[ 75 3 



a living ftate, and too fmall to be debarhd, 

 required a better head-piece than mine to 

 hit on an expedient, inftantaneous— and cer- 

 tain— i tried feveral, and my iirft was after 

 this manner ; I procured a Gimlet^ whofe 

 worm part was ground off, and the remain- 

 ing part formed into the fliape of a Joyner*s 

 goudge, and with as fharp an edge 5 my in- 

 tention being to thruft the goudge part 

 forcibly thro' the bark of the tree, firft oa 

 the upper fide, and next under the lower fide 

 of each fhoot, in order to turn out the very 

 radicle of fuch fhoots therewith. And this 

 expedient indeed fails not to put an end to 

 their little lives : But withal I muft obferve, 

 it is a flow operation, and will do execution 

 only on the fmalleji twigs. Wherefore tho* 

 in part it was efFedhjal, yet on account of the 

 tedioufnefs of it, I laid it wholly afide, as 

 Mr, Homberg the Chemift did his experiment 

 fcf converting mercury into gold^ becaufe 

 it Would not quit cofl:. 



On which perplexing accounts, I mult 

 have left this whole affair verv imperfvCljj 

 had not, after the iafl: infiifficient effort/ rny 

 ignorance again been the parent of the like 

 fuccefsful prefuniption, as it had beerLin the 



begin- 



