CHAP, in S Y L V A 47 



their roots torn up, and the body prostrate ; and, in 

 particular, of a firr, that when it was to be trans- 

 planted, had a top-root which went no less than 

 eight cubits perpendicular ; and to these I could 

 superadd (by woful experience) where some oaks, 

 and other old trees of mine, tore up with their fall 

 and ruin, portions of earth (in which their former 

 spreading roots were ingag'd) little less in bulk and 

 height than some ordinary cottages and houses, 

 built on the common : Such havock, was the effect 

 of the late prodigious hurricane. But to proceed. 

 To facilitate the removal of such monstrous trees, 

 for the adornment of some particular place, or the 

 rarity of the plant, there is this farther expedient : 

 A little before the hardest frosts surprise you, make 

 a square trench about your tree, at such distance 

 from the stem as you judge sufficient for the root ; 

 dig this of competent depth, so as almost quite to 

 undermine it ; by placing blocks and quarters of 

 wood, to sustain the earth ; this done, cast in as 

 much water as may fill .the trench, or at least suffi- 

 ciently wet it, unless the ground were very moist 

 before. Thus let it stand, till some very hard frost 

 do bind it firmly to the roots, and then convey it to 

 the pit prepar'd for its new station, which you may 

 preserve from freezing, by laying store of warm 

 litter in it, and so close the mould the better to the 

 stragling fibers, placing what you take out about 

 your new guest, to preserve it in temper : But in 

 case the mould about it be so ponderous as not to be 

 remov'd by an ordinary force ; you may then raise it 

 with a crane or pully, hanging between a triangle 

 (or like machine) which is made of three strong and 

 tall limbs united at the top, where a pully is fastned, 



