i5v A DISCOURSE

Bo okII. other of a broader, falling in Winter ; grows in the coldest Parts ofBiscay, in the North of New-England, in the South-West of France,especially the second Species, fittest for our Climate ; and in all Sortsof Ground, dry Heaths , stony and rocky Mountains , so as the Rootswill run even above the Earth, where they have little to cover them;all which considered, methinks we should not despair. We have saidwhere they grow plentifully in France ; but by Fliny, Nat. Hist. I. xvi.c. viii. it should seem they were since transplanted thither ; for he af-firfiis there were none either there or in Italy in his Time : But I ex-ceedingly wonder that Carolus Stephanus , and Curfius, should writeso peremptorily, that there were none in Italy ; where I my self havetravelled through vast Woods of them about Fisa, Aquin , and in di-vers Tracts between Rome and the Kingdom oi Naples, and in France .The Spanijh Cork is a Species of Enzina, differing chiefly in the Leaf,which is not lo prickly ; and in the Bark, which is frequently four orfive Inches thick. The Manner of Hecort teat ion thereof, is once in twoor three Years to strip it in a dry Season ; otherwise the intercutaneousMoifiure endangers the Tree, and therefore a rainy Season is very per-nicious ; when the Bark is off, they unwarp it before the Fire, andpress it even , and that with Weights upon the - convex Part, and so itcontinues, being cold.

The Uses of Cork is well known amongst us, both at Sea andLand, for its resisting both Water and Air : The Fijher-men who dealin Nets , and all who deal with Liquors , cannot be without it: AntientPersons prefer it before Leather for the Soles of their Shoes, beinglight, dry, and resisting Moisture ; whence the Germans name it Fan-tojfiel-holts (Slipper-wood) perhaps from the Greek TlxvlU & ;

for I find it first applied to that Purpose by the Grecian Ladies, whencethey were called light-footed ; I know not whether the Epithet do stillbelong to that Sex ; but from them it is likely the Venetian Damestook it up for their monstrous Choppines ; affecting, or usurping an ar-tificial Eminency above Men, which Nature has denied them. Of oneof the Sorts of Cork are made pretty Cups, and other Vessels , esteemedgood to drink out of for heBical Persons. The Egyptians made theirCoffins of it, which being lined with a resinous Composition, preservedtheir Dead incorrupt. The poor People in Spain, lay broad Flanks ofit by their Beds-side to tread on (as great Persons use Turky and Ferfi-an Carpets) to defend them from the Floor, and sometimes they lineor wainscot the Walls and Inside of their Houses built of Stone, withthis Bark, which renders them very warm, and corrects the Moistuof the Air: Also they employ it for Bee-hives, and to double the so'sides of their Contemplores, and Leather-casos, wherein they put Flafiquera's with Snow to refrigerate their Wine. This Tree has beneath th eCortex , or Cork, two other Coats , or Libri , of which one is reddifo'which they strip from the Bole when it is felled only; and this bearsgood Price with the Tanner ; the rest of the Wood is very good EirinA,and applicable to many other Uses of Building, Falisade- work,

The Ajhes drunk, stop the Bloody-flux.ilex. 3 . Ilex, major Glandifera, or great Scarlet-Oak , of several Specichand various in the Shape of their Leaf, pointed rounder, longer, &f'(a devoted Tree of old, and therefore incœdua) thrives manifestly withus; witness his Majesty’s Frivy-Garden at White-Hall, where onceflourished a goodly Tree, of more than fourscore Years Growth,

there

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