50 The P R E F A C E.

It it little more than an Age, since Hops (rather a Medical, tbf 1AWmcnt'AWegetablc ) transmuted our wholesome Ale into Beer; whddoubtless much alteredoui' Constitutions: That one Ingredient (bynot unworthily suspected ) preserving Drink indeed, and so by cufos*made agreeable ; yet repaying the ‘Pleasure with tormenting ‘Difeffisand a shorter Life,may deservedly abate our fondness to it ; especialif with this be considered likewise, the Casualties In planting it* aSseldom fucceedingmore than once in three Tears ; yet requiring confixCharge and Culture ; besdes that it is none of the leaf c Devonrer$ vyoung Timber. , ,

And what if a like Care, or indeed one quarter of it, were (rthe future ) converted to the Propagation of Fruit-trees, in allpad ?of this Nation, as it is already in some, for the beneft of Cider-( one Shire alone within twenty Miles compass, makingno less, y ear wthan Fifty thousand Hogsheads) the commutation would ( Ipers a “ s ,my self) rob us of no great Advantage ; but present us with one 6 Ithe mofi delicious and wholesome Beverages in the World.

It was by the plain Industry of one Harris, ( a Fruiterer toHenry the Eighth) that the Fields, and Environs of about thtWTowns in Kent only, were plant ed with Fruit, to the universal Bents'and general Improvement of that County to this day ; as by the'Example of my Lord Scudamor, and of some other Publick-fp tri ^Gentlemen in those Parts , all Herefordshire is become , in a rna,l s?Lbut one entire Orchard: And when his Majesty shall once be pleas'd,command the Planting but of some Acres, for the best Cidcr-fruifevery of his Rosa I Mansions, amongf other of his mof laudable hjj,nificences; Noblemen, W ealthy Purchasers, and Citizens, will (doubtdJ ,follow the Example, till the preference of Cider ( wholesome , a !..more natural Drinks) do quite vanquish Hops, and banish all etDrogues of that nature. ./y

But this Improvement (fay some) would be generally obfiruB^the Tenant, and High-shoon-men, who are all for the present 'their Expectations seldom holding out above a Tear or two at most-To this Pis answer'd ; That therefore Jhould the Lord of tbeW& r tnot. only encourage the Work by his own Example, and by the Apr^sof such Tenants^ can be courted to delight /« these kinds ofments-, but Jhould also oblige them by Covenants to plant certain *portions of them , and to preserve them being planted. yp

To fortify this profitable Design, It were farther to be defir'a, ,

(if already • there be not effectual Provision for it, which waid*due execution and quickning) an A & of Parliament might be P r °f t y{for the setting but of two or three Trees in every Acre of Lands,shall hereafter be enclosed, under the Forfeiture of Six-pence P c , er s.for some Publick and Charitable Work, to be levy'd on the Dcstp r , ^To what an innumerable Multitude would this, in few Tears, ^fibly mount ; affording infinite proportions, and variety °fs yp,throughout the Nation, which now takes a Potion for a RefreshMw and drinks its very Brcad-corn?

V I have seen a Calculation of twenty Fruit-trees to every . ^Pounds of yearly Rent ; forty to Ten; sixty to Fifteen;

Twenty; and so according to the proportion. Had all , poed0 rnons, and Waste-lands One Fruit-tree but at every hundreddifiance, planted , and fene'd at the Publick Charge , for the v /

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