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The third fort will grow to be a very large tree when 

 It is planted in a moift foil, but in dry ground it rarely 

 rifes to be more than twenty feet high. There have 

 been fun^.e plants of hte years raifcd from feeds which 

 came from Carolina, which have all the appearance 

 of the tliird fort, but are of much humbler growth ; 



^ n" 



whether this may proceed from their being brought 

 from a warmer climate, fo do not agree with the' cold 

 of our wini'ers fo well as that, or whether they are a 

 ■ different fpecics from that, I cannot yet determine, 

 as they have not produced fruit here. 

 The Laurel may be eafily propagated by planting of 

 the cuttings ; the beft time for doing this is in Sep- 

 tember, as loon as the autumnal rains fall to moiften 

 the ground ; the cuttings mufl: be the fame year's 

 Ihoors, and if they have a fmall part of the former 

 year's wood to their bottom, they will m.ore certainly 

 luccecd, and form better roots. Thefe Ihould be 

 "planted in a foft loanly foil about fix inches deep, 

 preffing the earth clofc to them. If thefe are proper- 

 ly planted, and the ground is good, there will few of 

 tlic cuttings fiiil ; and if they are kept clean from 

 weeds the following fummer, they will have made 

 (^ood flioots by the following autumn, when they may 

 be tranfplanted into a nurfery, where they may grow 



et ftrength, and then fhould be remov- 



Thefe 



two years to _ 



ed to the places where they are to remain. 



pots and tubs, and pre- 

 ' ferved in green-houfes in winter; but afterward they 

 ■•were planted againft warm walls, to preferve them, 

 ^' being frequently injured by fevere froft. After this 

 ' til e plants were trained into pyramids and globes, and 

 " conftantly kept fheered ; by which the broad leaves 



were generally cut in the middle, which rendered the 

 ;. plants very unfightly. Of late years they have'been 

 ■'more properly difpofed in gardens, by planting tliem 

 ^' to border woods, and the fides of wildernefs quartfei-s- 

 "* for' which J)urpofe we have but few plant^. lb well 

 /!' adapted, for it will grow under the drip of trees, in 

 ^'fhadc or ^un\ ^n3 the branches' will fprea^'to the 

 "ground, foVs to form a thicket; and tlie lea^res lie- 

 •• ing large, and having a fine glofiy green colour, they 

 ' ' fet off the.Wdods and other plantations in winter, when 



the other treesjiaye caft their leaves ; and in fummer 

 V they make a gooB contrafl: with the green of the other 



trees. Thefe trees are fometimes injured in very fe- 

 *'''vere winters, efpecially' where they ftand fihgle and 



. '^.*_- t « Baa* 



are much expdfed ; but where they grow in thickets. 



and are fcreened by other trees, they are feldom much 



* hurt ; for in thofe places it is only the young tender 

 Ihoots which are injured, and there will be new fhoots 



''"produced immediately below thefe to fupply their 



*Vplace^ fb' that in one year the damage will be re- 

 ^^ panned. ■ But whenever fuch fevcrc winters happen, 

 ^"thefe trees Ihould not be cut or pruned till after the 

 -^ following IViidfummer; by which time it will appear 

 ' what branches are dead, which rnay then Be cift away, 

 ; to the places where the new fhoots are produced ; for 



• By haftily cutting thefe tre^s in the fpriiig,thB 'drying 

 ^%^inds have free ingrefs to the branches;' whereby the 

 *"ftioots fuffer as much, if not more, than they had done 



by the frolt:. 





" * Thefe trees are'alfo very ornamental, when they are 



^^^rntxed with other evergreen tre^s, m foftning of 



'^7 thickets,"or to'fhiitoutthe appeafan(ie of difagt-eeable 



■^ objefts; Tor thfe leaves being very large, make a tefy 



^' good blind, and are equally ufeful for fcreening from 



wind^ ; fo that when they are planted between flower- 





y jng-lhrubsV they may be trained fo as to fill up the 



'/f vacancies in the middle of fuch plantations -, and will 



^ ; anfwef iTie'purpofe of fcreeriing in the winter,' and 



'r ihutting butthe View through the Ihrubs in all fea- 



_fons :" there are alfo many other purpofes to which 



this tree m^w be applied, fo as to render it very or- 



namental. '" " ' "' ' * ' " " ' ■ ■" 



rv 



/■ in warmer countries this tree will grow to a large 

 *; fize, "fo thafiri Tome parts of Italy there are large 



fbf them*^;"l)dt*we'cianri6t hope to have them 



grow to fo large ftenis ift England ; for fhduld thefe 



trees be pruned up, in order to form them into ftenhs, 



A 



the froft would then become much more hurt^ni 

 them than m the manner rhey ufuallv grow with th ^^ 

 branches to the ground : however," if the trees 

 planted pretty clofe together in large thickets "'^ 



cr 



1 





^- 



permitted to grow rude, they will defend each o4! 

 trom the froil and they will grow to a confidc-^b.. 

 height : an inftance ot which is now in that hob' 

 plantation of evergreen trees, niade by his Grace rf'*^ 

 Duke of Bedford at Wouburn-abbcy, where th 

 is a confiderabk^ hill covered entirely with Laurer^ 

 and in the other parts of the fame plantation, thore^-r * 

 great numbers of thefe intermixed with the other eve ^ 

 green trce3, where they are already grown to a con- 

 fiderable fize, and make a noble appearance. " 

 There are fome perfons who propagate thefe trees 

 from their berries, which is certainly the beft way 

 obtain good plants ; for thofe which come from fc^is 

 haveadifpofition to an upright growth, whereas a!- 

 mofl: all thofe which areraifed from cutrinas or layers' 

 incline more to an horizontal growth, and produce a 

 greater number of lateral branches. When any perfon 

 is defirous to propagate this tree by feeds, the berries 

 muft be guarded from the birds, otherwife they will 

 devour them before they are perfectly ripe, which is 

 feldom earlier than the latter end of September, or the 

 beginning of Oftober, for they Ihould hang until the 

 outer pulp is quite black. When thefe berries are 

 gathered, they fhould be fown foon after ; for when 

 they are kept out of the ground till fpring, they fre- 

 quently mifcarry j and there will be no hazard in 

 fowing them in the autumn, provided they are put 

 in a dry foil; and if the winter fhould prove fevere, the 

 bed in which they are fown fhould be covered with 

 rotten tan, flraw. Peas-haulm, or any light covering, 

 'to prevent the froft from penetrating of the f^hi'und! 

 -The beft way "will be to fow the berries in rows at 

 '^bput fix inches diftahce, and one inch aflinder in the 

 row^ 5 if drills are Wade ibout three inches dn^pVand " 

 the berries fcattered in them, And thfe earth drawn 

 oyer them, it will be a very good method. The fol- 

 lowing fpring thepiants will appear, when they fhoUld 

 be kept clean from weeds; and if the feafon fhould 

 prove dry, if they are duly watered,' the plantsVill 

 make fo good progrefs as to be fit fof tranfplantihg 

 the following autumn, when they fhould be carefully 

 taken up, and planted in a nurfery, placing therti in 

 rows at three feet afunder, and the plants one foot 

 diftance in the rows. In this nurfery theyttiTyte- 

 main two years, by which time they will be fit to 

 tranfplant where they are defigned to rerflain. 



_^ 





' I 



■*' 



* 



? 



The beft feafon for tranfplanting thefe plants is in 

 the autumn, as foon as the rain has prepared the 

 ground for planting; for although they often "grow 

 when removed in the fpring, yet thofe do not take 

 fo well, nor make fo good pr6grtR as fhofe which are 

 removed^ in the autumn, efpecially if the plants are 

 taken from a light foil, which generally falls away 

 from their roots ; but if they are taken up with balls 

 6? earth to their roots, and removed but a fmall 

 diftance, there will be" no dariger of tranfplanting 

 them ifi the fpritig;, provided it is done brfbfd they 

 -begin to Ihoot ; for as the plants will fhoot very early 

 in the fpring, fo if they are removed after thay have 

 Ihbt, the fhoots will decay, and many times the plants 

 entirely fkik - ^ ^^^^^^"^ -^■^^^- =^ ^ -^^^^'^^^h -■ ' 

 There are fome perfons who, of late, have b^anifhed 

 thefe prams ffoih' their gardens, ds fuppofing them 

 ,pofrefred of a poifofious quality, becaufe, the difl[!lcd 

 water has proved fo in .many inftances; but however 

 the diftilled water may have been found deftruftiveto 

 animals, = yet from numberlefs experiments which 

 have been niade both of the leaves and fruit, it hath 

 not appeared that thefe !s the leaft hurtful quality in 

 cither ; fo that the whole muft be owing to the oil, 

 which may be carried over in diftillation. 

 The berries have been long ufed to put into brandy, 

 to make a fort of ratafia, and the leaves havd alfo 

 been put into cuftards, to give the:m an ;Jgreeable 

 ffavour; and although thefe have been for many years 



much ufed, yet there hath been no one inftance of 



their 



