1 62 S Y L V A BOOK m 



enclosed the whole countrey with a kind of living 

 net, and impenetrable hedge, as the historian continues 

 the description ; and this is not unlike what I am told 

 is frequently practis'd in divers places of Devon ; 

 where the oaks being planted very near the foot of 

 those high mounds by which they separate their 

 lands, so root themselves into the bank, that when it 

 fails and crumbles down, the fence continues still 

 maintain'd by them with exceeding profit. Such 

 works as these would become a Cato, or Varro indeed, 

 one that were Pater Patriae^ non sibi soli natus^ born 

 for posterity ; but we are commonly of another mould, 



& fruges consumere nati. 



9. A fair advance for speedy growth, and noble 

 trees (especially for walks and avenues) may be 

 assuredly expected from the graffing of young oaks 

 and elms with the best of their kinds; and where the 

 goodliest of these last are growing, the ground would 

 be plow'd and finely raked in the season when the 

 scales fall ; that the showers and dews fastning the 

 seed where the wind drives it, it may take root, and 

 hasten (as it will) to a sudden tree ; especially, if 

 seasonable shreading be apply'd, which has sometimes 

 made them arrive to the height of twelve foot by the 

 first three years, after which they grow amain. And 

 if such were planted as near to one another as in the 

 examples we have alledged, it is almost incredible 

 what a paling they would be to our most expos'd 

 plantations, mounting up their wooden walls to the 

 clouds : And indeed the shelving and natural declivity 

 of the ground more or less to our unkind aspects, and 

 bleak winds, does best direct to the thickning of these 



