to the Nature of the Ground that the Tree Loves and the depth of the Soyl so doth the Tree increase in these Circles and growth in all parts Between these Annual Circles doth some Sap rise as is plain in a tree that is Barked round for that tree shall put forth Leaves and increase in Body but produce little or no shoot and the more porous the tree is between these Annual Circles the longer that tree will Live as accidentally I have had it Experimented on Walnut-trees Ashes c. And they have continued sometimes two years and sometimes near three before they have dyed when they have been barked quite round the stemme a Foot or more and by way of Experiment I cut off the Bark from a Holly-tree and a Box-tree about half a Foot clean quite round the stemme or body of each tree and the tops of both did die in less than one years time which informed my Reason as much as though I had Learned it out of the most Learned Author that the Sap of those trees that shed their Leaves doth in a small quantity ascend between the Annual Circles in that pory place for trees that hold their leaves their Wood is close and Compact between the Annual Circles and that is the Reason that they die soon being barked round Also their Sap being of a Turpentine and Clammy Substance is the Reason they hold their Leaves all Winter being as it were glued on by that Substance and the Sap of such Trees as hold their Leaves being once set by cold requires a pretty deal of heat to make it thin and set it on Motion As Comparatively a little Cold will set or make stiff Pitch or Turpentine but it must be Frost that sets or stays the Motion of Water Also those Trees which hold their Leaves will grow much better under the dropping of other great Trees than those that shed their Leaves for their Turpentine-sap shoots off the drops so that they have little or no harm by such a Scituation But in case you should have a Tree Barked round by Accident and would willingly preserve it your best way is to get a shoot below the wounded place and if your Tree be Young you shall then have several break out a little above the Root if you find they shoot strong preserve two of the strongest and see that the Barked place be near the Ground but if your Tree be Barked high from the Ground or that it shoot up slowly then leave but one shoot keeping all other that shoot out clean taken off as soon as ever you see them break out so Nourish up the two shoots or shoot till you have got them higher than the wounded place then cut a long slit in the Bark above the wound and joyn in that shoot exactly making it fit the slit the in-side of one bark right against the in-side of the other tie it close in and Loom it over with good and well tempered Loom to keep the Air and wet out or better with soft Wax The Spring is the best Season but if you fear your Tree to decay defer not but do it as soon as your shoots be shot long enough If you would be further satisfied concerning the Largeness and Usefulness of this Royal Tree see Esquire Evelyn's Discourse of Forest-trees who hath writ very well of this and others but before I bid adieu I must Plant these few unpruned Verses and so leave the most Useful Oak O Stately Tree Who right can speak thy Praise Doth well deserve the Lawrel or the Bays Ask but our Thames what Burdens thou hast bore Of Gold and Silver fine and in their ore Of Rubies Diamonds and Pearls most rare With others which past valuation are Of Silk and Sattins fine to Cloath the Back Of Wines Italian French and Spanish Sack Of Spices Fruits and many a Rich Dye To Satisfie and Feast the Curious Eye Of Mastick Myrrh and many a Rich Gum Alloes and Druggs which from the Indies come He who Loves this thy Burthen and not Thee He deserves never to be worth one Tree 'T was Faithful Oak preserv'd our King that we Might thence Learn Lessons of true Loyalty Kings Lords and Earls and Men of Low Degree Transported are by this our Royal Tree Oak-Walls our Seas and Island do inclose Our Best Defence against our Forreign Foes No thing on Earth but Oak can Time Redeem No Wood deserving of so high Esteem When in Salt Seas Sir Francis Drake did stear Sailing in Oak he sav'd one day i' th' Year His Oak which the Terrestrial Globe did Measure Through Dangers led him t' Honour Profit Pleasure No Wood like Oak that grows upon the Ground To make our House and Ships last long and sound No Oak like Ours By Love to Oaks let 's then Appear true Subjects and right English-men CHAP. XI Of raising and Ordering the Elm. THere are several sorts of Elm but the best sort because it produceth the greatest Trees and soonest comes to perfection is that which hath its Leaves not much less than Line or Lime-tree leaves and shoots with a shoot not much less than a Sallow when it is lopped it is called by some the Trench-Elm by others the Marsh-Elm Some other sorts there are that are not much inferiour to this for producing high and good Timber One sort there is that hath on the young shoots great pieces like Cork subject to spread in head much and grow crooked this is not very good to make high Trees but makes good Pollards Another sort there is which I see in Essex the sides are subject to have Wenns thick on them which makes the Body hard to cleave this is not very good to make a high Tree but good Pollards All sorts of Elms doe increase from the roots much of themselves and the more you take the more they will give provided you keep them from being taken from you that is from being spoyled by Cattel and though they be so kind of themselves yet there are several wayes to increase them but the way to have of the best Kinds and to make the finest Trees is by raising them of seeds Therefore about the beginning of March or about the tenth you shall find the broad things like Hops begin to fall which have the seed in them when you find these begin to fall in a dry day if conveniently you can gather what quantity you please to sow then lay them thin in some place where they may drye four or five dayes and then having prepared a Bed in bigness according to the quantity of your Seeds of fresh light Brick-earth sow the seeds and their Vessels all over then sift some of the same Mould all over the bed for they will not well rake in let them be covered about half an Inch thick if the Summer prove drye water them sometimes and keep them clean from Weeds let not weeds stand on your bed till they be great lest in pulling
THE Manner of Raising Ordering AND IMPROVING Forrest-Trees ALSO How to Plant Make and Keep WOODS WALKS AVENUES LAWNS HEDGES c. WITH Several FIGURES proper for Avenues and Walks to End in and convenient Figures for Lawns Also RULES and TABLES shewing how the Ingenious Planter may measure Superficial Figures with Rules how to divide Woods or Land and how to measure Timber and other Solid Bodies either by Arithmetick or Geometry shewing the Use of that most Excellent Line the Line of Numbers by several New Examples with many other Rules usefull for most Men. By M. COOK LONDON Printed for Peter Parker at the Leg and Star over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1676. TO HIS EXCELLENCY Arthur Capell Lord Lieutenant and General Governour of the Kingdom of IRELAND Earl of Essex Vicount Maldon Lord Capell Baron of Hadham Lord Lieutenant of Hartfordshire and one of the King 's most Honourable Privy Council c. May it please your Excellency DID I not very well know your great Understanding in and Love to the Subject of the ensuing Discourse I durst not assume the Boldness to implore your Honours Patronage of it But being well assured that you have not been onely a Spectator but an Actor in most of what is treated of in the ensuing Lines for to your Eternal Prayse be it spoken there is many a fine Tree which you have Nursed up from Seeds sown by your own hands and many thousands more which you have commanded me to raise Therefore my Lord I humbly crave your Pardon for the Presumption and Imperfection of the Pen-man and though your Excellency knows full well how to prune young Trees yet I hope you will pass by the impertinent and superfluous Lines in this my Plantation which though I have endeavoured to keep as well pruned from Errors and as clean from Weeds as I could yet 't is possible there may be some things in it which some may term as ill But to You all things in it are so well known that I hope both it and I shall find such shelter and support by your favourable Aspect as that we need not to fear the Storms of the ignorant or negligent Planters And my Lord since the Art of Raising and Improving of Trees hath ever been esteemed amongst the truly Noble Wise Ingenious and most refined Spirits of the World from Age to Age and chiefly maintained and practised by them and since this Property is Naturally inherent in You you being not onely a great Lover of this Art but also most skilfull in it I humbly presume to Dedicate these my Observations to your Lordship not being ignorant that he who is most knowing in any thing is the best able to judge of the same and that this my Opinion of your Honours Ability and Promptitude in promoting the Planting and Improving of Forrest-trees is surely grounded the Large Plantation you have made will abundantly testifie But I humbly beg your Lordships Pardon for this Presumption not without hopes that my good Meaning may obtain it and since my good Wishes and the best of my Services is all I can contribute to You these shall never be wanting from My LORD Your Excellencies most Humble and most Obedient Servant to serve You whilest I bear the Name of Moses Cook TO The Courteous READER AMongst the many Books that are sent into the world in this Age I have adventured to increase the Number by this one I know there be many Pamphlets prodigious Histories and Romances invented by mens Fancies which abuse many Noble Spirits in reading of which they spend their time in vain and dull their Wits Which Books are more fit for Women than Men. For they will furnish them with strange Stories and a few fine words Also there be many Books of Disputes in Divinity which tend more to make our Differences the greater than any wayes to edifie or unite us therefore if your Genius leads you to read such Books this is not for your Fancy But if you take delight in Planting or Gardening or to raise and improve Forrest-trees or to make Walks Avenues or Lawns to plant or improve your Woods Hedges c. or to measure most sorts of superficial or solid Figures either by Arithmetick or Geometry with several other Rules of the same Nature as the Titles of each Chapter but especially the Chapters themselves will more fully inform you then I hope this Book will be of good use to you For here are several Rules approved of by several Noble and Ingenious Men which are as faithfully delivered as they are really intended for the good of this Nation and all those that will put them in practice which if you please to doe you will employ your time so well that you will never have cause to say it is ill spent and if once you do but step forward one step and see but any success of your Labours you will need then no Logicians Arguments nor no Rhetoricians Eloquence to perswade you to proceed And for your better Encouragement know that it hath been and is the Delight and Practice of Kings Princes Philosophers and all Noble spirited and wise Men For have not many of them quitted their great Employs and taken upon them this pleasing Art of Planting and Gardening as is proved by several See the Prefaces of Perkinson's Gerard's the Curate of Henonville's and several others For Almighty God hath Imprinted in the Hearts of most wise men such a Love to Plants in part as their Father Adam had in his state of Innocency that those noble and usefull Works which the Almighty made for the use of Man and his Glory should be the more common for their excellent use to the Sons of Men and that they should take care of those which are tender and want the more care lest they should be lost and also that both their Vertues and their Beauties should be known in several parts of the World that he might be the more Admired and Glorified For I do believe that the Blessing of God is much Assisting to those who Love and endeavour to Improve and Preserve his Works for God's Works and his Word are no such different things and also it hath been and is observed that those that are Wasters and wilfull Spoylers of Trees and Plants without just Reason so to doe have seldom prospered in this World See this confirmed by Esquire Evelyn in his Preface to his Discourse of Forrest-trees Therefore you that are Lovers of Trees and Plants if once you have them let your Love be shewed in the Care you take of them to keep them from Cattel and other Inconveniencies then will you not onely have Pleasure and Profit of them but others by being defended from the malignant and sharp Air by their Heads and Bodies and also shaded from the violent Heats and their sweet Flowers and their refreshing Fruit will be usefull to several men Also Planting and Gardening addes much to the Health and
forth in one shoot or to set any sort of Fruit with the fleshy part on are also great Errors Fifth Er. To bore holes in Trees and to put Honey or other sweet things into them to make them bear more and sweet Fruit is also a great Fallacy Sixth Er. To think that the Sap of Trees at the Approach of Winter falleth from the Head into the Root is a gross mistake Many more there are which I could count up but these are too many either to be written or kept in Memory Thus having shewed you some Errors I here beg Pardon for mine own that are in this Book I know I have committed Tautology the Reason is I have been long in taking true Observations but I hope that which is so usefull cannot be too often repeated I have used Arithmetick the more because it is so usefull to the ingenious Planter for I have not laboured to please my self onely but for all those that seek Wisdom For the Gifts of God are improved by communicating and Knowledge thriveth as Ingenuity is improved and communicated for Ingenuity hath these Properties of Memory and Charity the more you use it the better it is and the more you give of it the more you shall have And now I shall shew you how I did proceed in that which I was born to not made I alwayes took Notes of what I did set or sow the Time and on what Ground c. and when it proved well I noted it so but when ill I did endeavouras much as I could to know the Reason which when once I found I noted it well I also alwayes was very wary of taking things upon trust for many Learned men have abused their Works by so doing and if any man told me any thing unless he had sufficient Experience of it or could give very good Reasons why it was so I alwayes was incredulous of it unless my Judgement told me it were possible or he by Discourse made it plain to me For no man ought to deprive another of the Liberty of Humane Ingenuity that hath Light of Nature to discern and judge by I have often been blamed by Noble-Men for not consenting to the Opinion of some of their Favourites for when their Notions were not grounded on Reason or had not been proved by Experience though never so new I could not well entertain them So if you find any thing in these few Lines that hath not Reason in it prove by Experience whether it is true or not And do not say It is so or so because I say it but as you find it And let me be plain with you further alwayes when I undertook any difficult business I was as carefull as I could be to elect a fit time to begin that business in And to the prayse of God I speak it I alwayes had the greatest success in my greatest undertakings though many times I have been altogether Ignorant in them and many times failed in small things when I thought of the least danger I know some will smile at this Truth but let them laugh that win I never lost by it The wisest man that ever was tells you There is a Time for all things and certainly there is in Sowing Grafting and Gardening For it shall be my Opinion To think and judge as cause I find My Rule is not anothers Mind Or as the ingenious Mr. Cowley hath it from the Learned Dubartas Senseless is he who without blush denies What to sound Senses most Apparent lies And ' gainst Experience he that spits Fallacians Is to be hiss'd from Learned Disputations And such is he that doth affirm the Stars To have no force on these Inferiours But to conclude I have here shewed you some Rules how to prune Forrest-trees which well done adds much to their shape growth and long life Every one that makes any Observation of Trees seeth this truth confirmed in their sshape and though many are against pruning of Forrest-trees yet it adds much to their growth and if done by a skilful hand and at fit times it adds much to the goodness of the Timber though several it's possible will tell you to the contrary for it is the borrower that things of trust that is Truth 's greatest greatest Opposer But to confirm the growth by pruning take this Example There grew a young Oak near the Orange-house at Cashiobury about nine inches Diameter with many young Boughs on the sides which robbed the Head so much that it did shoot but little having more boughs than the Roots could well maintain I took off the side-boughs in the year 1669 and in the year 1675 My Lord ordered me to fell it it standing too near a Walk we had made My Lord being at Cashiobury and discoursing of pruning Forrest-trees with the ingenious Artists Sir Samuel Moreland and Hugh May Esquire I shewd them the Truth confirmed in this Tree for that year it was pruned it did grow â…– of an Inch which was near as it had grown in five years before It continued that growth very near for the six years after as did plainly appear by Annual Circles to them and me And as good Pruning doth help the growth of Trees so also it doth prolong their Life For it is well known that the pruning of some Annual Plants will make them live more years than one for good Pruning may take off that which ill pruning hath left or the wind which otherwise would destroy the Tree in little time And as I have said something in this Book of Pruning Forrest-trees so I wish some able man would shew some Rules or his Judgement of Pruning all sorts of Fruit-trees and Plants that bear Fruit that there might be some light for a man to see to ground his Reasons on for we are much to seek both in the manner how and the Time when to Prune our Fruit-trees both to Improve them and their Fruit. I also have shewed you several Rules of Artificial Arithmetick by the Canon of Logarithms and several Rules of the Line of Numbers or Gunters Line which for their excellent uses cannot be made too common or too well known to the Ingenious And Lastly I have not bushelled my Light but have set it to the Publick view which if it enlighten thee in the good and true way which I intend to thy benefit and pleasure it 's possible I shall doe thee if the Lord permit some other piece of service farther to direct thee in the Truth My request to thee is to Correct the mispointing or paging for my business is such that I cannot see it Corrected my self but trusting in your goodness shall conclude Small faults if you 'l pardon and some amend Then I 'le be yours to my Lifes end From Cashiobury near Watford Novemb. 16. An. 1675. M. Cook CHAP. I. Of the several Wayes of Raising Trees The best for Forrest-trees is by their Seeds Keyes or Nuts c. YOu may raise most sorts
shot forth that I was forced to cut off some of their Heads that is the side-boughs to keep the Wind from breaking them There is in these four rows of Trees 296. and of these I lost not one Tree the first Year but they did grow and shoot so well that there were several Noble Men that saw them did think as they said that they were not removed the Year before but the year after we had three spoyled by some base Men or Boys Of the very same parcel of Trees my Lord gave Sir William Temple thirty of the best of them which he himself saw chosen out they were Set at Sir William's House at Sheen a much better Natur'd Ground than ours yet they lost all but six of them the first Year I saw a walk of Line-trees but I think they were the Bastard-kind which we have growing in many of our Woods in England set at Debden-hall the Right Worshipful Sir Richard Brown's House the Natural ground was not bad for them but how they were Ordered I do not know for they had the first year not above one in ten that did grow any thing considerably I saw the like or worse spoyl of the same Trees at my Lord Chief Baron Turnor's near Startford where the ground might easily have been made very good for them I onely write this to perswade Noble Men and others that are Lovers of Planting to remember the old saying viz. A thing once well done is twice done And those that are resolved to Plant that they make their Ground fit for those Trees before they set them and not bury them in a hole like a dead dog as too too many do Let me then beg that they may have good and fresh Lodgings sutable to their Quality and good attendance also to preserve them from their Enemies till they be able to encounter with them they that will not do this let them never resolve to Plant Trees for why should they spoil the least of those stately Monuments and in so doing throw away their Monies For let such note that Nature bestows not her gifts but where she finds sutable Convenience therefore order your Ground well and then you may see a good success as my Lord hath had in several of his Plantations though as bad ground as most is to Plant on One Night me thoughts walking up one of my Lords Line-walks I heard the grateful Trees thus Paying the Tribute of their thanks to his Lordship Like Pyramids our Stately Tops wee 'l Raise To Sing our Noble Benefactor 's Praise Freshly we will to After-ages show What Noble Essex did on us bestow For we our very Being owe to him Or else we had long since intombed been In Crop of Bird or in Beasts Belly found Or met our Death neglected on the ground By him we cherish'd were with Dung and Spade For which wee 'l Recompence him with our Shade And since his kindness saw us prun'd so well We will Requite him with our Fragrant smell In Winter as in Gratitude is meet Wee 'l strew our humble Leaves beneath his Feet Nay in each Tree Root Trunck Branch all will be Proud to Serve him and his Posterity Thus having shewed you by Example the good Effects of a light Brick-Earth upon Gravel I could also tell the same of a Fat Sand drift-sand small Gravel upon your Clay or stiff Ground but I hope that I have informed your Judgment so much that you will Reasonably conclude with me that the preparing of Ground for Trees is onely to mix Ground so together that there may be convenient room for the Roots to search for their Nourishment and to humour the Tree so that there may be a good part of the Natural Ground which each Tree delights to grow in I know that if your Ground be a stiff Clay then to trench and mix it with fat Sand drift-sand Lime Rubbish or Chalk and Lime are great helps to such Ground either for Trees or Corn or Grass and more lasting than Dung and for Forrest-Trees full as good as Dung For it doth not onely give leave and make way for the roots to run in the Earth but takes away that over-moistness in the cold stiff Ground which hinders Conception by letting the water down into the Earth and by keeping it from Cracking and so Nourisheth the Spirit of the Earth and also keeps it from spending it too hastily Horse-dung is the best to make your hot beds with for such Plants as are commonly raised of them be Annual Plants but it is too hasty for the Seeds of Trees unless it be rotten and well mixed with Natural Mould It is best for your stiff cold Lands and if you lay it upon Plowed Ground which 't is best for then Plow it in as soon as you can for if it lies there to dry there will a great part of the Oily substance which makes the fume for nourishment of Plants be exhaled out by the Sun Let no sort of dung lie long on the top of your Ground unplowedin but plow or dig it in as soon as you can for by lying so it doth not onely lose a great part of its goodness by the Sun especially if it lies thin but where your Dung-hill lies every shower will wash the strength of the dung into the Ground so that if you take the dung off from that place as clean as you can yet you shall have that place bear Ranker Corn than where you thought the dung had lain much thicker if it lies long in a place The Observation of this taught me many good Uses as first to lay dung about the Roots of Trees is much better than stones as my Lord Bacon Advises in his Natural History for this keeps moist the Ground better than they and Rain washes the strength to the Roots as is aforesaid and if you dig in this when the strength is gone and your Trees strong it then prepares way for the Roots and there is a great benefit to your Trees Or if it is not digged-in but lies on the top and there turns to Earth it then feeds the Roots on the top and leads them upward And seeing where Dung lies the Ground is so much improved by the washing-in of the strength of the Dung it may well inform you that Dung steeped in Water is very good especially if you use Dung in Quantity according to the Nature of your Plants and strength of your Ground the weaker your Ground make your Water the stronger There is in some places in Farmers Yards a Water that washeth from their Dung-hills a Load of which is not inferiour to a Load of Dung yet by them totally Neglected but of Waters I shall speak more in the next Chapter Thus having hinted of these two Useful and Common Dungs Cow and Horse in the Example of these Line-trees onely Observe this and then I shall proceed Horse-dung is best for Plants that are quick of Digestion and Growth
such up you spoyl their spearing by breaking it off or by letting in the drye Aire and so kill it therefore keep your Beds clean from weeds and about the middle or latter end of August they will be come up About the midst of September sift a little richer Mould all over the Bed but not so much as to cover them thus doe the next Summer and take off the side â— boughs though young and when they have stood two years on that Bed then plant them on beds in your Nursery keeping them with digging and pruning up yearly till you have got them to the stature you think convenient to plant abroad In setting this or any sort of Tree forget not to top the ends of the tap-root or other long ones and also not to leave a bruised End uncut off You may set them in streight lines in your Nursery about a yard one Row from another and about a foot and a half one Tree from another in the Rowes mind the Natural depth it first did grow at and set it so when you remove it have a care of setting any Tree too deep and also keep not this Tree nor a Walnut long out of the ground for their spongy Roots will in a little time grow Mouldy and be spoyled Therefore if you cannot set them let them be covered with Earth and then you shall find this Tree as patient in removing and as certain to grow as any Tree I know The ground they like best is a light Brick-earth or Loom as I said before that they dislike most is a rocky ground or a stiffe clay but if one have a mixture of Brick-earth c. and the other of small Gravel Drift-sand Sand c. then there they will do pretty well They naturally increase very much of themselves and the more where they meet with natural ground if you fell a thriving Tree and fence in the place you then may have a store to furnish your Woods and Hedge-rows with the worst and the straightest to nurse up in your Nurseries for to make VValks Avenues Glades c. with for there is no tree more proper for the certainty of its growing especially if you make good large and deep holes and where the ground is not natural there help it by some that is and then you may hope for a stately high growing Tree if you take care in pruning it up as is before shewed of the Oak You need not much fear its growing top-heavy for it having such a thick bark the sap is subject to lodge in it and break out many side-boughs and the Roots apt to break out with suckers the more when pruned therefore prune it up high and often but let the season be February for then its fine dark green-coloured Leaf and long hanging on it is the more ornamental and fit for walks As for the way to increase it from the Roots of another Tree I doe referre you to the seventh Chapter which will shew you fully how to perform the same observing but them Rules you may raise many fine young Trees from the Roots of another much better than naturally they will be produced from the Roots I advise you where you find your ground Natural in your Hedge-rowes there to plant some of this most usefull wood for it will run in the Banks and thicken your Hedges with wood and is very courteous to other sorts of wood growing by it Do not let ignorant Tradition possess you that it will grow of the Chips or of Truncheons set like Sallowes though the Author of the Commons Complaint saith it will for I assure you it neither doth nor will In Lopping of this be carefull to cut your boughs close and smooth off minding to keep them perpendicular to the Horizon the better to shoot off the wet It will grow well of Laying as is before noted and also directed in the Chapt. of Laying in which if you take but a little labour more than ordinary from one Tree you may have in a few years many in your Hedge-rowes or elsewhere therefore deferre not but put this in practice especially the great Kind My Lord Bacon adviseth to bud it to make the Leaves the larger but that is needless Part of these Rules I wrote some years agoe at the request and for the use of the truely ingenious Planter and Lover thereof Sir Henry Capell and I shall give you the same Conclusion now that I did then to him which take as followeth Since Gard'ning was the first and best Vocation And Adam whose all are by Procreation Was the first Gard'ner of the World and ye Are the green shoots of Him th' Original Tree Encourage then this innocent old Trade Ye Noble Souls that were from Adam made So shall the Gard'ners labour better bring To his Countrey Profit Pleasure to his King CHAP. XII Of Raising and Ordering the Ash AND as for Raising the Ash I shall give you the same Rules as I did to the aforesaid Honourable Person the same time before the Discourse of Forrest-trees was written Let your Keyes be thorow ripe which will be about the middle or end of October or November When you have gathered them lay them thin to dry but gather them off from a young straight thriving Tree My Reason to gather them off a young thriving tree is because there will the Keyes or seeds in the Keyes be the larger and solider therefore by consequence they are the abler to shoot the stronger and to maintain themselves the better and longer Though I know by experience that the seeds of some old Plants will come up sooner so the seed be perfect than the seed of young Plants and also that old seed so it will but grow will come up sooner than new Seed My aforesaid Reasons do in part demonstrate this Or thus Nature finding her self weak doth like a provident Mother seek the sooner to provide for her weak Children for Nature is one in divers things and yet various in one thing Now if you gather them off from a straight tree 't is the likelier they will run more up and grow straighter than those which be gathered off a Pollard or crooked tree for it is well known and might be proved by many Instances that Nature doth delight in Imitation and the Defects of Nature may be helped by Art for the great Alterations which many times we find visible in many Vegetables of the same species they all proceed either from the Earth the Water or the Heavenly Influences but the last is the greatest Author of Alteration both in Sensibles Vegetables and Animals However Like still produceth its Like and since there is such plenty of Forrest-trees that bear seed you may as well gather all sorts of Keyes and Seeds off or under such Trees as not As for the time of sowing them let it be any time between the latter end of October and the last of January for they will lie till Spring
vulgarly the Lime-tree But call it which you please for I shall not trouble my self with the Etymology of the Name Of this Tree there are but two Kinds that I know one of which is the broad-leaved and this shoots with a stronger shoot than the other the broad-leaved one is much to be preferred before the other for the aforesaid Reasons and several others of the broad-leaved Line we have had of late years several trees from Holland I have raised several hundreds of Seeds of this sort The narrow-leaved Line growes plentifully in several places of this Land as in several of my Lords Woods in Essex This latter is harder to remove with good success than the former the Reason is because it hath not been so much used to be transplanted therefore not so certain to grow as the great-leaved according to our old Proverb Vse makes Perfectness Some Authors tell you that they are Male and Female but there is no such thing in Plants for both these Kinds bear seed but it ripens not every year with us in England You may raise this fine Tree by Seed or by Laying either way with great facility and great Increase But of this as of all other Trees to raise them of Seed is the best way For my Honourable Lord and the Honourable Sir Henry Capel have seen such difference between those raised of Seed and those of Layers that when they were Trees of eight or ten years growth they have often told me which was raised from Seed and which from a Layer for that raised from seed much out-growes the other and keeps its Taper-shape for several years after they be planted out in Walks The taperness of the Seed-tree makes it grow as straight as an Arrow but this I advise you that when you gather the Seed you mind to gather it off from some of the broad-leaved Line-trees and of those that shoot with a strong shoot But as I told you before the Seeds do not ripen every year with us but you may know that by cracking the husk or shell of the seed for if the Seed be good it will lie plump and full under the husk the body white if you bite it in two But if the year be not kind for the Seed most of the Husks or Seed-vessels will have nothing but a little chaffie substance in them and some few will have some small lank seeds in them But to our Purpose to raise them of Seeds let your Seed be very Ripe which will be in October gather it in a drye day and after you have dryed it about a week in an open Room then put it in a Couch of Sand indifferent moist so let it be kept till about the middle of February then sow it under some Wall on the North or West-side in some good fresh Loomy ground rather strong than light if there come a drye Spring or Summer keep them indifferent moist and stick some Boughs over them to shade them from the scorching Sun especially if they be much exposed to it keep them clean from weeds there let them stand two Summers and afterwards you may transplan them into your Nursery and set them in Rowes as you are directed of the Walnut and other Trees before Prune them up to one shoot unless you find some shoot or shoots that are fit to Lay and then if you would increase a Stock Lay them This tree is very apt to put forth shoots a little above the ground and Suckers a little within so that it is very readily increased by Laying Lay your Layers betimes any time between Midsommer and November as they be strong and fit to Lay And in a Twelve-months time or little more they will have drawn Root fit to be transplanted into a Nursery Thus by seed and Layers you may in a little time encrease enough for a County which when you come to have great store you may plant some of your crookedest Layers in your Woods they will produce a large Stub strong shoots grow well almost of any Ground and are very good Fire-wood It is a Tree that loves pruning up well for it naturally growes taper especially those which come of Seed but if it shoot much and thrives apace in your Nursery then leave some side-boughs to check the Sap lest by forcing it all into the Head it shoot out so much there that it make the head too big for the Body and so being top-heavy make the Tree crooked Now if ever you see your Trees in such a Condition then immediately cut off the leaning side of the Head which when it is lightned of its heaviness and hath not long stood crooked it will then come straight again Midsommer time is the time of this pruning but do not force the Sap too much into the head lest by high winds you have many of your Heads broke off But of this I have spoken before My ingenious Lord was once too free in pruning up a parcel of those Trees which I the rather acquaint you with that you hereafter may avoid the like for the Ground was fresh and good so that some by their great Heads lost them and some grew crooked But despair not for if you observe what I have said before to make a crooked Tree straight you may easily bring them to be straight again for they naturally delight to grow as straight as most trees doe and if the Head should be broken off as very seldom it is because the Bark is so tough they will yet shoot with such a strong shoot that they will in a little time make a fine Tree again You may if occasion be transplant them pretty large as big as your Legge but the surest size is about two Inches Diameter and eight or ten foot high But if the Tree was never Removed from the place where it was first sowed then Remove it the sooner for if it be great there 's the more danger in Removing it and the topping of the Roots when removed young makes it break out near home with many young feeding Roots like a Maple Therefore my advice to you that take delight to raise Trees is to transplant any sort of Tree while young and to top the Roots a very little they will be much the better and certainer to grow when they are again removed and will come forward much the better They that take this Advice will find the profit of it in Trees which will the better encourage the practice of it They will grow as well on any sort of Ground as any Tree I know but they like best a feeding Loomy Ground which is not too wet as is before said in Chap. 8. where I have spoke somewhat of this fine Tree for Walks Avenues or Lawns This being a Tree I fancy for the aforesaid uses before any Tree we have in England though I know many do not love it that are Planters because it is not good Timber and I grant it is not but