SYLVA: OR A DISCOURSE 
 OF FOREST TREES & THE 
 
 OF TIMBER 
 
 VOLUME ONE 
 
SL. e Xr as 
 
S Y L 
 
 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.CEc. 
 
 A REPRINT OF THE FOURTH 
 EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOLUME ONE 
 
 LONDON: PUBLISHED BY ARTHUR 
 DOUBLEDAY fc? COMPANY LIMITED 
 AT 8 YORK BUILDINGS ADELPHI 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 Introduction " P a g e i x 
 
 Title Page of 4th Edition Ixxiii 
 
 To the King Ixxv 
 
 To the Reader Ixxvii 
 
 Advertisement xcix 
 
 Books published by the Author ci 
 
 Amico carissimo cii 
 
 Nobilissimo Viro ciii 
 
 EIS THN TOY IIATPOS AENAPOAOriAN . . cvi 
 
 The Garden. To J. Evelyn, Esq cvii 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 CHAPTER I. Of the Earth, Soil, Seed, Air, and 
 
 Water i 
 
 II. Of the Seminary and of Trans- 
 planting 12 
 
 III. Of the Oak 30 
 
 IV. Of the Elm 62 
 
 V. Of the Beech 75 
 
 VI. Of the Horn-beam 81 
 
 222716 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII. Of the Ash page 86 
 
 VIII. Of the Chesnut 94 
 
 IX. Of the Wallnut 101 
 
 X. Of the Service, and black cherry- 
 tree in 
 
 XL 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. OftheHasel 136 
 
 XVII. Of the Birch i 4O 
 
 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, s?c 214 
 
 III. Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch- 
 tree, Larsh, and Subterranean 
 trees '* 22 
 
 IV. Of the Cedar, Juniper, Cypress, 
 
 Savine, Thuya, &c 253 
 
 V. Of the Cork, Ilex, Alaternus, Ce- 
 lastrus, Ligustrum, Philyrea, 
 Myrtil, Lentiscus, Olive, Gra- 
 nade, Syring, Jasmine and other 
 Exoticks 282 
 
 VI. Of the Arbutus, Box, Yew, Holly, 
 
 Pyracinth, Laurel, Bay, &C. . 293 
 
 VII. Of the infirmities of trees, &C. . 314 
 
CONTENTS vii 
 
 VOLUME II. 
 BOOK III. 
 
 CHAPTER I. OfCopp'ces page i 
 
 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 Pre- 
 
 cepts 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, con- 
 taining 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, tfc 205 
 
 Renati Rapini 269 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Evelyn sf his literary contemporaries Isaac Walton 
 &f Samuel Pepys. 
 
 Among the prose writers of the second half of the seven- 
 teenth 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 math- 
 amatical science, Locke and Bentley in philosophy and 
 classical learning, Clarendon and Burnet in history, L'Est- 
 range, 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 hid- 
 den 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 fer- 
 vently religious and romantic temperament, in his richness of 
 
x INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 Mans Recreation, 
 the great classic " Discourse of Fish and Fishing, " was a 
 London tradesman, while his equally celebrated contempor- 
 ary John Evelyn, author of Syha, 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 con- 
 cerned 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 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 secret- 
 ary 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 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 years before he succumbed to a long and painful disease 
 borne with fortitude under the depression of reduced cir- 
 cumstances, 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 cir- 
 cumstances 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 drap- 
 ery 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 provin- 
 cial 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 Commie at 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 parti- 
 sanship, 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 be- 
 tween them is almost impossible. They are both authors : 
 but it was by chance rather than by design that Pepys ulti- 
 mately 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 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 publish- 
 ed 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 quaff- 
 ing of the wine-cup, his household bickerings, his impro- 
 prieties 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 dis- 
 regard 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 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 mainten- 
 ance 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 c 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 80, though * well worth ^100, 
 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. 
 
INRTODUCTION xv 
 
 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 Admirality, 
 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. ' 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 autobio- 
 graphical 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 1 1 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 3ist. 
 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 ex- 
 tremity ; 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 fore- 
 head, 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 spar- 
 ing. 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, stran- 
 gers, 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 conver- 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 sation, 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 4,000 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 ceconomie 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 reason- 
 able 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 lo^ed ; 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 situat- 
 ed 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 
 
 3 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 univer- 
 sal 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 Manners, the patronage of 
 the livings about it, and, what is none of the least advant- 
 ages, 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. 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 At the early age of four John Evelyn was initiated into 
 the rudiments of education by one Frier, who taught child- 
 ren 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 per- 
 verseness 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 applica- 
 tion 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 perfect- 
 ion of hand, because I was so frequently diverted by inclin- 
 ations 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 c 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 3<Dth October, he saw * his Majestic (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 affect- 
 
xx INTRODUCTION 
 
 ions 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 c 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 c 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, accom- 
 panied 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. 
 c As the turn came about, I watched on a home 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 2ist birthday. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 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 
 j ustified by the fact that he * was elected one of the Comp- 
 trolers 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, 1 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 
 1 studying a little, but dancing and fooling more. ' 
 
 III 
 
 Evelyn's Early Manhood, Continental Travels ana 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, 
 f Oct. 3rd. To Chichester, and hence the next day to see 
 the siege of Portsmouth ; for now was that bloody differ- 
 ence 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. I2th. 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 per- 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 mitted to stay longer than the I5th. 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 
 Majestic. Dec. yth. I went from Wotton to London to see 
 the so much celebrated line of com'unication, and on the 
 loth, 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 vine- 
 yard 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. l 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 ofso great jealosy, I built by my Brother's permission 
 a study, made a fishpond, an island, and some other soli- 
 tudes 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 
 1 2th. I sent my black manege horse and furniture with a 
 friend to his Majestic 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 be- 
 tween Wotton and London, Oct. 2nd. I obtayned a lycence 
 of his Majestic, dated at Oxford and sign'd by the King, to 
 travell againe.' Accordingly, on yth. 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 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 enter- 
 tainment 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, 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 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, l we were hastened away, having no time per- 
 mitted us by our avaricious master to go up and see this 
 strong and considerable place. ' 
 
 On Oct. 1 6th., 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. 1 1 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 French- 
 man, near the Piazza Spagnola. Here I alighted, and hav- 
 ing bargained with my host for 20 crownes a moneth, I 
 
INTRODUCTION xxv 
 
 caused a good fire to be made in my chamber and went to 
 bed, being so very wet. The next morning (for I was re- 
 solved 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 enthu- 
 siasm. ( May, 4th. Having seen the entrie of ye ambassa- 
 dor 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 pre- 
 sented 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 
 
 4 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 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, par- 
 ticularly 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 Can- 
 dia, 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 anatomic, 
 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 oblig- 
 ed 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. 
 4 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 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. 
 f Oct. 3 1 st. 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 lodg- 
 ing 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 c the folly and madnesse of the Carnevall ' was over, 
 Evelyn left Venice for Padua in January, 1 646, 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 Mag- 
 giore, 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 
 
 physican < a very learned old man He afterwards acknow- 
 
 ledg'd that he should not have bled me had he suspected ye 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 1 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 c 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 2yth 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. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 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, 1 649, 
 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 c 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 nth 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 300 a year, or 
 else from his child-wife's dowry, he dabbled in land specu- 
 lation with the fairly satisfactory result that on the whole he 
 does not appear to have lost much by it. 
 
 On iyth 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 3Oth 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, 
 
xxx INTRODUCTION 
 
 who came to visite me this afternoone, and recounted all the 
 circumstances. ' 
 
 While he f went through a course of chymestrie at Sayes 
 Court,' and otherwise engaged in study and in the examin- 
 ation of works of art, he became disquieted about the con- 
 dition of affairs in Paris. Communications with his wife 
 appear to have been very few and far between, although with 
 his father-in-law he c 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 i yth June, however, he ' got a passe from the 
 rebell Bradshaw, then in greate power,' and on I2th July 
 went via Gravesend to Dover and Calais, arriving at Paris 
 on i st. 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. yth. 
 
 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 pro- 
 ceed to France. On 3oth 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 dilktante. 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 ; f but the truth 
 is, Sir Kenelm was an arrant mountebank. ' Here, too, he 
 wrote his second literary composition, The State of France y 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 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. l I had 
 also addresses and cyfers to correspond with his Majesty and 
 Ministers abroad: upon all which inducements I was per- 
 suaded 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 
 nth. 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 ,3,500 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. 
 
 1 This promise Charles afterwards failed to keep as, in 1672, he merely renewed 
 the lease of the pastures for 99 years. 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 garden- 
 ing 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 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 appli- 
 cation of fables and morals, for he had read JEsop ; 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 scene any How 
 
 thankfully would he receive admonition, how soone be recon- 
 ciled ! how indifferent, yet continually chereful ! He would 
 give grave advice to his Brother John, beare with his impert- 
 inencies, 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 
 
 5 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 c 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 1 1 Oct. ' the Armie 
 now turn'd out the Parliament. We had now no govern- 
 ment 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. 
 yth. 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, c 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 dissolved ; 
 and for joy whereoff were many thousands of rumps roast- 
 ed publiqly in ye streets at the bonfires this night, with 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxv 
 
 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 acknow- 
 ledged by the Parliament c after a most bloudy and unreason- 
 able 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 Majestic 
 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, Alder- 
 men, 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 scene in this nation, this hapning when to expect 
 or effect it was past all human policy. ' 
 
 Despite his dilettantism and dabbling in science, philoso- 
 
xxxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 phy 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. 
 
 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 dog- 
 gerel 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 1 66 1, 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxvii 
 
 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 Commis- 
 sioners * 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 1,200 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 3Oth 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 Syha and the 
 Kalendarium Horteme^ 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 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 1,000 a week. The Savoy Hospital was filled with them, 
 and a privy seal grant of 20,000 was made to carry on the 
 work ; but the expenses increasing reached 7,000 a week, 
 and Evelyn had hard work to get money from the treasury. 
 Harassed with anxieties of this sort, he frequently went c 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. l Now blessed be 
 God,' he writes on 31 Dec. 1665, c 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 sub- 
 sequent 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 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxix 
 
 greate danger, when every body fled their employments. ' 
 Poor Evelyn seems to have been rather easily duped in this 
 sort of way. c 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 treat- 
 ment 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, ( c the office in the world I had most 
 industriously avoided, in regard of the perpetual trouble 
 thereoffin 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 Com- 
 missioners 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 grand- 
 father, 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 
 
xl INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 l 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. c 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 scene 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 scene since the foundation 
 
INTRODUCTION xli 
 
 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 scene 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 1 left it this afternoone burning, 
 a resemblance of Sodom, or the last day. It forcibly call'd 
 to my mind that passage non enim hie 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 situa- 
 tion might probably have been saved if the ad vice 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, c 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 
 
xlii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 punish- 
 ment richly merited. * Oct. loth. 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 unmindf ull, 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 f new fuell, which was very glowing and without smoke or 
 ill smell '. But the process never caught on, and was aban- 
 doned as giving no promise of commercial success. 
 
 Evelyn's account against the Treasury now amounted to 
 above ^34,000, 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 sub- 
 scribed 50,000 bricks towards building a college for the 
 
INTRODUCTION xliii 
 
 Royal Society. It was a big scheme, including the embank- 
 ment 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 C 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 ^500, 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 c 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 Commissioner- 
 ships 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 pro- 
 mise 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 Ori- 
 ginal and Progress. 
 
 Evelyn was, however, not to have much longer to wait 
 
xliv INTRODUCTION 
 
 for regular official employment, as on 28 February, 1671, 
 ' The Treasurer acquainted me that his Majesty was grac- 
 iously pleas'd to nominate me one of the Council of Forraine 
 Plantations, and give me a salary of 500 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 depart- 
 ment 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 possess- 
 ed 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 dedi- 
 cated. 
 
 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. 
 
INTRODUCTION xlv 
 
 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 
 commerial 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 offis evident 
 from the terms of the jointure and marriage contracts then 
 made. * The lady was to bring 5,000 in consideration of 
 a settlement of 500 a yeare present maintainence, which 
 was likewise to be her jointure, and 500 a yeare after myne 
 and my Wife's decease. But with God's blessing it will be 
 at the least 1000 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 3,000 
 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. c 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 scrutime of all my actions 
 past, as far as I was able to call them to mind. How difficult 
 
xlvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 Arling- 
 ton's, in June 1683, gave rise to the reflection that c 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 ^1,300 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 ,20,000 with an endowment of 5,000 a year. 
 
 Several violent fits of ague having afflicted him during the 
 winter of 1681-82, to cure which c recourse was had to 
 bathing my legs in milk up to ye knees, made as hot as I 
 
INTRODUCTION xlvii 
 
 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 trans- 
 itory 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 c Much importun'd to take 
 the office of President of the Royal Society, but I againe 
 declin'd it. ' 
 
 On 1 2th 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 Plant- 
 ations 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, garden- 
 ing 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 
 
xlviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 Tears (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 I9th 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 
 1 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 
 loth March 1687, when the King relieved them with compli- 
 ments 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 IPs 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, 
 
INTRODUCTION xlix 
 
 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 Gates' 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 
 Scale the next day ', because any two out of the three Com- 
 missioners 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. f 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 
 
 7 
 
1 INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 1 8th 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 general! 
 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 
 
INTRODUCTION li 
 
 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 unmindfull- 
 ness 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 1904, 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 162-7-0 were 
 paid to Evelyn for damage to the house and garden. 
 
 Early in 1695 Evelyn accepted the offer of the Treasurer- 
 ship 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 3oth 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 200 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 
 
Hi INTRODUCTION 
 
 sealed in August 1703 Evelyn resigned his office of Trea- 
 surer 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 500 
 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 300 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 1 8 1 2. 
 
 As he had done twenty years before, so also on now 
 attaining his 8oth birthday on 3ist. 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 3ist. 
 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 1 may apply them to wisdom '. And numbered, indeed, 
 they then were ; for on the 27th of February 1706 he pas- 
 sed quietly and peacefully away, retaining his faculties to the 
 last. And he was laid at rest in the Chancel of Wotton Church. 
 
INRTODUCTION liii 
 
 During the course of his long and distinguised 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 Restor- 
 ation 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 sur- 
 vivors were his daughter Elizabeth, who was soon after- 
 wards 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. c 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 good- 
 ness 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. 
 
liv INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 Rest- 
 oration, 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 SmoaJ^ 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 
 
INTRODUCTION Iv 
 
 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-dark- 
 ness, 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 par- 
 ticular, 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 Par- 
 liament, this infernal Nuisance be removed.' 
 
 There is no beating about the bush here, and no min- 
 cing 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 found- 
 ed 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 permis- 
 sible to emphasise the fact in so paradoxical a manner he 
 was a courtier ; and that at a time when expressions of loyalty 
 
Ivi INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 sup- 
 port, 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, 
 
INTRODUCTION Ivii 
 
 probably during the democratic Commonwealth, been erect- 
 ed 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, pericly- 
 mena, 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-Rowers from the Rivage of GenOa, and St. Pietro deir 
 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-fiower, Prim- 
 roses, 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, Cammo- 
 mile, 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 
 
 8 
 
Iviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 pro- 
 hibited, 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 
 imagined 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 improve- 
 ment 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 Majestic, 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 ' fre- 
 quently displeased at the small advance and improvement of 
 Publick Works in this nation, ' he further expresses him- 
 self 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 
 pr<efocari, is strange stupidity : yet thus we see them walk 
 
INTRODUCTION lix 
 
 and converse in London, pursu'd and haunted by that infernal 
 Smoake, and the fimest accidents which accompany it 
 wheresoever they retire. ' 
 
 Surely, if John Evelyn could in spirit revisit the metro- 
 polis 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, 
 Syha : or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of 
 Timber in His Majestic '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 Gardeners Almanack, directing what he is to do Monthly 
 throughout the Tear. ' 
 
 The manner in which the idea of the Syha originated is 
 clearly shewn by what is noted in his Diary on I5th 
 October, 1662. <I this day deliver'd my " Discourse con- 
 cerning 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, 1 664, * 1 6th. I presented 
 my " Sylva " to the Society ; and next day to his Majestic, 
 to whom it was dedicated ; also to the Lord Treasurer and 
 the Lord Chancellor. ' 
 
 There is no doubt that Syha was a work of national 
 importance. Then, as now, England was dependent on her 
 Navy. But the stock of Oak timber suitable for the require- 
 ments of the naval dockyards had become almost exhausted. 
 From a tonnage of 17,1 10 tons in 1603, our fleet had risen 
 to 57,463 tons in 1660, and during the 25 years of Charles IPs 
 
Ix INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 Glou- 
 cestershire 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 
 1 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 pro- 
 bably 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 observ- 
 ation, 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 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixi 
 
 present reprint of the 4th edition, making the I2th edition 
 of this classic work. 
 
 The publication of Syha 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, Syha 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 Syha * 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 
 
Ixii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 
 ^300) 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 Chal- 
 cography 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 aud 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 order- 
 ing 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, Contain- 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixiii 
 
 ing 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 1 9th August 
 1 674, { His Majesty told me how exceedingly the Dutch were 
 displeas'd at my treatise of the " Historic 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'dmehewas 
 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 pacific 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 suppress- 
 ion 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, how- 
 ever, he wrote somewhat bitterly on this subject to his intimate 
 friend Pepys, in a letter dated 28th April 1682, in which he 
 says, c In sum, I had no thanks for what I had done, and 
 have been accounted since, 1 suppose, an useless fop, and fit 
 only to plant coleworts, and I cannot bend to mean submiss- 
 ions ; 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 
 
Ixiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 admission with the definite statement made in the diary of 
 1 9th April, 1 66 1, that ' he might have receiv'dthis honour, ' 
 of Knighthood of the Bath c 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 Jesuitism, also from the French (1665); 
 Publick Employment, and an Active Life preferred to Solitude 
 ( 1 667 : a reply to Sir George Mackenzie's Work on Solitude) ; 
 The History of three late famous Importers (Padre Ottomano, 
 Mahomed Bei, and Sabatei Sevi : 1669); Mundus Muliebris : 
 or the Ladies' Dressing-room Unlocked and her Toilette spread 
 (1690 : a burlesque poem, * A voyage to Marryland, ' cata- 
 loguing female follies of the time, by his daughter Mary, 
 who died in 1685); Numismata : a 'Discourse ofMedals^ Antient 
 and Modern : &c. (1697); and Acetaria : a Discourse of Pallets 
 (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 Syha. 
 
 In addition to his published works, however, he left 
 numerous manuscripts, which he had noted as Things I 
 would write out faire aud reform if I had leisure, ' compris- 
 ing 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 c 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 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixv 
 
 posthumously as Memoirs illustrative of the Life and Writings 
 of John Evelyn Esqre. F.R.S. in 1 8 1 8. 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 us Miscellaneous 
 Writings of John Evelyn Esq. F.R.S. in 1825, The Life of Mrs. 
 Godolphin (see page xlv) in 1 847, and subsequently in five 
 or six editions and reprints, and The History of Religion : A 
 Rational Account of the True Religion in 1 8 50. 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 Sy/va, 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 Arbori- 
 culture by Dr. Hunter towards the end of the eighteenth 
 and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries was in connect- 
 ion 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 aricles 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 
 
 9 
 
Ixvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 for shipbuilding ever remained a question of very serious 
 national importance right down to the time when this press- 
 ure was removed by the introduction of steam communica- 
 tion 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 demo- 
 cratic 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 proclam- 
 amation c 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 pre- 
 viously 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, 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixvii 
 
 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 endeav- 
 oured 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 in- 
 creasing 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 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 publish- 
 ed up to the time of Evelyn's Syha 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 quota- 
 tion from it with regard to pruning, he complacently concludes 
 by adding l 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 
 
 1 Coppices. 
 
Ixviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 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 Syfoa (as finally revised by 
 the author in 1678), with copious notes by Dr. A. Hunter 
 F.R.S. in 1 8 1 2. 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 com- 
 merce and industries expanded, because in those days the 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixix 
 
 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 peri- 
 odical, 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 Syfoa, 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 Syha 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 f 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 
 
Ixx INTRODUCTION 
 
 larch plantations being largely extended, because it was said 
 that l 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, 1 8 1 8), 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 Forester s Guide 
 and Profitable Planter which furnished the peg for a discourse 
 
INTRODUCTION Ixxi 
 
 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 London s 
 c 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 public- 
 ation of the Syha. 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 c the gay court ; ' and thus it was that he gave an 
 impulse to planting those c 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 Syha is 
 
Ixxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 still that which is found influencing many of our great land- 
 owners. 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. 
 
SILVA, 
 
 Or a DISCOURSE of 
 
 FOREST-TREES, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 PROPAGATION of TIMBER 
 
 In His MAJESTY'S DOMINIONS. 
 
 As it was Delivered in the T(OYAL SOCIETY the xv th of October, MDCLXII ' 
 upon occasion of certain Queries 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 ESS AT of EA<f(TH, being a Lecture in Course. 
 To which is annexed 
 
 POMONA: 
 
 OR, AN 
 Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees^ in relation to CTDE < R^; 
 
 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 Tear. 
 
 All which several Treatises are in this FOURTH EDITION much Inlargd and Imfro-v'd, 
 
 By the AUTHOR 
 JOHN ^Z,rAT, Esq; Fellow of the <P(OYAL SOCIETT 
 
 Tibi res antiquae laudis & artis 
 
 Ingredior, tantos ausus recludere fontes. Virg. 
 
 LONDON.- 
 
 Printed for Robert Scott in Little -Britain ; Richard Chiwell in St. Paufs Church- 
 yard; George Saivbridge in Little-Britain; and Benj. "Too^e in Fleetstreet. MDCCVI. 
 
 IO 
 
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 received in the World ? To Tou then (Royal Sir) 
 does this Third Edition continue its Humble Addresses, Tanquam 
 M E M O R U M V I N D I C I ; as of old, they paid their 
 Devotions, 1 HERCULI fcf SILVANO; since Tou are 
 our 0o=r uXtKOT Nemorensis Rex; as having once Your Temple, 
 and Court too, under that Sacred Oak which Tou Consecrated 
 with Tour Presence, and we Celebrate, with Just Acknowledg- 
 ment to God for Tour Preservation. 
 
 / need not Aquaint Tour Majesty, how many Millions of 
 Timber-Trees (beside infinite others) have been Propagated 
 and Planted throughout Tour iw/Dominions, at the Instigation, 
 and by the sole Direction of this Work ; because Tour Gra- 
 cious Majesty, has been pleased to own // Publicklyyftr my 
 Encouragement, who, in all that 1 here pretend to say, deliver 
 only those Precepts which Tour Majesty has put into Practice; 
 as having (lif^e another Cyrus ) by Tour own Royal Example, 
 exceeded all your Predecessors in the Plantations Tou have made, 
 beyond (I dare assert it) all the Monarchs of this Nation, since 
 the Conquest of it. And, indeed what more August, what 
 
 1 Cato de R. R. cap, 73. Aurel. Viet. Class. Phil. apud. Tranquill. And so Nemes- 
 tinus Deus Nemorum. Arnob. 1. 4. 
 
Ixxvi TO THE KING 
 
 more Worthy Tour Majesty, or more becoming our Imitation ? 
 than whilst Ton are thus solicitous for the Publick Good, we 
 pursue Your Majesty'.* Great Example ; and by cultivating our 
 decaying Woods, contribute to Tour Power, as to Tour greatest 
 Wealth and Safety; since whilst Tour Majesty is furnish 'd to 
 send forth those Argo's and Trojan Horses, * about this Happy 
 Island, we are to fear nothing from without it ; and whilst we 
 remain Obedient to Tour just Commands, nothing from within it. 
 
 'Tis now some Years past that Tour Majesty was pleased to 
 declare Tour 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 // self, and of the former 
 Editions of this) has animated me still to continue my Oblation 
 to Tour Majesty of these Improvements : Nor was it certainly 
 without some Provident Conduct, that we have been thus soli- 
 citous to begin, as it were, with Materials for Building, and 
 Directions to Builders; if due Reflection be made on that De- 
 plorable Calamity, the Conflagration of Tour Imperial City ; 
 which nevertheless, by the Blessing of God, and Tour Majesty 's 
 Gracious Influence, we have seen Rise again, a New, and much 
 more Glorious PHOENIX. 
 
 This TR IB U TE I now once more lay at the Feet of our 
 ROTAL FOUNDER. 
 
 May Tour Majesty be pleas d to be Invoked by that no Inglo- 
 rious TITLE, in the prof oundest Submission of 
 
 Gracious Sir, 
 
 Your Majesty's 
 
 Ever Loyal, most Obedient and 
 Sayes-Court, Faithful Subject and Servant, 
 
 5 Decemb. 
 
 i6 7 s. J . EVELYN. 
 
 1 Argon, lib. I. That Famous Ship built of the Dodonacan Oak. 
 
TO THE 
 
 READ ER. 
 
 AFTER what the Frontispiece and Torch of 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 l^oya! Society 
 by an unworthy {Member thereof, in Obedience to their 
 Commands ; by the same it is now T^e-publisti d without any 
 farther Prospect : And the 1{eader 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 ^(atural 
 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 leader, 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 S^oble 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 
 
Ixxviii TO THE READER 
 
 Persons, as any the World has produced ; and whose Names 
 we find mingl'd amongst K^ings and Philosophers, grave 
 Senators, and "Patriots of their Country : For such of old were 
 Solomon, Cyrus, and ^uma, Licinius surnamed Stolo, Cato, and 
 Cindnnatus; the Tiso's, Fabii, Cicero, the Tlinies, and thousands 
 more whom I might enumerate, that disdained not to culti- 
 vate 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 
 Wanting, and love of this part of Agriculture, which has 
 transmitted to us their venerable Barnes through so many 
 *Ages and Vicissitudes of the World. 
 
 That famous ^Answer alone which the Persian {Monarch 
 gave to Ly sander, 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 TPrayers, 
 and address our selves to our better-natur'd Countrymen ; * 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 *AdYice should be, That at their very 
 first coming to their Estates, and as soon as they get Children, 
 they would seriously think of Ms 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, 
 
 1 See Petrarch de Rented, utriusque fortunae L. I. Dial. 57. 
 
TO THE READER Ixxix 
 
 that is, till they grow Old, and find by Experience the 'Pru- 
 dence 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 ; / 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 Wants, especially instan- 
 cing 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, <J[gite, 6 cAdolescentes, &? 
 antequam canities vobis obrepat, stirpesjam alueritis, quae vobis 
 cum insigni utilitate, delectationem etiam adferent : ${am quemad- 
 modum canities temporis successu, vobis insciis, sensim obrepit: 
 Sic natura vobis inseruiens educabit quod telluri vesfrae concredetis, 
 modo prima initia illi dederitis, 6f c. Pet. Bellonius T)e neglecta 
 stirpium Cultura. Problema ix. 
 
 My next Advice is, that they do not easily commit them- 
 selves to the ^Dictates of their ignorant Hinds and Servants, l 
 who are (generally speaking) more fit to Learn than to 
 Instruct. Male agitur cum 'Domino quern Fillicus 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 : 
 1 have often prov'd it so in Gardeners; and I believe it will 
 
 1 Vide & Curtium, 1. 7. &c. 
 
Ixxx TO THE READER 
 
 hold in most of our Country Employments : Country People 
 universally know that all Trees consist oftyots, Stems, Boughs, 
 Leaves, fsfc. 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 Treason, from the greatest part 
 of them ; and the business of 'Planting is an Art or Science 
 (for so Varro has solemnly defined it j 1 ) and that exceedingly 
 wide of Truth, which (it seems) many in his time accounted 
 of it \facillimam esse, nee ullius acuminis Ttjisticationem, 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 Imputation again, which made the noble 
 Toet write, 
 
 ........ How hard it was 
 
 Low Subjects with illustrious words to grace. 
 ........ Verbh ea vincere magnum 
 
 Quam sit, & angustis hunc adders rebus honorem. 
 
 Georg. 3. 
 
 Seeing, as the Orator does himself express it, ${ihil est homine 
 libero dignius ; there is nothing more becoming and worthy 
 of a Gentleman, no, not the Majesty of a 2 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, 
 
 1 De R. R. 
 
 2 In agris erant tune Senator es. Cic. de Senect. 
 
 3 Silvae sunt Consule dignac. Sec this of the Poet Interpreted, Scaliger 1. i.e. i. 
 Poet. P. Nennius, Sueton. Jul. in Lipsium. Tacit, iv. Annal. 27. concerning the 
 Quaestor's Office. 
 
TO THE READER Ixxxi 
 
 (as the excellent Author of the Twites 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 
 Mora! 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 59 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 Com- 
 pass 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 Tlaces 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, sPc. which those 
 who amongst us pass for the most learned and accomplished 
 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, sPc. 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 
 
 ii 
 
Ixxxii TO THE READER 
 
 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 C/>y-Luxury, and the temptation to the Vices 
 he condemns. It was indeed a plain Man l (a Totter by Trade] 
 but let no body despise him because a "Potter (Agathodes, 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, Trinces, 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 Tlow 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 im- 
 prove their Estates : Methinksthis is well and rationally argued. 
 
 1 Palissy, le Moyen de devenir Riche. 
 
TO THE READER Ixxxiii 
 
 And now you have in part what I had to produce in 
 extenuation of this Adventure ; that Animated with a Com- 
 mand^ and Assisted by divers Worthy Persons (whose Names 
 I am prone to celebrate with all just Respects) I have pre- 
 sumed 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, tarn discentibus eget, quam magistris : 
 Adhuc enim Scholas Rhetorum, s? Geometrarum, Musicorum- 
 que, vel quod magis mirandum est, contemptissimorum vitiorum 
 officinas, gulosius condiendi cibos, &? luxurio sius fercula struendi, 
 capitumque & capillorum concinnatores, non solum esse audivi, sed 
 & ipse vidi ; Agricolationis neque Doctores qui se profiterentur, 
 neque Discipulos cognovi. 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 Improve- 
 
 1 Praefat ad P. Silvinum ; which I earnestly recommend to the serious perusal 
 of our Gentry. Et mihi ad sapientis vitam proximd videtur accedere. Cic. de 
 Senectute. 
 
Ixxxiv TO THE READER 
 
 ments, 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 En- 
 couragement 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 for- 
 bearing 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, 
 ^ffc. or so sedulously made it their business, to specific 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 Instruct- 
 ive ; and both Directions and Encouragements for the Propa- 
 gation 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 pro- 
 
TO THE READER Ixxxv 
 
 parties, 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 a 
 Oafy 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 Ostent- 
 ation 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 Endea- 
 vours, and am obliged to them for much of that I know,) 
 nor will I (with some) reproach Tliny, Porta, Cardan, fMizal- 
 dus, Cursius, and many others of great Barnes (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 no- 
 blest Faculties to their blind 'Traditions. This you will be 
 apt to say, is a haughty Period-, but whilst I affirm it of 
 
 1 Ne silvae quidcm, horridiorque naturae fades medicinis carent, sacra ilia 
 parente rerum omnium, nusquam non remcdia disponente homini ut Medicina, 
 fieret etiam solitudo ipsa, &c. HincnataMedicina, &c. Haec sola naturae placuerat 
 esse remedia parata vulgo, inventu facilia, ac sine impendio, ex quibus vivimus, 
 &c. Plin. 1. 24. c. I. 
 
Ixxxvi TO THE READER 
 
 the Past y it justifies , and does honour to the Present Indus- 
 try of our <dge y and of which there cannot be a greater 
 and more emulous Instance, than the Passion of His ^Ma- 
 jesty to encourage his Subjects, and of the tyyal 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 resol- 
 ving to Plant and repair His ample Forests, and other 
 ^Magazines of Timber, for the benefit of His l^oyal 3{avy, 
 and the glory of His Kingdoms ; but to present to His 
 Sacred ^Majesty, and to the World, what Advices I have re- 
 ceived 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 unsuf- 
 ferable Boldness, or Ambition of some Persons (as well Strangers, 
 as others) arrogating to themselves the being Inventors of 
 
TO THE READER Ixxxvii 
 
 divers New and useful Experiments, justly attributable to 
 several Members of the Royal Society. 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 satis- 
 fied, 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 O^oise 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 1(alional and 'Divine 
 
 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 Para- 
 boloid, 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 prodi- 
 gious 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. 
 
Ixxxviii TO THE READER 
 
 Truths, (already so often and extraordinarily establish'd ;) so, 
 nor will any thing satisfie these unreasonable Men, but the 
 production of the Philosopher -s-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 Ration, 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 3\(atural Knowledge, 
 and inlarge the Empire of Operative Philosophy ; not by an 
 Abolition of the Old, but by the Real Effects of the Experi- 
 mental ; Collecting, Examining, and Improving their scatter'd 
 Phenomena, 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 imposed upon by that Optional, 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 razy ; '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 
 
 n 
 
TO THE READER Ixxxix 
 
 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 'Cubbish 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, An- 
 tipathies; Substantial Forms, and Trims matter courting Form\ 
 Epicycles, 'Ptolemcean Hypotheses, magisterial 'Definitions, pe- 
 remptory ^Maximes, Speculative, and "Positive 'Doctrines, and 
 alti-sonant "Phrases, with a thousand other precarious and 
 unintelligible potions, &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 Trinciples of real 
 knowledge and Experience. 
 
 12 
 
xc TO THE READER 
 
 Now although it neither were their Hopes, or in their 
 prospect to consummate a 'Design requiring so mighty <^fids, 
 (inviron'd as they have been with these Prejudices) yet 
 have they not at all desisted from the Enterprise ; but rather 
 than so Noble and Illustrious an Undertaking should not 
 proceed for want of some generous and industrious Spirits 
 to promote the WorJ^ ; 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 1 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 l^uines of 
 ^{ature, 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 Jfature ? We call our 
 Journals, ^Registers, (Correspondence, and Transactions, to wit- 
 ness ; and may with modesty provoke all our Systematical 
 ^Methodists, O^atural 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 Tears purely for Speculation only ; though I 
 take even that to be no ignoble Qulture 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 
 
TO THE READER xci 
 
 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 c/fnvit 
 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 trfxiomes, General l^ules 
 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 Phenomena, and Effects of O^ature, the <Aspec- 
 table 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 
 ( I(hapsodists, {Mountebancs, and Compilers of l^eceipts and 
 Secrets, to the loss of Oil and Labour ; but as it were, evis- 
 cerating Nature, disclosing the Assorts, 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 ^Equations of 
 Time by accurate Pendulums, and other Motions, Hydro- and 
 
xcii TO THE READER 
 
 Hygrostatics, divers Engines , Powers and Automata, with in- 
 numerable more luciferous particulars, subservient to human 
 life, of which Dr. Glanvil has given an ample and ingenious 
 dccompt 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 (Deader} 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 Super- 
 structure 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. Solo- 
 mon 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 prepar- 
 ation ? I beseech you what Obligation has the ^ Society to 
 render an cAccompt 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 vfge, which having sadly debauch 1 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 Founda- 
 tions. 
 
 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, 
 would infinitely increase. But these are the San- 
 
TO THE READER xciii 
 
 ballats and Horonites who disturb our Men upon the Wall * : 
 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 Tromoters, and cold a wel- 
 come in a Ration 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 ^App ointments, Salaries, and Accommoda- 
 tions, 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 T(egions 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 
 ^(atural 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 Guilders, 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 1 What a (Constellation would 
 he make ! How great a S\(ame 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 
 
 1 Neh. 2, 19. 
 
 2 Neh. 4. 17. 
 
xciv TO THE READER 
 
 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 sacrificed 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 T^eproaches ; 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 3\(ame 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 Ration 
 build their Fame on a more lasting,^ 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, Alphon- 
 sus'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 Barnes out- 
 last the Pyramids whose Founders are as unknown as the 
 Heads of O^ile ; 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 Panegyrizd by all the 
 Universities, Academists, Learned Persons, divers Princes Am- 
 
TO THE READER xcv 
 
 bassadors, 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, ${oble- 
 men, and Persons of highest Quality ; who have not only 
 frequented the Assembly, but desir'd to be Incorporated and 
 ascribed into their Dumber ; so little has his Majesty, or the 
 Kingdom been diminish'd in their Reputation, by the 1(oyal 
 Society, to the reproach of our sordid Adversaries : Never had 
 the 'Republique of Letters so learned and universal a Corres- 
 pondence 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 Obser- 
 vations) make appear ; but (as I said) the many 3{uncupatory 
 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 In- 
 stitution; and that whilst other Stations 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 
 
xcvi TO THE READER 
 
 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 con- 
 spicuous, 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 Re- 
 lations, 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 : * Finally, that they 
 would regard the T{oyal 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 
 and subacted Principles, that were Lowers of their 
 
 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 Corres- 
 pondence : This 1 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 Vnion and Correspondence between them. 
 
TO THE READER xcvii 
 
 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 Tenons, though they 
 should hitherto have entertain'd them but with some in- 
 nocent 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 Barnes 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 Qlory 
 from my own Abilities (sensible of my great Defects] I shall 
 yet deserve their pardon for my Zeal to its Prosperity. 
 
 Epictetus, tsSt. 
 
 5 7rapa<7Kevaou avroOcv, ^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 and flinch, SnrXovv TrpooAr}^ KaraylAwra, Thou deservest to 
 be doubly laugh d at. 
 
 Lord Verulam, Instaur. Scient. 
 
 Some Men (like Lucian in Religion} seek by their Wit, to 
 
 13 
 
xcviii TO THE READER 
 
 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 thoughout this Discourse^ with the Additions and Im- 
 provements^ have often oblig'd me to alter the ^Method, and 
 indeed to make it almost a New 
 
 . Evelyn. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THAT I have frequently inserted divers Historical and 
 other Passages, apposite, agreeable to the Subject (abstain- 
 ing 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. 
 
 Contrespaliere, a Palisade or Pole-hedge. 
 
 Coronary Garden, F/0w?r-Garden. 
 
 Culinary, belonging to the Kitchin, Roots, Salading, fcfc. 
 
 Culture, Dressing. 
 
c ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Decorticate, to strip off the Bark. 
 
 Emuscation, cleansing it of the Moss. 
 
 Esculent, Roots, Salads, s?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, Grafting. 
 
 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, Sectary, Salads, sfc. 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. 
 
 c 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 Gardner ; III. Edition, Twelves, with Mr. Rose's 
 Vineyard. 
 
 2. Fumi-fugium : Or, A Prophetic Invective against the Sw0^ of 
 London. Quarto. 
 
 3. Silva: Or, A Discourse of Forest-Trees, &c. the IV th Edition, very 
 much improved. Folio. 
 
 4. Kalendarium Hortense, both in /W/0 and Octavo. The Xth 
 Edition, much augmented. 
 
 5. Sculptura : Or, The History of Chalcography and Engraving in 
 Copper, the Original and Progress of that y^r/, & c. Octavo. 
 
 6. The Parallel of Architecture, being an Account of TV famous 
 Architects, with a Discourse of the Terms, and a Treatise of Statues. 
 Folio. 2d Edition. 
 
 7. The /tffca of the Perfecting of Painting. Octavo. 
 
 8. Navigation and Commerce, their Original and Progress. Octavo. 
 
 9. Publick Employment and an /frf/W /,//, prefer'd to Solitude and its 
 Appanages, ffc. Octavo. 
 
 10. TVrnz : Or, A Philosophical Discourse of Earth, thellld 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 yohanni 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 y 
 
 Scriptorum Silvam quod Chorus Omnis amat. 
 Est locus ille Sacer Musis, & Apolline dignus^ 
 
 Prima dedit summo Templa sacranda Jovi. 
 Him quoque nunc Pontem Pontus non respuit ingens,, 
 
 Stringitur Oceanus, corripiturque Salum. 
 Him no^us Hesperiis emersit mundus in oris, * 
 
 Effuditque auri flumina larga probi. 
 Him exunda^eit distento Copia cornu, 
 
 Qualem s? Amalthaeae non habuere sinus. 
 Silva tibi curae est^ grata & Pomona refundit 
 
 Auriferum^ roseum, purpureumque nemus. 
 Ilia famemque sitimque abigens expirat odores, 
 
 Quales nee Medus, nee tibi mittit Arabs. 
 Ambrosiam praebent modo cocta Cydonia. Tantum 
 
 Comprime, Nectareo Poma liquor e fluunt. 
 Progredere^ O Saecli Cultor memorande futuri^ 
 
 Felix Horticolam sic imitere Deum. 
 
 1 Gen. i. c. 2. 
 
Nobilissimo Viro yohanni Evelyno, 
 Regalis Soc. Socio dignissimo. 
 
 Ausus laudato qui quondam reddere versu, 
 SEternum 5? tentare melos, conamine magno 
 Lucreti nomenque suum donaverat aevo : 
 Ilk leves atomos audaci pangere musa 
 Aggreditur, variis & semina caeca figuris, 
 Naturaeque vias : non qu<f Schola garrula jactat, 
 Non quae rixanti fert barbara turba Lyaeo : 
 Ingentes animi sensus, & pondera rerum, 
 Grandior expressit Genius, nee scripta minora 
 Ev'linum decuisse solent. 
 
 Tuque per obscuros (victor Boylaee) recessus. 
 Naturae meditaris opus, qua luce colores * 
 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 : 2 
 
 Libra de coloribus. 
 De origine formarum. 
 
CIV 
 
 Ipse creare dens, solusque ostendere mundum 
 Boylaeus potuit, sed nunc favet aemula Virtus, 
 (Magne Eveline) tibi, &? generosos excitat ignes : 
 Pergite, Scipiadae duo, qui vet milk Marones 
 Obruitis, longo & meriti lassatis honore. 
 
 Tu vero dilecte nimis / qui stemmate ab alto 
 Patricias deducis avos, cerasque parentum 
 Wottonicae 1 de stirpe domus ; ^irtutibus aequas 
 Nunc generis monumenta tui, post taedia ponti 
 Innumerasque errore vias, quid Sequana y#//tf#, 
 Hostilis quae Rhenus agit, quae Tibris, & Ister, 
 Nota tibi : triplici quid perfida Roma corona 
 Gessit, <f Adriaca Venetus deliberat arce, 
 Qualiaque Odrysias ^exdrunt prxlia lunas. 
 Hie qui naturae interpres & sedulus artis 
 Cultor, qui mores bominum cognovit, & urbes : 
 Dum Phoebo comes ire parat, mentemque capacem 
 Vidit uterque polus, nee Grajum cana ^etustas 
 Hum latuit, veterum nunc prisca numismata regum 
 Eruit, 6? Latias per mystica templa ruinas : 
 Mstimat ille forum, & vasti fundamina Circi, 
 Cumque ruinoso Capitolia prisca theatro, 
 Et dominos colles altaeque palatia Romas : 
 Regales notat inde domos, ut mole superba 
 Surgat apex, molles quae tecta imitantur lonas, 2 
 Qualia Romulea, Gothica quae marmora dextra, 
 Quicquid Tuscus habet, mira panduntur ab arte. 
 Ofamae patriaeque sacer ! vel diruta cbartis 
 Vivet Roma tuts ; te vindice, laeta Corinthus 
 Stabit adhuc, magno nequiquam invisa Metello. 
 
 Nunc quoque ruris opes dulcesque ante omnia curas 
 
 1 De Wotton in agro Surriensi. 
 
 * Consule librum Auctoris de Architect-lira. 
 
cv 
 
 Pandis ovans, trisfes maneat quae cura Decembres ; 
 Pleiades haec Hyadesquey#^#/, haec laeta Bootes 
 Semina mandat humi, atque ardenti haec Sirius agro 
 Ccepit ut aestiva segetes torrere favitta, 
 Hoc Maii vernantis opus, dumflorea serta 
 Invitant Dominas ruris, dum vere tepenti 
 T^tdet ager, renovatque suos Narcissus amores. 
 
 Haud aliter tictrix divinam ^neida vates 
 Lusit opus, simul & gracili modulates avena, 
 Fata decent majora tuos, Eveline, triumphos, 
 Mternum renovatur honos, te nulla vetustas 
 Obruet, atque tua servanda volumina cedro 
 Durent, & meritam cingat tibi laurea frontem 
 Qui vitam Silvis donasti 6f Floribus aevum. 
 
 R. Bohun. 
 
EIS THN TOY IIATPO2 AENAPOAOriAN. 
 
 irotrp? [*\ee<r<rw eirctvov;, 
 vp,vi)(rco gTreWcnv otpHrrsvovTa. yswpyoiv 
 ovpotVH/iv Totvotys apsTyv $pvo$ otvros eypotfyeV) 
 xoil TTOTOiiriuv yivsyv SevSpcov xara Sa<rxov uX>)v. 
 aSavarcov xyScrTOj er) vs^sXrjyspeTa Zewj, 
 
 ' Ayy\nx.x.u>v o; apicrro; ey Ssos/xsAoj av^p, 
 
 oj j.g'y' ovenxp 
 
 . 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 Con- 
 veniencies 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 Jiorere 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 some- 
 
cviii THE GARDEN 
 
 thing 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 Pin- 
 darical 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 ad- 
 vantagiously 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 
 
THE GARDEN cix 
 
 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. 
 
 i. 
 
 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 
 
ex THE GARDEN 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
THE GARDEN cxi 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
cxii THE GARDEN 
 
 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. 
 
 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, 
 
THE GARDEN cxiii 
 
 And wealthy Hiram & 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 ; 
 
 15 
 
cxiv THE GARDEN 
 
 But 'tis the Country and the Field, 
 That furnish it with Staff and Shield. 
 
 6. 
 
 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 S9metimes 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 
 
THE GARDEN cxv 
 
 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 Ga/etea'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. 
 
 ii. 
 
 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. 
 
 Abraham Cow ley. 
 
DENDROLOGIA 
 
 THE FIRST BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Earth^ Soil, Seed, Air, and Water. 
 
 i. It is not my intention here to speak of earth, 
 as one of the common reputed elements ; of which 
 I have long since publih'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 marie or loame, but not clammy ; 
 of which I have particularly spoken in that Treatise. 
 
'2' SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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-plant- 
 ations of industrious persons are sufficient to convince 
 the gain-sayer. And when by this husbandry a few 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 3 
 
 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, Gfc.) 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 com- 
 mitted 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, incor- 
 porated 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 here- 
 with 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 per- 
 petually crop'd with the same, or other seeds, without 
 
4 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, Gfc. according 
 to institution. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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 
 
 1 Nam specimen sationis, & infitionis origo 
 Ipsa fuit rerum primum natura creatrix : 
 Arboribus quoniam baccae, glandesque caducae 
 Tempestiva dabant pullorum examina subter, &c. 
 
 Lucret. 1. 5. 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 5 
 
 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 pre- 
 paratory magazines make as many, and as much lar- 
 ger 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 exceeding- 
 ly 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 
 
6 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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. xvm. 
 
 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, Gfc. 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 micro- 
 scopical examen, to interpret their most secret schema- 
 tismes, 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, Gfc. 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; 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 7 
 
 since even where the ground is too rertile, 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, Gfc. 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 promis- 
 cuously, 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 
 
8 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 promis- 
 cuously 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, respira- 
 tion, 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 vege- 
 tables 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 submerged, 
 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 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 9 
 
 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 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, 
 
 1 Fumefugium. 
 
i o S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 continually ascending, 'till (having sufficiently satu- 
 rated 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 conse- 
 quently 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 antiqua- 
 ted 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 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A ii 
 
 what it gives and contributes of necessary and con- 
 stituent 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. 
 
12 S YL V A BOOK i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of the Seminary and of Transplanting. 
 
 i . Qui vineam^ ve/ arbustum constituere volet, seminaria 
 prius facers debebit^ was the precept of Columella, i. 
 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 some- 
 times 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 
 
CHAP, ii S Y L V A 13 
 
 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 nourish- 
 ment, often starve their neighbours. Thus much 
 for the nursery and Conseminea Sifoa. 
 
 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 ; 
 
 1 He that for wood his field would sow, 
 Must clear it of the shrubs that grow ; 
 Cut brambles up, and the fern mow. 
 
 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, 
 
 1 Qui serere ingenuum volet agrum, 
 Liberat prius arva fruticibus ; 
 Falce rubos, filicemque resecat. Boeth. 1. 2. Met. 
 
14 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, Gfc., 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. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 Proinde nemus sparsa cures de glande parandum : 
 
 Sed tamen ante tuo mandes quatn semina campo ; 
 
 Ipse tibi duro robustus vomere fossor 
 
 Orane solum subigat late, explanetque subactum. 
 
 Cumque novus fisso primum de genuine ramus 
 
 Findit humum, rursus ferro versanda bicorni 
 
 Consita vere novo tellus, cultuque frequenti 
 
 Exercenda, herbae circum ne forte nocentes 
 
 Proveniant, germenque ipsum radicibus urant. 
 
 Nee cultu campum cunctantem urgere frequenti, 
 
 Et saturare fimo pudeat, si forte resistat 
 
 Culturae : nam tristis humus superanda colendo est. Rafinus, 1. 2. 
 
CHAP, ii S Y L V A 15 
 
 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 sptnosa, 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 (especi- 
 ally 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. Tran- 
 saction^ 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 
 
16 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 
 
CHAP. n S YL V A 17 
 
 (if the kind, of which hereafter, suffer the knife) set 
 them where they are to continue : If thus you 
 reduce them o 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, fc. 
 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 
 
1 8 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 J 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, 
 
CHAP, ii SYLVA 19 
 
 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 
 ceconomy 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 
 
20 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, Gf 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. 
 
 transplanting those which you find least agreeing 
 with the place ; or else, by copsing the starvelings in 
 
 1 Quid quaeque ferat regio, & quid quaeque recuset. 
 
CHAP, ii SYLVA 21 
 
 the places where they are newly sown, cause them 
 sometimes to overtake even their untouch'd contem- 
 poraries. 
 
 Something may here be expected about the fittest 
 season for this work of transplanting ; of which 
 having spoken in another l 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, 
 be dispos'd at wider intervals, than the other, 
 
 1 Pomona. 
 
22 S Y L V A BOOK 1 
 
 and such as grow best in consort, as the elm, ash, 
 limetree, sycamore, firr, pine, Gfc. 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, arid 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 detri- 
 ment : 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 contri- 
 bute to the stability of our transplanted trees, some- 
 thing is to be premis'd concerning their staking, and 
 securing from external injuries, especially from 
 winds and cattel ; against both which, such as are 
 
CHAP, ii SYLVA 23 
 
 planted in copses, and for ample woods, are suffi- 
 ciently 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 affur'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 acquaint- 
 ed 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, 
 
24 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 Bartholo- 
 mewtide ; 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 expe- 
 dients 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 
 
CHAP, ii S Y L V A 25 
 
 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 
 hurry 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 keep- 
 ing 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 transplant- 
 ation ; 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 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 
 
 1 For the transplanting and removing of full-grown forest-trees, and others. 
 See Cap. III. Sect. 10. 
 
26 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 understand- 
 ing) ; 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 manage- 
 ment, 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 
 
CHAP, ii S Y L V A 27 
 
 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, fife, 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, 
 fife, 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, fife, 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 pre- 
 mis'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 
 
28 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 terrce-filh, are what we call 
 timber-trees, the chief subject of our following 
 Discourse. 
 
 Trees are likewise distinguish^ into other subor- 
 dinate 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 propa- 
 gated and planted out for a numerous store : And 
 this, (being clad with a more tender bark or fiber) 
 seems to differ thefrutex 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, Gfc. but not apt to decay so soon, after 
 they have seeded ; whilst both these kinds seem also 
 
CHAP, ii S Y L V A 29 
 
 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, 
 lachrymce, gums, and other exsudations, tho' diversi- 
 fying 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 alto- 
 gether 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 natural- 
 ists. 
 
 But besides this general definition, as to what is 
 meant by trees, frutexes, <S?c. they are likewise speci- 
 fically distinguish 'd by other characters, leaves, buds, 
 blossoms, 6?c. but especially by what they produce of 
 more importance, by their fruit ye shall know them: 
 
 v - g- 
 
 The glandiferce, 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, Gfc. the wallnut, 
 hazle, avelans, Gfc. are the nuciferce, Gfc. to the 
 conifer ce, resiniferce^ squammiferce^ fife, belong the whole 
 
30 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 tribe of cedars, firs, pines, Gfc. apples, pears, quinces, 
 and several other edulce fruits; peaches, abricots, plums, 
 &c. are reduc'd to the pomlferce : The bacciferce, are 
 such as produce kernels, sorbs, cherries, holley, bays, 
 laurell, yew, juniper, elder, Gfc. and all the berry- 
 bearers. The genistce in general, and such as bear 
 their seeds in cods, come under the tribe of siliquosce: 
 The lanugtna are such at bed their seeds in a cottony- 
 down. 
 
 The ash, elm, tilia, poplar, hornbeam, willow, 
 salices, Gfc. 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, Gfc. needless to be farther mention'd here, 
 being so particularly describ'd in the chapters follow- 
 ing ; as are also the various ever-greens and exoticks. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of the Oak. 
 
 i. 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 fol- 
 
CHAP, in SYLVA 31 
 
 lowing 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 l Macrobius tells us). Recorded among iheje/ices 
 arbores ; but this ^wXXtvov -re^avov 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 what- 
 soever, 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 A/ovc, which com- 
 prehends all mast-bearing trees whatsoever, (which I 
 think they have no latin word for) : And in the 
 Si/va 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 cegilops^ 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 
 
 1 Saturn, lib. n. cap. 16. 
 
32 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 very rugged, the branches loaded with a long moss 
 hanging down like dishevell'd hair which much 
 annoys it. <&ayog 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 escu/us, which though Vitrifwu^ 
 Pliny r , 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 si/vesfris, 
 (taking robur for the general name, if at least contra- 
 distinct 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 
 
CHAP, in SYLVA 33 
 
 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 
 pras-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-Lady s 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 
 
34 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, 
 Tpaxvs-, asperous, or smooth, brown or bright, fc. 
 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 
 
CHAP, in S YL V A 35 
 
 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 Sa/fus) benignly visited 
 with the gleams of the sun, and adorn'd with the 
 distant land-skips appearing through the glades, and 
 frequent vallies ; 
 
 1 ( betwixt 
 
 Whose rows the azure sky is seen immix'd, 
 With hillocks, vales, and fields, as now we see 
 Distinguished in a sweet variety ; 
 Such places which wild apple-trees throughout 
 Adorn, and happy shrubs grow all about,) 
 
 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 
 
 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). Lueret. I. 5. 
 
36 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 demeas- 
 nes. 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 37 
 
 " 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 KX^V av^orp^g eyxoe. IX. A. 1 from a 
 
 tree so expos'd ; and Didymus gives the reason, 
 
 Ta jap lv avifjLty fsaVS he) TrXetov yiyivao/ueva Scutum OTE/oea, Cffc. 
 
 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 differ- 
 ence ; 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 & infer- 
 nate, cum Apennini descriptione : Where we note con- 
 cerning 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 
 
 1 See what Vossius has written in his Observations on Catullus, p. 204. 
 hulomitus turbo contorquens flamine 
 
38 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 con- 
 sider 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 exceed- 
 ingly 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 obstruct- 
 ions, and meet better earth ; which is of that conse- 
 quence, 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, 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 39 
 
 (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 obsti- 
 nate clays, are long before they come to any consi- 
 derable 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. 
 * And under elms swine do the mast devour. 
 
 1 Aurea durae 
 
 Mala ferant quercpus. 
 Eel. 8. 
 
 * Glandemque sues fregere sub ITlmo. 
 
 Gear. 
 
40 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 circum- 
 stances 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 extraordin- 
 arily 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 imme- 
 diately, with as much earth as will adhere to them, 
 in the place destin'd for their station ; abating only 
 
CHAP, in S YL V A 41 
 
 the 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 incompara- 
 bly 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 cir- 
 cumspect never to inter your stem deeper than you 
 found it standing ; for profound burying very fre- 
 quently destroys a tree, though an error seldom 
 observed : If therefore the roots be sufficiently cover- 
 ed 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 
 Escu/us 
 
 1 How much to heaven her towring head ascends, 
 So much towards hell her piercing root extends. 
 
 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. 
 
 1 Q u * quantum vertice ad auras 
 
 /Ethereas, tantum radice in Tartara tendit. 
 
 Geo. 1. 2. 
 
42 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 And the perfection of that, does almost as much con- 
 cern the prosperity of a tree, as of man himself, since 
 homo is but arbor mversa ; 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 hori- 
 zontal sections) by the constant excentricity of the 
 hyperbolical circles of all trees, (save just under 
 ^Equator, 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. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 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. 
 
 Gear. li. I. 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 43 
 
 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 demon- 
 strate 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. 
 
44 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 circum- 
 stances 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 sihifragi venti, our cruel and 
 tedious western-winds ; all which I leave to observa- 
 tion, 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 im- 
 prosperity, 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, plant- 
 ed 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 45 
 
 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 appear- 
 ance, 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, i . 
 9. Veterem arbor em 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, con- 
 taining 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 Expedi- 
 tion. 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 
 
46 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 ex- 
 treamly 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 trans- 
 plant 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 47 
 
 their roots torn up, and the body prostrate ; and, in 
 particular, of a firr, that when it was to be trans- 
 planted, 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 suffi- 
 ciently 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, 
 
48 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, Gfc. 
 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 con- 
 ceive 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 spread- 
 ing 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 with- 
 stand 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 49 
 
 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 prcemature 
 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 punct- 
 ual 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 m. 
 
 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 port- 
 
 G 
 
50 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 able 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-de^pil^ 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 sub- 
 ject 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 Athenasus 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 natural- 
 ist and learned physician Dr. Sloane observes) it 
 dries, splits, and becomes light, and much impairs. 
 
 1 5. There is not in nature a thing more obnoxious 
 to deceit, than the buying of trees standing, upon 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 51 
 
 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 nullajides. A timber-tree is a merchant-advent- 
 urer, you shall never know what he is worth till he be 
 dead. 
 
 1 6. Oaks are in some places (where the soil is 
 especially qualified) ready to be cut for cops in four- 
 teen 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 i 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 
 
$Z S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 i 3. Gloria libaniad te "Peniet, & buxus & pinus 
 simul ad ornandum locum sanctificationis me<z, & 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 : 
 
 1 Nail'd were his feet to cedar, to palm his hands ; 
 Cypress his Body bore, title on olive stands : 
 
 1 Quatuor ex lignis dotnini crux dicitur esse, 5-c. 
 Pes crucis est cedrus, corpus tenet alta cupressus ; 
 Palma manus retinet, titulo laetatur oliva. 
 
CHAP, m S YL V A 53 
 
 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, Fal- 
 conius, 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 celebra- 
 tions 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. i. 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 ot 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, Gfc. 
 for all which our English oak is infinitely preferable 
 to the French, which is nothing so useful, nor com- 
 parably so strong ; insomuch as I have frequently 
 
54 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, support- 
 ers, cross-beams, 6?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 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 observed 
 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, 
 Gfc. Oak is excellent for wheel-spokes, pins and pegs 
 for tyling, G?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, 
 
 1 And therefore were joyners called intestinary. See Leg. 2. Cod. Theodos. 
 
CHAP, in SYLVA 55 
 
 yet firm, for knee-timber in shipping, millwheels, sfxr, 
 In a word, how absolutely necessary the oak is above 
 all the trees of the forest in naval-architecture, &c. 
 consult Whitson, lib. I. 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 va/onia, 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- 
 
56 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 pre- 
 monish 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 
 alia Generatione de gf 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 recom- 
 mend 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 57 
 
 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 con- 
 clusion 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 't is 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 debauch- 
 ed : 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. 
 
 1 Fed with the oaken mast 
 
 The aged trees themselves in years surpass'd. 
 
 1 Et querna glande repasta 
 
 ^quasse annosas vivendo corpora Quercus. 
 
 H 
 
58 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 As the sweet poet bespeaks the dryad ; and therefore 
 it was not call'd Quercus, (as some etymologists 
 fancy'd) because the Pagans (qu<zribantur responsaj 
 had their oracles under it, but because they sought 
 for acorns : But 'tis in another 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. Pravotius, 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, 
 
 1 Fcelix ilia aetas mundi, justissima nymphe, 
 Cum dabat umbra domum vivam tua, cum domus ipsa 
 Decidua dominos pascebat fruge quietos, 
 Solaque praebebant sylvestria poma secundas 
 Gramineis cpulas mensis ; nondum arte magistra 
 Arbor adulteriis praeluserat insita nostris, &c. 
 
 Couleii PI. /. 6. 
 1 Cap. 1. Book III. 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 59 
 
 ita ut uncia singulis mensibus WAT 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, fc. 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, 
 
60 S Y L V A 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 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 Jiiij, coppras ^ij, gum- 
 arabic ?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 admi- 
 rable 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 diarrhea : 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 
 
CHAP. Ill 
 
 SYLVA 61 
 
 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 reme- 
 dies are composed, noble antidotes, syrups, G?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 vege- 
 tables 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, Gfc. 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, Gfc. which are all but the gifts and qualities, 
 with many more, that these robust sons of the earth 
 
62 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, Qfc. 
 Which hint may also carry our remarks upon all the 
 varieties of shape, leaf, seed, fruit, timber, grain, 
 colour, and all those other forms 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 : 
 
 2 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. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Elm. 
 
 i. 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 
 
 1 Of the ilex and cork (reckon'd among the glandiferus) see Book 11. cap. v. 
 and of the sacred and mysterious Missalto, Book in. cap. i. ; see also more of 
 quercus, Mr. Ray's Hist. Plan. torn. HI. cap. De Quercus, torn. 11. p. 1390. 
 
 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. 
 
 Rapiims. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 63 
 
 elm, whose leaves are thicker, and more florid, gla- 
 brous 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 1 2 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 append- 
 ices^ 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 abund- 
 antly 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 
 
64 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, suc- 
 cessively, 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 : 
 Aud 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 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 65 
 
 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 
 
66 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 infal- 
 libly 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 pro- 
 pitious. 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. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 67 
 
 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 expe- 
 riment 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 
 
68 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 think they cannot take them too young ; but expe- 
 rience (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 particu- 
 larly describ'd in the Eighth Chapter, Book m 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 ; 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 69 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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 translations ; 
 
 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 
 .-Estivos contra soles umbracula campis : 
 Una alias inter texendis aptior ulmus 
 Marginibus spatiorum, exornandoque vireto. 
 Seque adeo series, piano super aequore, tendat 
 Ulmorum tractu longo ; quantum ipsa tuentum 
 Luinina, vel gressus valeant lustrare sequentum. 
 
 Rapinus. 
 
70 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 calPd Elmet ; and 
 V. Bede, Eccl. Hist. /. 1 1 . 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^ & sertafur adhuc in mon- 
 asterio r. abbatis & presbyteri thrythwuelf, quod in syfaa 
 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, ^itelus 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 innumer- 
 able suckers) the leading mother-root ought to be 
 quite separated on that part, and the suckers irradi- 
 cated. The like should be done where they are 
 placed near walks of turf or gravel. 
 
CHAP, iv S YL V A 71 
 
 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. 
 
 1 1 . 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 
 
72 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 improve- 
 ment 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 enter- 
 tain 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, G?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. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 73 
 
 1 5. 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 
 
 J 
 
74 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 ; remem- 
 ber 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, 
 
 1 fruitful in leaves the elm. 
 
 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 sover- 
 eign 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 ^itce^ is a most admirable remedy 
 for the ischiadica 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. i. sect. 5. 
 and for other species of the elm, his Supplement, 
 torn. in. ad cap. De Ulmo. torn. n. p. 1428. 
 
 1 fcecundae frondibus ulmi. 
 
 Georg. 2. 
 
CHAP, v S Y L V A 75 
 
 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, 1 where he animadverts upon his inter- 
 preter, and shews that the ancient 4>rjyoc 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. HI.) wholly differing in trunk, 
 as well as fruit and leaf ; to which he adds (what 
 determines the controversie) KvXov rfc ^yov lo-^ypoTarov 
 KOI aoTjTTfo-aTov, &c. that it is of a Jirmfr 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 fogi, 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 
 
 1 Theophrast. 1. 3. c. 9. 
 
76 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 trans- 
 planting 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 refresh- 
 ing 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 
 
CHAP, v S Y L V A 77 
 
 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^ prater fagum 6? abietem : But certainly from 
 a grand mistake, or rather, for that he had not tra- 
 velled 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 ; 
 
 1 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. 
 
 With it the turner makes dishes, trays, rimbs for 
 buckets, and other utensils, trenchers, dresser-boards, 
 G?c. likewise for the wheeler, joyner, for large screw r s, 
 and upholster for sellyes, chairs, stools, bedsteads, fc. 
 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 
 
 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 PI. 1. 6. 
 
78 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 shipwrights : Of old they made their ^asa ^indemta- 
 toria and corbes messoria (as we our pots for strawber- 
 ries) 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 : 
 
 1 No wars did men molest, 
 
 When only beechen-bowls were in request. 
 
 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, Gfc. They have a way to black and polish 
 
 1 Nee bella fuerunt, 
 
 Faginus adstabat dum scyphus ante dapes. 
 
 Tibul. 
 
CHAP, v S Y L V A 79 
 
 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 thejagus, 
 a good part of it at least, as we learn out of Apol- 
 lonius ; this will admit of interpretation ; thefagus 
 yet by Claudian is mentioned with the alder, 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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 
 
 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. 
 
8o SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, 
 
 1 The wood's an house ; the leaves a bed. 
 
 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 
 chewM 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 observed, 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 sup- 
 pose) to eat ; and what relief they give thrushes, 
 black-birds, feldefares and other birds, every body 
 knows. See Mithiolus mdioscord. 1. i. of what they 
 suffer in Carinthias, Carniola, and Itiria. Supplement 
 to this Tract, vid. Ray's torn. in. Lib. xxv. Dendro- 
 logia Fago. torn. n. p. 1382. 
 
 .Silva domus, cubilia frondes. 
 
 Juvenal. 
 
CHAP, vi SYLVA 8 1 
 
 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 jttlas 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 Hart- 
 fordshire ; 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 frryt'a) 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 tedas 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 
 
82 SYLVA 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 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 deci- 
 duous, 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 con- 
 tinuance, 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 
 espa/ier-hedge in the long middle walk of Luxem- 
 burgh 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 cover'd 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 
 
CHAP, vi SYLVA 83 
 
 by those two industrious fellow-gardiners, Mr. London, 
 and Mr. Wise) affords such an umbraculum Jrondium^ 
 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, G?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 magni- 
 ficent 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 chearf ul 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, (pre- 
 ferable 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, tapis- 
 tried with the natural verdure of the glittering 
 foliage, present the spectator, and recompenses the 
 toil of the ingenious planter ; when after a little 
 
84 S Y L V A BOOK 1 
 
 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 contempla- 
 tions a little on objects yet more worthy our noblest 
 speculations, and all our pains and curiosity, repre- 
 senting 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 them- 
 selves ; 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 allure- 
 ments of the senses, may take, and eat, and still be 
 innocent ; no forbidden fruit ; no serpent to deceive ; 
 none to be deceived, 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 85 
 
 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 
 
86 SYLVA 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 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 elegan- 
 cies. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 Evelyn, Rapin. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Of the Ash. 
 
 i. 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 
 
 1 In tractus longos facilis tibi carpinus ibit, 
 Mille per errores, indeprehensosque recessus, 
 Et molles tendens secto ceu pariete ramos, 
 Praebebit viridem diverse 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. 
 Quineham egregias tendens umbracula frondis 
 Temperat ardentes ramis ingentibus aestus. 
 
CHAP, vii S Y L V A 87 
 
 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 ; there- 
 fore 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, Gfc. amongst them : Take off your crop of 
 corn, or seed in its season, and the next year follow- 
 ing, 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 
 
88 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 cattel, which are exceedingly licorish after their tops : 
 The reason of this hasty transplanting, is to prevent 
 their obstinate and deep rooting ; tantus amor terra 
 
 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. Hedge- 
 row 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 
 
CHAP, vii S Y L V A 89 
 
 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 Lin- 
 colnshire, 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, 
 
 1 By havock, wounds and blows, 
 More lively and luxuriant grows. 
 
 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 
 
 1 Per dainna, per caedes, ab ipso 
 Ducit opes anhnumque ferro. 
 
 Hor. 
 
90 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, cceteris 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 
 
CHAP, viz S Y L V A 91 
 
 'tis hardly to be distinguished from the most curi- 
 ously diaper'd olive, they varnish their work with 
 the china-varnish, (hereafter described) which infi- 
 nitely 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 here- 
 after) 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 Hol- 
 land, 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 
 
92 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, 6?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 there- 
 fore 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 ofguiacum, 
 with success. The chy mists 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 rup- 
 ture to which many children are obnoxious, is healed, 
 by passing the infant thro' a wide cleft made in the 
 bole 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 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 93 
 
 carefully bound up, will not only abate, but be per- 
 fectly 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 aKtnrva vAa. 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 obnox- 
 ious 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 
 
94 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 head, you suddenly cut it down, the body decaying 
 more than the head is worth : The same he pro- 
 nounces 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 1 Pliny's, who either took 
 it up upon trust, or we mistake the tree. Other 
 species, see Ray Dendrolog. t. HI. lib. xxx. p. 95. De 
 fraxlno^ t. n. p. 1704. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Of the Chesnut. 
 
 i. The next is the chesnut, \castanea\ of which 
 Pliny reckons many kinds, especially about Tarentum 
 and Naples ; Janus Cornarius, upon that of Aetius, 
 (verbo Apvc) speaks of the Lopimi, as a nobler kind, 
 such as the Euboicte, which the Italians call marom, 
 quasi castanea maris ; but we commend those of Por- 
 tugal or Bayonne, chusing the largest, brown, and 
 most ponderous for fruit, such as Pliny calls cocttva, 
 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 
 
 1 V. ChurasJunt, &c. de viperis. 
 
CHAP, vin S Y L V A 95 
 
 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 trans- 
 planting ; 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 1. 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 encourage- 
 ment to make such experiments out of foreign coun- 
 tries. Some sow them confusedly in the furrow like 
 the acorn, and govern them as the oak ; but then 
 
96 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 exceed- 
 ingly, 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 plant- 
 ations, 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. 
 
CHAP, vni S Y L V A 97 
 
 4. The chesnut being grafted 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 uni- 
 versally propagate the horse-chesnut, which being 
 easily increas'd from layers, grows into a good stand- 
 ard, 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 Superinten- 
 dent'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 beau- 
 tiful 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 descript- 
 ion 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^ 
 
 M 
 
S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 cervorum, damarum^ aprorum, & taurorum sil- 
 vestrium^ &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, Gf 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 
 leist 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 out- 
 wardly, 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 
 
CHAP, viii S Y L V A 99 
 
 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 pro- 
 pagate their use amongst our common people, (as of 
 old the BaAavotfxryoi) 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 
 
i oo S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, 6?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. in, Gfc. 
 
CHAP, ix SYLVA 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the Wallnut. 
 
 i . Jug/ans, quasi Jovis glans, the * 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 
 
 1 See Servius introduced discoursing of this and other nuts, Macrob. Saturn. 
 \. 3. c. 18. 
 
S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 neces- 
 sity 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 dimin- 
 ution, 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 incred- 
 ible 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 
 
CHAP, ix SYLVA 103 
 
 improve their fruit. The best compost is the strew- 
 ing 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 
 marie ; 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 in- 
 habitants : 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, 6?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 
 
1 04 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 the green-husks of walnuts, Sfc. 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 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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 mensa nucince, 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 Hei- 
 delberg 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, 
 
 1 Ilia domi natas, nostraque ex arbore mensas 
 Tempora viderunt : hos lignum stabat in usus, 
 Annosam si forte nucetn dejecerat Eurus. 
 
 Juv. 1. 4. Sat. ii. 
 
CHAP, ix S Y L V A 105 
 
 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 infi- 
 nite 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 pros- 
 pect ; which minds me of what Sorbiere tells in a 
 sceptical discourse to Monsieur de M artel, 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 plant- 
 ations 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 
 
 N 
 
106 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 intro- 
 duce 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, Gfc. but the rude and mischiev- 
 ous 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 doubt- 
 less, such noble and agreeable objects would exceed- 
 ingly divert, entertain, and take off the minds and 
 discourses of melancholy people, and pensive travel- 
 lers, 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, 
 
CHAP, ix S Y L V A 107 
 
 but from those which were cut off and separated, 
 which was never observ'd to happen in the birch, or 
 other sap-yielding trees. 
 
 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 es- 
 pecially, 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 
 
 1 Philosoph. Transact, vol. Ill, num. xl, p. 802. 
 
io8 SYLVA 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 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 extraord- 
 inary 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 cham- 
 bleted 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 accel- 
 erate the growth of this tree, and to improve its 
 qualities ; and I am assur'd, that having been grafted 
 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 
 
CHAP, ix S Y L V A 109 
 
 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 mace- 
 rated 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 
 
no S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 won- 
 derful 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 excel- 
 lent 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 lixhium 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 
 
CHAP, ix S Y L V A in 
 
 liquor, which makes an artificial wine. See Birch, 
 cap. xvii. Of other species, see Mr. Ray's Dendrolog. 
 Tom. in. p. 5, 6. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Of the Service, and black cherry-tree. 
 
 i . 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 cormler ; this tree may be graffed either on 
 
ii2 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 wainscot- 
 ted : 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 unpleas- 
 ant, 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, consoli- 
 dates inward ruptures : Lastly, the salt of the wood 
 taken in decoction of althaea to three grains, is an 
 
CHAP, x S Y L V A 113 
 
 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. vm.) 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 sur- 
 prizing whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bees, 
 and attracting birds. 
 
ii4 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, fc. 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 dis- 
 covery of the North-America, may be seen in the late 
 description of those countries. For other exotic 
 species, v. Ray Dendrolog. Tom. in. p. 45, 46. 
 
CHAP, xi S Y L V A 115 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Of the Maple. 
 
 i. The maple \acer minus~\ (of which authors (see 
 Salmasius upon So/inus, 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 pcTvonaceus^ peacocks-tail maple, which is that 
 sort so elegantly undulated, and crisped into variety 
 of curies, 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 propa- 
 gated 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 subnas- 
 cent plants of other kinds, by reason of a clammy dew 
 which it sheds upon them, and therefore they would 
 
n6 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 
 elegantid, & subtilitate cedro secundum ; plura e jus genera: 
 Alburn^ quod praecipui candoris ^ocatur Gallicum : In 
 Transpadana Italia , transque Alpes nascens. A her urn 
 genus, crispo macularum discursu, qui cum excellentior 
 fuit, a similitudine caudce pa^onum nomen accepit. 4 The 
 4 maple, (says Pliny) for the elegancy and fineness of 
 c the wood, is next to the very cedar it self. There 
 4 are several kinds of it, especially the white, which 
 4 is wonderfully beautiful ; this is call'd the French- 
 4 maple, and grows in that part of Italy, that is on the 
 ' other side of Po beyond the Alpes : The other has 
 4 a curl'd grain, so curiously maculated, that from a 
 4 near resemblance, it was usually call'd the Peacock's- 
 4 tail, Gfc. He goes on to commend that of Istria, 
 and that growing on the mountains for the best : But 
 in the next chapter ; Pulcherrimum $ero est bruscum, 
 multoque excellentius etiamnum mollusculum, tuber utrum- 
 que arboris ejus. Eruscum intortius crispum, molluscum 
 simplicius spar sum ; et si magnitudmem mensarum caper et, 
 
CHAP, xi S Y L V A 117 
 
 hand dubie prezferretur cedro, nunc intra pugillares^ 
 lectorumque silicios aut laminas, &c. e brusco fiunt menses 
 nigrescentes, &c. Plin. /. 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 
 4 for small table-books, and with its thin boards to 
 ' wainscot bed-testers with, &c. The bruscum is of 
 4 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 tzstimavere 
 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 3*/. 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 
 
n8 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, 1 have seen incom- 
 parable 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 con- 
 troversie : 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 undu- 
 lations 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 
 
CHAP, xi S YL V A 119 
 
 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 outrages 
 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 innumer- 
 able holes (much more perspicuous and ample, by 
 the application of a good l 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 con- 
 taining 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 
 
 1 Not invented in Palissy's days. 
 
120 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 shew- 
 ed 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 ^Eneas 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. 
 
 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 s cor but ; though Mr. Ray 
 thinks otherwise, by reason of the saccharine sub- 
 stance remaining in the decoction: See Synops. Stirp. & 
 Tom. in. Dendrolog. de Acere. p. 93, 94. 
 
 1 Haec (inquit) limina victor 
 
 Alcides 
 
CHAP, xii S Y L V A i2i 
 
 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 muci- 
 lage 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 mdigimz) 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 sud- 
 den 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 
 
122 SYLVA BOOK I 
 
 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. 
 
 i . 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 like- 
 wise thicker, of small pith, and not obnoxious to 
 the worm ; so as it seems Theophrastus de PL 1. 3. 
 c. I o. said true, that though they were of both sexes, 
 $ta<t>tpov(Ti Si rp m>P<Pv T 9 oXy, &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 pro- 
 duce 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 
 
CHAP, xiii S YL V A 123 
 
 better success) by the suckers and plants, which are 
 treated after the same method, and in as great abund- 
 ance 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 becone (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 
 
124 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 bemuchlopp'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 French- 
 man, 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 sur- 
 face 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. 
 
CHAP, xiii SYLVA 125 
 
 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 /eves ; and therefore 
 fit for yokes, and to be turn'd into boxes for the 
 apothecaries ; and Columella commends arculas tili- 
 aceas. 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 n. 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 Ora- 
 
ia6 SYLVA 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 tionum 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. Bellon- 
 ius 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 : Shooemak- 
 ers 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 Hamp- 
 ton-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 unreason- 
 able 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 
 
CHAP, xiii S Y L V A 127 
 
 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 ravish- 
 ing 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 
 
 1 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, odor ate shade project. 
 
 Dirte and curses therefore on those inhuman and am- 
 bitious 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 
 
 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, I. 6, PI 
 
128 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, repe liens urinam, G? menses ciens^ 
 &c. And I am told, the juice of the leaves fixes colours. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Of the Poplar^ Aspen, and Abele. 
 
 i. 'Popu/us. I begin this second class (according 
 to our former distribution) with the poplar, of which 
 there are several kinds ; white, black, Qfc. (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 abudance by every set or slip. Fence the ground 
 as far as any old poplar-roots extend, they will furn- 
 ish 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 marg- 
 ins 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 
 
CHAP, xiv S Y L V A 129 
 
 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 trunch- 
 ions 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, spar- 
 ing the middle, streight, and thrivingest shoot, and at 
 the third year cut him also. There be yet that con- 
 demn the pruning of this poplar, as hindring their 
 growth. 
 
 2. The shade of this tree is esteemed very whol- 
 some 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 fag- 
 goted. 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 
 
130 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, 
 
CHAP, xiv SYLVA 131 
 
 for the whiteness and lasting, where they lie dry. 
 
 3. They have a poplar in Virginia of a very peculi- 
 ar 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 herb- 
 als : 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 like- 
 wise 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 
 
132 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 a6e/e-tree at Sion, which being 
 lopp'd in Febr. 1651, didlby the end of October 52, 
 produce branches as big as a man's wrist, and 1 7 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 l Knight has asserted, (who began his plan- 
 tation 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 
 
 I. Sir Richard Weston. 
 
CHAP, xiv SYLVA 133 
 
 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 di- 
 verted my self with this story of the ingenious poet. 
 I am told there is a mountain-poplar much propa- 
 gated 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 incom- 
 parable 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, 
 G?c. Vitruvius /. de Materia Ccedenda, reckons it among 
 the building-timbers, quce maxime in oedificiis sunt 
 idonece. Likewise to make carts, because it is exceed- 
 ing light ; for vine, and hop-props, and divers vi- 
 mineous 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 
 
134 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, G?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 pro- 
 duced the plant : Experiment sufficient to determine 
 that so long controverted question, concerning sponta- 
 neous and aequivocal generations, vid. D. Rait P. L. 
 Append, p. 1918. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Of the Quick-Beam. 
 
 i . 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. 
 
CHAP, xv SYLVA 135 
 
 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 com- 
 mend 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 com- 
 mend 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-Eritannica ; 
 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. 
 
136 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Of the Basel. 
 
 1 . Nux sihestris^ or corylus^ the hasel, is best rais'd 
 from the * nuts, (also by suckers and layers) which 
 you shall sow like mast, in a pretty deep furrow to- 
 ward the end of February, or treat them as you are 
 instructed in the walnut ; light ground may im- 
 mediately 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. 
 
 2 Hasels from sets and suckers take. 
 
 1 De nucum generilnts, vide Macrob. Sect. L. n. c. 14. 
 * Plantis & durae coryli nascuntur Georg. 2. 
 
CHAP, xvi S Y L V A 1 37 
 
 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 treat- 
 ed, 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, distinguished by its beard, among 
 our foresters (or bald hasel-nuts) which doubtless we 
 had from abroad ; and bearing the names of ave/an, 
 avelin, as I find in some ancient records and deeds in 
 my custody, where my ancestors names were written 
 Avelan, a/ias, 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 Sur- 
 rey, 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 
 
138 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, 6fc. 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 hus- 
 bands 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 divin- 
 atory rods for the detecting and finding out of miner- 
 als ; (at least, if that tradition be no imposture) is 
 very wonderful ; by whatsoever occult virtue, the 
 forked-stick (so cut, and skilfully held) becomes im- 
 pregnated 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 critic- 
 ally examined matters of fact) is certainly next to 
 miracle, and requires a strong faith : Let the curious 
 
CHAP, xvi S Y L V A 139 
 
 therefore consult that philosophical treatise of 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 com- 
 mon 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 Glas- 
 tenbury, 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 driv- 
 en 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 thick- 
 ning ofcopp'ces which are too transparent, by laying 
 of a sampler or pole of an hasel, ash, poplar, Gfc. 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 
 
 1 Valleinont, Physique occult ou traite de la baguet divinitoire, &c. But concern- 
 ing the exploration, and superstitious original, see Sir Thomas Brown, Vulg. 
 Err. cap. xxiv. sect. 17. and the commentators upon 4. Hosea. 12. 
 
1 40 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 deli- 
 cate : 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. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Of the Kirch. 
 
 i. 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 abund- 
 
CHAP, xvn SYLVA 141 
 
 ance, 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 tim- 
 ber, 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 can- 
 oos, 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, 
 zjungus, 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 hcemerhoids. 
 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, 
 
142 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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 in 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 ancient- 
 ly 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, 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 re- 
 present the shapes and images of beasts, birds, trees, 
 and many other pretty resemblances. Lastly, of the 
 
 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 
 
 3 See Philos. Transact. Vol. 9. num. 105. p. 93. 
 
CHAP, xvn SYLVA 143 
 
 whitest part of the old wood, found commonly in 
 doating birches, is made the grounds of our effemin- 
 ate 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 an- 
 ciently the cudgels were us'd by the factor, for lighter 
 faults, as now the gentler rods by our tyrannical 
 pedagogues. 
 
 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, 
 
1 44 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 (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 dimens- 
 ions 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 con- 
 sideration 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 1 angry-man might have spar'd his anim- 
 
 1 Dr. Stubb. See the tractate intitled, Aditus novus ad occultas sympathies & 
 antipathicEcausasinveniendas,pet princi-pia philosophic naturalis, & fcrmcntorum 
 artificiosd anatomid hausta, patefactas, a Silvestro Rattray, M.D. Glasquensi, 
 1658. p. 55. 
 
CHAP, xvii SYLVA 145 
 
 adversion : 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 au- 
 thority 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, 
 qua spatio 1 2 aut 1 4 dierum, praponderabit 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 pre- 
 tended 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 bal- 
 samical 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 
 
146 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 mention'd by that incomparable philosopher, and 
 my most noble friend, the Honourable Mr. Boyle, in 
 his second part of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy r , 
 Sect. i. Essay 3^. 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 exhaust- 
 ion 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 ; Brother- 
 ton, (mentioning some excortications and incisions, 
 by what he observ'd in pruning,) that most (if not 
 
CHAP, xvii S Y L V A 1 47 
 
 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 prob- 
 able, that the bodies of plants, as well as those of 
 animals, are nourish'd and increas'd by a double pab- 
 ulum 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, Gfc. 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 experi- 
 ence) 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 sub- 
 ject, 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 under- 
 standing 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 
 
148 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 inno- 
 cent 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 ob- 
 liging l 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, 
 80 1, &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 ; espec- 
 ially 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 rescind- 
 ed 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 peri- 
 odic 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, Gfc. the 
 variety of its ascending sap depending on it ; and then 
 of its sap ascending in the branches and roots ; de- 
 scending in cut branches ; ascending from root, and 
 not from branches ; the seasons and difference of time 
 in which those accidents happen, fife. He likewise 
 thinks the best expedient to procure store of liquor, 
 
 i. Mr. Oldenburg. 
 
CHAP, xvii S Y L V A 1 49 
 
 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 unpierc- 
 ed ; 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, Gfc. 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 sulph- 
 urous 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 
 
150 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 pro- 
 ceeds 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 sec- 
 ond 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, GPc. may yield many useful 
 observations : As for planting, to set thicker, or thin- 
 ner (si ccetera sint pariaj namely, the nature of the 
 
CHAP, xvii S Y L V A 151 
 
 tree, soil, Gfc. and not to shade overmuch the roots 
 of those stems we desire should mount, Gfc. 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 attract- 
 ion 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 pun- 
 til los 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; & Ebriamini- 
 bus 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, Gfc. 
 
 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 
 
152 O I L, V A BOOK I 
 
 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 effect- 
 ual : 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 ac- 
 company the stone in the bladder or reins 1 : The juice 
 
 1 De Lithiasi, c. 8. n. 24, 25, &c. 
 
(a. b.) The Body of the Tree (g.) board at that part of the Arm 
 (f.) jolnd 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. 
 
CHAP, xvn S Y L V A 153 
 
 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.J 
 
 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 i Ib. 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 
 
154 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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, fc. would be attempted for liquors : Thus 
 crabs, and even our very brambles may possibly yield 
 us medical and useful wines. The poplar was hereto- 
 fore 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 affur'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 tor- 
 ments 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 sudor- 
 ific, 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 trans- 
 gressed : Pan was a physician, and he (you know) was 
 president of the woods. But I proceed to the alder.) 
 
CHAP, xvin S Y L V A 155 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Of the Alder. 
 
 i. Alnus, the alder, (both conifera and julifera) 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; c rassisque paludibus 
 
 aim ; 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 
 
156 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 their alders, and other trees ; of which see Cap. HI. 
 Book in. 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 finish- 
 ed, 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 
 
CHAP, xviii S Y L V A 157 
 
 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, 
 8 And down the rapid Poe light alders glide. 
 
 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 
 
 1 Tune alnos primum fluvii sensere cavatas. 
 
 Georg. i. 
 
 s Nee non & torrentem undam levis innatat alnus 
 Missa Pado ... 2. 
 
158 SYLVA BOOKI 
 
 trays, and trenchers, wooden-heels; the bark is preci- 
 ous 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 cert- 
 ainly : 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.. 
 
CHAP, xix SYLVA 159 
 
 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 "fiineam, &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 in- 
 genious 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 distinguished by their 
 growth and bark ; and by Latin authors all compre- 
 hended under that of salices ; our English books reckon 
 them promiscuously thus ; the common-white wil- 
 low, the black, and the hard-black, the rose of Cam- 
 bridge, 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 wil- 
 low, 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 
 
160 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 1 20 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 
 nltellina] the vulgar round leav'd, which proves best 
 in dryer banks, and the hopping-sallows, which re- 
 quire 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. 
 
CHAP, xix S Y L V A 1 6 1 
 
 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 hus- 
 bandman. 
 
 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 im- 
 provement. 
 
 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 
 
162 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 some- 
 times June) the palms (or uXtaiKapiroifrugiperdce, 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 gathered 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 root- 
 ing, 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. 
 
 i o. You may plant settings 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 
 
CHAP, xix SYLVA 163 
 
 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. 
 
 1 1 . '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, Gfc. Also by cut- 
 tings and layers, and some years by the seeds likewise. 
 
 i 3. 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. 
 
 1 4. If in our copp'ces one in four were a sallow set, 
 amongst the rest of varieties, the profit would recom- 
 pence 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 
 
164 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 ac- 
 commodate for painters scribbets, to design their work, 
 and first sketches on paper with, G?c. as being fine, 
 and apt to slit into pencils. 
 
 1 6. To conclude, there is a way of grafting 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 curio- 
 sity 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 sal- 
 lows, as sallows are from withies ; being so much 
 smaller than the sallow, and shorter liv'd, and requir- 
 ing 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 like- 
 wise 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 : 
 
CHAP, xix S YL V A 165 
 
 Viminlbus sallces 
 
 1 8. 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 Candle- 
 mas, 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, sever- 
 ing 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 
 
166 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 shriveU'd-gels- 
 ter, 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 flumi- 
 
 nibus 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. 
 
 2 1 . The season for planting is January, and all Feb- 
 ruary, 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 
 
CHAP, xix S Y L V A 167 
 
 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 yW/, 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 ju/i, are not all of them seed- 
 
168 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 accord- 
 ingly ; 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, fc. for 
 the fruiterers, lime-burners, gardeners, coopers, pack- 
 ers-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 
 
CHAP, xix SYLVA 169 
 
 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 suffic- 
 ient 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 ar- 
 tificers 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 
 
170 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 collat- 
 eral, 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 
 
CHAP, xix S YL V A 171 
 
 till the third ; you may then lop them traverse, and 
 not obliquely, at one foot from the ground, or some- 
 what 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 de- 
 lightful walks ; and this I wish were practised 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 except- 
 ed) 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 exceed- 
 ing 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 
 
172 b I LJ V A BOOK I 
 
 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 io/. 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 
 2O/. 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 widen- 
 ing 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 
 
CHAP, xix SYLVA 173 
 
 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. 
 vn.) 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 30^. and another sold 
 for 3/. which was well worth 5/. 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 admit- 
 ted 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 odori- 
 ferous kind, extreamly fit to be planted by pleasant 
 rivulets, both for ornament and profit : It is propa- 
 gated 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 (imper- 
 tinently called agnus castus, the one being but the 
 interpretation of the other) as fit for building ; I sup- 
 
174 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 pose 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 substi- 
 tuting lavitatem) for the author's reglditatem^ 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 consider- 
 able, they being generally useful for the same pur- 
 poses; 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 
 
CHAP, xix SYLVA 175 
 
 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. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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 im- 
 pendii, aut tempestatis securior. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c. 
 
 i. 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 ex- 
 pence, unless our young, and (as yet) tender plants 
 
 1 Quid majora sequor ? Salices, humilesque genistae, 
 Aut illae pecori frondem, aut pastoribus umbram 
 Sufficiunt, sepemque satis & pabula melli. 
 
 Gcorg. 2. 
 
176 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 be sufficiently guarded with munitions from all exter- 
 nal 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, 
 
 1 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. 
 
 2. For the reason that so many complain of the 
 improsperous condition of their wood-lands, and plant- 
 ations 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 disturb- 
 ance of a years crop at most in a little corn ! whilst 
 
 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 juvencas. 
 Frigora nee tantum cana concreta pruina, 
 Aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus asstas, 
 Quantum illi nocuere greges, durique venenum 
 Dentis, & admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix. 
 
 Gcorg. 2. 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 177 
 
 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 Hay ward ? 
 
 1 And shall men doubt to plant, and careful be ? 
 
 Let us therefore shut up what we have thus laboriously 
 planted, with some good quick-set hedge ; which, 
 
 8 All countries bear, in every ground 
 
 As denizen, or interloper found : 
 
 1 Et dubitant homines serere, atque impendere curam ? 
 
 Georg. 2. 
 
 7 Otnne solum natale est, intrat ubique 
 
 Ardelio ; ilia quidem cultis excluditur agris 
 
 W 
 
i/8 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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. 
 
 For so the ingenious poet has metamorphos'd him, 
 and I could not withstand him. 
 
 4. The haw-thorn, (oxyacantha vu/garisj 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 
 
 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 
 Defendant opera ; nee iis, gens cauta, tyranni, 
 Praeponunt speciosa magis, multumque sonora 
 Praesidia ; his certi vitam tutantur opesque, &c. 
 
 Couleii, pi. 1. 6. 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 179 
 
 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 facili- 
 tated, 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 consid- 
 erably 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, <Sfc. 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 cleans- 
 ing it from weeds with the haugh, (till the plants 
 
180 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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, Gfc. 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 premature 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 
 
CHAP. XX 
 
 SYLVA 181 
 
 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, 
 
182 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 con- 
 stantly 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 plant- 
 ation 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 husband- 
 man; 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 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 183 
 
 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 black- 
 thorn; 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 dis- 
 tances 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 
 
184 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 usu- 
 ally 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 decor- 
 ation, 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 handsome- 
 ly, which is your best direction, (lest you rift the 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 185 
 
 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 subnas- 
 cent young trees, than when newly trim'd and prun'd, 
 to have their (as yet raw) wounds poyson'd with con- 
 tinual 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 ; 
 
 x 
 
186 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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 forti- 
 fied; 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 un- 
 constrain'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 tol- 
 erable fence : But in case it be superannuated, and 
 very old, 'tis advisable to stub all up, being quite 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 187 
 
 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 ins far omnium (and after all which 
 has been said of this useful art of fencing) what I 
 cannot without injury to the publick, and ingrati- 
 tude 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, 
 4 of about two pole in breadth, and three in length : 
 c The out-fences ditch'd on the outside, but the 
 * quick-sets in the inside of the bank, that the dead- 
 4 hedges might stand on the outside thereof ; so that 
 4 a small hedge of 18 or 20 inches high, made of 
 4 small wood, the stakes not much bigger than a 
 4 man's thumb, which (the banks being high) suffici- 
 4 ently defended them for four years time, and were 
 4 hedg'd with less than one load of shreadings of 
 4 willow-sets, which, (as my workmen told me) would 
 4 have requir'd 6 load of copp'ce-wood : But the next 
 4 year after their being planted, finding wast ground 
 4 on the top of the bank of the outer fence, between 
 4 the dead-hedge and the quick, I put a foot-set in 
 
188 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 4 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 
 4 it still. This put me upon thinking, that a set 
 4 cheaper and better of quick-fence, might possibly 
 4 be found out ; and accordingly I made some tryals, 
 4 with good success, (at least better than the old way) 
 4 tho' not to my full satisfaction, till I had perus'd 
 
 * Mr. Evelyn's Si/va, &c. The method I us'd, was 
 4 this : First I set out the ground for ditches and 
 4 quick, in breadth ten foot ; then subdivided that by 
 4 marking out 2 foot J on each side (more or less, at 
 4 pleasure) for the ditches, leaving 5 in the middle 
 4 between them : Then digging up two foot in the 
 4 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 
 4 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, 
 4 and prepar'd for the sets, which the planter sets 
 4 with two quicks upon the surface of the earth, 
 4 almost upright, whilst another workman lays the 
 4 mould forward, about 12 inches, and then sets two 
 4 more, and so continues. Some there are who plant 
 4 three rows of sets about 8 inches interval ; but I do 
 4 not approve it ; for they choak one another. This 
 4 finished, I order another row of turfs to be plac'd 
 4 on each side upon the top of the former, and fill the 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 189 
 
 4 vacuity between the sets and the turfs, as high as 
 4 their tops, always leaving the middle where the sets 
 
 * are planted, hollow, and somewhat lower than the 
 4 sides of the banks, by 8 or i o inches, that the rain 
 4 may descend to their roots, which is of great ad- 
 1 vantage to their growth, and far better than by the 
 4 old way ; where the banks too much sloping, the 
 4 roots of the sets are seldom wetted in an ordinary 
 4 season, the Summer following ; but which if it 
 4 prove dry, many of the sets perish, especially the 
 4 late planted : Whereas those which I planted in the 
 4 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 
 4 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, 
 1 which will protect them as well (if not better) than 
 4 a hedge of 3 foot, or four inches more, standing 
 4 upon the surface of the ground, which being rais'd 
 4 with the turfs and sods about 20 inches, and the 
 ' hedge about 20 inches more, will make 3 foot 4 
 4 inches ; so as no cattle can approach the dead-hedge 
 4 to prejudice it, unless they set their feet in the 
 4 ditch it self ; which will be at least a foot deep, and 
 4 from the bottom of the fosse to the top of the hedge, 
 4 about 4 foot and J, which they can hardly reach 
 4 over to crop the quick, as they might in the old 
 
 * way ; and besides, such an hedge will endure a year 
 4 longer. I have at this present, an hedge which has 
 4 stood these 5 years ; and tho' 9 or i o foot be suffi- 
 4 cient for both ditches and bank, yet where the 
 4 ground is but indifferent, 'tis better husbandry to 
 4 take 1 2 foot, which will allow of a bank at least 
 
190 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 4 6 foot broad, and gives more scope to place the 
 4 dead hedges farther from the sets ; and the ditches 
 4 being shallow, will in two years time, graze ; tho' 
 4 I confine my self for the most part to 9 or 10 ; 
 4 because I would take off the only objection of wasting 
 4 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, 
 4 than by the common way : For in that a quick is 
 4 rarely set, but there is 9 foot between the dead 
 4 hedges, which is entirely lost all the time of fencing : 
 4 When as with double ditches, there remains at least 
 4 1 8 inches on each side where the turfs were set on 
 4 edge, that bear more grass than when it lay on the 
 
 4 flat But admitting it did totally lay wast 3 
 
 4 foot of ground, the damage were very inconsiderable, 
 4 since forty pearch, in lengh 220 yards, which makes 
 4 pearches, 7, 25", 9', or 7 pole J, which at 13 shiL 
 4 4 pence the acre, amounts not to jd. \ per ann. Now 
 4 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 
 4 ditch is 4*/. per pole, the owner providing sets ; if 
 4 the workman finds them, he will have for making 
 4 the said ditch, and setting them, %d. the pole, and 
 4 for hedging, two pence ; that is, for both sides 4^. 
 4 the pole, which renders the charge of hedging, 
 4 ditching, and sets, i zd. the pole ; that is, for forty 
 4 rod in length, forty shillings : Then one load of 
 4 wood out of the copp'ce costs us, with the carriage, 
 4 (tho' but two or 3 miles distance) ten shillings ; 
 4 which will seldom hedge above 8 pole (single hedge.) 
 4 But allowing it to do ten, to fence 40 pole, there 
 4 must be at least 8 load of wood, which costs 4/. 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 191 
 
 1 making the whole expence for ditching, setting, 
 e and fencing of 40 pole, to be 6/. reck'ning with the 
 least ; for I know not any that will undertake to do 
 ' it under 3/. 6d. per pole, and then the 40 pole costs 
 4 7/. Whereas, with double ditches, both of them, 
 ' setting and sets, will be done for 8</. per pole, and 
 4 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 i /. 6s. %d. 
 1 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. %d. 
 ' for hedging forty pole on both sides : Thus one load 
 1 of wood, will fence 30 pole at least, and 40 hedg'd 
 ' with f of wood less, than in the other way, and 
 ' cost but i/. 6s. 8^/. which makes the whole charge 
 ' of sets, ditching, fencing, and wood, but three 
 ' pounds. /. s. d. 
 
 01 06 08 
 
 00 06 08 
 
 01 06 08 
 
 03 oo oo 
 
 Hitherto this obliging and industrious gentleman. 
 
 1 1 . 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 there- 
 
192 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 fore us'd in fasces nuptiarum, since the jolly shepherds 
 carryed the white-thorn at the rapine of the Sabines; 
 and ever since counted l 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. 
 
 See Varro in AHs. Ovid, Fast. 6 de spina sumitur alba. 
 
CHAP, xx S YL V A 193 
 
 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 ; espe- 
 cially 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, <fc. 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 planta- 
 tions 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, 
 
194 S Y L V A BOOK i 
 
 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 pract- 
 is'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 spi- 
 nosa., 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. 
 
 i 5. 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 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 195 
 
 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 stran- 
 gers in many parts of this nation, particularly North- 
 
196 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 ampton 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. 
 
 1 6. 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 genista 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 may be 
 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 hol- 
 lowness to an almost invisible pith. But if the medi- 
 cinal properties of the leaves, bark, berries, Qfc. 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 
 
CHAP, xx S YL V A 197 
 
 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 longevity ; (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 oint- 
 ment 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 vine- 
 gar, 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, l that a certain house in 
 
 1 Bies. de Aeris potestate. 
 
198 SYLVA BOOK i 
 
 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. 
 
 1 8. There is a shrub called the spindle-tree, (euon- 
 ymus^ orfusanumj commonly growing in our hedges, 
 which bears a very hard wood, of which they some- 
 times 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, fife. 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 1. penult ss. ad legem 
 Pomp, de parrmd. 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. 1 1 . book II.) And lastly, the viburnum, 
 or way-faring-tree, growing also plentifully in every 
 corner, makes pins for the yoaks of oxen ; and super- 
 stitious people think, that it protects their cattel from 
 being bewitch'd and us'd to plant the shrub about 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 199 
 
 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 ornament- 
 al 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, Gfc. 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 Earbadoes ; 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 im- 
 
200 S Y L V A BOOK I 
 
 prove 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 medi- 
 tation of the universal benefit) that every person 
 whatsoever, worth ten pounds per annum, within Her 
 Majesty's dominions, were by some indispensible stat- 
 ute, 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 effectu- 
 ally, 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 plea- 
 sure 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 
 
CHAP, xx SYLVA 20 1 
 
 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 gentle- 
 man 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 culti- 
 vated 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 some- 
 times to that bulk, as is fit to make stools with, 
 cabinets, tables, especially the redder sort, which will 
 
202 S Y L V A BOOK I 
 
 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. 
 
DENDROLOGIA 
 
 THE SECOND BOOK 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Mulberry. 
 
 1 . Morus, the mulberry : It may possibly be won- 
 der'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 
 
204 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 excre- 
 ment of hogs, and even dogs (that will frequently eat 
 them) they will rise abundantly. Note, that in sow- 
 ing 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, 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 205 
 
 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 trim- 
 
ao6 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 ming 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, Qfc. 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, G?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 in- 
 fallibly, especially if you twist the old wood a little, 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 207 
 
 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 emol- 
 ument 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 scare-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 
 
208 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 209 
 
 rosarum, in which receipt they do best, being taken 
 before they are over-ripe. I have 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 them- 
 selves to this manufacture in Provence, Languedoc, 
 Dauphine, Lionnois, fife, and not in Tourain and 
 Orleans, till Hen. the Fourth's time ; but it is in- 
 credible 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 (Super- 
 
 1 Andr. Medicus apud Athenaeum, Deipnos. lib. 3 cap. 29. 
 
210 
 
 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 intendent 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 discourage- 
 ments 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 de- 
 monstrable, 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 certain- 
 ly one of the most accomplish'd and agreeable works 
 in the world. 
 
 1 1 . 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 hydrop- 
 ical, 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 
 
CHAP, i SYL V A 211 
 
 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 
 marrsand gaulsthe 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 toler- 
 able 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 
 
212 S Y L V A BOOK II 
 
 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 over- 
 much, which gives them the lask. 
 
 12. This is what I thought fit to premonish con- 
 cerning 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 in- 
 comparable treatise, which the learned Malpighius 
 
CHAP, i S Y L V A 213 
 
 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, com- 
 municated in the 1 2th. vol. Philos. Transactions^ n. 133. 
 p. 8 1 6, 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 obser- 
 vations : 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 pre- 
 monition to those less experienc'd gardners, who fre- 
 quently 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 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. Rait Dendro. p. 12. 
 
 1 A ntora, ob tarditatem. 
 
214 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of the P/afanus, Lofus, Cornus, Acacia^ &c. 
 
 i. Platanus^ that so beautiful and precious tree, 
 anciently sacred to * Helena, (and with which she 
 crown'd the Lar, and Genius of the place) was so 
 doated on by Xerxes, that ^lian 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 concub- 
 ines, 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 per- 
 swade 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 magni- 
 ficent colleges for the exercise of youth in gymnastics, 
 as riding, shooting, wrestling, running, &c. (like to 
 our French Academies) and where the graver philo- 
 sophers also met to converse together, and improve 
 their studies, betwixt the Xista, and subdiales ambula- 
 tiones (which were portico's open to the air) they 
 
 1 Euripides epithai. 
 
CHAP, ii SYLVA 215 
 
 planted groves and walks of platans, to refresh and 
 shade the Palcestritte ; as you have them describ'd by 
 Vitruvius, lib. 5. cap. n. and as Claudius Perrault 
 has assisted the text, with a figure, or ichnographical 
 plot. These trees 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 ; credit & 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 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 plant- 
 ed 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 accord- 
 
 1 Macrob. saturnal. 3. c. n. 
 
 * Solarium quod pro folo pendetur, as the pandects name the tax paid for the 
 shades that bear no fruit. 
 
2i6 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 ingly ; 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 oicapTroe ; 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. 1. 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 sponta- 
 
CHAP, ii SYLVA 217 
 
 neously ; 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, GPc. 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 dur- 
 ableness, 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 
 
 , * J 
 
 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 : 
 
 b 
 
218 SYLVA 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 nor do the roots take such hold of the ground, insinu- 
 ating, 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 plant- 
 ations, 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 in- 
 dustry. 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 im- 
 prov'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 
 
CHAP, ii S YL V A 219 
 
 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 
 
22O S Y L V A BOOK II 
 
 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. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree, Larsh, and 
 Subterranean trees. 
 
 1. Abies, pice a, pinus, pinaster, larsh, fc. are all 
 of them easily rais'd of the kernels and nuts, which 
 may be gotten out of their poly sperm 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, literd sed und 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 ihtfusterna : The arms and branches 
 
CHAP. Ill S YL V A 221 
 
 (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, fife, (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, fife, 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 
 
222 $ Y L V A BOOK II 
 
 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, Heller- 
 one, Holmstrand, Landifer, Stavenger, Lawrwat, Gfc. 
 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 some- 
 what 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 223 
 
 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 com- 
 paratively. 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 begin- 
 ning 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 
 
224 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 f era/is 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 encourage- 
 ments, i. 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, Gfc. 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 225 
 
 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, inf 
 sand, as you treat acorns, G?c. 'till the season invitej 
 and then set or sow them in ground which is culti- 
 vated 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 obnox- 
 ious to miscarry without this caution ; and therefore 
 it were much better (where the nuts might be com- 
 modiously 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 
 
226 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 
 ted^ clad with thin long leaves, and bearing a turbin- 
 ated 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 Westra- 
 sia, which is the nearest part to that where they 
 grow : If this be true, we are no more to wonder, 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 227 
 
 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 l Theophrastus, who were both of a faith, 
 that the seeds of plants drop'd out of the air. Pliny 
 in his 1 6th. book, chap. 33. upon discourse of the 
 Cretan cypress, attributes much to the mdo/es, 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. difficult- 
 ies 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 found- 
 ation, unless you find any of them bruised, or much 
 broken ; therefore such down-right roots as you may 
 
 1 De causis, 1. i. cap. 5. 
 
228 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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, inso- 
 much 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. 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 229 
 
 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, 
 
 1 The friendly pine the mighty oak invites. 
 
 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 
 supernaies, 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 tv roTg TraAtcnaoie 
 oXwc ou ^weTot, // cannot endure the shade ^ as Theophras- 
 tus observes, de PL 1. 4. c. i. 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 com- 
 petent 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 
 
 1 Et comitem quercum pinus arnica trahit. 
 
230 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 to the roots, that penetrate into their meanders, and 
 winding recesses. But though they require this re- 
 freshing at first, yet do they perfectly abhor all ster- 
 coration ; 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 (be- 
 longing 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 8 1 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 1 46 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 recovered 
 that scar, but thrives exceedingly, and is within eight 
 or nine foot, as tall as the other, and would probably 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 231 
 
 have been the better of the two, bad not that im- 
 pediment 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 en- 
 couragement I have already given for the more fre- 
 quent 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, Athenasus relating, that the stupendious vessel, 
 built so many ages since by Hiero, had its mast out 
 of Britain. Take notice that none of these mount- 
 ainous 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 
 
232 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 of these, the Grand Canaries (and all about the mount- 
 ains 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. 
 
 1 1 . 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 '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 1 50 foot high, which some think of spontaneous 
 growth ; besides several more so irregularly standing, 
 
CHAP, in S YL V A 233 
 
 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 com- 
 mons, 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 sub- 
 terraneous-trees are found ; as namely, in Cornwal, 
 adfinem terrce^ in agris Flints; in Penbroke-shire towards 
 the shore, where they so abound, ut totum littus (says 
 the Doctor) tanquam siha ccedua 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 Bridg- 
 water) some lengths of pasture growing much with- 
 ered, 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 
 
 d 
 
234 S YL V A BOOK n 
 
 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 in- 
 undation, 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, 1. 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 fre- 
 quently 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 235 
 
 were once standing in Holland, and those Low-coun- 
 tries, till about the year 860, that an hurricane ob- 
 structing 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 
 fulling ; of which see Boetius de Boot. 
 
 Dr. Plot in his Nat. Hist, of Oxford and Stafford- 
 shires 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 
 
236 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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-jirma 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 work- 
 ing, 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 237 
 
 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 i 5 /. 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, continued 
 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, Gfc. 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, 
 Gfc. There was among others, one prodigious oak 
 of 1 20 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 /. 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 bar- 
 
238 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 barous 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 sub- 
 terranean 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 
 
CHAP, in S YL V A 239 
 
 remark, I thought fit to mention. Both fir and pine 
 (sociable trees) planted pretty near together (shread 
 and dipt 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 dimen- 
 sions 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, 
 
 1 The useful pine for ships 
 
 Hence Papinius 6. Thebaid. calls it audax abies. They 
 make our best mast, sheathing, scaffold-poles, G?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 3 horse, 
 
 1 dant utile lignum 
 
 Navigiis pinus Georg. 2. 
 
 - Macrob. Sat. 56. cap. 9. 
 
240 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 may be thought to be built of this material, and if 
 the poet mistake not, 
 
 1 The ribs with deal they fit. 
 
 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 especial- 
 ly 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 
 
 1 Sectaque intexunt abiete costas. /. 2. 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 241 
 
 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 exceed- 
 ingly 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 com- 
 parable to it ; and I am sure we find it an extra- 
 ordinary 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 
 
242 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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, 
 
 1 She prest 
 
 A long fir-spear through his exposed breast. 
 
 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, G?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, 6?c. we generally 
 find : It is in the same chapter, that he commends 
 also wormwood, marrubium^ chamelczagnum^ sage, 
 tamarisc, and almost any thing, rather than hops. 
 The bark of the pine heals ulcers ; and the inner rind 
 
 ' l Cujus apertum 
 
 Adversi longa transverberat abiete pectus. 
 
 n. ii. 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 243 
 
 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 (scatu/u/a) 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 a/mugim-trees, recorded l i Reg. 1 1 , 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 
 
 1 Where the Lxx calls it arreXI/cT/ra, non dedolata; others ligna undulata 
 See Ezek. 27. 5, 6. 
 
244 S Y L V A BOOK n 
 
 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, i. 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 245 
 
 beneficial trees, l 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 putre- 
 faction. 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 
 
 1 See Plin. Nat. Hist, lib. 16. cap. n. or rather Theophrastus Hist. lib. 9. 
 cap. 2, 3. & lib. 14. cap. 20. lib. 23. c. i. lib. 24. c. 6. 
 
246 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 impress- 
 ions of the air and wet, renders the tree more obnox- 
 ious ; 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, accord- 
 ing 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 pro- 
 portionable 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 247 
 
 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 offen- 
 sive, by reason of the much fuliginous smoak which 
 comes from it, they commonly burn it in the chim- 
 ney-corner, upon a flat stone or iron ; except, occasi- 
 onally, 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 
 
248 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 can die- 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 suc- 
 ceeded ; whether the just season of the year were not 
 observ'd, or what else omitted, were worth the dis- 
 quisition ; if at least there be any such secret amongst 
 the Norwegians, Swedes, or any other nation. Or 
 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 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 249 
 
 that which is made of tar only, without other com- 
 position. 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 con- 
 sistence : Then, by covering the kettle close, the fire 
 is extinguished, 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, 
 lachrymce, 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 per- 
 swaded 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 ^Egaean. 
 
 f 
 
250 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 A5&e, whence the Latin, taedd] : 
 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, put- 
 ting 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 sub- 
 stances, may be seen in Mr. Ray's Hist. Plant '., already 
 mentioned, lib. xxix. cap. i. 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 trans- 
 cribing, if what is mentioned in this chapter were at 
 all defective. 
 
 I had in the former editions of Syha, 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 there- 
 fore, both for its similitude, stature, and productions, 
 challenge rank among the coniferous : We raise it of 
 seeds, and grows spontaneously in Stiria, Carinthia, 
 
CHAP, in S Y L V A 251 
 
 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 
 1 20 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 impene- 
 trable lignum : for so Caesar found it in a castle he 
 besieg'd, built of it ; (the story is recited at large by 
 Vitruvius, 1. 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 /arix, which 
 they now call me/ere. 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 
 
252 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 
 
CHAP, iv S YL V A 253 
 
 excellent pales, posts, rails, pedarnents and props for 
 vines, Gfc. 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. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Cedar , Juniper^ Cypress ', Savine, Thuya &c. 
 
 i . 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 unaccount- 
 able negligence of the planters ; as are likewise those 
 
254 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 V ermuda, 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 spectantla^ as by most we are told ; though a 
 
CHAP, iv S YL V A 255 
 
 late 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, exceed- 
 ingly 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 admir- 
 ably 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 some- 
 what 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 
 
 1 Le Bruyn. 
 
256 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 lachrym#, gum, and other transudations, serv- 
 ing 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 compo- 
 sitions of embalmers ; and that by a pretty contra- 
 diction, 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 pre- 
 servation 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 mounte- 
 banks, 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 : 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 257 
 
 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 Barba- 
 dos, 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, nee 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, fc. (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 diuternity 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 
 
 g 
 
258 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 temple, was said to be of this material also, as was 
 most of the timber-work of that glorious structure : 
 Thoug has to the idol TOW AtoTreroOe 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 or 
 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 l 
 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 ingen- 
 ious Mr. Mandevill reports in his journey from 
 Aleppo to Jerusalem : There was yet, he says, abund- 
 ance of young trees, and a single old one of prodigious 
 size, twelve yards and six inches in the girth ; I sup- 
 pose 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 thou- 
 sand hewers at work, for the materials of one only 
 
 1 In Itin. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 259 
 
 temple, and the palace he built in the city ; a preg- 
 nant 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 men- 
 tion'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 pro- 
 pagate 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 Appen- 
 nines, 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 succeed- 
 
260 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 ing 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 {o competent trees ; fit for many 
 curious works, tables, cabinets, coffers, inlaying, floors, 
 carvings, G?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 account- 
 ed 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 govern 'd like the cypress, 
 
CHAP, iv S YL V A 261 
 
 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, 
 Gfc. 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 to- 
 wards 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 
 
262 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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, rud- 
 dy for the most part ; easy to work, and yielding 
 excellent flooring, fit for wainscot, and all curious 
 cabinet-works ; keeping its agreeable odor and fra- 
 grancy 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. Near- 
 est 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-collie, and in decoction most sove- 
 raign 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 elect- 
 uary, which I have often made for my poor neigh- 
 bours, 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 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 263 
 
 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 long- 
 est 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 incompar- 
 able 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, 
 
264 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 ben- 
 ignity, 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 t/ex, 
 cork, nux vesicaria (which is an hard wood, fit for the 
 turner, &c.) the styrax^ bead-tree, the famous tofus, 
 Virginian acacia, guaiacum Patavinum, paliurus, cypress, 
 pines, fir, and sundry others; which grow already in 
 our gardens, expos'd to the weather ; and so doubt- 
 less 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 
 c orange of China being of late brought into Portugal, 
 
 * has drawn a great revenue every year from London 
 4 alone. The vine of the Rhene, taking root in the 
 ' Canaries, has produc'd a far more delicious juice, and 
 4 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 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 265 
 
 4 may happen hereafter, to give cloaths to a great 
 c 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 inexpress- 
 ' ible. We may guess at it, by considering what 
 c 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 propaga- 
 tion 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 be- 
 come 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 (suc- 
 cessor 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 
 
 h 
 
266 S Y L V A BOOK n 
 
 luxury, (which has to our vast charges, excluded all 
 the ornaments of timber, Gfc. to give place to hang- 
 ings, 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 Univer- 
 sities, and Royal Society, the restoration and improve- 
 ment of shipping, mathematical, and mechanical 
 arts, the use of timber grows daily in more reputa- 
 tion. 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 considera- 
 tions 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. Gupressus, 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 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 267 
 
 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 remem- 
 ber 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 ac- 
 counted 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 tan turn litera immutata, Avellina dici^ qu< 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 
 
268 S Y L V A BOOK n 
 
 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 ' 
 out of Pontus (as the above-mention'd filberts were) 
 did after 120 years, travel ad ultimo s 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 : Notwith- 
 standing, 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 instruct- 
 ion of our gardeners. 
 
 9. The tradition is, that the cypress (being a symbol 
 of mortality, ferales & invtsas, 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 ^Egyptian mummies ; by which means, 
 the inward parts of the tree being heated, for want 
 of air and refreshment, it never arrives to any perfect- 
 ion, 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 
 
 1 A cerasunte. Indeed Servius, 1. 2. Geor. i. says, it was earlier in Italy ; 
 but hard and wild and usually call'd coma, and sometimes corno-cerosa, perhaps 
 the black-cherry. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 269 
 
 husbandry in the Isle of ,/Enaria, 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 
 
270 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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, brumdque 
 illtzsa 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 mort- 
 ally 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 
 
CHAP, iv SYLVA 271 
 
 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. 
 
 1 1 . 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, 
 
272 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 
 1 8 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 aresclt ; meaning in 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 273 
 
 low and moorish places, stiff and cold earth, Gf 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 there- 
 fore employ'd for organ-pipes, as heretofore for sup- 
 porters 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 filwe. 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 con- 
 tinually, before it could be quite extinguished, 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 
 
274 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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. 
 
 1 5. 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, pre- 
 serves 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, incom- 
 parable 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 KuTra/no-aoc, cupar^ 
 or c uper^ 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 vXa Ttrpayuva quad- 
 rangular trees, about which criticks have made a deal 
 of stir : But Isa. Vossius (on the LXX. c. 1 1 .) has 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 275 
 
 sufficiently made it out, that the timber of that de- 
 nomination 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 Tre- 
 mellius, 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, 1. i. 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 Gupressetum^ 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 1. 2. And the poet 
 
 perpetud nunquam moritura cupresso. 
 
 Mart. E. 6. 6. 
 
 The medical virtues of this tree are for all affects 
 
276 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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. 1. 5. ep. 16, Theodoric 
 (writing to the Pr&torio-prafectus] 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 vavTmyots utiles 1. 4. leg. and 
 so does Diodorus 1. 1 9. And as travellers observe, 
 there is no other sort of timber more fit for shipping, 
 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. 1. 7. and Strabo 1. 16. 
 Plutar. Sympos. 1. i^prob. 2. Vegetius 1. 14. c. 34, 
 G?c. Paulus Colomesius (in his K^]\ia liter aria cap. 24.) 
 perstringes the most learned Is. Vossius, that in his 
 inndiciae pro LXX. interp. he affirms cypress not fit for 
 ships, as being none of the rerpoywvot : But besides 
 what we have produced, Fuller, Bochartus, &c. Lilius 
 Gyraldus (Lib. de na^ig. c. 4.) and divers others suffi- 
 ciently 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 ^Eneas 
 Silvius reports to have been discovered in his time, 
 
 1 Hadrian. Junius Animadv. 1. i. c. 20. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 277 
 
 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 odori- 
 ferous woods, for the improvement of the air ; upon 
 which I take occasion here to add, what I have (some 
 years since) already ] publish'd, concerning the meli- 
 oration 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 re- 
 moved, 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- 
 
 1 Fumifugiuni. 
 
278 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 walls of the city, where a grated inclosure of competent 
 breadth (for a mile in length) might have served for 
 an universal ccemetery, 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 de- 
 funct ; and that wise, and ancient law of the xn Tables 
 restor'd and reviv'd : But concerning this, and hor- 
 tulan 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 manu- 
 factures brought up to capacious wharfs, on the bank, 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 279 
 
 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, GPc. 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 surround- 
 ing 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 expe- 
 dients 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, 
 
280 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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. 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 281 
 
 (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 * 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 pretend- 
 ed) 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 
 
 1 Elizab. 
 
 j 
 
282 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 ver- 
 dure 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 Ameri- 
 can 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, Gfc. and that sort of elm, or 
 sugar-tree, whose juice yields that sweet halymus lati- 
 folius, and several others for encouragement ? But 
 
 1 4. 1 produce not these particulars, and other amana 
 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. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of the Gork> Ilex, Alaternus, Gelastrus, 
 
 Ligustrum, Philyrea, Myrtil, Lentiscus, Qlhe, 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 
 
CHAP, v SYLVA 283 
 
 gratify the curious, I have been induc'd to say some- 
 thing 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 
 
 i . 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. 1. 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 decortica- 
 tion thereof is once in two or three years, to strip it 
 in a dry season ; otherwise, the intercutaneous moist- 
 ure 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. 
 
284 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 Pantqf el-holts (slipper- 
 wood) perhaps from the Greek Ilavroc GfytAAoe ; 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 usurp- 
 ing 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, preserv'd 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 be- 
 neath the cortex or cork, two other coats, or libri^ of 
 which one is reddish, which they strip from the 
 bole 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 
 
CHAP, v SYLVA 285 
 
 building, palisade-work, &c. The ashes drunk, stop 
 the bloody-flux. 
 
 3. I/ex, major glandifera^ or great scarlet-oak of 
 several species, and various in the shape of their leaf, 
 pointed rounder, longer, 6fc. (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 nur- 
 sery, with the mould adhering to the roots ; other- 
 wise 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, 
 
286 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 con- 
 fection 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 em- 
 broider'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 
 thefe/ices, 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, 
 
CHAP, v S Y L V A 287 
 
 lib. 5. nulla felix arbor , nihil frugiferum in agro relictum. 
 Whence that of Phaedrus, 1. 3. Fab. upon Jupiter's 
 esculus : 
 
 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 
 
288 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 govern'd 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 
 
 j-olio 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. 
 
 1 1 . 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 
 
CHAP, v S Y L V A 289 
 
 well, as by the sea-coasts, the air of which is more 
 propitious to them (as well as to oranges and lem- 
 mons, Gfc.) 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, 
 
 k 
 
290 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 ^itiligenes, as 
 Dioscorides says, 1. i. c. 128. And there is an ex- 
 cellent 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 /uv/orf&c of Athen- 
 asus, delp. 1. 2. c. 12. The vinum myrtites so cele- 
 brated by the * 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 
 
 1 Cato, Columella, Paladius. 
 
CHAP, v SYLVA 29 r 
 
 myrtus Erasantlca^ 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 sub- 
 stance, 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 mas- 
 tick, gather'd from this profitable bush in the Island 
 of Scio ; beside other uses : And as the lentisc, so 
 may the 
 
 1 3. 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 punicd\ 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 
 
292 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 extraordin- 
 ary 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 propa- 
 gated 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. 
 
 1 6. The jasmine, especially the Spanish larger 
 flower, far exceeding all the rest, for the agreeable* 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 29.3 
 
 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, G?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. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Of the Arbutus, Box, Tew, Holly, Pyracanth, Laurel, 
 
 Bay, 
 
 i. The arbutus, (by us call'd the strawberry-tree) 
 too much I think neglected by us; making that a ra- 
 rity, 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 beauti- 
 ful 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 
 
294 S Y L V A BOOK n 
 
 1 Arbutean harrows, and the mystick van. 
 
 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 anttiex 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 
 
 1 Arbutese crates, & mystica vannus lacchi. 
 
 Georg. i. 
 
CHAP, vi SYLVA 295 
 
 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 continu- 
 ally 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, carv- 
 er, mathematical-instrument, comb and pipe-makers 
 
 (si buxos inflare juvat Virg.) gi ye 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, 
 
296 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 1 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. 
 
 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. xxni. 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 
 
 Jtyraeos taxi torquentur in anus. 
 
 (For which the close and more deeply dy'd is best) 
 the forementioned artists in box, cabinet-makers, 
 
 1 Non ultima belli 
 
 Arma puellaris ; laqueos haec nectit amantum, 
 
 Et venatricis disponit retia formae. Couleti pi. 1.6. 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 297 
 
 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 compar- 
 ed 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 Cassar, 
 and the ill report which the fruit has vulgarly obtain'd 
 in France, Spain, and Arcadia : But 
 
 1 How are poor trees traduc'd ? 
 
 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 gentle- 
 woman that had long been ill, without any benefit 
 from the physician ; who dream'd, that a friend of 
 
 1 Quam multa arboribus tribuuntur crimina falsa ? 
 
298 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 
 
CHAP, iv S Y L V A 299 
 
 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, abound- 
 ing with rich oblations (their de koto's], 
 
 Pliny speaks of an old lotus tree in a grove near 
 Rome, which they call'd capital^ 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 durable- 
 
300 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 ness : 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, 
 
 1 'Tis here 
 
 Eternal Spring, and Summer all the year. 
 
 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 agrtfo/ittm, (or acuifolium rather) our 
 holly so spontaneously growing here in this part of 
 Surrey, that the large vale near my own dwelling, 
 
 1 Hie ver perpetuum, atque alienis mensibus aestas. 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 301 
 
 was anciently call'd Holmes-Dale ; famous for the 
 flight of the Danes : The inhabitants of great anti- 
 quity (in their manners, habits, speech) have a proverb, 
 Holmes-Dale never won ; ne 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. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 Which makes me wonder why it should be reckon'd 
 among the unfortunate trees, by Macrobius, Sat. lib. 
 in. 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 theo- 
 logy) 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. 
 
 1 Mala furta hominum densis mucronibus arcens 
 
 Securum defendit inexpugnabilis hortum ; 
 Exornatque simul, toto spectabilis anno, 
 Et numero, & viridi foliorum luce nitentum. 
 
 Couleii PI. I. 6. 
 
3O2 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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, glit- 
 t'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 ilium 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 differ- 
 ences ; which proceeds from no difference in the spe- 
 cies, 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 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 303 
 
 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 environed 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, architect- 
 onially shap'd, and at due distance; than which nothing 
 can possibly be more pleasant, the berry adorning the 
 intercolumniations, with the scarlet festoons and en- 
 carpa. 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 
 
304 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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. 
 
 1 1 . 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. 
 
 1 2. 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 innumer- 
 able 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 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 305 
 
 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. 
 
 i 3. 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 com- 
 pos'd our bird-lime thus : 
 
 14. Pill a good quantity of the bark about Mid- 
 summer, 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, Gfc. to a good thick- 
 ness : 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 
 
 m 
 
306 S Y L V A BOOK n 
 
 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 mum cacat^ that bird being so exceeding 
 devourers of them) treated much after the same man- 
 ner ; 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 y 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 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 307 
 
 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 swal- 
 low'd, purge phlegm without danger. To which the 
 learned Mr. Ray (in Append. Plant. Angl.) adds a zy- 
 thogalum^ or posset made of milk and beer, in which is 
 boil'd some of the most pointed leaves, for asswaging 
 the torment of the collie, 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. 
 
 1 6. 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 
 
308 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 the lower parts next the ground broader (two foot 
 were sufficient foi 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. 
 
 1 8. 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 testi- 
 mony, who was more than somewhat doubtful of 
 such alliances ; though something like it in Palladius 
 speaks it not so impossible ; 
 
 1 A cherry graft on laurel-stock does stain 
 The virgin fruit in a deep double grain. 
 
 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 concern- 
 ing the uses of this tree ; of the wood are said to 
 
 1 Inseritur lauro cerasus, partuque coacto 
 Tingit adoptivus Virginia ora pudor. 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 309 
 
 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 : 1 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,[/0#r#j vu/garis].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 per- 
 sons. 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 
 
310 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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, Gfc. 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 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 311 
 
 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 emol- 
 lient, soveraign in affections of the nerves, collies, 
 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. 
 
 2 1 .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 subse- 
 quenti anno urbe ilia bonarum liter arum domicilio exces suras. 
 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 
 
312 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 calYdjanitrices 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, laurels invo/utae, wrapt in bay- 
 leaves, which they sent to the senate from the victor- 
 ious general : The spears, lances and fasces, nay, tents 
 and ships, Gfc. 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 
 
CHAP, vi S Y L V A 313 
 
 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, repre- 
 senting 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 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 ; 
 
 2 From laurel 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. 
 
 1 Carol. Avanti not. in cornan' Bapt. Fiera. 
 
 1 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. 
 
 J Daphncphagi were such as after eating the leaves of the bay, became 
 inspir'd. 
 
 n 
 
314 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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. 
 
 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 innumer- 
 able, according to the rustick rhyme, 
 
 The calf, the wind-shoe 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, 
 
CHAP, vii S Y L V A 315 
 
 suckers, fern, wet, mice, moles, winds, G?c. to these 
 may be added siderations, pestiferous air, fogs, excess- 
 ive 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, what- 
 soever 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 obstin- 
 ate, to use the haw, fork, and spade, to extirpate 
 dog-grass, bear-bind, G?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, ^fc. 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 pro- 
 pagation, as the season requires. 
 
 Here note, that fruit graffed upon suckers, are 
 
316 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 istobedrain'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 des- 
 cent into the roots, to be re-concocted; but where, in 
 case it be more copious than 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 
 
 1 See Cap. 3 lib. 3 sect. 25. 
 
CHAP, vii S Y L V A 317 
 
 nurseries : The water should therefore be fitly qualify 'd, 
 neither brackish, bitter, stagnat, or putrid, sower, acri- 
 monious, vitriolic, arenous and gravelly, churlish, harsh 
 and lean; (I mention them promiscuously) and whatever 
 vicious quality they are perceptibly tinctur'd and im- 
 pregnate 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) l is highly to be re- 
 garded, together with more than ordinary skill how to 
 apply it : In order to which, the constitution and tex- 
 ture of plants and trees are philosophically to be con- 
 sider'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, near- 
 est 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 wa- 
 tering, 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 ca- 
 nales, 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 con- 
 veniently, drawing your knife from the top downwards 
 half-way, and at a small distance, from the bottom up- 
 
 1 See Cap. 2 Book i. 
 
3 1 8 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 wards, 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 %v\6<j>ayoi of which the re/oijSwv 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 deficits 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. 
 
CHAP, vii S Y L V A 319 
 
 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, Leven- 
 hock, Swamerdam, <Sfc. 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, bearing 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^ cater- 
 pillars, 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 
 
320 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 despic- 
 able 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 drougths : To this commonly succeeds lousi- 
 ness, which iscur'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 prasponderers, 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 
 
CHAP, vii S Y L V A 321 
 
 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 experi- 
 ment try'd about Michaelmas, and in the Winter, 
 came to nothing : Where some branches were decorti- 
 cated 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 per- 
 
322 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 mission 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 incorpor- 
 ating 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 approach- 
 es 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 ac- 
 knowlege 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 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 323 
 
 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 ex- 
 pedient : 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 emusca- 
 tion, 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 stand- 
 ard) 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 abra- 
 sion, 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 
 
324 S Y L V A BOOK ii 
 
 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 miser- 
 ably shatter'd, and good for little : The best prevent- 
 ion is shelter, choice of place for the plantation, fre- 
 quent 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. 
 
 1 2. Cankers, of all other diseases the most pernic- 
 ious, 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, Gfc. 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 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 325 
 
 envenomed 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 
 
326 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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. 
 
 1 5. 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 ; 1 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 extream- 
 ly 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, <S?c. in the heat of the day, to shake 
 them out, and kill them. 
 
 1 6. 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, Gfc. 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. 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 327 
 
 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. 
 
 1 8. Mice, rats, with traps, or by sinking some 
 vessel amost 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 : Gofiras 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, 
 
328 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 wash them off with water, in which some of the cater- 
 pillars 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 ingred- 
 ients, 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, 6fc. 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. 
 
 2 1 . 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 demolished. 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 ac- 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 329 
 
 counted 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 vege- 
 table 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 micro- 
 scope. 
 
 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 l 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 assist- 
 ance ; so as people have pronounc'd it miraculous, as 
 I could tell you by several instances, besides what 
 
 1 Hierog. 1. 50. 
 
33 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 Theophrastus relates, 1. 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 eradi- 
 cated 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. l What says the naturalist ? 
 Prostratas restitui plerumque, & quadam terrae cicatrice 
 re^ftiiscere^ ^oulgare 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, 1. 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- 
 
 1 See cap. 4. lib. 2. of a cypress. 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 331 
 
 trees were quite subverted, a most famous and mons- 
 trous, 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, GPc. that it defends them from 
 putrefaction, either in waters under or above the 
 earth, in the snow, ice, air, Winter or Summer, Gfc. 
 It were superfluous to describe the process of the 
 aqua- for tis ; It shall be sufficient to let you know, 
 that our common coperas makes this aqua-Jortis 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- 
 
332 SYLVA BOOK ii 
 
 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 destruct- 
 ions inflicted on trees, (braving all humane remedies) 
 such frosts as not many years 1 since hap'ned, left such 
 marks of their deadly effects, not sparing the good- 
 liest 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 2 last, but by that surprizing blast, ac- 
 company'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 
 
 1 1683. 
 * 1705- 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 333 
 
 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 perambula- 
 tions on the Rogation-days ; from an ancient and 
 laudable custom of above I ooo 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 Demotions, 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 there- 
 fore, 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. 
 
334 S Y L V A BOOK n 
 
 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 
 
CHAP, vii SYLVA 335 
 
 most effectual. Now a word or two concerning the 
 laws relating to forest-trees, casting such other acci- 
 dental 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. 
 
-ROOK T TYTT! O? T THF I.\FT 
 
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