46 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



or moats could have protected our forefathers, 

 who found no security but in their castles, or 

 the walled towns, where their reliance was on 

 their numbers. These towns were called Villa*, 

 and from whence we have derived the name 

 of villa for detached country dwellings ; and 

 as long as our liberties and laws remain un- 

 impaired, so long will the acacia wave it's 

 banners in security over our peaceable villas. 

 In placing this tree in the shrubbery or 

 plantation, a sheltered situation should be 

 chosen. It is a beautiful tree, either to look 

 through, or to look down upon, and it is equally 

 ornamental when it feathers to the ground, or 

 carries it's plumage above evergreen shrubs, 

 which it's shade injures less than that of other 

 trees, and it is certainly less hurtful by it's 

 drip than any tree we know of. This may 

 be accounted for from a singularity in the 

 nature of it's pinnated leaves : they fold over 

 and join their upper surfaces in bad weather, 

 leaving the tree, as it were, stripped of half 

 it's foliage, while the rain is conducted by 



* The Latin word Civitas^ properly, is referred to the 

 people and inhabitants who live under one, not only one 

 law, but also under one and the selfsame magistrate and 

 government. Urbs, Villa, and Oppidum, signify the place 

 wherein those citizens live and assemble themselves. Tate 

 on the Antiquity., fyr. of Cities^ Boroughs, and Towns, 1 598. 



