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ment, and drawing it.
and loosening of the earth about the roots of trees;
and the removing herbs and flowers into new earth
once in two years, which is the same thing, for the
new earth is ever looser, doth greatly further the
prospering and earliness of plants.

And therefore gentle digging | that the earth doth but keep the plant upright, and save it from over-heat and over-cold; and therefore is a comfortable experiment for good drinkers. It proveth also that our former opinion, that drink incorporate with flesh or roots, as in capon-beer, &c. will nourish more easily, than meat and drink taken severally.

407. But the most admirable acceleration by facilitating the nourishment is that of water. For a standard of a damask rose with the root on, was set in a chamber where no fire was, upright in an earthen pan, full of fair water, without any mixture, half a foot under the water, the standard being more than two foot high above the water: within the space of ten days the standard did put forth a fair green leaf, and some other little buds, which stood at a stay, without any show of decay or withering, more than seven days. But afterwards that leaf faded, but the young buds did sprout on; which afterward opened into fair leaves in the space of three months; and continued so a while after, till upon removal we left the trial. But note, that the leaves were somewhat paler and lighter-coloured than the leaves used to be abroad. Note, that the first buds were in the end of October; and it is likely that if it had been in the spring time, it would have put forth with greater strength, and, it may be, to have grown on to bear flowers. By this means you may have, as it seemeth, roses set in the midst of a pool, being supported with some stay; which is matter of rareness and pleasure, though of small use. This is the more strange, for that the like rosestandard was put at the same time into water mixed with horse-dung, the horse-dung about the fourth part to the water, and in four months' space, while it was observed, put not forth any leaf, though divers buds at the first, as the other.

408. A Dutch flower that had a bulbous root, was likewise put at the same time all under water, some two or three fingers deep; and within seven days sprouted, and continued long after farther growing. There were also put in, a beet-root, a borage-root, and a radish-root, which had all their leaves cut almost close to the roots; and within six weeks had fair leaves; and so continued till the end of November.

409. Note, that if roots, or peas, or flowers, may be accelerated in their coming and ripening, there is a double profit; the one in the high price that those things bear when they come early; the other in the swiftness of their returns: for in some grounds which are strong, you shall have a radish, &c. come in a month, that in other grounds will not come in two, and so make double returns.

410. Wheat also was put into the water, and came not forth at all; so as it seemeth there must be some strength and bulk in the body put into the water, as it is in roots; for grains, or seeds, the cold of the water will mortify. But casually some wheat lay under the pan, which was somewhat moistened by the suing of the pan; which in six weeks, as aforesaid, looked mouldy to the eye, but it was sprouted forth half a finger's length.

411. It seemeth by these instances of water, that for nourishment the water is almost all in all, and

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412. The housing of plants, I conceive, will both accelerate germination, and bring forth flowers and plants in the colder seasons: and as we house hotcountry plants, as lemons, oranges, myrtles, to save them; so we may house our own country plants, to forward them, and make them come in the cold seasons; in such sort, that you may have violets, strawberries, peas, all winter: so that you sow or remove them at fit times. This experiment is to be referred unto the comforting of the spirit of the plant by warmth, as well as housing their boughs, &c. So then the means to accelerate germination, are in particular eight, in general three.

Experiments in consort touching the putting back or retardation of germination.

413. To make roses, or other flowers come late, it is an experiment of pleasure. For the ancients esteemed much of the rosa sera. And indeed the November rose is the sweetest, having been less exhaled by the sun. The means are these. First, the cutting off their tops immediately after they have done bearing; and then they will come again the same year about November: but they will not come just on the tops where they were cut, but out of those shoots which were, as it were, water boughs. The cause is, for that the sap, which otherwise would have fed the top, though after bearing, will, by the discharge of that, divert unto the side sprouts; and they will come to bear, but later.

414. The second is the pulling off the buds of the rose, when they are newly knotted; for then the side branches will bear. The cause is the same with the former; for cutting off the tops, and pulling off the buds, work the same effect, in retention of the sap for a time, and diversion of it to the sprouts that were not so forward.

415. The third is the cutting off some few of the top boughs in the spring time, but suffering the lower boughs to grow on. The cause is, for that the boughs do help to draw up the sap more strongly ; and we see that in polling of trees, many do use to leave a bough or two on the top, to help to draw up the sap. And it is reported also, that if you graft upon the bough of a tree, and cut off some of the old boughs, the new cions will perish.

416. The fourth is by laying the roots bare about Christmas some days. The cause is plain, for that it doth arrest the sap from going upwards for a time; which arrest is afterwards released by the covering of the root again with earth; and then the sap getteth up, but later.

417. The fifth is the removing of the tree some month before it buddeth. The cause is, for that some time will be required after the remove for the re-settling, before it can draw the juice; and that

time being lost, the blossom must needs come forth their trees to keep them upright; but after a year's later.

418. The sixth is the grafting of roses in May, which commonly gardeners do not till July; and then they bear not till the next year; but if you graft them in May, they will bear the same year, but late.

419. The seventh is the girding of the body of the tree about with some pack-thread; for that also in a degree restraineth the sap, and maketh it come up more late and more slowly.

420. The eighth is the planting of them in a shade, or in a hedge; the cause is, partly the keeping out of the sun, which hasteneth the sap to rise; and partly the robbing them of nourishment by the stuff in the hedge. These means may be practised upon other, both trees and flowers, mutatis mutandis. 421. Men have entertained a conceit that showeth prettily; namely, that if you graft a late-coming fruit upon a stock of a fruit-tree that cometh early, the graft will bear early; as a peach upon a cherry; and contrariwise, if an early-coming fruit upon a stock of a fruit-tree that cometh late, the graft will bear fruit late; as a cherry upon a peach. But these are but imaginations, and untrue. The cause is, for that the cion overruleth the stock quite : and the stock is but passive only, and giveth aliment, but no motion to the graft.

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rooting, then shaking doth the tree good, by loosening of the earth, and, perhaps, by exercising, as it were, and stirring the sap of the tree.

424. Generally the cutting away of boughs and suckers at the root and body doth make trees grow high; and contrariwise, the polling and cutting of the top maketh them grow spread and bushy. As we see in pollards, &c.

425. It is reported, that to make hasty-growing coppice woods, the way is, to take willow, sallow, poplar, alder, of some seven years' growth; and to set them, not upright, but aslope, a reasonable depth under the ground; and then instead of one root they will put forth many, and so carry more shoots upon a stem.

426. When you would have many new roots of fruit trees, take a low tree and bow it, and lay all its branches aflat upon the ground, and cast earth upon them; and every twig will take root. And this is a very profitable experiment for costly trees, for the boughs will make stocks without charge; such as are apricots, peaches, almonds, cornelians, mulberries, figs, &c. The like is continually practised with vines, roses, musk-roses, &c.

427. From May to July you may take off the bark of any bough, being of the bigness of three or four inches, and cover the bare place, somewhat above and below, with loam well tempered with

Experiments in consort touching the melioration of horse-dung, binding it fast down. Then cut off the

fruits, trees, and plants.

We will speak now, how to make fruits, flowers, and roots larger, in more plenty, and sweeter than they use to be; and how to make the trees themselves more tall, more spread, and more hasty and sudden than they use to be. Wherein there is no doubt but the former experiments of acceleration will serve much to these purposes. And again, that these experiments, which we shall now set down, do serve also for acceleration, because both effects proceed from the increase of vigour in the tree; but yet to avoid confusion, and because some of the means are more proper for the one effect, and some for the other, we will handle them apart.

422. It is an assured experience, that a heap of flint or stone, laid about the bottom of a wild tree, as an oak, elm, ash, &c.; upon the first planting, doth make it prosper double as much as without it. The cause is, for that it retaineth the moisture which falleth at any time upon the tree, and suffereth it not to be exhaled by the sun. Again, it keepeth the tree warm from cold blasts, and frosts, as it were in a house. It may be also there is somewhat in the keeping of it steady at the first. Query, If laying of straw some height about the body of a tree, will not make the tree forwards. For though the root giveth the sap, yet it is the body that draweth it. But you must note, that if you lay stones about the stalk of lettuce, or other plants that are more soft, it will over-moisten the roots, so as the worms will eat them.

423. A tree, at the first setting, should not be shaken, until it hath taken root fully and therefore some have put two little forks about the bottom of

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bough about Allhollontide in the bare place, and set it in the ground; and it will grow to be a fair tree in one year. The cause may be, for that the baring from the bark keepeth the sap from descending towards winter, and so holdeth it in the bough; and it may be also that the loam and horse-dung applied to the bare place do moisten it, and cherish it, and make it more apt to put forth the root. Note, that this may be a general means for keeping up the sap of trees in their boughs; which may serve to other effects.

428. It hath been practised in trees that show fair and bear not, to bore a hole through the heart of the tree, and thereupon it will bear. Which may be, for that the tree before had too much repletion, and was oppressed with its own sap; for repletion is an enemy to generation.

429. It hath been practised in trees that do not bear, to cleave two or three of the chief roots, and to put into the cleft a small pebble, which may keep it open, and then it will bear. The cause may be, for that a root of a tree may be, as it were, hide-bound, no less than the body of the tree; but it will not keep open without somewhat put into it.

430. It is usually practised, to set trees that require much sun upon walls against the south; as apricots, peaches, plums, vines, figs, and the like. It hath a double commodity: the one, the heat of the wall by reflexion; the other, the taking away of the shade; for when a tree groweth round, the upper boughs overshadow the lower; but when it is spread upon a wall, the sun cometh alike upon the upper and the lower branches.

438. If panicum be laid below and about the bottom of a root, it will cause the root to grow to an excessive bigness. The cause is, for that being itself of a spongy substance, it draweth the moisture of the earth to it, and so feedeth the root. This is of greatest use for onions, turnips, parsnips, and carrots.

431. It hath also been practised by some, to pull | tread down any loose ground after they have sown off some leaves from the trees so spread, that the sun onions, or turnips, &c. may come upon the bough and fruit the better. There hath been practised also a curiosity, to set a tree upon the north side of a wall, and at a little height to draw it through the wall, and spread it upon the south side: conceiving that the root and lower part of the stock should enjoy the freshness of the shade; and the upper boughs, and fruit, the comfort of the sun. But it sorted not; the cause is, for that the root requireth some comfort from the sun, though under earth, as well as the body; and the lower part of the body more than the upper, as we see in compassing a tree below with straw.

432. The lowness of the bough where the fruit cometh, maketh the fruit greater, and to ripen better; for you shall ever see, in apricots, peaches, or melocotones upon a wall, the greatest fruits towards the bottom. And in France, the grapes that make the wine, grow upon low vines bound to small stakes; and the raised vines in arbours make but verjuice. It is true, that in Italy and other countries where they have hotter sun, they raise them upon elms and trees; but I conceive, that if the French manner of planting low were brought in use there, their wines would be stronger and sweeter. But it is more chargeable in respect of the props. It were good to try whether a tree grafted somewhat near the ground, and the lower boughs only maintained, and the higher continually pruned off, would not make a larger fruit.

433. To have fruit in great plenty, the way is to graft not only upon young stocks, but upon divers boughs of an old tree; for they will bear great numbers of fruit: whereas if you graft but upon one stock, the tree can bear but few.

434. The digging yearly about the roots of trees, which is a great means both to the acceleration and melioration of fruits, is practised in nothing but in vines which if it were transferred unto other trees and shrubs, as roses, &c. I conceive would advance them likewise.

435. It hath been known, that a fruit tree hath been blown up, almost, by the roots, and set up again, and the next year bear exceedingly. The cause of this was nothing but the loosening of the earth, which comforteth any tree, and is fit to be practised more than it is in fruit-trees: for trees cannot be so fitly removed into new grounds, as flowers and herbs may.

436. To revive an old tree, the digging of it about the roots, and applying new mould to the roots, is the way. We see also that draught oxen put into fresh pasture gather new and tender flesh; and in all things better nourishment than hath been used doth help to renew; especially if it be not only better, but changed and differing from the former.

437. If an herb be cut off from the roots in the beginning of winter, and then the earth be trodden and beaten down hard with the foot and spade, the roots will become of very great magnitude in sumThe reason is, for that the moisture being forbidden to come up in the plant, stayeth longer in the root, and dilateth it. And gardeners use to

mer.

439. The shifting of ground is a means to better the tree and fruit; but with this caution, that all things do prosper best when they are advanced to the better: your nursery of stocks ought to be in a more barren ground than the ground is whereunto you remove them. So all graziers prefer their cattle from meaner pastures to better. We see also, that hardness in youth lengtheneth life, because it leaveth a cherishing to the better of the body in age: nay, in exercises, it is good to begin with the hardest, as dancing in thick shoes, &c.

440. It hath been observed, that hacking of trees in their bark, both downright and across, so as you may make them rather in slices than in continued hacks, doth great good to trees; and especially delivereth them from being hide-bound, and killeth their moss.

441. Shade to some plants conduceth to make them large and prosperous, more than sun; as in strawberries and bays, &c. Therefore among straw

berries sow here and there some borage seed; and you shall find the strawberries under those leaves far more large than their fellows. And bays you must plant to the north, or defend them from the sun by a hedge-row; and when you sow the berries, weed not the borders for the first half year; for the weed giveth them shade.

442. To increase the crops of plants, there would be considered not only the increasing the lust of the earth, or of the plant, but the saving also of that which is spilt. So they have lately made a trial to set wheat; which nevertheless hath been left off, because of the trouble and pains: yet so much is true, that there is much saved by the setting, in comparison of that which is sown; both by keeping it from being picked up by birds, and by avoiding the shallow lying of it, whereby much that is sown taketh no root.

443. It is prescribed by some of the ancients, that you take small trees, upon which figs or other fruit grow, being yet unripe, and cover the trees in the middle of autumn with dung until the spring; and then take them up in a warm day, and replant them in good ground; and by that means the former year's tree will be ripe, as by a new birth, when other trees of the same kind do but blossom. But this seemeth to have no great probability.

444. It is reported, that if you take nitre, and mingle it with water, to the thickness of honey, and therewith anoint the bud after the vine is cut, it will sprout forth within eight days. The cause is like to be, if the experiment be true, the opening of the bud and of the parts contiguous, by the spirit of the nitre; for nitre is, as it were, the life, of vegetables.

445. Take seed, or kernels of apples, pears, oranges; or a peach, or a plum-stone, &c. and put them into a squill, which is like a great onion, and they will come up much earlier than in the earth itself. This I conceive to be as a kind of grafting in the root; for as the stock of a graft yieldeth better prepared nourishment to the graft, than the crude earth; so the squill doth the like to the seed. And I suppose the same would be done, by putting kernels into a turnip, or the like: save that the squill is more vigorous and hot. It may be tried also, with putting onion seed into an onion head, which thereby, perhaps, will bring forth a larger and earlier onion.

446. The pricking of a fruit in several places, when it is almost at its bigness, and before it ripeneth, hath been practised with success, to ripen the fruit more suddenly. We see the example of the biting of wasps or worms upon fruit, whereby it manifestly ripeneth the sooner.

447. It is reported, that alga marina, sea-weed, put under the roots of coleworts, and, perhaps, of other plants, will farther their growth. The virtue, no doubt, hath relation to salt, which is a great help to fertility.

448. It hath been practised, to cut off the stalks of cucumbers, immediately after their bearing, close by the earth; and then to cast a pretty quantity of earth upon the plant that remaineth, and they will bear the next year fruit long before the ordinary time. The cause may be, for that the sap goeth down the sooner, and is not spent in the stalk or leaf which remaineth after the fruit. Where note, that the dying in the winter of the roots of plants that are annual, seemeth to be partly caused by the over expense of the sap into stalk and leaves; which being prevented they will super-annuate, if they

warm.

449. The pulling off many of the blossoms from a fruit-tree doth make the fruit fairer. The cause is manifest; for that the sap hath the less to nourish. And it is a common experience, that if you do not pull off some blossoms the first time a tree bloometh, it will blossom itself to death.

450. It were good to try, what would be the effect, if all the blossoms were pulled from a fruittree; or the acorns and chestnut-buds, &c. from a wild tree, for two years together. I suppose that the tree will either put forth the third year bigger and more plentiful fruit; or else the same years, larger leaves, because of the sap stored up.

451. It hath been generally received that a plant watered with warm water, will come up sooner and better, than with cold water or with showers. But our experiment of watering wheat with warm water, as hath been said, succeeded not; which may be, because the trial was too late in the year, viz. in the end of October. For the cold then coming upon the seed, after it was made more tender by the warm water, might check it.

452. There is no doubt, but that grafting, for the most part, doth meliorate the fruit. The cause is manifest; for that the nourishment is better prepared in the stock, than in the crude earth: but yet

note well, that there be some trees that are said to come up more happily from the kernel than from the graft; as the peach and melocotone. The cause I suppose to be, for that those plants require a nourishment of great moisture: and though the nourishment of the stock be finer and better prepared, yet it is not so moist and plentiful as the nourishment of the earth. And indeed we see those fruits are very cold fruits in their nature.

453. It hath been received, that a smaller pear grafted upon a stock that beareth a greater pear, will become great. But I think it is as true as that of the prime fruit upon the late stock; and e converso; which we rejected before; for the cion will govern. Nevertheless, it is probable enough, that if you can get a cion to grow upon a stock of another kind, that is much moister than its own stock, it may make the fruit greater, because it will yield more plentiful nourishment; though it is like it will make the fruit baser. But generally the grafting is upon a drier stock; as the apple upon a crab; the pear upon a thorn, &c. Yet it is reported, that in the Low Countries they will graft an apple cion upon the stock of a colewort, and it will bear a great flaggy apple; the kernel of which, if it be set, will be a colewort, and not an apple. It were good to try whether an apple cion will prosper, if it be grafted upon a sallow, or upon a poplar, or upon an alder, or upon an elm, or upon a horse-plum, which are the moistest of trees. I have heard that it hath been tried upon an elm, and succeeded.

454. It is manifest by experience, that flowers removed wax greater, because the nourishment is more easily come by in the loose earth. It may be, that oft regrafting of the same cion may likewise make fruit greater; as if you take a cion, and graft it upon a stock the first year; and then cut it off, and graft it upon another stock the second year; and so for a third or fourth year; and then let it rest, it will yield afterward, when it beareth, the greater fruit.

Of grafting there are many experiments worth the noting, but those we reserve to a proper place.

455. It maketh figs better, if a fig-tree, when it beginneth to put forth leaves, have his top cut off. The cause is plain, for that the sap hath the less to feed, and the less way to mount but it may be the fig will come somewhat later, as was formerly touched. The same may be tried likewise in other

trees.

456. It is reported, that mulberries will be fairer, and the trees more fruitful, if you bore the trunk of the tree through in several places, and thrust into the places bored wedges of some hot trees, as turpentine, mastic-tree, guaiacum, juniper, &c. The cause may be, for that adventive heat doth cheer up the native juice of the tree.

457. It is reported, that trees will grow greater, and bear better fruit, if you put salt, or lees of wine, or blood to the root. The cause may be the increasing the lust or spirit of the root; these things being more forcible than ordinary composts.

458. It is reported by one of the ancients, that artichokes will be less prickly, and more tender,

if the seeds have their tops dulled, or grated off! upon a stone.

459. Herbs will be tenderer and fairer, if you take them out of beds, when they are newly come up, and remove them into pots with better earth. The remove from bed to bed was spoken of before; but that was in several years; this is upon the sudden. The cause is the same with other removes formerly mentioned.

460. Coleworts are reported by one of the ancients to prosper exceedingly, and to be better tasted, if they be sometimes watered with salt water; and much more with water mixed with nitre; the spirit of which is less adurent than salt.

461. It is reported that cucumbers will prove more tender and dainty, if their seeds be steeped a little in milk; the cause may be, for that the seed being mollified with the milk, will be too weak to draw the grosser juice of the earth, but only the finer. The same experiment may be made in artichokes and other seeds, when you would take away either their flashiness or bitterness. They speak also, that the like effect followeth of steeping in water mixed with honey; but that seemeth to me not so probable, because honey hath too quick a spirit. 462. It is reported, that cucumbers will be less watery, and more melon-like, if in the pit where you set them, you fill it, half-way up, with chaff or small sticks, and then pour earth upon them; for cucumbers, as it seemeth, do extremely affect moisture, and over-drink themselves; which the chaff or chips forbiddeth. Nay, it is farther reported, that if, when a cucumber is grown, you set a pot of water about five or six inches distance from it, it will, in twenty-four hours, shoot so much out as to touch the pot; which, if it be true, is an experiment of a higher nature than belongeth to this title for it discovereth perception in plants, to move towards that which should help and comfort them, though it be at a distance. The ancient tradition of the vine is far more strange; it is, that if you set a stake or prop at some distance from it, it will grow that way; which is far stranger, as is said, than the other for that water may work by a sympathy of attraction; but this of the stake seemeth to be a reasonable discourse.

465. The ancients for the dulcorating of fruit do commend swine's dung above all other dung; which may be because of the moisture of that beast, whereby the excrement hath less acrimony; for we see swine's and pig's flesh is the moistest of fleshes.

466. It is observed by some, that all herbs wax sweeter, both in smell and taste, if after they be grown up some reasonable time, they be cut, and so you take the latter sprout. The cause may be, for that the longer the juice stayeth in the root and stalk, the better it concocteth. For one of the chief causes why grains, seeds, and fruits, are more nourishing than leaves, is the length of time in which they grow to maturation. It were not amiss to keep back the sap of herbs, or the like, by some fit means, till the end of summer; whereby, it may be, they will be more nourishing.

467. As grafting doth generally advance and meliorate fruits, above that which they would be if they were set of kernels or stones, in regard the nourishment is better concocted; so, no doubt, even in grafting, for the same cause, the choice of the stock doth much; always provided, that it be somewhat inferior to the cion; for otherwise it dulleth it. They commend much the grafting of pears or apples upon a quince.

468. Besides the means of melioration of fruits before-mentioned, it is set down as tried, that a mixture of bran and swine's dung, or chaff and swine's dung, especially laid up together for a month to rot, is a very great nourisher and comforter to a fruit-tree.

469. It is delivered, that onions wax greater if they be taken out of the earth, and laid a drying twenty days, and then set again; and yet more, if the outermost pill be taken off all over.

470. It is delivered by some, that if one take the bough of a low fruit-tree newly budded, and draw it gently, without hurting it, into an earthen pot perforate at the bottom to let in the plant, and then cover the pot with earth, it will yield a very large fruit within the ground. Which experiment is nothing but potting of plants without removing, and leaving the fruit in the earth. The like, they say, will be effected by an empty pot without earth in it put over a fruit, being propped up with a stake, as it hangeth upon the tree; and the better, if some few pertusions be made in the pot. Wherein, be

463. It hath been touched before, that terebration of trees doth make them prosper better. But it is found also, that it maketh the fruit sweeter and bet-sides the defending of the fruit from extremity of ter. The cause is, for that, notwithstanding the terebration, they may receive aliment sufficient, and yet no more than they can well turn and digest: and withal do sweat out the coarsest and unprofitablest juice; even as it is in living creatures, which by moderate feeding, and exercise, and sweat, attain the soundest habit of body.

464. As terebration doth meliorate fruit, so upon the like reason doth letting of plants blood; as pricking vines, or other trees, after they be of some growth; and thereby letting forth gum or tears; though this be not to continue, as it is in terebration, but at some seasons. And it is reported, that by this artifice bitter almonds have been turned into sweet.

sun or weather, some give a reason, that the fruit loving and coveting the open air and sun, is invited by those pertusions to spread and approach as near the open air as it can; and so enlargeth in magnitude.

471. All trees in high and sandy grounds are to be set deep; and in watery grounds more shallow. And in all trees, when they be removed, especially fruit-trees, care ought to be taken, that the sides of the trees be coasted, north and south, &c. as they stood before. The same is said also of stone out of the quarry, to make it more durable; though that seemeth to have less reason; because the stone licth not so near the sun, as the tree groweth.

472. Timber trees in a coppice wood do grow

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