Book I.

Ve ration . Concionand .
J'irg. /. *. Georg*
ftock Gdliflowers, Dailies, Hdperis, and all the Winter Gelii- flowers bring forth their flowers. T/Vg/7 ihews, that in former Ages Gardners did take pains in them.
j j. Sowe I have feen their feeds to fowe prepare
With N itre and oyl lees , for they by care Will grow far greater, and be fiooner ripe .
And though the Induftry of the Gardner ceafe, and the art how to fowe them, the herbs themfelves do naturally change their fafhion, if you confider their colours, form, ftature, forces. And that is partly done by the fecret force of the Stars, partly by length of time , that fuch things as appeared as though they would Jaft alwayes, are turned to another habit, as if, as Erafmui faith. Natures curiofety would not have the fafhion of herbs truly known that might pafje currant topoflerity , but would have a continual fear ch to be made for them , that we fee are changed or renewed daily . So Nature lharpens man’s Induftry, and fhakes off drowfindfe.
For the firfi caufe and fpring of Husbandry would not that this Art without I nduflry Should ere be learnt , thus fharpning mortal hearts ,
And with great pains teaching to find out arts ;
And within furrowes for slants to enpuirey And hid in flints for to difeover fire .
To this we may adde the ftate of the climate, and nature of the Ayr, and Country, that will change even the hairs, colours, and habits of mens bodies. For Plants, according to the nature and quality of the place, and for variety of the ambient ayr, grow fometimes more call, fometimes lefle; feme have many branches, others come forth without any ftalks at all 5 fome as the earth is, are watry or milky white, others are very green tending to black. For as children that the Nurfes keep the breafts from, or feldome feed them, do grow lean and ftarved, and look pale. Or not very lively ; fo plants that grow in lean hungry barren ground, are ill- favoured and not fo pleafant to behold. Whence you may fee plants that grow on walls and ftony grounds,fcarfe a hands breadth in heighth 5 and if the fame be fet in a fruitful ground they will grow a cubit & a half high, and will fend forth their branches long and broad. So Buglofs and great Comfrey, are oft-times feen with white flowers fo Clove-gelliflowers either by art, or fruit- fulaefleof the ground, will yield a whire, red, various colour’d flower, upon the fame ftem and ftalk. So the purple violet colour The flowers of decayes fometimes and turns blew. By the fame reafon fome
ged Into divers ^ea^s °* Plants are nGt jagged aiK* nicked : and prickly plants colours. ' grow more gentle and fmooth, according as the ground is higher or lower they grow on. To this refer what daily expericnc teach- eth, that herbs and fruits of Trees do not onely change their
fhapesj
Places chan- geth plants.
tfratn
of
ASimil the (lorn Children.
... 4- ■
C h. 1 7. and will lofe their forces & former/ left they be drejsed continually . 69
topes, if they grow in a place and climate fit for them, but will
alio grow better, and be more w'holefome ; when as before they
were deadly, and not edible. Which Pliny and Galen fpeak of
the Per flan plant tranfplanced into an Egypt : and Columbia hath to, cauf. } P‘
writ the Experiment thereof in theie words : /
With
And fuch as in Armenia are found.
A td Apples which 10 rude Perfia grow.
Full of their imbred pojfon, but we know That now they yield a whobfome nourijhment :
And all their venome if cor, fum’d and fpent ,
And of their Countrey they the name retain Peaches , that on [mail Frees do grow amain,
' V .* . I ' “it. l-J .. * . • / Y • « ► * t "C
For this kind of Apple unlefle it be expofed to the Sunbeams, over againft the Souto, and is oi a cold and moyft juice, and there¬ fore cerrups quickly, and offends the ftomach, unlefle it be ca- A'irncn' ten before meat, Wnereiore Nature attempts many cliings which ** the arc of Manperfe&s and dire&s. For grapes will grow with¬ out (bones, if you cleave the (talk and take out the pith 5 yet (o, that in taking it forth you hurt not the bud. For the (ides will quickly erow together again if they be accurately joyn’d. So Med- How * }ars, Peaches, Dates, Cherries, Prunes, and Cprnellon berries faneis. that are full of (tones, grow without (bones by the care and In- duflry of Man ; if you cut off the young Tree two foot above the ground, and then cleave it to the root, and takeout with a rafp the pith of botn parts, then ltraighcwayes bind both the parts fall together with a band, and cover the top and the partitions of both (ides with loam, clay, or wax, and put a wet paper about it ; when the year is over, you lhall find that a fear is come upon it, and that all is grown falb together ; graft this Tree with grafts that ne¬ ver boreiruir, and they will bring fruit without (bones .* which by Theopbradw s direction 1 tryed upon a vine, and it proved true ; Al- fo Inocula ion, Iniition, Emplaflrifation, do fhew the cunning of Nature, and the Induftry of Men. For by thefe means Plants will put off their own nature, and get another form and fafhion, and one will eafily change into another. For as we fee men for the Three kinds of variety of their wits, and care of their education, not onely to l{epYm grow different in their knowledge, and to follow other manners the Nature of and ftudies, and to obtain other inclinations of mind, and one Mmyanded^ body is more (lent er than another, or taller, or more pale and u:ton' bloodkflc, or more rough or hairy, yet all of them have the ihapes of men, though lome look more rudely ; fo it ufeth to fall out in herbs, which (or the fame caufes are not of th and vigour alwayes, chough they be not fo changed, that their whole kind and lpecies periiheth. For they alwayes arc like the thing they are called by m lome part; and they have the effects peculiar to the carcn they grow in, and fit for the nature of the
people
7o
Herts are fubjeB to change , Book I.
people of that Count rey. For many plants are brought forth of
the fortunate Iflands, which Men call the Canaries., which being uled in our climate, do not hold the fame forces in all things, nor do they grow of the fame form and magnitude , yet they do .not wholly lofe their natural force and former Being, though they depart fomeching from their firlt original nature, and vigour. As
Angelica, nnd We fee in Spondylium , which the vulgar call Angelic a, in Mafter-
berbsofkjnto W0I:3 or silphium of Lombardy which though by reafon of the
malignity of the earth, and the coldneffe of the climate, they fomething differ from the deferiptions of Theophraflw and Diofcori- deSj yet we find them to be the fame plants, and to work the like
effe&s 5 though by the diftemper of the Ayr their forces are fome- Aii herbs dc thing weaker : For fince every Country hath certain kinds of light in their hcrbs pr0per for the climate,and every one profpers in their proper ownchmtes. ^ ^ canQOt bC) that being tranfplanted they can retain their
vigour. For fome delight in fhady valleys and dofe places, fome in open places where the Sun may fhine upon them : fome delight in marfhy and wet grounds, fome in fandy, dry, and gravelly earth j which if you tranfplant and make them grow in contrary
nut mbs places, you take away great part of their venues. So Orris grows ddifht inthe hi illyricurn , Hellebore in tHnticyra, \Vormwood in Pontw, and sea-c^Jls. amongft the Santones , foSea Purflane, Sampirc, Sea coal, called
Soldanella delight in creeks of the Sea, and Sea coatts, and fait wa¬ ters. So fome others grow better in fome places, and more hap¬ pily in their native foils. So Virgil writes tcom the nature of things, and confirms it to us :
All grounds do not all herbs yield, Some grow in (gardens, [owe in field ,
Wilhwes by Rivers , Alders in Mar jhes grow, Sims that are barren , jlony Mountains know , JMyrtiUs do love Sea-Coafts, but the vine D lights to grow on hills, the Sun^-fhine Is best for that, the Tew loves tre Norths Each Climate doth fome Trefis bring forth. Black Ebony in India onely found,
A^d Frank incenfe loves the Sabsean ground 2S {p Land afjords all forts - - -
Many of thefeif you tranfplant them into another Countrey they will decay,taint,or dye, or grow very hardly, and can (carle hold their Names and Vcrtues. Wherefore he that will plant any thing, let him obferve Virgil9 s Rule,
Learn for to know the climate and the winds.
And for to know the plants all in their kinds what every Land will bear, for in one ground Corn profpers , in another grapes are found $
Ch. 1 7, and will lofe their forces (j forni,anlefi the y be clrefiedcontir.ua [y. 71
Elfewhere grow Apples, and the graffe fall gre?n7 P aft ares and pleafani Meadowes to be feen.
Tmolus yields Saffron, and India doth Afford us plenty of Elephants Tooth, ine foft Saba?ans Frankincerfe prefent ,
The naked Chalybs Iron, for ftrongfent Pencils Caftoreum yields —
» . ' *• \ *
Hence it is, that the Low-Countrey Mountains that run along SDupneu theSea fide to keep the Sea from entring,and by a long crooked paf- are l0the fagefrom Britany in France run Northward, bring torch all forts J
of Plants, which natdrally come forth in thofe landy places, (for thofe hills are white with fatid, and not with Snow,) and there needs no Induftry of man to make them grow. This is effeded partly by the Nature of the ground, and partly by the Influence of the Stars that incline toward that Coaft of the Earth, and ex- ercife their forces there. And hence it is that every Countrey hath its Mines , out of which according to the nature of the whence M'me ground, and operation of the Planets, brafle, filver, gold Ore are cum' dug forth, and pieces of metal, gravel ftone, marble, chalk, ocre, cinnaber, marking ftone, &c. The like nature have the morifh grounds in -Zealand , out of which they dig Turf, that are of a bituminous quality, and when they burn they fcncil like Naphtha , with a filthy ill favour. Hence the fields and lakes are called Mores. And formerly the Pritains thsa are next the Sea in France were called CMordui, and their County Turwane , becaufe it is ex- haufted by digging forth, black Turf. So that there are many great empty pics, where they cannot fowcorn. Alfo in Brabant that Turf andDn- matter is dug forth 5 but becaufe the Country isnot fo fait, and ry, refuel in is farther .from the Sea, it fmells not fo ftrong. They call thefe Zealand, as . clods Thar/, but thofe by the Sea Coafts Darry 5. which have fuch force, that they being burnt often in their houfes, they confume their iron, copper, Tin, filver and brafie vefi'els, and make all things that are-in their houfes worfe, except Gold. ,.For that is not fmoked or foiled by the fuipp? hut fhines the more, and fwells out, ,Goidismad efpecially that is pure ajid not mixt, or fophifticatcd. This br^ue%lrCdff conies from the rarity and foftnefie of the gold, whence it drinks ■ ip the fmoky vapour, and fwells and lhines thereby. For though. Gold drinks gold be heavy and ponderous, yet is it foft, du&il and pqrous , b^u0,\ which- may be, proved by a cup fill’cUflith water, that will receive fome crowns of gold and. not run over. For befides the fpirits tfiat go forth of it, it drinks in fome part of the water, and fo fwells wnfiir. Wferet-ore a fmoke of Turf made often where this.meu- tai is, will.givc-it a gallant luftre. . For.fince that fmoke defilcs-all A , . , - ^ things? near it with foot, and makes them look yellow. Or like the yelk of an egg, as yeilow choler doth fuch as have the Jaundies * , '
gold grows yellow- by it, which is its natural and proper colour.
For no other colour can be put upon gold but ycllovvj or like the
yelk
I
7*
3k
Hearbs are [abject to change ,