273

OF FOREST-TREES.

hi. and this chapter is well supplied by Pliny , lib. xvi. cap. v. and Cujas,upon the place, interprets Glandem to signify not the Acorns of the Oakalone, but all sorts of fruit whatsoever, as by usage of the Greeks,Kxpobpva imports* the fruit of all kinds of forest-trees.

There were also laws concerning boundaries, to be found at large inother learned authors De Re Agraria, of which we give this short ex-tract: Some admitted any sort'of trees, others used-peculiar kinds forthe fencing of their grounds ;. others fenced with foreign trees, that thedifference of the wood might serve as a mark : Some, by agreement,planted them in common upon the very borders; some, at their privatecharge, a little within the margents of their own fields, &c. Amongstthe different sorts of trees, we find Pines and Cyprefs-trees placed forbounds, also Ash,,Elm, and.Poplar; which when near the limits, with,any cultivated ground between, the intermediate spaces were filled withshrubs. In case the trees were in common, some preserved them un-touched on both sides; others, the stemsonly, the lop,thetops, and branches,(especially if they belonged to a particular person) to cut or spare attheir pleasure, provided they planted others in their room. In trees markedit was considered whether they were in common, in which case they weremarked in the middle, or on-each side; and if one side of the tree hadleaves, the other was cut, to signify their belonging to those persons,.on-the border of whose grounds they were left entire: This for trees of eightfeet asunder. Those at twenty feet distance, were marked with X or T,to notify a flexure or turning thereabout. Some permitted them to standtill they arrived to such a bulk and stature as to-over-top the rest, di-stinguished also from those marked on both-sides, whether they stood inwoods, barren or uncultivated land, as being supposed in common: Thesame rule held if marked in the middle. If but one side was marked, theunmarked side was the boundary: If the mark was different on eitherside (and none else to be seen) such trees were not to be accountedboundaries. Lastly, in champaign and open places, foreign trees were usu-ally planted. If, as sometimes, briers and such shrubs grow on the an-tient limits, it should be considered of what kind they are, and inquiredhow it happens that they are often found in the middle-of the fields. There-are more of those nice rules to be found among the lawyers, whilst, be-fore any of these instances, the images of Satyrs bounded the confines,, and