AND ENGLISH PHYSICIAN ENLARGED. 201 



i morning; and this idle talk of untruth is so 

 CHAPTER ill < grounded in the heads, not only of the vul- 



Of Seeds. i S ar> but a ' so f tne learned, that a man 



| cannot drive it out by reason. I pray let 

 1. THE seed is that part of the plant \ such sapmongers answer me this argument; 



i 1 1 '.I/* 1 . > T /* . I * 1 1 . _1 



which is endowed with a vital faculty to 

 bring forth its like, and it contains poten- 



mm * 11 1 . * * . 



If the sap falls into the roots in the fall of 

 the leaf, and lies there all the Winter, then 



tially the whole plant in it. i 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 foiget not the celestial har- j kernel in the Spring, you shall find the root 

 mony before mentioned, for I have found \ to 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 \ What doth the sap do in the root all that 

 an appointed time for every thing under! while? Pick straws? 'Tis as rotten as a 

 the sun." I 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 



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 j touches the tropic of Capricorn, and ascends 

 them so near the fire, as the other before- 1 to us-ward, it begins to Avax thin again, 

 mentioned, because they are fuller of j and by degrees, as it congealed. But to 

 spirit, and therefore not so subject to j proceed. 



corrupt. 3. The drier time you gather the roots 



6. As for the lime of their duration, it is j in, 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* 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, | the chimney corner upon a string; as for 

 therefore then they are in their prime ;\ such as are hard, you may dry them any 

 and it is an easy matter to renew them j where, 



yearly. 5. Such roots as are great, will keep 



i longer than such as are small ; yet most of 

 c H A P T E a i v . ; them win keep a year 



of Roots. 8< ^ acn roots as are s ft * l * s y ur kest 



i way 10 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 I ler-time you find any of your roots, herbs 

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

 neither in softness nor hardness. |v u sna 'l (f r 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 verv 

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

 is, That the sap falls down into the roots in Jkeep them near the fire, you may save youi* 

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



<w men go to bed at night, and rise in thej 7. It is in vain to dry roots that tn:u 



