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Show To the Reader. oftner find wayes to Fell down, and Deftroy their Trees and Plantations , than either to repair or improve them. But we are not without hopes of taking off thefe Prejudices, and of reconciling them toa Subjeftand an Ins duftry which has been confecrated < as may fay ) by as good, and as great Perfons, as any the World has produced: and whofe Names we find ming!’d amongft. Aings, and Pbilofophers, grave Senators, and Patriots oftheir Countrey : Forfuch were of old Solomon, Cyrus, and Numa, Licinius firnamedStolo, Cato, and Cincinnatus ; the Pifo’s, Fabii, Cicero, the Plinies, and thoufands more whom I might enumerate, that difdained not to cultivate thefe Ruflicities even with their own hands , and to efteem it a TTA great Acceffion, to dignifie their Perfoms, and adorn their purple with thefe Rural Charaéters of their affeétions to Planting, and love of this part of Agriculture, which has tranfimicted to us their venerable Names through fo many CRT Ages and Viciffitudes of the World, That famous Anfwer alone whichthe Perfian Monarch gave to Lyfander, will fufficiently juftifie that which | have faid ; befides what we might add, out of the Writings and Examples of the reft ; But fince thee mayfuffice,after due reproofs of thelate impolitique Was}, and univerfal See Petrarch de Remeds utrix (que fortnwa L.1.Dial. 5". floth amongft us; we would now turn our Judignation into Prayers, and addrefle ourfelves to our better natur’d Countrymen ; that fuch Woods as do yet remainintire,might be carefully Preferved, and fuch as are Deflroy'd, feduloufly repaired ; It is what all Perfons who are Owners of Land may contribute to, and withinfinite delight, as. well as profit, who are touch’d with that laudable Ambition of imitating their Iluftrious AnceSfors, and of worthily ferving their Generation. To thefe my earneft and humble Advice fhould be, That at their very firft coming to their Effates, and as foon as they get Children, they would ferioufly think of this Work of Propagation alfo For, Zo the Reader. ForTobferve there is no part of Husbandry, which mer commonly more Failin, negle, and have caufe to repent of, than that they did not begin Planting betimes, witho ut which, they can expeét neither Fruit, Ornament, or Delight trom their Labours : Men feldom Plant Zrees till they begin to beW7e, that is, till they grow Old;andfi nd by Experience the Prudence and Neceffity ofi, My next Advice is, that they do not eafily commit themfelves to the DiGates of their ignorant Hindsand ge 1 Cure vants, whoare (generally {peaking ) more fit to Lear n ‘ee than to Inftru&. Male agitur cum Domino quem Villic us docet, was an Obfervationofold Cato’s ; and ‘twas I[cho- machus who told Socrates ( difcourfing one day upon a like fubject ) That it was far eafier to Make than to Find a good Husband-man ; 1 have often prov’d it {0 in Gar. diners; and believeit will holdin moft of our Countrey Employments ; Weare to exatt Labour, not Condu ct and Reajfon, from the greateft part of them ; andthe bufin efS of Planting is an Art or Science Cfor fo Varro has folemn- vez. x: ly defin’d it) and that exceedingly wide of Truch which (it feems) many in his time accounted of its fa cillimam effe, nec ullius acuminis Rufticationem, an eoie dil infipid Study. It was the fimple Culture onely, ‘with fo much difficulty retriv'd fromthe late confufion ofan inz teftine and bloody War,like Ours, and now put in Reputa- tion again, which made the noble Poet write w———— How hard it w Low Subjects with illuftrious words erat grace. Quam fit, & oS anguftishanc addere rebts boyovem, hans alder Georg. 3« Seeing, as the Orator does himfelf exprefle it, Nabil eff ho- t2gris erans tunc Senatores. mine libero dignius ; there is nothing more beco ming and CicdeSencét. worthy of a Gentleman. It was indeed a plain man (A Paliffy, te Potter by Trade) butlet no body defpife him becaufe a 2rG a” venir Riche Potter ( Agathocles, and a King was of that Craft) who bb 2 I in |