OF FOREST-TUEES. 



57 



and made fast to one another by short pieces above and beneath, in which cHAP. II. 

 a few brambles being stuck, they will be abundantly secured, without '•"■^"V^^ 

 that choaking or fretting, to which trees are obnoxious that are only 

 single staked and bushed, as the vulgar manner is ; nor is the charge 

 of this so considerable as the great advantage, if we consider the frequent 

 reparations which the other will require. Where cattle do not come, 

 I find a good piece of rope tied fast about the neck of trees upon a wisp 

 of straw to preserve it from galling, and the other end tightly strained to 

 a hook or peg in the ground (as the shrouds in a ship are fastened to the 

 masts) sufficiently stablishes my trees against the western blasts without 

 more trouble ; for the winds of other quarters seldom infest us : But these 

 cords had need be well pitched to preserve them from wet, and so they 

 will last many years. I cannot in the mean time conceal what a noble 

 person has assured me, that in his goodly plantations of trees in Scotland, 

 where they are continually exposed to much greater and more impetuous 

 winds than we are usually acquainted with, he never stakes any of his 

 trees, but upon all disasters of this kind, causes only his servants to 

 re-dress and set them up again as often as they happen to be overthrown, 

 which he has affirmed to me, thrive better than those which he has 

 staked ; and that at last they strike root so fast, as nothing but the ax 

 is able to prostrate them: And there is good reason for this, in my opinion; 

 for these concussions open the mould for the more ready insinuations 

 of the roots in quest of nourishment. It is in another place I suggest, 

 that transplanting Pines and Firs, for want of their penetrating tap-roots, 

 are hardly consistent against these gusts after they are grown high, 

 especially where they are set close, and in tufts, which betrays them 

 to the greater disadvantage ; and therefore such trees do best in walks, 

 and at competent distances, where they escape tolerably well. Such 

 therefore as we design for woods of them, should be sowed and never 

 removed. In the mean time, many trees are also propagated by cuttings 

 and layers ; the Evergreens about Bartholomew-tide ; other trees within 

 two or three months after, when they will have all the sap to assist them. 

 Every body knows the way to do it by slitting the branch a little way, 

 and then to plunge it a foot under good mould, leaving as much of 

 its extremity above it ; and if it comply not well, to peg it down with an 

 hook or two, and so when you find it competently rooted, to cut it off 

 Volume I. P 



