which grow in rough stony grounds and obstinate clays are long before they come to any considerable stature for such places and all sort of Clay is held but a step-mother to Trees but in time they afford the most excellent Timber having stood long and got good rooting The same may we affirm of the lightest sands which produces a smoother-grain'd Timber of all other the most useful for the Joyner but that which grows in Gravell is subject to be Frow as they term it and brittle What improvement the stirring of the ground about the roots of Oaks is to the Trees I have already hinted and yet in Copses where they stand warm and so thickn'd with the under wood as this culture cannot be practis'd they prove in time to be goodly Trees I have of late tried the Graffing of Oaks but as yet with slender successe Ruellius indeed affirms it will take the Pears and other Fruit and if we may credit the Poet The sturdy Oak do's Golden Apples bear Aurea durae Mala feraut quercus Ecl. 8. And under Elmes swine do the Mast devour Glandemque sues fregere sub Vlmo Geor. Which I conceive to be the more probable for that the Sap of the Oak is of an unkind tincture to most Trees But for this Improvement I would rather advise Inoculation as the ordinary Elm upon the Witch-Hasel for those large leaves we shall anon mention and which are so familiar in France 6. That the Transplanting of young Oaks gains them ten years Advance some happy persons have affirmed from this belief if in a former Impression I have desir'd to be excused and produc't my Reasons for it I shall not persist against any sober mans Experience and therefore leave this Article to their choice since as the Butchers phrase is change of Pasture makes fat Calves and so Transplantations of these hard wood-trees when young may possibly by an happy hand in fit season and other circumstances of Soil Sun and Room for growth be an improvement But as for those who advise us to plant Oaks of too great a stature they hardly make any considerable progresse in an Age and therefore I cannot encourage it unlesse the ground be extraordinarily qualified Yet if any be desirous to make trial of it let their Stems be of the smoothest and tenderest Bark for that is ever an indication of youth as well as the paucity of their Circles which in disbranching and cutting the head off at five or six foot height a thing by the way which the French usually spare when they Transplant this Tree may before you stir their Roots serve for the more certain Guide and then plant them immediately with as much Earth as will adhere to them in the place destin'd for their station abating only the tap roots which is that down right and stubby part of the Roots which all Trees rais'd of Seeds do universally produce and quickning some of the rest with a sharp knife but sparing the Fibrous which are the main Suckers and Mouths of all Trees spread them in the foss or pit which hath been prepar'd to receive them I say in the foss unlesse you will rather trench the whole Field which is incomparably the best and infinitely to be preferr'd before narrow pits and holes as the manner is in case you plant any number considerable the Earth being hereby made loose easier and penetrable for the Roots about which you are to cast that Mould which in opening of the Trench you took from the Surface and purposely laid apart because it is sweet mellow and better impregnated But in this Work be circumspect never to inter your Stem deeper than you found it standing for profound buryings very frequently destroys a Tree though an Errour seldom observed If therefore the Roots be sufficiently cover'd to keep the Body steady and erect it is enough and the not minding of this trifling Circumstance does very much deceive our ordinary Wood-men For most Roots covet the Air though that of the Quercus urbana least of any for like the Aesculus How much to heaven her towring head ascends So much towards hell her piercing root extends Quòd quantum vertice ad auras Aethereas tantum radicem Tartara tendit Geo. 2. And the perfection of that does almost as much concern the prosperity of a Tree as of Man himself since Homo is but Arbor inversa which prompts me to this curious but important Advertisement That the Position be likewise sedulously observed 7. For the Southern parts being more dilated and the pores expos'd as evidently appears in their Horizontal Sections by the constant Excentricity of their Hyperbolical Circles being now on the sudden and at such a season converted to the North does sterve and destroy more Trees how carefull soever men have been in ordering the Roots and preparing the Ground than any other Accident whatsoever neglect of staking and defending from Cattle excepted the importance whereof caused the best of Poets and most experienc'd in this Argument giving advice concerning this Article to add The Card'nal poynts upon the Bark they signe And as before it stood in the same line Place to warm south or the obverted polo Such force has custome in each tender soule Quinetiam Coeli regionem in cortice signant Vt quo quaeque modo steterit quâ parte calores Austrinos tulerit quae terga obverterit axi Restituant Adeo in teneris consuescero multum est Geor. li. 1. Which Monition though Pliny and some others think good to neglect or esteem indifferent I can confirm from frequent losses of my own and by particular trials having sometimes Transplanted great trees at Mid-somer with successe the Earth adhearing to the Roots and miscarried in others where this Circumstance only was omitted To observe therefore the Coast and side of the stock especially of Fruit-trees is not such a trifle as by some pretended For if the Air be as much the Mother or Nurse as Water and Earth as more than probable it is such blossoming Plants as court the motion of the Meridian Sun do as 't were evidently point out the advantage they receive by their position by the clearnesse politure and comparative splendor of the South side And the frequent mossinesse of most Trees on the opposite side does sufficiently note the unkindnesse of that Aspect and which is most evident in the bark of Oaks white and smooth The Trees growing more kindly on the South side of an Hill than those which are expos'd to the North with an hard dark rougher and more mossie Integument as I can now demonstrate in a prodigious coat of it investing some Pyracanths which I have removed to a Northern dripping shade I have seen writes a worthy Friend to me on this occasion whole Hedge-rows of Apples and Pears that quite perished after that shelter was removed The good Husbands expected the contrary and that the Fruit should improve as freed from the predations of the Hedge
which is within the wood of the Stock be left the thicker that so the woody part of the Cion may bear the stress and the sappy part be preserved from bruising Some by an happy-hand do with good success Graff without cleaving the Stock at all only by Incisions in the Rind as the Industrious Mr. Austin teaches us But since this is not for every Rustic hand nor seems to fortifie so strongly against impetuous Winds before the Union be secure there had need be some extraordinary defence Choose the streightest and smoothest part of the Stock for the place where you intend to graff If the Stock be all knotty which some esteem no impediment or crooked rectifie it with the fittest posture of the Graff For a Graff covet not a Cions too slender for the Sun and Wind will sooner enforce it to wither Yet are we to distinguish that for Inoculation we take the Bud from a sprig of the last years shoot and most allow that the Cions should also have some of the former with it that it may be the stronger to graff and abide to be put close into the Stock which is thought to advance it in bearing In Hereford-shire they do frequently choose a Graff of several years growth and for the graffing of such large Stocks as are taken out of the Woods or Nurseries and fitted into rows for Orchards they choose not the Graffs so small as in other Countries they require them which has it seems occasion'd some complaint from them that understand not the Reason of the first branch of this Note Once for all the stumpy Graff will be found much superiour to the slender one and make a much nobler and larger Shoot This upon experience Graff your Cions on that side of the Stock where it may receive the least hurt from the South-west Wind it being the most common and most violent that blows in Summer so as the wind may blow it to the Stock not from it And when the Zephyres of the Spring are stirring choose that Season before all others for this work Some there are who talk of removing the Stock about Christmas and then also graff it which there be that glory they can succesfully do even by the fire side and so not be forc'd to expect a two or three years rooting of the Stock But in this Adventure 't is adviseable to plunge the Graff three or four inches deep in the Stock Lastly Be careful that the Rain get not into the clefts of your young graffed Stocks Yet it has been noted That many old Trees quite decay'd with an inward hollowness have born as full burdens and constantly as the very soundest and the Fruit found to be more delicate than usually the same kind from a perfect and more entire Stock Except some former case requires it leave not your Graffs above four five or at most six inches of length above the Stock for by the length it draws more feebly and is more expos'd to the shocks of the Wind or hurt by the Birds and you shall frequently perceive the summities and tops of such young Graffs to be mortified and die The Genet-moyle is commonly propagated by cutting off the Branch a little below a Burr-knot and setting it without any more Ceremony but if they be also graffed first as they grow on the Tree and when they have covered the head cut off below the Burr and set it is far better In this separation cut a little beneath the Burr and peel off or prick the Bark almost to the knot Thus also if the Branch have more knots than one you may graff and cut off yearly till within half a foot of the very stem which you may graff likewise and so let stand Now for encouragement in transporting Graffs at great distance we find that with little care their tops uncut and unbruis'd they will hold good and may support the transportation by Sea or Land from October or November to the very end of March See Sir H. Plat's Offers Paragr 75. To which may be added That if the Graff receives no hurt by lying in the Stock expos'd to all rain dews and severities of Winter frosts from December to Spring as has been experimentally noted then by a stronger presumption in oyled or rather waxen Leather it may undoubtedly escape Some prescribe That the ends shall be stuck in a Turnip and many excellent Graffers Gentlemen some of very good credit have assured us That the Graffs which seemed withered and fit to be cast away have proved the best when tri'd Thus in honest Barnaby Googes noble Heresbachius you will find it commended to gather your Cions in the wane of the Moon at least ten days before you graff them and Constantine gives this reason for it That the Graff a little withered and thirsty may be the better received of the Stock I know some who keep them in Earth from the end of October till the Spring and will hardly use them before There are also other inducements for this practice as Simon Harwood pag. 4. has shew'd us but none beyond our own experience who have known Graffs gathered in December thrive and do perfectly well The best expedient to convey Graffs is to stick the cut-ends in Clay envelop'd with a clout to preserve it from falling off and to wrap the other part of the Twigs in dry Hay or straw-bands which will secure them both from the Winds Galling and other injuries in Transportation Nay I have known them sent many hundred Miles from beyond the Seas accommodated to an ordinary Letter and though somewhat short and with very few Buds yet with excellent success and if this course were more universally consider'd we might be furnish'd with many great Curiosities with little difficulty or charge CHAP. IV. Of Variety and Improvements IF any man would have variety of unexpected and unknown Apples and Pears for the improvement of Cider or Palate-fruit there is more hope from Kernels rais'd in the Nursery as has already been directed than from such tryals of graffings as we have yet seen in present use But if we would recover the patience and the sedulity of the Antient of which some brief account will follow or listen to some unusual Proposals then may we undertake for some variety by Insitions To delude none with Promises we do much rather recommend the diligence of enquiring from all Countries the best Graffs of such Fruits as are already found excellent for the purpose we design As from the Turgovians for that Pear of which Dr. Pell gives so good and weighty informations and of which I had presented me some Graffs together with a tast of the most superlative Perry the World certainly produces both which were brought near 800 Miles without suffering the least diminution of Excellency by my Worthy Friend Mr. Hake a Member of the R. Society in the year 1666 and tasting as high and as rich as ever to the present year I am
Wet Sand and Stony Marshes and Bogs the Water-galls and uliginous parts of Forests that hardly bear any Grasse do many times spontaneously produce it in abundance whether the place be high or low and nothing comes amisse to it Plant the small Twigs or Suckers having Roots and after the first year cut them within an inch of the surface this will cause them to sprout in strong and lusty tufts fit for Coppse and Spring-woods or by reducing them to one stem render them in a very few years fit for the Turner For 2. Though Birch be of all other the worst of Timber yet has it its various uses as for the Husbandmans Ox-yokes also for Hoops Paniers Brooms Wands bavin bands and Wythes for Fagots and claims a memory for Arrows bolts Shafts our old English Artillery also for Dishes Boules Ladles and other domestic Utensils in the good old dayes of more simplicity yet of better and truer Hospitality Also for Fuel great and small-Coal which last is made by charring the slenderest brush and summities of the twigs as of the Tops and loppings M. Howards new Tanne The inner silken-bark was antiently us'd for Writing-Tables even before the Invention of Paper and of the out-ward thicker and courser part are divers Houses in Russia and those poor Northern Tracts cover'd in stead of Slates and Tyle 'T is affirm'd by Cardan that some Birch-roots are so very extravagantly rein'd as to represent the Shapes and Images of Beasts Birds Trees and many other pretty resemblances Lastly of the whitest part of the old Wood found commonly in doating Birches is made the grounds of our Gallants sweet-Powder and of the quite consum'd and rotten such as we find reduc'd to a kind of reddish Earth in superexannuated hollow-trees is gotten the best Mould for the raising of divers Seedlings of the rarest Plants and Flowers to say nothing here of the Magisterial Fasces for which antiently the Gudgels were us'd by the Lictor as now the gentler Rods by our tyrannical Paedagogues 3. I should here add the uses of the Water too had I full permission to tamper with all the Medicinal virtues of Trees But if the sovereign effects of the Juice of this despicable Tree supply its other defects which makes some judge it unworthy to be brought into the Catalogue of Woods to be propagated I may for once be permitted to play the Empiric and to gratifie our laborious Woodman with a Draught of his own Liquor And the rather because these kind of Secrets are not yet sufficiently cultivated and ingenious Planters would by all means be encourag'd to make more trials of this nature as the Indians and other Nations have done on their Palmes and Trees of several kinds to their great emolument The Mystery is no more than this About the beginning of March when the Buds begin to be proud and turgid with a Chizel and a Mallet cut a slit almost as deep as the very Pith under some bough or branch of a well spreading Birch cut it oblique and not long-wayes as a good Chirurgion would make his orifice in a Vein inserting a small stone or chip to keep the Lips of the wound a little open Sir Hugh Plat giving a general Rule for the gathering of Sap and Tapping of Trees would have it done within one foot of the ground the first rind taken off and then the white Bark slit overthwart no farther then to the Body of the Tree Moreover that this wound be made onely in that part of the bark which respects the South west or between those quarters because says he little or no Sap riseth from the Northern In this slit by the help of your knife to open it he directs that a leaf of the Tree be inserted first fitted to the dimensions of the slit from which the Sap will distil in manner of filtration Take away the leaf and the bark will close again a little Earth being clapped to the slit Thus the Knight for any Tree But we have already shew'd how the Birch is to be treated Fasten therefore a Bottle or some such convenient Vessel appendant This does the effect as well as perforation or tapping Out of this aperture will extil a limpid and clear Water retaining an obscure smack both of the tast and odor of the Tree and which as I am credibly inform'd will in the space of twelve or fourteen dayes preponderate and out-weigh the whole Tree it self Body and Roots which if it be constant and so happen likewise in other trees is not onely stupendious but an experiment worthy the Consideration of our profoundest Philosophers an ex sola aqua fiunt Arbores whether Water only be the Principle of Vegetables and consequently of trees For evident it is that we know of no tree which does more copiously attract be it that so much celebrated Spirit of the World as they call it in Form of Water as some or a certain specifique liquor richly impregnated with this Balsamical property That there is such a Magnes in this simple tree as does manifestly draw to it self some occult and wonderful virtue is notorious nor is it conceivable indeed the difference between the efficacy of that Liquor which distills from the bole or parts of the tree neerer to the Root where Sir Hugh would celebrate the Incision and that which weeps out from the more sublime Branches more impregnated with this Astral Vertue as not so near the Root which seems to attract rather a cruder and more common water through fewer strainers and neither so pure and Aërial as in those refined percolations the nature of the places where these trees delight to grow for the most part lofty dry and barren consider'd But I refer these Disquisitions to the Learned especially as mention'd by that incomparable Philosopher and my most noble Friend the honourable Mr. Boyle in his Second part of the usefulnesse of Natural Philosophy Sect. 1. Essay 3d. where he speaks of the Manna del Corpo or Trunk-Manna as well as of that Liquor from the bough so of the Sura which the Coco-trees afford and that Polonian secret of the Liquor of the Wallnut-tree Root with an encouragement of more frequent Experiments to educe Saccharine substances upon these occasions But the Book being publish'd so long since this Discourse was first ready I have onely here the liberty to refer the Reader to one of the best Entertainments in the world 4. But whilst this Second Edition is now under my hand there comes to me divers Papers upon this subject experimentally made by a worthy Friend of mine a Learned and most industrious Person which I had here once resolv'd to have publish'd according to the generous liberty granted me for so doing but understanding he was still in pursuit of that usefull and curious Secret I chang'd my resolution into an earnest addresse that he would communicate it to the World himself together with those other excellent Enquiries and observations which he is
that some Trees afford a much more generous Wine than others of the same kind In the Coco and Palmeto Trees they Chop a Bough as we do the Betula but in the Date make the Incision with a Chisel in the Body very neatly in which they stitch a Leaf of the Tree as a lingula to direct it into the appendent Vessel which the subjoyn'd Figure represents and illustrates with its improvement to our former Discourse Note If there be no fitting Arms the hole thus obliquely perforated and a Faucet or pipe inserted will lead the Sap into the Recipient a. b. the body of the Tree g. boar'd at that part of the Arm f. joyn'd to the Stem with an Augre of an inch or more diameter according to the bignesse of the Tree c. a part of the Bark bent down into the mouth of the Bottle e. to conduct the Liquor into it d. the String about the Arm f. by which the Bottle hangs 8. The Liquor of the Birch is esteem'd to have all the Virtues of the Spirit of Salt without the danger of its acrimony most powerful for the dissolving of the Stone in the Bladder Helmont shews how to make a Beer of the Water but the Wine is a most rich Cordial curing as I am told Consumptions and such interior Diseases as accompany the Stone in the Bladder or Reins This Wine exquisitely made is so strong that the common sort of stone-bottles cannot preserve the spirits so subtile they are and volatile and yet it is gentle and very harmlesse in operation within the body and exceedingly sharpens the Appetite being drank ante pastum I will present you a Receipt as it was sent me by a fair Lady 9. To every Gallon of Birch-water put a quart of Hony well stirr'd 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 boil'd and become cold add to it three or four spoonfulls of good Ale to make it work which it will do like new Ale and when the Yest begins to settle bottle it up as you do other winy Liquors It will in a competent time become a most brisk and spiritous Drink which besides the former virtues is a very powerful opener and doing wonders for cure of the Ptisick This Wine may if you please be made as successfully with Sugar in stead of Hony lbj to each Gallon of Water or you may dulcifie it with Raisins and compose a Raisin-wine of it I know not whether the quantity of the sweet Ingredients might not be somewhat reduc'd and the operation improv'd But I give it as receiv'd 10. But besides these Beech Alder Ash Elder c. would be attempted for Liquors Thus Crabs and even our very brambles may possibly yield us medical and useful Wines The Poplar was heretofore esteem'd more Physical than the Betula The Sap of the Oak juice or decoction of the inner bark cures the Fashions or Farcy a virulent and dangerous infirmity in Horses and which like Cancers were reputed incurable by any other Topic then some actual or potential cautery But what is more noble a dear Friend of mine assur'd me that a Country Neighbour of his at least fourscore years of age who had lain sick of a bloody Strangury which by cruel torments reduc'd him to the very article of Death was under God recover'd to perfect and almost miraculous health and strength so as to be able to fall stoutly to his labour by one sole Draught of Beer wherein was the decoction of the internal bark of the Oak-tree And I have seen a Composition of an admirable sudorific and diuretic for all affections of the Liver out of the like of the Elm which might yet be drank daily as our Cophee is and with no lesse delight but Quacking is not my Trade I speak onely here as a plain Husband man and a simple Forester out of the limits whereof I hope I have not unpardonably transgress'd Pan was a Physician and he you know was President of the Woods But I proceed CHAP. XVII Of the Hasel 1. NVx Sylvestris or Corylus the Hasel is best rais'd from the Nuts which you shall sow like Mast in a pretty deep furrow toward the end of February Light ground may immediately be sown and harrow'd in very accurately but in case the mould be clay plow it earlier and let it be sufficiently mellow'd with the Frosts and then the third year cut your Trees near to the ground with a sharp bill the Moon decreasing 2. But if you would make a Grove for Pleasure Plant them in Fosses at a yard distance and cut them within half a foot of the earth dressing them for three or four Springs and Autumns by onely loosning the Mould a little about their roots Others there are who set the Nuts by hand at one foot distance to be transplanted the third year at a yard asunder But this work is not to be taken in hand so soon as the Nuts fall till Winter be well advanc'd because they are exceedingly obnoxious to the Frosts nor will they sprout till the Spring besides Vermine are great devourers of them Preserve them therefore moist not mouldy by laying them in their own dry leaves or in Sand till January Hasels from Sets and Suckers take Plantis durae Coryli nascuntur Georg 2. 3. From whence they thrive very well the shoots being of the scantlings of small wands and switches or somewhat bigger and such as have drawn divers hairy twiggs which are by no means to be disbranch'd no more than their Roots unless by a very sparing and discreet hand Thus your Coryletum or Copse of Hasels being Planted about Autumn may as some practise it be cut within three or four inches of the ground the Spring following which the new Cyon will suddenly repair in clusters and tufts of fair poles of twenty and sometimes thirty foot long But I rather should spare them till two or three years after when they shall have taken strong hold and may be cut close to the very Earth the improsperous and feeble ones especially Thus are likewise Filberts to be treated both of them improv'd much by transplanting but chiefly by Graffing and it would be try'd with Filberts and even with Almonds themselves for more elegant Experiments 4. For the Place they above all affect cold barren dry and Sandy grounds also Mountains and even Rockie Soils produce them but more plentifully if somewhat moist dankish and Mossie as in the fresher bottoms and sides of Hills and in Hedge-rowes Such as are maintain'd for Coppses may after Twelve years be fell'd the first time the next at seven or eight c. for by this period their Roots will be compleatly vigorous You may Plant them from October to January provided you keep them carefully Weeded till they have taken fast hold 5. The use of the Hasel is for Poles Spars Hoops Forks Angling rods Faggots
so well nor fit for transplantation as where they are interr'd with a competent scattering so as you would furrow Pease Both this way and by setting them apart which I most commend I have rais'd multitudes and that in the Berries without any farther preparation onely for the first two years they would be defended from the piercing winds which frequently destroy them and yet the scorching of their tender leaves ought not make you despair for many of them will recover beyond expectation 4. This aromatic Tree greatly loves the Shade yet thrives best in our hottest gravel having once pass'd those first difficulties Age and Culture about the Roots wonderfully augment its growth so as I have seen Trees near thirty foot high of them and almost two foot diameter They are fit also both for Arbour and Palisade-work so the Gard'ner understand when to prune and keep it from growing two woody 5. The Box which we begin to proscribe our Gardens and indeed Bees are no friend to it should not yet be banish'd from our care because the excellency of the wood does commute for the unagreeablenesse of its smell therefore let us furnish our cold and barren Hills and declivities with this useful Shrub I mean the taller sort for I meddle not here with the dwarf and more tonsile It will increase abundantly of slips set in March 6. The Turner Ingraver Carver Mathematical-Instrument Comb and Pipe-makers Si buxos inflare juvat Virg. give great prizes for it by weight as well as measure and by the seasoning and divers manner of cutting vigorous insolations politure and grinding the Roots of this Tree as of even our common and neglected Thorne do furnish the Inlayer and Cabinet-makers with pieces rarely undulated and full of variety Also of Box are made Wheels or Shivers as our Ship-Carpenters call them and Pinns for Blocks and Pullies Pegs for Musical Instruments Nut-crackers VVeavers Shuttles Hollar-sticks Bump-sticks and Dressers for the Shooe-maker Rulers Rolling-pins Pestles Mall-balls Beetles Topps Tables Chess-men Skrews male and female Bobins for Bone-lace Spoons nay the stoutest Axle-trees but above all Box-Combs bear no small part In the Militia of the Female Art They tye the Links which hold our Gallants fast And spread the Nets to which fond Lovers hast Non ultima belli Arma Puellaris Laquâ—os haec nectit Amantûm Et venatricis disponit retia Formae Couleii Pl. l. 6 7. The Chymical oyl of this wood has done the feats of the best Guajacum though in greater quantity for the Cure of Venereal Diseases as one of the most expert Physicians in Europe has confess'd 8. Since the use of Bows is laid aside amongst us the propagation of the Eugh-tree of which we have two sorts and other places reckon more as the Arcadian black and red the yellow of Ida infinitely esteem'd of old is likewise quite forborn but the neglect of it is to be deplor'd seeing that besides the rarity of it in Italy and France where but little of it grows the barrenest grounds and coldest of our Mountains for Aquilonem frigora taxi might be profitably replenish'd with them I say profitably for besides the use of the wood for Bows Ityraeos taxi torquentur in arcus for which the close and more deeply dy'd is best The foremention'd Artists in Box most gladly imploy it And for the Cogs of Mills Posts to be set in moist grounds and everlasting Axle-trees there is none to be compar'd with it likewise for the bodies of Lutes Theorbas Bowles VVheels and Pinns for Pullys yea and for Tankards to drink out of whatever Pliny report concerning its Shade and the stories of the Air about Thasus the Fate of Cativulcus mention'd by Caesar and the ill report which the Fruit has vulgarly obtain'd in France Spain and Arcadia But How are poor Trees abus'd Quà m multa Arborihus tribuuntur crimina falsa 9. The Toxic quality was certainly in the Liquor which those good Fellows tippl'd out of those Bottles not in the nature of the wood which yet he affirms is cur'd of that Venenous quality by driving a brazen-wedge into the Body of it This I have never tri'd but that of the Shade and Fruit I have frequently without any deadly or noxious effects so that I am of opinion that Tree which Sestius calls Smilax and our Historian thinks to be our Eugh was some other wood and yet I acknowledge that it is esteem'd noxious to Cattel when 't is in the Seeds or newly sprouting 10. This Tree is easily produc'd of the Seeds wash'd and cleans'd from their mucilage and buried in the ground like Haws It will commonly be the second VVinter ere they peep and then they rise with their caps on their heads Being three years old you may transplant them and form them into Standards Knobs VValks Hedges c. in all which works they succeed marvellous well and are worth our patience for their perennial verdure and durablenesse 11. He that in winter should behold some of our highest Hills in Surrey clad with whole Woods of these two last sort of Trees for divers Miles in circuit as in those delicious Groves of them belonging to the Honourable my noble Friend Sir Adam Brown of Bech-worth-Castle from Box-hill and neer our famous Mole or Swallow might without the least violence to his Imagination easily phansie himself transported into some new or enchanted Country for if any spot of England 'T is here Eternall Spring and Summer all the year Hîc ver perpetuum atque alienis mensibus aestas 12. But above all the natural Greens which inrich our home-born store there is none certainly to be compar'd to the Agrifolium or Acuifolium rather our Holly insomuch as I have often wonder'd at our curiosity after forreign Plants and expensive difficulties to the neglect of the culture of this vulgar but incomparable tree whether we will propagate it for Vse and Defence or for sight and Ornament A Hedge of Holly Thieves that would invade Repulses like a growing Palizade Whose numerous leaves such Orient Greens invest As in deep Winter do the Spring a rest Mala furta hominum densis mucronibus axcens Securum defendit in expugnabilis Hortûm Exornátque simul toto spectabilis anno Et numero viridifoliorum luce nitentum Couleii Pl. l. 6. 13. Is there under Heaven a more glorious and refreshing object of the kind than an impregnable Hedge of one hundred and sixty foot in length seven foot high and five in diameter which I can shew in my poor Gardens at any time of the year glitt'ring with its arm'd and vernish'd leaves the taller Standards at orderly distances blushing with their natural Coral It mocks at the rudest assaults of the Weather Beasts or Hedge-breakers Et illum nemo impunè lacessit It is with us of two eminent kinds the prickly and smoother leav'd or as some term it the Free-holly not unwelcome when tender to Sheep and other Cattel
his very top what a Tree should we have in time And we see by those roots continually and plentifully springing notwithstanding so deadly wounded what a Commodity should arise to the Owner and the Commonwealth if wood were cherished and orderly dress'd The waste boughs closely and skillfully taken away would give us store of Fences and Fuel and the bulk of the Tree in time would grow of huge length and bignesse But here methinks I hear an unskilful Arborist say that Trees have their several forms even by Nature the Pear the Holly the Aspe c. grow long in bulk with few and little Arms. The Oak by nature broad and such like All this I grant But grant me also that there is a profitable end and use of every Tree from which if it decline though by nature yet Man by Art may nay must correct it Now other end of Trees I never could learn than good Timber Fruit much and good and pleasure Vses Physical hinder nothing a good form Neither let any Man ever so much as think that it is unprofitable much lesse unpossible to reform any Tree of what kind soever For believe me I have tried it I can bring any Tree beginning betime to any form The Pear and Holly may be made spread and the Oak to close Thus far the good Man out of his eight and forty years experience concerning Timber-trees He descends then to the Orchards which because it may likewise be acceptable to our industrious Planter I thus contract 6. Such as stand for Fruits should be parted from within two foot or thereabouts of the earth so high as to give liberty to dress the Root and no higher because of exhausting the sap that should feed his Fruit For the boal will be first and best served and fed being next to the root and of greatest substance These should be parted into two three or four Arms as your graffs yield twigs and every Arm into two or more Branches every Branch into his several Cyons still spreading by equal degrees so as his lowest spray be hardly without the reach of a mans hand and his highest not past two yards higher That no twig especially in the middest touch his fellow let him spread as far as his list without any master-bough or top equally and when any fall lower then his fellows as they will with weight of Fruit ease him the next spring of his superfluous twigs and he will rise When any mount above the rest top him with a nip between your fingers or with a knife Thus reform any Cyon and as your Tree grows in stature and strength so let him rise with his tops but slowly and easily especially in the middest and equally in breadth also following him upward with lopping his under-growth and water-boughs keeping the same distance of two yards not above three in any wise betwixt the lowest and highest twigs 1. Thus shall you have handsome clear healthful great and lasting Trees 2. Thus will they grow safe from Winds yet the top spreading 3. Thus shall they bear much Fruit I dare say one as much as five of your common Trees all his branches loaden 4. Thus shall your Boal being low defraud the branches but little of their sap 5. Thus shall your Trees be easie to dresse and as easie to gather the Fruit from without bruising the Cyons c. 6. The fittest time of the Moon for the Pruning is as of Graffing when the sap is ready to stir not proudly stirring and so to cover the wound and here for the time of day we may take Columella Frondem medio die arborator ne caedito l. 11. Old Trees would be prun'd before young Plants And note that wheresoever you take any thing away the sap the next Summer will be putting be sure therefore when he puts to bud in any unfit place you rub it off with your finger Thus begin timely with your Trees and you may bring them to what form you please If you desire any Tree should be taller let him break or divide higher This for young Trees The old are reformed by curing of their diseases of which we have already discours'd There is this only to be consider'd in reference to Foresters out of what he has spoken concerning Fruit-trees that as has been touch'd where Trees are planted for shadow and meer ornament as in Walks and Avenues the Browse-wood as they call it should most of it be cherished whereas in Fruit and Timber-trees Oak excepted it is best to free them of it As for Pollards to which I am no great friend because it makes so many scrags and dwarfes of many Trees which would else be good Timber endangering them with drips and the like injuries they should not be headed above once in ten or twelve years at the beginning of the Spring or end of the Fall And note that all Copsing and cutting close invigorates the Roots and the stem of whatsoever grows weak and unkindly but you must then take care it be not overgrown with Weeds or Grasse Nothing says my Lord Bacon Exp. 586. and truly causes Trees to last so long as the frequent Cutting every such diminution being a reâ—invigoration of the Plants juyce that it neither goes too far nor rises too faintly as when 't is not timely refresh'd with this Remedy and therefore we see that the most ancient Trees in Church-Yards and about Old Buildings are either Pollards or Dottards seldom arising to their full altitude 7. For the improvement of the speedy growth of Trees there is not a more excellent thing then the frequent rubbing of the Boal or Stem with some piece of hair-cloth or ruder stuff at the beginning of Spring some I have known done with Seals-skin the more rugged bark with a piece of Coat of Maile which is made of small wyres this done when the body of the Trees are wet as after a soaking Rain yet so as not to excorticate or gall the Tree has exceedingly accelerated its growth I am assured to a wonderful and incredible improvement by opening the pores freeing them of moss and killing the worm 8. Lastly Frondation or the taking off some of the luxuriant branches and sprays of such Trees especially whose leaves are profitable for Cattel whereof already is a kind of pruning and so is the scarifying and cross hatching of some Fruit-bearers and others to abate that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which spends all the juyce in the leaves to the prejudice of the rest of the parts 9. This and the like belonging to the care of the Wood-ward will mind him of his continual duty which is to walk about and survey his young Plantations dayly and to see that all Gaps be immediately stopp'd trespassing Cattle impounded and where they are infested the Deer chased out c. It is most certain that Trees preserv'd and govern'd by this discipline and according to the Rules mention'd would increase the beauty of Forests and value of Timber
Planter and dedication if Tradition hold of the famous English Bard Jeofry Chaucer of which one was call'd the Kings another the Queens and a third Chaucers Oak The first of these was fifty foot in height before any bough or knot appear'd and cut five foot square at the butt-end all clear Timber The Queens was fell'd since the Wars and held forty foot excellent Timber straight as an arrow in growth and grain and cutting four foot at the stub and neer a yard at the top besides a fork of almost ten foot clear timber above the shaft which was crown'd with a shady tuft of boughs amongst which some were on each side curved like Rams-horns as if they had been so industriously bent by hand This Oak was of a kind so excellent cutting a grain clear as any Clap-board as appear'd in the Wainscot which was made thereof that a thousand pities it is some seminary of the Acorns had not been propagated to preserve the species Chaucers Oak though it were not of these dimensions yet was it a very goodly Tree And this account I receiv'd from my most honour'd friend Phil. Packer Esq whose Father as now the Gentleman his Brother was proprietor of this Park But that which I would farther remark upon this occasion is the bulk and stature to which an Oak may possibly arrive within lesse then three hundred years since it is not so long that our Poet flourish'd being in the Reign of King Edward the fourth if at least he were indeed the Planter of those Trees as 't is confidently affirm'd I will not labour much in this enquiry because an implicit faith is here of great encouragement and it is not to be conceiv'd what Trees of a good kind and in apt soil will perform in a few years and this I am inform'd is a sort of gravelly clay moistn'd with small and frequent springs In the mean while I have often wish'd that Gentlemen were more curious of transmitting to Posterity such Records by noting the years when they begin any considerable Plantation that the Ages to come may have both the satisfaction and encouragement by more accurate and certain Calculations I find a Jewish tradition cited by the learned Bochart That Noah planted the Trees he supposes Cedars of which he afterwards built the Ark that preserv'd him But to proceed 13. There was in Cuns-burrow sometimes belonging to my Lord of Dover several Trees bought by a Couper of which he made ten pound per yard for three or four yards as I have been credibly assur'd But where shall we parallel that mighty Tree which furnish'd the Main-mast to the Sovereign of our Seas which being one hundred foot long save one bare thirty five inches diameter Yet was this exceeded in proportion and use by that Oak which afforded those prodigious beams that lye thwart her The diameter of this Tree was four foot nine inches which yielded four-square beams of four and forty foot long each of them The Oak grew about Framingam in Suffolk and indeed it would be thought fabulous but to recount only the extraordinary dimensions of some Timber-trees growing in that County and of the excessive sizes of these materials had not mine own hands measur'd a Table more then once of above five foot in breadth nine and an half in length and six inches thick all intire and clear This plank cut out of a Tree fell'd down by my Fathers order was made a Pastry board and lyes now on a frame of solid Brick work at Wotton in Surrey where it was so placed before the room was finish'd about it or wall built and yet abated by one foot shorter to confine it to the intended dimensions of the place for at first it held this breadth full ten foot and an half in length Mersennus tells us that the Great Ship call'd the Crown which the late French King caus'd to be built has its keel-timber 120 foot long and the Main-mast 12 foot diameter at the bottom and 85 in height 14. To these I might add that superannuated Eugh tree growing now in Braburne Church-yard not far from Scots hall in Kent vvhich being 58 foot 11 inches in the circumference will bear neer twenty foot diameter as it was measur'd first by my self imperfectly and then more exactly for me by order of the Right Honourable Sir George Carteret Vice-Chamberlain to his Majesty and late Treasurer of the Navy not to mention the goodly planks and other considerable pieces of squar'd and clear Timber which I observ'd to lye about it that had been hew'd and sawn out of some of the Arms only torn from it by impetuous winds Such another Monster I am inform'd is also to be seen in Sutton Church yard neer Winchester But these with infinite others which I am ready to produce might fairly suffice to vindicate and assert our Proposition as it relates to modern examples and sizes of Timber-trees comparable to any of the Ancients remaining upon laudable and unsuspected Record were it not great ingratitude to conceal a most industrious and no less accurate Accompt which comes just now to my hands from Mr. Halton Auditor to the Right Honourable the most Illustrious and Noble Henry Lord Howard of Norfolk In Sheffield Lordship 15. In the Hall Park neer unto Rivelin stood an Oak which had eighteen yards without bough or knot and carryed a yard and six inches square at the said height or length and not much bigger neer the root Sold twelve years ago for 11 li. Consider the distance of the place and Country and what so prodigious a Tree would have been worth neer London In Firth's Farme within Sheffield Lordship about twenty years since a Tree blown down by the wind made or would have made two Forge-hammer-beams and in those and the other wood of that Tree there was of worth or made 50 li. and Godfrey Frogat who is now living did oft say he lost 30 li. by the not buying of it A Hammer-beam is not less then 7½ yards long and 4 foot square at the barrel In Sheffield Park below the Manor a Tree was standing which was sold by one Giffard servant to the then Countess of Kent for 2 li. 10 s. to one Nich. Hicks which yielded of sawn Wair fourteen hundred and by estimation twenty Chords of wood A Wair is two yards long and one foot broad sixscore to the hundred so that in the said Tree was 10080 foot of Boards which if any of the said Boards were more then half-inch thick renders the thing yet more admirable In the upper end of Rivelin stood a Tree call'd the Lords-Oak of twelve yards about and the top yielded twenty one Chord cut down about thirteen years since In Sheffield Park An. 1646. stood above 100 Trees worth 1000 li. and there are yet two worth above 20 l. still note the place and market In the same Park about eight years ago Ralph Archdall cut a Tree that was
thirteen foot diameter at the Kerf or cutting place neer the Root In the same Park two years since Mr. Sittwell with Jo. Magson did chuse a Tree which after it was cut and said aside flat upon a level ground Sam. Staniforth a Keeper and Ed. Morphy both on horse-back could not see over the Tree one anothers Hat-crowns This Tree was afterwards sold for 20 li. In the same Park neer the old foord is an Oak-tree yet standing of ten yards circumference In the same Park below the Conduit Plain is an Oak-tree which bears a top whose boughs shoot from the boal some fifteen and some sixteen yards Then admitting 15½ yards for the common or mean extent of the boughs from the boal which being doubled is 31 yards and if it be imagin'd for a diameter because the Ratio of the diameter to the circumference is 113 355 it follows 113.355 ∷ 31.97 44 113 yards which is the circumference belonging to this diameter Then farther it is demonstrable in Geometry that half the diameter multiplied into half the circumference produces the Area or quantity of the Circle and that will be found to be 754347 452 which is 755 square yards ferè Then lastly if a Horse can be limited to three square yards of ground to stand on which may seem a competent proportion of three yards long and one yard broad then may 251 Horse be well said to stand under the shade of this Tree But of the more Northern Cattle certainly above twice that number Worksopp-Park 16. In this Park at the corner of the Bradshaw-rail lyeth the boal of an Oak-tree which is twenty nine foot about and would be found thirty if it could be justly measur'd because it lyeth upon the ground and the length of this boal is ten foot and no arm nor branch upon it In the same Park at the white gate a Tree did stand that was from bough end to bough end that is from the extream ends of two opposite boughs 180 foot which is witness'd by Jo. Magson and Geo. Hall and measur'd by them both Then because 180 foot or 60 yards is the diameter 30 yards will be the semidiameter And by the former Analogies 113.355 ∷ 60 188½ and 1.30 ∷ 94¼ 2827½ That is the Content of ground upon which this Tree perpendicularly drops is above 2827 square yards which is above half an Acre of ground And the assigning three square yards as above for an Horse there may 942 be well said to stand in this compass In the same Park after many hundreds sold and carryed away there is a Tree which did yield quarter-cliff bottoms that were a yard square and there is of them to be seen in Worksopp at this day and some Tables made of the said quarter-cliff likewise In the same Park in the place there call'd the Hawks-nest are Trees forty foot long of Timber which will bear two foot square at the top-end or height of forty foot If then a square whose side is two foot be inscribed in a Circle the proportions at that Circle are feet Diameter 2 8284 Circumference 8 8858 Area 6 2831 And because a Tun of Timber is said to contain forty solid feet one of these Columns of Oak will contain above six Tun of Timber and a quarter in this computation taking them to be Cylinders and not tapering like the segment of a Cone Welbeek-Lane 17. The Oak which stands in this Lane call'd Grindal Oak hath at these several distances from the ground these Circumferences  foot foot  inch at 1 33 01 at 2 28 05 at 6 25 07 The breadth is from bough-end to bough-end i. diametrically 88 foot the height from the ground to the top-most bough 81 foot this dimension taken from the proportion that a Gnomon bears to the shadow there are three Arms broken off and 〈◊〉 and eight very large ones yet remaining which are very 〈◊〉 good Timber 88 foot is 29⅓ yards which being in this case admitted for the diameter of a circle the square yards in that circumference will be 676 ferè and then allowing three yards as before for a beast leaves 225 beasts which may possibly stand under this Tree But the Lords-Oak that stood in Rivelin was in diameter three yards and twenty eight inches and exceeded this in circumference three feet at one foot from the ground Shire-Oak Shire-Oak is a Tree standing in the ground late Sir Tho. Hewets about a mile from Worksopp-Park which drops into three Shires viz. York Nottingham and Derby and the distance from bough-end to bough-end is ninety foot or thirty yards This circumference will contain neer 707 square yards sufficient to shade 235 horse Thus far the accurate Mr. Halton 18. Being inform'd by a person of credit that an Oak in Sheffield-Park call'd the Ladies-Oak fell'd contain'd forty two Tun of Timber which had Arms that held at least four foot square for ten yards in length the Body six foot of clear Timber That in the same Park one might have chosen above 1000 Trees worth above 6000 li. another 1000 worth 4000 li. sic de caeteris To this M. Halton replies That it might possibly be meant of the Lords-Oak already mention'd to have grown in Rivelin For now Rivelin it self is totally destitute of that issue she once might have gloried in of Oaks there being only the Hall-Park adjoyning which keeps up with its number of Oaks And as to the computation of 1000 Trees formerly in Sheffield-Park worth 6000 li. it is believ'd there were a thousand much above that value since in what is now inclos'd it is evident touching 100 worth a thousand pounds I am inform'd that an Oak I think in Shropshire growing lately in a Coppse of my Lord Cravens yielded 19 Tun and half of Timber 2◠Cord of Fire-wood 2 load of Brush and 2 load of Bark And my worthy friend Leonard Pinckney Esq late first Clerk of his Majesties Kitchin from whom I receiv'd the first hints of many of these particulars did assure me that one John Garland built a very handsome Barne containing five Baies with Pan Posts Beams Spars c. of one sole Tree growing in Worksopp-Park I will close This with an Instance which I greatly value because it is transmitted to me from that honourable and noble Person Sir Ed. Harley I am says he assur'd by an Inquisition taken about 300 years since that a Park of mine and some adjacent Woods had not then a Tree capable to bear Acorns Yet that very Park I have seen full of great Oaks and most of them in the extreamest Wane of decay The Trunk of one of these Oaks afforded so much Timber as upon the place would have yielded 15 li. and did compleatly seat with Waine-scot Pues a whole Church You may please says he writing to Sir Rob. Morray to remember when you were here you took notice of a large Tree newly fallen When it was wrought up it proved very
have the total Charge of this noble Vndertaking from the first Semination to their maturity by which it will be easie to compute what the Gains will be for any greater or lesser quantity But now to return to the Place of Planting from whence this Calculation has more than a little diverted we shall find as we said that even in the most craggie uneven cold and exposed places not fit for Arable as in Biscay c. and in our very Peaks of Derbyshire and other Rockie places Ashes grow about every Village and we find that Oak Beech Elm and Ash will prosper in the most flinty Soils And it is truly from these Indications more than from any other whatsoever that a broken and decaying Farmer is to be distinguish'd from a substantial Free-holder the very Trees speaking the conditions of the Master Let not then the Royal Patrimony bear a Bankrupts reproach But to descend yet lower 24. Had every Acre but three or four Trees and as many of Fruit in it as would a little adorn the Hedge-rows the Improvement would be of fair advantage in a few years for it is a shame that Turnip-planters should demolish and undo hedge-rows neer London where the Mounds and Fences are stripp'd naked to give Sun to a few miserable Roots which would thrive altogether as well under them being skilfully prun'd and lopp'd Our Gard'ners will not believe me but I know it to be true though Pliny had not affirm'd it As for Elms saith he their Shade is so gentle and benigne that it nourishes whatsoever grows under it And lib 17. c. 22. it is his opinion of all other Trees very few excepted provided their Branches be par'd away which being discreetly done improves the Timber as we have already shew'd 25. Now let us calculate a little at adventure and much within what is both faisible and very possible and we shall find that four Fruit-trees in each Acre throughout England the product sold but at six pence the Bushel but where do we now buy them so cheap will be worth a Million yearly What then may we reasonably judge of Timber admit but at the growth of four pence per Acre yearly which is the lowest that can be estimated it amounting to near two Millions if as 't is suppos'd there may be five or six and twenty Millions of square Acres in the Kingdom besides Fens High-ways Rivers c. not counted and without reckoning in the Mast or loppings which whosoever shall calculate from the annual Revenue the Mast onely of Westphalia a small and wretched Countrey im Germany does yield to that Prince will conclude to be no despicable Improvement 26. In this poor Territory every Farmer does by antient custom Plant so many Oaks about his Farm as may suffice to feed his Swine To effect this they have been so careful that when of late years the Armies infested the poor Countrey both Imperialists and Protestants the onely Bishoprick of Munster was able to pay One hundred thousand Crowns per mensem which amounts of our money to about 25000 l. sterling besides the ordinary entertainment of their own Prince and private families This being incredible to be practis'd in so extream barren a Countrey I thought fit to mention either to encourage or reproach us General Melander was wont to say The good Husbandry of their Ancestors had left them this Stock pro sacra Anchorâ considering how the People were afterward reduc'd to live even on their Trees when the Souldiers had devour'd their Hogs redeeming themselves from great extreamities by the Timber which they were at last compelled to cut down and which had it continu'd would have prov'd the utter desolation of that whole Countrey I have this Instance from my most worthy and honourable Friend Sir William Curtius his Majesties Resident in Germany who receiv'd this particular from the mouth of Melander himself In like manner the Princes and Freedoms of Hesse Saxony Thuringia and divers other places there make vast incomes of their Forest-fruit besides the Timber for Swine onely I say then whosoever shall duly consider this will find Planting of Wood to be no contemptible Addition besides the Pasture much improv'd the cooling of fat and heavy Cattel keeping them from injurious motions disturbance and running as they do in Summer to find shelter from the heat and vexation of flyes 27. But I have done and it is now time for us to get out of the Wood and to recommend this and all that we have propos'd to His most Sacred Majesty the Honourable Parliament and to the Principal Officers and Commissioners of the Royal Navy that where such Improvements may be made it be speedily and vigorously prosecuted and where any defects appear they may be duly reformed 28. And what if for this purpose there were yet some additional Office Constituted which should have a more universal Inspection and the charge of all the Woods and Forests in His Majesties Dominions This might easily be perform'd by Deputies in every County Persons judicious and skilful in Husbandry and who might be repair'd to for advice and direction And if such there are at present as indeed our Laws seem to provide that their Power be sufficiently amplified where any thing appears deficient and as their zeal excited by worthy encouragements so might neglects be encounter'd by a vigilant and industrious Cheque It should belong to their Province to see that such Proportions of Timber c. were Planted and set out upon every hundred or more of Acres as the Honourable Commissioners have suggested or as might be thought convenient the quality and nature of the places prudently consider'd It should be their Office also to take notice of the growth and decay of Woods and of their fitness for publick uses and sale and of all these to give Advertisements that all defect in their ill governing may be speedily remedied and the Superiour Officer or Surveyor should be accomptable to the Lord Treasurer and to the principal Officers of his Majesties Navy for the time being And vvhy might not such a Regulation be vvorthy the establishing by some Solemn and publick Act of State becoming our glorious Prince SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS and his prudent Senate this present Parliament 29. We find in Aristotles Politics the Constitution of Extraurban Magistrates to be Sylvarum Custodes and such vvere the Consulares Sylvae vvhich the great Caesar himself even in a time vvhen Italy did abound in Timber Instituted and vvas one of the very first things vvhich he did at the setling of that vast Empire after the Civil VVars had exceedingly vvasted the Countrey Suetonius relates it in the Life of Julius and Peter Crinitus in his fifth Book De honesta disciplina c. 3. gives this reason for it Vt materies saith he non deesset qua videlicet Navigia publica possent à praefecturis fabrum confici True it is that this Office vvas sometimes call'd Provincia minor but for
But a Wise and a Thinking Man can need none of these Topics in every Hedge and every Field they are before him and yet we do not admire them because they are Common and obvious Thus we fall into the just reproach given by one of the Philosophers introduc'd by the Oratour to those who slighted what they saw every-day because they every-day saw them Quasi Novitas nos magis quà m magnitudo rerum debeat ad exquirendas causas excitare As if Novelty onely should be of more force to ingage our enquiry into the Causes of Things than the Worth and Magnitude of the Things themselves Resonate montes Laudationem SYLVA Et omne Lignum ejus FINIS POMONA OR AN APPENDIX CONCERNING FRUIT-TREES In relation to CIDER The Making and several ways of Ordering it VIRG. Eclog. ix Carpent tua Poma nepotes LONDON Printed by John Martyn and James Allestry Printers to the Royal Society MDCLXX To the Right Honourable THOMAS Earl of SOVTHAMPTON Lord HIGH TREASURER OF ENGLAND c. My Lord IF great Examples did not support it the dignity and greatness of your Person would soon have given cheque to this presumption But since Emperours and Kings have not only gratefully accepted Works of this nature but honor'd them likewise with their own sacred hands that Name of yours which ought indeed never to appear but on Instruments of State and fronts of Marble consecrating your Wisdom and Vertues to Eternity will be no way lessen'd by giving Patronage to these appendant Rusticities It is from the Protection and Cherishment of such as your Lordship is that these Endeavours of ours may hope one day to succeed and be prosperous The noblest and most useful Structures have laid their Foundations in the Earth if that prove firm here and firm I pronounce it to be if your Lordship favour it We shall go on and flourish I speak now in relation to the Royal Society not my self who am but a Servant of it only and a Pioner in the Works But be its fate what it will Your Lordship who is a Builder and a lover of all Magnificences cannot be displeas'd at these agreeable Accessories of Planting and of Gard'ning But my Lord I pretend by it yet some farther service to the State than that of meerly profit if in contributing to your divertisement I provide for the Publick health which is so precious and necessary to it in your excellent Person Vouchsafe POMONA your Lordships hand to kiss and the humble Presenter of these Papers the honour of being esteem'd My Lord Your most humble and most obedient Servant J. EVELYN POMONA Or An APPENDIX Concerning FRUIT-TREES In relation to CIDER The Making and several ways of Ordering it THE PREFACE SAt Quercus was the Proverb and it is now time to walk out of the Woods into the Fields a little and to consider what Advancement may be there likewise made by the planting of FRUIT-TREES For after the Earth is duly cultivated and pregnant with a Crop of Grain it is only by the Furniture of such Trees as bear Fruit that it becomes capable of any farther Improvement If then by discovering how this may best be effected I can but raise a worthy emulation in our Country-men this addition of noble Ornament as well as of Wealth and Pleasure Food and Wine may I presume obtain some grateful admittance amongst all Promoters of Industry But before I proceed I must and do ingenuously acknowledge that I present my Reader here with very little of my own save the pains of collecting and digesting a few dispers'd Notes but such as are to me exceedingly precious which I have receiv'd some from worthy and most experienc'd Friends of mine and others from the well-furnish'd Registers and Cimelia of the ROYAL SOCIETY Especially those Aphorisms and Treatises relating to the History of Cider which by express commands they have been pleas'd to injoyn I should publish with my Sylva It is little more than an Age since Hops rather a Medical than Alimental Vegetable transmuted our wholesome Ale into Beer which doubtless much alter'd our Constitutions That one Ingredient by some not unworthily suspected preserving Drink indeed and so by custom made agreeable yet repaying the pleasure with tormenting Diseases and a shorter life may deservedly abate our fondness to it especially if with this be consider'd likewise the casualties in planting it as seldom succeeding more than once in three years yet requiring constant charge and culture Besides that it is none of the least devourers of young Timber And what if a like care or indeed one quarter of it were for the future converted to the propagation of Fruit-trees in all parts of this Nation as it is already in some for the benefit of Cider one Shire alone within twenty miles compass making no less yearly than Fifty thousand Hogsheads the commutation would I perswade my self rob us of no great Advantage but present us with one of the most delicious and wholesom Beverages in the World It was by the plain Industry of one Harris a Fruiterer to King Henry the Eighth that the Fields and Environs of about thirty Towns in Kent only were planted with Fruit to the universal benefit and general Improvement of that County to this day as by the noble example of my Lord Scudamor and of some other publick-spirited Gentlemen in those parts all Herefordshire is become in a manner but one intire Orchard And when his Majesty shall once be pleas'd to command the Planting but of some Acres for the best Cider-fruit at every of his Royal Mansions amongst other of his most laudable Magnificences Noblemen wealthy Purchasers and Citizens will doubtless follow the Example till the preference of Cider wholesom and more natural Drinks do quite vanquish Hopps and banish all other Drogues of that nature But this Improvement say some would be generally obstructed by the Tenant and High-shoon-men who are all for the present profit their expectations seldom holding out above a year or two at most To this 't is answer'd That therefore should the Lord of the Mannour not only encourage the Work by his own Example and by the Applause of such Tenants as can be courted to delight in these kinds of Improvements but should also oblige them by Covenants to plant certain Proportions of them and to preserve them being planted To fortifie this profitable Design It were farther to be desir'd that if already there be not effectual provision for it which wants only due execution and quickning an Act of Parliament might be procur'd for the Setting but of two or three Trees in every Acre of Land that shall hereafter be enclosed under the Forfeiture of Six-pence per Tree for some publick and charitable Work to be levy'd on the Defaulters To what an innumerable multitude would this in few years insensibly mount affording infinite proportions and variety of Fruit throughout the Nation which now takes a Potion for a refreshment
writing this Paragraph But as some sorts are to be enquired after for the Palate and the Table so 't is now our main business to search after such as are excellent for their Liquor either as more pleasant more winy or more lasting of which sort the Bosbury bare-land-Pear excels The Red strake Bromebury-Crab and that other much celebrated Wilding call'd the Oaken-pin as the best for Cider though for sufficient reasons we do yet prefer the Red strake to oblige the emulation of other Countries 'till they find out a Fruit which shall excell it and which we do most heartily wish But to pursue the diligence of the Antients we direct the eye to a general expedient for all kinde of varieties imaginable and which we hold far better than to present the World with a List of the particulars either known or experimented For who indeed but a Fool will dare to tell Wonders in this severe Age and upon an Argument which is so environ'd with Imposture in most Writers old or new Much less pretend to Experiments which may fail to succeed by default of an unhappy occasion when the conclusion must be Penes Authorem sit fides And truly men receive no small discouragement from the ugly affronts of Clowns and less cultivated persons who laugh and scorn at every thing which is above their understanding For example I knew a man writes Dr. Beale to me and he a most diligent Planter and Graffer who for thirty or fourty years made innumerable Essays to produce some change of an Apple by Graffing It seems he was ambitious to leave his Name on such a Fruit if he could have obtained it but always fail'd for he perpetually made his Trials upon Crab-stocks or such at least as did not greatly differ from the kind and he ever found that the Graff would praedominate And how infinitely such Men having lost their own aims will despise better Advice we leave to observation However let us add That where nothing is more facile than to raise new kinds of Apples in infinitum from Kernels Yet in that Apple-Country so much addicted to Orchards we could never encounter more than two or three persons that did believe it But in other places we meet with many that on the other side repute Wildings or as they call them Kernel-fruit at all adventure and without choice to be the very best of Cider-fruit and to make the most noble Liquor So much does the common judgment differ in several Countries though at no considerable distance even in matters of visible Fact and epidemical experience It has been soberly affirmed that by graffing any White Apple upon an Elm it changes the Apple and particularly to a red colour I have a Direction where we may be eye-witnesses of the proof whatever the Truth of it be we are not over-hastily to erect Hercules's Pillars but rather to encourage the Experiment To gratifie yet the Ingenious instruct others and emancipate us all from these bastinado-Clowns we are furnish'd with many Arguments and proofs to assure a good success at least for variety and change if not for infinite choice Two or three antient References being duly praemis'd namely First 1. That 't is in vain to expect change of Apples from Graffing upon differing Stocks of Crabs or Apples 2. In vain also are we to look for a kind Tree from a very much differing Stock as an altered Pear to grow kindly on a Crab or Apple-stock contra There go about indeed some jugglings but we disdain to name them It is one thing to find the kindest Stock for the Improvement of any Fruit as the Crab-stock for the delicate Apple the Wild or Black-Cherry-Stock for the graffs of the fairest Cherries the largest Vine whose root makes best shift for relief to accept the Graff of the more delicate Vine the White Pear-Plum Stock for the Abricot c. And another thing it is to seek the Stock which begets the wonder variety and that same transcendent and particular excellency we inquire after For this must be at more remote distance and we offer from the Ancients to shew how it may be at any distance whatsoever But the whole expedient seems to be hinted by Sir H. Plat pag. 72. where he affirms that If two Trees grow together that be apt to be graffed one into another then let one branch into another workmanly joyning Sap to Sap. This our Gardiners call Graffing by Approach and is explicated at large by Columella But in this express Rule he is too narrow for our purpose and far short of old experience as we find in Parag. 63. where he affirms We may not graff a contrary Fruit thereon Against this we urge That any contrary Fruit may be adventured and any Fruit upon any fruitless Stock growing in propinquity in the same Nursery as it is not only affirm'd but seriously undertaken and experimentally proved by the sober Columella in several of his Treatises Turn to the eleventh Chapter of his fifth Book Stephens Ediiion Sed cum antiqui negaverint posse omne genus surculorum in omnem Arborem inseri illam quasi finitionem qua nos paulò ante usi sumus veluti quandam legem sanxerint eos tantùm surculos posse coalescere qui sint cortice ac libro fructu consimiles iis arboribus quibus inseruntur existimavimus errorem hujus opinionis discutiendum tradendámque posteris rationem qua possit omne genus surculi omni generi Arboris inseri And the example follows in a Graff of an Olive into a Fig-stock by Approach as we call it which he also repeats in the twenty seventh Chapter of his Book De Arboribus without altering a syllable But possibly in this check at the Ancient he might aim at old Varro whom we find threatning no less than Thunderbolts and Blasts to those who should attempt these strange Marriages and did not sort the Graff with the Tree consult lib. 1. cap. 40. And yet you may see this Art assum'd by Columella for his own invention 1500 years since to be no news to Varro 200 years older where he goes on Est altera species ex arbore in arborem inserendi nuper animadversa in arboribus propinquis c. Though here again we may question our Masters nuper animadversa too since before he was born Cato relates it as usual to Graff Vines in the manner by them prescribed cap. 41. Tertia insitio est Terebra vitem quam inseres c. Which by the way makes us admire how the witty Walchius in his Discourse De vitibus fructuariis pag. 265. could recount the graffing of Vines amongst the wonders of Modern Inventions But it seems Varro and his Contemporaries did extend the practice beyond Cato and Columella proceeded further than Varro even to all sorts of Trees however differing in nature quality bark or season And then Palladius assumes the result and gives us the particulars of the success in his Poem