The Ladies Delight | Page 3

that of an ordinary Nutmeg_ both
contained in one strong _Siliqua, or purse; which, together with the whole root of the
plant, is commonly thick set with numerous Fibrilla_ or _capillary Tendrils.
The tree is of slow growth, and requires time to bring it to perfection, rarely seeding to
any purpose before the fifteenth year; when the fruits coming to good maturity, yield a
viscous Juice or balmy succus, which being from time to time discharged at the Pistillum
is mostly bestow'd upon the open Calyx's_ of the _Frutex Vulvaria_ or _flow'ring Shrub
usually spreading under the shade of this tree, and whose parts are by a wonderful
mechanism adapted to receive it. The ingenious Mr. _Richard Bradley_ is of opinion, the
Frutex is hereby impregnated, and then first begins to bear; he therefore accounts this
Succus_ the Farina foecundans_ of the plant: and the learned Leonhard Fucksius, in his
Historia Stirpium insigniorum, observes the greatest sympathy between this tree and
shrub, They are_, says he, of the same genus, and do best in the same bed, the_ Vulvaria
_itself being indeed no other than a_ female Arbor Vitae.
It is produced in most Countries, tho' it thrives more in some than others, where it also
increases to a larger size. The height here in England rarely passes nine, or at the most,
eleven inches, and that chiefly in Kent_, whereas in _Ireland, it comes to far greater
dimensions, is so good, that many of the natives entirely subsist upon it, and when
transplanted, have been sometimes known to raise good houses with single plants of this
sort.
As the Irish soil is accounted the best, others are as remarkably bad for its cultivation;
and the least and worst in the world are said to be about Harborough_ and the _Forest of
Sherard.
The stem seems to be of the sensitive tribe, tho' herein differing from the more common
Sensitives; that whereas they are known to shrink and retire from even the gentlest touch
of a Lady's hand, this rises on the contrary, and extends itself when it is so handled.

In winter it is not easy to raise these trees without a hot bed; but in warmer weather they
stand well in the open air.
In the latter season they are subject to become weak and flaccid, and want support; for
which purpose some gardeners have thought of splintering them up with birchen Twigs,
which has seem'd of some service for the present, tho' the plants have very soon come to
the same or a more drooping state than before.
The late ingenious Mr. Motteux thought of restoring a fine plant he had in this condition,
by tying it up with a Tomex or cord made of the bark of the Vitex_, or _Hempen-Tree: but
whether he made the ligature too straight, or that the nature of the Vitex is really in itself
pernicious, he quite kill'd his plant thereby; which makes this universally condemn'd, as a
dangerous experiment.
Some Virtuosi have thought of improving their trees for some purposes, by taking off the
Nutmegs, which is however a bad way; they never seed after, and are good for little more
than making whistles of, which are imported every year from Italy, and sell indeed at a
good price.
Some other curious Gentlemen have endeavour'd to inoculate their plants on the stock of
the Medlar_ and that with a manure of _human Ordure, but this has never been approv'd;
and I have known some tree brought to a very ill end by such management.
The natural soil is certainly the best for their propagation; and that is in hollow places,
that are warm and near salt water, best known by their producing the same sort of
Tendrils as are observ'd about the roots of the Arbor itself. Some cautions however are
very necessary, especially to young Botanists; and first, to be very diligent in keeping
their trees clean and neat; a pernicious sort of insect, not, unlike a Morpione_ or _Cimex,
being very subject to breed amongst the Fibrillae, which, if not taken heed of, and timely
destroy'd, proves often of very dangerous consequence.
Another caution, no less useful, we have from that excellent and judicious Botanist Mr.
Humphrey Bowen, to beware of a poisonous species of Vulvaria, too often mistaken for
the wholesome one, and which, if suffer'd too near our trees, will very greatly endanger
their well-being. He tells us, in the 12th volume of his large abridgment of la Quintinye,
that before he had acquir'd his judgment and experience, some of his plants have often
been sufferers through this mistake; and he has seen a tall thriving tree, by the contact:
only of this venomous shrub, become porrose, scabiose_, and cover'd with fungous
Excrescences_ not unlike the