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> ftain'ped on a gold medal, which he continually wore 

 about liim. • .. . . -: 



And fuch was the cfteem which the people of Afia 

 had for this tree, that wherever they ercftcd any 

 fumptuous buildings, the porticoes, which opened to 

 the air, terminated in groves of thefe trees. . > 



The Eaitern Plane-tree is propagated either from 

 feeds, or by layers, the latter of which is generally 

 pra^tife^d in England; though the plants thus raifed fel- 



. dom make fo large ftrait trees, as thofe which are 

 produced from feeds •, but it has been generally 

 thought, that the feeds of this tree were not pro- 

 ductive, becaufe they have not been fown at a proper 



. feafon, nor managed in a right manner -, for I have 

 had thoufands of the young plants fpring up from the 



■ feeds of a large tree, which fcattered upon the ground 

 , In a moift place ; and I fince find, that if thefe feeds 



are fown foon after they are ripe, in a moift ftiady 

 fituation, they will rife extremely well ; and the plants 



* thus obtained, v/ill make a cdnfiderable progrefs after 

 the fecond year, being much hardier and lefs liable to 

 lofe their tops in winter, than thofe which are propa- 

 gated by layers. And fince the feeds of this tree fre- 



V quently ripen well in England, they may be propa- 

 gated in as great plenty as any other foreit-tree. .. 

 . The Virginian Plane-tree will grow extremely well 

 from cuttings, if they are planted the beginning of 

 Oftober upon a moift foilj and if they are v/atered in 

 dry weather, will make a prodigious progrefs ; fo 

 that in a few years from the planting, they will afford 

 . noble trees for planting of avenues, and other fhady 

 M'alks ; and their trunks are perfectly ftrait, growing 

 . nearly of the fame fizeto a confiderable height, there 

 ', being the leaft difference in the girt of this tree, for 

 . feveral yards upwards, of any other fort of tree v/hat- 

 •foever. The Hon, Paul Dudley, Efq; in a letter to 

 ' jhc Royal Society, mentions one of thefe trees, v/hich 

 ^''ht obferved in New England, whofe girt was nine 

 1 'yards, and held its bignefs a great way up, which tree, 

 ^ when cut down, made twenty-two cords of wood. Pie 

 . alfo fays, in the fame letter. That he had propagated 

 ^ many of thefe trees by cutting off fticks of five or fix 

 feet long, and fetting them a foot deep into the 



■ ground in the fpring of the year, when the feafon was 

 . wet, and that they always thrive beft in a moift foil. 



■ All the forts are propagated very eafily by layers, 

 every twig of them will take root, if they are but 

 pegged down and covered with earth ; thefe layers 

 will be well rooted in one year, when they'fhould be 

 cutoff from the old trees or .ftopls, and planted, in 

 a nurfery, where they may remain two or three 

 years to get ftrength, after which they may be tranf- 

 planted where they are to remain,,, for the younger 

 thefe trees are planted the better they will thrive. An 

 experiment of this I made m 1731,^ when I planted 

 four of thefe ti^ees, one of each fort, in the fame foil 

 and fituation, at_ gbout^tv/enty feet diftance from each 

 other; one of which, viz. 'the Spanifli Plane, whofe 



• ftem was eight inches in girt ; next to this, I planted 

 one of the Miiple-leaved Planertree, whofe girt was 



: not three inches, but the latter is now much larger 

 than the former, and gains more in one year than the 

 other does in three ; and the two others which were 

 of a middle fize, have grown in a mean proportion 

 between them. * * V 



PLOUGHING OF LAND. 



There is, not a greater improvement of arable land 

 than that of well ploughing it, by which the foil is 

 pulverized, and rendered fit to receive the fibres of 

 the plants •, and the oftener this is repeated, and the 

 better it is performed, the greater improvement is made 

 in the land. But there are not many of the praftition- 

 ers of the arc of huft>andry, who attend enough to this 

 part of it, moft of them contenting themfelves with 

 going oh in the old beaten road of their prcdeceffors ; 

 . fo that the only perfons who h^ive made great im- 

 provement in this part of agriculture, are the great 

 gardeners, who cultivate moft of their land with the 

 plough ; therefore they have imitated,- as near as poffi- 



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■ 1 he difference between digging of land with the 

 fpade, and that of ploughing, confifts in the parts of 

 the earth being much more divided by the former, 



.than the latter method; therefore thofe gardeners, 

 who are curious in the working of their land, oblige 



■ their labourers to fpit the ground as thin as poilible, 

 that there may remain no large clods unbroken \ fo, 



; v/hcn land is ploughed, the lame regard flioulJ be 

 had to break and pulverize the parts as much as pof- 

 fible ; for v/hen there are great clods left unbroken, 

 the fibres of plants never penetrate farther than the 

 furface of them ; fo that all the falts included in thefe 



: lumps of earth are locked up, that the pknts can re- 

 ceive no benefit from them. And thefe clods, in pro- 



:■ portion to their fize, make fuch interftices, that the 

 air often penetrates through, and greatly injures the 

 tender fibres of the roots^ Therefore the oftener the 

 land is ploughed, and the more the parts are feparated 

 and pulverized, the better will the plants'be nourifhed 



. and fed \ but particularly in all ftrong land, this part 



. of hufbandrv will be the moft beneficial ; but this can- 

 not be effected under four or five plqughings, and b/ 

 ufing fuch plouglis as have either two or four (Coul- 

 ters, which will cut and feparate the clods much bet- 



ter than it can be performed by the common plough -, 

 - and in the operation, great care Ihould be had to the 

 .; breadth of the furrow, for when tliele are made too 

 broad, it will be impoffible to break and feparate 

 , the parts fufficiently. In fome counties, where the 

 huft^andmen are not very expert in the ufe of the 

 plough, I have feen gentlemen oblige them to plough 

 by a line, and they have id out the exaft width of 

 each furrow. -This not only adds a neatnefs to the 

 ground, but likewife, by keeping the furrows ftrait, 

 and at equal diftances, the land will be miore equally 

 worked i but many of the good plouohm:'n in the 

 counties near London, will direft the plough as 

 ftrait by their eye, as if they were to ufe a line. 

 Another thing to be obferved in ploughing of land 

 is that of going to a proper depth, for if the furface 

 only be broken up and pulverized, the roots of 

 whatever plants are fown upon it will in a very fhorc 

 time reach the bottom, and meeting with the hard 

 unbroken foil, they are flopped from getting farther, 

 and of confequence the plants will ftint in their growth-, 

 for there are few perfons who have attended enough 

 to the downright growth of the roots of plants, and 

 only have had regard to the roots of thofe plants, 

 \vhich,are of a ftrong flefliy fubftance, and are called 

 ; tap-roots, being in form of Carrots. Thefe they fup- 

 ■ '- pofe will require to have the land wrought to a greater 

 :: depth, that the roots may run down, and be the 

 -longer, for in that particular their goodnefs confifts. ^ 

 But they do not think tliat the fmall fibrous-rooted 

 plants ever require fo much depth to run into the 

 grou/idj in this they are greatly miftaken, for I have 

 traced the fmall fibres of Grafs and Corn above three 

 feet deep in the ground. And if any perfbn is curi- 

 ous to obferve the length of the fibres of plants, if they 

 will but plant one of each fore into a fmall pot of earth, 

 and keep them duly watered till the plants are ad- 

 . vanced to flower, and then turn them out of the pots 

 carefully, fo as not to break any of the fibres of the 

 roots, and after feparating the earth from them, 

 meafure the length of their roots, they will be found 

 much greater than moft people imagine. I haVc my- 

 felf frequently traced the roots of plants, which have 

 furrounded the pots upward of twelve times ; and the 

 roots of fome ftrong-growing plants, which have 

 \ gotten through the holes in the bottom of flov^er-pots, 

 have in three months time extended themfelves tea 

 or eleven feet from the plant ; therefore the deeper 

 the ground is laboured, the greater benefit the plants 

 will receive from it: but it muft be underftood of fuch 

 land as the ftaple is deep enough to admit of this, 

 for if the foil is fliallow, and either gravel, chalk, or 

 ftone lie beneath, it will be very imprudent to turn up • 

 cither of thefe ; therefore the depth of the furrows jri, 

 fuch lands, muft be determined by the ftaple of the 



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blc; the ufe of the fpade in labouring of their ground, j land. By the wor^ ftaple muft be unckrftood all tha: 



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