plant them in your Nursery as you are directed for Walnut-trees there keep them with digging and pruning till they are fit of stature to plant out they grow in good shape and last long it is a fine tree for VValks it likes best a strong ground but let it be good and there they will bear store of Fruit and grow to be large fine Trees They be very subject to put forth suckers by which they be easily increased from the Roots of the Mother-tree but how to do that see Chapt. 7. there you may be fully satisfied how to raise them When you have got them to five or six foot high bud them they will bear sooner more and better c. CHAP. XVII Of Raising and Ordering the Cherry-tree I Know many will say that it is not proper to rank this among Forrest-trees but if such did but see the fine stately Trees that we have growing in the Woods at Cashiobury they would then conclude it proper for Woods and if for Woods then for Forrests Where they like the ground they make a glorious shew in the Spring their white Blossoms shewing at a distance as though they were cloathed with fine white Linnen their Blossoms are a great Relief to the industrious Bees at that season the way to raise and order them is as followeth And first you must know that the best way to raise them is of Stones Let your Cherries be very ripe for the riper your Cherry is or any other Fruit the plumper and better is the Kernel The time they be Ripe is according to the kind but it is the black Cherry which growes common in Woods and Hedges about Cashiobury which is the Tree fitting for VVoods and therefore how to Raise it I shall shew though there be much difference in these also for we have some full as large and good as the Corowne and at a place called Red-heath at one Mr. Baldwins they have some sorts not inferiour to the black Orleance which are produced naturally from the Stones without Budding or Grafting or any other help but the Nature of the Ground which indeed is very natural to them They are ripe in July and the largest sorts are ripe latest the Fowls of the Aire will give you notice of their time of being Ripe by their visiting them which are as so many Messengers to awaken the industrious to take care in time to preserve them and to the careless man and Sluggard to take that away from him which he will not take care of For as the wisest of men saith Prov. 20. The Sluggard will not plow by reason of cold therefore shall he beg in Harvest so he that will not take care in time shall want when others have But we have such store that what the Jack-dawes Jayes Mag-pies c. eat they are not missed with us and though the Fowls do begin to eat them as soon as they turn blackish yet Nature hath tied them on so fast to the stalk that they can but take off part of the flesh and leave the Stone and rest to feed the Kernel for the wonderfull wise God hath ordered most sorts of Fruit so that some by their bitter sower or other tastes are so well defended that neither Bird nor Beast will touch them till the Kernels be ripe or near it and then the fleshy part and Kernels also are pleasing to their Pallats When the Fruit is Ripe gather them and have the fleshy part eaten off or taken off by rolling them in Sand that is drye with some heavy Plank upon them drawing it too and again to take off the flesh when you have so done drye them for three or four dayes then put them into pretty moist Sand and so keep them till the beginning of February in house and then sowe them in a Bed of light gravelly Mould if your Bed be not naturally so make it so keep them clean from weeds for two years and then you may plant them in Woods Coppices Hedge-rowes c. or in your Nursery to raise other Kinds of or there to stand till they be fit for walks for where the Ground is Natural they be very proper for walks The ground they like is a dry Soil the bottom Gravel the surface mixed with Loom Or you may sowe them on Beds as soon as you have taken the flesh off and they will do very well and come up the Spring following and then you may plant them at two years shoot where you please but if you keep them too long out of the Ground before you sowe them they will lie two Winters in the ground before they come up Note this that all sorts of Stone-fruit would be committed to the Earth as soon as the Fruit is Ripe the Flesh taken off and the Stones a little drye for all sorts of Stone-fruit if well kept and sown or set in time will come up the Spring after but if you keep them too long out of the Ground they then will stay till the second Spring and sometimes never come up at all At any time when you Remove a young Cherry-tree you may prune off his head close if you please to one shoot for they Naturally grow taper and straight They are subject to increase from the Roots of another Tree but if you would help Nature in Raising of them that way see Chap. 7. It is a good wood to plant in Coppices for it produceth a strong shoot and it is like the Elm apt to put forth several young Trees from the Roots of other Trees but especially if you fell a tree that is not too Old and it be in a light Ground for then it will bring many from the Roots of one tree and so thicken your wood much It produceth great Trees in a light ground that being the Soil it liketh but in a stiffe cold Ground it is not so ready to grow nor bring such fine high taper-trees nor increase so from the Roots as it will on light ground Once I measured a Cherry-tree in Cashiobury Wood-walk first by the Quadrant and so I found it 85 foot high but for more Exactness being the Tree leant by reason of another which was blown upon it by a high wind I saw it measured by a Line let from the top-shoot to the Ground and it was 85 foot five Inches therefore I think such trees as this might well be accompted among Forrest-trees When you transplant young Cherrie trees do not set them too deep nor indeed no other sort of tree but especially those that naturally run shallow as all sorts do that be subject to put forth young Trees from their Roots such is the Elm Abele Sarvice Cherry c. This tree is wanting in several parts of this Land But you that want it I would counsel you to get it as soon as your Ground is convenient for it CHAP. XVIII Of Raising and Ordering the Line-tree THis Tree is called by most Herbals the Line-tree or Linden but
it was sent me by a fair Lady saith he To every Gallon of Birch-water put a quart of Honey well stilled together then boyl it almost an hour with a few Cloves and a little Limon-peel keeping it well scumm'd when it is sufficiently boyled and become cold adde to it three or four Spoonfulls of good Ale to make it work which it will do like New Ale and when the Yeast begins to settle bottle it up as you do other winey Liquors it will in a competent time become a most brisk and spirituous Drink which is a very powerfull Opener This Wine may if you please be made as successefully with Sugar instead of Honey lib. 1. to each Gallon of water or you may dulcifie it with Raisons and compose a Raison-wine of it I know not whether the Quantity of the sweet Ingredients might not be somwhat Reduced and the Operation improved but I give it as Received For Distempers in Man it is good for Cure of the Ptysick most powerfull for dissolving the Stone in the Bladder curing as I am told Consumptions and such interiour Diseases as accompany the Stone in the Bladder and Reins This Liquor 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 This from the Learned Author and thus much of the Birch And now I proceed CHAP. XXIV Of Raising the Hasel OF the Kinds there be many and some very good Fruit as the Red and VVhite Filberds the great French Nut c. also your wild Nuts do differ much in shape and goodness My Lord had once a Quantity of very good sorts sent him from beyond Sea they had a very tender Shell therefore I took care to raise some of them and did severall but when they came to bear they were no better than our Hedge-nuts VVhen they be Ripe I need not tell you for every Boy can order them all winter as you are advised to keep your VValnuts and sowe them at the same time in the Spring they will grow almost on any Ground provided not too wet but best on your dry ground therefore set them on your high and dry Banks between your Fences but Early in Winter if they hold but the first year they will produce good Stubs you may increase them by Suckers or Laying but the best way is from their Nuts I would have you to benefit your self by Laying this and other Woods in your Woods that be thin of wood I dare assure you that for every Shilling you lay out in this Husbandry in a few Years time every Shilling shall be paid you yearly for many years after CHAP. XXV Of Raising the several sorts of Poplers THere may be many sorts of this VVood but I know but Four the best is that large white Popler a great leaf white on the lower side it shoots with a strong whitish shoot which the Dutch call Abele The Second is a sort much like to this both in Leaf and Shoot which grows in many places of this Land and is in most places called the white Popler The Third is a sort that hath the leaves and shoots more small and not so white it groweth in many places and in most of them is called the Aspen or Asp-tree These three sorts are to be ordered all as one the other differs much both in the Nature of growing and ordering therefore a word or two of these I never yet did Raise any of them of Seed but I do believe they have a Seed in that downy substance they shed in the Spring they increase naturally very much from the Roots but they may be help'd much by the Rules in the Chapter before which sheweth you how to raise Trees from the Roots of another Tree by which Rules from two of the Abele Trees my Lord had from Holland I have raised above a hundred But if you fence in a place round the Tree to keep Cattel off and keep down the great weeds a little they will put forth many young Trees from the Roots of an old one especially if you prune up or thin the Heads of any of these sorts they will then yield the more but if you do not value your Mother-tree but desire to get a great stock of young ones then you may fell the Mother-tree at the ground and if it be not very young or old the Roots will put forth in young Trees the Quantity of the Body and Head of that Tree and so will the Elm Cherry c. then how usefull such Trees are to set in the places of VVoods that be thin I leave you to judge Though this Tree is none of the best of VVoods besides the aforesaid Properties I can satisfie you it will grow and increase on the very worst of your grounds as well drye as wet You must forbear to head any of these three sorts unless young or that you leave some young shoots to draw up the sap except you are minded to destroy the old one you head for if the Lops be very great it many times kills or makes the Tree hollow therefore lop young Some will tell you they grow of Chips but that is false they rarely will grow of Cuttings They are best in VVoods though some advise you to plant them in VValks but they be not good for walks for the Suckers they produce from the Roots will be troublesome The greater sorts are proper to set on the East VVest or North Prospect at a distance in or by the side of a wood for their white Leaves shew finely when the Sun shines upon them and make fine variety with other Trees that have dark green leaves I commend them to you for to plant in woods of barren ground for there they increase much and yield much wood And so I leave them and come to the other which differeth from these both in Leaf and Shoot and manner of growing This last kind is in most places called the water-Popler its Leaf is a pale Green shaped something like the other but it is not white below the shoot is of a yellowish green this loves to grow by Rivers sides or in Ground that is wet or such as holds water much Therefore you that have such Grounds get some of this Tree to set in them It will grow of Truncheons from two foot long to eight the first being the best to set for Stubs the other you may make Pollards of for it is a good profitable wood bringing a good Lop in few years and that on some Grounds better than the Willow For your instruction in setting the small setts see Chap. 6. and for setting those of six seven eight or nine foot long for to make Pollard-trees keep the lower end of your set and also the upper free from cracks and cut each sloaping off as for the bigness let
The use of this Table is to turn Feet into a superficial  X. M. M. C. X.  p. q. f. p. q. f. p. q. f. q. f. 1 36. 2. 63 3. 2. 41 0. 1. 31 10 2 73. 1. 58 7. 1. 26 0. 2. 62 20 3 110. 0. 53 11. 0. 05 1. 0. 20 30 4 146. 3. 55 14. 2. 52 1. 1. 57 40 5 183. 2. 40 18. 1. 31 1. 3. 20 50 6 220. 1. 35 22. 0. 10 2. 0. 54 60 7 257. 0. 43 25. 2. 57 2. 2. 17 1. 02 8 293. 3. 41 29. 1. 36 2. 3. 47 1. 12 9 330. 2. 25 33. 0. 15 3. 1. 13 1. 22 Pole square if your summe be 10000 then take the Number answering your ten Thousands under X. M if a Thousands under M a Hundred under C and Tens under X. An Example will make it plain having measured your side of a wall and found it to be as in the last Example 3264 feet look under M. and against 3. there is p. 11. o. f. 5 then look under C and against 2 there is 0. 2. 62 then under X. and against 6 is 60 and then the four odde foot set down as you see here make neer 12 Pole as before 272. 25 is one Pole square feet superficial Measure and 136. 125 is half a square Pole and 68. 062 1 2 is one quarter of a Pole square but if your summe be Ten or Tens of Thousands then you must take that from under X. M. As for Example In 36542 square feet how many poles quarters and feet are there You will find if you take them out of the Table as is before shewed and also  pole qu. feet For 30000 an 110. 0. 53. For 6000 an 22. 0. 10. For 500 an 1. 3. 20. For the 40 an 0. 0. 40. And for the 2 an 0. 0. 02.  134. 0. 57. sum them up that there will be 134 pole and 57 foot So you see this Table will turn your feet into poles square and the other will reduce them into one brick and half thick which is soon performed and will be of Excellent use These Tables will also assist you well in Levelling of Ground that is if you let your Ground to be done by the pole square of 16 foot and a ½ which is called a Floor viz. 272.25 but in some places the Floor is 18 foot square and one foot deep which is 324 solid feet and in some places Ground is Let to dig and to carry away by the yard solid that is 27 solid foot for 3 times 3 is 9 and 3 times 9 is 27 which is near a Cart load of Earth so that in a Floor of Earth of 16 foot and a ◠square and a foot deep according to this Rule there is about 10 Loads of Earth as you see it is 10 Loads 08 100 and ⅓ or solid yards The Floor of 18 foot square or 324 solid feet is 12 solid yards or 12 Loads of Earth Now all Banks that are made taking down of Hills in Walks or filling up of low places or making Mounts or Mount-walks are most commonly Let by the Rod square to do and Reduced to one foot deep The price for Removing Earth is according to the Ground for some Ground is much worse to dig than others but that you may not be altogether unsatisfied I have observed it thus The worst sort of Earth or Gravel so it be not a Rock of stone may be removed where Men work for 12 d. the day at these prices the Workmen finding themselves Barrows or Carts and all sort of Working tools For every Rod square at 16 foot ½ the pole and one foot deep to carry it from one Rod to 10 Rod and to lay the Earth they carry level 2s for one pole or floor from 10 pole to 20 2s 6d from 20 pole to 30 3 s. from 30 pole to 50 to carry it in Carts 3s 6d from 50 pole to 70 4 s c. But if it be Loom Brick Earth or Clay that will dig well that they can speet with a Spade and fill without the use of Pit-axe or Mattock then one fourth part may be abated c. This Rule is sufficient considering but this that neer London where Men have more wages than 12 d. the day there they will look for more a Floor and where men work for less it may be proportioned accordingly Thus may you compute the Charge of making Mounts taking down Hills making of Ponds c. But to assist you yet further observe these few plain Rules though they may not alwayes be exact having found the mean Length and Breadth of your Ground or Length of your Base and Perpendicular you desire to go but a quarter of a Rod in length or breadth which will content many in ordinary uses as if a man hath digged a piece of Ground by the Pole square that is 10 Pole and a half broad and 21 Pole and a half long you may count up this or any the like Numbers thus ten times 21 is 210 then ten halfs is 5 whole ones and 21 halfs is 10 whole ones and a half and a half of a half is a quarter which you may keep in your Memory or set them down so you see here they make both by the Decimal way and this 225 Pole and 3 Quarters See here an Example or two more first demonstrated by Decimals and then wrought the ordinary way Whether is 2 Rod and ½ square or 2 Rod and a ¼ one way and 2 Rod and ¾ another way more For if you work by a Decimal Chain that is a Rod Divided into a 100 Links or parts Multiply that in its self it makes 10000 the half of that is 5000 which is half a Rod a Quarter of a Rod is 2500 and one eight part of a Rod or half a Quarter is 1250 one sixteenth part is 625 square Links and three Quarters 7500 so that two Rod and a half is six Rod and a quarter of Ground Examp. 2 Rod and 3 quarters And 2 Rod and a quarter So that it appears by this that two Rod and a half square is more than 2 Rod and ¾ one way and 2 Rod and a ¼ another way by one sixteenth part of a Rod for if you add 1875 and 625 the sixteenth part of a Rod together they will make 2500. But if you work by the four-pole Chain one Link of it is four of this The Demonstration of the preceeding Examples See Fig. 44 45. See these two squares counted up the ordinary way and first two Pole and a half by two pole and a half is 6 pole and a quarter for mind this if the Number of poles be even Numbers with half a pole to each of these Numbers that is both to length and breadth so that such a Figure comes always off with a Quarter But if one of the Numbers be odd poles and the other even with both length and breadth ending in half a
So doth your Walnut Chesnut Horse-Chesnut Peaches Almonds Apricocks Plumbs c. and the onely difference from Beans and Pease is that these Stone-fruits put forth at the small ends and the other alwayes at the sides In like manner there be several sorts of Trees and most sorts of Plants that be small which put forth Root at the small end and as soon as that Root hath laid hold of the ground they then send out two false Leaves nothing like those that grow on the Tree or Plant which two false Leaves are the seed which divides into two parts and so stand some small time on the top of the ground and then between these two false Leaves comes forth a Shoot which produceth leaves like those of the Tree or Plant from whence it came Of this way of growth there be an infinite number both of Trees and Plants as the Elm Ash Sycamore Maple Pear Apple Quince and the most sorts of the seeds of Trees which are not environed by Stones or Shells of seeds the Melon Parsnip Carrot Carduus Angelica and indeed most sorts of seeds CHAP. V. Of the several wayes to raise Forrest-trees or others and how to perform the same by Laying THose sorts of Trees which will grow of Cuttings are the easiest to raise by Layings some of which sorts you may see in the next Chapter Now touching the best time for laying your Layers of Trees observe that if they be Trees that hold their Leaf all Winter as Firres Pines Holly Yew Box Bayes Lawrels Elix c. Let such be laid about the latter end of August But if they be such as shed their Leaf in Winter as Oak Elm Line Sycamore Apple Pear Mulberry c. let such be laid about the middle of October I do grant that you may lay at any time of the Year but these times I take to be the best for then they have the whole VVinter and Summer to prepare and draw Root in at that time of the year the Sun having so much power on the sap of the Tree as to feed the Leaf and Bud but not to make a shoot and if that little sap that rises be hindred as it is by some of the following wayes of laying the Leaves and Buds yet gently craving of the Layer makes the Layer prepare for Root or put forth root a little to maintain it self being it finds it cannot have it from the Mother-plant and being it wants but little Nourishment at that time of the Year I think it is better to lay Layers of Trees and to set Cuttings than at other times In Summer when the sap is much abounding or in VVinter when the sap stirres little or in the Spring when the sap begins to rise for then it comes too suddenly to draw sap from the Layer before it hath drawn or prepared for root for Nature must be courted gently though I know in small Plants the Spring or Summer doth very well for they being short-lived are therefore the quicker in drawing root and besides that Trees are many times laid as they are not As for those Trees that are apt to grow of Cuttings take but some of the boughs and lay them into the Ground covering them about half a foot with fresh fine Mould leaving them with the end of your Layer about one foot or a foot and a half out of the ground keeping them moist in Summer and in Twelve Months time you may remove them if rooted if not let them lie longer Another way is take a Bough you intend to lay and cut it half way through right cross the wood then slit it up towards the end half a foot or according as your Layer is in bigness lay the slitted place into the ground and you shall find that slitted place take root if laid as the former and so ordered This way you may encrease many fine Flowers and small Plants but they being out of my Element at this time I shall not speak of the ordering them for fear I seem tedious to some Another way to lay a Layer of a Tree is take a piece of VVyer and tie it hard round the bark of the place you intend to lay into the ground twisting the ends of the VVier that it may not untie prick the place above the VVier thorough the bark with an Aul in several places then lay it into the ground as the first A fourth way of Laying of trees is Cut a place round about one Inch or two where you find it most convenient to lay into the ground and so proceed as is shewed in the first way of Laying A Fifth way to lay some sorts of Trees is to twist the place you intend to lay into the ground as you do a withe and lay it as is shewed in the first way of Laying by this way and the first you may furnish your Woods and Hedges For they being easie any ordinary man will perform the same Thus you may from one Stub as a Sallow or the like between one Fall and another of your VVood for a Rod square of Ground and more if that one Stub produce but strong shoots fill it well with Wood For when the Stub hath got two or three years shoot then lay round it as before at large is shewed there letting them remain to produce new Stubs But if you would increase by laying some young Trees from an high Standard whence you cannot bend the boughs down to the ground then you must prepare either Box Basket or Pot and fill them full of fine sifted Mould putting a little rotten VVillow-dust with this Earth for that keeps Moysture to help the Layer to draw root then set the Pot or Box thus fill'd with Earth upon some Tressel or Post as your Ingenuity will direct you then lay your Bough by the second third or fourth way of Laying leaving not too much head out because the wind will offend it if you doe and by its own motion be likely to rub off the tender young Root and thus lay your Hops this way These things observed you may raise many choyse Trees as Mulberry Hors-Chesnut c. These Rules may instruct you sufficiently concerning the propagation of Trees by Laying but let me tell you it is hard to raise a fine straight Tree by a Layer or Cutting I have hinted at the Reasons before Note the smaller your Boughs be Set them the less out of the ground and keep them clean from VVeeds that they spoyl not your Layers Alsonote that the harder the VVood is then the young VVood will take root best laid in the ground but if a soft VVood then older boughs will take Root best Now you that be Lovers of wood make use of these sure Directions and if you repent then blame me CHAP. VI. Of those sorts of Trees that will grow of Cuttings and how to perform the same IF your Ground be moist you may Set with success any sort of Willow Sallow or Osier
when old Lops in two or three and in all Respects are as usefull for the Fire Then I intreat you be not so wilfull as to make you and yours poor and also spoyl your trees Therefore in lopping of Pollards especially soft wood let it be towards the Spring and let not your Lops grow so great as to spoyl your trees and lose the use of your Money If once you find your Pollard grow much hollow at the Head down with it as soon as may be for it then decayes more in the Body than the Lop comes to and if your Timber-trees be dead-topt or most of the Head dead or that you find Wood-peckers or Nihills make holes in them then fell them as soon as the season is which is from October to February for when they begin to decay they decay apace I know it is the Opinion of most men that these Birds spoyl their Trees but let me tell you they rarely make holes in sound Timber therefore Learn of them and fell the trees of which they give you warning by making holes in them the sooner the less Timber lost CHAP. XIII Of Raising and Ordering the Beech. OF the Kinds of Beech I know but one though some say there be more About the middle of September you will find the Mast begin to fall apace then gather what Quantity you think good to sow and as soon as your seeds be drye make a Couch of Sand as you are before directed for the Ash and sowe them before the Moneth September be past Keep them in the Couch moderately moyst not so wet as you keep the Ash untill the latter end of January then sowe them in a bed of light gravelly Earth made on purpose Or if you fancy to sowe them in your Woods that is the best time or you may sowe them in the Month September in your Woods But if you keep them in the House all Winter and sowe them at the first Rise of the Spring you will preserve them from Mice and other Vermine the better they affect a gravelly light Soyl and will not thrive on Clayes If you would make a Nursery of them your Ground must be accordingly or else they will thrive but badly with you Of all VVoods that are this may the best be pruned up for it growes over the place in little time and is not subject to break out side-boughs It is fitting for Walks where the Ground is Natural for it but it is so nice in its ground that I do think there are few VValks of any great Length but have some Veins of Ground it doth not like CHAP XIV Of Raising and Ordering the Walnut BEfore we come to Raise this Tree or Gather the Nuts there may be these Enquiries made First you will desire to know what kind of Nut is likeliest to produce the best Fruit and to know what Kinds will alter from that Kind to a better as most Kinds of Fruit will degenerate some for the better and some near the same and some worse as also to know the very Nut or Nuts and other sorts of Fruits which will do so As for the Kinds that are likeliest to produce the best Fruit and the most likely to produce better Observe to gather your Nuts Stones or Kernels off from some young thriving Tree that is in its Prime of bearing and hath the Kernels plump large and full and of the best sorts and if it be of Fruit that is too subject to Ripe late with us then let it be of the earliest Kinds and as for the latest Kind preserve them for Stocks onely also if it may be make choice of such Fruit as is lately produced from some other good Kind and is better than the Kind it came of for you cannot expect to have as good an Apple produced from the Kernel of a Crab as you may have from the Kernel of a good Pippin for if the one bring you a good Wilding and the other an Apple either more large or more beautiful and as good if not better and of different taste this is as much as can be well expected for Nature doth not run her Journey all at once but makes several small ones and many times more backward than forward the better to encourage Ingenious Men to try and observe her ways but to those that are diligent she often drops her blessings and requites them well for their diligence And if you would obtain a blessing in you Works by Nature you must frequently be begging it of the great God of Nature and by his assistance and your diligence you need not doubt accomplishing you Lawful desires Of this Truth doubt not The Lord Bacon in his Natural History tells you of an Old Tradition that boughs of the Oak put into the Earth will put forth Wild Vines I wish all such Old Traditions were buried in the Earth in room of the Oak-boughs He tells us also of an Old Beech-tree cut down the Root whereof put forth a Birch See p. 111. This most Learned Man in his next page lays down six Rules though all as he confesseth untried by him concerning the transmutation of Plants The first is if you would have one Plant turn into another you must have the Nourishment over-rule the Seed The Second is to bury some few Seeds of the Plant you would change among other Seeds The Third is to make some Medley or mixture of Earth with some other Plants bruised or shaven either Leaf or Root The Fourth is to mark what Herbs some Earth does put forth of its self and to sow some contrary Seed in that Earth The Fifth is to make an Herb grow contrary to its Nature The Sixth is to make Plants grow out of the Sun or open Air as in the bottom of a Pond or in some great hollow tree I might and could Answer to all these but I think it would be too tedious for I do verily believe that to sow Seeds any way that can be devised by Man will not in the least cause them to be quite another kind of Plant for if you find any alteration in any Plant that is it is from the Conception and Nativity of the Seed for there is no real alteration but by Seed I know that Plants or Trees may bring fairer or smaller Flowers or Fruits according to the Ordering and Natural Situation of the Ground and the contrary For it is in vain to think that the Kernels of an Apple will bring forth a Pear or a Pear an Apple or that Cherry-stones will produce a Plumb or Plumb-stones a Cherry But if you sow the Kernels of good Pears or Apples c. then you may expect good Fruit and of different taste shape or bigness as is afore-said for I do believe all our sorts of Pippins come from one the Burry-pear from the Green-field the Pettit Rouselet from the Katharine c. And so of Walnuts or other Fruit and what should be the Reason then
big enough for Walks VVoods or what you please Thus much at this time of the Sycamore onely remember as I said before that it is a good wood to plant in Coppices and Woods CHAP. XXI Of Raising and Ordering the Hornbeam I Told you but now of the Sycamore being fit to be set in Parks because Deer do not often Bark them but of all Trees that I know for that purpose this is the best for a Deer will sterve before he will so much as taste the Bark of the Hornbeam they do not love much the very small tops This Tree may be raised of Seed or by Laying but by Seed is best though the young Seedlings be tender The Seeds may be sown at the time directed for the Ash for it lieth a year in the Ground before it comes up and then you must look to keep it well shaded or else it will sooner be gone than you think for It naturally loveth to grow on stiffe ground where it will grow and bring great Lops to the Owner when the Tree is but a very Shell as indeed most Old Trees are hollow within which I judge not to be the Nature of the Tree so to grow but the fault of those that look to them for they have too many Masters which be bad Husbands and no Friends to this Tree and many others as the Elm Ash c. who let the Lops be great before they lop them perswadeing themselves that they have more great wood which is most usefull never considering that great lops do endanger the Life of the Tree or at best wound it so much that many Trees decay more yearly in their Bodies than the yearly lops come to and so indeed they do provide themselves with more great wood though it be much to the Owners loss though this Tree will bear great Lops when there is nothing but a shell of a Tree standing yet the Ash if once come to take wet much at the Head it rarely bears more Lop after that the Body of the Tree decayes Therefore if once a Tree decayes much at the middle it will soon be little worth else but for the Fire But in case you find a Timber tree decay as is aforesaid down with it in time for fear you lose your Timber and also the Fire-wood be spoyled but of this I have spoken before and would also speak more could I with words but perswade men out of this great Error But our ordinary Husband-men will vindicate Their Countrey-Husbandry to be better than the next for indeed Countreys do differ much in the ordering of Trees and Hedges and they as much condemn ours for it is as hard to perswade them out of their self-conceited Opinion and Tradition as it is to make a Jew turn Christian This tree makes the very best Hedges of any Tree we have in England that sheds the leaves I mean for Ornament for you may keep it in what form you please and it will grow very thick to the very Ground Therefore to make a private Walk or to sence in Avenues at a convenient distance without the bound-Range of Trees or Walks or to hedge in Ridings Causewayes or to make close Walks or Arbours this Tree is much to be commended especially on such ground which it likes You may be better satisfied about this Tree at Hampton-Court in his Majesties Garden which is kept by the ingenious Artist and my good Friend Mr. Tobias Gatts It is good Fire-wood and yieldeth good Increase both from Stubs and Pollards It encreaseth much by sowing it self therefore you that love planting get a few into your Plantations and try whether they will thrive with you or not which doubtless it will on many Grounds where now it is not and so would many other Trees doe mighty well in VVoods and Coppices to thicken them and make them the more beautifull especially those that increase from the running Roots as the Noble Elm Cherry Sarvice Abel Popler c. and some others for to seed if you have them not as Ash Sycamore Line Hornbeam Maple Quickbeam c. and with those which you see thrive best you may at every Fall furnish your woods where they be thin and I do assure you it will pay you for your pains with Interest CHAP. XXII Of Raising the Quickbeam THE Quickbeam VVhitchen or VVild-ash though very scarce in the South parts of this Land is pretty plentifull in some parts of the North as in Nottingham-shire c. and would be there more plentifull were it suffered to grow great to bear the greater Quantity of Seed for I think it increaseth as the Ash doth onely from seed It produceth straight small and long shoots which in that Countrey they cut off while they are young to make Goads as they call them or Whips to drive their Oxen with for it is as tough a VVood as most is I do ghess the seeds lye a year in the Ground before they come up I am now about trying to raise some Let me desire some kind Planters to get some of this VVood into their bounds where it is not that it may be tryed whether it will grow in the South or not as no doubt but it will if you will but trye I shall say no more of this Tree because I cannot yet speak much on my own Knowledge CHAP. XXIII Of Raising the Birch THis Tree increaseth froom the Roots or Suckers and for ought I know it may be raised of Seeds for I do suppose there are Seeds in that which it sheds in the Spring though I have not yet tryed It delights to grow on your hungry Gravel as it doth about Cashicbury in several VVods Therefore you that have barren Ground where your VVoods be get some sets of this VVood to help to thicken your VVoods for though it be one of the worst of VVoods yet it is very usefull and the great God hath ordered it to be contented with the worst of Grounds and besides that it should not be despised by his Servants he hath endowed it with a Faculty of Attracting and preparing from the Earth a very Medicinal Liquor which is both pleasant and healthfull for man which to take from the Tree and also to prepare this Water and to demonstrate what Diseases it is good for I shall make bold to borrow out of Esquire Evelyns Discourse of Forrest-trees pag. 32 c. About the beginning of March with a Chizzel 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-wayes inserting a small Stone or Chip to keep the Lips of the Wound a little open fasten thereto a Bottle or some other convenient Vessel appendant out of this Aperture will extill a limphid and clear water retaining an obscure smack both of the Taste and Odour of the Tree thus may you obtain this water I will present you a Receipt how to make it as
it be about two or three Inches Diameter If you make your hole with an Iron Crow make it big enough that you do not thrust up the Bark when you thrust them into the hole or if you make them with a Stake observe the same but if you fear the Bark to part from the wood tie it about the lower end with a piece of Wier c. set them about one foot and a half deep if great deeper or if you have a quantity to set and would set them well then have an Auger made somewhat like to a Pumps a little bigger than your sets so may you set your sets in and ram the Earth close to them but however you set them be sure to Ramme the Earth close to them I preferre the beginning of Winter for the best season unless your Ground be very wet then deferre it till February But if you have ground that is wet and barren and that you are minded to plant make Dreins two spade-deep and a yard wide and at every two yards asunder cast up the Earth upon the two yards of ground you left and sow it the first year with Oats to mellow the Ground which may pay a good part of your Charge if not all the next Winter set it with these sorts of woods Water-popler and others Alder Willow Withy Sallows c. and in four or five years after you may have a good Fall of wood so may you have every five or six year after for many years To encourage you Esquire Evelin tells you of an Abele that did shoot in one year seventeen foot in length and as thick as your VVrist and also informs you of some VVillowes that have shot no less than twelve foot in one year Therefore to those Gentlemen that have wet or moorish Ground which is bad and will not grase well do I direct this good Husbandry especially where wood is scarce and fells well The Charge to do this will not be great and to satisfie you the more I shall here shew you if you dig two spade deep then there will be but one third part of ground to dig that is to dig your Trenches one yard wide and leave two yards there to lay the Earth and to sow one year or to set the sets as soon as you have made the ground ready 160 Rod in one Acre divided by 3 gives one 3 d. of 160 which is 53 and â…“ This 53 doubled neglecting the â…“ as needless in such a business is 106 Now if I allow 3 d. a Rod for one spade-deep that is 6 d. for two and then 2 d. a Rod for setting is 8 pence the Rod leaving the Sets out and not counting them because I do not know the scarceness or plentifulness of them where you intend to plant though they will cost but little Now if I divide 106 by 2 being 2 Six pences is one Shilling it gives 53 s. and then divide 106 by 6 being 6 Two pences makes One shilling is 17 s. 8. d. By this it appeareth that if the Ground be planted this way having the Trenches digged two foot deep which is the best way to plant any sort of Ground if the soyl be shallow as I shall shew fuller hereafter the Charge excepting the Sets is but 3 l. 10 s. 8 d. where men can dig such ground for 3 d. the Rod. But if the Ground be not very wet or the Soyls surface very shallow then may you dig one yard and leave another throwing half your Earth on one side and half on the other Suppose you were to plant an Acre of Ground this way there will not be half digged especially if the ground be an oblong square but if you count it at half that is 80 Rod which at the same price 3 d. the Rod is 20 s. for if you divide 80 Three-pences by Four the Thirds in a Shilling the Quotient gives 20 then 80 Two-pences for setting is 13 s. 4 d. for if you divide 80 by 6 the Two-pences in one Shilling it gives 13 in the Quotient and 2 over which 2 Two-pences is 4 d. that is then 13 s. 4 d. and 20 s. is one pound 13 s. 4 d. charge Yet as I told you the more oblong the piece is it will cost somewhat the less provided you divide your ground into yards or as near it as you can and leave a yard next the side where you begin and one at the side where you end Having shewed you the Charge or pretty near it and also two wayes how to prepare your ground you may set Truncheons of VVater-popler all sorts of Sallowes Alder VVillowes Oziers c. of Roots Abele Popler and if not too wet Elm Ash c. Let none of these soft woods stand too long unlopt if Pollards or unfelled if Stubs for the Reasons before mentioned Of all the Poplers VVater-popler indures best lopping when great then the Abele the Asp worst when the boughs be great This VVater-popler doth not increase of a Runner as the other doth I suppose this is the same which some call the Black-popler It growes in several places about Ware by their Ditch-sides and brings them good profit and therefore you that have wet grounds get some of this to set by your Ditches one Rowe of this and one of VVillowes for if you set one of these worth a half-penny if they grow they will bring you that yearly for twenty years or more Prune all soft woods at the latter end of VVinter c. CHAP. XXVI Of Raising the Alder. THis Tree may be raised of Truncheons as the other I last writ of some say of Seeds but if you cut them about two foot and a half long and set them two foot in the ground if the ground be proper for them they will certainly grow and yield you good Profit They love a wet moorish ground and will not grow on dry ground they will grow well on your boggy Grounds which seldom yield good Grass Some advise you to fell them every third or fourth year which is good Counsel but do not deferre above five or six years the wounded place will be too great if you stay longer and with wet will grow hollow if it be great before it can overgrow the wound As for soft VVoods or Aquatick Trees fell or lop none till to wards the Spring viz. February is the best Season and the Moon encreasing CHAP. XXVII Of Raising the Withy Willowes Sallow Oziers THE Withy doth best grow on ground that is not very moyst but yet the moysture must not be far from him as on the weeping side of a Hill where some Spring breaks out or on Banks by Rivers or Ditches sides or on Banks in your Moorish ground c. The VVillow loves to grow on such like ground both this and the former are set in such places as the Water-popler is and of such sets as it is to make Pollard trees see the Chapt. before of the Water-popler
and Chap. 6. which teacheth how to set all sorts of Cuttings Remember to keep them well fenced for two or three years and to cut off all the side-shoots which they will be subject to put out below the Head and thin the head as you see it convenient leaving not above six or eight for Arms so doing will make the body of your Tree swell and lay hold on the Ground the better And as for the variety of Kinds of these and the following I shall not trouble my self to inquire after for I intend only to shew you how to Raise them not to describe them and if you know how to raise some you may then soon be able to raise them all But there is one sort more which is called the smelling VVillow which deserves to be taken notice of it shoots a great shoot bears fine broad shining green Leaves and will grow on most Grounds that are not too drye It bears a sweet beautifull Flower and worthy to be set in Orchards You that have Rivers run by your Orchards plant some of this if you have not yet if your ground be moist and pretty good it will grow mightily and yield Ornament and Profit It is easily increased of Cuttings which if set as is shewed in Chap. 6. will grow every one Only mind if your Ground have a dry Bottom then set them on the North side of a wall beside the Beauty and Smell the industrious Bees love it much It is as easily increased as any Sallow and bears as good a Lop then endeavour to make it as common From one small Plant I have Raised some hundreds and have set several in our VVood-walks at Cashiobury where they grow well notwithstanding our dry Ground but they were Rooted before I set them there I commend the like Husbandry to the Lovers of Planting And to those that are Lovers of that busie Martial Creature for it 's an Early Relief to them It may also be very plentifully increased by Laying for if it be but covered with ground it will Root Of Sallows there be three common sorts all of them love a moist Ground but that with the Round Leaf will grow on Banks as in Hedges for if you set them for Stakes they will take root And though they be no very good Fence yet they will yield good Profit The two other grow best on Moorish ground and there will yield great shoots they will grow of Cuttings much and may be increased well by Laying both which wayes you may thicken your VVoods very much but then you must keep out Cattel especially all Deer for two or three years and above They may be raised by seed as the Elm is some years for the seed is not all years good with us no more is the Elm and Line I have raised many of them of seeds in the downy substance but they be so easily increased by Cuttings and Laying that you need not trouble your self to raise them of seed It is as profitable a wood for under-wood in Woods as any you can set in them for Fire producing strong and great shoots Therefore where you stock up Trees in your Woods set two or three Sallow Truncheons with some other VVood that is subject to run as Elm Cherry Abele c. so may you have a thin wood made a thick good wood or if you have a Ground that is Moorish and will not yield good Grass then plant as is before shewed of the Water-popler and it will yield you quick and great Profit If you would see more largely of these Sallowes c. see Esquire Evelyns 19 th Chapt. He tells you you may graft Figs and Mulberries on them and that they will thrive exceedingly The first is true you may graft on them but you had best trye the other for I fear 't is borrowed from Pliny c. but I forbear Of Oziers there are several sorts and are all raised of Truncheons as the Sallow They love a moister and more Moorish ground than the Sallow or Willow The Basket-makers know best the time to fell them which may be done any time in Winter they must be kept well fenced from Cattel and thus I shall conclude of the Aquatick Trees Only let me desire all those that have Moorish ground and such as yields little Profit especially where wood is scarce but to make use of these sure Directions and I do engage you a great and certain Profit CHAP. XXVIII Of the Pine Firre Pinaster c. THese stately Trees want more Respect with us than they have And there are three things which make it so The first is Ignorance in planting them and that is they miss the right Time or Season of the Year to set them planting them when other Trees are planted as from November to March which is the very worst time in the Year but the best time to Remove these or most sorts of Greens is from mid March to the latter end or from mid August to the last which are the very best times unless for tender Greens and I shall not so much as name any of them As to the Ground they love not Dung but a fresh gravelly Soyl mixed with Loom also mind but the Roots and they will tell you that these sorts of Trees must not be set too deep therefore take heed you commit not that fault to them for if you look into Gerrards Herbal with Johnsons Additions to it pag. 1364. you are there informed by that laborious Author that Firres grow on the tops of Rocks in great plenty and also large Trees in the cold Countreys of Norway c. and of Pines that grow in the cold Countreys beyond Denmark as in Russia c. then certainly they may and will grow here in England very well if you will but mind to set and preserve them Then a second Reason why men do raise but few of these and plant but few may be because they love them not and it is with other men because they many times die or do not grow well with them and this makes them not fancy them But such Men want good Instructions and I hope I shall give them some that will make them again in Charity with these fine Trees but others there be that have ground and fit places to plant Trees in but mind them not these men do not love Trees no nor themselves nor their Posterity The third great hinderance of planting these and other Trees is there are many men that love planting and improving of Trees but are hindered by not having ground of their own convenient to plant in and if they Nurse up or plant Trees for their Landlords they many times meet with but small encouragement for so doing for many times they be turned out of their Farm before they come to perfection or if there be any that are come to be fit to fell many times another man shall have them as cheap as he that Nursed them up in
to the Ditch as you did the other side For Example suppose you make your Ditch a yard at the top and three spade or a yard deep let it slope so on both sides that it may come to a foot wide at the bottom but let the Hedge-side slope the most then if your ground be Green-sword and stiffe Land with a Turing Iron take all the Turf off the breadth of your Ditch then cut out a Triangle-piece all along next the bank turn hat upsidet down for to make the slope of your bank Lay some of the Turf you cut off or all of it on the back-side of that Triangle-piece thereon set one Row of Quick covering the Roots with Crumbs of Mould the Ditch one yard and the Bank a yard as you may see in Figure 3. where A. is the Triangle-piece cut out of the Ditch B. the piece laid on the Bank with the Turf laid grass-side downward and the Set on the top of that piece then level up the Bank till it comes level with the top of the piece B. and then lay on such another Angular piece and on the top of that a Quick-set as the other then level up as before and set another Angular piece with the Quick on the top so have you three Rowes of Quick-set which let stand about one foot from another in each Row and if your Ground or the Bank be dry set them a foot deep and if you will you may set one row on the top of the Bank but three Rowes set each against other open triangle make an excellent Fence if set as is aforesaid See Fig. 3. And note that the higher and larger you make your Bank the better your Quick will grow for this Paradox is true in planting That the more you spend the more you shall get but if your Ground be a light Soyl then you need not take off the Turf from the triangle-pieces because the Turf will make such Ground hold up the Bank the better but then it will grow out at the edge of the Angle and so will trouble you the more to weed your Quick and besides you will want it to lay in the midst of your Bank which would feed your Sets much and make them grow the better But if you would make a Stant-hedge without a Ditch the usual way is to dig a Trench about a foot and a half wide therein set two or three Rows of Quick which on good Land may prove indifferent well but if your Ground be bad or that you would make it grow and prosper well on any Land then dig a place where your Hedge must stand one yard wide and make a Bank with Earth one yard high being one yard at the bottom and narrowed by degrees to a foot at the top set two Rows of Sets on each side this Bank as is shewed before about planting the Bank by the Ditch or you may make this Bank two foot wide below and two foot high setting one Row of Quick on each side and one on the top as is before directed and ever observe that the larger you make your Banks the better your Sets will grow as is before noted You may if your Fence be near to an High-way have Earth sufficient from thence to make this bank which will be a little fence of it self and help the growth of your Sets much or you may slope off your ground a foot deep by this Bank and some ten foot off come out to the Level of the Ground there may you furnish your self with Earth to make the Bank plowing or digging up that ground where you took off the Earth adding a little Dung to it which you may sowe in the Spring with Corn or Hay-seed and your Ground in little time will be never the worse especially if the Soyl be good Thus having set your Hedge cut off all the sets within one inch or two of the ground and keep them weeded for two or three years and when they have shot two years on good or three years on indifferent ground cut them off within three Inches of the ground but if there be some places too thin there lay down some into the gaps and cover them and the rest over one Inch with Mould leaving the Ends of the the Layers out which will draw Root and thicken your Hedge Let his be practised at all times when you make or lay your Hedges But note if your Hedge be set with Crab or Apple-stocks that you leave one standing uncut up at every twenty foot or at every ten or twelve foot if the Ground be your own on both sides the Hedge then may you so order them by pruning or staking that one may lean into one ground and the other into another c. Prune up these Stocks yearly till you have got them out of Cattels reach and then graft them with Red-strake Jennit-moyl or what Syder or other Fruit you please but if your Stocks be of Apple-kernels you may let them stand ungrafted and they will yield you very good Syder-fruit but Stocks ungrafted will be the longer before they bear and also when you graft you may be certain of your Kind but if you find a very natural Stock that is likely by Leaf Shoot and Bud try it by so doing you may have a new fine Fruit if you like it not you may graft it when you please The rest of the Hedge when it hath shot three or four year you may Lay for to make a fence of it self for you must mind to keep it from Cattel till it comes to be Laid and one or two years after And now to Lay it I shall give some few Rules which may direct you when you Lay any Fence-hedge of what sort of wood soever it be First at every Laying lay down some old Plashes or young ones if your Hedge be thin but let them point with their Ends to the Ditch-side of the Bank keeping the ends low on the Bank they will the better thicken the bottom of your Hedge and keep up the Earth of your Bank Secondly At every Laying lay Earth on your Bank to heighten it and to cover your Layers all but the Ends which Earth will help your Quick much and make the Fence the better by heightning the Banks and deepning your Ditch Thirdly Do not cut your Plashes too much but just so much as they may well bend down and do not lay them so upright as some of our Work-men doe but lay them near to a Level the Sap will break out at several places the better and not run so much to the ends as it will when they lie much sloping If you have Wood to spare cut up most of those that grow near the Ditch but hang the Bank then with Bushes to keep the Cattel from cropping them the first year these will shoot strong and secure your Hedge well keep up the Bank and thicken the bottom of your Hedge c. Fourthly
Basis by one third of the Altitude the solid Content of the Figure is had which you may value at such a price as Fire-wood beareth with you I will give you one Example and it shall be of an Ash which was felled in a place called the Old Orchard by the Stables at Cashiobury This tree I observed by several of the Rules before and found it to be 80 foot high from the ground to the top-shoot I also observed the height of the Timber to be 56 foot long by the same Rules then setting a Ladder to this Tree about 25 foot high I girthed it with a pack-thred which place I took for the middle girth being the Tree did not taper and it girthed 64 Inches upon the Bark But most men that buy timber by the foot have the Bark taken off at the girthingplace or an Allowance for the Bark but you may readily know the girth of the Tree under the Bark though the Tree be standing or lying without ever taking off the Bark or making Allowance by ghess as some doe which to perform find with your Penknife or Prickers the thickness of the Bark or you may cut a hole thorow the Bark in the girthing-places or two or three holes and then observe the mean thickness As on the foresaid Tree the Bark was half an Inch thick doubled makes one Inch so then the tree is less by one Inch in the Diameter when the Bark is off then by this general Rule as 22 is to 7 so is the Circumference to the Diameter Examp. by the Line of Numbers Extend your Compasses from 22 to 7 the same extent will reach from 64 to 20 and near a half for the Diameter of the Circumference of 64. Examp. by Arithmetick As 22 to 7 so is 64 to 20 8 22 the Diameter But the Bark taking one Inch off from this Diameter it is then 19 Inches and 8 22 then to find the true Circumference under the Bark agreeing to this Diameter say thus As 7 to 22 so is 19 8 22 to 61 the Circumference or near it For if you extend the Compasses from 7 to 22 the same will reach from 19 8 22 to 61 very near Or you may turn this 8 into a Decimal Fraction for as 22 is to 100 so is 8 to 36 of 100 and near a ½ Thus by four turns of your Compasses on the Line of Numbers you may in a moment find the Circumference under the Bark which here we find to be 61 then according to the customary way of measuring though not the true way take one fourth part of the Circumference and say As 12 is to this ¼ part of the Circumference in Inches so is the Length in feet twice repeated to the content in feet or parts Examp. The fourth part of 61 is 15 and ¼ Inches extend your Compasses from the point 12. on your Line of Numbers to 15 ¼ that extent will reach from 56 to 91 foot and neer a half being twice turned to the Right hand which must alwayes be if the ¼ of your Circumference be more than 12 Inches if less then to the Left hand Thus having found the Timber of this Tree to be 91 foot and a half which must be valued according to the worth of Timber in the place where you are here I will value it at 12 d. the foot though it was sold with courser Timber at an under-price this at 12 d. the foot comes to 4 l. 11 s. 6 d. Now to measure the head of this Tree according to our supposed Rule aforesaid if you take 56 the Length of the Timber from 80 the height of the Tree there remains 24 foot for the head This 24 foot which is the head two parts of it I measure as a solid Cylinder and one part as a Cone for if you girt all the boughs a little above where they break out from the Timber and adde the several girths together they will girth more than the Timber where the head was cut off two parts of the 24 foot is 16 which I measure by the same Rule I did the Timber by the Line of Numbers and the same Girt As 12 is to 15½ the square in Inches So is 16 the Length in feet twice repeated to 26 foot ¾ for the ⅔ of the Head Now for the ⅓ of the Head which must be measured as a solid Cone we must find the Basis and multiply the Content thereof by one third of the Altitude The Circumference of the Basis was 61 but I will take it now for 60 Inches then as before As 22 is to 7 so is 60 the Circumference to the Diameter which is 19 and a little more that which is more I neglect as not worth minding in such a business as this Half 60 is 30 half 19 is 9 and ½ Ex. to work it by the Line of Numbers Extend the Compasses from 1 to 9 and ½ the same will reach from 30 to 285 the Content in Inches of the Basis then ⅓ of 8 foot is 32 Inches Then say As 1 to 32 so is 285 to 9120 Inches which divided by 1728 the In. in one foot square is 5 foot and ¼ and a little more this added to 26 foot ¾ make 32 foot for the Head which at a Groat per foot is 10 s. 8 d. But this must be valued according the Countrey you are in So according to these Rules this Tree was worth 5 l. 2 s. 2 d. there was of the Head one Stack and near a quarter and 12 Faggots it cost 3 s. per Stack to cut out and was worth in the place where it stood 10 s. You see how near the Rule agrees with this tree but if the tree stands hanging down hill it will then endanger the Timber in falling or if you fear the Timber to be faulty or some of the Arms blown off you must judge-accordingly c. It is oft found in your great Elms and Ashes that they be hollow within and yet good Timber on the out-sides especially some length of them toward or at the lower end Now I will shew you how you may judge very near the Quantity of Timber that is in one of these trees or a piece of them according to the customary way Examp. A piece of a Tree 12 foot long and hollow and decayed wood at one end 12 Inches Diameter at the other end hollow and decayed 6 Inches Diam The piece was 26 Inches Diameter under the Bark First I measure the piece as if all sound Timber then the hollow and decayed by its Diameter that being deducted from the piece sheweth how much found Timber there is in foot and parts measured the customary way As 7 to 22 so 26 to 81 5 7 the Circumference the ¼ of it is 20 and ¼ and somewhat more as 12 to 20 ¼ in Inches so is 12 the Length in feet twice Repeated to 39 foot and ½ the Content as if it were all sound Then for the hollow
Alder Water-Poplers any sort of Apple that hath a black burry Knot breaking out of the Boughs that Knot if set a Foot deep in good Ground and the top a Foot out is apt to grow Some sorts of Wildings Codlings Gennitings some Sweetings the smiling Willow Quinces Tamarisk Lawrel Firr Box c. The time that I have spoke on for Laying your Layers is also the very best time for Setting of Cuttings which you may see in the fore-going Chapter to be in August for those sorts of Trees that hold their Leaves and October for those Trees that cast their Leaves in Winter Those sorts of Trees that do grow of Cuttings are common therefore you may take your choice the better for the bigness of your Cuttings which I Advise you to let be from half an Inch to one Inch Diameter If they be less than half an Inch Diameter then they will be weak with a great Pith which Pith will take wet and be likely to Kill your Cutting And besides when your Cuttings be so small they be not prepared with those pores as at present I name them that is little black specks on the Bark where the Root breaks out I suppose if Set in the Ground or else Almighty God for a Sign to shew Man that those that have that Mark upon them will grow as your Elder Alder Sallow Water-Poplers c. hath and also if they be Young they then have not that burry Knot which is very apt to take Root as your Codlings and some sorts of Apples have in hard Wood the Younger the better But if they be greater than one Inch Diameter then the top of your Cutting will be long in covering over therefore may somewhat decay your Cutting by the wet lying on the Head so much But you may Set your Willow and Water-Popler of a greater size because they be Set for Pollard where Cattle come therefore they must be great and high to be out of their harming the sooner but the other size is most proper for your Hedges and VVoods If you set them by a Crow of Iron or by an Instrument which they have about Cambridge that bores a hole in the Earth somewhat like to an Auger Let the Foot be free from cracks cut smooth at bottom and the top of your Cutting the like but let your top be slanted off take care you do not rub up the Bark when you set your Cuttings therefore make your holes large when you set them and ram or tread the Earth close to them keeping them moist the first Summer and let the slant cut off the Head hang downward and if your Cutting be choise put a little soft VVax on the Head and Foot to keep out Air and VVet VVhen you set any Tree or Trees in your VVoods or Hedges be mindful to put in one or two Cuttings with them it will not be much time lost to do it but well spent as I have often proved CHAP VII Of such sorts of Trees as may be Raised by the Roots of another Tree and how to Raise them AS for such sorts of Trees which may be Raised onely from part of a Root of another Tree there be many but of those that I have made Experience I shall in this place give an Account First Let the Tree be a thriving Tree but not too Young nor an Old Tree For if it be too Young then the Roots will be too small for this purpose if too Old 't is possible the Roots may be a decaying and then not fit for this purpose Let the Roots be from a quarter of an Inch to an Inch and a half Diameter and from some Young thriving Tree is the best for in them the Sap is plentiful and therefore will put forth the greater shoot then in the latter end of February or the beginning of March digg round the Trees you intend to increase from till you find such Roots as before are mentioned and taking your Knife cut them three or four Inches from the great Root smooth at the place you cut off then Raise up that end putting in the Earth to keep it up that when your Ground is levelled again the end of this Root so cut off may be two or three Inches above Ground I do Judge the fore-said time of the Year to be the best for then the Sun hastning to the Vernal Equinoctial or rather this Star of the Earth to Libra the Sun having heat and a stronger drawing faculty on the Head of the Tree draweth by its secret influence on the several Branches on the Head and the Head from the Body and both Head and Body from the Roots and the Roots being furnished with Sap from the Earth to supply the Body and the Head is then the fitter to produce with that Sap a new Tree likelier than when 't is in its full Sap viz. in Summer for then the abundance of Sap will rather choak a Bud than produce one out of the Root if the Root be of such sort as will produce Trees from part of the Roots and then the Weather is so hot that it suffocates a new Bud that will be so full of Sap as that will be if any and as to the opening of the Roots at that Season how unnatural 't is to the roots of the Mother-Tree you may easily Judge And then to do this in Winter though there is a continual Motion and Ascending of the Sap from the Roots unless Accidentally hindred by Frosts all the Year long for Nature is no Sluggard yet to cut the Roots then and to expose them thus cut as afore-said to the extremity of the Weather which then usually is great the Frost and VVet pierce that new wound so much that 't is more likelier to Ruine than to Increase its Kind but if it doth Live the Spring is the time when it will Bud therefore by Consequence the best My Reason for cutting the Root two or three Inches off from the great Root is then that two or three Inches of the Root will put forth many Roots at the end especially if smooth cut off and so the better for the Tree from whence you take the Roots Thus much for the manner of Raising by part of Roots the Kinds which may be thus Raised are these that follow viz. Elm Maple Poplar Aspen Abete Cherry Crab-tree Plumb VVhite bush Serves c. CHAP. VIII What Soyl or Dung is best for Trees or their Seeds c. ANY sort of Dung that is very hot of it self as Pigeons Hens-dung Sea-Coal or VVood-Ashes Soot or Malt-dust such or as heats after 't is laid in the Ground as Horse-dung and Horse-Litter or Green Grass or VVeeds these or the like unless a small Quantity and in very cold Ground are better saved than used for Trees especially Forest-trees some Reasons may be given for this First their Fore-Fathers have not met with such Kindness therefore their Children do not nor cannot digest it so well Secondly these sorts
is broken Bricks and Stones and Lime is very good for the Roots of Trees in a stiffe cold Ground the Reason is told you Chalk broken small into pieces is a very good Compost for stiffe cold grounds There is much difference in Chalk but that which is soft fat Chalk is good for such Ground as aforesaid and for ground that is not very stiffe Let your Reason instruct you further Lime is a very rare Compost for cold Grounds and stiffe Clayes for its heat causeth a fume and its tenderness makes way for the Roots to fetch home their Nourishment and its heat is great at first therefore lay not on too much on no ground and let that be slacked If your dry ground be it your Tree delight to grow in and you are forced to set them on wet then adde some of this Lime among your Earth Clay especially that sort which is a light Brick-Earth is very good for such Land that is a light shovey Gravel or hath too much sand in it Such grounds as these they do not retain the spirit of Plants for when Nature hath by the two Lovers Star-Fire and VVater generated their Babe such ground as this doth drink down too fast and again doth drye too hastily so that the water cannot have time to leave nor to prepare its slime which is the Mercury that makes that fume which feeds all Plants and their seeds But this Clay must not be digged too deep for then it wanteth of that which feedeth Plants c. I have taken the green Slime that is common in standing waters I do not mean the Frogs Spawn which is cast many times into this and have dryed it and beat it into fine dust and then have mixed it with good fresh Earth and have found very good success in raising several sorts of Flower-seeds and others Though I have Notes of them yet it is out of my Road to speak of them now being I am Writing of the stately Forrest-trees However I may its possible write somewhat of them if the Lord permits and according as I find these few Lines Accepted of by some of the Royal Oaks of this our Age. For I do suppose that there is not one thing in Gardening yet well known For as a Learned Author hath it he that knows a thing well must know what it was is and shall be Therefore all humane Knowledge is but a shadow of superficial Learning reflecting upon mans Imagination but not the least thing comprehended substantially But to the business in hand take Clay or Loom and lay it on your Ground not too thick the beginning of Winter and there let it be till the Frost hath made it fall into Mould then in some dry open time harrow it all over and if it be Ground you plow then plow it in a drye time but if it be Ground you trench for Forrest or Fruit-trees observe to order it so for by thus doing the Clay will mix with the Sand or Gravel much the better The better that any man cheweth his Meat it is certainly the easier to digest and the dryer you put it into your ground provided it hath but time to water it self well before your trees be set 't is the better for then it draws the Mercury and stores it up till the Roots have occasion for it for 't is quickly exhaled out of sand but the Clay holds his store till a time of Necessity and then contributes to the Roots that is in drye weather and the smaller you make it to mix with your ground the likelier the small Roots as well as the great are to meet with it Note further that the smaller your Plants be the finer must your Earth be made by skreening fifting beating turning c. I know by good success this to be true for the Right Honourable my Lord and the more to be honoured because a great Planter and as great a Lover thereof gave me order to make three Walks of Line-trees from the New Garden to the New Bowling-green and withall to make them descend towards the House as neer as we could which to doe I was forced to cut through one Hill thirty Rod most of the Hill two foot-deep into a sharp Gravel and the greatest part of all the length of the Walks was the same they being Trees that I raised of Seeds most of them and the rest of Layers at Hadham-Hail they being with my Lord ever since their Minority and he many times their Barber engaged him to have the more particular Kindness for them therefore he ordered me to doe what I thought good in preparing the ground for them which I did as followeth First I levelled the Hill and when I had brought the Ground neer to the Level concluded on I staked out my ground where every Tree should stand and then ordered my holes to be made for my Trees each hole three foot-deep and four foot-wide being the ground was so bad This I did neer a Year before I set my Trees and having the convenience of Brick-Earth near I got near a Load to every hole and mixed this with the Earth digged out of the Holes turning it over twice and in dry weather throwing out the greatest Stones but the Turf I did throw into each Hole the grass-side downward as soon as they were made but the Hill of Gravel I trenched that with Loom Cow-dung and the Litter under the Cow-racks two Spade deep and five foot on each side every row of Trees Thus having prepared my ground and the season of the year come about the beginning of November 1672. I had the Trees taken up with good help as carefully as I could and carried to Cashiobury the place of their now Abode and then having good store of help and good Mould prepared of the smallest and finest I set the Trees with the upper part of the Roots of each Tree level with the top of the Ground making a round hill half a foot high about every tree and the Compass of the Hole Having prun'd the heads of each Tree and cut off the bruised Roots and the Ends of such roots as were broken I sorted the Trees and observed this Method in placing them namely I set the highest next the Bowling-green and so shorter and shorter till the lowest were next to the Garden which I did for these Reasons Next the Green was the worst Ground and the Trees more in danger of being spoyled by reason of a Market-path that goeth cross that end of the VValks to Watford Thus having set my Trees streight in their Rows and trod the Earth close to their Roots and made my Hills I then laid round every Tree upon those Hills wet Litter taken off from the Dung-hill a good Barrow-full to every Tree and covered that with a little Mould leaving them to take their rest for a time but early in the Spring I found them to begin their Progress and that Summer they had such Heads
and for Trees or Plants that shoot much in a year for it yields a great Fume and such Plants can well dispose of it Cow-dung is a good Soyl for most Trees or Plants of hot Ground and better for durable Plants than it is for Annuals It is Excellent for many sorts of rare Flowers if first it be thorow-rotten and then dryed and beaten to dust and some fresh fine Earth then mixed well with it Deers-dung is much of the Nature of Cows or Bullocks but 't is more proper for tender and smaller Plants Sheeps-dung is also of the same Nature but more agreeable to tender and small Seeds and Plants By this our Yeomen and Farmers find good profit by Folding their Sheep every Night on their own Lands for there they find a far certain benefit on their Ground by the Dung and Urine which the Sheep make in one Night though it is not long lasting yet 't is a sure help for the first Crop and a good Addition to the second This may teach you that a thin sprinkling of dung is more sure most years for your Corn-Land than greater Quantities and also that to break your dung small is best for the smaller the better especially if you have laid it on your Ground not long before you sow especially for your Summer-crops from this I do Advise my Ingenuous Country-men of these few Rules which are spoken before To well Observe the Nature of your Land and by so doing to enrich it with such Soyl and Dung as is most Natural to the Ground and to the Seeds you intend to sow on it and to lay it on your Ground at the most convenient times First as to the Ground I have hinted at many useful Composts and also that several of them are far more proper for some Grounds than they are for others though there be many more sorts that may be and are made use of to very good Effect yet I shall not trouble my self nor you with the naming any more knowing that he that Understands to Number to 20 in Arithmetick may soon count to a 100. Now as to the Seed you intend to sow whether it be of Trees Plants or any sort of Grain the smaller your Seed is make the ground the finer the quicker your Seeds be of growth and the more they run into stalks or leaves your dung may then be the newer and stronger and the more in Quantity according to the Digestion of your Plants But if for Trees or Plants of long lasting then let the dung be the more rotten and the more they be apt to shoot great shoots the more you may allow them but let them be sure of some such Ground as they Naturally delight to grow in and also to allow them room that is large enough for High and Lofty Spirits do not love to be Confined to little and small Cottages And as for laying it on your Ground if the time be the Spring that is most proper to sow your Seed then lay such dung as is hot and dry early on your Ground and rather erre in too little than too much such dungs as be your Pigeons Hens Sea-coal-ashes c. But if they be hot and moist such as Horse-dung Horse-litter or Green grass Hay c. these be most proper for Annuals and it is not good to be too sparing toward these tender Plants rather erre in keeping your dung too dry than too wet for in so doing you shall keep its heat the longer and have the more Command to keep it so But if you have occasion to lay dung on Ground to help such Trees or Plants as are not Annual but more slow in their progress then mix such dung thin and not too near the Roots but if it be the Autumn Season that you have occasion to lay it on your Land then lay it something thicker for the Winter will qualifie the strength and heat of it To conclude if you are to lay dung on Land that you are to sow with Seed that doth not run much into stalks and is but slow in growing then do as our Farmers do let it be rotten and mixed well with Mould before you lay it on your Land and then your Grain or Seed will the better agree with it or else you may find on your Land strong great Weeds such as the Ground is most inclined to for strong Land will produce the stronger Weeds and the other contrary Therefore if your Dung be too rank and new for the Seed you intend to Sow your Ground with then mix it with some other Compost as is most proper for your Land and most convenient to be had and if your Land be stiff then mix it with Chalk Light Sandy Ground or somewhat of the like Nature laying a good quantity of Earth first then your Dung and then Earth to cover your Dung all over by so doing you will save that Oyly water which will soak from the Dung by showers of Rain into the Earth under the dung and by covering your dung with Earth it will keep the Sun from drying out that moisture and whatever Fumes arise the Earth on the top will receive be sure you let it not grow with Weeds on the top but when you find them to appear take them off and suffer none to grow on your Compost or turn it over and mix it with your Earth below however let it be mixed together before you lay it on your Land Thus do with New Horse-dung and Litter but if it be any other dung lay it on your Land as soon as Opportunity serveth for the longer you let it lie the more it loseth of its strength therefore lay it on rather too thin and in dry weather and early To assist Nature do thou not neglect Vse her not Roughly lest there be defect Thus much may serve for Trees but if it be for Flowers or other fine and tender Plants you then must be more Curious and mix your Earth better but they be out of my Road at this time The main business is to prepare your Ground so that there may be room for the roots to run in to fetch their Nourishment As for Trees and Plants that root deep trench your Ground accordingly c. Now for to please the Tree or Plant with such Earth as it delights to be in add such a quantity of dung as may be sutable to the growth of your Tree or Plant thereby to make a fume to feed it for let this fume be made of what it will for-my part I shall not contend whether it be Salt Sulphur or Mercury or as some affirm that 't is Salt Sulphur Mercury and Spirit All or any one of these that feeds the Plants of this Terrestrial Globe or if it be Fire Earth Water or Air as was formerly the Opinion of the Learned for Sulphur or Brimstone may answer to Fire Salt to the Earth Mercury to Water Spirit to Air. For 't is certain that
well and Seeds and small Plants often use not VVell-water especially for tender Plants for it is so strained thorow the Earth that it hath little spirit to mak Nourishment in it for Plants Rivers that run quick and long on sharp gravel are little better therefore if you must use such let them stand some time in the Sun in Tubs c. mixed with Dung Let the Quantity and Quality of your Dung be according to the Nature of your Plants as if your Plants be great growers and require heat then put Horse-dung c. in the water If your Plants be fine and tender then put Sheeps Dung or Cows-dung c. into the water remembring that if you think your ground be bad you must adde the more Dung If your VVater be bad as is aforesaid and that you put Dung into it to help it let it then stand in the Sun and open Aire uncovered Take care you water no Plants with standing stinking Ditch water nor no water that stinketh for sweet water not too clear and fresh Mould not musty or tainted by stinking weeds c. is as proper for tender Plants as sweet and good Food and warm and clean Lodging is to a tender fine-bred man Rain-water I take to be very good if not too long kept yet if your Vessel be large the oftner you stirre it the longer it will keep sweet Large and Navigable Rivers such as our Thames that receive much Soyl by the washing of Streets and the many Sinks that run into it and which by its own motion doth cleanse it self from that which is noxious both to Man and Plants is a most excellent Water for all sorts of Plants The larger that Ponds be the better their water is for Plants and if they have the shoot of some Stable-yard into them it addes much to their goodness the opener they be to the Sun the better and the more of motion they have as by Horses washing in them or Geese or Ducks swimming in them 't is so much the better for the swimming of Ducks in Summer in your small Ponds will keep the Water from smelling Now having shewed you several wayes of raising Forrest-trees with some other hints of their Seed c. and of Compost for them and of VVater and VVatering them I now shall shew you the manner how to raise them of Seed which is to be preferred before all others though some of the aforesaid wayes for some Trees are much easier and quicker Good Aire for Plants as well as Men is much assisting to their Health and Life for without this nothing can live and that which is most healthfull for tender Men is also the best for tender Plants Aire takes up the earthy Exhalations of all sorts and there mingles them together and being touched with Coelestial Fire it reduceth them into general Principles for great uses I shall say no more of Aire for it is an Hermaphrodite and is inclosed in Water therefore near a-kin to it CHAP. X. Of the Oaks Raising and Improving I Shall not trouble you with the several kinds there be though the Learned J. Evelyn Esq Reduceth them to four in his Discourse of Forest-Trees but if they were distinguished by several Names as we do our Pears you might find as many varieties onely according to the shape and taste of the Acorn for as we know by Experience that several of our Pear-Trees grow Pyramid-like as the Oakman-berry and Bordon-Musk-Pears c. And some likewise grow much spreading as the Winter-Bonchristian the back Pear of Worcester c. Even so do some of your Oaks therefore if you desire aspiring Trees take care to gather your Acorns off from such Trees or rather gather them from under some such Trees when fallen and in a dry time if you can When you have so done lay your Acorns thin in some open Room to dry and when they be dry keep them in some dry place till the latter end of January and having prepared some good fresh Loomy Ground by digging and keeping it clean before-hand sow them and let them be covered about an Inch and a half or two Inches deep by sowing them at this time you shall save a great many which otherwise would have been spoyled by Mice or other Vermin but if it happen to be a wet time when they fall then will they begin to spear out in a short time after And then so soon as you see them shoot forth a little bud at the small ends commit them to their Spouse as soon as may be for when they be come to the time that the Almighty hath alotted them and be sed and made lusty by the dews and showers of the Heavens then the Star-fire impregnats the Moysture in the seed and then the seed throws off or endeavours to do it and then takes his Lodging in the Earth where he prepares a room for his Off-spring that is as soon as the seed hath imbibed himself in the Water and received heat for without both these no seeds can produce its kinds the Body of the Acorn cracks and the spear shoots into the Earth and as soon as it hath got Entertainment there and the Season of the year agreeable the Body of the seed either turns into leaves or spends it self into leaves and that little small part of the seed the spear that shoots forth Root and then shot and leaves so that if the Acorn hath had a convenient quantity of heat and moisture but if too much of either of these that is deadly to all seeds then the seed spears forth and if it be not committed to the Ground before it be dryed and the spear withered then for certain that Seed Acorn Nut or Stone will never grow For Nature if once set on Motion will rather cease to be than alter its course for Nature hates violence neither can the seed receive this precious sperm without these two Father and Mother and these two must have a sutable Agreement between them for though one Vessel be sufficient to perfect the Infant in the Womb yet Nature hath not been wanting to provide several Breasts to Nourish it Therefore if your Acorns have taken wet and the heat hath made them spear you must sow them as soon as you can and venture them a whole Winter in the Ground remembring to keep some Traps set to catch the Mice In the Spring following they will come up keep them clean from Weeds and let them stand two or three years on their first bed then having prepared a piece of good fresh Ground by adding some rotten dung to it if poor or good fresh Rich Ground which is better than dung cut the tap-root and the side-boughs and set them as you do other Trees in your Nurseries keep your Ground with digging and the Trees with pruning up every year thus Order them till you find them fit to Remove and you will then find no such hazard in the Removing them as if
they were never Transplanted before for there is a great deal of Reason to be given that the oftner you Remove a Tree the likelier 't is to grow when it is Removed again provided it be not too great Besides Experience doth plainly shew the same for I have often found that a Walnut-Tree set of a Nut and never-removed in its Minority but still keeping his place of Situation till it is six or seven Foot high that in Removing such a Tree you shall find near as much hazard in the growing of that Tree as in Removing an Oak of the same stature provided the Oak hath had his Abode in open Air and not been tenderly Nursed up in a Wood for such Trees let them be of what kind you will are nice to be removed out of their warm Habitation But at this I have hinted before Now to shew you some Reason why any Tree being Removed before is the likelier to grow when removed again Observe these few Rules First 'T is the Nature of all Trees to put forth one Root first and then some side-roots according to the Kind and Nature of the Ground and this most stately Tree doth commonly run to the bottom of the Soyl that is fit for his Nourishment before it puts forth many side-roots especially in a loose hollow Ground and then at the end of the tap-root it puts forth feeding Roots and when this Tree comes to be pretty big it having few feeding Roots near home the Tree can hardly be taken up well without losing most of them which will be a great hazard to the loss of your Tree Secondly But when a Tree is taken up young as at one two or three years old then there is but small head so that a little Root will maintain that and then this little Root lying not deep and in a little compass of Ground may be taken up with less loss to the proportion of the Head than a greater Thirdly When you have taken up these young Trees in cutting off the end of the tap-root and the ends of the greatest of the others those very ends so cut off with the slope lowermost will at that place put forth many small Roots which lying near to the Body of the Tree are the easier to be taken up with the Tree when 't is Removed again Lastly Custom in Removing of Trees tends somewhat to their growing being Removed for I sansie that if you could get some Acorns of an Oak that had with his Fore-Fathers been accustomed to Removing as our Apple-stocks are I do Judge it would be then as patient of changing his Habitation as they From that which hath been said I hope you will conclude with me that 't is best to Remove either Forest-Trees or others when young for if you Remove them when they be older the better the Ground is the more the Tree runs down with a tap-root therefore if never Removed before the worse to remove off from such a Ground Thus having Ordered these Young Trees till you have Nursed them up to the stature of six or seven Foot high you may afterwards Transplant them into your Walks Wood or where else your Fancy pleaseth onely in Transplanting Observe this Make your holes four Foot wide and two Spade deep at least half a year or a quarter at least before the time of Planting if it be a year 't is the better provided you keep that Mould which you threw out of the holes clean from Weeds and Grass by turning it over as Occasion requires and if you think your Ground be poor or of some contrary Soyl to what your Tree Naturally delights to grow in mix it with some such like Earth as your Tree doth best delight to grow in as for an Oak if your Ground be Gravelly mix it then with the upper Spade of Ground that is a Brick-Earth turning these together with the Earth you did throw out of the holes if Clay mix it then with a light Loom or a fat Sand or small Gravel and if the Ground be poor a little laying of rotten dung in the bottom of your holes but let none be among your Earth when you set your Trees that is to touch the roots of them Having thus prepared your holes for your Tree and your Earth if your Ground be a dry Soyl then begin as soon as you find the Leaf to fall that is in October 'T is not the Hill or Valley North or South Situation which makes the finer or tougher Grain but if there be a seeding Ground on the top of an Hill or on the North side more than there is in the Valley or South-side there then will be the toughest Timber for where a Tree grows most in a year that Oak is the toughest Timber and there that Tree shall have the most sap as on a deep Loomy Ground But let it be Hill or Valley if it be a shallow ground and the bottom Gravel and not mixed with Loom or Clay there Oaks will grow slow and the Annual Circles being close together the Timber must then be the finer Grained and the sap of such Oaks is little as I have many times Observed Experience and Reason which I have alwayes hitherto taken with me as Guides in my Travel and Search after Nature have confirmed me in this A light Brick-Earth or a Loomy-Clay produce the stateliest Oaks soonest and toughest Timber for there they grow quickest Your Clays produce great Oaks for that is a holding Ground although they grow sometimes slow yet they last long Your Gravel produceth many Oaks and streight they grow slow the Timber is fine and they decay while they be young the Reasons of this I have told you before Having made Ready your Holes and taken up your Trees well I Advise you to open the Earth well round your Tree keeping the side of your Spade to the Body of your Tree to prevent Cutting the Roots when you take them up and also to digg deep round the Tree that when you come to pull up your Tree it may come up easily which will prevent those Roots which grow Elbow-like which if they do not break off in pulling up by straining them to pull up they will crack so in the Elbow that they will never grow nor put forth Roots below that place therefore for such Trees as be ticklish to Remove take the more time lest you verifie the Old Proverb which saith Too much haste Oft makes waste Such Roots as you find Bruised or much Cracked cut them off till you come at firm sound Root Such Trees as are slow-growers as the Oak is you may prune up to the smaller Head as if your Tree be taper and streight you may prune up such a Tree to one shoot but if your Tree be not taper then leave two side-boughs or more to receive some of the Sap which will make the shoot that you intend shall lead to make the body of the Tree the smaller and so
from it till the next Year or rather longer then take it up at a fit Season and you will find it will at those ends where the Roots were cut off have drawn many tender young Roots apt to take and sufficient for the Tree wheresoever you shall transplant him further to facilitate the Removal of such great Trees or small ones that are ticklish to Remove for the Adornment of some particular place or the rarity of the Plant there is this Expedient A little before the hard Frosts surprise you make a Trench about your Tree at such distance from the stemme as you judge sufficient for the Roots dig this so deep till you come lower than the side-roots if your Ground be a dry Ground water the Hill of Earth the Frosts will lay hold on it the more but commonly in Winter before Frosts we have showers saves you that Labour then lay some Litter in the bottom of your Trench which will keep that part from freezing in case you have Occasion to undermine it more to loosen it when you take it up as is very likely you will Thus let it stand till some hard Frost do bind the Earth firmly to the Roots and then convey it to the Pit or Hole prepared for its new station having before covered the Earth by with some Horse-Litter to keep that Earth from freezing which Mould will then be ready to cover that clod round the Root of the Tree and the ends of the Roots and so secure it the better and that Litter will do well to lay round the Tree on the top of the Ground But in case the Tree be very great and the Mould about the Roots be so ponderous as not to be removed by an ordinary force you must then have a Gin or Crane such a one as they have to Load Timber with and by that you may weigh it out of its place and place the whole upon a Trundle or Sledge to convey it to the place you desire and by the afore-said Engine you may take it off from the Trundle and set it in its hole at your pleasure By this Address you may transplant trees of a great stature without the least Disorder and by taking off the less of their Heads which is of great Importance where this is practised to supply a Defect or remove a Curiosity I do suppose that one of these small Cranes or Gins would be very useful to those that have a great many pretty big trees to take up in their Nurseries especially such as have strong and tough Roots for if the Ground were but well loosened round the Roots and a Rope well fastened a little above the Ground to the stemme of the tree I dare engage that this way one Man with a Lever shall draw up more than ten Men And besides this will draw upright which is better than drawing on one side as many are forced to do You must have on the lower end of the three Legs pieces of Plank to keep it from sinking too far into the loose Ground I have now one a making and hereafter I shall be able to give you a better Account of it than now the onely Inconvenience I think of at present is in fastening the Rope about the Tree so that it may not slide or gall the tree but a piece of good Leather about four or five Inches broad with three or four Straps to come through so many holes when it is fastened to the Rope they may all be strained alike this I suppose will do your work The afore-said Learned Author Adviseth you before you take up trees to mark them all on one side the better to place that side to point to the same Aspect it did before For Oaks growing on the North side of an Hill are more Mossie than those that grow on the South-side this I grant because that side is Colder and Wetter for it is Cold and Wet Ground that breeds Moss most and that gets from the Ground upon the Trees Also he says that Apple-trees standing in a Hedge-row after the Hedge was taken away the Apple-trees did not thrive so well as they did before for want of the shelter of the Hedge I say that if the Hedge-row had drawn up the Apple-trees so as to make them top-heavy they might not thrive so well but if they were not the shelter being taken away they would thrive the better unless by thriving he means growing in height See Lord Bacon's Natural History p. 113. For a tree pent up cannot spread But as for placing the South-side of a tree South again this is not to the purpose for the greatest time that Trees grow in is from the Suns entring into Aries to his entring into Libra and all that time that is half a Year the Tree hath the Sun on the North-side both Morning and Evening and the North side hath the benefit of warming it self later in the Evening and earlier in the Morning having two hours time earlier and two later in the height of Summer more than the South-side Again you shall have the Cold be as much on the South-side of a Wall or Tree in the Night as on the North if the Wind blow on the South-side therefore I do Judge that to place a Tree the South-side South again signifieth little though the same Author saith p. 88. and the Author of the Book Called Mathematical Recreations p. 75. saith That a Tree groweth more on the South-side than on the North I have oft Observed the Annual Circles and have found as many nay more to the contrary for thus I have always found on a Tree near the Ground the Annual Circles have been the greatest on that side from which most of the great Roots came As if a Tree grow on the South-side of a Bank you shall find the Circles on that Tree to be greatest on the North-side c. but higher on a Tree the Circles are ever greatest on that side the Tree where there is a great Bough breaks out for the Sap has great recourse thither many times by sudden cold some is stayed by the way and so increaseth that side of the Tree most For I take the Sap of a Tree if the Weather be open that is of those Trees that shed their Leaves to be still ascending into the Head though it be Mid-winter though there do not rise enough to keep the Leaves on nor to make it bud forth yet it is plain that it keeps the buds full and fresh and increaseth the growth of the Tree for that same pory substance of the Tree which is between every Annual Circle that is made by the Winter-sap and the milder the Winter is the greater you shall find this to be as is visible in Ash Oak Elm c. The other which is more hard and clear is increased by the Sap in Summer and the more feeding the Summer is by showers the more shall the Circles increase on dry Ground and according
such up you spoyl their spearing by breaking it off or by letting in the drye Aire and so kill it therefore keep your Beds clean from weeds and about the middle or latter end of August they will be come up About the midst of September sift a little richer Mould all over the Bed but not so much as to cover them thus doe the next Summer and take off the side â— boughs though young and when they have stood two years on that Bed then plant them on beds in your Nursery keeping them with digging and pruning up yearly till you have got them to the stature you think convenient to plant abroad In setting this or any sort of Tree forget not to top the ends of the tap-root or other long ones and also not to leave a bruised End uncut off You may set them in streight lines in your Nursery about a yard one Row from another and about a foot and a half one Tree from another in the Rowes mind the Natural depth it first did grow at and set it so when you remove it have a care of setting any Tree too deep and also keep not this Tree nor a Walnut long out of the ground for their spongy Roots will in a little time grow Mouldy and be spoyled Therefore if you cannot set them let them be covered with Earth and then you shall find this Tree as patient in removing and as certain to grow as any Tree I know The ground they like best is a light Brick-earth or Loom as I said before that they dislike most is a rocky ground or a stiffe clay but if one have a mixture of Brick-earth c. and the other of small Gravel Drift-sand Sand c. then there they will do pretty well They naturally increase very much of themselves and the more where they meet with natural ground if you fell a thriving Tree and fence in the place you then may have a store to furnish your Woods and Hedge-rows with the worst and the straightest to nurse up in your Nurseries for to make VValks Avenues Glades c. with for there is no tree more proper for the certainty of its growing especially if you make good large and deep holes and where the ground is not natural there help it by some that is and then you may hope for a stately high growing Tree if you take care in pruning it up as is before shewed of the Oak You need not much fear its growing top-heavy for it having such a thick bark the sap is subject to lodge in it and break out many side-boughs and the Roots apt to break out with suckers the more when pruned therefore prune it up high and often but let the season be February for then its fine dark green-coloured Leaf and long hanging on it is the more ornamental and fit for walks As for the way to increase it from the Roots of another Tree I doe referre you to the seventh Chapter which will shew you fully how to perform the same observing but them Rules you may raise many fine young Trees from the Roots of another much better than naturally they will be produced from the Roots I advise you where you find your ground Natural in your Hedge-rowes there to plant some of this most usefull wood for it will run in the Banks and thicken your Hedges with wood and is very courteous to other sorts of wood growing by it Do not let ignorant Tradition possess you that it will grow of the Chips or of Truncheons set like Sallowes though the Author of the Commons Complaint saith it will for I assure you it neither doth nor will In Lopping of this be carefull to cut your boughs close and smooth off minding to keep them perpendicular to the Horizon the better to shoot off the wet It will grow well of Laying as is before noted and also directed in the Chapt. of Laying in which if you take but a little labour more than ordinary from one Tree you may have in a few years many in your Hedge-rowes or elsewhere therefore deferre not but put this in practice especially the great Kind My Lord Bacon adviseth to bud it to make the Leaves the larger but that is needless Part of these Rules I wrote some years agoe at the request and for the use of the truely ingenious Planter and Lover thereof Sir Henry Capell and I shall give you the same Conclusion now that I did then to him which take as followeth Since Gard'ning was the first and best Vocation And Adam whose all are by Procreation Was the first Gard'ner of the World and ye Are the green shoots of Him th' Original Tree Encourage then this innocent old Trade Ye Noble Souls that were from Adam made So shall the Gard'ners labour better bring To his Countrey Profit Pleasure to his King CHAP. XII Of Raising and Ordering the Ash AND as for Raising the Ash I shall give you the same Rules as I did to the aforesaid Honourable Person the same time before the Discourse of Forrest-trees was written Let your Keyes be thorow ripe which will be about the middle or end of October or November When you have gathered them lay them thin to dry but gather them off from a young straight thriving Tree My Reason to gather them off a young thriving tree is because there will the Keyes or seeds in the Keyes be the larger and solider therefore by consequence they are the abler to shoot the stronger and to maintain themselves the better and longer Though I know by experience that the seeds of some old Plants will come up sooner so the seed be perfect than the seed of young Plants and also that old seed so it will but grow will come up sooner than new Seed My aforesaid Reasons do in part demonstrate this Or thus Nature finding her self weak doth like a provident Mother seek the sooner to provide for her weak Children for Nature is one in divers things and yet various in one thing Now if you gather them off from a straight tree 't is the likelier they will run more up and grow straighter than those which be gathered off a Pollard or crooked tree for it is well known and might be proved by many Instances that Nature doth delight in Imitation and the Defects of Nature may be helped by Art for the great Alterations which many times we find visible in many Vegetables of the same species they all proceed either from the Earth the Water or the Heavenly Influences but the last is the greatest Author of Alteration both in Sensibles Vegetables and Animals However Like still produceth its Like and since there is such plenty of Forrest-trees that bear seed you may as well gather all sorts of Keyes and Seeds off or under such Trees as not As for the time of sowing them let it be any time between the latter end of October and the last of January for they will lie till Spring
we do not Raise as many new sorts of Fruit as the French And though I do deviate a little from my intended Discourse I shall shew you that we can do it as well as they and I suppose better though we do it not but before I proceed to give you further Judgment of it I will in some measure Answer my Querie which was to know the very particular Fruit that will alter for the best I do not affirm it as true as the Gospel but onely conclude according to Reason First it is known by Experience in Flowers to be true that such Flowers as differ in number of Leaves in shape in Colours the Seeds of such will produce Flowers much different from the Ordinary Kind of Flowers though produced all of one Flower but a Year or two before nay a particular Flower among many others of one Plant shall bring more double ones than twenty others that are not so qualified as it this is apparently known to all that take delight in Raising of Flowers that the Stock-gilly-flower that hath Flowers of 5 6 7 8 or 9 Leaves that the Seed of such a particular Flower or Flowers will produce more double ones than those Plants that bring forth but four leaves Quantity for Quantity of Seed twenty for one You may know these Flowers before they blow out in the bud I confess this Flower doth shew this by its Leaves more than any other I know for this Flower having no thrum in the middle as the most of Flowers have Nature hath given it this Sign to inform Man that those that have a Leaf or Leaves added to them more than their usual kind will bring forth those with many Leaves and make a fine double Flower which when it hath attained to it then is come to the bounds of Nature which the Almighty hath alotted it saying Thus far shalt thou go and no further for when it is thus a double flower it never beareth Seed more but by endeavouring blows it self to Death If you be Curious you may observe the same Rule in several other flowers that have no thrum in the middle as Auriculoes Prim-Rose Wall-flowers Campians and several others and when you find on Leaf or Leaves more than the ordinary number you may conclude there Nature hath set one step forward in altering from the ordinary Kind therefore if you be a Lover of Plants or a Servant of Nature be diligent and whensoever you see your Mistress step out of Door then do you wait upon her to her Journeys end for 't is on the Diligent she bestows her Favours Also those flowers which bear Seed when double as the Gilly-flower Affrican c. Sowing the Seed of such double flowers they will bring you more and better flowers a hundred for one than single ones and in sowing the Seed of such you shall have several Varieties but most marked with the colour the Mother-plant was of and some of these will as it were run beyond the limits of Nature and then they will break or have pods in the middle and then never bear Seed more Gilly-flowers have their sign which will bear Seed and which not Those that will bring Seed if Weather or other Accidents hinder not have their Hornes in the middle of the Flower It is also observed in the marking of flowers that the Seed of those that be striped shall bring the most striped ones and some of different Colours and stripes their Seed all alike But it may be Answered that this may be true in flowers for none can deny it but that such flowers will alter and bring forth such flowers as afore-said but can the altering of the Fruit be known by the flower To this I Answer that you have not onely the Leaves of the flower but the thrum and the Fruit it self to inform you which will alter therefore by the Shape Colour or Thrum in the Flower you may know which fruits will alter and it is possible which will alter for the best for it is commonly known that fruit will alter from the fruit they come of by sowing the Nuts Kernels or Seeds Now when you have made choice of your Seeds Stones Nuts Raise them as is Directed in each Chapter of the Kind in good fresh Ground and by Midsomer that Year they will have shot so strong that you may take off Buds of some sorts and of all sorts the next Year having in readiness some fine thriving stock against some good Wall for that will make the fruit set the sooner when it comes to blow At a fit Season bud these Stocks if Pears on Quince-stocks if Peaches Nectrons or Plumb on some large white Plumb-stocks c. If they be Apples or Walnuts they may be from the Wall bud your Apples or Codlins or Apple of Paradice which is a sort of Dwarf-sweeting and will grow of Cuttings if Walnuts on a fine Young Walnut-tree bud it five or six foot high this doth not onely alter the Property of the Wild Kind but it makes the Tree more Naturally bear fruit much sooner and better if well Ordered your Pears Plumbs and Peaches will bear in three or four years after your Apples and Walnuts in five or six years after I know my Lord Bacon tells you that Peaches come best of Stones unbudded but I advise you to bud all you Raise of Stones Seeds c. though it be to take a bud off from the same stock and to bud it on that as I have often done Those that have great Grounds to look to and good Ingenuity let them but put this in Practice and I am confident they will find great satisfaction therein and in a little time Raise many new sorts of fruit Now the Reason why in France they Raise more Varieties of fruit and flowers than we do is this there are many Ingenious Men in their Monasteries and there they being Seated as long as they Live there they Raise many fine fruits and flowers Now if our Noble Men that take delight in Gardens as all that are Ingenious do would provide themselves of good Ingenious Gardiners and allow them good Encouragement with assurance of continuing in their Service so long as they carry themselves carefully in their Employ and are faithful in their Place this would certainly cause them to improve their Places much for their Masters good and Profit and their own Credit or give them Patents for their Places as His Majesty does to the Gardiners he keeps for which I hope none better served A good Cook can Dress you several Dishes of Meat very well in half a day and if one miscarry they can in a little time make another but the Gardiner must have several Moneths or Years to bring some things to Perfection and if He miscarry he cannot begin again when he will but he must wait his time with Patience therefore he ought the more to be careful But for this Digression I must crave your Pardon and thus
vulgarly the Lime-tree But call it which you please for I shall not trouble my self with the Etymology of the Name Of this Tree there are but two Kinds that I know one of which is the broad-leaved and this shoots with a stronger shoot than the other the broad-leaved one is much to be preferred before the other for the aforesaid Reasons and several others of the broad-leaved Line we have had of late years several trees from Holland I have raised several hundreds of Seeds of this sort The narrow-leaved Line growes plentifully in several places of this Land as in several of my Lords Woods in Essex This latter is harder to remove with good success than the former the Reason is because it hath not been so much used to be transplanted therefore not so certain to grow as the great-leaved according to our old Proverb Vse makes Perfectness Some Authors tell you that they are Male and Female but there is no such thing in Plants for both these Kinds bear seed but it ripens not every year with us in England You may raise this fine Tree by Seed or by Laying either way with great facility and great Increase But of this as of all other Trees to raise them of Seed is the best way For my Honourable Lord and the Honourable Sir Henry Capel have seen such difference between those raised of Seed and those of Layers that when they were Trees of eight or ten years growth they have often told me which was raised from Seed and which from a Layer for that raised from seed much out-growes the other and keeps its Taper-shape for several years after they be planted out in Walks The taperness of the Seed-tree makes it grow as straight as an Arrow but this I advise you that when you gather the Seed you mind to gather it off from some of the broad-leaved Line-trees and of those that shoot with a strong shoot But as I told you before the Seeds do not ripen every year with us but you may know that by cracking the husk or shell of the seed for if the Seed be good it will lie plump and full under the husk the body white if you bite it in two But if the year be not kind for the Seed most of the Husks or Seed-vessels will have nothing but a little chaffie substance in them and some few will have some small lank seeds in them But to our Purpose to raise them of Seeds let your Seed be very Ripe which will be in October gather it in a drye day and after you have dryed it about a week in an open Room then put it in a Couch of Sand indifferent moist so let it be kept till about the middle of February then sow it under some Wall on the North or West-side in some good fresh Loomy ground rather strong than light if there come a drye Spring or Summer keep them indifferent moist and stick some Boughs over them to shade them from the scorching Sun especially if they be much exposed to it keep them clean from weeds there let them stand two Summers and afterwards you may transplan them into your Nursery and set them in Rowes as you are directed of the Walnut and other Trees before Prune them up to one shoot unless you find some shoot or shoots that are fit to Lay and then if you would increase a Stock Lay them This tree is very apt to put forth shoots a little above the ground and Suckers a little within so that it is very readily increased by Laying Lay your Layers betimes any time between Midsommer and November as they be strong and fit to Lay And in a Twelve-months time or little more they will have drawn Root fit to be transplanted into a Nursery Thus by seed and Layers you may in a little time encrease enough for a County which when you come to have great store you may plant some of your crookedest Layers in your Woods they will produce a large Stub strong shoots grow well almost of any Ground and are very good Fire-wood It is a Tree that loves pruning up well for it naturally growes taper especially those which come of Seed but if it shoot much and thrives apace in your Nursery then leave some side-boughs to check the Sap lest by forcing it all into the Head it shoot out so much there that it make the head too big for the Body and so being top-heavy make the Tree crooked Now if ever you see your Trees in such a Condition then immediately cut off the leaning side of the Head which when it is lightned of its heaviness and hath not long stood crooked it will then come straight again Midsommer time is the time of this pruning but do not force the Sap too much into the head lest by high winds you have many of your Heads broke off But of this I have spoken before My ingenious Lord was once too free in pruning up a parcel of those Trees which I the rather acquaint you with that you hereafter may avoid the like for the Ground was fresh and good so that some by their great Heads lost them and some grew crooked But despair not for if you observe what I have said before to make a crooked Tree straight you may easily bring them to be straight again for they naturally delight to grow as straight as most trees doe and if the Head should be broken off as very seldom it is because the Bark is so tough they will yet shoot with such a strong shoot that they will in a little time make a fine Tree again You may if occasion be transplant them pretty large as big as your Legge but the surest size is about two Inches Diameter and eight or ten foot high But if the Tree was never Removed from the place where it was first sowed then Remove it the sooner for if it be great there 's the more danger in Removing it and the topping of the Roots when removed young makes it break out near home with many young feeding Roots like a Maple Therefore my advice to you that take delight to raise Trees is to transplant any sort of Tree while young and to top the Roots a very little they will be much the better and certainer to grow when they are again removed and will come forward much the better They that take this Advice will find the profit of it in Trees which will the better encourage the practice of it They will grow as well on any sort of Ground as any Tree I know but they like best a feeding Loomy Ground which is not too wet as is before said in Chap. 8. where I have spoke somewhat of this fine Tree for Walks Avenues or Lawns This being a Tree I fancy for the aforesaid uses before any Tree we have in England though I know many do not love it that are Planters because it is not good Timber and I grant it is not but
his Hedge-Rows c. or his Predecessors But I could and do wish that Owners would encourage their Tenants by allowing them so much Money for every Fruit-tree and so much for every Forrest-tree they plant in their Grounds and look to them well till they be past Cattles spoyling them this would help both the Owner and his Tenant and many a good Tree might be in waste places where now none is this would make the Farm much better and pleasanter and so we might have more plenty of Fruit and Timber and Knowledge in Planting would be greatly improved Now suppose you should plant on good Land and in open Fields you would be no Loser by it As if you should plant Oak Ash or Elm in Pasture-ground at three or four Rod asunder they would do your Land no harm nor would you lose any ground save only just where the Trees stand now it must be a good Tree that takes up one yard square nay the Leaves and Shade may do your Cattel as much good as may countervail the loss of that Land as if your Land be worth 20 s. an Acre that is not a Penny a Yard as here I shall shew 160 Rod square makes an Acre and five yards and a half square is a Rod. You see that in one Rod square there are 30 yards and a quarter for the Decimal Fraction 25 is ¼ of a 100 or thus 5 times 5 is 25 and 5 halfs and 5 halfs make 5 whole Rod and a half and a half make but ¼ which is 30 yards and a quarter Here you see that 4840 the yards in one Acre divided by 12 the Pence in a Shilling gives 403 shillings and 4 remain that is one Acre at a Penny a yard comes to 20 l. 3 s. 4 d. But it may be sixty years before a Tree takes up so much ground then at half that Age it takes up but half so much ground then 60 half-pence is but 2 s. 6 d. and your Tree at that Age and on such Land may be worth 30 s. or more which is Profit and Pleasure c to the Planter But to our business Johnson tells you of some ten sorts of Pines but I know but two or three in England one is common and is raised of the Seed sown in good ground and in the shade in the Month of February If it be frosty put it into Earth or Sand and keep it in the house till the weather be seasonable they will not grow of Cuttings nor Laying well they be bad to be Removed when old because the Roots run far from the Body in few years and if broke or cut off they will not readily break out at sides and ends therefore Remove them young at two or three years old and at the times beforesaid and then you may expect glorious stately Trees None of all our green Trees in England may compare with them Prune them as the Firre They be fine to set round a Garden or Bowling-green for the Leaves will not do any harm Of Firre-trees we have two sorts they be easily Raised of Seeds sown as the Pine one sort will grow of Laying or of Slips set about Bartholomewtide but then you must cut them one Inch or two from the Body and cut that Stump close off the March following and cut all other Boughts that be needfull at that time and you need not fear hurting your Tree though my French Curate be against it The best way to keep them is in Stories about a yard between one another but do not cut their Ends as some doe neither let them grow thick on a heap but if you keep them in Stories they will grow taper and you may take off some when you see Cause and so help them up to a great height and straight as an Arrow for they naturally grow in a good shape Lay the Clogs before the fire and they will gape so may you take out the Seeds the better Pliny calls one sort of Pine the Pinaster Johnsons Herbal pag. 1350. CHAP. XXIX Of Raising the Yew Holly Box Juniper Bayes and Laurel c. THere be a great many more Trees some of which shed their Leaves and some keep them all the year besides those I have spoken of before but these be the most of our Forrest-trees and as for those that doe belong to the Garden I shall not so much as mention them The Yew-tree is produced of Seeds rub the fleshy substance off then dry them and when they be dry put them in sand a little moist in a Pot or Tub let this be done any time before Christmas Keep them in house all Winter and under some North-wall abroad all Summer the Spring come Twelve-month after you put them in Sand sowe them on a Bed the ground not too stiffe keep them clean and prick them out of that Bed into your Nursery when they have stood two or three years there you may bring them to what shape you please It is a fine Tree and worthy to be more increased Holly may be raised of the Berries as the Yew or by Laying it loves a gravelly-Gravelly-ground as most of our Forrest-greens doe it is a curious Tree for Hedges and will grow under the dropping of great Trees It well deserves your love yet is somewhat ticklish to remove but the best time is before Michaelmas if your Ground be stiffe and cold mix it with Gravel but no Dung. Box the English and Edged c. do grow well of Slips set about the latter end of August or in March It is very pleasant in green Groves and in Wildernesses though it hath a bad smell after Snow Juniper is raised of the Berries it is ticklish to Remove it is a pretty Plant for the aforesaid places the Berries are very wholsome the Wood burnt yields a wholsome and pleasant Persume so doth the Plant in the Spring Bayes is increased plentifully of Suckers or you may raise them of their Berries They love the shade and are fit to be set in green Groves Laurel or Cherry-bay is increased by Cuttings set about Bartholomewtide and in the shade best or by the Cherries It is a glorious Tree for Standards on most Grounds but on our coldest and openest it holds out our hard Winters best It may be kept with a clear stem two or three foot high and let the Head be kept round so that if you have a Row of them the Trees all of a height and bigness and the Heads all of a shape no Tree is more pleasant It is fit for Groves Wildernesses Hedges c. It will grow well on any ground threfore make use of this beautifull Tree The Oak at first doth like a King appear The Laurel now at last brings up the Rear The one does tender Plenty and Renown The other offers Pleasure and a Crown The Elm the usefull Ash and Sycomore Together with the Beech and many more They promise all content to those that look To practise what
is written in this Book CHAP. XXX General Rules for planting Forrest-trees in Avenues Walks or Orchards as in a Natural Ground FIrst as to the Ground your Ground that hath been fed for many years Winter and Summer as your common Pasture-ground or the like such Ground if it be any thing good is the Best The next is your Meadow-ground and then your plowed Land if your Land be of Soyl alike Thus I preferre them Several Reasons might be given for this but I shall instance onely in these few As namely your Ground that is constantly fed hath likewise constantly a supply of Cattels Dung and Urine with the variety of Kinds which addes much to the strength of the ground and likewise your Pasture-ground though it abound with great variety of Herbs or Grass according to the Nature of the Ground as also your Meadow-ground doth yet your Pasture-ground hath not only a constant supply of Soyl by one sort of Cattel or other but the Grass which growes on it doth seldom run to flower or seed which when they doe they draw forth much more of the Salt or Spirit or strength of the Earth as we find the Herbs or Grass on Meadow-grounds most commonly doe Therefore I judge your Commons the best and both common Field Ground and Meadow better than constant plowed Land for that being kept with plowing to prevent what naturally it would produce this makes the Ground the Better for 't is certain that where your Houses stand or High-wayes are there the Earth is full of Salt and Spirit or the Life of Plants not only because there is often some Assistance of Soyl which I confess makes it much Richer but also because it cannot produce those Plants which naturally it would were it not Restrained For still it receives a constant supply from Nature and as the Holy Scripture saith the Almighty causeth the Sun to shine on the Vnjust as well as the Just so also hath the foresaid Earth the secret Influence of the Heavens as well as any other unless Accidentally prevented but this by the way Now as for your plowed Land 't is granted to be much better for plowing but this being sowen with Annual Grain very much draweth out the strength of the Earth for I judge that your Annuals are much more drawing Plants than those which will last several years it being in my Judgement with your Annual Plants as it is with a man which hireth a House for a Year when his year is out he knowing he must remove cleareth the House especially of his own when as your Durable Vegetable like a man whose house is his own is favourable to its situation having a kind of secret Knowledge as I may say that there they and theirs may continue many years If this be understood I hope you then will say with me that your common Pasture is best to plant on next to that Meadow then plowed Land that is if all three be of equal goodness and soyl CHAP. XXXI Of planting Forrest-trees to make Woods or to fill up Naked places in Woods where they want TO tell some men of planting of Woods is very needless for there are too many men more inclined to stock up than to plant them but I suppose the greater sort of Men and I am sure the best sort are more inclined to preserve and plant than to destroy and stock them up To those then that love either their Countrey or themselves or especially their Posterity and have any kindness for stately Forrest-trees do I give this Advice First Let the Ground be of what Soyl soever be sure to plant most of such Trees as will grow best on that Soyl As if it be Gravel then Beech Holly Hasel c. if mixt with Loom then Oak Ash or Elm c. if stiffe then Ash Hornbeam Sycomore c. if a light Loom then most sorts and withall have an eye to the adjacent Trees and which sort soever you see thrive best be sure to furnish your Ground with store of them Secondly If your Ground be moyst then set in good store of the Cuttings of Alder Willow Sallow especially the two last on any Ground for if there comes a wet Spring or a moyst Summer many of them will grow and produce good under-wood if set as is directed in the 26 th or 27 th Chapters Though the Ground be drye and a Gravel-Bottom yet they will thrive and produce good shoots in a little time as I have found true at Cashiobury c. Thirdly If you be minded to sow seeds then you must prepare your Ground with a good Tillage before you sow your seed as much as you doe for sowing of Barley and having all your Seeds ready prepared by being kept some time in a House till they be fit to spear or speared a little then about the beginning of February sow them The particular Chapter of each Kind will tell you how long it is before they will spear If you plow your Ground into great Ridges it will make the Earth lie the thicker on the top of each Ridge and there the Roots will have the more depth to search for Nourishment and the Furrowes will in little time be filled up with Leaves which when rotten will lead the Roots from one Ridge to another If your Ground be very drye then plow your Ridges cross the descent of the Hills not to drayn the water off but to keep it on your Ground and if your Ground be very wet then the contrary But be mindfull to sow most of those seeds your Ground is most naturally for The most of these seeds following may be sown on your Ground Oaks Ash Beech Sycomore Hornbeam Crab or Apple Cherry Walnuts Chesnuts Holly Hasel-nuts Maple Sarvice c. Which of these you find are not Natural for your Ground neglect them Some do sow their Seeds with a Crop of Barley but the season of sowing of Barley is too late for your seeds if they be prepared before-hand but if you will be so saving as to have a Crop of that Tillage then sow your seeds with Oats for they may be sown with the season of your seeds Do not sow your Oats too thick and they may do well but the best way for your seeds is to sow them without any Crop of Corn. Fourthly If you are minded to have a Wood soon then plant it with Setts and if your Ground be a good Natural Ground for Trees then you may make only holes two foot wide and as much deep and about half a Rod asunder so there will be four holes in every Rod square But for fear my Reader should be at a stand here and ask me how four Trees may stand in a Rod square or four holes made in a Rod square and yet the Middles be each half a Rod or eight foot and ¼ asunder I shall here satisfie him by Example and it shall be of a supposed piece of Ground three Rod square
you may make your holes square if you please See Figure 1. This is much like to that Question Whether is half a Foot square or half a square Foot most When as I have heard some say they were both alike but it was their Mistake For ½ a Foot square is only 6 Inches every way that is 6 times 6 is 36 and 6 times 36 is 216 Inches when as half a square Foot is the half of a Cubical square foot the number being 12 the square Root is 144 for 12 times 12 makes 144 and 12 times 144 makes 1728 the Cube Now the half of 1728 is 864 which is half of a square Foot then if you divide 864 by 216 you will find 4 for the Quotient so that half a Foot square is but ¼ of half a square foot This I have demonstrated as plain as I can that I might be understood by every Countrey-capacity Now if you were to plant one Acre of Ground after the aforesaid manner the Charge would be as followeth If it be a good digging ground you may have 20 holes made for 12 d. two foot wide and two foot deep so there would be four times 160 holes which is 640 holes at 20 for 12 d. that is 32 s. and then I allow for every hole 2 Setts so then it will take 1280 Setts which will cost you together about 4 d. the 120. of any sorts of wood which comes to about 3 s. 6 d. then for every hole 2 Sallow or Willow Cuttings 3. s. then 5 men to set them 6 s. and then Keyes and Seeds to sow among your Setts next Spring 5 s. 6 d.  l. s. d. Making Holes 01 12 00 Setts 00 03 06 Sallow Truncheons 00 03 00 Men to set them 00 06 00 Keyes and Seed 00 05 06 Whole Charge 02 10 00 So that the Charge of one Acre of Ground planted this way will cost you about 2 l. 10 s. where Work-men and Sets may be had at such a price the Spring after I advise to sow Acorns Sycamore-Keyes Apple and Crab-stampings c. Let this sowing be done so oft as you find Stampings and Keyes to be had till you find your Wood very thick I did sow all the Stampings of Apples and Crabs at Cashiobury among our young Woods which I had set and the Ground not producing a strong Grass to choak them they came up thick and did well But take care you let them not lye too thick long for if you doe the stampings will heat and kill the Kernels sow them therefore as soon as they be pressed or else lay them thin or keep them parted with dry straw But if your ground be bad and a shallow Soyl or that you would help an indifferent ground and are willing to be at some more Charge to do it then do thus which in small time will pay you or yours well for your Charges Observe which is the Best way to lay out your ground and then divide it into four yards distance at both ends by little stakes and make Rowes of stakes by setting up some few between the two at each end which are only to direct you to lay your work straight by plowing one yard of each side your Stakes If your Ground be Green-sorde then plow it as is aforesaid which will make the better for the Roots of your Trees to run in Thus having plowed two yards and left two yards unplowed all over your Ground a little before the season for planting and when the season for setting is come that is as soon as most of the Leaves are off having prepared Sets and Work-men let them dig up the two yards that are unplow'd laying one half of that Earth upon one of the plowed pieces and the other half upon the other and as you lay up that Earth upon the plowed pieces there set your Setts about a yard one from another with store of Sallow-Cuttings with them digging that ground which you lay on your plow'd Ground a good spade-deep and then it will be near a foot thick to set your Setts in Thus goe from open that is unplow'd to open untill you have set all the plow'd pieces in your Ground One man having the Setts ready will set them as fast as four men shall dig that is two men on each side the Beds or Ridges one a little before the other so finish Bed after Bed till you have gone over and finished the whole Ground which you designed to plant that Winter and endeavour to get all your planting done by the latter end of January or beginning of February for this Reason that is having provided Keyes Nuts and Seeds as is before directed and is in each particular Chapter more fully discorsed about that time sow them Viz. about the beginning of February unless it be a Frosty season for then you must stay a little longer so sow all your Beds over with seed and cover them a little with the shovelings of some neighbouring Ditch In doing thus you may be certain of a good thriving Wood in a little time though the ground you plant on be almost never so bad This I doe suppose to be as good a way as most are for planting of Woods Therefore according to the Latine Proverb Serere ne dubites Doubt not to plant and I wish I could perswade Noble-men and Gentlemen that have Ground that is not very good for Corn or Grass to plant it with Wood especially in those Countreys where wood is scarce I dare insure them that it would be to them or their Successors a very great benefit and also a great Ornament to their Naked Grounds Now I shall endeavour as near as I can to give you an Accompt what the Charge of this may be which did I but know your Ground and what wages your Work-men in such places have for one dayes work I could then do more exactly But we will suppose the Ground to be a good digging Ground that may be afforded to be digged and laid up for 4 d. the Rod-square and our Example shall be of one Acre of Ground of which you may well perceive by what is before shewed there will be but one half plowed and that half planted First then for a good deep plowing of half an Acre of Ground 4 s. Secondly For half an Acre of Ground digging at 4 d. the Rod for if 160 Rod make one Acre then 80 Rod is half an Acre and then 80 Groats for the digging comes to 1 l. 6 s. 8 d. Thirdly If every Four men must have one man to st to them then there must be near one fourth part more for him which one fourth is 6 s. 8 d. Fourthly If we allow for every yard square in this half Acre one good Set besides Truncheons of Sallow and Willow c. The Number of yards in a superficial Rod square is 30 and ¼ The number of superficial sq Rods in one Acre 160. The number of sq yards in
one Acre or 160 Rod 4840. Or if you would work this Question by the Line of Numbers and your Compasses set one point on one Extend to 5 and ½ the same will reach from 5 and ½ to 30 and ¼ Secondly Extend your Compass from one to 30 and ¼ the same will reach from 160 to 4840 Thus you may prove your work by two turns of your Compasses Now finding 4840 yards in one Acre of ground and for every yard one Set at 120 for 4 d. comes to Forty Groats and Forty over which is 13 s. 5 d. 1 q. and ⅓ of q. for forty Groats is 13 s. 4 d. then to know what the odde Forty come to the Rule ranks it self thus If 120 cost 4 d. or 16 q. what then will 40 cost So you see that these 40 will cost 5 q. and 40 over and if you divide this 120 by 40 there then will be 3 in the Quotient which sheweth that 40 is ⅓ of 120 So that 4840 Sets at 120 for 4 d. will cost thirteen Shillings five pence one farthing and one third part of a farthing For Truncheons of Sallow and Willow 3 s. and for Seed 10 s.  l. s. d. Plowing 00 04 00 Digging 01 06 08 To a Man to set 00 06 08 For Sets 00 13 06 For Truncheons 00 03 00 For Keyes Nuts and Seeds 00 10 00 Whole Charge is 03 03 10 Thus have I shewed some wayes for the planting of Woods and also what Charge it will cost you though I have spoke of the lowest Rates that good digging Ground can be done at and where men work for 10 d. per day yet if you love planting and your Ground be a bad Ground to dig as a Gravel or stiffe Clay and that your Sets be scarce or that you be minded to plant more in your Ground which will be the better then if you allow as much more to each Acre the Charge may be computed accordingly and you will find it not to be great There are more wayes to plant Woods but these I take to be the best or thus instead of making your Holes Round you may make them a long square and the holes will be the easier to make after this way See Fig. 2. This that hath been said I hope will be some satisfaction to those that love planting of Woods and are to seek in the wayes which if it be I then shall be well satisfied for my design is a General more than a Particular Good Now having finished your Wood take care to keep it well fenced from Cattel of all sorts and when it is about seven or eight years growth then fell it pruning up those to a head you are minded to leave for Standards leaving half as many more as need to stand for Timber-trees as Oak Ash Elm Beech c. felling the rest at the Ground not flat off but well sloped up And if you have Popler Abele Cherry Elm Sarvice c. they will spring much from the Roots and thicken your Woods if not set some in CHAP. XXXII Of planting Young Hedges and how to improve and keep Old Hedges THere are and may be made many sorts of Hedges of one particular sort of Wood alone some for Ornament only some for Ornament and Profit and some for Ornament Profit and a Fence Juniper I take to be one of the best for to make a low Hedge of any Plant or Tree we have growing in England for it growes naturally very thick is a slow grower and hath alwayes a fine fresh green Colour and the severest of our hard Winters will not make it change his Countenance I confess it is something ticklish to be Removed for its being not used to stirre far from home makes it many times lose its way and its Life too if led far from its native place at unseasonable times or by an ignorant Guide and put into such an Habitation as is not suitable for it to Live in I have with good success removed it above Thirty miles namely from beyond Cashiobury to Little-Hadham there I made my Ground notwithstanding it was naturally a stiffe Clay by mixing it well with Gravel and Sand I Removed it a little after Bartholomewtide and I did not lose one Plant in ten but they do flourish in two little Hedges most gallantly I shall not speak of that most healthfull Aromatick Seed which it beareth nor of the use of this Cedar but if you would be further satisfied see Esquire Evelins Discourse of Forrest-trees or any Herbal I have not as yet raised any of it of Seed but I am now making a tryal which if they once come to endure Removing while young I doubt not but then they will be better to Remove when old Holly makes a most stately and beautifull Hedge and had we but store of the White-berried Holly to mix in the Hedge with the Red it would make it the more Ornamental It s Ground that it most delights to grow on is drye and gravelly See more in the Chapter of Holly Or had we but store of the strip't to make Hedges with it would be very Noble indeed Hornbeam may be kept in a good shape for a high Hedge and very thick even to the ground It is alone one of the very best home-bred natural Forrest-trees that shed the Leaf to make a Hedge of and is senceable unless against the rudest sort of Cattel Box maketh a good Hedge and lasting I mean the English though the others are pretty for Hedges both the Gilded and the Dwarf but these two being not proper to name or to discourse of among Forrest-trees I shall only name them and many other sorts and so pass forward Laurel as we call it or Bay-Cherry makes a good Hedge and if well kept very fine Standards Hard Winters do pierce it on some Grounds but on most it is durable it is easie to increase and will grow well on most Grounds Keep it but down and it will grow strong below and thick and then make a very fine Hedge Arbutus or Strawberry-tree is a Curious Plant for a Hedge onely it is very tender especially while young for the Leaves being constant whilest Life lasteth and of a fair Green finely dented about the Edges and its pretty white Flower in Summer with its Strawberry on the beginning of Winter all together adde a great deal of grace to this Plant. Cypress would make fine Hedges but for two faults for first in in some Grounds it is tender and will not abide our hard Winters And Secondly it doth not love to be headed for that makes it still more tender Cut it not late in Summer Mezereon or Dwarf-bay both the Red and White together make a pretty low Hedge and shew very beautifully Early in the Spring Alaternus or Ever green Privet makes a fine thick green hedge it would be supported with a Frame especially while 't is young Pyracantha or prickly Corall makes a good thick
Hedge and a very fine shew when it is full of its fine Red berryes which appear like Beads of Red Corall among the dark green Leaves It likes our Entertainment so well that it will grow well on most Grounds our Winters disturb it not and 't is very easie to be multiplyed or increased by Laying or Cuttings They that have store of Ground and are Lovers of Plants I hope will not be without these few named and many more that will be very acceptable but they be not some of them so proper for Hedges Many more there be that would make very fine Hedges for pleasure if well kept as the double-blossom Cherry the Laurus Tinus or wild Bay Primme Savin c. These few are only for Ornament and make any of them fine Hedges alone or you may mix them with Judgement and they will then be very pleasant Now I shall shew you a few of those that are for profit and Ornament such are the Summer-Pears on Quince-stocks for that makes them the more Dwarfish Cherries make a fine Hedge but especially the small-leaved as the several sorts of Flanders great Bearers c. Plumbs Quinces Codlins Barberries c. all these make fine Hedges but must have Supporters In the three last there is this fault that the better they be kept I mean the handsomer the worse they will bear But I am got two steps too far into the Garden and now I shall give you an Accompt of such as are proper to fence in your VVoods Orchards c. which is the scope of my Discourse for such are both profitable and pleasant though not so Ornamental as the other before and if you would make a Fence of one particular sort of Wood the very best is your White-bush or White-thorn Your Crab-stocks make also a stout strong Fence and if you leave at every twenty foot one to run up keeping it with pruning till it is five or six foot high and then graft it with Red strakes or other good Syder-fruit such a Hedge would be very pleasant and profitable You may so order your Stock and Tree whilest they be young that by pruning you may have the head of your Tree to hang into your Ground a little over your Hedge Let me desire you to make such a Hedge where you have occasion to make one As for your Stocks they are as easie to raise as Barley and they are as certain to grow on most sorts of Ground as any one wood I know For common and publick Fences there is none to compare with these two for certainty of growing for a thick strong and an armed Fence Black-bush makes a good strong Fence but it hath one Inconvenience that is it will not keep within its bounds but will run very much into your ground and there be very troublesome to keep out Therefore if your Fence be for Wood it may do well for the Reason aforesaid Also when you plash it it will often be ready to die by Reason that it shoots so much from the Root Thus have I shewed you some sorts of Woods to make your Hedges with I shall now give you some Directions how to make them and here observe that for all those which are for Ornament only You must prepare a Border by good digging and clean picking it from weeds adding some good Natural Earth such as the Kinds you set do most naturally grow in which let be well prepared against the season for planting and then make use of your time The greatest sort may be set about a yard one from another such as your Holly Laurel c. the other about two foot or less such as your Juniper Mezereon c. Let this be the most but if you have store of Plants set them thicker be sparing in heading most sorts of Greens For those that are for Ornament and Profit the Ground must be made good trenched deep and mixt well with Dung they may be set about six foot asunder You may make very curious Hedges of Pears Cherries c. But I am too far got into the Orchard or Garden I must retreat to my Forrest-trees to shelter me from the Gardiners Anger Of those sorts that are for Ornament Profit and for Fence I have told you that there are two peculiar sorts viz. the White-thorn and the Crab which are indeed the most proper to fence in our Forrest-trees and woods of any I know I know most Hedges which are mixed with many sorts of wood are apt to come too fast without planting Sets of White-thorn which in most places are plentifull to be had bur if you would Raise them of Haws order them as is shewed of the Cherry or Yew-berries Now to Raise your Crab or Apple-stocks though the Crab-stocks are better than your Apple-stocks for the Crab grows more rugged strong and is more lasting but Stocks raised of Apple-kernels will do well let your Ground be well prepared by Digging and picking it clean from weeds mix it with some good rotten Dung then when the time is that they beat their Crabs for Verjuice or Apples for Syder then prepare your self with so many as you think are convenient for your Ground and as soon as they be stamped sow them if you can for if they lie long in the Stampings that will heat and spoyl your Kernels Therefore if you have them to fetch far or that you cannot sow them instantly then let them be sifted from the body of the Apple and spread thin or mixed with drye Sand till you have opportunity to sow them or you may keep them in Sand the Kernels I mean a little moyst till February and then sow them but be sure your Ground be well prepared before-hand with good tillage and clean picking cover them about one Inch or a little more with fine Mould afterwards when they come up keep them constantly clean from weeds Remembring if you sow at Michaelmas that you take care to keep Traps set for fear Mice rob you of your Kernels Thus may you Raise what Quantity of Stocks you please which at two and three years old you may set where you would have them to stand for to Raise Trees or to make Hedges for fenceing in your Ground Keep them clean from Weeds by Digging or Hoing Thus having shewed you how to furnish your selves with store of Stocks in a little time which will make you as strong and good Fences as most wood whatsoever and are very profitable too both to yield good Liquor for Drink and to bring good Fewel to the Fire I shall now shew you how to plant these Quicksets both for Hedges with Ditches and for Stant-hedges as some call them without Ditches First Strain a Line where the inside of your Ditch must goe next your Hedge then mark along by the Line sloping as you would have the Bank of your Hedge to slope then strain the Line on the other side of the Ditch and mark it out sloping inward
Lay your Hedge pretty thick turning the beard on the Ditch-side but do not let the beard hang uncut as the common workmen do though it doth make a good shew at first making but cut off all the stragling boughs within half a foot of the Hedge on both sides then will it shoot strong at these places and thicken your Hedge much the more Of this Reason may inform you as it did me and Experience will afterwards confirm it Fifthly If you have got a good high Bank make your Hedge so low as you think it may but just serve for Fence the first year for it will soon grow high and the lower your Hedge is made the Quick will grow the better and the bottom will be the thicker but take care to keep out Cattel from the Field-side the first year after it is made Sixthly If you would have a good Hedge for Fence you must fell it often doing as is aforesaid and take care at every felling to root out Elder Travellers Joy that is Bull-bine as some call it Briany c. and also leave not too many high Standard-trees or Pollards in it the Elm is one of the best Doe not use too much dead wood in the bottom of your Hedges for that choaks your Quick but if you have a gap make your dead Hedge at a distance Much more I could say of Hedges but I forbear Only I cannot pass by the Learned Esquires good Advice in his Discourse of Forrest-trees pag. 50. which is this I do only wish upon the Prospect and Meditation of the Vniversal Benefit that every person whatsoever worth Ten Pounds per Annum within his Majesties Dominions were by some indispensable Statute obliged to plant his Hedge-rowes with the best and most usefull kinds of them especially in such places of the Nation as be the more Inland Counties Thus far the Learned Author To which I adde that if they did not plant so many Trees and keep such a number planted they should be compell'd to plant ten Crab-stocks for the want of one Tree c. If this were but as much in use with us as it in Hereford-shire and once grown to a Custom we should in few years banish out forraign Drinks by this our excellent and most wholsom one Besides our Trees in shallow ground would thrive better in Banks of Hedge-rowes than in the middle of the Ground Again saith he Vndoubtedly if this course were effectually taken a very considerable part both of Meat and Drink which is spent in our prejudice might be saved by the Countrey-people even out of the Hedges which would afford them not onely the Pleasure and Profit of their delicious Fruit but such abundance of Syder and Perry as should suffice them to drink of one of the most wholsom and excellent Beaverages in the World Old Gerrard did long since alleadge us an Example worthy to be pursued I have seen saith he speaking of Apple-trees lib. 3. ch 101. in the Pastures and Hedge-rowes about the Grounds of a worshipful Gentleman dwelling two miles from Hereford called Mr. Roger Bodnome so many Fruit-trees of all sorts that the Servants drink for the most part no other Drink but that which is made of Apples the Quantity being such that by the Report of the Gentleman himself the Parson hath for Tythe many hogsheads of Syder An Example doubtless to be followed of Gentlemen that have Lands But Envy saith The Poor will break down our Hedges and we shall have the least part of the Fruit However I advise you to go forward in the Name of God Graft set plant and nourish up Trees 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 Minds and Diligence Thus far honest Gerard. And in truth with how small Charge and with how great 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 with Barley might be cultivated for Wheat or converted into Pasture to the increase of Corn and Cattel besides the Timber which the Pear-tree doth afford comparable for divers curious uses with most this also would make Timber the more plentifull the decaying Trees and pruning would be good Fire-wood One thing more I do wish were practised in our Hedges and those fined severely that did not observe it viz. That there should not an Oak in any Hedge whatsoever be headed but that the Owner might have liberty to shread them up as some do Elms though not to stock or fell them till such an Age in such Banks we should have the best Timber and enrich the Owner c. CHAP. XXXIII Of planting several sorts of Forrest-trees in order to making the best advantage of Ground as Orchards or the like SUppose you were to plant one Acre of Ground or more with Walnuts or Chesnuts or the like and would have it planted to the best advantage that is to have your Trees stand in good Order to the Eye and to have as many Trees as conveniently you can in your Ground which is supposed all men would have and yet your Trees to stand at convenient distance Now I say supposing your Ground to be one Acre and a Geometrical square in such a ground you may begin your first Row on which side you please to stake out your Ground for the holes to be made you must first resolve what distance your Trees had best be planted at remembring that if your ground be good and a deep ground then you may plant your Trees at somewhat the greater distance Of the Ground that most Trees delight in you may see in the particular Chapter speaking of each Kind Your Best way is to plant them Triangular and not square as some doe for you can plant them in no form or order whatsoever to be more pleasing to the most Noble Sense than to have every three Trees to make an Equilateral Triangle nor in no other way whatsoever to have so many Trees to stand in such or any piece of Ground whatsoever at such a distance For satisfaction and likewise to demonstrate it more fully observe these two following Figures of the aforesaid piece of Ground which is one Acre and is a Geometrical Square But before I shew you a Draft or you stake out your Ground for your holes to be made first consider well these few Rules First Observe the Distance that your Trees ought to be planted at alwayes remembring that if your Ground be good and a deep Soyl that then your Trees will hold the longer and by consequence grow to the greater perfection therefore plant at larger distance As for Example If I were to plant this Acre of Ground with Syder-Apples as for Instance all red-strakes which is an excellent Syder-Apple and is likewise
you make an Equilateral Triangle the perpendicular of that is the distance between the Rows which Triangle I have drawn by the same scale of the Orchard See Fig. 4. See Chapter the 44 th The breadth of my Paper 6 inches the Plat 196 foot and 66 of 100 for the 8 inches my Scale is neer 33 parts in one inch but I take 32 because it is an even number See Fig. 4. If you will trye the Perpendicular of this Triangle 't is but 19 foot so that there are 3 foot between every 2 Rowes saved by Planting your ground this way more than those that plant their Ground to have every 4. Trees to make a Square the Trees standing in both at the same distance But finding that but little Paper beareth the full breadth of 6 inches the quarter of a sheet and this being less square by twelve foot than my full Draught should be this being only for the square of the Trees I draw and proportion my Scale to the breadth of 5 Inches and a half 208 foot divided by 5 and ½ sheweth that your Scale must be one Inch divided into 37 parts and better but for fear this Scale should be too great I draw my Plat by the Scale of 40 in one Inch so if you divide 208 the breadth of the Ground by 40 it gives 5 Inches and 8 40 and so broad must the Plat be as you may see by the Figure Thus may you enlarge your Draught or diminish it on your Paper as your pleasure is But 't is better to draw all your Draughts as large as your Paper will give you leave the distance of the Trees in the Draught is 21 foot 10 Inches asunder See Fig. 5. By this you see that if you plant your Trees triangle this Acre of Ground hath 11 Rowes and 104 Trees but if you begin either side with 10 as before I began with 9 then will there be in this ground 105 Trees but to know how many Rowes you may have in any ground doe thus and you may presently satisfie your self you see the ground from one out-side Row to the other is 196 foot 8 Inches which divided by 19 the distance that the Rowes be asunder neglecting the Fraction as needless now gives 10 distances Alwayes remember that there is one Rowe or in a Range of Trees one more than the Distances in this Draught the Trees stand at the same distance but square See Fig. 6. By this last Draught it appeareth that if you set the Trees at the same distance and set them square that then there will be but 9 Rowes and 90 Trees in this square Acre of Ground but if you plant them Triangle then will it hold 14 or 15 Trees more But if your Plat of Ground be a long square or any other Irregular Figure then will your Triangle-way hold a great many more in proportion to the Quantity of Ground besides it makes many more Rowes therefore more pleasing to the Eye Note this well for setting your Trees exactly having found the distance they are to stand asunder and likewise how many Rows with a Line laid or stakes true set where your first Row must goe the said stakes will be of good use to set the Trees by when your holes be made having resolved on which side you will begin which alwayes let be the side you find most in sight set down your two Corner-stakes for the first and last holes to be made then with your Assistants measure exactly in your Row by the Line 21 foot and Ten inches but in case there should be odde measure then proportion it as is shewed before by making one Hole more or less as you see cause Then having two men to assist you with a Chain for Line will reach or shrink measure exactly the distance of two Trees let one hold at one Tree and one at the next in the Row you standing at the Angle with the Chain equally stiffe put down a stake at the Angle and so go on to the next two Trees pitching down your stakes perpendicular And also considering the Thickness of your Stakes thence let your two men go to the next and you setting down one at the Angle till you have staked out the whole Ground this doe when you come to set your Trees being carefull to keep your Chain strained both sides alike and to allow for the crookedness of your Trees and when you have got two Rows planted then your Eye will assist you well enough to observe the Rowes as you go on Note also that if your Ground be large and a square then your best way will be to find the middle Row and set that off square from that side of your Ground you mind most or find to be straightest there begin to mark out your holes and also to plant your Trees but if your Ground be Irregular or have an Angle on one side then begin on your straight side and run the odde measure into the Angle as far as is convenient to plant in such a Ground you need but find what distance your first Row must be set at But if your Ground have both the sides straight then it will be convenient to set the side-rowes at equal distance from your Fence Thus you may well perceive that it is but measuring the length and breadth of your Ground and proportion one to the distance your Trees be to stand at the other to the distance the Rows are to be asunder and you may proceed to stake out your Ground After this method you may plant any sort of Forrest trees in Groves The best way is to stake out your whole Ground before you plant a Tree or make one hole by so doing you may well perceive where a fault is and easily mend it in time though some are of opinion otherwise but I shall leave them to their own Judgement and satisfie my self with Experience and Reason But for fear any thing should be dubious to you that I have writ observe but the setting out of these two Rows and then I hope it will be plainly demonstrated to you how to proceed Suppose the Length of your Ground should be the length of the Line marked at the End thus See Figure 7. Having staked out your first Row as before is shewed and having the Chain exactly the distance of two Opens then bid one of your men take one End and the other man the other End you holding exactly the Middle bid one hold at the stake one the other at the stake two then pitch you down your stake right at the Angles as the pricked Line sheweth So let your two men remove from stake to stake and you from Angle to Angle till you have staked out your Rowe and then let them come to that Row you last set out and goe on to another so proceed till you have staked out your whole Ground Thus much for planting Trees in Orchard fashion I have been the larger to
and cut upright Boughs a little sloping off they will heal over the better keep them from Suckers and then you may expect good Trees and Fruit of which I wish your Hedge-rowes were full Of all sorts of Trees whatsoever if any Roots be broke or much bruised or cracked cut them off till you come to firm Wood the slope tending to the Ground like a Horse-foot but be very sparing in cutting the Roots of Greens and also in cutting their heads off yet you may proportion the Head to the Root by cutting off some side-boughs which cut off if your Green be tender the latter end of March or in April and cut the Bough off two or three Inches from the Body and that time come Twelve month take off that piece close and cover the wound with a little Wax or Clay well tempered if your Greens be for high Trees endeavour to make them taper by leaving some side-boughs to ease the head In all Trees you intend for Timber be cautious in cutting off their heads especially those of great Piths such as the Ash Walnut c. Unless your Tree grow top-heavy or much crooked and then at the crooked place cut off the head sloping upward and nurse up one of the principal shoots to be the leading Shoot but such as are subject to die when headed or any Tree very great meddle not with such the Beech is one of the worst to head of any Tree I know Such Trees as you intend for to grow to a certain proposed height you must take care to keep them taper by leaving side-boughs in convenient place and distance to make them taper cutting such boughs off when you find your Tree is swelled enough below still minding to take off the greatest side-boughs and leave little ones and to proportion your head by keeping it small according to the Body and maintaining the leading Shoot letting it have no equals for forked Trees are never straight Thus do till you have got your Tree to the height you intend and there let the Head break out and cut off all the side-boughs but if side-boughs still break out then give them a Summer-pruning a little after Midsummer and cut them off close so will you kill them and have a fine stately clear Body and fine Timber-tree See Chap. 10. Observe this in all Trees you would have grow with a handsome straight body till you have got them to the height you intend they shall head at Whilest your Trees be small you must prune them every year The best time for most is the Spring but hardy Trees and Wood may be pruned at any time in Winter when they be a little older once in two year then once in three and then in four and never seldomer than once in five or six so will the Bough be small the Tree will soon overgrow the place the Knot will not be great to vex the Carpenter or Joyner at all the place will not be very subject to put forth Suckers because the Sap hath had no great recourse to that place Mind alwayes to cut off your Boughs smooth and close to the Body This if you please to doe you may have fine Timber and handsom Trees which I dare engage will pay you or yours well for your helps to them The like doe with your standard Fruit-trees or those you intend for Pollards till you have got them to the height you design they shall head at and at setting if they be tender Trees or Trees that have great Pith. If you must head them let it be in the Spring when you find they begin to bud but then you must take care of the winds in Winter that they shake them not so as to let the Air in to the ground to kill the Roots therefore tie them to good Stocks Or this is a good way for Trees that have not great Piths or are very tender cut off some of the tops of the Boughs when you set them so let them be till the Spring and when you see the Bud break out then cut them on every shoot of the head a little above the lowest Bud or two of each shoot so will the head shoot but with few shoots and they will be the stronger the head being small the Root will endeavour to proportion it to its former greatness or near it but if you have many shoots break out then cut them all off but four or five for so many are enough to make Arms for any Tree but if then you find the Tree to shoot too much and grow top-heavy as sometimes they will if well kept and on good ground then head the Tree again but not so low as you did before for Reason ought to be used in all things this will make your Tree swell in body much and in time be a fine Tree So that I say endeavour to get a good Body for in Fruit-trees this is to be noted that you must in the first place endeavour to get your Tree in such a Condition as to bear you good Fruit and a Quantity rather than little Fruit early and then never good Fruit or Tree after therefore if you have a Tree that doth not thrive but is subject to blow much as most such Trees are cut off the blowing Buds in the Spring as low to a Leafie Bud as you can and some shoots as near the place where the Tree headed as you can but mind to leave some Buds on the head to draw up the Sap or else your Tree may break out in the middle of the Body or a little above Ground but if your Buds once shoot on the head but half a foot then will your Tree come away Thus and by digging about have I helped many a stunted Tree forward which you may doe likewise if you please I have many times observed several Fruit-trees as Pears Apples c. to be full of false-bearing Buds I call them so because they did not blow for the Tree having got more head than the Roots could well maintain had not strength sufficient to spare sap for blossom nor yet for Fruit which by pruning and thinning the heads of such Trees and by slitting the bark on the Body in the Spring hath made them afterwards to bear well when they have put forth new shoots at the head And some sorts of Fruit-trees there be which will blow and bear themselves to death when they be middle-aged as before I told you some young ones would if not helped by pruning but the best wayes to preserve such Trees from death and to make them bear pretty good Fruit is to cut off most of the blowing Buds and to thin the head of some boughs to make it shoot again then will it live many years longer and bear better Fruit Some Trees there be that will run so much into wood that they will not bear of themselves till they come to be old but if you cut off the head of the shoots
be broke and the Tree old cut it off at a distance from the Body but little boughs close 12. If a Tree be blasted in part or the whole head cut all that is blasted or dead close off to the Quick and take out all dead boughs Keep Catterpillers from the heads of young Trees lest they eat off the Leaves and Buds and kill your Tree 13. Take care to destroy Moles and Mice by Traps or Poyson for Moles will make hollow the Ground and much harm your young Trees Mice will eat all the Bark off round the Body in hard Winters and kill your Tree but mind you in time to prevent them 14. Rooks do destroy many a Tree both old and young before their time As to old Trees by pinching off the tops and breaking off the Buds and young Trees by lighting on their heads their weight breaking off their young tender shoots and Buds causes the Trees to die and also they destroy Seedlings where they breed their Dung brings forth great weeds as Nettles c. and so choaks the young Seedlings therefore kill all of them you can at breeding-time by shooting them and setting Lime-twips on the tops of your young Trees You 'l thrive the better if you destroy them CHAP. XXXVI Of Felling and Ordering Woods and Coppices IF you love to have a thriving Wood and to improve it for your best Advantage your best way is not to let it stand too long before you fell for the oftener you fell your under-wood the thicker it will be as at ten or twelve years growth on a shallow ground and twelve or fourteen years growth on your deep Soyl and best grounds for there be many Inconveniencies in letting your Woods stand too long before you fell them or Trees in Woods that do not prosper First When you let your Woods or Coppices stand long before you fell them you cannot come to survey your Timber-trees to see which be decaying and in so doing you are uncharitable to your Countrey no good Common-wealthsman no good Husband for your self and no good Christian For why should any Reasonable man let his Trees stand in his Woods or elsewhere with dead tops hollow Trunks Limbs falling down upon others and spoyling them dropping upon young Seedlings under it and killing them The ill husband while many of his Neigbours want such Timber nay possibly he himself there he lets his Trees stand which were formerly worth 10 or 5 l. a Tree or more till they be not worth the half that they were Here he loseth the use of his Money more than Twenty in the Hundred if it be an Oak he loses the Bark with the use of the Ground where 't is likely several young Trees might have been if that had been taken down in time I know that some persons of Quality say that this is a great Ornament to their Ground But I think no greater than it would be to their persons to wear a Garment very Old with half a skirt a piece of a Sleeve and all the Trimming off But I shall never pronounce such Judgement against trees having ten times more Mercy Such as be thriving unless they stand too thick I would intreat you not to cut down for you do not lose so much by suffering the Tree that is decaying to stand but you hinder you or yours as much in cutting down a young thriving Tree There are too many men in this Kingdom who before they sell their Estates will many times fell off all their Timber that was good and which would have thriven well for many years and so by the Moneys they make of that they lengthen out the time before they sell I wish that my Vote though single could perswade those men that are resolved to sell such Timber that they would also sell their Land with it and I do not question but the Purchaser if a Lover of Timber as most Purchasers are would then give more for the Timber to stand by at least 12 d. in the pound rather than have another man to buy it off from his Ground I once observed an Ash-tree in the Wood-walks at Cashiobury which stood in the Walk that I made through the Wood-walks to Hemsteed High-way which Ash I measured as followeth according to the customary way of measuring by the Line of Numbers it was a fine straight tree tapering a little so that I needed but to girth it in one place it girthed just 72 Inches and was 58 foot long from the place where the Root was sawn off to the place where the head was cut off The fourth part of 72 Inches is 18 Inches The Rule is as 12 To 18 the Square in Inches So is 58 foot the Length To a fourth Number And that fourth Number tells you the content in feet c. Extend the Compasses one point fixed in 12 the side in Inches of a superficial foot square to 18 Inches the square of the Tree keep the Compasses fixed and set one point on 58 the Length of the Tree in feet but it must be the 58 on the left hand or else the Compasses will go off the Rull and then turn the Compasses twice to the Right hand and the last movable point of the Compasses will fall upon 130 foot and something above a half but that Division is so small a man cannot read well how much it is if it be above half a foot This is the customary way with most men to measure trees though it makes less than there is which in reason ought to be considered in the price and not in the false measure but I will here shew you how to work both the customary and the true way by the Rules of Natural Arithmetick that so you may trie whether you have measured right by the Rule and Compass or no and also that you may see the sweet Agreement between Geometry and Arithmetick And first to work it by the customary way here we take the fourth part of the Circumference to be the side of the square of the Tree though erroneous and measure it as a Cylinder The fourth part of 72 In. is 18 In. which multiplyed in its self gives 324 the superficial Inches of one end Then 58 the Length multiplyed by 12 gives 696 Inches the Length of the Tree in Inches And 696 Inches multiplyed by 324 Inches gives 225504 the square Inches which summe divided by 1728 the square Inches in a solid foot gives 130 foot and a half I thought by the point of the Compasses it had been a little above ½ a foot but it is just half a foot Thus having shewed you both by Lines and Numbers what there was of this Tree the customary way I shall here shew how many foot of Timber there is in it the true way still supposing it to be a Cylinder that is a round Figure of equal Circumference in all parts there be several wayes to measure it as by having the Circumference or by having
the Diameter at the End or by having the side of a square equal to the Base thereof but we having the Circumference which is 72 Inches I shall proceed that way And first by the Rule and Compasses the Circumference being 72 Inches and the Length 696 Inches how many solid feet are there in such a tree As is the standing Number 147 36 To the Circumference 72 Inches So is the Length in Inches 696 To a fourth Number And from that to the Content in feet 166 and near half that Division being so small it cannot well be read on a two-foot Rule Extend the Compasses from the 147 â—6 â—â—0 point to 72 on the left hand keep the Compasses fixed and set one point on the Number 696 the Length in Inches and then turning your Compasses twice from that Number towards the left hand the point will fall upon 166. and near a half the solid Content in feet Or more easily thus As is the standing Number 42. 54. To 72 Inches the Circumference So is 58 foot the Length To a fourth and that fourth to 166 foot and a ½ fore Extend the Compasses from 42. 54 to 72 the Circumference in Inches that Extent will reach from 58 foot the Length to another Number and from that Number to 166 foot and somewhat more but how much more I shall shew you with my Pen and the ordinary way of working though Log. is much easier but some may not have tables or not understand them if they have Now having the Circumference given which is 72 Inches we must find the Diameter and the Rule is As 22 is to 7 so is 72 to 22 91 100 Inches the Diameter near 23 as here it is wrought Or you may do it by two turns of your Compasses Extend your Compasses from 22 to 7 the same Extent will reach from 72. to neer 23 for it wants but 2. of 22 Or if you will have it in more exact terms then Now for the Content of the Head multiply half the Circumference by half the Diameter and it giveth the superficial Content This multiplyed by 696 the Length of the Tree in Inches giveth the solid Content in Inches and that summ divided by 1728 the Inches in a Cubical Foot sheweth you how many foot and parts are in the tree The whole Content in Cube-feet is about 166 and a little more for if you come within ¼ of a foot in such summes as this with the Rule and Compasses 't is well When this Tree was sawn off a little above the Root I told just 72 annual Circles some of them were the greatest that I ever yet saw in any tree and those were about the middle of its Age some three made above one Inch so that the tree then did grow above two Inches in Diameter in three years time but at first and of late for some 6 or 7 years it did increase but little for it was neer at its full growth so that if you multiply 12 the Semi-Diameter for it was 24 Inches at the Root-end by 6 it gives you 72 so that it did grow one year with another 2 Inches in 6 year or one Inch in Diameter in three years I do not bring this Tree in for its Greatness but for its quick growth and fine Length of Timber which was helped by its situation it standing in a Valley and set round with many other great trees If this tree had been sold alone it being such a straight Tree and such a tough grane for your great grand Trees are alwayes the toughest to some Pike-maker c. it had been worth 1 s. 6 d. the foot at which price the very timber comes to 09 l. 15 s. 09 d. then the Head and Roots would well pay for the Stocking and making up the wood and make up this summe Ten pound too I do not bring this to compare with Trees that are and have been for the ingenious Author in his Discourse of Forrest-trees pag. 84. tells you of a Tree worth 50 l. as affirmed by Capt. Bullock but I mention it to shew those that love Trees what Profit a thriving tree brings them yearly And I dare affirm that they had better pay Use for Money than cut down a tree that stands in a good place and is in a good thriving Condition therefore if your trees be growing and increase in shoot be not too hasty in felling and when they are decaying it is too late therefore let them not decay too long before you fell them When your Wood is come to the growth you intend to fell at if your Wood be thick of wood then fell the Timber-trees and underwood as close to the ground as you can but if your wood be thin then stock up your trees especially if great timber and the Winter after into these holes where you stocked up the trees set Elm Cherry Popler Sarvice aud Sallow-Cuttings so will these trees which are subject to grow from the running Roots thicken your woods the Roots will pay for the stocking you will save a soot or two of the best of timber and the Roots of other wood will grow the better in the loose ground where you made the holes whereas the old Roots would keep the Ground from nourishing or any from growing there for many years If your Ground be a shallow Soyl do not fill up the holes quite but set in some Running wood the Ground being deep by the hills will make the other wood grow better and the ends of several Roots being cut will shoot forth at the sides of the hole and the holes will receive Seeds which the wind will blow into them and there being weeds to choak them they will grow well For these Reasons I stocked up all the great trees which we felled in our Wood at Cashiobury and I set in an Elm and a Cherry by the sides of the holes and the Spring after there came out of the side-roots of Maple Cherry c. which made good shoots and many Sallows came up in the holes whereby our Woods were very well thicken'd to the Conteut of my ingenious Lord though many people were much against it because it was not used so to be done If your Wood be thin at every felling lay some boughs which are most convenient into the thin places and before next fall you will have them well rooted and good shoots from them A man will doe a great many in one day for which you will be well satisfied in time December and January is the best time to fell Timber but the Oak in April if you would have the Bark when the Moon is decreasing and the wind not East When the Stubs of your under-woods are grown great stock them up This is found to be good Husbandry with us in Hartfordshire which they call Runting their Woods it makes way for Seedlings and young Roots to run the better Do this at felling-time wheresoever you have felled Trees at the Ground When
up your Instrument be it Water-level or Ground-level with sights and when you have plâ—ced it so high as you may see over the highest part of the Ground as half a foot or a foot then set a stake in the middle the top exactly level with the sights and one on the highest side the top level with the middle stake then turn the Level or Lood back sight and set one Level with these two on the lowest ground So have you three stakes in Line level Keep your Level true to your Middle-stake and turn your Level till it makes Right-angles with these three stakes and set up two stakes at each side one Level with those three So have you five stakes set true Level in two Lines and if your Ground be large you may set up two Rowes more by the Level but in small Grounds 5 stakes is enow Then may you lay by your Level and looking over the head of one to the head of another cause your Assistant to put down stakes between two and two till you have set as many stakes level in your Ground as you think convenient Or you may have a Rule and look over the edge of that it being level with the head of the stake to the head of the other and put stakes down between you and the other stake what Number you please Thus having staked out your Ground with all the stakes heads level and half a foot higher than the highest part of your Ground in some Ground the middle-stake and the stakes in the Cross-line will be the Level-line the Ground must be brought to that is abating the hill and filling up the low-side to the Level of the Mid-line but if your Ground be very uneven then you must measure over all the stakes and take them middle-high for their mean Level and by the Rule of Three proportion your Ground to that Suppose a Valley be 10 Pole long and two foot deep from the straight Line and there is a hill 5 Pole long how many foot deep must I goe in that 5 Pole of the Hill to fill up this Valley This may be answered by the Rule of Three Inverse or back Rule of Three The Rule orders it self thus As 5 is to 2 so is 10 to 4 So if you work it by the Line of Numbers extend your Compasses from 5 to 2 that same Extent will reach from 10 to 4 so then you must goe 4 foot deep in such a Hill to make good such a Valley as is before said Suppose you are to abutt the top of a Hill four foot deep and 1. 2 Pole from the top of that Hill that 4 foot is to come out this is easily performed though a Leveller to the best man in the Land did not understand it set up a stake on the top of the Hill two foot or three foot long above ground and another at the same height where your depth comes out three Rod from that set a stake down till the head comes to be in a Line with these 2 and at that stake you must be one foot deep At 6 Pole another as before there you must be two foot deep another at 9 Pole there you must sink three foot You may set more stakes at equal distances which will direct you that you cannot goe amiss To make any Sloop first line out your top and foot true then if your Sloop be not very long you may have a Frame of Wood made according to your Sloop which will be as a Mould to trye your work by Two foot Rise in 6 foot Level is a good Proportion for a Sloop CHAP. LV. For making Syder observe these Rules WHatsoever Apples you make your Syder of let them hang on the Trees untill they be through Ripe which you may know by these few infallible Rules First if you find the Kernels Brown or the Seed rattle in the Apple as in some they will or if you see them begin to fall much in still weather or if you find them to handle like a drye piece of wood sounding in your hand if you toss them up then you may go to gathering as fast as you please so your Fruit be drye observe that the greener your Fruit is the sourer will your Syder be therefore be not too forward in gathering For gathering your Apples observe these Directions Take care they be not too much bruised for your bruised Fruit if they be a little kept will rott and give your Syder an ill taste and a high brown Colour and not yield so well for your bruised place of the Apple if it doth not immediately rott the Juice of that place will vapour forth and be a dry Red yielding little Taste or Liquor but sometimes a bad taste But to the making of one Hogshead of Syder there is required a great many Apples as if they be good yielding Fruit and not too long kept some 18 or 20 Bushel will make a Hogshead if not as aforesaid then 24 Bushels or more to one Hogshead Therefore though I would not have your Apple too much Bruised yet I would not advise you to pick them by hand But you may lay a Truss or two of Barly Straw under your Tree when you goe to gather them and on that lay some Blankets or the like according to the Bigness of your Trees thereon with Discretion shake your Fruit letting not too many lie on at one time but carry them to the Place where you intend they shall lie till you grind or beat them Thus you may remove your Straw and Blankets from Tree to Tree as your pleasure is Now for keeping them after you have gathered them let it be in some house if you can with convenience and on some dry boards or boarded flowers but if it be an Earth-flower you must lay them on first cover it with good dry straw and so lay them on that for if you lay them on the earth they will decay faster and turn musty before they have done sweating for 't is observed that which is best to preserve Plants is the quite contrary to keep and preserve Fruit for the holy Scripture telleth plain that which a man soweth must first dye before it take root to live and produce its kind Thus it may be with fruit lying on the ground where the secret vapours of the earth tend much to the death or dissolution of the fleshy part of the fruit that the seed might the sooner be at liberty to produce its like in its several kinds for Nature or the secret providing power of the Almighty is at all times and in all places actuating and assisting every species to produce its kind for any who hath but observed the Walnut or Chestnut though one hath got his Fur Gown the other his Noli-me-tangere Cloke as to too of the senses yet notwithstanding when they be able to shift for themselves as I may say then how willingly the Gown and Cloke is thrown aside to
to vindicate what I have said of it for Walks I shall lay down these following Reasons 1. I doe suppose with my self that whosoever is a Lover of VValks will not fell the Timber-trees in a stately VValk while the Timber is in its prime for most Trees will continue many years very Ornamental after they be in their prime even while they be fit for no use but Fire wood and why not the Line then for VValks as well as any sort of Timber trees 2. It will grow as well on different Grounds as any Tree I know which is a considerable encouragement to the ingenious Planters to see their Labours prosper 3. It will grow as great and as high if kept with pruning up as most Trees we have For the Greatness of it I shall borrow the words of the Learned Dr. Brown which he writ to Esquire Evelyn as he hath it in his Discourse of Forrest-trees Chap. 29. pag. 82. His words are these An extraordinary Large and Stately Tilia Linden or Line-tree there groweth at Depenham in Norfolk ten miles from Norwich whose Measure is this The Compass in the least part of the Trunk or Body about two yards from the Ground is at least eight yards and a half about the Root nigh the Earth sixteen yards in circuit the heighth to the uppermost Boughs about thirty yards c. This is one of the Broad-leaved Lines which how great and stately they grow you may observe out of this wise and learned Doctors Discourse who commends this Tree with the Epithets of Large and Stately 4. It will last sound long as appeareth by the Greatness of its growing 5. It is a Tree will soon grow over the places where you cut off side boughs and is not subject to put forth many 6. It is a Tree that naturally groweth taper and straight 7. No Tree keeps such a constant Pyramid-shape as this the Heads of other Trees growing of several shapes and Forms though all of one Kind this keeps its Head as if it were cut and the Body straight 8. For Shade few better having a thick Head and large Leaves only it droppeth his Leaves too soon 9. The Bark of this Tree being tough keeps its Head from breaking off by great Winds 10. It 's a Tree that as seldom blowes aside as any Tree whatsoever for it's matted Root and Taper-body preserve him upright all his Life-time 11. The Flowers are beautifull the scent counted healthfull and breaketh out strangely on the side of the Leaves much different from other Flowers of Trees or Plants 12. The shoots being of a fine red glossie colour are very pleasing to behold in the Winter-season 13. It is a Tree that seldom grows hollow in the Body for it soon overgroweth the wound and so keeps himself sound both Body and Limb. 14. It is the best wood for Carving that is known 15. At last when he is dead his Bark will make you Mattes and Ropes usefull for several things 16. And lastly its Wood is a good sweet free-burning Fire-wood the Charcoal made of it is commended before all others for Gunpowder Now put all these together and judge if this be not a fine Tree for VValks but if you would have them shape themselves finely set them two rod asunder if for a shady walk what distance you please I fancy that a single Rowe to bound a Lawn round set two or three Rod asunder would be mighty obliging to the Noblest Sense for then they would shew themselves more clearly than when set in double Rows to make VValks or they would shew mighty well set thin on the side-of a Hill one topping another with their curious natural shapes And so adieu my beloved Line-trees If treating of the Line I 've wrote amiss I 'le thank you if you 'l shew wherein it is But if you meet with any thing done well Say nothing on 't but study to excell CHAP. XIX Of Raising and Ordering the Maple THE Maple-tree is very plentifull in most places of England where there are any Hedges or VVoods but as for the Kinds I know but one sort though Authors tell you of more It is increased and doth increase it self by Seed and Layers and from the Roots of Mother Old Trees and by Suckers which makes it so plentifull The Seeds will lie a year in Ground before they come up therefore you may order them as is before said of the Ash you may increase it by Laying as is directed in Chap. 5. for to thicken your VVoods or Hedges but if you let it grow into Trees it destroyes the VVood under it for it receives a clammy Honey-dew on its Leaves which when it is washed off by Rains and falls upon the Buds of those Trees under it its Clamminess keeps those Buds from opening and so by degrees kills all the wood under it therefore suffer not high Trees or Pollards to grow in your Hedges but fell them close to the ground and so it will thicken your Hedge and not spoyl its Neighbours so much You may increase it from the Roots of an older Tree as is shewed in Chap. 7. It is a good VVood to plant for under-wood in Coppices and VVoods for it produceth a good shoot and thickens your VVoods it loves a dry Ground or Bank best CHAP. XX. The Raising and Ordering the Sycamore THis fine Tree is much out of Favour with a great many for these Reasons viz. Because the Leaves falling upon their Walks turn into Soyl soon and so spoyl them breeding Grass and Weeds And also that notwithstanding its fine shade it is not good to plant them near Dwelling-houses for the Leaves in Summer-time being subject to catch and hold the Honey-dew do draw together several sorts of Flies and some say amongst them the Moth if so they be not fit to be planted near Houses and Gardens the same fault hath the King of Trees the never enough admired Oak and the Maple and others But granting this yet let me desire those that have Woods and Coppices in Parks where Deer are especially to set some of this Tree every Fall in the open places and that for these Reasons First it is a wood the Deer will not soon harm then it is a wood that bears Keyes soon and many which will fall Early and come up the next Spring and being armed with a large Leaf the weeds will not soon choak them On some Grounds that are dry and light it groweth fast It produceth tall tough and good Timber for several uses It groweth apace from a Stub and is good Fire-wood It may be raised of Seed which is best or by Laying or by Roots Sow the Seed not on too wet or stiffe Ground as soon as it is Ripe and the next Spring it will come up whereby on a little Ground you may raise a great many Plants to set in your Nursery keeping them clean from weeds by digging and pruning up every year till you have got them