The ordering of the Garden of Pleafure. 2 5 



will flower naturally and conllantly in the fame moneths one yeare, that they vfe to 

 doe in another, or with but little alteration, if the ycarcs proue not alike kindly : As 

 for example, thofe plants that doe flower in January and February, will by no art or 

 induitry of man be caufed to flower in Summer or in Autumne ; and thofc that flower 

 in Aprill and May, will not flower in January or February ; or thofc in luly, Auguft, 

 &c. either in the Winter or Spring: but euery one knoweth their owne appointed na- 

 turall times, which they conllantly obferue and keepc, according to the temperature 

 of the yeare, or the temper of the climate, being further North or South, to bring 

 them on earlier or later, as it doth with all other fruits, flowers, and growing greenc 

 herbes, &c. except that by chance, fome one or other extraordinarily may be hinde- 

 red in their due feafon of flowring, and fo giue their flowers out of time, or elfe to 

 giue their flowers twice in the yeare, by the fuperaboundance of nourifliment, or the 

 mildnefle of the feafon, by moderate mowers of raine, &c. as it fometimes alfo hap- 

 peneth with fruits, which chance, as it is feldome, and not conftant, fo we then terme 

 it but Lufus naturce : or elfe by forcing them in hot ftoues, which then will perifh, when 

 they haue giuen their flowers or fruits. It is not then, as fome haue written, the fow- 

 ing of the feedes of Lillies, or any other plants a foote deepe, or halfe a foote deepc, 

 or two inches deepe, that will caufe them to be in flower one after another, as they are 

 fowne euery moneth of the yeare ; for it were too grofle to thinke, that any man of 

 rcafon and iudgement would fo beleeue. Nor is it likewife in the power of any man, 

 to make the fame plants to abide a moneth, two, or three, or longer in their beauty of 

 flowring, then naturally they vfe to doe ; for I thinke that were no humane art, but a 

 fupernaturall worke. For nature (till bendeth and tendeth to perfection, that is, after 

 flowring to giue fruit or feede ; nor can it bee hindered in the courfe thereof without 

 manifelt danger of deftruftion, euen as it is in all other fruit-bearing creatures, which 

 (lay no longer, then their appointed time is natural! vnto them, without apparent 

 damage. Some things I grant may be fo ordered in the planting, that according to 

 that order and time which is obferued in their planting, they (hall (hew forth their 

 faire flowers, and they are Anemones, which will in that manner, that I haue mewed 

 in the worke following, flower in feuerall moneths of the yeare ; which thing as it is 

 incident to none or very few other plants, and is found out but of late, fo likewife is it 

 knowne but vnto a very few. Thus haue I (hewed you the true folution of thefe 

 doubts : And although they haue not beene amplified with fuch Philofophicall argu- 

 ments and reafons, as one of greater learning might haue done, yet are they truely and 

 fincerely fet downe, that they may ferue tanquam galeatum, againft all the calumnies 

 and objections of wilfull and obdurate perfons, that will not be reformed. As firft, 

 that all double flowers were fo found wilde, being the worke of nature alone, and not 

 the art of any man, by planting or tranfplanting, at or before the new or full Moone, 

 or any other obferuation of time, that hath caufed the flower to grow double, that na- 

 turally was (ingle : Secondly, that the rules and directions, to caufe flowers to bee of 

 contrary or different colours or fents, from that they were or would be naturally, are 

 meere fancies of men, without any ground of reafon or truth. And thirdly, that there 

 is no power or art in man, to caufe flowers to (hew their beauty diuers moneths before 

 their naturall time, nor to abide in their beauty longer then the appointed naturall 

 time for euery one of them. 



D THE 



