124 SYLVA BOOK i 



at distance of eighteen, or twenty five foot. They 

 are also very patient of pruning ; but if it taper over 

 much, some of the collateral boughs would be spar'd, 

 or cut off, to check the sap, which is best to be done 

 about Midsummer ; and to make it grow upright, 

 take off the prepondering branches with discretion, 

 and so you may correct any other tree, and redress 

 its obliquity. 



The root in transplanting would not bemuchlopp'd; 

 and this (says Mr. Cook) is a good lesson for all young 

 planted trees. 



3. The Prince Elector did lately remove very 

 great lime-trees out of one of his forests, to a steep 

 hill, exceedingly expos'd to the heat of the sun, at 

 Heidelberg ; and that in the midst of summer : 

 They grow behind that strong tower on the south- 

 west, and most torrid part of the eminence ; being of 

 a dry, reddish barren earth ; yet do they prosper 

 rarely well : But the heads were cut off, and the pits 

 into which they were transplanted, were (by the 

 industry and direction of Monsieur de Son, a French- 

 man, and admirable mechanician, who himself related 

 it to me) fill'd with a composition of earth and cow- 

 dung, which was exceedingly beaten, and so diluted 

 with water, as it became almost a liquid pap : It was 

 in this, that he plunged the roots, covering the sur- 

 face with the turf : A singular example of removing 

 so great trees at such a season, and therefore by me 

 taken notice of here expresly. Other perfections of 

 the tree (besides its unparallel'd beauty for walks) 

 are that it will grow in almost all grounds : That it 

 lasts long ; that it soon heals its scars ; that it affects 

 uprightness ; that it stoutly resists a storm ; that it 

 seldom becomes hollow. 



