_Hor._
{94:1} V. _Churasium_, &c. _de viperis_.
CHAPTER VIII.
_Of the Chesnut._
1. The next is the chesnut, [_castanea_] of which Pliny reckons many kinds, especially about Tarentum and Naples; Ja.n.u.s Cornarius, upon that of Aetius, (_verbo_ ????) speaks of the Lopimi, as a n.o.bler kind, such as the _Euboicae_, which the Italians call _maroni_, _quasi castaneae maris_; but we commend those of Portugal or Bayonne, chusing the largest, brown, and most ponderous for fruit, such as Pliny calls _coctivae_, but the lesser ones to raise for timber. They are produc"d best by sowing and setting; previous to which, let the nuts be first spread to sweat, then cover them in sand; a month being past, plunge them in water, reject the swimmers; being dry"d, for thirty days more, sand them again, and to the water-ordeal as before. Being thus treated till the beginning of Spring, or in November, set them as you would do beans; and as some practise it, drench"d for a night or more, in new milk; but without half this preparation, they need only be put into the holes with the point upmost, as you plant tulips; Pliny will tell you they come not up, unless four or five be pil"d together in a hole; but that is false, if they be good, as you may presume all those to be which pa.s.s this examination; nor will any of them fail: But being come up, they thrive best unremoved, making a great stand for at least two years upon every transplanting; yet if needs you must alter their station, let it be done about November, and that into a light friable ground, or moist gravel, however they will grow even in clay, sand, and all mixed soils, upon exposed and bleak places, and the pendent declivities of hills to the north, in dry airy places, and sometimes (tho" not so well) near marshes and waters; but they affect no other compost, save what their own leaves afford them, and are more patient of cold than heat: As for their sowing in the nursery, treat them as you are taught in the wall-nut.
2. If you design to set them in Winter, or Autumn, I counsel you to interr them within their husks, which being every way arm"d, are a good protection against the mouse, and a providential integument. Pliny l.
15. c. 23. from this natural guard, concludes them to be excellent food, and doubtless Caesar thought so, when he transported them from Sardis first into Italy, whence they were propagated into France, and thence among us; another encouragement to make such experiments out of foreign countries. Some sow them confusedly in the furrow like the acorn, and govern them as the oak; but then would the ground be broken up "twixt November and February; and when they spring, be clensed, and thinn"d two foot asunder, after two years growth: Likewise may copses of chesnuts be wonderfully increased and thickned, by laying the tender and young branches; but such as spring from the nuts and marrons, are best of all, and will thrive exceedingly, if (being let stand without removing) the ground be stirr"d, and loosened about their roots, for two or three of the first years, and the superfluous wood prun"d away; and indeed for good trees, they should be shrip"d up after the first year"s removal; they also shoot into gallant poles from a felled stem: Thus will you have a copse ready for a felling, within eight years, which (besides many other uses) will yield you incomparable poles for any work of the garden, vineyard or hopyard, till the next cutting: And if the tree like the ground, will in ten or twelve years grow to a kind of timber, and bear plentiful fruit.
3. I have seen many chesnut-trees transplanted as big as my arm, their heads cut off at five and six foot height; but they came on at leisure: In such plantations, and all others for avenues, you may set them from thirty to ten foot distance, though they will grow much nearer, and shoot into poles, if (being tender) you cultivate them like the ash, the nature of whose shade it resembles, since nothing affects much to grow under it: Some husbands tell me, that the young chesnut-trees should not be pruned or touched with any knife or edge-tool, for the first three or four years, but rather cropp"d or broken off, which I leave to farther experience; however, many forbear to top them, when they transplant.
4. The chesnut being graffed in the wallnut, oak, or beech, (I have been told) will come exceeding fair, and produce incomparable fruit; for the wallnut, and chesnut in each other, it is probable; but I have not as yet made a full attempt; they also speak of inoculating cherries in the chesnut-stock for a later fruit. In the mean time, I wish we did more universally propagate the horse-chesnut, which being easily increas"d from layers, grows into a good standard, and bears a most glorious flower, even in our cold country: This tree (so call"d, for the cure of horses broken-winded, and other cattel of coughs) is now all the mode for the avenues to their countrey palaces in France, as appears by the late Superintendent"s plantation at Vaux. It was first brought from Constantinople to Vienna, thence into Italy, and so France; but to us from the Levant more immediately, and flourishes so well, and grows so goodly a tree in competent time, that by this alone, we might have ample encouragement to denizen other strangers amongst us. One inconvenience to which this beautiful tree is obnoxious, is that it does not well resist impetuous and stormy winds, without damage.
5. The chesnut is (next the oak) one of the most sought after by the carpenter and joyner: It hath formerly built a good part of our ancient houses in the city of London, as does yet appear. I had once a very large barn near the city, fram"d intirely of this timber: And certainly they grew not far off; probably in some woods near the town: For in that description of London, written by Fitz-Stephens, in the reign of Hen.
II. he speaks of a very n.o.ble and large forest which grew on the Boreal part of it; _proxime_ (says he) _patet foresta ingens, saltus nemorosi ferarum, latebrae cervorum, damarum, aprorum, & taurorum silvestrium, &c._ A very goodly thing it seems, and as well stor"d with all sorts of good timber, as with venison and all kind of chase; and yet some will not allow it a free-born of this island; but of that I make little doubt. The chesnut affords the best stakes and poles for palisades, pedament for vine-props and hops, as I said before: Also for mill-timber and water-works, or when it may lie buried; but if water touch the roots of the growing trees, it spoils both fruit and timber: "Tis likewise observed, that this tree is so prevalent against cold, that where they stand, they defend other plantations from the injuries of the severest frosts: I am sure being planted in hedge-rows, & _circa agrorum itinera_, or for avenues to our country-houses, they are a magnificent and royal ornament. This timber also does well (if kept dry) for columns, tables, chests, chairs, stools, bedsteads; for tubs, and wine-casks, which it preserves with the least tincture of the wood of any whatsoever: If the timber be dipp"d in scalding oyl, and well pitch"d, it becomes extreamly durable; but otherwise I cannot celebrate the tree for its sincerity, it being found that (contrary to the oak) it will make a fair shew outwardly, when "tis all decay"d, and rotten within; but this is in some sort recompenc"d, if it be true, that the beams made of chesnut-tree have this property, that being somewhat brittle, they give warning, and premonish the danger by a certain crackling which it makes; so as "tis said to have frighted those out of the Baths at Antandro, whose roof was laid with this material; but which Pliny says, was of hazle, very unlike it. Formerly they made consultatory staves of this tree; and the variegated rods which Jacob peel"d to lay in the troughs, and impress a fancy in his father-in-law"s conceiving ewes, were of this material. The coals are excellent for the smith, being soon kindled, and as soon extinguisht; but the ashes of chesnut-wood are not convenient to make a lee with, because it is observ"d to stain the linnen. As for the fruit, "tis better to beat it down from the tree, some little time before they fall off themselves; thus they will the better keep, or else you must smoke-dry them. But we give that fruit to our swine in England, which is amongst the delicacies of princes in other countries; and being of the larger nut, is a l.u.s.ty and masculine food for rusticks at all times; and of better nourishment for husbandmen than coal, and rusty bacon; yea, or beans to boot, instead of which, they boil them in Italy with their bacon; and in Virgil"s time, they eat them with milk and cheese. The best tables in France and Italy make them a service, eating them with salt, in wine, or juice of lemmon and sugar; being first roasted in embers on the chaplet; and doubtless we might propagate their use amongst our common people, (as of old the ?a?a??f????) being a food so cheap, and so lasting. In Italy they also boil them in wine, and then smoke them a little; these they call _anseri_ or geese, I know not why: Those of Piemont add fennel, cinnamon and nutmeg to their wine, if in water, mollify them with the vapour only; but first they peel them.
Others macerate them in rose-water. The bread of the flower is exceeding nutritive; "tis a robust food, and makes women well complexion"d, as I have read in a good author: They also make fritters of chesnut-flower, which they wet with rose-water, and sprinkle with grated _parmegiano_, and so fry them in fresh b.u.t.ter, a delicate: How we here use them in stew"d-meats, and beatille-pies, our French-cooks teach us; and this is in truth the very best use of their fruit, and very commendable; for it is found that the eating of them raw, or in bread (as they do much about Limosin) is apt to swell the belly, though without any other inconvenience that I can learn, and yet some condemn them as dangerous for such as are subject to the gravel in the kidneys, and however cook"d and prepar"d, flatulent, offensive to the head and stomach, and those who are subject to the cholick. The best way to preserve them, is to keep them in earthen vessels in a cold place; some lay them in a smoke-loft, others in dry barly-straw, others in sand, &c. The leaves of the chesnut-tree make very wholsom mattresses to lie on, and they are good littier for cattel: But those leafy-beds, for the crackling noise they make when one turns upon them, the French call _licts de Parliament_: Lastly, the flower of chesnuts made into an electuary, and eaten with hony fasting, is an approved remedy against spitting blood, and the cough; and a decoction of the rind of the tree, tinctures hair of a golden colour, esteem"d a beauty in some countries: Other species, v. Ray, _Dendrolog._ T. III, &c.
CHAPTER IX.
_Of the Wallnut._
1. _Juglans, quasi Jovis glans_, the{101:1} wall or welch-nut (though no where growing of it self, some say, in Europe) is of several sorts; Monsieur Rencaume (of the French Academy) reckons nine; the soft-sh.e.l.l and the hard, the whiter and the blacker grain: This black bears the worst nut, but the timber much to be preferred, and we might propagate more of them if we were careful to procure them out of Virginia, where they abound and bear a squarer nut, of all other the most beautiful, and best worth planting; indeed had we store of these, we should soon despise the rest; yet those of Gren.o.ble come in the next place, and are much priz"d by our cabinet-makers: In all events, be sure to plant from young and thriving trees, bearing full and plump kernels. It is said that the walnut-kernel wrap"d in its own leaf, being carefully taken out of its sh.e.l.l, brings a nut without sh.e.l.l, but this is a trifle; the best way to elevate them, is to set them as you do the chesnut, being planted of the nut, or set at the distance you would have him stand; for which they may be prepar"d by beating them off the tree (as was prescribed of the chesnut) some days before they quit the branches of themselves, and kept in their husks, or without them, till Spring, or by bedding them (being dry) in sand, or good earth, till March or earlier, from the time they fell, or were beaten off the tree: Or if before, they be set with husk and all upon them; for the extream bitterness thereof is most exitial and deadly to worms; or it were good to strew some furzes (broken or chopp"d small) under the ground amongst them, to preserve them from mice and rats, when their sh.e.l.ls begin to wax tender; especially if, as some, you supple them a little in warm cows milk; but being treated as before, you will find them already sprouted, and have need only to be planted where they are to abide; because (as we said long since) they are most impatient of transplanting: But if there be an absolute necessity of removing, let your tree never be above four years old, and then by no means touch the head with your knife, nor cut away so much as the very top-root, being so old, if you can well dispose of it, since being of a pithy and hollow substance, the least diminution, or bruise, will greatly endanger the killing: But see here what we have said of the chesnut. I have been told, that the very tops, and palish buds of this tree, when it first sprouts, though as late as April, will take hold of the ground, and grow to an incredible improvement; but first they steep them in milk and saffron; but this attempt did not succeed with us, yet it will be propagated by a branch slipp"d off with some of the old wood, and set in February: An industrious and very experienc"d husbandman told me, that if they be transplanted as big as ones middle, it may be done safer than when younger; I do only report it: What they hint of putting a tile-shard under the nuts when first set, to divaricate and spread the roots (which are otherwise apt to penetrate very deep) I like well enough; "tis certain they will receive their own cyons being graffed, and that it does improve their fruit.
The best compost is the strewing of ashes at the foot of the trees, the salt whereof being washed into the earth, is the best dressing, whilst the juice of the fallen leaves, though it kill the worm, is noxious to the root. This tree does not refuse to thrive even among others, and in great woods, provided you shrip up the collateral arms.
2. The walnut delights in a dry, sound and rich land; especially if it incline to a feeding chalk, or marle; and where it may be protected from the cold (though it affect cold rather than extream heat) as in great pits, valleys and high-way sides; also in stony-grounds, if loamy, and on hills, especially chalky; likewise in corn-fields: Thus Burgundy abounds with them, where they stand in the midst of goodly wheat-lands, at sixty, and an hundred foot distance; and it is so far from hurting the crop, that they look on them as a great preserver, by keeping the grounds warm; nor do the roots hinder the plow. Whenever they fell a tree (which is only the old and decayed) they always plant a young one near him; and in several places twixt Hanaw and Francfort in Germany, no young farmer whatsoever is permitted to marry a wife, till he bring proof that he hath planted, and is a father of such a stated number of walnut-trees, as the law is inviolably observed to this day, for the extraordinary benefit which this tree affords the inhabitants: And in truth, were this timber in greater plenty amongst us, we should have far better utensils of all sorts for our houses, as chairs, stools, bedsteads, tables, wainscot, cabinets, &c. instead of the more vulgar beech, subject to the worm, weak, and unsightly; but which to counterfeit, and deceive the unwary, they wash over with a decoction made of the green-husks of walnuts, &c. I say, had we store of this material, especially of the Virginian, we should find an incredible improvement in the more stable furniture of our houses, as in the first frugal and better days of Rome, when
Tables made here at home, those times beheld, Of our own wood, for that same purpose fell"d, Old walnut blown down, when the wind set east.{104:1}
Sir R. Stapylton.
For if it had been cut in that season, it would not have prov"d so sound, as we shew in our chapter of felling. It is certain, that the _mensae nucinae_, were once in price even before the _citrin_, as Strabo notes; and nothing can be more beautiful than some planks and works which I have beheld of it, especially that which comes from Gren.o.ble, of all other the most beautiful and esteemed.
3. They render most graceful avenues to our countrey dwellings, and do excellently near hedge-rows; but had need be planted, at forty or fifty foot interval, for they affect to spread both their roots and branches.
The _Bergstras_ (which extends from Heidelberg to Darmstadt) is all planted with walnuts; for so by another ancient law, the borderers were obliged to nurse up, and take care of them; and that chiefly, for their ornament and shade; so as a man may ride for many miles about that countrey under a continued arbour, or close-walk; the traveller both refreshed with the fruit and the shade, which some have causelesly defam"d for its ill effects on the head, for which the fruit is a specifique and a notable signature; although I deny not, but the scent of the fallen leaves, when they begin to be damp"d with lying, may emit somewhat a heady steam, which to some has prov"d noxious; but not whilst they were fresh, and lively upon the trees. How would such publick plantations improve the glory and wealth of a nation! But where shall we find the spirits among our countreymen? Yes, I will adventure to instance in those plantations of Sir Richard Stidolph, upon the downs near Lether-head in Surrey; Sir Robert Clayton at Morden near G.o.dstone (once belonging to Sir John Evelyn) and so about Ca.s.saulton, where many thousands of these trees do celebrate the industry of the owners, and will certainly reward it with infinite improvement, as I am a.s.sured they do in part already, and that very considerably; besides the ornament which they afford to those pleasant tracts, for some miles in circ.u.mference. There was lately (and for ought I know is yet) an avenue of four leagues in length, and 50 paces breadth, planted with young oaklings, as strait as a line, from the city of Utrecht to Amersfort, affording a most goodly prospect; which minds me of what Sorbiere tells in a sceptical discourse to Monsieur de Martel, speaking of the readiness of the people in Holland to furnish and maintain whatsoever may conduce to the publick ornament, as well as convenience; that their plantations of these and the like trees, even in their very roads and common highways, are better preserv"d and entertain"d (as I my self have likewise been often an eye-witness) than those about the houses and gardens of pleasure belonging to the n.o.bles and gentry of most other countries: And in effect it is a most ravishing object, to behold their amenities in this particular: With us, says he (speaking of France) they make a jest at such political ordinances, by ruining these publick and useful ornaments, if haply some more prudent magistrate do at any time introduce them. Thus in the reign of Henry the Fourth, (during the superintendency of Monsieur de Sulli) there was a resolution of adorning all the highways of France with elms, &c. but the rude and mischievous peasants did so hack, steal and destroy what they had begun, that they were forced to desist from the thorough prosecution of the design; so as there is nothing more expos"d, wild, and less pleasant than the common roads of France for want of shade, and the decent limits which these sweet and divertissant plantations would have afforded. Not to omit that political use, as my Lord Bacon hints it, where he speaks of the statues and monuments of brave men, and such as had well deserv"d of the publick, erected by the Romans even in their highways; since doubtless, such n.o.ble and agreeable objects would exceedingly divert, entertain, and take off the minds and discourses of melancholy people, and pensive travellers, who having nothing but the dull and enclosed ways to cast their eyes on, are but ill conversation to themselves, and others, and instead of celebrating, censure their superiors. It is by a curious person, and industrious friend of mine, observ"d, that the sap of this tree rises and descends with the sun"s diurnal course (which it visibly slackens in the night) and more plentifully at the root on the south side, though those roots cut on the north were larger, and less distant from the body of the tree; and not only distill"d from the ends, which were next the stem, but from those which were cut off and separated, which was never observ"d to happen in the birch, or other sap-yielding trees. {107:1} Mr. Oldenburg speaks of one of the present kings in Europe, who drinks much of the juice of this tree, and finds great benefit thereby.
4. What universal use the French make of the timber of this sole tree, for domestic affairs, may be seen in every room both of poor and rich: It is of singular account with the joyner, for the best grain"d, and colour"d wainscot; with the gun-smith for stocks, for coach-wheels excellent, and the bodies of coaches, (they make hoops and bows with it in New-England, for want of yew:) The drum-maker uses it for rimbs, the cabinet-maker for inlayings, especially the firm and close timber about the roots, which is admirable for fleck"d and chambletted works, some wood especially, as that which we have from Bologne, New-England and Virginia, (where they are of three or four sorts, differing in their leaves, fruit and stature) very black of colour, and so admirably streaked, as to represent natural flowers, landskips, and other fancies: To render this the better-coloured, joyners put the boards into an oven after the batch is forth, or lay them in a warm stable, and when they work it, polish it over with its own oyl very hot, which makes it look black and sleek, and the older it is, the more esteemable; but then it should not be put in work till thoroughly seasoned, because it will shrink beyond expectation. It is only not good to confide in it much for beams or joysts, because of its brittleness, of which yet, it has been observ"d to give timely notice, as also the chesnut, by the crackling before it breaks. Besides the uses of the wood, the fruit with husk and all, when tender and very young, is for preserves (condited in separate decoctions, by our curious ladies) also for food and oyl; of extraordinary use with the painter, in whites, and other delicate colours, also for gold-size and varnish; and with this they polish walking-staves, and other works which are wrought in with burning: For food they fry with it in some places, and eat it instead of b.u.t.ter, in Berry, where they have little or none good; and therefore they plant infinite numbers of these trees all over that countrey: The use of it to burn in lamps, is common there. The younger timber is held to make the better-coloured work (and so the oak) but the older more firm and close, is finer chambleted for ornament; and the very husks and leaves being macerated in warm water, and that liquor poured on the carpet of walks, and bowling-greens, does infallibly kill the worms, without endangering the gra.s.s: Not to mention the dye which is made of this lixive, to colour wooll, woods, and hair, as of old they us"d it. The water of the husks is sovereign against all pestilential infections, and that of the leaves to mundifie and heal inveterate ulcers. That which is produced of the thick-sh.e.l.l, becomes best timber, that of the thinner, better fruit.
Columella has sundry excellent rules how to ascertain and accelerate the growth of this tree, and to improve its qualities; and I am a.s.sur"d, that having been graffed on the ash (though others say no incision improves it) it thrives exceedingly, becomes a handsome tree, and what is most estimable, bears its fruit within four years, all which I recommend to the farther industrious. The green husk dry"d, or the first peeping red buds and leaves reduced to powder, serves instead of pepper, to condite meats and sauces. "Tis thought better to cudgel off the fruit, when dropping ripe, than to gather it by hand; and that the husk may open, lay them by in a dry room, sometimes turning them with a broom, but without washing, for fear of mouldiness. In Italy they arm the tops of long poles with nails and iron for the purpose, and believe the beating improves the tree; which I no more believe, than I do that discipline would reform a perverse shrew: Those nuts which come not easily out of their husks, should be laid to mellow in heaps, and the rest expos"d in the sun, till the sh.e.l.ls dry, else they will be apt to perish the kernel: Some again preserve them in their own leaves, or in a chest made of walnut-tree wood; others in sand, especially if you will preserve them for a seminary; do this in October, and keep them a little moist, that they may spear, to be set early in February: Thus after two years they may be removed at a yard asunder, cutting the top-root, and side branches, but sparing the head; and being two yards high, bud, or remove them immediately. Old nuts are not wholsome till macerated in warm, and almost boiling water; but if you lay them in a leaden pot, and bury them in the earth, so as no vermin can attaque them, they will keep marvellously plump the whole year about, and may easily be blanched: In Spain they use to strew the gratings of old and hard nuts (first peel"d) into their tarts and other meats. For the oyl, one bushel of nuts will yield fifteen pounds of peel"d and clear kernels, and that half as much oyl, which the sooner "tis drawn, is the more in quant.i.ty, though the dryer the nut, the better in quality; the lees, or marc of the pressing, is excellent to fatten hogs with. After the nuts are beaten down, the leaves would be sweep"d into heaps, and carried away, because their extreme bitterness impairs the ground, and as I am a.s.sured, prejudices the trees: The green husks boiled, make a good colour to dye a dark yellow, without any mixture; and the distillation of its leaves with honey and urine, makes hair spring on baldheads: Besides its use in the famous Salernitan antidote; if the kernel a little masticated, be applied to the biting of a suspected mad-dog, and when it has lain three hours, be cast to poultrey, they will die if they eat of it. In Italy, when a countreyman finds any pain in his side, he drinks a pint of the fresh oyl of this nut, and finds immediate ease: And more famous is the wonderful cure, which the _fungus_ substance separating the lobs of the kernel, pulveriz"d and drank in wine, in a moderate quant.i.ty, did recover the English army in Ireland of a dyssentary, when no other remedy could prevail: The same also in pleurisies, &c. The juice of the outward rind of the nut, makes an excellent gargle for a sore-throat: The kernel being rubb"d upon any crack or c.h.i.n.k of a leaking or crazy vessel, stops it better than either clay, pitch, or wax: In France they eat them blanch"d and fresh, with wine and salt, having first cut them out of the sh.e.l.ls before they are hardned, with a short broad bra.s.s-knife, because iron rusts, and these they call _cernois_, from their manner of scooping them out. Lastly, of the _fungus_ emerging from the trunk of an old tree, (and indeed some others) is made touch-wood, artificially prepar"d in a _lixivium_ or lye, dried, and beaten flat, and then boil"d with salt-peter, to render it apter to kindle. The tree wounded in the Spring, yields a liquor, which makes an artificial wine.
See Birch, cap. XVII. Of other species, see Mr. Ray"s _Dendrolog._ Tom.
III. p. 5, 6.
FOOTNOTES:
{101:1} See Servius introduc"d discoursing of this and other nuts, _Macrob. Saturn._ l. 3. c. 18.
{104:1}
Illa domi natas, nostraque ex arbore mensas Tempora viderunt: hos lignum stabat in usus, Annosam si forte nucem dejecerat Eurus.
_Juv._ l. 4. Sat. 11.
{107:1} _Philosoph. Transact._ vol. III, num. xl, p. 802.
CHAPTER X.
_Of the Service, and black cherry-tree._
1. _Sorbus_, the service-tree (of which there are four sorts) is rais"d of the chequers, or berries, which being ripe (that is) rotten, about September (and the pulp rub"d off clean from the stones, in dry sand, and so kept till after Christmas) may be sown like beech-mast, educated in the nursery like the chesnut: It is reported that the sower never sees the fruit of his labour; either for that it bears only being very old, or that men are commonly so, before they think of planting trees: But this is an egregious mistake; for these come very soon to be trees, and being planted young, thrive exceedingly; I have likewise planted them as big as my arm successfully: The best way is therefore to propagate them of suckers, of which they put forth enough, as also of sets, and may be budded with great improvement: They delight in reasonable good stiff ground, rather inclining to cold, than over-hot; for in places which are too dry, they never bear kindly. The _torminalis_ (so called for its effects against gripings of the bowels) is the kind most frequent with us; for those of the narrower, and less indented leaf, are not so common in England as in France, bearing a sort of berry of the pear-shape, and is there call"d the _cormier_; this tree may be graffed either on it self, or on the white-thorn, and quince. To this we might add, the _mespilus_ or medlar, being an hard wood, and of which I have seen very beautiful walking-staves. But there is yet a rare kind of service-tree, frequent in Germany, which we find not in our woods, and they speak of another sort, which bears poyson-berries.
2. The timber of the sort is useful for the joyner, and of which I have seen a room curiously wainscotted: Also for the engraver of wood-cuts, bows, pullys, skrews, mill-spindles and other; goads to drive oxen with, &c. pistol and gun-stocks, and for most that the wild-pear-tree, serves; and being of a very delicate grain for the turner, and divers curiosities, and looks beautifully, and is almost everlasting, being rubb"d over with oyl of linseed, well boil"d, it may be made to counterfeit ebony, or almost any Indian wood, colour"d according to art: Also it is taken to build with, yielding beams of considerable substance: The shade is beautiful for walks, and the fruit not unpleasant, especially the second kind, of which with new wine and honey, they make a _conditum_ of admirable effect to corroborate the stomach; and the fruit alone is good in dysentery"s and lasks. The water distill"d from the stalks of the flowers and leaves in M. B. and twice rectified upon fresh matter, is incomparable for consumptive and tabid bodies, taking an ounce daily at several times: Likewise it cures the green-sickness in virgins, and is prevalent in all fluxes; distill"d warm into the ears it abates the pain: The wood or bark contus"d, and applied to any green wound, heals it; and the powder thereof drank in oyl olive, consolidates inward ruptures: Lastly, the salt of the wood taken in decoction of _althaea_ to three grains, is an incomparable remedy to break, and expel gravel. The service gives the husbandman an early presage of the approaching Spring, by extending his adorned buds for a peculiar entertainment, and dares peep out in the severest Winters.
3. That I rank this amongst the forest berry-bearing trees, (frequent in the hedges, and growing wild in Herefordshire, and many places; for I speak not here of our orchard-cherries, said to have been brought into Kent out of Flanders by Hen. VIII.) is chiefly from the suffrage of that industrious planter Mr. Cooke, from whose ingenuity and experience (as well as out of grat.i.tude for his frequent mentioning of me in his elaborate and useful work) I acknowledge to have benefited my self, and this edition; though I have also given no obscure tast of this pretty tree in Chap. XX.
It is rais"d of the stones of black-cherries very ripe (as they are in July) endeavouring to procure such as are full, and large; whereof some he tells us, are little inferior to the black Orleance, without graffing, and from the very genius of the ground. These gather"d, the fleshy part is to be taken off, by rolling them under a plank in dry sand, and when the humidity is off (as it will be in 3 or 4 days) reserve them in sand again a little moist and hous"d, "till the beginning of February, when you may sow them in a light gravelly mould, keeping them clean for two years, and thence planting them into your nurseries, to raise other kinds upon, or for woods, copses and hedge-rows, and for walks and avenues, which if of a dryish soil, mixt with loam, though the bottom be gravel, will thrive into stately trees, beautified with blossoms of a surprizing whiteness, greatly relieving the sedulous bees, and attracting birds.
If you sow them in beds immediately after they are excarnated, they will appear the following Spring, and then at two years shoot, be fit to plant out where you please; otherwise, being kept too long e"er you sow them, they will sleep two Winters: And this is a rule, which he prescribes for all sorts of stone-fruit.
You may almost at any time remove young cherry-trees, abating the heads to a single shoot.
He recommends it for the copse, as producing a strong shoot, and as apt to put forth from the roots, as the elm; especially, if you fell l.u.s.ty trees: In light ground it will increase to a goodly tall tree, of which he mentions one, that held above 85 foot in height: I have my self planted of them, and imparted to my friends, which have thriv"d exceedingly; but till now did not insert it among the foresters: The vertues of the fruit of this cherry-tree against the epilepsy, palsy, and convulsions, &c. are in the spirits and distill"d waters. Concerning its other uses, see the chapter and section above-mentioned, to which add _pomona_, Chap. 8. annexed with this treatise. This tree affords excellent stocks for the budding and graffing of other cherries on.
And here I might mention the bitter cherry of Canada, (tho" exceedingly unlike to ours) which would yet be propagated for the incomparable liquor it is said to yield, preferable to the best limonade, by an incision of two inches deep in the stem, and sloping to the length of a foot, without prejudice to the tree. What is said of it, and of the maple, in the late discovery of the North-America, may be seen in the late description of those countries. For other exotic species, v. Ray _Dendrolog._ Tom. III. p. 45, 46.
CHAPTER XI.
_Of the Maple._
1. The maple [_acer minus_] (of which authors (see Salmasius upon _Solinus_, c. 33.) reckon very many kinds) was of old held in equal estimation almost with the citron; especially the _brusc.u.m_, the French-maple and the _pavonaceus_, peac.o.c.ks-tail maple, which is that sort so elegantly undulated, and crisped into variety of curles, as emulates the famous _citria_. It were a most laudable attempt, if some would enquire out, and try the planting of such sorts as are not indigenes amongst us; such as is especially the German _Aier_, and that of Virginia, not yet cultivated here, but an excellent tree: And if this were extended to other timber, and exotic trees likewise, it would prove of extraordinary benefit and ornament to the publick, and were worthy even of the royal care. They are all produced of seeds contain"d in the folliacles and keys, or birds-tongues (as they are call"d) like the ash, (after a year"s interrment) and like to it, affect a sound, and a dry mould; growing both in woods and hedge-rows, especially in the latter; which if rather hilly than low, affords the fairest timber. It is also propagated by layers and suckers. By shredding up the boughs to a head, I have caused it to shoot to a wonderful height in a little time; but if you will lop it for the fire, let it be done in January; and indeed it is observ"d to be of noxious influence to the subnascent plants of other kinds, by reason of a clammy dew which it sheds upon them, and therefore they would not be indulg"d in pollards, or spreading trees, but to thicken under-woods and copses. The timber is far superior to beech for all uses of the turner, who seeks it for dishes, cups, trays, trenchers, &c. as the joyner for tables, inlayings, and for the delicateness of the grain, when the knurs and nodosities are rarely diapred, which does much advance its price: Our turners will work it so thin, that it is almost transparent: Also for the lightness (under the name _Aier_) imploy"d often by those who make musical instruments: Also that especially, which grows in Friuli, Carniola, and Saltzburglandt: There is a larger sort, which we call the sycomor.