66 S Y L V A BOOK i 



buds ready to break out ; cut the boughs into lengths 

 of four foot slanting, leaving the knot where the 

 bud seems to put forth in the middle : Inter these 

 short pieces in trenches of three or four inches deep, 

 and in good mould well trodden, and they will infal- 

 libly produce you a crop ; for even the smallest 

 suckers of elms will grow, being set when the sap is 

 newly stirring in them. There is yet a fourth way 

 no less expeditious, and frequently confirmed with 

 excellent success : Bare some of the master-roots of 

 a vigorous tree within a foot of the trunk, or there 

 abouts, and with your axe make several chops, putting 

 a small stone into every cleft, to hinder their closure, 

 and give access to the wet ; then cover them with 

 three or four inch-thick of earth ; and thus they will 

 send forth suckers in abundance, (I assure you one 

 single elm thus well ordered, is a fair nursery) which 

 after two or three years, you may separate and plant 

 in the Ulmarium, or place designed for them ; and 

 which if it be in plumps (as they call them) within 

 ten or twelve foot of each other, or in hedge-rows, 

 it will be the better : For the elm is a tree of consort, 

 sociable, and so affecting to grow in company, that 

 the very best which I have ever seen, do almost 

 touch one another : This also protects them from the 

 winds, and causes them to shoot of an extraordinary 

 height ; so as in little more than forty years, they 

 even arrive to a load of timber ; provided they be 

 sedulously and carefully cultivated, and the soil pro- 

 pitious. For an elm does not thrive so well in the 

 forest, as where it may enjoy scope for the roots to 

 dilate and spread at the sides, as in hedge-rows and 

 avenues, where they have the air likewise free : Note, 

 that they spring abundantly by layers also. 



