402 DIRICTIOVB FOft MAKIKO 8TRUP&, &a 



ooiTupted by their loss of colour, or smell, or both : an!, if 

 they be corrupted, reason will tell you that they must ueeda 

 corrupt the bodies of those people that take them. 



4. Gather all leayes in the hour of that planet that goTenu 

 them. 



CHAPTER II. 



Of Flowers, 



1. The flower, which is the beauty of the plant, and ol none 

 of the least use in physic, groweth yearly, and is to be ga- 

 thered when it is in its prime. 



2. As for the time of gathering them, let the planetary 

 hour, and the plant they come on be observed, as we shew- 

 ed you in the luregoing chapter: as for the time of the day, 

 let it be when the sun shines upon them, that so they may 

 be dry ; for if you gather either flowers or herbs when they 

 are wet or dewj', they will not keep. 



3. Dry them well in the sun, and keep them in papers near 

 the ftre, as i shewed you in the foregoing chapter. 



4. So long as they retain the smell and colour, they are 

 good ; either of them being gone, so is their virtue also. 



CHAPTER III. 



Of Seed*. 



1. The seed is that part of the plant which is endowed 

 with a vital faculty to brin^ torth its like, and it contains 

 potentially the whole plant m it , ^ , 



2. As for the place, let them be gathered from the place 

 where they most delight to grow. 



3. Let them be full ripe when they are gathered, and for- 

 get not the celestial harmony before mentioned; for I have 

 found by experience that their virtues are twice as great at 

 such times as others : " There is an appointed time for every 

 thing under the sun." 



4. When you have gathered them, dry them a uttle, acn 

 but a very little, in the sun before you lay them up. 



6. You need not be so careful of keeping them so near the 

 Hre as the other before mentioned, because they are fuller of 

 spirit, and therefore not so subject to corrupt. 



6. As for the time of their duration, it is palpable they 

 will keep a good many years ; yet they are best the flrbt 

 Year, and this I make appear by a good argument. They 

 inll grow soonest the first year they be set, therefore then 

 they are in their prime ; and it is an easy matter to renew 

 them yearly. 



