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533. Tries that are of themselves full of heat, which heat appeareth by their inflammable gums, as firs and pines, mount of themselves in height without side-boughs, till they come towards the top. The cause is partly heat, and partly tenuity of juice, both which send the sap upwards. As for juniper, it is but a shrub, and groweth not big enough in body to maintain a tall tree.

534. It is reported, that a good strong canvass, spread over a tree grafted low, soon after it putteth forth, will dwarf it, and make it spread. The cause is plain ; for that all things that grow, will grow as they find room.

535. Trees are generally set of roots or kernels; but if you set them of slips, as of some trees you may, by name the mulberry, some of the slips will take ; and those that take, as is reported, will be dwarf trees. The cause is, for that a slip draweth nourishment more weakly than either a root or kernel. : 536. Ali plants that put forth their sap hastily, have their bodies not proportionable to their length; and therefore they are winders and creepers; as ivy, briony, hops, woodbine: whereas dwarfing requireth a slow putting forth, and less vigour of mounting. Experiments in consort touching the rudiments of

plants, and of the excrescences of plants, or super-plants.

The Scripture saith, that Solomon wrote a Natural History, from the cedar of Libanus, to the moss growing upon the wall: for so the best translations have it. And it is true that moss is but the rudiment of a plant; and as it were, the mold of earth or bark.

537. Moss groweth chiefly upon ridges of houses tiled or thatched, and upon the crests of walls ; and that moss is of a lightsome and pleasant green. The growing upon slopes is caused, for that moss, as on the one side it cometh of moisture and water, so on the other side the water must but slide, and not stand or pool. And the growing upon tiles, or walls, etc. is caused, for that those dried earths, having not moisture

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sufficient to put forth a plant, do practise germination by putting forth moss; though when, by age, or otherwise, they grow to relent and resolve, they sometimes put forth plants, as wall-flowers. And almost all moss hath here and there little stalks, besides the low thrum.

538. Moss groweth upon alleys, especially such as lie cold and upon the north; as in divers terraces: and again, if they be much trodden; or if they were at the first gravelled; for wheresoever plants are kept down the earth putteth forth moss.

539. OLD ground, that hath been long unbroken up, gathereth moss: and therefore husbandmen use to cure their pasture grounds when they grow to moss, by tilling them for a year or two which also dependeth upon the same cause; for that the more sparing and starving juice of the earth, insufficient for plants, doth breed moss.

540. OLD trees are more mossy far than young; for that the sap is not so frank as to rise all to the boughs, but tireth by the way, and putteth out moss. 541. FOUNTAINS have moss growing upon the ground about them;

Muscosi fontes :

The cause is, for that the fountains drain the water from the ground adjacent, and leave but sufficient moisture to breed moss and besides, the coldness of the water conduceth to the same.

542. THE moss of trees is a kind of hair; for it is the juice of the tree that is excerned, and doth not assimilate. And upon great trees the moss gathereth a figure like a leaf.

543. THE moister sort of trees yield little moss; as we see in asps, poplars, willows, beeches, etc. which is partly caused for the reason that hath been given, of the frank putting up of the sap into the boughs; and partly for that the barks of those trees are more close and smooth than those of oaks and ashes; whereby the moss can the hardlier issue out.

544. IN clay-grounds all fruit-trees grow full of moss, both upon body and boughs; which is caused

partly by the coldness of the ground, whereby the plants nourish less; and partly by the toughness of the earth, whereby the sap is shut in, and cannot get up to spread so frankly as it should do.

545. WE have said heretofore, that if trees be hidebound, they wax less fruitful, and gather moss; and that they are holpen by hacking, etc. And therefore, by the reason of contraries, if trees be bound in with cords, or some outward bands, they will put forth more moss : which, I think, happeneth to trees that stand bleak, and upon the cold winds. It would also be tried, whether, if you cover a tree somewhat thick upon the top after his polling, it will not gather more moss. I think also the watering of trees with cold fountain-water, will make them grow full of moss.

546. THERE is a moss the perfumers have, which cometh out of apple-trees, that hath an excellent scent. Query, particularly for the manner of the growth, and the nature of it. And for this experiment's sake, being a thing of price, I have set down the last experiments how to multiply and call on

Next unto moss, I will speak of mushrooms; which are likewise an imperfect plant. The mushrooms have two strange properties; the one that they yield so delicious a meat; the other, that they come up so hastily, as in a night; and yet they are unsown. And therefore such as are upstarts in state, they call in reproach mushrooms. It must needs be, therefore, that they be made of much moisture ; and

: that moisture fat, gross, and yet somewhat concocted. And, indeed, we find that mushrooms cause the accident which we call incubus, or the mare in the stomach. And therefore the surfeit of them may suffocate and empoison. And this sheweth that they are windy; and that windiness is gross and swelling, not sharp or griping. And upon the same reason mushrooms are a venereous meat.

547. It is reported, that a bark of white or red poplar, which are of the moistest of trees, cut small, and cast into furrows well dunged, will cause the

mosses.

ground to put forth mushrooms at all seasons of the year fit to be eaten. Some add to the mixture leaven of bread dissolved in water.

548. It is reported, that if a hilly field, where the stubble is standing, be set on fire in a showery season, it will put forth great store of mushrooms.

549. It is reported, that hartshorn, shaven, or in small pieces, mixed with dung and watered, putteth up mushrooms. And we know hartshorn is of a fat and clammy substance : and it may be ox-horn would do the like.

550. It hath been reported, though it be scarce credible, that ivy hath grown out of a stag's horn; which they suppose did

rather come from a confrication of the horn upon the ivy, than from the horn itself. There is not known any substance but earth, and the procedures of earth, as tile, stone, etc. that yieldeth any moss or herby substance. There may be trial made of some seeds, as that of fennel-seed, mustard-seed, and rape seed, put into some little holes made in the horns of stags, or oxen, to see if they

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551. THERE is also another imperfect plant, that in show is like a great mushroom: and it is sometimes as broad as one's hat; which they call a toad's stool; but it is not esculent; and it groweth, commonly, by a dead stub of a tree, and likewise about the roots of rotten trees: and therefore seemeth to take his juice from wood putrefied. Which sheweth, by the way, that wood putrefied yieldeth a frank moisture.

552. There is a cake that groweth upon the side of a dead tree, that hath gotten no name, but it is large, and of a chesnut colour, and hard and pithy; whereby it should seem, that even dead trees forget not their putting forth ; no more than the carcases of men's bodies, that put forth hair and nails for a time.

553. THERE is a cod, or bag, that groweth commonly in the fields; that at the first is hard like a tennis-ball

, and white; and after groweth of a mushroom colour, and full of light dust upon the breaking; and is thought to be dangerous for the eyes if the

powder get into them; and to be good for kibes. Belike it hath a corrosive and fretting nature.

554. THERE is an herb called Jew's-ear, that groweth upon the roots and lower parts of the bodies of trees; especially of elders, and sometimes ashes. It hath a strange property ; for in warm water it swelleth, and openeth extremely. It is not green, but of a dusky brown colour. And it is used for squinancies and inflammations in the throat; whereby it seemeth to have a mollifying and lenifying virtue.

555. THERE is a kind of spongy excrescence, which groweth chiefly upon the roots of the lasertree; and sometimes upon cedar and other trees. It is very white, and light, and friable; which we call agaric. It is famous in physic for the purging of tough phlegm. And it is also an excellent opener for the liver; but offensive to the stomach : and in taste, it is at the first sweet, and after bitter.

556. We find no super-plant that is a formed plant, but misseltoe. They have an idle tradition, that there is a bird called a missel bird, that feedeth upon a seed, which many times she cannot digest, and so expelleth it whole with her excrement: which falling upon the bough of a tree that hath some rift, putteth forth the misseltoe. But this is a fable ; for it is not probable that birds should feed upon that they cannot digest. But allow that, yet it cannot be for other reasons: for first, it is found but upon certain trees; and those trees bear no such fruit, as may allure that bird to sit and feed upon them. It may be, that bird feedeth upon the misseltoe-berries, and so is often

found there; which may have given occasion to the tale. But that which maketh an end of the question is, that misseltoe hath been found to put forth under the boughs, and not only above the boughs; so it cannot be any thing that falleth upon the bough. Misseltoe groweth chiefly upon crab-trees, apple-trees, sometimes upon hazles, and rarely upon oaks; the misseltoe whereof is counted very medicinal. It is ever-green winter and summer ; and beareth a white glistering berry: and it is a plant utterly differing