CHAP, xix SYLVA 173 



rooting in the bank, which they would do if the 

 ground next the plant or set were made high, and 

 sloped ; and being left unfenc'd, cattel would tread 

 down the bank, and lay the roots bare : The ground 

 should therefore not be raised above 2 or 3 inches 

 towards the body of the set. Now if the ground be 

 dry, and want moisture, he chuses to bank them 

 round, (as I have described it in my Pomona, cap. 

 vn.) the fosses environing the mound and hillock, 

 being reserves for the rain, cools and refreshes the sets. 

 He farther instances, that willows of about 20 

 years growth, have been worth 30^. and another sold 

 for 3/. which was well worth 5/. and affirms, that the 

 willows planted in beds, between double ditches, in 

 boggy ground, may be fit to be cut every five years, 

 and pay as well as the best meadow-pasture, which is 

 of extraordinary improvement. 



27. There is a sort of willow of a slender and long 

 leaf, resembling the smaller ozier ; but rising to a tree 

 as big as the sallow, full of knots, and of a very brittle 

 spray, only here rehears'd to acknowledge the variety. 



28. There is likewise the garden- willow, which 

 produces a sweet and beautiful flower, fit to be admit- 

 ted into our hortulan ornaments, and may be set for 

 partitions of squares ; but they have no affinity with 

 other. There is also in Shropshire another very odori- 

 ferous kind, extreamly fit to be planted by pleasant 

 rivulets, both for ornament and profit : It is propa- 

 gated by cuttings or layers, and will grow in any dry 

 bottom, so it be sheltred from the south, affording a 

 wonderful and early relief to the industrious bee : 

 Vitruvius commends the vitex of the Latines (imper- 

 tinently called agnus castus, the one being but the 

 interpretation of the other) as fit for building ; I sup- 



