'd with promise that what
+was in lease from the Crowne, if ever it pleased God to restore him, he
+would secure to us in fee-ferme.{xxxi:1} I had also addresses and cyfers
+to correspond with his Majesty and Ministers abroad: upon all which
+inducements I was persuaded to settle henceforth in England, having now
+run about the world, most part out of my owne country, neere ten yeares.
+I therefore now likewise meditated sending over for my Wife, whom as yet
+I had left at Paris.' She arrived on 11th. June with her Mother; and as
+small-pox was then raging in and about London they sojourned for some
+time at Tunbridge Wells, drinking the waters. About the end of that
+month Evelyn went to Sayes Court to prepare for their reception, but was
+waylaid by footpads near Bromley and came near meeting his death from
+them. Fortunately, however, 'did God deliver me from these villains, and
+not onely so, but restor'd what they tooke, as twice before he had
+graciously don, both at sea and land;... for which, and many signal
+preservations, I am extreamly oblig'd to give thanks to God my Saviour.'
+
+On 24th July, 1652, Mrs. Evelyn presented her husband with their first
+child, their son, John, who predeceased his father in 1698. He now
+busied himself in acquiring full possession of his father-in-law's and
+the rebels' interests in Sayes Court, which he effected at a cost of
+L3,500 early in 1653.
+
+Then he began gardening and planting on a large scale, transforming the
+almost bare fields around the house into fine specimens of the art of
+horticulture, as then practised. Sayes Court was afterwards the
+temporary residence of Peter the Great, who committed great havoc in the
+gardens and hedges during his rough orgies. Here Evelyn lived quietly
+till the time of the Restoration, spending his days in gardening and in
+cultivating the acquaintance of men of cultured tastes like his own,
+with occasional journeys to different parts of England. Thus he visited
+Windsor, Marlborough, Bath, Oxford, Salisbury, Devizes, Gloucester,
+Worcester, Warwick, Leicester, Doncaster, York, Cambridge, and many
+other places, so that he probably saw a great deal more of England than
+the majority of men in his position. Thus, too, he learned much about
+the country and about all branches of rural economy. He had not yet
+seriously given himself to literature, although his third work was
+published in 1656, _An Essay on the First Book of T. Lucretius Cerus de
+Rerum Natura. Interpreted and made English Verse_.
+
+In January, 1658, heavy sorrow fell upon Evelyn by the death of his
+younger son, an infant prodigy, and a sad and wonderful example of a
+young brain being terribly overtaxed. 'After six fits of a quartan ague
+with which it pleased God to visite him, died my dear Son Richard, to
+our inexpressible grief and affliction, 5 yeares and 3 days old onely,
+but at that tender age a prodigy for witt and understanding; for beauty
+of body a very angel; for endowment of mind of incredible and rare
+hopes. To give onely a little taste of them, and thereby glory to God,
+he had learn'd all this catechisme who out of the mouths of babes and
+infants does sometimes perfect his praises: at 2 years and a halfe old
+he could perfectly read any of ye English, Latine, French, or Gothic
+letters, pronouncing the first three languages exactly. He had before
+the 5th yeare, or in that yeare, not onely skill to reade most written
+hands, but to decline all the nouns, conjugate the verbs regular, and
+most of ye irregular; learn'd out "Puerilis," got by heart almost ye
+entire vocabularie of Latine and French primitives and words, could make
+congruous syntax, turne English into Latine, and _vice versa_, construe
+and prove what he read, and did the government and use of relatives,
+verbs, substantives, elipses, and many figures and tropes, and made a
+considerable progress in Comenius's Janua; began himselfe to write
+legibly, and had a stronge passion for Greeke. The number of verses he
+could recite was prodigious, and what he remembered of the parts of
+playes, which he would also act; and when seeing a Plautus in one's
+hand, he ask'd what booke it was, and being told it was comedy, and too
+difficult for him, he wept for sorrow. Strange was his apt and ingenious
+application of fables and morals, for he had read AEsop; he had a
+wonderful disposition to mathematics, having by heart divers
+propositions of Euclid that were read to him in play, and he would make
+lines and demonstrate them. As to his piety, astonishing were his
+applications of Scripture upon occasion, and thus early, he understood
+ye historical part of ye Bible and New Testament to a wonder, how Christ
+came to redeeme mankind, and how comprehending these necessarys
+himselfe, his godfathers were discharg'd of their promise. These and
+like illuminations, far exceeding his age and experience, considering
+the prettinesse of his adresse and behaviour, cannot but leave
+impressions in me at the memory of him. When one told him how many days
+a Quaker had fasted, he replied that was no wonder, for Christ had said
+that man should not live by bread alone, but by ye Word of God. He would
+of himselfe select ye most pathetic psalms, and chapters out of Job, to
+reade to his mayde during his sicknesse, telling her when she pitied
+him, that all God's children must suffer affliction. He declaim'd
+against ye vanities of the world before he had seene any...... How
+thankfully would he receive admonition, how soone be reconciled! how
+indifferent, yet continually chereful! He would give grave advice to his
+Brother John, beare with his impertinencies, and say he was but a
+child!' Even allowing for Evelyn's tendency to exaggeration, this is
+surely one of the very saddest stories about a child of tender years,
+reared in a wrong manner, that has ever been written in the English
+language. This loss was no doubt the occasion of his writing his fourth
+work, _The Golden Book of St. John Chrysostom, concerning the Education
+of Children. Translated out of the Greek_, which was published in
+September, 1658. A further relief from grief was also found in the
+translation of _The French Gardiner: instructing how to cultivate all
+sorts of Fruit-trees and Herbs for the Garden; together with directions
+to dry and conserve them in their natural; six times printed in France
+and once in Holland. An accomplished piece, first written by N. de
+Bonnefons, and now transplanted into English by Philocepos_.
+
+It must have gratified his royalist feelings when, on 22 Oct. 1658, he
+'saw ye superb funerall of ye Protector.' He remarks that 'it was the
+joyfullest funerall I ever saw, for there were none that cried but dogs,
+which the soldiers hooted away with a barbarous noise, drinking and
+taking tobacco in the streets as they went.' Not long after this, on 25
+April 1659, he notices 'a wonderfull and suddaine change in ye face of
+ye publiq: ye new Protector Richard slighted, several pretenders and
+parties strive for the government: all anarchy and confusion; Lord have
+mercy on us!' For six months things drifted on, till on 11 Oct. 'the
+Armie now turn'd out the Parliament. We had now no government in the
+nation; all in confusion; no magistrate either own'd or pretended, but
+ye soldiers, and they not agreed. God almighty have mercy on and settle
+us!'
+
+Evelyn apparently now thought the time ripe for him to venture; hence,
+during 1659, he published _A Character of England as it was lately
+presented in a Letter to a Noble Man of France_, and also _An Apology
+for the Royal Party, written in a Letter to a person of the late Council
+of State, by a Lover of Peace and of his Country. With a Touch at the
+Pretended "Plea for the Army_." Of the latter he remarks in his Diary:
+'Nov. 7th. was publish'd my bold "Apoligie for the King" in this time of
+danger, when it was capital to speake or write in favour of him. It was
+twice printed, so universaly it took.' Encouraged by the success of this
+work, he began to intrigue with Colonel Morley, Lieutenant of the Tower,
+and Fay, Governor of Portsmouth, in the interest of the exiled Charles;
+but Morley shrank from declaring for the King, and General Monk
+returning from Scotland to London, broke down the gates of the city,
+'marches to White-hall, dissipates that nest of robbers, and convenes
+the old Parliament, the Rump Parliament (so called as retaining some few
+rotten members of ye other) being dissolv'd; and for joy whereoff were
+many thousands of rumps roasted publiqly in ye streets at the bonfires
+this night, with ringing of bells and universal jubilee. This was the
+first good omen.'
+
+From the February till the April following thereon Evelyn was confined
+to bed with ague and its after effects, but found strength to write and
+publish a pamphlet, _The late News from Brussels unmasked, and His
+Majesty vindicated from the base calumny and scandal therein fixed on
+him_, 'in defence of his Majesty, against a wicked forg'd paper,
+pretended to be sent from Bruxells to defame his Majesties person and
+vertues, and render him odious, now when everybody was in hope and
+expectation of the General and Parliament recalling him, and
+establishing ye government on its antient and right basis.' Early in May
+came the tidings that the King's application for restoration had been
+accepted and acknowledged by the Parliament 'after a most bloudy and
+unreasonable rebellion of neare 20 years,' and before the end of the
+month Evelyn was an eye-witness of the triumphal entry of the new king
+into his capital. '29th. This day his Majestie Charles the Second came
+to London after a sad and long exile and calamitous suffering both of
+the King and Church, being 17 years. This was also his birthday, and
+with a triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their swords
+and shouting with inexpressible joy; the wayes strew'd with flowers, the
+bells ringing, the streets hung with tapissry, fountaines running with
+wine; the Maior, Aldermen, and all the Companies in their liveries,
+chaines of gold, and banners; Lords and Nobles clad in cloth of silver,
+gold, and velvet; the windowes and balconies all set with ladies;
+trumpets, music, and myriads of people flocking, even so far as from
+Rochester, so as they were seven houres in passing the citty, even from
+2 in ye afternoone till 9 at night. I stood in the Strand and beheld it,
+and bless'd God. And all this was don without one drop of bloud shed,
+and by that very army which rebell'd against him; but it was ye Lord's
+doing, for such a restoration was never mention'd in any history antient
+or modern, since the returne of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity;
+nor so joyfull a day and so bright ever seene in this nation, this
+hapning when to expect or effect it was past all human policy.'
+
+Despite his dilettantism and dabbling in science, philosophy and
+letters, Evelyn had for years past felt the desirability of having some
+sort of fixed employment. Previous to this, during 1659, he had
+communicated to the Hon. Robert Boyle, son of the Earl of Cork, a scheme
+for founding a philosophic and mathematical college or fraternity, and
+had even arranged with his wife that they should live asunder, in two
+separate apartments. The Restoration, however, put a stop to this
+scheme, which then evolved itself, soon afterwards, into the foundation
+of the Royal Society, Boyle and Evelyn being two of the most prominent
+original Fellows.
+
+
+V
+
+_Evelyn's Career after the Restoration. (1660-1685)._
+
+Evelyn was about forty years of age when the Restoration changed the
+whole prospects of his still long life. He had been a devoted Royalist,
+though it can not be denied that his zeal in this respect was ever
+tempered with a vast amount of caution and prudence. In addition to what
+interest he had earned by his own actions, he had the far more powerful
+influence of his father-in-law who had, like Charles himself, been
+exiled for nineteen years. Mrs. Evelyn was promised the appointment of
+lady of the jewels to the future Queen, which she never received; and
+Evelyn might have had the honour of knighthood of the Bath, but declined
+it. He was present at the Coronation in Westminster Abbey on St.
+George's Day, 1661, and had prepared and printed a _Panegyric_ poem on
+the occasion, a screed of bombastic doggerel in fulsome praise of the
+King. He was a frequent visitor at the Court, and loved to sun himself
+in the royal presence. One of the finest examples of this feature of
+Evelyn's character is his _Fumifugium_, published in 1661, which will be
+more particularly referred to later on, a work which marks the real
+commencement of his literary career.
+
+In 1661, also, Evelyn wrote a pamphlet entitled _Tyrannus or the Mode_,
+an invective against 'our so much affecting the French' in dress, and he
+was pleased with the idea that afterwards, in 1666, a change in costume
+then adopted by the King and court was due to this cause. He, too,
+donned and went to office in 'the vest and surcoat and tunic as 'twas
+call'd, after his Majesty had brought the whole Court to it. It was a
+comely and manly habit, too good to hold, it being impossible for us in
+good earnest to leave ye Monsieurs vanities long.'
+
+At length employment, at first unpaid, in the public service fell to
+Evelyn in May, 1662, when along with 'divers gentlemen of quality,' he
+was appointed one of the Commissioners 'for reforming the buildings,
+wayes, streetes, and incumbrances, and regulating the hackney coaches in
+the Citty of London.' About this same time he was also on the Commission
+appointed 'about Charitable uses, and particularly to enquire how the
+Citty had dispos'd of the revenues of Gressham College,' and in the
+original grant of the Charter of the Royal Society he was nominated by
+the King to be on its Council. Among the other Commissions upon which he
+shortly sat were those on Sewers, and on the regulation of the Mint at
+the Tower; but it was not till 27 Oct. 1664 that he received a paid
+appointment as one of the four Commissioners for the care of the sick
+and wounded prisoners to be made in the war declared against Holland.
+For this the remuneration was 'a Salary L1,200 a year amongst us,
+besides extraordinaries for our care and attention in time of station,
+each of us being appointed to a particular district, mine falling out to
+be Kent and Sussex.'
+
+Before this, however, an event had occurred which must have given
+intense gratification to Evelyn, when on 30th April, 1663, 'Came his
+Majesty to honour my poore villa with his presence, viewing the gardens
+and even every roome of the house, and was pleas'd to take a small
+refreshment. There were with him the Duke of Richmond, E. of St. Albans,
+Lord Lauderdale, and several persons of Quality.'
+
+The year 1664 was a busy one for Evelyn, as he then brought out his two
+great masterpieces _Sylva_ and the _Kalendarium Hortense_, of which more
+anon, as well as the translation of a French work on Architecture. His
+official duties in connection with the maintainance of the Dutch
+prisoners also became so heavy that the charges came to L1,000 a week.
+The Savoy Hospital was filled with them, and a privy seal grant of
+L20,000 was made to carry on the work; but the expenses increasing
+reached L7,000 a week, and Evelyn had hard work to get money from the
+treasury. Harassed with anxieties of this sort, he frequently went 'to
+ye Royal Society to refreshe among ye philosophers' where he found
+solace in serving along with Dryden, Waller, and others on a Committee
+for the improvement of the English language.
+
+In the following year the dreadful plague broke out, when he and one
+other Commissioner were left to deal with the task of providing for the
+sick and wounded prisoners. From 1,000 deaths in a week in the middle of
+July, the mortality increased to near 10,000 by the beginning of
+September, so he sent his wife and family to his brother at Wotton, and
+remained at work, 'being resolved to stay at my house myselfe; and to
+looke after my charge, trusting in the providence and goodnesse of God.'
+Prisoners poured in in larger numbers than he could receive and guard in
+fit places, and he was continually forced to importune for money lest
+the prisoners should starve. It was then, perhaps, that Evelyn was
+thrown most in contact with his intimate friend Pepys, for both of them
+remained steadfast when others had fled. And they had their reward in
+coming safely through their trial of faithfulness to official duty. 'Now
+blessed be God,' he writes on 31 Dec. 1665, 'for his extraordinary
+mercies and preservation of me this yeare, when thousands and ten
+thousands perish'd and were swept away on each side of me.'
+
+This hard work was a source of loss to Evelyn, as from time to time he
+advanced monies of his own to supply provisions for the needy committed
+to his care: and subsequent petitions for reinbursement were only
+partially successful. But he was rewarded by the sunny warmth of that
+royal favour which cost nothing, because when the King returned from
+Oxford to Hampton Court and Evelyn went to wait upon his Majesty there
+at the end of January, 1666, he duly records how 'he ran towards me, and
+in a most gracious manner gave me his hand to kisse, with many thanks
+for my care and faithfulnesse in his service in a time of such greate
+danger, when every body fled their employments.' Poor Evelyn seems to
+have been rather easily duped in this sort of way. 'Then the Duke (of
+Albemarle) came towards me and embrac'd me with much kindnesse, telling
+me if he had thought my danger would have been so greate, he would not
+have suffer'd his Majesty to employ me in that station.' And so on,
+'after which I got home, not being very well in health.' It certainly
+was such ridiculously insincere treatment that it might well have caused
+immediate sickening in one of robust health.
+
+It was, forsooth, only in very minor matters that Evelyn profited by the
+royal favour or by his courtiership. In April, 1666, Charles informed
+him that he must now be sworn for a Justice of the Peace, ('the office
+in the world I had most industriously avoided, in regard of the
+perpetual trouble thereoff in these numerous parishes'), and he only
+escaped this infliction by humbly desiring to be excused from fresh
+duties inconsistent with the other service he was engaged in. So excused
+he was, by royal favour, for which he 'rendered his Majesty many
+thanks.' And on that same day he declined re-election to the Council of
+the Royal Society for the following year on 'earnest suite' of other
+affairs; for he had to be consistent in such different matters that
+would have engaged a portion of his time.
+
+Besides his work in connection with prisoners and the Mint he was
+shortly afterwards nominated one of the Commissioners for regulating the
+farming and making of saltpetre and gunpowder throughout Britain, an
+appointment which was all the more appropriate from the fact that his
+grandfather, George Evelyn of Long Ditton and Wotton (1530-1603), had
+been the first to introduce the manufacture of gunpowder into England,
+when he established mills on both of his properties. He was also
+appointed one of the three Surveyors of the repairs of St. Paul's
+Cathedral, 'and to consider of a model for the new building, or, if it
+might be, repairing of the steeple, which was most decay'd.'
+
+With hands and head fully occupied with business affairs he found time
+for other work of a useful nature, while still having plenty of leisure
+for social duties and enjoyments. In this respect he forms a good
+example of the well-known truth that it is always the busiest men who
+can spare most time for matters lying outside of their special grooves
+of work. Thus in September, 1665, he drew up a scheme for erecting an
+infirmary at Chatham, in which he was supported by his friend Pepys,
+then a high official in the Navy Department and like himself a shrewd
+man of business and method, and therefore finding time for other than
+purely routine official work; while in August, 1666, he entreated the
+Lord Chancellor 'to visite the Hospital of the Savoy, and reduce it
+(after ye greate abuse that had been continu'd) to its original
+institution for ye benefit of the poore, which he promis'd to do.'
+
+But nothing came from either of these schemes, for on 2nd. Sept. 'this
+fatal night about ten, began the deplorable fire neere Fish Streete in
+London.' It raged by day and by night,--'(if I may call that night which
+was light as day for 10 miles round about, after a dreadful manner).'
+Nothing could be done to stay its progress, and the citizens were
+awe-stricken and paralyzed by fear. 'The conflagration was so universal,
+and the people so astonish'd, that from the beginning, I know not by
+what despondency or fate, they hardly stirr'd to quench it, so that
+there was nothing heard or seene but crying out and lamentation, running
+about like distracted creatures without at all attempting to save even
+their goods; such a strange consternation there was upon them, so as it
+burned both in breadth and length, the churches, publics halls,
+Exchange, hospitals, monuments, and ornaments, leaping after a
+prodigious manner, from house to house and streete to streete, at great
+distances one from ye other; for ye heate with a long set of faire and
+warm weather had even ignited the aire and prepar'd the materials to
+conceive the fire, which devour'd after an incredible manner houses,
+furniture, and every thing. Here we saw the Thames cover'd with goods
+floating, all the barges and boats laden with what some had time and
+courage to save, as, on ye other, ye carts etc., carrying out to the
+fields, which for many miles were strew'd with moveables of all sorts,
+and tents erecting to shelter both people and what goods they could get
+away. Oh the miserable and calamitous spectacle! such as happly the
+world had not seene since the foundation of it, nor be outdon till the
+universal conflagration thereof. All the skie was of a fiery aspect,
+like the top of a burning oven, and the light seene above 40 miles round
+about for many nights. God grant mine eyes may never behold the like,
+who now saw above 10,000 houses all in one flame; the noise and cracking
+and thunder of the impetuous flames, ye shreiking of women and children,
+the hurry of people, the fall of towers, houses, and churches, was like
+an hideous storme, and the aire all about so hot and inflam'd that at
+the last one was not able to approach it, so that they were forc'd to
+stand and let ye flames burn on, which they did for neere two miles in
+lengh and one in breadh. The clowds also of smoke were dismall and
+reach'd upon computation neer 50 miles in length. Thus I left it this
+afternoone burning, a resemblance of Sodom, or the last day. It forcibly
+call'd to my mind that passage--_non enim hic habemus stabilem
+civitatem_: the ruines resembling the picture of Troy. London was, but
+is no more! Thus I returned.'
+
+For days the conflagration raged, although the whole situation might
+probably have been saved if the advice of seamen, then as now amongst
+the bravest and most practical of Britain's sons, had been followed.
+When the court suburb of Whitehall began to be threatened,--'but oh, the
+confusion there was then at the Court!'--the gentlemen, 'who hitherto
+had stood as men intoxicated, with their hands acrosse,.... began to
+consider that nothing was likely to put a stop but the blowing up of so
+many houses as might make a wider gap than any had yet been made by the
+ordinary method of pulling them downe with engines; this some stout
+seamen propros'd early enough to have sav'd neere ye whole citty, but
+this some tenacious and avaritious men, aldermen, etc., would not
+permitt, because their houses must have been of the first.' At length,
+however, the fire died out, the houseless citizens finding refuge in
+tents and miserable huts and hovels hastily erected about St. George's
+fields and Moorfields as far as Highgate. But Evelyn's abode had
+remained untouched. From reviewing the now poverty-striken people 'in
+this calamitous condition I return'd with a sad heart to my house,
+blessing and adoring the distinguishing mercy of God to me and mine, who
+in the midst of all this ruine was like Lot, in my little Zoar, safe
+and sound.'
+
+The plague and the fire were held to be the visitation of God's anger,
+and Evelyn evidently thought the heavy punishment richly merited. 'Oct.
+10th. This day was order'd a generall fast thro' the Nation, to humble
+us on ye late dreadfull conflagration, added to the plague and warr, the
+most dismall judgments that could be inflicted, but whiche indeed we
+highly deserv'd for our prodigious ingratitude, burning lusts, dissolute
+Court, profane and abominable lives, under such dispensations of God's
+continu'd favour in restoring Church, Prince, and People from our late
+intestine calamities, of which we were altogether unmindfull, even to
+astonishment.'
+
+Like Wren and Hooke, Evelyn submitted a scheme for the rebuilding of
+London upon an improved plan, but the new city was formed mainly upon
+the old lines.
+
+Meanwhile the Dutch fleet was lying off the mouth of the Thames. Though
+England then happily produced all the food she required, yet the city
+became 'exceedingly distress'd for want of fuell' because of the traffic
+up and down the estuary being interrupted. Hence Evelyn was appointed
+one of a Committee to search the environs of London and find if any peat
+or turf were fit for use. Experiments were made with _houllies_ or
+briquettes of charcoal dust and loam in the Dutch manner, and Evelyn
+shewed to many proof of his 'new fuell, which was very glowing and
+without smoke or ill smell'. But the process never caught on, and was
+abandoned as giving no promise of commercial success.
+
+Evelyn's account against the Treasury now amounted to above L34,000, and
+he continued to urge for payment of it, or for the settlement of unpaid
+portions of it, as late as 1702, about three years before his death.
+Whether this straitened his means or not, he was at any rate eager to
+make money by speculation. So in 1667 he joined Sir John Kiviet, a Dutch
+Orangeman who had come over to England for protection and had been
+knighted by King Charles, in a scheme for making bricks on a large
+scale. Perhaps as a sort of advertisement of this commercial enterprise
+he subscribed 50,000 bricks towards building a college for the Royal
+Society. It was a big scheme, including the embankment of the river from
+the Tower to the Temple, and if successful it would have brought much
+gain to the partners.
+
+Evelyn says nothing about the ultimate results of his undertaking, but
+Pepys furnishes the necessary clue in his diary for September,
+1668--'23d. At noon comes Mr Evelyn to me, about some business with the
+office, and there in discourse tell me of his loss, to the value of
+L500, which he hath met with in a late attempt of making of bricks upon
+an adventure with others, by which he presumed to have got a great deal
+of money; so that I see the most ingenious man may sometimes be
+mistaken'. Kiviet a year or two later on had a fresh scheme for draining
+marshy lands 'with the hopes of a rich harvest of hemp and cole seed',
+but Evelyn took no share in this new adventure.
+
+In July 1669 his University, Oxford, bestowed upon him the honorary
+degree of Doctor of Civil Law, but he had still no permanent official
+appointment, his Commissionerships now being completed. Early in May
+1670 he went 'to London concerning the office of Latine Secretary to his
+Majesty, a place of more honor than dignitie and profit, the revertion
+of which he had promised me', though the promise was not fulfilled.
+
+Early in 1669, it had been proposed to Evelyn by Lord Arlington that he
+should write a history of the Dutch War, but he declined. Towards the
+middle of the following year, however, pressure was brought on him to
+undertake the work. 'After dinner Lord (Arlington) communicated to me
+his Majesty's desire that I would engage to write the History of our
+late War with the Hollanders, which I had hitherto declin'd; this I
+found was ill-taken, and that I should disoblige his Majesty, who had
+made choice of me to do him this service, and if I would undertake it, I
+should have all the assistance the Secretary's office and others could
+give me, with other encouragements, which I could not decently refuse'.
+This work was never completed, so much as was written by way of
+introduction being subsequently published in 1674 as _Navigation and
+Commerce, their Original and Progress_.
+
+Evelyn was, however, not to have much longer to wait for regular
+official employment, as on 28 February, 1671, 'The Treasurer acquainted
+me that his Majesty was graciously pleas'd to nominate me one of the
+Council of Forraine Plantations, and give me a salary of L500 per ann.
+to encourage me'. He was pleased with his appointment in connection with
+our Colonies, 'a considerable honour, the others in the Council being
+chiefly Noblemen, and Officers of State'. In the following year the
+scope of this department was increased by adding the Council of Trade to
+its duties. He at once went to thank the Treasurer and Lord Arlington,
+Secretary of State, whose favour he possessed though he 'cultivated
+neither of their friendships by any meane submissions'. And he failed
+not, of course, to kiss the King's hand on being made one of that newly
+established Council. But Royalist though he was, he could not be blind
+to the profligacy of the Court and of the King, to whose Majesty his
+works were so grandiloquently dedicated.
+
+On one occasion after submitting progress of his History to the King, he
+says 'thence walk'd with him thro' St. James's Parke to the garden,
+where I both saw and heard a very familiar discourse between... and Mrs.
+Nellie as they cal'd an impudent comedian, she looking out of her garden
+on a terrace at the top of the wall, and... standing on ye greene walke
+under it. I was heartily sorry at the scene. Thence the King walked to
+the Dutchess of Cleaveland, another lady of pleasure, and curse of our
+nation'. Evelyn is usually so strict about any reference to the
+proprieties that it is hard to understand why this particular interview
+between King Charles and Nell Gwynne should be mentioned so
+circumstantially. As for the Court, when it went abroad, say to
+Newmarket, one might have 'found ye jolly blades racing, dauncing,
+feasting, and revelling, more resembling a luxurious and abandon'd rout,
+than a Christian Court.'
+
+Early in 1672 his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, resigned office as
+Clerk of the Council, a place which his Majesty had years before
+promised to Evelyn; but he was induced to give up this lien on renewal
+of the lease of Sayes Court for 99 years, although the King's written
+engagement to grant the estate in fee-farme is still extant at Wotton.
+In 1673 Browne became Master of the Trinity House, and Evelyn was sworn
+in as a younger Brother, having in the previous autumn been chosen
+Secretary to the Royal Society: and two months later his son John, now
+18 years of age, was also made a younger brother of Trinity House.
+Evelyn's life seems now to have glided on very quietly. Much of his time
+was taken up with the colonial and commercial work controlled by the
+Council of Plantations and Trade, though he still found leisure for
+literary work, scientific recreation, and other affairs. His mind
+apparently about this time became greatly attracted towards religious
+subjects, and it seems more than probable that this may (in part, at any
+rate) have been due to a very strong though purely platonic attachment
+he now formed to Miss Blagg, one of the Queen's Maids of Honour, who
+married Mr. Sydney, afterwards Lord Godolphin, in 1675 and died in
+childbed in 1678 at the early age of twenty five. His _Life of Mrs
+Godolphin_, never published till 1847, was 'design'd to consecrate her
+worthy life to posterity.' In February 1680 his son John, now 23 years
+of age and imitating his father's literary beginning as a translator,
+was married to Martha Spencer, step-daughter of Sir John Stonehouse.
+That Evelyn was now fairly well off is evident from the terms of the
+jointure and marriage contracts then made. 'The lady was to bring L5,000
+in consideration of a settlement of L500 a yeare present maintainence,
+which was likewise to be her jointure, and L500 a yeare after myne and
+my Wife's decease. But with God's blessing it will be at the least L1000
+a yeare more in a few yeares.' Always of business habits, Evelyn
+particularly records how, in the following month, he went 'To London, to
+receive L3,000 of my daughter-in-law's portion, which was paid in gold.'
+
+The deeply religious caste of thought above alluded to as now becoming
+very noticeable in Evelyn shewed itself strongly in the autumn of 1680.
+'I went to London to be private, my birthday being ye next day, and I
+now arriv'd at my sixtieth year, on which I began a more solemn survey
+of my whole life, in order to the making and confirming my peace with
+God, by an accurate scrutinie of all my actions past, as far as I was
+able to call them to mind. How difficult and uncertaine, yet how
+necessary a work! The Lord be mercifull to me and accept me! Who can
+tell how oft he offendeth?... I began and spent the whole weeke in
+examining my life, begging pardon for my faults, assistance and blessing
+for the future, that I might in some sort be prepar'd for the time that
+now drew neere, and not have the greater work to begin when one can
+worke no longer. The Lord Jesus help and assist me! I therefore stirr'd
+little abroad till the 5 November..... I participated of ye blessed
+communion, finishing and confirming my resolutions of giving myselfe up
+more intirely to God, to whom I had now most solemnly devoted the rest
+of the poore remainder of life in this world; the Lord enabling me, who
+am an unprofitable servant, a miserable sinner, yet depending on his
+infinite goodnesse and mercy accepting my endeavours.'
+
+It were well if all men, even before attaining 60 years of age, could
+bring themselves to such periods of reflection on past and present acts,
+and even though all the good resolves may not have been quite rigidly
+acted up to. And even in Evelyn's case, at any rate so far as his diary
+shews, he appears afterwards to have continued just as much a man of the
+world as he was before these solemn resolutions, although the glamour of
+being a courtier seems perhaps to have henceforth become less
+rose-coloured. A trivial incident happening while he was supping one
+night at Lady Arlington's, in June 1683, gave rise to the reflection
+that 'By this one may take an estimate of the extream slavery and
+subjection that courtiers live in, who have not time to eate and drink
+at their pleasure. It put me in mind of Horace's Mouse, and to blesse
+God for my owne private condition.' Twenty years previously he would not
+have thought or said this.
+
+Evelyn took a leading part in the negociations for the repurchase of
+Chelsea College for L1,300 from the Royal Society to whom it had been
+recently presented by the King, and for the establishment of a hospital
+for old soldiers there at a cost of L20,000 with an endowment of L5,000
+a year.
+
+Several violent fits of ague having afflicted him during the winter of
+1681-82, to cure which 'recourse was had to bathing my legs in milk up
+to ye knees, made as hot as I could endure it', Evelyn made his will
+and put all his affairs in order 'that now growing in yeares, I might
+have none of the secular things and concerns to distract me when it
+should please Almighty God to call me from this transitory life'. In
+November 1682 he was asked by many friends to stand for election as
+president of the Royal Society, in succession to Sir Christopher Wren,
+but pleading 'remote dwelling, and now frequent infirmities' he declined
+the proffered honour. Subsequently, in 1690, he had actually, 'been
+chosen President of the Royal Society', but desired to decline it 'and
+with greate difficulty devolv'd the election on Sir Robert Southwell,
+Secretary of State to King William in Ireland.' For a third time, in
+November 1693, the honour was again offered--'Much importun'd to take
+the office of President of the Royal Society, but I againe declin'd it.'
+
+On 12th February 1683 his father-in-law, Sir Richard Browne, who had
+been created a baronet in 1649, and to whose influence he owed much,
+died at his house at Sayes Court, leaving Mrs. Evelyn as his sole
+heiress. Meanwhile grandchildren had been born to Evelyn, some of whom
+soon died in infancy. His appointment on the Council of Plantations and
+Trade seems to have lapsed before this time, for no further mention is
+made in his diary of Council meetings, and he seems to have resided
+chiefly at Sayes Court, gardening and spending his time in scholarly
+leisure and recreation. This surmise is borne out by what he says in
+1683, 'Oct. 4th. I went to London, on receiving a note from the
+Countesse of Arlington, of some considerable charge or advantage I might
+obtaine by applying myselfe to his Majesty on this signal conjuncture of
+his Majesty entering up judgment against the City charter; the proposal
+made me I wholly declin'd, not being well satisfied with these violent
+transactions, and not a little sorry that his Majesty was so often put
+upon things of this nature against so great a Citty, the consequence
+wheroff may be so much to his prejudice; so I return'd home.'
+
+On 6th February 1685 King Charles II. died after an apoplectic fit, and
+his brother James, Duke of York, ascended the throne. Evelyn comments
+fully on the virtues and vices of the late monarch. 'He would doubtless
+have been an excellent Prince had he been less addicted to women, who
+made him uneasy, and allways in want to supply their immeasurable
+profusion, to ye detriment of many indigent persons who had signaly
+serv'd both him and his father..... He was ever kind to me, and very
+gracious upon all occasions, and therefore I cannot, without
+ingratitude, but deplore his loss, which for many respects, as well as
+duty, I do with all my soul.'
+
+
+VI
+
+_Evelyn's Declining Years_ (1685-1706).
+
+With the accession of James II., Evelyn was again to feel the sunny
+warmth of royal favour in the form of an official appointment. But
+previous to this he had to suffer a heavy loss by the death from
+small-pox of his eldest daughter Mary, in the 19th year of her age, who
+had been born at Wotton in the same room as her father had first seen
+the light.
+
+In September 1685 Evelyn was informed that on Lord Clarendon, Lord Privy
+Seal, going to assume the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland the King had
+nominated him as one of the Commissioners to execute the office of Privy
+Seal during such appointment; and early in December he was 'put into the
+new Commission of Sewers.' It was nearly Christmas before he kissed
+hands on receiving the patent for executing this office and entered on
+its duties along with the two other Commissioners. They performed these
+till the 10th March 1687, when the King relieved them with compliments
+on their 'faithfull and loyal service, with many gracious expressions to
+this effect', and bestowed the seal on Lord Arundel of Wardour, a
+zealous Roman Catholic.
+
+In the early days of James II's reign the patronage which seemed to be
+coming in Evelyn's direction appears to have, not unnaturally perhaps,
+somewhat coloured his opinion as to the new monarch's capacity and
+disposition. After a journey undertaken with Pepys to Windsor,
+Winchester, and Portsmouth in September 1685, whither the King went to
+view the state of the fortifications, he recorded that 'what I observ'd
+in this journey, is that infinite industry, sedulity, gravity, and
+greate understanding and experience of affairs, in his Majesty, that I
+cannot but predict much happiness to ye nation, as to its political
+government; and if he so persist, there could be nothing more desir'd to
+accomplish our prosperity, but that he was of the national church.'
+Biassed and prejudiced in the royal favour as he then temporarily was,
+this account of King James proved so totally incorrect that it is a
+wonder Evelyn retained it in the compilation which he left as his
+_Diary_. The only explanation seems to be that he wished to record his
+prevision as regards Roman Catholicism proving the main rock upon which
+the King might come to grief, as he afterwards did.
+
+Titus Oates' conspiracy and the Duke of Monmouth's invasion and
+insurrection went by without affecting Evelyn much. He was in the latter
+case called upon to supply a mounted trooper, which he did rather
+grudgingly. 'The two horsemen which my son and myselfe sent into the
+county troopes, were now come home, after a moneth's being out to our
+greate charge.' But what concerned him much more was that matters
+frequently came before the Commission of the Privy Seal to which he
+could not, on religious grounds principally, give his assent. On such
+occasions he would sometimes go to his house in the country, 'refusing
+to be present at what was to passe at the Privy Seale the next day',
+because any two out of the three Commissioners formed a quorum. At other
+times, however, he had to face his responsibility properly, by refusing
+to put his seal to the papers in question, while noting his objections
+to the course of action proposed. The Papistry which was spreading over
+the country under the King's influence seemed to darken the land and to
+obscure the future. 'Popish Justices of the Peace establish'd in all
+counties, of the meanest of the people; Judges ignorant of the law, and
+perverting it--so furiously do the Jesuits drive, and even compel
+Princes to violent courses, and destruction of an excellent government
+both in Church and State. God of his infinite mercy open our eyes and
+turn our hearts, and establish his truth with peace! The Lord Jesus
+defend his little flock, and preserve this threaten'd Church and
+Nation.'
+
+A staunch Protestant, Evelyn no longer possessed the King's favour, and
+henceforth he received no further appointment or token of royal approval
+although he still frequented the Court at Whitehall. In August 1688 he
+was secretly informed by the Rev. Dr. Tenison, afterwards Bishop of
+Lincoln, of the impending invasion of the Prince of Orange, and, while
+regularly paying his duty as a courtier, he informed the lately
+imprisoned Archbishop and Bishops of the intrigues on which the Jesuits
+were hard at work. And subsequently 'My Lord of Canterbury gave me great
+thanks for the advertisement I sent him in October, and assured me they
+took my counsell in that particular, and that it came very seasonably.'
+On 18th December, he 'saw the King take barge to Gravesend at 12
+o'clock--a sad sight,' on the very day that the Prince of Orange came to
+St. James and filled Whitehall with Dutch guards. All the world at once
+went to pay court to the Prince whose star was now in the ascendant:
+and, of course, Evelyn went too. A couple of months later he 'saw _the
+new Queene_ and _King_ proclaim'd the very next day after her coming to
+Whitehall, Wednesday 13 Feb., with greate acclamations and generall good
+reception.... It was believ'd that both, especially the Princesse, would
+have shew'd some (seeming) reluctance at least, of assuming her father's
+Crown, and some apology, testifying her regret that he should by his
+mismanagement necessitate the Nation to so extraordinary a proceeding,
+which would have shew'd very handsomely to the world, and according to
+the character given by her piety; consonant also to her husband's first
+decleration, that there was no intention of deposing the King, but of
+succouring the Nation; but nothing of all this appear'd; she came into
+White-hall laughing and jolly, as to a wedding, so as to seem quite
+transported..... This carriage was censured by many.'
+
+After the Restoration Evelyn's life as a courtier was practically at an
+end, as he never quite approved the enforced abdication of King James.
+So henceforth he spent his time, without further attendance at Court or
+seeking after office or appointment, in study, literary work, and
+retirement. He did not like the new regime, with its 'Court offices
+distributed amongst Parliament men.... Things far from settled as was
+expected, by reason of the slothfull, sickly temper of the new King, and
+the Parliament's unmindfullness of Ireland, which is likely to prove a
+sad omission.' He even seems to have regretted that his son was in March
+1692 made 'one of the Commissioners of the Revenue and Treasury of
+Ireland, to which employment he had a mind far from my wishes.' This son
+contracted serious illness in Ireland, and died 'after a tedious
+languishing sickness' early in 1699, aged 44 years, leaving one son,
+then a student at Oxford.
+
+Some time before this his elder brother, George, having lost his last
+son and heir, had settled the Wotton estate upon John Evelyn. In May
+1694, yielding to the request to make Wotton his home, he went to
+Wotton, leaving Sayes Court in charge of his daughter Susanna and her
+husband William Draper, whose marriage had been celebrated about a year
+previously. In 1696 it was let for three years to Admiral Benbow, who
+sublet it in 1698 to Peter the Great, then visiting the Deptford
+Dockyards for three months as his Majesty's guest. So great was the
+destruction done to the gardens, trees, and holly-hedges, that Wren was
+asked to report on the compensation suitable, and L162-7-0 were paid to
+Evelyn for damage to the house and garden.
+
+Early in 1695 Evelyn accepted the offer of the Treasurership of
+Greenwich Hospital, then about to be rebuilt and endowed for the
+maintainence of decayed seamen, which was made to him by Lord Godolphin,
+who had been the husband of his former friend Miss Blagg. During the
+days of Charles II. some such transformation of the Palace had been
+under consideration, but it was the 30th June 1696 before Evelyn and Sir
+Christopher Wren 'laid the first stone of the intended foundation,
+precisely at 5 o'clock in the evening, after we had din'd together.'
+This appointment carried with it 'the salary of L200 per ann. of which I
+have never yet receiv'd one penny of the tallies assign'd for it, now
+two years at Lady-day; my son-in-law Draper is my substitute.' When the
+new Commission for Greenwich Hospital was sealed in August 1703 Evelyn
+resigned his office of Treasurer in favour of Draper.
+
+His brother George dying in October 1699, Evelyn then became the owner
+of Wotton, and looked to his grandson, the Oxford Student, to 'be the
+support of the Wotton family.' The lad had a bad attack of small-pox in
+the autumn of 1700, a malady that had caused many gaps in the family
+circle; but, coming safely through this illness, he was in July 1701, by
+the patronage of Lord Godolphin, made one of the Commissioners of the
+Prizes, with a salary of L500 a year, while he was still an
+undergraduate at Oxford. And in January 1704 the same noble patron
+appointed him Treasurer of the Stamp Duties, with a salary of L300 a
+year. He afterwards married Ann, daughter of Hugh Boscawen (afterwards
+Lord Falmouth), Lord Godolphin's niece, and was created a baronet in
+1713. It was through him that the present family of Evelyn of Wotton
+directly descend, though the baronetcy lapsed on the death of his
+grandson Frederick in 1812.
+
+As he had done twenty years before, so also on now attaining his 80th
+birthday on 31st. October 1700 Evelyn rendered thanks for mercies with
+his characteristic religious feeling. 'I with my soul render thanks to
+God, who of his infinite mercy, not only brought me out of many
+troubles, but this yeare restor'd me to health, after an ague and other
+infirmities of so greate an age, my sight, hearing and other senses and
+faculties tolerable, which I implore him to continue, with the pardon of
+my sins past, and grace to acknowledge by my improvement of his
+goodnesse the ensuing yeare, if it be his pleasure to protract my life,
+that I may be the better prepar'd for my last day, through the infinite
+merits of my blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus, Amen.'
+
+Five times more was he to be privileged to record his thanks and prayers
+on successive returns of this anniversary. One of the very last entries
+in his memoirs is that on 31st. October 1705 'I am this day arriv'd to
+the 85th year of my age. Lord teach me so to number my days to come that
+I may apply them to wisdom'. And numbered, indeed, they then were; for
+on the 27th of February 1706 he passed quietly and peacefully away,
+retaining his faculties to the last. And he was laid at rest in the
+Chancel of Wotton Church.
+
+During the course of his long and distinguished life he had seen many
+stirring events, had taken part in many important affairs, had achieved
+much, and had suffered much. He had outlived four reigns, two of which
+were terminated by a natural death, one by public execution, and one by
+abdication. He had served many public and other distinguished offices
+with zeal, ability, integrity, and success. He had given to English
+literature some of the classic works that are among the treasures of our
+literature of the Restoration period. He had outlived all of his six
+sons, most of whom had died in childhood, as well as his eldest and
+favourite daughter. Of all his nine children, the sole survivors were
+his daughter Elizabeth, who was soon afterwards married to a son of Sir
+John Tippet, and Susanna, wife of William Draper, afterwards of Adscomb
+near Croydon. After nearly 60 years of pure domestic wedded life, in
+marked contrast to the prevailing dissoluteness of the time, Evelyn was
+survived for nearly three years by his widow, who died in 1709, aged 74
+years, cherishing to the last her love and affection for him to whom her
+destiny had been committed whilst she was still a mere child. 'His care
+of my education', she wrote in her last Will and Testament, 'was such as
+might become a father, a lover, a friend, and a husband; for
+instruction, tenderness, affection and fidelity to the last moment of
+his life; which obligation I mention with a gratitude to his memory ever
+dear to me; and I must not omit to own the sense I have of my parents'
+care and goodness in placing me in such worthy hands.' Surely no husband
+ever had a nobler epitaph.
+
+In an age of fierce political and ecclesiastical conflict, Evelyn,
+often, no doubt, strongly tempted to partisanship, managed to steer his
+course with prudence and great worldly judgment. But for that, his
+industry and business talent would probably have brought him more
+prominently into office under Charles II. In a corrupt and profligate
+age, however, his character stands out as that of one unsullied by
+excesses, impurities, or vices. And it is not the least of his merits
+that, in an age of bigotry and narrow-mindedness, he was not intolerant
+towards those whose religious views happened to differ from his own.
+
+
+VII
+
+_Evelyn's Literary Works._
+
+Evelyn's earliest publications, some of which have already been referred
+to, consisted mostly in translations from the French, Latin, and Greek,
+that of the first book of Lucretius' _De Rerum Natura_ being in verse.
+Their authorship was usually veiled either under Greek pseudonyms or
+else more thinly under the initials 'J.E.' That on _A Character of
+England_ (1659), a tract purporting to have been written by a foreigner,
+appeared anonymously.
+
+Of all these seven publications appearing before the Restoration, the
+only one of any importance was _The French Gardener_, the translation of
+a work by N. de Bonnefons, which appeared at the end of 1658 and was
+thus referred to in the diary,--'Dec. 6th. Now was publish'd my "French
+Gardener," the first and best of the kind that introduc'd ye use of the
+Olitorie garden to any purpose.' Subsequent editions of it appeared in
+1669, 1672, 1691, bearing Evelyn's name on the titlepage in place of the
+_Philocepos_ on its first publication.
+
+With the Restoration, bringing to him greater personal freedom of
+thought and speech, came the most active period of Evelyn's literary
+production. His loyalty at once found opportunity to answer a libel on
+King Charles (entitled _News from Brussels_) in _The late News from
+Brussels unmasked_, a long vindication of his Majesty from the calumnies
+and scandal therein fixed on him. From a literary and antiquarian point
+of view, however, far greater interest attaches to a much shorter
+treatise entitled _Fumifugium: or the Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak
+of London Dissipated, together with some Remedies humbly proposed_. As
+this is the earliest reference to the great London Smoke Nuisance,
+which, like the poor, we have always with us, it is of more than passing
+interest to know how large this difficult problem of curing it loomed
+about two and a half centuries ago. Moreover, this short work affords a
+very typical example of Evelyn's literary style, while at the same time
+well exemplyfying his profusely enthusiastic outbursts of devoted and
+loyal attachment to the King's person and interests.
+
+In the dull days of autumn and winter, when the heavy, damp air wafted
+inwards from the sea shrouds London with a dirty pall of fog thickened
+and discoloured with the smoke belched forth skywards from the long
+throats of thousands of tall factory chimneys and emitted from hundreds
+of thousands of household and workshop fires, the dweller in this vast
+overgrown city is tempted to range himself for the moment among the
+belauders of better times in the past. Almost groping his way along the
+streets in semi-darkness, and half choked with the sulphurous surcharge
+in the atmosphere, this latter-day growler may perhaps be astonished to
+learn that his complaint is of very old standing, and that long before
+the days of his great-great-grandfather, in fact more than seven
+generations ago, this poisoning of the atmosphere with the impurities
+given off from 'sea-coal' and other combustibles had already come to be
+looked on by some as a public nuisance. It will, therefore, interest
+Londoners in general, and will delight the hearts of Sir William
+Richmond R.A. and the County Council in particular, to know that their
+great precursor in this matter of reform nearly 250 years ago considered
+the question even then one of urgency, admitting of no delay. How
+graphic, and how refreshing, is the pithy point thus neatly scored--
+
+     'I propose therefore, that by an _Act_ of this present
+     _Parliament_, this infernal _Nuisance_ be removed.'
+
+There is no beating about the bush here, and no mincing of phrases. The
+matter is at once probed with the needle.
+
+Evelyn was not merely a rather notable person in the London society of
+that period. As a man of science he was one of the most prominent
+pillars of the then recently founded Royal Society. As an official he
+was His Majesty's Commissioner for improving the streets and buildings
+of London, in addition to various other particular duties. But
+finally,--and, at the same time, first of all, if it be permissible to
+emphasise the fact in so paradoxical a manner--he was a courtier; and
+that at a time when expressions of loyalty to His Gracious Majesty,
+King Charles II., were somewhat too highly coloured, too servile and
+sycophantic, to suit our modern taste.
+
+This short work _Fumifugium_, really only a pamphlet, was therefore
+dedicated to the King in language of the period extravagant in the
+highest degree, though eminently typical of the Royalists during the
+early days of the Restoration. The treatise was thus occasioned:-- 'It
+was one day, as I was Walking in Your Majesty's Palace at White-Hall
+(where I have sometimes the honour to refresh myself with the Sight of
+Your Illustrious Presence, which is the Joy of Your Peoples hearts) that
+a presumptuous Smoak issuing from one or two tunnels near
+_Northumberland House_, and not far from _Scotland-yard_ did so invade
+the Court; that all the Rooms, Galleries, and Places about it were
+fill'd and infested with it; and that to such a degree, as Men could
+hardly discern one another from the Clowd, and none could support,
+without manifest Inconveniency. It was not this which did first suggest
+to me what I had long since conceived against this pernicious Accident,
+upon frequent observation; But it was this alone, and the trouble that
+it must needs procure to Your Sacred Majesty, as well as hazzard to Your
+Health, which kindled this Indignation of mine against it, and was the
+occasion of what it has produc'd in these Papers.
+
+Sir, I prepare in this short Discourse an expedient how this pernicious
+_Nuisance_ may be reformed; and offer at another also, by which the
+_Aer_ may not only be freed from the present Inconveniency; but (that
+remov'd) to render not only Your Majesties Palace, but the whole City
+likewise, one of the sweetest, and most delicious Habitations in the
+World; and this, with little or no expence; but by improving those
+Plantations which Your Majesty so laudably affects, in the moyst,
+depressed and marshy grounds about the Town, to the Culture and
+production of such things, as upon every gentle emission through the
+_Aer_, should so perfume the adjacent places with their breath; as if,
+by a certain charm, or innocent _Magick_, they were transferred to that
+part of _Arabia_, which is therefore styled the _Happy_, because it is
+amongst the Gums and precious spices.'
+
+Objectionable cottages had thus apparently only recently, probably
+during the democratic Commonwealth, been erected to the east of
+Whitehall, and were surrounded by fields. These fields were to be
+divided into blocks of about 20 to 40 acres, and palisades or fences of
+shrubs were to enclose belts of 150 feet or more between the various
+fields. The fences were to be formed or filled with sweetbriar,
+periclymena, woodbine, jessamine, syringa, guelder-rose, musk and other
+roses, broom, juniper, lavender, and so on,--'but above all _Rosemary_,
+the _Flowers_ whereof are credibly reported to give their sent above
+thirty Leagues off at Sea, upon the coasts of Spain. Those who take
+notice of the Sent of the _Orange_-flowers from the Rivage of Genoea, and
+_St. Pietro dell' Arena_; the Blosomes of _Rosemary_ from the Coasts of
+_Spain_ many leagues off at Sea; or the manifest and odoriferous wafts
+which flow from _Fontenoy_ and _Vaugirard_, even to _Paris_ in the
+season of _Roses_, with the contrary Effects of those less pleasing
+smells from other accidents, will easily consent to what I suggest: And,
+I am able to enumerate a Catalogue of native _Plants_, and such as are
+familiar to our Country and Clime, whose redolent and agreeable
+Emissions would even ravish our senses, as well as perfectly improve the
+_Aer_ about _London_; and that, without the least prejudice to the
+Owners and Proprietors of the Land to be employ'd about it.' Evelyn
+further recommended 'That the _Spaces_, or _Area_ between these
+_Pallisads_, and _Fences_, be employ'd in Beds and Bordures of _Pinks_,
+_Carnations_, _Clove_, _Stock-gilly-flower_, _Primroses_, _Auriculas_,
+_Violets_, not forgetting the _White_, which are in flower twice a year,
+_April_ and _August_; _Cowslips_, _Lillies_, _Narcissus_,
+_Strawberries_, whose very leaves as well as fruit, emit a _Cardiague_,
+and most refreshing _Halitus_: also _Parietria Lutea_, _Musk_, _Lemmon_,
+and _Mastick_: _Thyme_, _Spike_, _Cammomile_, _Balm_, _Mint_,
+_Marjoram_, _Pimpernel_, _Serpillum_, etc., which upon the least
+pressure and cutting, breathe out and betray their ravishing Odors.'
+Plantations of trees were also to be made and nurseries formed, which
+would have the additional advantage, besides mere beauty and ornament,
+of providing for the fields--'better Shelter, and Pasture for Sheep and
+Cattel then now; that they lie bleak, expos'd and abandon'd to the
+winds, which perpetually invade them.' It is said that the planting of
+Lime trees in St. James' Park was due to these suggestions. Evelyn's
+recommendations concluded with the exhorting that 'the further
+exhorbitant encrease of _Tenements_, poor and nasty _Cottages_ near the
+City, be prohibited, which disgrace and take off from the sweetness and
+amoenity of the Environs of _London_, and are already become a great
+_Eye-sore_ in the grounds opposite to _His Majesty's Palace_ of
+_White-hall_; which being converted to this use, might yield a diversion
+inferior to none that could be imagin'd for _Health_, _Profit_, and
+_Beauty_, which are the three _Transcendencies_ that render a place
+without all exception. And _this_ is what (in short) I had to offer, for
+the _Improvement_ and _Melioration_ of the _Aer_ about _London_, and
+with which I shall conclude this discourse.'
+
+Besides dedicating his pamphlet especially to the King, as well as
+proposing, on the title-page, the remedy "To His Sacred Majestie, and To
+the Parliament now Assembled", Evelyn likewise adresses himself "To the
+Reader" by way of a second introduction; and he does so in these plainer
+and rather contemptuous terms:-- 'I have little here to add to implore
+thy good opinion and approbation, after I have submitted this Essay to
+his Sacred Majesty: But as it is of universal benefit that I propound
+it; so I expect a civil entertainment and reception....' Confessing
+himself 'frequently displeased at the small advance and improvement of
+Publick Works in this nation,' he further expresses himself as
+'extremely amazed, that where there is so great affluence of all things
+which may render the People of this vast City the most happy upon Earth;
+the sordid and accursed Avarice of some few Particular Persons should be
+suffered to prejudice the health and felicity of so many: That any
+Profit (besides what is absolute necessity) should render men
+regardlesse of what chiefly imports them, when it may be purchased upon
+so easie conditions, and with so great advantages: For it is not
+happiness to possesse Gold, but to enjoy the Effects of it and to know
+how to live cheerfully and in health, _Non est vivere, sed valere vita_.
+That men whose very Being is _Aer_, should not breath it freely when
+they may; but (as that _Tyrant_ us'd his Vassals) condemn themselves to
+this misery and _Fumo praefocari_, is strange stupidity: yet thus we see
+them walk and converse in _London_, pursu'd and haunted by that
+infernal Smoake, and the funest accidents which accompany it wheresoever
+they retire.'
+
+Surely, if John Evelyn could in spirit revisit the metropolis he loved
+so well and was so much at home in, he would, while lamenting the
+continuation and the now much more acute form of the "infernal
+_Nuisance_", to a certainty find ample cause for rejoicing at the
+admirable work of late years carried out in the London Royal Parks and
+Pleasure Grounds, and in the Parks and Open Spaces under the
+administration of the County Council.
+
+It was in 1664, however, that Evelyn achieved his greatest literary
+triumph by the publication of his three masterpieces, _Sylva: or a
+Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His
+Majestie's Dominions_; _Pomona: or an Appendix concerning Fruit Trees in
+relation to Cider, the Making and several ways of Ordering it_; and
+_Kalendarium Hortense: or the Gard'ners Almanack, directing what he is
+to do Monthly throughout the Year_.'
+
+The manner in which the idea of the _Sylva_ originated is clearly shewn
+by what is noted in his Diary on 15th October, 1662.--'I this day
+deliver'd my "Discourse concerning Forest Trees" to the Society, upon
+occasion of certain queries sent to us by the Commissioners of his
+Majesties Navy, being the first booke that was printed by order of the
+Society, and by their printer, since it was a Corporation.' This latter
+reference evidently anticipates events, as one often had reason to note
+in this so-called diary, because Sylva was not actually published until
+the beginning of 1664, when along with it were included _Pomona_, and
+the _Kalendarium Hortense_. In February, 1664, '16th, I presented my
+"Sylva" to the Society; and next day to his Majestie, to whom it was
+dedicated; also to the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Chancellor.'
+
+There is no doubt that _Sylva_ was a work of national importance. Then,
+as now, England was dependent on her Navy. But the stock of Oak timber
+suitable for the requirements of the naval dockyards had become almost
+exhausted. From a tonnage of 17,110 tons in 1603, our fleet had risen to
+57,463 tons in 1660, and during the 25 years of Charles II's reign it
+increased to 103,556 tons. To supply these rapidly expanding
+requirements the stock of timber in the country was feared to be
+inadequate. From 197,405, loads of timber fit for the Navy in the New
+Forest in 1608, the stock sank later to 19,873 in 1707; and in the royal
+forests in Gloucestershire a similar state of affairs obtained. At a
+meeting of the Council of the Royal Society in November 1662, Evelyn
+followed up his recent _Sylva_ by suggesting a discourse 'concerning
+planting his Majesty's Forest of Deane with oake, now so much exhausted,
+of ye choicest ship-timber in the world.' This was before the days of
+steam or even of macadamized roads, when we had to grow our own supplies
+of food and Navy timber. True, oak for wainscoting and the like had long
+been imported from the Continent; but if we had been anything like
+dependent on foreign oak, the Dutch War which shortly afterwards broke
+out would probably have cut off the same entirely from reaching our
+ports.
+
+It is unnecessary to say much about this charming classic of Forestry,
+of whose various excellences the reader can herein judge for himself.
+Gracefully written in nervous English and in a cultured style, ornately
+embellished according to the then prevailing custom by apt quotations
+from the Latin poets, it contains an enormous amount of information in
+the shape of legends and of facts ascertained by travel, of observation,
+and of experience. No man of his time could possibly have been better
+qualified than Evelyn for undertaking the special duty laid upon him;
+and he carried out his task in a brilliant manner. _Sylva_ soon ran into
+several editions. The fourth edition appeared in the year of his death
+(1706) and a fifth in 1729. From 1776 to 1812 other four editions were
+published, with notes by Dr. A. Hunter of York, the last of which served
+as the text for the celebrated forestry article in the _Quarterly
+Review_ for March, 1813. A later issue of Hunter's editions appeared in
+1825; but in 1827 ignorant and wanton hands were with much bombastic
+language and buffoonry laid on this great classic, when James Mitchell,
+an agriculturist, published _Dendrologia; or a Treatise of Forest Trees,
+with Evelyn's Silva, revised, corrected, and abridged by a Professional
+Planter and Collector of practical Notes forty years_. Since then no
+other edition of _Sylva_ has appeared until the present reprint of the
+4th edition, making the 12th edition of this classic work.
+
+The publication of _Sylva_ gave an enormous stimulus to planting in
+Britain, the benefits from which were subsequently reaped at the end of
+the XVIII and the beginning of the XIX century, when during our war with
+France the supply of oak timber for shipbuilding almost entirely ran
+out. Dr. Hunter's editions did much to revive the ardour for planting,
+which was further stimulated by the _Quarterly Review_ article and by
+the advice which Sir Walter Scott put into the mouth of the Laird o'
+Dumbiedykes to his son: 'Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may
+be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye're
+sleeping.' To the impetus then given to planting, many of the woods now
+growing in different parts of Britain, and especially in Scotland, owe
+their origin.
+
+As Evelyn had given the copyright to Allestry, the Royal Society's
+printer, _Sylva_ brought no pecuniary profit to its author; and
+indirectly it was the cause of disappointment to him. How this came
+about may be seen from the following extract from a letter, dated 4th
+August 1690, to his friend the Countess of Sunderland, which is further
+of interest as giving Evelyn's own account of the origin of
+_Sylva_--'when many yeares ago I came from rambling abroad, observ'd a
+little time there, and a greate deale more since I came home than gave
+me much satisfaction, and (as events have prov'd) scarce worth one's
+pursuite, I cast about how I should employ the time which hangs on most
+young men's hands, to the best advantage; and when books and severer
+studies grew tedious, and other impertinence would be pressing, by which
+innocent diversions I might sometime relieve my selfe without complyance
+to recreations I took no felicity in, because they did not contribute to
+any improvement of the mind. This set me upon planting of trees, and
+brought forth my "Sylva," which booke, infinitely beyond my expectation,
+is now also calling for a fourth impression, and has been the occasion
+of propagating many millions of usefull timber trees thro'out this
+nation, as I may justifie (without im'odesty) from ye many letters of
+acknowledgement receiv'd from gentlemen of the first quality, and others
+altogether strangers to me. His late Majesty Charles the 2nd. was
+sometimes graciously pleas'd to take notice of it to me, and that I had
+by that booke alone incited a world of planters to repaire their broken
+estates and woodes, which the greedy rebells had wasted and made much
+havock of. Upon this encouragement I was once speaking to a mighty man,
+then in despotic power, to mention the greate inclination I had to serve
+his Majesty in a little office then newly vacant (the salary I think
+hardly L300) whose province was to inspect the timber trees in his
+Majesties Forests, etc., and take care of their culture and improvement;
+but this was conferr'd upon another who, I believe, had seldom been out
+of the smoake of London, where though there was a greate deale of
+timber, there were not many trees. I confesse I had an inclination to
+the imployment upon a publique account as well as its being suitable to
+my rural genius, borne as I was at Wotton, among the woods.'
+
+A still greater success was achieved by the _Kalendarium Hortense_,
+which reached its tenth edition (1706) during Evelyn's lifetime, and of
+which two reprints have subsequently been made. This small work was the
+forerunner of the more modern books on English gardening, the names of
+which are now almost legion.
+
+Previous to this, _Sculptura: or the History and Art of Chalcography and
+Engraving in Copper and Mezzo-tinto_, had been published in 1662, being
+the first work on this subject that had appeared in England. But it was
+a poor production, and ran into no second edition while the author
+lived. His chief subsequent literary successes were _Terra: a
+Philosophical Discourse of Earth relating to the Culture and Improvement
+of it for Vegetation, and for the Propagation of Plants_, (1676), which
+was first read before the Royal Society on 29th April 1675, and of which
+the third edition was printed in 1706, and _The Compleat Gardiner, or
+Directions for cultivating and right ordering of Fruit Gardens and
+Kitchen Gardens; with divers Reflections on several parts of Husbandry_,
+(1693), which went into five editions by 1710. His History of the Dutch
+War, already referred to (page xliii) would have been by far his most
+important work in point of length had its completion been allowed, but
+only the introductory portion saw the light as _Navigation and Commerce;
+their Original and Progress, Containing a succint account of Traffick
+in general; etc. etc...... to the beginning of our late differences with
+Holland; in which his Majesties title to the Dominion of the Sea is
+asserted against the Novel and later Pretenders_. (1674). His own
+account of the stoppage of the work is given in the diary for 19th
+August 1674,--'His Majesty told me how exceedingly the Dutch were
+displeas'd at my treatise of the "Historie of Commerce;" that the
+Holland Ambassador had complain'd to him of what I had touch'd of the
+Flags and Fishery, etc., and desired the booke might be call'd in;
+whilst on the other side he assur'd me he was exceedingly pleas'd with
+what I had done, and gave me many thanks. However, it being just upon
+conclusion of the treaty of Breda (indeed it was design'd to have been
+publish'd some moneths before and when we were at defiance), his Majesty
+told me he must recall it formally, but gave order that what copies
+should be publiqly seiz'd to pacifie the Ambassador, should immediately
+be restor'd to the printer, and that neither he nor the vendor should be
+molested. The truth is, that which touch'd the Hollander was much lesse
+than what the King himself furnish'd me with, and oblig'd me to publish,
+having caus'd it to be read to him before it went to the presse; but the
+error was, it should have been publish'd before the peace was
+proclaim'd. The noise of this book's suppression made it presently be
+bought up, and turn'd much to the stationer's advantage. It was no other
+than the Preface prepar'd to be prefix'd to my History of the whole
+Warr; which I now pursued no further.' Years afterwards, however, he
+wrote somewhat bitterly on this subject to his intimate friend Pepys, in
+a letter dated 28th April 1682, in which he says, 'In sum, I had no
+thanks for what I had done, and have been accounted since, I suppose, an
+useless fop, and fit only to plant coleworts, and I cannot bend to mean
+submissions; and this, Sir, is the history of the Historian. I confess
+to you, I had once the vanity to hope, had my patron continued in his
+station, for some, at least, honorary title that might have animated my
+progress, as seeing then some amongst them whose talents I did not envy:
+but it was not my fortune to succeed.' This certainly seems as if Evelyn
+had been hoping for knighthood from King Charles. If his desire lay this
+way, it is difficult to reconcile such private admission with the
+definite statement made in the diary of 19th April, 1661, that 'he might
+have receiv'd this honour,' of Knighthood of the Bath 'but declined it.'
+
+Evelyn's other publications, works of considerably less importance,
+include _Tyrannus or the Mode, in a Discourse of Sumptuary Laws_ (1661);
+_A Parallel of the Ancient Architecture with the Modern_ (1664), and _An
+Idea of the Perfection of Painting, Demonstrated from the Principles of
+Art_ (1668), both translated from the French of Roland Freart; _Another
+Part of the Mystery of Jesuitisim_, also from the French (1665);
+_Publick Employment, and an Active Life preferr'd to Solitude_ (1667: a
+reply to Sir George Mackenzie's Work on Solitude); _The History of three
+late famous Imposters_ (Padre Ottomano, Mahomed Bei, and Sabatei Sevi:
+1669); _Mundus Muliebris: or the Ladies Dressing-room Unlock'd and her
+Toilette spread_ (1690: a burlesque poem, 'A voyage to Marryland,'
+cataloguing female follies of the time, by his daughter Mary, who died
+in 1685); _Numismata: a Discourse of Medals, Antient and Modern: &c._
+(1697); and _Acetaria: a Discourse of Sallets_ (1699), which was merely
+a chapter, written many years previously, of an extensive work he
+intended writing under the comprehensive title of _Elysium Britannicum_.
+There is no doubt that, but for his immersion in public affairs in
+middle life, Evelyn would have been a much larger producer of literary
+work than he actually was. But it seems very questionable if this would
+in any substantial way have added to the enduring reputation he won for
+himself by _Sylva_.
+
+In addition to his published works, however, he left numerous
+manuscripts, which he had noted as 'Things I would write out faire and
+reform if I had leisure,' comprising poems, mathematical papers,
+religious meditations, and biographies. The most ambitious of his poems
+is _Thyrsander, a Tragy-Comedy_, which is probably one of those referred
+to by Pepys in his Diary for 5th Novr. 1665, when, visiting Evelyn at
+Sayes Court, he says that 'He read me part of a play or two of his
+making, very good, but not as he conceits them, I think, to be.' Some of
+these, including _My own Ephemeris or Diarie_, an autobiographical
+memoir based on the journal or common-place book kept by him ever since
+being eleven years of age, and his correspondence, were published
+posthumously as _Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings of John
+Evelyn Esqre. F.R.S._ in 1818. This has gone through nine editions and
+reprints; and it affords, along with Pepys' diary, one of the best views
+of the life of those times. Each is the complement of the other, and the
+only matter of regret is that the original manuscript of Evelyn's actual
+diary has not hitherto been forthcoming, as it would be infinitely
+preferable to the compilation he made therefrom, which often refers to
+future events. Other of his MSS. appeared as _Miscellaneous Writings of
+John Evelyn Esq. F.R.S._ in 1825, _The Life of Mrs. Godolphin_ (see page
+xlv) in 1847, and subsequently in five or six editions and reprints, and
+_The History of Religion: A Rational Account of the True Religion_ in
+1850. Of these the so-called _Diary_ is by far the most interesting and
+important, and it is on it and on the _Sylva_ that his literary
+reputation rests and has a sure and abiding foundation.
+
+
+VIII
+
+_Evelyn's Influence on British Arboriculture._
+
+There can be no doubt that John Evelyn, both during his own lifetime and
+throughout the two centuries which have elapsed since his death in 1706,
+has exerted more individual influence, through his charming _Sylva, or a
+Discourse of Forest Trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesty's
+Dominion_ (first published in 1664) than can be ascribed to any other
+individual. The attention drawn to the subject of Arboriculture by Dr.
+Hunter towards the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the
+nineteenth centuries was in connection with several new editions of that
+classic work, while the impulse given to the formation of large
+plantations between 1800 and 1830 by Sir Walter Scott and the celebrated
+_Quarterly Review_ articles was connected very closely indeed with the
+appearance of fresh editions of _Sylva_.
+
+It is easy to understand the success of Evelyn's work and the influence
+he exerted on British Arboriculture. First and foremost, he held the
+brief in an excellent cause, because the maintenance of adequate
+supplies of oak timber for shipbuilding ever remained a question of
+very serious national importance right down to the time when this
+pressure was removed by the introduction of steam communication and the
+use of Indian Teak and subsequently of iron for purposes of
+construction. Then again, his position as a courtier and a country
+gentleman, and as one of the most prominent members of the recently
+established Royal Society, gave him a much higher degree of prominence
+than such adventitious aids would ensure in our present far more
+democratic days. Finally, he had no small confidence in his own ability
+('conceit' his friend Mr. Samuel Pepys calls it in his diary); and this
+has been recognised in the numerous editions of _Sylva_ that have from
+time to time been found worthy of publication.
+
+Although by far the most celebrated of English writers on Arboriculture,
+Evelyn was by no means the first who wrote on this subject. That honour
+belongs to Master Fitzherbert, whose _Boke of Husbandrie_ was published
+in 1534. But it is a curious fact that the most important previous
+contribution towards the propagation of timber--leaving Manwood's
+_Treatise of the Forrest Lawes_ (1598) out of consideration--is
+apparently never mentioned by Evelyn. This was a small booklet of 34
+pages, a mere pamphlet in size, published in 1613 by Arthur Standish and
+entitled _New Directions of Experience ... for the Increasing of Timber
+and Firewood_. In this, Standish strongly urged sowing and planting on
+an extensive scale; and the pamphlet was so highly approved by King
+James I., that in 1615 a second edition was issued. This included, among
+the prefatory matters, a royal proclamation 'By the King, To all
+Noblemen, Gentlemen, and other our loving Subjects, to whom it may
+appertaine,' which set forth the 'severall good projects for the
+increasing of Woods' and recommended them to 'be willingly received and
+put in practise' with a view to restore the decay of timber 'universally
+complained of' within the realm.
+
+Although exhortations and royal proclamations had previously been issued
+more than once by James I. relative to the 'storing' of timber trees
+when falls were being made in copsewoods, and generally to ensure better
+effect being given to the intentions of Henry VIII's _Statute of Woods_
+of 1543, as amended during Queen Elizabeth's reign (in 1570), yet
+Standish's treatise was the first occasion (so far as I have been able
+to discover) on which a private subject had endeavoured to stimulate the
+progress of British Forestry by means of the publication of his views in
+the form of a small book. His aims and objects are thus described on the
+title-page of the second or royal edition of 1615:--"NEW DIRECTIONS OF
+EXPERIENCE AUTHORIZED BY THE King's most excellent Majesty, as may
+appeare, for the increasing of Timber and Fire-wood, with the least
+waste and losse of ground. WITH A NEARE ESTIMATION, what millions of
+acres the Kingdome doth containe; what acres is waste ground, wherever
+little profit for this purpose will arise--which waste being deducted,
+the remaine is twenty-five millions; forth of which millions, if two
+hundred and forty thousand Acres be planted and preserved according to
+the directions following, which is but the hundred part of the
+twenty-five millions, there may be as much timber raised, as will
+maintaine the Kingdome for all uses for ever. And how as great store of
+Fire-wood may be raised, forth of hedges, as may plentifully mainetaine
+the Kingdome for all purposes, without losse of ground; so as within
+thirty years all Spring-woods{lxvii:1} may be converted to Tillage and
+Pasture. By Arthur Standish. Anno Domini MDCXV."
+
+This was the only work of the sort which had been published up to the
+time of Evelyn's _Sylva_ appearing about fifty years later, in 1662. It
+is curious that he made no reference to this work written with similar
+objects to those he himself had in view. Another work, however, he does
+mention, evidently that of a practical horticulturist and
+arboriculturist, probably belonging to a lower status of society than
+himself. Writing of the _New Orchard and Garden_ (1597, 2nd. edit.
+1623), he patronises the author by calling him 'our countryman honest
+Lawson'; and after giving a long quotation from it with regard to
+pruning, he complacently concludes by adding 'Thus far the good man out
+of his eight and forty years experience concerning timber-trees.'
+
+Evelyn had the satisfaction of seeing his work bear much fruit during
+his own life-time, and this must have occasioned a quite exceptionally
+keen pleasure to a man of his disposition. In his preface, dated 5
+December 1678, to the fourth edition of _Sylva_, he writes in 'The
+Epistle Dedicatory' to the King that 'I need not acquaint your Majesty
+how many millions of timber-trees, besides infinite others, have been
+propagated and planted throughout your vast dominions, at the
+instigation, and by the sole directions of this work; because your
+gracious Majesty had been pleased to own it publickly for my
+encouragement, who in all that I here pretend to say, deliver only those
+precepts which your Majesty has put in practise; as having, like another
+Cyrus, by your own royal example, exceeded all your predecessors in the
+plantations you have made, beyond, I dare assert it, all the Monarchs of
+this nation, since the conquest of it.'
+
+Apart from the planting done in the royal woods and forests, details of
+Evelyn's diary shew that he was frequently called upon to give advice
+with regard to laying out private plantations,--as well as of ornamental
+gardens, on which subject he was also considered one of the leading
+authorities of the time.
+
+More than a century after Evelyn's death, during the time of our wars
+with France, the demand for timber and the serious outlook with regard
+to future supplies once more drew marked attention to the propagation of
+timber throughout Britain, and many plantations of oak were then made
+which have not yet been entirely cleared to make way for other and now
+more profitable crops of wood. A very decided impetus was given in this
+direction by the re-publication of the text of the fourth edition of
+_Sylva_ (as finally revised by the author in 1678), with copious notes
+by Dr. A. Hunter F.R.S. in 1812. A most appreciative and favourable
+review of this work is contained in the _Quarterly Review_ for March
+1813 (Vol. ix), which was of much assistance in drawing the attention of
+our great landowners to the advantages of growing timber. Plantations
+could then be made at about one-fourth to one-third (and often less than
+that) of what it now costs to make them, while the market for timber and
+wood of all sorts was then favourable, with a steady demand likely to
+increase as time rolled on and the national commerce and industries
+expanded,--because in those days the economic revolution, accomplished
+through the subsequent discoveries of the great uses to which steam and
+iron are now put, were not then dreamed of.
+
+This _Quarterly Review_ article was an appreciation of Evelyn,--and not
+the only one made by that celebrated periodical, as we shall see
+presently. It traced the history of the work, showing how Charles II.
+'was too sensible a man to think of compelling his subjects to plant, by
+fines and forfeitures for the omission. Example he knew would do
+something, and he had scope enough for the purpose in his own wasted
+forests; but an animated exhortation from the press, in an age when the
+nobility and gentry began to read and to reflect, he knew would do more.
+A proper person for the purpose therefore was sought and found; a man of
+family, fortune, and learning; an experienced planter; a virtuoso, and
+not a little of an enthusiast in his own walk. Such was Mr. Evelyn: and
+to this occasion we are indebted for the _Sylva_, which has therefore a
+title to be regarded as a national work... It sounded the trumpet of
+alarm to the nation on the condition of their woods and forests.'
+
+The re-publication of the _Sylva_ by Dr. Hunter, coming at an
+appropriate moment, revived the ardour which the work had excited about
+60 years previously, and 'while forests were laid prostrate to protect
+our shores from the insults of the enemy, the nobility and gentry began
+once more to sow the seeds of future navies.'
+
+Previous to 1812, planting on any large scale whether for profit or
+ornament seems to have been confined chiefly to great estates, and 'if a
+private gentleman, in the century preceding, planted an hedgrow of an
+hundred oaks, it was recorded, for the benefit of posterity, in his
+diary.' The trade in the supply of plants had previously been in the
+hands of a few nurserymen, but on the appearance of Dr. Hunter's new
+edition many private nurseries were established. This was more
+especially the case in Scotland, where the Scottish nobility took the
+lead 'in this national and patriotic work,'--which promised to be very
+profitable, owing to the recent introduction of the larch. The
+well-deserved eulogy given in the _Quarterly Review_ article to the
+rapid growth of fine timber of this valuable forest tree was the direct
+cause of larch plantations being largely extended, because it was said
+that 'a tree which, if the oak should fail, would build navies, and if
+the forests of Livonia or Norway or Canada were exhausted, would build
+cities, is an acquisition to this island almost without a parallel.' And
+it still is one of the most valuable of our woodland trees, despite the
+cankerous fungus-disease which has certainly been (indirectly) due in no
+small degree to injudicious planting in pure woods on unsuitable soils
+and situations.
+
+This _Quarterly Review_ article of 1813 probably did quite as much to
+stimulate planting throughout Great Britain as the _Sylva_ itself had
+previously done; but as Evelyn's classic formed the text for the
+exhortation, the beneficial effects must of course in great part be
+ascribed to his influence.
+
+A few years later, the _Quarterly Review_ in an article on Evelyn's
+_Memoirs_ (April, 1818), again sings the well-deserved praise of his
+influence on British Arboriculture. 'The greater part of the woods,
+which were raised in consequence of Evelyn's writings, have been cut
+down: the oaks have borne the British flag to seas and countries which
+were undiscovered when they were planted, and generation after
+generation has been coffined in the elms. The trees of his age, which
+may yet be standing, are verging fast toward their decay and
+dissolution: but his name is fresh in the land, and his reputation, like
+the trees of an Indian Paradise, exists and will continue to exist in
+full strength and beauty, uninjured by the course of time.
+
+    Thrones fall and Dynasties are changed:
+    Empires decay and sink
+    Beneath their own unwieldy weight;
+    Dominion passeth like a cloud away.
+    The imperishable mind
+    Survives all meaner things.
+
+No change of fashion, no alteration of taste, no revolutions of science
+have impaired or can impair his celebrity.'
+
+Another of the celebrated _Quarterly Review_ articles on Forestry is that
+_On Planting Waste Lands_ (October, 1827); and even though it was Robert
+Monteath's _Foresters Guide and Profitable Planter_ which furnished the
+peg for a discourse on this occasion, still the spirit breathing
+throughout the exhortion was the revivification of Evelyn's influence. And
+the same must also be said about the article on _Loudon's 'Trees and
+Shrubs'_ (_Quarterly Review_; October, 1838), which opens with a eulogy of
+our great English enthusiast of Arboriculture. 'The good and peaceful John
+Evelyn was a great benefactor to England. He was a country gentleman of
+independent fortune; he held an office under Government; and was
+personally familiar with Charles II. and James II; yet, in spite of the
+influence which he then possessed, his example effected little for his
+favourite object till the publication of the _Sylva_. Half the charm of
+this work lies in his contriving to make us feel interested about his
+trees; he gossips about them, he tells us where they came from and what
+they are used for, and has a few marvels--not of his own--but told with
+such perfect good faith that we can hardly help believing them with him.
+This was the secret by which he managed to attract the attention of even
+the wits and gallants of 'the gay court;' and thus it was that he gave an
+impulse to planting those 'goodly woods and forests,' the absence of
+which, in his own time, he so feelingly laments, and which now crown our
+hills and enrich our valleys. Mr. Loudon has followed Evelyn's track.
+Tradition--history--poetry--anecdote enliven his pages; the reader soon
+feels as if his instructor were a good natured and entertaining friend. He
+has also not contented himself with merely recalling old favourites to our
+memory, but has introduced to us numerous agreeable foreigners whose
+acquaintance we ought to rejoice to make, since by their aid we may hope,
+in the course of another half century, to see our woods and plantations
+presenting the richness and variety of the American autumns, the trees
+which produce those 'lovely tints of scarlet and of gold,' of which
+travellers tell us, are all to be obtained at moderate cost in every
+nursery; and that they will thrive perfectly in this country Fonthill and
+White Knights bear ample testimony.'
+
+Hardly anything can well be added to the above testimony regarding
+Evelyn's influence on Arboriculture throughout the British Isles.
+Economic conditions have changed entirely since his time, but the spirit
+living and breathing in _Sylva_ is still that which is found
+influencing many of our great landowners. And it is an influence which
+cannot be indicated in any mere enumeration of the number of trees
+planted or of acres enclosed as woodlands either for purposes of profit
+or of ornament.
+
+Far more is, of course, now known with regard to the physiology and the
+natural requirements of our forest trees--e.g. with reference to soil
+and situation, demand for light and capacity of enduring shade,
+etc.,--than was known in Evelyn's time. Many of his arguments could
+easily be shown to be wrong, and many of his recommendations could
+equally easily be proved to be inefficacious and inexpedient, just as
+old works on Agriculture can no longer be accepted as trustworthy
+text-books for the teaching of modern farming; because Vegetable
+Physiology forms the true and scientific basis of both the arts relating
+to the cultivation of the soil, Agriculture and Forestry; and Vegetable
+Physiology is a branch of botanical science which is only of
+comparatively recent growth.
+
+Many works on Sylviculture or Forestry, on business principles, have
+appeared in England and Scotland within the last fifteen years, but this
+new edition of _Sylva_ makes no pretence to belong to such an up-to-date
+class of works. It is merely a reprint of the last edition that was
+revised by Evelyn himself; and no notes of any description have been
+added, such as those to be found in the several editions published by
+Dr. Hunter. The present reprint is intended for those who love our
+forests and woodlands and the old trees surviving in parks and chases as
+links with the distant past; and it will also, for its own sake, appeal
+no less strongly to those who love to peruse a classic work, written in
+the very highly polished and ornate style affected by writers of
+distinction in the seventeenth century.
+
+                                                      JOHN NISBET.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{xxxi:1} This promise Charles afterwards failed to keep as, in 1672, he
+merely renewed the lease of the pastures for 99 years.
+
+{lxvii:1} Coppices.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 S I L V A,
+              Or a DISCOURSE of
+                FOREST-TREES,
+                   AND THE
+            PROPAGATION of TIMBER
+         In His MAJESTY's DOMINIONS.
+
+     As it was Deliver'd in the _ROYAL SOCIETY_ the xv^th of _October_,
+     MDCLXII upon occasion of certain _Quaeries_ propounded to that
+     _Illustrious Assembly_, by the _Honourable_ the Principal
+     _Officers_ and _Commissioners_ of the _Navy_.
+
+                In TWO BOOKS.
+
+     Together with an Historical Account of the _Sacredness_ and _Use_
+     of Standing _Groves_.
+
+                   TERRA,
+     A _Philosophical ESSAY of EARTH_, being a _Lecture_ in Course.
+
+             To which is annexed
+
+                   POMONA:
+                   OR, AN
+    _Appendix_ concerning _Fruit-Trees_, in relation to _CYDER_;
+    The _Making_, and several Ways of _Ordering_ it.
+
+    Published by Express _Order_ of the ROYAL SOCIETY.
+
+                    ALSO
+
+                  ACETARIA:
+        Or, a DISCOURSE of _SALLETS_.
+
+                    WITH
+           _KALENDARIVM HORTENSE_;
+                   OR THE
+             GARD'NERS ALMANACK;
+    Directing what he is to do _Monthly_ throughout the _Year_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    All which several _Treatises_ are in this _FOURTH EDITION_ much
+    _Inlarg'd_ and _Improv'd_,
+
+                 By the AUTHOR
+
+    _JOHN EVELYN_, Esq; Fellow of the _ROYAL SOCIETY_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    ........_Tibi res antiquae laudis & artis
+    Ingredior, tantos ausus recludere fontes._ Virg.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_LONDON_:
+
+Printed for _Robert Scott_ in _Little-Britain_; _Richard Chiswell_ in
+St. _Paul's_ Churchyard; _George Sawbridge_ in _Little-Britain_; and
+_Benj. Tooke_ in _Fleetstreet_. MDCCVI.
+
+
+
+
+  TO THE
+  KING.
+
+
+For to whom, _Sir_, with so Just and Equal Right should I present the
+Fruits of my Labours, as to the _Patron_ of that _SOCIETY_, under whose
+_Influence_, as it was produced; so to whose _Auspices_ alone it owes the
+Favourable _Acceptance_ which it has receiv'd in the World? To You then
+(_Royal Sir_) does this _Third Edition_ continue its Humble Addresses,
+_Tanquam MEMORUM VINDICI_; as of old, they paid their Devotions,{lxxv:1}
+_HERCULI & SILVANO_; since You are our +Theos hylikos+ _Nemorensis Rex_;
+as having once Your _Temple_, and _Court_ too, under that _Sacred Oak_
+which You _Consecrated_ with Your _Presence_, and we _Celebrate_, with
+Just Acknowledgment to God for Your _Preservation_.
+
+I need not Aquaint Your _Majesty_, how many _Millions_ of _Timber-Trees_
+(beside infinite _others_) have been _Propagated_ and _Planted_ throughout
+Your vast _Dominions_, at the _Instigation_, and by the sole _Direction_
+of this _Work_; because Your _Gracious Majesty_, has been pleas'd to _own_
+it _Publickly_, for my _Encouragement_, who, in all that I here pretend to
+say, deliver only those _Precepts_ which Your _Majesty_ has put into
+_Practice_; as having (like another _Cyrus_) by Your own _Royal Example_,
+exceeded all your _Predecessors_ in the _Plantations_ You have made,
+beyond (I dare assert it) all the _Monarchs_ of this _Nation_, since the
+_Conquest_ of it. And, indeed what more _August_, what more _Worthy_ Your
+_Majesty_, or more becoming our _Imitation?_ than whilst You are thus
+solicitous for the _Publick Good_, we pursue Your _Majesty's_ Great
+_Example_; and by cultivating our decaying _Woods_, contribute to Your
+_Power_, as to Your greatest _Wealth_ and _Safety_; since whilst Your
+_Majesty_ is furnish'd to send forth those _Argo's_ and _Trojan
+Horses_,{lxxvi:1} about this Happy _Island_, we are to fear nothing from
+_without it_; and whilst we remain _Obedient_ to Your just _Commands_,
+nothing from _within_ it.
+
+'Tis now some _Years_ past that Your _Majesty_ was pleas'd to declare Your
+Favourable Acceptance of a _Treatise_ of _Architecture_ which I then
+presented to _You_, with many _Gracious Expressions_, and that it was a
+most _useful_ Piece. _Sir_, that _Encouragement_ (together with the
+_Success_ of the _Book_ it self, and of the former _Editions_ of _this_)
+has animated me still to continue my _Oblation_ to Your _Majesty_ of these
+_Improvements_: Nor was it certainly without some _Provident_ Conduct,
+that we have been thus solicitous to begin, as it were, with _Materials_
+for Building, and _Directions_ to _Builders_; if due Reflection be made on
+that Deplorable _Calamity_, the _Conflagration_ of Your _Imperial City_;
+which nevertheless, by the Blessing of _God_, and Your _Majesty's_
+Gracious _Influence_, we have seen _Rise_ again, a _New_, and much more
+_Glorious_ PHOENIX.
+
+This TRIBUTE I now once more lay at the _Feet_ of our ROYAL FOUNDER.
+
+May Your _Majesty_ be pleas'd to be Invok'd by that no _Inglorious_ TITLE,
+in the profoundest _Submission_ of
+
+            Gracious Sir,
+                Your _Majesty's_
+                  Ever _Loyal_, most _Obedient_ and
+                       _Faithful Subject_ and _Servant_,
+                                  J. EVELYN.
+
+  _Sayes-Court,
+  5 Decemb.
+  1678._
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{lxxv:1} Cato _de R. R. cap. 73._ Aurel. Vict. Class. Phil. apud.
+Tranquill. _And so_ Nemestinus Deus Nemorum. _Arnob. l. 4._
+
+{lxxvi:1} Argon, _lib._ 1. That Famous Ship built of the _Dodonaean_
+Oak.
+
+
+
+
+  TO THE
+  READER.
+
+
+After what the _Frontispiece_ and _Porch_ this _Wooden Edifice_ presents
+you, I shall need no farther to repeat the _Occasion_ of this following
+_Discourse_; I am only to acquaint you, That as it was delivered to the
+_Royal Society_ by an unworthy _Member_ thereof, in Obedience to their
+_Commands_; by the _same_ it is now _Re-publish'd_ without any farther
+Prospect: And the _Reader_ is to know, That if these dry _sticks_ afford
+him any _Sap_, it is one of the _least_ and _meanest_ of those _Pieces_
+which are every day produc'd by that _Illustrious Assembly_, and which
+enrich their _Collections_, as so many _Monuments_ of their accurate
+_Experiments_, and publick Endeavours, in order to the production of
+_real_ and _useful Theories_, the Propagation and Improvement of
+_Natural Science_, and the honour of their _Institution_. If to _this_
+there be any thing subjoyned _here_, which may a while bespeak the
+Patience of the _Reader_, it is only for the encouragement of an
+_Industry_, and worthy _Labour_, much in our days _neglected_, as haply
+reputed a _Consideration_ of too sordid and vulgar a nature for _Noble
+Persons_, and _Gentlemen_ to busie themselves withal, and who oftner
+find out occasions to _Fell-down_, and Destroy their Woods and
+_Plantations_, than either to _repair_ or _improve_ them.
+
+But we are not without hopes of taking off these _Prejudices_, and of
+reconciling them to a _Subject_ and an _Industry_ which has been
+_consecrated_ (as I may say) by as _good_, and as _great_ Persons, as
+any the World has produced; and whose Names we find mingl'd amongst
+_Kings_ and _Philosophers_, grave _Senators_, and _Patriots_ of their
+Country: For such of old were _Solomon_, _Cyrus_, and _Numa_, _Licinius_
+surnamed _Stolo_, _Cato_, and _Cincinnatus_; the _Piso's_, _Fabii_,
+_Cicero_, the _Plinies_, and thousands more whom I might enumerate, that
+disdained not to cultivate these _Rusticities_ even with their own
+hands, and to esteem it no small _Accession_, to dignifie their
+_Titles_, and adorn their _purple_ with these _Rural Characters_ of
+their affections to _Planting_, and love of this part of _Agriculture_,
+which has transmitted to us their venerable _Names_ through so many
+_Ages_ and _Vicissitudes_ of the World.
+
+That famous _Answer_ alone which the _Persian Monarch_ gave to
+_Lysander_, will sufficiently justifie that which I have said; besides
+what we might add, out of the _Writings_ and _Examples_ of the rest: But
+since _these_ may suffice after due reproofs of the late impolitique
+_Wast_, and universal _sloth_ amongst us; we should now turn our
+_Indignation_ into _Prayers_, and address our selves to our
+better-natur'd _Countrymen_;{lxxviii:1} that such _Woods_ as do yet
+remain intire, might be carefully _preserved_, and such as are
+_destroy'd_, sedulously _repaired_: It is what all Persons who are
+_Owners_ of _Land_ may contribute to, and with infinite _delight_, as
+well as _profit_, who are touch'd with that laudable _Ambition_ of
+imitating their Illustrious _Ancestors_, and of worthily serving their
+_Generation_. To these my earnest and humble _Advice_ should be, That at
+their very first coming to their _Estates_, and as soon as they get
+_Children_, they would seriously think of _this Work_ of _Propagation_
+also: For I observe there is no part of _Husbandry_, which Men commonly
+more _fail_ in, _neglect_, and have cause to _repent_ of, than that they
+did not begin _Planting betimes_, without which, they can expect neither
+_Fruit_, _Ornament_, or _Delight_ from their _Labours_: Men seldom plant
+_Trees_ till they begin to be _Wise_, that is, till they grow _Old_,
+and find by _Experience_ the _Prudence_ and _Necessity_ of it. When
+_Ulysses_, after a ten-years Absence, was return'd from _Troy_, and
+coming home, found his aged _Father_ in the Field planting of _Trees_,
+He asked him, why (being now so far advanc'd in Years) he would put
+himself to the Fatigue and Labour of Planting, _that_ which he was never
+likely to enjoy the Fruits of? The good old Man (taking him for a
+Stranger) gently reply'd; _I plant_ (says he) _against my Son_ Ulysses
+_comes home_. The _Application_ is Obvious and Instructive for both
+_Old_ and _Young_. And we have a more modern Instance, almost alike that
+of the good old _Laertes_. Here then upon the Complaint of learned
+Persons and great Travellers, deploring the loss of many rare and
+precious Things, _Trees_ and _Plants_, especially instancing the
+_Balsam_-Tree of _Gilead_ (now almost, if not altogether failing, and no
+more to be found where it grew in great plenty.) He applys himself to
+young _Eperous_, to consider it seriously, and to fall a planting while
+time is before them, with this incouraging Exclamation, _Agite, o
+Adolescentes, & antequam canities vobis obrepat, stirpes jam alueritis,
+quae vobis cum insigni utilitate, delectationem etiam adferent: Nam
+quemadmodum canities temporis successu, vobis insciis, sensim obrepit:
+Sic natura vobis inserviens educabit quod telluri vestrae concredetis,
+modo prima initia illi dederitis_, &c. Pet. Bellonius _De neglecta
+stirpium Cultura_. Problema ix.
+
+My next _Advice_ is, that they do not easily commit themselves to the
+_Dictates_ of their ignorant _Hinds_ and _Servants_,{lxxix:1} who are
+(generally speaking) more fit to Learn than to Instruct. _Male agitur cum
+Domino quem Villicus docet_, was an Observation of old _Cato_'s; and 'twas
+_Ischomachus_ who told _Socrates_ (discoursing one day upon a like
+subject) _That it was far easier to _Make_, than to _Find_ a good
+Husband-man_: I have often prov'd it so in _Gardeners_; and I believe it
+will hold in most of our _Country_ Employments: Country People
+universally know that all Trees consist of _Roots_, _Stems_, _Boughs_,
+_Leaves_, &c. but can give no account of the _Species_, _Virtues_, or
+farther Culture, besides the making of a Pit or Hole; casting, and
+treading in the Earth, &c. which require a deeper search, than they are
+capable of: We are then to exact _Labour_, not _Conduct_ and _Reason_,
+from the greatest part of them; and the business of _Planting_ is an _Art_
+or _Science_ (for so _Varro_ has solemnly defined it;{lxxx:1}) and that
+exceedingly wide of Truth, which (it seems) many in his time accounted of
+it; _facillimam esse, nec ullius acuminis Rusticationem_,{lxxx:2} namely
+that it was an easie and insipid Study. It was the simple _Culture_ only,
+with so much difficulty retrieved from the late confusion of an intestine
+and bloody _War_, like that of _Ours_, and now put in _Reputation_ again,
+which made the noble _Poet_ write,
+
+            ........How hard it was
+    Low Subjects with illustrious words to grace.
+            ........_Verbis ea vincere magnum
+    Quam sit, & angustis hunc addere rebus honorem._
+
+    Georg. 3.
+
+Seeing, as the _Orator_ does himself express it, _Nihil est homine
+libero dignius_; there is nothing more becoming and worthy of a
+_Gentleman_, no, not the Majesty of a{lxxx:3} _Consul_. In ancient and
+best Times, Men were not honour'd and esteem'd for the only Learned, who
+were great _Linguists_, profound _Criticks_, Reader and Devourers of
+Books: But such whose Studies consisted of the Discourses, Documents and
+Observations of their _Fore-Fathers_, ancient and venerable Persons;
+who, (as the excellent Author of the _Rites_ of the _Israelites_,
+_cap._ xv, &c. acquaints us,) were oblig'd to Instruct, and Inform their
+Children of the wonderful Things God had done for their Ancestors;
+together with the Precepts of the _Moral Law_, _Feasts_, and Religious
+Ceremonies: But taught them likewise all that concern'd _Agriculture_;
+joyn'd with Lessons of perpetual practice; in which they were,
+doubtless, exceedingly knowing; whilst during so many Ages, they
+employ'd themselves almost continually in it: And tho' now adays this
+_noble Art_ be for the most part, left to be exercis'd amongst us, by
+People of grosser and unthinking Souls; yet there is no _Science_
+whatever, which contains a vaster Compass of Knowledge, infinitely more
+useful and beneficial to Mankind, than the fruitless and empty Notions
+of the greatest part of _Speculatists_; counted to be the only _Eruditi_
+and learned Men. An _Israelite_, who from _Tradition_ of his
+Fore-fathers, his own _Experience_, and some modern Reading, had
+inform'd himself of the _Religion_ and _Laws_ which were to regulate his
+Life; and knew how to procure Things necessary: Who perfectly understood
+the several qualities of the _Earth_, _Plants_, and _Places_ agreeable
+to each sort, and to cultivate, propagate, defend them from Accidents,
+and bring them to Maturity: That also was skill'd in the nature of
+_Cattel_, their Food, Diseases, Remedies, &c. which those who amongst us
+pass for the most learned and accomplish'd _Gentlemen_, and _Scholars_,
+are, for the most part, grosly ignorant of, look upon as _base_,
+_rustick_, and things below them: is (in this learned Author's Opinion)
+infinitely more to be valued, than a Man brought up either in wrangling
+at the _Bar_; or the noisie, and ridiculous Disputes of our _Schools_,
+&c. To this Sense the learn'd _Modena_. And 'tis remarkable, that after
+all that wise _Solomon_ had said, that _All_ was _vanity and vexation of
+Spirit_ (among so many _particulars_ he reckons up,) he should be
+altogether _silent_, and say nothing concerning _Husbandry_; as,
+doubtless, considering it the most useful, innocent and laudable
+Employment of our Life, requiring those who cultivate the Ground to live
+in the Country, remote from _City_-Luxury, and the temptation to the
+Vices he condemns. It was indeed a plain Man{lxxxii:1} (a _Potter_ by
+_Trade_) but let no body despise him because a _Potter_ (_Agathocles_,
+and a _King_ was of that _Craft_) who in my Opinion has given us the
+true reason why _Husbandry_, and particularly _Planting_, is no more
+improved in this Age of ours; especially, where Persons are _Lords_ and
+Owners of much _Land_. The truth is, says he, when Men have acquired any
+considerable _Fortune_ by their _good Husbandry_, and _experience_
+(forgetting that the greatest _Patriarchs_, _Princes_, their _Sons_ and
+_Daughters_, belonged to the _Plough_, and the _Flock_) they account it
+a _shame_ to breed up their _Children_ in the same Calling which they
+themselves were educated in, but presently design them _Gentlemen_: They
+must forsooth, have a _Coat_ of _Arms_, and live upon their _Estates_;
+So as by the time his _Sons_ Beard is grown, he begins to be asham'd of
+his _Father_, and would be ready to defie him, that should upon any
+occasion mind him of his _honest Extraction_: And if it chance that the
+good Man have other _Children_ to provide for; _This_ must be the
+Darling, be bred at _School_, and the _University_, whilst the rest must
+to _Cart_ and _Plow_ with the _Father_, &c. This is the _Cause_, says my
+_Author_, that our _Lands_ are so ill _Cultivated_ and neglected. Every
+body will subsist upon their own _Revenue_, and take their _Pleasure_,
+whilst they resign their _Estates_ to be manag'd by the most _Ignorant_,
+which are the _Children_ whom they leave at home, or the _Hinds_ to whom
+they commit them. When as in _truth_, and in _reason_, the more
+_Learning_, the better _Philosophers_, and the greater _Abilities_ they
+possess, the _more_, and the _better_ are they _qualified_, to
+_Cultivate_, and improve their _Estates_: Methinks this is well and
+rationally argued.
+
+And now you have in part what I had to produce in extenuation of this
+_Adventure_; that _Animated_ with a _Command_, and Assisted by divers
+_Worthy Persons_ (whose _Names_ I am prone to _celebrate_ with all just
+_Respects_) I have presumed to cast in my _Symbol_; which, with the rest
+that are to follow, may (I hope) be in some degree serviceable to _him_
+(who ere the happy _Person_ be) that shall oblige the _World_ with that
+compleat _Systeme_ of _Agriculture_, which as yet seems a _desideratum_,
+and wanting to its full perfection. It is (I assure you) what is one of
+the Principal designs of the _ROYAL SOCIETY_, not in this _Particular_
+only, but through all the _Liberal_ and more useful _Arts_; and for
+which (in the estimation of all equal _Judges_) it will merit the
+greatest of _Encouragements_; that so, at last, what the Learned
+_Columella_ has wittily reproached, and complained of, as a defect in
+that _Age_ of _his_, concerning _Agriculture_ in general, and is
+applicable _here_, may attain its desired _Remedy_ and _Consummation_ in
+_This_ of _Ours_.
+
+_Sola enim Res Rustica, quae sine dubitatione proxima, & quasi
+consanguinea Sapientiae est, tam discentibus eget, quam magistris: Adhuc
+enim Scholas Rhetorum, & Geometrarum, Musicorumque, vel quod magis
+mirandum est, contemptissimorum vitiorum officinas, gulosius condiendi
+cibos, & luxuriosius fercula struendi, capitumque & capillorum
+concinnatores, non solum esse audivi, sed & ipse vidi; Agricolationis
+neque Doctores qui se profiterentur, neque Discipulos cognovi._{lxxxiii:1}
+But this I leave for our _Peruk'd Gallants_ to interpret, and should now
+apply my self to the _Directive_ Part, which I am all this while
+bespeaking, if after what I have said in the several _Paragraphs_ of the
+ensuing _Discourse_ upon the _Argument_ of _Wood_, (and which in this
+_Fourth_ Edition coming _Abroad_ with innumerable _Improvements_, and
+_Advantages_ (so furnished, as I hope shall neither reproach the _Author_,
+or repent the _Reader_) it might not seem superfluous to have _premised_
+any thing _here_ for the Encouragement of so becoming an _Industry_. There
+are divers _Learned_, and judicious _Men_ who have _preceded_ Me in this
+_Argument_; as many, at least, as have undertaken to Write and Compile
+vast _Herbals_, and _Theaters_ of _Plants_; of which we have some of our
+own _Country-men_, (especially, the most Industrious and Learned Mr.
+_Ray_) who have (boldly I dare affirm it) surpass'd _any_, if not all the
+_Foreigners_ that are extant: In _those_ it is you meet with the
+_Description_ of the several _Plants_, by _Discourses_, _Figures_,
+_Names_, _Places_ of _Growth_; time of _Flourishing_, and their _Medicinal
+Virtues_; which may supply any _deficiency_ of mine as to those
+_Particulars_; if forbearing the _Repetition_, it should by any be imputed
+for a _defect_, though it were indeed none of my _design_: I say, these
+things are long since performed to our hands: But there is none of these
+(that I at least know of, and are come to my perusal) who have taken any
+considerable pains how to _Direct_, and _Encourage_ us in the _Culture_ of
+_Forest-Trees_ (the grand _defect_ of this _Nation_) besides some small
+sprinklings to be met withal in _Gervas Markham_, old _Tusser_, and of
+_Foreigners_, the _Country-Farm_ long since translated out of French, and
+by no means suitable to our Clime and _Country_: Neither have any of these
+proceeded after my _Method_, and particularly, in _Raising_, _Planting_,
+_Dressing_, and _Governing_, &c. or so sedulously made it their business,
+to _specifie_ the _Mechanical Uses_ of the _several kinds_, as I have
+done, which was hitherto a great _desideratum_, and in which the _Reader_
+will likewise find some things altogether _New_ and _Instructive_; and
+both _Directions_ and _Encouragements_ for the Propagation of some
+_Foreign_ Curiosities of _Ornament_ and _Use_, which were hitherto
+neglected. If I have upon occasion presumed to say any thing concerning
+their _Medicinal_ properties, it has been _Modestly_ and Frugally, and
+with chief, if not only respect to the poor _Wood-man_, whom none I
+presume will envy, that living far from the _Physician_, he should in case
+of _Necessity_, consult the reverend _Druid_, his{lxxxv:1} _Oaks_ and his
+_Elm_, _Birch_, or _Elder_, for a short _Breath_, a Green _Wound_, or a
+sore _Leg_; Casualties incident to this hard _Labour_. These are the chief
+_Particulars_ of this ensuing _Work_, and what it pretends hitherto of
+_Singular_, in which let me be permitted to say, There is sufficient for
+_Instruction_, and more than is extant in any _Collection_ whatsoever
+(_absit verbo invidia_) in this way and upon this _Subject_; abstracting
+things _Practicable_, of solid _use_ and _material_, from the
+_Ostentation_ and Impertinences of divers _Writers_; who receiving all
+that came to hand on trust, to swell their monstrous _Volumes_, have
+hitherto impos'd upon the credulous _World_, without _conscience_ or
+_honesty_. I will not exasperate the _Adorers_ of our ancient and late
+_Naturalists_, by repeating of what our _Verulam_ has justly pronounced
+concerning their _Rhapsodies_ (because I likewise honour their painful
+_Endeavours_, and am obliged to them for much of that I know,) nor will I
+(with some) reproach _Pliny_, _Porta_, _Cardan_, _Mizaldus_, _Cursius_,
+and many others of great _Names_ (whose _Writings_ I have diligently
+consulted) for the _Knowledge_ they have imparted to me on this Occasion;
+but I must deplore the time which is (for the most part) so miserably lost
+in pursuit of their _Speculations_, where they treat upon this _Argument_:
+But the _World_ is now advis'd, and (blessed be _God_) infinitely redeem'd
+from that base and servile submission of our noblest _Faculties_ to their
+blind _Traditions_. This you will be apt to say, is a haughty _Period_;
+but whilst I affirm it of the _Past_, it _justifies_, and does _honour_
+to the _Present_ Industry of our _Age_, and of which there cannot be a
+_greater_ and more emulous _Instance_, than the _Passion_ of His _Majesty_
+to encourage his _Subjects_, and of the _Royal Society_, (His _Majesty's
+Foundation_) who receive and promote His _Dictates_, in all that is
+laudable and truly _emolumental_ of this Nature.
+
+It is not therefore that I here presume to instruct _Him_ in the
+management of that great and august _Enterprise_ of resolving to _Plant_
+and repair His ample _Forests_, and other _Magazines_ of _Timber_, for
+the benefit of His _Royal Navy_, and the glory of His _Kingdoms_; but to
+present to His _Sacred Majesty_, and to the _World_, what _Advices_ I
+have received from _others_, observed my self, and most industriously
+_collected_ from a studious Propensity to serve as one of the least
+_Intelligences_ in the ampler _Orb_ of our _Illustrious Society_, and in
+a _Work_ so necessary and important.
+
+And now since I mention'd the _Society_, give me leave (Worthy Reader)
+as a _Member_ of that _Body_, which has been the chief _Promoter_ of
+this ensuing _Work_, (and, as I stand oblig'd) to _vindicate_ that
+_Assembly_, and consequently, the _Honour_ of his _Majesty_ and the
+_Nation_, in a _Particular_ which concerns it, though (in appearance) a
+little forreign to the present _Subject_.
+
+I will not say that _all_ which I have written in the several
+_Paragraphs_ of this _Treatise_, is _New_; but that there are very many
+_New_, and _useful_ things, and _Observations_ (without insisting on the
+_Methods_ only) not hitherto deliver'd by any _Author_, and so freely
+communicated, I hope will sufficiently appear: It is not therefore in
+behalf of any Particular which concerns _my self_, that I have been
+induced to enlarge this _Preface_; but, by taking this _Occasion_, to
+encounter the unsufferable _Boldness_, or _Ambition_ of some _Persons_
+(as well _Strangers_, as others) _arrogating_ to themselves the being
+_Inventors_ of divers _New_ and useful _Experiments_, justly
+attributable to several _Members_ of the _Royal Society_.{lxxxvii:1}
+
+So far has that _Assembly_ been from affecting _Glory_, that they seem
+rather to have declin'd their due; not as asham'd of so numerous and
+fair an _Off-spring_; but as abundantly satisfied, that after all the
+hard measure, and virulent _Reproaches_ they had sustain'd, for
+endeavouring by _united Attempts_, and at their own _Charges_, to
+improve _Real Philosophy_; they had from time to time, cultivated that
+_Province_ in so many _useful_ and profitable _Instances_, as are
+already _published_ to the _World_, and will be easily _asserted_ to
+their _Authors_ before all _equitable_ Judges.
+
+This being the sole inducement of publishing this _Apology_; it may not
+perhaps seem unseasonable to _disabuse_ some (otherwise) _well-meaning_
+People, who _led away_ and _perverted_ by the _Noise_ of a few
+_Ignorant_ and _Comical Buffoons_, (whose _Malevolence_, or
+_Impertinencies_ intitle them to nothing that is truly _Great_ and
+_Venerable_) are with an _Insolence_ suitable to their _Understanding_,
+still crying out, and asking, _What have the Society done?_
+
+Now, as nothing less than _Miracles_ (and unless _God_ should every day
+_repeat_ them at the _Call_ of these _Extravagants_) will _convince_
+some Persons, of the most _Rational_ and _Divine Truths_, (already so
+often and extraordinarily establish'd;) so, nor will any thing
+_satisfie_ these _unreasonable_ Men, but the production of the
+_Philosophers-stone_, and _Great-Elixir_; which yet were they
+_Possessors_ of, they would _consume_ upon their _Lux_ and _Vanity_.
+
+It is not therefore to gratifie these _magnificent Fops_, whose
+_Talents_ reach but to the adjusting of their _Peruques_, courting a
+_Miss_, or at the farthest writing a smutty, or scurrilous _Libel_,
+(which they would have to pass for _genuine_ Wit) that I _concern_ my
+self in these _papers_; but, as well in _Honour_ of our _Royal Founder_,
+as the _Nation_, to _Assert_ what of other _Countries_ has been
+surreptitiously _Arrogated_, and by which, they not only value
+themselves _abroad_; but (prevailing on the Modesty of that Industrious
+_Assembly_) seek the _deference_ of _those_, who whilst it remains still
+_silent_, do not so clearly discern this glorious _Plumage_ to be purely
+_ascititious_, and not a _Feather_ of their own. --But still, _What have
+they done?_
+
+Those who perfectly comprehend the _Scope_, and _End_ of that noble
+_Institution_; which is to _improve Natural Knowledge_, and inlarge the
+_Empire_ of _Operative Philosophy_; not by an _Abolition_ of the _Old_,
+but by the _Real Effects_ of the _Experimental_; _Collecting_,
+_Examining_, and _Improving_ their scatter'd _Phaenomena_, to establish
+even the _Received Methods_ and _Principles_ of the _Schools_ (as far as
+were consistent with _Truth_, and _matter_ of _Fact_) thought it long
+enough, that the World had been _impos'd_ upon by that _Notional_, and
+_Formal_ way of delivering divers _Systems_ and _Bodies_ of
+_Philosophie_ (falsely so call'd) beyond which there was no more
+_Country_ to discover; which being brought to the _Test_ and _Tryal_,
+vapours all away in _Fume_, and empty _Sound_.
+
+This _Structure_ then being thus _Ruinous_ and _Crazy_; 'tis obvious
+what they were to do; even the same which skilful _Architects_ do every
+day before us; by _pulling down_ the decay'd and sinking Wall to erect a
+_better_, and more _substantial_ in its place: They not only take down
+the _old_, reject the useless and decay'd; but sever such _Materials_ as
+are _solid_, and will serve again; bring _new-ones_ in, prepare and
+frame a _Model_ suitable to so _magnificent_ a _Design_: This _Solomon_
+did in order to the _Building_ of the _Material Temple_; and _this_ is
+here to be pursued in the _Intellectual_: Nay, here was abundance of
+_Rubbish_ to be clear'd, that the _Area_ might be free; and then was the
+_Foundation_ to be deeply searched, the _Materials_ accurately
+_examined_, _squared_, and _adjusted_, before it could be laid: Nor was
+this the _Labour_ of a _Few_; less than a much longer time, more Cost
+and Encouragement than any which the _Society_ has yet met withal, could
+in reason be sufficient effectually to go through so chargeable a Work,
+and highly necessary.
+
+A long time it was they had been surveying the _Decays_, of what was
+ready now to drop in pieces, whatever shew the out-side made with a
+noise of _Elements_ and _Qualities_, _Occult_ and _Evident_; abhorrence
+of _Vacuum_, _Sympathies_, _Antipathies_; _Substantial Forms_, and
+_Prime matter_ courting _Form_; _Epicycles_, _Ptolemaean Hypotheses_,
+magisterial _Definitions_, peremptory _Maximes_, _Speculative_, and
+_Positive Doctrines_, and _alti-sonant Phrases_, with a thousand other
+_precarious_ and unintelligible _Notions_, &c. all which they have been
+turning over, to see if they could find any thing of _sincere_ and
+_useful_ among this _Pedantick Rubbish_, but all in _vain_; here was
+nothing _material_, nothing of moment _Mathematical_, or _Mechanical_,
+and which had not been miserably _sophisticated_, on which to lay the
+stress; nothing in a manner whereby any farther _Progress_ could be
+made, for the _raising_ and _ennobling_ the _Dignity_ of _Mankind_ in
+the _Sublimest Operations_ of the _Rational Faculty_, by _clearing_ the
+_Obscurities_, and _healing_ the _Defects_ of most of the _Phisiological
+Hypotheses_, repugnant, as they hitherto seemed to be, to the
+_Principles_ of real _Knowledge_ and _Experience_.
+
+Now although it neither were their _Hopes_, or in their prospect to
+_consummate_ a _Design_ requiring so _mighty Aids_, (inviron'd as they
+have been with these Prejudices) yet have they not at all _desisted_
+from the _Enterprize_; but rather than so Noble and Illustrious an
+_Undertaking_ should not proceed for want of some generous and
+industrious _Spirits_ to promote the _Work_; they have _themselves_
+submitted to those mean _Imployments_, of _digging_ in the very
+_Quarry_; yea even and of making _Brick_ where there was no _Straw_, but
+what they gleaned, and lay dispersed up and down: Nor did they think
+their Pains yet _ill bestow'd_, if through the assiduous _Labour_, and a
+_Train_ of continual _Experiments_, they might at last furnish, and
+leave solid and uncorrupt _Materials_ to a _succeeding_, and more
+_grateful Age_, for the _building up_ a _Body_ of _real_ and
+_substantial Philosophy_, which should never _succumb_ to _Time_, but
+with the _Ruines_ of _Nature_, and the _World_ it self.
+
+In order to _this_, how many, and almost _innumerable_ have been their
+_Tryals_ and _Experiments_, through the large and ample Field both of
+_Art_ and _Nature_? We call our _Journals_, _Registers_,
+_Correspondence_, and _Transactions_, to witness; and may with modesty
+provoke all our _Systematical Methodists_, _Natural Histories_, and
+_Pretenders_ hitherto extant from the _beginning_ of _Letters_, to this
+_period_, to shew us so _ample_, so _worthy_ and so _useful_ a
+Collection. 'Tis a _Fatality_ and an _Injury_ to be deplored, that those
+who give us _hard words_, will not first vouchsafe _impartially_ to
+_examine_ these _particulars_; since all _Ingenuous Spirits_ could not
+but be abundantly _satisfied_, that this _Illustrious Assembly_ has not
+met so many _Years_ purely for _Speculation_ only; though I take even
+_that_ to be no ignoble _Culture_ of the _Mind_, or time mispent for
+Persons who have so few _Friends_, and slender _Obligations_, to those
+who should _Patronize_ and _Encourage_ them: But they have aimed at
+_greater things_, and _greater things_ produc'd, namely, by
+_Emancipating_, and freeing themselves from the _Tyranny_ of _Opinion_,
+_delusory_ and fallacious shews, to receive nothing upon _Trust_, but
+bring it to the _Lydian Touch_, make it pass the _Fire_, the _Anvil_ and
+the _File_, till it come forth perfectly _repurged_, and of consistence.
+They are not hasty in _concluding_ from a _single_, or _incompetent_
+number of _Experiments_, to pronounce the _Ecstatic Heureca_, and offer
+_Hecatombs_; but, after the most diligent _Scrutiny_, and by degrees,
+and wary _Inductions_ _honestly_ and _faithfully_ made, to _record_ the
+_Truth_, and event of _Tryals_, and transmit them to _Posterity_. They
+resort not immediately to _general Propositions_, upon every _specious
+appearance_; but stay for _Light_, and Information from _Particulars_,
+and make Report _de Facto_, and as _Sense_ informs them. They reject no
+_Sect_ of _Philosophers_, no _Mechanic_ Helps, _except_ no _Persons_ of
+Men; but chearfully embracing _all_, cull out of _all_, and alone
+_retain_ what abides the _Test_; that from a plentiful and well
+furnish'd _Magazine_ of true _Experiments_, they may in time advance to
+solemn and established _Axiomes_, _General Rules_ and _Maximes_; and a
+_Structure_ may indeed lift up its head, such as may stand the shock of
+_Time_, and render a solid accompt of the _Phaenomena_, and _Effects_ of
+_Nature_, the _Aspectable Works of God_, and their _Combinations_; so as
+by _Causes_ and _Effects_, _certain_ and _useful_ Consequences may be
+deduced. Therefore they do not fill their _Papers_ with _Transcripts_
+out of _Rhapsodists_, _Mountebancs_, and Compilers of _Receipts_ and
+_Secrets_, to the loss of Oil and Labour; but as it were, _eviscerating_
+Nature, disclosing the _Ressorts_, and Springs of _Motion_, have
+_collected_ innumerable _Experiments_, _Histories_ and _Discourses_; and
+brought in _Specimens_ for the Improvement of _Astronomy_, _Geography_,
+_Navigation_, _Optics_; all the Parts of _Agriculture_, the _Garden_ and
+the _Forest_; _Anatomy_ of _Plants_, and _Animals_; _Mines_ and _Ores_;
+_Measures_ and _AEquations_ of _Time_ by accurate _Pendulums_, and other
+Motions, _Hydro_- and _Hygrostatics_, divers _Engines_, Powers and
+_Automata_, with innumerable more _luciferous_ particulars, subservient
+to human life, of which Dr. _Glanvil_ has given an ample and ingenious
+_Accompt_ in his learned Essay: And _since_ in the _Posthumous_ Works of
+Dr. _Hooke_, lately publish'd by the most obliging Mr. _Waller_, already
+mention'd.
+
+This is (_Reader_) what they have done; and they are but _part_ of the
+_Materials_ which the _Society_ have hitherto _amassed_, and prepared
+for this great and _Illustrious Work_; not to pass over an infinity of
+_solitary_, and loose _Experiments_ subsidiary to it, gathered at no
+small Pains and Cost: For so have they hitherto born the _Burden and
+Heat of the day alone_; _Sapping_ and _Mining_ to lay the _Foundation_
+deep, and raise a _Superstructure_ to be one day perfected, by the joint
+_Endeavours_ of those who shall in a _kinder_ Age have little else to
+do, but the _putting_ and _cementing_ of the _Parts_ together, which to
+_collect_ and fit, have cost them so much Solicitude and Care. _Solomon_
+indeed built the glorious _Temple_; but 'twas _David_ provided the
+_Materials_: Did Men in those days insolently ask, _What he had done_,
+in all the time of that tedious preparation? I beseech you what
+_Obligation_ has the _R. Society_ to render an _Accompt_ of their
+Proceedings to _any_ who are not of the _Body_, and that carry on the
+_Work_ at their own _expence_ amidst so many Contradictions? It is an
+_Evil Spirit_, and an _Evil Age_, which having sadly _debauch'd_ the
+_Minds_ of Men; seeks with Industry to blast and undermine all
+_Attempts_ and Endeavours that signifie to the Illustration of _Truth_,
+the discovery of _Impostors_, and shake their sandy Foundations.
+
+_Those who come (_says the noble _Verulam__) to enquire after _Knowledge_,
+with a mind to _scorn_, shall be sure to find matter for their _Humor_;
+but none for their _Instruction_: _Would_ Men bring light of _Invention_,
+and not fire-brands of _Contradiction_, Knowledge would infinitely
+increase._ But these are the _Sanballats_ and _Horonites_ who disturb our
+Men upon the Wall{xciii:1}: But, _let us rise up and build_, and be no
+more discourag'd. 'Tis impossible to conceive, how so honest, and worthy a
+_Design_ should have found so few _Promoters_, and cold a welcome in a
+_Nation_ whose _Eyes_ are so wide open: We see how greedily the _French_,
+and other _Strangers_ embrace and cultivate the _Design_: What sumptuous
+_Buildings_, well furnish'd _Observatories_, ample _Appointments_,
+_Salaries_, and _Accommodations_, they have erected to carry on the Work;
+whilst we live _precariously_, and spin the _Web_ out of our own _Bowels_.
+Indeed we have had the Honour to be the _first_ who led the _way_, given
+the _Ferment_, which like a _Train_ has taken _Fire_, and warm'd the
+_Regions_ all about us. _This Glory, doubtless, shall none take from us_:
+But whilst they flourish so _abroad_, we want the _Spirit_ should diffuse
+it here at _home_, and give progress to so hopeful a _beginning_: But as
+we said, the _Enemy_ of _Mankind_ has done us this despite; it is his
+Interest to impeach (in any sort) what e're opposes his _Dominion_; which
+is to lead, and settle Men in _Errors_ as well in _Arts_ and _Natural
+Knowledge_, as in _Religion_; and therefore would be glad, the World
+should still be _groping_ after _both_. 'Tis _he_ that sets the
+_Buffoons_, and empty _Sycophants_, to turn all that's _Great_ and
+_Virtuous_ into _Raillery_ and Derision: 'Tis therefore to encounter
+_these_, that like those resolute _Builders_,{xciii:2} whilst we employ
+one hand in the Work, _we_, with the _other_ are oblig'd to hold our
+_Weapon_, till some bold, and _Gallant Genius_ deliver us, and raise the
+Siege. How gloriously would such a _Benefactor_ shine! What a
+_Constellation_ would he make! How great a _Name_ establish! For mine own
+part (_Religiously_ I _profess_ it) were I not a _Person_, who (whilst I
+stood expecting when others more worthy, and able than my self, should
+have snatch'd the Opportunity of _signalizing_ a Work worthy of
+_Immortality_) had long since given _Hostages_ to _Fortune_, and so put my
+self out of a Capacity of shewing my _Affection_ to a _Design_ so
+glorious; I would not only most chearfully have _contributed_ towards the
+freeing it from the _Straits_ it has so long struggl'd under; but
+_sacrific'd_ all my _Secular Interests_ in their Service: But, as I said,
+this is reserv'd for that Gallant _Hero_ (whoe'er it be) that truly
+weighing the noble and universal _Consequence_ of so high an _Enterprize_,
+shall at last free it of these _Reproaches_; and either set it above the
+reach of _Envy_, or convert it to _Emulation_. This were indeed to consult
+an honest _Fame_, and to _embalm_ the _Memory_ of a _Greater Name_ than
+any has yet appear'd amongst all the _Benefactors_ of the _Disputing
+Sects_: Let it suffice to affirm, that next the _Propagation_ of our most
+_Holy Faith_, and its _Appendants_, (nor can His _Majesty_ or the _Nation_
+build their _Fame_ on a more _lasting_, a more _Glorious Monument_;) The
+Propagation of _Learning_, and _useful Arts_, having always surviv'd the
+_Triumphs_ of the proudest _Conquerors_, and Spillers of humane _Blood_;)
+_Princes_ have been more _Renown'd_ for their Civility to _Arts_ and
+_Letters_, than to all their _Sanguinary Victories_, subduing _Provinces_,
+and making those brutish _Desolations_ in the World, to feed a _salvage_
+and vile _Ambition_. Witness you _Great Alexander_, and you the
+_Ptolemees_, _Caesars_, _Charemain_, _Francis_ the First; the _Cosimo's_,
+_Frederic's_, _Alphonsus's_, and the rest of _Learned Princes_: Since when
+all the _Pomp_ and Noise is ended; They are those _little things_ in
+_black_ (whom now in scorn they term _Philosophers_ and _Fopps_) to whom
+they must be oblig'd, for making their _Names_ outlast the _Pyramids_
+whose _Founders_ are as unknown as the Heads of _Nile_; because they
+either deserv'd no _Memory_ for their _Vertues_, or had none to transmit
+them, or their _Actions_ to _Posterity_.
+
+Is not our R. _Founder_ already _Panegyriz'd_ by all the _Universities_,
+_Academists_, _Learned Persons_, divers _Princes_ _Ambassadors_, and
+_Illustrious_ Men from _abroad_? Witness besides, the many accurate
+_Treatises_ and _Volumes_ of the most _curious_ and _useful_ Subjects,
+_Medicinal_, _Mathematical_, and _Mechanical_, dedicated to His
+_Majesty_ as _Founder_; to its _President_, and to the _Society_, by the
+greatest _Wits_, and most profoundly knowing of the _European_ World,
+celebrating their _Institution_ and _Proceedings_: Witness, the daily
+Submissions and solemn _Appeals_ of the most learned _Strangers_ to its
+_Suffrages_, as to the most able, candid and impartial _Judges_:
+Witness, the _Letters_, and _Correspondencies_ from most parts of the
+_habitable Earth_, _East_, and _West Indies_, and almost from _Pole to
+Pole_; besides what they have receiv'd from the very Mouths of divers
+_Professors_, _Publique Ministers_, great _Travellers_, _Noblemen_, and
+Persons of highest Quality; who have not only frequented the _Assembly_,
+but desir'd to be _Incorporated_ and _ascrib'd_ into their _Number_; so
+little has his _Majesty_, or the _Kingdom_ been diminish'd in their
+Reputation, by the _Royal Society_, to the reproach of our sordid
+_Adversaries_: Never had the _Republique_ of _Letters_ so learned and
+universal a _Correspondence_ as has been procur'd and promoted by this
+_Society_ alone; as not only the casual _Transactions_ of several Years
+(filled with _Instances_ of the most curious and useful _Observations_)
+make appear; but (as I said) the many _Nuncupatory Epistles_ to be seen
+in the Fronts of so many _learned Volumes_: There it is you will find
+CHARLES the II. plac'd among the _Heroes_ and _Demi-Gods_, for his
+_Patrociny_ and _Protection_: There you will see the numerous
+_Congratulations_ of the most learned _Foreigners_, celebrating the
+Happiness of their _Institution_; and that whilst other _Nations_ are
+still _benighted_ under the dusky _Cloud_, such a refulgent Beam should
+give day to this _blessed Isle_: And certainly, it is not to be supposed
+that _all_ these _Learned Persons_, of so many, and divers _Interests_,
+as well as _Countries_, should _speak_, and _write_ thus out of
+_Flattery_, much less of _Ignorance_; being Men of the most refin'd
+_Universal Knowledge_, as well as _Ingenuity_: But I should never _end_,
+were I to pursue this fruitful _Topic_. I have but one word more to add,
+to conciliate the _Favour_ and Esteem of our own _Universities_, to an
+_Assembly_ of _Gentlemen_, who _from them_ acknowledge to have derived
+all their _Abilities_ for these laudable Undertakings; and what above
+all is most _shining_ in them of most _Christian_, _Moral_, and
+otherwise conspicuous, as from the _Source_ and _Fountain_, to which on
+all occasions, they are not only ready to pay the _Tribute_ and
+_Obsequiousness_ of _humble Servants_, but of _Sons_, and dutiful
+_Alumni_. There is nothing verily which they more desire, than a fair
+and mutual _Correspondence_ between so near _Relations_, and that they
+may be perpetually _Flourishing_ and _Fruitful_ in bringing forth (as
+still they do) supplies to _Church_ and _State_ in all its great
+Capacities:{xcvi:1} Finally, that they would regard the _Royal Society_
+as a _Colony_ of their own _planting_, and _augure_ it _Success_. And if
+in these _Labours_, and arduous _Attempts_, several _Inventions_ of
+present use and service to _Mankind_ (either detecting _Errors_,
+illustrating and asserting _Truths_, or propagating _Knowledge_ in
+_natural things_, and the visible _Works_ of _God_) have been
+discover'd, as they _envy_ not the _communicating_ them to the _World_;
+so should they be _wanting_ to the _Society_, and to the _Honour_ of
+divers _Learned_ and _Ingenious Persons_, (who are the _Soul_ and _Body_
+of it) not to vindicate them from the ambitious _Plagiary_, the Insults
+of _Scoffers_ and injurious Men: Certainly, Persons of right _Noble_ and
+subacted _Principles_, that were _Lovers_ of their _Country_, should be
+otherwise affected; and rather strive to _encourage_, and promote
+Endeavours tending to so _generous_ a _Design_, than decry it;
+especially, when it costs them nothing but their _Civility_ to so many
+_obliging Persons_, though they should hitherto have entertain'd them
+but with some innocent _Diversions_. To conclude, we _envy_ none their
+_Dues_; nay we gratefully _acknowledge_ any _Light_ which we receive
+either from _Home_, or from _Abroad_: We _celebrate_ and _record_ their
+_Names_ amongst our _Benefactors_; recommend them to the _Publique_; and
+what we thus _freely give_, we hope as _freely_ to _receive_.
+
+Thus have I endeavour'd to _Vindicate_ the _Royal Society_ from some
+_Aspersions_ and _Incroachments_ it hitherto has suffer'd; and shew'd
+under what _Weights_ and _Pressure_ this _Palm_ does still emerge: And
+if for all this I fall short of my _Attempt_, I shall yet have this
+satisfaction, That tho I derive no _Glory_ from my own _Abilities_
+(sensible of my great _Defects_) I shall yet _deserve_ their _pardon_
+for my _Zeal_ to its _Prosperity_.
+
+  _Epictetus_, +kth+.
+
+  +Philosophias epithymeis; paraskeuazou autothen+, &c.
+
+Wouldst thou be a _Philosopher_; Prepare thy self for _Scoffs_: What,
+you are setting up for a _Virtuoso_ now? Why so proud I pray? Well, be
+not thou proud for all this; But so persist in what seems _best_ and
+_laudable_; as if _God_ himself had plac'd thee there; and _remember_,
+that so long as thou _remain'st_ in that _State_ and _Resolution_, thy
+_Reproachers_ will in time _admire_ thee: But if once through
+_Inconstancy_ thou _give out_ & _flinch_, +diploun proslepse
+katagelota+, Thou _deservest_ to be doubly _laugh'd_ at.
+
+  Lord _Verulam_, Instaur. Scient.
+
+Some Men (like _Lucian_ in _Religion_) seek by their _Wit_, to
+_traduce_ and _expose useful things_; because to arrive at them, they
+converse with _mean Experiments_: But those who _despise_ to be
+_employ'd_ in _ordinary_ and _common matters_, never arrive to _solid
+Perfection_ in _Experimental Knowledge_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The changes and _Alterations_ in the several _Chapters_ and Parts
+throughout this _Discourse_, with the _Additions_ and _Improvements_,
+have often oblig'd me to alter the _Method_, and indeed to make it
+almost a _New Work_.
+
+  _J. Evelyn._
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{lxxviii:1} See _Petrarch de Remed. utriusque fortunae L. 1. Dial. 57_.
+
+{lxxix:1} _Vide & Curtium_, l. 7. &c.
+
+{lxxx:1} _De R. R._
+
+{lxxx:2} _In agris erant tunc Senatores._ Cic. _de_ Senect.
+
+{lxxx:3} _Silvae sunt Consule dignae. See this of the _Poet_
+Interpreted, _Scaliger l. 2. c. 1._ Poet. _P. Nennius, Sueton. Jul._ in
+Lipsium. _Tacit, iv. Annal. 27._ concerning the _Quaestor's_ Office._
+
+{lxxxii:1} _Palissy, le Moyen de devenir Riche._
+
+{lxxxiii:1} _Praefat ad P. Silvinum_; which I earnestly recommend to the
+serious perusal of our _Gentry_. _Et mihi ad sapientis vitam proxime
+videtur accedere._ Cic. _de Senectute_.
+
+{lxxxv:1} _Ne silvae quidem, horridiorque naturae facies medicinis
+carent, sacra illa parente rerum omnium, nusquam non remedia disponente
+homini ut Medicina, fieret etiam solitudo ipsa, &c. Hinc nata Medicina,
+&c. Haec sola naturae placuerat esse remedia parata vulgo, inventu
+facilia, ac sine impendio, ex quibus vivimus_, &c. Plin. l. 24. c. 1.
+
+{lxxxvii:1} Consult _Hist. Roy. Soc._ and their _Registers_.
+
+The Laws of _Motion_, and the Geometrical streightning of _Curve Lines_
+were first found out by Sir _Christopher Wren_ and Mr. _Thomas Neile_.
+
+The _equated isocrone Motion_ of the weight of a _Circular Pendulum_ in
+a _Paraboloid_, for the regulating of _Clocks_; and the improving
+_Pocket-Watches_ by _Springs_ applied to the _Ballance_, were first
+invented and demonstrated to this Society by Dr. _Hooke_; together with
+all those _New_ and useful _Instruments_, _Contrivances_ and
+_Experiments_, _Mathematical_ and _Physical_, publish'd in his
+_Posthumous Works_ by the most accomplish'd Mr. _Waller_, _Secretary_ to
+the _R. Society_. And since those the incomparably learned Sir _Isaac
+Newton_, now _President_ of the _Royal Society_; Mr. _Haly_, the Worthy
+_Professor_ of _Geometry_ in the _University_ of _Oxford_; Dr. _Grew_,
+and several more, whose Works and useful Inventions sufficiently
+celebrate their Merits: I did mention the _Barometer_, to which might be
+added the prodigious effects of the _Speculum Ustorium_, surpassing what
+the _French_ pretend to, as confidently, or rather _audaciously_, they
+do, and to other admirable Inventions, injuriously _arrogated_ by
+_Strangers_, tho' due of right to _Englishmen_, and Members of this
+Society; but 'tis not the business of this Preface to enumerate all,
+tho' 'twas necessary to touch on some Instances.
+
+{xciii:1} Neh. 2. 19.
+
+{xciii:2} Neh. 4. 17.
+
+{xcvi:1} _Since this _Epistle_ was first written and publish'd the
+_University of Oxford_ have instituted, and erected a _Society_ for the
+promoting of _Natural_ and _Experimental Knowledge_, in consort with the
+_R. Society_, with which they keep a mutual Correspondence: This
+mention, for that some _Malevolents_ had so far endeavour'd to possess
+divers Members of the _University_; as if the _Society_ design'd nothing
+less than the undermining of that, and other illustrious _Academies_,
+and which indeed so far prevail'd, as to breed a real Jealousy for some
+considerable time: But as this was never in the Thoughts of the
+_Society_ (which had ever the _Universities_ in greatest Veneration) so
+the Innocency and Usefulness of its Institution has at length disabus'd
+them, vindicated their Proceedings, dissipated all Surmises, and, in
+fine, produced an ingenious, friendly and candid Union and
+Correspondence between them._
+
+
+
+
+ADVERTISEMENT.
+
+
+That I have frequently inserted divers _Historical_ and other Passages,
+_apposite_, agreeable to the _Subject_ (abstaining from a number more
+which I might have added) let it be _remember'd_ that I did not
+altogether compile this _Work_ for the sake of our ordinary _Rustics_,
+(meer _Foresters_ and _Wood-men_) but for the more _Ingenious_; the
+Benefit, and Diversion of _Gentlemen_, and Persons of _Quality_, who
+often refresh themselves in these agreeable _Toils_ of _Planting_, and
+the _Garden_: For the rest, I may perhaps in some places have made use
+of (here and there) a _Word_ not as yet so familiar to every _Reader_;
+but _none_, that I know of, which are not sufficiently _explained_ by
+the _Context_ and Discourse. That this may yet be no _prejudice_ to the
+_meaner Capacities_, let them _read_ for
+
+  _Ablaqueation_, laying bare the _Roots_.
+  _Amputation_, cutting quite off.
+  _Arborator_, Pruner, or one that has care of the _Trees_.
+  _Avenue_, the principal _Walk_ to the _Front_ of the _House_ or _Seat_.
+  _Bulbs_, round or _Onion-shap'd_ Roots.
+  _Calcine_, burn to Ashes.
+  _Compost_, Dung.
+  _Conservatory_, Green-house to keep _choice Plants_, &c. in.
+  _Contr'espaliere_, a Palisade or _Pole-hedge_.
+  _Coronary_ Garden, _Flower_-Garden.
+  _Culinary_, belonging to the _Kitchin_, _Roots_, _Salading_, &c.
+  _Culture_, Dressing.
+  _Decorticate_, to strip off the _Bark_.
+  _Emuscation_, cleansing it of the _Moss_.
+  _Esculent_, Roots, Salads, &c. fit to eat.
+  _Espalieres_, Wall-fruit Trees.
+  _Exotics_, outlandish, rare and choice.
+  _Fermentation_, working.
+  _Fibrous_, stringy.
+  _Frondation_, stripping of _Leaves_, and _Boughs_.
+  _Heterogeneous_, repugnant.
+  _Homogeneous_, agreeable.
+  _Hyemation_, protection in _Winter_.
+  _Ichnography_, Ground-plot.
+  _Inoculation_, budding.
+  _Insition_, Graffing.
+  _Insolation_, exposing to the _Sun_.
+  _Interlucation_, thinning and disbranching of a Wood.
+  _Irrigation_, Watering.
+  _Laboratory_, Still-house.
+  _Letation_, Dung.
+  _Lixivium_, Lee.
+  _Mural_, belonging to the Wall.
+  _Olitory_, _Acetary_, _Salads_, &c. belonging to the _Kitchin-Garden_.
+  _Palisade_, Pole-hedge.
+  _Parterre_, Flower-Garden, or _Knots_.
+  _Perennial_, continuing all the year.
+  _Quincunx_, Trees set like the _Cinque-point_ of a _Dy_.
+  _Rectifie_, re-distil.
+  _Seminary_, Nursery.
+  _Stercoration_, Dunging.
+  S. S. S. _Stratum super Stratum_, one bed, or layer upon another.
+  _Tonsile_, that which may be shorn, or clip'd.
+  _Topiary_-works, the _clipping_, _cutting_ and _forming_ of _Hedges_, &c.
+    into _Figures_ and Works.
+  _Vernal_, belonging to the _Spring_, &c. The rest are _obvious_.
+
+
+
+
+BOOKS Published by the _AUTHOR_ of this _Discourse_
+
+
+1. The _French Gard'ner_, III. _Edition_, _Twelves_, with Mr. _Rose_'s
+  Vineyard.
+
+2. _Fumi-fugium_: Or, A _Prophetic Invective_ against the _Smoke_ of
+  _London_. _Quarto._
+
+3. _Silva_: Or, A _Discourse of Forest-Trees_, &c. the IVth _Edition_,
+  very much _improv'd_. _Folio._
+
+4. _Kalendarium Hortense_, both in _Folio_ and _Octavo_. The Xth
+  _Edition_, much _augmented_.
+
+5. _Sculptura_: Or, The _History_ of _Chalcography_ and _Engraving_ in
+  _Copper_, the _Original_ and _Progress_ of that _Art_, &c. _Octavo._
+
+6. The _Parallel_ of _Architecture_, being an Account of _Ten_ famous
+  _Architects_, with a _Discourse_ of the _Terms_, and a _Treatise_ of
+  _Statues_. _Folio._ 2d _Edition_.
+
+7. The _Idea_ of the _Perfecting_ of _Painting_. _Octavo._
+
+8. _Navigation_ and _Commerce_, their _Original_ and _Progress_.
+  _Octavo._
+
+9. _Publick Employment_ and an _Active Life_, prefer'd to _Solitude_ and
+  its _Appanages_, &c. _Octavo._
+
+10. _Terra_: Or, A _Philosophical_ Discourse of _Earth_, the IIId
+  _Edition_. _Folio_ and _Octavo_.
+
+11. _Numismata_, a _Discourse_ of _Medals_; to which is added, A
+  _Digression_ concerning _Physiognomy_. _Folio._
+
+12. _Acetaria_: Or, A Discourse of _Sallets_. 2d _Edition_.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_Naming_ the last Discourse (save one) I take this Opportunity to acquit
+my self of some _Omissions_ and _Mistakes_, left out in the _Errata_ of
+_Numismata_; but, upon discovery, immediately after, notify'd, and
+reform'd in the next _Philosophical Transactions_ of that Month.
+
+
+
+
+    Amico carissimo _Johanni Evelyno_,
+                Armigero,
+
+    e Societate Regali Londini, J. Beale, _S.P.D._ _In_ Silvam.
+
+
+    Fare age quid causae est quod tu _Silvestria_ pangis,
+      Inter _Silvanos_, capripedesque _Deos_?
+    Inter _Hamadryadas_ laetus, _Dryadasque_ pudicas,
+      Cum tua _Cyrrhaeis_ sit _Chelys_ apta modis!
+    Scilicet hoc cecinit numerosus _Horatius_ olim,
+      _Scriptorum Silvam_ quod _Chorus Omnis amat_.
+    Est locus ille Sacer _Musis, & Apolline_ dignus,
+      Prima dedit summo _Templa_ sacranda _Jovi_.
+    Hinc quoque nunc Pontem _Pontus_ non respuit ingens,
+      Stringitur _Oceanus_, corripiturque Salum.
+    Hinc novus _Hesperiis_ emersit mundus in oris,{cii:1}
+      Effuditque auri flumina larga probi.
+    Hinc exundavit distento _Copia cornu_,
+      Qualem & _Amalthaeae_ non habuere sinus.
+    _Silva_ tibi curae est, grata & _Pomona_ refundit
+      Auriferum, roseum, purpureumque _nemus_.
+    Illa famemque sitimque abigens expirat odores,
+      Quales nec _Medus_, nec tibi mittit _Arabs_.
+    Ambrosiam praebent modo cocta _Cydonia_. Tantum
+      Comprime, Nectareo _Poma_ liquore fluunt.
+    Progredere, _O Saecli Cultor_ memorande futuri,
+      Felix _Horticolam_ sic imitere Deum.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{cii:1} Gen. 1. _c._ 2.
+
+
+
+
+    Nobilissimo Viro _Johanni Evelyno_,
+    Regalis _Soc. Socio dignissimo_.
+
+
+    Ausus laudato qui quondam reddere versu,
+    AEternum & tentare melos, conamine magno
+    _Lucreti_ nomenque suum donaverat aevo:
+    Ille leves atomos audaci pangere musa
+    Aggreditur, variis & semina caeca figuris,
+    Naturaeque vias: non quae Schola garrula jactat,
+    Non quae rixanti fert barbara turba _Lyaeo_:
+    Ingentes animi sensus, & pondera rerum,
+    Grandior expressit Genius, nec scripta minora
+    _Ev'linum_ decuisse solent.
+
+    Tuque per obscuros (victor _Boylaee_) recessus,
+    Naturae meditaris opus, qua luce colores{ciii:1}
+    Percipimus, quali magnus ferit organa motu
+    _Cartesius_, quali volitant primordia plexu
+    Ex atomis, _Gassende_, tuis; simulacraque rerum
+    Diffugiunt tacito vastum per inane meatu:
+    Mutato varios mentitur lana colores
+    Lumine; dum tales ardens habet ipse figuras
+    Purpura, Sidonioque aliae tinxere veneno:
+    Materiam assiduo variatam, ut _Protea_, motu
+    Concipis, hinc formae patuit nascentis origo,
+    Hinc hominum species, & vasti machina caeli:{ciii:2}
+    Ipse creare deus, solusque ostendere mundum
+    _Boylaeus_ potuit, sed nunc favet aemula virtus,
+    (Magne _Eveline_) tibi, & generosos excitat ignes:
+    Pergite, _Scipiadae duo_, qui vet mille _Marones_
+    Obruitis, longo & meriti lassatis honore.
+
+    Tu vero dilecte nimis! qui stemmate ab alto
+    Patricios deducis avos, cerasque parentum
+    _Wottonicae_{civ:1} de stirpe domus; virtutibus aequas
+    Nunc generis monumenta tui, post taedia ponti
+    Innumerasque errore vias, quid _Sequana_ fallax,
+    Hostilis quae _Rhenus_ agit, quae _Tibris_, & _Ister_,
+    Nota tibi: triplici quid perfida _Roma_ corona
+    Gessit, & _Adriaca Venetus_ deliberat arce,
+    Qualiaque _Odrysias_ vexarunt praelia lunas.
+    Hic qui naturae interpres & sedulus artis
+    Cultor, qui mores hominum cognovit, & urbes:
+    Dum _Phoebo_ comes ire parat, mentemque capacem
+    Vidit uterque polus, nec _Grajum_ cana vetustas
+    Hunc latuit; veterum nunc prisca numismata regum
+    Eruit, & _Latias_ per mystica templa ruinas:
+    AEstimat ille forum, & vasti fundamina Circi,
+    Cumque ruinoso _Capitolia_ prisca theatro,
+    Et dominos colles altaeque palatia _Romae_:
+    Regales notat inde domos, ut mole superba
+    Surgat apex, molles quae tecta imitantur _Ionas_,{civ:2}
+    Qualia _Romulea_, _Gothica_ quae marmora dextra,
+    Quicquid _Tuscus_ habet, mira panduntur ab arte.
+    O famae patriaeque sacer! vel diruta chartis
+    Vivet _Roma_ tuis; te vindice, laeta _Corinthus_
+    Stabit adhuc, magno nequiquam invisa _Metello_.
+
+    Nunc quoque _ruris_ opes dulcesque ante omnia curas
+    Pandis ovans; tristes maneat quae cura _Decembres_;
+    _Pleiades_ haec _Hyadesque_ jubent, haec laeta _Bootes_
+    Semina mandat humi, atque ardenti haec _Sirius_ agro
+    Coepit ut aestiva segetes torrere favilla,
+    Hoc _Maii_ vernantis opus, dum florea serta
+    Invitant Dominas ruris, dum vere tepenti
+    Ridet ager, renovatque suos _Narcissus_ amores.
+
+    Haud aliter victrix divinam _AEneida_ vates
+    Lusit opus, simul & gracili modulatus avena,
+    Fata decent majora tuos, _Eveline_, triumphos,
+    AEternum renovatur honos, te nulla vetustas
+    Obruet, atque tua servanda volumina cedro
+    Durent, & meritam cingat tibi laurea frontem
+    Qui vitam _Silvis_ donasti & _Floribus aevum_.
+
+    R. Bohun.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{ciii:1} _Libro de coloribus._
+
+{ciii:2} _De origine formarum._
+
+{civ:1} _De Wotton in agro Surriensi._
+
+{civ:2} _Consule librum Auctoris de Architectura._
+
+
+
+
+    +EIS TEN TOU PATROS DENDROLOGIAN.+
+
+
+    +Hymneso phronimoio patros meleessin epainous,
+    hymneso epeessin aristeuonta georgon;
+    ouranien tanaes areten dryos autos egrapsen,
+    kai potapon geneen dendron kata daskion hylen.
+    athanaton kydistos ee nephelegereta Zeus,
+    eschen de dendroio philais prapidessin eeldor,
+    phyllois t' ambrosiois thaleras dryos estephanoto;
+    Angliakon hos aristos ee theoeikelos aner,
+    historien dendron telesen phresi kydalimoisi,
+    hylogenes, kepouros hypeirochos, hos meg' oneiar
+    andrasin essomenois kata gaien poulyboteiran,
+    neusi te pontoporoisi barygdoupoio thalasses.+
+
+    _Jo. Evelyn_, Fil.
+
+
+
+
+THE GARDEN.
+
+_To _J. Evelyn,_ Esquire._
+
+
+I never had any other Desire so strong, and so like to Covetousness as
+that one which I have had always, That I might be Master at last of a
+small House and large Garden, with very moderate Conveniencies joined to
+them, and there dedicate the remainder of my Life only to the Culture of
+them, and study of Nature,
+
+    And there (with no Design beyond my Wall) whole and entire to lie,
+    In no unactive Ease, and no unglorious Poverty;
+
+Or as _Virgil_ has said, shorter and better for me, that I might there
+_Studiis florere ignobilis oti_ (though I could wish that he had rather
+said, _Nobilis otii_, when he spoke of his own:) But several accidents
+of my ill Fortune have disappointed me hitherto, and do still of that
+Felicity; for though I have made the first and hardest step to it, by
+abandoning all Ambitions and Hopes in this World, and by retiring from
+the noise of all Business and almost Company; yet I stick still in the
+Inn of a hired House and Garden, among Weeds and Rubbish; and without
+that pleasantest Work of Human Industry, the Improvement of something
+which we call (not very properly, but yet we call) our own. I am gone
+out from _Sodom_, but I am not yet arrived at my little _Zoar_: _O let
+me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my Soul shall live._ I
+do not look back yet: but I have been forced to stop, and make too many
+halts. You may wonder, Sir, (for this seems a little too extravagant and
+Pindarical for _Prose_) what I mean by all this Preface; it is to let
+you know, That though I have mist, like a Chymist, my great End, yet I
+account my Affections and Endeavours well rewarded by something that I
+have met with by the bye; which is, that they have procur'd to me some
+part in your Kindness and esteem; and thereby the honour of having my
+Name so advantagiously recommended to Posterity, by the _Epistle_ you
+are pleased to prefix to the _most useful Book_ that has been written in
+that kind, and which is to last as long as Months and Years.
+
+Among many other _Arts_ and _Excellencies_ which you enjoy, I am glad to
+find this Favourite of mine the most predominant, That you choose this
+for your Wife, though you have hundreds of other Arts for your
+Concubines; though you know them, and beget Sons upon them all, (to
+which you are rich enough to allow great Legacies) yet the issue of this
+seems to be design'd by you to the main of the Estate; you have taken
+most pleasure in it, and bestow'd most Charges upon its Education; and I
+doubt not to see that Book, which you are pleased to promise to the
+World, and of which you have given us a large earnest in your Calendar,
+as accomplish'd, as any thing can be expected from an _Extraordinary
+Application_, and no ordinary Expences, and a long Experience. I know no
+body that possesses more private Happiness than you do in your Garden;
+and yet no Man who makes his Happiness more publick, by a free
+communication of the Art and Knowledge of it to others. All that I my
+self am able yet to do, is only to recommend to Mankind the search of
+that Felicity, which you instruct them how to find and to enjoy.
+
+                           1.
+
+            Happy art thou whom God does bless
+        With the full choice of thine own Happiness;
+            And happier yet, because thou'rt blest
+            With Prudence how to choose the best:
+        In Books and Gardens thou hast plac'd aright
+            (Things well which thou dost understand,
+        And both dost make with thy laborious hand)
+            Thy noble innocent delight:
+    And in thy virtuous Wife, where thou again dost meet
+            Both Pleasures more refin'd and sweet:
+            The fairest Garden in her Looks,
+            And in her Mind the wisest Books.
+        Oh! who would change these soft, yet solid Joys,
+            For empty Shows and senseless Noise;
+            And all which rank Ambition breeds,
+    Which seem such beauteous Flowers, and are such poisonous Weeds?
+
+                          2.
+
+        When God did Man to his own Likeness make,
+        As much as Clay, though of the purest kind,
+            By the great Potters Art refin'd,
+            Could the Divine Impression take:
+            He thought it fit to place him, where
+            A kind of Heav'n too did appear,
+        As far as Earth could such a likeness bear:
+            That Man no Happiness might want,
+        Which Earth to her first Master could afford;
+            He did a Garden for him plant
+        By the quick hand of his Omnipotent Word.
+        As the chief Help and Joy of Humane Life,
+    He gave him the first Gift; first, ev'n before a Wife.
+
+                          3.
+
+        For God, the universal Architect,
+            'T had been as easie to erect
+        A Louvre, or Escurial, or a Tower,
+        That might with Heav'n communication hold
+        As _Babel_ vainly thought to do of old:
+            He wanted not the skill or power,
+            In the World's Fabrick those were shown,
+        And the Materials were all his own.
+        But well he knew what place would best agree
+        With Innocence, and with Felicity:
+        And we elsewhere still seek for them in vain,
+        If any part of either yet remain;
+        If any part of either we expect,
+        This may our judgement in the search direct;
+    God the first Garden made, and the first City, _Cain_.
+
+                          4.
+
+        O blessed Shades! O gentle cool retreat
+            From all th' immoderate Heat,
+        In which the frantick World does burn and sweat!
+        This does the Lion Star, Ambitions rage;
+        This Avarice, the Dog-Stars Thirst asswage;
+        Every where else their fatal Power we see,
+        They make and rule Man's wretched Destiny:
+            They neither set, nor disappear,
+            But tyrannize o'er all the Year;
+        Whil'st we ne'er feel their Flame or Influence here.
+            The Birds that dance from Bough to Bough,
+            And sing above in every Tree,
+            Are not from Fears and Cares more free,
+            Than we who lie, or walk below,
+            And should by right be Singers too.
+        What Princes Quire of Musick can excel
+            That which within this Shade does dwell?
+            To which we nothing pay or give,
+            They like all other Poets live,
+        Without Reward, or Thanks for their obliging Pains;
+            'Tis well if they become not Prey:
+        The Whistling Winds add their less artful Strains,
+        And a grave Base the murmuring Fountains play;
+        Nature does all this Harmony bestow,
+            But to our Plants, Arts, Musick too,
+        The Pipe, Theorbo, and Guitar we owe;
+        The Lute it self, which once was Green and Mute:
+            When _Orpheus_ struck th' inspired Lute,
+            The Trees danc'd round, and understood
+            By Sympathy the Voice of Wood.
+
+                          5.
+
+        These are the Spells that to kind Sleep invite,
+        And nothing does within resistance make,
+            Which yet we moderately take;
+            Who wou'd not choose to be awake,
+        While he's incompass'd round with such delight,
+        To th' Ear, the Nose, the Touch, the Taste, and Sight?
+        When _Venus_ wou'd her dear _Ascanius_ keep
+        A Pris'ner in the downy Bands of Sleep,
+        She od'rous Herbs and Flowers beneath him spread
+            As the most soft and sweetest Bed;
+        Not her own Lap would more have charm'd his Head.
+            Who, that has Reason, and his Smell,
+        Would not among Roses and Jasmin dwell,
+            Rather than all his Spirits choak
+        With Exhalations of Dirt and Smoak?
+            And all th' uncleanness which does drown
+        In pestilential Clouds a pop'lous Town?
+        The Earth it self breaths better Perfumes here,
+        Than all the Female Men or Women there,
+            Not without cause about them bear.
+
+                          6.
+
+        When _Epicurus_ to the World had taught,
+            That Pleasure was the Chiefest Good,
+    (And was perhaps i'th' right, if rightly understood)
+            His Life he to his Doctrine brought,
+    And in a Gardens Shade that Sovereign Pleasure sought.
+        Whoever a true Epicure would be,
+        May there find cheap and virtuous Luxury.
+        _Vitellius_ his Table, which did hold
+        As many Creatures as the Ark of old:
+        That Fiscal Table, to which every day
+        All Countries did a constant Tribute pay,
+        Could nothing more delicious afford,
+            Than Natures Liberality,
+        Helpt with a little Art and Industry,
+            Allows the meanest Gard'ners board.
+        The wanton Taste no Fish or Fowl can choose,
+        For which the Grape or Melon she would loose,
+        Though all th' Inhabitants of Sea and Air
+        Be listed in the Gluttons Bill of Fare;
+            Yet still the Fruits of Earth we see
+    Plac'd the third Story high in all her Luxury.
+
+                          7.
+
+        But with no Sense the Garden does comply;
+        None courts or flatters, as it does the Eye:
+        When the great _Hebrew_ King did almost strain
+        The wond'rous Treasures of his Wealth and Brain,
+        His Royal Southern Guest to entertain;
+            Though she on Silver Floors did tread,
+        With bright _Assyrian_ Carpets on them spread,
+            To hide the Metals Poverty:
+            Though she look'd up to Roofs of Gold,
+            And nought around her could behold
+            But Silk and rich Embroidery,
+            And _Babylonian_ Tapistry,
+            And wealthy _Hiram's_ Princely Dy:
+        Though _Ophirs_ Starry Stones met every where her Eye;
+        Though she her self and her gay Host were drest
+        With all the shining Glories of the East;
+        When lavish Art her costly work had done,
+        The honour and the Prize of Bravery
+        Was by the Garden from the Palace won;
+        And every Rose and Lilly there did stand
+            Better attir'd by Natures hand:
+        The case thus judg'd against the King we see,
+    By one that would not be so Rich, though Wiser far than he.
+
+                          8.
+
+        Nor does this happy place only dispense
+        Such various Pleasures to the Sense,
+            Here Health it self does live,
+    That Salt of Life which does to all a relish give,
+        Its standing Pleasure, and intrinsick Wealth,
+    The Bodies Virtue, and the Souls good Fortune, Health.
+        The Tree of Life, when it in _Eden_ stood,
+        Did its Immortal Head to Heaven rear;
+        It lasted a tall Cedar till the Flood;
+        Now a small thorny Shrub it does appear;
+            Nor will it thrive too every where:
+            It always here is freshest seen;
+            'Tis only here an Ever-green.
+            If through the strong and beauteous Fence
+            Of Temperance and Innocence,
+        And wholesome Labours, and a quiet Mind,
+            Diseases Passage find,
+            They must not think here to assail
+        A Land unarmed, or without a Guard;
+        They must fight for it, and dispute it hard,
+            Before they can prevail:
+            Scarce any Plant is growing here
+        Which against Death some Weapon does not bear.
+            Let Cities boast, that they provide
+            For Life the Ornaments of Pride;
+            But 'tis the Country and the Field,
+            That furnish it with Staff and Shield.
+
+                          9.
+
+        Where does the Wisdom and the Power Divine
+        In a more bright and sweet Reflection shine?
+        Where do we finer Strokes and Colours see
+        Of the Creator's real Poetry,
+            Than when we with attention look
+        Upon the third days Volume of the Book?
+        If we could open and intend our Eye,
+            We all like _Moses_ should espy
+        Ev'n in a Bush the radiant Deity.
+        But we despise these his inferior ways,
+        (Though no less full of Miracle and Praise)
+            Upon the Flowers of Heaven we gaze;
+        The Stars of Earth no wonder in us raise,
+            Though these perhaps do more than they,
+            The Life of Mankind sway.
+        Although no part of mighty Nature be
+        More stor'd with Beauty, Power, and Mystery;
+        Yet to encourage human Industry,
+        God has so ordered, that no other Part
+        Such Space, and such Dominion leaves for Art.
+
+                         10.
+
+        We no where Art do so triumphant see,
+            As when it Grafts or Buds the Tree;
+        In other things we count it to excel,
+        If it a Docile Scholar can appear
+        To Nature, and but imitate her well;
+        It over-rules, and is her Master here.
+        It imitates her Makers Power Divine,
+    And changes her sometimes, and sometimes does refine:
+        It does, like Grace, the fallen Tree restore
+        To its blest State of Paradise before:
+        Who would not joy to see his conquering hand
+        O'er all the vegetable World command?
+        And the wild Giants of the Wood receive
+              What Law he's pleas'd to give?
+            He bids th' ill-natur'd Crab produce
+            The gentle Apples Winy Juice;
+            The golden Fruit that worthy is
+            Of _Galetea_'s purple Kiss;
+            He does the savage Hawthorn teach
+            To bear the Medlar and the Pear,
+            He bids the rustick Plumb to rear
+            A noble Trunk, and be a Peach,
+            Ev'n _Daphnes_ Coyness he does mock,
+            And weds the Cherry to her stock,
+            Though she refus'd _Apollo_'s suit;
+            Ev'n she, that chast and Virgin-tree
+            Now wonders at her self, to see
+        That she's a Mother made, and blushes in her fruit.
+
+                         11.
+
+        Methinks I see Great _Diocletian_ walk
+        In the _Salonian_ Gardens noble Shade,
+        Which by his own Imperial hands was made:
+        I see him smile, methinks, as he does talk
+        With the Ambassadors, who come in vain
+            T' entice him to a Throne again:
+        If I, my Friends (said he) should to you show
+        All the Delights, which in these Gardens grow;
+        'Tis likelier much, that you should with me stay,
+        Than 'tis that you should carry me away:
+        And trust me not, my Friends, if every day,
+            I walk not here with more delight,
+        Than ever after the most happy fight,
+        In Triumph to the Capitol I rod,
+    To thank the gods, and to be thought my self almost a god.
+
+  _Chertsea, Aug 16, 1666._
+  _Abraham Cowley._
+
+
+
+
+
+DENDROLOGIA
+
+THE FIRST BOOK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+_Of the Earth, Soil, Seed, Air, and Water._
+
+
+1. It is not my intention here to speak of earth, as one of the common
+reputed elements; of which I have long since publish'd an ample account,
+in an express Treatise (annexed to this volume,) which I desire my
+reader to peruse; since it might well commute for the total omission of
+this chapter, did not method seem to require something briefly to be
+said: Which first, as to that of earth, we shall need at present to
+penetrate no deeper into her bosom, than after paring of the turfe,
+scarrifiying the upper-mould, and digging convenient pits and trenches,
+not far from the natural surface, without disturbing the several strata
+and remoter layers, whether of clay, chalk, gravel, sand, or other
+successive layers, and concrets fossil, (tho' all of them useful
+sometimes, and agreeable to our foresters;) tho' few of them what one
+would chuse before the under-turfe, black, brown, gray, and light, and
+breaking into short clods, and without any disagreeable scent, and with
+some mixture of marle or loame, but not clammy; of which I have
+particularly spoken in that Treatise.
+
+2. In the mean time, this of the soil, (which I think is a more proper
+term for composts) or mould rather, being of greater importance for the
+raising, planting, and propagation of trees in general, must at no hand
+be neglected, and is therefore on all occasions mentioned in almost
+every chapter of our ensuing discourse; I shall therefore not need to
+assign it any part, when I have affirm'd in general, that most
+timber-trees grow and prosper well in any tolerable land which will
+produce corn or rye, and which is not in excess stony; in which
+nevertheless there are some trees delight; or altogether clay, which
+few, or none do naturally affect; and yet the oak is seen to prosper in
+it, for its toughness preferr'd before any other by many workmen, though
+of all soils the cow-pasture doth certainly exceed, be it for what
+purpose soever of planting wood. Rather therefore we should take notice
+how many great wits and ingenious persons, who have leisure and faculty,
+are in pain for improvements of their heaths and barren Hills, cold and
+starving places, which causes them to be neglected and despair'd of;
+whilst they flatter their hopes and vain expectations with fructifying
+liquors, chymical menstruums, and such vast conceptions; in the mean
+time that one may shew them as heathy and hopeless grounds, and barren
+hills as any in England, that do now bear, or lately have born woods,
+groves, and copses, which yield the owners more wealth, than the richest
+and most opulent wheat-lands: and if it be objected that 'tis so long a
+day before these plantations can afford that gain; the Brabant
+Nurseries, and divers home-plantations of industrious persons are
+sufficient to convince the gain-sayer. And when by this husbandry a few
+acorns shall have peopl'd the neighbouring regions with young stocks
+and trees; the residue will become groves and copses of infinite delight
+and satisfaction to the planters. Besides, we daily see what course
+lands will bear these stocks (suppose them oaks, wall-nuts, chess-nuts,
+pines, firr, ash, wild-pears, crabs, &c.) and some of them (as for
+instance the pear and the firr or pine) strike their roots through the
+roughest and most impenetrable rocks and clefts of stone it self; and
+others require not any rich or pinguid, but very moderate soil;
+especially, if committed to it in seeds, which allies them to their
+mother and nurse without renitency or regret: And then considering what
+assistances a little care in easing and stirring of the ground about
+them for a few years does afford them: What cannot a strong plow, a
+winter mellowing, and summer heats, incorporated with the pregnant turf,
+or a slight assistance of lime, loam, sand, rotten compost, discreetly
+mixed (as the case may require) perform even in the most unnatural and
+obstinate soil? And in such places where anciently woods have grown, but
+are now unkind to them, the fault is to be reformed by this care; and
+chiefly, by a sedulous extirpation of the old remainders of roots, and
+latent stumps, which by their mustiness, and other pernicious qualities,
+sowre the ground, and poyson the conception; and herewith let me put in
+this note, that even an over-rich, and pinguid composition, is by no
+means the proper bed either for seminary or nursery, whilst even the
+natural soil it self does frequently discover and point best to the
+particular species, though some are for all places alike: Nor should the
+earth be yet perpetually crop'd with the same, or other seeds, without
+due repose, but lie some time fallow to receive the influence of
+heaven, according to good husbandry. But I shall say no more of these
+particulars at this time, because the rest is sprinkl'd over this whole
+work in their due places; wherefore we hasten to the following title;
+namely, the choice and ordering of the seeds.
+
+3. Chuse your seed of that which is perfectly mature, ponderous and
+sound; commonly that which is easily shaken from the boughs, or gathered
+about November, immediately upon its spontaneous fall, or taken from the
+tops and summities of the fairest and soundest trees, is best, and does
+(for the most part) direct to the proper season of interring, &c.
+according to institution.
+
+    Nature herself who all created first,
+    Invented sowing, and the wild plants nurs't:
+    When mast and berries from the trees did drop,
+    Succeeded under by a numerous crop.{4:1}
+
+Yet this is to be consider'd, that if the place you sow in be too cold
+for an autumnal semination, your acorns, mast, and other seeds may be
+prepared for the vernal by being barrel'd, or potted up in moist sand,
+or earth stratum s.s. during the winter; at the expiration whereof you
+will find them sprouted; and being committed to the earth, with a tender
+hand, as apt to take as if they had been sown with the most early; nay,
+with great advantage: By this means too, they have escaped the vermine,
+(which are prodigious devourers of winter-sowing) and will not be much
+concern'd with the increasing heat of the season, as such as being
+crude, and unfermented, are newly sown in the beginning of the spring;
+especially, in hot and loose grounds; being already in so fair a
+progress by this artificial preparation; and which, (if the provision to
+be made be very great) may be thus manag'd. Chuse a fit piece of ground,
+and with boards (if it have not that position of it self) design it
+three foot high; lay the first foot in fine earth, another of seeds,
+acorns, mast, keys, nuts, haws, holly-berries, &c. promiscuously, or
+separate, with (now and then) a little mould sprinkled amongst them: The
+third foot wholly earth: Of these preparatory magazines make as many,
+and as much larger ones as will serve your turn, continuing it from time
+to time as your store is brought in. The same for ruder handlings, may
+you also do by burying your seeds in dry sand, or pulveriz'd earth,
+barrelling them (as I said) in tubs, or laid in heaps in some deep
+cellar where the rigour of the winter may least prejudice them; and I
+have fill'd old hampers, bee-hives, and boxes with them, and found the
+like advantage, which is to have them ready for your seminary, as before
+hath been shew'd, and exceedingly prevent the season. There be also who
+affirm, that the careful cracking and opening of stones which include
+the kernels, as soon as ripe, precipitate growth, and gain a years
+advance; but this is erroneous. Now if you gather them in moist weather,
+lay them a drying, and so keep them till you sow, which may be as soon
+as you please after Christmas. If they spire out before you sow them, be
+sure to commit them to the earth before the sprout grows dry, or else
+expect little from them: And whenever you sow, if you prevent not the
+little field mouse, he will be sure to have the better share. See cap.
+XVIII.
+
+4. But to pursue this to some farther advantage; as to what concerns the
+election of your seed, it is to be consider'd, that there is vast
+difference, (what if I should affirm more than an hundred years) in
+trees even of the same growth and bed, which I judge to proceed from the
+variety and quality of the seed: This, for instance, is evidently seen
+in the heart, procerity and stature of timber; and therefore chuse not
+your seeds always from the most fruitful-trees, which are commonly the
+most aged, and decayed; but from such as are found most solid and fair:
+Nor, for this reason, covet the largest acorns, &c. but (as husbandmen
+do their wheat) the most weighty, clean and bright: This observation we
+deduce from fruit-trees, which we seldom find to bear so kindly and
+plentifully from a sound stock, smooth rind, and firm wood, as from a
+rough, lax, and untoward tree; which is rather prone to spend itself in
+fruit, (the ultimate effort, and final endeavour of its most delicate
+sap,) than in solid and close substance to encrease the timber. And this
+shall suffice, though some haply might here recommend to us a more
+accurate microscopical examen, to interpret their most secret
+schematismes, which were an over-nicety for these great plantations.
+
+5. As concerning the medicating and insuccation of seeds, or enforcing
+the earth by rich and generous composts, &c. for trees of these kinds, I
+am no great favourer of it; not only because the charge would much
+discourage the work; but for that we find it unnecessary, and for most
+of our forest-trees, noxious; since even where the ground is too
+fertile, they thrive not so well; and if a mould be not proper for one
+sort, it may be fit for another: Yet I would not (by this) hinder any
+from the trial, what advance such experiments will produce: In the mean
+time, for the simple imbibition of some seeds and kernels, when they
+prove extraordinary dry, as the season may fall out, it might not be
+amiss to macerate them in milk or water only, a little impregnated with
+cow-dung, &c. during the space of twenty four hours, to give them a
+spirit to sprout and chet the sooner; especially if you have been
+retarded in your sowing without our former preparation: But concerning
+the mould, soiling and preparations of the ground, I refer you to my
+late Treatise of Earth, if what you meet with in this do not abundantly
+encounter all those difficulties.
+
+6. Being thus provided with seeds of all kinds, I would advise to raise
+woods by sowing them apart, in several places destin'd for their growth,
+where the mould being prepar'd (as I shall shew hereafter) and so
+qualified (if election be made) as best to suit with the nature of the
+species, they may be sown promiscuously, which is the most natural and
+rural; or in streight and even lines, for hedge-rows, avenues, and
+walks, which is the more ornamental: But, because some may chuse rather
+to draw them out of nurseries; that the culture is not much different,
+nor the hinderance considerable (provided they be early and carefully
+removed) I will finish what I have to say concerning these trees in the
+seminary, and shew how they are there to be raised, transplanted, and
+govern'd till they can shift for themselves.
+
+As to the air and water, they are certainly of almost as great
+importance to the life and prosperity of trees and vegetables; and
+therefore it is to be wish'd for and sought, where they are defective;
+and which commonly follow, or indicate the nature of the soil, or the
+soil of them; (taking soil here promiscuously for the mould;) that they
+be neither too keen or sharp, too cold or hot; not infected with foggs
+and poys'nous vapours, or expos'd to sulphurous exhalations, or
+frigiverous winds, reverberating from hills, and other ill-situate
+eminencies, pressing down the incumbent particles so tainted, or
+convey'd through the inclosed valleys: But such as may gently enter and
+pervade the cenabs and vessels destin'd and appointed for their
+reception, intromission, respiration, and passage, in almost continual
+motion: In a word, such as is most agreeable to the life of man, the
+inverted head compared to the root, both vegetables and animals alike
+affected with those necessary principles, air and water, soon suffocated
+and perishable for the want of either, duly qualified with their proper
+mixts, be it nitre, or any other vegetable matter; though we neither
+see, nor distinctly taste it: So as all aquatics, how deeply soever
+submerg'd, could not subsist without this active element the air.
+
+The same qualification is (as we said) required in water, to which 'tis
+of so near alliance, and whose office it is, not only to humectate,
+mollify, and prepare both the seeds, and roots of vegetables, to receive
+the nutrition, pabulum, and food, of which this of water as well as air,
+are the proper vehicles, insinuating what they carry into the numerous
+pores, and through the tubes, canales, and other emulgent passages and
+percolutions to the several vessels, where (as in a stomach) it is
+elaborated, concocted, and digested, for distribution through every
+part of the plant; and therefore had need be such as should feed, not
+starve, infect or corrupt; which depends upon the nature and quality of
+the mix'd, with what other virtue, spirit, mineral, or other particles,
+accompanying the purest springs, (to appearance) passing through the
+closest strainers. This therefore requires due examination, and
+sometimes exposure to the air and sun, and accordingly the crudity, and
+other defects taken off and qualified: All which, rain-water, that has
+had its natural circulation, is greatly free from, so it meets with no
+noxious vapours in the descent, as it must do passing through fuliginous
+clouds of smoak and soot, over and about great cities, and other
+vulcanos, continually vomiting out their acrimonious, and sometimes
+pestiferous fervor, infecting the ambient air, as it perpetually does
+about London, and for many adjacent miles, as I have elsewhere{9:1}
+shew'd.
+
+In the mean time, whether water alone is the cause of the solid and
+bulky part, and consequently of the augmentation of trees and plants,
+without any thing more to do with that element (tho' as it serves to
+transport some other matter) is very ingenuously discuss'd, and
+curiously enquired into by Dr. _Woodward_, in his _History of the
+Earth_; fortified with divers nice experiments, too large to be here
+inserted: The sum is, that water, be it of rain, or the river (superior
+or inferior) carries with it a certain superfine terrestrial matter, not
+destitute of vegetative particles; which gives body, substance, and all
+other requisites to the growth and perfection of the plant, with the aid
+of that due heat which gives life and motion to the vehicles passage
+through all the parts of the vegetable, continually ascending, 'till
+(having sufficiently saturated them) it transpires the rest of the
+liquid at the summity and tops of the branches into the atmosphere, and
+leaving some of the less refined matter in a viscid hony-dew, or other
+exsudations, (often perceived on the leaves and blossoms,) anon
+descending and joining again with what they meet, repeat this course in
+perpetual circulation: Add to this, that from hence those regions and
+places crowded with numerous and thick standing forest-trees and woods,
+(which hinder the necessary evolition of this superfluous moisture, and
+intercourse of the air) render those countries and places, more subject
+to rain and mists, and consequently unwholsome; as is found in our
+American plantations, as formerly nearer us, in Ireland; both since so
+much improved by felling and clearing these spacious shades, and letting
+in the air and sun, and making the earth fit for tillage, and pasture,
+that those gloomy tracts are now become healthy and habitable. It is not
+to be imagined how many noble seats and dwellings in this nation of
+ours, (to all appearance well situated,) are for all that unhealthful,
+by reason of some grove, or hedge-rows of antiquated dotard trees; nay,
+sometimes a single tuft only, (especially the falling autumnal leaves
+neglected to be taken away) filling the air with musty and noxious
+exhalations; which being ventilated, by glades cut through them, for
+passage of the stagnant vapours, have been cur'd of this evil, and
+recovered their reputation.
+
+But to return to where we left; water in this action, imbib'd with such
+matter, applicable to every species of plants and vegetables, does not
+as we affirm'd, operate to the full extent and perfection of what it
+gives and contributes of necessary and constituent matter, without the
+soil and temper of the climate co-operate; which otherwise, retards both
+the growth and substance of what the earth produces, sensibly altering
+their qualities, if some friendly and genial heat be wanting to exert
+the prolifick virtue: This we find, that the hot and warmer regions
+produce the tallest and goodliest trees and plants, in stature and other
+properties far exceeding those of the same species, born in the cold
+north: So as what is a gyant in the one, becomes a pumilo, and in
+comparison, but a shrubby dwarf in the other; deficient of that active
+spirit, which elevates and spreads its prolifick matter and continual
+supplies without check, and is the cause of not only the leaves
+deserting the branches, whilst those trees and plants of the more benign
+climate, are clad in perennial verdure: And those herbacious plants,
+which with us in the hottest seasons hardly perfect their seeds before
+Winter, and require to be near their genial beds and nurse, and
+sometimes the artificial heat of the hot-bed. Lastly, to all this I
+would add that other chearful vehicle, light; which the gloomy and
+torpent north is so many months depriv'd of; the too long seclusion
+whereof is injurious to our exotics, kept in the conservatories, since
+however temper'd with heat, and duly refresh'd; they grow sickly, and
+languish without the admission of light as well as air, as I have
+frequently found.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{4:1}
+
+    Nam specimen sationis, & infitionis origo
+    Ipsa fuit rerum primum natura creatrix:
+    Arboribus quoniam baccae, glandesque caducae
+    Tempestiva dabant pullorum examina subter, &c.
+
+    _Lucret._ l. 5.
+
+{9:1} Fumifugium.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+_Of the Seminary and of Transplanting._
+
+
+1. _Qui vineam, vel arbustum constituere volet, seminaria prius facere
+debebit_, was the precept of Columella, l. 3. c. 5. speaking of
+vineyards and fruit-trees: and doubtless, we cannot pursue a better
+course for the propagation of timber-trees: For though it seem but a
+trivial design that one should make a nursery of foresters; yet it is
+not to be imagin'd, without the experience of it, what prodigious
+numbers a very small spot of ground well cultivated, and destin'd for
+this purpose, would be able to furnish towards the sending forth of
+yearly colonies into all the naked quarters of a lordship, or demesnes;
+being with a pleasant industry liberally distributed amongst the
+tenants, and dispos'd of about the hedg-rows, and other waste, and
+uncultivated places, for timber, shelter, fuel, and ornament, to an
+incredible advantage. This being a cheap, and laudable work, of so much
+pleasure in the execution, and so certain a profit in the event; to be
+but once well done (for, as I affirm'd, a very small _plantarium_ or
+nursery will in a few years people a vast extent of ground) hath made me
+sometimes in admiration at the universal negligence, as well as rais'd
+my admiration, that seeds and plants of such different kinds, should
+like so many tender babes and infants suck and thrive at the same
+breast: Though there are some indeed will not so well prosper in
+company; requiring peculiar juices: But this niceness is more
+conspicuous in flowers and the herbacious offspring, than in foresters,
+which require only diligent weeding and frequent cleansing, till they
+are able to shift for themselves; and as their vessels enlarge and
+introsume more copious nourishment, often starve their neighbours. Thus
+much for the nursery and _Conseminea Silva_.
+
+2. Having therefore made choice of such seeds as you would sow, by
+taking, and gathering them in their just season; that is, when dropping
+ripe; and (as has been said) from fair thriving trees; and found out
+some fit place of ground, well fenced, respecting the south-east, rather
+than the full south, and well protected from the north and west;
+
+    He that for wood his field would sow,
+    Must clear it of the shrubs that grow;
+    Cut brambles up, and the fern mow.{13:1}
+
+This done, let it be broken up the winter before you sow, to mellow it;
+especially if it be a clay, and then the furrow would be made deeper; or
+so, at least, as you would prepare it for wheat: Or you may trench it
+with the spade, by which means it will the easier be cleansed of
+whatsoever may obstruct the putting forth, and insinuating of the tender
+roots: Then, having given it a second stirring, immediately before you
+sow; cast, and dispose it into rills, or small narrow trenches, of four
+or five inches deep, and in even lines, at two foot interval, for the
+more commodious runcation, hawing, and dressing the trees: Into these
+furrows (about the new or increasing moon) throw your oak, beach, ash,
+nuts, all the glandiferous seeds, mast, and key-bearing kinds, so as
+they lie not too thick, and then cover them very well with a rake, or
+fine-tooth'd harrow, as they do for pease: Or, to be more accurate, you
+may set them as they do beans (especially, the nuts and acorns) and that
+every species by themselves, for the _Roboraria_, _Glandaria_,
+_Ulmaria_, &c., which is the better way: This is to be done at the
+latter end of October, for the autumnal sowing; and in the lighter
+ground about February for the vernal: For other seminations in general;
+some divide the spring in three parts; the beginning, middle, and end;
+and the like of the autumn both for sowing and planting, and accordingly
+prepare for the work such nursery furniture, as seems most agreeable to
+the season.
+
+    Then see your hopeful grove with acorns sown,
+    But e're your seed into the field be thrown,
+    With crooked plough first let the lusty swain
+    Break-up, and stubborn clods with harrow plain.
+    Then, when the stemm appears, to make it bare
+    And lighten the hard earth with hough, prepare.
+    Hough in the spring: nor frequent culture fail,
+    Lest noxious weeds o're the young wood prevail:
+    To barren ground with toyl large manure add,
+    Good-husbandry will force a ground that's bad.{14:1}
+
+Note that 6 bushels of acorns will sow or plant an acre, at one foot's
+distance. And if you mingle among the acorns the seeds of _Genista
+spinosa_, or furs, they will come up without any damage, and for a while
+needs no other fence, and will be kill'd by the shade of the young
+oaklings before they become able to do them any prejudice.
+
+One rule I must not omit, that you cast no seeds into the earth whilst
+it either actually rains, or that it be over sobb'd, till moderately
+dry.
+
+To this might something be expected concerning the watring of our
+seminaries and new plantations; which indeed require some useful
+directions (especially in that you do by hand) that you pour it not with
+too great a stream on the stem of the plant, (which washes and drives
+away the mould from the roots and fibers) but at such distance as it may
+percolate into the earth, and carry its vertue to them, with a shallow
+excavation, or circular basin about the stalk; and which may be defended
+from being too suddenly exhausted and drunk up by the sun, and taken
+away before it grow mouldy. The tender stems and branches should yet be
+more gently refreshed, lest the too intense rays of the sun darting on
+them, cause them to wither, as we see in our fibrous flower-roots newly
+set: In the mean time, for the more ample young plantations of forest
+and other trees, I should think the hydrantick engine (call'd the
+quench-fire) (described in the _Phil. Transaction_, Num. 128) might be
+made very useful, rightly manag'd, and not too violently pointed against
+any single trees, but so exalted and directed, as the stream being
+spread, the water might fall on the ground like drops of rain; which I
+should much prefer before the barrels and tumbral way. Rain, river or
+pond-waters reserved in tubs or cisterns simple, or inrich'd, and abroad
+in the sun, should be frequently stirred, and kept from stagnation.
+
+4. Your plants beginning now to peep, should be earthed up, and
+comforted a little; especially, after breaking of the greater frosts,
+and when the swelling mould is apt to spue them forth; but when they are
+about an inch above ground, you may in a moist season, draw them up
+where they are too thick, and set them immediately in other lines, or
+beds prepar'd for them; or you may plant them in double fosses, where
+they may abide for good and all, and to remain till they are of a
+competent stature to be transplanted; where they should be set at such
+distances as their several kinds require; but if you draw them only for
+the thinning of your seminary, prick them into some empty beds (or a
+_Plantarium_ purposely design'd) at one foot interval, leaving the rest
+at two or three.
+
+5. When your seedlings have stood thus till June, bestow a slight
+digging upon them, and scatter a little mungy, half-rotten litter, fern,
+bean-hame, or old leaves among them, to preserve the roots from
+scorching, and to entertain the moisture; and then in March following
+(by which time it will be quite consum'd, and very mellow) you shall
+chop it all into the earth, and mingle it together: Continue this
+process for two or three years successively; for till then, the
+substance of the kernel will hardly be spent in the plant, which is of
+main import; but then (and that the stature of your young imps invite)
+you may plant them forth, carefully taking up their roots, and cutting
+the stem within an inch of the ground (if the kind, of which hereafter,
+suffer the knife) set them where they are to continue: If thus you
+reduce them to the distance of forty foot, the intervals may be planted
+with ash, which may be fell'd either for poles, or timber, without the
+least prejudice of the oak: Some repeat the cutting we spake of the
+second year, and after March (the moon decreasing) re-cut them at half a
+foot from the surface; and then meddle with them no more: But this (if
+the process be not more severe than needs) must be done with a very
+sharp instrument, and with care, lest you violate, and unsettle the
+root; which is likewise to be practis'd upon all those which you did not
+transplant, unless you find them very thriving trees; and then it shall
+suffice to prune off the branches, and spare the tops; for this does not
+only greatly establish your plants by diverting the sap to the roots;
+but likewise frees them from the injury and concussions of the winds,
+and makes them to produce handsome, streight shoots, infinitely
+preferable to such as are abandon'd to nature, and accident, without
+this discipline: By this means the oak will become excellent timber,
+shooting into streight and single stems: The chess-nut, ash, &c.
+multiply into poles, which you may reduce to standards at pleasure: To
+this I add, that as oft as you make your annual transplanting, out of
+the nursery, by drawing forth the choicest stocks, the remainder will be
+improved by a due stirring, and turning of the mould about their roots.
+
+But that none be discouraged, who may upon some accident, be desirous,
+or forc'd to transplant trees, where the partial, or unequal ground does
+not afford sufficient room, or soil to make the pits equally capacious,
+(and so apt to nourish and entertain the roots, as where are no
+impediments), the worthy Mr. Brotherton (whom we shall have occasion to
+mention more than once in this treatise) speaking of the increase and
+improvement of roots, tells us of a large pinaster, 2 foot and 1/2
+diameter, and about 60 foot in height, the lowest boughs being 30 foot
+above the ground, which did spread and flourish on all sides alike,
+though it had no root at all towards three quarters of its situation,
+and but one quarter only, into which it expanded its roots so far as to
+70 and 80 foot from the body of the tree: The reason was, its being
+planted just within the square-angle of the corner of a deep, thick and
+strong stone-wall, which was a kind wharfing against a river running by
+it, and so could have nourishment but from one quarter. And this I
+likewise might confirm of two elms, planted by me about 35 years since;
+which being little bigger than walking-staves, and set on the very brink
+of a ditch or narrow channel (not always full of water) wharfed with a
+wall of a brick and half in thickness, (to keep the bank from falling
+in) are since grown to goodly and equally spreading trees of near two
+foot diameter, solid timber, and of stature proportionable. The
+difference between this, and that of the pine, being their having one
+quarter more of mould for the roots to spread in; but which is not at
+all discover'd by the exuberence of the branches in either part. But to
+return to planting, where are no such obstacles.
+
+6. _Theophrastus_ in his Third Book _de Causis_, c. 7. gives us great
+caution in planting, to preserve the roots, and especially the earth
+adhering to the smallest fibrills, which should by no means be shaken
+off, as most of our gardeners do to trim and quicken them, as they
+pretend, which is to cut them shorter; though I forbid not a very small
+toping of the stragling threds, which may else hinder the spreading of
+the rest, &c. Not at all considering, that those tender hairs are the
+very mouths, and vehicles which suck in the nutriment, and transfuse it
+into all the parts of the tree, and that these once perishing, the
+thicker and larger roots, hard, and less spungy, signifie little but to
+establish the stem; as I have frequently experimented in orange-trees,
+whose fibers are so very obnoxious to rot, if they take in the least
+excess of wet: And therefore _Cato_ advises us to take care that we bind
+the mould about them, or transfer the roots in baskets, to preserve it
+from forsaking them; as now our nursery-men frequently do; by which they
+of late are able to furnish our grounds, avenues and gardens in a moment
+with trees and other plants, which would else require many years to
+appear in such perfection: For this earth being already applied, and
+fitted to the overtures and mouths of the fibers, it will require some
+time to bring them in appetite again to a new mould, by which to repair
+their loss, furnish their stock, and proceed in their wonted oeconomy
+without manifest danger and interruption: nor less ought our care to be
+in the making, and dressing of the pits and fosses, into which we design
+our transplantation, which should be prepar'd and left some time open to
+macerating rains, frosts and sun, that may resolve the compacted salt,
+(as some will have it) render the earth friable, mix and qualifie it for
+aliment, and to be more easily drawn in, and digested by the roots and
+analogous stomach of the trees: This, to some degree may be artificially
+done, by burning of straw in the newly opened pits, and drenching the
+mould with water; especially in over-dry seasons, and by meliorating
+barren-ground with sweet and comminuted loetations: Let therefore this be
+received as a maxim, never to plant a fruit or forest-tree where there
+has lately been an old decay'd one taken up; till the pit be well
+ventilated, and furnish'd with fresh mould.
+
+7. The author of the Natural History, _Pliny_, tells us it was a vulgar
+tradition, in his time, that no tree should be removed under two years
+old, or above three: _Cato_ would have none transplanted less than five
+fingers in diameter; but I have shew'd why we are not to attend so long
+for such as we raise of seedlings. In the interim, if these directions
+appear too busie, or operose, or that the plantation you intend be very
+ample, a more compendious method will be the confused sowing of acorns,
+&c. in furrows, two foot asunder, covered at three fingers depth, and so
+for three years cleansed, and the first winter cover'd with fern,
+without any farther culture, unless you transplant them; but, as I
+shewed before, in nurseries, they would be cut an inch from the ground,
+and then let stand till March the second year, when it shall be
+sufficient to disbranch them to one only shoot, whether you suffer them
+to stand, or remove them elsewhere. But to make an essay what seed is
+most agreeable to the soil, you may by the thriving of a promiscuous
+semination make a judgment of,
+
+    What each soil bears, and what it does refuse.{20:1}
+
+transplanting those which you find least agreeing with the place; or
+else, by copsing the starvelings in the places where they are newly
+sown, cause them sometimes to overtake even their untouch'd
+contemporaries.
+
+Something may here be expected about the fittest season for this work of
+transplanting; of which having spoken in another{21:1} treatise, annext
+to this, (as well as in divers other places throughout this of
+Forest-trees) I shall need add little; after I have recommended the
+earliest removals, not only of all the sturdy sort in our woods, but
+even of some less tender trees in our orchards; pears, apples, vulgar
+cherries, &c. whilst we favour the delicate and tender murals, and such
+as are pithy; as the wall-nut, and some others. But after all, what says
+the plain wood-man, speaking of oaks, beech, elms, haw-thorns, and even
+what we call wild and hedge-fruit? Set them, says he, at All-hallowtide,
+and command them to prosper; set them at Candlemass, and intreat them to
+grow. Nor needs it explanation.
+
+8. But here some may enquire what distances I would generally assign to
+transplanted trees? To this somewhat is said in the ensuing periods, and
+as occasion offers; though the promiscuous rising of them in
+forest-work, wild and natural, is to us, I acknowledge, more pleasing
+than all the studied accuracy in ranging of them; unless it be where
+they conduct and lead us to avenues, and are planted for _vistas_ (as
+the _Italians_ term is) in which case, the proportion of the breadth and
+length of the walks, &c. should govern, as well as the nature of the
+tree; with this only note; that such trees as are rather apt to spread,
+than mount (as the oak, beech, wall-nut, &c.) be dispos'd at wider
+intervals, than the other, and such as grow best in consort, as the
+elm, ash, limetree, sycamore, firr, pine, &c. Regard is likewise to be
+had to the quality of the soil, for this work: v. g. If trees that
+affect cold and moist grounds, be planted in hot and dry places, then
+set them at closer order; but trees which love dry and thirsty grounds,
+at farther distance: The like rule may also guide in situations expos'd
+to impetuous winds and other accidents, which may serve for general
+rules in this piece of tactics. In the mean time, if you plant for
+regular walks, or any single trees, a competent elevation of the earth
+in circle, and made a little hollow like a shallow bason (as I already
+mention'd) for the reception of water, and refreshing the roots;
+sticking thorns about the edges to protect them from cattel, were not
+amiss. Fruit-trees thus planted, if beans be set about them, produces a
+little crop, and will shade the surface, perhaps, without any detriment:
+But this more properly belongs to Pomona. Most shrubs of ever-green and
+some trees may be planted very near one another; myrtles, laurel, bays,
+Cyprus, yew, ivy, pomegranates, and others, also need little distance,
+and indeed whatever is proper to make hedges: But for the oak, elm,
+wall-nut, firs, and the taller timber-trees, let the dismal effects of
+the late hurricane (never to be forgotten) caution you never to plant
+them too near the mansion, (or indeed any other house) that so if such
+accident happen, their fall and ruin may not reach them.
+
+9. To leave nothing omitted which may contribute to the stability of our
+transplanted trees, something is to be premis'd concerning their
+staking, and securing from external injuries, especially from winds and
+cattel; against both which, such as are planted in copses, and for
+ample woods, are sufficiently defended by the mounds and their closer
+order; especially, if they rise of seeds: But where they are expos'd in
+single rows, as in walks and avenues, the most effectual course is to
+empale them with three good quartet-stakes of competent length, set in
+triangle, and made fast to one another by short pieces above and
+beneath; in which a few brambles being stuck, secure it abundantly
+without that choaking or fretting, to which trees are obnoxious that are
+only single staked and bushed, as the vulgar manner is: Nor is the
+charge of this so considerable as the great advantage, accounting for
+the frequent reparations which the other will require. Where cattel do
+not come, I find a good piece of rope, tyed fast about the neck of trees
+upon a wisp of straw to preserve it from galling, and the other end
+tightly strein'd to a hook or peg in the ground (as the shrouds in ships
+are fastened to the masts) sufficiently stablishes my trees against the
+western blasts without more trouble; for the winds of other quarters
+seldom infest us. But these cords had need be well pitch'd to preserve
+them from wet, and so they will last many years. I cannot in the mean
+time conceal what a noble person has assur'd me, that in his goodly
+plantations of trees in Scotland, where they are continually expos'd to
+much greater, and more impetuous winds than we were usually acquainted
+with, he never stakes any of his trees; but upon all disasters of this
+kind, causes only his servants to redress, and, set them up again as
+often as they happen to be overthrown; which he has affirm'd to me,
+thrives better with them, than with those which he has staked; and that
+at last they strike root so fast, as nothing but the axe is able to
+prostrate them. And there is good reason for it in my opinion, whilst
+these concussions of the roots loosning the mould, not only make room
+for their more easie insinuations, but likewise open and prepare it to
+receive and impart the better nourishment. It is in another place I
+suggest that transplanted pines and firrs, for want of their penetrating
+taproots, are hardly consistent against these gusts after they are grown
+high; especially, where they are set close, and in tufts, which betrays
+them to the greater disadvantage: And therefore such trees do best in
+walks, and at competent distances where they escape tolerably well: Such
+therefore as we design for woods of them, should be sow'd, and never
+remov'd. In the mean time, many trees are also propagated by cuttings
+and layers; the ever-greens about Bartholomewtide; other trees within
+two or three months after, when they will have all the sap to assist
+them; every body knows the way to do it is by slitting the branch a
+little way, when it is a little cut directly in, and then to plunge it
+half a foot under good mould, and leaving as much of its extremity above
+it, and if it comply not well, to peg it down with an hook or two, and
+so when you find it competently rooted, to cut it off beneath, and plant
+it forth: Other expedients there are by twisting the part, or baring it
+of the rind; and if it be out of reach of the ground, to fasten a tub or
+basket of earth near the branch, fill'd with a succulent mould, and kept
+as fresh as may be. For cuttings, about the same season, take such as
+are about the bigness of your thumb, setting them a foot in the earth,
+and near as much out. If it be of soft wood, as willows, poplar, alders,
+&c. you may take much larger trunchions, and so tall as cattel may not
+reach them; if harder, those which are young, small and more tender; and
+if such as produce a knur, or burry swelling, set that part into the
+ground, and be sure to make the hole so wide, and point the end of your
+cutting so smooth, as that in setting, it violate and strip none of the
+bark; the other extream may be slanted, and so treading the earth close,
+and keeping it moist, you will seldom fail of success: By the roots also
+of a thriving, lusty and sappy tree, more may be propagated; to effect
+which, early in spring, dig about its foot, and finding such as you may
+with a little cutting bend upwards, raise them above ground three or
+four inches, and they will in a short time make shoots, and be fit for
+transplantation; or in this work you may quite separate them from the
+mother-roots, and cut them off: By baring likewise the bigger roots
+discreetly, and hacking them a little, and then covering with fresh
+Mould _matres_, and mother-roots; _nepotes_, succors; _traduces_, and
+rooted setts, may be raised in abundance; which drawing competent roots
+will soon furnish store of plants; and this is practicable in elms
+especially, and all such trees as are apt of themselves to put forth
+suckers; but of this more upon occasion{25:1} hereafter. And now to
+prevent censure on this tedious and prolix Introduction, I cannot but
+look on it as the basis and foundation of all the structure, rising from
+this work and endeavour of mine; since from station, sowing, continual
+culture and care, proceed all we really enjoy in the world: Every thing
+must have birth and beginning, and afterwards by diligence and prudent
+care, form'd and brought to shape and perfection: Nor is it enough to
+cast seeds into the ground, and leave them there, as the Ostrich does
+her eggs in the Lybian sands, without minding them more, (because Nature
+has depriv'd her of understanding); but great diligence is to be us'd in
+governing them; not only till they spring up, but till they are arriv'd
+to some stature fit for transplantation, and to be sent broad; after the
+same method that our children should be educated, and taken care of from
+their birth and cradle; and afterwards, whilst they are under Padagogues
+and discipline, (for the forming of their manners and persons) that they
+contract no ill habits, and take such plys as are so difficult to
+rectifie and smooth again without the greatest industry. For prevention
+of this in our seminary, the like care is requisite; whilst the young
+imps and seedlings are yet tender and flexible, and require not only
+different nourishment and protection from too much cold, heat, and other
+injuries; but due and skilful management, in dressing, redressing and
+pruning, as they grow capable of being brought into shape, and of
+hopeful expectation, when time has rendered them fit for the use and
+service requir'd, according to their kinds. He therefore that undertakes
+the nursery, should be knowing not only in the choice of the seeds,
+where, when, and how to sow them; but to know what time of gestation
+they require in the womb of their mother-earth, before parturition; that
+so he may not be surprized with her delivering some of them sooner, or
+later than he expects them; for some will lye two, nay, three year, e'er
+they peep; most others one, and some a quarter, or a month or two;
+whilst the tardy and less forward so tire the hopes of the husbandman,
+that he many times digs up the platts and beds in which they were sown,
+despairing of a crop, sometimes ready to spring and come up, as I have
+found by experience to my loss: Those of hard shell and integument will
+lie longer buried than others; for so the _libanus_ cedar, and most of
+the coniferous firs, pines, &c. shed their seeds late, and sometimes
+remain two winters and as many summers, to open their scales glued so
+fast together, without some external application of fire or warm water,
+which is yet not so natural as when they open of themselves. The same
+may be observed of some minuter seeds, even among the olitories; as that
+of parsley, which will hardly spring in less than a year; so beet-seed,
+part in the second and third, &c. which upon inspecting the skins and
+membranes involving them, would be hard to give a reason for. To
+accelerate this, they use imbibitions of piercing spirits, salts,
+emollients, &c. not only to the seeds, but to the soil, which we seldom
+find much signify, but either to produce abortion or monsters; and being
+forc'd to hasty birth, become nothing so hardy, healthful and lasting,
+as the conception and birth they receive from nature. These observations
+premis'd in general, after I have recommended to our industrious
+planters the appendix or table of the several sorts of soil and places
+that are proper, or at least may seem so; or that are unfit for certain
+kinds of trees, (as well foresters and others, annexed to this work) I
+should proceed to particulars, and boldly advance into the thickest of
+the forest, did not method seem to require something briefly to be
+spoken of trees in general, as they are under the name of plants and
+vegetables, especially such as we shall have occasion to discourse of
+in the following work; tho' we also take in some less vulgarly known and
+familiar, of late indenizon'd among us, and some of them very useful.
+
+By trees then is meant, a lignous woody-plant, whose property is for the
+most part, to grow up and erect itself with a single stem or trunk, of a
+thick and more compacted substance and bulk, branching forth large and
+spreading boughs; the whole body and external part, cover'd and invested
+with a thick rind or _cortex_, more hard and durable than that of other
+parts; which, with expanding roots, penetrate and fixes them in the
+earth for stability, (and according to their nature) receive and convey
+nourishment to the whole: And these _terrae-filii_, are what we call
+timber-trees, the chief subject of our following Discourse.
+
+Trees are likewise distinguish'd into other subordinate species;
+_fruticis_, frutages and shrubs; which are also lignous trees, tho' of a
+lower and humbler growth, less spreading, and rising up in several
+stems, emerging from the same root, yielding plenty of suckers; which
+being separated from it, and often carrying with them some small fiber,
+are easily propagated and planted out for a numerous store: And this,
+(being clad with a more tender bark or fiber) seems to differ _frutex_
+from other arborious kinds; since as to the shaft and stems of such as
+we account dwarf and pumilo with us, they rise often to tall and stately
+trees, in the more genial and benign climes.
+
+_Suffrutrices_ are shrubs lower than the former, lignescent and more
+approaching to the stalky herbs, lavender, rue, &c. but not apt to decay
+so soon, after they have seeded; whilst both these kinds seem also
+little more to differ from one another, than do trees from them; all of
+them consisting of the same variety of parts, according to their kinds
+and structure, cover'd with some woody, hard membraneous, or tender
+rind, suitable to their constitution, and to protect them from outward
+injuries; producing likewise buds, leaves, blossoms and flowers,
+pregnant with fruit, and yielding saps, liquors and juices, _lachrymae_,
+gums, and other exsudations, tho' diversifying in shape and substance,
+tast, odour, and other qualities and operations, according to the nature
+of the species; the various structure and contexture of their several
+vessels and organs, whose office it is to supply the whole plant with
+all that is necessary to its being and perfection, after a stupendious,
+tho' natural process; which minutely to describe, and analogically
+compare, as they perform their functions, (not altogether so different
+from creatures of animal life) would require an anatomical lecture;
+which is so learnedly and accurately done to our hands, by Dr. Grew,
+_Malphigius_ and other ingenious naturalists.
+
+But besides this general definition, as to what is meant by trees,
+frutexes, &c. they are likewise specifically distinguish'd by other
+characters, leaves, buds, blossoms, &c. but especially by what they
+produce of more importance, by their fruit ye shall know them: v. g.
+
+The _glandiferae_, oaks and ilex's yield acorns, and other useful
+excrescencies: The mast-bearers are the beech, and such as include their
+seeds and fruit in rougher husks; as the chessnut-tree, &c. the wallnut,
+hazle, avelans, &c. are the _nuciferae_, &c. to the _coniferae_,
+_resiniferae_, _squammiferae_, &c. belong the whole tribe of cedars,
+firs, pines, &c. apples, pears, quinces, and several other _edulae_
+fruits; peaches, abricots, plums, &c. are reduc'd to the _pomiferae_: The
+_bacciferae_, are such as produce kernels, sorbs, cherries, holley, bays,
+laurell, yew, juniper, elder, &c. and all the berry-bearers. The
+_genistae_ in general, and such as bear their seeds in cods, come under
+the tribe of _siliquosae_: The _lanuginae_ are such as bed their seeds in
+a cottony-down.
+
+The ash, elm, tilia, poplar, hornbeam, willow, salices, &c. are
+distinguish'd by their keys, tongues, _samera_, _pericurpia_, and
+_theca_, small, flat and husky skins, including the seeds, as in so many
+foliol's, bags and purses, fine membranous cases, catkins, palmes,
+julus's, &c. needless to be farther mention'd here, being so
+particularly describ'd in the chapters following; as are also the
+various ever-greens and exoticks.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{13:1}
+
+    Qui serere ingenuum volet agrum,
+    Liberat prius arva fruticibus;
+    Falce rubos, filicemque resecat.
+
+    _Boeth. l. 2. Met._
+
+{14:1}
+
+    Proinde nemus sparsa cures de glande parandum:
+    Sed tamen ante tuo mandes quam semina campo;
+    Ipse tibi duro robustus vomere fossor
+    Omne solum subigat late, explanetque subactum.
+    Cumque novus fisso primum de germine ramus
+    Findit humum, rursus ferro versanda bicorni
+    Consita vere novo tellus, cultuque frequenti
+    Exercenda, herbae circum ne forte nocentes
+    Proveniant, germenque ipsum radicibus urant.
+    Nec cultu campum cunctantem urgere frequenti,
+    Et saturare fimo pudeat, si forte resistat
+    Culturae: nam tristis humus superanda colendo est.
+
+    _Rapinus, l. 2._
+
+{20:1}
+
+    Quid quaeque ferat regio, & quid quaeque recuset.
+
+{21:1} Pomona.
+
+{25:1} For the transplanting and removing of full-grown forest-trees,
+and others. See Cap. III. Sect. 10.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+_Of the Oak._
+
+
+1. _Robur_, the oak; I have sometimes consider'd it very seriously, what
+should move _Pliny_ to make a whole chapter of one only line, which is
+less than the argument alone of most of the rest in his huge volume: but
+the weightiness of the matter does worthily excuse him, who is not wont
+to spare his words, or his reader. _Glandiferi maxime generis omnes,
+quibus honos apud Romanos perpetuus._ "Mast-bearing-trees were
+principally those which the Romans held in chiefest repute," lib. 16.
+cap. 3. And in the following where he treats of chaplets, and the
+dignity of the civic coronet; it might be compos'd of the leaves or
+branches of any oak, provided it were a bearing tree, and had acorns
+upon it, and was (as{31:1} _Macrobius_ tells us). Recorded among the
+_felices arbores_; but this +phyllinon stephanon+ was interwoven, and
+twisted with thorns and briars; and the garland carried to usher the
+bride to her husband's house, intimating that happy state was not exempt
+from its pungencies and cares. It is then for the esteem which these
+wise and glorious people had of this tree above all others, that I will
+first begin with the oak; and indeed it carries it from all other timber
+whatsoever, for building of ships in general, and in particular being
+tough, bending well, strong and not too heavy, nor easily admitting
+water.
+
+2. 'Tis pity that the several kinds of oak are so rarely known amongst
+us, that whereever they meet with _quercus_, they take it promiscuously
+for our common oak; as likewise they do +Drys+, which comprehends all
+mast-bearing trees whatsoever, (which I think they have no latin word
+for): And in the _Silva Glandifera_ were reckon'd the chessnut, ilix,
+_esculus_, _cerris_, _suber_, &c. various species rather than different
+trees, white, red, black, &c. among our American plantations,
+(especially the long-stalked oak not as yet much taken notice of): we
+shall here therefore give an account of four only; two of which are most
+frequent with us; for we shall say little of the _cerris_ or _aegilops_,
+goodly to look on, but for little else: Some have mistaken it for beech,
+whereas indeed it is a kind of oak bearing a small round acorn almost
+covered with the cup, which is very rugged, the branches loaded with a
+long moss hanging down like dishevell'd hair which much annoys it.
++Phagos+ is indeed doubtless a species of oak; however by the Latins
+usually apply'd to the beech, whose leaf exceedingly differs from that
+of the oak, as also the mast and bark rugged, and growing among the
+hills and mountains; the other in the valleys, and perhaps, but few of
+them in Italy. Physicians, naturalists and botanists should therefore be
+curious how they describe and place such trees mention'd by
+_Theophrastus_ and others, under the same denomination as frequently
+they do; being found so very different when accurately examin'd. There
+is likewise the _esculus_, which though _Vitruvius_, _Pliny_,
+_Dalcampius_ and others take for a smaller kind, _Virgil_ celebrates for
+its spreading, and profound root; and this _Dalcampius_ will therefore
+have to be the _platyphyllos_ of _Theophrastus_, and as our botanists
+think, his _phegos_, as producing the most edible fruit. But to confine
+our selves; the _quercus urbana_, which grows more upright, and being
+clean and lighter is fittest for timber: And the _robur_, or _quercus
+silvestris_, (taking _robur_ for the general name, if at least
+contradistinct from the rest); which (as the name imports) is of a vast
+robust and inflexible nature, of an hard black grain; bearing a smaller
+acorn, and affecting to spread in branches, and to put forth his roots
+more above ground; and therefore in the planting, to be allow'd a
+greater distance, viz. from twenty five, to forty foot; (nay sometimes
+as many yards;) whereas the other shooting up more erect, will be
+contented with fifteen. This kind is farther to be distinguished by its
+fulness of leaves, which tarnish, and becoming yellow at the fall, do
+commonly clothe it all the winter; the roots growing very deep and
+stragling. The author of _Britannia Baconica_, speaks of an oak in
+Lanhadron-Park in Cornwall, which bears constantly leaves speckled with
+white; and of another call'd the painted oak; others have since been
+found at Fridwood, near Sittingbourn in Kent; as also sycamore and elms,
+in other places mentioned by the learned Dr. Plot in his _Nat. Hist._ of
+_Oxfordshire_: Which I only mention here, that the variety may be
+compar'd by some ingenious person thereabouts, as well as the truth of
+the fatal prae-admonition, of oaks bearing strange leaves: Besides that
+famous oak of _New Forest_ in _Hampshire_, which puts forth its buds
+about Christmass, but wither'd again before night; and was order'd (by
+our late King Charles II.) to be inclos'd with a Pale; (as I find it
+mentioned in the last edition of Mr. Camden's _Brit._) And so was
+another before this; which his grandfather, King James, went to visit,
+and caused benches to be plac'd about it; which giving it reputation,
+the people never left hacking of the boughs and bark till they kill'd
+the tree: As I am told they have serv'd that famous oak near
+_White-Ladys_ which hid and protected our late Monarch from being
+discovered and taken by the Rebel-Soldiers, who were sent to find him,
+after his almost miraculous escape at the battel of _Worcester_. In the
+mean time, as to this extraordinary precosness, the like is reported of
+a certain wallnut-tree as well as of the famous white-thorns of
+_Glassenbury_, and blackthorns in several places. Some of our common
+oaks bear their leaves green all winter; but they are generally
+pollards, and such as are shelter'd in warm corners and hedge rows. To
+speak then particularly of oaks, and generally of all other trees of
+the same kind, (by some infallible characters) notice should be taken of
+the manner of their spreading, stature and growth, shape and size of the
+acorn, whether single or in clusters, the length or shortness of the
+stalks, roundness of the cup, breadth, narrowness, shape, and indentures
+of the leaf; and so of the bark, +Trachys+, asperous, or smooth, brown
+or bright, &c. Tho' most (if not all of them) may rather be imputed to
+the genius and nature of the soil, situation, or goodness of the seed,
+than either to the pretended sex or species. And these observations may
+serve to discover many accidental varieties in other trees, without
+nicer distinctions; such as are fetch'd from profess'd botanists; who
+make it not so much their study, to plant and propagate trees, as to
+skill in their medicinal virtues, and other uses; always excepting our
+learned countryman, Mr. Ray, whose incomparable work omits nothing
+useful or desirable on this subject; wanting only the accomplishments of
+well-design'd sculps. There is likewise a kind of _hemeris_ or dwarf-oak
+(like the _robur_ VII. _clusii_) frequent in New-England; and the white
+one of _Virginia_, a most stately tree, which (bearing acorns) might
+easily be propagated here, if it were worth the while.
+
+3. I shall not need to repeat what has already been said Cap. 2.
+concerning the raising of this tree from the acorn; they will also
+endure the laying, but never to advantage of bulk or stature: It is in
+the mean time the propagation of these large spreading oaks, which is
+especially recommended for the excellency of the timber, and that his
+Majesties forests were well and plentifully stor'd with them; because
+they require room, and space to amplifie and expand themselves, and
+would therefore be planted at more remote distances, and free from all
+encumbrances: And this upon consideration how slowly a full-grown oak
+mounts upwards, and how speedily they spread, and dilate themselves to
+all quarters, by dressing and due culture; so as above forty years
+advance is to be gain'd by this only industry: And, if thus his
+Majesties forests and chases were stor'd, _viz._ with this spreading
+tree at handsom intervals, by which grazing might be improv'd for the
+feeding of deer and cattel under them, (for such was the old _Saltus_)
+benignly visited with the gleams of the sun, and adorn'd with the
+distant land-skips appearing through the glades, and frequent vallies;
+
+    (..............................betwixt
+    Whose rows the azure sky is seen immix'd,
+    With hillocks, vales, and fields, as now we see
+    Distinguish'd in a sweet variety;
+    Such places which wild apple-trees throughout
+    Adorn, and happy shrubs grow all about,){35:1}
+
+As the poet describes his olive-groves, nothing could be more ravishing;
+for so we might also sprinkle fruit-trees amongst them (of which
+hereafter) for cyder, and many singular uses, and should find such
+goodly plantations the boast of our rangers, and forests infinitely
+preferable to any thing we have yet beheld, rude, and neglected as they
+are: I say, when his Majesty shall proceed (as he hath design'd) to
+animate this laudable pride into fashion, forests and woods (as well as
+fields and inclosures) will present us with another face than now they
+do. And here I cannot but applaud the worthy industry of old Sir
+Harbotle Grimstone, who (I am told) from a very small nursery of acorns,
+which he sow'd in the neglected corners of his ground, did draw forth
+such numbers of oaks of competent growth; as being planted about his
+fields in even, and uniform rows, about one hundred foot from the
+hedges; bush'd, and well water'd till they had sufficiently fix'd
+themselves, did wonderfully improve both the beauty, and the value of
+his demeasnes. But I proceed.
+
+4. Both these kinds would be taken up very young, and transplanted about
+October; some yet for these hardy, and late springing trees, defer it
+till the winter be well over; but the earth had need be moist; and
+though they will grow tolerably in most grounds, yet do they generally
+affect the sound, black, deep, and fast mould, rather warm than over-wet
+and cold, and a little rising; for this produces the firmest timber;
+though my L. Bacon prefers that which grows in the moister grounds for
+ship-timber, as the most tough, and less subject to rift. But let us
+hear Pliny:
+
+     This is a general rule, saith he; "What trees soever they be which
+     grow tolerably, either on hills, or valleys, arise to greater
+     stature, and spread more amply in the lower ground: But the timber
+     is far better, and of a finer grain, which grows upon the
+     mountains, excepting only apple and pear-trees." And in the 39 cap.
+     lib. 16. "The timber of those trees which grow in moist and shady
+     places is not so good as that which comes from a more expos'd
+     situation, nor is it so close, substantial and durable":
+
+Upon which he much prefers the timber growing in _Tuscany_, before that
+towards the _Venetian_ side, and upper part of the _Gulph_: And that
+timber so grown, was in greatest esteem long before Pliny, we have the
+Spear of _Agamemnon_........... +echon anemotrephes enchos. Il.
+l.+{37:1} from a tree so expos'd; and _Didymus_ gives the reason, +Ta
+gar en anemo+ (says he) +pleion gymnazomena deudra oterea+ &c. _For that
+being continually weather-beaten, they become hardier and tougher_:
+Otherwise, that which is wind-shaken, never comes to good; and
+therefore, when we speak of the climate, 'tis to be understood of
+valleys rather than hills, and in calm places, than exposed, because
+they shoot streight and upright. The result of all is, that upon
+occasion of special timber, there is a very great and considerable
+difference; so as some oaken-timber proves manifestly weaker, more
+spungy, and sooner decaying than other. The like may be affirm'd of ash,
+and other kinds; and generally speaking, the close-grain'd is the
+stoutest, and most permanent: But of this, let the industrious consult
+that whole tenth chapter in the second book of Vitruvius, where he
+expresly treats of this argument, _De Abiete supernate & infernate, cum
+Apennini descriptione_: Where we note concerning oak, that it neither
+prospers in very hot, nor excessive cold countries; and therefore there
+is little good of it to be found in _Africa_; or indeed, the lower and
+most southern parts of _Italy_ (but the _Venetians_ have excellent
+timber) nor in _Denmark_, or _Norway_ comparable to ours; it chiefly
+affecting a temperate climate, and where they grow naturally in
+abundance, 'tis a promising mark of it. If I were to make choice of the
+place, or the tree, it should be such as grows in the best cow-pasture,
+or up-land meadow, where the mould is rich, and sweet, (Suffolk affords
+an admirable instance) and in such places you may also transplant large
+trees with extraordinary success: And therefore it were not amiss to
+bore and search the ground where you intend to plant or sow, before you
+fall to work; since earth too shallow, or rocky is not so proper for
+this timber; the roots fix not kindly, and though for a time they may
+seem to flourish, yet they will dwindle: In the mean time, 'tis
+wonderful to consider how strangely the oak will penetrate to come to a
+marly bottom; so as where we find this tree to prosper, the indication
+of a fruitful and excellent soil is certain even by the token of this
+natural augury only; so as by the plantation of this tree and some
+others, we have the advantage of profit rais'd from the pregnancy,
+substance and depth of our land; whilst by the grass and corn, (whose
+roots are but a few inches deep), we have the benefit of the crust only.
+
+5. But to discourage none, oaks prosper exceedingly even in gravel and
+moist clays, which most other trees abhor; yea, even the coldest
+clay-grounds that will hardly graze: But these trees will frequently
+make stands, as they encounter variety of footing, and sometimes proceed
+again vigorously, as they either penetrate beyond, or out-grow their
+obstructions, and meet better earth; which is of that consequence, that
+I dare boldly affirm, more than an hundred years advance is clearly
+gain'd by soil and husbandry. I have yet read, that there grow oaks,
+(some of which have contain'd ten loads apiece) out of the very walls
+of _Silcester_ in Hantshire, which seem to strike root in the very
+stones; and even in our renowned Forest of Dean itself, some goodly oaks
+have been noted to grow upon ground, which has been as it were a rock of
+ancient cinders, buried there many ages since. It is indeed obser'd,
+that oaks which grow in rough stony grounds, and obstinate clays, are
+long before they come to any considerable stature, (for such places, and
+all sort of clay, is held but a step-mother to trees) but in time they
+afford the most excellent timber, having stood long, and got good
+footing. The same may we affirm of the lightest sands, which produces a
+smoother-grain'd timber, of all other the most useful for the joyner;
+but that which grows in gravel is subject to be frow (as they term it)
+and brittle. What improvement the stirring of the ground about the roots
+of oaks is to the trees, I have already hinted; and yet in copses where
+they stand warm, and so thicken'd with the underwood, as this culture
+cannot be practis'd, they prove in time to be goodly trees. I have of
+late tried the graffing of oaks, but as yet with slender success:
+Ruellius indeed affirms it will take the pear and other fruit; and if we
+may credit the poet,
+
+    The sturdy oak does golden apples bear.{39:1}
+
+    And under elms swine do the mast devour.{39:2}
+
+Which I conceive to be the more probable, for that the sap of the oak
+is of an unkind tincture to most trees. But for this improvement, I
+would rather advise inoculation, as the ordinary elm upon the
+witch-hazel, for those large leaves we shall anon mention, and which are
+so familiar in France.
+
+6. That the transplanting of young oaks gains them ten years advance,
+some happy persons have affirmed: From this belief, if in a former
+impression I have desired to be excused, and produc'd my reasons for it,
+I shall not persist against any sober man's experience; and therefore
+leave this article to their choice; since (as the butchers phrase is)
+change of pasture makes fat calves; and so transplantations of these
+hard-wood-trees, when young, may possibly, by an happy hand, in fit
+season, and other circumstances of soil, sun, and room for growth, be an
+improvement: But as for those who advise us to plant oaks of too great a
+stature, they hardly make any considerable progress in an age; and
+therefore I cannot encourage it, unless the ground be extraordinarily
+qualify'd, or that the oak you would transplant, be not above 6 or 7
+foot growth in height: Yet if any be desirous to make tryal of it, let
+their stems be of the smoothest and tenderest bark; for that is ever an
+indication of youth, as well as the paucity of their circles, which in
+disbranching and cutting the head off, at five or six foot height (a
+thing, by the way, which the French usually spare when they transplant
+this tree) may (before you stir their roots) serve for the more certain
+guide; and then plant them immediately, with as much earth as will
+adhere to them, in the place destin'd for their station; abating only
+the{41:1} tap-root, which is that down-right, and stubby part of the
+roots (which all trees rais'd of seeds do universally produce) and
+quickning some of the rest with a sharp knife (but sparing the fibrous,
+which are the main suckers and mouths of all trees) spread them in the
+foss or pit which hath been prepar'd to receive them. I say, in the
+foss, unless you will rather trench the whole field, which is
+incomparably the best; and infinitely to be preferr'd before narrow pits
+and holes (as the manner is) in case you plant any number considerable,
+the earth being hereby made loose, easier and penetrable for the roots,
+about which you are to cast that mould, which (in opening of the trench)
+you took from the surface, and purposely laid apart; because it is
+sweet, mellow, and better impregnated: But in this work, be circumspect
+never to inter your stem deeper than you found it standing; for profound
+burying very frequently destroys a tree, though an error seldom
+observed: If therefore the roots be sufficiently covered to keep the
+body steady and erect, it is enough; and the not minding of this
+trifling circumstance, does very much deceive our ordinary wood-men, as
+well as gardiners; for most roots covet the air (though that of the
+_Quercus urbano_ least of any); for like the _Esculus_
+
+    How much to heaven her towring head ascends,
+    So much towards hell her piercing root extends.{41:2}
+
+And the perfection of that, does almost as much concern the prosperity
+of a tree, as of man himself, since _homo_ is but _arbor inversa_; which
+prompts me to this curious, but important advertisement, that the
+position be likewise sedulously observed.
+
+7. For, the southern parts being more dilated, and the pores expos'd (as
+evidently appears in their horizontal sections) by the constant
+excentricity of the hyperbolical circles of all trees, (save just under
+AEquator, where the circles concentre, as we find in those hard woods
+which grow there) ours, being now on the sudden, and at such a season
+converted to the north, does starve and destroy more trees (how careful
+soever men have been in ordering the roots, and preparing the ground,)
+than any other accident whatsoever (neglect of staking, and defending
+from cattle excepted); the importance whereof caused the best of poets,
+and most experienc'd in this _Argument_, giving advice concerning this
+article, to add.
+
+    The card'nal points upon the bark they sign,
+    And as before it stood, in the same line
+    Place to warm south, or the obverted pole;
+    Such force has custom, in each tender soul.{42:1}
+
+Which monition, though Pliny, and some others think good to neglect, or
+esteem indifferent, I can confirm from frequent losses of my own, and by
+particular tryals; having sometimes transplanted great trees at
+mid-summer with success (the earth adhering to the roots) and miscarried
+in others, where this circumstance only was omitted.
+
+To observe therefore the coast, and side of the stock (especially of
+fruit-trees) is not such a trifle as by some pretended: For if the air
+be as much the mother or nurse, as water and earth, (as more than
+probable it is) such blossoming plants as court the motion of the
+meridian sun, do as 't were evidently point out the advantage they
+receive by their position, by the clearness, politure, and comparative
+splendor of the southside: And the frequent mossiness of trees on the
+opposite side, does sufficiently note the unkindness of that aspect;
+most evident in the bark of oaks white and smooth; the trees growing
+more kindly on the south side of an hill, than those which are expos'd
+to the north, with an hard, dark, rougher and more mossie integument, as
+I can now demonstrate in a prodigious coat of it, investing some
+pyracanths which I have removed to a northern dripping shade. I have
+seen (writes a worthy friend to me on this occasion) whole hedge-rows of
+apples and pears that quite perished after that shelter was removed: The
+good husbands expected the contrary, and that the fruit should improve,
+as freed from the proedations of the hedge; but use and custom made that
+shelter necessary; and therefore (saith he) a stock for a time is the
+weaker, taken out of a thicket, if it be not well protected from all
+sudden and fierce invasions, either of crude air or winds. Nor let any
+be deterr'd, if being to remove any trees, he shall esteem it too
+consumptive of time; for with a brush dipped in any white colour, or
+oaker, a thousand may be marked as they stand, in a moment; and that
+once done, the difficulty is over. I have been the larger upon these two
+remarks, because I find them so material, and yet so much neglected.
+
+8. There are other rules concerning the situation of trees; the former
+author commending the north-east-wind both for the flourishing of the
+tree, and advantage of the timber; but to my observation in our
+climates, where those sharp winds do rather flanker than blow fully
+opposite upon our plantations, they thrive best; and there are as well
+other circumstances to be considered, as they respect rivers and marshes
+obnoxious to unwholsom and poysonous fogs, hills and seas, which expose
+them to the weather; and those _silvifragi venti_, our cruel and tedious
+western-winds; all which I leave to observation, because these accidents
+do so universally govern, that it is not easie to determine farther than
+that the timber is commonly better qualified which hath endur'd the
+colder aspects without these prejudices. And hence it is that Seneca
+observes, wood most expos'd to the winds to be the most strong and
+solid, and that therefore _Chiron_ made _Achilles's_ spear of a
+mountain-tree; and of those the best, which grow thin, not much
+shelter'd from the north. Again, Theophrastus seems to have special
+regard to places; exemplifying in many of Greece, which exceeded others
+for good timber, as doubtless do our oaks in the Forest of Dean all
+others of England: And much certainly there may reasonably be attributed
+to these advantages for the growth of timber, and of almost all other
+trees, as we daily see by their general improsperity, where the ground
+is a hot gravel, and a loose earth: An oak, or elm in such a place shall
+not in an hundred years, overtake one of fifty, planted in its proper
+soil; though next to this, and (haply) before it, I prefer the good air.
+But thus have they such vast junipers in Spain; and the ash in some
+parts of the Levant (as of old near Troy) so excellent, as it was after
+mistaken for cedar, so great was the difference; as now the Cantabrian,
+or Spanish exceeds any we have elsewhere in Europe. And we shall
+sometimes in our own country see woods within a little of each other,
+and to all appearance, growing on the same soil, where oaks of twenty
+years growth, or forty, will in the same bulk, contain their double in
+heart and timber; and that in one, the heart will not be so big as a
+man's arm, when the trunk exceeds a man's body: This ought therefore to
+be weighed in the first plantation of copses, and a good eye may discern
+it in the first shoot; the difference proceeding doubtless from the
+variety of the seed, and therefore great care should be had of its
+goodness, and that it be gather'd from the best sort of trees, as was
+formerly hinted, Chap. 1.
+
+9. _Veterem arborem transplantare_ was said of a difficult enterprize;
+yet before we take leave of this paragraph, concerning the transplanting
+of great trees, and to shew what is possible to be effected in this
+kind, with cost and industry; Count Maurice (the late Governor of Brasil
+for the Hollanders) planted a grove near his delicious paradise of
+Friburgh, containing six hundred coco-trees of eighty years growth, and
+fifty foot high to the nearest bough: These he wafted upon floats and
+engines, four long miles; and planted them so luckily, that they bare
+abundantly the very first year; as Gasper Barloeus hath related in his
+Elegant Description of that Prince's Expedition. Nor hath this only
+succeeded in the Indies alone; Monsieur de Fiat (one of the Mareschals
+of France) hath with huge oaks done the like at Fiat. Shall I yet bring
+you nearer home? A great person in Devon, planted oaks as big as twelve
+oxen could draw, to supply some defect in an avenue to one of his
+houses; as the Right Honourable the Lord Fitz-Harding, late Treasurer of
+His Majesty's Household, assur'd me; who had himself likewise practis'd
+the removing of great oaks by a particular address extreamly ingenious,
+and worthy the communication.
+
+10. Chuse a tree as big as your thigh, remove the earth from about him;
+cut through all the collateral roots, till with a competent strength you
+can enforce him down upon one side, so as to come with your ax at the
+top-root; cut that off, redress your tree, and so let it stand cover'd
+about with the mould you loosen'd from it, till the next year, or longer
+if you think good; then take it up at a fit season; it will likely have
+drawn new tender roots apt to take, and sufficient for the tree,
+wheresoever you shall transplant him. Some are for laying bare the whole
+roots, and then dividing it into 4 parts, in form of a cross, to cut
+away the interjacent rootlings, leaving only the cross and master-roots,
+that were spared to support the tree; and then covering the pit with
+fresh mould (as above) after a year or two, when it has put forth, and
+furnish'd the interstices you left between the cross-roots, with plenty
+of new fibers and tender shoots, you may safely remove the tree itself,
+so soon as you have loosened and reduc'd the 4 decusseted roots, and
+shortned the top-roots: And this operation is done without stooping or
+bending the tree at all: And if in removing it with as much of the clod
+about the new roots, as possible, it would be much the better.
+
+Pliny notes it as a common thing, to re-establish huge trees which have
+been blown down, part of their roots torn up, and the body prostrate;
+and, in particular, of a firr, that when it was to be transplanted, had
+a top-root which went no less than eight cubits perpendicular; and to
+these I could superadd (by woful experience) where some oaks, and other
+old trees of mine, tore up with their fall and ruin, portions of earth
+(in which their former spreading roots were ingag'd) little less in bulk
+and height than some ordinary cottages and houses, built on the common:
+Such havock, was the effect of the late prodigious hurricane. But to
+proceed. To facilitate the removal of such monstrous trees, for the
+adornment of some particular place, or the rarity of the plant, there is
+this farther expedient: A little before the hardest frosts surprise you,
+make a square trench about your tree, at such distance from the stem as
+you judge sufficient for the root; dig this of competent depth, so as
+almost quite to undermine it; by placing blocks and quarters of wood, to
+sustain the earth; this done, cast in as much water as may fill the
+trench, or at least sufficiently wet it, unless the ground were very
+moist before. Thus let it stand, till some very hard frost do bind it
+firmly to the roots, and then convey it to the pit prepar'd for its new
+station, which you may preserve from freezing, by laying store of warm
+litter in it, and so close the mould the better to the stragling fibers,
+placing what you take out about your new guest, to preserve it in
+temper: But in case the mould about it be so ponderous as not to be
+remov'd by an ordinary force; you may then raise it with a crane or
+pully, hanging between a triangle (or like machine) which is made of
+three strong and tall limbs united at the top, where a pully is fastned,
+as the cables are to be under the quarters which bear the earth about
+the roots: For by this means you may weigh up, and place the whole
+weighty clod upon a trundle, sledge, or other carriage, to be convey'd
+and replanted where you please, being let down perpendicularly into the
+place by the help of the foresaid engine. And by this address you may
+transplant trees of a wonderful stature, without the least disorder; and
+many times without topping, or diminution of the head, which is of great
+importance, where this is practis'd to supply a defect, or remove a
+curiosity.
+
+11. Some advise, that in planting of oaks, &c. four or five be suffer'd
+to stand very near to one another, and then to leave the most
+prosperous, when they find the rest to disturb his growth; but I
+conceive it were better to plant them at such distances, as they may
+least incommode one another: For timber-trees, I would have none nearer
+than forty foot where they stand closest; especially of the spreading
+kind.
+
+12. Lastly, trees of ordinary stature transplanted (being first well
+water'd) must be sufficiently staked, and bush'd about with thorns, or
+with something better, to protect them from the concussions of the
+winds, and from the casual rubbing, and poysonous brutting of cattle and
+sheep, the oyliness of whose wooll is also very noxious to them; till
+being well grown and fixed (which by seven years will be to some
+competent degree) they shall be able to withstand all accidental
+invasions, but the axe; for I am now come to their pruning and cutting,
+in which work the seasons are of main importance.
+
+13. Therefore, if you would propagate trees for timber, cut not off
+their heads at all, nor be too busie with lopping: But if you desire
+shade and fuel, or bearing of mast alone, lop off their tops, sear, and
+unthriving branches only: If you intend an outright felling, expect till
+November; for this proemature cutting down of trees before the sap is
+perfectly at rest, will be to your exceeding prejudice, by reason of the
+worm, which will certainly breed in timber which is felled before that
+period: But in case you cut only for the chimney, you need not be so
+punctual as to the time; yet for the benefit of what you let stand,
+observe the moon's increase if you please. The reason of these
+differences, is; because this is the best season for the growth of the
+tree which you do not fell, the other for the durableness of the timber
+which you do: Now that which is to be burnt is not so material for
+lasting, as the growth of the tree is considerable for the timber: But
+of these particulars more at large in cap. 3. book III.
+
+14. The very stumps of oak, especially that part which is dry, and above
+ground, being well grubb'd, is many times worth the pains and charge,
+for sundry rare and hard works; and where timber is dear. I could name
+some who abandoning this to workmen for their pains only, when they
+perceiv'd the great advantage, repented of their bargain, and
+undertaking it themselves, were gainers above half: I wish only for the
+expedition of this knotty work, some effectual engine were devised; such
+as I have been told a worthy person of this nation made use of, by which
+he was able with one man, to perform more than with twelve oxen; and
+surely, there might be much done by fastning of iron-hooks and fangs
+about one root, to extract another; the hook chain'd to some portable
+screw or winch: I say, such an invention might effect wonders, not only
+for the extirpation of roots, but the prostrating of huge trees: That
+small engine, which by some is call'd the _german-devil_, reform'd after
+this manner, and duly applied, might be very expedient for this purpose,
+and therefore we have exhibited the following figure, and submit it to
+improvement and tryal.
+
+But this is to be practis'd only where you design a final extirpation;
+for some have drawn suckers even from an old stub-root; but they
+certainly perish by the moss which invades them, and are very subject to
+grow rotten. Pliny speaks of one root, which took up an entire acre of
+ground, and Theophrastus describes the _Lycean Platanus_ to have spread
+an hundred foot; if so, the argument may hold good for their growth
+after the tree is come to its period. They made cups of the roots of
+oaks heretofore, and such a curiosity Athenaeus tells us was carv'd by
+Thericleus himself; and there is a way so to tinge oak after long
+burying and soaking in water, (which gives it a wonderful politure) as
+that it has frequently been taken for a course ebony: Hence even by
+floating, comes the Bohemian oak, Polish, and other northern timber, to
+be of such excellent use for some parts of shipping: But the blackness
+which we find in oaks, that have long lain under ground, (and may be
+call'd subterranean timber) proceeds from some vitriolic juice of the
+bed in which they lie, which makes it very weighty; but (as the
+excellent naturalist and learned physician Dr. Sloane observes) it
+dries, splits, and becomes light, and much impairs.
+
+15. There is not in nature a thing more obnoxious to deceit, than the
+buying of trees standing, upon the reputation of their appearance to
+the eye, unless the chapman be extraordinarily judicious; so various are
+their hidden and conceal'd infirmities, till they be fell'd and sawn
+out: So as if to any thing applicable, certainly there is nothing which
+does more perfectly confirm it, than the most flourishing out-side of
+trees, _fronti nulla fides_. A timber-tree is a merchant-adventurer, you
+shall never know what he is worth till he be dead.
+
+16. Oaks are in some places (where the soil is especially qualified)
+ready to be cut for cops in fourteen years and sooner; I compute from
+the first semination; though it be told as an instance of high
+encouragement (and as indeed it merits) that a lady in Northamptonshire
+sowed acorns, and liv'd to cut the trees produc'd from them, twice in
+two and twenty years; and both as well grown as most are in sixteen or
+eighteen. This yet is certain, that acorns set in hedg-rows, have in
+thirty years born a stem of a foot diameter. Generally, cops-wood should
+be cut close, and at such intervals as the growth requires; which being
+seldom constant, depends much on the places and the kinds, the mould and
+the air, and for which there are extant particular statutes to direct
+us; of all which more at large hereafter. Oak for tan-bark may be fell'd
+from April to the last of June, by a Statute in the 1 _Jacobi_. And here
+some are for the disbarking of oaks, and so to let them stand, before
+they fell.
+
+17. To enumerate now the incomparable uses of this wood, were needless;
+but so precious was the esteem of it, that of old there was an express
+law amongst the Twelve Tables, concerning the very gathering of the
+acorns, though they should be found fallen into another man's ground:
+The land and the sea do sufficiently speak for the improvement of this
+excellent material; houses and ships, cities and navies are built with
+it; and there is a kind of it so tough, and extreamly compact, that our
+sharpest tools will hardly enter it, and scarcely the very fire it self,
+in which it consumes but slowly, as seeming to partake of a ferruginous
+and metallin shining nature, proper for sundry robust uses. It is
+doubtless of all timber hitherto known, the most universally useful and
+strong; for though some trees be harder, as box, cornus, ebony, and
+divers of the Indian woods; yet we find them more fragil, and not so
+well qualify'd to support great incumbencies and weights, nor is there
+any timber more lasting, which way soever us'd. There has (we know) been
+no little stir amongst learned men, of what material the Cross was made,
+on which our Blessed Saviour suffer'd: Venerable Bede in _Collectaneis_,
+affirms it to have been fram'd of several woods, namely cypress, cedar,
+pine, and box; and to confirm it S. Hierom has cited the 6th of _Isaiah_
+13. _Gloria libani ad te veniet, & buxus & pinus simul ad ornandum locum
+sanctificationis meae, & locum pedum meorum significabo_; but following
+the version of the LXX. he reads _in cupresso, pinu & cedro_, &c. Others
+insert the palm, and so compose the gibbet of no less than four
+different timbers, according to the old verse:
+
+    Nail'd were his feet to cedar, to palm his hands;
+    Cypress his Body bore, title on olive stands:{52:1}
+
+And for this of the palm, they fetch it from that of 7 _Cant._ 8. where
+'tis said, _ascendam in palmam, & apprehendam fructus ejus_, and from
+other allegorical and mysterious expressions of the Sacred Text, without
+any manner of probability; whilst by Alphonsus Ciacconius, Lipsius,
+Angelus Rocca, Falconius, and divers other learned men (writing on this
+subject) and upon accurate examination of the many fragments pretended
+to be parcels of it, 'tis generally concluded to have been the oak; and
+I do verily believe it; since those who have described those countries,
+assure us there is no tree more frequent; which (with relation to
+several celebrations and mysteries under oaks in the Old Testament) has
+been the subject of many fine discourses. Nor is it likely they should
+chuse, or assemble so many sorts of woods with that curiosity, to
+execute one upon, whom they esteemed a malefactor; besides, we read how
+heavy it was, which cypress, cedar and palm are not in comparison with
+oak; whilst Gretser denies all this, _lib._ 1. _cap._ 6. and concludes
+upon his accurate examination of several fragments yet extant, that 'tis
+not discernible of what timber it was fram'd. We might add to these, the
+furious zeal of the bloody and malicious Jews (to see our B. Lord
+inhumanly executed) could not possibly allow leisure to frame a gibbet
+of so many rare and curious materials: Let this therefore pass for an
+errant legend.
+
+That which is twin'd and a little wreathed (easily to be discern'd by
+the texture of the bark) is best to support burthens for posts, columns,
+summers, &c. for all which our English oak is infinitely preferable to
+the French, which is nothing so useful, nor comparably so strong;
+insomuch as I have frequently admir'd at the sudden failing of most
+goodly timber to the eye, which being employ'd to these uses, does many
+times most dangerously fly in sunder, as wanting that native spring and
+toughness which our English oak is indu'd withal. And here we forget not
+the stress which Sir H. Wotton, and other architects put even in the
+very position of their growth, their native streightness and loftiness,
+for columns, supporters, cross-beams, &c. and 'tis found that the
+rough-grain'd body of a stubbed oak, is the fittest timber for the case
+of a cyder-mill, and such like engines, as best enduring the unquietness
+of a ponderous rolling-stone. For shingles, pales, lathes, coopers ware,
+clap-board for wainscot, (the ancient{54:1} _intestina opera_ and works
+within doors) and some pannells are curiously vein'd, of much esteem in
+former times, till the finer grain'd Spanish and Norway timber came
+amongst us, which is likewise of a whiter colour. There is in
+New-England a certain red-oak, which being fell'd, they season in some
+moist and muddy place, which branches into very curious works. It is
+observ'd that oak will not easily glue to other wood; no not very well
+with its own kind; and some sorts will never cohere tolerably, as the
+box and horn-beam, tho' both hard woods; so nor service with cornell,
+&c. Oak is excellent for wheel-spokes, pins and pegs for tyling, &c. Mr.
+Blith makes spars and small building-timber of oaks of eleven years
+growth, which is a prodigious advance, &c. The smallest and streightest
+is best, discover'd by the upright tenor of the bark, as being the most
+proper for cleaving: The knottiest for water-works, piles, and the like,
+because 'twill drive best, and last longest; the crooked, yet firm, for
+knee-timber in shipping, millwheels, &c. In a word, how absolutely
+necessary the oak is above all the trees of the forest in
+naval-architecture, &c. consult Whitson, lib. 1. cap. 13.
+
+Were planting of these woods more in use, we should banish our hoops of
+hazel, &c. for those of good copse-oak, which being made of the younger
+shoots, are exceeding tough and strong: One of them being of ground-oak,
+will outlast six of the best ash; but this our coopers love not to hear
+of, who work by the great for sale, and for others. The smaller
+trunchions and spray, make billet, bavine and coals; and the bark is of
+price with the tanner and dyer, to whom the very saw-dust is of use, as
+are the ashes and lee for bucking linnen; and to cure the roapishness of
+wine: And 'tis probable the cups of our acorns would tan leather as well
+as the bark, I wonder no body makes the experiment, as it is done in
+Turky with the _valonia_, which is a kind of acorn growing on the oaks.
+The ground-oak, while young, is us'd for poles, cudgels and
+walking-staffs, much come into mode of late, but to the wast of many a
+hopeful plant which might have prov'd good timber; and I the rather
+declaim against the custom, because I suspect they are such as are for
+the most part cut, and stolen by idle persons, and brought up to London
+in great bundles, without the knowledge or leave of the owners, who
+would never have glean'd their copses for such trifling uses. Here I am
+again to give a general notice of the peculiar excellency of the roots
+of most trees, for fair, beautiful, chamleted and lasting timber,
+applicable to many purposes; such as formerly made hafts for daggers,
+hangers, knives, handles for staves, tabacco-boxes, and elegant
+joyners-work, and even for some mathematical instruments of the larger
+size, to be had either in, or near the roots of many trees; however 'tis
+a kindness to premonish stewards and surveyors, that they do not
+negligently wast those materials: Nor may we here omit to mention tables
+for painters, which heretofore were us'd by the most famous artists,
+especially the curious pieces of Raphael, Durer, and Holbin, and before
+that of canvass, and much more lasting: To these add the galls,
+misletoe, polypod, agaric (us'd in antidotes) uvae, fungus's to make
+tinder, and many other useful excrescencies, to the number of above
+twenty, which doubtless discover the variety of transudations,
+percolations and contextures of this admirable tree; but of the several
+fruits, and animals generated of them, and other trees, Francisco Redi
+promises an express Treatise, in his _Esperienze intorno alla
+Generatione de gl' Insetti_, already publish'd. Pliny affirms, that the
+galls break out all together in one night, about the beginning of June,
+and arrive to their full growth in one day; this I should recommend to
+the experience of some extraordinary vigilant wood-man, had we any of
+our oaks that produc'd them, Italy and Spain being the nearest that do:
+Galls are of several kinds, but grow upon a different species of _robur_
+from any of ours, which never arrive to any maturity; the white and
+imperforated are the best; of all which, and their several species, see
+Jasp. Bauhinus, and the excellent Malpighius, in his Discourse _de
+Gallis_, and other morbous tumors, raised by, and producing insects,
+infecting the leaves, stalks and branches of this tree with a venomous
+liquor or froth, wherein they lay and deposite their eggs, which bore
+and perforate these excrescences, when the worms are hatch'd, so as we
+see them in galls.
+
+What benefit the mast does universally yield (once in two years at
+least) for the fatting of hogs and deer, I shall shew upon another
+occasion, before the conclusion of this Discourse. A peck of acorns a
+day, with a little bran, will make an hog ('tis said) increase a
+pound-weight _per diem_ for two months together. They give them also to
+oxen mingled with bran, chop'd or broken; otherwise they are apt to
+sprout and grow in their bellies. Others say, they should first be
+macerated in water, to extract their malignity; cattle many times
+perishing without this preparation. Cato advises the husband-man to
+reserve 240 bushels of acorns for his oxen, mingled with a like quantity
+of beans and lupines, and to drench them well. But in truth they are
+more proper for swine, and being so made small, will fatten pidgeons,
+peacocks, turkeys, pheasants and poultry; nay 'tis reported, that some
+fishes feed on them, especially the tunny, in such places of the coast
+where trees hang over arms of the sea. Acorns, _esculus ab esca_ (before
+the use of wheat-corn was found out) were heretofore the food of men,
+nay of Jupiter himself, (as well as other productions of the earth) till
+their luxurious palats were debauched: And even in the Romans time, the
+custom was in Spain to make a second service of acorns and mast, (as the
+French now do of marrons and chesnuts) which they likewise used to rost
+under the embers.
+
+          ........Fed with the oaken mast
+    The aged trees themselves in years surpass'd.{57:1}
+
+And men had indeed hearts of oak; I mean, not so hard, but health, and
+strength, and liv'd naturally, and with things easily parable and plain.
+
+    Blest age o'th' world, just nymph, when man did dwell
+    Under thy shade, whence his provision fell;
+    Sallads the meal, wildings were the dissert:
+    No tree yet learn'd by ill-example, art,
+    With insititious fruit to symbolize,
+    As in an emblem, our adulteries.{58:1}
+
+As the sweet poet bespeaks the dryad; and therefore it was not call'd
+_Quercus_, (as some etymologists fancy'd) because the Pagans
+(_quaeribantur responsa_) had their oracles under it, but because they
+sought for acorns: But 'tis in another{58:2} place where I shew you what
+this acorn was; and even now I am told, that those small young acorns
+which we find in the stock-doves craws, are a delicious fare, as well as
+those incomparable salads of young herbs taken out of the maws of
+partridges at a certain season of the year, which gives them a
+preparation far exceeding all the art of cookery. Oaks bear also a knur,
+full of a cottony matter, of which they anciently made wick for their
+lamps and candles; and among the _Selectiora Remedia_ of Jo. Praevotius,
+there is mention of an oil _e querna glande_ chymically extracted, which
+he affirms to be of the longest continuance, and least consumptive of
+any other whatsoever for such lights, _ita ut uncia singulis mensibus
+vix ab sumatur continuo igne_: The ingenious author of the Description
+of the Western Islands of Scotland, tells us, that (upon his own
+experience) a rod of oak of 4, 5, 6 or 8 inches about, being twisted
+like a with, boil'd in wort, well dry'd, and kept in a little bundle of
+barley-straw, and then steep'd again in wort, causes it to ferment, and
+procures yest: The rod should be cut before mid-May, and is frequently
+us'd in this manner to furnish yest, and being preserv'd, will serve,
+and produce the same effect many years together; and (as the historian
+affirms) that he was shew'd a piece of a thick wyth, which had been kept
+for making ale with for above 20 years, &c. In the mean time, the leaves
+of oaks abundantly congested on snow, preserve it as well for wine, as a
+deep pit, or the most artificial refrigeratory. Nor must we pass by the
+sweet mel-dews, so much more copiously found on the leaves of this tree,
+than any other; whence the industrious bees gather such abundance of
+honey, as that instead of carrying it to their hives, they glut
+themselves to death: But from this ill report (hastily taken up by
+Euricius Cordus) our learned Mr. Ray has vindicated this temperat and
+abstemious useful creature. Varro affirms, they made salt of oak ashes,
+with which they sometimes seasoned meat, but more frequently made use of
+it to sprinkle among, and fertilize their seed-corn: Which minds me of a
+certain oak found buried somewhere in Transilvania, near the Salt-pits,
+that was entirely converted into an hard salt, when they came to examine
+it by cutting. This experiment (if true) may possibly encourage some
+other attempts for the multiplying of salt: Nor less strange is that
+which some report of a certain water somewhere in Hungary, which
+transmutes the leaves of this tree into brass, and iron into copper. Of
+the galls is made trial of spaw-water, and the ground and basis of
+several dies, especially sadder colours, and are a great revenue to
+those who have quantities of them: Nor must I forget ink, compos'd of
+galls {oz}iiij, coppras {oz}ij, gum-arabic {oz}i: Beat the galls
+grossly, and put them into a quart of claret, or French-wine, and let
+them soak for eight or nine days, setting the vessel (an earthen glaz'd
+pitcher is best) in the hot sun, if made in summer; in winter near the
+fire, stirring it frequently with a wooden spatula: Then add the coppras
+and gum, and after it has stood a day or two, it will be fit to use.
+There are a world of receipts more, of which see _Caneparius de
+Atramentis_. Of the very moss of the oak, that which is white, composes
+the choicest cypress-powder, which is esteemed good for the head; but
+impostors familiarly vend other mosses under that name, as they do the
+fungi (excellent in hemorages and fluxes) for the true agaric, to the
+great scandal of physick. Young red oaken leaves decocted in wine, make
+an excellent gargle for a sore mouth; and almost every part of this tree
+is soveraign against fluxes in general, and where astringents are
+proper. The dew that impearls the leaves in May, insolated, meteorizes
+and sends up a liquor, which is of admirable effect in ruptures: The
+liquor issuing out between the bark, (which looks like treakle) has many
+soveraign vertues; and some affirm, the water stagnate in the hollow
+stump of a newly fell'd oak, is as effectual as _lignum sanctum_ in the
+foul disease, and also stops a diarrhaea: And a water distill'd from the
+acorns is good against the pthisick, stitch in the side, and heals
+inward ulcers, breaks the stone, and refrigerates inflammations, being
+applied with linnen dipp'd therein: nay, the acorns themselves eaten
+fasting, kill the worms, provoke urine, and (some affirm) break even the
+stone it self. The coals of oak beaten and mingled with honey, cures the
+carbuncle; to say nothing of the viscus's, polypods, and other
+excrescences, of which innumerable remedies are composed, noble
+antidotes, syrups, &c. Nay, 'tis reported, that the very shade of this
+tree is so wholesome, that the sleeping, or lying under it becomes a
+present remedy to paralyticks, and recovers those whom the mistaken
+malign influence of the walnut-tree has smitten: But what is still more
+strange, I read in one Paulus a Physician of Denmark, that an handful or
+two of small oak buttons, mingled with oats, given to horses which are
+black of colour, will in few days eating alter it to a fine dapple-grey,
+which he attributes to the vitriol abounding in this tree. To conclude;
+and upon serious meditation of the various uses of this and other trees,
+we cannot but take notice of the admirable mechanism of vegetables in
+general, as in particular in this species; that by the diversity of
+percolations and strainers, and by mixtures, as it were of divine
+chymistry, various concoctions, &c. the sap should be so green on the
+indented leaves, so lustily esculent for our hardier and rustick
+constitutions in the fruit; so flat and pallid in the atramental galls;
+and haply, so prognostick in the apple; so suberous in the bark (for
+even the cork-tree is but a courser oak) so oozie in the tanners pit;
+and in that subduction so wonderfully specifick in corroborating the
+entrails, and bladder, reins, loins, back, &c. which are all but the
+gifts and qualities, with many more, that these robust sons of the earth
+afford us; and that in other specifics, even the most despicable and
+vulgar elder imparts to us in its rind, leaves, buds, blossoms, berries,
+ears, pith, bark, &c. Which hint may also carry our remarks upon all the
+varieties of shape, leaf, seed, fruit, timber, grain, colour, and all
+those other forms {62:1} that philosophers have enumerated; but which
+were here too many for us to repeat. In a word, so great and universal
+is the benefit and use of this poly-crest, that they have prohibited the
+transporting it out of Norway, where there grows abundance. Let us end
+with the poet:
+
+    When ships for bloody combat we prepare,
+    Oak affords plank, and arms our men of war;
+    Maintains our fires, makes ploughs to till the ground,
+    For use no timber like the oak is found.{62:2}
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{31:1} _Saturn._ lib. II. cap. 16.
+
+{35:1}
+
+    (Caerula distinguens inter plaga currere posset
+    Per tumulos, & convalles, camposque profusa:
+    Ut nunc esse vides vario distincta lepore
+    Omnia, que pomis intersita dulcibus ornant
+    Arbustisque tenent felicibus obsita circum).
+
+    _Lucret. l. 5._
+
+{37:1} See what Vossius has written in his Observations on Catullus, p.
+204. _Indomitus turbo contorquens flamine_......
+
+{39:1}
+
+    .....Aurea durae
+    Mala ferant quercus.
+
+    _Ecl. 8._
+
+{39:2}
+
+    Glandemque sues fregere sub Ulmo.
+
+    _Geor._
+
+{41:1} Which yet some, upon good experience will not allow in
+transplanting young Oaks; affirming the taking them up without any
+abatement, or the least wound, does exceedingly advance the growth of
+this tree above such as are depriv'd of it.
+
+{41:2}
+
+    .......Quae quantum vertice ad auras
+    AEthereas, tantum radice in Tartara tendit.
+
+    _Geo._ l. 2.
+
+{42:1}
+
+    Quinetiam Coeli regionem in cortice signant,
+    Ut quo quaeque modo steterit, qua parte calores
+    Austrinos tulerit, quae terga obverterit axi,
+    Restituant: Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.
+
+    _Geor._ li. 1.
+
+{52:1}
+
+    Quatuor ex lignis domini crux dicitur esse, &c.
+    Pes crucis est cedrus, corpus tenet alta cupressus;
+    Palma manus retinet, titulo laetatur oliva.
+
+{54:1} And therefore were joyners called intestinary. See Leg. 2. _Cod.
+Theodos._
+
+{57:1}
+
+          .........Et querna glande repasta
+    AEquasse annosas vivendo corpora Quercus.
+
+{58:1}
+
+    Foelix illa aetas mundi, justissima nymphe,
+    Cum dabat umbra domum vivam tua, cum domus ipsa
+    Decidua dominos pascebat fruge quietos,
+    Solaque praebebant sylvestria poma secundas
+    Gramineis epulas mensis; nondum arte magistra
+    Arbor adulteriis praeluserat insita nostris, &c.
+
+    _Couleii_ Pl. _l._ 6.
+
+{58:2} Cap. I. Book III.
+
+{62:1} Of the ilex and cork (reckon'd among the glandiferus) see Book
+II. cap. V. and of the sacred and mysterious Missalto, Book III. cap.
+I.; see also more of _quercus_, Mr. Ray's _Hist. Plan._ tom. III. cap.
+_De Quercus_, tom. II. p. 1390.
+
+{62:2}
+
+    Si quando armandae naves, & bella paranda,
+    Det quercus nautis tabulata, det arma furori
+    Bellantum; det ligna foco, det aratra colono,
+    Aut aliis alios porro sumatur in usus.
+
+    _Rapinus._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+_Of the Elm._
+
+
+1. _Ulmus_ the elm, there are four or five sorts, and from the
+difference of the soil and air divers spurious: Two of these kinds are
+most worthy our culture, the vulgar, viz. the mountain elm, which is
+taken to be the _oriptelea_ of Theophrastus; being of a less jagged and
+smaller leaf; and the _vernacula_ or French elm, whose leaves are
+thicker, and more florid, glabrous and smooth, delighting in the lower
+and moister grounds, where they will sometimes rise to above an hundred
+foot in height, and a prodigious growth, in less than an age; my self
+having seen one planted by the hand of a Countess living not long since,
+which was near 12 foot in compass, and of an height proportionable;
+notwithstanding the numerous progeny which grew under the shade of it,
+some whereof were at least a foot in diameter, that for want of being
+seasonably transplanted, must needs have hindered the procerity of their
+ample and indulgent mother: I am persuaded some of these were
+_viviradices_, & _traduces_, produc'd of the falling seeds.
+
+2. For though both these sorts are rais'd of _appendices_, or suckers
+(as anon we shall describe) yet this latter comes well from the _samera_
+or seeds, and therefore I suppose it to be the ancient _atinia_, for
+such an elm they acknowledge to be rais'd of seeds, which being ripe
+about the beginning of March (though frequently not till the following
+month) will produce them; as we might have seen abundantly in the
+gardens of the Thuilleries, and that of Luxembourgh at Paris, where they
+usually sow themselves, and come up very thick; and so do they in many
+places of our country, tho' so seldom taken notice of, as that it is
+esteemed a fable, by the less observant and ignorant vulgar; let it
+therefore be tried in season, by turning and raking some fine earth,
+often refreshed, under some amply spreading tree, or to raise them of
+their seeds (being well dried a day or two before) sprinkled on beds
+prepar'd of good loamy fresh earth, and sifting some of the finest
+mould thinly over them, and watering them when need requires. Being
+risen (which may be within 4 or 5 months) an inch above ground
+(refreshed, and preserved from the scraping of birds and poultry)
+comfort the tender seedlings by a second sifting of more fine earth, to
+establish them; thus keep them clean weeded for the first two years, and
+cleansing the side-boughs; or till being of fitting stature to remove
+into a nursery at wider intervals, and even rows, you may thin and
+transplant them in the same manner as you were directed for young oaks;
+only they shall not need above one cutting, where they grow less regular
+and hopeful. But because this is an experiment of some curiosity,
+obnoxious to many casualties, and that the producing them from the
+mother-roots of greater trees is very facile and expeditious (besides
+the numbers which are to be found in the hedge-rows and woods, of all
+plantable sizes) I rather advise our forester to furnish himself from
+those places.
+
+3. The suckers which I speak of, are produced in abundance from the
+roots, whence, being dextrously separated, after the earth has been well
+loosened, and planted about the end of October, they will grow very
+well: Nay, the stubs only, which are left in the ground after a felling
+(being fenced in as far as the roots extend) will furnish you with
+plenty, which may be transplanted from the first year or two,
+successively, by slipping them from the roots, which will continually
+supply you for many years, after that the body of the mother-tree has
+been cut down: And from hence probably is sprung that (I fear) mistake
+of Salmasius and others, where they write of the growing of their chips
+(I suppose having some of the bark on) scattered in hewing of their
+timber; the error proceeding from this, that after an elm-tree has been
+fell'd, the numerous suckers which shoot from the remainders of the
+latent roots, seem to be produced from this dispersion of the chips: Let
+this yet be more accurately examined; for I pronounce nothing
+magisterially, since it is so confidently reported.
+
+4. I have known stakes sharpned at the ends for other purposes, take
+root familiarly in moist grounds, and become trees; and divers have
+essay'd with extraordinary success the trunchions of the boughs and arms
+of elms cut to the scantling of a man's arm, about an ell in length.
+These must be chopp'd on each side opposite, and laid into trenches
+about half a foot deep, covered about two or three fingers deep with
+good mould. The season for this work is towards the exit of January, or
+early in February, if the frosts impede not; and after the first year,
+you may cut, or saw the trunchions off in as many places as you find
+cause, and as the shoots and rooted sprouts will direct you for
+transplantation. Another expedient for the propagation of elms is this:
+Let trenches be sunk at a good distance (viz. twenty or thirty yards)
+from such trees as stand in hedge-rows, and in such order as you desire
+your elms should grow; where these gutters are, many young elms will
+spring from the small roots of the adjoining trees. Divide (after one
+year) the shoots from their mother-roots (which you may dextrously do
+with a sharp spade) and these transplanted, will prove good trees
+without any damage to their progenitors. Or do thus, lop a young elm,
+the lop being about three years growth, do it in the latter end of
+March, when the sap begins to creep up into the boughs, and the buds
+ready to break out; cut the boughs into lengths of four foot slanting,
+leaving the knot where the bud seems to put forth in the middle: Inter
+these short pieces in trenches of three or four inches deep, and in good
+mould well trodden, and they will infallibly produce you a crop; for
+even the smallest suckers of elms will grow, being set when the sap is
+newly stirring in them. There is yet a fourth way no less expeditious,
+and frequently confirmed with excellent success: Bare some of the
+master-roots of a vigorous tree within a foot of the trunk, or there
+abouts, and with your axe make several chops, putting a small stone into
+every cleft, to hinder their closure, and give access to the wet; then
+cover them with three or four inch-thick of earth; and thus they will
+send forth suckers in abundance, (I assure you one single elm thus well
+ordered, is a fair nursery) which after two or three years, you may
+separate and plant in the _Ulmarium_, or place designed for them; and
+which if it be in plumps (as they call them) within ten or twelve foot
+of each other, or in hedge-rows, it will be the better: For the elm is a
+tree of consort, sociable, and so affecting to grow in company, that the
+very best which I have ever seen, do almost touch one another: This also
+protects them from the winds, and causes them to shoot of an
+extraordinary height; so as in little more than forty years, they even
+arrive to a load of timber; provided they be sedulously and carefully
+cultivated, and the soil propitious. For an elm does not thrive so well
+in the forest, as where it may enjoy scope for the roots to dilate and
+spread at the sides, as in hedge-rows and avenues, where they have the
+air likewise free: Note, that they spring abundantly by layers also.
+
+5. There is besides these sorts we have named, one of a more scabrous
+harsh leaf, but very large, which becomes an huge tree, (frequent in the
+northern counties) and is distinguished by the name of the witch-hazle
+in our Statute Books, as serving formerly to make long bowes of; but the
+timber is not so good as the first more vulgar; but the bark at time of
+year, will serve to make a course bast-rope with.
+
+6. Of all the trees which grow in our woods, there is none which does
+better suffer the transplantation than the elm; for you may remove a
+tree of twenty years growth with undoubted success: It is an experiment
+I have made in a tree almost as big more as my waste; but then you must
+totally disbranch him, leaving only the summit intire; and being careful
+to take him up with as much earth as you can, refresh him with abundance
+of water. This is an excellent, and expeditious way for great persons to
+plant the accesses of their houses with; for being disposed at sixteen
+or eighteen foot interval, they will in a few years bear goodly heads,
+and thrive to admiration. Some that are very cautious, emplaster the
+wounds of such over-grown elms with a mixture of clay and horse-dung,
+bound about them with a wisp of hay or fine moss, and I do not reprove
+it, provided they take care to temper it well, so as the vermine nestle
+not in it. But for more ordinary plantations, younger trees, which have
+their bark smooth and tender, clear of wenns and tuberous bunches (for
+those of that sort seldom come to be stately trees) about the scantling
+of your leg, and their heads trimm'd at five or six foot height, are to
+be prefer'd before all other. Cato would have none of these sorts of
+trees to be removed till they are five or six fingers in diameter;
+others think they cannot take them too young; but experience (the best
+mistress) tells us, that you can hardly plant an elm too big. There are
+who pare away the root within two fingers of the stem, and quite cut off
+the head; but I cannot commend this extream severity, no more than I do
+the strewing of oats in the pit; which fermenting with the moisture and
+frequent waterings, is believed much to accelerate the putting forth of
+the roots; not considering, that for want of air they corrupt and grow
+musty, which more frequently suffocates the roots, and endangers the
+whole tree.
+
+7. I have affirmed how patient this tree is of transplantation; not only
+for that I observe so few of them to grow wild in England, and where it
+may not be suspected, but they or their predecessors have been planted
+by some industrious hand; but for that those incomparable walks and
+vistas of them, both at Aranjuez, Casal del Campo, Madrid, the Escurial,
+and other places of delight, belonging to the King and Grandees of
+Spain, are planted with such as they report Philip the second caused to
+be brought out of England; before which (as that most honourable person
+the Earl of Sandwich, when his Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary at
+that Court writ to me) it does not appear there were any of those trees
+in all Spain. But of that plantation, see it more particularly describ'd
+in the Eighth Chapter, Book III^d of this Discourse, whither I refer my
+reader: Whilst (as to my own inclination) I know of no tree amongst all
+the foresters, becoming the almost _interminat lontananza_ of walks and
+vistas, comparable to this majestick plant: But let us hear it as
+sweetly advised as described;
+
+    An elm for graceful verdure, bushy bough,
+    A lofty top, and a firm rind allow.
+    Plant elm in borders, on the grass-plots list,
+    Branches of elm into thick arbours twist;
+    A gallery of elm draw to the end,
+    That eyes can reach, or a breath'd race extend.{69:1}
+
+8. The elm delights in a sound, sweet, and fertile land, something more
+inclined to loamy moisture, and where good pasture is produced; though
+it will also prosper in the gravelly, provided there be a competent
+depth of mould, and be refreshed with springs; in defect of which, being
+planted on the very surface of the ground (the swarth par'd first away,
+and the earth stirred a foot deep or more) they will undoubtedly
+succeed; but in this trial, let the roots be handsomly spread, and
+covered a foot or more in height; and above all, firmly staked. This is
+practicable also for other trees, where the soil is over-moist or
+unkind: For as the elm does not thrive in too dry, sandy, or hot
+grounds, no more will it abide the cold and spungy; but in places that
+are competently fertile, or a little elevated from these annoyances; as
+we see in the mounds, and casting up of ditches, upon whose banks the
+female sort does more naturally delight; though it seems to be so much
+more addicted to some places than to others, that I have frequently
+doubted, whether it be a pure _indigene_ or _translatitious_; and not
+only because I have hardly ever known any considerable woods of them
+(besides some few nurseries near Cambridge, planted I suppose for store)
+but almost continually in tufts, hedge-rows, and mounds; and that
+Shropshire, and several other counties, and rarely any beyond Stamford
+to Durham, have any growing in many miles together: Indeed Camden
+mentions a place in Yorkshire call'd Elmet; and V. Bede, _Eccl. Hist.
+l._ 11. c. 14. (speaking of a fire hap'ning there, and describing of the
+harm it did thereabout, _ulmarium_ or _ulmetum_) _evasit autem ignem
+altare, quia lapidium erat, & servatur adhuc in monasterio r. abbatis &
+presbyteri thrythwuelf, quod in sylva elmete est_; but neither does this
+speak it miraculous, (for the altar it seems was stone) or that the elms
+grew spontaneously. In the mean time, some affirm they were first
+brought out of Lombardy, where indeed I have observ'd very goodly trees
+about the rich grounds, with pines among them, _vitelus almi_; for I
+hear of none either in Saxony or Denmark, nor in France, (growing wild)
+who all came and prey'd upon us after the Romans. But leaving this to
+the learned.
+
+9. The elm is by reason of its aspiring and tapering growth, (unless it
+be topped to enlarge the branches, and make them spread low) the least
+offensive to corn and pasture-grounds; to both which, and the cattel,
+they afford a benign shade, defence, and agreeable ornament: But then as
+to pastures, the wand'ring roots (apt to infect the fields and grass
+with innumerable suckers) the leading mother-root ought to be quite
+separated on that part, and the suckers irradicated. The like should be
+done where they are placed near walks of turf or gravel.
+
+10. It would be planted as shallow as might be; for, as we noted, deep
+interring of roots is amongst the catholick mistakes; and of this, the
+greatest to which trees are obnoxious. Let new-planted elms be kept
+moist by frequent refreshings upon some half-rotten fern, or litter laid
+about the foot of the stem; the earth a little stirred and depressed for
+the better reception and retention of the water.
+
+11. Lastly, your plantation must above all things be carefully preserved
+from cattel and the concussions of impetuous winds, till they are out of
+reach of the one, and sturdy enough to encounter the other.
+
+12. When you lop the side-boughs of an elm (which may be about January
+for the fire, and more frequently, if you desire to have them tall; or
+that you would form them into hedges, for so they may be kept plashed,
+and thickned to the highest twig; affording both a magnificent and
+august defence against the winds and sun) I say, when you trim them, be
+careful to indulge the tops; for they protect the body of your trees
+from the wet, which always invades those parts first, and will in time
+perish them to the very heart; so as elms beginning thus to decay, are
+not long prosperous. Sir Hugh Plat relates (as from an expert carpenter)
+that the boughs and branches of an elm should be left a foot long next
+the trunk when they are lopp'd; but this is to my certain observation, a
+very great mistake either in the relator, or author; for I have noted
+many elms so disbranched, that the remaining stubs grew immediately
+hollow, and were as so many conduits or pipes, to hold, and convey the
+rain to the very body and heart of the tree.
+
+13. There was a cloyster of the right French elm in the little garden
+near to Her Majesty's the Queen-Mother's Chappel at Somerset-House,
+which were (I suppose) planted there, by the industry of the F. F.
+Capuchines, that would have directed you to the incomparable use of this
+noble tree for shade and delight, into whatever figure you will accustom
+them. I have my self procured some of them from Paris, but they were so
+abused in the transportation, that they all perished save one, which now
+flourishes with me: I have also lately graffed elms to a great
+improvement of their heads. Virgil tells us they will join in marriage
+with the oak, and they would both be tryed; and that with the more
+probable success, for such lignous kinds, if you graff under the earth,
+upon, or near the very root it self, which is likely to entertain the
+cyon better than when more exposed, till it be well fixt, and have made
+some considerable progress.
+
+14. When you would fell, let the sap be perfectly in repose; as 'tis
+commonly about November or December, even to February, after the frost
+hath well nipp'd them: I have already alledged my reason for it; and I
+am told, that both oak and elm so cut, the very saplings (whereof
+rafters, spars, &c. are made) will continue as long as the very heart of
+the tree, without decay. In this work, cut your kerfe near to the
+ground; but have a care that it suffer not in the fall, and be ruined
+with its own weight: This depends upon your wood-man's judgment in
+disbranching, and is a necessary caution to the felling of all other
+timber-trees. If any begin to doat, pick out such for the axe, and
+rather trust to its successor. And if cutting over-late, by floating
+them 2 or 3 months in the water, it prevents the worm, and proves the
+best of seasons.
+
+15. Elm is a timber of most singular use; especially where it may lie
+continually dry, or wet, in extreams; therefore proper for water-works,
+mills, the ladles, and soles of the wheel, pipes, pumps, aquae-ducts,
+pales, ship-planks beneath the water-line; and some that has been found
+buried in bogs has turned like the most polish'd and hardest ebony, only
+discerned by the grain: Also for wheel-wrights, handles for the single
+hand-saw, rails and gates made of elm (thin sawed) is not so apt to rive
+as oak: The knotty for naves, hubs; the straight and smooth for
+axle-trees, and the very roots for curiously dappled works, scarce has
+any superior for kerbs of coppers, featheridge, and weather-boards, (but
+it does not without difficulty, admit the nail without boreing)
+chopping-blocks, blocks for the hat-maker, trunks, and boxes to be
+covered with leather; coffins, for dressers and shovel-board-tables of
+great length, and a lustrous colour if rightly seasoned; also for the
+carver, by reason of the tenor of the grain, and toughness which fits it
+for all those curious works of frutages, foliage, shields, statues, and
+most of the ornaments appertaining to the orders of architecture, and
+for not being much subject to warping; I find that of old they used it
+even for hinges and hooks of doors; but then, that part of the plank
+which grew towards the top of the tree, was in work to be always
+reversed; and for that it is not so subject to rift; Vitruvius commends
+it both for tenons and mortaises: But besides these, and sundry other
+employments, it makes also the second sort of charcoal; and finally,
+(which I must not omit) the use of the very leaves of this tree,
+especially of the female, is not to be despis'd; for being suffered to
+dry in the sun upon the branches, and the spray strip'd off about the
+decrease in August (as also where the suckers and stolones are
+super-numerary, and hinder the thriving of their nurses) they will prove
+a great relief to cattel in winter, and scorching summers, when hay and
+fodder is dear they will eat them before oats, and thrive exceedingly
+well with them; remember only to lay your boughs up in some dry and
+sweet corner of your barn: It was for this the poet prais'd them, and
+the epithet was advis'd,
+
+    fruitful in leaves the elm.{74:1}
+
+In some parts of Herefordshire they gather them in sacks for their
+swine, and other cattel, according to this husbandry. But I hear an ill
+report of them for bees, that surfeiting of the blooming seeds, they are
+obnoxious to the lask, at their first going abroad in spring, which
+endangers whole stocks, if remedies be not timely adhibited; therefore
+'tis said in great elm countries they do not thrive; but the truth of
+which I am yet to learn. The green leaf of the elms contused, heals a
+green wound or cut, and boiled with the bark, consolidates fractur'd
+bones. All the parts of this tree are abstersive, and therefore
+sovereign for the consolidating wounds; and asswage the pains of the
+gout: But the bark decocted in common water, to almost the consistence
+of a syrup, adding a third part of _aqua vitae_, is a most admirable
+remedy for the _ischiadicae_ or hip-pain, the place being well rubb'd and
+chaf'd by the fire. Other wonderful cures perform'd by the liquor, &c.
+of this tree, see Mr. Ray's _History of Plants_, lib. XXV. cap. 1. sect.
+5. and for other species of the elm, his Supplement, tom. III. _ad cap.
+De Ulmo._ tom. II. p. 1428.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{69:1}
+
+    Ut viror est ulmo laetus, ramique comantes,
+    Arduus, alta petens & levi cortice truncus.
+    Ulmum adhibe ordinibus, quoties sudenda per hortum,
+    Sunt serie spatia ingenti, texendaque totis
+    AEstivos contra soles umbracula campis:
+    Una alias inter texendis aptior ulmus
+    Marginibus spatiorum, exornandoque vireto.
+    Seque adeo series, plano super aequore, tendat
+    Ulmorum tractu longo; quantum ipsa tuentum
+    Lumina, vel gressus valeant lustrare sequentum.
+
+    _Rapinus._
+
+{74:1}
+
+    .........foecundae frondibus ulmi.
+
+    _Georg. 2._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+_Of the Beech._
+
+
+I. The beech, [_fagus_] (of two or three kinds) and numbred amongst the
+glandiferous trees, I rank here before the martial ash, because it
+commonly grows to a greater stature. But here I may not omit a note of
+the accurate critic Palmerius, upon a passage in Theophrastus,{75:1}
+where he animadverts upon his interpreter, and shews that the ancient
++Phegos+ was by no means the beech, but a kind of oak; for that the
+figure of the fruit is so widely unlike it, that being round, this
+triangular; and both Theophrastus and Pausanias make it indeed a species
+of oak, (as already we have noted in cap. III.) wholly differing in
+trunk, as well as fruit and leaf; to which he adds (what determines the
+controversie) +xylon tes phelou ischyrotaton kai asepesaton+, &c. _that
+it is of a firmer timber, not obnoxious to the worm_; neither of which
+can so confidently be said of the beech. Yet La Cerda too seems guilty
+of the same mistake: But leaving this, there are of our _fagi_, two or
+three kinds with us; the mountain (where it most affects to grow) which
+is the whitest, and most sought after by the turner; and the campestrial
+or wild, which is of a blacker colour, and more durable. They are both
+to be rais'd from the mast, and govern'd like the oak (of which amply)
+and that is absolutely the best way of furnishing a wood; unless you
+will make a nursery, and then you are to treat the mast as you are
+instructed in the chapter of ashes, sowing them in autumn, or later,
+even after January, or rather nearer the spring, to preserve them from
+vermin, which are very great devourers of them. But they are likewise to
+be planted of young seedlings, to be drawn out of the places where the
+fruitful trees abound. In transplanting them, cut off only the boughs
+and bruised parts two inches from the stem, to within a yard of the top,
+but be very sparing of the root: This for such as are of pretty stature.
+They make spreading trees, and noble shades with their well furnish'd
+and glistering leaves, being set at forty foot distance, but they grow
+taller, and more upright in the forests, where I have beheld them at
+eight and ten foot, shoot into very long poles; but neither so apt for
+timber, nor fuel: The shade unpropitious to corn and grass, but sweet,
+and of all the rest, most refreshing to the weary shepherd--_lentus in
+umbra_, ecchoing Amaryllis with his oten pipe. Mabillon tells us in his
+Itinerary, of the old beech at Villambrosa, to be still flourishing,
+(and greener than any of the rest) under whose umbrage the famous eremit
+Gualbertus had his cell.
+
+This tree planted in pallisade, affords a useful and pleasant skreen to
+shelter orange and other tender case-trees from the parching sun, &c.
+growing very tall, and little inferior to the horn-beam, or Dutch-elm.
+In the valleys (where they stand warm, and in consort) they will grow to
+a stupendous procerity, though the soil be stony and very barren: Also
+upon the declivities, sides, and tops of high hills, and chalky
+mountains especially, for tho' they thrust not down such deep and
+numerous roots as the oak; and grow to vast trees, they will strangely
+insinuate their roots into the bowels of those seemingly impenetrable
+places, not much unlike the fir it self, which with this so common tree,
+the great Caesar denies to be found in Britanny; _Materia cujusque
+generis, ut in Gallia, praeter fagum & abietem_: But certainly from a
+grand mistake, or rather, for that he had not travelled much up into the
+countrey: Some will have it _fagus_ instead of _ficus_, but that was
+never reckon'd among the timber-trees: Virgil reports it will graff with
+the chesnut.
+
+2. The beech serves for various uses of the housewife;
+
+    Hence in the world's best years the humble shed,
+    Was happily, and fully furnished:
+    Beech made their chests, their beds and the joyn'd-stools,
+    Beech made the board, the platters, and the bowls.{77:1}
+
+With it the turner makes dishes, trays, rimbs for buckets, and other
+utensils, trenchers, dresser-boards, &c. likewise for the wheeler,
+joyner, for large screws, and upholster for sellyes, chairs, stools,
+bedsteads, &c. for the bellows-maker, and husbandman his shovel and
+spade-graffs; floates for fishers nets instead of corks, is made of its
+bark; for fuel, billet, bavin and coal, tho' one of the least lasting:
+Not to omit even the very shavings for the fining of wines. Peter
+Crescentius writes, that the ashes of beech, with proper mixture, is
+excellent to make glass with. If the timber lie altogether under water,
+'tis little inferior to elm, as I find it practised and asserted by
+shipwrights: Of old they made their _vasa vindemiatoria_ and _corbes
+messoriae_ (as we our pots for strawberries) with the rind of this beech,
+nay, and vessels to preserve wine in, and that curiously wrought cup
+which the shepherd in the Bucolicks wagers withal, was engraven by
+Alcimedon upon the bark of this tree: And an happy age it seems:
+
+       ........No wars did men molest,
+    When only beechen-bowls were in request.{78:1}
+
+Of the thin _lamina_ or scale of this wood (as our cutlers call it) are
+made scabards for swords, and band-boxes, superinduc'd with thin leather
+or paper, boxes for writings, hat-cases, and formerly book-covers. I
+wonder we cannot split it our selves, but send into other countries for
+such trifles. In the cavities of these trees, bees much delight to hive
+themselves: Yet for all this, you would not wonder to hear me deplore
+the so frequent use of this wood, if you did consider that the industry
+of France furnishes that country for all domestick utensils with
+excellent wallnut; a material infinitely preferable to the best beech,
+which is indeed good only for shade and for the fire, as being brittle,
+and exceedingly obnoxious to the worm, where it lies either dry, or wet
+and dry, as has been noted; but being put ten days in water, it will
+exceedingly resist the worm: To which, as I said, it is so obnoxious,
+that I wish the use of it were by a law, prohibited all joyners,
+cabinet-makers, and such as furnish tables, chairs, bed-steads, cofers,
+screws, &c. They have a way to black and polish it, so as to render it
+like ebony, and with a mixture of soot and urine, imitate the wall-nut;
+but as the colour does not last, so nor does the wood it self (for I can
+hardly call it timber) soon after the worm has seiz'd it, unless one
+spunge and imbibe it well with the oyl of spike, where they have made
+holes. Ricciolus indeed much commends it for oars; and some say, that
+the vast Argo was built of the _fagus_, a good part of it at least, as
+we learn out of Apollonius; this will admit of interpretation; the
+_fagus_ yet by Claudian is mentioned with the alder,
+
+    So he that to export o're sea his wares
+    A vessel builds, and to expose prepares
+    His life to storms, first beech and elder cuts,
+    And measuring them, to various uses puts.{79:1}
+
+But whilst we thus condemn the timber, we must not omit to praise the
+mast, which fats our swine and deer, and hath in some families even
+supported men with bread: Chios indured a memorable siege by the benefit
+of this mast; and in some parts of France they now grind the buck in
+mills: It affords a sweet oyl, which the poor people eat most willingly:
+But there is yet another benefit which this tree presents us; that its
+very leaves (which make a natural and most agreeable canopy all the
+summer) being gathered about the fall, and somewhat before they are much
+frostbitten, afford the best and easiest mattrasses in the world to lay
+under our quilts instead of straw; because, besides their tenderness and
+loose lying together, they continue sweet for seven or eight years
+long, before which time straw becomes musty and hard; they are thus used
+by divers persons of quality in Dauphine; and in Swizzerland I have
+sometimes lain on them to my great refreshment; so as of this tree it
+may properly be said,
+
+    The wood's an house; the leaves a bed.{80:1}
+
+Being pruin'd it heals the scar immediately, and is not apt to put forth
+so soon again as other trees.
+
+The stagnant water in the hollow-trees cures the most obstinate tetters,
+scabs, and scurfs, in man or beast, fomenting the part with it; and the
+leaves chew'd are wholsome for the gums and teeth, for which the very
+buds, as they are in winter hardned and dried upon the twigs, make good
+tooth-pickers. Swine may be driven to mast about the end of August: But
+it is observ'd, that where they feed on't before it be mature, it
+intoxicates them for a while; and that generally their fat is not so
+good and solid, but drips away too soon. In the mean time, the kernels
+of the mast are greedily devour'd by squirels, mice, and above all, the
+dormice, who harbouring in the hollow-trees, grow so fat, that in some
+countries abroad, they take infinite numbers of them, (I suppose) to
+eat; and what relief they give thrushes, black-birds, feldefares and
+other birds, every body knows. See Mithiolus in _dioscord._ l. 1. of
+what they suffer in Carinthiae, Carniola, and Itiria. Supplement to this
+Tract. _vid._ Ray's tom. III. Lib. XXV. Dendrologia Fago. tom. II. p.
+1382.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{75:1} Theophrast. l. 3. c. 9.
+
+{77:1}
+
+    Hinc olim juvenis mundi melioribus annis,
+    Fortunatarum domuum non magna supellex
+    Tota petebatur; sellas, armaria, lectos,
+    Et mensas dabat, & lances & pocula fagus, _&c._
+
+    _Couleij Pl._ l. 6.
+
+{78:1}
+
+           .........Nec bella fuerunt,
+    Faginus adstabat dum scyphus ante dapes.
+
+    _Tibul._
+
+{79:1}
+
+    Sic qui vecturus longinqua per aequora merces
+    Molitur tellure ratem, vitamque procellis
+    Objectare parat, fagos metitur, & alnos,
+    Ad varium rudibus silvis accommodat usum, &c.
+
+{80:1}
+
+    ..........Silva domus, cubilia frondes.
+
+    _Juvenal._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+_Of the Horn-beam._
+
+
+1. _Ostrys_ the horn-beam, (by some called the horse-beech, from the
+resemblance of the leaf) in Latin (ignorantly) the _Carpinus_, is
+planted of sets; though it may likewise be rais'd from the _juelas_ and
+seeds, which being mature in August, should be sown in October, and will
+lie a year in the bed, which must be well and carefully shaded so soon
+as they peep: But the more expeditious way is by layers or sets, of
+about an inch diameter, and cut within half a foot of the earth: Thus it
+will advance to a considerable tree. The places it chiefly desires to
+grow in are in cold hills, stiff ground, and in the barren and most
+expos'd parts of woods. We have it no where more abounding in the south,
+than in the woods of Hartfordshire; very few westward.
+
+2. Amongst other uses which it serves for, as mill-cogs, &c. (for which
+it excels either yew or crab) yoak-timber (whence of old, and for that
+it was as well flexible as tough, 'twas call'd +zygia+) heads of
+beetles, stocks and handles of tools: It is likewise for the turners use
+excellent; good fire-wood, where it burns like a candle, and was of old
+so employ'd;
+
+    _Carpinus taedas fissa facesque dabit._
+
+(For all which purposes its extream toughness and whiteness commends it
+to the husbandman.) Being planted in small fosses or trenches, at half a
+foot interval, and in the single row, it makes the noblest and the
+stateliest hedges for long walks in gardens, or parks, of any tree
+whatsoever whose leaves are deciduous, and forsake their branches in
+winter; because it grows tall, and so sturdy, as not to be wronged by
+the winds: Besides, it will furnish to the very foot of the stem, and
+flourishes with a glossie and polish'd verdure, which is exceeding
+delightful, of long continuance, and of all other the harder woods, the
+speediest grower; maintaining a slender, upright-stem, which does not
+come to be bare and sticky in many years; it has yet this (shall I call
+it) infirmity, that keeping on its leaf till new ones thrust them off,
+'tis clad in russet all the winter long. That admirable _espalier_-hedge
+in the long middle walk of Luxemburgh garden at Paris (than which there
+is nothing more graceful) is planted of this tree; and so was that
+cradle, or close-walk, with that perplext canopy which lately covered
+the seat in his Majesty's Garden at Hampton-Court, and as now I hear,
+they are planted in perfection at New-park, the delicious villa of the
+Noble Earl of Rochester, belonging once to a near kinsman of mine, who
+parted with it to K. Charles the First of Blessed Memory. These hedges
+are tonsile; but where they are maintain'd to fifteen or twenty foot
+height (which is very frequent in the places before mention'd) they are
+to be cut, and kept in order with a syth of four foot long, and very
+little falcated; this is fix'd on a long sneed or streight handle, and
+does wonderfully expedite the trimming of these and the like hedges: An
+oblong square, palisado'd with this plant, or the Flemish _ormus_, as is
+that I am going to describe, and may be seen in that inexhaustible
+magazine at Brompton Park (cultivated by those two industrious
+fellow-gardiners, Mr. London, and Mr. Wise) affords such an _umbraculum
+frondium_, the most natural, proper station and convenience for the
+protection of our orange-trees, myrtles, (and other rare perennials and
+exoticks) from the scorching darts of the sun, and heat of summer;
+placing the cases, pots, &c. under this shelter, when either at the
+first peeping out of the winter concleave, or during the increasing heat
+of summer, they so are ranged and disposed, as to adorn a noble area of
+a most magnificent paradisian dining-room to the top of hortulan pomp
+and bliss, superior to all the artificial furniture of the greatest
+prince's court: Here the Indian narcissus, tuberoses, Japan-lillies,
+jasmines, jonquills, lalaes, periclymena, roses, carnations, (with all
+the pride of the _parter_) intermixt between the tree-cases, flowry
+vasas, busts and statues, entertain the eye, and breath their redolent
+odors and perfumes to the smell: The golden fruit and apples of
+Hesperides, gratifie the taste, with the delicious annanas, affecting
+all the sensories; whilst the chearful ditties of _canorus_ birds,
+recording their innocent _amours_ to the murmurs of the bubling
+fountain, delight the ear, and with the charming accents of the fair and
+vertuous sex, (preferable to all the admired composure of the most
+skilful musitians) join consort in hymns and hallelujahs to the
+bountiful and glorious Creator, who has left none of the senses, which
+he has not gratify'd at once, with their most agreeable and proper
+objects.
+
+But to return to Brompton: 'Tis not to be imagin'd what a surprizing
+scene, such a spacious _salone_, tapistried with the natural verdure of
+the glittering foliage, present the spectator, and recompenses the toil
+of the ingenious planter; when after a little patience, he finds the
+slender plants, set but at five or six foot distance, (nor much more in
+height, well prun'd and dress'd) ascend to an altitude sufficient to
+shade and defend his paradisian treasure without excluding the milder
+gleams of the glorious and radiant planet, with his cherishing
+influence, and kindly warmth, to all within the inclosure, refreshed
+with the cooling and early dew, pregnant with the sweet exhalations
+which the indulgent mother and teeming earth sends up, to nourish and
+maintain her numerous and tender off-spring.
+
+But after all, let us not dwell here too long, whilst the inferences to
+be derived from those tempting and temporary objects, prompt us to raise
+our contemplations a little on objects yet more worthy our noblest
+speculations, and all our pains and curiosity, representing that happy
+state above, namely, the coelestial paradise: Let us, I say, suspend our
+admiration a while, of these terrestrial gayeties, which are of so short
+continuance, and raise our thoughts from being too deeply immers'd and
+rooted in them, aspiring after those supernal, more lasting and glorious
+abodes, namely, a paradise; not like this of ours (with so much pains
+and curiosity) made with hands, but eternal in the heavens; where all
+the trees are Trees of Life; the flowers all amaranths; all the plants
+perennial, ever verdant, ever pregnant; and where those who desire
+knowledge, may fully satiate themselves; taste freely of the fruit of
+that tree, which cost the first gardiner and posterity so dear; and
+where the most voluptuous inclinations to the allurements of the senses,
+may take, and eat, and still be innocent; no forbidden fruit; no serpent
+to deceive; none to be deceived.
+
+Hail, O hail then, and welcome, you bless'd elyziums, where a new state
+of things expects us; where all the pompous and charming delights that
+detain us here a while, shall be changed into real and substantial
+fruitions, eternal springs, and pleasure intellectual, becoming the
+dignity of our nature!
+
+I beg no pardon for the application, but deplore my no better use of it,
+and that whilst I am thus upon the wing, I must now descend so soon
+again.
+
+Of all the foresters, this preserves it self best from the bruttings of
+deer, and therefore to be kindly entertain'd in parks: But the reason
+why with us, we rarely find them ample and spreading, is, that our
+husbandman suffers too large and grown a lop, before he cuts them off,
+which leaves such ghastly wounds, as often proves exitial to the tree,
+or causes it to grow deform'd and hollow, and of little worth but for
+the fire; whereas, were they oftener taken off, when the lops were
+younger, though they did not furnish so great wood, yet the continuance
+and flourishing of the tree, would more than recompence it. For this
+cause,
+
+3. They very frequently plant a clump of these trees before the entries
+of most of the great towns in Germany, to which they apply timber-frames
+for convenience, and the people to sit and solace in. _Scamozzi_ the
+architect, says, that in his time he found one whose branches extended
+seventy foot in breadth; this was at Vuimfen near the Necker, belonging
+to the Duke of Wirtemberg: But that which I find planted before the
+gates of Strasburgh, is a _platanus_, and a lime-tree growing hard by
+one another, in which is erected a _Pergolo_ eight foot from the ground,
+of fifty foot wide, having ten arches of twelve foot height, all shaded
+with their foliage; and there is besides this, an over-grown oak, which
+has an arbour in it of sixty foot diameter: Hear we _Rapinus_ describe
+the use of the horn-beam for these and other elegancies.
+
+    In walks the horn-beam stands, or in a maze
+    Through thousand self-entangling labyrinths strays:
+    So clasp the branches lopp'd on either side,
+    As though an alley did two walls divide:
+    This beauty found, order did next adorn
+    The boughs into a thousand figures shorn,
+    Which pleasing objects weariness betray'd,
+    Your feet into a wilderness convey'd.
+    Nor better leaf on twining arbor spread,
+    Against the scorching sun to shield your head.{86:1}
+
+    Evelyn, _Rapin._
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{86:1}
+
+    In tractus longos facilis tibi carpinus ibit,
+    Mille per errores, indeprehensosque recessus,
+    Et molles tendens secto ceu pariete ramos,
+    Praebebit viridem diverso e margine scenam.
+    Primus honos illi quondam, post additus ordo est,
+    Attonsaeque comae, & formis quaesita voluptas
+    Innumeris, furtoque viae, obliquoque recessu:
+    In tractus acta est longos & opaca vireta.
+    Quinetiam egregiae tendens umbracula frondis
+    Temperat ardentes ramis ingentibus aestus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+_Of the Ash._
+
+
+1. _Fraxinus_ the ash, is with us reputed male and female, the one
+affecting the higher grounds; the other the plains, of a whiter wood,
+and rising many times to a prodigious stature; so as in forty years from
+the key, an ash hath been sold for thirty pounds sterling: And I have
+been credibly inform'd, that one person hath planted so much of this one
+sort of timber in his life time, as hath been valued worth fifty
+thousand pounds to be bought. These are pretty encouragements, for a
+small and pleasant industry. That there is a lower, and more knotty
+sort, every husbandman can distinguish.
+
+2. The keys or toungs being gathered from a young thriving tree when
+they begin to fall (which is about the end of October, and the ensuing
+month) are to be laid to dry, and then sowed any time betwixt that and
+Christmas; but not altogether so deep as your somer masts: Thus they do
+in Spain, from whence it were good to procure some of the keys from
+their best trees: A very narrow seminary will be sufficient to store a
+whole country: They will lie a full year in the ground before they
+appear; therefore you must carefully fence them all that time, and have
+patience: But if you would make a considerable wood of them at once,
+dig, or plow a parcel of ground, as you would prepare it for corn, and
+with the corn, especially oats, (or what other grain you think fittest)
+sow also good store of keys, some crab-kernels, &c. amongst them: Take
+off your crop of corn, or seed in its season, and the next year
+following, it will be cover'd with young ashes, which will be fit either
+to stand (which I prefer) or be transplanted for divers years after; and
+these you will find to be far better than any you can gather out of the
+woods (especially suckers, which are worth nothing) being removed at one
+foot stature (the sooner the better); for an ash of two years thus taken
+out of the nursery, shall outstrip one of ten, taken out of the hedge;
+provided you defend them well from cattel, which are exceedingly
+licorish after their tops: The reason of this hasty transplanting, is to
+prevent their obstinate and deep rooting; _tantus amor terrae_
+............. which makes them hard to be taken up when they grow older,
+and that being removed, they take no great hold till the second year,
+after which, they come away amain; yet I have planted them of five and
+six inches diameter, which have thriven as well as the smaller wands.
+You may accelerate their springing by laying the keys in sand, and some
+moist fine earth s. s. s. but lay them not too thick, or double, and in
+a cover'd, though airy place for a winter, before you sow them; and the
+second year they will come away mainly; so you weed, trim and cleanse
+them. Cut not his head at all (which being young, is pithy) nor, by any
+means the fibrous part of the roots; only that down-right, or taproot
+(which gives our husbandmen so much trouble in drawing) is to be totally
+abated: But this work ought to be in the increase of October, or
+November, and not in the Spring. We are (as I told you) willing to spare
+his head rather than the side branches (which whilst young, may be cut
+close) because being yet young, it is but of a spungy substance; but
+being once well fixed, you may cut him as close to the earth as you
+please; it will cause him to shoot prodigiously, so as in a few years to
+be fit for pike-staves; whereas if you take him wild out of the forest,
+you must of necessity strike off the head, which much impairs it.
+Hedgerow ashes may the oftner be decapitated, and shew their heads again
+sooner than other trees so us'd. Young ashes are sometimes in winter
+frost-burnt, black as coals, and then to use the knife is seasonable,
+though they do commonly recover of themselves slowly. In South-Spain,
+(where, as we said, are the best) after the first dressing, they let
+them grow till they are so big, as being cleft into four parts, each
+part is sufficient to make a pike-staff: I am told there is a Flemish
+ash planted by the Dutchmen in Lincolnshire, which in six years grows to
+be worth twenty shillings the tree; but I am not assur'd whether it be
+the ash or abeele; either of them were, upon this account, a worthy
+encouragement, if at least the latter can be thought to bear that price,
+which I much question: From these low cuttings come our ground-ashes, so
+much sought after for arbours, espaliers, and other pole-works: They
+will spring in abundance, and may be reduced to one for a standard-tree,
+or for timber, if you design it; for thus hydra-like, a ground-cut-ash,
+
+    By havock, wounds and blows,
+    More lively and luxuriant grows.{89:1}
+
+Ash will be propagated from a bough slipt off with some of the old wood,
+a little before the bud swells, but with difficulty by layers. Such as
+they reserve for spears in Spain, they keep shrip'd up close to the
+stem, and plant them in close order, and moister places. These they cut
+above the knot (for the least nodosity spoils all) in the decrease of
+January, which were of the latest for us: It is reported that the ash
+will not only receive its own kind, but graff, or be inoculated with the
+pear and apple, but to what improvement I know not.
+
+3. It is by no means convenient to plant ash in plow-lands; for the
+roots will be obnoxious to the coulter; and the shade of the tree is
+malignant both to corn and grass, when the head and branches over-drip
+and emaciate 'em; but in hedge-rows and plumps, they will thrive
+exceedingly, where they may be dispos'd at nine or ten foot distance,
+and sometimes nearer: But in planting of a whole wood of several kinds
+of trees for timber, every third set at least, would be an ash. The best
+ash delights in the best land (which it will soon impoverish) yet grows
+in any; so it be not over-stiff, wet, and approaching to the marshy,
+unless it be first well drain'd: By the banks of sweet, and crystal
+rivers and streams, I have observ'd them to thrive infinitely. One may
+observe as manifest a difference in the timber of ashes, as of the oak;
+much more than is found in any one kind of elm, _coeteris paribus_: For
+so the ground-ash (like the oak) much excels a bough, or branch of the
+same bulk, for strength and toughness; and in yet farther emulation of
+the oak, it has been known to prove as good and lasting timber for
+building, nay, preferr'd before it, where there has been plenty of oak;
+vast difference there is also in the strength of ground, and quarter'd
+ash: 'Tis likewise remarkable that the ash, like the cork-tree, grows
+when the bark is as it were quite peel'd off, as has been observ'd in
+several forests, where the deer have bared them as far as they could
+climb: Some ash is curiously camleted and vein'd, I say, so differently
+from other timber, that our skilful cabinet-makers prize it equal with
+ebony, and give it the name of green ebony, which the customer pays well
+for; and when our wood-men light upon it, they may make what money they
+will of it: But to bring it to that curious lustre, so as 'tis hardly
+to be distinguished from the most curiously diaper'd olive, they varnish
+their work with the china-varnish, (hereafter described) which
+infinitely excels linseed-oyl, that Cardan so commends, speaking of this
+root. The truth is, the _bruscum_ and _molluscum_ to be frequently found
+in this wood, is nothing inferior to that of maple, (of which hereafter)
+being altogether as exquisitely diaper'd, and wav'd like the gamahes of
+Achates; an eminent example of divers strange figures of fish, men and
+beasts, Dr. Plott speaks of to be found in a dining-table made of an old
+ash, standing in a gentleman's house somewhere in Oxfordshire: Upon
+which is mention'd that of Jacobus Gaffarellus, in his book of
+_Unheard-of Curiosities_; namely of a tree found in Holland, which being
+cleft, had in the several slivers, the figures of a chalice, a priest's
+albe, his stole, and several other pontifical vestments: Of this sort
+was the elm growing at Middle-Aston in Oxfordshire, a block of which
+wood being cleft, there came out a piece so exactly resembling a
+shoulder of veal, that it was worthy to be reckon'd among the
+curiosities of this nature.
+
+4. The use of ash is (next to that of the oak it self) one of the most
+universal: It serves the soldier ............ & _Fraxinus utilis
+hastis_, and heretofore the scholar, who made use of the inner bark to
+write on, before the invention of paper, &c. The carpenter,
+wheel-wright, cart-wright, for ploughs, axle-trees, wheel-rings,
+harrows, bulls, oares, the best blocks for pullies and sheffs, as seamen
+name them; for drying herrings, no wood like it, and the bark for the
+tanning of nets; and, like the elm, for the same property (of not being
+so apt to split and scale) excellent for tenons and mortaises: Also for
+the cooper, turner, and thatcher: Nothing like it for our garden
+palisade-hedges, hop-yards, poles, and spars, handles, stocks for tools,
+spade-trees, &c. In sum, the husbandman cannot be without the ash for
+his carts, ladders, and other tackling, from the pike to the plow,
+spear, and bow; for of ash were they formerly made, and therefore
+reckon'd amongst those woods, which after long tension, has a natural
+spring, and recovers its position; so as in peace and war it is a wood
+in highest request: In short, so useful and profitable is this tree,
+(next to the oak) that every prudent lord of a mannor, should employ one
+acre of ground, with ash or acorns, to every 20 acres of other land;
+since in as many years, it would be more worth than the land it self.
+There is extracted an oyl from the ash, by the process on other woods,
+which is excellent to recover the hearing, some drops of it being
+distill'd warm into the ears; and for the _caries_ or rot of the bones,
+tooth-ach, pains in the kidneys, and spleen, the anointing therewith is
+most soveraign. Some have us'd the saw-dust of this wood instead of
+_guiacum_, with success. The chymists exceedingly commend the seed of
+ash to be an admirable remedy for the stone: But (whether by the power
+of magick or nature, I determine not) I have heard it affirm'd with
+great confidence, and upon experience, that the rupture to which many
+children are obnoxious, is healed, by passing the infant thro' a wide
+cleft made in the hole or stem of a growing ash-tree, thro' which the
+child is to be made pass; and then carried a second time round the ash,
+caused to repass the same aperture again, that the cleft of the tree
+suffer'd to close and coalesce, as it will, the rupture of the child,
+being carefully bound up, will not only abate, but be perfectly cur'd.
+The _manna_ of Calabria is found to exsude out of the leaves and boughs
+of this tree, during the hot summer-months. Lastly, the white and rotten
+dotard part composes a ground for our gallants sweet-powder, and the
+trunchions make the third sort of the most durable coal, and is (of all
+other) the sweetest of our forest-fuelling, and the fittest for ladies
+chambers, it will burn even whilst it is green, and may be reckoned
+amongst the +akapna xyla+. To conclude, the very dead leaves afford
+(like those of the elm) relief to our cattle in winter; and there is a
+dwarf-sort in France, (if in truth it be not, as I suspect, our
+witchen-tree) whose berries feed the poor people in scarce years; but it
+bears no keys, like to ours, which being pickled tender, afford a
+delicate salading. But the shade of the ash is not to be endur'd,
+because the leaves produce a noxious insect; and for displaying
+themselves so very late, and falling very early, not to be planted for
+umbrage or ornament; especially near the garden, since (besides their
+predatious roots) the leaves dropping with so long a stalk, are drawn by
+clusters into the worm-holes, which foul the allies with their keys, and
+suddenly infect the ground. Note, that the season for felling of this
+tree must be when the sap is fully at rest; for if you cut it down too
+early, or over-late in the year, it will be so obnoxious to the worm, as
+greatly to prejudice the timber; therefore to be sure, fell not till the
+three mid-winter months, beginning about November: But in lopping of
+pollards, (as of soft woods) Mr. Cook advises it should be towards the
+Spring, and that you do not suffer the lops to grow too great: Also,
+that so soon as a pollard comes to be considerably hollow at the head,
+you suddenly cut it down, the body decaying more than the head is worth:
+The same he pronounces of taller ashes, and where the wood-peckers make
+holes (who constantly indicate their being faulty) to fell it in the
+Winter. I am astonish'd at the universal confidence of some, that a
+serpent will rather creep into the fire, than over a twig of ash; this
+is an old imposture of{94:1} Pliny's, who either took it up upon trust,
+or we mistake the tree. Other species, see _Ray Dendrolog._ t. III. lib.
+XXX. p. 95. _De fraxino_, t. II. p. 1704.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{89:1}
+
+    Per damna, per caedes, ab ipso
+    Ducit opes animumque ferro.
+
+    _Hor._
+
+{94:1} V. _Churasium_, &c. _de viperis_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+_Of the Chesnut._
+
+
+1. The next is the chesnut, [_castanea_] of which Pliny reckons many
+kinds, especially about Tarentum and Naples; Janus Cornarius, upon that
+of Aetius, (_verbo_ +Drys+) speaks of the Lopimi, as a nobler kind, such
+as the _Euboicae_, which the Italians call _maroni_, _quasi castaneae
+maris_; but we commend those of Portugal or Bayonne, chusing the
+largest, brown, and most ponderous for fruit, such as Pliny calls
+_coctivae_, but the lesser ones to raise for timber. They are produc'd
+best by sowing and setting; previous to which, let the nuts be first
+spread to sweat, then cover them in sand; a month being past, plunge
+them in water, reject the swimmers; being dry'd, for thirty days more,
+sand them again, and to the water-ordeal as before. Being thus treated
+till the beginning of Spring, or in November, set them as you would do
+beans; and as some practise it, drench'd for a night or more, in new
+milk; but without half this preparation, they need only be put into the
+holes with the point upmost, as you plant tulips; Pliny will tell you
+they come not up, unless four or five be pil'd together in a hole; but
+that is false, if they be good, as you may presume all those to be which
+pass this examination; nor will any of them fail: But being come up,
+they thrive best unremoved, making a great stand for at least two years
+upon every transplanting; yet if needs you must alter their station, let
+it be done about November, and that into a light friable ground, or
+moist gravel, however they will grow even in clay, sand, and all mixed
+soils, upon exposed and bleak places, and the pendent declivities of
+hills to the north, in dry airy places, and sometimes (tho' not so well)
+near marshes and waters; but they affect no other compost, save what
+their own leaves afford them, and are more patient of cold than heat: As
+for their sowing in the nursery, treat them as you are taught in the
+wall-nut.
+
+2. If you design to set them in Winter, or Autumn, I counsel you to
+interr them within their husks, which being every way arm'd, are a good
+protection against the mouse, and a providential integument. Pliny l.
+15. c. 23. from this natural guard, concludes them to be excellent food,
+and doubtless Caesar thought so, when he transported them from Sardis
+first into Italy, whence they were propagated into France, and thence
+among us; another encouragement to make such experiments out of foreign
+countries. Some sow them confusedly in the furrow like the acorn, and
+govern them as the oak; but then would the ground be broken up 'twixt
+November and February; and when they spring, be clensed, and thinn'd two
+foot asunder, after two years growth: Likewise may copses of chesnuts be
+wonderfully increased and thickned, by laying the tender and young
+branches; but such as spring from the nuts and marrons, are best of all,
+and will thrive exceedingly, if (being let stand without removing) the
+ground be stirr'd, and loosened about their roots, for two or three of
+the first years, and the superfluous wood prun'd away; and indeed for
+good trees, they should be shrip'd up after the first year's removal;
+they also shoot into gallant poles from a felled stem: Thus will you
+have a copse ready for a felling, within eight years, which (besides
+many other uses) will yield you incomparable poles for any work of the
+garden, vineyard or hopyard, till the next cutting: And if the tree like
+the ground, will in ten or twelve years grow to a kind of timber, and
+bear plentiful fruit.
+
+3. I have seen many chesnut-trees transplanted as big as my arm, their
+heads cut off at five and six foot height; but they came on at leisure:
+In such plantations, and all others for avenues, you may set them from
+thirty to ten foot distance, though they will grow much nearer, and
+shoot into poles, if (being tender) you cultivate them like the ash, the
+nature of whose shade it resembles, since nothing affects much to grow
+under it: Some husbands tell me, that the young chesnut-trees should not
+be pruned or touched with any knife or edge-tool, for the first three or
+four years, but rather cropp'd or broken off, which I leave to farther
+experience; however, many forbear to top them, when they transplant.
+
+4. The chesnut being graffed in the wallnut, oak, or beech, (I have
+been told) will come exceeding fair, and produce incomparable fruit; for
+the wallnut, and chesnut in each other, it is probable; but I have not
+as yet made a full attempt; they also speak of inoculating cherries in
+the chesnut-stock for a later fruit. In the mean time, I wish we did
+more universally propagate the horse-chesnut, which being easily
+increas'd from layers, grows into a good standard, and bears a most
+glorious flower, even in our cold country: This tree (so call'd, for the
+cure of horses broken-winded, and other cattel of coughs) is now all the
+mode for the avenues to their countrey palaces in France, as appears by
+the late Superintendent's plantation at Vaux. It was first brought from
+Constantinople to Vienna, thence into Italy, and so France; but to us
+from the Levant more immediately, and flourishes so well, and grows so
+goodly a tree in competent time, that by this alone, we might have ample
+encouragement to denizen other strangers amongst us. One inconvenience
+to which this beautiful tree is obnoxious, is that it does not well
+resist impetuous and stormy winds, without damage.
+
+5. The chesnut is (next the oak) one of the most sought after by the
+carpenter and joyner: It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient
+houses in the city of London, as does yet appear. I had once a very
+large barn near the city, fram'd intirely of this timber: And certainly
+they grew not far off; probably in some woods near the town: For in that
+description of London, written by Fitz-Stephens, in the reign of Hen.
+II. he speaks of a very noble and large forest which grew on the Boreal
+part of it; _proxime_ (says he) _patet foresta ingens, saltus nemorosi
+ferarum, latebrae cervorum, damarum, aprorum, & taurorum silvestrium,
+&c._ A very goodly thing it seems, and as well stor'd with all sorts of
+good timber, as with venison and all kind of chase; and yet some will
+not allow it a free-born of this island; but of that I make little
+doubt. The chesnut affords the best stakes and poles for palisades,
+pedament for vine-props and hops, as I said before: Also for mill-timber
+and water-works, or when it may lie buried; but if water touch the roots
+of the growing trees, it spoils both fruit and timber: 'Tis likewise
+observed, that this tree is so prevalent against cold, that where they
+stand, they defend other plantations from the injuries of the severest
+frosts: I am sure being planted in hedge-rows, & _circa agrorum
+itinera_, or for avenues to our country-houses, they are a magnificent
+and royal ornament. This timber also does well (if kept dry) for
+columns, tables, chests, chairs, stools, bedsteads; for tubs, and
+wine-casks, which it preserves with the least tincture of the wood of
+any whatsoever: If the timber be dipp'd in scalding oyl, and well
+pitch'd, it becomes extreamly durable; but otherwise I cannot celebrate
+the tree for its sincerity, it being found that (contrary to the oak) it
+will make a fair shew outwardly, when 'tis all decay'd, and rotten
+within; but this is in some sort recompenc'd, if it be true, that the
+beams made of chesnut-tree have this property, that being somewhat
+brittle, they give warning, and premonish the danger by a certain
+crackling which it makes; so as 'tis said to have frighted those out of
+the Baths at Antandro, whose roof was laid with this material; but which
+Pliny says, was of hazle, very unlike it. Formerly they made
+consultatory staves of this tree; and the variegated rods which Jacob
+peel'd to lay in the troughs, and impress a fancy in his
+father-in-law's conceiving ewes, were of this material. The coals are
+excellent for the smith, being soon kindled, and as soon extinguisht;
+but the ashes of chesnut-wood are not convenient to make a lee with,
+because it is observ'd to stain the linnen. As for the fruit, 'tis
+better to beat it down from the tree, some little time before they fall
+off themselves; thus they will the better keep, or else you must
+smoke-dry them. But we give that fruit to our swine in England, which is
+amongst the delicacies of princes in other countries; and being of the
+larger nut, is a lusty and masculine food for rusticks at all times; and
+of better nourishment for husbandmen than coal, and rusty bacon; yea, or
+beans to boot, instead of which, they boil them in Italy with their
+bacon; and in Virgil's time, they eat them with milk and cheese. The
+best tables in France and Italy make them a service, eating them with
+salt, in wine, or juice of lemmon and sugar; being first roasted in
+embers on the chaplet; and doubtless we might propagate their use
+amongst our common people, (as of old the +Balanophagoi+) being a food
+so cheap, and so lasting. In Italy they also boil them in wine, and then
+smoke them a little; these they call _anseri_ or geese, I know not why:
+Those of Piemont add fennel, cinnamon and nutmeg to their wine, if in
+water, mollify them with the vapour only; but first they peel them.
+Others macerate them in rose-water. The bread of the flower is exceeding
+nutritive; 'tis a robust food, and makes women well complexion'd, as I
+have read in a good author: They also make fritters of chesnut-flower,
+which they wet with rose-water, and sprinkle with grated _parmegiano_,
+and so fry them in fresh butter, a delicate: How we here use them in
+stew'd-meats, and beatille-pies, our French-cooks teach us; and this is
+in truth the very best use of their fruit, and very commendable; for it
+is found that the eating of them raw, or in bread (as they do much about
+Limosin) is apt to swell the belly, though without any other
+inconvenience that I can learn, and yet some condemn them as dangerous
+for such as are subject to the gravel in the kidneys, and however cook'd
+and prepar'd, flatulent, offensive to the head and stomach, and those
+who are subject to the cholick. The best way to preserve them, is to
+keep them in earthen vessels in a cold place; some lay them in a
+smoke-loft, others in dry barly-straw, others in sand, &c. The leaves of
+the chesnut-tree make very wholsom mattresses to lie on, and they are
+good littier for cattel: But those leafy-beds, for the crackling noise
+they make when one turns upon them, the French call _licts de
+Parliament_: Lastly, the flower of chesnuts made into an electuary, and
+eaten with hony fasting, is an approved remedy against spitting blood,
+and the cough; and a decoction of the rind of the tree, tinctures hair
+of a golden colour, esteem'd a beauty in some countries: Other species,
+v. Ray, _Dendrolog._ T. III, &c.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+_Of the Wallnut._
+
+
+1. _Juglans, quasi Jovis glans_, the{101:1} wall or welch-nut (though no
+where growing of it self, some say, in Europe) is of several sorts;
+Monsieur Rencaume (of the French Academy) reckons nine; the soft-shell
+and the hard, the whiter and the blacker grain: This black bears the
+worst nut, but the timber much to be preferred, and we might propagate
+more of them if we were careful to procure them out of Virginia, where
+they abound and bear a squarer nut, of all other the most beautiful, and
+best worth planting; indeed had we store of these, we should soon
+despise the rest; yet those of Grenoble come in the next place, and are
+much priz'd by our cabinet-makers: In all events, be sure to plant from
+young and thriving trees, bearing full and plump kernels. It is said
+that the walnut-kernel wrap'd in its own leaf, being carefully taken out
+of its shell, brings a nut without shell, but this is a trifle; the best
+way to elevate them, is to set them as you do the chesnut, being planted
+of the nut, or set at the distance you would have him stand; for which
+they may be prepar'd by beating them off the tree (as was prescribed of
+the chesnut) some days before they quit the branches of themselves, and
+kept in their husks, or without them, till Spring, or by bedding them
+(being dry) in sand, or good earth, till March or earlier, from the time
+they fell, or were beaten off the tree: Or if before, they be set with
+husk and all upon them; for the extream bitterness thereof is most
+exitial and deadly to worms; or it were good to strew some furzes
+(broken or chopp'd small) under the ground amongst them, to preserve
+them from mice and rats, when their shells begin to wax tender;
+especially if, as some, you supple them a little in warm cows milk; but
+being treated as before, you will find them already sprouted, and have
+need only to be planted where they are to abide; because (as we said
+long since) they are most impatient of transplanting: But if there be an
+absolute necessity of removing, let your tree never be above four years
+old, and then by no means touch the head with your knife, nor cut away
+so much as the very top-root, being so old, if you can well dispose of
+it, since being of a pithy and hollow substance, the least diminution,
+or bruise, will greatly endanger the killing: But see here what we have
+said of the chesnut. I have been told, that the very tops, and palish
+buds of this tree, when it first sprouts, though as late as April, will
+take hold of the ground, and grow to an incredible improvement; but
+first they steep them in milk and saffron; but this attempt did not
+succeed with us, yet it will be propagated by a branch slipp'd off with
+some of the old wood, and set in February: An industrious and very
+experienc'd husbandman told me, that if they be transplanted as big as
+ones middle, it may be done safer than when younger; I do only report
+it: What they hint of putting a tile-shard under the nuts when first
+set, to divaricate and spread the roots (which are otherwise apt to
+penetrate very deep) I like well enough; 'tis certain they will receive
+their own cyons being graffed, and that it does improve their fruit.
+The best compost is the strewing of ashes at the foot of the trees, the
+salt whereof being washed into the earth, is the best dressing, whilst
+the juice of the fallen leaves, though it kill the worm, is noxious to
+the root. This tree does not refuse to thrive even among others, and in
+great woods, provided you shrip up the collateral arms.
+
+2. The walnut delights in a dry, sound and rich land; especially if it
+incline to a feeding chalk, or marle; and where it may be protected from
+the cold (though it affect cold rather than extream heat) as in great
+pits, valleys and high-way sides; also in stony-grounds, if loamy, and
+on hills, especially chalky; likewise in corn-fields: Thus Burgundy
+abounds with them, where they stand in the midst of goodly wheat-lands,
+at sixty, and an hundred foot distance; and it is so far from hurting
+the crop, that they look on them as a great preserver, by keeping the
+grounds warm; nor do the roots hinder the plow. Whenever they fell a
+tree (which is only the old and decayed) they always plant a young one
+near him; and in several places twixt Hanaw and Francfort in Germany, no
+young farmer whatsoever is permitted to marry a wife, till he bring
+proof that he hath planted, and is a father of such a stated number of
+walnut-trees, as the law is inviolably observed to this day, for the
+extraordinary benefit which this tree affords the inhabitants: And in
+truth, were this timber in greater plenty amongst us, we should have far
+better utensils of all sorts for our houses, as chairs, stools,
+bedsteads, tables, wainscot, cabinets, &c. instead of the more vulgar
+beech, subject to the worm, weak, and unsightly; but which to
+counterfeit, and deceive the unwary, they wash over with a decoction
+made of the green-husks of walnuts, &c. I say, had we store of this
+material, especially of the Virginian, we should find an incredible
+improvement in the more stable furniture of our houses, as in the first
+frugal and better days of Rome, when
+
+    Tables made here at home, those times beheld,
+    Of our own wood, for that same purpose fell'd,
+    Old walnut blown down, when the wind set east.{104:1}
+
+    Sir R. Stapylton.
+
+For if it had been cut in that season, it would not have prov'd so
+sound, as we shew in our chapter of felling. It is certain, that the
+_mensae nucinae_, were once in price even before the _citrin_, as Strabo
+notes; and nothing can be more beautiful than some planks and works
+which I have beheld of it, especially that which comes from Grenoble, of
+all other the most beautiful and esteemed.
+
+3. They render most graceful avenues to our countrey dwellings, and do
+excellently near hedge-rows; but had need be planted, at forty or fifty
+foot interval, for they affect to spread both their roots and branches.
+The _Bergstras_ (which extends from Heidelberg to Darmstadt) is all
+planted with walnuts; for so by another ancient law, the borderers were
+obliged to nurse up, and take care of them; and that chiefly, for their
+ornament and shade; so as a man may ride for many miles about that
+countrey under a continued arbour, or close-walk; the traveller both
+refreshed with the fruit and the shade, which some have causelesly
+defam'd for its ill effects on the head, for which the fruit is a
+specifique and a notable signature; although I deny not, but the scent
+of the fallen leaves, when they begin to be damp'd with lying, may emit
+somewhat a heady steam, which to some has prov'd noxious; but not whilst
+they were fresh, and lively upon the trees. How would such publick
+plantations improve the glory and wealth of a nation! But where shall we
+find the spirits among our countreymen? Yes, I will adventure to
+instance in those plantations of Sir Richard Stidolph, upon the downs
+near Lether-head in Surrey; Sir Robert Clayton at Morden near Godstone
+(once belonging to Sir John Evelyn) and so about Cassaulton, where many
+thousands of these trees do celebrate the industry of the owners, and
+will certainly reward it with infinite improvement, as I am assured they
+do in part already, and that very considerably; besides the ornament
+which they afford to those pleasant tracts, for some miles in
+circumference. There was lately (and for ought I know is yet) an avenue
+of four leagues in length, and 50 paces breadth, planted with young
+oaklings, as strait as a line, from the city of Utrecht to Amersfort,
+affording a most goodly prospect; which minds me of what Sorbiere tells
+in a sceptical discourse to Monsieur de Martel, speaking of the
+readiness of the people in Holland to furnish and maintain whatsoever
+may conduce to the publick ornament, as well as convenience; that their
+plantations of these and the like trees, even in their very roads and
+common highways, are better preserv'd and entertain'd (as I my self have
+likewise been often an eye-witness) than those about the houses and
+gardens of pleasure belonging to the nobles and gentry of most other
+countries: And in effect it is a most ravishing object, to behold their
+amenities in this particular: With us, says he (speaking of France) they
+make a jest at such political ordinances, by ruining these publick and
+useful ornaments, if haply some more prudent magistrate do at any time
+introduce them. Thus in the reign of Henry the Fourth, (during the
+superintendency of Monsieur de Sulli) there was a resolution of adorning
+all the highways of France with elms, &c. but the rude and mischievous
+peasants did so hack, steal and destroy what they had begun, that they
+were forced to desist from the thorough prosecution of the design; so as
+there is nothing more expos'd, wild, and less pleasant than the common
+roads of France for want of shade, and the decent limits which these
+sweet and divertissant plantations would have afforded. Not to omit that
+political use, as my Lord Bacon hints it, where he speaks of the statues
+and monuments of brave men, and such as had well deserv'd of the
+publick, erected by the Romans even in their highways; since doubtless,
+such noble and agreeable objects would exceedingly divert, entertain,
+and take off the minds and discourses of melancholy people, and pensive
+travellers, who having nothing but the dull and enclosed ways to cast
+their eyes on, are but ill conversation to themselves, and others, and
+instead of celebrating, censure their superiors. It is by a curious
+person, and industrious friend of mine, observ'd, that the sap of this
+tree rises and descends with the sun's diurnal course (which it visibly
+slackens in the night) and more plentifully at the root on the south
+side, though those roots cut on the north were larger, and less distant
+from the body of the tree; and not only distill'd from the ends, which
+were next the stem, but from those which were cut off and separated,
+which was never observ'd to happen in the birch, or other sap-yielding
+trees. {107:1} Mr. Oldenburg speaks of one of the present kings in
+Europe, who drinks much of the juice of this tree, and finds great
+benefit thereby.
+
+4. What universal use the French make of the timber of this sole tree,
+for domestic affairs, may be seen in every room both of poor and rich:
+It is of singular account with the joyner, for the best grain'd, and
+colour'd wainscot; with the gun-smith for stocks, for coach-wheels
+excellent, and the bodies of coaches, (they make hoops and bows with it
+in New-England, for want of yew:) The drum-maker uses it for rimbs, the
+cabinet-maker for inlayings, especially the firm and close timber about
+the roots, which is admirable for fleck'd and chambletted works, some
+wood especially, as that which we have from Bologne, New-England and
+Virginia, (where they are of three or four sorts, differing in their
+leaves, fruit and stature) very black of colour, and so admirably
+streaked, as to represent natural flowers, landskips, and other fancies:
+To render this the better-coloured, joyners put the boards into an oven
+after the batch is forth, or lay them in a warm stable, and when they
+work it, polish it over with its own oyl very hot, which makes it look
+black and sleek, and the older it is, the more esteemable; but then it
+should not be put in work till thoroughly seasoned, because it will
+shrink beyond expectation. It is only not good to confide in it much for
+beams or joysts, because of its brittleness, of which yet, it has been
+observ'd to give timely notice, as also the chesnut, by the crackling
+before it breaks. Besides the uses of the wood, the fruit with husk and
+all, when tender and very young, is for preserves (condited in separate
+decoctions, by our curious ladies) also for food and oyl; of
+extraordinary use with the painter, in whites, and other delicate
+colours, also for gold-size and varnish; and with this they polish
+walking-staves, and other works which are wrought in with burning: For
+food they fry with it in some places, and eat it instead of butter, in
+Berry, where they have little or none good; and therefore they plant
+infinite numbers of these trees all over that countrey: The use of it to
+burn in lamps, is common there. The younger timber is held to make the
+better-coloured work (and so the oak) but the older more firm and close,
+is finer chambleted for ornament; and the very husks and leaves being
+macerated in warm water, and that liquor poured on the carpet of walks,
+and bowling-greens, does infallibly kill the worms, without endangering
+the grass: Not to mention the dye which is made of this lixive, to
+colour wooll, woods, and hair, as of old they us'd it. The water of the
+husks is sovereign against all pestilential infections, and that of the
+leaves to mundifie and heal inveterate ulcers. That which is produced of
+the thick-shell, becomes best timber, that of the thinner, better fruit.
+Columella has sundry excellent rules how to ascertain and accelerate the
+growth of this tree, and to improve its qualities; and I am assur'd,
+that having been graffed on the ash (though others say no incision
+improves it) it thrives exceedingly, becomes a handsome tree, and what
+is most estimable, bears its fruit within four years, all which I
+recommend to the farther industrious. The green husk dry'd, or the first
+peeping red buds and leaves reduced to powder, serves instead of
+pepper, to condite meats and sauces. 'Tis thought better to cudgel off
+the fruit, when dropping ripe, than to gather it by hand; and that the
+husk may open, lay them by in a dry room, sometimes turning them with a
+broom, but without washing, for fear of mouldiness. In Italy they arm
+the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose, and believe
+the beating improves the tree; which I no more believe, than I do that
+discipline would reform a perverse shrew: Those nuts which come not
+easily out of their husks, should be laid to mellow in heaps, and the
+rest expos'd in the sun, till the shells dry, else they will be apt to
+perish the kernel: Some again preserve them in their own leaves, or in a
+chest made of walnut-tree wood; others in sand, especially if you will
+preserve them for a seminary; do this in October, and keep them a little
+moist, that they may spear, to be set early in February: Thus after two
+years they may be removed at a yard asunder, cutting the top-root, and
+side branches, but sparing the head; and being two yards high, bud, or
+remove them immediately. Old nuts are not wholsome till macerated in
+warm, and almost boiling water; but if you lay them in a leaden pot, and
+bury them in the earth, so as no vermin can attaque them, they will keep
+marvellously plump the whole year about, and may easily be blanched: In
+Spain they use to strew the gratings of old and hard nuts (first peel'd)
+into their tarts and other meats. For the oyl, one bushel of nuts will
+yield fifteen pounds of peel'd and clear kernels, and that half as much
+oyl, which the sooner 'tis drawn, is the more in quantity, though the
+dryer the nut, the better in quality; the lees, or marc of the
+pressing, is excellent to fatten hogs with. After the nuts are beaten
+down, the leaves would be sweep'd into heaps, and carried away, because
+their extreme bitterness impairs the ground, and as I am assured,
+prejudices the trees: The green husks boiled, make a good colour to dye
+a dark yellow, without any mixture; and the distillation of its leaves
+with honey and urine, makes hair spring on baldheads: Besides its use in
+the famous Salernitan antidote; if the kernel a little masticated, be
+applied to the biting of a suspected mad-dog, and when it has lain three
+hours, be cast to poultrey, they will die if they eat of it. In Italy,
+when a countreyman finds any pain in his side, he drinks a pint of the
+fresh oyl of this nut, and finds immediate ease: And more famous is the
+wonderful cure, which the _fungus_ substance separating the lobs of the
+kernel, pulveriz'd and drank in wine, in a moderate quantity, did
+recover the English army in Ireland of a dyssentary, when no other
+remedy could prevail: The same also in pleurisies, &c. The juice of the
+outward rind of the nut, makes an excellent gargle for a sore-throat:
+The kernel being rubb'd upon any crack or chink of a leaking or crazy
+vessel, stops it better than either clay, pitch, or wax: In France they
+eat them blanch'd and fresh, with wine and salt, having first cut them
+out of the shells before they are hardned, with a short broad
+brass-knife, because iron rusts, and these they call _cernois_, from
+their manner of scooping them out. Lastly, of the _fungus_ emerging from
+the trunk of an old tree, (and indeed some others) is made touch-wood,
+artificially prepar'd in a _lixivium_ or lye, dried, and beaten flat,
+and then boil'd with salt-peter, to render it apter to kindle. The tree
+wounded in the Spring, yields a liquor, which makes an artificial wine.
+See Birch, cap. XVII. Of other species, see Mr. Ray's _Dendrolog._ Tom.
+III. p. 5, 6.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{101:1} See Servius introduc'd discoursing of this and other nuts,
+_Macrob. Saturn._ l. 3. c. 18.
+
+{104:1}
+
+    Illa domi natas, nostraque ex arbore mensas
+    Tempora viderunt: hos lignum stabat in usus,
+    Annosam si forte nucem dejecerat Eurus.
+
+    _Juv._ l. 4. Sat. 11.
+
+{107:1} _Philosoph. Transact._ vol. III, num. xl, p. 802.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+_Of the Service, and black cherry-tree._
+
+
+1. _Sorbus_, the service-tree (of which there are four sorts) is rais'd
+of the chequers, or berries, which being ripe (that is) rotten, about
+September (and the pulp rub'd off clean from the stones, in dry sand,
+and so kept till after Christmas) may be sown like beech-mast, educated
+in the nursery like the chesnut: It is reported that the sower never
+sees the fruit of his labour; either for that it bears only being very
+old, or that men are commonly so, before they think of planting trees:
+But this is an egregious mistake; for these come very soon to be trees,
+and being planted young, thrive exceedingly; I have likewise planted
+them as big as my arm successfully: The best way is therefore to
+propagate them of suckers, of which they put forth enough, as also of
+sets, and may be budded with great improvement: They delight in
+reasonable good stiff ground, rather inclining to cold, than over-hot;
+for in places which are too dry, they never bear kindly. The
+_torminalis_ (so called for its effects against gripings of the bowels)
+is the kind most frequent with us; for those of the narrower, and less
+indented leaf, are not so common in England as in France, bearing a sort
+of berry of the pear-shape, and is there call'd the _cormier_; this tree
+may be graffed either on it self, or on the white-thorn, and quince. To
+this we might add, the _mespilus_ or medlar, being an hard wood, and of
+which I have seen very beautiful walking-staves. But there is yet a rare
+kind of service-tree, frequent in Germany, which we find not in our
+woods, and they speak of another sort, which bears poyson-berries.
+
+2. The timber of the sort is useful for the joyner, and of which I have
+seen a room curiously wainscotted: Also for the engraver of wood-cuts,
+bows, pullys, skrews, mill-spindles and other; goads to drive oxen with,
+&c. pistol and gun-stocks, and for most that the wild-pear-tree, serves;
+and being of a very delicate grain for the turner, and divers
+curiosities, and looks beautifully, and is almost everlasting, being
+rubb'd over with oyl of linseed, well boil'd, it may be made to
+counterfeit ebony, or almost any Indian wood, colour'd according to art:
+Also it is taken to build with, yielding beams of considerable
+substance: The shade is beautiful for walks, and the fruit not
+unpleasant, especially the second kind, of which with new wine and
+honey, they make a _conditum_ of admirable effect to corroborate the
+stomach; and the fruit alone is good in dysentery's and lasks. The water
+distill'd from the stalks of the flowers and leaves in M. B. and twice
+rectified upon fresh matter, is incomparable for consumptive and tabid
+bodies, taking an ounce daily at several times: Likewise it cures the
+green-sickness in virgins, and is prevalent in all fluxes; distill'd
+warm into the ears it abates the pain: The wood or bark contus'd, and
+applied to any green wound, heals it; and the powder thereof drank in
+oyl olive, consolidates inward ruptures: Lastly, the salt of the wood
+taken in decoction of _althaea_ to three grains, is an incomparable
+remedy to break, and expel gravel. The service gives the husbandman an
+early presage of the approaching Spring, by extending his adorned buds
+for a peculiar entertainment, and dares peep out in the severest
+Winters.
+
+3. That I rank this amongst the forest berry-bearing trees, (frequent in
+the hedges, and growing wild in Herefordshire, and many places; for I
+speak not here of our orchard-cherries, said to have been brought into
+Kent out of Flanders by Hen. VIII.) is chiefly from the suffrage of that
+industrious planter Mr. Cooke, from whose ingenuity and experience (as
+well as out of gratitude for his frequent mentioning of me in his
+elaborate and useful work) I acknowledge to have benefited my self, and
+this edition; though I have also given no obscure tast of this pretty
+tree in Chap. XX.
+
+It is rais'd of the stones of black-cherries very ripe (as they are in
+July) endeavouring to procure such as are full, and large; whereof some
+he tells us, are little inferior to the black Orleance, without
+graffing, and from the very genius of the ground. These gather'd, the
+fleshy part is to be taken off, by rolling them under a plank in dry
+sand, and when the humidity is off (as it will be in 3 or 4 days)
+reserve them in sand again a little moist and hous'd, 'till the
+beginning of February, when you may sow them in a light gravelly mould,
+keeping them clean for two years, and thence planting them into your
+nurseries, to raise other kinds upon, or for woods, copses and
+hedge-rows, and for walks and avenues, which if of a dryish soil, mixt
+with loam, though the bottom be gravel, will thrive into stately trees,
+beautified with blossoms of a surprizing whiteness, greatly relieving
+the sedulous bees, and attracting birds.
+
+If you sow them in beds immediately after they are excarnated, they
+will appear the following Spring, and then at two years shoot, be fit to
+plant out where you please; otherwise, being kept too long e'er you sow
+them, they will sleep two Winters: And this is a rule, which he
+prescribes for all sorts of stone-fruit.
+
+You may almost at any time remove young cherry-trees, abating the heads
+to a single shoot.
+
+He recommends it for the copse, as producing a strong shoot, and as apt
+to put forth from the roots, as the elm; especially, if you fell lusty
+trees: In light ground it will increase to a goodly tall tree, of which
+he mentions one, that held above 85 foot in height: I have my self
+planted of them, and imparted to my friends, which have thriv'd
+exceedingly; but till now did not insert it among the foresters: The
+vertues of the fruit of this cherry-tree against the epilepsy, palsy,
+and convulsions, &c. are in the spirits and distill'd waters. Concerning
+its other uses, see the chapter and section above-mentioned, to which
+add _pomona_, Chap. 8. annexed with this treatise. This tree affords
+excellent stocks for the budding and graffing of other cherries on.
+
+And here I might mention the bitter cherry of Canada, (tho' exceedingly
+unlike to ours) which would yet be propagated for the incomparable
+liquor it is said to yield, preferable to the best limonade, by an
+incision of two inches deep in the stem, and sloping to the length of a
+foot, without prejudice to the tree. What is said of it, and of the
+maple, in the late discovery of the North-America, may be seen in the
+late description of those countries. For other exotic species, v. Ray
+_Dendrolog._ Tom. III. p. 45, 46.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+_Of the Maple._
+
+
+1. The maple [_acer minus_] (of which authors (see Salmasius upon
+_Solinus_, c. 33.) reckon very many kinds) was of old held in equal
+estimation almost with the citron; especially the _bruscum_, the
+French-maple and the _pavonaceus_, peacocks-tail maple, which is that
+sort so elegantly undulated, and crisped into variety of curles, as
+emulates the famous _citria_. It were a most laudable attempt, if some
+would enquire out, and try the planting of such sorts as are not
+indigenes amongst us; such as is especially the German _Aier_, and that
+of Virginia, not yet cultivated here, but an excellent tree: And if this
+were extended to other timber, and exotic trees likewise, it would prove
+of extraordinary benefit and ornament to the publick, and were worthy
+even of the royal care. They are all produced of seeds contain'd in the
+folliacles and keys, or birds-tongues (as they are call'd) like the ash,
+(after a year's interrment) and like to it, affect a sound, and a dry
+mould; growing both in woods and hedge-rows, especially in the latter;
+which if rather hilly than low, affords the fairest timber. It is also
+propagated by layers and suckers. By shredding up the boughs to a head,
+I have caused it to shoot to a wonderful height in a little time; but if
+you will lop it for the fire, let it be done in January; and indeed it
+is observ'd to be of noxious influence to the subnascent plants of other
+kinds, by reason of a clammy dew which it sheds upon them, and therefore
+they would not be indulg'd in pollards, or spreading trees, but to
+thicken under-woods and copses. The timber is far superior to beech for
+all uses of the turner, who seeks it for dishes, cups, trays, trenchers,
+&c. as the joyner for tables, inlayings, and for the delicateness of the
+grain, when the knurs and nodosities are rarely diapred, which does much
+advance its price: Our turners will work it so thin, that it is almost
+transparent: Also for the lightness (under the name _Aier_) imploy'd
+often by those who make musical instruments: Also that especially, which
+grows in Friuli, Carniola, and Saltzburglandt: There is a larger sort,
+which we call the sycomor.
+
+2. But the description of this lesser maple, and the ancient value of
+it, is worth the citing. _Acer operum elegantia, & subtilitate cedro
+secundum; plura ejus genera: Album, quod praecipui candoris vocatur
+Gallicum: In Transpadana Italia, transque Alpes nascens. Alterum genus,
+crispo macularum discursu, qui cum excellentior fuit, a similitudine
+caudae pavonum nomen accepit._
+
+     'The maple, (says Pliny) for the elegancy and fineness of the wood,
+     is next to the very cedar it self. There are several kinds of it,
+     especially the white, which is wonderfully beautiful; this is
+     call'd the French-maple, and grows in that part of Italy, that is
+     on the other side of Po beyond the Alpes: The other has a curl'd
+     grain, so curiously maculated, that from a near resemblance, it was
+     usually call'd the Peacock's-tail, &c.'
+
+He goes on to commend that of Istria, and that growing on the mountains
+for the best: But in the next chapter; _Pulcherrimum vero est bruscum,
+multoque excellentius etiamnum mollusculum, tuber utrumque arboris ejus.
+Bruscum intortius crispum, molluscum simplicius sparsum; et si
+magnitudinem mensarum caperet, haud dubie praeferretur cedro, nunc intra
+pugillares, lectorumque silicios aut laminas, &c. e brusco fiunt mensae
+nigrescentes, &c._ Plin. _l._ 16. c. 15, 16.
+
+     'The _bruscum_, or Knur is wonderfully fair, but the _molluscum_ is
+     counted most precious; both of them knobs and swellings out of the
+     tree. The _bruscum_ is more intricately crisp'd; the _molluscum_
+     not so much; and had we trees large enough to saw into planks for
+     tables, 'twould be preferr'd before cedar, (or citron, for so some
+     copies read it) but now they use it only for small table-books, and
+     with its thin boards to wainscot bed-testers with, _&c._ The
+     _bruscum_ is of a blackish kind, with which they make tables.'
+
+Thus far Pliny. And such spotted tables were the famous Tigrin, and
+Pantherine curiosities of; not so call'd from being supported with
+figures carved like those beasts, as some conceive, and was in use even
+in our grand-fathers days, but from its natural spots and maculations,
+_hem, quantis facultatibus aestimavere ligneas maculas!_ as Tertullian
+crys out, _de Pallio_, c, 5. Such a table was that of Cicero's, which
+cost him 10000 _Sesterces_; such another had Asinius Gallus. That of
+King Juba was sold for 15000, and another which I read of, valu'd at
+140000 H.S. which at about 3d. sterling, arrives to a pretty sum; and
+yet that of the Mauritanian Ptoleme, was far richer, containing four
+foot and an half diameter, three inches thick, which is reported to have
+been sold for its weight in gold: Of that value they were, and so madly
+luxurious the age, that when they at any time reproach'd their wives for
+their wanton expensiveness in pearl and other rich trifles, they were
+wont to retort, and turn the tables upon their husbands. The knot of the
+timber was the most esteem'd, and is said to be much resembled by the
+female cypress: We have now, I am almost persuaded, as beautiful planks
+of some walnut-trees, near the root; and yew, ivy, rose-wood, ash,
+thorn, and olive, I have seen incomparable pieces; but the great art was
+in the seasoning, and politure; for which last, the rubbing with a man's
+hand who came warm out of the bath, was accounted better than any cloth,
+as Pliny reports. Some there be who contend, this citern was a part near
+the root of the cedar, which, as they describe it, is very oriental and
+odoriferous; but most of the learned favour the citron, and that it grew
+not far from our Tangier, about the foot of Mount Atlas, whence haply
+some industrious person might procure of it from the Moors; and I did
+not forget to put his then Excellency my Lord H. Howard (since his Grace
+the Duke of Norfolk) in mind of it; who I hoped might have opportunities
+of satisfying our curiosity, that by comparing it with those elegant
+woods, which both our own countries, and the Indies furnish, we might
+pronounce something in the controversie: But his not going so far into
+the countrey, and the disorder which happen'd at his being there, quite
+frustrated this expectation: Here I think good to add, what honest
+Palissy philosophises after his plain manner, about the reason of those
+pretty undulations and chamfers, which we so frequently find in divers
+woods, which he takes to be the descent, as well as ascent of moisture:
+For what else (says he) becomes of that water which we often encounter
+in the cavities, when many branches divaricate, and spread themselves at
+the tops of great trees (especially pollards) unless (according to its
+natural appetite) it sink into the very body of the stem through the
+pores? For example, in the walnut, you shall find, when 'tis old, that
+the wood is admirably figur'd, and, as it were, marbl'd, and therefore
+much more esteem'd by the joyners, cabinet-makers, and _ouvrages de
+marqueterie_, in-layers, &c. than the young, which is paler of colour,
+and without any notable grain, as they call it. For the rain distilling
+along the branches, when many of them break out into clusters from the
+stem, sinks in, and is the cause of these marks; since we find it
+exceedingly full of pores: Do but plane off a thin chip, or sliver from
+one of these old trees, and interposing it 'twixt your eye and the
+light, you shall observe it to be full of innumerable holes (much more
+perspicuous and ample, by the application of a good{119:1} microscope.)
+But above all, notable for these extravagant damaskings and characters,
+is the maple; and 'tis notorious, that this tree is very full of
+branches from the root to its very summit, by reason that it produces no
+considerable fruit: These arms being frequently cut, the head is more
+surcharged with them, which spreading like so many rays from a centre,
+form that hollowness at the top of the stem whence they shoot, capable
+of containing a good quantity of water every time it rains: This sinking
+into the pores, as was before hinted, is compell'd to divert its course
+as it passes through the body of the tree, where-ever it encounters the
+knot of any of those branches which were cut off from the stem; because
+their roots not only deeply penetrate towards the heart, but are
+likewise of themselves very hard and impervious; and the frequent
+obliquity of this course of the subsiding moisture, by reason of these
+obstructions, is, as may be conceived, the cause of those curious
+works, which we find remarkable in this, and other woods, whose branches
+grow thick from the stem: But for these curious contextures, consult
+rather the learned Dr. Grew. We have shewed how by culture, and
+stripping up, it arrives to a goodly tree; and surely there were some of
+them of large bulk, and noble shades, that Virgil should chuse it for
+the Court of his Evander (one of his worthiest princes, in his best of
+poems) sitting in his maple-throne; and when he brings AEneas into the
+royal cottage, he makes him this memorable complement; greater, says
+great Cowley, than ever was yet spoken at the Escurial, the Louvre, or
+White-hall.
+
+    This humble roof, this rustique court, said he,
+    Receiv'd Alcides crown'd with victory:
+    Scorn not (great guest) the steps where he has trod,
+    But contemn wealth, and imitate a God.{120:1}
+
+The savages in Canada, when the sap rises in the maple, by an incision
+in the tree, extract the liquor; and having evaporated a reasonable
+quantity thereof (as suppose 7 or 8 pound), there will remain one pound,
+as sweet and perfect sugar, as that which is gotten out of the cane;
+part of which sugar has been for many years constantly sent to Rouen in
+Normandy, to be refin'd: There is also made of this sugar an excellent
+syrup of maiden-hair and other capillary plants, prevalent against the
+_scorbut_; though Mr. Ray thinks otherwise, by reason of the saccharine
+substance remaining in the decoction: See _Synops. Stirp._ & Tom. III.
+_Dendrolog._ de Acere. p. 93, 94.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{119:1} Not invented in Palissy's days.
+
+{120:1}
+
+    ........... Haec (inquit) limina victor
+    Alcides............
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+_Of the Sycomor._
+
+
+1. The sycomor, or wild fig-tree, (falsly so called) is, our _album_,
+_acer majus_, or broad-leav'd _mas_, one of the maples, and is much more
+in reputation for its shade than it deserves; for the honey-dew leaves,
+which fall early (like those of the ash) turn to mucilage and noxious
+insects, and putrifie with the first moisture of the season; so as they
+contaminate and mar our walks; and are therefore by my consent, to be
+banish'd from all curious gardens and avenues. 'Tis rais'd of the keys
+in the husk (as soon as ripe) they come up the first Spring; also by
+roots and layers, in ground moist, not over-wet or stiff, and to be
+govern'd as other nursery plants.
+
+2. There is in Germany a better sort of sycomor than ours, (nor are ours
+_indiginae_) wherewith they make saddle-trees, and divers other things of
+use; our own is excellent for trenchers, cart, and plow-timber, being
+light, tough, and not much inferior to ash it self; and if the trees be
+very tall and handsome, are the more tolerable for distant walks
+especially where other better trees prosper not so well, or where a
+sudden shade is expected: Some commend them to thicken copp'ces,
+especially in parks, as least apt to the spoil of deer, and that it is
+good fire-wood. This tree being wounded, bleeds a great part of the
+year; and the liquor emulating that of the birch, which for hapning to
+few of the rest (that is, to bleed Winter and Summer) I therefore
+mention: The sap is sweet and wholsome, and in a short time yields
+sufficient quantity to brew with; so as with one bushel of malt, is made
+as good ale as four bushels with ordinary water, upon Dr. Tongue's
+experience, _Transact._ vol. IV. f. 917.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+_Of the Lime-Tree._
+
+
+1. _Tilia_ the lime-tree, or [linden] is of two kinds; the male (which
+some allow to be but a finer sort of elm) or maple rather, is harder,
+fuller of knots, and of a redder colour; but producing neither flower,
+nor seed, (so constantly and so mature with us) as does the female,
+whose blossom is also very odoriferous, perfuming the air, the leaf
+larger; the wood is likewise thicker, of small pith, and not obnoxious
+to the worm; so as it seems Theophrastus _de Pl._ l. 3. c. 10. said
+true, that though they were of both sexes, +diapherousi de te morphe te
+hole+, &c. _yet they totally differ'd as to their form_. We send
+commonly for this tree into Flanders and Holland, (which indeed grow not
+so naturally wild with us) to our excessive cost, whiles our own woods
+do in some places spontaneously produce them, and though of somewhat a
+smaller leaf, yet altogether as good, apt to be civiliz'd, and made more
+florid: From thence I have received many of their berries; so as it is a
+shameful negligence, that we are no better provided of nurseries, of a
+tree so choice, and universally acceptable: For so they may be rais'd
+either of the seeds in October, or (with better success) by the suckers
+and plants, which are treated after the same method, and in as great
+abundance as the elm, like to which it should be cultivated. You may
+know whether the seeds be prolific, by searching the husk; if biting, or
+cutting it in sunder it be full and white, and not husky, as sometimes
+we find the foreigners: Be sure to collect your seed in dry weather,
+airing it in an open room, and reserving it in sand, (as has been
+taught) till mid-February, when you may sow it in pretty strong, fresh
+and loamy mould, kept shaded, and moist as the season requires, and
+clear of weeds, and at the period of two years, plant them out, dress'd
+and prun'd as discretion shall advise. But not only by the suckers and
+layers, at the roots, but even by branches lopp'd from the head, may
+this tree be propagated; and peeling off a little of the bark, at a
+competent distance from the stem or arms, and covering it with loam
+mingled with rich earth, they will shoot their fibers, and may be
+seasonably separated: But to facilitate this and the like attempts, it
+is advisable to apply a ligature above the place, when the sap is
+ascending, or beneath it, when it (as they say vulgarly) descends. From
+June to November you may lay them; the scrubs and less erect, do
+excellently to thicken copp'ces, and will yield lusty shoots, and useful
+fire-wood.
+
+2. The lime-tree affects a rich feeding loamy soil; in such ground their
+growth will be most for speed and spreading. They may be planted as big
+as ones leg; their heads topp'd at about six or eight foot bole; thus it
+will become (of all other) the most proper, and beautiful for walks, as
+producing an upright body, smooth and even bark, ample leaf, sweet
+blossom, the delight of bees, and a goodly shade at distance of
+eighteen, or twenty five foot. They are also very patient of pruning;
+but if it taper over much, some of the collateral boughs would be
+spar'd, or cut off, to check the sap, which is best to be done about
+Midsummer; and to make it grow upright, take off the prepondering
+branches with discretion, and so you may correct any other tree, and
+redress its obliquity.
+
+The root in transplanting would not be much lopp'd; and this (says Mr.
+Cook) is a good lesson for all young planted trees.
+
+3. The Prince Elector did lately remove very great lime-trees out of one
+of his forests, to a steep hill, exceedingly expos'd to the heat of the
+sun, at Heidelberg; and that in the midst of summer: They grow behind
+that strong tower on the south-west, and most torrid part of the
+eminence; being of a dry, reddish barren earth; yet do they prosper
+rarely well: But the heads were cut off, and the pits into which they
+were transplanted, were (by the industry and direction of _Monsieur_ de
+Son, a Frenchman, and admirable mechanician, who himself related it to
+me) fill'd with a composition of earth and cow-dung, which was
+exceedingly beaten, and so diluted with water, as it became almost a
+liquid pap: It was in this, that he plunged the roots, covering the
+surface with the turf: A singular example of removing so great trees at
+such a season, and therefore by me taken notice of here expresly. Other
+perfections of the tree (besides its unparallel'd beauty for walks) are
+that it will grow in almost all grounds: That it lasts long; that it
+soon heals its scars; that it affects uprightness; that it stoutly
+resists a storm; that it seldom becomes hollow.
+
+4. The timber of a well-grown lime is convenient for any use that the
+willow is; but much to be preferr'd, as being both stronger, and yet
+lighter; whence Virgil calls them _tilias leves_; and therefore fit for
+yokes, and to be turn'd into boxes for the apothecaries; and Columella
+commends _arculas tiliaceas_. And because of its colour, and easy
+working, and that it is not subject to split, architects make with it
+models for their designed buildings; and the carvers in wood, not only
+for small figures, but large statues and intire histories, in bass, and
+high relieve; witness (besides several more) the lapidation of St.
+Stephen, with the structures and elevations about it: The trophies,
+festoons, frutages, encarpa, and other sculptures in the frontoons,
+freezes, capitals, pedestals, and other ornaments and decorations, (of
+admirable invention and performance) to be seen about the choir of St.
+Paul's and other churches; royal palaces, and noble houses in city and
+countrey. All of them, the works and invention of our Lysippus, Mr.
+Gibbons; comparable, and for ought appears, equal to any thing of the
+antients; having had the honour (for so I account it) to be the first
+who recommended this great artist to his Majesty, Charles the II. I
+mention it on this occasion, with much satisfaction. With the twigs,
+they made baskets and cradles, and of the smoother side of the bark,
+tablets for writing; for the antient _Philyra_ is but our _Tilia_; of
+which Munting affirms, he saw a book made of the inward bark, written
+about 1000 years since. Such another was brought to the Count of St.
+Amant, Governor of Arras, 1662, for which there was given 8000 ducats by
+the Emperor, and that it contain'd a work of Cicero, _De Ordinanda
+Republica, & De Inveniendis Orationum Exordiis_: A piece inestimable,
+never publish'd; is now in the library at Vienna, after it had formerly
+been the greatest rarity in that of the late Cardinal Mazarine: Other
+papyraceous trees are mention'd by West-Indian travellers, especially in
+Hispaniola, Java, &c. which not only exceed our largest paper for
+breadth and length, and may be written on on both sides, but is
+comparable to our best vellum. Bellonius says, that the Grecians made
+bottles of the _tilia_, which they finely rozin'd within-side, so
+likewise for pumps of ships, also lattices for windows: Shooemakers use
+dressers of the plank to cut leather on, as not so hard as to turn the
+edges of their knives; and even the coursest membrane, or slivers of the
+tree growing 'twixt the bark and the main body, they now twist into
+bass-ropes; besides, the truncheons make a far better coal for
+gun-powder than that of alder it self; Scriblets for painters first
+draughts are also made of its coals; and the extraordinary candor and
+lightness, has dignify'd it above all the woods of our forest, in the
+hands of the Right Honourable the White-Stave officers of His Majesty's
+Imperial Court. Those royal plantations of these trees in the parks of
+Hampton-court, and St. James's, will sufficiently instruct any man how
+these (and indeed all other trees which stand single) are to be
+govern'd, and defended from the injuries of beasts, and sometimes more
+unreasonable creatures, till they are able to protect themselves. In
+Holland (where the very high-ways are adorn'd with them) they frequently
+clap three or four deal-boards (in manner of a close trunk) about them;
+but it is not so well; because it keeps out the air, which should have
+free access and intercourse to the bole, and by no means be excluded
+from flowing freely about them, or indeed any other trees; provided
+they are secur'd from cattel, and the violence of impetuous winds, &c.
+as His Majesty's are, without those close coffins, in which the
+Dutch-men seem rather to bury them alive: In the mean time, is there a
+more ravishing or delightful object, than to behold some intire streets,
+and whole towns planted with these trees, in even lines before their
+doors, so as they seem like cities in a wood? this is extreamly fresh,
+of admirable effect against the epilepsie, for which the delicately
+scented blossoms are held prevalent, and skreen the houses both from
+winds, sun, and dust; than which there can be nothing more desirable
+where streets are much frequented. For thus
+
+    The stately Lime, smooth, gentle, streight and fair,
+    (With which no other Dryad may compare)
+    With verdant locks, and fragrant blossoms deckt,
+    Does a large, ev'n, odorate shade project.{127:1}
+
+_Dirae_ and curses therefore on those inhuman and ambitious tyrants, who,
+not contented with their own dominions, invade their peaceful neighbour,
+and send their legions, without distinction, to destroy and level to the
+ground such venerable and goodly plantations, and noble avenues,
+irreparable marks of their barbarity.
+
+The distance for walks (as we said) may in rich ground, be twenty five
+foot, in more ordinary soil, eighteen or twenty. For a most prodigious
+tree of this kind, see Chap. 39. sect. 10.
+
+The berries reduc'd to powder, cure the dysentery and stop blood at the
+nose: The distill'd-water is good against the epilepsy, apoplexy,
+vertigo, trembling of the heart, gravel; Schroder commends a mucilage of
+the bark for wounds, _repellens urinam, & menses ciens_, &c. And I am
+told, the juice of the leaves fixes colours.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{127:1}
+
+    Stat philyra; haud omnes formosior altera surgit
+    Inter hamadryades; mollissima, candida, laevis,
+    Et viridante coma, & beneolenti flore superba,
+    Spargit odoratam late, atque aequaliter umbram.
+
+    _Couleii_, l. 6, Pl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+_Of the Poplar, Aspen, and Abele._
+
+
+1. _Populus._ I begin this second class (according to our former
+distribution) with the poplar, of which there are several kinds; white,
+black, &c. (which in Candy 'tis reported bears seed) besides the aspen.
+The white (famous heretofore for yielding its _umbram hospitalem_) is
+the most ordinary with us, to be rais'd in abundance by every set or
+slip. Fence the ground as far as any old poplar-roots extend, they will
+furnish you with suckers innumerable, to be slipp'd from their mothers,
+and transplanted the very first year: But if you cut down an old tree,
+you shall need no other nursery. When they are young, their leaves are
+somewhat broader and rounder (as most other trees are) than when they
+grow aged. In moist and boggy places they will flourish wonderfully, so
+the ground be not spewing; but especially near the margins and banks of
+rivers,
+
+    _Populus in fluviis_..........
+
+and in low, sweet, and fertile ground; yea, and in the dryer likewise.
+Also trunchions of seven or eight foot long, thrust two foot into the
+earth, (a hole being made with a sharp hard stake, fill'd with water,
+and then with fine earth pressed in, and close about them) when once
+rooted, may be cut at six inches above ground; and thus placed at a yard
+distant, they will immediately furnish a kind of copp'ce. But in case
+you plant them of rooted trees, or smaller sets, fix them not so deep;
+for though we bury the trunchions thus profound, yet is the root which
+they strike, commonly but shallow. They will make prodigious shoots in
+15, or 16 years; but then the heads must by no means be diminish'd, but
+the lower branches may, yet not too far up; the foot would also be
+cleansed every second year. This for the white. The black poplar is
+frequently pollar'd when as big as one's arm, eight or nine foot from
+the ground, as they trim them in Italy, for their vines to serpent and
+twist on, and those they poll, or head every second year, sparing the
+middle, streight, and thrivingest shoot, and at the third year cut him
+also. There be yet that condemn the pruning of this poplar, as hindring
+their growth.
+
+2. The shade of this tree is esteemed very wholsome in Summer, but they
+do not become walks, or avenues by reason of their suckers, and that
+they foul the ground at fall of the leaf; but they would be planted in
+barren woods, and to flank places at distance, for their increase, and
+the glittering brightness of their foliage: The leaves are good for
+cattel, which must be stripp'd from the cut boughs before they are
+faggoted. This to be done in the decrease of October, and reserv'd in
+bundles for winter-fodder. The wood of white poplar is sought of the
+sculptor, and they saw both sorts into boards, which, where they lie
+dry, continue a long time. Of this material they also made shields of
+defence in sword and buckler-days. Dioscorides writes, that the bark
+chopt small, and sow'd in rills, well and richly manur'd and watered,
+will produce a plentiful crop of mushrooms; or warm water, in which yest
+is dissolv'd, cast upon a new-cut stump: It is to be noted, that those
+_fungi_, which spring from the putrid stumps of this tree are not
+venenous (as of all, or most other trees they are) being gathered after
+the first autumnal rains. There is a poplar of a paler green, and is the
+properest for watry ground: 'Twill grow of trunchions from two, or eight
+foot long, and bringing a good lop in a short time, is by some preferr'd
+to willows.
+
+For the setting of these, Mr. Cook advises the boring of the ground with
+a sort of auger, to prevent the stripping of the bark from the stake in
+planting: A foot and half deep, or more if great, (for some may be 8 or
+9 foot) for pollards, cut sloping, and free of cracks at either end: Two
+or three inches diameter, is a competent bigness, and the earth should
+be ramm'd close to them.
+
+Another expedient is, by making drains in very moist ground, two spade
+deep, and three foot wide, casting up the earth between the drains,
+sowing it the first year with oats to mellow the ground, the next Winter
+setting it for copp'ce, with these, any, or all the watry sorts of
+trees; thus, in four or five years, you will have a handsome fell, and
+so successively: It is in the former author, where the charge is exactly
+calculated, to whom I refer the reader. I am inform'd, that in Cheshire
+there grow many stately and streight black poplars, which they call
+_peplurus_, that yield boards and planks of an inch and half thickness;
+so fit for floaring of rooms, by some preferr'd to oak, for the
+whiteness and lasting, where they lie dry.
+
+3. They have a poplar in Virginia of a very peculiar shap'd leaf, as if
+the point of it were cut off, which grows very well with the curious
+amongst us to a considerable stature. I conceive it was first brought
+over by John Tradescant, under the name of the tulip-tree, (from the
+likeness of its flower) but is not, that I find, taken much notice of in
+any of our herbals: I wish we had more of them; but they are difficult
+to elevate at first.
+
+4. The aspen only (which is that kind of _libyca_ or white poplar,
+bearing a smaller, and more tremulous leaf, (by the French call'd _la
+tremble_ or quaker) thrusts down a more searching foot, and in this
+likewise differs, that he takes it ill to have his head cut off: Pliny
+would have short trunchions couched two foot in the ground (but first
+two days dried) at one foot and half distance, and then moulded over.
+
+5. There is something a finer sort of white poplar, which the Dutch call
+_abele_, and we have of late _abele_ much transported out of Holland:
+These are also best propagated of slips from the roots, the least of
+which will take, and may in March, at three or four years growth, be
+transplanted.
+
+6. In Flanders (not in France, as a late author pretends) they have
+large nurseries of them, which first they plant at one foot distance,
+the mould light and moist, by no means clayie, in which though they may
+shoot up tall, yet for want of root, they never spread; for, as I said,
+they must be interr'd pretty deep, not above three inches above ground;
+and kept clean, by pruning them to the middle-shoot for the first two
+years, and so till the third or fourth. When you transplant, place them
+at eight, ten, or twelve foot interval: They will likewise grow of
+layers, and even of cuttings in very moist places. In three years, they
+will come to an incredible altitude; in twelve, be as big as your
+middle; and in eighteen or twenty, arrive to full perfection. A specimen
+of this advance we have had of an _abele_-tree at Sion, which being
+lopp'd in Febr. 1651, did by the end of October 52, produce branches as
+big as a man's wrist, and 17 foot in length; for which celerity we may
+recommend them to such late builders, as seat their houses in naked and
+unshelter'd places, and that would put a guise of antiquity upon any new
+inclosure; since by these, whilst a man is in a voyage of no long
+continuance, his house and lands may be so covered, as to be hardly
+known at his return. But as they thus increase in bulk, their value (as
+the Italian poplar, has taught us) advances likewise; which after the
+first seven years, is annually worth twelve pence more: So as the Dutch
+look upon a plantation of these trees, as an ample portion for a
+daughter, and none of the least effects of their good husbandry; which
+truly may very well be allow'd, if that calculation hold, which the late
+worthy{132:1} Knight has asserted, (who began his plantation not long
+since about Richmond,) that 30 pound being laid out in these plants,
+would render at the least ten thousand pounds in eighteen years; every
+tree affording thirty plants, and every of them thirty more, after each
+seven year's improving twelve pence in growth, till they arrive to their
+acme.
+
+7. The black poplar grows rarely with us; it is a stronger and taller
+tree than the white, the leaves more dark, and not so ample. Divers
+stately ones of these, I remember about the banks of Po in Italy; which
+flourishing near the old Eridanus (so celebrated by the poets) in which
+the temerarious Phaeton is said to have been precipitated, doubtless
+gave argument to that fiction of his sad sister's metamorphosis, and the
+amber of their precious tears. It was whiles I was passing down that
+river towards Ferrara, that I diverted my self with this story of the
+ingenious poet. I am told there is a mountain-poplar much propagated in
+Germany about Vienna, and in Bohemia, of which some trees have yielded
+planks of a yard in breadth; why do we procure none of them?
+
+8. The best use of the poplar, and _abele_ (which are all of them
+hospitable trees, for any thing thrives under their shades) is for walks
+and avenues about grounds which are situated low, and near the water,
+till coming to be very old, they are apt to grow knurry, and out of
+proportion. The timber is incomparable for all sorts of white wooden
+vessels, as trays, bowls and other turners ware; and of especial use for
+the bellows-maker, because it is almost of the nature of cork, and for
+ship-pumps, though not very solid, yet very close, and yet light; so as
+it may be us'd for the soles, as well as wooden-heels of shooes, &c.
+Vitruvius _l. de Materia Caedenda_, reckons it among the
+building-timbers, _quae maxime in aedificiis sunt idoneae_. Likewise to
+make carts, because it is exceeding light; for vine, and hop-props, and
+divers vimineous works. The loppings in January are for the fire; and
+therefore such as have proper grounds, may with ease, and in short time,
+store themselves for a considerable family, where fuel is dear: but the
+truth is, it burns untowardly, and rather moulders away, than maintains
+any solid heat. Of the twigs (with the leaves on) are made brooms. The
+_brya_, or catkins attract the bees, as do also the leaves (especially
+of the black) more tenacious of the meldews than most forest-trees, the
+oak excepted.
+
+Of the aspen, our wood-men make hoops, fire-wood, and coals, &c. and of
+the bark of young trees, in some countries, it serves for candle or
+torch-wood.
+
+The juice of poplar leaves, dropp'd into the ears, asswages the pain;
+and the buds contus'd, and mix'd with honey, is a good _collyrium_ for
+the eyes; as the unguent to refrigerate and cause sleep.
+
+One thing more is not to be pass'd over, of the white-poplar; that the
+seeds of misselto being put into holes bored in the bark of this tree,
+have produced the plant: Experiment sufficient to determine that so long
+controverted question, concerning spontaneous and aequivocal generations.
+vid. D. _Raii_ P. L. Append. p. 1918.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{132:1} Sir Richard Weston.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+_Of the Quick-Beam._
+
+
+1. The quick-beam [_ornus_, or as the _pinax_ more peculiarly, _fraxinus
+bubula_; others, the wild sorb] or (as some term it) the witchen, is a
+species of wild-ash. The Berries which it produced in October, may then
+be sown; or rather the sets planted: I have store of them in a warm
+grove of mine, and 'tis of singular beauty: It rises to a reasonable
+stature, shoots upright, and slender, and consists of a fine smooth
+bark. It delights to be both in mountains and woods, and to fix it self
+in good light grounds; Virgil affirms, 'twill unite with the pear.
+
+2. Besides the use of it for the husbandman's tools, goads, &c. the
+wheelright commends it for being all heart; if the tree be large, and so
+well grown as some there are, it will saw into planks, boards and
+timber, (vide Chap XXX. Sect. 10.) and our fletchers commend it for bows
+next to yew; which we ought not to pass over, for the glory of our once
+right English ancestors: In a Statute of HEN. 8. you have it mention'd:
+It is excellent fuel; but I have not yet observed any other use, save
+that the blossoms are of an agreeable scent, and the berries such a
+tempting bait for the thrushes, that as long as they last, you shall be
+sure of their company. Some highly commend the juice of the berries,
+which (fermenting of it self) if well preserv'd, makes an excellent
+drink against the spleen and scurvy: Ale and beer brew'd with these
+berries, being ripe, is an incomparable drink, familiar in Wales, where
+this tree is reputed so sacred, that as there is not a church-yard
+without one of them planted in them (as among us the yew) so on a
+certain day in the year, every body religiously wears a cross made of
+the wood, and the tree is by some authors call'd _fraxinus
+Cambro-Britannica_; reputed to be a preservative against fascinations
+and evil-spirits; whence, perhaps, we call it witchen; the boughs being
+stuck about the house, or the wood used for walking-staves.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+_Of the Hasel._
+
+
+1. _Nux silvestris_, or _corylus_, the hasel, is best rais'd from
+the{136:1} nuts, (also by suckers and layers) which you shall sow like
+mast, in a pretty deep furrow toward the end of February, or treat them
+as you are instructed in the walnut; light ground may immediately be
+sown and harrow'd-in very accurately; but in case the mould be clay,
+plow it earlier, and let it be sufficiently mellow'd with the frosts;
+and then the third year cut your trees near to the ground with a sharp
+bill, the moon decreasing.
+
+2. But if you would make a grove for pleasure, plant them in fosses, at
+a yard distance, and cut them within half a foot of the earth, dressing
+them for three or four Springs and Autumns, by only loosning the mould a
+little about their roots. Others there are, who set the nuts by hand at
+one foot distance, to be transplanted the third year, at a yard asunder:
+But this work is not to be taken in hand so soon as the nuts fall, till
+winter be well advanc'd; because they are exceedingly obnoxious to the
+frosts; nor will they sprout till the Spring; besides, vermin are great
+devourers of them: Preserve them therefore moist, not mouldy; by laying
+them in their own dry leaves, or in sand, till January.
+
+    Hasels from sets and suckers take.{136:2}
+
+3. From whence they thrive very well, the shoots being of the
+scantlings of small wands and switches, or somewhat bigger, and such as
+have drawn divers hairy twigs, which are by no means to be disbranch'd,
+no more than their roots, unless by a very sparing and discreet hand.
+Thus, your _coryletum_, or copp'ce of hasels, being planted about
+Autumn, may (as some practise it) be cut within three or four inches of
+the ground the Spring following, which the new cyon will suddenly repair
+in clusters, and tufts of fair poles of twenty, or sometimes thirty foot
+long: But I rather should spare them till two or three years after, when
+they shall have taken strong hold, and may be cut close to the very
+earth, the improsperous and feeble ones especially. Thus are likewise
+filberts to be treated, both of them improved much by transplanting, but
+chiefly by graffing, and it would be try'd with filberts, and even with
+almonds themselves, for more elegant experiments.
+
+In the mean time, I do not confound the filbert, pontic, or filbord,
+distinguish'd by its beard, among our foresters (or bald hasel-nuts)
+which doubtless we had from abroad; and bearing the names of _avelan_,
+_avelin_, as I find in some ancient records and deeds in my custody,
+where my ancestors names were written Avelan, _alias_, Evelin,
+generally.
+
+4. For the place, they above all affect cold, barren, dry, and sandy
+grounds; also mountains, and even rocky soils produce them; and where
+quaries of free-stone lie underneath, as that at Hasulbery in Wilts,
+Haseling-field in Cambridge-shire, Haselmeer in Surrey, and other
+places; but more plentifully, if the ground be somewhat moist, dankish
+and mossie, as in the fresher bottoms, and sides of hills, hoults, and
+in hedge-rows. Such as are maintain'd for copp'ces, may after twelve
+years be fell'd the first time; the next, at seven or eight, &c. for by
+this period, their roots will be compleatly vigorous. You may plant them
+from October to January, provided you keep them carefully weeded, till
+they have taken fast hold; and there is not among all our store, a more
+profitable wood for copp'ces, and therefore good husbands should store
+them with it.
+
+5. The use of the hasel is for poles, spars, hoops, forks, angling-rods,
+faggots, cudgels, coals, and springs to catch birds; and it makes one of
+the best coals, once us'd for gun-powder; being very fine and light,
+till they found alder to be more fit: There is no wood which purifies
+wine sooner, than the chips of hasel: Also for with's and bands, upon
+which, I remember, Pliny thinks it a pretty speculation, that a wood
+should be stronger to bind withal, being bruis'd and divided, than when
+whole and entire: The coals are us'd by painters, to draw with like
+those of Sallow: Lastly, for riding switches, and divinatory rods for
+the detecting and finding out of minerals; (at least, if that tradition
+be no imposture) is very wonderful; by whatsoever occult virtue, the
+forked-stick (so cut, and skilfully held) becomes impregnated with those
+invisible steams and exhalations; as by its spontaneous bending from an
+horizontal posture, to discover not only mines, and subterraneous
+treasure, and springs of water, but criminals, guilty of murther, &c.
+made out so solemnly, and the effects thereof, by the attestation of
+magistrates, and divers other learned and credibile persons, (who have
+critically examined matters of fact) is certainly next to miracle, and
+requires a strong faith: Let the curious therefore consult that
+philosophical treatise of{139:1} Dr. Vallemont; which will at least
+entertain them with a world of surprizing things. But now after all the
+most signal honour it was ever employ'd in, and which might deservedly
+exalt this humble and common plant above all the trees of the wood, is
+that of hurdles, (especially the flexible white: the red and brittle);
+not for that it is generally used for the folding of our innocent sheep,
+an emblem of the church; but for making the walls of one of the first
+Christian Oratories in the world; and particularly in this island, that
+venerable and sacred fabrick at Glastenbury, founded by St. Joseph of
+Arimathea; which is storied to have been first compos'd but of a few
+small hasel-rods interwoven about certain stakes driven into the ground;
+and walls of this kind, instead of laths and punchions, superinduc'd
+with a course mortar made of loam and straw, do to this day inclose
+divers humble cottages, sheads and out-houses in the countrey; and 'tis
+strong and lasting for such purposes, whole, or cleft, and I have seen
+ample enclosures of courts and gardens so secur'd.
+
+6. There is a compendious expedient for the thickning of copp'ces which
+are too transparent, by laying of a sampler or pole of an hasel, ash,
+poplar, &c. of twenty or thirty foot in length (the head a little
+lopp'd) into the ground, giving it a chop near the foot, to make it
+succumb; this fastned to the earth with a hook or two, and cover'd with
+some fresh mould at a competent depth (as gardeners lay their
+carnations) will produce a world of suckers, thicken and furnish a
+copp'ce speedily. I add no more of filberts, a kinder and better sort
+of hasel-nut, of larger and longer shape and beard; the kernels also
+cover'd with a fine membrane, of which the red is more delicate: They
+both are propagated as the hasel, and while more domestick, planted
+either asunder, or in palisade, are seldom found in the copp'ces: They
+are brought among other fruit, to the best tables for desert, and are
+said to fatten, but too much eaten, obnoxious to the asthmatic. In the
+mean time, of this I have had experience; that hasel-nuts, but the
+filberd specially, being full ripe, and peel'd in warm water, (as they
+blanch almonds) make a pudding very little (if at all) inferior to that
+our ladies make of almonds. But I am now come to the water-side; let us
+next consider the aquatic.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{136:1} _De nucum generibus_, vide Macrob. Sect. L. II. C. 14.
+
+{136:2}
+
+    Plantis & durae coryli nascuntur....................
+
+    _Georg. 2._
+
+{139:1} Vallemont, _Physique occult ou traite de la baguet divinitoire,
+&c._ But concerning the exploration, and superstitious original, see Sir
+Thomas Brown, _Vulg. Err._ cap. xxiv. sect. 17. and the commentators
+upon 4. Hosea. 12.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+_Of the Birch._
+
+
+1. The birch [_betula_, in British _bedw_, doubtless a proper indigene
+of England, (whence some derive the name of Barkshire) though Pliny
+calls it a Gaulish tree] is altogether produc'd of roots or suckers,
+(though it sheds a kind of _samera_ about the Spring) which being
+planted at four or five foot interval, in small twigs, will suddenly
+rise to trees; provided they affect the ground, which cannot well be too
+barren, or spongy; for it will thrive both in the dry, and the wet,
+sand, and stony, marshes, and bogs; the water-galls, and uliginous parts
+of forests that hardly bear any grass, do many times spontaneously
+produce it in abundance, whether the place be high, or low, and nothing
+comes amiss to it. Plant the small twigs, or suckers having roots, and
+after the first year, cut them within an inch of the surface; this will
+cause them to sprout in strong and lusty tufts, fit for copp'ce, and
+spring-woods; or, by reducing them to one stem, render them in a very
+few years fit for the turner. For
+
+2. Though birch be of all other the worst of timber, yet has it its
+various uses, as for the husbandman's ox-yoaks; also for hoops, small
+screws, paniers, brooms, wands, bavin-bands, and wythes for fagots; and
+claims a memory for arrows, bolts, shafts, (our old English artillery;)
+also for dishes, bowls, ladles, and other domestic utensils, in the good
+old days of more simplicity, yet of better and truer hospitality. In
+New-England our Northern Americans make canoos, boxes, buckets, kettles,
+dishes, which they sow, and joyn very curiously with thread made of
+cedar-roots, and divers other domestical utensils, as baskets, baggs,
+with this tree, whereof they have a blacker kind; and out of a certain
+excrescence from the bole, a _fungus_, which being boil'd, beaten, and
+dry'd in an oven, makes excellent spunck or touch-wood, and balls to
+play withal; and being reduc'd to powder, astringent, is an infallible
+remedy in the hoemerhoids. They make also not only this small ware, but
+even small-craft, pinnaces of birch, ribbing them with white cedar, and
+covering them with large flakes of birch-bark, sow them with thread of
+spruse-roots, and pitch them, as it seems we did even here in Britain,
+as well as the Veneti, making use of the willow, whereof Lucan,
+
+    When Sicoris to his own banks restor'd,
+    Had quit the field, of twigs, and willow-board
+    They build small craft, cover'd with bullocks-hide,
+    In which they reach'd the rivers farther side:
+    So sail the Veneti if Padus flow,
+    The Britains sail on their rough ocean so.{142:1}
+
+Also for fuel: In many of the mosses in the West-Riding of Yorkshire,
+are often dug up birch-trees, that burn and flame like firr and
+candle-wood; and I think Pliny says the Gaules extracted a sort of
+bitumen out of birch: Great and small coal, are made by the charring of
+this wood; (see Book III Chap. 4. of fuel) as of the tops and loppings,
+Mr. Howard's new tanne. The inner white cuticle and silken-bark, (which
+strips off of it self almost yearly) was anciently us'd for
+writing-tables, even before the invention of paper; of which there is a
+birch-tree in Canada, whose bark will serve to write on, and may be made
+into books, and of the twigs very pretty baskets; with the outward
+thicker and courser part of the common birch, are divers houses in
+Russia, Poland, and those poor northern tracts cover'd, instead of
+slates and tyle: Nay, one who has lately publish'd an account of
+Sweden,{142:2} says, that the poor people grind the very bark of
+birch-trees, to mingle with their bread-corn. 'Tis affirm'd by Cardan,
+that some birch-roots are so very extravagantly vein'd, as to represent
+the shapes and images of beasts, birds, trees, and many other pretty
+resemblances. Lastly, of the whitest part of the old wood, found
+commonly in doating birches, is made the grounds of our effeminate
+farin'd gallants sweet powder; and of the quite consum'd and rotten
+(such as we find reduc'd to a kind of reddish earth in superannuated
+hollow-trees) is gotten the best mould for the raising of divers
+seedlings of the rarest plants and flowers; to say nothing here of the
+magisterial _fasces_ for which anciently the cudgels were us'd by the
+_lictor_, for lighter faults, as now the gentler rods by our tyrannical
+paedagogues.
+
+3. I should here add the uses of the water too, had I full permission to
+tamper with all the medicinal virtues of trees: But if the sovereign
+effects of the juice of this despicable tree supply its other defects
+(which make some judge it unworthy to be brought into the catalogue of
+woods to be propagated) I may perhaps for once, be permitted to play the
+empiric, and to gratifie our laborious wood-man with a draught of his
+own liquor; and the rather, because these kind of secrets are not yet
+sufficiently cultivated; and ingenious planters would by all means be
+encourag'd to make more trials of this nature, as the Indians and other
+nations have done on their palmes; and trees of several kinds, to their
+great emolument. The mystery is no more than this: About the beginning
+of March (when the buds begin to be proud and turgid, and before they
+explain into leaves) with a chizel and a mallet, cut a slit almost as
+deep as the very pith, under some bough or branch of a well-spreading
+birch; cut it oblique, and not long-ways (as a good chirurgion would
+make his orifice in a vein) inserting a small stone or chip, to keep the
+lips of the wound a little open. Sir Hugh Plat, (giving a general rule
+for the gathering of sap, and tapping of trees) would have it done
+within one foot of the ground, the first rind taken off, and then the
+white bark slit over-thwart, no farther than to the body of the tree:
+Moreover, that this wound be made only in that part of the bark which
+respects the south-west, or between those quarters; because (says he)
+little or no sap riseth from the northern, nor indeed when the east-wind
+blows. In this slit, by the help of your knife to open it, he directs
+that a leaf of the tree be inserted, first fitted to the dimensions of
+the slit, from which the sap will distil in manner of filtration: Take
+away the leaf, and the bark will close again, a little earth being
+clapped to the slit. Thus the Knight for any tree. But we have already
+shew'd how the birch is to be treated: Fasten therefore a bottle, or
+some such convenient vessel appendant; this does the effect as well as
+perforation or tapping: Out of this aperture will extil a limpid and
+clear water, retaining an obscure smack both of the tast and odor of the
+tree; and which (as I am credibly inform'd) will in the space of twelve
+or fourteen days, preponderate, and out-weigh the whole tree it self,
+body and roots; which if it be constant, and so happen likewise in other
+trees, is not only stupendous, but an experiment worthy the
+consideration of our profoundest philosophers: _An ex sola aqua fiunt
+arbores?_ whether water only be the principle of vegetables, and
+consequently of trees: I say, I am credibly inform'd; and therefore the
+late unhappy{144:1} angry-man might have spar'd his animadversion: For
+he that said but twenty gallons run, does he know how many more might
+have been gotten out of larger apertures, at the insertion of every
+branch, and foot in the principal roots during the whole season? But I
+conceive I have good authority for my assertion, out of the author cited
+in the margin, whose words are these: _Si mense Martio perforaveris
+betulam, &c. exstillabit aqua limpida, clara, & pura, obscurum arboris
+saporem & odorem referens, quae spatio 12 aut 14 dierum, praeponderabit
+arbori cum ramis & radicibus, &c._ His exceptions about the beginning of
+March are very insignificant; since I undertake not punctuality of time;
+and his own pretended experience shew'd him, that in hard weather it did
+not run till the expiration of the month, or beginning of April; and
+another time on the tenth of February; and usually he says, about the
+twenty-fourth day, &c. at such uncertainty: What immane difference then
+is there between the twenty-fourth of Feb. and commencement of March?
+Besides, these anomolous bleedings, (even of the same tree) happen early
+or later, according to the temper of the air and weather. In the mean
+time, evident it is, that we know of no tree which does more copiously
+attract, be it that so much celebrated spirit of the world, (as they
+call it) in form of water (as some) or a certain specifique liquor
+richly impregnated with this balsamical property: That there is such a
+_magnes_ in this simple tree, as does manifestly draw to it self some
+occult and wonderful virtue, is notorious; nor is it conceivable,
+indeed, the difference between the efficacy of that liquor which distils
+from the bole, or parts of the tree nearer to the root (where Sir Hugh
+would celebrate the incision) and that which weeps out from the more
+sublime branches, more impregnated with this astral vertue, as not so
+near the root, which seems to attract rather a cruder, and more common
+water, through fewer strainers, and neither so pure, and aerial as in
+those refined percolations, the nature of the places where these trees
+delight to grow (for the most part lofty, dry, and barren) consider'd.
+But I refer these disquisitions to the learned; especially, as mentioned
+by that incomparable philosopher, and my most noble friend, the
+Honourable Mr. Boyle, in his second part of the _Usefulness of Natural
+Philosophy_, Sect. 1. Essay 3_d._ where he speaks of the _manna del
+corpo_, or trunk-manna, as well as of that liquor from the bough; also
+of the _sura_ which the coco-trees afford; and that Polonian secret of
+the liquor of the walnut-tree root; with an encouragement of more
+frequent experiments to educe saccharine substances upon these
+occasions: But the book being publish'd so long since this _Discourse_
+was first printed, I take only here the liberty to refer the reader to
+one of the best entertainments in the world.
+
+But now before we expatiate farther concerning saps; it is by some
+controverted, whether this exhaustion would not be an extreme detriment
+to the growth, substance, and other parts of trees: As to the growth and
+bulk, if what I have observ'd of a birch, which has for very many years
+been perforated at the usual season, (besides the scars made in the
+bark) it still thrives, and is grown to a prodigious substance, the
+species consider'd. What it would effect in other trees (the vine
+excepted unseasonably launc'd) I know not: But this calls to mind, a
+tryal of Esq; Brotherton, (mentioning some excortications and incisions,
+by what he observ'd in pruning,) that most (if not all) of the sap
+ascends by the lignous part of trees, not the cortical; nor between the
+cortical and lignous: And that the increase of a tree's growth in
+thickness, is by the descent of the sap, and not by the ascent; so as if
+there were no descent, the tree would increase very little, if at all;
+for that there is a perpetual circulation of the sap, during the whole
+Summer; and whilst it is in this course, and not a descent at Michaelmas
+only, as some hold, but evaporated by the branches, during Summer and
+Autumn, and at Spring supplied with rains. He also thinks it probable,
+that the bodies of plants, as well as those of animals, are nourish'd
+and increas'd by a double _pabulum_ or food; as water and air both
+impregnated, mixing and coalescing by a mutual conversion.
+
+That all plants and animals seem to have a two-fold kind of roots, one
+spreading into the earth, the other shooting up into the air; which, as
+they receive and carry up their proper nutriments to the body of the
+plant and root, so they carry off the useless dregs and recrements, &c.
+But this curious note seeming fitter to have been plac'd in our chapter
+of Pruning, (upon which this learned gentleman has given us his
+experience) I beg pardon for this diverticle, and return to my subject.
+
+4. But whilst the second edition was under my hand, there came to me
+divers papers upon this subject, experimentally made by a worthy friend
+of mine, a learned and most industrious person, which I had here once
+resolv'd to have publish'd, according to the generous liberty granted me
+for so doing; but understanding he was still in pursuit of that useful,
+and curious secret, I chang'd my resolution into an earnest address,
+that he would communicate it to the world himself, together with those
+other excellent enquiries and observations, which he is adorning for the
+benefit of planters, and such as delight themselves in those innocent
+rusticities. I will only by way of corollary, hint some particulars for
+satisfaction of the curious; and especially that we may in some sort
+gratifie those earnest suggestions and queries of the late most
+obliging{148:1} publisher of the _Philosophical Transactions_, to whose
+indefatigable pains the learned world has been infinitely engag'd. In
+compliance therefore to his _Queries_, Monday, Octob. 19. 1668. numb.
+40. p. 797, 801, &c. these generals are submitted: That in such trials
+as my friend essay'd, he has not yet encountred with any sap but what is
+very clear and sweet; especially that of the sycomor, which has a
+dulcoration as if mixed with sugar, and that it runs one of the
+earliest: That the maple distill'd when quite rescinded from the body,
+and even whilst he yet held it in his hand: That the sycomor ran at the
+root, which some days before yielded no sap from his branches; the
+experiment made at the end of March: But the accurate knowledge of the
+nature of sap, and its periodic motions and properties in several trees,
+should be observed by some at entire leisure to attend it daily, and
+almost continually, and will require more than any one person's industry
+can afford: For it must be enquir'd concerning every tree, its age,
+soil, situation, &c. the variety of its ascending sap depending on it;
+and then of its sap ascending in the branches and roots; descending in
+cut branches; ascending from root, and not from branches; the seasons
+and difference of time in which those accidents happen, &c. He likewise
+thinks the best expedient to procure store of liquor, is, to cut the
+trees almost quite through all the circles, on both sides the pith,
+leaving only the outmost circle, and the barks on the north, or
+north-east side unpierced; and this hole, the larger it is bored, the
+more plentifully 'twill distill; which if it be under, and through a
+large arm, near the ground, it is effected with greatest advantage, and
+will need neither stone, nor chip to keep it open, nor spigot to direct
+it to the recipient. Thus it will, in a short time, afford liquor
+sufficient to brew with; and in some of these sweet saps, one bushel of
+mault will afford as good ale, as four in ordinary waters, even in March
+it self; in others, as good as two bushels; for this, preferring the
+sycomor before any other: But to preserve it in best condition for
+brewing, till you are stored with a sufficient quantity, it is advis'd,
+that what first runs, be insolated and placed in the sun, till the
+remainder be prepar'd, to prevent its growing sour: But it may also be
+fermented alone, by such as have the secret: To the curious these essays
+are recommended: That it be immediately stopp'd up in the bottles in
+which it is gathered, the corks well wax'd, and expos'd to the sun, till
+(as was said) sufficient quantity be run; then let so much rye-bread
+(toasted very dry, but not burnt) be put into it, as will serve to set
+it a working; and when it begins to ferment, take it out, and bottle it
+immediately. If you add a few cloves, &c. to steep in it, 'twill
+certainly keep the year about: 'Tis a wonder how speedily it extracts
+the tast and tincture of the spice. Mr. Boyle proposes a sulphurous fume
+to the bottles: Spirit of wine may haply not only preserve, but advance
+the virtues of saps; and infusions of rasins are obvious, and without
+decoction best, which does but spend the more delicate parts. Note,
+that the sap of the birch, will make excellent mead.
+
+5. To these observations, that of the weight and virtue of the several
+juices, would be both useful and curious: As whether that which proceeds
+from the bark, or between that and the wood be of the same nature with
+that which is suposed to spring from the pores of the woody circles? and
+whether it rise in like quantity, upon comparing the incisures? All
+which may be try'd, first attempting through the bark, and saving that
+apart, and then perforating into the wood, to the thickness of the bark,
+or more; with a like separation of what distills. The period also of its
+current would be calculated; as how much proceeds from the bark in one
+hour, how much from the wood or body of the tree, and thus every hour,
+with still a deeper incision, with a good large augre, till the tree be
+quite perforated: Then by making a second hole within the first, fitted
+with a lesser pipe, the interior heart-sap may be drawn apart, and
+examin'd by weight, quantity, colour, distillation, &c. and if no
+difference perceptible be detected the presumption will be greater, that
+the difference of heart and sap in timber, is not from the saps plenty
+or penury, but the season; and then possibly, the very season of
+squaring, as well as felling of timber, may be considerable to the
+preservation of it.
+
+6. The notice likewise of the saps rising more plentifully, and
+constantly in the sun, than shade; more in the day than night, more in
+the roots than branch, more southward, and when that, and the west-wind
+blows, than northward, &c. may yield many useful observations: As for
+planting, to set thicker, or thinner (_si coetera sint paria_) namely,
+the nature of the tree, soil, &c. and not to shade overmuch the roots
+of those stems we desire should mount, &c. That in transplanting trees
+we turn the best and largest roots towards the south, and consequently
+the most ample and spreading part of the head correspondent to the
+roots: For if there be a strong root on that quarter, and but a feeble
+attraction in the branches, this may not always counterpoise the weak
+roots on the north-side, damnified by the too puissant attraction of
+over large branches: This may also suggest a cause why trees flourish
+more on the south-side, and have their integument and coats thicker on
+those aspects annually, with divers other useful speculations, if in the
+mean time, they seem not rather to be _puntillos_ over nice for a plain
+forester. Let the curious further consult _Philos. Transactions_, numb.
+43, 44, 46, 48, 57, 58, 68, 70, 71. for farther instances and tryals,
+upon this subject of sap. And that excellent treatise of Hen. Meibomius.
+_De Cervisiis Potibusque; & Ebriaminibus extra Vinum_, annext to
+_Turnebus de Vino_, &c. Where he shews how, and by whom, (after the
+first use of water and milk) were introduc'd the drinks made from
+vegetables, vines, corn, and other fruits and juices tapp'd out of
+trees, &c.
+
+7. To shew our reader yet, that these are no novel experiments, we are
+to know, that a large tract of the world, almost altogether subsists on
+these treen liquors; especially that of the date, which being grown to
+about seven or eight foot in height, they wound, as we have taught, for
+the sap, which they call toddy, a very famous drink in the East-Indies.
+This tree increasing every year about a foot, near the opposite part of
+the first incisure, they pierce again, changing the receiver; and so
+still by opposite wounds and notches, they yearly draw forth the
+liquor, till it arrive to near thirty foot upward, and of these they
+have ample groves and plantations which they set at seven or eight foot
+distance: But then they use to percolate what they extract, through a
+stratum made of the rind of the tree, well contus'd and beaten, before
+which preparation, it is not safe to drink it; and 'tis observed that
+some trees afford a much more generous wine than others of the same
+kind. In the coco and palmeto trees, they chop a bough, as we do the
+_betula_; but in the date, make the incision with a chisel in the body
+very neatly, in which they stick a leaf of the tree, as a _lingula_ to
+direct it into the appendant vessel, which the subjoin'd figure
+represents, and illustrates with its improvement to our former
+discourse.
+
+Note, if there be no fitting arms, the hole thus obliquely perforated,
+and a faucet or pipe made of a swan's or goose's quill inserted, will
+lead the sap into the recipient; and this is a very neat way, and as
+effectual: I would also have it try'd, whether the very top twigs,
+grasped in the hand together, a little cropt with a knife, and put into
+the mouth of a bottle, would not instil, if not as much, yet a more
+refined liquor, as some pretend.
+
+8. The liquor of the birch is esteemed to have all the virtues of the
+spirit of salt, without the danger of its acrimony; most powerful for
+the dissolving of the stone in the bladder, bloody water and strangury:
+Helmont shews how to make a beer of the water; but the wine is a most
+rich cordial, curing (as I am told) consumptions, and such interior
+diseases as accompany the stone in the bladder or reins{152:1}: The
+juice decocted with honey and wine, Dr. Needham affirms he has often
+cur'd the scorbut with. This wine, exquisitely made, is so strong, that
+the common sort of stone-bottles cannot preserve the spirits, so subtile
+they are and volatile; and yet it is gentle, and very harmless in
+operation within the body, and exceedingly sharpens the appetite, being
+drunk _ante pastum_: I will present you a receipt, as it was sent me by
+a fair lady, and have often, and still use it.
+
+{Illustration: (a. b.) The _Body_ of the _Tree_ (g.) boar'd at that part
+of the _Arm_ (f.) join'd to the _Stem_, with an Augre of an _Inch_ or
+more _diameter_, according to the bigness of the _Tree_. (c.) A part of
+the _Bark_, or if you will, a _Faucet_ of _Quill_ bent down into the
+Mouth of the _Bottle_ (e.) to conduct the _Liqour_ into it. (d.) The
+_String_ about the _Arm_ (f.) by which the _Bottle_ hangs.}
+
+9. To every gallon of birch-water put a quart of honey, well stirr'd
+together; then boil it almost an hour with a few cloves, and a little
+limon-peel, keeping it well scumm'd: When it is sufficiently boil'd, and
+become cold, add to it three or four spoonfuls of good ale to make it
+work (which it will do like new ale) and when the yest begins to settle,
+bottle it up as you do other winy liquors. It will in a competent time
+become a most brisk and spiritous drink, which (besides the former
+virtues) is a very powerful opener, and doing wonders for cure of the
+phthysick: This wine may (if you please) be made as successfully with
+sugar, instead of honey 1 _lb._ to each gallon of water; or you may
+dulcifie it with raisins, and compose a raisin-wine of it. I know not
+whether the quantity of the sweet ingredients might not be somewhat
+reduc'd, and the operation improv'd: But I give it as receiv'd. The
+author of the _Vinetum Brit._ boils it but to a quarter or half an hour,
+then setting it a cooling, adds a very little yest to ferment and purge
+it; and so barrels it with a small proportion of cinamon and mace
+bruis'd, about half an ounce of both to ten gallons, close stopp'd, and
+to be bottled a month after. Care must be taken to set the bottles in a
+very cool place, to preserve them from flying; and the wine is rather
+for present drinking, than of long duration, unless the refrigeratorie
+be extraordinarily cold. The very smell of the first springing leaves of
+this tree, wonderfully recreates and exhilerates the spirits.
+
+10. But besides these, beech, alder, ash, sycomor, elder, &c. would be
+attempted for liquors: Thus crabs, and even our very brambles may
+possibly yield us medical and useful wines. The poplar was heretofore
+esteem'd more physical than the _betula_. The sap of the oak, juice, or
+decoction of the inner bark, cures the fashions, or farcy, a virulent
+and dangerous infirmity in horses, and which (like cancers) were reputed
+incurable by any other topic, than some actual, or potential cautery:
+But, what is more noble, a dear friend of mine assur'd me, that a
+countrey neighbour of his (at least fourscore years of age) who had lain
+sick of a bloody strangury (which by cruel torments reduc'd him to the
+very article of death) was, under God, recover'd to perfect, and almost
+miraculous health and strength (so as to be able to fall stoutly to his
+labour) by one sole draught of beer, wherein was the decoction of the
+internal bark of the oak-tree; and I have seen a composition of an
+admirable sudorific, and diuretic for all affections of the liver, out
+of the like of the elm, which might yet be drunk daily, as our coffee
+is, and with no less delight: But quacking is not my trade; I speak only
+here as a plain husband-man, and a simple forester, out of the limits
+whereof, I hope I have not unpardonably transgressed: Pan was a
+physician, and he (you know) was president of the woods. But I proceed
+to the alder.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{142:1}
+
+    Primum cana salix madefacto vimine, parvam
+    Texitur in puppim, caesoque induta juvenco,
+    Vectoris patiens, tumidum super emicat amnem.
+    Sic Venetus stagnante Pado, fusoque Britannus
+    Navigat oceano.......
+
+{142:2} See _Philos. Transact._ Vol. 9. num. 105. p. 93.
+
+{144:1} Dr. Stubb. See the tractate intitled, _Aditus novus ad occultas
+sympathiae & antipathiae causas inveniendas, per principia philosophiae
+naturalis, & fermentorum artificiosa anatomia hausta, patefactas_, a
+Silvestro Rattray, M.D. Glasquensi, 1658. p. 55.
+
+{148:1} Mr. Oldenburg.
+
+{152:1} _De Lithiasi_, c. 8. n. 24, 25, &c.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+_Of the Alder._
+
+
+1. _Alnus_, the alder, (both _conifera_ and _juelifera_) is of all other
+the most faithful lover of watery and boggy places, and those most
+despis'd weeping parts, or water-galls of forests; .............
+_crassisque paludibus alni_; for in better and dryer ground they attract
+the moisture from it, and injure it. They are propagated of trunchions,
+and will come of seeds (for so they raise them in Flanders, and make
+wonderful profit of the plantations) like the poplar; or of roots,
+(which I prefer) the trunchions being set as big as the small of ones
+leg, and in length about two foot; whereof one would be plunged in the
+mud. This profound fixing of aquatick-trees being to preserve them
+steddy, and from the concussions of the winds, and violence of waters,
+in their liquid and slippery foundations. They may be placed at four or
+five foot distance, and when they have struck root, you may cut them,
+which will cause them to spring in clumps, and to shoot out into many
+useful poles. But if you plant smaller sets, cut them not till they are
+arriv'd to some competent bigness, and that in a proper season: Which
+is, for all the aquaticks and soft woods, not till Winter be well
+advanc'd, in regard of their pithy substance. Therefore, such as you
+shall have occasion to make use of before that period, ought to be well
+grown, and fell'd with the earliest, and in the first quarter of the
+increasing moon, that so the successive shoot receive no prejudice:
+Some, before they fell, disbark their alders, and other trees; of which
+see Cap. III. Book III. But there is yet another way of planting alders
+after the Jersey manner, and as I receiv'd it from a most ingenious
+gentleman of that country, which is, by taking trunchions of two or
+three foot long, at the beginning of Winter, and to bind them in
+faggots, and place the ends of them in water 'till towards the Spring,
+by which season they will have contracted a swelling spire, or knurr
+about that part, which being set, does (like the gennet-moil apple-tree)
+never fail of growing and striking root. There is a black sort more
+affected to woods, and drier grounds; and bears a black berry, not so
+frequently found; yet growing somewhere about Hampsted, as the learned
+Dr. Tan. Robinson observes.
+
+2. There are a sort of husbands who take excessive pains in stubbing up
+their alders, where-ever they meet them in the boggie places of their
+grounds, with the same indignation as one would extirpate the most
+pernicious of weeds; and when they have finished, know not how to
+convert their best lands to more profit than this (seeming despicable)
+plant might lead them to, were it rightly understood. Besides, the
+shadow of this tree, does feed and nourish the very grass which grows
+under it; and being set, and well plashed, is an excellent defence to
+the banks of rivers; so as I wonder it is not more practis'd about the
+Thames, to fortifie, and prevent the mouldring of the walls, and the
+violent weather they are exposed to.
+
+3. You may cut aquatic-trees every third or fourth year, and some more
+frequently, as I shall shew you hereafter. They should also be abated
+within half a foot of the principal head, to prevent the perishing of
+the main stock; and besides, to accelerate their sprouting. In setting
+the trunchions, it were not amiss to prepare them a little after they
+are fitted to the size, by laying them a while in water; this is also
+practicable in willows, &c.
+
+4. Of old they made boats of the greater parts of this tree, and
+excepting Noah's ark, the first vessels we read of, were made of this
+material.
+
+    When hollow alders first the waters try'd,{157:1}
+
+    And down the rapid Poe light alders glide.{157:2}
+
+And as then, so now, are over-grown alders frequently sought after, for
+such buildings as lie continually under water, where it will harden like
+a very stone; whereas being kept in any unconstant temper, it rots
+immediately, because its natural humidity is of so near affinity with
+its adventitious, as Scaliger assigns the cause. Vitruvius tells us,
+that the morasses about Ravenna in Italy, were pil'd with this timber,
+to superstruct upon, and highly commends it. I find also they us'd it
+under that famous Bridge at Venice, the _Rialto_, which passes over the
+_Gran-Canal_, bearing a vast weight. Jos. Bauhimus pretends, that in
+tract of time, it turns to stone; which perhaps it may seem to be (as
+well as other aquatick) where it meets with some lapidescant quality in
+the earth and water.
+
+5. The poles of alder are as useful as those of willows; but the coals
+far exceed them, especially for gun-powder: The wood is likewise useful
+for piles, pumps, hop-poles, water-pipes, troughs, sluces, small trays,
+and trenchers, wooden-heels; the bark is precious to dyers, and some
+tanners, and leather-dressers make use of it; and with it, and the
+fruits (instead of galls) they compose an ink. The fresh leaves alone
+applied to the naked soal of the foot, infinitely refresh the surbated
+traveller. The bark macerated in water, with a little rust of iron,
+makes a black dye, which may also be us'd for ink: The interior rind of
+the black alder purges all hydropic, and serous humours; but it must be
+dry'd in the shade, and not us'd green, and the decoction suffer'd to
+settle two or three days, before it be drunk.
+
+Being beaten with vinegar, it heals the itch certainly: As to other uses
+the swelling bunches, which are now and then found in the old trees,
+afford the inlayer pieces curiously chambletted, and very hard, _&c._
+but the faggots better for the fire, than for the draining of grounds by
+placing them (as the guise is) in the trenches; which old rubbish of
+flints, stones, and the like gross materials, does infinitely exceed,
+because it is for ever, preserves the drains hollow, and being a little
+moulded over, will produce good grass, without any detriment to the
+ground; but this is a secret, not yet well understood, and would merit
+an express paragraph, were it here seasonable,
+
+    ....._& jam nos inter opacas
+    Musa vocat salices_.......
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{157:1}
+
+    Tunc alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas.
+
+    _Georg. 1._
+
+{157:2}
+
+    Nec non & torrentem undam levis innatat alnus
+    Missa Pado ............
+
+    2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+_Of the Withy, Sallow, Ozier, and Willow._
+
+
+1. _Salix_: Since Cato has attributed the third place to the _salictum_,
+preferring it even next to the very ortyard; and (what one would wonder
+at) before even the olive, meadow, or corn-field it self (for _salictum
+tertio loco, nempe post vineam, &c._) and that we find it so easily
+rais'd, of so great, and universal use, I have thought good to be the
+more particular in my discourse upon it; especially, since so much of
+that which I shall publish concerning them, is derived from the long
+experience of a most learned and ingenious person, from whom I
+acknowledge to have received many of these hints. Not to perplex the
+reader with the various names, Greek, Gallic, Sabin, Amerine, Vitex, &c.
+better distinguish'd by their growth and bark; and by Latin authors all
+comprehended under that of _salices_; our English books reckon them
+promiscuously thus; the common-white willow, the black, and the
+hard-black, the rose of Cambridge, the black-withy, the round-long
+sallow; the longest sallow, the crack-willow, the round-ear'd shining
+willow, the lesser broad-leav'd willow, silver sallow, upright
+broad-willow, repent broad-leav'd, the red-stone, the lesser willow, the
+strait-dwarf, the long-leav'd yellow sallow, the creeper, the black-low
+willow, the willow-bay, and the ozier. I begin with the withy.
+
+2. The withy is a reasonable large tree, (for some have been found ten
+foot about) is fit to be planted on high banks, and ditch-sides within
+reach of water and the weeping sides of hills; because they extend their
+roots deeper than either sallows or willows. For this reason you shall
+plant them at ten, or twenty foot distance; and though they grow the
+slowest of all the twiggie trees, yet do they recompence it with the
+larger crop; the wood being tough, and the twigs fit to bind strongly;
+the very peelings of the branches being useful to bind arbor-poling, and
+in topiary-works, vine-yards, espalier-fruit, and the like: And we are
+told of some that grow twisted into ropes of 120 paces, serving instead
+of cables. There are two principal sorts of these withies, the hoary,
+and the red-withy, (which is the Greek) toughest, and fittest to bind,
+whilst the twigs are flexible and tender.
+
+3. Sallows grow much faster, if they are planted within reach of water,
+or in a very moorish ground, or flat plain; and where the soil is (by
+reason of extraordinary moisture) unfit for arable, or meadow; for in
+these cases, it is an extraordinary improvement: In a word, where birch
+and alder will thrive. Before you plant them, it is found best to turn
+the ground with a spade; especially, if you design them for a flat. We
+have three sorts of sallows amongst us, (which is one more than the
+ancients challeng'd, who name only the black and white, which was their
+_nitellina_) the vulgar round leav'd, which proves best in dryer banks,
+and the hopping-sallows, which require a moister soil, growing with
+incredible celerity: And a third kind, of a different colour from the
+other two, having the twigs reddish, the leaf not so long, and of a more
+dusky green; more brittle whilst it is growing in twigs, and more tough
+when arriv'd to a competent size: All of them useful for the thatcher.
+
+4. Of these, the hopping-sallows are in greatest esteem, being of a
+clearer terse grain, and requiring a more succulent soil; best planted a
+foot deep, and a foot and half above ground (though some will allow but
+a foot) for then every branch will prove excellent for future setlings.
+After three years growth (being cropped the second and third) the first
+years increase will be 'twixt eight and twelve foot long generally; the
+third years growth, strong enough to make rakes and pike-staves; and the
+fourth for Mr. Blithe's trenching plow, and other like utensils of the
+husbandman.
+
+5. If ye plant them at full height (as some do at four years growth,
+setting them five or six foot length, to avoid the biting of cattel)
+they will be less useful for streight staves, and for setlings, and make
+less speed in their growth; yet this also is a considerable improvement.
+
+6. These would require to be planted at least five foot distance, (some
+set them as much more) and in the _quincunx_ order: If they affect the
+soil, the leaf will come large, half as broad as a man's hand, and of a
+more vivid green, always larger the first year, than afterwards: Some
+plant them sloping, and cross-wise like a hedge, but this impedes their
+wonderful growth; and (though Pliny seems to commend it, teaching us how
+to excorticate some places of each set, for the sooner production of
+shoots) it is but a deceitful fence, neither fit to keep out swine nor
+sheep; and being set too near, inclining to one another, they soon
+destroy each other.
+
+7. The worst sallows may be planted so near yet, as to be instead of
+stakes in a hedge, and then their tops will supply their dwarfishness;
+and to prevent hedge-breakers, many do thus plant them; because they
+cannot easily be pull'd up, after once they have struck root.
+
+8. If some be permitted to wear their tops five or six years, their
+palms will be very ample, and yield the first and most plentiful relief
+to bees, even before our abricots blossom. The hopping-sallows open, and
+yield their palms before other sallows, and when they are blown (which
+is about the _exit_ of May, or sometimes June) the palms (or
++olesikarpoi+ _frugiperdae_, as Homer terms them for their extream
+levity) are four inches long, and full of a fine lanuginous cotton. Of
+this sort, there is a _salix_ near Dorking in Surrey, in which the
+_julus_ bears a thick cottonous substance. A poor body might in an
+hour's space, gather a pound or two of it, which resembling the finest
+silk, might doubtless be converted to some profitable use, by an
+ingenious house-wife, if gather'd in calm evenings, before the wind,
+rain and dew impair them; I am of opinion, if it were dry'd with care,
+it might be fit for cushions, and pillows of chastity, for such of old
+was the reputation of the shade of those trees.
+
+9. Of these hopping sallows, after three years rooting, each plant will
+yield about a score of staves, of full eight foot in length, and so
+following, for use, as we noted above: Compute then how many fair
+pike-staves, perches, and other useful materials, that will amount to in
+an acre, if planted at five foot interval: But a fat and moist soil,
+requires indeed more space, than a lean or dryer; namely, six or eight
+foot distance.
+
+10. You may plant setlings of the very first years growth; but the
+second year they are better, and the third year, better than the second;
+and the fourth, as good as the third; especially, if they approach the
+water. A bank at a foot distance from the water, is kinder for them
+than a bog, or to be altogether immers'd in the water.
+
+11. 'Tis good to new-mould them about the roots every second, or third
+year; but men seldom take the pains. It seems that sallows are more
+hardy, than even willows and oziers, of which Columella takes as much
+care as of vines themselves. But 'tis cheaper to supply the vacuity of
+such accidental decays, by a new plantation, than to be at the charge of
+digging about them three times a year, as that author advises; seeing
+some of them will decay, whatever care be used.
+
+12. Sallows may also be propagated like vines, by courbing, and bowing
+them in arches, and covering some of their parts with mould, &c. Also by
+cuttings and layers, and some years by the seeds likewise.
+
+13. For setlings, those are to be preferr'd which grow nearest to the
+stock, and so (consequently) those worst, which most approach the top.
+They should be planted in the first fair and pleasant weather in
+February, before they begin to bud; we about London begin at the latter
+end of December. They may be cut in Spring for fuel, but best in Autumn
+for use; but in this work (as of poplar) leave a twig or two; which
+being twisted archwise, will produce plentiful sprouts, and suddenly
+furnish a head.
+
+14. If in our copp'ces one in four were a sallow set, amongst the rest
+of varieties, the profit would recompence the care; therefore where in
+woods you grub up trees, thrust in trunchions of sallows, or some
+aquatic kind. In a word, an acre or two furnish'd with this tree, would
+prove of great benefit to the planter.
+
+15. The swift growing sallow is not so tough and hardy for some uses as
+the slower, which makes stocks for gard'ners spades; but the other are
+proper for rakes, pikes, mops, &c. Sallow-coal is the soonest consum'd;
+but of all others, the most easie and accommodate for painters
+scribbets, to design their work, and first sketches on paper with, &c.
+as being fine, and apt to slit into pencils.
+
+16. To conclude, there is a way of graffing a sallow-trunchion; take it
+of two foot and half long, as big as your wrist; graff at both ends a
+fig, and mulberry-cyon of a foot long, and so, without claying, set the
+stock so far into the ground, as the plant may be three or four inches
+above the earth: This (some affirm) will thrive exceedingly the first
+year, and in three, be fit to transplant. The season for this curiosity
+is February. Of the sallow (as of the lime-tree) is made the
+shooe-maker's carving or cutting-board, as best to preserve the edge of
+their knives, for its equal softness every way.
+
+17. Oziers, or the aquatick and lesser _salix_, are of innumerable
+kinds, commonly distinguish'd from sallows, as sallows are from withies;
+being so much smaller than the sallow, and shorter liv'd, and requiring
+more constant moisture, yet would be planted in rather a dryish ground,
+than over moist and spewing, which we frequently cut trenches to avert.
+It likewise yields more limber and flexible twigs for baskets, flaskets,
+hampers, cages, lattices, cradles, the bodies of coaches and wagons, for
+which 'tis of excellent use, light, durable, and neat, as it may be
+wrought and cover'd: for chairs, hurdles, stays, bands, the stronger for
+being contus'd and wreathed, &c. likewise for fish wairs, and to support
+the banks of impetuous rivers: In fine, for all wicker and twiggy works:
+
+    _Viminibus salices_.............
+
+18. But these sort of oziers would be cut in the new shoot: For if they
+stand longer, they become more inflexible; cut them close to the head (a
+foot, or so above earth) about the beginning of October; unless you will
+attend till the cold be past, which is better; and yet we about London,
+cut them in the most piercing seasons, and plant them also till
+Candlemas, which those who do not observe, we judge ill husbands, as I
+learn from a very experienc'd basket-maker; and in the decrease, for the
+benefit of the workman, though not altogether for that of the stock, and
+succeeding shoot: When they are cut, make them up into bundles, and give
+them shelter; but such as are for white-work (as they call it) being
+thus faggotted, and made up in bolts, as the term is, severing each sort
+by themselves, should be set in water, the ends dipped; and indeed all
+peel'd wares of the viminious kind, are not otherwise preserved from the
+worm; but for black and unpeel'd, shelter'd under covert only, or in
+some vault or cellar, to keep them fresh, sprinkling them now and then
+in excessive hot weather: The peelings of the former, are for the use of
+the gard'ner and cooper, or rather the splicings.
+
+19. We have in England these three vulgar sorts; one of little worth,
+being brittle, and very much resembling the fore-mentioned sallow, with
+reddish twigs, and more greenish and rounder leaves: Another kind there
+is, call'd perch, of limber and green twigs having a very slender leaf;
+the third sort is totally like the second, only the twigs are not
+altogether so green, but yellowish, and near the popinjay: This is the
+very best for use, tough and hardy. But the most usual names by which
+basket-makers call them about London, and which are all of different
+species (therefore to be planted separately) are, the hard-gelster, the
+horse-gelster, whyning or shrivell'd-gelster, the black-gelster, in
+which Suffolk abounds. Then follow the golstones, the hard and the soft
+golstone, (brittle, and worst of all the golstones) the sharp and
+slender top'd yellow-golstone; the fine-golstone: Then is there the
+yellow ozier, the green ozier, the snake, or speckled ozier,
+swallow-tayl, and the Spaniard: To these we may add (amongst the number
+of oziers, for they are both govern'd and us'd alike) the
+Flanders-willow, which will arrive to be a large tree, as big as one's
+middle, the oftner cut, the better: With these our coopers, tie their
+hoops to keep them bent. Lastly, the white-sallow; which being of a year
+or two growth, is us'd for green-work; and if of the toughest sort, to
+make quarter-can-hoops, of which our seamen provide great quantities,
+&c.
+
+20. These choicer sorts of oziers, which are ever the smallest, also the
+golden-yellow, and white, which is preferr'd for propagation, and to
+breed of, should be planted of slips of two or three years growth, a
+foot deep, and half a yard length, in moorish grounds, or banks, or else
+in furrows; so that (as some direct) the roots may frequently reach the
+water; for _fluminibus salices_.......... though we commonly find it
+rots them, and therefore never chuse to set them so deep as to scent it,
+and at three or four foot distance.
+
+21. The season for planting is January, and all February, though some
+not till Mid-February, at two foot square; but cattle being excessively
+liquorish of their leaves and tender buds, some talk of a graffing them
+out of reach upon sallows, and by this, to advance their sprouting; but
+as the work would consume time, so have I never seen it succeed.
+
+22. Some do also plant oziers in their eights, like quick-sets, thick,
+and (near the water) keep them not more than half a foot above ground;
+but then they must be diligently cleansed from moss, slab, and ouze, and
+frequently prun'd (especially the smaller spires) to form single shoots;
+at least, that few, or none grow double; these they head every second
+year about September, the autumnal cuttings being best for use: But
+generally
+
+23. You may cut withies, sallows and willows, at any mild and gentle
+season, between leaf and leaf, even in Winter; but the most congruous
+time both to plant and to cut them, is _crescente luna vere, circa
+calendas Martias_; that is, about the new moon, and first open weather
+of the early Spring.
+
+24. It is in France, upon the Loire, where these eights (as we term
+them) and plantations of oziers and withies are perfectly understood;
+and both there, and in divers other countries beyond seas, they raise
+them of seeds contain'd in their _juli_, or catkins, which they sow in
+furrows, or shallow trenches, and it springs up like corn in the blade,
+and comes to be so tender and delicate, that they frequently mow them
+with a scyth: This we have attempted in England too, even in the place
+where I live, but the obstinate and unmerciful weed did so confound
+them, that it was impossible to keep them clean with any ordinary
+industry, and so they were given over: It seems either weeds grow not so
+fast in other countries, or that the people (which I rather think) are
+more patient and laborious.
+
+Note, that these _juli_, are not all of them seed-bearers, some are
+sterile, and whatever you raise of them, will never come to bear; and
+therefore by some they are called the male sort, as Mr. Ray (that
+learned botanist) has observed. The ozier is of that emolument, that in
+some places I have heard twenty pounds has been given for one acre; ten
+is in this part an usual price; and doubtless, it is far preferable to
+the best corn-land; not only for that it needs but once planting, but
+because it yields a constant crop and revenue to the world's end; and is
+therefore in esteem of knowing persons, valu'd in purchase accordingly;
+consider'd likewise how easily 'tis renew'd when a plant now and then
+fails, by but pricking in a twig of the next at hand, when you visit to
+cut them: We have in the parish near Greenwich, where I lately dwelt,
+improv'd land from less than one pound, to near ten pounds the acre: And
+when we shall reflect upon the infinite quantities of them we yearly
+bring out of France and Flanders, to supply the extraordinary expence of
+basket-work, &c. for the fruiterers, lime-burners, gardeners, coopers,
+packers-up of all sorts of ware, and for general carriage, which seldom
+last above a journey or two, I greatly admire gentlemen do no more think
+of employing their moist grounds (especially, where tides near fresh
+rivers are reciprocal) in planting and propagating oziers. To omit
+nothing of the culture of this useful ozier, Pliny would have the place
+to be prepared by trenching it a foot and half deep, and in that, to fix
+the sets, or cuttings of the same length at six foot interval. These (if
+the sets be large) will come immediately to be trees; which after the
+first three years, are to be abated within two foot of the ground. Then
+in April he advises to dig about them: Some raise them abundantly, by
+laying poles of them in a boggy earth only: Of these they formerly made
+vine-props, _juga_, as Pliny calls them, for archwise bending and
+yoaking, as it were, the branches to one another; and one acre hath been
+known to yield props sufficient to serve a vine-yard of 25 acres.
+
+25. John Tradescant brought a small ozier from S. Omers in Flanders,
+which makes incomparable net-works, not much inferior to the Indian
+twig, or bent-works which we have seen; but if we had them in greater
+abundance, we should haply want the artificers who could employ them,
+and the dexterity to vernish so neatly.
+
+26. Our common _salix_, or willow, is of two kinds, the white and the
+black: The white is also of two sorts, the one of a yellowish, the other
+of a browner bark: The black willow is planted of stakes, of three years
+growth, taken from the head of an old tree, before it begins to sprout:
+Set them of six foot high, and ten distant; as directed for the poplar.
+Those woody sorts of willow, delight in meads and ditch-sides, rather
+dry, than over-wet (for they love not to wet their feet, and last the
+longer) yet the black sort, and the reddish, do sometimes well in more
+boggy grounds, and would be planted of stakes as big as one's leg, cut
+as the other, at the length of five or six foot or more into the earth;
+the hole made with an oaken-stake and beetle, or with an iron crow (some
+use a long auger) so as not to be forced in with too great violence: But
+first, the trunchions should be a little stop'd at both extreams, and
+the biggest planted downwards: To this, if they are soaked in water two
+or three days (after they have been siz'd for length, and the twigs cut
+off ere you plant them) it will be the better. Let this be done in
+February, the mould as well clos'd to them as possible, and treated as
+was taught in the poplar. If you plant for a kind of wood, or copp'ce
+(for such I have seen) set them at six foot distance, or nearer, in the
+_quincunx_, and be careful to take away all suckers from them at three
+years end: You may abate the head half a foot from the trunk, _viz._
+three or four of the lustiest shoots, and the rest cut close, and bare
+them yearly, that the three, four or more you left, may enjoy all the
+sap, and so those which were spared, will be gallant pearches within two
+years. Arms of four years growth, will yield substantial sets, to be
+planted at eight or ten foot distance; and for the first three years
+well defended from the cattle, who infinitely delight in their leaves,
+green, or wither'd. Thus, a willow may continue twenty, or five and
+twenty years, with good profit to the industrious planter, being headed
+every four or five years; some have been known to shoot no less than
+twelve foot in one year, after which, the old, rotten dotards may be
+fell'd, and easily supply'd. But if you have ground fit for whole
+copp'ces of this wood, cast it into double dikes, making every foss near
+three foot wide, two and half in depth; then leaving four foot at least
+of ground for the earth (because in such plantations the moisture should
+be below the roots, that they may rather see, than feel the water) and
+two tables of sets on each side, plant the ridges of these banks with
+but one single table, longer and bigger than the collateral, _viz._
+three, four, five or six foot high, and distant from each other, about
+two yards. These banks being carefully kept weeded for the first two
+years, till the plants have vanquish'd the grass, and not cut till the
+third; you may then lop them traverse, and not obliquely, at one foot
+from the ground, or somewhat more, and they will head to admiration; but
+such which are cut at three foot height, are most durable, as least soft
+and aquatick: They may also be graffed 'twixt the bark, or budded; and
+then they become so beautiful, as to be fit for some kind of delightful
+walks; and this I wish were practis'd among such as are seated in low
+and marshy places, not so friendly to other trees. Every acre at eleven
+or twelve years growth, may yield you near a hundred load of wood: Cut
+them in the Spring for dressing, but in the Fall for timber and fuel: I
+have been inform'd, that a gentleman in Essex, has lopp'd no less than
+2000 yearly, all of his own planting. It is far the sweetest of all our
+English fuel, (ash not excepted) provided it be sound and dry, and
+emitting little smoak, is the fittest for ladies chambers; and all those
+woods and twigs would be cut either to plant, work with, or burn in the
+dryest time of the day.
+
+To confirm what we have advanc'd in relation to the profit which may be
+made by this husbandry, see what comes to me from a worthy person whom
+we shall have occasion to mention, with great respect, in the next
+chapter, when we speak of quicksets.
+
+The considerable improvement which may be made in common fields, as well
+as inclosed grounds, he demonstrates by a little spot of meadow, of
+about a rod and half; part of which being planted about 50 years since
+with willows (in a clump not exceeding four pole in length, on one side
+about 12) several of them at the first and second lopping, being left
+with a strait top, run up like elms, to 30 or 40 foot in height; which
+some years since yielded boards of 14 or 15 inches broad as good for
+flooring, and other purposes within doors, as deals, last as long, work
+finer, white and beautiful: 'tis indeed a good while since they were
+planted, but it seems the crop answer'd this patience, when he cut up as
+many of them (the year 1700) as were well worth 10l. And since that
+another tree, for which a joyner offer'd him as much for those were
+left, which was more by half than the whole ground it self was worth; so
+as having made 20l. of the spot, he still possesses it without much
+damage to the grass. The method of planting was first by making holes
+with an iron crow, and widening them with a stake of wood, fit to
+receive a lusty plant, and sometimes boaring the ground with an auger;
+but neither of these succeeding, (by reason the earth could not be
+ramm'd so close to the sides and bottom of the sets, as was requisite to
+keep them steady, and seclude the air, which would corrupt and kill the
+roots) he caus'd holes, or little pits of a foot square and depth to be
+dug, and then making a hole with the crow in the bottom of the pits, to
+receive the set, and breaking the turf which came out of it, ramm'd it
+in with the mould close to the sets (as they would do to fix a
+gate-post) with great care not to gall the bark of it. He had divers
+times before this miscarry'd, when he us'd formerly to set them in plain
+ground, without breaking the surface, and laying it close to the sets;
+and therefore, if the soil be moist, he digs a trench by the side of the
+row, and applies the mould which comes out of it about the sets; so that
+the edge of the bank raised by it, may be somewhat higher than the earth
+next the set, for the better descent of the rain, and advantage of
+watering the sets in dry weather; preventing likewise their rooting in
+the bank, which they would do if the ground next the plant or set were
+made high, and sloped; and being left unfenc'd, cattel would tread down
+the bank, and lay the roots bare: The ground should therefore not be
+raised above 2 or 3 inches towards the body of the set. Now if the
+ground be dry, and want moisture, he chuses to bank them round, (as I
+have described it in my _Pomona_, cap. VII.) the fosses environing the
+mound and hillock, being reserves for the rain, cools and refreshes the
+sets.
+
+He farther instances, that willows of about 20 years growth, have been
+worth 30s. and another sold for 3l. which was well worth 5l. and
+affirms, that the willows planted in beds, between double ditches, in
+boggy ground, may be fit to be cut every five years, and pay as well as
+the best meadow-pasture, which is of extraordinary improvement.
+
+27. There is a sort of willow of a slender and long leaf, resembling the
+smaller ozier; but rising to a tree as big as the sallow, full of knots,
+and of a very brittle spray, only here rehears'd to acknowledge the
+variety.
+
+28. There is likewise the garden-willow, which produces a sweet and
+beautiful flower, fit to be admitted into our hortulan ornaments, and
+may be set for partitions of squares; but they have no affinity with
+other. There is also in Shropshire another very odoriferous kind,
+extreamly fit to be planted by pleasant rivulets, both for ornament and
+profit: It is propagated by cuttings or layers, and will grow in any dry
+bottom, so it be sheltred from the south, affording a wonderful and
+early relief to the industrious bee: Vitruvius commends the _vitex_ of
+the Latines (impertinently called _agnus castus_, the one being but the
+interpretation of the other) as fit for building; I suppose they had a
+sort of better stature than the shrub growing among the curious with us,
+and which is celebrated for its chast effects, and for which the
+Ancients employ'd it in the rites of Ceres: I rather think it more
+convenient for the sculptor (which he likewise mentions) provided we may
+(with safety) restore the text, as Perrault has attempted, by
+substituting _laevitatem_, for the author's _regiditatem_ stubborn
+materials being not so fit for that curious art.
+
+29. What most of the former enumerated kinds differ from the sallows, is
+indeed not much considerable, they being generally useful for the same
+purposes; as boxes, such as apothecaries and goldsmiths use; for
+cart-saddle-trees, yea gun-stocks, and half-pikes, harrows, shooe-makers
+lasts, heels, clogs for pattens, forks, rakes, especially the tooths,
+which should be wedged with oak; but let them not be cut for this when
+the sap is stirring, because they will shrink; pearches, rafters for
+hovels, portable and light laders, hop-poles, ricing of kidney-beans,
+and for supporters to vines, when our English vineyards come more in
+request: Also for hurdles, sieves, lattices; for the turner, kyele-pins,
+great town-tops; for platters, little casks and vessels; especially to
+preserve verjuices in, the best of any: Pales are also made of cleft
+willow, dorsers, fruitbaskets, canns, hives for bees, trenchers, trays,
+and for polishing and whetting table-knives, the butler will find it
+above any wood or whet-stone; also for coals, bavin, and excellent
+firing, not forgetting the fresh boughs, which of all the trees in
+nature, yield the most chast and coolest shade in the hottest season of
+the day; and this umbrage so wholsome, that physicians prescribe it to
+feaverish persons, permitting them to be plac'd even about their beds,
+as a safe and comfortable _refrigerium_. The wood being preserved dry,
+will dure a very long time; but that which is found wholly putrified,
+and reduc'd to a loamy earth in the hollow trunks of superannuated
+trees, is, of all other, the fittest to be mingled with fine mould, for
+the raising our choicest flowers, such as anemonies, ranunculus's,
+auriculas, and the like.
+
+    What would we more? low broom, and sallows wild,
+    Or feed the flock, or shepherds shade, or field
+    Hedges about, or do us honey yield.{175:1}
+
+30. Now by all these plantations of the aquatick trees, it is evident,
+the lords of moorish commons, and unprofitable wasts, may learn some
+improvement, and the neighbour bees be gratified; and many tools of
+husbandry become much cheaper. I conclude with the learned Stephanus's
+note upon these kind of trees, after he has enumerated the universal
+benefit of the _salictum_: _nullius enim tutior reditus, minorisve
+impendii, aut tempestatis securior_.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{175:1}
+
+    Quid majora sequor? Salices, humilesque genistae,
+    Aut illae pecori frondem, aut pastoribus umbram
+    Sufficiunt, sepemque satis & pabula melli.
+
+    _Georg. 2._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+_Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c._
+
+
+1. Our main plantation is now finish'd, and our forest adorned with a
+just variety: But what is yet all this labour, but loss of time, and
+irreparable expence, unless our young, and (as yet) tender plants be
+sufficiently guarded with munitions from all external injuries? For, as
+old Tusser,
+
+    IF CATTEL, OR TONY MAY ENTER TO CROP,
+    YOUNG OAK IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS TOP.
+
+But with something a more polish'd stile, though to the same purpose,
+the best of poets,
+
+    Plash fences thy plantation round about,
+    And whilst yet young, be sure keep Cattel out;
+    Severest Winters, scorching sun infest,
+    And sheep, goats, bullocks, all young plants molest;
+    Yet neither cold, nor the hoar rigid frost,
+    Nor heat reflecting from the rocky coast,
+    Like cattel trees, and tender shoots confound,
+    When with invenom'd teeth the twigs they wound.{176:1}
+
+2. For the reason that so many complain of the improsperous condition of
+their wood-lands, and plantations of this kind, proceeds from this
+neglect; though (sheep excepted) there is no employment whatsoever
+incident to the farmer, which requires less expence to gratifie their
+expectations: One diligent and skilful man, will govern five hundred
+acres: But if through any accident a beast shall break into his master's
+field; or the wicked hunter make a cap for his dogs and horses, what a
+clamour is there made for the disturbance of a years crop at most in a
+little corn! whilst abandoning his young woods all this time, and
+perhaps many years, to the venomous bitings and treading of cattel, and
+other like injuries (for want of due care) the detriment is many times
+irreparable; young trees once cropp'd, hardly ever recovering: It is the
+bane of all our most hopeful timber.
+
+3. But shall I provoke you by an instance? A kinsman of mine has a wood
+of more than 60 years standing; it was, before he purchas'd it, expos'd
+and abandon'd to the cattel for divers years: Some of the outward skirts
+were nothing save shrubs and miserable starvlings; yet still the place
+was dispos'd to grow woody; but by this neglect continually suppress'd.
+The industrious gentleman has fenced in some acres of this, and cut all
+close to the ground; it is come in eight or nine years, to be better
+worth than the wood of sixty; and will (in time) prove most incomparable
+timber, whilst the other part (so many years advanc'd) shall never
+recover; and all this from no other cause, than preserving it fenc'd:
+Judge then by this, how our woods come to be so decryed: Are five
+hundred sheep worthy the care of a shepherd? and are not five thousand
+oaks worth the fencing, and the inspection of a Hayward?
+
+    And shall men doubt to plant, and careful be?{177:1}
+
+Let us therefore shut up what we have thus laboriously planted, with
+some good quick-set hedge; which,
+
+    .......All countries bear, in every ground
+    As denizen, or interloper found:
+    From gardens and till'd fields expell'd, yet there,
+    On the extreams stands up, and claims a share.
+    Nor mastiff-dog, nor pike-man can be found
+    A better fence to the enclosed ground.
+    Such breed the rough and hardy Cantons rear,
+    And into all adjacent lands prefer,
+    Though rugged churles, and for the battle fit;
+    Who courts and states with complement or wit,
+    To civilize, nor to instruct pretend;
+    But with stout faithful service to defend.
+    This tyrants know full well, nor more confide
+    On guards that serve less for defence than pride:
+    Their persons safe they do not judge amiss,
+    And realms committed to their guard of Swiss.{177:2}
+
+For so the ingenious poet has metamorphos'd him, and I could not
+withstand him.
+
+4. The haw-thorn, (_oxyacantha vulgaris_) and indeed the very best of
+common hedges, is either rais'd of seeds or plants; but then it must not
+be with despair, because sometimes you do not see them peep the first
+year; for the haw, and many other seeds, being invested with a very hard
+integument, will now and then suffer imprisonment two whole years under
+the earth; and our impatience at this, does often fustrate the
+resurrection of divers seeds of this nature; so that we frequently dig
+up, and disturb the beds where they have been sown, in despair, before
+they have gone their full time; which is also the reason of a very
+popular mistake in other seeds; especially, that of the holly,
+concerning which there goes a tradition, that they will not sprout till
+they be pass'd through the maw of a thrush; whence the saying, _turdus
+exitium suum cacat_ (alluding to the _viscus_ made thereof, not the
+misselto of oak) but this is an error, as I am able to testifie on
+experience; they come up very well of the Berries, treated as I have
+shew'd in chap. 26. and with patience; for (as I affirm'd) they will
+sleep sometimes two entire years in their graves; as will also the seeds
+of yew, sloes, _phillyrea angustifolia_, and sundry others, whose shells
+are very hard about the small kernels; but which is wonderfully
+facilitated, by being (as we directed) prepar'd in beds, and magazines
+of earth, or sand for a competent time, and then committed to the ground
+before the full in March, by which season they will be chitting, and
+speedily take root: Others bury them deep in the ground all Winter, and
+sow them in February: And thus I have been told of a gentleman who has
+considerably improv'd his revenue, by sowing haws only, and raising
+nurseries of quick-sets, which he sells by the hundred far and near:
+This is a commendable industry; any neglected corners of ground will fit
+this plantation. Or were such places plow'd in furrow about the ground,
+you would fence, and sow'd with the mark of the cyder-press,
+crab-kernels, &c. kept secure from cattel till able to defend it self;
+it would yield excellent stocks to graff and transplant: And thus any
+larger plot, by plowing and cross-plowing the ground, and sowing it with
+all sorts of forest-seeds; breaking and harrowing the clods, and
+cleansing it from weeds with the haugh, (till the plants over-top them)
+a very profitable grove may be rais'd, and yield magazin of singular
+advantage, to furnish the industrious planter.
+
+5. But Columella has another expedient for the raising of our
+_spinetum_, by rubbing the now mature hips and haws, ashen-keys, &c.
+into the crevices of bass-ropes, or wisps of straw, and then burying
+them in a trench: Whether way you attempt it, they must (so soon as they
+peep, and as long as they require it) be sedulously cleans'd of the
+weeds; which, if in beds for transplantation, had need be at the least
+three or four years; by which time even your seedlings will be of
+stature fit to remove; for I do by no means approve of the vulgar
+praemature planting of sets, as is generally us'd throughout England;
+which is to take such only as are the very smallest, and so to crowd
+them into three or four files, which are both egregious mistakes.
+
+6. Whereas it is found by constant experience, that plants as big as
+ones thumb, set in the posture, and at the distance which we spake of in
+the horn-beam; that is, almost perpendicular (not altogether, because
+the rain should not get in 'twixt the rind and wood) and single, or at
+most, not exceeding a double row, do prosper infinitely, and much
+out-strip the densest and closest ranges of our trifling sets, which
+make but weak shoots, and whose roots do but hinder each other, and for
+being couch'd in that posture, on the sides of banks, and fences
+(especially where the earth is not very tenacious) are bared of the
+mould which should entertain them, by that time the rains and storms of
+one Winter have passed over them. In Holland and Flanders, (where they
+have the goodliest hedges of this kind about the counterscarps of their
+invincible fortifications, to the great security of their musketiers
+upon occasion) they plant them according to my description, and raise
+fences so speedily, and so impenetrable, that our best are not to enter
+into the comparison. Yet, that I may not be wanting to direct such as
+either affect the other way, or whose grounds may require some bank of
+earth, as ordinarily the verges of copp'ces, and other inclosures do;
+you shall by line, cast up your foss of about three foot broad, and
+about the same depth, provided your mould hold it; beginning first to
+turn the turf, upon which, be careful to lay some of the best earth to
+bed your quick in, and there lay, or set the plants; two in a foot space
+is sufficient; being diligent to procure such as are fresh gathered,
+streight, smooth, and well rooted; adding now and then, at equal spaces
+of twenty or thirty foot, a young oakling or elm-sucker, ash, or the
+like, which will come in time (especially in plain countries) to be
+ornamental standards, and good timber: If you will needs multiply your
+rowes, a foot or somewhat less: Above that, upon more congested mould,
+plant another rank of sets, so as to point just in the middle of the
+vacuities of the first, which I conceive enough: This is but for the
+single foss; but if you would fortifie it to the purpose, do as much on
+the other side, of the same depth, height, and planting; and then last
+of all, cap the top in _pyramis_ with the worst, or bottom of the ditch:
+Some, if the mould be good, plant a row or two on the edge, or very
+crest of the mound, which ought to be a little flatned: Here also may
+they set their dry-hedges, for hedges must be hedg'd till they are able
+to defend and shade their under-plantation, and I cannot reprove it: But
+great care is to be had in this work, that the main bank be well
+footed, and not made with too sudden a declivity, which is subject to
+fall-in after frosts and wet weather; and this is good husbandry for
+moist grounds; but where the land lies high, and is hot and gravelly, I
+prefer the lower fencing; which, though even with the area it self, may
+be protected with stakes and a dry hedge, on the fosse side, the
+distance competent, and to very good purposes of educating more frequent
+timber amongst the rows.
+
+7. Your hedge being yet young, should be constantly weeded two or three
+years, especially before Midsummer (of brambles especially, the great
+dock, and thistle, &c.) though some admit not of this work till after
+Michaelmas, for reasons that I approve not: It has been the practice of
+Herefordshire, in the plantation of quick-set-hedges, to plant a
+crab-stock at every twenty foot distance; and this they observe so
+religiously, as if they had been under some rigorous statute requiring
+it: But by this means they were provided in a short time with all
+advantages for the graffing of fruit amongst them, which does highly
+recompence their industry. Some cut their sets at three years growth
+even to the very ground, and find that in a year or two it will have
+shot as much as in seven, had it been let alone.
+
+8. When your hedge is now of near six years stature, plash it about
+February or October; but this is the work of a very dextrous and skilful
+husbandman; and for which our honest countrey-man Mr. Markam gives
+excellent directions; only I approve not so well of his deep cutting, if
+it be possible to bend it, having suffered in something of that kind: It
+is almost incredible to what perfection some have laid these hedges, by
+the rural way of plashing, better than by clipping; yet may both be used
+for ornament, as where they are planted about our garden-fences, and
+fields near the mansion. In Scotland, by tying the young shoots with
+bands of hay, they make the stems grow so very close together, as that
+it encloseth rabbets in warrens instead of pales: And for this robust
+use we shall prefer the blackthorn; the extravagant suckers which are
+apt to rise at distance from the hedge-line, being sedulously
+extirpated, that the rest may grow the stronger and thicker.
+
+9. And now since I did mention it, and that most I find do greatly
+affect the vulgar way of quicking (that this our discourse be in nothing
+deficient) we will in brief give it you again after George Markham's
+description, because it is the best, and most accurate, although much
+resembling our former direction, of which it seems but a repetition,
+'till he comes to the plashing. In a ground which is more dry than wet
+(for watry places it abhors) plant your quick thus: Let the first row of
+sets be placed in a trench of about half a foot deep, even with the top
+of your ditch, in somewhat a sloping, or inclining posture; then, having
+rais'd your bank near a foot upon them, plant another row, so as their
+tops may just peep out over the middle of the spaces of your first row:
+These cover'd again to the height or thickness of the other, place a
+third rank opposite to the first, and then finish your bank to its
+intended height. The distances of the plants would not be above one
+foot; and the season to do the work in, may be from the entry of
+February, till the end of March; or else in September to the beginning
+of December. When this is finish'd, you must guard both the top of your
+bank, and outmost verge of your ditch, with a sufficient dry-hedge,
+interwoven from stake to stake into the earth (which commonly they do on
+the bank) to secure your quick from the spoil of cattle. And then being
+careful to repair such as decay, or do not spring, by supplying the
+dead, and trimming the rest; you shall after three years growth sprinkle
+some timber-trees amongst them; such as oak, beech, ash, maple, fruit,
+or the like; which being drawn young out of your nurseries, may be very
+easily inserted.
+
+I am not in the mean time ignorant of what is said against the
+scattering these masts and keys among our fences; which grown to
+over-top the subnascent hedge, may prejudice it with their shade and
+drip: But this might be prevented by planting hollies (proof against
+these impediments) in the line or trench, where you would raise
+standards, as far as they usually spread in many years, and which, if
+placed at good distances, how close soever to the stem, would (besides
+their stout defence) prove a wondrous decoration, to large and ample
+enclosures: But to resume our former work; that which we affirm'd to
+require the greatest dexterity, is, the artificial plashing of our
+hedge, when it is now arrived to a six, or seven years head; though some
+stay till the tenth, or longer. In February therefore, or October, with
+a very sharp hand-bill, cut away all superfluous sprays and straglers,
+which may hinder your progress, and are useless. Then, searching out the
+principal stems, with a keen and light hatchet, cut them slant-wise
+close to the ground, hardly three quarters through, or rather, so far
+only, as till you can make them comply handsomely, which is your best
+direction, (lest you rift the stem) and so lay it from your sloping as
+you go, folding in the lesser branches which spring from them; and ever
+within a five or six foot distance, where you find an upright set
+(cutting off only the top to the height of your intended hedge) let it
+stand as a stake, to fortifie your work, and to receive the twinings of
+those branches about it. Lastly, at the top (which would be about five
+foot above ground) take the longest, most slender, and flexible twigs
+which you reserved (and being cut as the former, where need requires)
+bind-in the extremities of all the rest, and thus your work is finished:
+This being done very close and thick, makes an impregnable hedge, in few
+years; for it may be repeated as you see occasion; and what you so
+cut-away, will help to make your dry-hedges for your young plantations,
+or be profitable for the oven, and make good bavin. Namely, the
+extravagant side branches springing the more upright, 'till the newly
+wounded are healed. There are some yet who would have no stakes cut from
+the trees, save here and there one; so as to leave half the head naked,
+and the other standing; since the over-hanging bows will kill what is
+under them, and ruin the tree; so pernicious is this half-toping: But
+let this be a total amputation for a new and lusty spring: There is
+nothing more prejudicial to subnascent young trees, than when newly
+trim'd and prun'd, to have their (as yet raw) wounds poyson'd with
+continual dripping; as is well observed by Mr. Nourse: But this is meant
+of repairing decay'd hedges. For stakes in this work, oak is to be
+preferr'd, tho' some will use elder, but it is not good; or the
+blackthorn, crab-tree, in moorish ground withy, ash, maple, hasel, not
+lasting, (which some make hedges of; but it being apt to the browsing
+of cattle, when the young shoots appeared, it does better in copp'ces)
+the rest not lasting, should yet be driven well in at every yard of
+interval both before, and after they are bound, till they have taken the
+hard earth, and are very fast; and even your plash'd-hedges, need some
+small thorns to be laid over, to protect the spring from cattle and
+sheep, 'till they are somewhat fortified; and the doubler the winding is
+lodg'd, the better; which should be beaten, and forced down together
+with the stakes, as equally as may be. Note, that in sloping your
+windings, if it be too low done (as very usually) it frequently
+mortifies the tops, therefore it ought to be so bent, as it may not
+impede the mounting of the sap: If the plash be of a great, and
+extraordinary age, wind it at the neather boughs all together, and
+cutting the sets as directed, permit it rather to hang downwards a
+little, than rise too forwards; and then twist the branches into the
+work, leaving a set free, and unconstrain'd at every yard space, besides
+such as will serve for stakes, abated to about five foot length (which
+is a competent stature for an hedge) and so let it stand. One shall
+often find in this work, especially in old neglected hedges, some great
+trees, or stubs, that commonly make gaps for cattle: Such should be cut
+so near the earth, as till you can lay them thwart, that the top of one
+may rest on the root or stub of the other, as far as they extend,
+stopping the cavities with its boughs and branches; and thus hedges
+which seem to consist but only of scrubby-trees and stumps, may be
+reduced to a tolerable fence: But in case it be superannuated, and very
+old, 'tis advisable to stub all up, being quite renewed, and well
+guarded. We have been the longer on these descriptions, because it is of
+main importance, and that so few husband-men are so perfectly skill'd in
+it: But he that would be more fully satisfied, I would have to consult
+Mr. Cook, chap. 32. or rather _instar omnium_ (and after all which has
+been said of this useful art of fencing) what I cannot without injury to
+the publick, and ingratitude to the persons, (who do me the honour of
+imparting to me their experiences) but as freely communicate.
+
+It is then from the Reverend Mr. Walker of Great-Billing near
+Northampton, that (with several other particulars relating to our rural
+subject) I likewise receive from that worthy gentleman Tho. Franklin of
+Ecton, Esq; the following method of planting, and fencing with
+quick-sets; which we give you in his own words.
+
+     10. About 10 or 12 years since, I made some essays to set some
+     little clumps of hedges and trees, of about two pole in breadth,
+     and three in length: The out-fences ditch'd on the outside, but the
+     quick-sets in the inside of the bank, that the dead-hedges might
+     stand on the outside thereof; so that a small hedge of 18 or 20
+     inches high, made of small wood, the stakes not much bigger than a
+     man's thumb, which (the banks being high) sufficiently defended
+     them for four years time, and were hedg'd with less than one load
+     of shreadings of willow-sets, which, (as my workmen told me) would
+     have requir'd 6 load of copp'ce-wood: But the next year after their
+     being planted, finding wast ground on the top of the bank of the
+     outer fence, between the dead-hedge and the quick, I put a foot-set
+     in the same space between the quick and the dead-hedge, which
+     prosper'd better than those planted in the side of the bank, after
+     the vulgar way, and hold it still. This put me upon thinking, that
+     a set cheaper and better of quick-fence, might possibly be found
+     out; and accordingly I made some tryals, with good success, (at
+     least better than the old way) tho' not to my full satisfaction,
+     till I had perus'd Mr. Evelyn's _Silva_, &c. The method I us'd, was
+     this: First I set out the ground for ditches and quick, in breadth
+     ten foot; then subdivided that by marking out 2 foot 1/2 on each
+     side (more or less, at pleasure) for the ditches, leaving 5 in the
+     middle between them: Then digging up two foot in the midst of that
+     5 foot, plant the sets in; tho' it require more labour and charge,
+     I found it soon repay'd the cost. This done, I began to dig the
+     fosses, and to set up one row of turfs on the outside of the said
+     five foot; namely, one row on each side thereof, the green side
+     outmost, a little reclining, so as the grass might grow: After
+     this, returning to the place begun at, I ordered one of the men to
+     dig a spit of the under-turfmould, and lay it between the turfs,
+     plac'd edge-wise, as before describ'd, upon the 2 foot which was
+     purposely dug in the middle, and prepar'd for the sets, which the
+     planter sets with two quicks upon the surface of the earth, almost
+     upright, whilst another workman lays the mould forward, about 12
+     inches, and then sets two more, and so continues. Some there are
+     who plant three rows of sets about 8 inches interval; but I do not
+     approve it; for they choak one another. This finished, I order
+     another row of turfs to be plac'd on each side upon the top of the
+     former, and fill the vacuity between the sets and the turfs, as
+     high as their tops, always leaving the middle where the sets are
+     planted, hollow, and somewhat lower than the sides of the banks, by
+     8 or 10 inches, that the rain may descend to their roots, which is
+     of great advantage to their growth, and far better than by the old
+     way; where the banks too much sloping, the roots of the sets are
+     seldom wetted in an ordinary season, the Summer following; but
+     which if it prove dry, many of the sets perish, especially the late
+     planted: Whereas those which I planted in the latter end of April,
+     tho' the Summer hapned to be somewhat dry, generally scap'd, very
+     few of them miscarrying. Now the planting thus advanc'd, the next
+     care is fencing; by setting an hedge of about 20 inches high upon
+     the top of the bank, on each side thereof, leaning a little outward
+     from the sets, which will protect them as well (if not better) than
+     a hedge of 3 foot, or four inches more, standing upon the surface
+     of the ground, which being rais'd with the turfs and sods about 20
+     inches, and the hedge about 20 inches more, will make 3 foot 4
+     inches; so as no cattle can approach the dead-hedge to prejudice
+     it, unless they set their feet in the ditch it self; which will be
+     at least a foot deep, and from the bottom of the fosse to the top
+     of the hedge, about 4 foot and 1/2, which they can hardly reach
+     over to crop the quick, as they might in the old way; and besides,
+     such an hedge will endure a year longer. I have at this present, an
+     hedge which has stood these 5 years; and tho' 9 or 10 foot be
+     sufficient for both ditches and bank, yet where the ground is but
+     indifferent, 'tis better husbandry to take 12 foot, which will
+     allow of a bank at least 6 foot broad, and gives more scope to
+     place the dead hedges farther from the sets; and the ditches being
+     shallow, will in two years time, graze; tho' I confine my self for
+     the most part to 9 or 10; because I would take off the only
+     objection of wasting ground by this way, should others follow it.
+     In reply to this, I affirm, that if you take 12 foot in breadth,
+     for ditch and bank, you wast more ground, than by the common way:
+     For in that a quick is rarely set, but there is 9 foot between the
+     dead hedges, which is entirely lost all the time of fencing: When
+     as with double ditches, there remains at least 18 inches on each
+     side where the turfs were set on edge, that bear more grass than
+     when it lay on the flat. ......... But admitting it did totally lay
+     wast 3 foot of ground, the damage were very inconsiderable, since
+     forty pearch, in lengh 220 yards, which makes pearches, 7, 25", 9',
+     or 7 pole 1/4, which at 13 _shil._ 4 _pence_ the acre, amounts not
+     to 7d. 1/2 _per ann._ Now that this is not only the best and
+     cheapest way of quick-setting, will appear by comparing the charge
+     of both: In the usual way, the charge of a 3 foot ditch is 4d.
+     per pole, the owner providing sets; if the workman finds them, he
+     will have for making the said ditch, and setting them, 8d. the
+     pole, and for hedging, two pence; that is, for both sides 4d. the
+     pole, which renders the charge of hedging, ditching, and sets,
+     12d. the pole; that is, for forty rod in length, forty shillings:
+     Then one load of wood out of the copp'ce costs us, with the
+     carriage, (tho' but two or 3 miles distance) ten shillings; which
+     will seldom hedge above 8 pole (single hedge.) But allowing it to
+     do ten, to fence 40 pole, there must be at least 8 load of wood,
+     which costs 4l. making the whole expence for ditching, setting,
+     and fencing of 40 pole, to be 6l. reck'ning with the least; for I
+     know not any that will undertake to do it under 3s. 6d. per
+     pole, and then the 40 pole costs 7l. Whereas, with double
+     ditches, both of them, setting and sets, will be done for 8d.
+     _per_ pole, and the husbandman get as good wages, as with a single
+     ditch, (for tho' the labour about them is more, yet the making the
+     table is saved) which costs 1l. 6s. 8d. And the hedges being
+     but low, they'll make better wages at hedging for a penny the pole,
+     than at two pence for common hedges; which comes to 6s. 8d. for
+     hedging forty pole on both sides: Thus one load of wood, will fence
+     30 pole at least, and 40 hedg'd with 2/3 of wood less, than in the
+     other way, and cost but 1l. 6s. 8d. which makes the whole
+     charge of sets, ditching, fencing, and wood, but three pounds.
+
+       l.   s.   d.
+       01   06   08
+       00   06   08
+       01   06   08
+       -------------
+       03   00   00
+       -------------
+
+Hitherto this obliging and industrious gentleman.
+
+11. To other uses: The Root of an old thorn is excellent both for boxes
+and combs, and is curiously and naturally wrought: I have read, that
+they made ribs to some small boats or vessels with the white-thorn, and
+it is certain, that if they would plant them single, and in standards,
+where they might be safe, they would rise into large body'd trees in
+time, and be of excellent use for the turner, not inferior to box, and
+accounted among the fortunate trees, and therefore us'd in _fasces
+nuptiarum_, since the jolly shepherds carryed the white-thorn at the
+rapine of the Sabines; and ever since counted{192:1} propitious.
+
+The distill'd water, and stone, or kernels of the haw reduc'd to powder,
+is generally agreed to be sovereign against the stone. The black-crab
+rightly season'd and treated, is famous for walking-staves, and if
+over-grown, us'd in mill-work; yea, and for rafters of great ships. Here
+we owe due eulogy to the industry of the late Lord Shaftsbury, who has
+taught us to make such enclosures of crab-stocks only, (planted close to
+one another) as there is nothing more impregnable and becoming; or you
+may sow cyder-kernels in a rill, and fence it for a while, with a double
+dry hedge, not only for a sudden and beautiful, but a very profitable
+inclosure; because, amongst other benefits, they will yield you
+cyderfruit in abundance: But in Devonshire, they build two walls with
+their stones, setting them edge-ways, two, and then one between; and so
+as it rises, fill the interval, or _cofer_ with earth (the breadth and
+height as you please) and continuing the stone-work, and filling, and as
+you work, beating in the stones flat to the sides, they are made to
+stick everlastingly: This is absolutely the neatest, most saving, and
+profitable fencing imaginable, where slaty stones are in any abundance;
+and it becomes not only the most secure to the lands, but the best for
+cattle, to lye warm under the walls; whilst other hedges, (be they never
+so thick) admit of some cold winds in Winter-time when the leaves are
+off. Upon these banks they plant not only quick-sets, but even
+timber-trees, which exceedingly thrive, being out of all danger.
+
+12. The _pyracantha paliurus_, and like preciouser sorts of thorn and
+robust evergreens, adorn'd with caralin-berries, might easily be
+propagated by seeds, layers, or cutting, into plenty sufficient to store
+even these vulgar uses, were men industrious; and then, how beautiful
+and sweet would the environs of our fields be! for there are none of the
+spinous shrubs more hardy, none that make a more glorious shew, nor
+fitter for our defence, competently arm'd; especially the _rhannus_,
+which I therefore joyn to the _oxyacantha_, for its terrible and almost
+irresistible spines, able almost to pierce a coat of mail; and for this
+made use of by the malicious Jews, to crown the sacred tempels of our
+Blessed Saviour, and is yet preferred among the most venerable reliques
+in St. Chapel at Paris, as is pretended, by the devotees, &c. and hence
+has the tree (for it sometimes exceeds a shrub) the name of Christ's
+Thorn. Thus might berberies now and then be also inserted among our
+hedges, which, with the hips, haws, and cornel-berries, do well in light
+lands, and would rather be planted to the South, than North or West, as
+usually we observe them.
+
+13. Some (as we noted) mingle their very hedges with oaklings, ash, and
+fruit-trees, sown or planted, and 'tis a laudable improvement; though
+others do rather recommend to us sets of all one sort, and will not so
+much as admit of the black-thorn to be mingled with the white, because
+of their unequal progress; and indeed, timber-trees set in the hedge
+(though contemporaries with it) do frequently wear it out; and therefore
+I should rather encourage such plantations to be at some yards distance,
+near the verges, than perpendicularly in them. Lastly, if in planting
+any the most robust forest-trees, (especially oak, elm, chesnut) at
+competent spaces, and in rows; you open a ring of ground, at about four
+foot distance from the stem, and prick in quick-set plants; you may
+after a while, keep them clipp'd, at what height you please: They will
+appear exceedingly beautiful to the eye, prove a good fence, and yield
+useful bush, bavin, and (if you maintain them unshorn) hips and haws in
+abundance: This would therefore especially be practis'd, where one would
+invite the birds.
+
+14. In Cornwal they secure their lands and woods, with high mounds, and
+on them they plant acorns, whose roots bind in the looser mould, and so
+form a coronet of trees. They do likewise (and that with great
+commendation) make hedges of our _genista spinosa_, prickly furzes, of
+which they have a taller sort, such as the French imploy for the same
+purpose in Bretaigne, where they are incomparable husbands.
+
+15. It is to be sown (which is best) or planted of the roots in a
+furrow: If sown, weeded till it be strong; both tonsile, and to be
+diligently clip'd, which will render it very thick, an excellent and
+beautiful hedge: Otherwise, permitted to grow at large, 'twill yield
+very good faggot: It is likewise admirable covert for wildfowl, and will
+be made to grow even in moist, as well as dry places: The young and
+tender tops of furzes, being a little bruis'd and given to a lean sickly
+horse, will strangely recover and plump him. Thus, in some places, they
+sow in barren grounds (when they lay them down) the last crop with this
+seed, and so let them remain till they break them up again, and during
+that interim, reap considerable advantage: Would you believe (writes a
+worthy correspondent of mine) that in Herefordshire (famous for plenty
+of wood) their thickets of furzes (_viz._ the vulgar) should yield them
+more profit than a like quantity of the best wheat-land of England? for
+such is theirs: If this be question'd, the scene is within a mile of
+Hereford, and proved by anniversary experience, in the lands, as I take
+it, of a gentleman who is now one of the burgesses for that city. And in
+Devonshire (the seat of the best husbands in the world) they sow on
+their worst land (well plow'd) the seeds of the rankest furzes, which in
+four or five years becomes a rich wood: No provender (as we say) makes
+horses so hardy as the young tops of these furzes; no other wood so
+thick, nor more excellent fuel; and for some purposes also, yielding
+them a kind of timber to their more humble buildings, and a great refuge
+for fowl and other game: I am assur'd, in Bretaigne 'tis sometimes sown
+no less than twelve yards thick, for a speedy, profitable, and
+impenetrable mound: If we imitated this husbandry in the dry and hot
+barren places of Surrey, and other parts of this nation, we might
+exceedingly spare our woods; and I have bought the best sort of
+French-seed at the shops in London. It seems that in the more eastern
+parts of Germany, and especially in Poland, this vulgar trifle, and even
+our common Broom is so rare, that they have desired the seeds of them
+out of England, and preserve them with extraordinary care in their best
+gardens; this I learn out of our Johnson's _Herbal_; by which we may
+consider, that what is reputed a curse, and a cumber in some places, is
+esteem'd the ornament and blessing of another: But we shall not need go
+so far for this, since both beech and birch are almost as great
+strangers in many parts of this nation, particularly Northampton and
+Oxfordshire. Mr. Cook is much in praise of juniper for hedges,
+especially for the more elegant inclosures, and we daily see how it's
+improved of late.
+
+16. This puts me in mind of the _genista scoparia_, broom; another
+improvement for barren grounds, and saver of more substantial fuel: It
+may be sown English, or (what is more sweet and beautiful) the Spanish,
+with equal success. In the western parts of France, and Cornwal, it
+grows with us to an incredible height (however our poet gives it the
+epithet of _humilis_) and so it seems they had it of old, as appears by
+Gratius his _genistae altinates_, with which (as he affirms) they us'd to
+make staves for their spears, and hunting darts. The seeds of broom,
+vomit, and purge, whilst the buds, and flowers being pickled, are very
+grateful.
+
+17. Lastly, (_sambucus_) a considerable fence maybe made of the elder,
+set of reasonable lusty trunchions; much like the willow, and (as I have
+seen them maintain'd) laid with great curiosity, and far excelling those
+extravagant plantations of them about London, where the lops are
+permitted to grow without due and skilful laying. There is a sort of
+elder which has hardly any pith; this makes exceeding stout fences, and
+the timber very useful for cogs of mills, butchers skewers, and such
+tough employments. Old trees do in time become firm, and close up the
+hollowness to an almost invisible pith. But if the medicinal properties
+of the leaves, bark, berries, &c. were throughly known, I cannot tell
+what our countrey-man could ail, for which he might not fetch a remedy
+from every hedge, either for sickness or wound: The inner bark of elder,
+apply'd to any burning, takes out the fire immediately; that, or, in
+season, the buds, boil'd in water-grewel for a break-fast, has effected
+wonders in a fever; and the decoction is admirable to asswage
+inflammations and tetrous humours, and especially the scorbut: But an
+extract, or _theriaca_ may be compos'd of the berries, which is not only
+efficacious to eradicate this epidemical inconvenience, and greatly to
+assist longaevity; (so famous is the story of Neander) but is a kind of
+_catholicon_ against all infirmities whatever; and of the same berries
+is made an incomparable spirit, which drunk by it self, or mingled with
+wine, is not only an excellent drink, but admirable in the dropsie: In a
+word, the water of the leaves and berries is approved in the dropsie,
+every part of the tree being useful, as may be seen at large in
+Blockwitzius's _anatomy_ thereof. The ointment made with the young buds,
+and leaves in May with butter, is most sovereign for aches, shrunk
+sinews, haemorrhoids, &c. and the flowers macerated in vinegar, not only
+are of a grateful relish, but good to attenuate and cut raw and gross
+humours. Lastly, the _fungus_ (which we call Jews-ears) decocted in
+milk, or macerated in vinegar, is of known effect in the angina and
+sores of the throat. And less than this could I not say (with the leave
+of the charitable physician) to gratifie our poor wood-man; and yet when
+I have said all this, I do by no means commend the scent of it, which is
+very noxious to the air, and therefore, though I do not undertake that
+all things which sweeten the air, are salubrious, nor all ill savours
+pernicious; yet, as not for its beauty, so neither for its smell, would
+I plant elder, near my habitation; since we learn from Biesius,{197:1}
+that a certain house in Spain, seated amongst many elder-trees,
+diseas'd and kill'd almost all the inhabitants, which when at last they
+were grubb'd up, became a very wholsome and healthy place. The elder
+does likewise produce a certain green fly, almost invisible, which is
+exceedingly troublesome, and gathers a fiery redness where it attaques.
+
+18. There is a shrub called the spindle-tree, (_euonymus_, or _fusanum_)
+commonly growing in our hedges, which bears a very hard wood, of which
+they sometimes made bows for viols, and the inlayer us'd it for its
+colour, and instrument-makers for toothing of organs, and virginal-keys,
+tooth-pickers, &c. What we else do with it, I know not, save that
+(according with its name, abroad) they make spindles with it. I also
+learn, that three, or four of the berries, purge both by vomit, and
+siege, and the powder made of the berry, being bak'd, kills nits, and
+cures scurfy heads. Matthiolus says, the poor people about Trent, press
+oyl out of the berries, wherewith to feed their lamps: But why they were
+wont to scourge parricides with rods made of this shrub, before they put
+them into the sack, see Modestinus l. penult ss. _ad legem Pomp. de
+parricid._ cited by Mr. Ray. Here might come in (or be nam'd at least)
+wild-cornel, or dog-wood, good to make mill-cogs, pestles, bobins for
+bone-lace, spokes for wheels, &c. the best skewers for butchers, because
+it does not taint the flesh, and is of so very hard a substance, as to
+make wedges to cleave and rive other wood with, instead of iron. (But of
+this, see chap. II. book II.) And lastly, the _viburnum_, or
+way-faring-tree, growing also plentifully in every corner, makes pins
+for the yoaks of oxen; and superstitious people think, that it protects
+their cattel from being bewitch'd and us'd to plant the shrub about
+their stalls; 'tis certainly the most plyant and best bands to fagot
+with. The leaves and berries are astringent, and make an excellent
+gargle for loose teeth, sore throats, and to stop fluxes: The leaves
+decocted to a lie, not only colour the hairs black, but fasten their
+roots; and the bark of the root, macerated under ground, well beaten,
+and often boil'd, serves for birdlime.
+
+19. The American _yucca_ is a hardier plant than we take it to be, for
+it will suffer our sharpest Winter, (as I have seen by experience)
+without that trouble and care of setting it in cases, in our
+conservatories for hyemation; such as have beheld it in flower (which is
+not indeed till it be of some age) must needs admire the beauty of it;
+and it being easily multiplied, why should it not make one of the best
+and most ornamental fences in the world for our gardens, with its
+natural palisadoes, as well as the more tender, and impatient of
+moisture, the aloes, does for their vineyards in Languedoc, &c. but _we_
+believe nothing improvable, save what our grand-fathers taught us.
+Finally, let tryal likewise be made of that thorn, mentioned by Capt.
+Liggon in his _History of Barbadoes_; whether it would not be made grow
+amongst us, and prove as convenient for fences as there; the seeds, or
+sets transported to us with due care. And thus, having accomplished what
+(by your commands) I had to offer concerning the propagation of the more
+solid, material, and useful trees, as well the dry, as aquatical; and to
+the best of my talent fenc'd our plantation in: I should here conclude,
+and set a bound likewise to my discourse, by making an apology for the
+many errors and impertinencies of it, did not the zeal and ambition of
+this illustrious Society to promote and improve all attempts which may
+concern publick utility or ornament, perswade me, that what I am adding
+for the farther encouragement to the planting of some other useful
+(though less vulgar) trees, will at least obtain your pardon if it miss
+of your approbation.
+
+20. To discourse in this stile of all such fruit-trees as would prove of
+greatest emolument to the whole nation, were to design a just volume;
+and there are directions already so many, and so accurately deliver'd
+and publish'd (but which cannot be affirm'd of any of the former classes
+of forest-trees, and other remarks, at the least to my poor knowledge
+and research) that it would be needless to repeat.
+
+21. I do only wish (upon the prospect, and meditation of the universal
+benefit) that every person whatsoever, worth ten pounds _per annum_,
+within Her Majesty's dominions, were by some indispensible statute,
+obliged to plant his hedge-rows with the best and most useful kinds of
+them; especially in such places of the nation, as being the more in-land
+counties, and remote from the seas and navigable rivers, might the
+better be excus'd from the planting of timber, to the proportion of
+those who are more happily and commodiously situated for the
+transportation of it.
+
+22. Undoubtedly, if this course were taken effectually, a very
+considerable part both of the meat and drink which is spent to our
+prejudice, might be saved by the countrey-people, even out of the hedges
+and mounds, which would afford them not only the pleasure and profit of
+their delicious fruit, but such abundance of cyder and perry, as should
+suffice them to drink of one of the most wholsome and excellent
+beverages in the world. Old Gerard did long since alledge us an example
+worthy to be pursu'd; I have seen (saith he, speaking of apple-trees,
+lib. 3. cap. 101.) in the pastures and hedge-rows about the grounds of a
+worshipful gentleman dwelling two miles from Hereford, call'd Mr. Roger
+Bodnome, so many trees of all sorts, that the servants drink for the
+most part no other drink but that which is made of apples: The quantity
+is such, that by the report of the gentleman himself, the parson hath
+for tythe many hogs-heads of cyder: The hogs are fed with the fallings
+of them, which are so many, that they make choice of those apples they
+do eat, who will not tast of any but of the best. An example doubtless
+to be follow'd of gentlemen that have land and living; but Envy saith,
+The poor will break down our hedges, and we shall have the least part of
+the fruit: But forward, in the name of God, graff, set, plant, and
+nourish up trees in every corner of your ground; the labour is small,
+the cost is nothing, the commodity is great; your selves shall have
+plenty, the poor shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their
+necessity, and God shall reward your good minds and diligence. Thus far
+honest Gerard. And in truth, with how small a charge and infinite
+pleasure this were to be effected, every one that is patron of a little
+nursery, can easily calculate: But by this expedient many thousands of
+acres, sow'd now yearly with barley, might be cultivated for wheat, or
+converted into pasture, to the increase of corn and cattel: Besides, the
+timber which the pear-tree, black-cherry and many thorny plums (which
+are best for grain, colour, and gloss) afford, comparable (for divers
+curious uses) with any we have enumerated. The black-cherry-wood grows
+sometimes to that bulk, as is fit to make stools with, cabinets, tables,
+especially the redder sort, which will polish well; also pipes, and
+musical instruments, the very bark employ'd for bee-hives: But of this I
+am to render a more ample account, in the appendix to this Discourse. I
+would farther recommend the more frequent planting and propagation of
+fir, pine-trees, and some other beneficial materials, both for ornament
+and profit; especially, since we find by experience, they thrive so
+well, where they are cultivated for curiosity only.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{176:1}
+
+    Texendae sepes etiam, & pecus omne tenendum est:
+    Praecipue, dum frons tenera, imprudensque laborum,
+    Cui, super indignas hiemes, solemque potentem,
+    Silvestres uri assidue, capreaeque sequaces
+    Illudunt: Pascuntur oves, avidaeque juvencae.
+    Frigora nec tantum cana concreta pruina,
+    Aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus aestas,
+    Quantum illi nocuere greges, durique venenum
+    Dentis, & admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix.
+
+    _Georg. 2._
+
+{177:1}
+
+    Et dubitant homines serere, atque impendere curam?
+
+    _Georg. 2._
+
+{177:2}
+
+    ..........Omne solum natale est, intrat ubique
+    Ardelio; illa quidem cultis excluditur agris
+    Plerumque, atque hortis; sed circumsepit utrosque
+    Atque omnes aditus servat fidissima custos,
+    Utilior latrante cane, armatoque Priapo.
+    Aspera frigoribus saxisque Helvetia tales
+    Educat, & peregre terras emittit in omnes
+    Enormes durosque viros, sed fortia bello
+    Pectora; non illi cultu, non moribus aulas,
+    Atque urbes decorare valent, sed utrasque fideli
+    Defendunt opera; nec iis, gens cauta, tyranni,
+    Praeponunt speciosa magis, multumque sonora
+    Praesidia; his certi vitam tutantur opesque, &c.
+
+    _Couleii_, pl. l. 6.
+
+{192:1} See Varro in _Atis._ Ovid, Fast. 6
+
+    ........... de spina sumitur alba.
+
+{197:1} Bies. _de Aeris potestate_.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+DENDROLOGIA
+
+THE SECOND BOOK
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+_Of the Mulberry._
+
+
+1. _Morus_, the mulberry: It may possibly be wonder'd by some why we
+should insert this tree amongst our forest inhabitants; but we shall
+soon reconcile our industrious planter, when he comes to understand the
+incomparable benefit of it, and that for its timber, durableness, and
+use for the joyner and carpenter, and to make hoops, bows, wheels, and
+even ribs for small vessels, instead of oak, &c. though the fruit and
+the leaves had not the due value with us, which they deservedly enjoy in
+other places of the world.
+
+2. But it is not here I would recommend our ordinary black fruit
+bearers, though that be likewise worth the propagation; but that kind
+which is call'd the white mulberry (which I have had sent me out of
+Languedoc) one of them of a broad leaf, found there and in Provence,
+whose seeds being procured from Paris, where they have it from Avignon,
+should be thus treated in the seminary.
+
+3. In countries where they cultivate them for the silk-worm, and other
+uses, they sow the perfectly mature berries of a tree whose leaves have
+not been gather'd; these they shake down upon an old sheet spread under
+the tree, to protect them from gravel and ordure, which will hinder you
+from discerning the seed: If they be not ripe, lay them to mature upon
+shelves, but by no means till they corrupt; to prevent which, turn them
+daily; then put them in a fine sieve; and plunging it in water, bruise
+them with your hand; do this in several waters, then change them in
+other clear water, and the seed will sink to the bottom, whilst the pulp
+swims, and must be taken off carefully: This done, lay them to dry in
+the sun upon a linnen cloth, for which one hour is sufficient, then van
+and sift it from the husks, and reserve it till the season. This is the
+process of curious persons, but the sowing of ripe mulberries themselves
+is altogether as good, and from the excrement of hogs, and even dogs
+(that will frequently eat them) they will rise abundantly. Note, that in
+sowing of the berry, 'tis good to squash and bruise them with fine
+sifted mould, and if it be rich, and of the old bed, so much the better:
+They would be interr'd, well moistned and cover'd with straw, and then
+rarely water'd till they peep; or you may squeze the ripe berries in
+ropes of hair or bast, and bury them, as is prescrib'd for hipps and
+haws; the earth in which you sow them, should be fine mould, and as rich
+as for melons, rais'd a little higher than the area, as they make the
+beds for ordinary pot-herbs, to keep them loose and warm, and in such
+beds you may sow seeds as you do purslane, mingled with some fine earth,
+and thinly cover'd, and then for a fortnight, strew'd over with straw,
+to protect them both from sudden heat and from birds: The season is
+April or May, though some forbear even till July and August, and in the
+second quarter of the moon, the weather calm and serene. At the
+beginning, keep them moderately fresh (not over wet) and clean weeded,
+secured from the rigor of frosts; the second year of their growth, about
+the beginning of October, or early Spring, draw them gently out, prune
+the roots, and dipping them a little in pond-water, transplant them in a
+warm place or nursery; 'tis best ranging them in drills, two foot large,
+and one in depth, each drill three foot distance, and each plant two.
+And if thus the new earth be somewhat lower than the surface of the
+rest, 'twill the better receive the rain: Being planted, cut them all
+within three inches of the ground. Water them not in Winter, but in
+extream necessity, and when the weather is warm, and then do it in the
+morning. In this cold season you shall do well to cover the ground with
+the leaves of trees, straw, or short litter, to keep them warm; and
+every year you shall give them three dressings or half diggings; _viz._
+in April, June, and August; this, for the first year, still after rain:
+The second Spring after transplanting, purge them of all superfluous
+shoots and scions, reserving only the most towardly for the future stem;
+this to be done yearly, as long as they continue in the nursery; and if
+of the principal stem so left, the frost mortifie any part, cut it off,
+and continue this government till they are near six foot high, after
+which suffer them to spread into heads by discreetly pruning and
+fashioning them: But if you plant where cattle may endanger them, the
+stem had need be taller, for they are extreamly liquorish of the leaves.
+
+4. When now they are about five years growth, you may transplant them
+without cutting the root (provided you erradicate them with care) only
+trimming the head a little; the season is from September to November in
+the new-moon, and if the holes or pits you set them in were dug and
+prepar'd some months before, it would much secure their taking; some
+cast horns, bones, shells, &c. into them, the better to loosen the earth
+about them, which should be rich, and well refresh'd all Summer. A
+light, and dry mould is best, well expos'd to the sun and air, which
+above all things this tree affects, and hates watery low grounds: In
+sum, being a very lasting tree, they thrive best where vines prosper
+most, whose society they exceedingly cherish; nor do they less delight
+to be amongst corn, no way prejudicing it with its shade. The distance
+of these standards would be twenty, or twenty four foot every way, if
+you would design walks or groves of them; if the environs of fields,
+banks of rivers, high-ways, &c. twelve or fourteen foot may suffice, but
+the farther distant, the better; for the white spreads its root much
+farther than the black, and likes the valley more than the higher
+ground.
+
+5. Another expedient to increase mulberries, is, by layers from the
+suckers at the foot, this done in Spring, leaving not above two buds out
+of the earth, which you must diligently water, and the second year they
+will be rooted: They will also take by passing any branch or arm slit,
+and kept a little open with a wedge, or stone, through a basket of
+earth, which is a very sure way: Nay, the very cuttings will strike in
+Spring, but let them be from shoots of two years growth, with some of
+the old wood, though of seven or eight years; these set in rills, like
+vines, having two or three buds at the top, will root infallibly,
+especially if you twist the old wood a little, or at least hack it,
+though some slit the foot, inserting a stone, or grain of an oat, to
+suckle and entertain the plant with moisture.
+
+6. They may also be propagated by graffing them on the black mulberry in
+Spring, or inoculated in July, taking the cyons from some old tree, that
+has broad, even, and round leaves, which causes it to produce very ample
+and tender leaves, of great emolument to the silk-master.
+
+7. Some experienc'd husbandmen advise to poll our mulberries every three
+or four years, as we do our willows; others not till 8 years; both
+erroneously. The best way is yearly to prune them of their dry and
+superfluous branches, and to form their heads round and natural. The
+first year of removal where they are to abide, cut off all the shoots,
+to five or six of the most promising; the next year leave not above
+three of these, which dispose in triangle as near as may be, and then
+disturb them no more, unless it be to purge them (as we taught) of dead
+seare-wood, and extravagant parts, which may impeach the rest; and if
+afterward any prun'd branch shoot above three or four cyons, reduce them
+to that number. One of the best ways of pruning is, what they practise
+in Sicily and Provence, to make the head hollow, and like a bell, by
+cleansing them of their inmost branches; and this may be done, either
+before they bud, _viz._ in the new-moon of March, or when they are full
+of leaves in June or July, if the season prove any thing fresh. Here I
+must not omit what I read of the Chinese culture, and which they now
+also imitate in Virginia, where they have found a way to raise these
+plants of the seeds, which they mow and cut like a crop of grass, which
+sprout, and bear leaves again in a few months: They likewise (in
+Virginia) have planted them in hedges, as near together as we do
+gooseberries and currans, for their more convenient clipping, which they
+pretend to do with scissers.
+
+8. The mulberry is much improv'd by stirring the mould at root, and
+letation.
+
+9. We have already mentioned some of the uses of this excellent tree,
+especially of the white, so called because the fruit is of a paler
+colour, which is also of a more luscious taste, and lesser than the
+black; the rind likewise is whiter, and the leaves of a mealy clear
+green colour, and far tenderer, and sooner produc'd by at least a
+fortnight, which is a marvelous advantage to the newly disclos'd
+silk-worm: Also they arrive sooner to their maturity, and the food
+produces a finer web. Nor is this tree less beautiful to the eye than
+the fairest elm, very proper for walks and avenues: The timber (amongst
+other properties) will last in the water as well as the most solid oak,
+and the bark makes good and tough bast-ropes. It suffers no kind of
+vermin to breed on it, whether standing or fell'd, nor dares any
+caterpillar attack it, save the silk-worm only. The loppings are
+excellent fuel: But that for which this tree is in greatest and most
+worthy esteem, is for the leaves, which (besides the silk-worm)
+nourishes cows, sheep, and other cattle; especially young porkers, being
+boil'd with a little bran; and the fruit excellent to feed poultrey. In
+sum, whatever eats of them, will with difficulty be reduc'd to endure
+any thing else, as long as they can come by them: To say nothing of
+their other soveraign qualities, as relaxing of the belly, being eaten
+in the morning, and curing inflamations and ulcers of the mouth and
+throat, mix'd with _Mel rosarum_, in which receipt they do best, being
+taken before they are over-ripe. I have{209:1} read, that in Syria they
+make bread of them; but that the eating of it makes men bald: As for
+drink, the juice of the berry mixed with cider-apples, makes an
+excellent liquor, both for colour and taste.
+
+10. To proceed with the leaf (for which they are chiefly cherish'd) the
+benefit of it is so great, that they are frequently let to farm for vast
+sums; so as some one sole tree has yielded the proprietor a rent of
+twenty shillings _per annum_, for the leaves only; and six or seven
+pounds of silk, worth as many pounds sterling, in five or six weeks, to
+those who keep the worms. We know that till after Italy had made silk
+above a thousand years, (and where the tree it self was not a stranger,
+none of the ancients writing any thing concerning it) they receiv'd it
+not in France; it being hardly yet an hundred, since they betook
+themselves to this manufacture in Provence, Languedoc, Dauphine,
+Lionnois, &c. and not in Tourain and Orleans, till Hen. the Fourth's
+time; but it is incredible what a revenue it now amounts to in that
+kingdom. About the same time, or a little after, it was that King James
+did with extraordinary care recommend it to this nation, by a book of
+directions, acts of council, and all other princely assistance. But this
+did not take, no more than that of Hen. the Fourth's proposal about the
+environs of Paris, who filled the high-ways, parks, and gardens of
+France with the trees, beginning in his own gardens for encouragement:
+Yet, I say, this would not be brought into example, till this present
+great monarch, by the indefatigable diligence of _Monsieur_ Colbert
+(Superintendent of His Majesty's Manufactures) who has so successfully
+reviv'd it, that 'tis prodigious to consider what an happy progress they
+have made in it; to our shame be it spoken, who have no other
+discouragements from any insuperable difficulty whatever, but our sloth,
+and want of industry; since wherever these trees will grow and prosper,
+the silk-worms will do so also; and they were alike averse, and from the
+very same suggestions, where now that manufacture flourishes in our
+neighbour countries. It is demonstrable, that mulberries in four or five
+years may be made to spread all over this land; and when the indigent,
+and young daughters in proud families are as willing to gain three or
+four shillings a day for gathering silk, and busying themselves in this
+sweet and easie employment, as some do to get four pence a day for hard
+work at hemp, flax, and wooll; the reputation of mulberries will spread
+in England and other plantations. I might say something like this of
+saffron, which we yet too much neglect the culture of; but, which for
+all this I do not despair of seeing reassum'd, when that good genius
+returns. In order to this hopeful prognostick, we will add a few
+directions about gathering of their leaves, to render this chapter one
+of the most accomplish'd, for certainly one of the most accomplish'd and
+agreeable works in the world.
+
+11. The leaves of the mulberry should be collected from trees of seven
+or eight years old; if of such as are very young, it impairs their
+growth, neither are they so healthful for the worms, making them
+hydropical, and apt to burst: As do also the leaves of such trees as be
+planted in a too waterish, or over-rich soil, or where no sun comes, and
+all sick, and yellow leaves are hurtful. It is better to clip, and let
+the leaves fall upon a subtended sheet or blanket, than to gather them
+by hand: and to gather them, than to strip them, which marrs and gauls
+the branches, and bruises the leaves that should hardly be touched. Some
+there are who lop off the boughs, and make it their pruning, and it is a
+tolerable way, so it be discreetly done in the over-thick parts of the
+tree; but these leaves gather'd from a separated branch, will die, and
+wither much sooner than those which are taken from the tree immediately,
+unless you set the stem in water. Leaves gathered from boughs cut off,
+will shrink in three hours; whereas those you take from the living tree,
+will last as many days; and being thus a while kept, are better than
+over-fresh ones. It is a rule, never to gather in a rainy season, nor
+cut any branch whilst the wet is upon it; and therefore against such
+suspected times, you are to provide before-hand, and to reserve them in
+some fresh, but dry place: The same caution you must observe for the
+dew, tho' it do not rain, for wet food kills the worms. But if this
+cannot be altogether prevented, put the leaves between a pair of sheets
+well dried by the fire, and shake them up and down 'till the moisture be
+drunk up in the linnen, and then spreading them to the air a little, on
+another dry cloth, you may feed with them boldly. The top-leaves and
+oldest, would be gathered last of all, as being most proper to repast
+the worms with, towards their last change. The gatherer must be neat,
+and have his hands clean, and his breath sweet, and not poison'd with
+onions, or tabacco, and be careful not to press the leaves, by crouding
+them into the bags or baskets. Lastly, that they gather only (unless in
+case of necessity) leaves from the present, not from the former years
+sprigs, or old wood, which are not only rude and harsh, but are annex'd
+to stubb'd stalks, which injure the worms, and spoil the denudated
+branches. One note more let me add, that in first hatching the eggs
+disclosing (as sometimes) earlier than there is provision for them on
+the tree, the tender leaves of lettuce, dandelion or endive may supply,
+so they feed not on them too long, or overmuch, which gives them the
+lask.
+
+12. This is what I thought fit to premonish concerning the gathering of
+the leaves of this tree for silk-worms, as I find it in _Monsieur_
+Isnard's _Instructions_, and that exact discourse of his, published some
+years since, and dedicated to _Monsieur_ Colbert, (who has, it seems,
+constituted this industrious and experienc'd person, surveyor of this
+princely manufacture about Paris) and because the book it self is rare,
+and known by very few. I have no more to add, but this for our
+encouragement, and to encounter the objections which may be suggested
+about the coldness and moisture of our country; that the Spring is in
+Provence no less inconstant than is ours in England; that the colds at
+Paris are altogether as sharp; and that when in May it has continued
+raining for nine and twenty days successively, _Monsieur_ Isnard assures
+us, he proceeded in his work without the least disaster; and in the year
+1664, he presented the French King his Master, with a considerable
+quantity of better silks, than any Messina or Bononia could produce,
+which he sold raw at Lions, for a pistol the pound; when that of
+Avignon, Provence, and Dauphine produc'd little above half that price.
+But you are to receive the compleat history of the silk-worm, from that
+incomparable treatise, which the learned Malpighius has lately sent out
+of Italy, and dedicated to the Royal Society, as a specimen and noble
+effect of its universal correspondence, and concernments for the
+improvement of useful knowledge. To this I add that beneficial passage
+of the learned Dr. Beale, communicated in the 12th. vol. _Philos.
+Transactions_, n. 133. p. 816, where we find recommended the promotion
+of this tree in England, from its success in several Northern Counties,
+and even in the moist places of Ireland: He shews how it may be improv'd
+by graffing on the fig; or the larger black mulberry, on that of the
+smallest kind: Also of what request the _Diamoron_, or _Guidenie_ made
+of the juice of this fruit, was with the Ancients, with other excellent
+observations: What other incomparable remedies the fruit of this tree
+affords, see Plin. _Nat. Hist._ lib. 23. cap. 7. There is a
+mulberry-tree brought from Virginia not to be contemn'd; upon which they
+find silk-worms, which would exceed the silk of Persia it self, if the
+planters of nauseous tabacco did not hinder the culture. Sir Jo. Berkley
+(who was many years Governor of that ample Colony) told me, he presented
+the King (Char. II.) with as much of silk made there, as made his
+Majesty a compleat suit of apparel. Lastly, let it not seem altogether
+impertinent, if I add one premonition to those less experienc'd
+gardners, who frequently expose their orange, and like tender-furniture
+trees of the green-house too early: That the first leaves putting forth
+of this wise tree, (_sapientissima_, as{213:1} Pliny calls it) is a more
+infallible note when those delicate plants may be safely brought out to
+the air, than by any other prognostick or indication. For other species,
+_vid._ _Raii Dendro._ p. 12.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{209:1} Andr. Medicus apud Athenaeum, _Deipnos._ lib. 3 cap. 29.
+
+{213:1} _A mora, ob tarditatem._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+_Of the Platanus, Lotus, Cornus, Acacia_, &c.
+
+
+1. _Platanus_, that so beautiful and precious tree, anciently sacred
+to{214:1} Helena, (and with which she crown'd the _Lar_, and _Genius_ of
+the place) was so doated on by Xerxes, that AElian and other authors tell
+us, he made halt, and stopp'd his prodigious army of seventeen hundred
+thousand soldiers, which even cover'd the sea, exhausted rivers, and
+thrust mount Athos from the Continent, to admire the pulcritude and
+procerity of one of these goodly trees; and became so fond of it, that
+spoiling both himself, his concubines, and great persons of all their
+jewels, he cover'd it with gold, gems, neck-laces, scarfs and bracelets,
+and infinite riches: In sum, was so enamour'd of it, that for some days,
+neither the concernment of his Grand Expedition, nor interest of honour,
+nor the necessary motion of his portentous army, could perswade him from
+it: He styl'd it his mistress, his minion, his Goddess; and when he was
+forc'd to part from it, he caus'd the figure of it to be stamp'd in a
+medal of gold, which he continually wore about him. Where-ever they
+built their sumptuous and magnificent colleges for the exercise of youth
+in gymnastics, as riding, shooting, wrestling, running, &c. (like to our
+French Academies) and where the graver philosophers also met to converse
+together, and improve their studies, betwixt the Xista, and _subdiales
+ambulationes_ (which were portico's open to the air) they planted
+groves and walks of platans, to refresh and shade the _Palaestritae_; as
+you have them describ'd by Vitruvius, lib. 5. cap. 11. and as Claudius
+Perrault has assisted the text, with a figure, or ichnographical plot.
+These trees{215:1} the Romans first brought out of the Levant, and
+cultivated with so much industry and cost, for their stately and proud
+heads only, that great orators and states-men, Cicero and Hortensius,
+would exchange now and then a turn at the bar, that they might have the
+pleasure to step to their villas, and refresh their platans, which they
+would often irrigate with wine instead of water; _crevit & affuso
+laetior umbra mero_: when Hortensius taught trees to tipple wine; and so
+priz'd the very shadow of it, that when afterwards they transplanted
+them into France, they exacted a{215:2} _solarium_ and tribute of any of
+the natives, who should presume but to put his head under it. But
+whether for any virtue extraordinary in the shade, or other propitious
+influence issuing from them, a worthy Knight, who stay'd at Ispahan in
+Persia, when that famous city was infected with a raging pestilence,
+told me, that since they have planted a greater number of these noble
+trees about it, the plague has not come nigh their dwellings. Pliny
+affirms, there is no tree whatsoever which so well defends us from the
+heat of the sun in Summer, nor that admits it more kindly in Winter. And
+for our encouragement, I do upon experience assure you, that they will
+flourish and abide with us, without any more trouble than frequent and
+plentiful watering, which from their youth they excessively delight in,
+and gratefully acknowledge by their growth accordingly; so as I am
+perswaded, that with very ordinary industry, they might be propagated to
+the incredible ornament of the walks and avenues to great-mens houses.
+The introduction of this true plane among us, is, perhaps due to the
+great Lord Chancellor Bacon, who planted those (still flourishing ones)
+at Verulam; as to mine, to that honourable gentleman, the late Sir
+George Crook of Oxfordshire, from whose bounty I received an hopeful
+plant now growing in my villa: Nor methinks should it be so great a
+rarity, (if it be true) that being brought from Sicily, it was planted
+as near us as the Morini.
+
+3. There was lately at Basil in Switzerland, an ancient goodly
+_Platanetum_, and now in France they are come again in vogue: I know it
+was anciently accounted +akarpos+; but they may with us be rais'd of
+their seeds with care, in a moist soil, as here I have known them. But
+the reason of our little success, is, that we very rarely have them sent
+us ripe; which should be gather'd late in Autumn, and brought us from
+some more Levantine parts than Italy. They come also of layers
+abundantly, affecting a fresh and feeding ground; for so they plant them
+about their rivulets and fountains. The West-Indian plane is not
+altogether so rare, but it rises to a goodly tree, and bears a very
+ample and less jagged leaf: That the Turks use their _platanus_ for the
+building of ships, I learn out of Ricciolus _Hydrog._ l. 10. c. 37. and
+out of Pliny, canoos and vessels for the sea have been excavated out of
+their prodigious trunks.
+
+4. The same opinion have I of the noble _lotus arbor_ (another lover of
+the water) which in Italy yields both an admirable shade, and timber
+immortal, growing to a vast tree, where they come spontaneously; but
+its fruit seems not so tempting as it is storied it was to the
+companions of Ulysses: The first who brought the lotus out of Virginia,
+was the late industrious Tradescant. Of this wood are made pipes, and
+wind-instruments, and of its root, hafts for knives and other tools, &c.
+The offer of Crassus to Domitius for half a dozen of these trees,
+growing about an house of his in Rome, testifies in what esteem they
+were had for their incomparable beauty and use.
+
+The cornell tree, though not mention'd by Pliny for its timber, is
+exceedingly commended for its durableness, and use in wheelwork, pinns
+and wedges, in which it lasts like the hardest iron; and it will grow
+with us to good bulk and stature; and the preserv'd and pickl'd berries,
+(or cherries rather) are most refreshing, an excellent condiment, and do
+also well in tarts. But that is very old, which Mathiolus affirms upon
+his own experience, that one who has been bitten of a mad-dog, if in a
+year after he handle the wood of this tree till it grow warm, relapses
+again into his former distemper.
+
+The same reported of the _cornus femina_, or wild cornel; which is like
+the former for compactedness, and made use of for cart-timber, and other
+rustick instruments; besides, for the best of butchers skewers,
+tooth-pickers, and in some countries abroad they decoct the berries,
+which press'd, yield an oyl for the lamp.
+
+Lastly, the acacia, and that of Virginian, deserves a place among our
+avenue trees, (could they be made to grow upright) adorning our walks
+with their exotic leaf, and sweet flowers; very hardy against the
+pinching Winter, but not so proof against its blustring winds; though it
+be arm'd with thorns: nor do the roots take such hold of the ground,
+insinuating, and running more like liquorish, and apt to emaciate the
+soil; I will not therefore commend it for gardens, unless for the
+variety; of which there are several, some without thorns: They love to
+be planted in moist ground.
+
+One thing more there is, which (for the use and benefit which these and
+the like exotics afford us) I would take hold of, as upon all occasions
+I do in this work: Namely, to encourage all imaginary industry of such
+as travel foreign countries, and especially gentlemen who have concerns
+in our American plantations, to promote the culture of such plants and
+trees (especially timber) as may yet add to those we find already
+agreeable to our climat in England. What we have said of the mulberry,
+and the vast emolument rais'd by the very leaves, as well as wood of
+that only tree (beside those we now have mention'd, strangers till of
+late, and believ'd incicurable here,) were sufficient to excite and stir
+up our utmost industry. History tells us, the noble and fruitful
+countrey of France, was heretofore thought so steril and barren, that
+nothing almost prospering in it, the inhabitants were quite deserting
+it, and with their wives and children going to seek some other more
+propitious abodes; till some of them hapning to come into Italy, and
+tasting the juice of the delicious grape, the rest of their countreymen
+took arms, and invaded the territories where those vines grew; which
+they transplanted into _Gallia_, and have so infinitely improv'd since,
+that France alone yields more of that generous liquor, than not only
+Italy and Greece, but all Europe and Asia beside: Who almost would
+believe that the austere Rhenish, abounding on the fertile banks of the
+Rhine should produce so soft and charming a liquor, as does the same
+vine, planted among the rocks and pumices of the so remote and
+mountainous Canaries?
+
+This for the encouragement and honour of those who improve their
+countries with things of use and general benefit: Now in the mean time,
+how have I beheld a florist, or meaner gardener transported at the
+casual discovery of a new little spot, double leaf, streak or dash
+extraordinary in a tulip, anemony, carnation, auricula, or amaranth!
+cherishing and calling it by their own names, raising the price of a
+single bulb, to an enormous sum; till a law in Holland was made to check
+that tulipa-mania: The florist in the mean time priding himself as if he
+had found the elixir, or perform'd some notable atchievement, and
+discover'd a new countrey.
+
+This for the defects, (for such those variegations produc'd by practice,
+or mixture, mangonisms and starving the root, are by chance met with now
+and then) of a fading flower: How much more honour then were due in
+justice to those persons, who bring in things of much real benefit to
+their countrey? especially trees for fruit and timber; the oak alone
+(besides the shelter it afforded to our late Sovereign Charles the II^d)
+having so often sav'd and protected the whole nation from invasion, and
+brought it in so much wealth from foreign countries. I have been told,
+there was an intention to have instituted an Order of the Royal-Oak; and
+truly I should think it to become a green-ribbon (next to that of St.
+George) superior to any of the romantick badges, to which abroad is paid
+such veneration, deservedly to be worn by such as have signaliz'd
+themselves by their conduct and courage; for the defence and
+preservation of their countrey. Bespeaking my reader's pardon for this
+digression, we proceed in the next to other useful exoticks.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{214:1} Euripides _epithai_.
+
+{215:1} Macrob. _saturnal._ 3. c. 11.
+
+{215:2} Solarium quod pro folo pendetur, as the pandects name the tax
+paid for the shades that bear no fruit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+_Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree, Larsh, and Subterranean trees._
+
+
+1. _Abies_, _picea_, _pinus_, _pinaster_, larsh, &c. are all of them
+easily rais'd of the kernels and nuts, which may be gotten out of their
+polysperm and turbinate cones, clogs, and squams, by exposing them to
+the sun, or a little before the fire, or in warm-water, till they begin
+to gape, and are ready to deliver themselves of their numerous burthens.
+
+2. There are of the fir two principal species; the _picea_, or male,
+which is the bigger tree; very beautiful and aspiring, and of an harder
+wood, and hirsute leaf: And the silver-fir, or female. I begin with the
+first: The boughs whereof are flexible and bending; the cones dependent,
+long and smooth, growing from the top of the branch; and where gaping,
+yet retain the seeds in their receptacles, when fresh gather'd, giving a
+grateful fragrancy of the rosin: The fruit is ripe in September. But
+after all, for a perfecter account of the true and genuine fir-tree,
+(waving the distinction of _sapinum_, from _sapinus_, _litera sed una_
+differing, as of another kind) is a noble upright tree from the ground,
+smooth and even, to the eruption of the branches; as is that they call
+the _sapinum_, and thence tapering to the summit of the _fusterna_: The
+arms and branches (with yew-like leaves) grow from the stem opposite to
+one another, _seriatim_ to the top, (as do all cone-bearers) discovering
+their age; which in time, with their weight, bend them from their
+natural tendency, which is upright, especially toward the top of aged
+trees, where the leaf is flattish, and not so regular: The cone great
+and hard, pyramidal and full of winged-seeds.
+
+The silver-fir, of a whitish colour, like rosemary under the leaf, is
+distinguished from the rest, by the pectinal shape of it: The cones not
+so large as the _picea_, grow also upright, and this they call the
+female: For I find botanists not unanimously agreed about the sexes of
+trees. The layers, and even cuttings of this tree, take root, and
+improve to trees, tho' more naturally by its winged-seeds: But the
+masculine _picea_ will endure no amputation; nor is comparable to the
+silver-fir for beauty, and so fit to adorn walks and avenues; tho' the
+other also be a very stately plant; yet with this infirmity, that tho'
+it remain always green, it sheds the old leaves more visibly, and not
+seldom breaks down its ponderous branches: Besides, the timber is
+nothing so white; tho' yet even that colour be not always the best
+character: That which comes from Bergin, Swinsound, Mott, Longland,
+Dranton, &c. (which experienc'd work-men call the dram) being long,
+strait and clear, and of a yellow more cedry colour, is esteemed much
+before the white for flooring and wainscot, for masts, &c. those of
+Prussia, which we call spruce, and Norway (especially from Gottenberg)
+and about Riga, are the best; unless we had more commerce of them from
+our Plantations in New England, which are preferable to any of them;
+there lying rotting at present at Pascataway, a mast of such prodigious
+dimensions, as no body will adventure to ship, and bring away. All these
+bear their seeds in conick figures, and squamons, after an admirable
+manner and closeness, to protect their winged-seeds.
+
+The hemlock-tree (as they call it in New-England) is a kind of spruce:
+In the Scottish Highlands are trees of wonderful altitude (though not
+altogether so tall, thick, and fine as the former) which grow upon
+places so unaccessible, and far from the sea, that (as one says) they
+seem to be planted by God on purpose for nurseries of seed, and monitors
+to our industry, reserved with other blessings, to be discover'd in our
+days amongst the new-invented improvements of husbandry, not known to
+our southern people of this nation, &c. Did we consider the pains they
+take to bring them out of the Alps, we should less stick at the
+difficulty of transporting them from the utmost parts of Scotland. To
+the former sorts we may add the Esterund firs, Tonsberry,
+Frederick-stad, Hellerone, Holmstrand, Landifer, Stavenger, Lawrwat, &c.
+There is likewise a kind of fir, call'd in Dutch the green-boome, much
+us'd in building of ships, though not for men of war, because of its
+lightness, and that it is not so strong as oak; but yet proper enough
+for vessels of great burden, and which stand much out of the water: This
+sort comes into Holland from Norway, and other Eastland countries; It is
+somewhat heavier yet than fir, and stronger, nor do either of them bend
+sufficiently: As to the seeds, they may be sown in beds or cases at any
+time, during March; and when they peep, carefully defended with furzes,
+or the like fence, from the rapacious birds, which are very apt to pull
+them up, by taking hold of that little infecund part of the seed, which
+they commonly bear upon their tops: The beds wherein you sow them had
+need be shelter'd from the southern aspects, with some skreen of reed,
+or thick hedge: Sow them in shallow rills, not above half-inch-deep, and
+cover them with fine light mould: Being risen a finger in height,
+establish their weak stalks, by sifting some more earth about them;
+especially the pines, which being more top-heavy, are more apt to swag.
+When they are of two or three years growth, you may transplant them
+where you please; and when they have gotten good root, they will make
+prodigious shoots, but not for the three or four first years
+comparatively. They will grow both in moist and barren gravel, and poor
+ground, so it be not over-sandy and light, and want a loamy ligature;
+but before sowing (I mean here for large designs) turn it up a foot
+deep, sowing, or setting your seeds an hand distance, and riddle earth
+upon them: In five or six weeks they will peep. When you transplant,
+water them well before, and cut the clod out about the root, as you do
+melons out of the hot-bed, which knead close to them like an egg: Thus
+they may be sent safely many miles, but the top must neither be bruised,
+nor much less cut, which would dwarf it for ever: One kind also will
+take of slips or layers, interr'd about the latter end of August, and
+kept moist.
+
+3. The best time to transplant, were in the beginning of April; they
+would thrive mainly in a stiff, hungry clay, or rather loam; but by no
+means in over-light, or rich soil: Fill the holes therefore with such
+barren earth, if your ground be improper of it self; and if the clay be
+too stiff, and untractable, with a little sand, removing with as much
+earth about the roots as is possible, though the fir will better endure
+a naked transplantation, than the pine: If you be necessitated to plant
+towards the latter end of Summer, lay a pretty deal of horse-litter upon
+the surface of the ground, to keep off the heat, and in Winter the cold;
+but let no dung touch either stem or root: You may likewise sow in such
+earth about February, they will make a shoot the very first year of an
+inch; next an handful, the third year three foot, and thence forward,
+above a yard annually. A Northern gentleman (who has oblig'd me with
+this process upon his great experience) assures me, that fir, and this
+_feralis arbor_, (as Virgil calls the pine) are abundantly planted in
+Northumberland, which are in few years grown to the magnitude of
+ship-masts; and from all has been said, deduces these encouragements. 1.
+The facility of their propagation. 2. The nature of their growth, which
+is to affect places where nothing else will thrive. 3. Their uniformity
+and beauty. 4. Their perpetual verdure. 5. Their sweetness. 6. Their
+fruitfulness; affording seed, gum, fuel, and timber of all other woods
+the most useful, and easy to work, &c. All which highly recommend it as
+an excellent improvement of husbandry, fit to be enjoyn'd by some solemn
+edict, to the inhabitants of this our island, that we may have masts,
+and those other materials of our own growth: In planting the silver
+_abies_, set not the roots too deep, it affects the surface more than
+the rest.
+
+4. The pine (of which are reckon'd no less than ten several sorts,
+preferring the domestic, or sative for the fuller growth) is likewise of
+both sexes, whereof the male growing lower, with a rounder shape, hath
+its wood more knotty and rude than the female; it's lank, longer, narrow
+and pointed; bears a black, thick, large cone, including the kernel
+within an hard shell, cover'd under a thick scale: The nuts of this tree
+(not much inferior to the almond) are used among other ingredients, in
+beatilla-pies, at the best tables. They would be gather'd in June,
+before they gape; yet having hung two years (for there will be always
+some ripe, and some green on the same tree) preserve them in their nuts,
+in sand, as you treat acorns, &c. 'till the season invite, and then set
+or sow them in ground which is cultivated like the fir, in most
+respects; only, you may bury the nuts a little deeper. By a friend of
+mine, they were rolled in a fine compost made of sheeps-dung, and
+scatter'd in February, and this way never fail'd fir and pine; they came
+to be above inch-high by May; and a Spanish author tells us, that to
+macerate them five days in a child's urine, and three days in water, is
+of wonderful effect: This were an expeditious process for great
+plantations; unless you would rather set the pine as they do pease, but
+at wider distances, that when there is occasion of removal, they might
+be taken up with the earth and all, I say, taken up, and not remov'd by
+evulsion; because they are (of all other trees) the most obnoxious to
+miscarry without this caution; and therefore it were much better (where
+the nuts might be commodiously set, and defended) never to remove them
+at all, it gives this tree so considerable a check. The safest course of
+all, were to set the nuts in an earthen-pot, and in frosty weather,
+shewing it a little to the fire, the intire clod will come out with
+them, which are to be reserved, and set in the naked earth, in
+convenient and fit holes prepar'd beforehand, or so soon as the thaw is
+universal: Some commend the strewing a few oats at the bottom of the
+fosses or pits in which you transplant the naked roots, for a great
+promotement of their taking, and that it will cause them to shoot more
+in one year than in three: But to this I have already spoken. Other
+kinds not so rigid, nor the bark, leaf, cone and nuts so large, are
+those call'd the mountain-pine, a very large stately tree: There is
+likewise the wild, or bastard-pine, and _tea_, clad with thin long
+leaves, and bearing a turbinated cone: Abundance of excellent rosin
+comes from this tree. There is also the _pinaster_, another of the
+wild-kind; but none of them exceeding the Spanish, call'd by us, the
+Scotch pine, for its tall and erect growth, proper for large and ample
+walks and avenues: Several of the other wild sorts, inclining to grow
+crooked. But for a more accurate description of these coniferous trees,
+and their perfect distinctions, consult our Mr. Ray's most elaborate and
+useful work, where all that can be expected or desir'd, concerning this
+profitable, as well as beautiful tree, is amply set down, _Hist. Plant._
+lib. 25. cap. I.
+
+5. I am assur'd (by a person most worthy of credit) that in the
+territory of Alzey (a country in Germany, where they were miserably
+distressed for wood, which they had so destroy'd as that they were
+reduc'd to make use of straw for their best fuel) a very large tract
+being newly plowed, (but the wars surprizing them, not suffer'd to sow,)
+there sprung up the next year a whole forest of pine-trees, of which
+sort of wood there was none at all, within less than fourscore miles; so
+as 'tis verily conjectur'd by some, they might be wafted thither from
+the country of Westrasia, which is the nearest part to that where they
+grow: If this be true, we are no more to wonder, how, when our
+oak-woods are grubb'd up, beech, and trees of other kinds, have
+frequently succeeded them: What some impetuous winds have done in this
+nature, I could produce instances almost miraculous: I shall say nothing
+of the opinion of our master Varro, and the learned{227:1} Theophrastus,
+who were both of a faith, that the seeds of plants drop'd out of the
+air. Pliny in his 16th. book, chap. 33. upon discourse of the Cretan
+cypress, attributes much to the _indoles_, and nature of the soil,
+virtue of the climate, and impressions of the air. And indeed it is very
+strange, what is affirm'd of that pitchy-rain, (reported to have fallen
+about Cyrene, the year 430. U. C.) after which, in a short time, sprung
+up a whole wood of the trees of _Laserpicium_, producing a precious gum,
+not much inferior to benzoin, if at least the story be warrantable: But
+of these aerial irradiations, various conceptions, and aequivocal
+productions without seed, &c. difficulties to be solv'd by our
+philosophers, whence those leaves of the platan come; which Dr. Spon
+tells us (in his _Travels_) are found floating in some of the fountains
+of the isles of the Strophades; no such tree growing near them by 30
+miles: But these may haply be convey'd thro' some unknown subterranean
+passage; for were it by the wind, it having a very large leaf, they
+would be been flying in, or falling out of the air.
+
+6. In transplanting of these coniferous trees, which are generally
+resinaceous, viz. fir, pine, larix, cedar, and which have but thin and
+single roots, you must never diminish their heads, nor be at all busie
+with their roots, which pierce deep, and is all their foundation, unless
+you find any of them bruised, or much broken; therefore such down-right
+roots as you may be forc'd to cut off, it were safe to sear with an hot
+iron, and prevent the danger of bleeding, to which they are obnoxious
+even to destruction, though unseen, and unheeded: Neither may you
+disbranch them, but with great caution, as about March, or before, or
+else in September, and then 'tis best to prune up the side-branches
+close to the trunk, cutting off all that are above a year old; if you
+suffer them too long, they grow too big, and the cicatrice will be more
+apt to spend the tree in gum; upon which accident, I advise you to rub
+over their wounds with a mixture of cow-dung; the neglect of this cost
+me dear, so apt are they to spend their gum. Indeed, the fir and pine
+seldom out-live their being lopp'd. Some advise us to break the shells
+of pines to facilitate their delivery, and I have essay'd, but to my
+loss; nature does obstetricate, and do that office of her self, when it
+is the proper season; neither does this preparation at all prevent those
+which are so buried, whilst their hard integuments protect them both
+from rotting, and the vermin.
+
+_Pinastes_, the domestic pine grows very well with us, both in mountains
+and plains; but the _pinaster_, or wilder (of which are four sorts) best
+for walks; _pulcherrima in hortis_, (as already we have said) because it
+grows tall and proud, maintaining their branches at the sides, which the
+other pine does less frequently. There is in New-England, a very broad
+pine, which increases to a wonderful bulk and magnitude, insomuch as
+large canoos have been excavated out of the body of it, without any
+addition. But beside these large and gigantick pines, there is the
+spinet, with sharp thick bristles, yielding a rosin or liquor odorous,
+and useful in carpentary-work.
+
+8. The fir grows tallest, being planted reasonable close together; but
+suffers nothing to thrive under them. The pine not so inhospitable; for
+(by Pliny's good leave) it may be sown with any tree, all things growing
+well under its shade, and excellent in woods; hence Claudian,
+
+    The friendly pine the mighty oak invites.{229:1}
+
+9. They both affect the cold, high, and rocky grounds, _abies in
+montibus altis_: Those yet which grow on the more southern, and less
+expos'd quarters, a little visited with the beams of the sun, are found
+to thrive beyond the other, and to afford better timber; and this was
+observed long since by Vitruvius of the _infernates_ (as he calls them)
+in comparison with the _supernates_, which growing on the Northern and
+shady side of the Appennines, were nothing so good, which he imputes to
+the want of due digestion. They thrive (as we said) in the most sterile
+places, yet will grow in better, but not in over-rich, and pinguid. The
+worst land in Wales bears (as I am told) large pine; and the fir
+according to his aspiring nature, loves also the mountain more than the
+valley; but +en tois paliskiois holos ou phuetai+, _it cannot endure the
+shade_, as Theophrastus observes, _de Pl._ l. 4. c. 1. But this is not
+rigidly true; for they will grow in consort, till they even shade and
+darken one another, and will also descend from the hills, and succeed
+very well, being desirous of plentiful waterings, till they arrive to
+some competent stature; and therefore they do not prosper so well in an
+over sandy and hungry soil, or gravel, as in the very entrails of the
+rocks, which afford more drink to the roots, that penetrate into their
+meanders, and winding recesses. But though they require this refreshing
+at first, yet do they perfectly abhor all stercoration; nor will they
+much endure to have the earth open'd about their roots for ablaqueation,
+or be disturb'd: This is also to be understood of cypress. A fir, for
+the first half dozen years, seems to stand, or at least make no
+considerable advance, but it is when throughly rooted, that it comes
+away miraculously. That honourable and learned knight Sir Norton
+Knatchbull, (whose delicious plantation of pines and firs I beheld with
+great satisfaction) having assur'd me, that a fir-tree of his raising,
+did shoot no less than sixty foot in height, in little more than twenty
+years; and what are extant at Sir Peter Wentworth's of Lillingston
+Lovel; Cornbury in Oxfordshire, and other places; but especially those
+trees growing now in Harefield Park in the county of Middlesex
+(belonging to Mr. Serjeant Nudigate) where there are two Spanish or
+silver firs, that at 2 years growth from the seed, being planted there
+_an._ 1603, are now become goodly masts: The biggest of them from the
+ground to the upper bough, is 81 feet, though forked on the top, which
+has not a little impeded its growth: The girt, or circumference below,
+is thirteen foot, and the length (so far as is timber, that is, to six
+inches square) 73 foot, in the middle 17 inches square, amounting by
+calculation to 146 foot of good timber: The other tree is indeed not
+altogether so large, by reason of its standing near the house when it
+was burnt (about 40 years since) when one side of the tree was scorched
+also; yet it has not only recover'd that scar, but thrives exceedingly,
+and is within eight or nine foot, as tall as the other, and would
+probably have been the better of the two, had not that impediment
+happen'd, it growing so taper, and erect, as nothing can be more
+beautiful: This I think (if we had no other) is a pregnant instance, as
+of the speedy growing of that material; so of all the encouragement I
+have already given for the more frequent cultivating this ornamental,
+useful, and profitable tree, abounding doubtless formerly in this
+countrey of ours, if what a grave and authentick author writes be true,
+Athenaeus relating, that the stupendious vessel, built so many ages since
+by Hiero, had its mast out of Britain. Take notice that none of these
+mountainous trees should be planted deep; but as shallow as may be for
+their competent support.
+
+The _picea_ (already describ'd) grows on the Alps among the pine, but
+neither so tall, nor so upright, but bends its branches a little, which
+have the leaf quite about them, short and thick, not so flat as the fir:
+The cones grow at the point of the branches, and are much longer than
+most other cones, containing a small darkish seed. This tree produces a
+gum almost as white and firm as frankincense: But it is the _larix_
+(another sort of pine) that yields the true Venetian turpentine; of
+which hereafter.
+
+10. There is also the _piceaster_, already mention'd, (a wilder sort)
+(the leaves stiff and narrow pointed, and not so close) out of which the
+greatest store of pitch is boil'd. The _taeda_ likewise, which is (as
+some think) another sort abounding in Dalmatia, more unctuous, and more
+patient of the warmer situations, and so inflammable, that it will slit
+into candles; and therefore some will by no means admit it to be of a
+different species, but a metamorphosis of over-grown fattiness, to which
+the most judicious incline. But of these, the Grand Canaries (and all
+about the mountains near Tenariff) are full, where the inhabitants do
+usually build their houses with the timber of the pitch-tree: They cut
+it also into wainscot, in which it succeeds marvellously well; abating
+that it is so obnoxious to firing, that whenever a house is attacqu'd,
+they make all imaginable hast out of the conflagration, and almost
+despair of extinguishing it: They there also use it for candle-wood, and
+to travel in the night by the light of it, as we do by links and
+torches: Nor do they make these _teas_ (as the Spaniards call them) of
+the wood of pine alone, but of other trees, as of oak and hasel, which
+they cleave and hack, and then dry in the oven, or chimny, but have
+certainly some unctuous and inflammable matter, in which they afterwards
+dip it; but thus they do in Biscay, as I am credibly inform'd.
+
+11. The bodies of these being cut, or burnt down to the ground, will
+emit frequent suckers from the roots; but so will neither the pine nor
+fir, nor indeed care to be topped: But the fir may be propagated of
+layers, and cuttings, which I divulge as a considerable secret that has
+been essay'd with success.
+
+12. That all these, especially the fir and pine will prosper well with
+us, is more than probable, because it is a kind of demonstration, that
+they did heretofore grow plentifully in Cumberland, Cheshire, Stafford,
+and Lancashire, if the multitudes of these trees to this day found
+entire, and buried under the earth, though suppos'd to have been
+o'rethrown and cover'd so ever since the universal Deluge, be indeed of
+this species: Dr. Plot speaks of a fir-tree in Staffordshire, of 150
+foot high, which some think of spontaneous growth; besides several more
+so irregularly standing, as shews them to be natives: But to put this
+at last out of controversie, see the extract of Mr. de la Prim's letter
+to the Royal Society, _Transact._ n. 277, and the old map of Crout, and
+of the yet (or lately) remaining firs, growing about Hatfield in the
+commons, flourishing from the shrubs and stubs of those trees, to which
+I refer the reader. As for buried trees of this sort, the late Dr.
+Merrett, in his _Pinax_, mentions several places of this nation, where
+subterraneous-trees are found; as namely, in Cornwal, _ad finem terrae,
+in agris Flints_; in Penbroke-shire towards the shore, where they so
+abound, _ut totum littus_ (says the Doctor) _tanquam silva caedua
+apparet_; in Cheshire also (as we said) Cumberland and Anglesey, and
+several of our Euro-boreal tracts, and are called Noah's-ark. By
+Chatnesse in Lancashire (says Camden) the low mossie ground was no very
+long time since, carried away by an impetuous flood, and in that place
+now lies a low irriguous vale, where many prostrate trees have been
+digged out: And from another I receive, that in the moors of
+Somersetshire (towards Bridgwater) some lengths of pasture growing much
+withered, and parched more than other places of the same ground, in a
+great drowth, it was observ'd to bear the length and shape (in gross) of
+trees; they digg'd, and found in the spot oaks, as black as ebony, and
+have been from hence instructed, to take up many hundreds of the same
+kind: In a fenny tract of the Isles of Axholme, (lying part in
+Lincolnshire, and part in Yorkshire) have been found oaks five yards in
+compass, and fifteen in length, some of them erect, and standing as they
+grew; in firm earth below the moors, with abundance of fir, which lie
+more stooping than the oak; some being 36 yards long, besides the tops:
+And so great is the store of these subterraneans, as the inhabitants
+have for divers years carried away above 2000 cart-loads yearly: See
+Dugdal's _History of Draining_. This might be of good use for the like
+detections in Essex, Lincolnshire, and places either low situate, or
+adjacent to the sea; also at Binfield Heath in Kent, &c. These trees
+were (some think) carried away in times past, by some accident of
+inundation, or by waters undermining the ground, till their own weight,
+and the winds bow'd them down, and overwhelm'd them in the mud: For 'tis
+observ'd, that these trees are no where found so frequently, as in boggy
+places; but that the burning of these trees so very bright, should be an
+argument they were fir, is not necessary, since the bituminous quality
+of such earth, may have imparted it to them; and Camden denies them to
+be fir-trees; suggesting the query; whether there may not possibly grow
+trees even under the ground, as well as other things? Theophrastus
+indeed, l. iv. c. 8. speaks of whole woods; bays and olives, bearing
+fruit; and that of some oaks bearing acorns, and those even under the
+sea; which was so full of plants and other trees, as ('tis said)
+Alexander's forces sailing to the Indies, were much hindred by them.
+There are in Cumberland, on the sea-shore, trees sometimes discover'd at
+low-water, and at other times that lie buried in the sand; and in other
+mossie places of that county, 'tis reported, the people frequently dig
+up the bodies of vast trees without boughs, and that by direction of the
+dew alone in Summer; for they observe it never lies upon that part under
+which those trees are interr'd. These particulars I find noted by the
+ingenious author of the _Britannia Baconica_. How vast a forest, and
+what goodly trees were once standing in Holland, and those
+Low-countries, till about the year 860, that an hurricane obstructing
+the mouth of the Rhine near Catwic, made that horrid devastation, good
+authors mention; and they do this day find monstrous bodies and
+branches, (nay with the very nuts, most intire) of prostrate and buried
+trees, in the Veene, especially towards the south, and at the bottom of
+the waters: Also near Bruges in Flanders, whole woods have been found
+twenty ells deep, in which the trunks, boughs, and leaves do so exactly
+appear, as to distinguish their several species, with the series of
+their leaves yearly falling; of which see Boetius de Boot.
+
+Dr. Plot in his _Nat. Hist._ of _Oxford_ and _Staffordshires_ mentions
+divers subterraneous oaks, black as ebony, and of mineral substance for
+hardness; (see cap. 3. oak) quite through the whole substance of the
+timber, caus'd (as he supposes, and learnedly evinces) by a vitriolic
+humour of the earth; of affinity to the nature of the ink-galls, which
+that kind of tree produces: Of these he speaks of some found sunk under
+the ground, in an upright and growing posture, to the perpendicular
+depth of sixty foot; of which one was three foot diameter, of an
+hardness emulating the politest ebony: But these trees had none of them
+their roots, but were found plainly to have been cut off by the kerf:
+There were great store of hasel-nuts, whose shells were as sound as
+ever, but no kernel within. It is there the inquisitive author gives you
+his conjecture, how these deep interments happen'd; namely, by our
+ancesters (many ages since) clearing the ground for tillage, and when
+wood was not worth converting to other uses, digging trenches by the
+sides of many trees, in which they buried some; and others they slung
+into quagmires, and lakes to make room for more profitable agriculture:
+But I refer you to the chapter. In the mean time, concerning this
+mossie-wood (as they usually term it, because, for the most part, dug-up
+in mossie and moory-bogs where they cut for turff) it is highly probable
+(with the learned Mr. Ray) that these places were many ages since, part
+of firm-land covered with wood, afterwards undermined, and overwhelmed
+by the violence of the sea, and so continuing submerg'd, till the rivers
+brought down earth, and mud enough to cover the trees, filling up the
+shallows, and restoring them to the _terra-firma_ again, which he
+illustrates from the like accident upon the coast of Suffolk, about
+Dunwich, where the sea does at this day, and hath for many years past,
+much incroach'd upon the land, undermining, and subverting by degrees, a
+great deal of high-ground; so as by ancient writings it appears, a whole
+wood of more than a mile and half, at present is so far within the sea:
+Now if in succeeding ages (as probable it is enough) the sea shall by
+degrees be fill'd up, either by its own working, or by earth brought
+down by land-floods, still subsiding to the bottom, and surmounting the
+tops of these trees, and so the space again added to the firm-land; the
+men that shall then live in those parts, will, it's likely, dig-up these
+trees, and as much wonder how they came there, as we do at present those
+we have been speaking of.
+
+In the mean time, to put an end to the various conjectures, concerning
+the causes of so many trees being found submerg'd, for the most part
+attributed to the destruction made by the Noatick inundation; after all
+has been said of what was found in the level of Hatfield, (drain'd at
+the never to be forgotten charge and industry of Sir Cornelius
+Vermuiden) I think there will need no more enquiry: For there was
+discover'd trees not only of fir and pitch, but of very goodly oaks,
+even to the length of 100 foot, which were sold at 15 l. the tree,
+black and hard as ebony; all their roots remaining in the soil, and
+their natural posture, with their bodies prostrate by them, pointing for
+the most part north-east: And of such there seem'd to be millions, of
+all the usual species natural to this countrey, sound and firm ash only
+excepted, which were become so rotten, and soft, as to be frequently cut
+through with the spade only; whereas willows and other tender woods,
+continu'd very sound and entire: Many of these subterranean trees of all
+sorts, were found to have been cut and burnt down, squar'd and converted
+for several uses, into boards, bales, stakes, piles, barrs, &c. some
+trees half riven, with the wedges sticking in them; broken axe-heads in
+shape of sacrificing instruments, and frequently several coins of the
+emperor Vespasian, &c. There was among others, one prodigious oak of 120
+foot in length, and 12 in diameter, 10 foot in the middle, and 6 at the
+small end; so as by computation, this monster must have been a great
+deal longer, and for this tree was offered 20 l. The truth and history
+of all this is so perfectly describ'd by Mr. Alan. de la Pryme (inserted
+among the _Transactions_ of the R. Society) that there needs no more to
+be said of it to evince, that not only here, but in other places, where
+such trees are found in the like circumstances, that it has been the
+work and effects of vast armies of the Romans, when finding they could
+not with all their force subdue the barbarous inhabitants, by reason of
+their continual issuing out of those intricate fortresses and
+impediments, they caused whole forests to be cut down by their legions
+and soldiers, whom they never suffer'd to remain idle during their
+Winter quarters, but were continually exercis'd in such publick and
+useful works, as required multitude of hands; by which discipline they
+became hardy, active, and less at leisure to mutiny or corrupt one
+another: I do not affirm that this answers all submerg'd trees, but of
+very many imputed to other causes.
+
+But we shall enquire farther concerning these subterranean productions
+anon, and whether the earth, as well as the water, have not the virtue
+of strange transmutations: These trees are found in moors, by poking
+with staves of three or four foot length, shod with iron.
+
+13. In Scotland many submerged oaks are found near the river Neffe; and
+(as we noted) there is a most beautiful sort of fir, or rather pine,
+bearing small sharp cones, (some think it the Spanish _pinaster_)
+growing upon the mountains; of which, from the late Marquess of Argyle,
+I had sent me some seeds, which I have sown with tolerable success; and
+I prefer them before any other, because they grow both very erect, and
+fixing themselves stoutly, need little, or no support. Near Loughbrun,
+'twixt the Lough, and an hill, they grow in such quantity, that from the
+spontaneous fall, ruin and decay of the trees lying cross one another to
+a man's height, partly covered with mosse, and partly earth, and grass
+(which rots, fills up, and grows again) a considerable hill has in
+process of time been raised to almost their very tops, which being an
+accident of singular remark, I thought fit to mention. Both fir and
+pine (sociable trees) planted pretty near together (shread and clipt at
+proper seasons) make stately, noble, and very beautiful skreens and
+fences to protect orange, myrtile and other curious greens, from the
+scorching of the sun, and ruffling winds, preferrable to walls: See how
+to be planted and cultivated with the dimensions of a skreen, in the
+rules for the defence of gardens, annext to _de la Quintin_, num. xv. by
+Mr. London, and Mr. Wise. In the mean time, none of these sorts are to
+be mingled in taller woods or copp'ces, in which they starve one
+another, and lose their beauty. And now those who would see what
+Scotland produces (of innumerable trees of this kind) should consult the
+learned Sir Rob. Sibald.
+
+14. For the many, and almost universal use of these trees, both sea and
+land will plead,
+
+    The useful pine for ships..........{239:1}
+
+Hence Papinius 6. _Thebaid._ calls it _audax abies_. They make our best
+mast, sheathing, scaffold-poles, &c. heretofore the whole vessel; It is
+pretty (saith Pliny) to consider, that those trees which are so much
+sought after for shipping, should most delight in the highest of
+mountains, as if it fled from the sea on purpose, and were afraid to
+descend into the waters. With fir we likewise make all intestine works,
+as wainscot, floors, pales, balks, laths, boxes, bellies for all musical
+instruments in general, nay the ribs and sides of that enormous
+stratagem, the so famous Trojan{239:2} horse, may be thought to be
+built of this material, and if the poet mistake not,
+
+    ..........The ribs with deal they fit.{240:1}
+
+There being no material more obedient and ready to bend for such works.
+
+In Holland they receive their best mast out of Norway, and even as far
+as Moscovy, which are best esteemed, (as consisting of long fibers,
+without knots) but deal-boards from the first; and though fir rots
+quickly in salt-water, it does not so soon perish in fresh; nor do they
+yet refuse it in merchant-ships, especially the upper-parts of them,
+because of its lightness: The true pine was ever highly commended by the
+Ancients for naval architecture, as not so easily decaying; and we read
+that Trajan caused vessels to be built both of the true, and spurious
+kind, well pitch'd, and over-laid with lead, which perhaps might hint
+our modern sheathing with that metal at present. Fir is exceeding smooth
+to polish on, and therefore does well under gilding-work, and takes
+black equal with the pear-tree: Both fir, and especially pine, succeed
+well in carving, as for capitals, festoons, nay, statues, especially
+being gilded, because of the easiness of the grain, to work and take the
+tool every way; and he that shall examine it nearly, will find that
+famous image of the B. Virgin at Loretto, (reported to be carved by the
+hands of St. Luke) to be made of fir, as the grain easily discovers it:
+The _torulus_ (as Vitruvius terms it) and heart of deal, kept dry,
+rejecting the _albumen_ and white, is everlasting; nor does there any
+wood so well agree with the glew, as it, or is so easie to be wrought:
+It is also excellent for beams, and other timber-work in houses, being
+both light, and exceedingly strong, and therefore of very good use for
+bars, and bolts of doors, as well as for doors themselves, and for the
+beams of coaches, a board of an inch and half thick, will carry the body
+of a coach with great ease, by reason of a natural spring which it has,
+not easily violated. You shall find, that of old they made carts and
+other carriages of it; and for piles to superstruct on in boggy grounds;
+most of Venice, and Amsterdam is built upon them, with so excessive
+charge, as some report, the foundations of their houses cost as much, as
+what is erected on them; there being driven in no fewer than 13659 great
+masts of this timber, under the new Stadt-house of Amsterdam. For
+scaffolding also there is none comparable to it; and I am sure we find
+it an extraordinary saver of oak, where it may be had at reasonable
+price. I will not complain what an incredible mass of ready money, is
+yearly exported into the northern countries for this sole commodity,
+which might all be saved were we industrious at home, or could have them
+out of Virginia, there being no country in the whole world stor'd with
+better; besides, another sort of wood which they call cypress, much
+exceeding either fir or pine for this purpose; being as tough and
+springy as yew, and bending to admiration; it is also lighter than
+either, and everlasting in wet or dry; so as I much wonder, that we
+enquire no more after it: In a word, not only here and there an house,
+but whole towns, and great cities are, and have been built of fir only;
+nor that alone in the north, as Mosco, &c. where the very streets are
+pav'd with it, (the bodies of the trees lying prostrate one by one in
+manner of a raft) but the renowned city of Constantinople; and nearer
+home Tholose in France, was within little more than an hundred years,
+most of fir, which is now wholly marble and brick, after 800 houses had
+been burnt, as it often chances at Constantinople; but where no accident
+even of this devouring nature, will at all move them to re-edifie with
+more lasting materials. To conclude with the uses of fir, we have most
+of our pot-ashes of this wood, together with torch, or funebral-staves;
+nay, and of old, spears of it, if we may credit Virgil's Amazonian
+combat,
+
+    ................. She prest
+    A long fir-spear through his exposed breast.{242:1}
+
+Lastly, the very chips, or shavings of deal-boards, are of other use
+than to kindle fires alone: Thomas Bartholinus in his _Medicina Danorum
+Dissert._ 7, &c. where he disclaims the use of hops in beer, (as
+pernicious and malignant, and from several instances how apt it is to
+produce and usher in infections, nay, plagues, &c.) would substitute in
+its place, the shavings of deal-boards, as he affirms, to give a
+grateful odor to the drink; and how soveraign those resinous-woods, the
+tops of fir, and pines, are against the scorbut, gravel in the kidneys,
+&c. we generally find: It is in the same chapter, that he commends also
+wormwood, _marrubium_, _chamelaeagnum_, sage, tamarisc, and almost any
+thing, rather than hops. The bark of the pine heals ulcers; and the
+inner rind cut small, contus'd, and boil'd in store of water, is an
+excellent remedy for burns and scalds, washing the sore with the
+decoction, and applying the softned bark: It is also soveraign against
+frozen and benumb'd limbs: The distill'd water of the green cones takes
+away the wrinkles of the face, dipping cloaths therein, and laying them
+on it becomes a cosmetic not to be despis'd. The pine, or _picea_ buried
+in the earth never decay: From the latter transudes a very bright and
+pellucid gum; hence we have likewise rosin; also of the pine are made
+boxes and barrels for dry goods; yea, and it is cloven into (_scandulae_)
+shingles for the covering of houses in some places; also hoops for
+wine-vessels, especially of the easily flexible wild-pine; not to forget
+the kernels (this tree being always furnish'd with cones, some ripe,
+others green) of such admirable use in emulsions; and for tooth-pickers,
+even the very leaves are commended: In sum, they are plantations which
+exceedingly improve the air, by their odoriferous and balsamical
+emissions and, for ornament, create a perpetual Spring where they are
+plentifully propagated. And if it could be proved that the
+_almugim_-trees, recorded{243:1} 1 _Reg._ 11, 12. (whereof pillars for
+that famous temple, and the royal palace, harps, and psalteries, &c.
+were made) were of this sort of wood (as some doubt not to assert) we
+should esteem it at another rate; yet we know Josephus affirms they were
+a kind of pine-tree, though somewhat resembling the fig-tree wood to
+appearance, as of a most lustrous candor. In the 2 _Chron._ 2, 8. there
+is mention of almug-trees to grow in Lebanon; and if so, methinks it
+should rather be (as Buxtorf thinks) a kind of cedar; (yet we find fir
+also in the same period) for we have seen a whiter sort of it, even very
+white as well as red; though some affirm it to be but the sap of it (so
+our cabinet-makers call it) I say, there were both fir and pine-trees
+also growing upon those mountains, and the learned Meibomius, (in that
+curious treatise of his _De Fabrica Triremium_) shews that there were
+such trees brought out of India, or Ophir. In the mean time, Mr. Purchas
+informs us, that Dr. Dee writ a laborious treatise almost wholly of this
+subject, (but I could never have the good hap to see it) wherein, as
+commissioner for Solomon's timber, and like a learned architect and
+planter, he has summon'd a jury of twelve sorts of trees; namely, 1. the
+fir, 2. box, 3. cedar, 4. cypress, 5. ebony, 6. ash, 7. juniper, 8.
+larch, 9. olive, 10. pine, 11. oak, and 12. sandal-trees, to examine
+which of them were this _almugim_, and at last seems to concur with
+Josephus, in favour of pine or fir; who possibly, from some antient
+record, or fragment of the wood it self, might learn something of it;
+and 'tis believ'd, that it was some material both odoriferous to the
+scent, and beautiful to the eye, and of fittest temper to refract
+sounds; besides its serviceableness for building; all which properties
+are in the best sort of pine or _thyina_, as Pliny calls it; or perhaps
+some other rare wood, of which the Eastern Indies are doubtless the best
+provided; and yet I find, that those vast beams which sustain'd the roof
+of St. Peter's church at Rome, laid (as reported) by Constantine the
+Great, were made of the pitch-tree, and have lasted from _anno_ 336,
+down to our days, above 1300 years.
+
+13. But now whilst I am reciting the uses of these beneficial
+trees,{245:1} Mr. Winthorp presents the Royal Society with the process
+of making the tar and pitch in New-England, which we thus abbreviate.
+Tar is made out of that sort of pine-tree, from which naturally
+turpentine extilleth; and which at its first flowing out, is liquid and
+clear; but being hardned by the air, either on the tree, or where-ever
+it falls, is not much unlike the Burgundy pitch; and we call them
+pitch-pines out of which this gummy substance transudes: They grow upon
+the most barren plains, on rocks also, and hills rising amongst those
+plains, where several are found blown down, and have lain so many ages,
+as that the whole bodies, branches, and roots of the trees being
+perished, some certain knots only of the boughs have been left remaining
+intire, (these knots are that part where the bough is joyn'd to the body
+of the tree) lying at the same distance and posture, as they grew upon
+the tree for its whole length. The bodies of some of these trees are not
+corrupted through age, but quite consum'd, and reduc'd to ashes, by the
+annual burnings of the Indians, when they set their grounds on fire;
+which yet has, it seems, no power over these hard knots, beyond a black
+scorching; although being laid on heaps, they are apt enough to burn. It
+is of these knots they make their tar in New-England, and the country
+adjacent, whilst they are well impregnated with that terebinthine, and
+resinous matter, which like a balsom, preserves them so long from
+putrefaction. The rest of the tree does indeed contain the like
+terebinthine sap, as appears (upon any slight incision of bark on the
+stem, or boughs) by a small crystalline pearl which will sweat out; but
+this, for being more watery and undigested, by reason of the porosity of
+the wood, which exposes it to the impressions of the air and wet,
+renders the tree more obnoxious; especially, if it lie prostrate with
+the bark on, which is a receptacle for a certain intercutaneous worm,
+that accelerates its decay. They are the knots then alone, which the
+tar-makers amass in heaps, carrying them in carts to some convenient
+place not far off, where finding clay or loam fit for their turn, they
+lay an hearth of such ordinary stone as they have at hand: This, they
+build to such an height from the level of the ground, that a vessel may
+stand a little lower than the hearth, to receive the tar as it runs out:
+But first, the hearth is made wide, according to the quantity of knots
+to be set at once, and that with a very smooth floor of clay, yet
+somewhat descending, or dripping from the extream parts to the middle,
+and thence towards one of the sides, where a gullet is left for the tar
+to run out at. The hearth thus finish'd, they pile the knots one upon
+another, after the very same manner as our colliers do their wood for
+charcoal; and of a height proportionable to the breadth of the hearth;
+and then cover them over with a coat of loam, or clay, (which is best)
+or in defect of those, with the best and most tenacious earth the place
+will afford; leaving only a small spiracle at the top, whereat to put
+the fire in; and making some little holes round about at several
+heights, for the admission of so much air, as is requisite to keep it
+burning, and to regulate the fire, by opening and stopping them at
+pleasure. The process is almost the same with that of making charcoal,
+as will appear in due place; for, when it is well on fire, that middle
+hole is also stopp'd, and the rest of the registers so govern'd, as the
+knots may keep burning, and not be suffocated with too much smoak;
+whilst all being now through-heated, the tar runs down to the hearth,
+together with some of the more watry sap, which hasting from all parts
+towards the middle, is convey'd by the foremention'd gutter, into the
+barrel or vessel placed to receive it: Thus, the whole art of tar-making
+is no other, than a kind of rude distillation _per descensum_, and might
+therefore be as well done in furnaces of large capacity, were it worth
+the expence. When the tar is now all melted out, and run, they stop up
+all the vents very close; and afterwards find the knots made into
+excellent charcoal, preferr'd by the smiths before any other whatsoever,
+which is made of wood; and nothing so apt to burn out when their blast
+ceaseth; neither do they sparkle in the fire, as many other sorts of
+coal do; so as, in defect of sea-coal, they make choice of this, as best
+for their use, and give greater prices for it. Of these knots likewise
+do the planters split out small slivers, about the thickness of one's
+finger, or somewhat thinner, which serve them to burn instead of
+candles; giving a very good light. This they call candle-wood, and it is
+in much use both in New-England, Virginia, and amongst the Dutch
+planters in their villages; but for that it is something offensive, by
+reason of the much fuliginous smoak which comes from it, they commonly
+burn it in the chimney-corner, upon a flat stone or iron; except,
+occasionally, they carry a single stick in their hand, as there is need
+of light to go about the house. It must not be conceiv'd, by what we
+have mention'd in the former description of the knots, that they are
+only to be separated from the bodies of the trees by devouring time, or
+that they are the only materials, out of which tar can be extracted: For
+there are in these tracts, millions of trees which abound with the same
+sort of knots, and full of turpentine fit to make tar: But the labour of
+felling these trees, and of cutting out their knots, would far exceed
+the value of the tar; especially, in countries where work-men are so
+very dear: But those knots above-mention'd, are provided to hand,
+without any other labour, than the gathering only. There are sometimes
+found of those sort of pine-trees, the lowest part of whose stems
+towards the root is as full of turpentine, as the knots; and of these
+also may tar be made: But such trees being rarely found, are commonly
+preserved to split into candle-wood; because they will be easily riven
+out into any lengths, and scantlings desir'd, much better than the
+knots. There be, who pretend an art of as fully impregnating the body of
+any living pine-tree, for six or eight foot high; and some have reported
+that such an art is practis'd in Norway: But upon several experiments,
+by girdling the tree (as they call it) and cutting some of the bark
+round, and a little into the wood of the tree, six or eight foot distant
+from the ground, it has yet never succeeded; whether the just season of
+the year were not observ'd, or what else omitted, were worth the
+disquisition; if at least there be any such secret amongst the
+Norwegians, Swedes, or any other nation. Of tar, by boiling it to a
+sufficient height, is pitch made: And in some places where rosin is
+plentiful, a fit proportion of that, may be dissolv'd in the tar whilst
+it is boiling, and this mixture is soonest converted to pitch; but it is
+of somewhat a differing kind from that which is made of tar only,
+without other composition. There is a way which some ship-carpenters in
+those countries have us'd, to bring their tar into pitch for any sudden
+use; by making the tar so very hot in an iron-kettle, that it will
+easily take fire, which when blazing, and set in an airy place, they let
+burn so long, till, by taking out some small quantity for trial, being
+cold, it appears of a sufficient consistence: Then, by covering the
+kettle close, the fire is extinguish'd, and the pitch is made without
+more ceremony. There is a process of making rosin also, out of the same
+knots, by splitting them out into thin pieces, and then boiling them in
+water, which will educe all the resinous matter, and gather it into a
+body, which (when cold) will harden into pure rosin. It is moreover to
+be understood, that the fir, and most coniferous trees, yield the same
+concretes, _lachrymae_, turpentines, and there is a fir which exstills a
+gum not unlike the balm of Gilead, and a sort of _tus_; rosins, hard,
+naval stone, liquid pitch, and tar for remedies against the cough,
+arthritic and pulmonic affections; are well known, and the chyrurgion
+uses them in plaisters also; and in a word, for mechanic and other
+innumerable uses; and from the burning fuliginous vapour of these,
+especially the rosin, we have our lamp, and printers black, &c. I am
+perswaded the pine, pitch and fir trees in Scotland, might yield His
+Majesty plenty of excellent tar, were some industrious person employ'd
+about the work; so as I wonder it has been so long neglected. But there
+is another process not much unlike the former, which is given us by the
+present archbishop of Samos, Joseph Georgirenes, in his description of
+that, and other islands of the AEgaean.
+
+Their way of making pitch (says he) is thus: They take sapines, that
+is, that part of the fir, so far as it hath no knots; and shaving away
+the extream parts, leave only that which is nearest to the middle, and
+the pith: That which remains, they call _dadi_ (from the old Greek word
++Dades+, whence the Latin, _taeda_): These they split into small pieces,
+and laying them on a furnace, put fire to the upper part, till they are
+all burnt, the liquor in the mean time running from the wood, and let
+out from the bottom of the furnace, into a hole made in the ground,
+where it continues like oyl: Then they put fire to't, and stir it about
+till it thicken, and has a consistence: After this, putting out the
+fire, they cast chalk upon it, and draw it out with a vessel, and lay it
+in little places cut out of the ground, where it receives both its form,
+and a firmer body for easie transportation: Thus far the archbishop; but
+it is not so instructive and methodical as what we have describ'd above.
+
+Other processes for the extracting of these substances, may be seen in
+Mr. Ray's _Hist. Plant._, already mentioned, lib. xxix. cap. 1. And as
+to pitch and tar, how they make it near Marselles, in France, from the
+pines growing about that city, see _Philos. Trans._ n. 213. p. 291.
+_an._ 1696, very well worthy the transcribing, if what is mentioned in
+this chapter were at all defective.
+
+I had in the former editions of _Sylva_, plac'd the _larix_ among the
+trees which shed their leaves in Winter (as indeed does this) but not
+before there is an almost immediate supply of fresh; and may therefore,
+both for its similitude, stature, and productions, challenge rank among
+the coniferous: We raise it of seeds, and grows spontaneously in Stiria,
+Carinthia, and other Alpine Countries: The change of the colour of the
+old leaf, made an ignorant gardiner of mine erradicate what I had
+brought up with much care, as dead; let this therefore be a warning: The
+leaves are thin, pretty long and bristly; the cones small, grow
+irregular, as do the branches, like the cypress, a very beautiful tree,
+the pondrous branches bending a little, which makes it differ from the
+Libanus cedar, to which some would have it ally'd, nor are any found in
+Syria. Of the deep wounded bark, exsudes the purest of our
+shop-turpentine, (at least as reputed) as also the drug _agaric_: That
+it flourishes with us, a tree of good stature (not long since to be seen
+about Chelmsford in Essex) sufficiently reproaches our not cultivating
+so useful a material for many purposes, where lasting and substantial
+timber is required: For we read of beams of no less than 120 foot in
+length, made out of this goodly tree, which is of so strange a
+composition, that 'twill hardly burn; whence Mantuan, _et robusta larix
+igni impenetrabile lignum_: for so Caesar found it in a castle he
+besieg'd, built of it; (the story is recited at large by Vitruvius, l.
+2. c. 9.) but see what Philander says upon the place, on his own
+experience: Yet the coals thereof were held far better than any other,
+for the melting of iron, and the lock-smith; and to say the truth, we
+find they burn it frequently as common fuel in the Valtoline, if at
+least it be the true _larix_, which they now call _melere_. There is
+abundance of this larch timber in the buildings at Venice, especially
+about the palaces in Piazza San Marco, where I remember Scamozzi says he
+himself us'd much of it, and infinitely commends it. Nor did they only
+use it in houses, but in naval architecture also: The ship mention'd by
+Witsen (a late Dutch writer of that useful art) to have been found not
+long since in the Numidian Sea, twelve fathoms under water, being
+chiefly built of this timber, and cypress, both reduc'd to that
+induration and hardness, as greatly to resist the fire, and the sharpest
+tool; nor was any thing perished of it, though it had lain above a
+thousand and four hundred years submerg'd: The decks were cover'd with
+linnen, and plates of lead, fixed with nails guilt, and the intire ship
+(which contain'd thirty foot in length) so stanch, as not one drop of
+water had soaked into any room. Tiberius we find built that famous
+bridge to his _Naumachia_ with this wood, and it seems to excel for
+beams, doors, windows, and masts of ships, resists the worm: Being
+driven into the ground, it is almost petrified, and will support an
+incredible weight; which (and for its property of long resisting fire)
+makes Vitruvius wish, they had greater plenty of it at Rome to make
+goists of, where the Forum of Augustus was (it seems) built of it, and
+divers bridges by Tiberius; for that being attempted with fire, it is
+long in taking hold, growing only black without; and the timber of it is
+so exceedingly transparent, that cabanes being made of the thin boards,
+when in the dark night they have lighted candles in them, people, who
+are at a distance without doors, would imagine the whole room to be on
+fire, which is pretty odd, considering there is no material so (as they
+pretend) unapt to kindle. The _larix_ bears polishing excellently well,
+and the turners abroad much desire it: Vitruvius says 'tis so ponderous,
+that it will sink in the water: It also makes everlasting spouts,
+pent-houses, and featheridge, which needs neither pitch or painting to
+preserve them; and so excellent pales, posts, rails, pedaments and
+props for vines, &c. to which add the palats on which our painters
+separate and blend their colours, and were (till the use of canvas and
+bed-tike came) the tables on which the great Raphael, and most famous
+artists of the last age, eterniz'd their skill.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{227:1} De causis, l. 1. cap. 5.
+
+{229:1}
+
+    Et comitem quercum pinus amica trahit.
+
+{239:1}
+
+    ......dant utile lignum
+    Navigiis pinus.......
+
+    _Georg. 2._
+
+{239:2} _Macrob. Sat._ 56. cap. 9.
+
+{240:1}
+
+    .......... Sectaque intexunt abiete costas.
+
+    _AEn. 2._
+
+{242:1}
+
+    ............ Cujus apertum
+    Adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus.
+
+    AEn. 11.
+
+{243:1} Where the LXX calls it +apeleketa+, _non dedolata_; others
+_ligna undulata_. See _Ezek._ 27. 5, 6.
+
+{245:1} See Plin. _Nat. Hist._ lib. 16. cap. 11. or rather Theophrastus
+_Hist._ lib. 9. cap. 2, 3. & lib. 14. cap. 20. lib. 23. c. 1. lib. 24.
+c. 6.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+_Of the Cedar, Juniper, Cypress, Savine, Thuya &c._
+
+
+1. But now after all the beautiful and stately trees, clad in perpetual
+verdure,
+
+    _Quid tibi odorato referam sudantia ligno?_
+
+Should I forget the cedar? which grows in all extreams; in the moist
+Barbadoes, the hot Bermudas, (I speak of those trees so denominated) the
+cold New England, even where the snows lie, as I am told, almost half
+the Year; for so it does on the mountains of Libanus, from whence I have
+received cones and seeds of those few remaining trees: why then should
+they not thrive in old England, I know not, save for want of industry
+and trial.
+
+They grow in the bogs of America, and in the mountains of Asia; so as
+there is, it seems, no place or clime which affrights it; and I have
+frequently rais'd them from their seeds and berries, of which we have
+the very best in the world from the Summer-Islands, though now almost
+exhausted by the unaccountable negligence of the planters; as are
+likewise those of M. Libanus, by the wandring and barbarous Arabs. The
+cedars we have from Jamaica, are a spurious sort and of so porous a
+contexture, that wine will sink into it: On the contrary, that of
+Carolina so firm and close, that barrels, and other vessels, preserve
+the strongest spirits in vigour: The New England cedar is a lofty
+grower, and prospers into excellent timber, which being sawn into
+planks, make delicate floors: They shingle their houses also with it,
+and generally employ it in all their buildings: Why have we no more of
+it brought us, to raise, plant, and convert to the same uses? There is
+the _oxycedrus_ of Lycia, which the architect Vitruvius describes, to
+have its leaf like cypress; but the right Phoenician resembles more the
+juniper, bearing a cone not so pointed as the other, as we shall come to
+shew.
+
+After these, I shall not here descend to the inferior kinds, which some
+call dwarfs, and common juniper-like shrubs, fitter to head the borders
+of coronary gardners, and to be shorn. There is yet another of the
+North-America, lighter than cork it self, of a fragrant scent, which is
+its only virtue. In short,
+
+After all these exotics brought from our plantations, answering to the
+name of cedar, I should esteem that of the Vermuda, little inferior, if
+not superior, to the noblest Libanon, and next, that of Carolina for its
+many uses, and lasting.
+
+Having spoken of their several species, we come now to the culture, best
+rais'd from the seeds, since it would be difficult to receive any store
+from abroad: To begin with that of M. Libanus; Those which seem of the
+greatest antiquity, are indeed majestical, extending the boughs and
+branches, with their cones _sursum spectantia_, as by most we are told;
+though a late{255:1} traveller found otherwise, and depending, like
+other coniferous trees; the sturdy arms, though in smaller sprigs, grow
+in time so weighty, as often to bend the very stem, and main shaft,
+whilst that which is most remarkable, is the structure of the cones and
+seeds receptacles, tack'd and rang'd between the branch-leaves, in such
+order, as nothing appears more curious and artificial, and at a little
+distance, exceedingly beautiful: These cones have the bases rounder,
+shorter, or rather thicker, and with blunter points, the whole
+circum-zon'd, as it were, with pretty broad thick scales, which adhere
+together in exact series to the very top and summit, where they are
+somewhat smaller; but the entire lorication smoother couch'd than those
+of the fir-kind: Within these repositories under the scales, nestle the
+small nutting seeds, or rather kernels, of a pear-shape, though somewhat
+bigger; which how nourish'd and furnish'd from the central style, with
+their other integuments, is admirably describ'd by Mr. Ray, as that of
+the stalk of the clogs, thicker and longer, and so firmly knit to them,
+that it requires considerable force to part them from the branch,
+without splitting the arm it self. We have said nothing concerning the
+leaf of this tree, which much resembles those of the _larix_, but
+somewhat longer and closer set, erect and perpetually green, which those
+of the larch are not; but hanging down, drop-off, and desert the tree in
+Winter.
+
+The seeds drop out of the cones as other fir, pine-kernels and nuts do,
+when the air, sun, or moisture open and unglue the scales, which
+naturally it else does not in those of the cedar till the second year;
+but which after all the preparations of burying in holes made in the
+earth and sand (in which they are apter to rot) may more safely be done,
+by exposing the clogs discreetly to the sun, or before the soft and
+gentle fire, or I think, best of all, by soaking them in warm-water: The
+cones (thus discharged) the gaping seeds, together with the rest of the
+skeleton, adhere a long while to the branches, which not seldom hang on
+above two years; as we likewise find in those of other resinous trees,
+though falling sooner.
+
+The _lachrymae_, gum, and other transudations, serving more for unguents
+and the chyrurgeon's box, than for other medicaments, in which we find
+Pliny has little faith: But that which is more remarkable, is the virtue
+of the famous timber of this noble tree, being proof against all
+putrefaction of human and other bodies, above all other ingredients and
+compositions of embalmers; and that by a pretty contradiction, giving
+life as it were to the dead, and destroying the worms which are living;
+and as it does where any goods are kept in chests and presses of the
+wood, excepting woollen-cloth and furs, which 'tis observ'd they
+corrupt. In the mean time, touching the manner of these operations, as
+it concerns the preservation of the dead, see more where we speak of
+cypress, &c. The effects being ascrib'd to the extream bitterness of the
+resinous juices, whilst the odor is most grateful: The worthy Mr. Ray
+mentions the powder and sawdust of cedar to be one of the greatest
+secrets us'd by our pollinctors and mountebanks, who pretend to this
+embalming mystery; and indeed, that the dust and very chips are exitial
+to moths and worms, daily experience shews us; tho' none in mine, than
+the dry'd leaves and stalks of _Marum-Syriacum_, familiarly planted in
+our gardens: What therefore the late traveller Dampier speaks of cedar,
+which he has seen worm-eaten, could neither be that of Libanus or
+Bermudas, but haply of Barbados, Jamaica, or some other species: note,
+that the cedar is of so dry a nature, that it does not well endure to be
+fastened with nails, from which it usually shrinks, and therefore pins
+of the same wood are better. Whatever other property this noble tree is
+deservedly famous for, it is said to yield an oyl, which above all
+other, best preserves the monuments of the learned, books and writings;
+whence _cedro dignus_ became one of the highest eulogies: But whether
+that of the ingenius poet,
+
+    _Notandus minio, nec cedro charta notatur,_
+
+refers not to the colour rather, which was usually red, and perhaps
+temper'd with this bitter oyl (as some conjecture) let our antiquaries
+determine: The horns and knobs at the ends of the rolling-staves, on
+which those sheets of parchment, &c. (before the invention of printing,
+and compacted covers now in use) as at present our maps and geographical
+charts (peeping out a little beyond the volume) were likely colour'd
+with this rutilant mixture.
+
+Touching the diueternity of this material, 'tis recorded, that in the
+temple of Apollo Utica, there was found timber of near two thousand
+years old; and at Sagunti in Spain, a beam in a certain oratory
+consecrated to Diana, which has been brought to Zant, two centuries
+before the destruction of Troy: That great Sesostris King of Egypt had
+built a vessel of cedar of 280 cubits, all over gilded without and
+within: And the Goddess in the famous Ephesine temple, was said to be
+of this material also, as was most of the timber-work of that glorious
+structure: Though as to the idol +tou Diopetous+ mention'd in the Acts,
+(when the mob rose up against the apostle) some will have to be of
+ebony, others of a vine-tree, the most unlikely of all the rest fit for
+the carver. The _sittim_ mention'd in Holy Writ, is thought to have been
+a kind of cedar of which most precious utensils were formed.
+
+As to the magnitude of cedar-trees: We read of divers whose bodies eight
+or nine persons could not embrace, (as we shall shew hereafter) not here
+to let pass what Josephus relates Solomon planted in Judea, who
+doubtless try'd many experiments of this nature, none being more kingly
+than of planting for posterity: I do not speak of those growing on the
+mountains of Libanon, in the northern and colder tracts of Syria; or
+what store those forests of them then afforded: But, as we are inform'd
+by that curious traveller{258:1} Ranwolsius, (since confirm'd also by
+the _virtuoso_, Monconys) there were not remaining above twenty five of
+those stately trees, and since they were there, but sixteen of that
+small number, as the ingenious Mr. Mandevill reports in his journey from
+Aleppo to Jerusalem: There was yet, he says, abundance of young trees,
+and a single old one of prodigious size, twelve yards and six inches in
+the girth; I suppose the same describ'd by the late traveller Bruyn, who
+speaking of the shadow of this umbragious tree, alludes to that of
+Hosea, Cap. XIV. Ver. 5. which 'tis not improbable might be one of those
+yet remaining, where that heroick prince employ'd fourscore thousand
+hewers at work, for the materials of one only temple, and the palace he
+built in the city; a pregnant instance what time, negligence and war
+will bring to ruin. But to return to what is said of their present
+number, Le Bruyn (whom just now we mention'd) makes them 35 or 36, for
+he could not exactly tell, and pretends (like our Stonedge on Salisbury
+Plain) none could ever yet agree of their number.
+
+In short, upon reflection of what we have hitherto concerning the
+universal waste and destruction of timber trees, (where due regard is
+not taken to propagate and supply them) whole countries have suffer'd,
+as well as particular provinces: Thus the Apennines are stripp'd of
+their goodly pine and fir-trees (which formerly the naturalist commends
+those mountains for) to that degree, as to render not only the city of
+Florence, but Rome her self so expos'd to the nipping Tramontan's (for
+so they call the northern winds) that almost nothing which is rare and
+curious, will thrive without hyemation and art; so as even thro' the
+most of those parts of Italy, on this side the Kingdom of Naples,
+flank'd by the Alpestral Hills, (clad as they perpetually are with snow)
+they are fain to house, and retire their orange, citron, and other
+delicate and tender plants, as we do in England. There remains yet one
+mountain among the Appennines, cover'd and crown'd with cypress; whereof
+some are of considerable stature: Nor is all this indeed so great a
+wonder, if we find the entire species of some trees totally lost in
+countries, as if there never had been any such planted or growing in
+them: Be this applied to fir and pine, and several other trees, for want
+of culture, several accidents in the soil, air, &c. which we daily find
+produces strange alterations in our woods; the beech almost constantly
+succeeding the oak, to our great disadvantage; whilst we neglect new
+seminations. Herodotus speaking of the palms, (plentifully growing about
+Delos) says the whole species was utterly lost: More I might add on this
+subject; but having perhaps been too long on these remarks, and long
+enough on cold M. Libanus, I pass to,
+
+1. Juniper; let it not seem unduly plac'd, if after such gyants, we
+bring that humble shrub (such as abound with us being so reckon'd) to
+claim affinity to the tallest cedar; since were not ours continually
+cropp'd, but maintain'd in single stems, we might perhaps see some of
+them rise to competent trees; fit for many curious works, tables,
+cabinets, coffers, inlaying, floors, carvings, &c. we have of some of
+these trees so large, as to have made beams and rafters for a certain
+temple in Spain, dedicated to Diana; nor need we question their being
+fit for other buildings; celebrated for its emulating the cedar, tho'
+not in stature, yet in its lastingness: And such, I think, the learned
+Dr. Sloane mentions growing in Jamaica, little inferior to the Vermudas.
+
+2. Of juniper, we have three or four sorts, male, female, dwarf; whereof
+one is much taller, and more fit for improvement. The wood is yellow,
+and being cut in March, sweet as cedar, whereof it is accounted a
+spurious kind; all of them difficult to remove with success; nor
+prosper, they being shaded at all, or over-drip'd: The Swedish juniper
+(now so frequent in our new modish gardens, and shorn into pyramids) is
+but a taller and somewhat brighter sort of the vulgar.
+
+3. I have rais'd them abundantly of their seeds (neither watering, nor
+dunging the soil) which in two months will peep, and being governed like
+the cypress, apt for all the employments of that beautiful tree: To
+make it grow tall, prune, and cleanse it to the very stem; the male
+best. The discreet loosening of the earth about the roots also, makes it
+strangely to prevent your expectations, by suddenly spreading into a
+bush fit for a thousand pretty employments; for coming to be much unlike
+that which grows wild, and is subject to the treading and cropping of
+cattle, &c. it may be form'd into most beautiful and useful hedges: My
+late brother having formerly cut out of one only tree, an arbour capable
+for three to sit in, it was at my last measuring seven foot square, and
+eleven in height; and would certainly have been of a much greater
+altitude, and farther spreading, had it not continually been kept shorn:
+But what is most considerable, is, the little time since it was planted,
+being then hardly ten years, and then it was brought out of the common a
+slender bush, of about two foot high: But I have experimented a
+proportionable improvement in my own garden, where I do mingle them with
+cypress, and they would perfectly become their stations, where they
+might enjoy the sun, and may very properly be set where cypress does not
+so well thrive; namely, in such gardens and courts as are open to the
+eddy-winds, which indeed a little discolours our junipers when they blow
+easterly towards the Spring, but they constantly recover again; and
+besides, the shrub is tonsile, and may be shorn into any form. I wonder
+Virgil should condemn its shadow. _Juniperi gravis umbra_..... I suspect
+him mis-reported.
+
+In the mean time, botanists are not fully agreed to what species many
+noble and stately trees, passing under the names of cedar, are to be
+reckon'd; and therefore (for I cannot but mention those of the Vermuda
+again in this place) being so beautiful, tall, thick-set with
+evergreen-leaves, like the juniper, with berries indeed much larger, and
+may also be propagated by layers: Affording a timber close, ruddy for
+the most part; easy to work, and yielding excellent flooring, fit for
+wainscot, and all curious cabinet-works; keeping its agreeable odor and
+fragrancy longer than the rest: There is also made a pleasant and
+wholsome drink of the seeds, as they do of our common juniper; of which
+hereafter. Nearest the Bermuda juniper, comes the Virginia, both yet
+exceeded by that of Carolina, for the perfections already mention'd,
+speaking of cedar, not forgetting the _Oxy-Cedrus_, which is reputed a
+sort of juniper: The berries so abounding on our uncultivated bushes,
+and barren heaths, always pregnant, annually ripen, tho' not all at a
+time; some sticking longer, so as there will be black, green, and gray,
+succeeding one another.
+
+4. And these afford (besides a tolerable pepper) one of the most
+universal remedies in the world, to our crazy forester: the berries
+swallow'd only, instantly appease the wind-collic, and in decoction most
+soveraign against an inveterate cough: They are of rare effect, being
+steeped in beer; and in some northern countries, they use a decoction of
+the berries, as we do coffee and tea. The water is a most singular
+specifique against the gravel in the reins; but all is comprehended in
+the virtue of the theriacle, or electuary, which I have often made for
+my poor neighbours, and may well be term'd the forester's _panacea_
+against the stone, rheum, pthysic, dropsie, jaundies, inward
+imposthumes; nay, palsie, gout, and plague it self, taken like
+Venice-treacle. Of the extracted oyl (with that of nuts) is made an
+excellent good varnish for pictures, wood-work, and to preserve polish'd
+iron from the rust. The gum is good to rub on parchment or paper, to
+make it bear ink, and the coals, which are made of the wood, endure the
+longest of any; so as live embers have been found after a year's being
+cover'd in the ashes: See St. Hierom _ad Fabiolam_, upon that
+expression, _Psal._ 120. v. 4. If it arrive to full growth, spits and
+spoons, imparting a grateful relish, and very wholesome, where they are
+us'd, are made of this wood, being well dried and season'd. And the very
+chips render a wholesome perfume within doors, as well as the dusty
+blossoms in Spring without, and excellent within to correct the air, and
+expel infection; for which purpose the wood should be cut about May, and
+the rasures well dried.
+
+5. And since we now mention pepper, it is by the most prudent and
+princely care of his late Majesty, Char. II. that I am assur'd of a late
+solemn Act of Council, enjoyning the preserving of that incomparable
+spice, which comes to us from Jamaica under that denomination; though in
+truth it be a mixture of so many aromatics in one, that it might as well
+have been call'd cinamon, nutmeg or mace, and all-spice, to every of
+which it seems something allied: And that there is not only prohibited
+the destruction of these trees (for it seems some prodigals us'd to cut
+them down, for the more easie gathering) but order taken likewise for
+their propagation, and that assays, and samples be from time to time
+sent over, what other fruits, trees, gums, and vegetables may there be
+found, and which I prognostick will at last also incite the planters
+there, to think of procuring cinamon, cloves, and nutmeg-trees indeed,
+from the East-Indies, and what other useful curiosities do not approach
+our northern Bear, (and that are yet incicurabiles amongst us) and to
+plant them in Jamaica, and other of the Western Islands, as a more safe
+and frugal expedient to humble our emulous neighbours; since there is
+nothing in their situation, or defect of nature's benignity, which ought
+in the least to discourage us: And what if some of the trees of those
+countries (especially such as aspire to be timber, and may be of
+improvement amongst us) were more frequently brought to us likewise here
+in England; since we daily find how many rare exotics, and strangers,
+with little care, become endenizon'd, and so contented to live amongst
+us, as may be seen in the _platanus_, Constantinople-chesnut, the
+greater glandiferous _ilex_, cork, _nux vesicaria_ (which is an hard
+wood, fit for the turner, &c.) the _styrax_, bead-tree, the famous
+_lotus_, Virginian acacia, _guaiacum Patavinum_, _paliurus_, cypress,
+pines, fir, and sundry others, which grow already in our gardens,
+expos'd to the weather; and so doubtless would many more: So judiciously
+observ'd is that of the learned author of the history of the Royal
+Society, part. 3. sect. 28,
+
+     'That whatever attempts of this nature have succeeded, they have
+     redounded to the great advantage of the undertakers. The orange of
+     China being of late brought into Portugal, has drawn a great
+     revenue every year from London alone. The vine of the Rhene, taking
+     root in the Canaries, has produc'd a far more delicious juice, and
+     has made the rocks, and sun-burnt ashes of those islands, one of
+     the richest spots of ground in the world. And I will also instance
+     in that which is now in a good forwardness: Virginia has already
+     given silk for the cloathing of our King; and it may happen
+     hereafter, to give cloaths to a great part of Europe, and a vast
+     treasure to our Kings: If the silk-worms shall thrive there, (of
+     which there seems to be no doubt) the profit will be inexpressible.
+     We may guess at it, by considering what numbers of caravans, and
+     how many great cities in Persia, are maintain'd by that manufacture
+     alone, and what mighty customs it yearly brings unto the Sophi's
+     revenue.'
+
+Thus he: To which we might add; that not only the China-orange mention'd
+by the Doctor, but the whole race of orange-trees, were strangers in
+Italy, and unknown at Rome; nor grew they nearer than Persia, whence
+first they travell'd into Greece, as Athenaeus tells us. But to return
+to that of China, and give some account of its propagation in Europe:
+The first was sent for a present to the old Conde Mellor, then Prime
+Minister to the King of Portugal: But of that whole case, (they came to
+Lisbon in) there was but one only plant, which escap'd the being so
+spoil'd and tainted; that with great care it hardly recovered, to be
+since become the parent and progenitor of all those flourishing trees of
+that name, cultivated by our gardeners, tho' not without sensibly
+degenerating. Receiving this account from the illustrious son of the
+Conde (successor in title and favour) upon his being recall'd (then an
+exile at our Court, where I had the honour to be known to him) I thought
+fit to mention it in this place, for an instance of what the industry we
+have recommended, would questionless in less than half an age, produce
+of wonders, by introduction, if not of quite different, yet of better
+kinds, and such variety for pulchritude and sweetness; that when by some
+princely example, our late pride, effeminacy, and luxury, (which has to
+our vast charges, excluded all the ornaments of timber, &c. to give
+place to hangings, embroideries, and foreign leather) shall be put out
+of countenance, we may hope to see a new face of things, for the
+encouragement of planters (the more immediate work of God's hands) and
+the natural, wholesome, and ancient use of timber, for the more lasting
+occasions, and furniture of our dwellings: And though I do not speak all
+this for the sake of joyn'd-stools, benches, cup-boards, massy tables,
+and gigantic bed-steads, (the hospitable utensils of our fore-fathers)
+yet I would be glad to encourage the carpenter, and the joyner, and
+rejoice to see, that their work and skill do daily improve; and that by
+the example and application of his Majesty's Universities, and Royal
+Society, the restoration and improvement of shipping, mathematical, and
+mechanical arts, the use of timber grows daily in more reputation. And
+it were well if great persons might only be indulg'd to inrich, and
+adorn their palaces with tapestry, damask, velvet, and Persian
+furniture; whilst by some wholesome sumptuary laws, the universal excess
+of those costly and luxurious moveables, were prohibited meaner men, for
+divers politic considerations and reasons, which it were easie to
+produce; but by a less influence than severer laws, it will be very
+difficult, if not altogether impossible, to recover our selves from a
+softness and vanity, which will in time not only effeminate, but undo
+the nation.
+
+6. _Cupressus_, the cypress-tree is either the Sative, or garden-tree,
+the most pyramidal and beautiful; or that which is call'd the male,
+(though somewhat preposterously) which bears the small cones, but is of
+a more extravagant shape: Should we reason only from our common
+experience, even the cypress-tree was, but within a few years past,
+reputed so tender, and nice a plant, that it was cultivated with the
+greatest care, and to be found only amongst the curious; whereas we see
+it now, in every garden, rising to as goodly a bulk and stature, as most
+which you shall find even in Italy it self; for such I remember to have
+once seen in his late Majesty's gardens at Theobalds, before that
+princely seat was demolish'd. I say, if we did argue from this topic,
+methinks it should rather encourage our country-men to add yet to their
+plantations, other foreign and useful trees, and not in the least deter
+them, because many of them are not as yet become endenizon'd amongst us:
+But of this I have said enough, and yet cannot but still repeat it.
+
+7. We may read that the peach was at first accounted so tender, and
+delicate a tree, as that it was believ'd to thrive only in Persia; and
+even in the days of Galen, it grew no nearer than Egypt, of all the
+Roman provinces, but was not seen in the city, till about thirty years
+before Pliny's time; whereas, there is now hardly a more common, and
+universal in Europe: Thus likewise, the _Avellana_ from Pontus in Asia;
+thence into Greece, and so Italy, to the city of Abellino in Campania.
+
+    _Una tantum litera immutata, Avellina dici, quae prius Abellina._
+
+I might affirm the same of our Damasco plum, quince, medlar, fig, and
+most ordinary pears, as well as of several other peregrine trees,
+fruit-bearers, and others; for even the very damask-rose it self, (as my
+Lord Bacon tells us, Cent. 2. exp. 659.) is little more than an hundred
+years old in England: Methinks this should be of wonderful incitement.
+It was 680 years after the foundation of Rome, e'er Italy had tasted a
+cherry of their own, which being then brought thither{268:1} out of
+Pontus (as the above-mention'd filberts were) did after 120 years,
+travel _ad ultimos Britannos_.
+
+8. We had our first myrtils out of Greece, and cypress from Crete, which
+was yet a meer stranger in Italy, as Pliny reports, and most difficult
+to be raised; which made Cato to write more concerning the culture of
+it, than of any other tree: Notwithstanding, we have in this country of
+ours, no less than three sorts, which are all of them easily propagated,
+and prosper very well, if they are rightly ordered; and therefore I
+shall not omit to disclose one secret, as well to confute a popular
+error, as for the instruction of our gardeners.
+
+9. The tradition is, that the cypress (being a symbol of mortality,
+_ferales & invisas_, they should say of the contrary) is never to be
+cut, for fear of killing it. This makes them to impale, and wind them
+about, like so many AEgyptian mummies; by which means, the inward parts
+of the tree being heated, for want of air and refreshment, it never
+arrives to any perfection, but is exceedingly troublesome, and
+chargeable to maintain; whereas indeed, there is not a more tonsile and
+governable plant in nature; for the cypress may be cut to the very
+roots, and yet spring afresh, as it does constantly in Candy, if not
+yielding suckers (as Bellonius affirms,) I rather think produced by the
+seeds, which the mother-trees shed at the motion of the stem in the
+felling: And this we find was the husbandry in the Isle of AEnaria,
+where they us'd to fell it for copp'ce: For the cypress being rais'd
+from the nursery of seeds sown in September (or rather March,) and
+within two years after transplanted, should at two years standing more,
+have the master-stem of the middle shaft cut off some hand-breadth below
+the summit; the sides, and smaller sprigs shorn into a conique, or
+pyramidal form, and so kept clipt from April to September, as oft as
+there is occasion; and by this regiment, they will grow furnish'd to the
+foot, and become the most beautiful trees in the world, without binding
+or stake; still remembring to abate the middle stem, and to bring up the
+collateral branches in its stead, to what altitude you please; but when
+I speak of short'ning the middle shoot, I do not intend the dwarfing of
+it, and therefore it must be done discreetly, so as it may not
+over-hastily advance, till the foot thereof be perfectly furnished: But
+there is likewise another, no less commendable expedient, to dress this
+tree with all the former advantages; if sparing the shaft altogether,
+you diligently cut away all the forked branches, reserving only such as
+radiate directly from the body, which being shorn, and clipt in due
+season, will render the tree very beautiful; and though more subject to
+obey the shaking winds, yet the natural spring of it, does immediately
+redress it, without the least discomposure; and this is a secret worth
+the learning of gardeners, who subject themselves to the trouble of
+stakes and binding, which is very inconvenient. Thus likewise may you
+form them into hedges, topiary works, limits and boundary, _metas
+imitata cupressus_; or by sowing the seeds in a shallow furrow, and
+plucking up the supernumeraries, where they come too close and thick:
+For in this work, it will suffice to leave them within a foot of each
+other; and when they are risen about a yard in height, (which may be to
+the half of your palisado) cut off their tops, as you are taught, and
+keep the sides clipp'd, that they ascend but by degrees, and thicken at
+the bottom as they climb. Thus, they will present you (in half a dozen
+or eight years) with incomparable hedges; because they are perpetually
+green, able to resist the winds better than most which I know, the holly
+only excepted, which indeed has no peer.
+
+10. For, when I say winds, I mean their fiercest gusts, not their cold:
+For though it be said, _brumaque illaesa cupressus_, and that indeed no
+frost impeaches them (for they grow even on the snowy tops of Ida,) yet
+our cruel eastern winds do sometimes mortally invade them which have
+been late clipp'd, seldom the untouch'd or that were dressed in the
+Spring only: The effects of March and April winds (in the Year 1663, and
+1665) accompanied with cruel frosts, and cold blasts, for the space of
+more than two months, night and day, did not amongst near a thousand
+cypresses (growing in my garden) kill above three or four, which for
+being very late cut to the quick (that is, the latter end of October)
+were raw of their wounds, took cold, and gangreen'd; some few others
+which were a little smitten towards the tops, might have escaped all
+their blemishes, had my gardener capp'd them but with a wisp of hay or
+straw, as in my absence I commanded. As for the frost of those winters
+(than which I believe there was never known a more cruel and deadly
+piercing since England had a name) it did not touch a cypress of mine,
+till it join'd forces with that destructive wind: Therefore for
+caution, clip not your cypresses late in Autumn, and cloath them (if
+young) against these winds; for the frosts they only discolour them, but
+seldom, or never hurt them, as by long experience I have found; nor
+altogether despair of the resurrection of a cypress, subverted by the
+wind; for some have redress'd themselves; and one (as Ziphilinus
+mentions) that rose the very next day; which happening about the reign
+of the emperor Vespasian, was esteem'd an happy omen: But of such
+accidents, more hereafter.
+
+11. If you affect to see your cypress in standard, and grow wild, (which
+may in time come to be of a large substance, fit for the most immortal
+of timber, and indeed are the least obnoxious to the rigours of our
+Winters, provided you never clip or disbranch them) plant of the reputed
+male-sort; it is a tree which will prosper wonderfully; and where the
+ground is hot and gravelly, though (as we said) he be nothing so
+beautiful; and it is of this, that the Venetians make their greatest
+profit.
+
+12. I have already shew'd how this tree is to be rais'd from the seed;
+but there was another method amongst the Ancients, who (as I told you)
+were wont to make great plantations of them for their timber; I have
+practis'd it my self, and therefore describe it.
+
+13. If you receive your seed in the roundish small nuts, which use to be
+gather'd thrice a year, (but seldom ripening with us) expose them to the
+sun till they gape, or near a gentle fire, or put them in warm water,
+(as was directed in those of cedar) by which means the seeds will be
+easily shaken out; for if you have them open before, they do not yield
+you half their crop: About the beginning of April (or before, if the
+weather be showery) prepare an even bed, which being made of fine
+earth, clap down with your spade, as gardeners do for purselain seed (of
+old they roll'd it with some stone, or cylinder); upon this strew your
+seeds pretty thick; then sift over them some more mould, somewhat better
+than half an inch in height: Keep them duly watered after sunset, unless
+the season do it for you; and after one year's growth, (for they will be
+an inch high in little more than two months) you may transplant them
+where you please: If in the nursery, set them at a foot or 18 inches
+distance in even lines, kept watered and moist, 'till they are well
+rooted, and fit to be remov'd. In watering them, I give you this caution
+(which may also serve you for most tender and delicate seeds) that you
+bedew them rather with a broom, or spergitory, than hazard the beating
+them out with the common watering-pot; and when they are well come up,
+be but sparing of water: Be sure likewise that you cleanse them when the
+weeds are very young and tender, lest instead of purging, you quite
+eradicate your cypress: We have spoken of watering, and indeed whilst
+young, if well follow'd, they will make a prodigious advance. When that
+long and incomparable walk of cypress at Frascati near Rome, was first
+planted, they drew a small stream (and indeed _irrigare_ is properly
+thus, _aquam inducere riguis_ (_i. e._) in small gutters and rills) by
+the foot of it, (as the water there is in abundance tractable) and made
+it (as I was credibly inform'd) arrive to seven or eight foot height in
+one year; (which does not agree with the epithet, _lenta cupressus_);
+but with us, we may not be too prodigal; since, being once well taken,
+they thrive best in our sandy, light and warmest grounds, whence Cardan
+says, _juxta aquas arescit_; meaning in low and moorish places, stiff
+and cold earth, &c. where they never thrive.
+
+There is also a Virginian cypress, of an enormous height, beautiful and
+very spreading, the branches and leaves large and regular, with the
+clogs resembling the cypress; and though the timber be somewhat course
+and cross-grain'd, 'tis when polish'd, very agreeable; as I can shew in
+a very large table, made out of the planks of a spurr only; and had
+experience of its lastingness, tho' expos'd both to the air and weather.
+
+14. What the uses of this timber are, for chests, and other utensils,
+harps, and divers other musical instruments (it being a very sonorous
+wood, and therefore employ'd for organ-pipes, as heretofore for
+supporters of vines, poles, rails, and planks, (resisting the worm,
+moth, and all putrefaction to eternity) the Venetians sufficiently
+understood; who did every twenty year, and oftner (the Romans every
+thirteen) make a considerable revenue of it out of Candy: And certainly,
+a very gainful commodity it was, when the fell of a _cupressetum_, was
+heretofore reputed a good daughters portion, and the plantation it self
+call'd _dos filiae_. But there was in Candy a vast wood of these trees,
+belonging to the Republique, by malice, or accident (or perhaps by solar
+heat, as were many woods 74 years after, even here in England) set on
+fire, which _anno_ 1400, burning for seven years continually, before it
+could be quite extinguish'd, fed so long a space by the unctuous nature
+of the timber, of which there were to be seen at Venice planks of above
+four foot in breadth; and formerly the valves of St. Peter's church at
+Rome, were fram'd of this material, which lasted from the great
+Constantine, to Pope Eugenius the Fourth's time, eleven hundred years;
+and then were found as fresh, and entire as if they had been new: But
+this Pope would needs change them for gates of brass, which were cast by
+the famous Antonio Philarete; not in my opinion so venerable, as those
+of cypress. It was in coffins of this material, that Thucydides tells
+us, the Athenians us'd to bury their heroes, and the mummy-chests
+brought with those condited bodies out of Egypt, are many of them of
+this material, which 'tis probable may have lain in those dry, and sandy
+_crypta_, many thousand years.
+
+15. The timber of this wood was of infinite esteem with the Ancients:
+That lasting bridge built over the Euphrates by Semiramis, was made of
+this material; and it is reported, Plato chose it to write his laws in,
+before brass it self, for the diuturnity of the matter: It is certain,
+that it never rifts or cleaves, but with great violence; and the
+bitterness of its juice, preserves it from all worms and putrifaction.
+To this day those of Crete and Malta make use of it for their buildings;
+because they have it in plenty, and there is nothing out-lasts it, or
+can be more beautiful, especially, than the root of the wilder sort,
+incomparable for its crisped undulations. Divers learned persons have
+conceiv'd the gopher mention'd in Holy Writ, _Gen._ 6. 14. (and of which
+the Ark was built) to have been no other than this +Kyparissos+,
+_cupar_, or _cuper_, by the easie mutation of letters; Aben Ezra names
+it a light wood apt to swim; so does David Kimchi; which rather seems to
+agree with fir or pine, and such as the Greeks call +xyla tetragona+
+quadrangular trees, about which criticks have made a deal of stir: But
+Isa. Vossius (on the LXX. C. II.) has sufficiently made it out, that
+the timber of that denomination was of those sort of trees whose
+branches breaking out just opposite to one another at right angles, make
+it appear to have been fir, or some sort of wood whose arms grew in a
+uniform manner; but surely this is not to be universally taken; since we
+find yew, and divers other trees, brittle, heavy, and unapt for
+shipping, do often put forth in that order: The same learned author will
+have gopher to signifie only pitch, or bitumen, as much as if the text
+had said, make an ark of resinous timber. The Chaldee paraphrase
+translates it cedar, or as Junius and Tremellius, _cedrelaten_, a
+species between fir and cedar: Munster contends for the pine, and divers
+able divines endeavour to prove it cypress; and besides, 'tis known,
+that in Crete they employ'd it for the same use in the largest
+contignations, and did formerly build ships of it: And Epiphanius Haeres,
+l. 1. tells us, some reliques of that ark (_circa campos sennaar_)
+lasted even to his days, and was judged to have been of cypress. Some
+indeed suppose that gopher was the name of a place, _a cupressis_, as
+Elon _a quercubus_; and might possibly be that which Strabo calls
+_Cupressetum_, near Adiabene in Assyria: But for the reason of its long
+lasting, coffins (as noted) for the dead were made of it, and thence it
+first became to be _diti sacra_; and the valves, or doors of the
+Ephesine temple were likewise of it, as we observ'd but now, were those
+of St. Peters at Rome: Works of cypress-wood, _permanent ad
+diuturnitatem_, says Vitruvius l. 2. And the poet
+
+    .............._perpetua nunquam moritura cupresso._
+
+    Mart. E. 6. 6.
+
+The medical virtues of this tree are for all affects of the nerves,
+astringent and refrigerating, for the hernia, apply'd outwardly, or
+taken inwardly, for the dysentary, strangury, &c.
+
+But to resume the disquisition, whether it be truly so proper for
+shipping, is controverted; though we also find in Cassiodorus _Var._ l.
+5. ep. 16, Theodoric (writing to the _Praetorio-praefectus_) caused store
+of it to be provided for that purpose; and Plato (who we told you made
+laws, and titles to be engraven in it) nominates it, _inter arbores
++naupegois+ utiles_ l. 4. leg. and so does Diodorus l. 19. And as
+travellers observe, there is no other sort of timber more fit for
+shipping, {276:1} though others think it too heavy: Aristobulus affirms
+that the Assyrians made all their vessels of it; and indeed the Romans
+prais'd it, pitch'd with Arabian pitch: And so frequent was this tree
+about those parts of Assyria (where the Ark is conjectur'd to have been
+built) that those vast Armada's, which Alexander the Great caus'd to be
+equipp'd and set out from Babylon, consisted only of cypress, as we
+learn out of Arrian in _Alex._ l. 7. and Strabo l. 16. Plutar. _Sympos._
+l. 1, _prob._ 2. Vegetius l. 14. c. 34, &c. Paulus Colomesius (in his
++keimelia+ _literaria_ cap. 24.) perstringes the most learned Is.
+Vossius, that in his _vindiciae pro LXX. interp._ he affirms cypress not
+fit for ships, as being none of the +tetragonoi+: But besides what we
+have produced, Fuller, Bochartus, &c. Lilius Gyraldus (_Lib. de navig._
+c. 4.) and divers others sufficiently evince it, and that the vessel
+built by Trajan was of that material, lasting uncorrupt near 1400 years,
+when it was afterwards found in a certain lake; if it were not rather
+(as I suspect) that which AEneas Silvius reports to have been discovered
+in his time, lying under water in the Numidian Lake, crusted over with
+a certain ferruginous mixture of earth and scales, as if it had been of
+iron; but (as we have elsewhere noted) it was pronounced to be _larix_,
+and not cypress, employ'd by Tiberius: Finally (not to forget even the
+very chips of this precious wood, which give that flavour to muscadines,
+and other rich wines) I commend it for the improvement of the air, and a
+specific for the lungs, as sending forth most sweet, and aromatick
+emissions, whenever it is either clipp'd, or handled, and the chips or
+cones, being burnt, extinguish moths, and expels the gnats and flies,
+&c. not omitting the gum which it yields, not much inferior to the
+terebinthine or lentise.
+
+We have often mention'd the virtue of these odoriferous woods, for the
+improvement of the air; upon which I take occasion here to add, what I
+have (some years since) already{277:1} publish'd, concerning the
+melioration of it, in, and about this great and populous city,
+accidentally obnoxious to the effects of those nauseous vapours,
+exhaling from those many unclean places, and tainting that dismal cloud
+of sulphurous (if not arsenical) smoke, which we uncessantly breathe in.
+I know the late terrible conflagration, by the care and industry of the
+magistrate, in causing so many kennels, sinks, gutters, lay-stalls and
+other nuisances (receptacles of a stagnant filth) to be removed, must
+needs have exceedingly contributed to the purifying of the air; as I am
+persuaded would appear upon a political observation in the bills of
+mortality: But what I yet cannot but deplore, is, that, (when that
+spacious area, was so long a _rasa tabula_) the church-yards had not
+been banish'd to the North-walls of the city, where a grated inclosure
+of competent breadth (for a mile in length) might have served for an
+universal coemetery, to all the parishes, distinguish'd by the like
+separations, and with ample walks of trees; the walks adorn'd with
+monuments, inscriptions and titles apt for contemplation and memory of
+the defunct; and that wise, and ancient law of the XII Tables restor'd
+and reviv'd: But concerning this, and hortulan buryings upon this and
+other weighty reasons, see cap. I. book IV. Happy in the mean time, had
+it been for the further purgation of this august metropolis, had they
+there, (or did they yet) banish and proscribe those hellish vulcanos,
+disgorging from the brew-houses, sope and salt-boilers, chandlers,
+hat-makers, glass-houses, forges, lime-kilns, and other trades, using
+such quantities of sea-coals, one of whose funnels vomits more smoak
+than all the culinary and chamber-fires of a whole parish, as I have
+(with no small indignation) observed, at what time they usually put out
+their fires, on Saturday evening, and re-kindle on Sunday night, or
+Monday morning; perniciously infecting the ambient air, with a black
+melancholy canopy, to the detriment of the most valuable moveables and
+furniture of the inhabitants, and the whole countrey about it. A bar of
+iron shall be more exeded and consum'd with rust in one year in this
+city, than in thrice-seven in the countrey: Why might it not therefore
+be worth a severe and publick edict, to remove these vulcanos and
+infernal houses of smoak to competent distance; some down the river,
+others (which require conveniency of fresh-water) up the Thames, among
+the streams about Wandsworth, &c? Their commodities and manufactures
+brought up to capacious wharfs, on the bank, or London side, to the
+increase of a thousand water-men and other labourers, of which we cannot
+have too many?
+
+Now to demonstrate that not only the amoval of these unsufferable
+nuisances would infinitely clarifie the air, and render it more
+wholsome, and to return to my subject of trees and plants; the
+reputation they have had for contributing to the health of whole
+countries and cities, frequently occur in history: For instance, in the
+island of Cyprus, abounding with the trees of that name, and other
+resinous plants, curing ulcerated lungs, &c. Sardinia, melancholy and
+madness, replanted with true Anticyran hellebore, was famous; whilst
+Thusus (especially in Summer) brought almost all the inhabitants to
+lunacy and distraction for want of it. And what the effects and benefit
+of such plantations have produc'd, is conspicuous in one of the most
+celebrated cities of the East, the famous Ispahan, clear'd of the
+pestilence, since the surrounding it with that beautiful platan, as I
+have already noted. To these add, the bay-tree, for abating all such
+infections; of which see many famous instances in cap. vi. to which I
+refer. Not that there are no nociferous trees, as well as saniferous,
+which by removing the one, and planting other in their places, make
+sensible changes for the better. I give instance, when we speak of the
+yew; and even that otherwise incomparably useful shrub, the elder.
+
+Upon what therefore has been produc'd of expedients for the melioration
+of the air by plantations of proper trees; I cannot but wish, that since
+these precious materials may now be had at such tolerable rates (as
+certainly they might from Cape-Florida, the Vermuda, or other parts of
+the West-Indies); I say, I cannot but suggest that our more wealthy
+citizens of London, every day building and embellishing their dwellings,
+might be encourag'd to make use of it in their shops, at least for
+shelves, counters, chests, tables, and wainscot, &c. the fancerings (as
+they term it) and mouldings; since beside the everlastingness of the
+wood, enemy to worms, and those other corruption we have named, it would
+likewise greatly cure and reform the malignancy and corrosiveness of the
+air.
+
+_Sabin_, or, as we call it, savine, not for dignity to be nam'd with the
+former; but for its being absolutely the best _Succedaneum_ to cypress,
+(which the rigour of our climat is not so benign to): If our gardners
+did only increase and cultivate it for the other's defects, and bring up
+nurseries of them for pyramids, and other tonsile and topiary works,
+they would oftner use it instead of cypress: As to its other quality, it
+has, indeed, an ill report, (as most other things have when not rightly
+apply'd,) whilst there is nothing more efficacious for the destruction
+of worms in little children, the juice being given in a spoonful of
+milk, dulcified with a little sugar, which brings them away in heaps; as
+it does in horses and other cattel above all other remedies.
+
+There is another berry-bearing savine in warmer climats, which also
+resembles the cypress, commonly taken for the Tarrentine cypress, so
+much celebrated by Cato, which grew to noble standards: But that, and
+the Melesian, worthy the culture, are rare with us, and indeed is as
+well supply'd by the more hardy, as well as the Swedish juniper, and
+other shrubs. The sabine is easily propagated by slips and cuttings
+sooner than by the seeds, though sometimes found in the small squamous
+seed-cases.
+
+_Tamaric_, (growing to a considerable tree) for its aptness to be shorn
+and govern'd like the sabine and cypress, may be entertain'd, but not
+for its lasting verdure, which forsakes it in Winter, but soon again
+restores it. It was of old counted _infelix_, and under malediction, and
+therefore used to wreath, and be put on the heads of malefactors: But it
+has other excellent properties, in particular sovereign against the
+spleen, which as{281:1} Camden tells us was therefore brought first into
+England by Grindal Archbishop of Canterbury: They also made cans to
+drink, out of this wood.
+
+_Thuya_; by some call'd _arbor vitae_, (brought us from Canada,) is an
+hardy green all the Winter, (though a little tarnish'd in very sharp
+weather) rais'd to a tree of moderate stature, bearing a ragged leaf,
+not unlike the cypress, only somewhat flatter, and not so thick set and
+close: It bears small longish clogs and seeds, but takes much better by
+layers and slips, as those we have before mentioned, and may be kept
+into the same shapes, but most delights in the shade, where the roots
+running shallow, the stem needs support: The leaf being bruised between
+the fingers, emits a powerful scent not easily conquer'd, seeming to
+breathe something of a sanative unguent, and (as I am told) makes one of
+the best for the closure of green and fresh wounds: But that those
+curious utensils and works of the turners, bowls, boxes, cups, mortars,
+pestles, &c. are of this material (as is pretended) and pass under the
+name of _lignum vitae_, (or rather of some of the exotic, more close and
+ponderous wood) as Brasile, log-wood, &c. is a mistake: Upon recension
+therefore of these exotics, I cannot but encourage the more frequent
+raising the rest of those _semper-vivents_, especially such as are
+fittest for the shrubby parts, and furniture of our groves, mere gardens
+of pleasure, which none but the ever-green become. To these we might add
+(not for their verdure only) other more rare exotics, _styrax arbor_,
+and terebynth, noting by the way, that we have no true turpentine to be
+bought in our shops, but what is from the larch; whilst apothecaries
+substitute that which extills from the fir-tree, instead of it: All of
+them minding me again of the great opportunities and encouragement we
+have of every day improving our stores with so many useful trees from
+the American plantations; for which I have the suffrage of the
+often-cited Mr. Ray, who is certainly a very able judge: Might we not
+therefore attempt the more frequent locust, sassafras, &c. and that sort
+of elm, or sugar-tree, whose juice yields that sweet _halymus
+latifolius_, and several others for encouragement? But
+
+14. I produce not these particulars, and other _amaena vireta_ already
+mentioned, as signifying any thing to timber, the main design of this
+treatise, (tho' I read of some myrtils so tall, as to make spear-shafts)
+but to exemplifie in what may be farther added to ornament and pleasure,
+by a cheap and most agreeable industry.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{255:1} Le Bruyn.
+
+{258:1} In Itin.
+
+{268:1} _A cerasunte_. Indeed Servius, l. 2. _Geor._ 1. says, it was
+earlier in Italy; but hard and wild and usually call'd _corna_, and
+sometimes _corno-cerosa_, perhaps the black-cherry.
+
+{276:1} _Hadrian. Junius Animadv._ l. 1. c. 20.
+
+{277:1} _Fumifugium._
+
+{281:1} _Elizab._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+_Of the Cork, Ilex, Alaternus, Celastrus, Ligustrum, Philyrea, Myrtil,
+Lentiscus, Olive, Granade, Syring, Jasmine and other Exoticks._
+
+We do not exclude this useful tree from those of the glandiferous and
+forest; but being inclin'd to gratify the curious, I have been induc'd
+to say something farther of such _semper virentia_, as may be made to
+sort with those of our own, (especially of the next Chapter.) I begin
+with the
+
+1. Cork, [_suber_] of which there are two sorts (and divers more in the
+Indies) one of a narrow, or less jagged leaf, and perennial; the other
+of a broader, falling in Winter; grows in the coldest parts of Biscay,
+in the north of New-England, in the south-West of France, especially the
+second species, fittest for our climate; and in all sorts of ground, dry
+heaths, stony and rocky mountains, so as the roots will run even above
+the earth, where they have little to cover them; all which considered,
+methinks we should not despair. We have said where they grow plentifully
+in France; but by Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ l. 16. c. 8. it should seem they
+were since transplanted thither; for he affirms there were none either
+there, or in Italy, in his time: But I exceedingly wonder that Carolus
+Stephanus, and Cursius, should write so peremptorily, that there were
+none in Italy; where I my self have travell'd through vast woods of them
+about Pisa, Aquin, and in divers tracts between Rome, and the kingdom of
+Naples, and in France. The Spanish cork is a species of the _enzina_,
+differing chiefly in the leaf, which is not so prickly; and in the bark,
+which is frequently four or five inches thick: The manner of
+decortication thereof is once in two or three years, to strip it in a
+dry season; otherwise, the intercutaneous moisture endangers the tree,
+and therefore a rainy season is very pernicious; when the bark is off,
+they unwarp it before the fire, and press it even, and that with weights
+upon the convex part, and so it continues, being cold.
+
+2. The uses of cork is well known amongst us, both at sea and land, for
+its resisting both water and air: The fisher-men who deal in nets, and
+all who deal with liquors, cannot be without it: Ancient persons prefer
+it before leather for the soles of their shooes, being light, dry, and
+resisting moisture, whence the Germans name it _Pantoffel-holts_
+(slipper-wood) perhaps from the Greek +Pantos+ & +phellos+; for I find
+it first applied to that purpose by the Grecian ladies, whence they were
+call'd light-footed; I know not whether the epithet do still belong to
+that sex; but from them it's likely the Venetian dames took it up for
+their monstrous _choppines_; affecting, or usurping an artificial
+eminency above men, which nature has denied them. Of one of the sorts of
+cork are made pretty cups, and other vessels, esteem'd good to drink out
+of for hectical persons: The Egyptians made their coffins of it, which
+being lin'd with a resinous composition, preserved their dead incorrupt:
+The poor people in Spain, lay broad planks of it by their beds-side, to
+tread on (as great persons use Turky and Persian carpets) to defend them
+from the floor, and sometimes they line or wainscot the walls, and
+inside of their houses built of stone, with this bark, which renders
+them very warm, and corrects the moisture of the air: Also they employ
+it for bee-hives, and to double the insides of their _contemplores_, and
+leather-cases, wherein they put flasquera's with snow to refrigerate
+their wine. This tree has beneath the _cortex_ or cork, two other coats,
+or _libri_, of which one is reddish, which they strip from the hole when
+'tis fell'd only; and this bears good price with the tanner; The rest of
+the wood is very good firing, and applicable to many other uses of
+building, palisade-work, &c. The ashes drunk, stop the bloody-flux.
+
+3. _Ilex_, _major glandifera_, or great scarlet-oak of several species,
+and various in the shape of their leaf, pointed rounder, longer, &c. (a
+devoted tree of old, and therefore _incaedua_) thrives manifestly with
+us; witness His Majesty's privy-garden at White-hall, where once
+flourish'd a goodly tree, of more than fourscore years growth, and there
+was lately a sickly imp of it remaining: And now very many rais'd by me,
+have thriv'd wonderfully, braving the most severe Winters, planted
+either in standards or hedges, which they most beautifully become. The
+only difficulty is in their being dextrously removed out of the nursery,
+with the mould adhering to the roots; otherwise apt to miscarry; and
+therefore best trusting to the acorn for a goodly standard, and that may
+be removed without prejudice, tryals should be made by graffing the
+_ilex_ in the oak-stock, taken out of our woods, or better, grown from
+the acorn to the bigness of one's little finger.
+
+4. By what I have touch'd in the chapter of the elms, concerning the
+peregrination of that tree into Spain, (where even in Pliny's time there
+were none, and where now they are in great abundance) why should we not
+more generally endeavour to propagate the _ilex_ amongst us; I mean,
+that which the Spaniards call the _enzina_, and of which they have such
+woods, and profitable plantations? They are an hardy sort of tree, and
+familiarly rais'd from the acorn, if we could have them sound, and well
+put up in earth or sand, as I have found by experience.
+
+5. The wood of these _ilex's_ is serviceable for many uses, as stocks of
+tools, mallet-heads, mall-balls, chairs, axletrees, wedges, beetles,
+pins, and above all, for palisadoes us'd in fortifications. Besides, it
+affords so good fuel, that it supplies all Spain almost with the best,
+and most lasting of charcoals, in vast abundance. Of the first kind is
+made the painter's lac, extracted from the berries; to speak nothing of
+that noble confection _alkermes_, and that noble scarlet-die the learned
+Mr. Ray gives us the process of at large, in his chapter of the ilexes;
+where also of their medicinal uses: To this add that most accurate
+description of this tree, and the _vermicula_; see Quinqueranus, L. 2.
+_de laud. provid._ fol. 48. naturally abounding about Alos. The acorns
+of the _coccigera_, or dwarf-oak, yield excellent nourishment for
+rustics, sweet, and little if at all inferior to the chesnut; and this,
+and not the _fagus_, was doubtless the true _esculus_ of the Ancients,
+the food of the Golden Age. The wood of the _enzina_ when old, is
+curiously chambletted, and embroider'd with natural vermiculations, as
+if it were painted. Note, that the _kermes_ tree does not always produce
+the _coccum_, but near the sea, and where it is very hot; nor indeed
+when once it comes to bear acorns; and therefore the people do often
+burn down the old trees, that they may put forth fresh branches, upon
+which they find them: This, (as well as the oak, cork, beech, and
+_corylus_) is numbred amongst the _felices_, and lucky-trees: But for
+what reason, the _alaternus_ (which I am next speaking of) together with
+the _agrifolium_ [holly] pines, _salix_, &c. should be excommunicated,
+as _infelices_, I know not, unless for their being dedicated to the
+Infernal Deities; of which Macrob. _Sat. lib._ 12. cap. 16. In the mean
+time, take this for a general rule; that those were call'd _infelices_
+only, which bare no fruit; for so Livy, lib. 5. _nulla felix arbor,
+nihil frugiferum in agro relictum_. Whence that of Phaedrus, l. 3. _Fab._
+upon Jupiter's _esculus_:
+
+    _O nata, merito sapiens dicere omnibus
+    Nisi utile est quod facimus, stulta est gloria,_
+
+reciting the ancient trees sacred to the deity, the most desirable being
+those that were fruitful, and for use.
+
+6. The _alaternus_, which we have lately receiv'd from the hottest parts
+of Languedoc, (and that is equal with the heat of almost any country in
+Europe) thrives with us in England, as if it were an indigine and
+natural; yet sometimes yielding to a severe Winter, follow'd with a
+tedious eastern wind in the Spring, of all the most hostile and cruel
+enemies of our climate; and therefore to be artificially and timely
+provided against with shelter.
+
+7. I have had the honour to be the first who brought it into use and
+reputation in the kingdom, for the most beautiful and useful of hedges
+and verdure in the world (the swiftness of the growth consider'd) and
+propagated it from Cornwall, even to Cumberland: The seed grows ripe
+with us in August; and the honey-breathing blossoms afford an early and
+marvellous relief to the bees.
+
+8. The _celastrus_ (of the same class) _ligustrum_ and privits, so
+flexible and accommodate for topiary-works, and so well known, I shall
+need say no more of.
+
+9. The _philyrea_, (of which there are five or six sorts, and some
+variegated) are sufficiently hardy, (especially the _serratifole_) which
+makes me wonder to find the _angustifolia_ planted in cases, and so
+charily set into the stoves, amongst the oranges and lemmons; when by
+long experience, I have found it equalling our holley, in suffering the
+extreamest rigours of our cruel frosts and winds, which is doubtless (of
+all our English trees) the most insensible and stout.
+
+10. They are (both _alaternus_, and this) raised of the seeds, (though
+those of the _philyrea_ will be long under ground) and being
+transplanted for _espalier_ hedges, or standards, are to be governed by
+the shears, as oft as there is occasion: The _alaternus_ will be up in a
+month or two after it is sown: I was wont to wash them out of the berry,
+and drying them a little in a cloath, commit them to the nursery-bed.
+Plant it out at two years growth, and clip it after rain in the Spring,
+before it grows sticky, and whilst the shoots are tender; thus will it
+form an hedge (though planted but in single rows, and at two foot
+distance) of a yard in thickness, twenty foot high (if you desire it)
+and furnish'd to the bottom: but for an hedge of this altitude, it would
+require the friendship of some wall, or a frame of lusty poles, to
+secure against the winds one of the most delicious objects in nature:
+But if we could have store of the _philyrea folio leviter serrato_ (of
+which I have rais'd some very fine plants from the seeds) we might fear
+no weather, and the verdure is incomparable, and all of them tonsile,
+fit for cradle-work and _umbracula frondium_: a decoction of the
+_angustifolia_ soveraign for sore mouths.
+
+11. The myrtil. The vulgar Italian wild myrtil (though not indeed the
+most fragrant) grows high, and supports all weathers and climates; they
+thrive abroad in Bretany, in places cold and very sharp in Winter; and
+are observ'd no where to prosper so well, as by the sea-coasts, the air
+of which is more propitious to them (as well as to oranges and lemmons,
+&c.) than the inland air. I know of one near eighty years old, which has
+been continually expos'd; unless it be, that in some exceeding sharp
+seasons, a little dry straw has been thrown upon it; and where they are
+smitten, being cut down near the ground, they put forth and recover
+again; which many times they do not in pots and cases, where the roots
+are very obnoxious to perish with mouldiness. The shelter of a few mats,
+and straw, secur'd very great trees (both leaf and colour in perfection)
+this last Winter also, which were planted abroad; whilst those that were
+carried into the conserve, were most of them lost. Myrtils (which are of
+six or eight sorts) may be rais'd of seeds; as also may several
+varieties of oranges and lemmons, and made (after some years attendance)
+to produce fruit in the cold Rhetia and Helvetick valleys; but with
+great caution, and after all, seldom prove worth the pains, being so
+abundantly multiplied of suckers, slips and layers: The double-flower
+(which is the most beautiful) was first discovered by the incomparable
+Fabr. Piereshy, which a mule had cropt from a wild shrub. Note, that you
+cannot give those plants too much compost or refreshing, nor clip them
+too often, even to the stem; which will grow tall, and prosper into any
+shape; so as arbours have been made of single trees of the hardy kind,
+protected in the Winter with sheads of straw and reeds. Both leaves and
+berries refrigerate, and are very astringent and drying, and therefore
+seldom us'd within, except in fluxes: With wine and honey it heals the
+noisome _polypus_, and the powder corrects the rankness of the arm-pits,
+and _gousset_ (as the French term it) to which divers of the female sex
+are subject: The berries mitigate the inflammations of the eyes,
+consolidate broken-bones; and a decoction of the juice, leaves, and
+berries, dyes the hair black, & _enecant vitiligenes_, as Dioscorides
+says, l. 1. c. 128. And there is an excellent sweet water extracted from
+the distill'd leaves and flowers: To which the naturalist adds, that
+they us'd the berries instead of pepper, to stuff and farce with them.
+Hence the _mortadella a mortatula_, still so call'd by the Italians,
+perhaps the +myrtides+ of Athenaeus, _deip._ l. 2. c. 12. The _vinum
+myrtites_ so celebrated by the{290:1} ancients, and so the oyl; And in
+some places the leaves for tanning of leather: and trees have grown to
+such substance, as of the very wood curious cups and boxes have been
+turn'd.
+
+The variety of this rare shrub, now furnishing the gardens and portico's
+(as long as the season and weather suits) and even in the severest
+Winters in the conclave, are cut and contriv'd into various figures, and
+of divers variegations, most likely to be produc'd by the seeds, as our
+learned Mr. Ray believes, rather than by layers, suckers, or slips, or
+from any difference of species: In the mean time, let gardeners make
+such trials, whilst those most worth the culture, are the small and
+broad-leav'd, the Tarentine, the Belgick, _latifolia_, and
+double-flower'd, and several more among the curious; and of old, sacred
+to Venus, so call'd from a virgin belov'd of Minerva, the garlands of
+the leaves and blossoms, impaling the brows of incruentous, and unbloody
+victors and ovations.
+
+And now if here for the name only, I mention the _myrtus Brasantica_,
+or candle-berry shrub (which our plantations in Virginia, and other
+places have in plenty) let it be admitted: It bears a berry, which being
+boil'd in water, yields a suet or pinguid substance, of a green colour,
+which being scumm'd and taken off, they make candles with, in the shape
+of such as we use of tallow, or wax rather; giving not only a very clear
+and sufficient light, but a very agreeable scent, and are now not seldom
+brought hither to us, but the tree it self, of which I have seen a
+thriving one.
+
+12. _Lentiscus_ (a very beautiful evergreen) refuses not our climate,
+protected with a little shelter, amongst other exposed shrubs, by
+suckers and layers: It is certainly an extraordinary astringent and
+dryer, applicable in the hernia, strangury, and to stop fluxes; closes
+and cures wounds, being infus'd in red-wine, is also us'd to tinge hairs
+of that colour, to black and brown. Not forgetting the best
+tooth-pickers in the world, made of the wood; but above all, the gum for
+fastning loose-teeth in the gums; the mastick, gather'd from this
+profitable bush in the Island of Scio; beside other uses: And as the
+lentisc, so may the
+
+13. Olive be admitted, tho' it produce no other fruit than the verdure
+of the leaf; nor will it kindly breath our air, nor the less tender
+_oleaster_, without the indulgent winter-house take them in. But the
+
+14. _Granata_ [_malus punica_] is nothing so nice. There are of this
+glorious shrub three sorts, easily enough educated under any warm
+shelter, even to the raising hedges of them, nor indeed affects it so
+much heat, as plentiful watering: They supported a very severe winter in
+my garden, 1663, without any trouble or artifice; and if they present
+us their blushing double flowers for the pains of recision and well
+pruning, (for they must diligently be purg'd of superfluous wood) it is
+recompence enough; tho' placed in a very benign aspect, they have
+sometimes produc'd a pretty small pome: It is a _perdifolia_ in Winter,
+and growing abroad, requires no extraordinary rich earth, but that the
+mould be loosen'd and eas'd about the root, and hearty compost applied
+in Spring and Autumn: Thus cultivated, it will rise to a pretty tree,
+tho' of which there is in nature none so adulterate a shrub: 'Tis best
+increas'd by layers, approch and inarching (as they term it) and is said
+to marry with laurels, the damson, ash, almond, mulberry, citron, too
+many I fear to hold. But after all, they do best being cas'd, the mould
+well mixt with rotten hogs-dung, its peculiar delight, and kept to a
+single stem, and treated like other plants in the Winter-shelter; they
+open the bud and flower, and sometimes with a pretty small fruit; the
+juice whereof is cooling; the rest of an astringent quality: The rind
+may also supply the gall for making ink, and will tan leather.
+
+15. The syring [lilac] or pipe-tree, so easily propagated by suckers or
+layers; the flower of the white (emulating both colour and flavor of the
+orange) I am told is made use of by the perfumers; I should not else
+have named it among the evergreens; for it loses the leaf, tho' not its
+life, however expos'd in the Winter: There are besides this the purple,
+by our botanists call'd the Persian julsamine, which next leads me to
+the other jasmines.
+
+16. The jasmine, especially the Spanish larger flower, far exceeding all
+the rest, for the agreeable odor and use of the perfumer: The common
+white and yellow would flower plentifully in our groves, and climb about
+the trees, being as hardy as any of our _periclimena_ and honey-suckles.
+
+How 'tis increas'd by submersion and layers, every gardner skills; and
+were it as much employ'd for nose-gays, &c. with us, as it is in Italy
+and France, they might make money enough of the flowers; one sorry tree
+in Paris, where they abound, has been worth a poor woman near a _pistol_
+a year.
+
+There is no small curiosity and address in obtaining the oyl, or essence
+(as we call it) of this delicate and evanid flower, which I leave to the
+chymist and the ladies who are worthy the secrets.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{290:1} Cato, Columella, Paladius.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+_Of the Arbutus, Box, Yew, Holly, Pyracanth, Laurel, Bay, &c._
+
+
+1. The _arbutus_, (by us call'd the strawberry-tree) too much I think
+neglected by us; making that a rarity, which grows so common and
+naturally in Ireland: It is indeed with some difficulty raised by seeds,
+but propagated by layers, if skilfully prun'd, grows to a goodly tree,
+patient of our clime, unless the weather be very severe: It may be
+contriv'd into most beautiful palisades, is ever verdant: I am told the
+tree grows to a huge bulk and height in Mount Athos and other countries:
+Virgil reports its inoculation with the nut; and I find Bauhinus
+commends the coal for the goldsmiths works; and the poet
+
+    Arbutean harrows, and the mystick van.{294:1}
+
+2. _Buxus_, the box, which we begin to proscribe our gardens (and indeed
+bees are no friend to it) should not yet be banish'd from our care;
+because the excellency of the wood does commute for the unagreeableness
+of its smell: Therefore let us furnish our cold and barren hills and
+declivities with this useful shrub, I mean the taller sort; for dwarf
+and more tonsile in due place; it will increase abundantly of slips set
+in March, and towards Bartholomew-tide, as also of the seeds contain'd
+in the cells: These trees rise naturally at Boxley in Kent in abundance,
+and in the county of Surrey, giving name to that Chalky Hill (near the
+famous Mole or Swallow) whither the ladies, gentlemen and other
+water-drinkers from the neighbouring Ebesham-Spaw, often resort during
+the heat of Summer to walk, collation and divert themselves in those
+_antilex_ natural alleys, and shady recesses, among the box-trees;
+without taking any such offence at the smell, which has of late banish'd
+it from our groves and gardens; when after all, it is infinitely to be
+preferr'd for the bordering of flower-beds, and flat embroideries, to
+any sweeter les-lasting shrub whatever, subject after a year or two to
+grow dry, sticky and full of gaps; which box is so little obnoxious to,
+that, braving all seasons, it needs not to be renew'd for 20 years
+together, nor kept in order with the garden-sheers, above once or twice
+a year, and immediately upon that, the casting water on it, hinders all
+those offensive emissions, which some complain of: But whilst I speak in
+favour of this sort of edging, I only recommend the use of the
+Dutch-box, (rarely found growing in England) which is a _pumil_ dwarf
+kind, with a smaller leaf, and slow of growth, and which needs not be
+kept above two inches high, and yet grows so close, that beds bordered
+with boards, keep not the earth in better order; beside the pleasantness
+of the verdure is incomparable.
+
+One thing more I think fit to add; That it may be convenient once in
+four, or five, or six years, to cut off the strings and roots which
+straggle into the borders, with a very sharp spade, that they may not
+prejudice the flowers, and what else one plants in them.
+
+I need not speak much of the uses of this tree, (growing in time to
+considerable stature) so continually sought after for many utensils,
+being so hard, close and pondrous as to sink like lead in water, and
+therefore of special use for the turner, ingraver, carver,
+mathematical-instrument, comb and pipe-makers (_si buxos inflare
+juvat_...... Virg.) give great prices for it by weight, as well as
+measure; and by the seasoning, and divers manner of cutting, vigorous
+insolations, politure and grinding, the roots of this tree (as of even
+our common and neglected thorn) do furnish the inlayer and
+cabinet-makers with pieces rarely undulated, and full of variety. Also
+of box are made wheels or shivers (as our ship-carpenters call them) and
+pins for blocks and pullies; pegs for musical instruments; nut-crackers,
+weavers-shuttles, hollar-sticks, bump-sticks, and dressers for the
+shooe-maker, rulers, rolling-pins, pestles, mall-balls, beetles, topps,
+tables, chess-men, screws, male and female, bobins for bone-lace,
+spoons, nay the stoutest axle-trees, but above all,
+
+    ........Box-combs bear no small part
+    In the militia of the female-art;
+    They tye the links which hold our gallants fast,
+    And spread the nets to which fond lovers hast.{296:1}
+
+3. The chymical oyl of this wood has done the feats of the best
+_guajacum_ (though in greater quantity) for the cure of venereal
+diseases, as one of the most expert physicians in Europe has confess'd.
+The oyl asswages the tooth-ache. But, says Rhodoginus, the honey which
+is made at Trevisond in box-trees, (I suppose he means gather'd among
+them; for there are few, I believe, if any, so large and hollow as to
+lodge and hive them) renders them distracted who eat of it. Lib. XXIII.
+cap. 25.
+
+V. Since the use of bows is laid aside amongst us, the propagation of
+the yew-tree (of which we have two sorts, and other places reckon more,
+as the Arcadian black and red; the yellow of Ida, infinitely esteem'd of
+old) is likewise quite forborn; but the neglect of it is to be deplor'd;
+seeing that (besides the rarity of it in Italy and France, where but
+little of it grows) the barrenest grounds, and coldest of our mountains
+(for
+
+    ........._Aquilonem & frigora taxi_)
+
+might be profitably replenish'd with them: I say, profitably, for,
+besides the use of the wood for bows
+
+    ........._Ityraeos taxi torquentur in arcus._
+
+(For which the close and more deeply dy'd is best) the forementioned
+artists in box, cabinet-makers, inlayers, and for the parquete-floors,
+most gladly employ it; and in Germany they use to wainscot their stoves
+with boards of this material: Also for the cogs of mills, posts to be
+set in moist grounds, and everlasting axel-trees, there is none to be
+compared with it; likewise for the bodies of lutes, theorbo's, bowles,
+wheels, and pins for pullies; yea, and for tankards to drink out of;
+whatever Pliny reports concerning its shade, and the stories of the air
+about Thasius, the fate of Cativulcus mention'd by Caesar, and the ill
+report which the fruit has vulgarly obtain'd in France, Spain, and
+Arcadia: But
+
+    How are poor trees traduc'd?{297:1}
+
+5. The toxic quality was certainly in the liquor, which those good
+fellows tippl'd out of those bottles, not in the nature of the wood;
+which yet he affirms is cur'd of that venenous quality, by driving a
+brazen-wedge into the body of it: This I have never tried, but that of
+the shade and fruit I have frequently, without any deadly or noxious
+effects: So that I am of opinion, that tree which Sestius calls
+_smilax_, and our historian thinks to be our yew, was some other wood;
+and yet I acknowledge that it is esteem'd noxious to cattle when 'tis in
+the seeds, or newly sprouting; though I marvel there appear no more such
+effects of it, both horses and other cattle being free to brouse on it,
+where it naturally grows: But what is very odd (if true) is that which
+the late Mr. Aubrey recounts (in his _Miscellanies_) of a gentlewoman
+that had long been ill, without any benefit from the physician; who
+dream'd, that a friend of hers deceased, told her mother, that if she
+gave her daughter a drink of yew pounded, she should recover: She
+accordingly gave it her, and she presently died: The mother being almost
+distracted for the loss of her daughter, her chambermaid, to comfort
+her, said, surely what she gave her was not the occasion of her death,
+and that she would adventure on it her self; she did so, and died also:
+Whether all this be but a dream, I cannot tell, but it was haply from
+these lugubrous effects, that garlands of _taxus_ were usually carried
+at funerals, as Statius implies in _Epicedium vernae_: However, to
+prevent all funest accidents, I commend the tree only for the usefulness
+of the timber, and hortulan ornament. That we find it so universally
+planted in our church-yards, was doubtless some symbol of immortality,
+the tree being so lasting, and always green: Our bee-masters banish it
+from about their apiaries.
+
+One thing more, whilst I am speaking of this tree; it minds me of that
+very odd story I find related by Mr. Camden, of a certain amorous
+clergy-man, that falling in love with a pretty maid who refus'd his
+addresses, cut off her head; which being hung upon a yew-tree 'till it
+was rotten, the tree was reputed so sacred, not only whilst the virgin's
+head hung on it, but as long as the tree it self lasted; to which the
+people went in pilgrimage, plucking and bearing away branches of it, as
+an holy relique, whilst there remain'd any of the trunk left, persuading
+themselves, that those small veins and filaments, (resembling hairs
+between the bark and the body of the tree) were the hairs of the virgin:
+But what is yet stranger, that the resort to this place (then call'd
+Houton) (from a despicable village) occasion'd the building of the now
+famous town Hallifax, in York-shire, which imports holy-hair: By this,
+and the like, may we estimate what a world of impostures, have through
+craft and superstition gained the repute of holy-places, abounding with
+rich oblations (their _de voto's_).
+
+Pliny speaks of an old lotus tree in a grove near Rome, which they
+call'd _capitale_, upon which the vestals present (as our nuns) were
+us'd to hang their hair cut off at their profession: Plin. lib. 16. c.
+43. But that is nothing to this.
+
+I may not in the mean time omit what has been said of the true _taxus_
+of the ancients, for being a mortiferous plant: Dr. Belluccio, President
+of the Medical Garden at Pisa in Tuscany, (where they have this
+curiosity) affirms, that when his gardners clip it (as sometimes they
+do) they are not able to work above half an hour at a time, it makes
+their heads so ake: But the leaves of this tree are more like the fir,
+and is very bushy, furnish'd with leaves from the very root, and seeming
+rather an hedge than a tree, tho' it grow very tall.
+
+6. This English yew-tree is easily produc'd of the seeds, wash'd and
+cleans'd from their mucilage, then buried and dry'd in sand a little
+moist, any time in December, and so kept in some vessel in the house all
+Winter, and in some cool shady place abroad all the Summer, sow them the
+Spring after: Some bury them in the ground like haws; it will commonly
+be the second Winter e're they peep, and then they rise with their caps
+on their heads: Being three years old, you may transplant them, and form
+them into standards, knobs, walks, hedges, &c. in all which works they
+succeed marvellous well, and are worth our patience for their perennial
+verdure and durableness: I do again name them for hedges, preferable
+for beauty, and a stiff defence to any plant I have ever seen, and may
+upon that account (without vanity) be said to have been the first which
+brought it into fashion, as well for defence, as for a _succedaneum_ to
+cypress, whether in hedges, or pyramids, conic-spires, bowls or what
+other shapes, adorning the parks or larger avenues, with their lofty
+tops 30 foot high, and braving all the efforts of the most rigid Winter,
+which cypress cannot weather; I have said how long lasting they are, and
+easily to be shap'd and clipp'd; nay cut down, revive: But those which
+are much superannuated, and perhaps of many hundred years standing,
+perish if so us'd.
+
+7. He that in Winter should behold some of our highest hills in Surrey,
+clad with whole woods of these two last sort of trees, for divers miles
+in circuit (as in those delicious groves of them, belonging to the
+Honourable, my noble friend, the late Sir Adam Brown of
+Bech-worth-Castle, from Box-hill) might without the least violence to
+his imagination, easily fancy himself transported into some new or
+enchanted country; for, if any spot of England,
+
+                 ........'Tis here
+    Eternal Spring, and Summer all the year.{300:1}
+
+Of which I have already spoken in the former section.
+
+8. But, above all the natural greens which inrich our home-born store,
+there is none certainly to be compar'd to the _agrifolium_, (or
+_acuifolium_ rather) our holly so spontaneously growing here in this
+part of Surrey, that the large vale near my own dwelling, was anciently
+call'd Holmes-Dale; famous for the flight of the Danes: The inhabitants
+of great antiquity (in their manners, habits, speech) have a proverb,
+Holmes-Dale never won; he never shall. It had once a fort, call'd
+Homes-Dale Castle: I know not whether it might not be that of Rygate;
+but leaving this uncertain, and return to the plant, I have often
+wonder'd at our curiosity after foreign plants, and expensive
+difficulties, to the neglect of the culture of this vulgar, but
+incomparable tree; whether we will propagate it for use and defence, or
+for sight and ornament.
+
+    A hedge of holly, thieves that would invade,
+    Repulses like a growing palizade;
+    Whose numerous leaves such orient greens invest,
+    As in deep Winter do the Spring arrest.{301:1}
+
+Which makes me wonder why it should be reckon'd among the unfortunate
+trees, by Macrobius, _Sat._ lib. III. cap. 20. others among the lucky;
+for so it seems they us'd to send branches of it, as well as of oak (the
+most fortunate, according to the Gentile theology) with their _strenae_
+(new-year's gifts) begun (as Symachus tells us) by K. Tatius, almost as
+old as Rome her self.
+
+But to say no more of these superstitious fopperies, which are many
+other about this tree, we still dress up both our churches and houses,
+on Christmas and other festival days, with this cheerful green and
+rutilant berries.
+
+9. Is there under heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the
+kind, than an impregnable hedge of about four hundred foot in length,
+nine foot high, and five in diameter; which I can shew in my now ruin'd
+gardens at Say's-Court, (thanks to the Czar of Moscovy) at any time of
+the year, glitt'ring with its arm'd and varnish'd leaves? The taller
+standards at orderly distances, blushing with their natural coral: It
+mocks at the rudest assaults of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breakers,
+
+    _Et illum nemo impune lacessit._
+
+It is with us of two eminent kinds, the prickly, and smoother leav'd; or
+as some term it, the free-holly, not unwelcome when tender, to sheep and
+other cattle: There is also of the white-berried, and a golden and
+silver, variegated in six or seven differences; which proceeds from no
+difference in the species, but accidentally, and _naturae lusu_, as most
+such variegations do; since we are taught how to effect it artificially,
+namely, by sowing the seeds, and planting in gravelly soil, mixed with
+store of chalk, and pressing it hard down; it being certain, that they
+return to their native colour when sown in richer mould, and that all
+the fibers of the roots recover their natural food.
+
+10. I have already shew'd how it is to be rais'd of the berries, (of
+which there is a sort bears them yellow, and propagate their colour)
+when they are ready to drop, this only omitted, that they would first be
+freed from their tenacious and glutinous mucilage by being wash'd, and a
+little bruised, then dry'd with a cloath; or else bury them as you do
+the yew and hipps; and let our forester receive this for no common
+secret, and take notice of the effect: If you will sow them in the
+berry, keep them in dry sand till March; remove them also after three or
+four years; but if you plant the sets (which is likewise a commendable
+way, and the woods will furnish enough) place'em northwards, as they do
+quick. Of this, might there living pales and enclosures be made, (such
+as the Right Honourable my Lord Dacres, somewhere in Sussex, has a park
+almost environ'd with, able to keep in any game, as I am credibly
+inform'd) and cut into square hedges, it becomes impenetrable, and will
+thrive in hottest, as well as the coldest places. I have seen hedges, or
+if you will, stout walls of holly, 20 foot in height, kept upright, and
+the gilded sort budded low, and in 2 or 3 places one above another,
+shorn and fashion'd into columns and pilasters, architectonially shap'd,
+and at due distance; than which nothing can possibly be more pleasant,
+the berry adorning the intercolumniations, with the scarlet festoons and
+_encarpa_. Of this noble tree one may take thousands of them four inches
+long, out of the woods (amongst the fall'n leaves whereof, they sow
+themselves) and so plant them; but this should be before the cattle
+begin to crop them, especially sheep, who are greedy of them when
+tender: Stick them into the ground in a moist season, Spring, or early
+Autumn; especially the Spring, shaded (if it prove too hot and
+scorching) till they begin to shoot of themselves, and in very sharp
+weather, and during our eastern _etesians_, cover'd with dry straw or
+haume; and if any of them seem to perish, cut it close, and you shall
+soon see it revive. Of these seedlings, and by this culture, I have
+rais'd plants and hedges full four foot high in four years: The lustier
+and bigger the sets are, the better, and if you can procure such as are
+a thumbs-breadth thick, they will soon furnish into an hedge. At
+Dengeness in Kent, they grow naturally amongst the very beach and
+pibbles; but if your ground be stiff, loosen it with a little fine
+gravel: This rare hedge (the boast of my villa) was planted upon a
+burning gravel, expos'd to the meridian sun; for it refuses not almost
+any sort of barren ground, hot or cold, and often indicates where coals
+are to be dug.
+
+11. True it is, that time must bring this tree to perfection; it does so
+to all things else, & _posteritati pangimus_. But what if a little
+culture about the roots (not dunging, which it abhors) and frequent
+stirring of the mould, double its growth? We stay seven years for a
+tolerable quick, it is worth staying it thrice, for this, which has no
+competitor.
+
+12. And yet there is an expedient to effect it more insensibly, by
+planting it with the quick: Let every fifth or sixth be an holly-set;
+they will grow up infallibly with your quick; and as they begin to
+spread, make way for them by extirpating the white-thorn, till they
+quite domineer: Thus was my hedge first planted, without the least
+interruption to the fence, by a most pleasant metamorphosis. But there
+is also another, not less applauded, by laying along well-rooted sets (a
+yard or more in length) and stripping off the leaves and branches,
+letting only something of the tops appear: These, cover'd with a
+competent depth of earth, will send forth innumerable suckers, which
+will suddenly advance into an hedge; and grows as well under the shade
+as sun, provided you keep them weeded, and now and then loosen the
+earth; towards which, if thro' extream neglect, or other accident, it
+grow thin, being close cut down, it will fill and become stronger and
+thicker than ever.
+
+Of this stately shrub (as some reckon it) there is lately found an
+holly, whose leaves are as thorny and bristly, not only at the edges,
+but all over, as an hedge-hog, which it may properly be call'd; and I
+think was first brought by Mr. London out of France.
+
+13. The timber of the holly (besides that it is the whitest of all hard
+woods, and therefore us'd by the inlayer, especially under thin plates
+of ivory, to render it more conspicuous) is for all sturdy uses; the
+mill-wright, turner and engraver, prefer it to any other: It makes the
+best handles and stocks for tools, flails, riding rods the best, and
+carters-whips; bowles, shivers, and pins for blocks: Also it excels for
+door-bars and bolts; and as of the elm, so of this especially, they made
+even hinges and hooks to serve instead of iron, sinking in the water
+like it; and of the bark is compos'd our bird-lime thus:
+
+14. Pill a good quantity of the bark about Midsummer, fill a vessel with
+it, and put to it spring-water; then boil it, till the gray and white
+bark rise from the green, which will require near twelve hours boiling;
+then taking it off the fire, separate the barks, the water first well
+drained from it: Then lay the green bark on the earth, in some cool
+vault or cellar, covering it with any sort of green and rank weeds, such
+as dock, thistles, hemlock, &c. to a good thickness: Thus let it
+continue near a fortnight, by which time 'twill become a perfect
+mucilage: Then pound it all exceedingly in a stone mortar, 'till it be a
+tough past, and so very fine, as no part of the bark be discernable:
+This done, wash it accurately well in some running stream of water, as
+long as you perceive the least ordure or motes in it, and so reserve it
+in some earthen-pot, to purge and ferment, scumming it as often as any
+thing arises for four or five days, and when no more filth comes, change
+it into a fresh vessel of earth, and reserve it for use, thus: Take what
+quantity you please of it, and in an earthen pipkin, add a third part of
+capons or goose-grease to it, well clarified; or oyl of walnuts, which
+is better: Incorporate these on a gentle fire, continually stirring it
+'till it be cold, and thus your composition is finish'd. But to prevent
+frosts (which in severe weather will sometimes invade it on the rods)
+take a quarter of as much oyl of petroleum, as you do of grease, and no
+cold whatever will congeal it. The Italians make their _vischio_ of the
+berries of the misselto of trees, (and indeed it is from this it is said
+of the thrush, _exitium suum cacat_, that bird being so exceeding
+devourers of them) treated much after the same manner; but then they mix
+it with nut-oyl, an ounce to a pound of lime, and taking it from the
+fire, add half an ounce of turpentine, which qualifies it also for the
+water. Great quantities of bird-lime are brought to us out of Turky, and
+from Damascus, which some conceive to be made of _sebestens_, finding
+sometimes the kernels: This lime is of a greener colour, subject to
+frosts, and impatient of wet, nor will last above a year or two good:
+Another sort comes also out of Syria, of a yellow hue; likewise from
+Spain, whiter than the rest, which will resist the water, but is of an
+ill scent. I have been told that the _cortex_ of our _lantana_, or
+wayfaring shrub, will make as good bird-lime as the best. But let these
+suffice, being more than as yet any one has publish'd. The superior
+leaves of holly-trees, dry'd to a fine powder, and drunk in white-wine,
+are prevalent against the stone, and cure fluxes; and a dozen of the
+mature berries, being swallow'd, purge phlegm without danger. To which
+the learned Mr. Ray (in _Append. Plant. Angl._) adds a _zythogalum_, or
+posset made of milk and beer, in which is boil'd some of the most
+pointed leaves, for asswaging the torment of the collic, when nothing
+else has prevailed. And now I might have here planted the
+
+15. _Pyracantha_, both for its perpetual verdure, if the fences had not
+already challeng'd it, chap. 20. lib. I.
+
+16. The _lauro-cerasus_ on cherry-bay, which by the use we commonly put
+it to, seems as if it had been only destin'd for hedges, and to cover
+bare walls: Being planted upright, and kept to the standard, by cutting
+away the collateral branches, and maintaining one stem, will rise to a
+very considerable tree; and (for the first twenty years) resembling the
+most beautiful-headed orange, in shape and verdure, arrive in time to
+emulate even some of our lusty timber-trees; so as I dare pronounce the
+laurel to be one of the most proper and ornamental trees for walks and
+avenues, of any growing.
+
+17. Pity it is they are so abus'd in the hedges, where the lower
+branches growing sticky and dry, by reason of their frequent and
+unseasonable cutting (with the genius of the tree, which is to spend
+much in wood) they never succeed, after the first six or seven years;
+but are to be new-planted again, or abated to the very roots for a fresh
+shoot, which is best, and soon would furnish the places. In a word; as
+to the pruning of evergreen-hedges, there is no small skill and address
+to be us'd, in forming and trimming them for beauty and stability; by
+leaving the lower parts next the ground broader (two foot were
+sufficient for the thickness of the tallest hedge) than the tops,
+gradually, so as not much to exceed a foot breadth at the upmost verge,
+(as architects diminish walls of stone and brick from the foundation)
+for they will else be apt to bend and swagg, especially laden with
+Winter-snows or ice; grow too thick, heat, wither, and foul within, dry
+and sticky especially; when it were more than time they were cut close
+to earth, for a fresh and verdant Spring; and this method is to be
+practis'd in all hedges whatsoever.
+
+18. But would you yet improve the standard which I celebrate, to greater
+and more speedy exaltation? Bud your laurel on the black-cherry stock to
+what height you please: This I had from an ocular testimony, who was
+more than somewhat doubtful of such alliances; though something like it
+in Palladius speaks it not so impossible;
+
+    A cherry graft on laurel-stock does stain
+    The virgin fruit in a deep double grain.{308:1}
+
+19. They are rais'd of the seeds or berries with extraordinary facility,
+or propagated by layers, _taleae_, and cuttings, set about the latter
+end of August, or earlier at St. James-tide, where-ever there is shade
+and moisture. Besides that of the wood, the leaves of this laurel boil'd
+in milk, impart a very grateful tast of the almond; and of the berry (or
+cherries rather, of which poultrey generally feed on) is made a wine, to
+some not unpleasant: I find little concerning the uses of this tree; of
+the wood are said to be made the best plow-handles. Now that this rare
+tree was first brought from Civita Vecchia into England, by the Countess
+of Arundel, wife to that illustrious patron of arts and antiquities,
+Thomas Earl of Arundel and Surrey, Great Great Grand-Father to his Grace
+the present Duke of Norfolk, whom I left sick at Padoa, where he died;
+highly displeased at his grand-son Philip's putting on the friars-frock,
+tho' afterwards the purple, when Cardinal of Norfolk: After all, I
+cannot easily assent to the tradition, tho' I had it from a noble hand:
+I rather think it might first be brought out of some more northerly
+clime, the nature of the tree so delighting and flourishing in the shady
+and colder exposures, and abhorrence of heat.
+
+To crown this chapter then, tho' in the last place, (for so _finis
+coronat opus_) we reserve the bay tree.
+
+20. Bays, [_laurus vulgaris_]. The learned Isaac Vossius and
+etymologists are wonderfully curious, in their conjecture concerning its
+derivation; (_a laude_ says Issidor,) and from the ingenious poet, we
+learn how it became sacred to Apollo, the patron of the wits, and ever
+since the meed of conquerors and heroic persons. But leaving fiction, we
+pass to the culture of this noble and fragrant tree, propagated both by
+their seeds, roots, suckers or layers: They (namely, the berries) should
+be gather'd dropping-ripe: Pliny has a particular process for the
+ordering of them, not to be rejected, which is to gather them in
+January, and spreading them till their sweat be over; then he puts them
+in dung and sows them: As for the steeping in wine, water does
+altogether as well, others wash the seeds from their mucilage, by
+breaking and bruising glutinous berries; then sow them in rich ground in
+March, by scores in a heap; and indeed so they will come up in
+clusters, but nothing so well, nor fit for transplantation, as where
+they are interr'd with a competent scattering, so as you would furrow
+pease: Both this way, and by setting them apart (which I most commend) I
+have rais'd multitudes, and that in the berries, kept in sand till the
+Spring, without any farther preparation; only for the first two years,
+they would be defended from the piercing winds, which frequently destroy
+them; and yet the scorching of their tender leaves ought not to make you
+despair, for many of them will recover beyond expectation; nay, tho'
+quite cut down, they repullulate and produce young suckers: Such as are
+rais'd of berries, may at 3 years growth be transplanted; which let
+alone too long, are difficult to take.
+
+21. This aromatic tree greatly loves the mothers shade, (under which
+nothing else will prosper) yet thrives best in our hottest gravel,
+having once pass'd those first difficulties: Age, and culture about the
+roots, wonderfully augment its growth; so as I have seen trees near
+thirty foot high of them, and almost two foot diameter. They make
+walking-staves, strait, strong and light, for old gentlemen; and are fit
+also both for arbour and palisade-work, so the gardener understand when
+to prune and keep it from growing too woody. And here I cannot but take
+notice of those beautiful case-standards, which of late you have had out
+of Flanders, &c. with stems so even and upright; heads so round, full,
+and flourishing, as seem to exceed all the topiary ornaments of the
+garden; that one tree of them has been sold for more than twenty pounds;
+tho' now the mystery reveal'd, the price be much abated: And doubtless
+as good might be rais'd here, (without sending beyond-sea for them)
+were our gardeners as industrious to cultivate and shape them: Some
+there are, who imagine them of another species than our ordinary bay,
+but erroneously. I wonder we plant not whole groves of them, and abroad;
+they being hardy enough, grow upright, and would make a noble
+_daphneon_. The berries are emollient, soveraign in affections of the
+nerves, collics, gargarisms, baths, salves, and perfumes: Bay-leaves
+dryed in a fire-pan, and reduc'd to a fine powder, as much as will cover
+half a crown, being drank in wine, seldom fail of curing an ague. And
+some have us'd the leaves instead of cloves, imparting its relish in
+sauce, especially of fish; and the very dry sticks of the tree, strew'd
+over with a little powder or dust of sulphur, and vehemently rub'd
+against one another, will immediately take fire; as will likewise the
+wood of an old ivy; nay, without any intentive addition, by friction
+only.
+
+21. Amongst other things, it has of old been observ'd that the bay is
+ominous of some funest accident, if that be so accounted which Suetonius
+(in _Galba_) affirms to have happen'd before the death of the monster
+Nero, when these trees generally wither'd to the very roots in a very
+mild winter: And much later, that in the year 1629, when at Padoa,
+preceding a great pestilence, almost all the bay-trees about that famous
+University grew sick and perish'd: _Certo quasi praesagio_ (says my
+author) _Apollinem musaque subsequenti anno urbe illa bonarum literarum
+domicilio excessuras_. --But that this was extraordinary, we are told
+the emperor Claudius upon occasion of a raging pestilence, was by his
+physicians advis'd to remove his court to Laurentium, the aromatick
+emissions of that tree being in such reputation for clearing the air,
+and resisting contagion; upon which account I question not but Pliny
+(the nephew) was so frequently at his beloved Laurentium, so near the
+city. Besides, for their vertue against lightning, which Tiberius so
+exceedingly dreaded, that when it came with thunder, he would creep
+under his bed to avoid it, and shaded his head with the boughs. The
+story of the branch in the bill of the white-hen, let fall into the lap
+of Livia Drusilla, being planted, prosper'd so floridly, as made it
+reputed so sacred, as to use it for impaling the heads of the triumphing
+emperors, and to adorn the _limina_ of the temples and royal palace of
+the great Pontiff; and thence call'd _janitrices Caesarum_:
+
+    _Cum tandem apposita velantur limina lauro,
+    Cingit & Augustas arbor opaca fores!
+    Num quia perpetuos meruerunt ista triumphos?_
+
+As still at present in Rome and other cities, they use to trim up their
+churches and monastries on solemn festivals, when there is station and
+indulgences granted in honour of the saint or patron; as also on
+occasion of signal victories, and other joyful tidings; and those
+garlands made up with hobby-horse tinsel, make a glitterring show, and
+rattling noise when the air moves them.
+
+With the leaves of laurel, they made up their dispatches and letters,
+_laureis involutae_, wrapt in bay-leaves, which they sent to the senate
+from the victorious general: The spears, lances and _fasces_, nay, tents
+and ships, &c. were all dress'd up with laurels; and in triumph every
+common-soldier carryed a sprig in their hand, as we may see in the
+ancient and best _bass-relievo_ of the ancients, as of virtue to purge
+them from blood and slaughter. And now after all this, might one
+conjecture by a mere inspection of those several sculps, statues, and
+medals yet exstant, representing the heads of emperors, poets, &c. the
+wreaths and coronets seem to be compos'd of a more flexible and
+compliant species than the common bay, and more applicable to the brows,
+except where the ends and stalks of the tender branch were tyed together
+with a _lemnisc_ or ribbon. And there be yet{313:1} who contend for the
+Alexandrian laurel, and the _tinus_ as more ductile; but without any
+good evidence. Pliny I find says nothing of this question, naming only
+the Cyprian and Delphic; besides, the figure, colour of the rind and
+leaf, crackling in the fire, which it impugns, (as 'tis said it does
+lightning) gives plainly the honour of it to the common bay. We say
+nothing of its sacred use in the Gentile lustration, purgation, and
+several other attributes. To conclude;
+
+    From laurel{313:3} chew'd the Pythian priestess rose,
+    Events of future actions to disclose.
+    Laurel triumphant generals did wear,
+    And laurel heralds in their hands did bear.
+    Poets ambitious of unfading praise,
+    Phoebus, the Muses all are crown'd with bays.
+    And vertue to her sons the prize does name
+    Symbol of glory, and immortal fame.{313:2}
+
+I have now finish'd my planting: A word or two concerning their
+preservation, and the cure of their infirmities, expect in the following
+chapter.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{294:1}
+
+    Arbuteae crates, & mystica vannus Iacchi.
+
+    _Georg. 1._
+
+{296:1}
+
+            ............Non ultima belli
+    Arma puellaris; laqueos haec nectit amantum,
+    Et venatricis disponit retia formae.
+
+    _Couleii_ pl. l. 6.
+
+{297:1}
+
+    Quam multa arboribus tribuuntur crimina falsa?
+
+{300:1}
+
+    Hic ver perpetuum, atque alienis mensibus aestas.
+
+{301:1}
+
+    .....Mala furta hominum densis mucronibus arcens
+    Securum defendit inexpugnabilis hortum;
+    Exornatque simul, toto spectabilis anno,
+    Et numero, & viridi foliorum luce nitentum.
+
+    _Couleii Pl. l. 6._
+
+{308:1}
+
+    Inseritur lauro cerasus, partuque coacto
+      Tingit adoptivus virginis ora pudor.
+
+{313:1} Carol. _Avanti_ not. in cornan. Bapt. Fiera.
+
+{313:2}
+
+    Tu sacros Phoebi tripodas, tu sidera sentis,
+    Et casus aperis rerum praesaga futuros.
+    Te juvat armorum strepitus, clangorque tubarum;
+    Perque acies medias, saevique pericula belli,
+    Accendis bellantum animos; te Cynthius ipse,
+    Te Musae, vatesque sacri optavere coronam:
+    Ipsa suis virtus te spem proponit alumnis,
+    Tantum servatus valuit pudor, & bona fama.
+
+    Rapinus.
+
+{313:3} _Daphnephagi_ were such as after eating the leaves of the bay,
+became inspir'd.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+_Of the infirmities of trees, &c._
+
+
+So many are the infirmities and sicknesses of trees, and indeed of the
+whole family of vegetables, that it were almost impossible to enumerate
+and make a just catalogue of them; and as difficult to such infallible
+cures and remedies as could be desired; the effects arising from so
+many, and such different causes: Whenever therefore our trees and plants
+fail and come short of the fruit and productions we expect of them, (if
+the fault be not in our want of care) it is certainly to be attributed
+to those infirmities, to which all elementary things are obnoxious,
+either from the nature of the things themselves, and in themselves, or
+from some outward injury, not only through their being unskilfully
+cultivated by men, and expos'd to hurtful beasts, but subject to be
+prey'd upon and ruin'd by the most minute and despicable insect, besides
+other casualties and accidents innumerable, according to the rustick
+rhyme,
+
+    The calf, the wind-shoc and the knot,
+    The canker, scab, scurf, sap and rot,
+
+affecting the several parts: These invade the roots; stony and rocky
+grounds, ivy, and all climbers, weeds, suckers, fern, wet, mice, moles,
+winds, &c. to these may be added siderations, pestiferous air, fogs,
+excessive heat, sulphurous and arsenic smoak, and vapours, and other
+plagues, tumours, distortions, lacrymations, _tophi_, gouts, carbuncles,
+ulcers, crudities, fungosities, gangreens, and an army more, whereof
+some are hardly discernable, yet enemies, which not foreseen, makes many
+a bargain of standing-wood (though seemingly fair) very costly ware: In
+a word, whatsoever is exitial to men, is so to trees; for the aversion
+of which, they had of old recourse to the _robigalia_ and other Gentile
+ceremonies: but no longer abus'd by charmers and superstitious
+fopperies, we have in this chapter endeavoured to set down and prescribe
+the best and most approved remedies hitherto found out, as well natural
+as artificial.
+
+And first, weeds are to be diligently pull'd up by hand after rain,
+whiles your seedlings are very young, and till they come to be able to
+kill them with shade, and over-dripping: And then are you for the
+obstinate, to use the haw, fork, and spade, to extirpate dog-grass,
+bear-bind, &c.
+
+And here mentioning shade and dripping, though I cannot properly speak
+of them as infirmities of trees, they are certainly the causes of their
+unthriving till remov'd; such as that of the oak and mast-holme,
+wall-nut, pine and fir, &c. the thickness of the leaves intercepting the
+sun and rain; whilst that of other trees good, as the elm, and several
+other.
+
+2. Suckers shall be duly eradicated, and with a sharp spade dexterously
+separated from the mother-roots, and transplanted in convenient places
+for propagation, as the season requires.
+
+Here note, that fruit graffed upon suckers, are more dispos'd to
+produce suckers, than such as are propagated upon good stocks.
+
+3. Fern, is best destroy'd by striking off the tops, as Tarquin did the
+heads of the poppies: This done with a good wand, or cudgel, at the
+decrease in the Spring, and now and then in Summer, kills it (as also it
+does nettles) in a year or two, (but most infallibly, by being eaten
+down at its spring, by Scotch-sheep) beyond the vulgar way of mowing, or
+burning, which rather encreases, than diminishes it.
+
+4. Over-much wet is to be drain'd by trenches, where it infests the
+roots of such kinds as require drier ground: But if a drip do fret into
+the body of a tree by the head (which will certainly decay it) cutting
+first the place smooth, stop and cover it with loam and hay, or a
+cerecloth, till a new bark succeed. But not only the wet, which is to be
+diverted by trenching the ground, is exitial to many trees, but their
+repletion of too abundant nourishment; and therefore sometimes there may
+be as much occasion to use the lancet, as phlebotomy and venaesection to
+animals; especially if the hypothesis hold, of the superfluous
+moisture's descent into the roots, to be re-concocted; but where, in
+case it be more copious than{316:1} can be there elaborated, it turns to
+corruption, and sends up a tainted juice, which perverts the whole habit
+of the tree: In this exigence therefore, it were perhaps more
+counsellable to draw it out by a deep incision, and to depend upon a new
+supply, than upon confidence of correcting this evil quality, by other
+medications, to let it perish. Other causes of their sickness (not
+always taken notice of) proceed from too liberal refreshments and
+over-watering in dry and scorching seasons; especially in nurseries:
+The water should therefore be fitly qualify'd, neither brackish, bitter,
+stagnat, or putrid, sower, acrimonious, vitriolic, arenous and gravelly,
+churlish, harsh and lean; (I mention them promiscuously) and whatever
+vicious quality they are perceptibly tinctur'd and impregnate with,
+being by no means proper drink for plants: Wherefore a very critical
+examen of this so necessary an element (the very principle, as some
+think, and only nutriment of vegetables){317:1} is highly to be
+regarded, together with more than ordinary skill how to apply it: In
+order to which, the constitution and texture of plants and trees are
+philosophically to be consider'd; some affecting macerations with dung
+and other mixtures (which I should not much commend) others quite
+contrary, the quick and running spring, dangerous enough, and worse than
+snow-water, which is not in some cases to be rejected: Generally
+therefore that were to be chosen, which passing silently through ponds
+and other receptacles, exposed to the sun and air, nearest approaching
+to that of rain, dropping from the uberous cloud, is certainly the most
+natural and nursing: As to the quantity, some plants require plentiful
+watering, others, rather often, than all at once; all of them sucking it
+in by the root for the most part, which are their mouths, and carry it
+thence through all the canales, organs and members of the whole
+vegetable body, digested and qualified so as to maintain and supply
+their being and growth, for the producing of whatever they afford for
+the use of man, and other living creatures.
+
+5. The bark-bound are to be released by drawing your knife rind-deep
+from the root, as far as you can conveniently, drawing your knife from
+the top downwards half-way, and at a small distance, from the bottom
+upwards, the other half; this, in more places, as the bulk of the stem
+requires; and if crooked, cut deep, and frequent in the ham; and if the
+gaping be much filling the rift with a little cow-dung; do this on each
+side, and at Spring, February or March: Also cutting off some branches
+is profitable; especially such as are blasted, or lightning-struck: If
+(as sometimes also) it proceed from the baking of the earth about the
+stem, lighten, and stir it.
+
+6. The _teredo_, _cossi_, and other worms, lying between the body and
+the bark, (which it separates) poyson that passage to the great
+prejudice of some trees; but the holes being once found, they are to be
+taken out with a light incision, the wound covered with loam; or let the
+dry-part of the wood (bark and all) be cut: applying only a wash of piss
+and vinegar twice or thrice a week during a month: The best means to
+find out their quarters, is to follow the wood-pecker, and other birds,
+often pitching upon the stem (as you may observe them) and knocking with
+their bills, give notice that the tree is infected, at least, between
+the bark. But there are divers kinds of these +xylophagoi+ of which the
++teredon+ or _tarmes_ we have mentioned, will sometimes make such a
+noise in a tree, as to awaken a sleeping man: The more rugous are the
+_cossi_, of old had in _deliciis_ amongst the epicures, who us'd to
+fatten them in flower; and this, (as Tertullian, and S. Hierom tells us)
+was the chief food of the _hierophantae Cereris_; as they are at this
+day a great _regalo_ in Japan: In the mean time, experience has taught
+us, that _millipedes_ wood-lice (to be plentifully found under old
+timber-logs, being dry'd and reduc'd to powder, and taken in drink) are
+an admirable specific against the jaundies, scorbut, &c. to purifie the
+blood, and clarifie the sight.
+
+There is a pestilent green-worm which hides it self in the earth, and
+gets into pots and cases, eating our seedlings, and gnawing the very
+roots, which should be searched out: And now we mention roots,
+over-grown toads will sometimes nestle at the roots of trees, when they
+make a cavern, which they infect with a poysonous vapour, of which the
+leaves famish'd and flagging give notice, and the enemy dug out with the
+spade: But this chiefly concerns the gardners mural fruit-trees; though
+I question not but that even our forest-trees suffer by such pernicious
+vapours, rats, and other stinking vermine making their nests within
+them. But of all these, let our industrious planter, (especially the
+learned favourers of the most refined parts of horticulture) consult the
+Discourses and experiments of _Sign._ Fran. Redi, Malphigius, Levenhock,
+Swamerdam, &c. with our own learned Doctors, Lyster, Sloane, Hook, (and
+other sagacious naturalists) to shew, that none of these diseases and
+infirmities in plants proceed from any pure accidental, but real cause;
+_flatus_, venemous liquor, and infections: Which some, even of the
+minutest animals, are provided with instruments to pierce the very solid
+substances of trees and plants, and infuse their pestiferous taint;
+where likewise they leave their eggs, boaring those nestling places with
+a certain _terebra_, where we find those innumerable perforations which
+we call worm-eaten; the wider _latebrae_ are made by _erucae_,
+caterpillars, ants, and bigger insects, raising morbid tumors and
+excrescences, and preying upon the fruit, as well as on the leaves, buds
+and flowers, so soon as their eggs are hatch'd, when they creep out of
+their little caverns in armies, like the Egyptian locusts, invading all
+that's green, and tender rudiments first, and then attacking the
+tougher and solider parts of vegetables: To those learned persons above,
+we may not forget the late worthy and pious Mr. Ray, where in the second
+part of his treatise, of the _Wisdom of God in the Creation_, we have a
+brief, but ingenious account of what concerns this subject, together
+with what is added about spontaneous productions of these despicable
+animals, to which I refer the curious.
+
+Trees (especially fruit-bearers) are infested with the measels, by being
+burned and scorched with the sun in great droughts: To this commonly
+succeeds lousiness, which is cur'd by boring an hole into the principal
+root, and pouring in a quantity of brandy, stopping the orifice up with
+a pin of the same wood.
+
+Crooked trees are reform'd by taking off or topping the praeponderers,
+whilst charg'd with leaves, or woody and hanging counterpoises.
+
+Excorticated and bark-bared trees, may be preserved by nourishing up a
+shoot from the foot, or below the stripped place, and inserting it into
+a slit above the wounded part; to be done in the Spring, and secur'd
+from air, as you treat a graff: This I have out of the very industrious
+Mr. Cook, p. 48. But Dr. Merret brought us in this relation to the Royal
+Society, that making a square section of the rinds of ash, and sycomore
+(March 1664,) whereof three sides were cut, and one not, the success
+was, that the whole bark did unite, being bound with pack-thread,
+leaving only a scar: But being separated intirely from the tree, namely
+several parts of the bark, and at various depths, leaving on some part
+of the bark, others cut to the very wood it self, being tied on as the
+former, a new rind succeeded in their place; but what was cover'd over
+beyond the places of incision with diachylon plaister, and also bound
+as the rest, did within the space of three weeks, unite to the tree,
+tho' with some shriveling and scar: The same experiment try'd about
+Michaelmas, and in the Winter, came to nothing: Where some branches were
+decorticated quite round, without any union, a withering of the branch
+beyond the incision, ensu'd: Also a twig separated from a branch, with a
+sloping cut, and fastn'd to it again in the same posture, bound and
+cover'd with the former plaister, wither'd in three days time: Among
+other easie remedies, a cere-cloth of fresh-butter and hony, apply'd
+whilst the wound is green, (especially in Summer) and bound about with a
+thrum-rope of moist hay, and rubb'd with cow-dung has healed many: But
+for rare and more tender trees, after pruning, take purely refined
+tallow, mingled and well harden'd with a little loamy earth, and
+horse-dung newly made.
+
+Dr. Plot speaks of an elm growing near the bowling-green at
+Magdalen-College, quite round disbark'd almost for a yard near the
+ground, which yet flourishes exceedingly; upon which he dilates into an
+accurate discourse, how it should possibly be; all trees being held to
+receive their nutrition between the wood and the bark, and to perish
+upon their separation; this tree being likewise hollow as a drum, and
+its outmost surface (where decorticated) dry, and dead. The solution of
+this phaenomenon (and to all appearance, from the verdant head) could
+not have been more philosophically resolv'd, than by the hypothesis
+there produc'd by the Doctor, who assures me, he was yet deliberating
+whether the tree being hollow, it might not possibly proceed from some
+other latent cause, as afterwards he discover'd when having obtain'd
+permission to open the body of it, he found another elm, letting down
+its stem all the length of this empty case, and striking root when it
+came to the earth, from whence it deriv'd nourishment, maintains a
+flourishing top, and has (till now) pass'd for a little miracle, as it
+still may do for a thing extraordinary, and rare enough; considering not
+only its passage, and how it should come there, unless haply some of the
+_samera_, or seed of the old tree (when pregnant) should have luckily
+fallen down within the hollow pipe, or (as might be conjectur'd) from
+some sucker springing of a juicy root: But the strange incorporating of
+the superior part of the bole, with the old hollow tree which embraces
+it, not by any perceptible roots, but as if it were but one body with
+it, whilst the rest of the vaginated stem touches no other part of the
+whole cavity, till it comes to the ground, is surprizing. This being
+besides very extraordinary, that a tree, which naturally grows taper as
+it approaches the top, should swell, and become bigger there than it is
+below. But this the Doctor will himself render a more minute account of
+in the next impression of that excellent piece of his; nor had I
+anticipated it on this occasion, but to let the world know (in the mean
+time) how ingenuously ready he is to acknowlege the mistake, as he has
+been successful in discovering it.
+
+Deer, conies, and hares, by barking the trees in hard Winters, spoil
+very many tender plantations: Next to the utter destroying them, there
+is nothing better than to anoint that part which is within their reach,
+with _stercus humanum_, tempered with a little water, or urine, and
+lightly brushed on; this renewed after every great rain: But a cleanlier
+than this, and yet which conies, and even cattle most abhor, is to
+water, or sprinkle them with tanners liquor, _viz._ that, which they use
+for dressing their hides; or to wash with slak'd lime and water,
+altogether as expedient: Also to tye thumb-bands of hay and straw round
+them as far as they can reach.
+
+8. Moss, (which is an adnascent plant) is to be rubb'd and scrap'd off
+with some fit instrument of wood, which may not excorticate the tree, or
+with a piece of hair-cloth after a sobbing rain; or by setting it on
+fire with a wisp of straw, about the end of December, if the season be
+dry, as they practise it in Stafford-shire; but the most infallible art
+of emuscation, is taking away the cause, (which is superfluous moisture
+in clayie and spewing grounds) by dressing with lime.
+
+9. Ivy is destroy'd by digging up the roots and loosning its hold: And
+yet even ivy it self (the destruction of many fair trees) if very old,
+and where it has long invested its support, if taken off) does
+frequently kill the tree, by a too sudden exposure to the unaccustom'd
+cold: Of the roots of ivy (which with small industry may be made a
+beautiful standard) are made curiously polish'd, and fleck'd cups and
+boxes, and even tables of great value. Misselto, and other excrescences
+to be cut and broken off. But the _fungi_ (which prognosticate a fault
+in the liver and entrails of trees, as we may call it) is remedied by
+abrasion, friction, interlucation and exposure to the sun.
+
+10. The bodies of trees are visited with canker, hollowness, hornets,
+earwigs, snails, &c.
+
+11. The wind-shock is a bruise, and shiver throughout the tree, though
+not constantly visible, yet leading the warp from smooth renting, caused
+by over-powerful winds, when young, and perhaps, by subtil lightnings,
+by which the strongest oaks (and other the most robust trees) are fain
+to submit, and will be twisted like a rope of hemp, and therefore of old
+not us'd to kindle the sacrifice. The same injury trees likewise often
+suffer by rigorous and piercing colds and frosts; such as in the year
+1683, rived many stately timber-trees from head to foot; which as the
+weather grew milder, clos'd again, so as hardly to be discern'd; but
+were found at the felling miserably shatter'd, and good for little: The
+best prevention is shelter, choice of place for the plantation, frequent
+shreading, whilst they are yet in their youth. Wind-shaken is also
+discover'd by certain ribs, boils and swellings on the bark, beginning
+at the foot of the stem, and body of the tree, to the boughs. But
+against such frosts and fire from heaven there is no charm.
+
+12. Cankers, of all other diseases the most pernicious, corroding and
+eating to the heart, and difficult to cure, whether (caused by some
+stroak, or galling, or by hot and burning land) are to be cut out to the
+quick, the scars emplastred with tar mingled with oyl, and over that, a
+thin spreading of loam; or else with clay and horse-dung; but best with
+hogs-dung alone, bound to it in a rag; or by laying wood-ashes, nettles,
+or fern to the roots, &c. You will know if the cure be effected, by the
+colour of the wounds growing fresh and green, and not reddish: But if
+the gangreen be within, it must be cured by nitrous, sulphureous and
+drying applications, and by no means, by any thing of an unctious
+nature, which is exitial to trees: Tar, as was said, only excepted,
+which I have experimentally known to preserve trees from the envenom'd
+teeth of goats, and other injuries; the entire stem smear'd over,
+without the least prejudice, to my no small admiration: But for over-hot
+and torrid land, you must sadden the mould about the root with pond-mud,
+and neats-dung; and by graffing fruit trees on stocks rais'd in the same
+mould, as being more homogeneous.
+
+13. Hollowness, is contracted, when by reason of the ignorant, or
+careless lopping of a tree, the wet is suffer'd to fall perpendicularly
+upon a part, especially the head, or any other part or arms, in which
+the rain getting in, is conducted to the very heart of the stem and body
+of the tree, which it soon rots: In this case, if there be sufficient
+sound wood, cut it to the quick, and close to the body cap the hollow
+part with a tarpaulin, or fill it with good stiff loam, horse-dung and
+fine hay mingled, or with well-temper'd mortar, covering it with a piece
+of tarpaulin: This is one of the worst of evils, and to which the elm is
+most obnoxious. Old broken boughs, if very great, are to be cut off at
+some distance from the body, but the smaller, close.
+
+14. Hornets and wasps, &c. by breeding in the hollowness of trees, not
+only infect them, but will peel them round to the very timber, as if
+cattle had unbark'd them, as I observed in some goodly ashes at
+Casioberry (near the garden of that late noble Lord, and lover of
+planting, the Earl of Essex), and are therefore to be destroy'd, by
+stopping up their entrances with tar and goose-dung, or by conveying the
+fumes of brimstome into their cells: _Cantharides_ attack the ash above
+all other bobs of the betle kind: Chafers, &c. are to be shaken down and
+crush'd, and when they come in armies, (as sometimes in extraordinary
+droughts) they are to be driven away or destroy'd with smoaks; which
+also kills gnats and flies of all sorts: Note, that the rose-bug never,
+or very seldom, attacks any other tree, whilst that sweet bush is in
+flower: Whole fields have been freed from worms by the reek and smoak of
+ox-dung wrapt in mungy straw, well soak'd with strong lie.
+
+15. Earwigs and snails do seldom infest forest-trees, but those which
+are fruit-bearers; and are destroy'd by setting boards or tiles against
+the walls, or the placing of neat-hoofs, or any hollow thing upon small
+stakes; also by enticing them into sweet waters, and by picking the
+snails off betimes in the morning, and rainy evenings; I advise you
+visit your cypress-trees on the first rains in April; you shall
+sometimes find them cover'd with young snails no bigger than small
+pease: Lastly, branches, buds and leaves extreamly suffer from the
+blasts, jaundies, and catterpillars, locusts, rooks, &c. Note, that you
+should visit the boards, tiles and hoofs which you set for the retreat
+of those insects, &c. in the heat of the day, to shake them out, and
+kill them.
+
+16. The blasted parts of trees (and so should gum) be cut away to the
+quick; and to prevent it, smoak them in suspicious weather, by burning
+moist straw with the wind, or rather the dry and superfluous cuttings of
+aromatic plants, such as rosemary, lavender, juniper, bays, &c. I use to
+whip and chastise my cypresses with a wand, after their winter-burnings,
+till all the mortified and scorch'd parts fly-off in dust, as long
+almost as any will fall, and observe that they recover and spring the
+better. Mice, moles and pismires cause the jaundies in trees, known by
+the discolour of the leaves and buds.
+
+17. The moles do much hurt, by making hollow passages, which grow
+musty, but they may be taken in traps, and kill'd, as every woodman
+knows: It is certain that they are driven from their haunts by garlick
+for a time, and other heady smells, buried in their passages.
+
+18. Mice, rats, with traps, or by sinking some vessel almost level with
+the surface of the ground, the vessel half full of water, upon which let
+there be strew'd some hulls, or chaff of oats; also with bane, powder of
+orpiment in milk, and aconites mix'd with butter: _Cop'ras_ or
+green-glass broken with honey: Morsels of sponge chopp'd small and fry'd
+in lard, &c. are very fit baits to destroy these nimble creatures, which
+else soon will ruin a semination of nuts, acorns and other kernels in a
+night or two, and rob the largest beds of a nursery, carrying them away
+by thousands to their cavernous magazines, to serve them all the Winter:
+I have been told, that hop-branches stuck about trees, preserve them
+from these theivish creatures.
+
+19. Destroy pismires with scalding water, and disturbing their hills, or
+rubbing the stem with cow-dung, or a decoction of _tithymale_, washing
+the infested parts; and this will insinuate, and chase them quite out of
+the chinks and crevices, without prejudice to the tree, and is a good
+prevention of other infirmities; also by laying soot, sea-coal, or
+saw-dust, or refuse tobacco where they haunt, often renew'd, especially
+after rain; for becoming moist, the dust and powder harden, and then
+they march over it.
+
+20. Caterpillars, by cutting off their webs from the twigs before the
+end of February, and burning them; the sooner the better: If they be
+already hatched, wash them off with water, in which some of the
+caterpillars themselves, and garlick have been bruis'd, or the juice of
+rue, decoctions of _colloquintida_, hemp-seed, worm-wood, tobacca,
+wall-nut-shells, when green, with the leaves of sage, urine and ashes,
+and the like aspersions. Take of two or three of the ingredients, of
+each an handful in two pails of water; make them boil in it half an
+hour, then strain the liquor, and sprinkle it on the trees infected with
+caterpillars, the black-flea, &c. in two or three times it will clear
+them, and should be us'd about the time of blossoming. Another, is to
+choak and dry them with smoak of _galbanum_, shoo-soals, hair; and some
+affirm that planting the pionie near them, is a certain remedy; but
+there is no remedy so facile, as the burning them off with small wisps
+of dry straw, which in a moment rids you.
+
+21. Rooks do in time, by pinching off the buds and tops of trees for
+their nests, cause many trees and groves to decay: Their dung propagates
+nettles and choaks young seedlings: They are to be shot, and their nests
+demolish'd. The bullfinch and titmouse also eat off and spoil the buds
+of fruit-trees; prevented by clappers, or caught in the wyre mouse-trap
+with teeth, and baited with a piece of rusty bacon, also with
+lime-twigs. But if cattle break in before the time, _conclamatum est_,
+especially goats, whose mouths and breath is poison to trees; they never
+thrive well after; and Varro affirms, if they but lick the olive-tree,
+they become immediately barren. And now we have mention'd barrenness, we
+do not reckon trees to be sterile, which do not yield a fruitful burden
+constantly every year (as juniper and some annotines do) no more than of
+pregnant women: Whilst that is to be accounted a fruitful tree which
+yields its product every second or third year, as the oak and most
+forresters do; no more may we conclude that any tree or vegetable are
+destitute of seeds, because we see them not so perspicuously with our
+naked eyes, by reason of their exility, as with the nicest examination
+of the microscope.
+
+22. Another touch at the winds; for though they cannot properly be said
+to be infirmities of trees; yet they are amongst the principal causes
+that render trees infirm. I know no surer protection against them, than
+(as we said) to shelter and stake them whilst they are young, till they
+have well establish'd roots; and with this caution, that in case any
+goodly trees (which you would desire especially to preserve and redress)
+chance to be prostrated by some impetuous and extraordinary storm; you
+be not over-hasty to carry him away, or despair of him; (nor is it of
+any ominous concern at all, but the contrary) _fausti ominis_, as Pliny
+says; and gives many illustrious instances: And as to other strange and
+unusual events following the accidental subversion of trees; concerning
+omens; and that some are portentous, others fortunate, of which
+see{329:1} Pierius, speaking of a garden of the Duke of Tuscany,
+belonging to a palace of his at Rome, a little before the death of Pope
+Leo; and before this, about the time of our country-man, Pope Adrian the
+IVth. First then, let me perswade you to pole him close, and so let him
+lie some time; for by this means, many vast trees have rais'd themselves
+by the vigour only of the remaining roots, without any other assistance;
+so as people have pronounc'd it miraculous, as I could tell you by
+several instances, besides what Theophrastus relates, l. 5. c. 19. of
+that huge _platanus_, which rose in one night in his observation; which
+puts me in mind of what I remember the very learned critic Palmerius
+affirms of an oak, subverted by a late tempest near Breda, (where this
+old soldier militated under Prince Maurice, at the town when besieg'd by
+the famous Marq. Spinola) which tree, after it had lain prostrate about
+2 months, (the side-branches par'd off) rose up of it self, and
+flourish'd as well as ever. Which event was thought so extraordinary,
+that the people reserved sprigs and boughs of it, as sacred reliques;
+and this he affirms to have seen himself. I take the more notice of
+these accidents, that none who have trees blown down, where it may cause
+a deform'd gap in some avenue near their seats, may not altogether
+despair of their resurrection, with patience and timely freeing them.
+And the like to this I find happen'd in more than one tree near Bononia
+in Italy, _anno_ 1657. when of late a turbulent gust had almost quite
+eradicated a very large tract of huge poplars, belonging to the
+Marchioness Elephantucca Spada, that universally erected themselves
+again, after they were beheaded, as they lay even prostrate.{330:1} What
+says the naturalist? _Prostratas restitui plerumque, & quadam terrae
+cicatrice reviviscere, vulgare est_: 'Tis familiar (says Pliny) in the
+_platanus_, which are very obnoxious to the winds, by reason of the
+thickness of their branches, which being cut off and discharged, restore
+themselves. This also frequently happens in wall-nuts, olive-trees, and
+several others, as he affirms, l. 16. c. 31. But we have farther
+instances than these, and so very lately as that dreadful storm
+happening 26 Nov. 1703, when after so many thousand oaks, and other
+timber-trees were quite subverted, a most famous and monstrous, oak
+growing at Epping in Essex, (blown down) raised it self, and withstood
+that hurricane. These (amongst many others) are the infirmities to which
+forest-trees are subject, whilst they are standing; and when they are
+fell'd, to the worm; especially if cut before the sap be perfectly at
+rest: But to prevent or cure it in the timber, I commend this secret as
+the most approv'd.
+
+23. Let common yellow sulphur be put into a cucurbit-glass, upon which
+pour so much of the strongest _aqua-fortis_, as may cover it three fingers
+deep: distil this to dryness, which is done by two or three
+rectifications: Let the sulphur remaining in the bottom (being of a
+blackish or sad-red colour) be laid on a marble, or put into a glass,
+where it will easily dissolve into oil: With this, anoint what is either
+infected, or to be preserved of timber. It is a great and excellent
+_arcanum_ for tinging the wood with no unpleasant colour, by no art to be
+washed out; and such a preservative of all manner of woods; nay, of many
+other things; as ropes, cables, fishing-nets, masts of ships, &c. that it
+defends them from putrefaction, either in waters under or above the earth,
+in the snow, ice, air, Winter or Summer, &c. It were superfluous to
+describe the process of the _aqua-fortis_; It shall be sufficient to let
+you know, that our common _coperas_ makes this _aqua-fortis_ well enough
+for our purpose, being drawn over by a retort: And for sulphur, the Island
+of St. Christophers yields enough, (which hardly needs any refining) to
+furnish the whole world. This secret (for the curious) I thought fit not
+to omit; though a more compendious, three or four anointings with
+linseed-oyl, has prov'd very effectual: It was experimented in a
+wall-nut-table, where it destroy'd millions of worms immediately, and is
+to be practis'd for tables, tubes, mathematical-instruments, boxes,
+bed-steads, chairs, rarities, &c. Oyl of wall-nuts will doubtless do the
+same, is sweeter, and a better varnish; but above all, is commended oyl of
+cedar, or that of juniper; whilst oyl of spike does the cure as effectual
+as any.
+
+But after all these sweeping plagues and destructions inflicted on
+trees, (braving all humane remedies) such frosts as not many
+years{332:1} since hap'ned, left such marks of their deadly effects, not
+sparing the goodliest and most flourishing trees, timber, and other of
+the stoutest kind; as some ages will hardly repair: Nay, 'twas observ'd,
+that the oak in particular (counted the most valiant and sturdy of the
+whole forest) was more prejudic'd with this excessive cold, and the
+drowth of the year ensuing, than any of the most nice and tender
+constitution: Always here excepting (as to a universal _strages_) the
+hurricane of Sept. 1703, which begins the epocha of the calamities,
+which have since follow'd, not only by the late tempest about
+August{332:2} last, but by that surprizing blast, accompany'd doubtless
+with a fiery spirit, which smote the most flourishing foresters and
+fruit trees, burning their buds and leaves to dust and powder, not
+sparing the very fruit. This being done in a moment, must be look'd upon
+as a plague not to be prevented: In the mean time, that the malignity
+proceed no farther, it may be advisable to cut, and top the summities of
+such tender mural trees, rare shrubs, &c. as have most suffer'd, and
+are within reach, rubbing off the scorchings in order to new spring.
+
+There was in my remembrance, certain prayers, litanies and collects,
+solemnly us'd by the parish-minister in the field, at the limits of
+their perambulations on the Rogation-days; from an ancient and laudable
+custom of above 1000 years, introduc'd by Avitus the pious bishop of
+Vienna, in a great dearth, unseasonable weather, and other calamities,
+(however in tract of time abus'd by many gross superstitions and
+insignificant rites, in imitation of the pagan _robigalia_) upon which
+days, (about the Ascension, and beginning of Spring especially) prayers
+were made, as well deprecatory of epidemical evils, (amongst which
+blasts and smut of corn were none of the least) as supplications for
+propitious seasons, and blessings on the fruits of the earth. Whether
+there was any peculiar _Office_, (besides those for Ember-weeks)
+appointed, I do not know: But the pious and learned bishop of
+Winchester, [Andrews] has in his _Devotions_, left us a prayer so
+apposite and comprehensive for these emergencies, that I cannot forbear
+the recital.
+
+Remember, O Lord, to renew the year with thy goodness, and the season
+with a promising temper: For the eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord:
+Thou givest them meat; thou openest thy hand, and fillest all things
+living with thy bounty. Vouchsafe therefore, O Lord, the blessings of
+the heavens, and the dews from above: The blessings of the springs, and
+the deep from beneath: The returns of the sun, the conjunctions of the
+moon: The benefit of the rising mountains, and the lasting hills: The
+fullness of the earth, and all that breed therein.
+
+           A fruitful season,
+             Temperate air,
+             Plenty of corn,
+           Abundance of fruits,
+           Health of body, and
+             Peaceable times,
+        Good, and wise government,
+             Prudent counsels,
+                Just laws,
+           Righteous judgments,
+             Loyal obedience,
+         Due execution of justice,
+        Sufficient store for life,
+              Happy births,
+          Good, and fair plenty,
+    Breeding and institution of children:
+
+That our sons may grow up as the young plants, and our daughters may be
+as the polished corners of the Temple: That our garners may be full and
+plenteous with all manner of store: That our sheep may bring forth
+thousands: That our oxen may be strong to labour: That there be no
+decay; no leading into captivity; no complaining in our streets: But
+that every man may sit under his own vine, and under his own fig-tree,
+in thankfulness to thee; sobriety and charity to his neighbour; and in
+whatsoever other estate, thou wilt have him, therewith to be contented:
+And this for Jesus Christ his sake, to whom be glory for ever, Amen.
+
+24. Thus hitherto I have spoken of trees, their kinds, and propagation
+in particular; with such prescriptions for the cure and healing their
+infirmities, as from long and late experience have been found most
+effectual. Now a word or two concerning the laws relating to
+forest-trees, casting such other accidental lessons into a few
+aphorisms, as could not well be more regularly inserted.
+
+Lastly, I shall conclude with some more serious observations, in
+reference to the main design and project of this discourse, as it
+concerns the improvement of the royal forests, and other timber-trees,
+for the honour, security, and benefit of the whole kingdom; with an
+historical account of standing-groves, which will be the subject of the
+next books.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+{316:1} See Cap. 3 lib. 3 sect. 25.
+
+{317:1} See Cap. 2 Book 1.
+
+{329:1} _Hierog._ l. 50.
+
+{330:1} See cap. 4. lib. 2. of a cypress.
+
+{332:1} 1683.
+
+{332:2} 1705.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+           *       *       *       *
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
+The spelling and punctuation in the original are idiosyncratic and
+inconsistent. A few clear typographical errors have been corrected,
+and are noted below.
+
+Citations have not been checked for correctness; errors that came to
+the transcriber's attention are noted below. Citation references do not
+always follow a standard format.
+
+Modern conventions are not used for parentheses (). In particular, nested
+parentheses are opened many times, but closed only once, or vice versa.
+
+The arabic numeral 1 and the roman numeral I are indistinguishable
+in the original. It has not always been possible to tell unambiguously
+which was meant.
+
+Many footnote markers are midway between two words in the original.
+They have been left like that in this transcription. The markers for
+many footnotes giving the source of poetry quotations are at the
+beginning of the relevant quotation in the original. They have been
+moved to the end of the quotation for ease of presentation.
+
+CORRECTIONS and NOTES
+
+Table of Contents
+
+  "Holly, Pyracinth," changed to "Holly, Pyracanth," on page vi
+
+  Volume II (books III and IV), whose contents are listed on page vii,
+  is not included in this etext.
+
+Introduction Sec.I
+
+  "Newton in mathamatical" changed to "Newton in mathematical" on page ix
+
+  "Secretary of the Admirality" changed to
+  "Secretary of the Admiralty" on page xv
+
+Introduction Sec.III
+
+  "he was bled of the physican" changed to
+  "he was bled of the physician" on page xxvii
+
+Introduction Sec.V
+
+  "these numerous parishes),' " changed to
+  "these numerous parishes'), " on page xxxix
+
+  "commerial work controlled by the Council of Plantations" changed to
+  "commercial work controlled by the Council of Plantations" on page xlv
+
+Introduction Sec.VI
+
+  "In May 1904" changed to "In May 1694" on page li
+
+  "During the course of his long and distinguised life" changed to
+  "During the course of his long and distinguished life" on page liii.
+
+Introduction Sec.VIII
+
+  "_Quarterly Review_ aricles was connected" changed to
+  "_Quarterly Review_ articles was connected" on page lxv
+
+  "a royal proclamamation" changed to "a royal proclamation" on page lxvi
+
+Title page of 4th edition
+
+  "_Richard Cbiswell_ in St. _Paul's_ Churchyard" changed to
+  "_Richard Chiswell_ in St. _Paul's_ Churchyard" on page lxxiii
+
+To the King
+
+  "_Monarchs_ of this _Nation, since_" changed to
+  "_Monarchs_ of this _Nation_, since" on page lxxv
+
+Footnotes lxxx:2 and lxxx:3
+
+  In the original, the marker for footnote 2 on page lxxx was by
+  "not the Majesty of a _Consul_", but the text of footnote 3 clearly
+  belongs to this marker. It has been assumed that footnote 2 actually
+  belongs to the latin quotation ending "nec ullius acuminis
+  Rusticationem."
+
+Footnote lxxxiii:1
+
+  The marker for this footnote is missing in the original. The footnote
+  refers to the latin quotation ending "neque Discipulos cognovi."
+
+To the Reader
+
+  "their scatter'd _Phoenomena_" changed to
+  "their scatter'd _Phaenomena_" on page lxxxviii
+
+  "_Ptolemoean Hypotheses_" changed to
+  "_Ptolemaean Hypotheses_"  on page lxxxix
+
+  "on which to lay the stress,;" changed to
+  "on which to lay the stress;" on page lxxxix
+
+  "Parts thoughout this _Discourse_" changed to
+  "Parts throughout this _Discourse_" on page xcviii
+
+The Garden
+
+  Stanza beginning "Where does the Wisdom and the Power Divine" was
+  numbered 6 in the original on page cxiv. This has been corrected to 9,
+  as it comes between 8 and 10.
+
+Book I
+
+Chapter I Sec.1
+
+  "I have long since publih'd an ample account" changed to
+  "I have long since publish'd an ample account" on page 1
+
+Footnote 9:1
+
+  "Fumefugium" changed to "Fumifugium"
+
+Chapter II Sec.1
+
+  "Columella, 1. 3. c. 5." changed to "Columella, l. 3. c. 5." on page 12
+
+Footnote 14:1
+
+  The latin quotation starting "Proinde nemus sparsa" is not marked as a
+  footnote in the original, but clearly belongs to footnote marker 1 on
+  page 14.
+
+Chapter II Sec.2
+  "which washes and drives away the mould" changed to
+  "(which washes and drives away the mould" on page 15
+
+Chapter II Sec.7
+
+  "noble person has affur'd me" changed to
+  "noble person has assur'd me" on page 23
+
+Chapter II Sec.9
+
+  "And these _terroe-filii_, are" changed to
+  "And these _terrae-filii_, are" on page 28
+
+  "The _glandiferoe_, oaks and ilex's yield acorns" changed to
+  "The _glandiferae_, oaks and ilex's yield acorns" on page 29
+
+  oe ligatures changed to ae on page 29 in
+  "are the _nuciferae_, &c. to the _coniferae_, _resiniferae_, _squammiferae_,
+  &c. belong the whole tribe of cedars, firs, pines, &c. apples, pears,
+  quinces, and several other _edulae_ fruits; peaches, abricots, plums, &c.
+  are reduc'd to the _pomiferae_: The _bacciferae_, are such as produce
+  kernels, sorbs, cherries, holley, bays, laurell, yew, juniper, elder,
+  &c. and all the berry-bearers. The _genistae_ in general, and such as
+  bear their seeds in cods, come under the tribe of _siliquosae_:"
+
+  "are such at bed their seeds" changed to
+  "are such as bed their seeds" on page 30
+
+Chapter III Sec.4
+
+  "+pleion gymnazomeua deudra oterea+" changed to
+  "+pleion gymnazomena deudra oterea+" on page 37.
+
+Footnote 41:2
+
+  There are two markers for footnote 1 on page 41. The second marker
+  is clearly intended to mark footnote 2.
+
+Chapter III Sec.7
+
+  The citation in Footnote 42:1 is to book 1 of the Georgics, but the
+  quotation in question is actually from book 2.
+
+Footnote 62:1
+
+  There is no marker for this footnote in the original. It has been
+  assumed that it belongs to "all those other forms that philosophers
+  have enumerated."
+
+Chapter VI Sec.2
+
+  "none to be deceived," changed to "none to be deceived." on page 84
+
+Chapter IX Sec.2
+
+  "It is certain, that the _mensae nucinoe_" changed to
+  "It is certain, that the _mensae nucinae_" on page 104.
+
+Chapter XIII Sec.1
+
+  "+diapherousi de te mrrphe te hole+" changed to
+  "+diapherousi de te morphe te hole+" on page 122
+
+Chapter XIII Sec.2
+
+  "thus it will becone (of all other)" changed to
+  "thus it will become (of all other)" on page 123
+
+Footnote 127:1
+
+  "_Couleii_, 1. 6, Pl" changed to "_Couleii_, l. 6, Pl."
+
+Chapter XIV Sec.1
+
+  "in abudance by every set or slip" changed to
+  "in abundance by every set or slip" on page 128
+
+Chapter XIV Sec.8
+
+  oe ligatures changed to ae on page 133 in
+  "Vitruvius _l. de Materia Caedenda_, reckons it among the
+  building-timbers, _quae maxime in aedificiis sunt idoneae_."
+
+Footnote 142:2
+
+  There is no marker for this footnote in the original. It has been
+  assumed that it belongs to "one who has lately publish'd an account
+  of Sweden."
+
+Footnote 144:1
+
+  oe ligatures changed to ae in
+  "Aditus novus ad occultas sympathiae & antipathiae causas inveniendas,
+  per principia philosophiae naturalis"
+
+Chapter XVII Sec.10
+
+  "friend of mine affur'd me" changed to
+  "friend of mine assur'd me" on page 154
+
+Footnote 177:2
+
+  "Coulcii" changed to "Couleii"
+
+Book II
+
+Footnote 243:1
+
+  "others _ligna undulata_" changed to "others _ligna undulata_."
+
+Chapter II Sec.12
+
+  "10. pine, 11, oak," changed to "10. pine, 11. oak," on page 244
+
+Chapter IV Sec.1
+
+  "Thoug has to the idol" changed to "Though as to the idol" on page 258
+
+Chapter IV Sec.14
+
+  "plantation it self call'd _dos filioe_" changed to
+  "plantation it self call'd _dos filiae_" on page 273
+
+Footnote 276:1
+
+  There is no marker for this footnote in the original. It has been
+  assumed that it belongs to "though others think it too heavy."
+
+Footnote 296:1
+
+  "_Couleii_ pl. 1. 6." changed to "_Couleii_ pl. l. 6."
+
+Chapter VI Sec.8
+
+  "Holmes-Dale never won; ne never shall" changed to
+  "Holmes-Dale never won; he never shall" on page 301
+
+Chapter VII Sec.2
+
+  "with - sharp spade dexterously separated from the mothera roots"
+  changed to
+  "with a sharp spade dexterously separated from the mother-roots"
+  on page 315
+
+Chapter VII Sec.6
+
+  "in great drougths" changed to "in great droughts" on page 320
+
+Chapter VII Sec.18
+
+  "amost level with the surface of the ground" changed to
+  "almost level with the surface of the ground" on page 327
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sylva, Vol. 1 (of 2), by John Evelyn
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