_Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c._
1. Our main plantation is now finish’d, and our forest adorned with a
just variety: But what is yet all this labour, but loss of time, and
irreparable expence, unless our young, and (as yet) tender plants be
sufficiently guarded with munitions from all external injuries? For, as
old Tusser,
IF CATTEL, OR TONY MAY ENTER TO CROP,
YOUNG OAK IS IN DANGER OF LOSING HIS TOP.
But with something a more polish’d stile, though to the same purpose,
the best of poets,
Plash fences thy plantation round about,
And whilst yet young, be sure keep Cattel out;
Severest Winters, scorching sun infest,
And sheep, goats, bullocks, all young plants molest;
Yet neither cold, nor the hoar rigid frost,
Nor heat reflecting from the rocky coast,
Like cattel trees, and tender shoots confound,
When with invenom’d teeth the twigs they wound.{176:1}
2. For the reason that so many complain of the improsperous condition of
their wood-lands, and plantations of this kind, proceeds from this
neglect; though (sheep excepted) there is no employment whatsoever
incident to the farmer, which requires less expence to gratifie their
expectations: One diligent and skilful man, will govern five hundred
acres: But if through any accident a beast shall break into his master’s
field; or the wicked hunter make a cap for his dogs and horses, what a
clamour is there made for the disturbance of a years crop at most in a
little corn! whilst abandoning his young woods all this time, and
perhaps many years, to the venomous bitings and treading of cattel, and
other like injuries (for want of due care) the detriment is many times
irreparable; young trees once cropp’d, hardly ever recovering: It is the
bane of all our most hopeful timber.
3. But shall I provoke you by an instance? A kinsman of mine has a wood
of more than 60 years standing; it was, before he purchas’d it, expos’d
and abandon’d to the cattel for divers years: Some of the outward skirts
were nothing save shrubs and miserable starvlings; yet still the place
was dispos’d to grow woody; but by this neglect continually suppress’d.
The industrious gentleman has fenced in some acres of this, and cut all
close to the ground; it is come in eight or nine years, to be better
worth than the wood of sixty; and will (in time) prove most incomparable
timber, whilst the other part (so many years advanc’d) shall never
recover; and all this from no other cause, than preserving it fenc’d:
Judge then by this, how our woods come to be so decryed: Are five
hundred sheep worthy the care of a shepherd? and are not five thousand
oaks worth the fencing, and the inspection of a Hayward?
And shall men doubt to plant, and careful be?{177:1}
Let us therefore shut up what we have thus laboriously planted, with
some good quick-set hedge; which,
.......All countries bear, in every ground
As denizen, or interloper found:
From gardens and till’d fields expell’d, yet there,
On the extreams stands up, and claims a share.
Nor mastiff-dog, nor pike-man can be found
A better fence to the enclosed ground.
Such breed the rough and hardy Cantons rear,
And into all adjacent lands prefer,
Though rugged churles, and for the battle fit;
Who courts and states with complement or wit,
To civilize, nor to instruct pretend;
But with stout faithful service to defend.
This tyrants know full well, nor more confide
On guards that serve less for defence than pride:
Their persons safe they do not judge amiss,
And realms committed to their guard of Swiss.{177:2}
For so the ingenious poet has metamorphos’d him, and I could not
withstand him.
4. The haw-thorn, (_oxyacantha vulgaris_) and indeed the very best of
common hedges, is either rais’d of seeds or plants; but then it must not
be with despair, because sometimes you do not see them peep the first
year; for the haw, and many other seeds, being invested with a very hard
integument, will now and then suffer imprisonment two whole years under
the earth; and our impatience at this, does often fustrate the
resurrection of divers seeds of this nature; so that we frequently dig
up, and disturb the beds where they have been sown, in despair, before
they have gone their full time; which is also the reason of a very
popular mistake in other seeds; especially, that of the holly,
concerning which there goes a tradition, that they will not sprout till
they be pass’d through the maw of a thrush; whence the saying, _turdus
exitium suum cacat_ (alluding to the _viscus_ made thereof, not the
misselto of oak) but this is an error, as I am able to testifie on
experience; they come up very well of the Berries, treated as I have
shew’d in chap. 26. and with patience; for (as I affirm’d) they will
sleep sometimes two entire years in their graves; as will also the seeds
of yew, sloes, _phillyrea angustifolia_, and sundry others, whose shells
are very hard about the small kernels; but which is wonderfully
facilitated, by being (as we directed) prepar’d in beds, and magazines
of earth, or sand for a competent time, and then committed to the ground
before the full in March, by which season they will be chitting, and
speedily take root: Others bury them deep in the ground all Winter, and
sow them in February: And thus I have been told of a gentleman who has
considerably improv’d his revenue, by sowing haws only, and raising
nurseries of quick-sets, which he sells by the hundred far and near:
This is a commendable industry; any neglected corners of ground will fit
this plantation. Or were such places plow’d in furrow about the ground,
you would fence, and sow’d with the mark of the cyder-press,
crab-kernels, &c. kept secure from cattel till able to defend it self;
it would yield excellent stocks to graff and transplant: And thus any
larger plot, by plowing and cross-plowing the ground, and sowing it with
all sorts of forest-seeds; breaking and harrowing the clods, and
cleansing it from weeds with the haugh, (till the plants over-top them)
a very profitable grove may be rais’d, and yield magazin of singular
advantage, to furnish the industrious planter.
5. But Columella has another expedient for the raising of our
_spinetum_, by rubbing the now mature hips and haws, ashen-keys, &c.
into the crevices of bass-ropes, or wisps of straw, and then burying
them in a trench: Whether way you attempt it, they must (so soon as they
peep, and as long as they require it) be sedulously cleans’d of the
weeds; which, if in beds for transplantation, had need be at the least
three or four years; by which time even your seedlings will be of
stature fit to remove; for I do by no means approve of the vulgar
præmature planting of sets, as is generally us’d throughout England;
which is to take such only as are the very smallest, and so to crowd
them into three or four files, which are both egregious mistakes.
6. Whereas it is found by constant experience, that plants as big as
ones thumb, set in the posture, and at the distance which we spake of in
the horn-beam; that is, almost perpendicular (not altogether, because
the rain should not get in ’twixt the rind and wood) and single, or at
most, not exceeding a double row, do prosper infinitely, and much
out-strip the densest and closest ranges of our trifling sets, which
make but weak shoots, and whose roots do but hinder each other, and for
being couch’d in that posture, on the sides of banks, and fences
(especially where the earth is not very tenacious) are bared of the
mould which should entertain them, by that time the rains and storms of
one Winter have passed over them. In Holland and Flanders, (where they
have the goodliest hedges of this kind about the counterscarps of their
invincible fortifications, to the great security of their musketiers
upon occasion) they plant them according to my description, and raise
fences so speedily, and so impenetrable, that our best are not to enter
into the comparison. Yet, that I may not be wanting to direct such as
either affect the other way, or whose grounds may require some bank of
earth, as ordinarily the verges of copp’ces, and other inclosures do;
you shall by line, cast up your foss of about three foot broad, and
about the same depth, provided your mould hold it; beginning first to
turn the turf, upon which, be careful to lay some of the best earth to
bed your quick in, and there lay, or set the plants; two in a foot space
is sufficient; being diligent to procure such as are fresh gathered,
streight, smooth, and well rooted; adding now and then, at equal spaces
of twenty or thirty foot, a young oakling or elm-sucker, ash, or the
like, which will come in time (especially in plain countries) to be
ornamental standards, and good timber: If you will needs multiply your
rowes, a foot or somewhat less: Above that, upon more congested mould,
plant another rank of sets, so as to point just in the middle of the
vacuities of the first, which I conceive enough: This is but for the
single foss; but if you would fortifie it to the purpose, do as much on
the other side, of the same depth, height, and planting; and then last
of all, cap the top in _pyramis_ with the worst, or bottom of the ditch:
Some, if the mould be good, plant a row or two on the edge, or very
crest of the mound, which ought to be a little flatned: Here also may
they set their dry-hedges, for hedges must be hedg’d till they are able
to defend and shade their under-plantation, and I cannot reprove it: But
great care is to be had in this work, that the main bank be well
footed, and not made with too sudden a declivity, which is subject to
fall-in after frosts and wet weather; and this is good husbandry for
moist grounds; but where the land lies high, and is hot and gravelly, I
prefer the lower fencing; which, though even with the area it self, may
be protected with stakes and a dry hedge, on the fosse side, the
distance competent, and to very good purposes of educating more frequent
timber amongst the rows.
7. Your hedge being yet young, should be constantly weeded two or three
years, especially before Midsummer (of brambles especially, the great
dock, and thistle, &c.) though some admit not of this work till after
Michaelmas, for reasons that I approve not: It has been the practice of
Herefordshire, in the plantation of quick-set-hedges, to plant a
crab-stock at every twenty foot distance; and this they observe so
religiously, as if they had been under some rigorous statute requiring
it: But by this means they were provided in a short time with all
advantages for the graffing of fruit amongst them, which does highly
recompence their industry. Some cut their sets at three years growth
even to the very ground, and find that in a year or two it will have
shot as much as in seven, had it been let alone.
8. When your hedge is now of near six years stature, plash it about
February or October; but this is the work of a very dextrous and skilful
husbandman; and for which our honest countrey-man Mr. Markam gives
excellent directions; only I approve not so well of his deep cutting, if
it be possible to bend it, having suffered in something of that kind: It
is almost incredible to what perfection some have laid these hedges, by
the rural way of plashing, better than by clipping; yet may both be used
for ornament, as where they are planted about our garden-fences, and
fields near the mansion. In Scotland, by tying the young shoots with
bands of hay, they make the stems grow so very close together, as that
it encloseth rabbets in warrens instead of pales: And for this robust
use we shall prefer the blackthorn; the extravagant suckers which are
apt to rise at distance from the hedge-line, being sedulously
extirpated, that the rest may grow the stronger and thicker.
9. And now since I did mention it, and that most I find do greatly
affect the vulgar way of quicking (that this our discourse be in nothing
deficient) we will in brief give it you again after George Markham’s
description, because it is the best, and most accurate, although much
resembling our former direction, of which it seems but a repetition,
’till he comes to the plashing. In a ground which is more dry than wet
(for watry places it abhors) plant your quick thus: Let the first row of
sets be placed in a trench of about half a foot deep, even with the top
of your ditch, in somewhat a sloping, or inclining posture; then, having
rais’d your bank near a foot upon them, plant another row, so as their
tops may just peep out over the middle of the spaces of your first row:
These cover’d again to the height or thickness of the other, place a
third rank opposite to the first, and then finish your bank to its
intended height. The distances of the plants would not be above one
foot; and the season to do the work in, may be from the entry of
February, till the end of March; or else in September to the beginning
of December. When this is finish’d, you must guard both the top of your
bank, and outmost verge of your ditch, with a sufficient dry-hedge,
interwoven from stake to stake into the earth (which commonly they do on
the bank) to secure your quick from the spoil of cattle. And then being
careful to repair such as decay, or do not spring, by supplying the
dead, and trimming the rest; you shall after three years growth sprinkle
some timber-trees amongst them; such as oak, beech, ash, maple, fruit,
or the like; which being drawn young out of your nurseries, may be very
easily inserted.
I am not in the mean time ignorant of what is said against the
scattering these masts and keys among our fences; which grown to
over-top the subnascent hedge, may prejudice it with their shade and
drip: But this might be prevented by planting hollies (proof against
these impediments) in the line or trench, where you would raise
standards, as far as they usually spread in many years, and which, if
placed at good distances, how close soever to the stem, would (besides
their stout defence) prove a wondrous decoration, to large and ample
enclosures: But to resume our former work; that which we affirm’d to
require the greatest dexterity, is, the artificial plashing of our
hedge, when it is now arrived to a six, or seven years head; though some
stay till the tenth, or longer. In February therefore, or October, with
a very sharp hand-bill, cut away all superfluous sprays and straglers,
which may hinder your progress, and are useless. Then, searching out the
principal stems, with a keen and light hatchet, cut them slant-wise
close to the ground, hardly three quarters through, or rather, so far
only, as till you can make them comply handsomely, which is your best
direction, (lest you rift the stem) and so lay it from your sloping as
you go, folding in the lesser branches which spring from them; and ever
within a five or six foot distance, where you find an upright set
(cutting off only the top to the height of your intended hedge) let it
stand as a stake, to fortifie your work, and to receive the twinings of
those branches about it. Lastly, at the top (which would be about five
foot above ground) take the longest, most slender, and flexible twigs
which you reserved (and being cut as the former, where need requires)
bind-in the extremities of all the rest, and thus your work is finished:
This being done very close and thick, makes an impregnable hedge, in few
years; for it may be repeated as you see occasion; and what you so
cut-away, will help to make your dry-hedges for your young plantations,
or be profitable for the oven, and make good bavin. Namely, the
extravagant side branches springing the more upright, ’till the newly
wounded are healed. There are some yet who would have no stakes cut from
the trees, save here and there one; so as to leave half the head naked,
and the other standing; since the over-hanging bows will kill what is
under them, and ruin the tree; so pernicious is this half-toping: But
let this be a total amputation for a new and lusty spring: There is
nothing more prejudicial to subnascent young trees, than when newly
trim’d and prun’d, to have their (as yet raw) wounds poyson’d with
continual dripping; as is well observed by Mr. Nourse: But this is meant
of repairing decay’d hedges. For stakes in this work, oak is to be
preferr’d, tho’ some will use elder, but it is not good; or the
blackthorn, crab-tree, in moorish ground withy, ash, maple, hasel, not
lasting, (which some make hedges of; but it being apt to the browsing
of cattle, when the young shoots appeared, it does better in copp’ces)
the rest not lasting, should yet be driven well in at every yard of
interval both before, and after they are bound, till they have taken the
hard earth, and are very fast; and even your plash’d-hedges, need some
small thorns to be laid over, to protect the spring from cattle and
sheep, ’till they are somewhat fortified; and the doubler the winding is
lodg’d, the better; which should be beaten, and forced down together
with the stakes, as equally as may be. Note, that in sloping your
windings, if it be too low done (as very usually) it frequently
mortifies the tops, therefore it ought to be so bent, as it may not
impede the mounting of the sap: If the plash be of a great, and
extraordinary age, wind it at the neather boughs all together, and
cutting the sets as directed, permit it rather to hang downwards a
little, than rise too forwards; and then twist the branches into the
work, leaving a set free, and unconstrain’d at every yard space, besides
such as will serve for stakes, abated to about five foot length (which
is a competent stature for an hedge) and so let it stand. One shall
often find in this work, especially in old neglected hedges, some great
trees, or stubs, that commonly make gaps for cattle: Such should be cut
so near the earth, as till you can lay them thwart, that the top of one
may rest on the root or stub of the other, as far as they extend,
stopping the cavities with its boughs and branches; and thus hedges
which seem to consist but only of scrubby-trees and stumps, may be
reduced to a tolerable fence: But in case it be superannuated, and very
old, ’tis advisable to stub all up, being quite renewed, and well
guarded. We have been the longer on these descriptions, because it is of
main importance, and that so few husband-men are so perfectly skill’d in
it: But he that would be more fully satisfied, I would have to consult
Mr. Cook, chap. 32. or rather _instar omnium_ (and after all which has
been said of this useful art of fencing) what I cannot without injury to
the publick, and ingratitude to the persons, (who do me the honour of
imparting to me their experiences) but as freely communicate.
It is then from the Reverend Mr. Walker of Great-Billing near
Northampton, that (with several other particulars relating to our rural
subject) I likewise receive from that worthy gentleman Tho. Franklin of
Ecton, Esq; the following method of planting, and fencing with
quick-sets; which we give you in his own words.
10. About 10 or 12 years since, I made some essays to set some
little clumps of hedges and trees, of about two pole in breadth,
and three in length: The out-fences ditch’d on the outside, but the
quick-sets in the inside of the bank, that the dead-hedges might
stand on the outside thereof; so that a small hedge of 18 or 20
inches high, made of small wood, the stakes not much bigger than a
man’s thumb, which (the banks being high) sufficiently defended
them for four years time, and were hedg’d with less than one load
of shreadings of willow-sets, which, (as my workmen told me) would
have requir’d 6 load of copp’ce-wood: But the next year after their
being planted, finding wast ground on the top of the bank of the
outer fence, between the dead-hedge and the quick, I put a foot-set
in the same space between the quick and the dead-hedge, which
prosper’d better than those planted in the side of the bank, after
the vulgar way, and hold it still. This put me upon thinking, that
a set cheaper and better of quick-fence, might possibly be found
out; and accordingly I made some tryals, with good success, (at
least better than the old way) tho’ not to my full satisfaction,
till I had perus’d Mr. Evelyn’s _Silva_, &c. The method I us’d, was
this: First I set out the ground for ditches and quick, in breadth
ten foot; then subdivided that by marking out 2 foot ½ on each
side (more or less, at pleasure) for the ditches, leaving 5 in the
middle between them: Then digging up two foot in the midst of that
5 foot, plant the sets in; tho’ it require more labour and charge,
I found it soon repay’d the cost. This done, I began to dig the
fosses, and to set up one row of turfs on the outside of the said
five foot; namely, one row on each side thereof, the green side
outmost, a little reclining, so as the grass might grow: After
this, returning to the place begun at, I ordered one of the men to
dig a spit of the under-turfmould, and lay it between the turfs,
plac’d edge-wise, as before describ’d, upon the 2 foot which was
purposely dug in the middle, and prepar’d for the sets, which the
planter sets with two quicks upon the surface of the earth, almost
upright, whilst another workman lays the mould forward, about 12
inches, and then sets two more, and so continues. Some there are
who plant three rows of sets about 8 inches interval; but I do not
approve it; for they choak one another. This finished, I order
another row of turfs to be plac’d on each side upon the top of the
former, and fill the vacuity between the sets and the turfs, as
high as their tops, always leaving the middle where the sets are
planted, hollow, and somewhat lower than the sides of the banks, by
8 or 10 inches, that the rain may descend to their roots, which is
of great advantage to their growth, and far better than by the old
way; where the banks too much sloping, the roots of the sets are
seldom wetted in an ordinary season, the Summer following; but
which if it prove dry, many of the sets perish, especially the late
planted: Whereas those which I planted in the latter end of April,
tho’ the Summer hapned to be somewhat dry, generally scap’d, very
few of them miscarrying. Now the planting thus advanc’d, the next
care is fencing; by setting an hedge of about 20 inches high upon
the top of the bank, on each side thereof, leaning a little outward
from the sets, which will protect them as well (if not better) than
a hedge of 3 foot, or four inches more, standing upon the surface
of the ground, which being rais’d with the turfs and sods about 20
inches, and the hedge about 20 inches more, will make 3 foot 4
inches; so as no cattle can approach the dead-hedge to prejudice
it, unless they set their feet in the ditch it self; which will be
at least a foot deep, and from the bottom of the fosse to the top
of the hedge, about 4 foot and ½, which they can hardly reach
over to crop the quick, as they might in the old way; and besides,
such an hedge will endure a year longer. I have at this present, an
hedge which has stood these 5 years; and tho’ 9 or 10 foot be
sufficient for both ditches and bank, yet where the ground is but
indifferent, ’tis better husbandry to take 12 foot, which will
allow of a bank at least 6 foot broad, and gives more scope to
place the dead hedges farther from the sets; and the ditches being
shallow, will in two years time, graze; tho’ I confine my self for
the most part to 9 or 10; because I would take off the only
objection of wasting ground by this way, should others follow it.
In reply to this, I affirm, that if you take 12 foot in breadth,
for ditch and bank, you wast more ground, than by the common way:
For in that a quick is rarely set, but there is 9 foot between the
dead hedges, which is entirely lost all the time of fencing: When
as with double ditches, there remains at least 18 inches on each
side where the turfs were set on edge, that bear more grass than
when it lay on the flat. ......... But admitting it did totally lay
wast 3 foot of ground, the damage were very inconsiderable, since
forty pearch, in lengh 220 yards, which makes pearches, 7, 25″, 9′,
or 7 pole ¼, which at 13 _shil._ 4 _pence_ the acre, amounts not
to 7d. ½ _per ann._ Now that this is not only the best and
cheapest way of quick-setting, will appear by comparing the charge
of both: In the usual way, the charge of a 3 foot ditch is 4d.
per pole, the owner providing sets; if the workman finds them, he
will have for making the said ditch, and setting them, 8d. the
pole, and for hedging, two pence; that is, for both sides 4d. the
pole, which renders the charge of hedging, ditching, and sets,
12d. the pole; that is, for forty rod in length, forty shillings:
Then one load of wood out of the copp’ce costs us, with the
carriage, (tho’ but two or 3 miles distance) ten shillings; which
will seldom hedge above 8 pole (single hedge.) But allowing it to
do ten, to fence 40 pole, there must be at least 8 load of wood,
which costs 4l. making the whole expence for ditching, setting,
and fencing of 40 pole, to be 6l. reck’ning with the least; for I
know not any that will undertake to do it under 3s. 6d. per
pole, and then the 40 pole costs 7l. Whereas, with double
ditches, both of them, setting and sets, will be done for 8d.
_per_ pole, and the husbandman get as good wages, as with a single
ditch, (for tho’ the labour about them is more, yet the making the
table is saved) which costs 1l. 6s. 8d. And the hedges being
but low, they’ll make better wages at hedging for a penny the pole,
than at two pence for common hedges; which comes to 6s. 8d. for
hedging forty pole on both sides: Thus one load of wood, will fence
30 pole at least, and 40 hedg’d with ⅔ of wood less, than in the
other way, and cost but 1l. 6s. 8d. which makes the whole
charge of sets, ditching, fencing, and wood, but three pounds.
l. s. d.
01 06 08
00 06 08
01 06 08
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03 00 00
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Hitherto this obliging and industrious gentleman.
11. To other uses: The Root of an old thorn is excellent both for boxes
and combs, and is curiously and naturally wrought: I have read, that
they made ribs to some small boats or vessels with the white-thorn, and
it is certain, that if they would plant them single, and in standards,
where they might be safe, they would rise into large body’d trees in
time, and be of excellent use for the turner, not inferior to box, and
accounted among the fortunate trees, and therefore us’d in _fasces
nuptiarum_, since the jolly shepherds carryed the white-thorn at the
rapine of the Sabines; and ever since counted{192:1} propitious.
The distill’d water, and stone, or kernels of the haw reduc’d to powder,
is generally agreed to be sovereign against the stone. The black-crab
rightly season’d and treated, is famous for walking-staves, and if
over-grown, us’d in mill-work; yea, and for rafters of great ships. Here
we owe due eulogy to the industry of the late Lord Shaftsbury, who has
taught us to make such enclosures of crab-stocks only, (planted close to
one another) as there is nothing more impregnable and becoming; or you
may sow cyder-kernels in a rill, and fence it for a while, with a double
dry hedge, not only for a sudden and beautiful, but a very profitable
inclosure; because, amongst other benefits, they will yield you
cyderfruit in abundance: But in Devonshire, they build two walls with
their stones, setting them edge-ways, two, and then one between; and so
as it rises, fill the interval, or _cofer_ with earth (the breadth and
height as you please) and continuing the stone-work, and filling, and as
you work, beating in the stones flat to the sides, they are made to
stick everlastingly: This is absolutely the neatest, most saving, and
profitable fencing imaginable, where slaty stones are in any abundance;
and it becomes not only the most secure to the lands, but the best for
cattle, to lye warm under the walls; whilst other hedges, (be they never
so thick) admit of some cold winds in Winter-time when the leaves are
off. Upon these banks they plant not only quick-sets, but even
timber-trees, which exceedingly thrive, being out of all danger.
12. The _pyracantha paliurus_, and like preciouser sorts of thorn and
robust evergreens, adorn’d with caralin-berries, might easily be
propagated by seeds, layers, or cutting, into plenty sufficient to store
even these vulgar uses, were men industrious; and then, how beautiful
and sweet would the environs of our fields be! for there are none of the
spinous shrubs more hardy, none that make a more glorious shew, nor
fitter for our defence, competently arm’d; especially the _rhannus_,
which I therefore joyn to the _oxyacantha_, for its terrible and almost
irresistible spines, able almost to pierce a coat of mail; and for this
made use of by the malicious Jews, to crown the sacred tempels of our
Blessed Saviour, and is yet preferred among the most venerable reliques
in St. Chapel at Paris, as is pretended, by the devotees, &c. and hence
has the tree (for it sometimes exceeds a shrub) the name of Christ’s
Thorn. Thus might berberies now and then be also inserted among our
hedges, which, with the hips, haws, and cornel-berries, do well in light
lands, and would rather be planted to the South, than North or West, as
usually we observe them.
13. Some (as we noted) mingle their very hedges with oaklings, ash, and
fruit-trees, sown or planted, and ’tis a laudable improvement; though
others do rather recommend to us sets of all one sort, and will not so
much as admit of the black-thorn to be mingled with the white, because
of their unequal progress; and indeed, timber-trees set in the hedge
(though contemporaries with it) do frequently wear it out; and therefore
I should rather encourage such plantations to be at some yards distance,
near the verges, than perpendicularly in them. Lastly, if in planting
any the most robust forest-trees, (especially oak, elm, chesnut) at
competent spaces, and in rows; you open a ring of ground, at about four
foot distance from the stem, and prick in quick-set plants; you may
after a while, keep them clipp’d, at what height you please: They will
appear exceedingly beautiful to the eye, prove a good fence, and yield
useful bush, bavin, and (if you maintain them unshorn) hips and haws in
abundance: This would therefore especially be practis’d, where one would
invite the birds.
14. In Cornwal they secure their lands and woods, with high mounds, and
on them they plant acorns, whose roots bind in the looser mould, and so
form a coronet of trees. They do likewise (and that with great
commendation) make hedges of our _genista spinosa_, prickly furzes, of
which they have a taller sort, such as the French imploy for the same
purpose in Bretaigne, where they are incomparable husbands.
15. It is to be sown (which is best) or planted of the roots in a
furrow: If sown, weeded till it be strong; both tonsile, and to be
diligently clip’d, which will render it very thick, an excellent and
beautiful hedge: Otherwise, permitted to grow at large, ’twill yield
very good faggot: It is likewise admirable covert for wildfowl, and will
be made to grow even in moist, as well as dry places: The young and
tender tops of furzes, being a little bruis’d and given to a lean sickly
horse, will strangely recover and plump him. Thus, in some places, they
sow in barren grounds (when they lay them down) the last crop with this
seed, and so let them remain till they break them up again, and during
that interim, reap considerable advantage: Would you believe (writes a
worthy correspondent of mine) that in Herefordshire (famous for plenty
of wood) their thickets of furzes (_viz._ the vulgar) should yield them
more profit than a like quantity of the best wheat-land of England? for
such is theirs: If this be question’d, the scene is within a mile of
Hereford, and proved by anniversary experience, in the lands, as I take
it, of a gentleman who is now one of the burgesses for that city. And in
Devonshire (the seat of the best husbands in the world) they sow on
their worst land (well plow’d) the seeds of the rankest furzes, which in
four or five years becomes a rich wood: No provender (as we say) makes
horses so hardy as the young tops of these furzes; no other wood so
thick, nor more excellent fuel; and for some purposes also, yielding
them a kind of timber to their more humble buildings, and a great refuge
for fowl and other game: I am assur’d, in Bretaigne ’tis sometimes sown
no less than twelve yards thick, for a speedy, profitable, and
impenetrable mound: If we imitated this husbandry in the dry and hot
barren places of Surrey, and other parts of this nation, we might
exceedingly spare our woods; and I have bought the best sort of
French-seed at the shops in London. It seems that in the more eastern
parts of Germany, and especially in Poland, this vulgar trifle, and even
our common Broom is so rare, that they have desired the seeds of them
out of England, and preserve them with extraordinary care in their best
gardens; this I learn out of our Johnson’s _Herbal_; by which we may
consider, that what is reputed a curse, and a cumber in some places, is
esteem’d the ornament and blessing of another: But we shall not need go
so far for this, since both beech and birch are almost as great
strangers in many parts of this nation, particularly Northampton and
Oxfordshire. Mr. Cook is much in praise of juniper for hedges,
especially for the more elegant inclosures, and we daily see how it’s
improved of late.
16. This puts me in mind of the _genista scoparia_, broom; another
improvement for barren grounds, and saver of more substantial fuel: It
may be sown English, or (what is more sweet and beautiful) the Spanish,
with equal success. In the western parts of France, and Cornwal, it
grows with us to an incredible height (however our poet gives it the
epithet of _humilis_) and so it seems they had it of old, as appears by
Gratius his _genistæ altinates_, with which (as he affirms) they us’d to
make staves for their spears, and hunting darts. The seeds of broom,
vomit, and purge, whilst the buds, and flowers being pickled, are very
grateful.
17. Lastly, (_sambucus_) a considerable fence maybe made of the elder,
set of reasonable lusty trunchions; much like the willow, and (as I have
seen them maintain’d) laid with great curiosity, and far excelling those
extravagant plantations of them about London, where the lops are
permitted to grow without due and skilful laying. There is a sort of
elder which has hardly any pith; this makes exceeding stout fences, and
the timber very useful for cogs of mills, butchers skewers, and such
tough employments. Old trees do in time become firm, and close up the
hollowness to an almost invisible pith. But if the medicinal properties
of the leaves, bark, berries, &c. were throughly known, I cannot tell
what our countrey-man could ail, for which he might not fetch a remedy
from every hedge, either for sickness or wound: The inner bark of elder,
apply’d to any burning, takes out the fire immediately; that, or, in
season, the buds, boil’d in water-grewel for a break-fast, has effected
wonders in a fever; and the decoction is admirable to asswage
inflammations and tetrous humours, and especially the scorbut: But an
extract, or _theriaca_ may be compos’d of the berries, which is not only
efficacious to eradicate this epidemical inconvenience, and greatly to
assist longævity; (so famous is the story of Neander) but is a kind of
_catholicon_ against all infirmities whatever; and of the same berries
is made an incomparable spirit, which drunk by it self, or mingled with
wine, is not only an excellent drink, but admirable in the dropsie: In a
word, the water of the leaves and berries is approved in the dropsie,
every part of the tree being useful, as may be seen at large in
Blockwitzius’s _anatomy_ thereof. The ointment made with the young buds,
and leaves in May with butter, is most sovereign for aches, shrunk
sinews, hæmorrhoids, &c. and the flowers macerated in vinegar, not only
are of a grateful relish, but good to attenuate and cut raw and gross
humours. Lastly, the _fungus_ (which we call Jews-ears) decocted in
milk, or macerated in vinegar, is of known effect in the angina and
sores of the throat. And less than this could I not say (with the leave
of the charitable physician) to gratifie our poor wood-man; and yet when
I have said all this, I do by no means commend the scent of it, which is
very noxious to the air, and therefore, though I do not undertake that
all things which sweeten the air, are salubrious, nor all ill savours
pernicious; yet, as not for its beauty, so neither for its smell, would
I plant elder, near my habitation; since we learn from Biesius,{197:1}
that a certain house in Spain, seated amongst many elder-trees,
diseas’d and kill’d almost all the inhabitants, which when at last they
were grubb’d up, became a very wholsome and healthy place. The elder
does likewise produce a certain green fly, almost invisible, which is
exceedingly troublesome, and gathers a fiery redness where it attaques.
18. There is a shrub called the spindle-tree, (_euonymus_, or _fusanum_)
commonly growing in our hedges, which bears a very hard wood, of which
they sometimes made bows for viols, and the inlayer us’d it for its
colour, and instrument-makers for toothing of organs, and virginal-keys,
tooth-pickers, &c. What we else do with it, I know not, save that
(according with its name, abroad) they make spindles with it. I also
learn, that three, or four of the berries, purge both by vomit, and
siege, and the powder made of the berry, being bak’d, kills nits, and
cures scurfy heads. Matthiolus says, the poor people about Trent, press
oyl out of the berries, wherewith to feed their lamps: But why they were
wont to scourge parricides with rods made of this shrub, before they put
them into the sack, see Modestinus l. penult ss. _ad legem Pomp. de
parricid._ cited by Mr. Ray. Here might come in (or be nam’d at least)
wild-cornel, or dog-wood, good to make mill-cogs, pestles, bobins for
bone-lace, spokes for wheels, &c. the best skewers for butchers, because
it does not taint the flesh, and is of so very hard a substance, as to
make wedges to cleave and rive other wood with, instead of iron. (But of
this, see chap. II. book II.) And lastly, the _viburnum_, or
way-faring-tree, growing also plentifully in every corner, makes pins
for the yoaks of oxen; and superstitious people think, that it protects
their cattel from being bewitch’d and us’d to plant the shrub about
their stalls; ’tis certainly the most plyant and best bands to fagot
with. The leaves and berries are astringent, and make an excellent
gargle for loose teeth, sore throats, and to stop fluxes: The leaves
decocted to a lie, not only colour the hairs black, but fasten their
roots; and the bark of the root, macerated under ground, well beaten,
and often boil’d, serves for birdlime.
19. The American _yucca_ is a hardier plant than we take it to be, for
it will suffer our sharpest Winter, (as I have seen by experience)
without that trouble and care of setting it in cases, in our
conservatories for hyemation; such as have beheld it in flower (which is
not indeed till it be of some age) must needs admire the beauty of it;
and it being easily multiplied, why should it not make one of the best
and most ornamental fences in the world for our gardens, with its
natural palisadoes, as well as the more tender, and impatient of
moisture, the aloes, does for their vineyards in Languedoc, &c. but _we_
believe nothing improvable, save what our grand-fathers taught us.
Finally, let tryal likewise be made of that thorn, mentioned by Capt.
Liggon in his _History of Barbadoes_; whether it would not be made grow
amongst us, and prove as convenient for fences as there; the seeds, or
sets transported to us with due care. And thus, having accomplished what
(by your commands) I had to offer concerning the propagation of the more
solid, material, and useful trees, as well the dry, as aquatical; and to
the best of my talent fenc’d our plantation in: I should here conclude,
and set a bound likewise to my discourse, by making an apology for the
many errors and impertinencies of it, did not the zeal and ambition of
this illustrious Society to promote and improve all attempts which may
concern publick utility or ornament, perswade me, that what I am adding
for the farther encouragement to the planting of some other useful
(though less vulgar) trees, will at least obtain your pardon if it miss
of your approbation.
20. To discourse in this stile of all such fruit-trees as would prove of
greatest emolument to the whole nation, were to design a just volume;
and there are directions already so many, and so accurately deliver’d
and publish’d (but which cannot be affirm’d of any of the former classes
of forest-trees, and other remarks, at the least to my poor knowledge
and research) that it would be needless to repeat.
21. I do only wish (upon the prospect, and meditation of the universal
benefit) that every person whatsoever, worth ten pounds _per annum_,
within Her Majesty’s dominions, were by some indispensible statute,
obliged to plant his hedge-rows with the best and most useful kinds of
them; especially in such places of the nation, as being the more in-land
counties, and remote from the seas and navigable rivers, might the
better be excus’d from the planting of timber, to the proportion of
those who are more happily and commodiously situated for the
transportation of it.
22. Undoubtedly, if this course were taken effectually, a very
considerable part both of the meat and drink which is spent to our
prejudice, might be saved by the countrey-people, even out of the hedges
and mounds, which would afford them not only the pleasure and profit of
their delicious fruit, but such abundance of cyder and perry, as should
suffice them to drink of one of the most wholsome and excellent
beverages in the world. Old Gerard did long since alledge us an example
worthy to be pursu’d; I have seen (saith he, speaking of apple-trees,
lib. 3. cap. 101.) in the pastures and hedge-rows about the grounds of a
worshipful gentleman dwelling two miles from Hereford, call’d Mr. Roger
Bodnome, so many trees of all sorts, that the servants drink for the
most part no other drink but that which is made of apples: The quantity
is such, that by the report of the gentleman himself, the parson hath
for tythe many hogs-heads of cyder: The hogs are fed with the fallings
of them, which are so many, that they make choice of those apples they
do eat, who will not tast of any but of the best. An example doubtless
to be follow’d of gentlemen that have land and living; but Envy saith,
The poor will break down our hedges, and we shall have the least part of
the fruit: But forward, in the name of God, graff, set, plant, and
nourish up trees in every corner of your ground; the labour is small,
the cost is nothing, the commodity is great; your selves shall have
plenty, the poor shall have somewhat in time of want to relieve their
necessity, and God shall reward your good minds and diligence. Thus far
honest Gerard. And in truth, with how small a charge and infinite
pleasure this were to be effected, every one that is patron of a little
nursery, can easily calculate: But by this expedient many thousands of
acres, sow’d now yearly with barley, might be cultivated for wheat, or
converted into pasture, to the increase of corn and cattel: Besides, the
timber which the pear-tree, black-cherry and many thorny plums (which
are best for grain, colour, and gloss) afford, comparable (for divers
curious uses) with any we have enumerated. The black-cherry-wood grows
sometimes to that bulk, as is fit to make stools with, cabinets, tables,
especially the redder sort, which will polish well; also pipes, and
musical instruments, the very bark employ’d for bee-hives: But of this I
am to render a more ample account, in the appendix to this Discourse. I
would farther recommend the more frequent planting and propagation of
fir, pine-trees, and some other beneficial materials, both for ornament
and profit; especially, since we find by experience, they thrive so
well, where they are cultivated for curiosity only.
FOOTNOTES:
{176:1}
Texendæ sepes etiam, & pecus omne tenendum est:
Præcipuè, dum frons tenera, imprudensque laborum,
Cui, super indignas hiemes, solemque potentem,
Silvestres uri assiduè, capreæque sequaces
Illudunt: Pascuntur oves, avidæque juvencæ.
Frigora nec tantum cana concreta pruina,
Aut gravis incumbens scopulis arentibus æstas,
Quantum illi nocuere greges, durique venenum
Dentis, & admorso signata in stirpe cicatrix.
_Georg. 2._
{177:1}
Et dubitant homines serere, atque impendere curam?
_Georg. 2._
{177:2}
..........Omne solum natale est, intrat ubique
Ardelio; illa quidem cultis excluditur agris
Plerumque, atque hortis; sed circumsepit utrosque
Atque omnes aditus servat fidissima custos,
Utilior latrante cane, armatoque Priapo.
Aspera frigoribus saxisque Helvetia tales
Educat, & peregre terras emittit in omnes
Enormes durosque viros, sed fortia bello
Pectora; non illi cultu, non moribus aulas,
Atque urbes decorare valent, sed utrasque fideli
Defendunt opera; nec iis, gens cauta, tyranni,
Præponunt speciosa magis, multúmque sonora
Præsidia; his certi vitam tutantur opesque, &c.
_Couleii_, pl. l. 6.
{192:1} See Varro in _Atis._ Ovid, Fast. 6
........... de spina sumitur alba.
{197:1} Bies. _de Aeris potestate_.
DENDROLOGIA
THE SECOND BOOK
CHAPTER I.
_Of the Mulberry._
1. _Morus_, the mulberry: It may possibly be wonder’d by some why we
should insert this tree amongst our forest inhabitants; but we shall
soon reconcile our industrious planter, when he comes to understand the
incomparable benefit of it, and that for its timber, durableness, and
use for the joyner and carpenter, and to make hoops, bows, wheels, and
even ribs for small vessels, instead of oak, &c. though the fruit and
the leaves had not the due value with us, which they deservedly enjoy in
other places of the world.
2. But it is not here I would recommend our ordinary black fruit
bearers, though that be likewise worth the propagation; but that kind
which is call’d the white mulberry (which I have had sent me out of
Languedoc) one of them of a broad leaf, found there and in Provence,
whose seeds being procured from Paris, where they have it from Avignon,
should be thus treated in the seminary.
3. In countries where they cultivate them for the silk-worm, and other
uses, they sow the perfectly mature berries of a tree whose leaves have
not been gather’d; these they shake down upon an old sheet spread under
the tree, to protect them from gravel and ordure, which will hinder you
from discerning the seed: If they be not ripe, lay them to mature upon
shelves, but by no means till they corrupt; to prevent which, turn them
daily; then put them in a fine sieve; and plunging it in water, bruise
them with your hand; do this in several waters, then change them in
other clear water, and the seed will sink to the bottom, whilst the pulp
swims, and must be taken off carefully: This done, lay them to dry in
the sun upon a linnen cloth, for which one hour is sufficient, then van
and sift it from the husks, and reserve it till the season. This is the
process of curious persons, but the sowing of ripe mulberries themselves
is altogether as good, and from the excrement of hogs, and even dogs
(that will frequently eat them) they will rise abundantly. Note, that in
sowing of the berry, ’tis good to squash and bruise them with fine
sifted mould, and if it be rich, and of the old bed, so much the better:
They would be interr’d, well moistned and cover’d with straw, and then
rarely water’d till they peep; or you may squeze the ripe berries in
ropes of hair or bast, and bury them, as is prescrib’d for hipps and
haws; the earth in which you sow them, should be fine mould, and as rich
as for melons, rais’d a little higher than the area, as they make the
beds for ordinary pot-herbs, to keep them loose and warm, and in such
beds you may sow seeds as you do purslane, mingled with some fine earth,
and thinly cover’d, and then for a fortnight, strew’d over with straw,
to protect them both from sudden heat and from birds: The season is
April or May, though some forbear even till July and August, and in the
second quarter of the moon, the weather calm and serene. At the
beginning, keep them moderately fresh (not over wet) and clean weeded,
secured from the rigor of frosts; the second year of their growth, about
the beginning of October, or early Spring, draw them gently out, prune
the roots, and dipping them a little in pond-water, transplant them in a
warm place or nursery; ’tis best ranging them in drills, two foot large,
and one in depth, each drill three foot distance, and each plant two.
And if thus the new earth be somewhat lower than the surface of the
rest, ’twill the better receive the rain: Being planted, cut them all
within three inches of the ground. Water them not in Winter, but in
extream necessity, and when the weather is warm, and then do it in the
morning. In this cold season you shall do well to cover the ground with
the leaves of trees, straw, or short litter, to keep them warm; and
every year you shall give them three dressings or half diggings; _viz._
in April, June, and August; this, for the first year, still after rain:
The second Spring after transplanting, purge them of all superfluous
shoots and scions, reserving only the most towardly for the future stem;
this to be done yearly, as long as they continue in the nursery; and if
of the principal stem so left, the frost mortifie any part, cut it off,
and continue this government till they are near six foot high, after
which suffer them to spread into heads by discreetly pruning and
fashioning them: But if you plant where cattle may endanger them, the
stem had need be taller, for they are extreamly liquorish of the leaves.
4. When now they are about five years growth, you may transplant them
without cutting the root (provided you erradicate them with care) only
trimming the head a little; the season is from September to November in
the new-moon, and if the holes or pits you set them in were dug and
prepar’d some months before, it would much secure their taking; some
cast horns, bones, shells, &c. into them, the better to loosen the earth
about them, which should be rich, and well refresh’d all Summer. A
light, and dry mould is best, well expos’d to the sun and air, which
above all things this tree affects, and hates watery low grounds: In
sum, being a very lasting tree, they thrive best where vines prosper
most, whose society they exceedingly cherish; nor do they less delight
to be amongst corn, no way prejudicing it with its shade. The distance
of these standards would be twenty, or twenty four foot every way, if
you would design walks or groves of them; if the environs of fields,
banks of rivers, high-ways, &c. twelve or fourteen foot may suffice, but
the farther distant, the better; for the white spreads its root much
farther than the black, and likes the valley more than the higher
ground.
5. Another expedient to increase mulberries, is, by layers from the
suckers at the foot, this done in Spring, leaving not above two buds out
of the earth, which you must diligently water, and the second year they
will be rooted: They will also take by passing any branch or arm slit,
and kept a little open with a wedge, or stone, through a basket of
earth, which is a very sure way: Nay, the very cuttings will strike in
Spring, but let them be from shoots of two years growth, with some of
the old wood, though of seven or eight years; these set in rills, like
vines, having two or three buds at the top, will root infallibly,
especially if you twist the old wood a little, or at least hack it,
though some slit the foot, inserting a stone, or grain of an oat, to
suckle and entertain the plant with moisture.
6. They may also be propagated by graffing them on the black mulberry in
Spring, or inoculated in July, taking the cyons from some old tree, that
has broad, even, and round leaves, which causes it to produce very ample
and tender leaves, of great emolument to the silk-master.
7. Some experienc’d husbandmen advise to poll our mulberries every three
or four years, as we do our willows; others not till 8 years; both
erroneously. The best way is yearly to prune them of their dry and
superfluous branches, and to form their heads round and natural. The
first year of removal where they are to abide, cut off all the shoots,
to five or six of the most promising; the next year leave not above
three of these, which dispose in triangle as near as may be, and then
disturb them no more, unless it be to purge them (as we taught) of dead
seare-wood, and extravagant parts, which may impeach the rest; and if
afterward any prun’d branch shoot above three or four cyons, reduce them
to that number. One of the best ways of pruning is, what they practise
in Sicily and Provence, to make the head hollow, and like a bell, by
cleansing them of their inmost branches; and this may be done, either
before they bud, _viz._ in the new-moon of March, or when they are full
of leaves in June or July, if the season prove any thing fresh. Here I
must not omit what I read of the Chinese culture, and which they now
also imitate in Virginia, where they have found a way to raise these
plants of the seeds, which they mow and cut like a crop of grass, which
sprout, and bear leaves again in a few months: They likewise (in
Virginia) have planted them in hedges, as near together as we do
gooseberries and currans, for their more convenient clipping, which they
pretend to do with scissers.
8. The mulberry is much improv’d by stirring the mould at root, and
letation.
9. We have already mentioned some of the uses of this excellent tree,
especially of the white, so called because the fruit is of a paler
colour, which is also of a more luscious taste, and lesser than the
black; the rind likewise is whiter, and the leaves of a mealy clear
green colour, and far tenderer, and sooner produc’d by at least a
fortnight, which is a marvelous advantage to the newly disclos’d
silk-worm: Also they arrive sooner to their maturity, and the food
produces a finer web. Nor is this tree less beautiful to the eye than
the fairest elm, very proper for walks and avenues: The timber (amongst
other properties) will last in the water as well as the most solid oak,
and the bark makes good and tough bast-ropes. It suffers no kind of
vermin to breed on it, whether standing or fell’d, nor dares any
caterpillar attack it, save the silk-worm only. The loppings are
excellent fuel: But that for which this tree is in greatest and most
worthy esteem, is for the leaves, which (besides the silk-worm)
nourishes cows, sheep, and other cattle; especially young porkers, being
boil’d with a little bran; and the fruit excellent to feed poultrey. In
sum, whatever eats of them, will with difficulty be reduc’d to endure
any thing else, as long as they can come by them: To say nothing of
their other soveraign qualities, as relaxing of the belly, being eaten
in the morning, and curing inflamations and ulcers of the mouth and
throat, mix’d with _Mel rosarum_, in which receipt they do best, being
taken before they are over-ripe. I have{209:1} read, that in Syria they
make bread of them; but that the eating of it makes men bald: As for
drink, the juice of the berry mixed with cider-apples, makes an
excellent liquor, both for colour and taste.
10. To proceed with the leaf (for which they are chiefly cherish’d) the
benefit of it is so great, that they are frequently let to farm for vast
sums; so as some one sole tree has yielded the proprietor a rent of
twenty shillings _per annum_, for the leaves only; and six or seven
pounds of silk, worth as many pounds sterling, in five or six weeks, to
those who keep the worms. We know that till after Italy had made silk
above a thousand years, (and where the tree it self was not a stranger,
none of the ancients writing any thing concerning it) they receiv’d it
not in France; it being hardly yet an hundred, since they betook
themselves to this manufacture in Provence, Languedoc, Dauphine,
Lionnois, &c. and not in Tourain and Orleans, till Hen. the Fourth’s
time; but it is incredible what a revenue it now amounts to in that
kingdom. About the same time, or a little after, it was that King James
did with extraordinary care recommend it to this nation, by a book of
directions, acts of council, and all other princely assistance. But this
did not take, no more than that of Hen. the Fourth’s proposal about the
environs of Paris, who filled the high-ways, parks, and gardens of
France with the trees, beginning in his own gardens for encouragement:
Yet, I say, this would not be brought into example, till this present
great monarch, by the indefatigable diligence of _Monsieur_ Colbert
(Superintendent of His Majesty’s Manufactures) who has so successfully
reviv’d it, that ’tis prodigious to consider what an happy progress they
have made in it; to our shame be it spoken, who have no other
discouragements from any insuperable difficulty whatever, but our sloth,
and want of industry; since wherever these trees will grow and prosper,
the silk-worms will do so also; and they were alike averse, and from the
very same suggestions, where now that manufacture flourishes in our
neighbour countries. It is demonstrable, that mulberries in four or five
years may be made to spread all over this land; and when the indigent,
and young daughters in proud families are as willing to gain three or
four shillings a day for gathering silk, and busying themselves in this
sweet and easie employment, as some do to get four pence a day for hard
work at hemp, flax, and wooll; the reputation of mulberries will spread
in England and other plantations. I might say something like this of
saffron, which we yet too much neglect the culture of; but, which for
all this I do not despair of seeing reassum’d, when that good genius
returns. In order to this hopeful prognostick, we will add a few
directions about gathering of their leaves, to render this chapter one
of the most accomplish’d, for certainly one of the most accomplish’d and
agreeable works in the world.
11. The leaves of the mulberry should be collected from trees of seven
or eight years old; if of such as are very young, it impairs their
growth, neither are they so healthful for the worms, making them
hydropical, and apt to burst: As do also the leaves of such trees as be
planted in a too waterish, or over-rich soil, or where no sun comes, and
all sick, and yellow leaves are hurtful. It is better to clip, and let
the leaves fall upon a subtended sheet or blanket, than to gather them
by hand: and to gather them, than to strip them, which marrs and gauls
the branches, and bruises the leaves that should hardly be touched. Some
there are who lop off the boughs, and make it their pruning, and it is a
tolerable way, so it be discreetly done in the over-thick parts of the
tree; but these leaves gather’d from a separated branch, will die, and
wither much sooner than those which are taken from the tree immediately,
unless you set the stem in water. Leaves gathered from boughs cut off,
will shrink in three hours; whereas those you take from the living tree,
will last as many days; and being thus a while kept, are better than
over-fresh ones. It is a rule, never to gather in a rainy season, nor
cut any branch whilst the wet is upon it; and therefore against such
suspected times, you are to provide before-hand, and to reserve them in
some fresh, but dry place: The same caution you must observe for the
dew, tho’ it do not rain, for wet food kills the worms. But if this
cannot be altogether prevented, put the leaves between a pair of sheets
well dried by the fire, and shake them up and down ’till the moisture be
drunk up in the linnen, and then spreading them to the air a little, on
another dry cloth, you may feed with them boldly. The top-leaves and
oldest, would be gathered last of all, as being most proper to repast
the worms with, towards their last change. The gatherer must be neat,
and have his hands clean, and his breath sweet, and not poison’d with
onions, or tabacco, and be careful not to press the leaves, by crouding
them into the bags or baskets. Lastly, that they gather only (unless in
case of necessity) leaves from the present, not from the former years
sprigs, or old wood, which are not only rude and harsh, but are annex’d
to stubb’d stalks, which injure the worms, and spoil the denudated
branches. One note more let me add, that in first hatching the eggs
disclosing (as sometimes) earlier than there is provision for them on
the tree, the tender leaves of lettuce, dandelion or endive may supply,
so they feed not on them too long, or overmuch, which gives them the
lask.
12. This is what I thought fit to premonish concerning the gathering of
the leaves of this tree for silk-worms, as I find it in _Monsieur_
Isnard’s _Instructions_, and that exact discourse of his, published some
years since, and dedicated to _Monsieur_ Colbert, (who has, it seems,
constituted this industrious and experienc’d person, surveyor of this
princely manufacture about Paris) and because the book it self is rare,
and known by very few. I have no more to add, but this for our
encouragement, and to encounter the objections which may be suggested
about the coldness and moisture of our country; that the Spring is in
Provence no less inconstant than is ours in England; that the colds at
Paris are altogether as sharp; and that when in May it has continued
raining for nine and twenty days successively, _Monsieur_ Isnard assures
us, he proceeded in his work without the least disaster; and in the year
1664, he presented the French King his Master, with a considerable
quantity of better silks, than any Messina or Bononia could produce,
which he sold raw at Lions, for a pistol the pound; when that of
Avignon, Provence, and Dauphine produc’d little above half that price.
But you are to receive the compleat history of the silk-worm, from that
incomparable treatise, which the learned Malpighius has lately sent out
of Italy, and dedicated to the Royal Society, as a specimen and noble
effect of its universal correspondence, and concernments for the
improvement of useful knowledge. To this I add that beneficial passage
of the learned Dr. Beale, communicated in the 12th. vol. _Philos.
Transactions_, n. 133. p. 816, where we find recommended the promotion
of this tree in England, from its success in several Northern Counties,
and even in the moist places of Ireland: He shews how it may be improv’d
by graffing on the fig; or the larger black mulberry, on that of the
smallest kind: Also of what request the _Diamoron_, or _Guidenie_ made
of the juice of this fruit, was with the Ancients, with other excellent
observations: What other incomparable remedies the fruit of this tree
affords, see Plin. _Nat. Hist._ lib. 23. cap. 7. There is a
mulberry-tree brought from Virginia not to be contemn’d; upon which they
find silk-worms, which would exceed the silk of Persia it self, if the
planters of nauseous tabacco did not hinder the culture. Sir Jo. Berkley
(who was many years Governor of that ample Colony) told me, he presented
the King (Char. II.) with as much of silk made there, as made his
Majesty a compleat suit of apparel. Lastly, let it not seem altogether
impertinent, if I add one premonition to those less experienc’d
gardners, who frequently expose their orange, and like tender-furniture
trees of the green-house too early: That the first leaves putting forth
of this wise tree, (_sapientissima_, as{213:1} Pliny calls it) is a more
infallible note when those delicate plants may be safely brought out to
the air, than by any other prognostick or indication. For other species,
_vid._ _Raii Dendro._ p. 12.
FOOTNOTES:
{209:1} Andr. Medicus apud Athenaeum, _Deipnos._ lib. 3 cap. 29.
{213:1} _A mora, ob tarditatem._
CHAPTER II.
_Of the Platanus, Lotus, Cornus, Acacia_, &c.
1. _Platanus_, that so beautiful and precious tree, anciently sacred
to{214:1} Helena, (and with which she crown’d the _Lar_, and _Genius_ of
the place) was so doated on by Xerxes, that Ælian and other authors tell
us, he made halt, and stopp’d his prodigious army of seventeen hundred
thousand soldiers, which even cover’d the sea, exhausted rivers, and
thrust mount Athos from the Continent, to admire the pulcritude and
procerity of one of these goodly trees; and became so fond of it, that
spoiling both himself, his concubines, and great persons of all their
jewels, he cover’d it with gold, gems, neck-laces, scarfs and bracelets,
and infinite riches: In sum, was so enamour’d of it, that for some days,
neither the concernment of his Grand Expedition, nor interest of honour,
nor the necessary motion of his portentous army, could perswade him from
it: He styl’d it his mistress, his minion, his Goddess; and when he was
forc’d to part from it, he caus’d the figure of it to be stamp’d in a
medal of gold, which he continually wore about him. Where-ever they
built their sumptuous and magnificent colleges for the exercise of youth
in gymnastics, as riding, shooting, wrestling, running, &c. (like to our
French Academies) and where the graver philosophers also met to converse
together, and improve their studies, betwixt the Xista, and _subdiales
ambulationes_ (which were portico’s open to the air) they planted
groves and walks of platans, to refresh and shade the _Palæstritæ_; as
you have them describ’d by Vitruvius, lib. 5. cap. 11. and as Claudius
Perrault has assisted the text, with a figure, or ichnographical plot.
These trees{215:1} the Romans first brought out of the Levant, and
cultivated with so much industry and cost, for their stately and proud
heads only, that great orators and states-men, Cicero and Hortensius,
would exchange now and then a turn at the bar, that they might have the
pleasure to step to their villas, and refresh their platans, which they
would often irrigate with wine instead of water; _crevit & affuso
laetior umbra mero_: when Hortensius taught trees to tipple wine; and so
priz’d the very shadow of it, that when afterwards they transplanted
them into France, they exacted a{215:2} _solarium_ and tribute of any of
the natives, who should presume but to put his head under it. But
whether for any virtue extraordinary in the shade, or other propitious
influence issuing from them, a worthy Knight, who stay’d at Ispahan in
Persia, when that famous city was infected with a raging pestilence,
told me, that since they have planted a greater number of these noble
trees about it, the plague has not come nigh their dwellings. Pliny
affirms, there is no tree whatsoever which so well defends us from the
heat of the sun in Summer, nor that admits it more kindly in Winter. And
for our encouragement, I do upon experience assure you, that they will
flourish and abide with us, without any more trouble than frequent and
plentiful watering, which from their youth they excessively delight in,
and gratefully acknowledge by their growth accordingly; so as I am
perswaded, that with very ordinary industry, they might be propagated to
the incredible ornament of the walks and avenues to great-mens houses.
The introduction of this true plane among us, is, perhaps due to the
great Lord Chancellor Bacon, who planted those (still flourishing ones)
at Verulam; as to mine, to that honourable gentleman, the late Sir
George Crook of Oxfordshire, from whose bounty I received an hopeful
plant now growing in my villa: Nor methinks should it be so great a
rarity, (if it be true) that being brought from Sicily, it was planted
as near us as the Morini.
3. There was lately at Basil in Switzerland, an ancient goodly
_Platanetum_, and now in France they are come again in vogue: I know it
was anciently accounted ἄκαρπος; but they may with us be rais’d of
their seeds with care, in a moist soil, as here I have known them. But
the reason of our little success, is, that we very rarely have them sent
us ripe; which should be gather’d late in Autumn, and brought us from
some more Levantine parts than Italy. They come also of layers
abundantly, affecting a fresh and feeding ground; for so they plant them
about their rivulets and fountains. The West-Indian plane is not
altogether so rare, but it rises to a goodly tree, and bears a very
ample and less jagged leaf: That the Turks use their _platanus_ for the
building of ships, I learn out of Ricciolus _Hydrog._ l. 10. c. 37. and
out of Pliny, canoos and vessels for the sea have been excavated out of
their prodigious trunks.
4. The same opinion have I of the noble _lotus arbor_ (another lover of
the water) which in Italy yields both an admirable shade, and timber
immortal, growing to a vast tree, where they come spontaneously; but
its fruit seems not so tempting as it is storied it was to the
companions of Ulysses: The first who brought the lotus out of Virginia,
was the late industrious Tradescant. Of this wood are made pipes, and
wind-instruments, and of its root, hafts for knives and other tools, &c.
The offer of Crassus to Domitius for half a dozen of these trees,
growing about an house of his in Rome, testifies in what esteem they
were had for their incomparable beauty and use.
The cornell tree, though not mention’d by Pliny for its timber, is
exceedingly commended for its durableness, and use in wheelwork, pinns
and wedges, in which it lasts like the hardest iron; and it will grow
with us to good bulk and stature; and the preserv’d and pickl’d berries,
(or cherries rather) are most refreshing, an excellent condiment, and do
also well in tarts. But that is very old, which Mathiolus affirms upon
his own experience, that one who has been bitten of a mad-dog, if in a
year after he handle the wood of this tree till it grow warm, relapses
again into his former distemper.
The same reported of the _cornus femina_, or wild cornel; which is like
the former for compactedness, and made use of for cart-timber, and other
rustick instruments; besides, for the best of butchers skewers,
tooth-pickers, and in some countries abroad they decoct the berries,
which press’d, yield an oyl for the lamp.
Lastly, the acacia, and that of Virginian, deserves a place among our
avenue trees, (could they be made to grow upright) adorning our walks
with their exotic leaf, and sweet flowers; very hardy against the
pinching Winter, but not so proof against its blustring winds; though it
be arm’d with thorns: nor do the roots take such hold of the ground,
insinuating, and running more like liquorish, and apt to emaciate the
soil; I will not therefore commend it for gardens, unless for the
variety; of which there are several, some without thorns: They love to
be planted in moist ground.
One thing more there is, which (for the use and benefit which these and
the like exotics afford us) I would take hold of, as upon all occasions
I do in this work: Namely, to encourage all imaginary industry of such
as travel foreign countries, and especially gentlemen who have concerns
in our American plantations, to promote the culture of such plants and
trees (especially timber) as may yet add to those we find already
agreeable to our climat in England. What we have said of the mulberry,
and the vast emolument rais’d by the very leaves, as well as wood of
that only tree (beside those we now have mention’d, strangers till of
late, and believ’d incicurable here,) were sufficient to excite and stir
up our utmost industry. History tells us, the noble and fruitful
countrey of France, was heretofore thought so steril and barren, that
nothing almost prospering in it, the inhabitants were quite deserting
it, and with their wives and children going to seek some other more
propitious abodes; till some of them hapning to come into Italy, and
tasting the juice of the delicious grape, the rest of their countreymen
took arms, and invaded the territories where those vines grew; which
they transplanted into _Gallia_, and have so infinitely improv’d since,
that France alone yields more of that generous liquor, than not only
Italy and Greece, but all Europe and Asia beside: Who almost would
believe that the austere Rhenish, abounding on the fertile banks of the
Rhine should produce so soft and charming a liquor, as does the same
vine, planted among the rocks and pumices of the so remote and
mountainous Canaries?
This for the encouragement and honour of those who improve their
countries with things of use and general benefit: Now in the mean time,
how have I beheld a florist, or meaner gardener transported at the
casual discovery of a new little spot, double leaf, streak or dash
extraordinary in a tulip, anemony, carnation, auricula, or amaranth!
cherishing and calling it by their own names, raising the price of a
single bulb, to an enormous sum; till a law in Holland was made to check
that tulipa-mania: The florist in the mean time priding himself as if he
had found the elixir, or perform’d some notable atchievement, and
discover’d a new countrey.
This for the defects, (for such those variegations produc’d by practice,
or mixture, mangonisms and starving the root, are by chance met with now
and then) of a fading flower: How much more honour then were due in
justice to those persons, who bring in things of much real benefit to
their countrey? especially trees for fruit and timber; the oak alone
(besides the shelter it afforded to our late Sovereign Charles the II^d)
having so often sav’d and protected the whole nation from invasion, and
brought it in so much wealth from foreign countries. I have been told,
there was an intention to have instituted an Order of the Royal-Oak; and
truly I should think it to become a green-ribbon (next to that of St.
George) superior to any of the romantick badges, to which abroad is paid
such veneration, deservedly to be worn by such as have signaliz’d
themselves by their conduct and courage; for the defence and
preservation of their countrey. Bespeaking my reader’s pardon for this
digression, we proceed in the next to other useful exoticks.
FOOTNOTES:
{214:1} Euripides _epithai_.
{215:1} Macrob. _saturnal._ 3. c. 11.
{215:2} Solarium quod pro folo pendetur, as the pandects name the tax
paid for the shades that bear no fruit.
CHAPTER III.
_Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree, Larsh, and Subterranean trees._
1. _Abies_, _picea_, _pinus_, _pinaster_, larsh, &c. are all of them
easily rais’d of the kernels and nuts, which may be gotten out of their
polysperm and turbinate cones, clogs, and squams, by exposing them to
the sun, or a little before the fire, or in warm-water, till they begin
to gape, and are ready to deliver themselves of their numerous burthens.
2. There are of the fir two principal species; the _picea_, or male,
which is the bigger tree; very beautiful and aspiring, and of an harder
wood, and hirsute leaf: And the silver-fir, or female. I begin with the
first: The boughs whereof are flexible and bending; the cones dependent,
long and smooth, growing from the top of the branch; and where gaping,
yet retain the seeds in their receptacles, when fresh gather’d, giving a
grateful fragrancy of the rosin: The fruit is ripe in September. But
after all, for a perfecter account of the true and genuine fir-tree,
(waving the distinction of _sapinum_, from _sapinus_, _literâ sed unâ_
differing, as of another kind) is a noble upright tree from the ground,
smooth and even, to the eruption of the branches; as is that they call
the _sapinum_, and thence tapering to the summit of the _fusterna_: The
arms and branches (with yew-like leaves) grow from the stem opposite to
one another, _seriatim_ to the top, (as do all cone-bearers) discovering
their age; which in time, with their weight, bend them from their
natural tendency, which is upright, especially toward the top of aged
trees, where the leaf is flattish, and not so regular: The cone great
and hard, pyramidal and full of winged-seeds.
The silver-fir, of a whitish colour, like rosemary under the leaf, is
distinguished from the rest, by the pectinal shape of it: The cones not
so large as the _picea_, grow also upright, and this they call the
female: For I find botanists not unanimously agreed about the sexes of
trees. The layers, and even cuttings of this tree, take root, and
improve to trees, tho’ more naturally by its winged-seeds: But the
masculine _picea_ will endure no amputation; nor is comparable to the
silver-fir for beauty, and so fit to adorn walks and avenues; tho’ the
other also be a very stately plant; yet with this infirmity, that tho’
it remain always green, it sheds the old leaves more visibly, and not
seldom breaks down its ponderous branches: Besides, the timber is
nothing so white; tho’ yet even that colour be not always the best
character: That which comes from Bergin, Swinsound, Mott, Longland,
Dranton, &c. (which experienc’d work-men call the dram) being long,
strait and clear, and of a yellow more cedry colour, is esteemed much
before the white for flooring and wainscot, for masts, &c. those of
Prussia, which we call spruce, and Norway (especially from Gottenberg)
and about Riga, are the best; unless we had more commerce of them from
our Plantations in New England, which are preferable to any of them;
there lying rotting at present at Pascataway, a mast of such prodigious
dimensions, as no body will adventure to ship, and bring away. All these
bear their seeds in conick figures, and squamons, after an admirable
manner and closeness, to protect their winged-seeds.
The hemlock-tree (as they call it in New-England) is a kind of spruce:
In the Scottish Highlands are trees of wonderful altitude (though not
altogether so tall, thick, and fine as the former) which grow upon
places so unaccessible, and far from the sea, that (as one says) they
seem to be planted by God on purpose for nurseries of seed, and monitors
to our industry, reserved with other blessings, to be discover’d in our
days amongst the new-invented improvements of husbandry, not known to
our southern people of this nation, &c. Did we consider the pains they
take to bring them out of the Alps, we should less stick at the
difficulty of transporting them from the utmost parts of Scotland. To
the former sorts we may add the Esterund firs, Tonsberry,
Frederick-stad, Hellerone, Holmstrand, Landifer, Stavenger, Lawrwat, &c.
There is likewise a kind of fir, call’d in Dutch the green-boome, much
us’d in building of ships, though not for men of war, because of its
lightness, and that it is not so strong as oak; but yet proper enough
for vessels of great burden, and which stand much out of the water: This
sort comes into Holland from Norway, and other Eastland countries; It is
somewhat heavier yet than fir, and stronger, nor do either of them bend
sufficiently: As to the seeds, they may be sown in beds or cases at any
time, during March; and when they peep, carefully defended with furzes,
or the like fence, from the rapacious birds, which are very apt to pull
them up, by taking hold of that little infecund part of the seed, which
they commonly bear upon their tops: The beds wherein you sow them had
need be shelter’d from the southern aspects, with some skreen of reed,
or thick hedge: Sow them in shallow rills, not above half-inch-deep, and
cover them with fine light mould: Being risen a finger in height,
establish their weak stalks, by sifting some more earth about them;
especially the pines, which being more top-heavy, are more apt to swag.
When they are of two or three years growth, you may transplant them
where you please; and when they have gotten good root, they will make
prodigious shoots, but not for the three or four first years
comparatively. They will grow both in moist and barren gravel, and poor
ground, so it be not over-sandy and light, and want a loamy ligature;
but before sowing (I mean here for large designs) turn it up a foot
deep, sowing, or setting your seeds an hand distance, and riddle earth
upon them: In five or six weeks they will peep. When you transplant,
water them well before, and cut the clod out about the root, as you do
melons out of the hot-bed, which knead close to them like an egg: Thus
they may be sent safely many miles, but the top must neither be bruised,
nor much less cut, which would dwarf it for ever: One kind also will
take of slips or layers, interr’d about the latter end of August, and
kept moist.
3. The best time to transplant, were in the beginning of April; they
would thrive mainly in a stiff, hungry clay, or rather loam; but by no
means in over-light, or rich soil: Fill the holes therefore with such
barren earth, if your ground be improper of it self; and if the clay be
too stiff, and untractable, with a little sand, removing with as much
earth about the roots as is possible, though the fir will better endure
a naked transplantation, than the pine: If you be necessitated to plant
towards the latter end of Summer, lay a pretty deal of horse-litter upon
the surface of the ground, to keep off the heat, and in Winter the cold;
but let no dung touch either stem or root: You may likewise sow in such
earth about February, they will make a shoot the very first year of an
inch; next an handful, the third year three foot, and thence forward,
above a yard annually. A Northern gentleman (who has oblig’d me with
this process upon his great experience) assures me, that fir, and this
_feralis arbor_, (as Virgil calls the pine) are abundantly planted in
Northumberland, which are in few years grown to the magnitude of
ship-masts; and from all has been said, deduces these encouragements. 1.
The facility of their propagation. 2. The nature of their growth, which
is to affect places where nothing else will thrive. 3. Their uniformity
and beauty. 4. Their perpetual verdure. 5. Their sweetness. 6. Their
fruitfulness; affording seed, gum, fuel, and timber of all other woods
the most useful, and easy to work, &c. All which highly recommend it as
an excellent improvement of husbandry, fit to be enjoyn’d by some solemn
edict, to the inhabitants of this our island, that we may have masts,
and those other materials of our own growth: In planting the silver
_abies_, set not the roots too deep, it affects the surface more than
the rest.
4. The pine (of which are reckon’d no less than ten several sorts,
preferring the domestic, or sative for the fuller growth) is likewise of
both sexes, whereof the male growing lower, with a rounder shape, hath
its wood more knotty and rude than the female; it’s lank, longer, narrow
and pointed; bears a black, thick, large cone, including the kernel
within an hard shell, cover’d under a thick scale: The nuts of this tree
(not much inferior to the almond) are used among other ingredients, in
beatilla-pies, at the best tables. They would be gather’d in June,
before they gape; yet having hung two years (for there will be always
some ripe, and some green on the same tree) preserve them in their nuts,
in sand, as you treat acorns, &c. ’till the season invite, and then set
or sow them in ground which is cultivated like the fir, in most
respects; only, you may bury the nuts a little deeper. By a friend of
mine, they were rolled in a fine compost made of sheeps-dung, and
scatter’d in February, and this way never fail’d fir and pine; they came
to be above inch-high by May; and a Spanish author tells us, that to
macerate them five days in a child’s urine, and three days in water, is
of wonderful effect: This were an expeditious process for great
plantations; unless you would rather set the pine as they do pease, but
at wider distances, that when there is occasion of removal, they might
be taken up with the earth and all, I say, taken up, and not remov’d by
evulsion; because they are (of all other trees) the most obnoxious to
miscarry without this caution; and therefore it were much better (where
the nuts might be commodiously set, and defended) never to remove them
at all, it gives this tree so considerable a check. The safest course of
all, were to set the nuts in an earthen-pot, and in frosty weather,
shewing it a little to the fire, the intire clod will come out with
them, which are to be reserved, and set in the naked earth, in
convenient and fit holes prepar’d beforehand, or so soon as the thaw is
universal: Some commend the strewing a few oats at the bottom of the
fosses or pits in which you transplant the naked roots, for a great
promotement of their taking, and that it will cause them to shoot more
in one year than in three: But to this I have already spoken. Other
kinds not so rigid, nor the bark, leaf, cone and nuts so large, are
those call’d the mountain-pine, a very large stately tree: There is
likewise the wild, or bastard-pine, and _tea_, clad with thin long
leaves, and bearing a turbinated cone: Abundance of excellent rosin
comes from this tree. There is also the _pinaster_, another of the
wild-kind; but none of them exceeding the Spanish, call’d by us, the
Scotch pine, for its tall and erect growth, proper for large and ample
walks and avenues: Several of the other wild sorts, inclining to grow
crooked. But for a more accurate description of these coniferous trees,
and their perfect distinctions, consult our Mr. Ray’s most elaborate and
useful work, where all that can be expected or desir’d, concerning this
profitable, as well as beautiful tree, is amply set down, _Hist. Plant._
lib. 25. cap. I.
5. I am assur’d (by a person most worthy of credit) that in the
territory of Alzey (a country in Germany, where they were miserably
distressed for wood, which they had so destroy’d as that they were
reduc’d to make use of straw for their best fuel) a very large tract
being newly plowed, (but the wars surprizing them, not suffer’d to sow,)
there sprung up the next year a whole forest of pine-trees, of which
sort of wood there was none at all, within less than fourscore miles; so
as ’tis verily conjectur’d by some, they might be wafted thither from
the country of Westrasia, which is the nearest part to that where they
grow: If this be true, we are no more to wonder, how, when our
oak-woods are grubb’d up, beech, and trees of other kinds, have
frequently succeeded them: What some impetuous winds have done in this
nature, I could produce instances almost miraculous: I shall say nothing
of the opinion of our master Varro, and the learned{227:1} Theophrastus,
who were both of a faith, that the seeds of plants drop’d out of the
air. Pliny in his 16th. book, chap. 33. upon discourse of the Cretan
cypress, attributes much to the _indoles_, and nature of the soil,
virtue of the climate, and impressions of the air. And indeed it is very
strange, what is affirm’d of that pitchy-rain, (reported to have fallen
about Cyrene, the year 430. U. C.) after which, in a short time, sprung
up a whole wood of the trees of _Laserpicium_, producing a precious gum,
not much inferior to benzoin, if at least the story be warrantable: But
of these aerial irradiations, various conceptions, and æquivocal
productions without seed, &c. difficulties to be solv’d by our
philosophers, whence those leaves of the platan come; which Dr. Spon
tells us (in his _Travels_) are found floating in some of the fountains
of the isles of the Strophades; no such tree growing near them by 30
miles: But these may haply be convey’d thro’ some unknown subterranean
passage; for were it by the wind, it having a very large leaf, they
would be been flying in, or falling out of the air.
6. In transplanting of these coniferous trees, which are generally
resinaceous, viz. fir, pine, larix, cedar, and which have but thin and
single roots, you must never diminish their heads, nor be at all busie
with their roots, which pierce deep, and is all their foundation, unless
you find any of them bruised, or much broken; therefore such down-right
roots as you may be forc’d to cut off, it were safe to sear with an hot
iron, and prevent the danger of bleeding, to which they are obnoxious
even to destruction, though unseen, and unheeded: Neither may you
disbranch them, but with great caution, as about March, or before, or
else in September, and then ’tis best to prune up the side-branches
close to the trunk, cutting off all that are above a year old; if you
suffer them too long, they grow too big, and the cicatrice will be more
apt to spend the tree in gum; upon which accident, I advise you to rub
over their wounds with a mixture of cow-dung; the neglect of this cost
me dear, so apt are they to spend their gum. Indeed, the fir and pine
seldom out-live their being lopp’d. Some advise us to break the shells
of pines to facilitate their delivery, and I have essay’d, but to my
loss; nature does obstetricate, and do that office of her self, when it
is the proper season; neither does this preparation at all prevent those
which are so buried, whilst their hard integuments protect them both
from rotting, and the vermin.
_Pinastes_, the domestic pine grows very well with us, both in mountains
and plains; but the _pinaster_, or wilder (of which are four sorts) best
for walks; _pulcherrima in hortis_, (as already we have said) because it
grows tall and proud, maintaining their branches at the sides, which the
other pine does less frequently. There is in New-England, a very broad
pine, which increases to a wonderful bulk and magnitude, insomuch as
large canoos have been excavated out of the body of it, without any
addition. But beside these large and gigantick pines, there is the
spinet, with sharp thick bristles, yielding a rosin or liquor odorous,
and useful in carpentary-work.
8. The fir grows tallest, being planted reasonable close together; but
suffers nothing to thrive under them. The pine not so inhospitable; for
(by Pliny’s good leave) it may be sown with any tree, all things growing
well under its shade, and excellent in woods; hence Claudian,
The friendly pine the mighty oak invites.{229:1}
9. They both affect the cold, high, and rocky grounds, _abies in
montibus altis_: Those yet which grow on the more southern, and less
expos’d quarters, a little visited with the beams of the sun, are found
to thrive beyond the other, and to afford better timber; and this was
observed long since by Vitruvius of the _infernates_ (as he calls them)
in comparison with the _supernates_, which growing on the Northern and
shady side of the Appennines, were nothing so good, which he imputes to
the want of due digestion. They thrive (as we said) in the most sterile
places, yet will grow in better, but not in over-rich, and pinguid. The
worst land in Wales bears (as I am told) large pine; and the fir
according to his aspiring nature, loves also the mountain more than the
valley; but ἐν τοῖς παλισκίοις ὅλως οὐ φύεται, _it cannot endure the
shade_, as Theophrastus observes, _de Pl._ l. 4. c. 1. But this is not
rigidly true; for they will grow in consort, till they even shade and
darken one another, and will also descend from the hills, and succeed
very well, being desirous of plentiful waterings, till they arrive to
some competent stature; and therefore they do not prosper so well in an
over sandy and hungry soil, or gravel, as in the very entrails of the
rocks, which afford more drink to the roots, that penetrate into their
meanders, and winding recesses. But though they require this refreshing
at first, yet do they perfectly abhor all stercoration; nor will they
much endure to have the earth open’d about their roots for ablaqueation,
or be disturb’d: This is also to be understood of cypress. A fir, for
the first half dozen years, seems to stand, or at least make no
considerable advance, but it is when throughly rooted, that it comes
away miraculously. That honourable and learned knight Sir Norton
Knatchbull, (whose delicious plantation of pines and firs I beheld with
great satisfaction) having assur’d me, that a fir-tree of his raising,
did shoot no less than sixty foot in height, in little more than twenty
years; and what are extant at Sir Peter Wentworth’s of Lillingston
Lovel; Cornbury in Oxfordshire, and other places; but especially those
trees growing now in Harefield Park in the county of Middlesex
(belonging to Mr. Serjeant Nudigate) where there are two Spanish or
silver firs, that at 2 years growth from the seed, being planted there
_an._ 1603, are now become goodly masts: The biggest of them from the
ground to the upper bough, is 81 feet, though forked on the top, which
has not a little impeded its growth: The girt, or circumference below,
is thirteen foot, and the length (so far as is timber, that is, to six
inches square) 73 foot, in the middle 17 inches square, amounting by
calculation to 146 foot of good timber: The other tree is indeed not
altogether so large, by reason of its standing near the house when it
was burnt (about 40 years since) when one side of the tree was scorched
also; yet it has not only recover’d that scar, but thrives exceedingly,
and is within eight or nine foot, as tall as the other, and would
probably have been the better of the two, had not that impediment
happen’d, it growing so taper, and erect, as nothing can be more
beautiful: This I think (if we had no other) is a pregnant instance, as
of the speedy growing of that material; so of all the encouragement I
have already given for the more frequent cultivating this ornamental,
useful, and profitable tree, abounding doubtless formerly in this
countrey of ours, if what a grave and authentick author writes be true,
Athenæus relating, that the stupendious vessel, built so many ages since
by Hiero, had its mast out of Britain. Take notice that none of these
mountainous trees should be planted deep; but as shallow as may be for
their competent support.
The _picea_ (already describ’d) grows on the Alps among the pine, but
neither so tall, nor so upright, but bends its branches a little, which
have the leaf quite about them, short and thick, not so flat as the fir:
The cones grow at the point of the branches, and are much longer than
most other cones, containing a small darkish seed. This tree produces a
gum almost as white and firm as frankincense: But it is the _larix_
(another sort of pine) that yields the true Venetian turpentine; of
which hereafter.
10. There is also the _piceaster_, already mention’d, (a wilder sort)
(the leaves stiff and narrow pointed, and not so close) out of which the
greatest store of pitch is boil’d. The _taeda_ likewise, which is (as
some think) another sort abounding in Dalmatia, more unctuous, and more
patient of the warmer situations, and so inflammable, that it will slit
into candles; and therefore some will by no means admit it to be of a
different species, but a metamorphosis of over-grown fattiness, to which
the most judicious incline. But of these, the Grand Canaries (and all
about the mountains near Tenariff) are full, where the inhabitants do
usually build their houses with the timber of the pitch-tree: They cut
it also into wainscot, in which it succeeds marvellously well; abating
that it is so obnoxious to firing, that whenever a house is attacqu’d,
they make all imaginable hast out of the conflagration, and almost
despair of extinguishing it: They there also use it for candle-wood, and
to travel in the night by the light of it, as we do by links and
torches: Nor do they make these _teas_ (as the Spaniards call them) of
the wood of pine alone, but of other trees, as of oak and hasel, which
they cleave and hack, and then dry in the oven, or chimny, but have
certainly some unctuous and inflammable matter, in which they afterwards
dip it; but thus they do in Biscay, as I am credibly inform’d.
11. The bodies of these being cut, or burnt down to the ground, will
emit frequent suckers from the roots; but so will neither the pine nor
fir, nor indeed care to be topped: But the fir may be propagated of
layers, and cuttings, which I divulge as a considerable secret that has
been essay’d with success.