AND ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 



201 



CHAPTER III- 



Of Seeds. 



1. THE seed is that part of the plant 

 which is endowed with a vital faculty to 

 bring forth its like, and it contains poten- 



morning; and this idle talk of untruth is so 

 grounded in the heads, not only of the vul- 

 gar, but also of the learned, that a man 

 cannot drive it out by reason. I pray let 

 such sapmongers answer me this argument; 

 If the sap falls into the roots in the fall of 

 the leaf, and lies there all the Winter, then 



tiallf the whole plant in it. must the root grow only in the Winter. 



2. As for place, let them be gathered But the root grows not at all in the Winter, 

 from the place where they delight to grow. j as experience teaches, but only in the 



3. Let them be full ripe when they are j Summer : Therefore, If you set an apple- 

 gathered ; and forget not the celestial har- j kernel in the Spring, you shall find the root 

 mony before mentioned, for I have found jto grow to a pretty bigness in the Summer, 

 by experience that their virtues are twice as i and be not a whit bigger next Spring. 



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 little, and but a little in the sun, 

 before you lay them up. 



5. You need not be so careful of keeping 

 them so near the fire, as the other before- 



root all that 

 as rotten as a 



because they 

 therefore not 



are fuller 

 so subject 



What doth the sap do in the 

 while? Pick straws? 'Tis a 

 rotten post. 



The truth is, when the sun declines from 

 the tropic of Cancer, the sap begins to con- 

 geal both in root and branch ; when he 

 touches the tropic of Capricorn, and ascends 

 to us-ward, it begins to wax thin again, 



of | and by degrees, as it congealed. But to 



to | proceed. 



therefore 

 and it 

 yearly. 



is 



mentioned, 

 spirit, and 



corrupt. 3. The drier time you gather the roots 



6. As for the time of their duration, it is Jin, the better they are; for they have the 

 palpable they will keep a good many years; \ less excrementitious moisture in them, 

 yet, they are best the first year, and this jj 4. Such roots as are soft, your best way 

 I make appear by a good argument. They | is to dry in the sun, or else hang them in 

 will grow sooner the first year they be set, j the chimney corner upon a string ; as for 

 thprpfnrp thpn thev are in their prime ; \ such as are hard, you may dry them any 



them | where. 



5. Such roots as are great, will keep 

 I longer than such as are small ; yet most of 

 i them will keep a year. 



8. Siieh roots as are soft, it is your best 

 1 way LO keep them always near the fire, and 



1. OF roots, chuse such as are neither \ to take this general rule for it: If in Win- 

 rotten nor worm-eaten, but proper in their j ter-time you find any of your roots, herbs 

 taste, colour, and smell; such as exreed ! or flowers begin to be moist, as many times 

 neither in softness nor hardness. j you shall (for it is your best way to look to 



2. Give me leave to be a little critical | them once a month) dry them by a very 

 against the vulgar received opinion, which j gentle fire; or, if you can with convenience 

 is, That the sap falls down into the roots in * keep them near the fire, you may save your- 

 the Autumn, and rises again in the Spring, { self the labour 



as men go to bed at night, and rise in the) 7- It is in vain to dry roots that may 



then they are in their 

 an easy matter to renew 



CHAPTER IV. 



Of Roots. 



