have most delicate apples, plums,
pears, walnuts, filberts, etc., and those of sundry sorts, planted within
forty years past, in comparison of which most of the old trees are nothing
worth, so have we no less store of strange fruit, as apricots, almonds,
peaches, figs, corn-trees[89] in noblemen's orchards. I have seen capers,
oranges, and lemons, and heard of wild olives growing here, beside other
strange trees, brought from far, whose names I know not. So that England
for these commodities was never better furnished, neither any nation under
their clime more plentifully endued with these and other blessings from
the most high God, who grant us grace withal to use the same to his honour
and glory! And not as instruments and provocations unto further excess and
vanity, wherewith his displeasure may be kindled, lest these his benefits
do turn unto thorns and briers unto us for our annoyance and punishment,
which he hath bestowed upon us for our consolation and comfort.

We have in like sort such workmen as are not only excellent in grafting
the natural fruits, but also in their artificial mixtures, whereby one
tree bringeth forth sundry fruits, and one and the same fruit of divers
colours and tastes, dallying as it were with nature and her course, as if
her whole trade were perfectly known unto them: of hard fruits they will
make tender, of sour sweet, of sweet yet more delicate, bereaving also
some of their kernels, other of their cores, and finally enduing them with
the savour of musk, amber, or sweet spices, at their pleasures. Divers
also have written at large of these several practices, and some of them
how to convert the kernels of peaches into almonds, of small fruit to make
far greater, and to remove or add superfluous or necessary moisture to the
trees, with other things belonging to their preservation, and with no less
diligence than our physicians do commonly show upon our own diseased
bodies, which to me doth seem right strange. And even so do our gardeners
with their herbs, whereby they are strengthened against noisome blasts,
and preserved from putrefaction and hindrance: whereby some such as were
annual are now made perpetual, being yearly taken up, and either reserved
in the house, or, having the ross pulled from their roots, laid again into
the earth, where they remain in safety. What choice they make also in
their waters, and wherewith some of them do now and then keep them moist,
it is a world to see, i