Sylva Part 14

2. But the description of this lesser maple, and the ancient value of it, is worth the citing. _Acer operum elegantia, & subtilitate cedro secundum; plura ejus genera: Alb.u.m, quod praecipui candoris vocatur Gallic.u.m: In Transpadana Italia, transque Alpes nascens. Alterum genus, crispo macularum discursu, qui c.u.m excellentior fuit, a similitudine caudae pavonum nomen accepit._

'The maple, (says Pliny) for the elegancy and fineness of the wood, is next to the very cedar it self. There are several kinds of it, especially the white, which is wonderfully beautiful; this is call'd the French-maple, and grows in that part of Italy, that is on the other side of Po beyond the Alpes: The other has a curl'd grain, so curiously maculated, that from a near resemblance, it was usually call'd the Peac.o.c.k's-tail, &c.'

He goes on to commend that of Istria, and that growing on the mountains for the best: But in the next chapter; _Pulcherrimum vero est brusc.u.m, multoque excellentius etiamnum mollusculum, tuber utrumque arboris ejus.

Brusc.u.m intortius crispum, mollusc.u.m simplicius sparsum; et si magnitudinem mensarum caperet, haud dubie praeferretur cedro, nunc intra pugillares, lectorumque silicios aut laminas, &c. e brusco fiunt mensae nigrescentes, &c._ Plin. _l._ 16. c. 15, 16.

'The _brusc.u.m_, or Knur is wonderfully fair, but the _mollusc.u.m_ is counted most precious; both of them k.n.o.bs and swellings out of the tree. The _brusc.u.m_ is more intricately crisp'd; the _mollusc.u.m_ not so much; and had we trees large enough to saw into planks for tables, 'twould be preferr'd before cedar, (or citron, for so some copies read it) but now they use it only for small table-books, and with its thin boards to wainscot bed-testers with, _&c._ The _brusc.u.m_ is of a blackish kind, with which they make tables.'

Thus far Pliny. And such spotted tables were the famous Tigrin, and Pantherine curiosities of; not so call'd from being supported with figures carved like those beasts, as some conceive, and was in use even in our grand-fathers days, but from its natural spots and maculations, _hem, quantis facultatibus aestimavere ligneas maculas!_ as Tertullian crys out, _de Pallio_, c, 5. Such a table was that of Cicero's, which cost him 10000 _Sesterces_; such another had Asinius Gallus. That of King Juba was sold for 15000, and another which I read of, valu'd at 140000 H.S. which at about 3d. sterling, arrives to a pretty sum; and yet that of the Mauritanian Ptoleme, was far richer, containing four foot and an half diameter, three inches thick, which is reported to have been sold for its weight in gold: Of that value they were, and so madly luxurious the age, that when they at any time reproach'd their wives for their wanton expensiveness in pearl and other rich trifles, they were wont to retort, and turn the tables upon their husbands. The knot of the timber was the most esteem'd, and is said to be much resembled by the female cypress: We have now, I am almost persuaded, as beautiful planks of some walnut-trees, near the root; and yew, ivy, rose-wood, ash, thorn, and olive, I have seen incomparable pieces; but the great art was in the seasoning, and politure; for which last, the rubbing with a man's hand who came warm out of the bath, was accounted better than any cloth, as Pliny reports. Some there be who contend, this citern was a part near the root of the cedar, which, as they describe it, is very oriental and odoriferous; but most of the learned favour the citron, and that it grew not far from our Tangier, about the foot of Mount Atlas, whence haply some industrious person might procure of it from the Moors; and I did not forget to put his then Excellency my Lord H. Howard (since his Grace the Duke of Norfolk) in mind of it; who I hoped might have opportunities of satisfying our curiosity, that by comparing it with those elegant woods, which both our own countries, and the Indies furnish, we might p.r.o.nounce something in the controversie: But his not going so far into the countrey, and the disorder which happen'd at his being there, quite frustrated this expectation: Here I think good to add, what honest Palissy philosophises after his plain manner, about the reason of those pretty undulations and chamfers, which we so frequently find in divers woods, which he takes to be the descent, as well as ascent of moisture: For what else (says he) becomes of that water which we often encounter in the cavities, when many branches divaricate, and spread themselves at the tops of great trees (especially pollards) unless (according to its natural appet.i.te) it sink into the very body of the stem through the pores? For example, in the walnut, you shall find, when 'tis old, that the wood is admirably figur'd, and, as it were, marbl'd, and therefore much more esteem'd by the joyners, cabinet-makers, and _ouvrages de marqueterie_, in-layers, &c. than the young, which is paler of colour, and without any notable grain, as they call it. For the rain distilling along the branches, when many of them break out into cl.u.s.ters from the stem, sinks in, and is the cause of these marks; since we find it exceedingly full of pores: Do but plane off a thin chip, or sliver from one of these old trees, and interposing it 'twixt your eye and the light, you shall observe it to be full of innumerable holes (much more perspicuous and ample, by the application of a good{119:1} microscope.) But above all, notable for these extravagant damaskings and characters, is the maple; and 'tis notorious, that this tree is very full of branches from the root to its very summit, by reason that it produces no considerable fruit: These arms being frequently cut, the head is more surcharged with them, which spreading like so many rays from a centre, form that hollowness at the top of the stem whence they shoot, capable of containing a good quant.i.ty of water every time it rains: This sinking into the pores, as was before hinted, is compell'd to divert its course as it pa.s.ses through the body of the tree, where-ever it encounters the knot of any of those branches which were cut off from the stem; because their roots not only deeply penetrate towards the heart, but are likewise of themselves very hard and impervious; and the frequent obliquity of this course of the subsiding moisture, by reason of these obstructions, is, as may be conceived, the cause of those curious works, which we find remarkable in this, and other woods, whose branches grow thick from the stem: But for these curious contextures, consult rather the learned Dr. Grew. We have shewed how by culture, and stripping up, it arrives to a goodly tree; and surely there were some of them of large bulk, and n.o.ble shades, that Virgil should chuse it for the Court of his Evander (one of his worthiest princes, in his best of poems) sitting in his maple-throne; and when he brings aeneas into the royal cottage, he makes him this memorable complement; greater, says great Cowley, than ever was yet spoken at the Escurial, the Louvre, or White-hall.

This humble roof, this rustique court, said he, Receiv'd Alcides crown'd with victory: Scorn not (great guest) the steps where he has trod, But contemn wealth, and imitate a G.o.d.{120:1}

The savages in Canada, when the sap rises in the maple, by an incision in the tree, extract the liquor; and having evaporated a reasonable quant.i.ty thereof (as suppose 7 or 8 pound), there will remain one pound, as sweet and perfect sugar, as that which is gotten out of the cane; part of which sugar has been for many years constantly sent to Rouen in Normandy, to be refin'd: There is also made of this sugar an excellent syrup of maiden-hair and other capillary plants, prevalent against the _s...o...b..t_; though Mr. Ray thinks otherwise, by reason of the saccharine substance remaining in the decoction: See _Synops. Stirp._ & Tom. III.

_Dendrolog._ de Acere. p. 93, 94.

FOOTNOTES:

{119:1} Not invented in Palissy's days.

{120:1}

........... Haec (inquit) limina victor Alcides............

CHAPTER XII.

_Of the Sycomor._

1. The sycomor, or wild fig-tree, (falsly so called) is, our _alb.u.m_, _acer majus_, or broad-leav'd _mas_, one of the maples, and is much more in reputation for its shade than it deserves; for the honey-dew leaves, which fall early (like those of the ash) turn to mucilage and noxious insects, and putrifie with the first moisture of the season; so as they contaminate and mar our walks; and are therefore by my consent, to be banish'd from all curious gardens and avenues. 'Tis rais'd of the keys in the husk (as soon as ripe) they come up the first Spring; also by roots and layers, in ground moist, not over-wet or stiff, and to be govern'd as other nursery plants.

2. There is in Germany a better sort of sycomor than ours, (nor are ours _indiginae_) wherewith they make saddle-trees, and divers other things of use; our own is excellent for trenchers, cart, and plow-timber, being light, tough, and not much inferior to ash it self; and if the trees be very tall and handsome, are the more tolerable for distant walks especially where other better trees prosper not so well, or where a sudden shade is expected: Some commend them to thicken copp'ces, especially in parks, as least apt to the spoil of deer, and that it is good fire-wood. This tree being wounded, bleeds a great part of the year; and the liquor emulating that of the birch, which for hapning to few of the rest (that is, to bleed Winter and Summer) I therefore mention: The sap is sweet and wholsome, and in a short time yields sufficient quant.i.ty to brew with; so as with one bushel of malt, is made as good ale as four bushels with ordinary water, upon Dr. Tongue's experience, _Transact._ vol. IV. f. 917.

CHAPTER XIII.

_Of the Lime-Tree._

1. _Tilia_ the lime-tree, or [linden] is of two kinds; the male (which some allow to be but a finer sort of elm) or maple rather, is harder, fuller of knots, and of a redder colour; but producing neither flower, nor seed, (so constantly and so mature with us) as does the female, whose blossom is also very odoriferous, perfuming the air, the leaf larger; the wood is likewise thicker, of small pith, and not obnoxious to the worm; so as it seems Theophrastus _de Pl._ l. 3. c. 10. said true, that though they were of both s.e.xes, d?af????s? d? t? ??f? t?

???, &c. _yet they totally differ'd as to their form_. We send commonly for this tree into Flanders and Holland, (which indeed grow not so naturally wild with us) to our excessive cost, whiles our own woods do in some places spontaneously produce them, and though of somewhat a smaller leaf, yet altogether as good, apt to be civiliz'd, and made more florid: From thence I have received many of their berries; so as it is a shameful negligence, that we are no better provided of nurseries, of a tree so choice, and universally acceptable: For so they may be rais'd either of the seeds in October, or (with better success) by the suckers and plants, which are treated after the same method, and in as great abundance as the elm, like to which it should be cultivated. You may know whether the seeds be prolific, by searching the husk; if biting, or cutting it in sunder it be full and white, and not husky, as sometimes we find the foreigners: Be sure to collect your seed in dry weather, airing it in an open room, and reserving it in sand, (as has been taught) till mid-February, when you may sow it in pretty strong, fresh and loamy mould, kept shaded, and moist as the season requires, and clear of weeds, and at the period of two years, plant them out, dress'd and prun'd as discretion shall advise. But not only by the suckers and layers, at the roots, but even by branches lopp'd from the head, may this tree be propagated; and peeling off a little of the bark, at a competent distance from the stem or arms, and covering it with loam mingled with rich earth, they will shoot their fibers, and may be seasonably separated: But to facilitate this and the like attempts, it is advisable to apply a ligature above the place, when the sap is ascending, or beneath it, when it (as they say vulgarly) descends. From June to November you may lay them; the scrubs and less erect, do excellently to thicken copp'ces, and will yield l.u.s.ty shoots, and useful fire-wood.

2. The lime-tree affects a rich feeding loamy soil; in such ground their growth will be most for speed and spreading. They may be planted as big as ones leg; their heads topp'd at about six or eight foot bole; thus it will become (of all other) the most proper, and beautiful for walks, as producing an upright body, smooth and even bark, ample leaf, sweet blossom, the delight of bees, and a goodly shade at distance of eighteen, or twenty five foot. They are also very patient of pruning; but if it taper over much, some of the collateral boughs would be spar'd, or cut off, to check the sap, which is best to be done about Midsummer; and to make it grow upright, take off the prepondering branches with discretion, and so you may correct any other tree, and redress its obliquity.

The root in transplanting would not be much lopp'd; and this (says Mr.

Cook) is a good lesson for all young planted trees.

3. The Prince Elector did lately remove very great lime-trees out of one of his forests, to a steep hill, exceedingly expos'd to the heat of the sun, at Heidelberg; and that in the midst of summer: They grow behind that strong tower on the south-west, and most torrid part of the eminence; being of a dry, reddish barren earth; yet do they prosper rarely well: But the heads were cut off, and the pits into which they were transplanted, were (by the industry and direction of _Monsieur_ de Son, a Frenchman, and admirable mechanician, who himself related it to me) fill'd with a composition of earth and cow-dung, which was exceedingly beaten, and so diluted with water, as it became almost a liquid pap: It was in this, that he plunged the roots, covering the surface with the turf: A singular example of removing so great trees at such a season, and therefore by me taken notice of here expresly. Other perfections of the tree (besides its unparallel'd beauty for walks) are that it will grow in almost all grounds: That it lasts long; that it soon heals its scars; that it affects uprightness; that it stoutly resists a storm; that it seldom becomes hollow.

4. The timber of a well-grown lime is convenient for any use that the willow is; but much to be preferr'd, as being both stronger, and yet lighter; whence Virgil calls them _tilias leves_; and therefore fit for yokes, and to be turn'd into boxes for the apothecaries; and Columella commends _arculas tiliaceas_. And because of its colour, and easy working, and that it is not subject to split, architects make with it models for their designed buildings; and the carvers in wood, not only for small figures, but large statues and intire histories, in ba.s.s, and high relieve; witness (besides several more) the lapidation of St.

Stephen, with the structures and elevations about it: The trophies, festoons, frutages, encarpa, and other sculptures in the frontoons, freezes, capitals, pedestals, and other ornaments and decorations, (of admirable invention and performance) to be seen about the choir of St.

Paul's and other churches; royal palaces, and n.o.ble houses in city and countrey. All of them, the works and invention of our Lysippus, Mr.

Gibbons; comparable, and for ought appears, equal to any thing of the antients; having had the honour (for so I account it) to be the first who recommended this great artist to his Majesty, Charles the II. I mention it on this occasion, with much satisfaction. With the twigs, they made baskets and cradles, and of the smoother side of the bark, tablets for writing; for the antient _Philyra_ is but our _Tilia_; of which Munting affirms, he saw a book made of the inward bark, written about 1000 years since. Such another was brought to the Count of St.

Amant, Governor of Arras, 1662, for which there was given 8000 ducats by the Emperor, and that it contain'd a work of Cicero, _De Ordinanda Republica, & De Inveniendis Orationum Exordiis_: A piece inestimable, never publish'd; is now in the library at Vienna, after it had formerly been the greatest rarity in that of the late Cardinal Mazarine: Other papyraceous trees are mention'd by West-Indian travellers, especially in Hispaniola, Java, &c. which not only exceed our largest paper for breadth and length, and may be written on on both sides, but is comparable to our best vellum. Bellonius says, that the Grecians made bottles of the _tilia_, which they finely rozin'd within-side, so likewise for pumps of s.h.i.+ps, also lattices for windows: Shooemakers use dressers of the plank to cut leather on, as not so hard as to turn the edges of their knives; and even the coursest membrane, or slivers of the tree growing 'twixt the bark and the main body, they now twist into ba.s.s-ropes; besides, the truncheons make a far better coal for gun-powder than that of alder it self; Scriblets for painters first draughts are also made of its coals; and the extraordinary candor and lightness, has dignify'd it above all the woods of our forest, in the hands of the Right Honourable the White-Stave officers of His Majesty's Imperial Court. Those royal plantations of these trees in the parks of Hampton-court, and St. James's, will sufficiently instruct any man how these (and indeed all other trees which stand single) are to be govern'd, and defended from the injuries of beasts, and sometimes more unreasonable creatures, till they are able to protect themselves. In Holland (where the very high-ways are adorn'd with them) they frequently clap three or four deal-boards (in manner of a close trunk) about them; but it is not so well; because it keeps out the air, which should have free access and intercourse to the bole, and by no means be excluded from flowing freely about them, or indeed any other trees; provided they are secur'd from cattel, and the violence of impetuous winds, &c.

as His Majesty's are, without those close coffins, in which the Dutch-men seem rather to bury them alive: In the mean time, is there a more ravis.h.i.+ng or delightful object, than to behold some intire streets, and whole towns planted with these trees, in even lines before their doors, so as they seem like cities in a wood? this is extreamly fresh, of admirable effect against the epilepsie, for which the delicately scented blossoms are held prevalent, and skreen the houses both from winds, sun, and dust; than which there can be nothing more desirable where streets are much frequented. For thus

The stately Lime, smooth, gentle, streight and fair, (With which no other Dryad may compare) With verdant locks, and fragrant blossoms deckt, Does a large, ev'n, odorate shade project.{127:1}

_Dirae_ and curses therefore on those inhuman and ambitious tyrants, who, not contented with their own dominions, invade their peaceful neighbour, and send their legions, without distinction, to destroy and level to the ground such venerable and goodly plantations, and n.o.ble avenues, irreparable marks of their barbarity.

The distance for walks (as we said) may in rich ground, be twenty five foot, in more ordinary soil, eighteen or twenty. For a most prodigious tree of this kind, see Chap. 39. sect. 10.

The berries reduc'd to powder, cure the dysentery and stop blood at the nose: The distill'd-water is good against the epilepsy, apoplexy, vertigo, trembling of the heart, gravel; Schroder commends a mucilage of the bark for wounds, _repellens urinam, & menses ciens_, &c. And I am told, the juice of the leaves fixes colours.

FOOTNOTES:

{127:1}

Stat philyra; haud omnes formosior altera surgit Inter hamadryades; mollissima, candida, laevis, Et viridante coma, & beneolenti flore superba, Spargit odoratam late, atque aequaliter umbram.

_Couleii_, l. 6, Pl.

CHAPTER XIV.

_Of the Poplar, Aspen, and Abele._

1. _Populus._ I begin this second cla.s.s (according to our former distribution) with the poplar, of which there are several kinds; white, black, &c. (which in Candy 'tis reported bears seed) besides the aspen.

The white (famous heretofore for yielding its _umbram hospitalem_) is the most ordinary with us, to be rais'd in abundance by every set or slip. Fence the ground as far as any old poplar-roots extend, they will furnish you with suckers innumerable, to be slipp'd from their mothers, and transplanted the very first year: But if you cut down an old tree, you shall need no other nursery. When they are young, their leaves are somewhat broader and rounder (as most other trees are) than when they grow aged. In moist and boggy places they will flourish wonderfully, so the ground be not spewing; but especially near the margins and banks of rivers,

_Populus in fluviis_..........

and in low, sweet, and fertile ground; yea, and in the dryer likewise.

Also trunchions of seven or eight foot long, thrust two foot into the earth, (a hole being made with a sharp hard stake, fill'd with water, and then with fine earth pressed in, and close about them) when once rooted, may be cut at six inches above ground; and thus placed at a yard distant, they will immediately furnish a kind of copp'ce. But in case you plant them of rooted trees, or smaller sets, fix them not so deep; for though we bury the trunchions thus profound, yet is the root which they strike, commonly but shallow. They will make prodigious shoots in 15, or 16 years; but then the heads must by no means be diminish'd, but the lower branches may, yet not too far up; the foot would also be cleansed every second year. This for the white. The black poplar is frequently pollar'd when as big as one's arm, eight or nine foot from the ground, as they trim them in Italy, for their vines to serpent and twist on, and those they poll, or head every second year, sparing the middle, streight, and thrivingest shoot, and at the third year cut him also. There be yet that condemn the pruning of this poplar, as hindring their growth.

2. The shade of this tree is esteemed very wholsome in Summer, but they do not become walks, or avenues by reason of their suckers, and that they foul the ground at fall of the leaf; but they would be planted in barren woods, and to flank places at distance, for their increase, and the glittering brightness of their foliage: The leaves are good for cattel, which must be stripp'd from the cut boughs before they are f.a.ggoted. This to be done in the decrease of October, and reserv'd in bundles for winter-fodder. The wood of white poplar is sought of the sculptor, and they saw both sorts into boards, which, where they lie dry, continue a long time. Of this material they also made s.h.i.+elds of defence in sword and buckler-days. Dioscorides writes, that the bark chopt small, and sow'd in rills, well and richly manur'd and watered, will produce a plentiful crop of mushrooms; or warm water, in which yest is dissolv'd, cast upon a new-cut stump: It is to be noted, that those _fungi_, which spring from the putrid stumps of this tree are not venenous (as of all, or most other trees they are) being gathered after the first autumnal rains. There is a poplar of a paler green, and is the properest for watry ground: 'Twill grow of trunchions from two, or eight foot long, and bringing a good lop in a short time, is by some preferr'd to willows.

For the setting of these, Mr. Cook advises the boring of the ground with a sort of auger, to prevent the stripping of the bark from the stake in planting: A foot and half deep, or more if great, (for some may be 8 or 9 foot) for pollards, cut sloping, and free of cracks at either end: Two or three inches diameter, is a competent bigness, and the earth should be ramm'd close to them.

Another expedient is, by making drains in very moist ground, two spade deep, and three foot wide, casting up the earth between the drains, sowing it the first year with oats to mellow the ground, the next Winter setting it for copp'ce, with these, any, or all the watry sorts of trees; thus, in four or five years, you will have a handsome fell, and so successively: It is in the former author, where the charge is exactly calculated, to whom I refer the reader. I am inform'd, that in Ches.h.i.+re there grow many stately and streight black poplars, which they call _peplurus_, that yield boards and planks of an inch and half thickness; so fit for floaring of rooms, by some preferr'd to oak, for the whiteness and lasting, where they lie dry.