30
THE FARM AND
The poplar, and the willow silver-grey. 16
And some arise from seed themselves have shed;
For so the chesnut rears its lofty head,
The bay-oak, towering monarch of the wood,
And Grecian oaks with oracles endued. 20
But others densely stool up from the root,
A forest new, as elms and cherries shoot;
Nay, even thus the young Parnassian bay,
Beneath the mother's shadow, feels her way. 24
These methods nature gave; hence all the sheen
Of woods, and shrubs, and bowery chapels green.
But other modes there are which practice hath
Discover'd for herself on labour's path. 28
Shoots from the mother's tender form, with skill,
One gardener trims, and plants along the drill;
Another roughly buries stocks uncut,
And stakes four -cleft, and poles with sharpen'd butt.
Some trees demand the arching layer's coil,
And thriving nurseries in the mother soil.
Some lack no root, no pruner need mistrust 35
To lay the leader in its native dust.
Nay more, the olive-stump is cleft in twain,
And, strange to tell, the dry wood roots again!
And some arise from seed themselves have shed;
For so the chesnut rears its lofty head,
The bay-oak, towering monarch of the wood,
And Grecian oaks with oracles endued. 20
But others densely stool up from the root,
A forest new, as elms and cherries shoot;
Nay, even thus the young Parnassian bay,
Beneath the mother's shadow, feels her way. 24
These methods nature gave; hence all the sheen
Of woods, and shrubs, and bowery chapels green.
But other modes there are which practice hath
Discover'd for herself on labour's path. 28
Shoots from the mother's tender form, with skill,
One gardener trims, and plants along the drill;
Another roughly buries stocks uncut,
And stakes four -cleft, and poles with sharpen'd butt.
Some trees demand the arching layer's coil,
And thriving nurseries in the mother soil.
Some lack no root, no pruner need mistrust 35
To lay the leader in its native dust.
Nay more, the olive-stump is cleft in twain,
And, strange to tell, the dry wood roots again!
