iy8 A DISCOURSE

^'oo&IIT.JWj fnay be (as was directed) of all the Species , not forgetting thebest c Piues, Fir, &c. Whiles the yearly Removal of very Incum-brances only, will repay the JVorkmen , who fell the Quick, or re-serve it to store other Enclosures, and foften the circumjacent Grounds,to the very great Improvement of what remains.

8. And how if in fitch Fencing-works, we did sometimes imitatewhat Quint us Curtius, Lib. vi. has recorded of the Mar dor um Gens,near to the Confines of Hyrcania ; who did, by the close planting ofTrees alone upon the Bordures, give so strange a Check to the Powerof that great Conqueror Alexander ? They were a barbarous Peopleindeed, but in this worthy our Imitation ; and the Work so handsomely,and particularly described, that I shall not grieve to recite it. Arboresdensa sunt de indujtria constta , quarum teneros adhuc rartiosmanu fiettunt, quos intortos rnrsus in serunt terra : Inde, velut c*alia radice latiores virent trunci : bos , qua natura fert , adolescerenon Jinunt ; quippe alium alii , quaji nexu conserunt ; qut ubi mult&fronde vestiti sunt, operiunt terram. ltaque occulti ramorum velidlaquei perpetud sepe it er, claudimt, &c. The Trees {faith he) wereplanted so near and thick together of Purpose, that when the Boughswere yet young and flexible, bent and wreath’d within one another,their Tops were bowed into the Earth (as we submerge our Layers)whence taking fresh Roots , they shot up new Stems, which not beingpermitted to grow as of themselves they would have done, they so k nltand perplex’done within another, that when they were clad with Leaves,they even covered the Ground, and enclosed the whole Country witha kind of living Net, and impenetrable Hedge, as the Historian con-tinues the Description. And this is not unlike what I am told is fre-quently practised in divers Places of Devon ; where the Oaks beingplanted very near the Foot of those high Mounds , by which they s e "parate their Lands , so root themselves into the Bank , that when it f^and crumbles down, the Fence continues still maintained by them withexceeding Profit. Such Works as these would become a Cato ° rFarro indeed, one that were Rater Ratria, non sibi soli natus, b° rnfor Posterity ; but we are commonly of another Mould,

& fruges consmere nati.

y. A fair Advance for speedy Growth, and noble Trees (especiallyfor Walks and Avenues) may be assuredly expected from the Gmfflpof young Oaks and Elms with the best of their Kinds; and where thegoodliest of these last are growing, the Ground would be plovfd an ,finely raked in the Season when the Scales fall; that the ShowersDews fastning the Seed where the Wind drives it, it may take R oottand hasten (as it will) to a sudden Tree ; especially, if seasonabj eSbreading be applied, which has sometimes made them arrive to ctlHeight of twelve Foot by the first three Years, after which they g r °'amain. And if such were planted as near to one another as in thepies we have alledged, it is almost incredible what a Baling they woube to our most exposed Rlantations, mounting up their wooden /y*to the Clouds. And indeed the Shelving and natural Declivity of *Ground more or less to our unkind Aspects, and bleak Winds ,dobest direct to the Thickening of these Protections ; and the Benefit 0^that soon appears, and recompences our Industry in the SmoothnessIntegrity of the Rlantations so defended.

io.