OF FOREST-TREES. 57 



in England, from its success in several northern countries, and even in CHAP. II, 

 the moist places of Ireland. He shews how it may be improved by ^-^t^^ 

 grafting on the Fig, or the larger Black Mulberry on that of the siliaUest 

 kind : also of what request the Diamoron, made of the juice of this 

 fruit, was with the ancients, with other excellent observations. What 

 other incomparable remedies the fruit of this tree affords, see Pliny's 

 Natural History, lib. xxiii. chap. vii. There is a Mulberry-tree brought 

 from Virginia, not to be contemned, upon which they find silk-worms, 

 which would exceed the silk of Persia itself, if the planters of nauseous 

 tobacco did not hinder the culture. Sir Jo. Berkley, TV^ho was many 

 years governor of that ample colony, told me he presented the king 

 (Charles II.) with as much silk made there, as made his Majesty a com- 

 plete suit of apparel. 



Lastly, Let it not seem altogether impertinent if I add one premonition 

 to those less-experienced gardeners, who frequently expose their Orange, 

 and like tender furniture^trees of the green-house, too early : that the 

 first leaves putting forth of this wise tree ( Sapientissima, as Pliny calls 

 it) is a more infallible note when those delicate plants may be safely 

 brought to the air, than any other prognostic or indication". For other 

 species, vid, Raii Dendr. p. 12. 



Pliny, in the most engaging manner, has pointed out to us the advantages that the 

 husbandman may reap from an attention to the common objects that surround him ; and 

 indeed we ought not to look upon this harmonious idea, otherwise than as the chain that 

 links the created to his Creator. Jam Vergilias in coelo notabiles cater va fecerat : 

 Non tamen his contenta, terrestres fecit alias, veluti vociferans : Cur coelum intuearis 

 agricola ? cur sidera quaeris rustice ? Jam te breviore somno fessum preratiat noctes. 

 Ecce tibi inter herbas tuas spargo peculiares Stellas, easque vespere et ab opere 

 disjungenti ostendo: ac ne possis prseterire, miraculo soUicito. Videsne u,t fuigor igni 

 similis alarum compressu tegatur, secumque lucem habeat et nocte ? Dedi tibi herbas 

 horarum indices ; et ut ne sole quidem oculos tuos a terra avoces, heliotropium ac lupinum 

 circumaguntur cum illo. Cur etiam nunc altius spectas, ipsumque ccelum scrutaris ? Habes 

 ante pedes tuos ecce Vergilias. In certis ese in diebus proveniunt, durantque foedere 

 sideris hujusce : partumque eas illius esse certum est. Prqinde quisquis aestivos fructus 

 ante illas severit, ipse frustrabitur sese. Hoc intervallo et apicula procedens fabam florere 

 indicat: fabaque florescens earn evocat. Dabitur et aliud finiti frigoris Indicium. Cum 

 germinare videris Morum, injuriam postea frigoris timere nolito. Lib. xviii. 



