will flower naturally and conſtantly in the ſame moneths one yeare, that they vſe to doe in another, or with but little alteration, if the yeares proue not alike kindly: As for example, thoſe plants that doe flower in January and February, will by no art or induſtry of man be cauſed to flower in Summer or in Autumne; and thoſe that flower in Aprill and May, will not flower in January or February; or thoſe in Iuly, Auguſt, &c. either in the Winter or Spring: but euery one knoweth their owne appointed naturall times, which they conſtantly obſerue and keepe, according to the temperature of the yeare, or the temper of the climate, being further North or South, to bring them on earlier or later, as it doth with all other fruits, flowers, and growing greene herbes, &c. except that by chance, ſome one or other extraordinarily may be hindered in their due ſeaſon of flowring, and ſo giue their flowers out of time, or elſe to giue their flowers twice in the yeare, by the ſuperaboundance of nouriſhment, or the mildneſſe of the ſeaſon, by moderate mowers of raine, &c. as it ſometimes alſo happeneth with fruits, which chance, as it is ſeldome, and not conſtant, ſo we then terme it but Luſus naturæ: or elſe by forcing them in hot ſtoues, which then will periſh, when they haue giuen their flowers or fruits. It is not then, as ſome haue written, the ſowing of the ſeedes of Lillies, or any other plants a foote deepe, or halfe a foote deepe, or two inches deepe, that will cauſe them to be in flower one after another, as they are ſowne euery moneth of the yeare; for it were too groſſe to thinke, that any man of reaſon and iudgement would ſo beleeue. Nor is it likewiſe in the power of any man, to make the ſame plants to abide a moneth, two, or three, or longer in their beauty of flowring, then naturally they vſe to doe; for I thinke that were no humane art, but a ſupernaturall worke. For nature ſtill bendeth and tendeth to perfection, that is, after flowring to giue fruit or ſeede; nor can it bee hindered in the courſe thereof without manifeſt danger of deſtruction, euen as it is in all other fruit-bearing creatures, which ſtay no longer, then their appointed time is naturall vnto them, without apparent damage. Some things I grant may be ſo ordered in the planting, that according to that order and time which is obſerued in their planting, they ſhall ſhew forth their faire flowers, and they are Anemones, which will in that manner, that I haue ſhewed in the worke following, flower in ſeuerall moneths of the yeare; which thing as it is incident to none or very few other plants, and is found out but of late, ſo likewiſe is it knowne but vnto a very few. Thus haue I ſhewed you the true ſolution of theſe doubts: And although they haue not beene amplified with ſuch Philoſophicall arguments and reaſons, as one of greater learning might haue done, yet are they truely and ſincerely ſet downe, that they may ſerue tanquam galeatum, againſt all the calumnies and objections of wilfull and obdurate perſons, that will not be reformed. As firſt, that all double flowers were ſo found wilde, being the worke of nature alone, and not the art of any man, by planting or tranſplanting, at or before the new or full Moone, or any other obſeruation of time, that hath cauſed the flower to grow double, that naturally was ſingle: Secondly, that the rules and directions, to cauſe flowers to bee of contrary or different colours or ſents, from that they were or would be naturally, are meere fancies of men, without any ground of reaſon or truth. And thirdly, that there is no power or art in man, to cauſe flowers to ſhew their beauty diuers moneths before their naturall time, nor to abide in their beauty longer then the appointed naturall time for euery one of them.
