28

A DISCOURSE

fresh piece of earth for present use, he dig not above one spit deep, whichwill be sufficient to cover the roots of any plantable fruit, or other tree;he must not disturb it again till the March following, when, if he please,and that the ground seem to require an hastier maturation, there may bea crop of beans, pease, or turnips sown upon it, which will mellow it ex-ceedingly, and destroy the noxious weeds; after which, with a slight re-pastination, one may plant or sow any thing in it freely, especially roots,which will thrive bravely, and so will trees, provided you plant them nottoo deep, but endeavour to make them spread and take in the succulentvirtue of the upper mould ;. and therefore too deep trenching is not al-ways profitable, unlefs it be for esculent roots, such as carrots, parsnips,beets, and the like, since trees, especially fruit, should be tempted evenby baits to run shallow; such as penetrate deep, commonly spendingmore in wood and leaves than in the burden for which vce plant them.

There is only this caution due, That you never plant your trees where

the stiff andchurlish ground is likely to touch their roots; for though itbe neither necefsary nor convenient they should penetrate deep, it is yet ofhigh importance they should dilate and spread, which they will never doin obstinate and inhospitable land (but revert back towards the milder,and better-natured mould) which crumples the roots, and perverts theirposture, to their exceeding damage : And to this infirmity our rare exoticplants and shrubs are most obnoxious, confined as they are to their woodencases and testaceous prisons, and therefore require to be frequently trim-med, and supplied with fresh and succulent mould to entertain the fibres,which else you will find to mat in unexplicable intanglements, and adhereto the sides of the vefsel, where they dry or corrupt;

Having said thus much of the natural, I should now come to artificialhelps, by application of dungs and composts ; and indeed, stade ut mug-num sterquilinium habeas, was old and good advice ; but as some there bewho affirm any culture of the earth preferable to dung, even things soslight as the haulm of pease and lupines, or any other pulse, (for when Ispeak of dungs, I mean those excrementitious and sordid materials whichwe commonly heap; up and lay upon our grounds) I shall beg your pa-tience to suspend a while my stirring that lefs pleasant mixture, and, till itbe well aired and fit for use, proceed on our former subject, and try whataid we may expect yetfrom more kind and benign means, before we come-