136 STITDIES OF NATURE. 



tient aiîîdulty of families enjoying liberty, poflef- 

 fing property which they can call their own, not 

 fubjeâ:ed to petty tyrants, but holding in?*mediately 

 of the Sovereign. By fuch patriotic means as thefe, 

 the Dutch have forced oaks to grow at Scheveiling, 

 a village in the neighbourhood of the Hague, in 

 pure fea-fand, of which I have had the evidence 

 from my own eyes. I repeat an aflertion already 

 hazarded : It is not on the face of vaft domains, 

 but into the baiket of the vintager, and the apron 

 of the reaper, that God pours down from Heaven 

 the precious fruits of the Earth, 



Thefe exteniive diftriâis of land in the king- 

 dom, lying totally ufelefs, have attraded the at- 

 tention of fordid cupidity ; but there is a ftill 

 greater quantity which has efcaped it, from the 

 impoffibility of forming fuch tracks into marqui- 

 fates or feignories ; and becaufe, too, the great 

 plough is not at all applicable to them, Thefe 

 are, among others, the flripes by the high- way fide, 

 which are innumerable. Our great roads are, I 

 admit, for the moft part rendered produdive, be- 

 ing fkirted with elms. The elm is undoubtedly 

 a very ufeful tree : it's wood is proper for cart- 

 wright's work. But we have a tree which is far 

 preferable to it, becaufe it's wood is never at- 

 tacked by the infed; it is excellent for wainfcot- 

 ting, and it produces abundance of very nutrimental 



food : 



