o be _Wise_, that is, till they grow _Old_,
and find by _Experience_ the _Prudence_ and _Necessity_ of it. When
_Ulysses_, after a ten-years Absence, was return'd from _Troy_, and
coming home, found his aged _Father_ in the Field planting of _Trees_,
He asked him, why (being now so far advanc'd in Years) he would put
himself to the Fatigue and Labour of Planting, _that_ which he was never
likely to enjoy the Fruits of? The good old Man (taking him for a
Stranger) gently reply'd; _I plant_ (says he) _against my Son_ Ulysses
_comes home_. The _Application_ is Obvious and Instructive for both
_Old_ and _Young_. And we have a more modern Instance, almost alike that
of the good old _Laertes_. Here then upon the Complaint of learned
Persons and great Travellers, deploring the loss of many rare and
precious Things, _Trees_ and _Plants_, especially instancing the
_Balsam_-Tree of _Gilead_ (now almost, if not altogether failing, and no
more to be found where it grew in great plenty.) He applys himself to
young _Eperous_, to consider it seriously, and to fall a planting while
time is before them, with this incouraging Exclamation, _Agite, o
Adolescentes, & antequam canities vobis obrepat, stirpes jam alueritis,
quae vobis cum insigni utilitate, delectationem etiam adferent: Nam
quemadmodum canities temporis successu, vobis insciis, sensim obrepit:
Sic natura vobis inserviens educabit quod telluri vestrae concredetis,
modo prima initia illi dederitis_, &c. Pet. Bellonius _De neglecta
stirpium Cultura_. Problema ix.

My next _Advice_ is, that they do not easily commit themselves to the
_Dictates_ of their ignorant _Hinds_ and _Servants_,{lxxix:1} who are
(generally speaking) more fit to Learn than to Instruct. _Male agitur cum
Domino quem Villicus docet_, was an Observation of old _Cato_'s; and 'twas
_Ischomachus_ who told _Socrates_ (discoursing one day upon a like
subject) _That it was far easier to _Make_, than to _Find_ a good
Husband-man_: I have often prov'd it so in _Gardeners_; and I believe it
will hold in most of our _Country_ Employments: Country People
universally know that all Trees consist of _Roots_, _Stems_, _Boughs_,
_Leaves_, &c. but can give no account of the _Species_, _Virtues_, or
farther Culture, besides the making of a Pit or Hole; casting, and
treading in the Earth, &c. which require a deeper search, than they are
capable of: We are then to exact _Labour_, not _Conduct_ and _Reason_,
from the greatest part