28 



A DISCOURSE 



fresh piece of earth for present use, he dig not above one spit deep, which 

 will be sufficient to cover the roots of any plan table fruit, or other tree; 

 he must not disturb it again till the JMarch following, when, if he please, 

 and that the ground seem to require an hastier maturation, there may be 

 a crop of beans, peas, or turnips sown upon it, which will mellow it ex- 

 ceedingly, and destroy the noxious weeds ; after which, with a slight re- 

 pastination, one may plant or sow any thing in it freely, especially roots, 

 which will thrive bravely, and so will trees, provided you plant them not 

 too deep, but endeavour to make them spread, and take in the succulent 

 virtue or the upper mould ; and therefore too deep trenching is not al- 

 ways profitable, unless it be for esculent roots, such as carrots, parsnips, 

 beets, and the like, since trees, especially fruit, should be tempted even 

 by baits to run shallow ; such as penetrate deep, commonly spending 

 more in wood and leaves, than in the burden for which we plant them. 



There is only this caution due. That you never plant your trees where 

 the stiff and churlish ground is likely to touch their roots ; for though it 

 be neither necessary nor convenient they should penetrate deep, it is yet of 

 high importance they should dilate and spread, which they will never do 

 in obstinate and inhospitable land (but revert back towards the milder, 

 and better-natured mould) which crumples the roots, and perverts their 

 posture, to their exceeding damage : and to this infirmity our rare exotic 

 plants and shrubs are most obnoxious, confined as they are to their wooden 

 cases and testaceous prisons, and therefore require to be frequently trim- 

 med, and supplied with fresh and succulent mould to entertain the fibres, 

 which else you will find to mat in unexplicable entanglements, and ad- 

 here to the sides of the vessel, where they dry or corrupt. 



Having said thus much of the natural, I should now come to artificial 

 helps, by application of dungs and composts ; and indeed, stude ut mag- 

 num sterquilinium haheas, was old and good advice ; but as some there be 

 who affirm any culture of the earth preferable to dung, even things so 

 slight as the haulm of peas and lupines, or any other pulse, (for when I 

 speak of dungs, I mean those excrementitious and sordid materials which 

 we commonly heap up and lay upon our grounds,) I shall beg your pa^ 

 tience to suspend awhile my stirring that less pleasant mixture, and, till it 

 be well aired and fit for use, proceed on our former subject, and try what 

 aid we may expect yet from more kind and benign means, before v/e come 



