ao6 S Y L V A BOOK ii 



ming the head a little ; the season is from September 

 to November in the new-moon, and if the holes or 

 pits you set them in were dug and prepar'd some 

 months before, it would much secure their taking ; 

 some cast horns, bones, shells, Qfc. into them, the 

 better to loosen the earth about them, which should 

 be rich, and well refresh'd all Summer. A light, and 

 dry mould is best, well expos'd to the sun and air, 

 which above all things this tree affects, and hates 

 watery low grounds : In sum, being a very lasting 

 tree, they thrive best where vines prosper most, whose 

 society they exceedingly cherish ; nor do they less 

 delight to be amongst corn, no way prejudicing it 

 with its shade. The distance of these standards would 

 be twenty, or twenty four foot every way, if you 

 would design walks or groves of them ; if the environs 

 of fields, banks of rivers, high-ways, G?c. twelve or 

 fourteen foot may suffice, but the farther distant, the 

 better ; for the white spreads its root much farther 

 than the black, and likes the valley more than the 

 higher ground. 



5. Another expedient to increase mulberries, is, by 

 layers from the suckers at the foot, this done in 

 Spring, leaving not above two buds out of the earth, 

 which you must diligently water, and the second 

 year they will be rooted : They will also take by 

 passing any branch or arm slit, and kept a little open 

 with a wedge, or stone, through a basket of earth, 

 which is a very sure way : Nay, the very cuttings 

 will strike in Spring, but let them be from shoots of 

 two years growth, with some of the old wood, though 

 of seven or eight years ; these set in rills, like vines, 

 having two or three buds at the top, will root in- 

 fallibly, especially if you twist the old wood a little, 



