THE GARDEN OF CYRUS 



The cylindrical figure of trees is virtually con Roots and 

 tained and latent in this order; a cylinder 01 le 

 long round being made by the conversion or 

 turning of a parallelogram, and most handsome- 

 ly by a long square, which makes an equal, 

 strong, and lasting figure in trees, agreeable 

 unto the body and motive part of animals, the 

 greatest number of plants, and almost all roots, 

 though their stalk be angular, and of many cor- 

 ners, which seem not to follow the figure of 

 their seeds; since many angular seeds send 

 forth round stalks, and spherical seeds arise 

 from angular spindles, and many rather con- 

 form unto their roots, as the round stalks of 

 bulbous roots and in tuberous roots stems of 

 like figure. But why, since the largest number 

 of plants maintain a circular figure, there are so 

 few with teretous or long round leaves? Why 

 coniferous trees are tenuifolious or narrow-leaf- 

 ed? Why plants of few or no joints have com- 

 monly round stalks? Why the greatest number 

 of hollow stalks are round stalks; or why in 

 this variety of angular stalks the quadrangular 

 most exceedeth, were too long a speculation? 

 Meanwhile obvious experience may find, that 

 in plants of divided leaves above, nature often 

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