270 S Y L V A BOOK vi 



But on that side which chiefly open lies 



To the north-wind, whence storms and show'rs arise, 



There plant a wood ; for, without that defence, 



Nothing resists the northern violence. 



While with destructive blasts o're clifts and hills 



Rough Boreas moves, and all with murmurs fills ; 



The oak with shaken boughs on mountains rends, 



The valleys roar, and great Olympus bends. 



Trees therefore to the winds you must expose, 



Whose branches best their pow'rful rage oppose. 



Thus woods defend that part of Normandy, 

 Which spreads it self upon the British Sea. 

 Where trees do all along the ocean side 

 Great villages and meadows too divide. 



But now the means of raising woods I sing ; 



Tho from the parent oak young shoots may spring, 



Or may transplanted flourish, yet I know 



No better means than if from seed they grow. 



'Tis true this way a longer time will need, 



And oaks but slowly are produc'd by seed : 



Yet they with far the happier shades are blest ; 



For those that rise from acorns, as they best 



With deep-fixt roots beneath the earth descend, 



So their large boughs into the air ascend. 



Perhaps because, when we young sets translate, 



They lose their virtue, and degenerate, 



While acorns better thrive, since from their birth 



They have been more acquainted with the earth. 



Thus we to woods by acorns being give ; 

 But yet before the ground your seed receive, 

 To dig it first employ your labourer ; 

 Then level it ; and, if young shoots appear 

 Above the ground, sprung from the cloven bud ; 

 If th' earth be planted in the spring, 'tis good 

 Those weeds by frequent culture to remove, 

 Whose roots would to the blossom hurtful prove. 

 Nor think it labour lost to use the plow ; 

 By dung and tillage all things fertile grow. 



There are more ways than one to plant a grove, 



