CHAP, in S Y L V A 59 



ita ut uncia singulis mensibus WAT ab sumatur continuo 

 igne : The ingenious author of the Description of the 

 Western Islands of Scotland, tells us, that (upon his 

 own experience) a rod of oak of 4, 5, 6 or 8 inches 

 about, being twisted like a with, boil'd in wort, well 

 dry'd, and kept in a little bundle of barley-straw, and 

 then steep'd again in wort, causes it to ferment, and 

 procures yest : The rod should be cut before mid- 

 May, and is frequently us'd in this manner to furnish 

 yest, and being preserv'd, will serve, and produce the 

 same effect many years together ; and (as the historian 

 affirms) that he was shew'd a piece of a thick wyth, 

 which had been kept for making ale with for above 

 20 years, fc. In the mean time, the leaves of oaks 

 abundantly congested on snow, preserve it as well for 

 wine, as a deep pit, or the most artificial refrigeratory. 

 Nor must we pass by the sweet mel-dews, so much 

 more copiously found on the leaves of this tree, than 

 any other ; whence the industrious bees gather such 

 abundance of honey, as that instead of carrying it to 

 their hives, they glut themselves to death : But from 

 this ill report (hastily taken up by Euricius Cordus) 

 our learned Mr. Ray has vindicated this temperat 

 and abstemious useful creature. Varro affirms, they 

 made salt of oak ashes, with which they sometimes 

 seasoned meat, but more frequently made use of it to 

 sprinkle among, and fertilize their seed-corn : Which 

 minds me of a certain oak found buried somewhere 

 in Transilvania, near the Salt-pits, that was entirely 

 converted into an hard salt, when they came to 

 examine it by cutting. This experiment (if true) 

 may possibly encourage some other attempts for the 

 multiplying of salt : Nor less strange is that which 

 some report of a certain water somewhere in Hungary, 



