ftamped on a gold medal, which he continually wore 
about him. 
And fuch was the efbeem which the people of Afia 
had for this tree, that wherever they erefted any 
fumptuous buildings, the porticoes, which opened to 
the air, terminated in groves of thefe trees. 
The Eaftern Plane-tree is propagated either from 
feeds, or by layers, the latter of which is generally 
pradtifed in England; though the plants thus raided fel- 
dom make fo large ftrait trees, as thofe which are 
produced from feeds ; but it has been generally 
thought, that the feeds of this tree were not pro- 
dudtive, becaufe they have not been fown at a proper 
feafon, nor managed in a right manner ; for I have 
had thoufanas of the young plants fpring up from the 
feeds of a large tree, which flattered upon the ground 
in a moift place ; and I fmce find, that if thefe feeds 
are fown foon after they are ripe, in a moift fhady 
fituation, they will rife extremely well •, and the plants 
thus obtained, will make a confiderable progrefs after 
the fecond year, being much hardier and lefs liable to 
lofe their tops in winter, than thofe which are propa- 
gated by layers. And fince the feeds of this tree fre- 
quently ripen well in England, they may be propa- 
gated in as great plenty as any other foreft-tree. 
The Virginian Plane-tree will grow extremely well 
from cuttings, if they are planted the beginning of 
October upon a moift foil ; and if they are watered in 
dry weather, will make a prodigious progrefs ; fo 
that in a few years from the planting, they will afford 
noble trees for planting of avenues, and other fhady 
walks ; and their trunks are perfectly ftrait, growing 
nearly of the fame fize to a confiderable height, there 
being the leaft difference in the girt of this tree, for 
feveral yards up wards, of any other fort of tree what- 
foever. The Hon. Paul Dudley, Eflj-, in a letter to 
the Royal Society, mentions one of thefe trees, which 
he obferved in New England, whofe girt was nine 
yards, and held its bignefs a great way up, which tree, 
when cut down, made twenty-two cords of wood. He 
aifo fays, in the fame letter, That he had propagated 
many of thefe trees by cutting off fticks of five or fix 
feet long, and fetting them a foot deep into the 
ground in the fpring of the year, when the feafon was 
wet, and that they always thrive beft in a moift foil. 
All the forts are propagated very eafily by layers, 
every twig of them will take root, if they are but 
pegged down and covered with earth ; thefe layers 
will be well rooted in one year, when they fhould be 
cut off from the old trees or ftools, and planted in 
a nurfery, where they may remain two or three 
years to get ftrength, after which they may be tranf- 
planted where they are to remain, for the younger 
thefe trees are planted the better they will thrive. An 
experiment of this I made in 1731, when I planted 
four of thefe trees, one of each fort, in the fame foil 
and fituation, at about twenty feet diftance from each 
other ; one of which, viz. the Spanilh Plane, whofe 
Item was eight inches in girt ; next to this, I planted 
one of the Maple-leaved Plane-tree, whole girt was 
not three inches, but the latter is now much larger 
than the former, and gains more in one year than the 
other does in three ; and the two others which were 
of a middle fize, have grown in a mean proportion 
between them. 
PLOUGHING OF LAND. 
There is not a greater improvement of arable land 
than that of well ploughing it, by which the foil is 
pulverized, and rendered fit to receive the fibres of 
the plants ; and the oftener this is repeated, and the 
better it is performed, the greater improvement is made 
in the land. But there are not many of the practition- 
ers of the art of hufbandry, who attend enough to this 
part of it, moft of them contenting themfelves with 
going on in the old beaten road of their predecefibrs ; 
fo that the only perfons who have made great im- 
provement in this part of agriculture, are "the great 
gardeners, who cultivate nioft of their land with the 
lough ; therefore they have imitated, as near as poffi- 
le, the vtfe of the fpade in labouring of their ground. 
The difference between digging of land with the' 
fpade, and that of ploughing, confifts in the parts of 
the earth being much more divided by the former, 
than the latter method ; therefore thofe gardeners, 
who are curious in the working of their land, oblige 
their labourers to fpit the ground as thin as poffibie, 
that there may remain no large clpds unbroken *, fc 5 
when land is ploughed, the fame regard fhould be 
had to break and pulverize the parts as much as poft 
fible ; for when there are great clods left unbroken, 
the fibres of plants never penetrate farther than the 
furface of them ; fo that all the falts included in thefe 
lumps of earth are locked up, that the plants can re- 
ceive no benefit from them. And thefe clods, in pro- 
portion to their fize, make fuch interftices, that the 
air often penetrates through, and greatly injures the 
tender fibres of the roots. Therefore the oftener the 
land is ploughed, and the more the parts are feparated 
and pulverized, the better will the plants be nouriftted 
and fed ; but particularly in all ftrong land, this part 
of hufbandry will be the moft beneficial ; but this can- 
not be effected under four or five ploughings, and by 
ufing fuch ploughs as have either two or four coul- 
ters, which will cut and feparate the clods much bet- 
ter than it can be performed by the common plough ; 
and in the operation, great care fhould be had to^the 
breadth of the furrow, for when thefe are made too 
broad, it will be impoffible to break and feparate 
the parts fufficiently. In fome counties, where the 
hufbandmen are not very expert in the ufe of the 
plough, I have feen gentlemen oblige them to plough 
by a line, and they have fet out the exact width "of 
each furrow. This not only adds a neatnefs to the 
ground, but likewife, by keeping the furrows ftrait, 
and at equal diftances, the land will be more equally 
worked ; but many of the good ploughmen in the 
counties near London, will clired the plough as 
ftrait by their eye, as if they were to ufe a line. 
Another thing to be obferved in ploughing of land 
is that of going to a proper depth, for if the furface 
only be broken up and pulverized, the roots of 
whatever plants are fown upon it will in a very fhort 
time reach the bottom, and meeting with the hard 
unbroken foil, they are flopped from getting farther, 
and of confequence the plants will ftint in theirgrowth j 
for there are few perfons v/ho have attended enough 
to the downright growth of the roots of plants, and 
only have had regard to the roots of thofe plants, 
which are of a ftrong flefhy fubftance, and are "called 
tap-roots, being in form of Carrots. Thefe they fup- 
pofe will require to have the land wrought to a greater 
depth, that the roots may run down, and be the 
longer, for in that particular their goodnefs confifts. 
But they do not think that the fmall fibrous-rooted 
plants ever require fo much depth to run into the 
ground ; in this they are greatly miftaken, for I have 
traced the fmall fibres of Grafs and Corn above three 
feet deep in the ground. And if any perfon is curi- 
ous to obferve the length of the fibres of plants, if they 
will but plant one of each fort into a fmall pot of earth, 
and keep them duly watered till the plants are ad- 
vanced to flower, and then turn them out of the pots 
carefully, fo as not to break any of the fibres of the 
roots, and after feparating the earth from them, 
meafure the length of their roots, they will be found 
much greater than moft people imagine. I have my- 
felf frequently traced the roots of plants, which have 
furrounded the pots upward of twelve times ; and the 
roots of fome ftrong-growing plants, which have 
gotten through the holes in the bottom of flower-pots, 
have in three months time extended themfelves ten 
or eleven feet from the plant therefore the deeper 
the ground is laboured, the greater benefit the plants 
will receive from it: but it muft be underftoodof fuch 
land as the ftaple is deep enough to admit of this, 
for if the foil is ftiallow, and either gravel, chalk, or 
ftone lie beneath, it will be very imprudent to turn up 
either of thefe ; therefore the depth of the furrows in 
fuch lands, muft be determined by the ftaple of the 
land. By the word ftaple muft be underflood all tha: 
10 depth 
