Oaks have arrived at great perfedion poffi- 

 bly without any difcipline of this kind : 

 Still the argument in both cafes muft hold 

 good againft any fuch objeftion; unlefs it 

 could be prov'd, that neither could have been 

 better'd by a dlftindt education. 



I PROCEED next again on the mifchiefs 

 arifing from fuch accidents, on the Oak's 

 natural manner (we'll call it) of growing in 

 England : And firft, the lateral germens fo 

 occafioned, when grown any thing large, 

 render the timber coarfe, and fpoil the riving 

 quality of it — Then if by chance, the roots 

 meet with fome fortunate lower ftrata's of 

 earth j the upper boughs get fuch a predo- 

 minance as to kill the lower 5 whence fatal 

 holes are caufed in the body when boughs 

 rot off unregarded : And as cuftom is 

 fecond nature, I may fay, naturally unre- 

 garded — The third but more fatal effefts to 

 an Oak's ever afpiring again in a clear body, 

 are, contrarily, from the firft courfe of 

 boughs, even when no bigger than the lizes 

 I have mentioned to be debar kf^ gaining from 

 rich ftrata's, fo much ftrength extraordinary, 

 that all the upper T^ier are not ever able 

 afterward to fuffocate them—however qua- 

 lified 



