o have _premised_
any thing _here_ for the Encouragement of so becoming an _Industry_. There
are divers _Learned_, and judicious _Men_ who have _preceded_ Me in this
_Argument_; as many, at least, as have undertaken to Write and Compile
vast _Herbals_, and _Theaters_ of _Plants_; of which we have some of our
own _Country-men_, (especially, the most Industrious and Learned Mr.
_Ray_) who have (boldly I dare affirm it) surpass'd _any_, if not all the
_Foreigners_ that are extant: In _those_ it is you meet with the
_Description_ of the several _Plants_, by _Discourses_, _Figures_,
_Names_, _Places_ of _Growth_; time of _Flourishing_, and their _Medicinal
Virtues_; which may supply any _deficiency_ of mine as to those
_Particulars_; if forbearing the _Repetition_, it should by any be imputed
for a _defect_, though it were indeed none of my _design_: I say, these
things are long since performed to our hands: But there is none of these
(that I at least know of, and are come to my perusal) who have taken any
considerable pains how to _Direct_, and _Encourage_ us in the _Culture_ of
_Forest-Trees_ (the grand _defect_ of this _Nation_) besides some small
sprinklings to be met withal in _Gervas Markham_, old _Tusser_, and of
_Foreigners_, the _Country-Farm_ long since translated out of French, and
by no means suitable to our Clime and _Country_: Neither have any of these
proceeded after my _Method_, and particularly, in _Raising_, _Planting_,
_Dressing_, and _Governing_, &c. or so sedulously made it their business,
to _specifie_ the _Mechanical Uses_ of the _several kinds_, as I have
done, which was hitherto a great _desideratum_, and in which the _Reader_
will likewise find some things altogether _New_ and _Instructive_; and
both _Directions_ and _Encouragements_ for the Propagation of some
_Foreign_ Curiosities of _Ornament_ and _Use_, which were hitherto
neglected. If I have upon occasion presumed to say any thing concerning
their _Medicinal_ properties, it has been _Modestly_ and Frugally, and
with chief, if not only respect to the poor _Wood-man_, whom none I
presume will envy, that living far from the _Physician_, he should in case
of _Necessity_, consult the reverend _Druid_, his{lxxxv:1} _Oaks_ and his
_Elm_, _Birch_, or _Elder_, for a short _Breath_, a Green _Wound_, or a
sore _Leg_; Casualties incident to this hard _Labour_. These are the chief
_Particulars_ of this ensuing _Work_, and what it pretends hitherto of
_Singul