302 Gbe <3arfcen 



take it, of a gentleman who is now one of the 

 burgesses for that city. And in Devonshire 

 (the seat of the best husbands in the world) 

 they sow on their worst land, well ploughed, 

 the seeds of the rankest furzes, which, in four 

 or five years, becomes a rich wood ; no proven- 

 der, as we say, makes horses so hardy as the 

 young tops of these furzes ; no other wood so 

 thick, nor more excellent fuel ; and for some 

 purposes also, yielding them a kind of timber 

 to their more humble buildings, and a great 

 refuge for fowl and other game. I am assured 

 in Bretagne it is sometimes sown no less than 

 twelve yards thick, for a speedy, profitable, and 

 impenetrable mound ; if we imitated this hus- 

 bandry in the dry and hot barren places of 

 Surrey, and other parts of this nation, we might 

 exceedingly spare our woods. I have bought 

 the best sort of French seed at the shops in 

 London. It seems that in the more eastern 

 parts of Germany, and especially in Poland, 

 this vulgar trifle, and even our common broom, 

 is so rare that they have desired the seeds of 

 them out of England, and preserve them with 

 extraordinary care in their best gardens. This 

 I learn out of Johnson's "Herbal," by which 

 we may consider that what is reputed a curse 

 and a cumber in one place, is often esteemed au 



