The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

64 NATURAL HISTORY. CENT. V.
as you may make them rather in slices than in ample of the biting of wasps or worns upon fruit,
continued hacks, doth great good to trees; and whereby it manifestly ripeneth the sooner.
especially delivereth them from being hide-bound, 447. It is reported, that "'alga marina," seaand killeth their moss. weed, put under the roots of coleworts, and, per441. Shade to some plants conduceth to make haps, of other plants, will further their growth.
them large and prosperous more than sun, as in The virtue, no doubt, hath relation to salt, which
strawberries and bays, &c. Therefore amongst is a great help to fertility.
strawberries sow here and there some borage seed, 448. It hath been practised, to cut off the stalks
and you shall find the strawberries under those of cucumbers, immediately after their bearing,
leaves far more large than their fellows. And close by the earth; and then to cast a pretty
bays you must plant to the north, or defend them quantity of earth upon the plant that remaineth,
from the sun by a hedge-row; and when you sow and they will bear next year fruit long before the
the berries, weed not the borders for the first half ordinary time. The cause may be, for that the
year; for the weed giveth them shade. sap goeth down the sooner, and is not spent in
442. To increase the crops of plants, there the stalk or leaf, which remaineth after the fruit.
would be considered not only the increasing the Where note, that the dying in the winter of the
lust of the earth, or of the plant, but the saving also roots of plants that are annual, seemeth to be
of that which is spilt. So they have lately irade partly caused by the over-expense of the sap into
a trial to set wheat, which nevertheless hath been stalk and leaves; which being prevented, they
left off, because of the trouble and pains: yet so will superannuate, if they stand warm.
much is true, that there is much saved by the set- 449. The pulling off many of the blossoms
tding, in comparison of that which is sown, both from a fruit-tree doth make the fruit fairer. The
by keeping it from being picked up by birds, and cause is manifest; for that the sap hath the less
by avoiding the shallow lying of it, whereby to nourish. And it is a common experience, that
much that is sown taketh no root. if you do not pull off some blossoms the first
4-13. It is prescribed by some of the ancients, time a tree bloometh, it will blossom itself to
th:at you take small trees, upon which figs or other death.
fruit grow, being yet unripe, and cover the trees 450. It were good to try what would be the
in the middle of autumn with dung until the effect, if all the blossoms were pulled from a
spring; and then take them up in a warm day, fruit-tree: or the acorns and chestnut-buds, &c.,
and replant them in good ground; and by that from a wild tree, for two years together. I supmeans the former year's tree will be ripe, as by a pose that the tree will either put forth the third
new birth, when other trees of the same kind do year bigger and more plentiful fruit: or else, the
but blossom. But this seemeth to have no great same years, larger leaves, because of the sap
probability. stored up.
444. It is reported, that if you take nitre, and 451. It hath been generally received, that a
mingle it with water, to the thickness of honey, plant watered with warm water will come up
and therewith anoint the bud after the vine is cut, sooner and better than with cold water or with
it will sprout forth within eight days. The cause showers. But our experiment of watering wheat
is like to be, if the experiment be true, the open- with warm water, as hath been said, succeeded
ing of the bud and of the parts contiguous, bythe not; which may be, because the trial was too
spirit of the nitre; for nitre is, as it were, the life late in the year, viz., in the end of October.
of vegetables. For the cold then coming upon the seed, after it
445. Take seed, or kernels of apples, pears, was made more tender by the warm water, might
oranges; or a peach, or a plum-stone, &c. and check it.
put them into a squill, which is like a great onion, 452. There is no doubt, but that grafting, for
and they will come up much earlier than in the the most part doth meliorate the fruit. The cause
earth itself. This I conceive to be as a kind of is manifest; for that the nourishment is better
grafting in the root; for as the stock of a graft prepared in the stock than in the crude earth; but
yieldeth better prepared nourishment to the graft yet note well, that there be some trees that are
than the crude earth, so the squill doth the liketo said to come up more happily from the kernel
the seed. And I suppose the same would be done than from the graft, as the peach and melocotone.
by putting kernels into a turnip or the like, save The cause, I suppose to be, for that those plants
that the squill is more vigorous and hot. It may require a nourishment of great moisture; and
be tried also, with putting onion-seed into an though the nourishment of the stock be finer and
onion-head, which thereby, perhaps, will bring better prepared, yet it is not so moist and plentiful
forth a larger and earlier onion. as the nourishment of the earth. And indeed vwe
446. The pricking of a fruit in several places, see those fruits are very cold fruits in their nature.
when it is almost at its bigness, and before it 453. It hath been received, that a smaller pear
ripeneth, hath been practised with success, to grafted upon a stock that beareth a greater pear,
ripen the fruit more suddenly. ~We see the ex- will become great. But I think it is as true as