234 SYLVA FLORIFEHA. 



rockes, and therefore are easily cast downe 

 with any extreme gale of winde. I haue 

 seehe these trees growing in Cheshire, Staf- 

 fordshire, and Lancashire, where they grew 

 in great plentie, as is reported, before Noah's 

 floud ; but then being ouerturned, and ouer- 

 whelmed haue lien since in the mosses and 

 waterie moorish grounds, very fresh and 

 sound vntill this day ; and so full of a resin- 

 ous substance, that they burne like a torch 

 or linke, and the inhabitants of those coun- 

 tries do call it Firre wood, and fire woode 

 vnto this day." From this it seems probable 

 that we have given name to this tree, as it has 

 no similitude to that of any other language, 

 and it seems that its various names have been 

 derived from the uses it was put to in Gerard's 

 time, who calls it Firre tree (fire tree), Mast 

 tree, and Deale tree. 



Martyn says in his edition of Miller, " As 

 to the immense forests of fir or pine discovered 

 under ground, in various parts of these king- 

 doms, they were probably the Pinus sylvestris 

 or Scotch pine : for the subterraneous cones 

 which I have seen, evidently belonged to this 

 species." Had Caesar seen more of England, 

 he no doubt would have seen fir-trees in 

 many parts of the country, as they have been 

 found in many situations, where the Romans 



