7. SYLVA _ 1664 Keynes 40-46

Source: an original copy of the first edition (Keynes 40) in the present editor's possession. Formerly the property of one Abel Ragg in 1724, and afterwards Harvey Ralph Goring Clarke, Harry Lawrence Bradfer-Lawrence, and George Goyder.

Timber and the Royal Society

In 1662 the Commissioners of the Navy addressed a series of inquiries about the management of woodland to the Royal Society. The former importance of timber is easy to forget. In the seventeenth century it was the single most important natural resource after food, as it had been for centuries. As fuel and as a building material it was depended on by all sections of the community.

More importantly the nation's defence relied on the availability of timber. A third rate, 74-gun, ship of the line could take up to 3800 trees which meant about 75 acres of woodland. Dockyards like Chatham and Deptford were vast ship-building factories which consumed wood. The timber, mostly oak, had to be seasoned and stored before it could be used. As the necessary trees took the best part of a century to replace sensible forestry management was essential. Felling more than was being grown was potentially disastrous. Unfortunately during the Interregnum the destruction of landed estates, royal forests and other woodland in search of quick profits had created a potential crisis for the restored monarchy. With intense commercial rivalry on the high seas from the Dutch it was essential to rebuild timber stocks.

On 17 September 1662 Sir Robert Moray, member and sometime president presented the inquiries to the Royal Society. Evelyn was one of the authorities to whom they were referred. The others were Dr Jonathan Goddard, John Winthrop and Christopher Merret, all mentioned in Sylva. Evelyn's job was to synthesize all the findings and present them which he did on 15 October 1662:

I this day delivered my Discourse concerning Forest-trees to our Society upon occasion of certain Queries sent us by the Commissioners of his Majesties Navy: being the first Booke that was Printed by Order of the Society, & their Printer, since it was a Corporation:

The publication of Sylva

Evelyn spent the year or so preparing the text for submission to the printers. The order for printing was given by the Council of the Society on 18 March 1663. His own dedication to the King is dated 29 May 1663 but it was not until 2 November that the printers to the Society, John Martyn and James Allestry, had been appointed. As late as December the text of Sylva and the other material which had now been appended, including Pomona and Kalendarium Hortense went back to the Council for approval. On 3 February 1664 William Brouncker, president of the Royal Society, gave the go-ahead for printing to commence and on 10 February Evelyn noted in his Diary 'To Lond: my Sylva being now in the presse.' This was probably the day on which he drew up the Errata sheet for the end of the book.

On 16 February Evelyn presented the book to the Royal Society. He probably handed out signed presentation copies to his friends either now or in the few days following. On the 17th he noted that he gave copies to the King, Clarendon (Lord Chancellor) and Southampton (Lord High Treasurer). Several have survived, for example those given to Sir Edmund Bowyer and the family doctor Jasper Needham.

As a book Sylva is remarkably well-documented from start to finish. This makes it unusual and adds to its intrinsic interest. Rather more than a thousand copies were produced and many of these survive. It is not exceptionally rare though it commands a high price, particularly where a presentation copy signed by the author is concerned.

The book as published was folio sized and consisted of Sylva proper, followed by Pomona, or an Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees, in relation to Cider, the Making and several ways of Ordering it, to which several discourses on cider by other authorities were appended, and Kalendarium Hortense. Pomona never appeared on its own but was invariably included in later editions of Sylva. The Kalendarium however had an independent value and it eventually appeared in a variety of independent editions, as well as with Sylva.

The writing of Sylva and Evelyn's reputation

To his descendants Evelyn was known simply as 'Sylva', so much was his reputation based on the book. For its author Sylva represented the focus of his emotional interest in the natural world. He saw himself as 'wood-born' amongst the trees of Surrey which surrounded the family estate at Wotton. At his own Sayes Court laying out the gardens with its avenues of trees was one of his earliest activities as a young landowner. They became a noted sight of the road to Kent.

The book was considered a great success. Ten days after publication Evelyn recorded proudly in his diary that he had, at Court, 'greate thanks from him [Charles II]' for the book. The King thanked him again on 28 October, being impressed by the book's usefulness and quality of design and printing. Within five years a second edition was felt to be necessary and on 8 December 1669 Evelyn presented this to the Royal Society. Somewhat more lavish the book was now taking on the appearance of a substantial treatise rather than that of an extended tract. Engravings were added and general embellishments to the text such as a poem in Greek by the author's son, and dedicated to his father, virtually doubled its length. The works appended to the first edition remained.

Evelyn confidently claimed in the dedication to the King that the first edition had already been responsible for the planting of millions of new trees. Even if this was an exaggeration it was certainly widely felt in court and influential circles that Evelyn had played a great part in the restoration of forest management. A few weeks later Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, wrote to Evelyn:

Welbeck, February 1670

Honourable Sir,

I have by your bounty received a book, named a Discourse of Forest Trees: you have planted a forest full of delight and profit, and though it is large through number and variety, yet you have enclosed it with elegancy and eloquence, all which proves you more proper to be the head than a member of the Royal Society. The truth is, you are a person of singular virtues, for which all ought, as I do, admire you; and am your humble servant.

Within a decade a third edition was called for and this appeared in 1679. The new version added Evelyn's son's translation of the poem Nemus by Rapinus, Cowley's The Garden and Evelyn's book about soil, A Discourse of Earth, now re-titled Terra, a Philosophical Essay of Earth, being a Lecture in Course. It had appeared on its own in 1676 and though a logical addition its insertion has the effect of making the book look ponderous and padded. The overall title Sylva was becoming a convenient catch-all for an anthology of Evelyn's writings concerned with cultivation. In this respect it was acting as a substitute for his Elysium Britannicum, his magnum opus on gardening which remained unpublished at his death.

An interesting and appropriate example of a dedication copy of this edition has survived. Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield, one of E's oldest friends, was created Lord Justice of Eyre (the court circuit) in royal forests south of the Trent from 1679-85. Evelyn gave him a copy of the 1679 edition of Sylva bearing the inscription 'For the Rigt: Honble The Earle of Chesterfield Lord Justice of Eire & of all his Maties Woods & Forests in ye Kingdome of England: from his most humble Servant JEvelyn.'

After another ten years had passed Evelyn believed that the book needed to be made available again. He wrote to his friend Anne Spencer, Countess of Sunderland on 4 August 1690 about his literary activities, including:

My Sylva, which book, infinitely beyond my expectation, is now also calling for a fourth impression, and has been the occasion of propagating many millions of useful timber-trees throughout this nation, as I may justify (without immodesty) from the many letters of acknowledgement received from gentlemen of the first quality, and others altogether strangers to me. His late Majesty Charles the Second, was sometimes graciously pleased to take notice of it to me, and that I had by that book alone incited a world of planters to repair their broken estates and woods, which the greedy rebels had wasted and made such havoc of ...

It is not certain what Evelyn's evidence was for this remarkable achievement but despite the demand the fourth edition did not appear until 1706. By 1690 Evelyn was seventy years old and in his closing years he seems to have found it hard to finish off his plans. He was engaged in the production of Numismata, a book on coins and medals which was not only a new departure for him but a complicated work to prepare because of its numerous engravings. His correspondence from this period also shows that he was having financial problems due to taxes, debts, and the cost of his daughter Susanna's wedding. In early 1697 the projected fourth edition was still some way off. He wrote to Richard Bentley on 20 January 1697 to say that William Wotton had offered his assistance with correcting the text from the third edition. Evelyn says that the printers were anxious for the new text and that he had 'promised some considerable improvements to it.' It is interesting that Evelyn makes a specific point about 'looking over the typographical and other faults escaped in the last impression' in view of the observations made above about some remarkable errors identified in the first edition.

Evelyn also became distracted by the need to administer the estate at Wotton after his brother's death in 1699 and was concerned with the education of his grandson who remained the only male heir of the Wotton branch of the family. References to a hurricane which took place on 26 November 1703 show that Evelyn was still working on the text in the last years of his life.

The 1706 edition, with the title spelling now changed to Silva, contained a new section called Dendrologia. This went beyond the information about tree-planting and rearing contained in the earlier editions to explore in detail the spiritual, philosophical, and social role played by trees in human society. The basic idea had already been explored in previous editions - some material and quotations, for example, appear in the first edition's 'To the Reader'.

Evelyn died in February 1706. The new Silva appeared later that year followed in 1707 by a second edition of his translation of Fréart's A Parallel of the Antient Architecture appeared. Dates on Evelyn's appended paper An Account of Architects and Architecture show that this had been revised by 1697. It is certain that either Evelyn's wife or grandson, John, later Sir John, Evelyn saw the new editions through the press.

The fourth edition was not greatly larger than the third but it contained Acetaria, a component of the unpublished Elysium along with that work's draft contents sheet. Moreover it featured a beautiful engraving of the author, taken from a drawing made in Paris in 1651 by Robert Nanteuil. The result is a handsome and imposing book but like the third and second the economy and practicality of the original has been absorbed into a substantial and overwhelming anthology.

In 1729 a fifth edition was issued. It was the same as the fourth but was reset and repaginated, and lacks one of the internal illustrations and the engraving of Evelyn. It was the last of the series written and revised by Evelyn alone. Nevertheless the book's reputation was so well-established as a 'standard' that it was considered worthy of subsequent revision and re-issue. Alexander Hunter, a doctor of medicine but with wide-ranging interests and a fellow of the Royal Society, revised the text, added his own interpolations and notes and produced a book which went to several further editions (1776, 1786, 1801, 1812, and 1825). They included a remarkably inaccurate engraving of Evelyn by Francesco Bartolozzi taken from the 1689 portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller. These later editions were embellished with illustrative plates. Hunter, however, was in awe of his author's venerable reputation and made no serious attempt to trace, correct, or elaborate Evelyn's innumerable references. Nevertheless he was forced to concede rather dramatically that 'of all the books in the English language, there are, perhaps none so incorrect as the last two editions of the Silva [1706, 1729]' but stated that he had 'in all places preserved the author's own words, excepting where the sense was obscured by an impropriety of expression.'

In the end the final editions of Silva had moved a long way from the original. By 1825 though the book had finally outlived its usefulness, at least from a publisher's point of view, and it did not appear again until facsimiles were issued in recent times. In the Miscellaneous Writings (which did not include Sylva) William Upcott observed 'It was a work of love ... It is a storehouse of curious facts and anecdotes relating to trees; and though the reader may sometimes smile at the amusing superstition of the writer, he will more frequently have occasion to admire his fervent strain of piety.' Despite this praise, and the frequent mention of Sylva in any reference to Evelyn no modern, annotated, edition has ever appeared.

The structure of the 1664 edition

Evelyn was a perfect choice as someone commissioned to produce a synthesis of answers to the Navy Commissioners' inquiries. His strengths lay in his enthusiasm and industry, and his love of books and writing. Evelyn loved assembling books. The process of writing notes, and drafting contents and text gave him great pleasure. His papers are filled with loose sheets planning sections of text, and with unpublished texts of other works. His fondness for annotation and alteration make it something of a miracle that anything was ever published at all.

Sylva was commissioned with a tone of urgency. Its purpose was clear: to draw together as much pertinent information about cultivating trees as quickly as possible. With such a clear brief and with Evelyn constrained by the circumstances both of the book's inception and the duty to synthesize the material researched by others the book is simply, but competently, structured. The product was a reliable and comparatively taut handbook, one of the earliest serious reference books cast in a mould which set the standard for later books on a variety of subjects. Although Upcott accused its author of being prone to occasional superstition this is, in fact, very rare. Instead the text generally concentrates on the hard practicalities of the problem. It is a measure of its competence that it remains of use today.

After the usual dedicatory preambles Evelyn outlines the problems faced by a lack of managed timber and the importance of rectifying this. He then moves to discussing individual trees, chapter by chapter, starting with the most important, the oak. In each case he outlines the use of the wood, its problems and how to cultivate the species. After these specific sections he moves on to discuss more general problems like pruning, when to fell, and how to season. The book closes with a review of past legislation and his recommendations for the future.

To a modern reader the book is, at first sight, archaic, obscure, and intimidating. This is largely because of Evelyn's use of terms which are now obsolete and his habit of continually reinforcing his points by including passages from Latin or Greek authors, or making oblique references to mythological events. This is a characteristic of all Evelyn's writings but in Sylva his extraordinary (to our eyes) familiarity with classical texts can sometimes appear overwhelming. To an educated contemporary reader none of this would have presented problems. His language would not have appeared especially obscure to people with a similar background to his own, and it was these people he aimed the book at: educated, wealthy landed men. In particular the use of classical quotations or references was a kind of lingua franca at the time. It was a stylistic convention in which a point could be made or described. The references served as adjectives or qualifications. The reader would ideally be as familiar with classical authors as the writer. Simply referring to an incident in Ovid's Metamorphoses would be enough and no further elaboration required. Generally, and fortunately for us, Evelyn normally makes his point in greater detail. However this can make him appear long-winded and the classical reference superfluous.

The important point is that when these obsolete terms are provided with modern meanings, and references expanded or translated, the book ceases to be cryptic and becomes once more what it was intended to be, and was: a reasonably coherent and straightforward reference book. Having said that Evelyn evidently discovered that the market for the book went way beyond 'Gentlemen, and Persons of Quality.' Finding that 'ordinary Rustics, (meer Foresters and Wood-men)' thought the book of use he was obliged in later editions to supply a glossary of terms so that there would be no 'prejudice to the meaner Capacities.' Many of the Latin and Greek quotations were replaced with Evelyn's English verse translations and the original text confined to notes.

It is a matter of some interest that many of the quotations or references given have turned out to be different from modern editions in some way. This is discussed in more detail in 'Notes about the Texts' (above, pages 25-30). The points made there apply to all of Evelyn's writings in some way but it is in Sylva that we can see his pattern of research most closely. Perhaps the most intriguing are the errors on pages 219 and 287.

Whatever the reasons were for the errors the quotations illustrate one method of book assembly in the seventeenth century, based on a well-established pattern seen in the works of other authors such as the Essays of Montaigne. Sylva is essentially an anthology of associated classical quotations concerning wood and trees in general, connected by Evelyn's prose with all its baggage of anecdotes, advice, and digressions. The quotations were utilised as considered appropriate whether they originated in myth in verse form, or in practical information contained in a treatise. In the latter case it is Pliny the Elder's Book XVI of his Natural History which is Evelyn's model for Sylva. Like Pliny Evelyn was happy to use any apparently relevant information and one can imagine Sylva being written from notes made as Pliny made his. Pliny the Elder apparently got up during the night to read and make notes. During the day he had books read to him while he made notes, and even had books read during meals and baths. His nephew expressed amazement that the older man's public duties, which ought to have presented insurmountable obstacles to anyone intent on studying, appeared to have made no difference. The parallel with Evelyn is noticeable: the 1660s were his most prolific phase of writing but also his busiest with respect to public duties. Moreover a characteristic of Pliny the Elder's writings is his frequently uncritical accumulation of material, a habit shared by Evelyn. Sylva undoubtedly resembles the Natural History in this respect where Evelyn shows his partiality for cataloguing information, almost regardless of its source.

The Text

The first edition, published in 1664, is transcribed here in full apart from Pomona, an appendix on fruit-trees. The text has been set in a manner which emulates the original but the use of italicisation for emphasis has been discarded. Paragraphing is the original. Evelyn numbered most of his paragraphs within chapters which makes cross-referencing easy. These have been reproduced here exactly as the original even in the cases where the consecutive numbering occasionally omits one number, in order to avoid confusion when comparing the text with an original edition. Evelyn's own errata notes, albeit limited, have been incorporated.

Meanings for terms which are either obsolete or unlikely to be readily familiar to a modern reader are, unlike the other works in this selection, listed only in the accompanying glossary. This is because many of the terms appear on numerous occasions due to Sylva's length.

Where translations of the classical quotations are given in the notes these are, almost without exception Evelyn's own, and have been taken from the 4th edition of 1706 where they replaced the Latin and Greek in the text.

S Y L V A,

Or A DISCOURSE Of

FOREST-TREES,

AND THE

Propagation of Timber

In His MAJESTIES Dominions, &c.

By J.E. Esq;

As it was Deliver'd in the ROYAL SOCIETY the xvth of

October, MDCLXII. upon Occasion of certain Quæries

Propounded to that Illustrious Assembly, by the Honorable the Principal

Officers, and Commissioners of the Navy.

To which is annexed

POMONA; Or, An Appendix concerning Fruit-Trees in relation to CIDER;

The Making and several ways of Ordering it.

Published by express Order of the ROYAL SOCIETY.

ALSO

KALENDARIUM HORTENSE; Or, Gard'ners Almanac;

Directing what he is to do Monethly throughout the Year

_________Tibi res antiquæ laudis & artis

Ingredior, tantos ausus recludere fonteis

. Virg. Georg. II.175

LONDON, Printed by Jo. Martyn, and Ja. Allestry, Printers to the Royal

Society

, and are to be sold at the Shop at the Bell in S. Paul's Church-yard,

M D C L X I V.

TO THE

KINGS Most Sacred MAJESTY

Charles the Second.

For To whom, Sir, with more equal right ought I to Present this Publique Fruit of your ROYAL SOCIETY, then to its Royal FOUNDER? and this Discourse of Trees, then to your Sacred Majesty, tanquam NEMORUM VINDICI? As of old they pay'd their Devotions HERCULI & SYLVANO; since You are our _o _òs, Nemorensis Rex, as having once your Temple, and Court too under that Holy-Oak which you Consecrated with your Presence, and We celebrate with just Acknowledgement to God for your Preservation.

But your Majesty has yet another Title to this Work, and to all it pretends to; as having (like another Cyrus) by your own Royal Example, exceeded all your Predecessors in the Plantations which you have already made, and now design, beyond (I dare affirm it) all the Monarchs of this Nation since the Conquest of it. And indeed, what is there more August, more worthy of your Majesty, or more becoming our Imitation? then whilst you are thus solicitous for our Instruction, we pursue your Majesties great Example with that Veneration which is due to it? and by cultivating our decaying Woods, contribute to your Power, as to our greatest Wealth and Safety; since, whiles your Majesty is furnish'd to send forth those Argos, and Trojan Horses, about this your Island, we are to fear nothing from without it; and whilest We remain obedient to your Commands and great Example, nothing from within it; For, as no Jewel in your Majesties resplendent Crown can render you so much Lustre and Glory as your regards to Navigation; so, nor can any thing impeach your Navigation, and the Reputation of That, while you continue thus careful of your Woods and Forests. I shall add no more Sir to This, then to supplicate your Majesties gracious Acceptance of my Obedience to the Commands of your SOCIETY, who impos'd this Province on,

SIR,

Your Majesties ever Loyal,

Sayes-Court most Obedient, and Faithful

May 29. Subject, and Servant

1663.

J. EVELYN.

By the Council of the ROYAL SOCI-

ETY of London for Improving of

Natural Knowledge.

Ordered, That the Book, written by John Evelyn Esq;

Fellow of this Society, Entituled

SYLVA; Or a Discourse of Forest-Trees, and the

Propagation of Timber in his Majesties Dominions: To

which is annexed POMONA; Or an Appendix concern-

ing Fruit-Trees in relation to Cider, the Making and se-

veral ways of Ordering it, be printed by John Martyn

and James Allestry, Printers to the said Society.

Dat' die 30 Mens. BROUNCKER, P.R.S.

Febr. Anno

1 6 6 3/4.

Amico charissimo Johanni Evelyno Armigero,

è Societate Regali Londini. J. Beale, S.P.D.

In Sylvam.

Fare age quid causæ est quod tu Sylvestria pangis,

Inter Sylvanos, capripedésque Deos?

Inter Hamadryadas lætus, Dryadásque pudicas,

Cum tua Cyrrhæeis sit Chelys apta modis!

Scilicet hoc cecinit numerosus Horatius olim,

Scriptorum Sylvam quòd Chorus Omnis amat.

Est locus ille Sacer Musis, & Apolline dignus,

Primus dedit Summo Templa Sacranda Jovi.

Hinc quoque nunc Pontem Pontus non respuit ingens,

Stringitur Oceanus, corripitùrque Salum.

Hinc novus Hesperiis emersit mundus in oris, Gen.I.c.2.

Effuditque auri flumina larga probi.

Hinc exundavit distento Copia cornu,

Qualem & Amalthææ non habuere sinus.

Sylva tibi curæ est, grata & Pomona refundit

Auriferum, roseum, purpureúmque nemus.

Illa famémque sitimque abigens expirat odores,

Quales nec Medus, nec tibi mittit Arabs.

Ambrosiam præbent modò cocta Cydonia, Tantum

Comprime, Nectareo poma liquore fluunt.

Progredere, O S_cli Cultor memorande futuri,

Felix Horticolam sic imitere Deum.

TO THE

R E A D E R

After what the Frontispiece and Porch of what this Wooden Edifice presents you, I shall need no farther to repeat the Occasion of this following Discourse: I am only to acquaint you, That as it was deliver'd to the ROYAL SOCIETY by an unworthy Member thereof, in obedience to their Commands, by the same it is now publish'd without any further Prospect. And the Reader is to know, That if these dry sticks afford him any Sap, it is one of the least and meanest of those Pieces which are every day produc'd by that Illustrious Assembly, and which enrich their Collections, as so many Monuments of their accurate Experiments, and Publique Endeavours, in order to the production of real and useful Theories, the Propagation of Natural Science, and the honour of their Institution. If to this there be any thing subjoyn'd here, which may a while bespeak the patience of the Reader, it is only for the Encouragement of an Industry, and worthy Labour, too much in our days neglected, as haply esteem'd a consideration of too sordid and vulgar a nature for Noble Persons and Gentlemen to busie themselves withal, and who oftner find ways to fell down and destroy their Trees and Plantations, then either to repair or improve them.

But what shall I then say of our late prodigious Spoilers, whose furious devastation of so many goodly Woods and Forests have left an infamy on their Names and Memories not quickly to be forgotten! I mean our unhappy Usurpers, and injurious Sequestrators; Not here to mention the deplorable necessities of a Gallant and Loyal Gentry, who for their Compositions were (many of them) compell'd to add yet to this Waste, by an inhumane and unparallel'd Tyranny over them, to preserve the poor remainder of their Fortunes, and to find them Bread.

Nor was it here they desisted, when, after the fate of that beautiful Grove under Green-wich Castle, the Royal Walk of Elms in St James's Park,

That living Gallery of aged Trees

(as our excellent Poet calls it) was once proposing to the late Council of State to be cut down and sold, that with the rest of His Majesties Houses already demolish'd, and mark'd out for destruction, His Trees might likewise undergo the same destine, and no footsteps of Monarchy remain unviolated. This is a Truth; which coming by chance to hear of, I so conjur'd a powerful Member of it (and one who was to strike a principal stroake in this barbarous Execution) that if my Authority did not rescue those Trees from the Ax, sure I am, my Arguments did abate the edge of it; nor do I ever pass under that Majestical shade but methinks I hear it salute me as once the Hamadryad did the good Rinaldo,

Ben caro giungi in queste chiostre amene.

Questa selva, che dianzi era si negra,

Vedi che tutto al tuo venir s'allegre,

E'n più leggiadre forme è revestita.

It is from hence you may calculate what were the Designs of those excellent Reformers, and the care these great States-men took for the preservation of their Countrey, when being Parties in the Booty themselves, they gave way to so dishonourable and impolitic a waste of that Material, which being left intire, or husbanded with discretion, had prov'd the best support and defence of it. But this (say they) was the effect of War, and in the heighth of our Contentions. No, it was a late and cold deliberation, and long after all had been subdu'd to them; nor could the most implacable of Enemies have expres'd a more barbarous Resolution.

We read of the great Xerxes, that passing Conquerour through Achaia, he would not suffer his Army to violate so much as a Tree of his Adversaries; it being observ'd by the Ancients, that the Gods did never permit him to escape unpunish'd who was injurious to Groves, tanquam sacros ex vetustate: What became of Agamemnons Host after his spoil of the Woods at Aulis? Histories tell us Cleomenes died mad; the Tamassaean Genius became proverbial; and the Mighty Caesar himself carried ('tis thought) the malediction of the incensed Gauls to his Funeral Pile, for the havock he committed at Massilia, when he fell'd down those goodly Oaks before the face of the suppliant Priests, and the cursing People:

__________ Quis enim læsos impune putaret

Esse Deos?

But lest this be charg'd with Superstition, because the Instances are heathen; It was a more noble and remarkable, as well as recent Example, when at the Siege of Breda, the late famous General Spinola commanded his Army not to violate a Tree of Wood belonging to the Prince of Orange there, though a reputed Traytor, and in open defiance with his Master. To be short, we read, That when Mithridates but deliberated about the cutting down of some stately Trees which grew neer Patara, a City of Lycia, though necessitated to it for the building of Warlike Engines with them, being terrified in a Vision, he desisted from his purpose. It were to be wished These, or the like Examples, might have wrought some Effects upon the sacrilegious Purchasers, and disloyal Invaders, in this Iron-age amongst us, who have lately made so prodigious a spoil of those goodly Forests, Woods, and Trees (to satisfie an impious and unworthy Avarice) which being once the Treasure and Ornament of this Nation, were doubtless reserv'd by our more prudent Ancestors for the repairs of our floating Castles, the safeguard and boast of this renouned Island, when Necessity, or some imminent Peril should threaten it, or call for their Assistance; and not to be devour'd by these Improvident Wretches, who, to their eternal Reproach, did (with the Royal Patrimony) swallow likewise Gods own Inheritance; but whose Sons and Nephews we have liv'd to see as hastily disgorge them again; and with it all the rest of their Purchases, which otherwise they might securely have enjoy'd: But this in terrorem only, and for caution to Posterity; whiles I leave the Guilty to their proper Scorpions, and to their Erisichthonian fate, or that of the inexorable Paræbius,

Prosternit Quercum funestam quam sibi Nympha

Pignoribusque suis fecit

_______

the vengeance of the Dryads, and to their Tutelar better Genius, if any yet remain, who love the solid Honour and Ornament of their Country: For what could I say less, _s, and Wood-born as I am, in behalf of those sacred Shades, which both grace our Dwellings, and protect our Nation?

But to turn this just indignation into Prayers, and address my self to our better-natur'd Country-men: May such Woods as do yet remain intire be carefully Preserv'd, and such as are destroy'd, sedulously Repair'd. It is what every Person who is Owner of Land may contribute to, and with infinite delight, who are touch'd with that laudable Ambition of imitating their most illustrious Ancestors, whose Names we find mingl'd amongst Kings and Philosophers, Patriots and good Commonwealths-Men: For such were of old Solomon, Cyrus, and Numa; Licinius sir-named Stolo, Cato, and Cincinnatus; the Pisoes, Fabii, Cicero, Plinies, and a thousand more whom I could ennumerate, that disdain'd not to exercise themselves in these Rusticities, as esteeming it the greatest accession of Honour to dignifie their lasting Names with such Rural marks as have consecrated their Memories, and transmitted them to us through so many Ages and Vicissitudes of the World.

Let none therefore repute this Industry beneath him, or as the least indignity to the rest of his Qualities, which so great Persons have honour'd and cultivated with that affection and ingenuity.

The famous Answer which Cyrus gave to Lysander will sufficiently justifie that which I have said, and what I farther recommend to such Gentlemen as resolve to be Planters, viz. That they do not easily commit themselves to the sole Distastes of their ignorant Hinds and Servants, who are (generally speaking) more fit to Learn then to Instruct. Male agitur cum Domine quem Villicus docet, was an Observation of old Cato's; and 'twas Ischomachus who told Socrates (discoursing one day upon a like subject) That it was far easier to Make then to Find a good Husband-man: I have often prov'd it so in Gard'ners; and I believe it will hold in most of our Country Employments: We are to exact Labour, not Conduct and Reason, from the greatest part of them; and the business of Planting is an Art or Science (for so Varro has solemnly defin'd it) and That exceedingly wide of Truth, which (it seems) many in his time accounted of it; facillimam esse, nec ullius acuminis Rusticationem, an easie and insipid Study. It was the simple Culture only, with so much difficulty retriv'd from the late confusion of an intestine and bloody War like Ours, and now put in Reputation again, which made the noble Poet write

_______ Verbis ea vincere magnum

Quam sit, & angustis hunc addere rebus honorem.

Seeing, as the Orator does himself express it, Nihil est homine libero dignius; There is nothing more becoming and worthy of a Gentleman.

And thus you have in part what I had to produce in extentuation of this my Adventure, that Animated with a Command, and Assisted by divers Worthy Persons (whose Names I am prone to celebrate with all just Respects) I have presumed to cast in my Symbol; and which, with the rest that are to follow, may (I hope) be in some degree serviceable to him (who e're the happy Person be) which shall oblige the World with that compleat Systeme of Agriculture, which as yet seems a desiderate, and wanting its perfection. It is (I assure you) what is one of the Principal Designs of the ROYAL SOCIETY, not in this Particular only, but through all the Liberal and more useful Arts; and for which (in the estimation of all equal Judges) it will merit the greatest of Encouragements; that so at last what the Learned Columella has wittily reproach'd, and complain'd of, as a defect in that Age of his, concerning Agriculture in general, and is applicable here, may attain its desired Remedy and Consummation in This of Ours.

Sola enim Res Rustica, quae sine dubitatione proxima, & quasi consanguinea Sapientiae est, tam dicentibus egeat, quam magistris: Adhuc in Scholis Rhetorum, & Geometrarum, Musicorumque; Vel quod magis mirandum est, contemptissimorum vitiorum officinas, gulosius condiendi cibos, & luxuriosius fercula struendi, capitumque & capillorum concinnatores non solum esse audivi, sed & ipse vidi; Agricolationis neque Doctores qui se profiterentur, neque Discipulos cognovi.

But this I leave for our Gallants to Interpret, and should now apply my self to the Directive Part, which I am all this while bespeaking, if after what I have said in the several Paragraphs of the ensuing Discourse upon the Argument of Wood, it might not seem superfluous to have præmised any thing here for the Encouragement of so becoming an Industry: Let me be permitted to say, There is sufficient for Instruction, and more then is extant in any Collection whatsoever (absit verbo invidia) upon this subject; abstracting things Practicable, of solid use, and material, from the Ostentation and impertinences of Writers; who receiving all that came to hand on trust, to swell on their monstrous Volumes, have hitherto impos'd upon the credulous World, without conscience or honesty. I will not exasperate the Adorers of our ancient and late Naturalists, by repeating of what our Verulam has justly pronounc'd concerning their Rhapsodies (because I likewise honour their painful Endeavours, and am oblig'd to them for much of that I know) nor will I (wth some) reproach Pliny, Porta, Cardan, Mizaldus, Cursius, and many others of great Names (whose Writings I have diligently consulted) for the Knowledg they have imparted to me on this Occasion; but I must deplore the time which is (for the most part) so miserably lost in pursuit of their Speculations, where they treat upon this Argument: But the World is now advis'd, and (blessed be God) infinitely redeem'd from that base and servile submission of our noblest Faculties to their blind Traditions. This, you will be apt to say, is a haughty Period; but whiles I affirm it of the Past, it justifies and does honor to the Present Industry of our Age, and of which there cannot be a greater and more emulous Instance, then the Passion of His Majesty to encourage His Subjects in all that is laudable and truly emolumental of this nature.

It is not therefore that I here presume to instruct Him in the management of that great and august Enterprise of resolving to Plant and repair His ample Forests, and other Magazines of Timber, for the benefit of His Royal Navy, and the glory of His Kingdoms; but to present to His Sacred Person, and to the World, what Advises I have received from others, observed my self, and most Industriously Collected from a studious propensity to serve as one of the least Intelligences in the ampler Orb of our Illustrious Society, and in a Work so Important and Necessary.

J. E.

S Y L V A:

Jo. Evelyn, Fil.

Amico charissimo Johanni Evelyno Armigero,

è Societate Regali Londini. J. Beale, S.P.D.

In Sylvam.

Fare age quid causæ est quod tu Sylvestria pangis,

Inter Sylvanos, capripedésque Deos?

Inter Hamadryadas lætus, Dryadásque pudicas,

Cum tua Cyrrhæis sit Chelys apta modis!

Scilicet hoc cecinit numerosus Horatius olim,

Scriptorum Sylvam quòd Chorus Omnis amat.

Est locus ille Sacer Musis, & Apolline dignus,

Prima dedit Summo Templa Sacranda Jovi.

Hinc quoque nunc Pontem Pontus non respuit ingens,

Stringitur Oceanus, corripitúrque Salum.

Hinc novus Hesperiis emersit mundus in oris,

Effuditque auri flumina larga probi.

Hinc exundavit distento Copia cornu,

Qualem & Amalthææ non habuere sinus.

Sylva tibi curæ est, grata & Pomona refundit

Auriferum, roseum, purpureùmque nemus.

Illa famémque, sitímque abigens expirat odores,

Quales nec Medus, nec tibi mittit Arabs.

Ambrosiam præbent modò cocta Cydonia, Tantum

Comprime, Nectareo poma liquore fluunt.

Progredere, O S_cli Cultor memorande futuri,

Felix Horticolam sic imitere Deum.

A T A B L E Of the C H A P T E R S.

CHAP Pag.

Introduction 197

I Of the Seed. 200

2 Of the Seminary. 202

3 Of the Oak. 204

4 Of the Elm. 214

5 Of the Beech. 218

6 Of the Ash. 220

7 Of the Chess-nut. 222

8 Of the Wall-nut. 224

9 Of the Service. 226

10 Of the Maple. 228

11 Of the Sycamore. 228

12 Of the Horn-beam. 229

13 Of the Lime-tree. 230

14 Of the Quick-beam. 231

15 Of the Birch. 232

16 Of the Hasel. 234

17 Of the Poplar. 235

18 Of the Alder. 237

19 Of the Withy, Sally, Ozier, and Willow. 239

20 Of Fences, Quick-sets, &c. 245

21 Of the Fir, Pine, Pinaster, Pitch-tree, &c. 253

22 Of the Larch, Platanus, Lotus, &c. 259

23 Of the Cypress-tree, and Cedar. 260

24 Of the Cork, Alaternus, Phillyrea,

Granad, Myrtil, Jasmine, &c. 265

25 Of the Acacia, Arbutus, Bays, Box, Eugh

Holly, Juniper, and Laurel-trees. 267

26 Of the Infirmities of Trees. 273

27 Of Copses. 276

28 Of Pruning. 278

29 Of the Age, Stature, and Felling of Trees. 284

30 Of Timber, the Seasoning and Uses; of Fuel. 302

31 Aphorisms, or certain general Præcepts,

of use to the foregoing Chapters. 315

32 Of the Laws and Statutes for the

Preservation and Improvement of Woods, &c. 317

The Parænesis, and Conclusion. 322

SYLVA:

OR, A

DISCOURSE OF

Forest-Trees,

AND

The Propagation of Timber in His MAJESTIES

Dominions, &c.

Tuque ades, inceptumque una decurre laborem,

O decus, ô famæ meritò pars maxima nostræ,

CAROLIDE, pelagóq; volans da vela petenti,

Da facilem cursum, atque audacibus annue c_ptis,

Ignavósque viæ mecum miseratus agrestes,

Ingredere, et votis iam nunc assuesce vocari.

The Introduction.

I. Since there is nothing which seems more fatally to threaten a Weakning, if not a Dissolution of the strength and of this famous and flourishing Nation, then the sensible and notorious decay of her Wooden-walls, when either through time, negligence, or other accident, the present Navy shall be worn out and impair'd; it has been a very worthy and seasonable Advertisement in the Honourable the principal Officers and Commissioners, what they have lately suggested to this Illustrious Society, for the timely prevention and redress of this intollerable defect. For it has not been the late increase of Shipping alone, the multiplication of Glass-works, Iron-Furnaces, and the like, from whence this im-politick diminution of our Timber has proceeded; but from the disproportionate spreading of Tillage, caused through that prodigious havock made by such as lately professing themselves against Root and Branch (either to be re-imbours'd of their holy purchases, or for some other sordid respect) were tempted, not only to fell and cut down, but utterly to grub up, demolish, and raze, as it were, all those many goodly Woods, and Forests, which our more prudent Ancestors left standing, for the Ornament, and service of their Country. And this devastation is now become so Epidemical, that unless some favourable expedient offer it self, and a way be seriously, and speedily resolv'd upon, for the future repair of this important defect, one of the most glorious, and considerable Bulwarks of this Nation, will, within a short time be totally wanting to it.

2. To attend now a spontaneous supply of these decay'd Materials (which is the vulgar, and natural way) would cost (besides the Inclosure) some entire Ages repose of the Plow: Therefore the most expeditious, and obvious Method, would (doubtless) be by one of these two ways, Sowing, or Planting. But, first, it will be requisite to agree upon the Species; as what Trees are likely to be of greatest Use, and the fittest to be cultivated; and then, to consider of the Manner how it may best be effected. Truly, the waste, and destruction of our Woods, has been so universal, that I conceive nothing less then an universal Plantation of all the sorts of Trees will supply, and well encounter the defect; and therefore, I shall here adventure to speak something in general of them all; though I chiefly insist on the propagation of such only as seem to be the most wanting, and serviceable.

3. I distribute them, therefore, into these two Classes, the Dry, and the Aquatic; both of them applicable to the same civil uses of Building, Utensils, Ornament and Fuel; for to dip into their Medicinal virtues is none of my Province.

Among the dry, I esteem the more principal, and solid to be the Oak, Elme, Beech, Ash, Chess-nut, Wall-nut, &c. The less principal, the Service, Maple, Lime-tree, Horn-beam, Quick-beam; Birch, Hasel, &c. together with all their sub-alternate, and several kinds.

Sed neque quam multæ species, nec nomina quæ sint

Est numerus

,

Of the Aquatical, I reckon the Poplars, Asp, Alder, Willow, Sallow, Osier, &c. Then I shall add a word or two, for the encouragement of the planting of Fruit-trees, together with some less vulgar, but no less useful Trees, which, as yet are not endenizon'd amongst us, or (at least) not much taken notice of: And in pursuance hereof, I shall observe this order: First, to shew how they are to be Raised, and then to be Cultivated: By Raising, I understand the Seed and the Soil; by Culture the Planting, Fencing, Watering, Dressing, Pruning and Cutting; of all which briefly.

And first for their Raising, some there are

_______________ nullis hominum cogentibus, ipsæ

Sponte sua veniunt

________ Specifying according to the various disposition of the Air, and Soil.

Pars autem posito surgunt de semine. As the Oak, Chess-nut, Ash, &c.

Pullulat ab radice aliis densissima Sylva. As the Elme, Alder, &c. and there are others

Nil radicis egent ________ Growing without any such Roots; as Willows, and all the Vimineous kinds, which are raised of Sets only.

Hos natura modos primum dedit ____ For thus we see there are more ways to the Wood then one; and Nature has furnish'd us with variety of expedients.

4. But it has been stifly controverted by some, whether were better to raise Trees for Timber, and the like uses, from their Seeds and first Rudiments; or to Transplant such as we find have either rais'd themselves from their Seeds, or spring from the Mother-roots. Now, that to produce them immediately of the Seed is the better way, these Reasons may seem to evince.

First, because they take soonest. Secondly, because they make the straightest, and most uniform shoot. Thirdly, because they will neither require Staking, nor watering (which are two very considerable Articles) and lastly, for that all transplanting (though it much improve Fruit-trees) unless they are taken up the first Year, or two, is a considerable impediment to the growth of Forest-trees. And, though it be true that divers of those which are found in Woods, especially Oaklings, young Beeches, Ash, and some others, spring from the self-sown mast and keys; yet, being for the most part dropp'd, and disseminated amongst the half-rotten sticks, musty leaves, and per-plexities of the mother-roots, they grow scraggy; and being over-dripp'd become squalid and mossie, which checks their growth, and causes them to dwindle:

Crescentique adimunt f_tus, uruntque ferentum.

Nor can their roots expand, and spread themselves as they would do if they if they were sown, or had been planted in a more open, free, and ingenuous Soil. And that this is so, I do affirm upon Experience, that an Acorn sown by hand in a Nursery, or ground where it may be free from these encumbrances, shall in two or three Years out-strip a Plant of twice that age, which has either been self-sown in the Woods, or removed; unless it fortune, by some favourable accident, to have been scatter'd into a more natural, penetrable, and better qualified place: But this disproportion is yet infinitely more remarkable in the Pine, and the Wall-nut-tree, where the Nut set into the ground shall certainly overtake a Tree of ten years growth which was planted at the same instant; and this is a Secret so generally mis-represented by most of those who have treated of these sort of Trees, that I could not suffer it to pass over without a particular remark; so as the noble Poet (with pardon for receding from so venerable Authority) was certainly mistaken, when he delivers this observation as universal, to the prejudice of Sowing, and raising Woods from their Rudiments:

Iam quæ seminibus iactis se sustulit arbos

Tarda venit; seris factura nepotibus umbram.

CHAP. I.

Of the Seed.

I. But to commence with the Method propos'd: Chuse your Seed of that which is perfectly mature, ponderous and sound; commonly that which is easily shaken from the boughs, or gathered about November, immediately upon its spontaneous fall, is best, and does (for the most part) direct to the proper season of interring, &c. according to the Institution of Nature her self:

Nam specimen sationis, & insitionis origo

Ipsa fuit rerum primum natura creatrix:

Arboribus quoniam baccæ, glandesque caducæ

Tempestiva dabant pullorum examina subter, &c

.

Yet this is to be consider'd, that if the place you sow in be too cold for an Autumnal semination, your Acorns, Mast, and other Seeds may be prepared for the Vernal by being barrell'd, or potted up in moist Sand or Earth stratum S.S. during the Winter; at the expiration whereof you will find them sprouted; and being committed to the Earth, as apt to take as if they had been sown with the most early: by this means, too, they have escaped the Vermine (which are prodigious devourers of Winter sowing) and will not be much concern'd with the increasing heat of the Season, as such as being crude, and unfermented are newly sown in the beginning of the Spring; especially in hot and loose Grounds; being already in so fair a progress by this artificial preparation; and which (if the provision to be made be very great) may be thus manag'd. Chuse a fit piece of Ground, with boards (if it have not that position of it self) design it three foot high; lay the first foot in fine Earth, another of Seeds, Acorns, Mast, Keys, Nuts, Haws, Holly-berries, &c. promiscuously, or separate, with (now, and then) a little Mould sprinkled amongst them: The third foot wholly Earth: Of these preparatory Magazines make as many, and as much larger-ones as will serve your turn, continuing it from time to time as your store is brought in. The same may you also do by burying your Seeds in Sand, Barrelling them (as I said) in Tubs, or laid in heaps in some deep Cellar where the rigour of the Winter may least prejudice them; and I have fill'd old Hampers, Bee-hives, and Boxes with them, and found the like advantage, which is to have them ready for your Seminary, as before hath been shew'd, and exceedingly prevent the season.

2. But to pursue this to some further Advantage; as to what concerns the election of your Seed, It is to be consider'd, that there is vast difference in Trees even of the same growth and bed, which I judge to proceed from the variety and quality of the Seed: This, for instance, is evidently seen in the heart, procerity and stature of Timber; and therefore chuse not your Seeds always from the most Fruitful-trees, which are commonly the most Aged, and decayed; but from such as are found most solid and fair: Nor, for this reason, covet the largest Acorns, &c. (but as Husband-men do their Wheat) the most weighty, clean and bright: This Observation we deduce from Fruit-trees, which we seldom find to bear so kindly, and plentifully, from a sound stock, smooth Rind, and firm Wood, as from a rough, lax, and untoward Tree, which is rather prone to spend it self in Fruit, the ultimate effort, and final endeavour of its most delicate Sap, then in solid and close substance to encrease the Timber. And this shall suffice, though some haply might here recommend to us a more accurate Microscopical examen, to interpret their most secret Schematismes, which were an over nicity for these great Plantations.

3. As concerning the medicating, and insuccation of Seeds, or enforcing the Earth by rich and generous Composts, &c. for Trees of these kinds, I am no great favourer of it; not only, because the charge would much discourage the Work; but for that we find it unnecessary, and for most of our Forest-trees, noxious; since even where the Ground is too fertile, they thrive not so well; and if a Mould be not proper for one sort it may be fit for another: Yet I would not (by this) hinder any from the trial, what advance such Experiments will produce: In the mean time, for the simple Imbibition of some Seeds and Kernels, when they prove extraordinarily dry, and as the Season may fall out, it might not be amiss to macerate them in Milk, or Water only, a little impregnated with Cow-dung, &c. during the space of twenty four hours, to give them a spirit to sprout, and chet the sooner; especially, if you have been retarded in your sowing without our former preparation.

4. Being thus provided with Seeds of all kinds, I would advise to raise Woods by sowing them apart, in several places destin'd for their growth, where the Mould being prepar'd (as I shall shew hereafter) and so qualified (if election may be made) as best to suit with the nature of the Species, they may be sown promiscuously, which is the most natural and Rural; or in straight and even lines, for Hedge-rows, Avenues, and Walks, which is the more Ornamental: But because some may chuse rather to draw them out of Nurseries; that the Culture is not much different, for the hinderance considerable (provided they be early, and carefully Removed) I will finish what I have to say concerning these Trees in the Seminary, and shew how they are there to be Raised, Transplanted, and Govern'd till they can shift for themselves.

CHAP. II

Of the Seminary.

Qui Vineam, vel Arbustum constituere volet, Seminaria prius facere debebit

, was the precept of Columella, l. 3.c. 5. speaking of Vineyards and Fruit-trees: and, doubtless, we cannot pursue a better Course for the propagation of Timber-trees: For though it seem but a trivial design that one should make a Nursery of Foresters; yet is it not to be imagin'd, without the experience of it, what prodigious Numbers a very small spot of Ground well Cultivated, and destin'd for this purpose would, be able to furnish towards the sending forth of yearly Colonies into all the naked quarters of a Lordship, or Demeasnes; being with a pleasant Industry liberally distributed amongst the Tenants, and dispos'd of about the Hedge-rows, and other Waste, and uncultivated places, for Timber, Shelter, Fuel, and Ornament, to an incredible Advantage. This being a cheap, and laudable Work, of so much pleasure in the execution, and so certain profit in the event; to be but once well done (for, as I affirm'd, a very small Nursery will in a few Years people a vast extent of Ground) hath made me sometimes in admiration at the universal negligence.

2. Having therefore made choice of some fit place of Ground, well Fenced, respecting the South-east, rather than the full South, and well protected from the North and West; let it be Broken up the Winter before you sow, to mellow it, especially if it be a Clay, and then the furrow would be made deeper; or so, at least, as you would prepare it for Wheat: Or you may Trench it with the Spade, by which means it will the easier be cleaned of whatsoever may obstruct the putting forth, and insinuating of the tender Roots: Then having given it a second Stirring, immediately before you sow, cast, and dispose it into Rills, or small narrow Trenches of four, or five inches deep, and in even lines, at two foot interval, for the more commodious Runcation, Hawing, and dressing the Trees: Into these Furrows (for a Conseminea Sylva) throw your Oak, Beech, Ash, Nuts, all the Glandiferous Seeds, Mast, and Key-bearing kinds, so as they lye not too thick, and then cover them very well with a Rake, or fine tooth'd Harrow, as they do for Pease: Or, to be more accurate, you may set them as they do Beans (especially, the Nuts and Acorns) and that every Species by themselves, which is the better way: This is to be done at the latter end of October, for the Autumnal sowing; and in the lighter ground, about February for, the Vernal.

3. Your Plants beginning now to peep should be earthed up, and comforted a little; especially, after breaking of the greater Frosts, and when the swelling mould is apt to spue them forth; but when they are about an inch above the ground you may, in a moist season, draw them up where they are too thick, and set them immediately in other lines, or Beds prepared for them; or you may plant them in double fosses, where they may abide for good and all, and to remain till they are of a competent stature to be Transplanted; where they should be set at such distances as their several kinds require; but if you draw them only for the thinning of your Seminary, prick them into some empty Beds at one foot interval, leaving the rest at two or three.

4. When your Seedlings have stood thus till June, bestow a half digging upon them, and scatter a little mungy, half rotten Litter, Fearn, Bean-hame, or old Leaves, among them, to preserve the Roots from scorching, and to entertain the moisture; and then in March following (by which time it will be quite consum'd and very mellow) you shall chop it all into the earth, and mingle it together: Continue this process for two or three years successively, and then (or before, if the stature of your young Impes invite) you may plant them forth, carefully taking up their Roots, and cutting the Stem within an inch of the ground (if the kind, of which hereafter, suffer the knife) set them where they are to continue: Some repeat this, the second Year, and after March (the Moon decreasing) re-cut them at half a foot from the surface; and then meddle with them no more: but this (if the process be not more severe then needs) must be done with a very sharp Instrument, and with care, lest you violate, and unsettle the Root; which is likewise to be practis'd upon all those which you did not Transplant, unless you find them very thriving Trees; and then it shall suffice, to prune off the Branches, and spare the Tops; for this does not only greatly establish your Plants, by diverting the Sap to the Roots; but likewise frees them from the injury and concussions of the Winds, and makes them to produce handsome, straight shoots, infinitely preferable to such as are abandon'd to Nature, and Accident, without this Discipline: By this means the Oak will become excellent Timber, shooting into straight and single stems: The Chess-nut, Ash, &c. multiply into Poles, which you may reduce to standards at pleasure.

5. The Author of the Natural History, Pliny, tells it was a vulgar Tradition, in his time, that no Tree should be Removed under two years old, or above three: Cato would have none Transplanted less then five fingers in diametre; but I have shew'd why we are not to attend so long, for such as we raise of Seedlings: In the interim, if these directions appear too busie, or operose, or that the Plantation you intend be very ample, a more Compendious method will be, the confused sowing of Acorns, &c. in Furrows, two foot asunder, covered at three fingers depth, and so for three years cleansed, and the first Winter cover'd with fearn, without any further culture, unless you Transplant them; but, as I shewed before, in Nurseries they would be cut an inch from the Ground, and then let stand till March the second year, when it shall be sufficient to disbranch them to one only shoot; whether you suffer them to stand, or remove them elsewhere. But to make an Essay what Seed is most agreeable to the Soil, you may by the thriving of a promiscuous Semination make a judgement of it, Transplanting those which you find least agreeing with the place; or else, by Copsing the starvling in the places where they are new sown, cause them sometimes to overtake even their untouch't contemporaries. But I now proceed to particulars.

CHAP. III.

Of the Oak.

I. I have sometimes consider'd it very seriously, what should move Pliny to make a whole Chapter of one only Line, which is less then the Argument of most of the rest in his huge Volumn: but the weightiness of the matter does worthily excuse him, who is not wont to spare his Words, or his Reader. Glandiferi maxime generis omnes, quibus honos apud Romanos perpetuus. "Mast-bearing trees were they principally which the Romans held in chiefest reputation", li.6 cap. 3. And in the following where he treats of Chaplets, and the dignity of the Civic's Coronet, it might be compos'd of the Leaves or Branches of any Oak, provided it were a bearing Tree, and had Acorns upon it. It is for the esteem which these wise, and glorious people, had of this Tree above all others, that I will first begin with the Oak.

2. The Oak is of four kinds; two of which are most common with us; the Quercus urbana, which grows more up-right, and being clean, and lighter is fittest for Timber: And the Robur or Quercus Sylvestris, which is of an hard, black grain, bearing a smaller Acorn, and affecting to spread in branches, and to put forth his Roots more above ground; and therefore in the planting, to be allowed a greater distance; viz. from twenty five, to forty foot; whereas the other shooting up more erect will be contented with fifteen: This farther kind is to be distinguish'd by his fullness of leaves, which tarnish, and becoming yellow at the fall, do commonly clothe it all the Winter, the Roots growing very deep and stragling. The Author of Britannia Baconica speaks of an Oak, in Lanhadron Park in Cornwall, which bears constantly leaves speckl'd with White; and of another call'd the Painted-oak, which I only mention here, that the variety may be compar'd by some ingenious person thereabouts, as well as the truth of the fatal præ-admonition of Oaks bearing strange leaves, &c.

3. It is in the mean time the propagation of this large spreading Oak, which is especially recommended for the excellency of the Timber, and that his Majesties Forests were well and plentifully stor'd with them; because they require room, and space to amplifie and expand themselves, and would therefore be planted at more remote distances, and free from all encumbrances: And this upon consideration how slowly a full-grown Oak mounts upwards, and how speedily they spread, and dilate themselves to all quarters, by dressing and due culture; so as above forty years advance is to be gain'd by this only Industry: And, if thus his Majesties Forests, and Chases, were stor'd; viz. with this spreading Tree at handsome Intervals, by which Grazing might be improv'd for the feeding of Deer and Cattel under them, benignly visited with the gleams of the Sun, and adorn'd with the distant Landskips appearing through the glades, and frequent Vallies

Cærula distinguens inter plaga currere posset

Per tumulos, & convalles, camposque profusa:

Ut nunc esse vides vario distincta lepore

Omnia, quæ pomis intersita dulcibus ornant

Arbustisque tenent felicibus obsita circum.

As the Poet incomparably describes his Olive-groves,

______________________________ betwixt

Whose rows the azure Skie is seen immix'd,

With Hillocks, Vales, and Fields, as now you see

Distinguish'd with a sweet variety;

Such places which wild Apple-trees throughout

Adorn, and happy shrubs grow all about.

(For so we might also sprinkle Fruit-trees amongst them (of which hereafter) for Cider and many singular uses) we should find such goodly Plantations the boast of our Rangers, and Forests infinitely preferrable to any thing we have yet beheld, rude, and neglected as they are: I say, when his Majesty shall proceed (as he hath design'd) to animate this laudable pride into fashion, Forests, and Woods (as well as Fields and Inclosures) will present us with another face then now they do. And here I cannot but applaud the worthy Industry of old Sir Harbotle Grimstone, who (I am told) from a very small Nursery of Acorns which he sow'd in the neglected corners of his ground, did draw forth such numbers of Oaks of competent growth; as being planted about his Fields in even, and uniform rows, about one hundred foot from the Hedges; bush'd, and well water'd till they had sufficiently fix'd themselves, did wonderfully improve both the beauty, and the value of his Demeasnes. But I proceed.

4. Both these kinds would be taken up very young, and Transplanted about October; and though they will grow tolerably in most grounds; yet they do generally affect the sound, black, deep and fast mould, rather warm then over wet and cold, and a little rising; for this produces the firmest Timber; and so our former Naturalist

_________ in montem succedere sylvas

Cogebant.

though my L. Bacon prefer that which grows in the moister grounds for Ship-timber, as the most tough, and less subject to rift: but let us hear Pliny. This is a general Rule, saith he; "Whatever Trees soever they be which grow tolerably either on Hills, or Vallies, arise to greater stature, and spread more amply in the lower ground: But the Timber is far better, and of a finer grain, which grows upon the Mountains: excepting only Apple, and Pear-trees". And in the 39.cap. lib. 16. "The Timber of those Trees which grow in moist and shady places is not so good as that which comes from a more expos'd situation, nor is it so close, substantial and durable"; upon which he much prefers the "Timber growing in Tuscany, before that towards the Venetian side, and upper part of the Gulph": And that Timber so growing was in greatest esteem long before Pliny, we have the spear of Agamemnon

_________ _ _o_ _o. I . from a Tree so expos'd; and Dydimus gives the reason. _ _ _ __ (says he) o os _, _, &c. For that being continually weather-beaten they become hardier and tougher.

5. But to discourage none, Oaks prosper exceedingly in gravel, and moist Clays, which most other Trees abhor; yea, even the coldest clay grounds that will hardly graze: I have read, that there grow Oaks (some of which have contain'd ten loads apiece) out of the very Walls of Silcester in Hantshire, which seem to strike root in the very Stones. It is indeed observ'd, that Oaks which grow in rough, stony grounds, and obstinat clays, are long before they come to any considerable stature; for such places, and all sort of Clay, is held but a step-mother to Trees; but in time they afford the most excellent Timber, having stood long, and got good rooting: The same we may affirm of the lightest sands, which produces a smoother-grain'd Timber, of all other the most useful for the Joyner. What improvement the stirring of the ground about the roots of Oaks is to the Trees I have already hinted; and yet in Copses where they stand warm, and so thickn'd with the under-wood, as this culture cannot be practis'd, they prove in time to be goodly Trees.

6. That the Transplanting of young Oaks gains them ten years Advance some happy persons have affirmed: from this belief, I have desir'd to be excused, and produc'd my Reasons for it: Nor less are they mistaken, who advise us to plant Oaks of a great bigness, which hardly make any considerable progress in an Age: Yet if any be desirous to make trial of it, let their Stems be of the smoothest, and tenderest Bark; for that is ever an indication of youth, as well as the paucity of their Circles, which in disbranching, and cutting the head off, at five or six foot height (a thing, by the way, which the French usually spare when they Transplant this Tree) may (before you stir their Roots) serve for the more certain Guide; and then plant them immediately, with as much Earth as will adhere to them, in the place destin'd for their station; abating only the tap-roots, which is that down-right, and stubby part of the Roots (which all the Trees rais'd of Seeds do universally produce) and quickning some of the rest with a sharp knife (but sparing the Fibrous, which are the main Suckers and Mouths of all Trees) spread them in the foss, or pit which hath been prepar'd to receive them. I say in the foss, unless you will rather trench the whole Field, which is incomparably the best; and infinitely to be preferr'd before narrow pits and holes (as the manner is) in case you plant any number considerable, the Earth being made hereby loose, easier and penetrable for the Roots; about which you are to cast that Mould which (in opening of the Trench) you took from the Surface, and purposely laid apart; because it is sweet, mellow, and better impregnated: But in this Work, be circumspect never to inter your Stem deeper then you found it standing; for profound buryings very frequently destroys a Tree; though an Errour seldom observed: If therefore the Roots be sufficiently cover'd to keep the Body steady and erect, it is enough; and the not minding of this trifling Circumstance does very much deceive our ordinary Wood-men: For most Roots covet the Air (though that of the Quercus urbana least of any:

_________ quod quantam vertice ad auras

Æthereas, tantum radice ad tartara tendit

And the perfection of that does almost as much concern the prosperity of a Tree, as of Man himself; since Homo is but Arbor inversa; which prompts me to this curious but important Advertisement; That the Position be likewise sedulously observed.

7. For, the Southern parts being more dilated, and the pores expos'd (as evidently appears in their Horizontal Sections) by the constant Excentricity of their Hyperbolical Circles; being now on the sudden, and at such a season converted to the North, does sterve, and destroy more Trees (how careful soever men have been in ordering the Roots; and preparing the ground) then any other Accident whatsoever (neglect of staking, and defending from Cattle excepted) the importance whereof caused the best of Poets, and most experienc'd in this Argument, giving advice concerning this Article, to add

Quin etiam C_li regionem in cortice signant,

Ut quo quæque modo steterit, qua parte calores

Austrinos tulerit, quæ terga obverterit axi

Restituant: Adeo in teneris consuescere multum est.

Which Monition, though Pliny, and some others think good to neglect, or esteem Indifferent; I can confirm from these frequent losses of my own, and by particular trials; having sometimes Transplanted great Trees at Mid-somer with success (the Earth adhering to the Roots) and miscarried in others where this Circumstance only was omitted.

To observe therefore the Coast, and side of the stock (especially of Fruit-trees) is not such a trifle as by some pretended: For if the Air be as much the Mother or Nurse, as Water and Earth, (as more then probable it is) such blossoming Plants as court the motion of the Meridian Sun, do as 'twere evidently point out the advantage they receive by their position: And the frequent mossiness of most Trees on the opposite side does sufficiently note the unkindness of that Aspect; and which is most evident in the bark of Oaks, white and smooth; The Trees growing more kindly on the South side of an Hill, then those which are expos'd to the North, with an hard, dark, rougher, and more mossie Integument. I have seen (writes a worthy Friend to me on this occasion) whole Hedge-rows of Apples and Pears that quite perish'd after that shelter was remov'd: The good Husbands expected the contrary, and that the Fruit should improve, as freed from the predations of the Hedge; but use and custom made that shelter necessary; and therefore (saith he) a stock for a time is the weaker, taken out of a Thicket, if it be not well protected from all sudden and fierce invasions either of crude Air or Winds: Nor let any be deterr'd, if being to remove many Trees, he shall esteem it too consumptive of time; for with a Brush dipped in any white colour, or Oaker, a thousand may be marked as they stand, in a moment; and that once done, the difficulty is over. I have been the larger upon these two Remarks, because I find them so material, and yet so much neglected.

8. There are other Rules concerning the situation of Trees; the former Author commending the North-east-wind both for the flourishing of the Tree, and advantage of the Timber; but to my observation, in our Climates, where those sharp winds do rather flanker then fully blow opposite upon our Plantations, they thrive best; and there are as well other Circumstances to be considered, as they respect Rivers and Marshes obnoxious to to unwholsom and poysonous Fogs; Hills, and Seas, which expose them to the weather; and those sylvifragi venti, our cruel, and tedious Western winds; all which I leave to observation, because these accidents do so universally govern, that it is not easie to determine farther then that the Timber is commonly better qualified which hath endur'd the colder Aspects without these prejudices: And hence it is, that Seneca observes Woods most expos'd to the Winds to be the most strong and solid, and that therefore Chiron made Achilles's Spear of a Mountain-tree; and of those the best which grow thin, not much shelter'd from the North. Again, Theophrastus seems to have special regard to places; exemplifying many of Greece, which exceeded others for good Timber, as doubtless do our Oaks in the Forest of Dean all others of England: and much certainly there may reasonably be attributed to these advantages for the growth of Timber, and of almost all other Trees, as we daily see by their general improsperity where the ground is a hot gravel, and a loose earth: An Oak or Elme in such a place shall not in an hundred years overtake one of fifty planted in its proper soil; though next to this, and (haply) before it, I prefer the good Air: But thus they have such vast Junipers in Spain; and the Ashes in some parts of the Levant (as of old neer Troy) so excellent, as it was after mistaken for Cedar, so great was the difference; as now the Cantabrian or Spanish exceeds any we have else in all Europe.

9. But before we take leave of this Paragraph, concerning the Transplanting of great Trees, and to shew what is possible to be effected in this kind, with cost, and industry; Count Maurice (the late Governour of Brasil for the Hollanders) planted a Grove neere his delicious Paradise of Friburge, containing six hundred Coco-trees of eighty years growth, and fifty foot high to the nearest bough: these he wafted upon Floats, and Engines, four long miles, and planted them so luckily, that they bare abundantly the very first year; as Gaspar Barlæus hath related in his elegant Description of that Princes expedition: Nor hath this only succeeded in the Indies alone; Monsieur de Fiat (one of the Marshals of France) hath with huge Oaks done the like at de Fiat: shall I yet bring you neerer home? My Lord Hopton planted Oaks as big as twelve Oxen could draw, to supply some defect in an Avenue to one of his houses in Devonshire; as the Right Honourable Sir Charles Barclay, Treasurer of His Majesties Household, assur'd me; who had himself likewise practis'd the Removing of great Oaks by a particular address extreamly ingenious, and worthy the communication.

10. Chuse a Tree as big as your thigh, remove the earth from about him; cut through all the collateral Roots, till with a competent strength you can enforce him down upon one side, so as to come with your Axe at the tap-root; cut that off, redress your Tree, and so let it stand cover'd about with the mould you loosen'd from it, till the next year, or longer if you think good; then take it up at a fit season; it will likely have drawn new tender Roots apt to take, and sufficient for the Tree, wheresoever you shall transplant him: Pliny notes it as a common thing, to re-establish huge Trees which have been blown down, part of their Roots torn up, and the body prostrate; and, in particular, of a Fir, that when it was to be transplanted had a tap-root which went no less then eight cubits perpendicular; and to these I could superadd, but I proceed. To facilitate the Removal of such monstrous Trees, for the Adornment of some particular place, or the rarity of the Plant, there is this expedient. A little before the hardest Frosts surprize you, make a square Trench about your Tree, at such distance from the Stem as you judge sufficient for the Root; dig this of competent depth, so as almost quite to undermine it; by placing blocks, and quarters of wood, to sustain the Earth; this done, cast in as much Water as may fill the Trench, or at least sufficiently wet it, unless the ground were very moist before. Thus let it stand, till some very hard Frost do bind it firmly to the Roots, and then convey it to the pit prepar'd for its new station; but in case the mould about it be so ponderous as not to be remov'd by an ordinary force; you may then raise it with a Crane or Pully hanging between a Triangle, which is made of three strong and tall Limbs united at the top, where a Pully is fastned, as the Cables are to be under the quarters which bear the earth about the Roots: For by this means you may weigh up, and place the whole weighty Clod upon a Trundle to be convey'd, and Replanted where you please, being let down perpendicularly into the place by the help of the foresaid Engine. And by this Address you may Transplant Trees of a wonderful stature, without the least disorder; and many time without topping, or diminution of the head, which is of great importance where this is to be practis'd to supply a Defect, or remove a Curiosity.

11. Some advise, that in planting of Oaks, &c. four, or five be suffer'd to stand very neer to one another, and then to leave the most prosperous, when they find the rest to disturb his growth; but I conceive it were better to plant them at such distances, as they may least incommode one another: For Timber-trees, I would have none neerer then forty foot where they stand closest; especially of the spreading kind.

12. Lastly, Trees of ordinary stature Transplanted (being first well water'd) must be sufficiently staked, and Bush'd about with thorns, or with some thing better, to protect them from the concussions of the Winds, and from the casual rubbing, and poysonous brutting of Cattle and Sheep, the oyliness of whose Wooll is also very noxious to them; till being well grown, and fixed (which by seven years will be to some competent degree) they shall be able to withstand all accidental invasions, but the Axe; for I am now come to their Pruning and Cutting, in which work the seasons are of main importance.

13. Therefore, if you would propagate Trees for Timber, cut not off their heads at all, nor be too busie with lopping: but if you desire Shade, and Fuel, or bearing of Mast alone, lop of their Tops, sear, and unthriving Branches only; If you intend an out-right felling, expect till November; for this præmature cutting down of Trees before the Sap is perfectly at rest will be to your exceeding prejudice, by reason of the Worm, which will certainly breed in the Timber which is felled before that period: But in case you cut only for the Chimney, you need not be so punctual as to the time; yet for the benefit of what you let stand observe the Moons increase. The Reason of these differences is; because this is the best season for the growth of the Tree which you do not fell, the other for the durableness of the Timber which you do: Now that which is to be burnt is not so material for lasting, as the growth of the Tree is considerable for the Timber.

14. The very stumps of Oak, especially that part which is dry, and above ground being well grubb'd, is many times worth the pains and charge, for sundry rare, and hard works; and where Timber is dear: but this is to be practis'd only where you design a final extirpation; for some have drawn suckers even from an old stub-root; but they certainly perish by the Moss which invades them, and are very subject to grow rotten. Pliny speaks of one Root which took up an entire Acre of Ground; if so, his Argument may hold good, for their growth after the Tree is come to its period.

15. There is not in nature a thing more obnoxious to deceit, then the buying of Trees standing, upon the reputation of their Appearance to the eye, unless the Chapman be extraordinarily judicious; so various are their hidden, and conceal'd Infirmities, till they be fell'd, and sawn out: so as if to any thing applicable, certainly there is nothing which does more perfectly confirm it then the most flourishing out-side of Trees, Fronti nulla fides. A Timber-tree is a Merchant Adventurer, you shall never know what he is worth, till he be dead.

16. Oaks are in some places (where the soil is specially qualified) ready to be cut for Cops in fourteen years and sooner; I compute from the first semination; though it be told as an instance of high encouragement (and as indeed it merits) that a Lady in Northamptonshire sowed Acorns, and liv'd to cut the Trees produc'd from them, twice in two and twenty years; and both as well grown as most are in sixteen or eighteen. This yet is certain, that Acorns set in Hedge-rows have in thirty years born a stem of a foot diametre. Generally, Copps-wood should be cut close, and at such Intervals as the growth requires; which being seldom constant, depends much on the places, and the kinds, the mould and the air, and for which there are extant particular Statutes to direct us, of all which more at large hereafter. Oak for Tan-bark may be fell'd from April to the last of June, by a Statute in the I Jacobi.

17. To enumerate now the incomparable Uses of this Wood, were needless: But so precious was the esteem of it, that of old there was an express Law amongst the Twelve Tables concerning the very gathering of Acorns though they should be found fallen into another mans Ground: The Land and the Sea do sufficiently speak for the improvement of this excellent material; Houses, and Ships, Cities and Navies are built with it; and there is a kind of it so tough, and extreamly compact, that our sharpest Tools will hardly enter it, as scarcely the very Fire it self, in which it consumes but slowly, as seeming to partake of a ferruginous, and metallin shining nature proper for sundry robust Uses. That which is twin'd, and a little wreathed (easily to be discern'd by the texture of the Bark) is best to support Burthens, for Posts, Columns, Summers, &c. for all which our English Oak is infinitely preferrable to the French, which is nothing so useful, nor comparably so strong; insomuch as I have frequently admir'd at the sudden failing of most goodly Timber to the Eye, which being imploy'd to these Uses does many times most dangerously flie in sunder, as wanting that native spring, and toughness, which our English Oak is indu'd withall. For Shingles, Pales, Lathes, Coopers ware, Clap-board, &c. the smallest and straightest is best; discover'd likewise by the upright tenor of the Bark, as being the most proper for cleaving: The knottiest for Water-works, Piles, and the like; because 'twill drive best, and last longest. Were planting of these Woods more in use, we should banish our hoops of Hasel, &c. for those of good Oak, which being made of the younger shoots, are exceeding tough and strong: One of them being of Ground-Oak will out-last six of the best Ash. The smaller trunchions, and spray, make Billet, Bavine and Coals; and the very Bark is of price with the Tanner and Dier, to whom the very Saw-dust is of use, as are the Ashes and Lee to cure the roapishness of Wine. The Ground-Oak while young is used for Poles, Cudgels and Walking-staffs, not to forget the Galls, Missletoe, and many other useful Excrescencies: Pliny affirms that the Galls do break out altogether in one night about the beginning of June, and arrive to their full growth in one day; this I recommend to the experience of some extraordinary vigilant Wood-man. What benefit the Mast does universally yield for the fatting of Hogs and Deer I shall shew upon another occasion, before the conclusion of this Discourse; in the mean time, the very Acorns themselves were heretofore the Food of Men (as well as other Productions of the earth) till their luxurious Palats were debauched; and even in the Romans time, the custom was in Spain to make a second service of Acorns and Mast, (as the French now do of Marrons, and Chess-nuts) which they likewise used to rot under the embers. Oaks bear also a knur, full of a Cottony matter, of which they Antiently made Wick for their Lamps and Candles; and among the Selectiora Remedia of Jo. Prævotius there is mention of an Oyl è querna glande Chymically extracted, which he affirmes to be of the longest continuance, and least consumptive of any other whatsoever, for such lights, ita ut uncia singulis mensibus vix absumatur continuo igne. To conclude, M. Blith makes Spars and small building Timber of Oakes of eleven years growth; this is indeed a prodigious Advance, but I suspect the figure.

CHAP. IV

Of the Elm.

I. Of the Elm there are four, or five sorts, and from the difference of the Soil and Air divers spurious: Two of these kinds are most worthy of our culture, viz. the Mountain Elm, which is taken to be the Oriptelea of Theophrastus; being of a less jagged and smaller leaf; and the Vernacula or French Elm, whose leaves are thicker, and more florid, delighting in the lower, and moister grounds, where they will sometimes rise to above an hundred foot in height, and a prodigious growth, in less then an Age; my self having seen one planted by the hand of a Countess yet living which is neer twelve foot in compass, and of an height proportionable; notwithstanding the numerous progeny which grows under the shade of it, some whereof are at least a foot in Diameter, that for want of being seasonably transplanted must needs have hindered the procerity of their ample and indulgent Mother.

2. Both these sorts are rais'd of Appendices or Suckers (as anon we shall describe) but this latter comes well from the Samera or Seeds, which being ripe about the beginning of March will produce them; as we see abundantly in the Gardens of the Thuylleries, and that of Luxembourg, at Paris, where they usually sow themselves, and come up very thick; and so do they in many places of our Country, though so seldom taken notice of, as that it is esteem'd a Fable by the less observant and ignorant Vulgar. To raise them therefore of their Seeds (being well dry'd a day or two before) sprinkle it in Beds prepar'd of good earth; siefting some of the finest mould thinly over them, and watering them when need requires. Being risen an inch above ground (refresh'd, and preserv'd from the scraping of Birds and Poultry) comfort the tender seedlings by a second siefting of more fine earth, to establish them; thus keep them clean weeded for the first two years; or till being of fitting stature to Remove, you may thin, and Transplant them in the same manner as you were directed for young Oaks; only they shall not need above one cutting where they grow less regular and hopeful. But because this is an Experiment of some curiosity, obnoxious to many casualties, and that the producing them from the Mother-roots of greater Trees is very facile and expeditious (