iix

A DISCOURSE

Boo jell. when our Oak-woods are grubbed up, Beech, and Trees of otherKinds, have frequently succeeded them: What some impetuous Windshave done in this Nature, I could produce Instances almost miraculous:

I shall fay nothing of the Opinion of our Master Varro, and the learnedLiM cT^ 5 ’ * 'Fheophrastks, who were both of a Faith that the Seeds of Plants' dropped Out of the Air. Pliny , in his Book xvi. Chap. xxxiii. uponDiscourse of the Cretan Cypress, attributes much to the Indoles, andNature of the Soil, Virtue of the Climate , and Impressions of the Ait-And indeed it is very strange, what is affirmed of that Pitchy-rain,(reported to have fallen about Cyrene , the Year 430 P). C. ) afterwhich, in a short Time, sprung up a whole Wood of the Trees ofLaserpitium, producing a precious Gum, not much inferior to Benzoin,if at least the Story be warrantable : But of these Aerial Irradiations,various Conceptions, and equivocal Productions without Seed, &c.Difficulties to be solved by our Philosophers, whence those Leaves ofth zPlatan come, which Dr. Spon tells us (in his Travels ) are foundfloating in some of the Fountains of the Isles of the Strophades ; nosuch Tree growing near them by thirty Miles : But these may haplybe conveyed through some unknown subterranean Passage; for were itby the Wind, it having a very large Leaf, they would be seen flying in,or falling out of the Air.

6 . In transplanting of these Coniferous Trees, which are generallyRefinaceous , viz. Fir, Pine, Larix , Cedar, and which have butthin and single Roots, you must never diminish their Heads, nor be atall busie with thtxt Roots, which pierce deep, and is all their Founda-tion, unless you find any of them bruised, or much broken; thereforesuch down-right Roots as you may be forced to cut off, it were safe tofear with an hot Iron , and prevent the Danger of bleeding, to whichthey are obnoxious even to Destruction, though unseen, and unheeded-'Neither may you disbranch them, but with great Caution, as aboutMarch, or before, or else in September, and then ’tis best to prune upthe side Branches close to the Trunk, cutting off all that are above aTear old; if you suffer them too long, they grow too big, and theCicatrice will be more apt to spend the Tree in Gum ; upon which Ac-cident, 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 theirGum. Indeed, the Fir and Pine seldom out-live their being lopped.Some advifo us to break the Shells of Pines, to facilitate their Hellvery, and I have essayed but to my Lost; Nature does obstetricateand do that Office of her self, when it is the proper Season; neitherdoes this Preparation at all prevent those which are so buried, whilst theirhard Integuments protect them both from rotting, and the Vermin.

Pinaster. P mast es, the domejlick Pine grows very well with us, both m

Mountains and Plains ; but the Pinaster , or wilder (of which arefour Sorts) best for Walks ; Pulcherrima in hortis (as alreadyhave said) because it grows tall and proud, maintaining their Branchesat the Sides, which the other Pine does lest frequently. There is foNew-England a very broad Pine, which increases to a wonderfulBulk and Magnitude,* insomuch as large Canoos have been excavatedout of the Body of it, without any Addition. But beside these largeand gigantick Pines, there is the Spinet , with sharp thick Bristleyielding a Rosin or Liquor odorous , and useful in Carpentary•work.

8. The

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