FOOTNOTES:

{89:1}

Per damna, per caedes, ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro.

Hor.

{94:1} V. Churasium, &c. de viperis.



CHAPTER VIII.

Of the Chesnut.

1. The next is the chesnut, [castanea] of which Pliny reckons many kinds, especially about Tarentum and Naples; Janus Cornarius, upon that of Aetius, (verbo Drys) speaks of the Lopimi, as a nobler kind, such as the Euboicae, which the Italians call maroni, quasi castaneae maris; but we commend those of Portugal or Bayonne, chusing the largest, brown, and most ponderous for fruit, such as Pliny calls coctivae, but the lesser ones to raise for timber. They are produc'd best by sowing and setting; previous to which, let the nuts be first spread to sweat, then cover them in sand; a month being past, plunge them in water, reject the swimmers; being dry'd, for thirty days more, sand them again, and to the water-ordeal as before. Being thus treated till the beginning of Spring, or in November, set them as you would do beans; and as some practise it, drench'd for a night or more, in new milk; but without half this preparation, they need only be put into the holes with the point upmost, as you plant tulips; Pliny will tell you they come not up, unless four or five be pil'd together in a hole; but that is false, if they be good, as you may presume all those to be which pass this examination; nor will any of them fail: But being come up, they thrive best unremoved, making a great stand for at least two years upon every transplanting; yet if needs you must alter their station, let it be done about November, and that into a light friable ground, or moist gravel, however they will grow even in clay, sand, and all mixed soils, upon exposed and bleak places, and the pendent declivities of hills to the north, in dry airy places, and sometimes (tho' not so well) near marshes and waters; but they affect no other compost, save what their own leaves afford them, and are more patient of cold than heat: As for their sowing in the nursery, treat them as you are taught in the wall-nut.

2. If you design to set them in Winter, or Autumn, I counsel you to interr them within their husks, which being every way arm'd, are a good protection against the mouse, and a providential integument. Pliny l. 15. c. 23. from this natural guard, concludes them to be excellent food, and doubtless Caesar thought so, when he transported them from Sardis first into Italy, whence they were propagated into France, and thence among us; another encouragement to make such experiments out of foreign countries. Some sow them confusedly in the furrow like the acorn, and govern them as the oak; but then would the ground be broken up 'twixt November and February; and when they spring, be clensed, and thinn'd two foot asunder, after two years growth: Likewise may copses of chesnuts be wonderfully increased and thickned, by laying the tender and young branches; but such as spring from the nuts and marrons, are best of all, and will thrive exceedingly, if (being let stand without removing) the ground be stirr'd, and loosened about their roots, for two or three of the first years, and the superfluous wood prun'd away; and indeed for good trees, they should be shrip'd up after the first year's removal; they also shoot into gallant poles from a felled stem: Thus will you have a copse ready for a felling, within eight years, which (besides many other uses) will yield you incomparable poles for any work of the garden, vineyard or hopyard, till the next cutting: And if the tree like the ground, will in ten or twelve years grow to a kind of timber, and bear plentiful fruit.

3. I have seen many chesnut-trees transplanted as big as my arm, their heads cut off at five and six foot height; but they came on at leisure: In such plantations, and all others for avenues, you may set them from thirty to ten foot distance, though they will grow much nearer, and shoot into poles, if (being tender) you cultivate them like the ash, the nature of whose shade it resembles, since nothing affects much to grow under it: Some husbands tell me, that the young chesnut-trees should not be pruned or touched with any knife or edge-tool, for the first three or four years, but rather cropp'd or broken off, which I leave to farther experience; however, many forbear to top them, when they transplant.

4. The chesnut being graffed in the wallnut, oak, or beech, (I have been told) will come exceeding fair, and produce incomparable fruit; for the wallnut, and chesnut in each other, it is probable; but I have not as yet made a full attempt; they also speak of inoculating cherries in the chesnut-stock for a later fruit. In the mean time, I wish we did more universally propagate the horse-chesnut, which being easily increas'd from layers, grows into a good standard, and bears a most glorious flower, even in our cold country: This tree (so call'd, for the cure of horses broken-winded, and other cattel of coughs) is now all the mode for the avenues to their countrey palaces in France, as appears by the late Superintendent's plantation at Vaux. It was first brought from Constantinople to Vienna, thence into Italy, and so France; but to us from the Levant more immediately, and flourishes so well, and grows so goodly a tree in competent time, that by this alone, we might have ample encouragement to denizen other strangers amongst us. One inconvenience to which this beautiful tree is obnoxious, is that it does not well resist impetuous and stormy winds, without damage.

5. The chesnut is (next the oak) one of the most sought after by the carpenter and joyner: It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient houses in the city of London, as does yet appear. I had once a very large barn near the city, fram'd intirely of this timber: And certainly they grew not far off; probably in some woods near the town: For in that description of London, written by Fitz-Stephens, in the reign of Hen. II. he speaks of a very noble and large forest which grew on the Boreal part of it; proxime (says he) patet foresta ingens, saltus nemorosi ferarum, latebrae cervorum, damarum, aprorum, & taurorum silvestrium, &c. A very goodly thing it seems, and as well stor'd with all sorts of good timber, as with venison and all kind of chase; and yet some will not allow it a free-born of this island; but of that I make little doubt. The chesnut affords the best stakes and poles for palisades, pedament for vine-props and hops, as I said before: Also for mill-timber and water-works, or when it may lie buried; but if water touch the roots of the growing trees, it spoils both fruit and timber: 'Tis likewise observed, that this tree is so prevalent against cold, that where they stand, they defend other plantations from the injuries of the severest frosts: I am sure being planted in hedge-rows, & circa agrorum itinera, or for avenues to our country-houses, they are a magnificent and royal ornament. This timber also does well (if kept dry) for columns, tables, chests, chairs, stools, bedsteads; for tubs, and wine-casks, which it preserves with the least tincture of the wood of any whatsoever: If the timber be dipp'd in scalding oyl, and well pitch'd, it becomes extreamly durable; but otherwise I cannot celebrate the tree for its sincerity, it being found that (contrary to the oak) it will make a fair shew outwardly, when 'tis all decay'd, and rotten within; but this is in some sort recompenc'd, if it be true, that the beams made of chesnut-tree have this property, that being somewhat brittle, they give warning, and premonish the danger by a certain crackling which it makes; so as 'tis said to have frighted those out of the Baths at Antandro, whose roof was laid with this material; but which Pliny says, was of hazle, very unlike it. Formerly they made consultatory staves of this tree; and the variegated rods which Jacob peel'd to lay in the troughs, and impress a fancy in his father-in-law's conceiving ewes, were of this material. The coals are excellent for the smith, being soon kindled, and as soon extinguisht; but the ashes of chesnut-wood are not convenient to make a lee with, because it is observ'd to stain the linnen. As for the fruit, 'tis better to beat it down from the tree, some little time before they fall off themselves; thus they will the better keep, or else you must smoke-dry them. But we give that fruit to our swine in England, which is amongst the delicacies of princes in other countries; and being of the larger nut, is a lusty and masculine food for rusticks at all times; and of better nourishment for husbandmen than coal, and rusty bacon; yea, or beans to boot, instead of which, they boil them in Italy with their bacon; and in Virgil's time, they eat them with milk and cheese. The best tables in France and Italy make them a service, eating them with salt, in wine, or juice of lemmon and sugar; being first roasted in embers on the chaplet; and doubtless we might propagate their use amongst our common people, (as of old the Balanophagoi) being a food so cheap, and so lasting. In Italy they also boil them in wine, and then smoke them a little; these they call anseri or geese, I know not why: Those of Piemont add fennel, cinnamon and nutmeg to their wine, if in water, mollify them with the vapour only; but first they peel them. Others macerate them in rose-water. The bread of the flower is exceeding nutritive; 'tis a robust food, and makes women well complexion'd, as I have read in a good author: They also make fritters of chesnut-flower, which they wet with rose-water, and sprinkle with grated parmegiano, and so fry them in fresh butter, a delicate: How we here use them in stew'd-meats, and beatille-pies, our French-cooks teach us; and this is in truth the very best use of their fruit, and very commendable; for it is found that the eating of them raw, or in bread (as they do much about Limosin) is apt to swell the belly, though without any other inconvenience that I can learn, and yet some condemn them as dangerous for such as are subject to the gravel in the kidneys, and however cook'd and prepar'd, flatulent, offensive to the head and stomach, and those who are subject to the cholick. The best way to preserve them, is to keep them in earthen vessels in a cold place; some lay them in a smoke-loft, others in dry barly-straw, others in sand, &c. The leaves of the chesnut-tree make very wholsom mattresses to lie on, and they are good littier for cattel: But those leafy-beds, for the crackling noise they make when one turns upon them, the French call licts de Parliament: Lastly, the flower of chesnuts made into an electuary, and eaten with hony fasting, is an approved remedy against spitting blood, and the cough; and a decoction of the rind of the tree, tinctures hair of a golden colour, esteem'd a beauty in some countries: Other species, v. Ray, Dendrolog. T. III, &c.



CHAPTER IX.

Of the Wallnut.

1. Juglans, quasi Jovis glans, the{101:1} wall or welch-nut (though no where growing of it self, some say, in Europe) is of several sorts; Monsieur Rencaume (of the French Academy) reckons nine; the soft-shell and the hard, the whiter and the blacker grain: This black bears the worst nut, but the timber much to be preferred, and we might propagate more of them if we were careful to procure them out of Virginia, where they abound and bear a squarer nut, of all other the most beautiful, and best worth planting; indeed had we store of these, we should soon despise the rest; yet those of Grenoble come in the next place, and are much priz'd by our cabinet-makers: In all events, be sure to plant from young and thriving trees, bearing full and plump kernels. It is said that the walnut-kernel wrap'd in its own leaf, being carefully taken out of its shell, brings a nut without shell, but this is a trifle; the best way to elevate them, is to set them as you do the chesnut, being planted of the nut, or set at the distance you would have him stand; for which they may be prepar'd by beating them off the tree (as was prescribed of the chesnut) some days before they quit the branches of themselves, and kept in their husks, or without them, till Spring, or by bedding them (being dry) in sand, or good earth, till March or earlier, from the time they fell, or were beaten off the tree: Or if before, they be set with husk and all upon them; for the extream bitterness thereof is most exitial and deadly to worms; or it were good to strew some furzes (broken or chopp'd small) under the ground amongst them, to preserve them from mice and rats, when their shells begin to wax tender; especially if, as some, you supple them a little in warm cows milk; but being treated as before, you will find them already sprouted, and have need only to be planted where they are to abide; because (as we said long since) they are most impatient of transplanting: But if there be an absolute necessity of removing, let your tree never be above four years old, and then by no means touch the head with your knife, nor cut away so much as the very top-root, being so old, if you can well dispose of it, since being of a pithy and hollow substance, the least diminution, or bruise, will greatly endanger the killing: But see here what we have said of the chesnut. I have been told, that the very tops, and palish buds of this tree, when it first sprouts, though as late as April, will take hold of the ground, and grow to an incredible improvement; but first they steep them in milk and saffron; but this attempt did not succeed with us, yet it will be propagated by a branch slipp'd off with some of the old wood, and set in February: An industrious and very experienc'd husbandman told me, that if they be transplanted as big as ones middle, it may be done safer than when younger; I do only report it: What they hint of putting a tile-shard under the nuts when first set, to divaricate and spread the roots (which are otherwise apt to penetrate very deep) I like well enough; 'tis certain they will receive their own cyons being graffed, and that it does improve their fruit. The best compost is the strewing of ashes at the foot of the trees, the salt whereof being washed into the earth, is the best dressing, whilst the juice of the fallen leaves, though it kill the worm, is noxious to the root. This tree does not refuse to thrive even among others, and in great woods, provided you shrip up the collateral arms.

2. The walnut delights in a dry, sound and rich land; especially if it incline to a feeding chalk, or marle; and where it may be protected from the cold (though it affect cold rather than extream heat) as in great pits, valleys and high-way sides; also in stony-grounds, if loamy, and on hills, especially chalky; likewise in corn-fields: Thus Burgundy abounds with them, where they stand in the midst of goodly wheat-lands, at sixty, and an hundred foot distance; and it is so far from hurting the crop, that they look on them as a great preserver, by keeping the grounds warm; nor do the roots hinder the plow. Whenever they fell a tree (which is only the old and decayed) they always plant a young one near him; and in several places twixt Hanaw and Francfort in Germany, no young farmer whatsoever is permitted to marry a wife, till he bring proof that he hath planted, and is a father of such a stated number of walnut-trees, as the law is inviolably observed to this day, for the extraordinary benefit which this tree affords the inhabitants: And in truth, were this timber in greater plenty amongst us, we should have far better utensils of all sorts for our houses, as chairs, stools, bedsteads, tables, wainscot, cabinets, &c. instead of the more vulgar beech, subject to the worm, weak, and unsightly; but which to counterfeit, and deceive the unwary, they wash over with a decoction made of the green-husks of walnuts, &c. I say, had we store of this material, especially of the Virginian, we should find an incredible improvement in the more stable furniture of our houses, as in the first frugal and better days of Rome, when

Tables made here at home, those times beheld, Of our own wood, for that same purpose fell'd, Old walnut blown down, when the wind set east.{104:1}

Sir R. Stapylton.

For if it had been cut in that season, it would not have prov'd so sound, as we shew in our chapter of felling. It is certain, that the mensae nucinae, were once in price even before the citrin, as Strabo notes; and nothing can be more beautiful than some planks and works which I have beheld of it, especially that which comes from Grenoble, of all other the most beautiful and esteemed.

3. They render most graceful avenues to our countrey dwellings, and do excellently near hedge-rows; but had need be planted, at forty or fifty foot interval, for they affect to spread both their roots and branches. The Bergstras (which extends from Heidelberg to Darmstadt) is all planted with walnuts; for so by another ancient law, the borderers were obliged to nurse up, and take care of them; and that chiefly, for their ornament and shade; so as a man may ride for many miles about that countrey under a continued arbour, or close-walk; the traveller both refreshed with the fruit and the shade, which some have causelesly defam'd for its ill effects on the head, for which the fruit is a specifique and a notable signature; although I deny not, but the scent of the fallen leaves, when they begin to be damp'd with lying, may emit somewhat a heady steam, which to some has prov'd noxious; but not whilst they were fresh, and lively upon the trees. How would such publick plantations improve the glory and wealth of a nation! But where shall we find the spirits among our countreymen? Yes, I will adventure to instance in those plantations of Sir Richard Stidolph, upon the downs near Lether-head in Surrey; Sir Robert Clayton at Morden near Godstone (once belonging to Sir John Evelyn) and so about Cassaulton, where many thousands of these trees do celebrate the industry of the owners, and will certainly reward it with infinite improvement, as I am assured they do in part already, and that very considerably; besides the ornament which they afford to those pleasant tracts, for some miles in circumference. There was lately (and for ought I know is yet) an avenue of four leagues in length, and 50 paces breadth, planted with young oaklings, as strait as a line, from the city of Utrecht to Amersfort, affording a most goodly prospect; which minds me of what Sorbiere tells in a sceptical discourse to Monsieur de Martel, speaking of the readiness of the people in Holland to furnish and maintain whatsoever may conduce to the publick ornament, as well as convenience; that their plantations of these and the like trees, even in their very roads and common highways, are better preserv'd and entertain'd (as I my self have likewise been often an eye-witness) than those about the houses and gardens of pleasure belonging to the nobles and gentry of most other countries: And in effect it is a most ravishing object, to behold their amenities in this particular: With us, says he (speaking of France) they make a jest at such political ordinances, by ruining these publick and useful ornaments, if haply some more prudent magistrate do at any time introduce them. Thus in the reign of Henry the Fourth, (during the superintendency of Monsieur de Sulli) there was a resolution of adorning all the highways of France with elms, &c. but the rude and mischievous peasants did so hack, steal and destroy what they had begun, that they were forced to desist from the thorough prosecution of the design; so as there is nothing more expos'd, wild, and less pleasant than the common roads of France for want of shade, and the decent limits which these sweet and divertissant plantations would have afforded. Not to omit that political use, as my Lord Bacon hints it, where he speaks of the statues and monuments of brave men, and such as had well deserv'd of the publick, erected by the Romans even in their highways; since doubtless, such noble and agreeable objects would exceedingly divert, entertain, and take off the minds and discourses of melancholy people, and pensive travellers, who having nothing but the dull and enclosed ways to cast their eyes on, are but ill conversation to themselves, and others, and instead of celebrating, censure their superiors. It is by a curious person, and industrious friend of mine, observ'd, that the sap of this tree rises and descends with the sun's diurnal course (which it visibly slackens in the night) and more plentifully at the root on the south side, though those roots cut on the north were larger, and less distant from the body of the tree; and not only distill'd from the ends, which were next the stem, but from those which were cut off and separated, which was never observ'd to happen in the birch, or other sap-yielding trees. {107:1} Mr. Oldenburg speaks of one of the present kings in Europe, who drinks much of the juice of this tree, and finds great benefit thereby.

4. What universal use the French make of the timber of this sole tree, for domestic affairs, may be seen in every room both of poor and rich: It is of singular account with the joyner, for the best grain'd, and colour'd wainscot; with the gun-smith for stocks, for coach-wheels excellent, and the bodies of coaches, (they make hoops and bows with it in New-England, for want of yew:) The drum-maker uses it for rimbs, the cabinet-maker for inlayings, especially the firm and close timber about the roots, which is admirable for fleck'd and chambletted works, some wood especially, as that which we have from Bologne, New-England and Virginia, (where they are of three or four sorts, differing in their leaves, fruit and stature) very black of colour, and so admirably streaked, as to represent natural flowers, landskips, and other fancies: To render this the better-coloured, joyners put the boards into an oven after the batch is forth, or lay them in a warm stable, and when they work it, polish it over with its own oyl very hot, which makes it look black and sleek, and the older it is, the more esteemable; but then it should not be put in work till thoroughly seasoned, because it will shrink beyond expectation. It is only not good to confide in it much for beams or joysts, because of its brittleness, of which yet, it has been observ'd to give timely notice, as also the chesnut, by the crackling before it breaks. Besides the uses of the wood, the fruit with husk and all, when tender and very young, is for preserves (condited in separate decoctions, by our curious ladies) also for food and oyl; of extraordinary use with the painter, in whites, and other delicate colours, also for gold-size and varnish; and with this they polish walking-staves, and other works which are wrought in with burning: For food they fry with it in some places, and eat it instead of butter, in Berry, where they have little or none good; and therefore they plant infinite numbers of these trees all over that countrey: The use of it to burn in lamps, is common there. The younger timber is held to make the better-coloured work (and so the oak) but the older more firm and close, is finer chambleted for ornament; and the very husks and leaves being macerated in warm water, and that liquor poured on the carpet of walks, and bowling-greens, does infallibly kill the worms, without endangering the grass: Not to mention the dye which is made of this lixive, to colour wooll, woods, and hair, as of old they us'd it. The water of the husks is sovereign against all pestilential infections, and that of the leaves to mundifie and heal inveterate ulcers. That which is produced of the thick-shell, becomes best timber, that of the thinner, better fruit. Columella has sundry excellent rules how to ascertain and accelerate the growth of this tree, and to improve its qualities; and I am assur'd, that having been graffed on the ash (though others say no incision improves it) it thrives exceedingly, becomes a handsome tree, and what is most estimable, bears its fruit within four years, all which I recommend to the farther industrious. The green husk dry'd, or the first peeping red buds and leaves reduced to powder, serves instead of pepper, to condite meats and sauces. 'Tis thought better to cudgel off the fruit, when dropping ripe, than to gather it by hand; and that the husk may open, lay them by in a dry room, sometimes turning them with a broom, but without washing, for fear of mouldiness. In Italy they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose, and believe the beating improves the tree; which I no more believe, than I do that discipline would reform a perverse shrew: Those nuts which come not easily out of their husks, should be laid to mellow in heaps, and the rest expos'd in the sun, till the shells dry, else they will be apt to perish the kernel: Some again preserve them in their own leaves, or in a chest made of walnut-tree wood; others in sand, especially if you will preserve them for a seminary; do this in October, and keep them a little moist, that they may spear, to be set early in February: Thus after two years they may be removed at a yard asunder, cutting the top-root, and side branches, but sparing the head; and being two yards high, bud, or remove them immediately. Old nuts are not wholsome till macerated in warm, and almost boiling water; but if you lay them in a leaden pot, and bury them in the earth, so as no vermin can attaque them, they will keep marvellously plump the whole year about, and may easily be blanched: In Spain they use to strew the gratings of old and hard nuts (first peel'd) into their tarts and other meats. For the oyl, one bushel of nuts will yield fifteen pounds of peel'd and clear kernels, and that half as much oyl, which the sooner 'tis drawn, is the more in quantity, though the dryer the nut, the better in quality; the lees, or marc of the pressing, is excellent to fatten hogs with. After the nuts are beaten down, the leaves would be sweep'd into heaps, and carried away, because their extreme bitterness impairs the ground, and as I am assured, prejudices the trees: The green husks boiled, make a good colour to dye a dark yellow, without any mixture; and the distillation of its leaves with honey and urine, makes hair spring on baldheads: Besides its use in the famous Salernitan antidote; if the kernel a little masticated, be applied to the biting of a suspected mad-dog, and when it has lain three hours, be cast to poultrey, they will die if they eat of it. In Italy, when a countreyman finds any pain in his side, he drinks a pint of the fresh oyl of this nut, and finds immediate ease: And more famous is the wonderful cure, which the fungus substance separating the lobs of the kernel, pulveriz'd and drank in wine, in a moderate quantity, did recover the English army in Ireland of a dyssentary, when no other remedy could prevail: The same also in pleurisies, &c. The juice of the outward rind of the nut, makes an excellent gargle for a sore-throat: The kernel being rubb'd upon any crack or chink of a leaking or crazy vessel, stops it better than either clay, pitch, or wax: In France they eat them blanch'd and fresh, with wine and salt, having first cut them out of the shells before they are hardned, with a short broad brass-knife, because iron rusts, and these they call cernois, from their manner of scooping them out. Lastly, of the fungus emerging from the trunk of an old tree, (and indeed some others) is made touch-wood, artificially prepar'd in a lixivium or lye, dried, and beaten flat, and then boil'd with salt-peter, to render it apter to kindle. The tree wounded in the Spring, yields a liquor, which makes an artificial wine. See Birch, cap. XVII. Of other species, see Mr. Ray's Dendrolog. Tom. III. p. 5, 6.

FOOTNOTES:

{101:1} See Servius introduc'd discoursing of this and other nuts, Macrob. Saturn. l. 3. c. 18.

{104:1}

Illa domi natas, nostraque ex arbore mensas Tempora viderunt: hos lignum stabat in usus, Annosam si forte nucem dejecerat Eurus.

Juv. l. 4. Sat. 11.

{107:1} Philosoph. Transact. vol. III, num. xl, p. 802.



CHAPTER X.

Of the Service, and black cherry-tree.

1. Sorbus, the service-tree (of which there are four sorts) is rais'd of the chequers, or berries, which being ripe (that is) rotten, about September (and the pulp rub'd off clean from the stones, in dry sand, and so kept till after Christmas) may be sown like beech-mast, educated in the nursery like the chesnut: It is reported that the sower never sees the fruit of his labour; either for that it bears only being very old, or that men are commonly so, before they think of planting trees: But this is an egregious mistake; for these come very soon to be trees, and being planted young, thrive exceedingly; I have likewise planted them as big as my arm successfully: The best way is therefore to propagate them of suckers, of which they put forth enough, as also of sets, and may be budded with great improvement: They delight in reasonable good stiff ground, rather inclining to cold, than over-hot; for in places which are too dry, they never bear kindly. The torminalis (so called for its effects against gripings of the bowels) is the kind most frequent with us; for those of the narrower, and less indented leaf, are not so common in England as in France, bearing a sort of berry of the pear-shape, and is there call'd the cormier; this tree may be graffed either on it self, or on the white-thorn, and quince. To this we might add, the mespilus or medlar, being an hard wood, and of which I have seen very beautiful walking-staves. But there is yet a rare kind of service-tree, frequent in Germany, which we find not in our woods, and they speak of another sort, which bears poyson-berries.

2. The timber of the sort is useful for the joyner, and of which I have seen a room curiously wainscotted: Also for the engraver of wood-cuts, bows, pullys, skrews, mill-spindles and other; goads to drive oxen with, &c. pistol and gun-stocks, and for most that the wild-pear-tree, serves; and being of a very delicate grain for the turner, and divers curiosities, and looks beautifully, and is almost everlasting, being rubb'd over with oyl of linseed, well boil'd, it may be made to counterfeit ebony, or almost any Indian wood, colour'd according to art: Also it is taken to build with, yielding beams of considerable substance: The shade is beautiful for walks, and the fruit not unpleasant, especially the second kind, of which with new wine and honey, they make a conditum of admirable effect to corroborate the stomach; and the fruit alone is good in dysentery's and lasks. The water distill'd from the stalks of the flowers and leaves in M. B. and twice rectified upon fresh matter, is incomparable for consumptive and tabid bodies, taking an ounce daily at several times: Likewise it cures the green-sickness in virgins, and is prevalent in all fluxes; distill'd warm into the ears it abates the pain: The wood or bark contus'd, and applied to any green wound, heals it; and the powder thereof drank in oyl olive, consolidates inward ruptures: Lastly, the salt of the wood taken in decoction of althaea to three grains, is an incomparable remedy to break, and expel gravel. The service gives the husbandman an early presage of the approaching Spring, by extending his adorned buds for a peculiar entertainment, and dares peep out in the severest Winters.

3. That I rank this amongst the forest berry-bearing trees, (frequent in the hedges, and growing wild in Herefordshire, and many places; for I speak not here of our orchard-cherries, said to have been brought into Kent out of Flanders by Hen. VIII.) is chiefly from the suffrage of that industrious planter Mr. Cooke, from whose ingenuity and experience (as well as out of gratitude for his frequent mentioning of me in his elaborate and useful work) I acknowledge to have benefited my self, and this edition; though I have also given no obscure tast of this pretty tree in Chap. XX.

It is rais'd of the stones of black-cherries very ripe (as they are in July) endeavouring to procure such as are full, and large; whereof some he tells us, are little inferior to the black Orleance, without graffing, and from the very genius of the ground. These gather'd, the fleshy part is to be taken off, by rolling them under a plank in dry sand, and when the humidity is off (as it will be in 3 or 4 days) reserve them in sand again a little moist and hous'd, 'till the beginning of February, when you may sow them in a light gravelly mould, keeping them clean for two years, and thence planting them into your nurseries, to raise other kinds upon, or for woods, copses and hedge-rows, and for walks and avenues, which if of a dryish soil, mixt with loam, though the bottom be gravel, will thrive into stately trees, beautified with blossoms of a surprizing whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bees, and attracting birds.

If you sow them in beds immediately after they are excarnated, they will appear the following Spring, and then at two years shoot, be fit to plant out where you please; otherwise, being kept too long e'er you sow them, they will sleep two Winters: And this is a rule, which he prescribes for all sorts of stone-fruit.

You may almost at any time remove young cherry-trees, abating the heads to a single shoot.

He recommends it for the copse, as producing a strong shoot, and as apt to put forth from the roots, as the elm; especially, if you fell lusty trees: In light ground it will increase to a goodly tall tree, of which he mentions one, that held above 85 foot in height: I have my self planted of them, and imparted to my friends, which have thriv'd exceedingly; but till now did not insert it among the foresters: The vertues of the fruit of this cherry-tree against the epilepsy, palsy, and convulsions, &c. are in the spirits and distill'd waters. Concerning its other uses, see the chapter and section above-mentioned, to which add pomona, Chap. 8. annexed with this treatise. This tree affords excellent stocks for the budding and graffing of other cherries on.

And here I might mention the bitter cherry of Canada, (tho' exceedingly unlike to ours) which would yet be propagated for the incomparable liquor it is said to yield, preferable to the best limonade, by an incision of two inches deep in the stem, and sloping to the length of a foot, without prejudice to the tree. What is said of it, and of the maple, in the late discovery of the North-America, may be seen in the late description of those countries. For other exotic species, v. Ray Dendrolog. Tom. III. p. 45, 46.



CHAPTER XI.

Of the Maple.

1. The maple [acer minus] (of which authors (see Salmasius upon Solinus, c. 33.) reckon very many kinds) was of old held in equal estimation almost with the citron; especially the bruscum, the French-maple and the pavonaceus, peacocks-tail maple, which is that sort so elegantly undulated, and crisped into variety of curles, as emulates the famous citria. It were a most laudable attempt, if some would enquire out, and try the planting of such sorts as are not indigenes amongst us; such as is especially the German Aier, and that of Virginia, not yet cultivated here, but an excellent tree: And if this were extended to other timber, and exotic trees likewise, it would prove of extraordinary benefit and ornament to the publick, and were worthy even of the royal care. They are all produced of seeds contain'd in the folliacles and keys, or birds-tongues (as they are call'd) like the ash, (after a year's interrment) and like to it, affect a sound, and a dry mould; growing both in woods and hedge-rows, especially in the latter; which if rather hilly than low, affords the fairest timber. It is also propagated by layers and suckers. By shredding up the boughs to a head, I have caused it to shoot to a wonderful height in a little time; but if you will lop it for the fire, let it be done in January; and indeed it is observ'd to be of noxious influence to the subnascent plants of other kinds, by reason of a clammy dew which it sheds upon them, and therefore they would not be indulg'd in pollards, or spreading trees, but to thicken under-woods and copses. The timber is far superior to beech for all uses of the turner, who seeks it for dishes, cups, trays, trenchers, &c. as the joyner for tables, inlayings, and for the delicateness of the grain, when the knurs and nodosities are rarely diapred, which does much advance its price: Our turners will work it so thin, that it is almost transparent: Also for the lightness (under the name Aier) imploy'd often by those who make musical instruments: Also that especially, which grows in Friuli, Carniola, and Saltzburglandt: There is a larger sort, which we call the sycomor.

2. But the description of this lesser maple, and the ancient value of it, is worth the citing. Acer operum elegantia, & subtilitate cedro secundum; plura ejus genera: Album, quod praecipui candoris vocatur Gallicum: In Transpadana Italia, transque Alpes nascens. Alterum genus, crispo macularum discursu, qui cum excellentior fuit, a similitudine caudae pavonum nomen accepit.

'The maple, (says Pliny) for the elegancy and fineness of the wood, is next to the very cedar it self. There are several kinds of it, especially the white, which is wonderfully beautiful; this is call'd the French-maple, and grows in that part of Italy, that is on the other side of Po beyond the Alpes: The other has a curl'd grain, so curiously maculated, that from a near resemblance, it was usually call'd the Peacock's-tail, &c.'

He goes on to commend that of Istria, and that growing on the mountains for the best: But in the next chapter; Pulcherrimum vero est bruscum, multoque excellentius etiamnum mollusculum, tuber utrumque arboris ejus. Bruscum intortius crispum, molluscum simplicius sparsum; et si magnitudinem mensarum caperet, haud dubie praeferretur cedro, nunc intra pugillares, lectorumque silicios aut laminas, &c. e brusco fiunt mensae nigrescentes, &c. Plin. l. 16. c. 15, 16.

'The bruscum, or Knur is wonderfully fair, but the molluscum is counted most precious; both of them knobs and swellings out of the tree. The bruscum is more intricately crisp'd; the molluscum not so much; and had we trees large enough to saw into planks for tables, 'twould be preferr'd before cedar, (or citron, for so some copies read it) but now they use it only for small table-books, and with its thin boards to wainscot bed-testers with, &c. The bruscum is of a blackish kind, with which they make tables.'

Thus far Pliny. And such spotted tables were the famous Tigrin, and Pantherine curiosities of; not so call'd from being supported with figures carved like those beasts, as some conceive, and was in use even in our grand-fathers days, but from its natural spots and maculations, hem, quantis facultatibus aestimavere ligneas maculas! as Tertullian crys out, de Pallio, c, 5. Such a table was that of Cicero's, which cost him 10000 Sesterces; such another had Asinius Gallus. That of King Juba was sold for 15000, and another which I read of, valu'd at 140000 H.S. which at about 3d. sterling, arrives to a pretty sum; and yet that of the Mauritanian Ptoleme, was far richer, containing four foot and an half diameter, three inches thick, which is reported to have been sold for its weight in gold: Of that value they were, and so madly luxurious the age, that when they at any time reproach'd their wives for their wanton expensiveness in pearl and other rich trifles, they were wont to retort, and turn the tables upon their husbands. The knot of the timber was the most esteem'd, and is said to be much resembled by the female cypress: We have now, I am almost persuaded, as beautiful planks of some walnut-trees, near the root; and yew, ivy, rose-wood, ash, thorn, and olive, I have seen incomparable pieces; but the great art was in the seasoning, and politure; for which last, the rubbing with a man's hand who came warm out of the bath, was accounted better than any cloth, as Pliny reports. Some there be who contend, this citern was a part near the root of the cedar, which, as they describe it, is very oriental and odoriferous; but most of the learned favour the citron, and that it grew not far from our Tangier, about the foot of Mount Atlas, whence haply some industrious person might procure of it from the Moors; and I did not forget to put his then Excellency my Lord H. Howard (since his Grace the Duke of Norfolk) in mind of it; who I hoped might have opportunities of satisfying our curiosity, that by comparing it with those elegant woods, which both our own countries, and the Indies furnish, we might pronounce something in the controversie: But his not going so far into the countrey, and the disorder which happen'd at his being there, quite frustrated this expectation: Here I think good to add, what honest Palissy philosophises after his plain manner, about the reason of those pretty undulations and chamfers, which we so frequently find in divers woods, which he takes to be the descent, as well as ascent of moisture: For what else (says he) becomes of that water which we often encounter in the cavities, when many branches divaricate, and spread themselves at the tops of great trees (especially pollards) unless (according to its natural appetite) it sink into the very body of the stem through the pores? For example, in the walnut, you shall find, when 'tis old, that the wood is admirably figur'd, and, as it were, marbl'd, and therefore much more esteem'd by the joyners, cabinet-makers, and ouvrages de marqueterie, in-layers, &c. than the young, which is paler of colour, and without any notable grain, as they call it. For the rain distilling along the branches, when many of them break out into clusters from the stem, sinks in, and is the cause of these marks; since we find it exceedingly full of pores: Do but plane off a thin chip, or sliver from one of these old trees, and interposing it 'twixt your eye and the light, you shall observe it to be full of innumerable holes (much more perspicuous and ample, by the application of a good{119:1} microscope.) But above all, notable for these extravagant damaskings and characters, is the maple; and 'tis notorious, that this tree is very full of branches from the root to its very summit, by reason that it produces no considerable fruit: These arms being frequently cut, the head is more surcharged with them, which spreading like so many rays from a centre, form that hollowness at the top of the stem whence they shoot, capable of containing a good quantity of water every time it rains: This sinking into the pores, as was before hinted, is compell'd to divert its course as it passes through the body of the tree, where-ever it encounters the knot of any of those branches which were cut off from the stem; because their roots not only deeply penetrate towards the heart, but are likewise of themselves very hard and impervious; and the frequent obliquity of this course of the subsiding moisture, by reason of these obstructions, is, as may be conceived, the cause of those curious works, which we find remarkable in this, and other woods, whose branches grow thick from the stem: But for these curious contextures, consult rather the learned Dr. Grew. We have shewed how by culture, and stripping up, it arrives to a goodly tree; and surely there were some of them of large bulk, and noble shades, that Virgil should chuse it for the Court of his Evander (one of his worthiest princes, in his best of poems) sitting in his maple-throne; and when he brings AEneas into the royal cottage, he makes him this memorable complement; greater, says great Cowley, than ever was yet spoken at the Escurial, the Louvre, or White-hall.

This humble roof, this rustique court, said he, Receiv'd Alcides crown'd with victory: Scorn not (great guest) the steps where he has trod, But contemn wealth, and imitate a God.{120:1}

The savages in Canada, when the sap rises in the maple, by an incision in the tree, extract the liquor; and having evaporated a reasonable quantity thereof (as suppose 7 or 8 pound), there will remain one pound, as sweet and perfect sugar, as that which is gotten out of the cane; part of which sugar has been for many years constantly sent to Rouen in Normandy, to be refin'd: There is also made of this sugar an excellent syrup of maiden-hair and other capillary plants, prevalent against the scorbut; though Mr. Ray thinks otherwise, by reason of the saccharine substance remaining in the decoction: See Synops. Stirp. & Tom. III. Dendrolog. de Acere. p. 93, 94.

FOOTNOTES:

{119:1} Not invented in Palissy's days.

{120:1}

........... Haec (inquit) limina victor Alcides............



CHAPTER XII.

Of the Sycomor.

1. The sycomor, or wild fig-tree, (falsly so called) is, our album, acer majus, or broad-leav'd mas, one of the maples, and is much more in reputation for its shade than it deserves; for the honey-dew leaves, which fall early (like those of the ash) turn to mucilage and noxious insects, and putrifie with the first moisture of the season; so as they contaminate and mar our walks; and are therefore by my consent, to be banish'd from all curious gardens and avenues. 'Tis rais'd of the keys in the husk (as soon as ripe) they come up the first Spring; also by roots and layers, in ground moist, not over-wet or stiff, and to be govern'd as other nursery plants.

2. There is in Germany a better sort of sycomor than ours, (nor are ours indiginae) wherewith they make saddle-trees, and divers other things of use; our own is excellent for trenchers, cart, and plow-timber, being light, tough, and not much inferior to ash it self; and if the trees be very tall and handsome, are the more tolerable for distant walks especially where other better trees prosper not so well, or where a sudden shade is expected: Some commend them to thicken copp'ces, especially in parks, as least apt to the spoil of deer, and that it is good fire-wood. This tree being wounded, bleeds a great part of the year; and the liquor emulating that of the birch, which for hapning to few of the rest (that is, to bleed Winter and Summer) I therefore mention: The sap is sweet and wholsome, and in a short time yields sufficient quantity to brew with; so as with one bushel of malt, is made as good ale as four bushels with ordinary water, upon Dr. Tongue's experience, Transact. vol. IV. f. 917.



CHAPTER XIII.

Of the Lime-Tree.

1. Tilia the lime-tree, or [linden] is of two kinds; the male (which some allow to be but a finer sort of elm) or maple rather, is harder, fuller of knots, and of a redder colour; but producing neither flower, nor seed, (so constantly and so mature with us) as does the female, whose blossom is also very odoriferous, perfuming the air, the leaf larger; the wood is likewise thicker, of small pith, and not obnoxious to the worm; so as it seems Theophrastus de Pl. l. 3. c. 10. said true, that though they were of both sexes, diapherousi de te morphe te hole, &c. yet they totally differ'd as to their form. We send commonly for this tree into Flanders and Holland, (which indeed grow not so naturally wild with us) to our excessive cost, whiles our own woods do in some places spontaneously produce them, and though of somewhat a smaller leaf, yet altogether as good, apt to be civiliz'd, and made more florid: From thence I have received many of their berries; so as it is a shameful negligence, that we are no better provided of nurseries, of a tree so choice, and universally acceptable: For so they may be rais'd either of the seeds in October, or (with better success) by the suckers and plants, which are treated after the same method, and in as great abundance as the elm, like to which it should be cultivated. You may know whether the seeds be prolific, by searching the husk; if biting, or cutting it in sunder it be full and white, and not husky, as sometimes we find the foreigners: Be sure to collect your seed in dry weather, airing it in an open room, and reserving it in sand, (as has been taught) till mid-February, when you may sow it in pretty strong, fresh and loamy mould, kept shaded, and moist as the season requires, and clear of weeds, and at the period of two years, plant them out, dress'd and prun'd as discretion shall advise. But not only by the suckers and layers, at the roots, but even by branches lopp'd from the head, may this tree be propagated; and peeling off a little of the bark, at a competent distance from the stem or arms, and covering it with loam mingled with rich earth, they will shoot their fibers, and may be seasonably separated: But to facilitate this and the like attempts, it is advisable to apply a ligature above the place, when the sap is ascending, or beneath it, when it (as they say vulgarly) descends. From June to November you may lay them; the scrubs and less erect, do excellently to thicken copp'ces, and will yield lusty shoots, and useful fire-wood.

2. The lime-tree affects a rich feeding loamy soil; in such ground their growth will be most for speed and spreading. They may be planted as big as ones leg; their heads topp'd at about six or eight foot bole; thus it will become (of all other) the most proper, and beautiful for walks, as producing an upright body, smooth and even bark, ample leaf, sweet blossom, the delight of bees, and a goodly shade at distance of eighteen, or twenty five foot. They are also very patient of pruning; but if it taper over much, some of the collateral boughs would be spar'd, or cut off, to check the sap, which is best to be done about Midsummer; and to make it grow upright, take off the prepondering branches with discretion, and so you may correct any other tree, and redress its obliquity.

The root in transplanting would not be much lopp'd; and this (says Mr. Cook) is a good lesson for all young planted trees.

3. The Prince Elector did lately remove very great lime-trees out of one of his forests, to a steep hill, exceedingly expos'd to the heat of the sun, at Heidelberg; and that in the midst of summer: They grow behind that strong tower on the south-west, and most torrid part of the eminence; being of a dry, reddish barren earth; yet do they prosper rarely well: But the heads were cut off, and the pits into which they were transplanted, were (by the industry and direction of Monsieur de Son, a Frenchman, and admirable mechanician, who himself related it to me) fill'd with a composition of earth and cow-dung, which was exceedingly beaten, and so diluted with water, as it became almost a liquid pap: It was in this, that he plunged the roots, covering the surface with the turf: A singular example of removing so great trees at such a season, and therefore by me taken notice of here expresly. Other perfections of the tree (besides its unparallel'd beauty for walks) are that it will grow in almost all grounds: That it lasts long; that it soon heals its scars; that it affects uprightness; that it stoutly resists a storm; that it seldom becomes hollow.

4. The timber of a well-grown lime is convenient for any use that the willow is; but much to be preferr'd, as being both stronger, and yet lighter; whence Virgil calls them tilias leves; and therefore fit for yokes, and to be turn'd into boxes for the apothecaries; and Columella commends arculas tiliaceas. And because of its colour, and easy working, and that it is not subject to split, architects make with it models for their designed buildings; and the carvers in wood, not only for small figures, but large statues and intire histories, in bass, and high relieve; witness (besides several more) the lapidation of St. Stephen, with the structures and elevations about it: The trophies, festoons, frutages, encarpa, and other sculptures in the frontoons, freezes, capitals, pedestals, and other ornaments and decorations, (of admirable invention and performance) to be seen about the choir of St. Paul's and other churches; royal palaces, and noble houses in city and countrey. All of them, the works and invention of our Lysippus, Mr. Gibbons; comparable, and for ought appears, equal to any thing of the antients; having had the honour (for so I account it) to be the first who recommended this great artist to his Majesty, Charles the II. I mention it on this occasion, with much satisfaction. With the twigs, they made baskets and cradles, and of the smoother side of the bark, tablets for writing; for the antient Philyra is but our Tilia; of which Munting affirms, he saw a book made of the inward bark, written about 1000 years since. Such another was brought to the Count of St. Amant, Governor of Arras, 1662, for which there was given 8000 ducats by the Emperor, and that it contain'd a work of Cicero, De Ordinanda Republica, & De Inveniendis Orationum Exordiis: A piece inestimable, never publish'd; is now in the library at Vienna, after it had formerly been the greatest rarity in that of the late Cardinal Mazarine: Other papyraceous trees are mention'd by West-Indian travellers, especially in Hispaniola, Java, &c. which not only exceed our largest paper for breadth and length, and may be written on on both sides, but is comparable to our best vellum. Bellonius says, that the Grecians made bottles of the tilia, which they finely rozin'd within-side, so likewise for pumps of ships, also lattices for windows: Shooemakers use dressers of the plank to cut leather on, as not so hard as to turn the edges of their knives; and even the coursest membrane, or slivers of the tree growing 'twixt the bark and the main body, they now twist into bass-ropes; besides, the truncheons make a far better coal for gun-powder than that of alder it self; Scriblets for painters first draughts are also made of its coals; and the extraordinary candor and lightness, has dignify'd it above all the woods of our forest, in the hands of the Right Honourable the White-Stave officers of His Majesty's Imperial Court. Those royal plantations of these trees in the parks of Hampton-court, and St. James's, will sufficiently instruct any man how these (and indeed all other trees which stand single) are to be govern'd, and defended from the injuries of beasts, and sometimes more unreasonable creatures, till they are able to protect themselves. In Holland (where the very high-ways are adorn'd with them) they frequently clap three or four deal-boards (in manner of a close trunk) about them; but it is not so well; because it keeps out the air, which should have free access and intercourse to the bole, and by no means be excluded from flowing freely about them, or indeed any other trees; provided they are secur'd from cattel, and the violence of impetuous winds, &c. as His Majesty's are, without those close coffins, in which the Dutch-men seem rather to bury them alive: In the mean time, is there a more ravishing or delightful object, than to behold some intire streets, and whole towns planted with these trees, in even lines before their doors, so as they seem like cities in a wood? this is extreamly fresh, of admirable effect against the epilepsie, for which the delicately scented blossoms are held prevalent, and skreen the houses both from winds, sun, and dust; than which there can be nothing more desirable where streets are much frequented. For thus

The stately Lime, smooth, gentle, streight and fair, (With which no other Dryad may compare) With verdant locks, and fragrant blossoms deckt, Does a large, ev'n, odorate shade project.{127:1}

Dirae and curses therefore on those inhuman and ambitious tyrants, who, not contented with their own dominions, invade their peaceful neighbour, and send their legions, without distinction, to destroy and level to the ground such venerable and goodly plantations, and noble avenues, irreparable marks of their barbarity.

The distance for walks (as we said) may in rich ground, be twenty five foot, in more ordinary soil, eighteen or twenty. For a most prodigious tree of this kind, see Chap. 39. sect. 10.

The berries reduc'd to powder, cure the dysentery and stop blood at the nose: The distill'd-water is good against the epilepsy, apoplexy, vertigo, trembling of the heart, gravel; Schroder commends a mucilage of the bark for wounds, repellens urinam, & menses ciens, &c. And I am told, the juice of the leaves fixes colours.

FOOTNOTES:

{127:1}

Stat philyra; haud omnes formosior altera surgit Inter hamadryades; mollissima, candida, laevis, Et viridante coma, & beneolenti flore superba, Spargit odoratam late, atque aequaliter umbram.

Couleii, l. 6, Pl.



CHAPTER XIV.

Of the Poplar, Aspen, and Abele.

1. Populus. I begin this second class (according to our former distribution) with the poplar, of which there are several kinds; white, black, &c. (which in Candy 'tis reported bears seed) besides the aspen. The white (famous heretofore for yielding its umbram hospitalem) is the most ordinary with us, to be rais'd in abundance by every set or slip. Fence the ground as far as any old poplar-roots extend, they will furnish you with suckers innumerable, to be slipp'd from their mothers, and transplanted the very first year: But if you cut down an old tree, you shall need no other nursery. When they are young, their leaves are somewhat broader and rounder (as most other trees are) than when they grow aged. In moist and boggy places they will flourish wonderfully, so the ground be not spewing; but especially near the margins and banks of rivers,

Populus in fluviis..........

and in low, sweet, and fertile ground; yea, and in the dryer likewise. Also trunchions of seven or eight foot long, thrust two foot into the earth, (a hole being made with a sharp hard stake, fill'd with water, and then with fine earth pressed in, and close about them) when once rooted, may be cut at six inches above ground; and thus placed at a yard distant, they will immediately furnish a kind of copp'ce. But in case you plant them of rooted trees, or smaller sets, fix them not so deep; for though we bury the trunchions thus profound, yet is the root which they strike, commonly but shallow. They will make prodigious shoots in 15, or 16 years; but then the heads must by no means be diminish'd, but the lower branches may, yet not too far up; the foot would also be cleansed every second year. This for the white. The black poplar is frequently pollar'd when as big as one's arm, eight or nine foot from the ground, as they trim them in Italy, for their vines to serpent and twist on, and those they poll, or head every second year, sparing the middle, streight, and thrivingest shoot, and at the third year cut him also. There be yet that condemn the pruning of this poplar, as hindring their growth.

2. The shade of this tree is esteemed very wholsome in Summer, but they do not become walks, or avenues by reason of their suckers, and that they foul the ground at fall of the leaf; but they would be planted in barren woods, and to flank places at distance, for their increase, and the glittering brightness of their foliage: The leaves are good for cattel, which must be stripp'd from the cut boughs before they are faggoted. This to be done in the decrease of October, and reserv'd in bundles for winter-fodder. The wood of white poplar is sought of the sculptor, and they saw both sorts into boards, which, where they lie dry, continue a long time. Of this material they also made shields of defence in sword and buckler-days. Dioscorides writes, that the bark chopt small, and sow'd in rills, well and richly manur'd and watered, will produce a plentiful crop of mushrooms; or warm water, in which yest is dissolv'd, cast upon a new-cut stump: It is to be noted, that those fungi, which spring from the putrid stumps of this tree are not venenous (as of all, or most other trees they are) being gathered after the first autumnal rains. There is a poplar of a paler green, and is the properest for watry ground: 'Twill grow of trunchions from two, or eight foot long, and bringing a good lop in a short time, is by some preferr'd to willows.

For the setting of these, Mr. Cook advises the boring of the ground with a sort of auger, to prevent the stripping of the bark from the stake in planting: A foot and half deep, or more if great, (for some may be 8 or 9 foot) for pollards, cut sloping, and free of cracks at either end: Two or three inches diameter, is a competent bigness, and the earth should be ramm'd close to them.

Another expedient is, by making drains in very moist ground, two spade deep, and three foot wide, casting up the earth between the drains, sowing it the first year with oats to mellow the ground, the next Winter setting it for copp'ce, with these, any, or all the watry sorts of trees; thus, in four or five years, you will have a handsome fell, and so successively: It is in the former author, where the charge is exactly calculated, to whom I refer the reader. I am inform'd, that in Cheshire there grow many stately and streight black poplars, which they call peplurus, that yield boards and planks of an inch and half thickness; so fit for floaring of rooms, by some preferr'd to oak, for the whiteness and lasting, where they lie dry.

3. They have a poplar in Virginia of a very peculiar shap'd leaf, as if the point of it were cut off, which grows very well with the curious amongst us to a considerable stature. I conceive it was first brought over by John Tradescant, under the name of the tulip-tree, (from the likeness of its flower) but is not, that I find, taken much notice of in any of our herbals: I wish we had more of them; but they are difficult to elevate at first.

4. The aspen only (which is that kind of libyca or white poplar, bearing a smaller, and more tremulous leaf, (by the French call'd la tremble or quaker) thrusts down a more searching foot, and in this likewise differs, that he takes it ill to have his head cut off: Pliny would have short trunchions couched two foot in the ground (but first two days dried) at one foot and half distance, and then moulded over.

5. There is something a finer sort of white poplar, which the Dutch call abele, and we have of late abele much transported out of Holland: These are also best propagated of slips from the roots, the least of which will take, and may in March, at three or four years growth, be transplanted.

6. In Flanders (not in France, as a late author pretends) they have large nurseries of them, which first they plant at one foot distance, the mould light and moist, by no means clayie, in which though they may shoot up tall, yet for want of root, they never spread; for, as I said, they must be interr'd pretty deep, not above three inches above ground; and kept clean, by pruning them to the middle-shoot for the first two years, and so till the third or fourth. When you transplant, place them at eight, ten, or twelve foot interval: They will likewise grow of layers, and even of cuttings in very moist places. In three years, they will come to an incredible altitude; in twelve, be as big as your middle; and in eighteen or twenty, arrive to full perfection. A specimen of this advance we have had of an abele-tree at Sion, which being lopp'd in Febr. 1651, did by the end of October 52, produce branches as big as a man's wrist, and 17 foot in length; for which celerity we may recommend them to such late builders, as seat their houses in naked and unshelter'd places, and that would put a guise of antiquity upon any new inclosure; since by these, whilst a man is in a voyage of no long continuance, his house and lands may be so covered, as to be hardly known at his return. But as they thus increase in bulk, their value (as the Italian poplar, has taught us) advances likewise; which after the first seven years, is annually worth twelve pence more: So as the Dutch look upon a plantation of these trees, as an ample portion for a daughter, and none of the least effects of their good husbandry; which truly may very well be allow'd, if that calculation hold, which the late worthy{132:1} Knight has asserted, (who began his plantation not long since about Richmond,) that 30 pound being laid out in these plants, would render at the least ten thousand pounds in eighteen years; every tree affording thirty plants, and every of them thirty more, after each seven year's improving twelve pence in growth, till they arrive to their acme.

7. The black poplar grows rarely with us; it is a stronger and taller tree than the white, the leaves more dark, and not so ample. Divers stately ones of these, I remember about the banks of Po in Italy; which flourishing near the old Eridanus (so celebrated by the poets) in which the temerarious Phaeton is said to have been precipitated, doubtless gave argument to that fiction of his sad sister's metamorphosis, and the amber of their precious tears. It was whiles I was passing down that river towards Ferrara, that I diverted my self with this story of the ingenious poet. I am told there is a mountain-poplar much propagated in Germany about Vienna, and in Bohemia, of which some trees have yielded planks of a yard in breadth; why do we procure none of them?

8. The best use of the poplar, and abele (which are all of them hospitable trees, for any thing thrives under their shades) is for walks and avenues about grounds which are situated low, and near the water, till coming to be very old, they are apt to grow knurry, and out of proportion. The timber is incomparable for all sorts of white wooden vessels, as trays, bowls and other turners ware; and of especial use for the bellows-maker, because it is almost of the nature of cork, and for ship-pumps, though not very solid, yet very close, and yet light; so as it may be us'd for the soles, as well as wooden-heels of shooes, &c. Vitruvius l. de Materia Caedenda, reckons it among the building-timbers, quae maxime in aedificiis sunt idoneae. Likewise to make carts, because it is exceeding light; for vine, and hop-props, and divers vimineous works. The loppings in January are for the fire; and therefore such as have proper grounds, may with ease, and in short time, store themselves for a considerable family, where fuel is dear: but the truth is, it burns untowardly, and rather moulders away, than maintains any solid heat. Of the twigs (with the leaves on) are made brooms. The brya, or catkins attract the bees, as do also the leaves (especially of the black) more tenacious of the meldews than most forest-trees, the oak excepted.

Of the aspen, our wood-men make hoops, fire-wood, and coals, &c. and of the bark of young trees, in some countries, it serves for candle or torch-wood.

The juice of poplar leaves, dropp'd into the ears, asswages the pain; and the buds contus'd, and mix'd with honey, is a good collyrium for the eyes; as the unguent to refrigerate and cause sleep.

One thing more is not to be pass'd over, of the white-poplar; that the seeds of misselto being put into holes bored in the bark of this tree, have produced the plant: Experiment sufficient to determine that so long controverted question, concerning spontaneous and aequivocal generations. vid. D. Raii P. L. Append. p. 1918.

FOOTNOTES:

{132:1} Sir Richard Weston.



CHAPTER XV.

Of the Quick-Beam.

1. The quick-beam [ornus, or as the pinax more peculiarly, fraxinus bubula; others, the wild sorb] or (as some term it) the witchen, is a species of wild-ash. The Berries which it produced in October, may then be sown; or rather the sets planted: I have store of them in a warm grove of mine, and 'tis of singular beauty: It rises to a reasonable stature, shoots upright, and slender, and consists of a fine smooth bark. It delights to be both in mountains and woods, and to fix it self in good light grounds; Virgil affirms, 'twill unite with the pear.

2. Besides the use of it for the husbandman's tools, goads, &c. the wheelright commends it for being all heart; if the tree be large, and so well grown as some there are, it will saw into planks, boards and timber, (vide Chap XXX. Sect. 10.) and our fletchers commend it for bows next to yew; which we ought not to pass over, for the glory of our once right English ancestors: In a Statute of HEN. 8. you have it mention'd: It is excellent fuel; but I have not yet observed any other use, save that the blossoms are of an agreeable scent, and the berries such a tempting bait for the thrushes, that as long as they last, you shall be sure of their company. Some highly commend the juice of the berries, which (fermenting of it self) if well preserv'd, makes an excellent drink against the spleen and scurvy: Ale and beer brew'd with these berries, being ripe, is an incomparable drink, familiar in Wales, where this tree is reputed so sacred, that as there is not a church-yard without one of them planted in them (as among us the yew) so on a certain day in the year, every body religiously wears a cross made of the wood, and the tree is by some authors call'd fraxinus Cambro-Britannica; reputed to be a preservative against fascinations and evil-spirits; whence, perhaps, we call it witchen; the boughs being stuck about the house, or the wood used for walking-staves.



CHAPTER XVI.

Of the Hasel.

1. Nux silvestris, or corylus, the hasel, is best rais'd from the{136:1} nuts, (also by suckers and layers) which you shall sow like mast, in a pretty deep furrow toward the end of February, or treat them as you are instructed in the walnut; light ground may immediately be sown and harrow'd-in very accurately; but in case the mould be clay, plow it earlier, and let it be sufficiently mellow'd with the frosts; and then the third year cut your trees near to the ground with a sharp bill, the moon decreasing.

2. But if you would make a grove for pleasure, plant them in fosses, at a yard distance, and cut them within half a foot of the earth, dressing them for three or four Springs and Autumns, by only loosning the mould a little about their roots. Others there are, who set the nuts by hand at one foot distance, to be transplanted the third year, at a yard asunder: But this work is not to be taken in hand so soon as the nuts fall, till winter be well advanc'd; because they are exceedingly obnoxious to the frosts; nor will they sprout till the Spring; besides, vermin are great devourers of them: Preserve them therefore moist, not mouldy; by laying them in their own dry leaves, or in sand, till January.

Hasels from sets and suckers take.{136:2}

3. From whence they thrive very well, the shoots being of the scantlings of small wands and switches, or somewhat bigger, and such as have drawn divers hairy twigs, which are by no means to be disbranch'd, no more than their roots, unless by a very sparing and discreet hand. Thus, your coryletum, or copp'ce of hasels, being planted about Autumn, may (as some practise it) be cut within three or four inches of the ground the Spring following, which the new cyon will suddenly repair in clusters, and tufts of fair poles of twenty, or sometimes thirty foot long: But I rather should spare them till two or three years after, when they shall have taken strong hold, and may be cut close to the very earth, the improsperous and feeble ones especially. Thus are likewise filberts to be treated, both of them improved much by transplanting, but chiefly by graffing, and it would be try'd with filberts, and even with almonds themselves, for more elegant experiments.

In the mean time, I do not confound the filbert, pontic, or filbord, distinguish'd by its beard, among our foresters (or bald hasel-nuts) which doubtless we had from abroad; and bearing the names of avelan, avelin, as I find in some ancient records and deeds in my custody, where my ancestors names were written Avelan, alias, Evelin, generally.

4. For the place, they above all affect cold, barren, dry, and sandy grounds; also mountains, and even rocky soils produce them; and where quaries of free-stone lie underneath, as that at Hasulbery in Wilts, Haseling-field in Cambridge-shire, Haselmeer in Surrey, and other places; but more plentifully, if the ground be somewhat moist, dankish and mossie, as in the fresher bottoms, and sides of hills, hoults, and in hedge-rows. Such as are maintain'd for copp'ces, may after twelve years be fell'd the first time; the next, at seven or eight, &c. for by this period, their roots will be compleatly vigorous. You may plant them from October to January, provided you keep them carefully weeded, till they have taken fast hold; and there is not among all our store, a more profitable wood for copp'ces, and therefore good husbands should store them with it.

5. The use of the hasel is for poles, spars, hoops, forks, angling-rods, faggots, cudgels, coals, and springs to catch birds; and it makes one of the best coals, once us'd for gun-powder; being very fine and light, till they found alder to be more fit: There is no wood which purifies wine sooner, than the chips of hasel: Also for with's and bands, upon which, I remember, Pliny thinks it a pretty speculation, that a wood should be stronger to bind withal, being bruis'd and divided, than when whole and entire: The coals are us'd by painters, to draw with like those of Sallow: Lastly, for riding switches, and divinatory rods for the detecting and finding out of minerals; (at least, if that tradition be no imposture) is very wonderful; by whatsoever occult virtue, the forked-stick (so cut, and skilfully held) becomes impregnated with those invisible steams and exhalations; as by its spontaneous bending from an horizontal posture, to discover not only mines, and subterraneous treasure, and springs of water, but criminals, guilty of murther, &c. made out so solemnly, and the effects thereof, by the attestation of magistrates, and divers other learned and credibile persons, (who have critically examined matters of fact) is certainly next to miracle, and requires a strong faith: Let the curious therefore consult that philosophical treatise of{139:1} Dr. Vallemont; which will at least entertain them with a world of surprizing things. But now after all the most signal honour it was ever employ'd in, and which might deservedly exalt this humble and common plant above all the trees of the wood, is that of hurdles, (especially the flexible white: the red and brittle); not for that it is generally used for the folding of our innocent sheep, an emblem of the church; but for making the walls of one of the first Christian Oratories in the world; and particularly in this island, that venerable and sacred fabrick at Glastenbury, founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea; which is storied to have been first compos'd but of a few small hasel-rods interwoven about certain stakes driven into the ground; and walls of this kind, instead of laths and punchions, superinduc'd with a course mortar made of loam and straw, do to this day inclose divers humble cottages, sheads and out-houses in the countrey; and 'tis strong and lasting for such purposes, whole, or cleft, and I have seen ample enclosures of courts and gardens so secur'd.

6. There is a compendious expedient for the thickning of copp'ces which are too transparent, by laying of a sampler or pole of an hasel, ash, poplar, &c. of twenty or thirty foot in length (the head a little lopp'd) into the ground, giving it a chop near the foot, to make it succumb; this fastned to the earth with a hook or two, and cover'd with some fresh mould at a competent depth (as gardeners lay their carnations) will produce a world of suckers, thicken and furnish a copp'ce speedily. I add no more of filberts, a kinder and better sort of hasel-nut, of larger and longer shape and beard; the kernels also cover'd with a fine membrane, of which the red is more delicate: They both are propagated as the hasel, and while more domestick, planted either asunder, or in palisade, are seldom found in the copp'ces: They are brought among other fruit, to the best tables for desert, and are said to fatten, but too much eaten, obnoxious to the asthmatic. In the mean time, of this I have had experience; that hasel-nuts, but the filberd specially, being full ripe, and peel'd in warm water, (as they blanch almonds) make a pudding very little (if at all) inferior to that our ladies make of almonds. But I am now come to the water-side; let us next consider the aquatic.

FOOTNOTES:

{136:1} De nucum generibus, vide Macrob. Sect. L. II. C. 14.

{136:2}

Plantis & durae coryli nascuntur....................

Georg. 2.

{139:1} Vallemont, Physique occult ou traite de la baguet divinitoire, &c. But concerning the exploration, and superstitious original, see Sir Thomas Brown, Vulg. Err. cap. xxiv. sect. 17. and the commentators upon 4. Hosea. 12.



CHAPTER XVII.

Of the Birch.

1. The birch [betula, in British bedw, doubtless a proper indigene of England, (whence some derive the name of Barkshire) though Pliny calls it a Gaulish tree] is altogether produc'd of roots or suckers, (though it sheds a kind of samera about the Spring) which being planted at four or five foot interval, in small twigs, will suddenly rise to trees; provided they affect the ground, which cannot well be too barren, or spongy; for it will thrive both in the dry, and the wet, sand, and stony, marshes, and bogs; the water-galls, and uliginous parts of forests that hardly bear any grass, do many times spontaneously produce it in abundance, whether the place be high, or low, and nothing comes amiss to it. Plant the small twigs, or suckers having roots, and after the first year, cut them within an inch of the surface; this will cause them to sprout in strong and lusty tufts, fit for copp'ce, and spring-woods; or, by reducing them to one stem, render them in a very few years fit for the turner. For

2. Though birch be of all other the worst of timber, yet has it its various uses, as for the husbandman's ox-yoaks; also for hoops, small screws, paniers, brooms, wands, bavin-bands, and wythes for fagots; and claims a memory for arrows, bolts, shafts, (our old English artillery;) also for dishes, bowls, ladles, and other domestic utensils, in the good old days of more simplicity, yet of better and truer hospitality. In New-England our Northern Americans make canoos, boxes, buckets, kettles, dishes, which they sow, and joyn very curiously with thread made of cedar-roots, and divers other domestical utensils, as baskets, baggs, with this tree, whereof they have a blacker kind; and out of a certain excrescence from the bole, a fungus, which being boil'd, beaten, and dry'd in an oven, makes excellent spunck or touch-wood, and balls to play withal; and being reduc'd to powder, astringent, is an infallible remedy in the hoemerhoids. They make also not only this small ware, but even small-craft, pinnaces of birch, ribbing them with white cedar, and covering them with large flakes of birch-bark, sow them with thread of spruse-roots, and pitch them, as it seems we did even here in Britain, as well as the Veneti, making use of the willow, whereof Lucan,

When Sicoris to his own banks restor'd, Had quit the field, of twigs, and willow-board They build small craft, cover'd with bullocks-hide, In which they reach'd the rivers farther side: So sail the Veneti if Padus flow, The Britains sail on their rough ocean so.{142:1}

Also for fuel: In many of the mosses in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, are often dug up birch-trees, that burn and flame like firr and candle-wood; and I think Pliny says the Gaules extracted a sort of bitumen out of birch: Great and small coal, are made by the charring of this wood; (see Book III Chap. 4. of fuel) as of the tops and loppings, Mr. Howard's new tanne. The inner white cuticle and silken-bark, (which strips off of it self almost yearly) was anciently us'd for writing-tables, even before the invention of paper; of which there is a birch-tree in Canada, whose bark will serve to write on, and may be made into books, and of the twigs very pretty baskets; with the outward thicker and courser part of the common birch, are divers houses in Russia, Poland, and those poor northern tracts cover'd, instead of slates and tyle: Nay, one who has lately publish'd an account of Sweden,{142:2} says, that the poor people grind the very bark of birch-trees, to mingle with their bread-corn. 'Tis affirm'd by Cardan, that some birch-roots are so very extravagantly vein'd, as to represent the shapes and images of beasts, birds, trees, and many other pretty resemblances. Lastly, of the whitest part of the old wood, found commonly in doating birches, is made the grounds of our effeminate farin'd gallants sweet powder; and of the quite consum'd and rotten (such as we find reduc'd to a kind of reddish earth in superannuated hollow-trees) is gotten the best mould for the raising of divers seedlings of the rarest plants and flowers; to say nothing here of the magisterial fasces for which anciently the cudgels were us'd by the lictor, for lighter faults, as now the gentler rods by our tyrannical paedagogues.

3. I should here add the uses of the water too, had I full permission to tamper with all the medicinal virtues of trees: But if the sovereign effects of the juice of this despicable tree supply its other defects (which make some judge it unworthy to be brought into the catalogue of woods to be propagated) I may perhaps for once, be permitted to play the empiric, and to gratifie our laborious wood-man with a draught of his own liquor; and the rather, because these kind of secrets are not yet sufficiently cultivated; and ingenious planters would by all means be encourag'd to make more trials of this nature, as the Indians and other nations have done on their palmes; and trees of several kinds, to their great emolument. The mystery is no more than this: About the beginning of March (when the buds begin to be proud and turgid, and before they explain into leaves) with a chizel and a mallet, cut a slit almost as deep as the very pith, under some bough or branch of a well-spreading birch; cut it oblique, and not long-ways (as a good chirurgion would make his orifice in a vein) inserting a small stone or chip, to keep the lips of the wound a little open. Sir Hugh Plat, (giving a general rule for the gathering of sap, and tapping of trees) would have it done within one foot of the ground, the first rind taken off, and then the white bark slit over-thwart, no farther than to the body of the tree: Moreover, that this wound be made only in that part of the bark which respects the south-west, or between those quarters; because (says he) little or no sap riseth from the northern, nor indeed when the east-wind blows. In this slit, by the help of your knife to open it, he directs that a leaf of the tree be inserted, first fitted to the dimensions of the slit, from which the sap will distil in manner of filtration: Take away the leaf, and the bark will close again, a little earth being clapped to the slit. Thus the Knight for any tree. But we have already shew'd how the birch is to be treated: Fasten therefore a bottle, or some such convenient vessel appendant; this does the effect as well as perforation or tapping: Out of this aperture will extil a limpid and clear water, retaining an obscure smack both of the tast and odor of the tree; and which (as I am credibly inform'd) will in the space of twelve or fourteen days, preponderate, and out-weigh the whole tree it self, body and roots; which if it be constant, and so happen likewise in other trees, is not only stupendous, but an experiment worthy the consideration of our profoundest philosophers: An ex sola aqua fiunt arbores? whether water only be the principle of vegetables, and consequently of trees: I say, I am credibly inform'd; and therefore the late unhappy{144:1} angry-man might have spar'd his animadversion: For he that said but twenty gallons run, does he know how many more might have been gotten out of larger apertures, at the insertion of every branch, and foot in the principal roots during the whole season? But I conceive I have good authority for my assertion, out of the author cited in the margin, whose words are these: Si mense Martio perforaveris betulam, &c. exstillabit aqua limpida, clara, & pura, obscurum arboris saporem & odorem referens, quae spatio 12 aut 14 dierum, praeponderabit arbori cum ramis & radicibus, &c. His exceptions about the beginning of March are very insignificant; since I undertake not punctuality of time; and his own pretended experience shew'd him, that in hard weather it did not run till the expiration of the month, or beginning of April; and another time on the tenth of February; and usually he says, about the twenty-fourth day, &c. at such uncertainty: What immane difference then is there between the twenty-fourth of Feb. and commencement of March? Besides, these anomolous bleedings, (even of the same tree) happen early or later, according to the temper of the air and weather. In the mean time, evident it is, that we know of no tree which does more copiously attract, be it that so much celebrated spirit of the world, (as they call it) in form of water (as some) or a certain specifique liquor richly impregnated with this balsamical property: That there is such a magnes in this simple tree, as does manifestly draw to it self some occult and wonderful virtue, is notorious; nor is it conceivable, indeed, the difference between the efficacy of that liquor which distils from the bole, or parts of the tree nearer to the root (where Sir Hugh would celebrate the incision) and that which weeps out from the more sublime branches, more impregnated with this astral vertue, as not so near the root, which seems to attract rather a cruder, and more common water, through fewer strainers, and neither so pure, and aerial as in those refined percolations, the nature of the places where these trees delight to grow (for the most part lofty, dry, and barren) consider'd. But I refer these disquisitions to the learned; especially, as mentioned by that incomparable philosopher, and my most noble friend, the Honourable Mr. Boyle, in his second part of the Usefulness of Natural Philosophy, Sect. 1. Essay 3d. 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.