Of the Production of new Plants .

earth j and by this means you shall procure Peaches without stones. But this mustbe done in moist aud waterifh places ; and besides, the Willow must be relievedwith continual watering, that so the nature of the wood may be cherished, ( as itdelights in moisture) and it may also minister abundant juyce to the plant that isengrafted in it. By the like experiment we may procure, as Avieenna shews, that

A Citron shall grow without any feed in it :

for, faith he, if we engraff it into a Quince*crce, it will yeeld such a fruit. Alhertutprotniseth to produce

A Medlar without any fiones,

by engrafting it into an Apple-tree, or a Service-tree. But experience proves thisto be false; yet surely, if it be so engrafted, it will have a softer kernel a great deal.The reason which brought the Ancients to think and write thus, was this: They sawthat such fruits as have inxhem the hardest stones, do grow upon such trees as havein them the hardest pith; as the Dog-tree, the Olive-tree, the Damosin-tree, theMyrtle-trCe, aud the like ; they saw also, that such trees as have a soft and a spungiekind of pith in them, as the Fig-tree, the Alder-tree, and such-like, bring forth fruitwithout any stones in them at all : and from hence they gathered and concluded,that it is the pith which nourishes the kerne). Which thing howsoever it hath somelittle shadow of truth in it, yet they should not have extended it generally to allplanes, seeing experience proves it to fail very often. Now let us come to the se-cond means whereby fruit may be prevented of their kernels ; and this is by takingforth the pith or marrow. As for example: if you would procure the growing of

A Grape without any stone in it ,

Democritus counselleth you to take a branch or twig of a Vine, and cleave it just in.he middle, and either with a stone, or some instrument made of bone, fetch out allthe pith, in that part which you will plant within the earth, or at least as far as yoncan hollow it without spoil: then presently bind up the parts together again with pa-per stiffly and tightly wrapped about them,and make a trench for them in some moistand very fertile soil, where you must plant them in one, and fasten it to some sureprop, that it may not be wreathed nor bowed • so will they soon grow up togetherinto one, as they were before: but it would be much better, if you would put thedove or head of a Sea-onion into that part which you have robbed of the pith: forthis is as good as glue to fasten them together; and the moisture hereof will keepthem supple,as also the heat hereof will cherish them much. Theophrastm faith,thatyou may procure Grapes without any stones in them, if you rob the Vine-branch okthe pith that is in it, whereof the stones are wont to be gendred. And Co/umellafaith, that if you would have Grapes without stones, you must cleave the Vine-branch, and take out all the pith j but so, that the buds be not hurt thereby: thenjoynit together, and bin de it up again, so that you crush not the buds; and so planeit in a well-soikd ground, and there water it often: and when it beginneth to shoocop into flips, you must dig deep about it oftentimes; and when it coraeth to bear,it will yeeld you Grapes with our any stones, Palladim faith,there is a goodly kindeof Grape which hath no kernels in it, so that it may be swallowed down easily, andthat with no small pleasantness, as if it were many Grapes stoned and supped up to-gether. The manner of the procuring it is,as the Greeks record,by Art assisted withNature, on this wise : The set which we would plant, must be cleft in the midst, sofar as we mean to set it within the ground • and when we have picked and cleanscraped out all the pith of those parts,we must close them together again ; and whenwe have bound them hard up, set them in the earth : but the bond wherewith theyare tied up, must be made of Paper or Parchment ; and the ground where they areset, must be a moist place. Some go to work more precisely , and put the plant soclrft and made up again, into a Sea-onion, so far as the plant was cloven: for by thehelp thereof, all plants do sooner and easier take root. Pliny likewise faith, there is» new-invented kinde of Grapes, when the Vine-branch that is to he planted, is

cloven