64, A DISCOURSE 



KOOK. II. instruments : and of its root, hafts for knives and otlier tools. Tlie offer 

 '^•"'^^r'^ of Domitian to Crassus for half a dozen of these trees, growing about 



The CELTIS is of the class and order Polygamia Monoecia. 



These trees are all propagated by seeds, which should be sown soon after they are 

 ripe, when they can be procured at that season ; many of them will come up the following 

 spring ; whereas, those which are sown in the spring, will not come up till a twelvemonth 

 after. It is the best way to sow them in pots or tubs, that they may be easily removed ; 

 those sown in the spring should be placed in a shady situation in summer, and constantly 

 kept clean from weeds ; but, if in autumn, they should be placed in a warm situation, 

 plunging the pots into the ground ; and if they are covered over with a little tan from 

 a decayed hot-bed, it will prevent the frost from penetrating the earth to injure the seeds ; 

 if these pots are placed on a gentle hot-bed in the spring, it will greatly forward the 

 vegetation of the seeds, whereby the plants will have more time to get strength before 

 the winter : but when the plants appear above ground, they must have a large share 

 of air admitted to them, otherwise they will be drawn up weak ; and as soon as the 

 weather is warm, they must be exposed to the open air, and in summer they must be con- 

 stantly kept clean from weeds ; if the season prove dry, they will require water two 

 or three times a- week. In autumn, it will be proper to remove the pots, and place them 

 under a hot-bed frame, to shelter them in winter from severe frost ; or, where there is not 

 that conveniency, the pots should be plunged into the ground near a wall or hedge ; and 

 as the plants, when young, are full of sap, and tender, the early frosts in autumn frequently 

 kill the upper parts of the shoots ; therefore the plants should be either covered with mats, 

 or a little straw, or peas-haulm laid over to protect them. 



In the following spring the plants should be taken out of the seed-pots, and planted in 

 the full ground : this should be done about the latter end of March, when the danger 

 of frost is over ; therefore a bed or two should be prepared (according to the number 

 of plants raised) in a sheltered situation, and, if possible, in a gentle, loamy soil. The- 

 ground must be well trenched, and cleared from the roots of bad weeds, and, when 

 levelled, should be marked out in lines at one foot distance ; then the plants should be 

 carefully turned out of the pots and separated, so as not to tear their roots, and planted in 

 the lines at six inches asunder, pressing the earth down close to the roots. If the ground 

 be very dry when they are planted, and there is no appearance of rain soon, it will be 

 proper to water the beds, to settle the ground to the roots of the plants ; and after this, 

 if the surface of the ground be covered with some old tan or rotten dung, it will keep it 

 moist, and prevent the drying winds from penetrating to the roots of the plants. 



The following summer, the necessary care must be to keep them constantly clean from 

 weeds ; but after the plants are pretty well established in the ground, they will not require 

 any water, especially towai-d the latter end of summer; for that will occasion their late 

 growth, whereby they will be in great danger of suffering by the autumn frosts ; for the 

 more any of these young trees are stopped in their growth by drought towards autumn, the 

 firmer will be their texture, which will enable them to bear the severity of winter. 



The plants may remain in the nursery two years, by which time they will have obtained 

 sufficient strength to be transplanted where they are designed to remain; for as these 

 plants extend their roots wide every way, if they stand too long ir^ the nursery, their 



