OF FOREST-TREES. 



301 



are grubbed up, Beech, and trees of other kinds have frequently sue- CH. XXll. 

 ceeded them. What some impetuous winds have done in this nature, I '"y-"^ 

 could produce instances almost miraculous. I shall say nothing of the 

 opinion of our Master Varro, and the learned Theophrastus *, who were » oe causis, 

 both of faith, that the seeds of plants dropped out of the air. Pliny, ' -i- cap. v. 

 in book xvi. chap, xxxiii. upon discourse of the Cretan Cypress, attributes 

 much to the indoles and nature of the soil, virtue of the climate, and im- 

 pressions of the air. And indeed it is very strange, what is affirmed of that 

 pitchy rain, reported to have fallen about Cyrene, the year 430, V. C. 

 after which, in a short time, sprung up a whole wood of the trees of 

 Laserpitium, producing a precious gum, not much inferior to Benzoin, ^ 

 if at least the story be warrantable. But these aerial irradiations, various 

 conceptions, and equivocal productions without seed, &c. are difficulties 

 to be solved by our philosophers ; also whence those leaves of the Platan 

 come, which Dr. Spon tells us, in his Travels, are found floating in some 

 of the fountains of the isles of the Strophades, no such tree growing near 

 them by thirty miles : Though these may haply be conveyed through 

 some unknown subterranean passage ; for were it by the wind, the leaves 

 being very large, they would be seen flying in, or falling out of the air. 



6. In transplanting of these coniferous trees, which are generally resi- 

 naceous, viz. Fir, Pine, Larix, Cedar, and which have but thin and single 

 roots, you must never diminish their heads, nor be at all busy with their 

 roots, which pierce deep, and is all their foundation, unless you find any 

 of them bruised, or much broken ; therefore such down-right roots as 

 you may be forced to cut off, it were safe to sear with an hot iron, and 

 prevent the danger of bleeding, to which they are obnoxious even to de- 

 struction, though unseen and unheeded. Neither may you disbranch 

 them, but with great caution, as about March, or before, or else in Sep- 

 tember, and then it is best to prune up the side-branches close to the 

 trunk, cutting off all that are above a year old ; if you suffer them too 

 long, they grow too big, and the cicatrice will be more apt to spend the 

 tree in gum ; upon which accident, I advise you to rub their wounds 

 over with a mixture of cow-dung ; the neglect of this cost me dear, so 

 apt are they to spend their gum. Indeed, the Fir and Pine seldom out- 

 live their being lopped. Some advise us to break the shells of Pines, to 

 facilitate their delivery, and I have essayed, but to my loss • Nature does 

 obstetricate and do that office of herself, when it is the proper season. 



