CENTURY VII. 303 



smooth, as fir and walnut : some do more easily 

 breed worms and spiders, some more hardly, as it is 

 said of Irish trees : besides there be a number of 

 differences that concern their use ; as oak, cedar, 

 and chesnut, are the best builders ; some are best 

 for plough-timber, as ash ; some for piers, that are 

 sometimes wet and sometimes dry, as elm ; some for 

 planchers, as deal ; some for tables, cupboards, and 

 desks, as walnuts ; some for ship timber, as oaks that 

 grow in moist grounds, for that maketh the timber 

 tough, and not apt to rift with ordnance ; wherein 

 English and Irish timber are thought to excel : some 

 for masts of ships, as fir and pine, because of their 

 length, straightness, and lightness : some for pale, 

 as oak ; some for fuel, as ash, and so of the rest. 



659. The coming of trees and plants in certain 

 regions, and not in others, is sometimes casual : for 

 many have been translated, and have prospered 

 well; as damask-roses, that have not been known 

 in England above an hundred years and now are so 

 common. But the liking of plants in certain soils 

 more than in others, is merely natural, as the fir and 

 pine love the mountains ; the poplar, willow, sallow, 

 and alder, love rivers and moist places ; the ash 

 loveth coppices, but is best in standards alone ; j uni- 

 per loveth chalk, and so do most fruit trees ; sam 

 phire groweth but upon rocks ; reeds and osiers 

 grow where they are washed with water : the vine 

 loveth sides of hills, turning upon the south-east 

 sun, &c. 



