2 I& ( N A T U R A L H P S T : 0 R Y
more than fixty years. Another reafon of the fcarcity of wood in
CórnwalKs, that feme öf our ancient woods are now covered with
thé fea °, as particularly -between Ramhéad and Loo, and, inaffiè
weft, betwixt Penzance and St. Michael’s Mount, and very likely
on fome of our other ftrands. However, fome fmall woods, or
rather large plantations, we have in Cornwall, which are moftly
fituated in the valleys adjacent to our four great rivers, v iz. the
Tamar, Fawy, Fal, and Alan ; cultivation beginning, as' is moft
likely, and gentlemen of fortune building their feats-On the banks
o f rivers for delight and conveniency. In thefe'fttuatfops 'therefore
we have fome Old woods ; ât Godôlphin thereds a very ancient and
extenfive plantation round the houle, as there âre allô at fome Other
aiaeient feats, and at prefeht no gentleman f^M^&itfeéUt ;alkjttihg‘i
proportion of ground to his foreft-trèes and gardens9 alfo%e4iavO lè verai
plantations làtely raifed and laid put in a more uncqnfined and
rural manner than was formerly
thetafte for planting is general,an<di0âks'elm, ia é d lÉ h ^ f^ ft crë^sk
but above all the feveral kinds of firs and pine, are propagated with
great luccels. We muft not expedt indeed in our rphthern climate,
that the fir will be o f any great utility^; trees have their clfoiates,
andmaylive, but never come toperfedtion.oiit.ofithem ; thistrèéin
particular, though found fofiU in fome parts o f England9, .covets tpe
more northern colds, whfoh compfefe and fti^ngfhen the fibres,
and inlpifiate the juices more than warmer climates can, do; and‘the
firs in Cornwall (fome of fifty years Handing) I have obferved fihort-
fibred, the timber not refinous, fmooth, nor well compacted, in no
wife comparable-to that of Norway. - However, the fir-tree may be
the winter garnifh of our gardens, and at leaft compenfate the culture
by its continual verdure.. Several trees, unknown, here in
the laft generation, have alfo been introduced, and rife to thé credit
of the owners, as well as to the ornament of their gravés. Among
the reft, it fhould not be forgottèn, that the plane-tree, of which
the ancients were fo fond, which hiftory has thought it worth while
to record as planted at Delphi by Agamemnon’s own hand, which
Xerxes thought worthy of a golden wreath, and dedicated folemnly
to a peculiar deity, a tree whofe feveral ftages Pliny r has traced
from Syria through the Grecian Iflands, till it arrived in Italy, and
palfed thence to the weftérn parts of Gaul ■ - -Let it not be forgotten,
that this tree, fo defervedly celebrated, and for its broad leaf and
* See the Ancient and Prelent State of Scilly
Dies, page 94, 95.
t At Anthony, Port Elliot, Trewithen, Tre-
gothnan, Carclew, Nanfwhydn, Tehidy, Clow-
ance, Trelowarren, T revetho, Enys, Caftlehornek,
and others.
’ In Lincolnfliirc, Ray’s Difcourfes, page 233,
and Staffordshire, 237, ibid, and Lancaihirc, Dr.
Leigh’s Nat. Hift.
' Lib. x v i . chap x l iv .
" About the time that Rome was lacked by the
Gauls, lib. x ii. .chap. 1. ibid....
wide