Natural history -- England -- Wiltshire; Wiltshire (England) -- History
Pliny, lib. xv. c. 21. “De Sorbis. Quartum genus torminale appellatur,
remedio tantum probabile, assiduum proventu minimumq{ue} pomo, arbore
dissimili foliis plane platani”. Lib. xvi. cap. 18.—“Gaudet frigidis
Sorbus sed magis betulla”. Dr. Gale, R.S.S. tells me that
“Sorbiodunum”, now Old Sarum, has its denomination from “sorbes”; but
the ground now below the castle is all turned to arable.
Elders grow every where. At Bradford the side of the high hill which
faces the south, about Mr. Paul Methwin’s house, is covered with them.
I fancy that that pent might be turned to better profit, for it is
situated as well for a vinyard as any place can be, and is on a rocky
gravelly ground. The apothecaries well know the use of the berries, and
so doe the vintners, who buy vast quantities of them in London, and
some doe make no inconsiderable profit by the sale of them.
At the parsonage house at Wyley growes an ash out of the mortar of the
wall of the house, and it flourishes very well and is verdant. It was
nine yeares old in 1686. I doe not insert this as a rarity; but ’tis
strange to consider that it hath its growth and nourishment from the
aire, for from the lime it can receive none. [In August 1847, I
observed a large and venerable ash tree growing out of and united with
the ancient Roman walls of Caistor, near Norwich. The whole of the base
of the trunk was incorporated with bricks, rubble, and mortar; but the
roots no doubt extended many yards into the adjacent soil.—J. B.]
Whitty-tree, or wayfaring-tree, is rare in this country; some few in
Cranbourn Chace, and three or four on the south downe of the farme of
Broad Chalke. In Herefordshire they are not uncommon; and they used,
when I was a boy, to make pinnes for the yoakes of their oxen of them,
believing it had vertue to preserve them from being forespoken, as they
call it; and they use to plant one by their dwelling-house, believing
it to preserve from witches and evill eyes.
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