38 



A DISCOURSE 



CHAPTER II. 



SEMINARY. 



Of the Seminary, and of Transplanting. 



BOOK I. 1. ^UI Vineam vel A?'busfum constituere volet, Seminaria prius facerc 

 debehit, was the precept of Columella, (de Arb. cap. 1.) speaking of 

 vineyards and fruit-trees ; and doubtless we cannot pursue a better course 

 for the propagation of timber- trees : For though it seem but a trivial 

 design, that one should make a nursery of foresters ; yet it is not to be 

 imagined, without the experience of it, what prodigious numbers a very 

 small spot of ground, well cultivated, and destined for this purpose, 

 would be able to furnish towards the sending forth of yearly colonies 

 into all the naked quarters of a lordship or demesne ; being, with a 

 pleasant industry, liberally distributed amongst the tenants, and disposed 

 of about the hedge-rows, and other waste and uncultivated places for 

 timber, shelter, fuel, and ornament, to an incredible advantage. This 

 being a cheap and laudable work, of so much pleasure in the execution, 

 and so certain a profit in the event, when once well done, (for, as 1 

 affirmed, a very small plantarium, or nursery, will, in a few years, stock a 

 vast extent of ground,) has made me sometimes in admiration at the 

 universal negligence ; as well as raised my admiration, that seeds and 

 plants of such different kinds, should, like so many tender babes and 

 infants, suck and thrive at the same breasts ; though there are some 

 indeed will not so well prosper in company, requiring peculiar juices : 

 But this niceness is more conspicuous in flowers and the herbaceous 

 offspring, than in foresters, which require only diligent weeding and fre- 

 quent cleansing, till they are able to shift for themselves ; and as their 

 vessels enlarge and introsume more copious nourishment, they often 

 starve their neighbours. 



2. Having therefore made choice of such seeds as you would sow, by 

 taking and gathering them in their just season, that is, when dropping 

 ripe, and as has been said, from fair thriving trees, and found out some 

 fit piece of ground, well fenced, respecting the south-east rather than 



