126

A DISCOURSE

book i. too big" There are Who pare away the root within two fingers of thestem, and quite cut off the head; but I cannot commend this extremeseverity, no more than I do the strewing of oats in the pit; which,fermenting with the moisture and frequent waterings, is believed muchto accelerate the putting forth of the roots; not considering that, for wantof air, they corrupt and grow musty, which more frequently suffocatesthe roots, and endangers the whole tree.

7. I have affirmed how patient this tree is of transplantation; notonly for that I observe so few of them to grow wild in England, andwhere it may not be suspected but they, or their predecefsors, have beenplanted by some industrious hand; but for that those incomparablewalks and vistas of them, both at Aranjuez, Casal del Campo, Madrid ,the Escurial , and other places of delight belonging to the King andGrandees of Spain , are planted with such as they report Philip the secondcaused to be brought out of England; before which (as that mosthonourable person, the Earl of Sandwich, when his Majesty’s Ambafsadorextraordinary at that court, writ to me) it does not appear there wereany of those trees in all Spain . But, of that plantation, see it moreparticularly described in chapter vii. book iii. of this discourse, whitherI refer my reader; whilst, as to my own inclination, I know of no treeamongst all the foresters, becoming the almost interminate Lontananzaof walks and vistas, comparable to this majestic plant.

8. The Elm delights in a sound, sweet, and fertile land, somethingmore inclined to loamy moisture, and where good pasture is produced;though it will also prosper in the gravelly, provided there be a competentdepth of mould, and be refreshed with springs ; in defect of which, being

" It seems to have been thought an excellence amongst the Roman husbandmen to beable to transplant large trees. Virgil represents the old Corycian as pofsefsed of thatknowledge in a high degree :

Ille etiam seras in versum dishilit Vlmos,

Eduramipie pinun, et spinosijam pruna ferentes,

Jamcpre ministrantem platarmm potantibus umbras. georg, iv

In these verfes, it is remarkable that the poet has bestowed upon the trees fuch epithetsas prove them to have been of considerable stature.