Page:Cyder - a poem in two books (1708).djvu/31

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 * 'Twill profit, when the Stork, sworn-Foe of Snakes,

Returns, to shew Compassion to thy Plants, Fatigu'd with Breeding. Let the arched Knife Well sharpen'd now assail the spreading Shades Of Vegetables, and their thirsty Limbs Dissever: for the genial Moisture, due To Apples, otherwise mispends it self In barren Twigs, and, for th' expected Crop, Naught but vain Shoots, and empty Leaves abound.
 * When swelling Buds their od'rous Foliage shed,

And gently harden into Fruit, the Wise Spare not the little Off-springs, if they grow Redundant; but the thronging Clusters thin By kind Avulsion: else, the starv'ling Brood, Void of sufficient Sustenance, will yield A slender Autumn; which the niggard Soul Rh