_Sola enim Res Rustica, quae sine dubitatione proxima, & quasi consanguinea Sapientiae est, tam discentibus eget, quam magistris: Adhuc enim Scholas Rhetorum, & Geometrarum, Musicorumque, vel quod magis mirandum est, contemptissimorum vitiorum officinas, gulosius condiendi cibos, & luxuriosius fercula struendi, capitumque & capillorum concinnatores, non solum esse audivi, sed & ipse vidi; Agricolationis neque Doctores qui se profiterentur, neque Discipulos cognovi._{lxxxiii:1} But this I leave for our _Peruk’d Gallants_ to interpret, and should now apply my self to the _Directive_ Part, which I am all this while bespeaking, if after what I have said in the several _Paragraphs_ of the ensuing _Discourse_ upon the _Argument_ of _Wood_, (and which in this _Fourth_ Edition coming _Abroad_ with innumerable _Improvements_, and _Advantages_ (so furnished, as I hope shall neither reproach the _Author_, or repent the _Reader_) it might not seem superfluous to have _premised_ any thing _here_ for the Encouragement of so becoming an _Industry_. There are divers _Learned_, and judicious _Men_ who have _preceded_ Me in this _Argument_; as many, at least, as have undertaken to Write and Compile vast _Herbals_, and _Theaters_ of _Plants_; of which we have some of our own _Country-men_, (especially, the most Industrious and Learned Mr. _Ray_) who have (boldly I dare affirm it) surpass’d _any_, if not all the _Foreigners_ that are extant: In _those_ it is you meet with the _Description_ of the several _Plants_, by _Discourses_, _Figures_, _Names_, _Places_ of _Growth_; time of _Flourishing_, and their _Medicinal Virtues_; which may supply any _deficiency_ of mine as to those _Particulars_; if forbearing the _Repetition_, it should by any be imputed for a _defect_, though it were indeed none of my _design_: I say, these things are long since performed to our hands: But there is none of these (that I at least know of, and are come to my perusal) who have taken any considerable pains how to _Direct_, and _Encourage_ us in the _Culture_ of _Forest-Trees_ (the grand _defect_ of this _Nation_) besides some small sprinklings to be met withal in _Gervas Markham_, old _Tusser_, and of _Foreigners_, the _Country-Farm_ long since translated out of French, and by no means suitable to our Clime and _Country_: Neither have any of these proceeded after my _Method_, and particularly, in _Raising_, _Planting_, _Dressing_, and _Governing_, &c. or so sedulously made it their business, to _specifie_ the _Mechanical Uses_ of the _several kinds_, as I have done, which was hitherto a great _desideratum_, and in which the _Reader_ will likewise find some things altogether _New_ and _Instructive_; and both _Directions_ and _Encouragements_ for the Propagation of some _Foreign_ Curiosities of _Ornament_ and _Use_, which were hitherto neglected. If I have upon occasion presumed to say any thing concerning their _Medicinal_ properties, it has been _Modestly_ and Frugally, and