The fences were to be formed or filled with sweetbriar, periclymena, woodbine, jessamine, syringa, guelder-rose, musk and other roses, broom, juniper, lavender, and so on,--'but above all _Rosemary_, the _Flowers_ whereof are credibly reported to give their sent above thirty Leagues off at Sea, upon the coasts of Spain.

Those who take notice of the Sent of the _Orange_-flowers from the Rivage of Genoea, and _St.Pietro dell' Arena_; the Blosomes of _Rosemary_ from the Coasts of _Spain_ many leagues off at Sea; or the manifest and odoriferous wafts which flow from _Fontenoy_ and _Vaugirard_, even to _Paris_ in the season of _Roses_, with the contrary Effects of those less pleasing smells from other accidents, will easily consent to what I suggest: And, I am able to enumerate a Catalogue of native _Plants_, and such as are familiar to our Country and Clime, whose redolent and agreeable Emissions would even ravish our senses, as well as perfectly improve the _Aer_ about _London_; and that, without the least prejudice to the Owners and Proprietors of the Land to be employ'd about it.' Evelyn further recommended 'That the _Spaces_, or _Area_ between these _Pallisads_, and _Fences_, be employ'd in Beds and Bordures of _Pinks_, _Carnations_, _Clove_, _Stock-gilly-flower_, _Primroses_, _Auriculas_, _Violets_, not forgetting the _White_, which are in flower twice a year, _April_ and _August_; _Cowslips_, _Lillies_, _Narcissus_, _Strawberries_, whose very leaves as well as fruit, emit a _Cardiague_, and most refreshing _Halitus_: also _Parietria Lutea_, _Musk_, _Lemmon_, and _Mastick_: _Thyme_, _Spike_, _Cammomile_, _Balm_, _Mint_, _Marjoram_, _Pimpernel_, _Serpillum_, etc., which upon the least pressure and cutting, breathe out and betray their ravishing Odors.' Plantations of trees were also to be made and nurseries formed, which would have the additional advantage, besides mere beauty and ornament, of providing for the fields--'better Shelter, and Pasture for Sheep and Cattel then now; that they lie bleak, expos'd and abandon'd to the winds, which perpetually invade them.' It is said that the planting of Lime trees in St.James' Park was due to these suggestions.

Evelyn's recommendations concluded with the exhorting that 'the further exhorbitant encrease of _Tenements_, poor and nasty _Cottages_ near the City, be prohibited, which disgrace and take off from the sweetness and amoenity of the Environs of _London_, and are already become a great _Eye-sore_ in the grounds opposite to _His Majesty's Palace_ of _White-hall_; which being converted to this use, might yield a diversion inferior to none that could be imagin'd for _Health_, _Profit_, and _Beauty_, which are the three _Transcendencies_ that render a place without all exception.

And _this_ is what (in short) I had to offer, for the _Improvement_ and _Melioration_ of the _Aer_ about _London_, and with which I shall conclude this discourse.' Besides dedicating his pamphlet especially to the King, as well as proposing, on the title-page, the remedy "To His Sacred Majestie, and To the Parliament now Assembled", Evelyn likewise adresses himself "To the Reader" by way of a second introduction; and he does so in these plainer and rather contemptuous terms:-- 'I have little here to add to implore thy good opinion and approbation, after I have submitted this Essay to his Sacred Majesty: But as it is of universal benefit that I propound it; so I expect a civil entertainment and reception....' Confessing himself 'frequently displeased at the small advance and improvement of Publick Works in this nation,' he further expresses himself as 'extremely amazed, that where there is so great affluence of all things which may render the People of this vast City the most happy upon Earth; the sordid and accursed Avarice of some few Particular Persons should be suffered to prejudice the health and felicity of so many: That any Profit (besides what is absolute necessity) should render men regardlesse of what chiefly imports them, when it may be purchased upon so easie conditions, and with so great advantages: For it is not happiness to possesse Gold, but to enjoy the Effects of it and to know how to live cheerfully and in health, _Non est vivere, sed valere vita_.
That men whose very Being is _Aer_, should not breath it freely when they may; but (as that _Tyrant_ us'd his Vassals) condemn themselves to this misery and _Fumo praefocari_, is strange stupidity: yet thus we see them walk and converse in _London_, pursu'd and haunted by that infernal Smoake, and the funest accidents which accompany it wheresoever they retire.' Surely, if John Evelyn could in spirit revisit the metropolis he loved so well and was so much at home in, he would, while lamenting the continuation and the now much more acute form of the "infernal _Nuisance_", to a certainty find ample cause for rejoicing at the admirable work of late years carried out in the London Royal Parks and Pleasure Grounds, and in the Parks and Open Spaces under the administration of the County Council.
It was in 1664, however, that Evelyn achieved his greatest literary triumph by the publication of his three masterpieces, _Sylva: or a Discourse of Forest Trees, and the Propagation of Timber in His Majestie's Dominions_; _Pomona: or an Appendix concerning Fruit Trees in relation to Cider, the Making and several ways of Ordering it_; and _Kalendarium Hortense: or the Gard'ners Almanack, directing what he is to do Monthly throughout the Year_.' The manner in which the idea of the _Sylva_ originated is clearly shewn by what is noted in his Diary on 15th October, 1662.--'I this day deliver'd my "Discourse concerning Forest Trees" to the Society, upon occasion of certain queries sent to us by the Commissioners of his Majesties Navy, being the first booke that was printed by order of the Society, and by their printer, since it was a Corporation.' This latter reference evidently anticipates events, as one often had reason to note in this so-called diary, because Sylva was not actually published until the beginning of 1664, when along with it were included _Pomona_, and the _Kalendarium Hortense_.

In February, 1664, '16th, I presented my "Sylva" to the Society; and next day to his Majestie, to whom it was dedicated; also to the Lord Treasurer and the Lord Chancellor.' There is no doubt that _Sylva_ was a work of national importance.