what concerns Vines and Olive-trees to be found in Cato de R.R. c. Nor is it here that we design to enlarge as those who have philologiz'd on this occasion de Sycophantis and other curious criticismes but passe now on and confine my self to the prudent Sanctions of our own Parliaments for though according to the old and best Spirit of true English we ought to be more powerfully led by his Majesties Example than to have need of more cogent and violent Laws yet that our Discourse may be as ample and as little defective as we can render it something 't is fit should be spoken concerning such Lawes and Ordinances as have been from time to time constituted amongst us for the Encouragement and Direction of such as do well as for the Animadversion and Punishment of those who continue refractory which I deduce in this order 3. From the time of Edward the fourth were enacted many excellent Lawes for the Planting securing cutting and ordering of Woods Copses and Vnder woods as then they took cognizance of them together with the several penalties upon the Infringers especially from the 25 of Hen. 8 17. c. confirm'd by the 13 and 27. of Q Eliz. cap. 25.19 c. which are diligently to be consulted revived put in execution and enlarg'd where any defect is apparent as in particular the Act of exempting of Timber of 22 years growth from Tythe for a longer period to render it compleat and more effectual to their Improvement And that Law repealed by which Willows Sallows Oziers c. which they term Sub-bois are reputed but as Weeds 4. Severer punishments have lately been ordain'd against our Wood-stealers destroyers of young Trees c. by an antient Law of some Nation I read he forfeited his Hand who beheaded a Tree without permission of the Owner and I cannot say they are sharp ones when I compare the severity of our Lawes against Mare stealers nor am I by inclination the least cruel but I do affirm we might as well live without Mares as without Masts and Ships which are our wooden but no lesse profitable Horses 5. And here we cannot but perstringe those Royotous Assemblies of Idle People who under pretence of going a Maying as they term it do oftentimes cut down and carry away fine straight Trees to set up before some Ale-house or Revelling-place where they keep their drunken Bacchanalias For though this Custom was I read introduc'd by the Emperor Anastasius to abolish the Gentil Majana of the Romans at Ostia which was to transfer a great Oaken-Tree out of some Forest into the Town and erect it before their Mistris's Door yet I think it were better to be quite abolish'd amongst us for many reasons besides that of occasioning so much wast and spoyl as we find is done to Trees at that Season under this wanton pretence by breaking mangling and tearing down of branches and intire Arms of Trees to adorn their Wooden-Idol The Imperial Law against such disorders we have in L. ob id sl ad legem Aquill in ff l. 47. Tit. 7. Arborem furtim caesarum See also Triphon L. ig de Bon. off cont tab vel in ligna focaria L. Ligni ff de Lege 3. c. To these I might add the Laws of our King Inas or as the Learned Lambert calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de priscis Anglorum legibus whose Title is Be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Burning Trees The Sanction runs thus If any one set fire of a fell'd Wood he shall be punished and besides pay three pounds and for those who clandestinely cut Wood of which the very sound of the Axe shall be sufficient Conviction for every Tree he shall be mulcted thirty shillings A Tree so fell'd under whose Shadow thirty Hoggs can stand shall be mulcted at three pounds c. 6. I have heard that in the great Expedition of 88 it was expresly enjoyn'd the Spanish Commanders of that signal Armada that if when landed they should not be able to subdue our Nation and make good their Conquest they should yet be sure not to leave a Tree standing in the Forest of Dean It was like the Policy of the Philistines when the poor Israelites went down to their Enemies Smiths to sharpen every man his Tools for as they said lest the Hebrews make them Swords or Spears so these lest the English build them Ships and Men of War Whether this were so or not certain it is we cannot be too jealous for the preservation of our Woods and especially of those eminent and with care inexhaustible Magazines I dare not suggest the encouragement of a yet farther restraint that even Proprietors themselves should not presume to make havock of some of their own Woods to feed their prodigality and heap fuel to their vices but it is worthy of our observation that in that in-imitable Oration the second Philippic Cicero does not so sharply reproach his great Antagonist for any other of his Extravagancies which yet he there enumerates as for his wasteful disposure of certain Wood-lands belonging to the Common-wealth amongst his jovial Bravo's and leud Companions tua ista detrimenta sunt meaning his Debauches illa nostra speaking of the Timber 7. But to the Laws it were to be wish'd that our tender and improvable Woods should not admit of Cattle by any means till they were quite grown out of reach the Statutes which connive at it in favour of Custom and for the satisfying of a few clamorous and rude Commoners being too indulgent since it is very evident that less then a 14. or 15. years enclosure is in most places too soon and our most material Trees would be of infinite more worth and improvement were the Standards suffer'd to grow to Timber and not so frequently cut at the next felling of the Wood as the general custom is In 22 Edw. 4. the liberty arriv'd but to seven years after a felling of a Forest or Purlieu and but three years before without special license This was very narrow but let us then look on England as an over-grown Country 8. Wood in Parks was afterwards to be four years Fenced upon felling and yearling Colts and Calves might be put into inclosed Woods after two By the 13 Eliz. five years and no other Cattle till six if the growth was under fourteen years or until eight if exceeding that age till the last felling All which Statutes being by the Act of Hen. 8. but temporal this Parliament of Eliz. thought fit to make perpetual 9. Then to prevent the destructive razing and converting of Woods to Pasture No wood of two Acres and above two furlongs from the Mansion House should be indulg'd And the prohibitions are good against Assarts made in forests c. without license The Penalties are indeed great but how seldome inflicted and what is novv more easie than Compounding for such a license In some parts of Germany vvhere a single Tree is
Seeds vvhich vve intend to sovv has been already advised for it has been seen that Woods of the same age planted in the same soil discover a visible difference in the Timber and growth and vvhere this variety should happen if not from the seed vvill be hard to interpret therefore let the place soil and growth of such Trees from vvhence you have your seeds be diligently examin'd and vvhy not this as vvell as in our care of Animals for our breed and store 11. As to the Form obey the natural site and submit to the several guizes but ever declining to enclose High wayes and Common-Roads as much as possible For the rest be pleased to reflect on what we have already said to encourage the Planting of the large spreading Oak above all that species the amplitude of the distance which they require resign'd to the care of the Verderer for grazing Cattle Deer c. and for the great and masculine beauty which a wild Quincunx as it were of such Trees would present to your eye 12. But to advance his Majesties Forests to this height of perfection I should again urge the removal of some of our most mischievously plac'd Iron mills if that at least be true which some have affirm'd that we had better Iron and cheaper from Forreigners when those works were strangers amongst us I am inform'd that the New-English vvho are novv become very numerous and hindred in their advance and prospect of the Continent by their surfeit of the Woods which we want did about twelve years since begin to clear their High ways by two Iron-mills I am sure their zeal has sufficiently wasted our stately Woods and Steel in the bowels of their Mother old England and 't were now but expedient their Brethren should hasten thither to supply us with Iron for the peace of our dayes whilst his Majesty becomes the great Soveraign of the Ocean free Commerce Nemorum Vindex Instaurator magnus This were the onely way to render both our Countries habitable indeed and the fittest Sacrifice for the Royal Oaks and their Hamadryad's to whom they owe more than a sleight submission And he that should deeply consider the prodigious waste which these voracious Iron and Glasse-works have formerly made but in one County alone the County of Sussex for 120 Miles in length and thirty in breadth for so wide and spacious was the antient Andradswald of old one intire Wood but of which there remains now little or no sign would be touch'd with no mean Indignation Certainly the goodly Rivers and Forests of the other World would much better become our Iron and Saw-mills than these exhausted Countreys and we prove gainers by the timely removal I have said this already and I cannot too often inculcate it for the Concerns of a Nation whose onely Protection under God are her Wooden Walls 13. Another thing to be recommended and which would prove no lesse than thirty years in some places forty and generally twenty years advance were a good if well executed Act to save our Standards and borduring Trees from the Ax of the Neighbourhood And who would not preserve Timber when within so few years the price is almost quadrupl'd I assure you standards of twenty thirty or forty years growth are of a long day for the Concernments of a Nation 14. And though we have in our general Chapter of Copses declar'd what by our Laws and common usage is expected at every Fell and which is indeed most requisite till our store be otherwise suppli'd yet might much even of that rigor be abated by no unfrugal permissions to take down more of the Standards for the benefit of the Vnder-woods especially where by over dropping and shade they interrupt the kindly Dews Rains and Influences which nourish them provided that there were a proportionable number of Timber-trees duly and throughly Planted and preserved in the Hedge-rows and Bordures of our grounds in which case even the total clearing of some Copses would be to their great advance as by sad experience has been taught some good Husbands whose necessities sometimes forced them to violate their Standards and more grown Trees during the late Tyranny 15. Nor will it be here unseasonable to advise that where Trees are manifestly perceiv'd to decay they be marked out for the Ax that so the younger may come on for a supply especially where they are chiefly Elms because their successors hasten to their height and perfection in a competent time but beginning once to grow sick of Age or other infirmity suddenly impair and lose much of their value yearly besides that the increase of this and other speedy Timber would spare the more Oak for Navigation and the sturdier uses How goodly a sight were it if most of the Demesnes of our Countrey Gentlemen were crown'd and incircl'd with such stately rows of Limes Firs Elms and other ample shady and venerable Trees as adorn New-Hall in Essex the Seat of that Suffolk Knight neer Yarmouth and our neighbouring Pastures at Barnes Yet were these Plantations but of late years in comparison It were a noble and immortal providence to imitate these good Husbands in larger and more august Plantations of such useful Trees for Timber and Fuel as well as for Shade and Ornament to our Dwellings 16. But these incomparable undertakings will best of all become the Inspection and care of the Honourable Lieutenants and Rangers when they delight themselves as much in the goodlinesse of their Trees as other men generally do in their Dogs and Horses for Races and Hunting neither of which Recreations is comparable to that of Planting either for Virtue or Pleasure were things justly consider'd according to their true estimation Not yet that I am of so morose an humour that I reprove any of those noble and manly Diversions seasonably us'd but because I would court the Industry of great and opulent persons to profitable and permanent delights For suppose that Ambition were chang'd into a laudable emulation who should best and with most artifice raise a Plantation of Trees that should have all the proper Ornaments and perfections their nature is susceptible of by their direction and encouragement such as Aelian sums up lib. 3. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. kind and gentle Limbs plenty of large leaves an ample and fair body profound or spreading Roots strong against impetuous Winds for so I affect to read it extensive and venerable Shade and the like Methinks there were as much a subject of Glory as could be phancied of the kind and comparable I durst pronounce preferrable to any of their Recreations and how goodly an Ornament to their Demesnes and Dwellings let their own eyes be the judges 17. One Encouragement more I would reinforce from an History I have read of a certain frugal and most Industrious Italian Noble-man who after his Lady was brought to Bed of a Daughter considering that Wood and Timber was a Revenue coming on
Husband-men are perfectly skil'd in it 10. The Roots of an Old Thorne is excellent both for Boxes and Combs and is curiously and naturally wrought I have read that they made ribs to some small Boates or Vessels with the White-Thorn The Black-Crab rightly season'd and treated is famous for Walking-staves and if over-grown us'd in Mill-work Here we owe due Elogy to the Industry of that honourable Person my Lord Ashley who has taught us to make such Enclosures of Crab-stocks onely planted close to one another as there is nothing more impregnable and becoming or you may sowe Sider-kernels in a rill and fence it for a while with a double dry Hedge not onely for a suddain and beautiful but a very profitable Inclosure because amongst other benefits they will yield you Sider-fruit in abundance But in Devonshire they build two walls with their stones setting them edge-ways two and then one between and so as it rises fill the intervall or Cofer with Earth the breadth and height as you please and continuing the stone-work and filling and as you work beating in the stones flat to the sides which causes them to stick everlastingly This is absolutely the neatest most saving and profitable Fencing imaginable where slaty stones are in any abundance and it becomes not onely the most secure to the Lands but the best for Cattel to lye warme under the Walls when other Hedges be they never so thick admit of some cold winds in Winter time that the leaves are of Upon these Banks they plant not onely Quick sets but even Timber-Trees which exceedingly thrive being out of all danger 11. The Pyracanth Paliurus and like pretioser sorts of Thorne might easily be propagated into plenty sufficient to store even these vulgar Vses were Men industrious and then how beautiful and sweet would the environs of our Fields be for there are none of the spinous shrubs more hardy nor fitter for our defence Thus might Berberies now and then be also inserted among our hedges which with the Hips Haws and Cornel-berries do well in light lands and would rather be planted to the South than North or West as usually we observe them 13. Some as we noted mingle their very hedges with Oaklings Ash and Fruit trees sown or planted and 't is a laudable improvement though others do rather recommend to us Sets of all one sort and will not so much as admit of the Black-Thorne to be mingled with the White because of their unequal progress and indeed Timber-trees set in the Hedge though contemporaries with it do frequently wear it out and therefore I should rather incourage such Plantations to be at some Yards neer the Verges than perpendicularly in them 14. In Cornwall they secure their Lands and Woods with high Mounds and on them they plant Acorns whose roots bind in the looser mould and so form a double and most durable Fence incircling the Fields with a Coronet of Trees They do likewise and that with great commendation make hedges of our Genista Spinosa prickly Furzes of which they have a taller sort such as the French imploy for the same purpose in Bretaigne where they are incomparable husbands 15. It is to be sown which is best or planted of the roots in a furrow If sown weeded till it be strong both Tonsile and to be diligently clip'd which will render it very thick an excellent and beautiful hedge Otherwise permitted to grow at large 't will yield very good Fagot It is likewise admirable Covert for wilde-fowle and will be made to grow even in moyst as well as dry places The young and tender tops of Furzes being a little bruis'd and given to a lean sickly Horse will strangely recover and plump him Thus in some places they sow in barren grounds when they lay them down the last crop with this seed and so let them remain till they break them up again and during that interim reap considerable advantage Would you believe writes a worthy Correspondent of mine that in Herefordshire famous for plenty of wood their Thickets of Furzes viz. the vulgar should yield them more profit then a like quantity of the best Wheat land of England for such is theirs if this be question'd the Scene is within a mile of Hereford and proved by anniversary experience in the Lands as I take it of a Gentleman who is now one of the Burgesses for that City And in Devonshire the seat of the best Husbands in the World they sow on their worst Land well plow'd the seeds of the rankest Furzes which in four or five years becomes a rich Wood no provender as we say makes Horses so hardy as the young tops of these Furzes no other Wood so thick nor more excellent Fuel and for some purposes also yielding them a kind of Timber to their more humble buildings and a great refuge for Fowl and other Game I am assur'd in Bretaigne 't is sometimes sown no lesse then twelve yards thick for a speedy profitable and impenetrable Mound If we imitated this husbandry in the barren places of Surrey and other parts of this Nation we might exceedingly spare our woods and I have bought the best sort of French seed at the shops in London It seems that in the more Eastern parts of Germany and especially in Poland this vulgar trifle and even our common Broom is so rare that they have desired the seeds of them out of England and preserve them with extraordinary care in their best Gardens this I learn out of our Johnsons Herbal by which we may consider that what is reputed a curse and a cumber in some places is esteem'd the ornament and blessing of another But we shall not need go so far for this since both Beech and Birch are almost as great strangers in many parts of this Nation particularly Northampton and Oxfordshire 15. This puts me in mind of the Broom another improvement for Barren grounds and saver of more substantial Fuel It may be sown English or what is more sweet and beautiful the Spanish with equal success In the Western parts of France and Cornwall it grows with us to an incredible height however our Poet give it the epithete of humilis and so it seems they had it of old as appears by Gratius his Genistae Altinates with which as he affirms they us'd to make staves for their Spears and hunting Darts 16. Lastly a considerable Fence may be made of the Elder set of reasonable lusty trunchions much like the Willow and as I have seen them maintain'd laid with great curiosity and far excelling those extravagant plantations of them about London where the lops are permitted to grow without due and skilful laying There is a sort of Elder which has hardly any Pith this makes exceeding stout Fences and the Timber very useful for Cogs of Mills Butchers Skewers and such tough employments Old trees do in time become firm and close up the hollowness to an almost invisible pith
more watry Sap which hasting from all parts towards the middle is convey'd by the fore-mention'd gutter into the Barrel or Vessel placed to receive it Thus the whole Art of Tarmaking is no other than a kind of rude distillation per descensum and might therefore be as well done in Furnaces of large capacity were it worth the expence When the Tar is now all melted out and run they stop up all the vents very close and afterwards find the knots made into excellent Char-coal preferr'd by the Smiths before any other whatsoever which is made of wood and nothing so apt to burn out when their blast ceaseth neither do they sparkle in the fire as many other sorts of Coal do so as in defect of Sea-coal they make choice of this as best for their use and give greater prices for it Of these knots likewise do the Planters split out small slivers about the thickness of one's finger or somewhat thinner which serve them to burn in stead of Candles giving a very good light This they call candle-Candle-wood and it is in mucâ— use both in new-New-England Virginia and amongst the Dutch planters in their Villages but for that it is something offensive by reason of the much fuliginous smoak which comes from it they commonly burn it in the chimney-corner upon a flat stone or Iron except occasionally they carry a single stick in their hand as there is need of light to go about the house It must not be conceiv'd by what we have mention'd in the former description of the knots that they are only to be separated from the bodies of the trees by devouring time or that they are the only materials out of which Tar can be extracted For there are in these Tracts millions of Trees which abound with the same sort of knots and full of Turpentine fit to make Tar But the labour of felling these Trees and of cutting out their knots would far exceed the value of the Tar especially in Countries where Workmen are so very dear But those knots above mention'd are provided to hand without any other labour then the gathering only There are sometimes found of those sort of Pine-trees the lowest part of whose stems towards the root is as full of Turpentine as the knots and of these also may Tar be made but such Trees being rarely found are commonly preserved to split into Candle-wood because they will be easily riven out into any lengths and scantlings desir'd much better then the knots There be who pretend an art of as fully impregnating the body of any living Pine-tree for six or eight foot high and some have reported that such an art is practis'd in Norway But upon several experiments by girdling the Tree as they call it and cutting some of the bark round and a little into the wood of the Tree six or eight foot distant from the ground it has yet never succeeded whether the just season of the year were not observ'd or what else omitted were worth the disquisition if at least there be any such secret amongst the Norwegians Swedes or any other Nation Of Tar by boiling it to a sufficient height is Pitch made and in some places where Rosin is plentiful a fit proportion of that may be dissolved in the Tar whiles it is boiling and this mixture is soonest converted to Pitch but it is of somewhat a differing kind from that which is made of Tar only without other composition There is a way which some Ship-Carpenters in those Countries have us'd to bring their Tar into Pitch for any sudden use by making the Tar so very hot in an Iron-kettle that it will easily take fire which when blazing and set in an airy place they let burn so long till by taking out some small quantity for trial being cold it appears of a sufficient consistence Then by covering the Kettle close the fire is extinguish'd and the Pitch is made without more ceremony There is a process of making Rosin also out of the same knots by splitting them out into thin pieces and then boiling them in water which will educe all the Resinous matter and gather it into a body which when cold will harden into pure Rosin It is moreover to be understood that the Fir and most Coniferous Trees yield the same Concretes Lachrymae Turpentines Rosins Hard Naval or stone and liquid Pitch and Tar for innumerable uses and from the burning and fuliginous vapour of these especially the Rosin we have our Lamp and Printers black c. I am perswaded the Pine and Fir trees in Scotland might yield his Majesty plenty of excellent Tar were some industrious Person employ'd about the work CHAP. XXIII Of the Larch Platanus Lotus Cornus c. 1. LArix though of the Coniferous family looses its leaf and therefore we separate him from the Firs and Pines but why we might not hope as well of the Larch as from any of them I know not I read of Beams of no less then 120. foot in length made out of this goodly Tree which is of so strange a composition that 't will hardly burn as Caesar found in a Castle he besieg'd built of it the story is recited at large by Vitruvius l. 2. c. 9. but see what Philander says upon the place on his own experience yet the Coals thereof were held far better then any other for the melting of Iron There is abundance of this Larch timber in the Buildings at Venice especially about the Palaces in Piazza San Marco where I remember Scmozzi says he himself us'd much of it and infinitely commends it Tiberius we find built that famous Bridg to his Naumachia with it and it seems to excel for Beams Dores Windoes and will support an incredible Weight which and for its property of long refecting fire makes Vitruvius wish they had greater plenty of it at Rome to make Goists of From this Tree it is that useful Drug Agaric is gathered and the timber of it is so exceedingly transparant that Cabanes made of the thin boards when in the dark night they have lighted candles people who are at a distance without dores would imagine the whole room to be on fire which is pretty odd considering there is no material so unapt to kindle That which now grows some where about Chelnsford in Essex arriv'd to a flourishing and ample Tree does sufficiently reproach our negligence and want of industry as well as the incomparable and shady 2. Platanus that so beautiful and precious Tree so doated on by Xerxes that Aelian and other Authours tell us he made halt and stop'd his prodigious Army of seventeen hundred thousand souldiers which even cover'd the Sea exhausted Rivers and thrust Mount Athos from the Continent to admire the pulchritude and procerity of one of these goodly Trees and became so fond of it that spoiling both himself his Concubines and great Persons of all their jewels he cover'd it with Gold Gems Neck-laces Scarfs and
it then of any other Tree Notwithstanding we have in this Countrey of ours no less then three sorts which are all of them easily propagated and prosper very well if they are rightly ordered and therefore I shall not omit to disclose one secret as well to confute a popular Errour as for the Instruction of our Gard'ners 6. The Tradition is That the Cypress being a Symbol of Mortality they should say of the contrary is never to be cut for fear of killing it This makes them to impale and wind them about like so many Aegyptian Mummies by which means the inward parts of the Tree being heated for want of Air and Refreshment it never arrives to any perfection but is exceedingly troublesome and chargeable to maintain whereas indeed there is not a more tonsile and governable Plant in nature For the Cypress may be cut to the very Roots and yet spring afresh And this we find was the husbandry in the Isle of Aenaria where they us'd to fell it for Copse For the Cypress being rais'd from the Nursery of Seeds sown in September or rather March and within two years after transplanted should at two years standing more have the master stem of the middle shaft cut off some hand-breadth below the summit the sides and smaller sprigs shorn into a conique or pyramidal form and so kept clipp'd from April to September as oft as there is occasion and by this Regiment they will grow furnish'd to the foot and become the most beautiful Trees in the world without binding or stake still remembring to abate the middle stem and to bring up the collateral branches in its stead to what altitude you please but when I speak of shortning the middle shoot I do not intend the dwarfing of it and therefore it must be done discreetly so as it may not over-hastily advance till the foot thereof be perfectly furnished But there is likewise another no lesse commendable expedient to dresse this Tree with all the former advantages if sparing the shaft altogether you diligently cut away all the forked branches reserving onely such as radiate directly from the body which being shorn and clipt in due season will render the Tree very beautiful and though more subject to obey the shaking winds yet the natural spring of it does immediately redress it without the least discomposure and this is a secret worth the learning of Gard'ners who subject themselves to the trouble of stakes and binding which is very inconvenient Thus likewise may you form them into Hedges and Topiary works or by sowing the Seeds in a shallow furrow and plucking up the Supernumeraries where they come too close and thick For in this work it shall suffice to leave them within a foot of each other and when they are risen about a yard in height which may be to the half of your Palisado cut off their tops as you are taught and keep the sides clippâ—d that they ascend but by degrees and thicken at the bottom as they climbe Thus they will present you in half a dozen or eight years with incomparable hedges preferable to all others whatsoever because they are perpetually green and able to resist the Winds better then any which I know the Holly only excepted which indeed has no peer 7. When I say Winds I mean their fiercest gusts not their cold For though it be said Brumáque illaesa Cupressus and that indeed no frost impeaches them for they grow even on the snowy tops of Ida yet our cruel Eastern winds do sometimes mortally invade them which have been late clipp'd seldom the untouch'd or that were dressed in the Spring only The effects of the late March and April Winds in the years 1663. and 1665. accompanied with cruel Frosts and cold blasts for the space of more then two months night and day did not amongst neer a thousand Cypresses growing in my Garden kill above three or four which for being very late cut to the quick that is the latter end of October were raw of their wounds took cold and gangreen'd some few others which were a little smitten towards the tops might have escaped all their blemishes had my Gard'ner capp'd them but with a wisp of hay or straw as in my absence I commanded As for the frost of those Winters then which I believe there was never known a more cruel and deadly piercing since England had a name it did not touch a Cypress of mine till it joyn'd forces with that destructive Wind Therefore for caution clip not your Cypresses late in Autumn and cloath them if young against these winds for the frosts they only discolour them but seldom or never hurt them as by long experience I have found 8. If you affect to see your Cypress in Standard and grow wild which may in time come to be of a large substance fit for the most immortal of Timber plant of the reputed Male sort it is a Tree which will prosper wonderfully and where the ground is hot and gravelly though as we say'd he be nothing so beautiful and it is of this that the Venetians make their greatest profit 9. There is likewise the Tarentine Cypress so much celebrated by Cato I do not mean our Savine which some erroneously take for it though there be a Berry-bearing Savine much resembling the Cypress which comes to prove a gallant upright Tree fit for the Standard Both that and the Milesian are worthy our culture 10. I have already shew'd how this Tree is to be rais'd from the seed but there was another Method amongst the Ancients who as I told you were wont to make great Plantations of them for their Timber I have practis'd it my self and therefore describe it 11. If you receive your seed in the Nuts which uses to be gather'd thrise a year but seldom ripening with us expose them to the Sun till they gape or neer a gentle fire or put them in warme water by which means the seeds will be easily shaken out for if you have them open before they do not yield you half their crop About the beginning of April or before if the weather be showery prepare an even Bed which being made of fine earth clap down with your Spade as Gard'ners do for Purselain-seed of old they roll'd it with some Stone or Cylinder Upon this strew your seeds pretty thick then sieft over them some more mould somewhat better than half an inch in height keep them duly watered after Sun-set unless the season do it for you and after one years growth for they will be an inch high in little more than a Moneth you may transplant them where you please In watering them I give you this caution which may also serve you for most tender and delicate seeds that you deaw them rather with a broom or spergatory then hazard the beating them out with the common watering-pot and when they are well come up be but sparing of water Be sure likewise that you clense
observ'd to be extraordinary fertile a constant and plentiful Mast-bearer there are Laws to prohibite their felling without special leave And it was well Enacted amongst us that even the Owners of woods within Chases should not cut down the Timber without view of Officers this Act being in affirmance of the Common Law and not to be violated without Prescription See the Case cited by my Lord Cook in his Comment on Littleton Tenure Burgage L. 2. Sect. 170. Or if not within Chases yet where a Common-person had liberty of Chase c. and this would be of much benefit had the Regarders perform'd their duty as 't is at large described in the Writ of the 12 Articles and that the Surcharge of the Forests had been honestly inspected with the due Perambulations and ancient Metes Thus should the Justices of Eire dispose of no Woods without expresse Commission and in convenient places Minuti blaterones quercuum culi curbi as our Law terms wind-falls dotterels scrags c. and no others 10. Care is likewise by our Laws to be taken that no unnecessary Imbezelment be made by pretences of Repair of Paling Lodges Browse for Deer c. Wind-falls Root-falls dead and Sear-trees all which is subject to the Inspection of the VVarders Justices c. and even trespasses done de Viridi on boughs of Trees Thickets and the like which as has been shew'd are very great impediments to their growth and prosperity and should be duly looked after and punish'd and the great neglect of Swainmote-Courts reformed c. See Consuet Assis Forest Pannagium or Pastura pecorum de Glandibus Fleta c. Manwoods Forest-lawes Cook pla fol. 366. li. 8. fol. 138. 11. Finally that the exorbitance and increase of devouring Iron-mills were looked into as to their distance and number neer the Seas or Navigable Rivers And what if some of them were even remov'd into another world 't were better to purchase all our Iron out of America than thus to exhaust our woods at home although I doubt not they might be so order'd as to be rather a means of conserving them There was a Statute made by Queen Eliz. to prohibite the converting of Timber trees to Coal or other Fuel for the use of Iron-mills if the Tree were of one foot square and growing within fourteen Miles of the Sea or the greater Rivers c. 't is pity some of those places in Kent Sussex and Surrey were excepted in the Proviso for the reason express'd in a Statute made 23 Eliz. by which even the imploying of any under-wood as well as great Trees was prohibited within 22 miles of London and many other Navigable Rivers Creeks and other lesser distances from some parts of Sussex-Downs Cinque-Ports Havens c. There are several Acres of wood-land of no mean circuit near Rochester in the County of Kent extending as far as Bexley and indeed for many miles about Shoters-Hill near the River of Thames which were his Majesty owner of might in few years be of an un-valuable Improvement and benefit considering how apt they are to grow Forest and how opportune they lye for the use of his Royal Navy at Chatham 12. But yet to prove what it is to manage VVoods discreetly I read of one Mr. Christopher Darell a Surrey Gentleman of Nudigate that had a particular Indulgence for the cutting of his Woods at pleasure though a great Iron Master because he so order'd his VVorks that they were a means of preserving even his VVoods notwithstanding those unsatiable devourers This may appear a Paradox but is to be made out and I have heard my own Father whose Estate was none of the least wooded in England affirm that a Forge and some other Mills to which he furnish'd much fuel were a means of maintaining and improving his woods I suppose by increasing the Industry of Planting and care as what he has now left standing of his own Planting enclosing and cherishing in the possession of my most honoured Brother George Evelin of VVotton in the same County does sufficiently evince a most laudable Monument of his Industry and rare Example for without such an Example and such an Application I am no Advocate for Iron-works but a declared denouncer But Nature has thought fit to produce this wasting-Oare more plentifully in Wood-land than any other Ground and to enrich our Forests to their own Destruction O Poverty still safe and therefore found Insep'rably with Mischiefs under ground Woods tall and Reverend from all time appear Inviolable where no Mine is near O semper bona pauperies conditus altâ Thesaurus tellure nocens O semper ovantes Integra salvaque solo non divite Sylva Couleii Pl. l. 6. for so our sweet Poet deplores the Fate of the Forest of Dean 13. The same Act we have Confirmed and enlarged in the Seventeenth of the said Queen for the preserving of Timber-Trees and the Penalties of impairing VVoods much increased the Tops and offals onely permitted to be made use of for this imployment 14. As to the Law of Tythes I find Timber-Trees pay none but others do both for Body Branches Bark Fruit Root and even the Suckers growing out of them and the Tenth of the Body sold or kept And so of VVillows Sallows and all other Trees not apt for Timber Also of Sylva caedua as Coppices and Vnder-woods pay the tenth when ever the Proprietor receives his nine Parts But if any of these we have named un-exempted are cut onely for Mounds Fencing or Plow-boot within the Parish in which they grow or for the Fuel of the Owner no Tythes are due though the Vicar have the Tyth-wood and the Parson that of the places so inclosed nor are Vnder-woods grub'd up by the Roots Tythable unlesse for this and any of the former cases there be Prescription But for Timber-trees such as Oak Ash Elm which are accounted Timber in all places after the first twenty years also Beech Horn-beam Maple Aspen and even Hasel many of which are in some Countries reputed Timber they are not to pay Tithes unlesse they are fell'd before the said age of twenty years from their first Planting Note here If the Owner fell a fruit-tree of which the Parson has had tythe that year and convert the wood into fuel the tythe shall cease because he cannot receive the tythe of one thing twice in one year Beech in Countrys where it abounds is not tythable because in such places 't is not accounted Timber 16 Jac. Co. B. Pinders Case Cherry-trees in Buckinghamshire have been adjudged Timber and Tythe-free Pasch 17 Jac. B.R. If a Tree be lop'd under twenty years growth and afterwards be permitted to grow past twenty years and then be lop'd again no tythe is due for it though at the first cutting it were not so If wood be cut for hedges which is not tythable and any be left of it un-employ'd no tythe shall be paid for it If wood be cut for