248 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



522. There is an old tradition, that boughs of 

 oak put into the earth will put forth wild vines : 

 which, if it be true, no doubt it is not the oak that 

 turneth into a vine, but the oak-bough putrifying, 

 qualifieth the earth to put forth a vine of itself. 



523. It is not impossible, and I have heard it 

 verified, that upon cutting down of an old timber 

 tree, the stub hath put out sometimes a tree of 

 another kind ; as that beech hath put forth birch ; 

 which, if it be true, the cause may be, for that the 

 old stub is too scant of juice to put forth the former 

 tree ; and therefore putteth forth a tree of a smaller 

 kind, that needeth less nourishment. 



524. There is an opinion in the country, that if 

 the same ground- be oft sown with the grain that 

 grew upon it, it will in the end grow to be of a baser 

 kind. 



525. It is certain, that in very steril years corn 

 sown will grow to another kind. 



&quot; Grandia saepe quibus mandavimus hordea sulcis, 

 &quot; Infelix lolium, et steriles dominantur avenge.&quot; 



And generally it is a rule, that plants that are 

 brought forth by culture, as corn, will sooner change 

 into other species than those that come of them 

 selves ; for that culture giveth but an adventitious 

 nature, which is more easily put off. 



This work of the transmutation of plants one 

 into another, is &quot; inter magnalia naturae :&quot; for the 

 transmutation of species is, in the vulgar philosophy, 

 pronounced impossible, and certainly it is a thing 

 of difficulty, and requireth deep search into nature ; 



