CHAP, iv S Y L V A 269 



husbandry in the Isle of ,/Enaria, where they us'd to 

 fell it for copp'ce : For the cypress being rais'd from 

 the nursery of seeds sown in September (or rather 

 March,) and within two years after transplanted, 

 should at two years standing more, have the master- 

 stem of the middle shaft cut off some hand-breadth 

 below the summit ; the sides, and smaller sprigs shorn 

 into a conique, or pyramidal form, and so kept clipt 

 from April to September, as oft as there is occasion ; 

 and by this regiment, they will grow furnish'd to the 

 foot, and become the most beautiful trees in the 

 world, without binding or stake ; still remembring to 

 abate the middle stem, and to bring up the collateral 

 branches in its stead, to what altitude you please ; 

 but when I speak of short'ning the middle shoot, 

 I do not intend the dwarfing of it, and therefore it 

 must be done discreetly, so as it may not over-hastily 

 advance, till the foot thereof be perfectly furnished : 

 But there is likewise another, no less commendable 

 expedient, to dress this tree with all the former 

 advantages ; if sparing the shaft altogether, you 

 diligently cut away all the forked branches, reserving 

 only such as radiate directly from the body, which 

 being shorn, and clipt in due season, will render the 

 tree very beautiful ; and though more subject to obey 

 the shaking winds, yet the natural spring of it, does 

 immediately redress it, without the least discomposure; 

 and this is a secret worth the learning of gardeners, 

 who subject themselves to the trouble of stakes and 

 binding, which is very inconvenient. Thus likewise 

 may you form them into hedges, topiary works, 

 limits and boundary, metas imitata cupressus ; or by 

 sowing the seeds in a shallow furrow, and plucking 

 up the supernumeraries, where they come too close 



