CHAPTER IV 



On the various conveniences and delights of the quincunx //; the due 

 proportion of earth, alloived by it In the room afforded for equal 

 spreading of the trees, and the due circulation of air In the 

 action of the sun In the greatest economy of space In mutual 

 shelter for currents of -winds Effect of -water and oil on the 

 germination of seeds Note thereon Whether ivy -would do less 

 injury in this arrangement ? Great variety afforded by this order 

 Grateful to the eye by its regular green shade Seeds lie in 

 perpetual shade This order is agreeable to the eye, as consonant 

 to the angles observable in the la-ws of optics and acoustics Plato 

 chose this figure to illustrate the motion of the soul. 



Now if for this order we affect coniferous and 

 tapering trees, particularly the cypress, which grows in 

 a conical figure ; we have found a tree not only of 

 great ornament, but, in its essentials, of affinity unto 

 this order : a solid rhombus being made by the con- 

 version of two equicrural cones, as Archimedes hath 

 defined. And these were the common trees about 

 Babylon, and the East, whereof the ark was made : 

 and Alexander found no trees so accommodable to 

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