CENTURY VI. :&amp;gt;43 



black than the white. The harvest white plum is a 

 base plum ; and the verdoccio, and white date-plum, 

 are no very good plums. The cause is, for that they 

 are all over-watery ; whereas an higher concoction 

 is required for sweetness, or pleasure of taste ; and 

 therefore all your dainty plums are a little dry, and 

 come from the stone ; as the muscle-plum, the 

 damascene-plum, the peach, the apricot, c. yet 

 some fruits, which grow not to be black, are of the 

 nature of berries, sweetest such as are paler ; as the 

 cceur-cherry, which, inclineth more to white, is 

 sweeter than the red ; but the egriot is more sour. 



5 ] 0. Take gilly-flower seed, of one kind of gilly 

 flower, as of the clove-gilly-flower, which is the most 

 common, and sow it, and there will come up gilly 

 flowers some of one colour, and some of another, 

 casually, as the seed meeteth with nourishment in 

 the earth ; so that the gardeners find, that they may 

 have two or three roots amongst an hundred that 

 are rare and of great price ; as purple, carnation of 

 several stripes : the cause is, no doubt, that in earth, 

 though it be contiguous, and in one bed, there are 

 very several juices ; and as the seed doth casually 

 meet with them, so it cometh forth. And it is 

 noted especially, that those which do come up pur 

 ple, do always come up single : the juice, as it seem- 

 eth, not being able to suffice a succulent colour, and 

 a double leaf. This experiment of several colours 

 coming up from one seed, would be tried also in 

 larks-foot, monks-hood, poppy, and holyoak. 



511. Few fruits are coloured red within : the 



