be perceived then in case the Tree be sawn for VVainscot c. Again as to the first Objection this seems to me a full Answer as first for such Trees as stand abroad single you shall find them to have a clear body of six seven eight or ten foot high I only ask my Opponent whether such a length of Timber had Knots on it or no I hope they will grant it had well then how comes it to be so clear without Knots Now I tell you 't is Cattle that crop off the boughs whilest they be young and that makes it clear from boughs and the sap mounts up higher and there breaks out which if it were but taken off as it is below it then would be as clear sixty foot as it is at six and as straight This very Reason possess'd me so much that it told me an Elm which is the most subject of any Tree to break out side-boughs might be made clear Timber sixty foot high as well as ordinarily they be six by early often and Summer-pruning This my Experience hath proved true Again a Thorn or VVhite-bush growing in a Park and kept under by Dear cropping of it for eight ten or more years so that it hath got a hundred little boughs if it once get but a leading shoot and that out of the Dears reach all shall unite in that one and that shall come to be a straight body and straight-grained notwithstanding it was so crooked below for the lower ones will all die by the Dear cropping them and the saps free ascending into the leading shoot But as to the second Objection I grant that sometimes cutting off boughs especially great ones and of Old trees makes more but then they be small for the more a River is divided into small Rivulets the easier those little ones are stopped and brought into one for a great River must have a great Damme and taking off a great bough is a great Damme to the sap for the Tree falling suddenly narrow upwards and the sap being used to spend it self there and having free passage thither when it is got into that place it breaks out on each side of the Knot into many little boughs but if you take off these little boughs that Midsommer the Summer after there will be but a small quantity in comparison of the Spring-sap And the bark being then loose it makes the easier way for the Sap to ascend into the head and not to break out into Boughs and so having prepared the way by the Sap that Midsommer-shoot will not be at a stand so much the Spring following Or if the Spring after you have taken off the Boughs you take off the little ones that were shot out the year before and slit the bark above each Knot that is somewhat great down to the Knot by so doing you may bring your Tree to have a clear Body by a few years pruning for I have Observed it usual in many Trees the Year they have been pruned up for the Bark to have cracked an Inch or more which tells you most plainly that the pruning of Trees doth make them swell in Body therefore help the pent places by slitting the Bark you may often see this on your Ash c. Pray you how comes it that in your Coppices you shall have Timber-trees ten or twelve Foot high clear without Bough and then the Tree break out all into head It is I am confident the under-wood which smothers and beats off the side-boughs as high as that grows and so makes the Timber clear so high also if you mark where high Timber-trees are that have clear Bodies a great height they do or did stand thick together and so one draws up another smothering the side-boughs and beating them off sometimes by their Motion in great Winds Thus by what has been said of Cattels Cropping Trees standing in Coppices and by Trees standing thick together you may Learn that you may do the same and have Timber by pruning as clear from Knots as it is by those Accidents Thirdly Whereas they say it makes a tree decay sooner I grant this that to prune off great Boughs from an Old tree makes it decay sooner for the Wounded place being great and the Tree slow of growth is a long time covering over that place if it can be done at last and that takes wet and Air and decays the Tree therefore I do not Advise you to take great Boughs off from any tree But small Boughs cut off smooth and close from an Old tree or Young causeth the tree to last longer and to be clearer Timber For when small Boughs are taken off from the side of your Tree though Old the Tree then not drawing much Sap that little Sap doth most of it then ascend into the Head and so makes the Head continue fresh and thriving the longer and taking off the side-boughs makes the Tree to swell and grow sooner into a great Body For the Boughs that break out of the side have not such deep Root in the Body of the Tree I mean those that come forth after the Tree hath been once pruned for every bough that breaks out breaks out through the Bark and hath its Root between the Bark and Tree that Year and as the Tree increaseth so that knot is deeper and deeper in the Body of the Tree thus taking off the small Boughs often keepeth the Tree clearer from great knots within the Timber and the little knots do cover over so soon before the out-side of the knot be dead that they become as clear Timber Thus have I shewed you that all sorts of Trees come to have clear Bodies by pruning either Natural or Artificial that is by Cattel cropping by under-wood beating off the side-boughs or by standing close one to another and so drawing up one another and smothering the side-boughs by standing so thick or by pruning c. Reader if thy Faith hold out Read on But if you find you can't believe be gone For with more ease a Man might undertake To bring Brute Bear unto the Fatal stake Than him to Teach whose Infidelity Does Demonstration Reason Truth defie Thus have I shewed in part how to Raise and Order the Oak from the Acorn till it is thirty or forty Years old There is one thing more to be known which is how to Remove an Oak that is large or other Tree and that was never Removed before I shall borrow part of it from the Learned Esquire Evelin's Discourse of Forest-trees p. 13. Choose a Tree as big as your Thigh saith he but if less the better to grow Remove the Earth from about him cut through all the Collateral Roots till with a Competent strength you can inforce him down upon one side so as to come with your Ax at the tap root cut that off and cut all the Roots smooth on the under-side re-dress your Tree and so let it stand covered about with the Mould you loosened
shew the best way for improving your Ground presuming that every man that fenceth in a ground would plant as many Trees as he can in it let such but mind what I have delivered and what I shall deliver in the next Chapter I hope it will be satisfactory to him if it be it will be the like to me But what Order soever you plant your Trees in make your holes good before Set not your Trees too deep and keep them staked the first year covering the ground over the Roots with some Litter or Dung and over that a little Mould to keep the Sun from burning the Dung and exhausting the strength In the Spring walk over the Ground you planted in Winter and set your Trees to right and tread the Mould to the Roots especially if the Spring be drye keep all the cracks filled with Mould after your Trees be set keep your ground with digging or plowing for three or four years at first but the longer the better your Trees will run and thrive in the loose Ground much but if you do not so much mind Order in Planting but would keep your Land for Corn and yet would gladly have Fruit-trees too which may very well be and you may have good store of Fruit and not much the less Corn then plant your Rowes about thirty foot asunder the longest wayes of your Ground and set the Trees in the Rows about 15 foot asunder and let the Trees in each Row stand exactly square so may you have a very fine Orchard and little or nothing the less Corn Many years may you have as much Fruit as is worth a good Crop of Corn off so much Land and not the less Corn which may well encourage you to planting if you dare believe me but if not be but so kind to your self and me as to trye whether I tell truth not Be sure to keep Cows out of your young Orchards Sheep will do no harm provided you wisp your Trees about with Thum-bands whilest young which is the best way to keep them from the destructive Hares and Coneys CHAP. XXXIV Of Pruning Trees some general Observations ALthough I have shewed you how to prune most sort of Trees in each Chapter where I shewed you how to raise them yet I shall say a little more and all will be too little for the Curate of Henonville tells you in his Book of the Manner of Ordering Fruit-trees That it is a Thing very rare among Gardners to Prune Trees well for the doing of it well depends more upon their Ingenuity than upon their Hand It is also very hard to give Instructions for it because it consists not in certain and general Maxims but varies according to the particular Circumstances of each Tree so that it depends absolutely upon the Gardners Prudence who ought of himself to judge what Branches must be left and which are fit to be cut away c. Indeed that erroneous Custome and Saying which is among most men of Timber-trees not to prune them at all or if you doe to cut off the boughs at distance from the Body hath made many a good Fruit-tree lose its life sooner by many years than it would have done and also hath yielded to the Owner much less and worse Fruit than it would have done Therefore whatsoever Bough you cut off from Fruit or Forrest-tree cut it close and smooth and the lowest side closest then will it not hold water and every year the Bark will surround and overgrow the wound by little and little till it hath quite healed the place But if you leave a Stump it 's likely that will hold water and make a hole into the very Body of your Tree and so in little time make it sick and kill it which before would bear you but little and poor Fruit Or if the Stump hang down so that it doth not hold wet then the Tree must be as big as that Stump is long on all sides before it can over-grow that place or if the Stump rots and breaks off then many times it leaves a hole in the Tree which if it tends much upward so that it takes water it certainly kills the Tree and if the Tree be not a very thriving Tree it will be very long before it overgrowes that hole though it do not take wet Therefore what boughs you cut off cut them off close unless the Tree be very old and the boughs great such I do not advise you to meddle with but if you doe cut them at a distance from the Body alwayes remembring to let the wound be smooth and to tend as much from the Horizon as may be All boughs that grow upright be they great or little cut them not right cross over but cut them sloping upward and let the slope aspect the South East or West if it may be and in those boughs that lean from the head cut the slope on the lower side the slope tending downward so will they cover over the better if the wound be great cover it over with some Clay well mixed with Horse-dung to keep it from the weather and it will cover over the sooner Many a good Tree is spoyled by grafting of it in bad places as I have seen in some hundreds of which I have not spared as oft as I could to tell the Owners but few would believe me for sometimes they cut off great boughs till they come to 6 Inches or thereabouts Diameter there they put in four or six Grafts in the Bark and sometimes two in the Clift and saw the bough right cross over though it grow upright in which if the Grafts do grow the head is so great and they growing Round as it were endeavouring to cover over the wound make such a hollow place like a Dish on the Head as holds water and kills the Tree which is many times dead before the Grafts can cover over the head or if the Tree doth not thrive very well they keep that place will covered with Loom or Clay mixed with Horse-dung and sometimes they head the Tree very low and thereby check it so much that it dyes in little time after Sometimes they cut off such great boughs and do it so ill that though the heads grow yet in little time these wounds kill the Tree Though I shall not here teach you how to graft yet let me advise you when you graft high great Trees not to cut them too low but to prune them up till they come to the thickness of your Arm or less and then graft them for then will the Grafts soon overgrow such places Leave a good many of these Heads on according to the bigness of your Tree that if some miss you may take them off the next Spring and yet have enough for the Head If you graft in the Bark you must remember to head your Grafts about Midsummer or else they will be subject to blow off put your Grafts in alway on the upper side
of Trees by Laying the Ash being one of the worst of any I have experienced but it will take by Laying if you be an observer of the growth of the Ash you then may read the Reason plainly if that you keep but the eyes of your Understanding open which I take to be this Of all the Trees that I know an Ash shoots with the straightest shot from his Seed and so continues till it comes to a great heighth unless by accident therefore seldom touching the ground by its own growth But if it should it having no Arms to defend it against Cattel and they being great lovers of the tops and leaves prevent its natural Increase that way finding it self rarely or never encreased by this kind of propagation it being not accustomed to Laying therefore the harder to grow Your Oak will grow of Laying so will your Elm very frequently as I have seen in several Hedges without any thing of Art As you may see the great leaved Elm thrive well of a Layer on a bank by the Road-side from Ware to the Right Woshipfull Sir Thomas Leventhorps house called Blacks-Ware It is worth your noting to increase this usefull wood in your Hedges as also other sorts of Wood which will be much for your profit and also a great improvement to your Fence though it be at present altogether neglected Of the manner and several wayes of Laying see the Fifth Chapter 2. Several sorts of Trees will grow of Cuttings the Manner and Time I shall shew in the succeeding Chapter But let me now invite you when you fell your Woods to give some of these Cuttings Quarters in the Naked places and you shall find them afterwards to pay you well for their Board Remember your Hedges also where they want Guests to furnish them You may raise many sorts of Trees by the Roots or part of Roots of other Trees The Kinds and Manner are shewed hereafter which if you love your Woods and your self you may take notice of 3. Many sorts of Trees may be increased on other Stocks by Budding or Grafting but this is more proper for Fruit-trees than for your Forest For take it for granted that it hinders the aspiring growth of Trees and makes them bear more I know my Lord Bacon tells you of Budding the Elm and it will have greater leaves than ordinary It is likely if you bud the great-leaved Elm upon the small-leaved whilest it is young and full of sap it will have larger leaves especially than an old tree but that I judge signifies little Enquiry may be made whether by budding the Elm and also the Line-tree if it would not make their seeds keep better than they do many years with us I wish it were tryed As for the manner of Budding and Grafting I referre you to other subjects for there are many have written largely thereof 4. The last and best way to raise your Forrest-trees is by their Seeds and how to do that I shall shew you in every particular Chapter by me experienced I wish every Noble-man or Gentleman that takes delight in these stately Monuments would follow the Example of the Right Honourable and very much knowing in these Lines the Earl of Essex who hath now several thousands of my Raising Let me be bold to tell you that one Ash-tree raised in a Nursery and ordered as is hereafter shewed is worth five taken out of a VVood. For there you shall have them grow taper and strong so that when you remove them cut but off some of the side-boughs and set them with great hopes of a stately Timber-tree But if you take them out of a VVood then will they be not so well rooted nor taper but top-heavy therefore you must be forc'd to take off the Heads before you set them and then expect at best but a good Pollard and it is possible you may wait long before you get him to thrive For the head being taken off leaves such a wound which is long a curing which you must doe or else his Roots will not maintain that Head Ever let me advise you to be as sparing in taking off the leading top-shot of an Ash or VValnut as you can possible Thus have I shewed the several wayes to raise Trees for the performing of the same read hereafter and this is certain that a few of your Trees raised in a Nursery are much better than those you take out of VVoods My Lord was a little before I came to him at some Charge more than ordinary to raise some Oaks Their way was to fence in a great Oak in the Park and then digged the ground and when the Acorns were most of them down then they raked them in By this Husbandry my Lord had got eight young Oaks about six year old I perswaded his Honour to take up his Fence satisfying him we should raise them at a much cheaper lay He therefore ordered me to take up these Oaks very carefully I having two Men then at work with me I bid the elder goe and take up these Oaks but could not get him to goe by no means he also had possest the other with such a tragical story that I could not perswade him which was that there were few which took up an Oak but either they or it dyed in a little time after I told them that it was possible the Oaks might die in a short time but they never the sooner The Reason may be the same with that before of raising an Ash by laying It being not used to be removed makes them the more difficult to grow when they are But I went and took up my eight Trees and lost Six of them the Winter following Had they been taken up at two years growth and the tap-root cut you afterwards might remove them with little danger I judge if you can it will not be amiss to save your Acorns or seeds of this Tree that hath been removed CHAP. II. How to observe and know the Nature of Seeds so as the better to raise them I Ever observed the shape taste skin or shell that my Keyes Nuts Stones Kernels or Seeds had and if I found by their shape they were pory and by feeling spongy tasting little or very mild I then did conclude to sowe these sorts of Seeds as soon as they were ripe or as soon at least as I received them which if they were kept but a little after the time of their being ripe I then expected but little success of those Seeds To give you a taste of this Novelty observe but these few among many more that is the Elm Sallow Popler c. and Angelico Paspere or Garden Samphire Scosanara c. I know 't is a Tradition that the Elm and Sallow have no seeds Then how could I raise several of them of Seeds as I have done But if you will not believe me I pray you ask the Earl of Essex or several others therefore Be gone Tradition never more appear Out
of the Kallendar before next year Truth with Experience through this Nation Shall Sainted be by a right Observation Leave room Astrologers for Truth and see You write it next year in your Diary Now those Seeds that are of Taste mild Skin or Shell close you may keep them till the Spring approach and longer if temperately dryed and dry keep as your Acorns and your Chesnuts c. but the Spring after they be gathered is a sure season to sow them therefore deferre no longer But as for your Seeds that are of a hot or bitter taste or have close skins or shells you may keep them till the Autumn following after they be gathered if occasion be if they be ripe gathered and dry kept so the fleshy part be clean taken off when that is ripe Though I know an ingenious person did hold that to sow them with their flesh on as Peaches or Cherries they would grow as well as he said but that was his mistake For the fleshy part was ordained by the Almighty for the use of Man Beasts or Birds and tends nothing to the growth of the Seed or Stone but rather to its dissolution by stupefying it as I have tryed by sowing the Kernels of rotten Pears and Apples which would not grow though but a little time rotten There be many Stones Keyes and Seeds which be of a hot and bitter taste as your Ash Peaches Almonds the Mizerion Mustard-seed c. yet though I say they may be kept long yet I advise you not to neglect your season for many of these Seeds and others will lie near two years in the Ground before they come up if you sowe them in October it will be the Spring come Twelve-months before they come up and if you sow them Early in the Spring they then will come up the next Spring Another way whereby you may know Seed of this Nature is by their long hanging on the trees for there Nature finding it self strong taketh the less care to seek out early to preserve its kind and also Almighty God hath made these very usefull for the Creatures in this world therefore hath ordered it thus by his Divine Providence The Ash Holly c. hang long on the tree and lie long in the ground the Elm Sallow Sycamore fall soon and come up soon CHAP. III. The Shape of Seeds and their Weight do Inform you how to set them THe very Form and Shape of Seeds hath instructed me how to set them as an Acorn falls to the ground most with its small End downwards Thus if they fall upon Mold or Moss you may observe the most of them to be on one side with the small end tending most to the Earth And I suppose that this posture is the best for to set any Stone or Nut if you will be curious For if you observe any Seed of what Tree soever it be that grows in England first it puts forth a Root at the small End and when that Root hath laid hold of the Ground then it puts forth the shot for the tree at the very same place where the Root came Then seeing that both Root and shoot put out at the small End if set with the small End downwards the Body of the Stone or Seed may hinder the shoot so that it is the best way to lay them on their sides in the Ground if they be heavy seeds you may sow them the deeper as Acorn Peach Apricock Walnut Chesnut c. about two or three Inches deep If light Seed then cover them with but little Mold as the Elm c. as ½ an Inch deep To conclude then lay the flattest side of your Seed downwards as if it be a Peach stone set it as it will lye on a Table or the like and it will lie with the Crack where the shell parts uppermost and the other crack lowermost to let out the water as I judge for Kernels in Stones or Shells do not love too much water at first Thus have I shewed you the several wayes to raise Trees That is how they may be raised and how to know the time at least to assist you to know the time to set them by their shapes c. as also how to set them the best way by their Form and Weight which may be some assisting to you if you meet with far-Countrey seeds My Lord had thirteen sorts of strange seeds sent him as I remember from Goa I never saw the like nor none that saw them here By the help of those aforesaid Reasons I raised ten of the thirteen sorts though some of them lay almost a year in the ground But I also must tell you I lost all my ten sorts the first Winter but one sort and that the second for want of a Green-house some of them I suppose were Annuels I shall give you one Chapter more of Seeds and then I will shew you fully what as yet I have but named O great Jehovah thee I doe adore Thy works I do admire and thee implore So to assist me as that I may write With Solomon's Wisdom that I may indite My few lines so that they may be Vsefull unto this Land pleasing to thee CHAP. IV. Observations of all sorts of Keyes and Seeds LEt your Keyes be through-ripe or when you find them to begin to fall much which is a sure sign of any Fruit or seeds Ripeness unless by accident gather them off some young straight thriving tree My reason of gathering them from off a young thriving tree is then will your Keyes or seed be the larger and solider therefore by consequence they be the abler and likelier to shoot the stronger and to maintain themselves the better And I know by Experience that the seeds gathered of old Plants or Trees or old seeds so the seeds be perfect will come up somewhat sooner than the seed of young Trees my aforesaid Reason doth this somewhat demonstrate or take it thus Nature finding her self weak in these Seeds doth like a provident Mother seek the sooner to provide for her weak Children as a great Philosopher and Naturalist saith That Nature is one in divers things and various in one thing See Parad. pag. 90. of the Tree of Life And to gather them off a straight and thriving tree 't is likelier they will run more up and grow straighter than those which be gathered of Pollards This I know that Nature doth delight very much in Imitation and in Plants and Trees like doth endeavour to produce its like though I know that by the scituation or ground or grafting of some sort of Stocks that by any of these the trees may and will alter something both in growth and largeness of Fruit and earlyer or the contrary but the species will be still the same To which I adde good keeping or dressing of any tree doth much improve its growth and largeness of Fruit or Seeds Now the Seed being that part of the Plant which is endowed