CENTURY V. 225 



pot filled with earth, and then the pot with earth be 

 set likewise within the ground some two or three 

 inches, the roots will grow greater than ordinary. 

 The cause may be, for that having earth enough 

 within the pot to nourish them ; and then being 

 stopped by the bottom of the pot from putting 

 strings downward, they must needs grow greater in 

 breadth and thickness. And it may be, that all 

 seeds or roots potted, and so set into the earth, will 

 prosper the better. 



474. The cutting off the leaves of radish, or 

 other roots, in the beginning of winter, before they 

 wither, and covering again the root something high 

 with earth, will preserve the root all winter, and 

 make it bigger in the spring following, as hath been 

 partly touched before. So that there is a double 

 use of this cutting off the leaves ; for in plants where 

 the root is the esculent, as radish and parsnips, it 

 will make the root the greater, and so it will do to 

 the heads of onions. And where the fruit is the 

 esculent, by strengthening the root, it will make the 

 fruit also the greater. 



475. It is an experiment of great pleasure, to 

 make the leaves of shady trees larger than ordinary. 

 It hath been tried for certain that a cion of a weech- 

 elm, grafted upon the stock of an ordinary elm, will 

 put forth leaves almost as broad as the brim of one s 

 hat. And it is very likely, that as in fruit-trees the 

 graft maketh a greater fruit ; so in trees that bear 

 no fruit, it will make the greater leaves. It would 

 be tried therefore in trees of that kind chiefly, as 



VOL. IV. Q 



