264. 



A DISCOURSE 



C H A P. V. 



APHORISMS, or certain General Precepts, of Use to the foregoing 



Chapters. 



III. J. RY all sorts of seeds, and by their thriving you shall best discern 

 what are the most proper kinds for grounds,, 



Quippe solo natura subesl 



and of these design the main of your plantation. Try all soils, and fit 

 the species to their natures. Beech, Hasel, and Holly affect gravel and 

 gritty ; and if mixed with loam, Oak, Ash, and Elm. In stiff ground, 

 plant Ash and Hornbeam ; and in light feeding ground or loam, any 

 sort whatsoever : in the lower and wetter lands, the aquatics 



g of plants, each species affects a particular soil in preference to every other. In their 

 culture, therefoi-e, it is of the utmost importance to have a distinct knowledge of the 

 loca natalia, that the nature of the soil in which they are cultivated, may be made to 

 approach, as near as possible, to that in which they spontaneously grow. This is the solid 

 and proper foundation of planting and gardening : 



Nec vero terrte ferre omnes omnia possunt. 

 Fluminibus Salices, crassisque paludibus Alni 

 Nascuntur, steriles saxosis montibus Orni, 

 Litora Myrteis leetissima : denique apertos 



Bacchus amat colles, Aquilonem et frigora Taxi, georg. ii. 



The numerous species of plants which grow betwixt the north pole and the equator, 

 when viewed in detail, appear to differ from each other only by insensible degrees ; yet 

 are the plants of the frozen zones, when viewed in cumulo, or in a body, totally different 

 from those which are produced betwixt the tropics. Thus we often see whole families of 

 plants, natives of the torrid zone, which are never to be found in any of the others. " In 

 the climate of plants," says Linnaeus, " are to be considered latitude, longitude, and the 

 temperature or elevation of the soil." Vaillant was among the first who viewed the loca 

 natalia of plants in this light; but his observations were confined to latitude alone- 

 Places situated under the same parallel of latitude, but in opposite hemispheres, produce 

 plants that are totally different ; even those in the same hemisphere are rarely alike. — 

 Thus Rome, Pekin, and New York, in America, are situated almost in the same degree 

 of north latitude, yet produce very different plants. The same may be said of the plants 



