DENDROLOGIA 



THE FIRST BOOK 



CHAPTER I. 



Of the Earth^ Soil, Seed, Air, and Water. 



i. It is not my intention here to speak of earth, 

 as one of the common reputed elements ; of which 

 I have long since publih'd an ample account, in an 

 express Treatise (annexed to this volume,) which I 

 desire my reader to peruse ; since it might well 

 commute for the total omission of this chapter, did 

 not method seem to require something briefly to be 

 said : Which first, as to that of earth, we shall need 

 at present to penetrate no deeper into her bosom, 

 than after paring of the turfe, scarrifiying the upper- 

 mould, and digging convenient pits and trenches, not 

 far from the natural surface, without disturbing the 

 several strata and remoter layers, whether of clay, 

 chalk, gravel, sand, or other successive layers, and 

 concrets fossil, (tho' all of them useful sometimes, 

 and agreeable to our foresters ;) tho' few of them 

 what one would chuse before the under-turfe, black, 

 brown, gray, and light, and breaking into short 

 clods, and without any disagreeable scent, and with 

 some mixture of marie or loame, but not clammy ; 

 of which I have particularly spoken in that Treatise. 



