CHAP, xx SYLVA 179 



have gone their full time ; which is also the reason of 

 a very popular mistake in other seeds ; especially, that 

 of the holly, concerning which there goes a tradition, 

 that they will not sprout till they be pass'd through 

 the maw of a thrush ; whence the saying, turdus 

 exitium suum cacat (alluding to the viscus made thereof, 

 not the misselto of oak) but this is an error, as I am 

 able to testifie on experience ; they come up very 

 well of the Berries, treated as I have shew'd in 

 chap. 26. and with patience ; for (as I affirm'd) they 

 will sleep sometimes two entire years in their graves ; 

 as will also the seeds of yew, sloes, phillyrea angustifolia^ 

 and sundry others, whose shells are very hard about 

 the small kernels ; but which is wonderfully facili- 

 tated, by being (as we directed) prepar'd in beds, and 

 magazines of earth, or sand for a competent time, 

 and then committed to the ground before the full in 

 March, by which season they will be chitting, and 

 speedily take root : Others bury them deep in the 

 ground all Winter, and sow them in February : And 

 thus I have been told of a gentleman who has consid- 

 erably improv'd his revenue, by sowing haws only, 

 and raising nurseries of quick-sets, which he sells by 

 the hundred far and near : This is a commendable 

 industry ; any neglected corners of ground will fit 

 this plantation. Or were such places plow'd in furrow 

 about the ground, you would fence, and sow'd with 

 the mark of the cyder-press, crab-kernels, <Sfc. kept 

 secure from cattel till able to defend it self; it would 

 yield excellent stocks to graff and transplant : And 

 thus any larger plot, by plowing and cross-plowing 

 the ground, and sowing it with all sorts of forest- 

 seeds ; breaking and harrowing the clods, and cleans- 

 ing it from weeds with the haugh, (till the plants 



