Sylva; Or, A Discourse of Forest Trees. Vol. 1 (of 2)Evelyn, John
History
Sylva; Or, A Discourse of Forest Trees. Vol. 1 (of 2)
Evelyn, John
Forests and forestry -- Early works to 1800; Gardening -- Early works to 1800; Trees -- Early works to 1800
7. I have affirmed how patient this tree is of transplantation; not only
for that I observe so few of them to grow wild in England, and where it
may not be suspected, but they or their predecessors have been planted
by some industrious hand; but for that those incomparable walks and
vistas of them, both at Aranjuez, Casal del Campo, Madrid, the Escurial,
and other places of delight, belonging to the King and Grandees of
Spain, are planted with such as they report Philip the second caused to
be brought out of England; before which (as that most honourable person
the Earl of Sandwich, when his Majesty’s Ambassador Extraordinary at
that Court writ to me) it does not appear there were any of those trees
in all Spain. But of that plantation, see it more particularly describ’d
in the Eighth Chapter, Book III^d of this Discourse, whither I refer my
reader: Whilst (as to my own inclination) I know of no tree amongst all
the foresters, becoming the almost _interminat lontananza_ of walks and
vistas, comparable to this majestick plant: But let us hear it as
sweetly advised as described;
An elm for graceful verdure, bushy bough,
A lofty top, and a firm rind allow.
Plant elm in borders, on the grass-plots list,
Branches of elm into thick arbours twist;
A gallery of elm draw to the end,
That eyes can reach, or a breath’d race extend.{69:1}
8. The elm delights in a sound, sweet, and fertile land, something more
inclined to loamy moisture, and where good pasture is produced; though
it will also prosper in the gravelly, provided there be a competent
depth of mould, and be refreshed with springs; in defect of which, being
planted on the very surface of the ground (the swarth par’d first away,
and the earth stirred a foot deep or more) they will undoubtedly
succeed; but in this trial, let the roots be handsomly spread, and
covered a foot or more in height; and above all, firmly staked. This is
practicable also for other trees, where the soil is over-moist or
unkind: For as the elm does not thrive in too dry, sandy, or hot
grounds, no more will it abide the cold and spungy; but in places that
are competently fertile, or a little elevated from these annoyances; as
we see in the mounds, and casting up of ditches, upon whose banks the
female sort does more naturally delight; though it seems to be so much
more addicted to some places than to others, that I have frequently
doubted, whether it be a pure _indigene_ or _translatitious_; and not
only because I have hardly ever known any considerable woods of them
(besides some few nurseries near Cambridge, planted I suppose for store)
but almost continually in tufts, hedge-rows, and mounds; and that
Shropshire, and several other counties, and rarely any beyond Stamford
to Durham, have any growing in many miles together: Indeed Camden
mentions a place in Yorkshire call’d Elmet; and V. Bede, _Eccl. Hist.
l._ 11. c. 14. (speaking of a fire hap’ning there, and describing of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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