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plain manner, about the reason of those pretty undulations and chamfers, cwhich we so frequently find in divers woods, which he takes to be thedescent, as well®as ascent of moisture: For what else, says he, be-comes of that water which we often encounter in the cavities, when manybranches divaricate, and spread themselves at the tops of great trees,especially pollards, unlefs, according to its natural appetite, ,it sink into--the very body of the stem through the pores! For example; in theWalnut, you shall find, when it is old, that the wood. is. admirablyfigured, and, as it were, marbled; and therefore much more esteemedby the joiners, cabinet-makers,, inlayers, &c. than the young, whichis paler of colour, and without any notable grain, as they call it: Forthe rain distilling along the branches, when many of them breakoutinto clusters from the stem, sinks in, and is the cause of these marks,;since we find it exceedingly full of pores: Do but plane off a thin chip,-or sliver, from one of these old trees, and interposing it betwixt youreye and the light, you shall observe it to be full of innumerable holes,
This latter is to be continued no otherwise than by budding it on stocks of the CommonSycamore; for the seeds when sown, afford us only the Common Sycamore-in return.
In order to propagate the varieties by budding, let some plants of the Common-Sycamore, one year old, be taken out of the seminary, and set in the nursery in rowsa yard asunder, and the plants about a foot and half distant from each other in the rows :Let the ground be kept clean from weeds all summer, and be dug, or, as the gardenerscall it, turned in, in the winter; and the summer following the stocks will be of a propersize to receive the buds, which should be taken from the most beautifully-striped branches. -The best time for this work is August; because if it is done earlier, the buds will shootthe same summer; and when this happens, a hard winter will infallibly kill them.Having, therefore, budded your stock the middle or latter end of August, with the eyesor buds fronting the north, early in October take off the bafs matting, which before thistime will have confined the bark and pinched the bud, but not so as to hurt it much.Then cut off the stock just above the bud, and dig the ground between the rows. Thesummer following, keep the ground clean from weeds; cut off all natural side-buds fromthe stock as they come out; and by autumn, if the land be good, your buds will have shotforth, and formed themselves into trees four or live feet high. They may then be removedinto the places where they are designed to remain.
The Striped Norway Maple should be budded on stocks of its own kind ; for on thesethey take best. Variegated plants are recommended to be planted in poor, hungry,gravelly, or sandy soils, to feed the disease which is supposed to occasion these beautifulstripes : but these trees show their stripes in greater perfection in a good soil: Theplant, though in sicknefs, has the appearance of health; the shoots are vigorous and strong;the leaves are large, lefs liable to be hurt by insects; and the stripes appear more per-fect, natural, and delightful, than those on stunted trees growing on a poor soil*.