60 REPOET OF MEETINGS FOR 1901 



country, I got some farmers from Dorsetshire. This made 

 me divide my ground. But as I knew the coldness of the 

 climate, and the bad efiPects the high winds had, I made 

 strips of planting betwixt every enclosure, some forty, fifty, 



or sixty feet broad, as I thought best From these 



Englishmen we came to the knowledge of sowing and man- 

 agement of seeds — a thing of so great advantage that I 

 intend to write something on that head to you 



Chapter I. 



I have read all the books I could lay my hands on that 

 are in English on the subject of planting (and they are not 

 a few in number.) Some good things are to be met with in 

 most of them, though there are none that I entirely agree with. 

 John Evelyn, Esq., seems to have had great skill, but his 

 language is affectedly cramp. He shews, in my mind, too 

 much regard to the age of the moon, and other niceties that 

 I think absolutely unnecessary. He is tedious, and makes 

 too many digressions ; but in the main is a good author. 

 Moses Cook was gardener to the Earl of Essex, and wrote 

 much about the same time 



Sect. I. or the Oak. 



The oak is raised by the seed called the acorn. Authors 

 mention different kinds in Britain, but I own I know nothing 

 of it. I have raised many, but could never observe any odds 

 amongst them. All my acorns came from England. Yet 

 I think there must be more kinds than one ; for that which 

 comes from abroad, and is used for barrels and wainscoting, 

 seems to be of a very different kind. I have raised many 

 oaks by setting the acorns in the ground, where they are 

 designed to stand without being removed. And I think it 

 by far the best way, if the field mice could be stopped from 

 destroying them ; because every time a tree is removed it 

 puts a stop to the growth. Where the ground was bare, 



as in Binning-wood, the acorns did very well The 



way I have taken of late is, to make seed beds after this 

 manner. We trench a piece of good ground and lay it out 



