CENTURY VII. 301 



cannot pull it up without breaking; which gave 

 occasion to the name and fable ; for that it was said, 

 it was so wholesome a root, that the devil, when it 

 was gathered, bit it for envy : and some of the 

 ancients do report, that there was a goodly fir, which 

 they desired to remove the whole, that had a root 

 under ground eight cubits deep ; and so the root 

 came up broken. 



654. It hath been observed, that a branch of a 

 tree, being unbarked some space at the bottom, and 

 so set into the ground, hath grown ; even of such 

 trees, as if the branch were set with the bark on, they 

 would not grow ; yet contrariwise we see, that a 

 tree pared round in the body above ground, will die. 

 The cause may be, for that the unbarked part 

 draweth the nourishment best, but the bark con- 

 tinueth it only. 



655. Grapes will continue fresh and moist all 

 winter long, if you hang them cluster by cluster in 

 the roof of a warm room ; especially if when you 

 gather the cluster, you take off with the cluster some 

 of the stock. 



656. The reed or cane is a watery plant, and 

 groweth not but in the water : it hath these pro 

 perties : that it is hollow, that it is knuckled both 

 stalk and root, that being dry, it is more hard and 

 fragile than other wood, that it putteth forth no 

 boughs, though many stalks come out of one root. 

 It differeth much in greatness, the smallest being fit 

 for thatching of houses, and stopping the chinks of 

 ships, better than glue or pitch. The second big- 



