156 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK II. many tender plantations : next to the utter destroying them, there is 

 -^"^^-^^^ nothing better than to anoint that part which is within their reach, with 

 stercus humanum, tempered with a little water or urine, and lightly 

 brushed on ; this renewed after every great rain : but a cleanlier than 

 this, and yet which conies, and even cattle most abhor, is to water, or 

 sprinkle them with tanners' liquor, viz. that which they use for dressing 

 their hides ; or to wash with slacked lime and water, altogether as ex- 

 pedient ; also to tie thumb-bands of hay and straw round them as far 

 as they can reach. 



JNIoss (which is an adnascent plant) is to be rubbed and scraped off 

 with some fit instrument of wood, which may not excorticate the tree, or 

 with a piece of hair-cloth after a sobbing rain ; or by setting it on fire 

 with a wisp of straw, about the end of December, if the season be dry, 

 as they practise it in Staffordshire ; but the most infallible art of emusca- 

 tion is taking away the cause (which is superfluous moisture in clayey 

 and spewing grounds) by dressing with lime. 



Ivy is destroyed by digging up its roots, and loosening its hold ; and 



much of his Providence; and to encourage our researches, he has endowed us with a most 

 ardent desire to trace him along the path that he has made. 



4. AGE. It is abundantly evident that every living thing has its beginning and end- 

 ing, and undergoes innumerable changes. Thus we see that infancy is weak and feeble ; 

 but youth is comely, flourishing, and luxuriant. Manhood is plump, strong, and full of 

 stature ; but old age droops, becomes weak, languid, and dry, the sad presages of ap- 

 proaching dissolution. And are not plants subject to the same vicissitudes, and go through 

 the same stages? In their infant, or very youthful state, they are small and weak, destitute 

 of flowers and fruit ; when more advanced, they wanton in beautiful and shining colours, 

 being the most agreeable, and, as it were, in the joyous spring of life ; in summer, being 

 then more plump, firm, and strong, but less splendid, they bear fruit : in autumn, or old 

 age, they droop, grow dry, and wither, returning to dust, from whence they came. The 

 Ivy in its first or tender state, has spear-shaped leaves, and bears neither flowers nor fruit. 

 This is that variety which Bauhine calls Hedera humi repens, " Ivy creeping on the ground." 

 The same plant, when more advanced, bears five-lobed leaves, climbs on trees and 

 walls, and is barren. This variety Bauhine calls Hedera major slerilis, the " Greater barren 

 Ivy." In its next, or more mature state, it sends forth three-lobed leaves, and, leaving its 

 props and supporters, it rises by its own strength, and puts on the appearance of a pretty 

 tall tree, being loaded with flowers and fruit This is the Hedera 'Arborea of C. B " Tree 



