may be either through the incapacity of the Husbandman or want of stock As he shall never improve his Lands to the best nor be exemplary in good Husbandry that wants a stock to bear him out in his undertakings so he that hath a great Farm and a stock sutable to it but wants skill and discretion to manage it I advise him to make the first improvement upon his Understanding but if that cannot be let him get an honest and skilful Husbandman to do that which himself cannot do or let him set his great Farm and take a less and he may be sure of this at least his money will hold out the longer I could give you many instances and shew you more particularly in each of these four Observations how they hinder all improvements in the general especially the improvements of Clover but it would be too large for my Epistle Countryman thou hast here the best directions I think the Country can afford thee though it may be thou mayest meet with some judicious person that can better instruct thee if thou doest take his advice and much good may it do thee But lest the extraordinary profit of Clover should make thee too serious in the pursuit of it I present thee for thy recreation with a sew Verses an honest Countryman of ours gave me who it's like had tasted somewhat of the profit of it I have here endeavoured by discovering to remove those four Obstructions to good Husbandry and improvements the last mentioned is want of money which if thou observe the directions of this book will by Gods blessing upon thy labours be speedily removed January 2. 1662. Andrew Yarranton Folium in Trifolium ENCOMIASTICON WHen Poets call for aid do they invoke The oyl of Barley Hopps or Indian smoke Must Bacchus fill their veins these drown smother And dull their wits give me the oyl of clover One drop of which contains such vertue in it It makes a perfect Poet in a minute I crave no aid give me the Gooses quill That 's fed with Clover and I 'll try my skill With what delight and pleasure have I seen The barren pastures cloathed all in green Where neither Grass nor Corn would grow before It hath of Honey suckles planted store A barren Farm with speed you 'll fruitful call If thus you quilt one quarter of the ball The green Leaf is an object for your eyes The Flower for your taste where honey lies The savour on 't exceeds the sweetest Roses It brings these fragrant pastures to our Noses The sound of Gain to please our hearing tendeth But feeling best its object apprehendeth It fills each Sense with Joy our Purse with Mony Our Land like Canaan flows with mike and hony It brings us store of Butter and of Cheese It feeds our Sheep our Turkeys and our Geese It feeds our Horses Oxen and our Kine And that with speed our Pigs do feed like Swine Fat Beef and Bacon now shall be our fare And with Westphalia-gammons we 'll compare The Milk-maid hath her wish her Pails it fills Just at the Dayry door such store it yeilds Our Tenant-squeezing-landlords thirst's appeas'd Our gâ—â—mbling Tenant's racking Rent is oas'd The Land that once we thought not worth our sowing For three years time stands to 't with six times mowing From wet and weeping land it wipes the tears It makes the Wheat and Rie fall to 't by th' ears But Wheat-land must not now contend with Rie-land Our water'd Meadows date not vie with dry-land Nor can our richest Vales whose deeper soyle Yeilâ—s Ceres her full sacrifice with toyle Vie henceforth with the Rie land in their wealth More then they justly could before for health For though we yeeld that Wheat 's the better grain That 's better Land that yields the greater gain And sure I am here is a reason why Our Meadows are below the land that 's dry Of Weeders Weed-hooks now we have no need It saves our three years plowing and our seed Our Land when Clover leaves it yeilds such store As though it had not yeild us ought before The root whereof doth so manure our Land It fills our Binders arms our Reapers hand Such vertue these three leaves do leave behinde them That yeeld such mighty Sheaves we cannot binde them The charge of Hop-yards doth quite blast the gain From other blasts if any thing remain And commonly to him whose hopes defend On Hopps they prove but bitter in the end But Three-leav'd-grass soon yeelds a threefold profit Three Volumes may be writ in prâ—ise of it Bâ—t to conclude thy purse will ne'er run over Till thou hast got the art of sowing Clover THE Contents of the BOOK 1. THe reason why some that have used Clover have not found profit by it 2. Clover doth not impoverish but improve the Land 3. What are the fittest Lands to sow Clover upon 4. The profit that is to be raised by this Husbandry 5. When how much and how to sow Clover-seed 6. Directions for mowing making and using the Hay 7. What Cattle are fittest to grase it with 8. The Authors readiness to give any man further satisfaction and to prove the truth of what he affirmeth by visible Experiments 9. Where the Seed that is good and new may be had The great Improvement of Land by Clover IN my former Discourse of Clover I gave you a short accompt of the persons that have writ on this subject and when this husbandry was first set on foot in England the repetition of which for brevity sake I shall omit and onely give you an accompt of some of their observations and eâ—periments as I finde them pertinent to the method I intend in this little book And this I do because I finde some will not take the pains others cannot spare the time which the reading of those books doth require but whosoever pleaseth to read those former writings about Clover and compare their experience with ours of late will see much of the reason why that husbandry seemed to be wholly disused for a time For though those Gentlemen writ very well considering it was in the infancy of Clover in England yet they came far short of that knowledge which men less ingenious have of late attained to by practice and experience so that the first directions from those men were not what now may be given Those improvements of Land which are now much used and applauded amongst us were once as much decryed as ever Clover hath been before we well understood them And what improvement even to admiration have some men made of their Estates by such ways and means as seemed improbable to such men who in a short time have followed their examples when they have seen thâ—â—â— successes whereas if by any accidentâ—â— miscarriage in the management of it they have seen the first authours in any measure fallen short of that profit propounded to themselves they would presently have cried out against the whole
censure It doth not impoverish but improve the Land for if you graze it altogether as some do the ground maintains so many more Cattle then what it did before that puts the question out of doubt if you mow it once a year and graze the rest so many Cattle as it will require to keep it down will sufficiently manure your Land if you mow twice a year it helps you to keep so many the more Cattle in the house whose dung if it were laid upon the same Land would add more heart and vertue to it they your two crops of Clover took from it In my former Book I mentioned some other reasons and I am now more fully convinced that the leaves which will unavoydably fall from it do very much inrich the Land you may many times see the ground black over with them and it is very observable how the ground in the absence of these leaves is covered over with some lower branches of the Clover which spread themselves and rot upon the ground whilst the top or upper branches flourish and the Clover is much inriched by this connatural food viz. a corruption of a superfluous part of the plant for I perceive the Land doth receive wonderful advantage by these leaves and branches and as the leaves and branches so the root doth very much contribute towards the inriching of the Land and the truth is since our Country by experience hath been convinced that the Land by Clover is much bettered they have for the most part ascribed it to the long and large root which this plant leaves in the Land But it is Experience that must resolve us in this case and indeed so it hath though there is reason enough against this objection he that hath sowed Clover and had the profit of it three or four years and then hath sowed Corn till be come to lay down his Land with Clover again is most like to give the truest answer to this question I confess I had a great desire to be resolved in this point and to that end I have made all the trials I could for this 5 years and have observed others Clover Husbandry and Coâ—n after it and have put some upon the tryal of it by sowing Corn just after it and truly though at first I was of the objectors opinion yet by my experience and observation I am convinced of the contrary and I cannot upon inquiry finde any one judicious person that hath for any competent time used this Husbandry but he is fully satisfied that Clover leaves the Land better then it found it It were too long to tell you what many men with whom I have discoursed have told me who were once discouraged by this objection but are now upon trial fully satisfied If you peruse any writings about Clover you will finde that in the first trials of it in England those Gentlemen that then wrote found that it did improve the Land Mr. Walter Blith tells us that Clover hath this property after 3 or 4 years it doth so frame the earth that it is much the fitter for Corn in his Improver improved pag. 104. Sir Richard Weston saith the Land being ploughed after Clover it will yeeld 3 or 4 years together rich crops of Wheat and after that a crop of Oats with which you may lay it down again with Clover These are his own words I could give you many more answers and experiments that may fully satisfie any that yet doubt but that I perceive there is no need with us and therefore I leave you to experience which hath convinced many that otherwise would not be satisfied And though I think no reasonable man can object yet if any should imagine that it would abate our tillage of Corn it were easie to make it out that it will much increase it for a third part of that ground you are forced to lay down for grass to maintain your Cattle wherewith to Till your Land will maintain them so that you may Till much more of your Land then before you could I can make it appear six Acres of Land in Clover will keep as many Cattle as thirty Acres of natural grass and besides your Land need not now lie out of tillage so long as it was wont to do but once in four or five years you may break it up and it shall be as sit for tillage as though it had lain 20 years with natural grass The case indeed is so plain that I need not trouble you with an answer to this conceit What are the fittest Lands to sow Clover upon IN my former Book you have an account of the fittest Lands for this Husbandry and as they are the Lands most fit so it is Land that may be best spared especially at the time when it is to be Clovered viz. when you are to lay it down for grass for the two first years it yeelds very little profit I finde upon my observation in general all garvelly dry Land is good for this purpose especially if it be limed well before and be Land that is not very poor nor extreamly out of heart but if it be in good heart and be worth nine or ten shillings the Acre the profit of it will be the greater and more certain It is a conceit directly against reason and experience that the barrenest and poorest Lands are fittest for Clover for though it will grow upon very poor Land that hath been limed and will raise very great profit yea and poor Land without lime with a little good Husbandry by Clover will yeeld good advantage yet we must not think the poorer the Land is the fitter it is for Glover though Clover is the best improvement of barren Land yet poor and barren Land is not best for Clover But as for the particular Lands that are fit for this Husbandry I say 1. First it is beyond all doubt that the best and fittest Land is that which hath been in tillage about six or eight years that hath been well limed and is dry and gravelly and not apt to bear its natural grass the first and second year 2. A second sort is a broomy and fearny dry Land that hath been well limed and hath been in tillage six or eight years 3. A third sort is mixt Land that is naturally dry that hath been limed and that lieth dry in the Winter 4. A fourth sort is Rie-land which is drie and sandy which also hath been limed I take these four sorts of Land to be fittest for Clover and though I mention them all as limed yet in those parts where no lime can be had at reasonable rates and they have any of these four sorts of Land Clover will yeeld them a very great advantage for these Lands are in their own nature very fit for Clover and it groweth very well upon it where there hath been no lime yet I advise you to use lime where it is to be had I have endeavoured to finde out the
reason why Clover doth so extreamly thrive upon limed Land rather then upon the same Land when it hath not been limed which experience doth fully convince us is true and for which many reasons are assigned That it is so none deny and why it is so I have given you some account in my other book There are two other sorts of Land that bear Clover 1. Land that is of a mixt nature and that hath somewhat more of clay in it then the third sort of Land before mentioned whose clods are apt to fall in pieces in a wet time and is not subject to clinging 2. Secondly Clay-land that is not subject to retain the wet and that lieth upon a shut so that the rain and other water runneth speedily off it which Land is much the better if it face to the South We may be so much the more confident of success upon these two sorts of Land if they have been well limed and we have a drie seeding time and you must be sure to make this Land as fine light and mellow as you can and when you have got Clover upon it it will by its root and broad leaf make and keep your Land much more lighter and mellow or moustree which will be a great advantage when you come to sow corn again I have observed upon this sort of mixed and Clay-land excellent good Clover and I know some that have a very great advantage upon it yet I think the unseasonableness or extreamness of the weather hath a greater influence upon Clover to its detriment in this Land then they have in the other sorts of Land upon my own knowledge I say this Land will bear it and that with very much advantage yet I advise the unexperienced rather to make their first trial upon one of the four sorts of Land before mentioned I have heard of some who falling upon this sort of Land in their essays and either though their unskilfulness or some other miscarriage it hath failed them they have then made it their business to cry out against Clovering of Land in the general or at least to perswade men that that sort of Land will not bear it I do believe that there are many secrets about the Nature of Clover yet to be discovered and about the fittest Lands for it and I do not doubt but in a short time we shall attain to much more kowledge about the management of Clay Lands so as to raise good Clover upon them I have heard from good Authors that in some Clay Lands where it is not extream binding Clay they have much success and have made good progress in the discovery I could heartily wish some ingenious person would so far befriend the publick as to give more full directions about Clay Land then I can upon my own knowledge not having the opportunity of so many trials upon that Land as upon other Lands first mentioned The profit of Clover AS for the profit that may and usually is made by Clover I am at a great stand whether I had not better wholly omit iâ— and say nothing of it for if I tell you what I have read and heard from others I shall forfeit my credit with some and what I affirme will be taken to be impossible if I tell you what I have seen and the whole Country will subscribe to the truth of yet it will be taken to be very impossible with many especially those which have not seen it and if report the advantages to be less it is a detraction and though I should then speak the truth yet it is not all the truth I am resolved to speak within compass and if I erre it shall be on the safer hand and herein I shall be the sooner pardoned The first sort of Land it is dry gravelly and limed supposing it to be in heart it yeilds to Graze or Mow at least Three pounds each Acre per annum The second sort was broomy or fearny Land limed this Land in Clover is at least worth Four mark each Acre per annum The third and fourth sorts of Land is mixt Land naturally dry and Rye Land which Clovered is at least worth Forty shillings per Acre Many persons have offered to give me a particular account of the money they have raised out of several pieces of Clever which amounts to more then I have mentioned and I know the benefit in some parts will be very great where Grass is much wanting especially in the midst of Summer when all other Grass is burned up So far as I can understand the nature of this Plant it seems to be designed on purpose for those Countries where natural Grass is wanting and for a supply where the Sun hath burnt up their grass in the midst of Summer for as the Land in those parts is fittest for Clover bearing little natural grass so Clover is fittest for those Lands which indeed is the best improvement can be made of them There is a Gentleman * Sir John Winford late high Sheriff my neighbour that hath about sixty Acres and I know of several parcels sowed with Clover-seed being very barren gravelly Land which Land if laid down to bear natural Grass is not worth above four shillings six pence the Acre at most here with us and I know there hath been made of it at least forty five shillings per annum upon each Acre by Clover As also Mr. Thomas Hill a Grazier can give you an account of the profit of it whom you may see in most of the Fairs in Worcester-shire Stafford-shire or Shrop-shire I sowed about sixteen Acres with Barley and after my Barley I had about Michaelmas a great After-math into which I turned by way of Tack about forty Hoggs at six pence per the week and for that time I had about four pound ten shillings for Tack of Swine which I thought was pretty well for an After-math and take my Land to be much bettered by the dung of so many Piggs Had I let this Land lie to bear natural Grass it would not have brought me five pounds in the two first years and as to bear Corn it would not any longer to any advantage being worn out with liming and long tillage This I mentioned in my Book last year to which I could adde this years experience but to give you the particulars of it were too long in a word it was answerable to my expectations and such as you will scarce believe except you saw it or had had some experience of this Husbandry your self If the After-math in the first quarter after the Barley is cut yeild such advantage you may guess what the next years profit may be I would not have spent so many words about the advantage of Clover but that it 's more then possible my Book may fall into the hands of some that either have not seen it growing or have not had that opportunity of knowing the profit of it as all men have
here about us if they will take any notice of their neighbours Lands When how much and how to sow Clever FOr the time of sowing it in my former Book I told you that the best season is from the 10th of March to the latter end of April but I hold it best in March because the seed may have time to root before the drought catch it Since I wrote my last Book I have made several trials I have sowed some in every week in August and September and I do intend to trie a good quantity to sow it in the middle or rather in the beginning of August for I perceive that doth exceeding well which is then sowed and I begin to think that after a little time the Country will be much inclined to that season as the best If any person please to make trial I advise him to order his ground according to this direction and I dare almost warrant it shall thrive So soon as your Barley or your Pease is taken off your Land plough it with a narrow round furrow that so all the pelfe and weeds may be buried then harrow your Land and lay it as plain and as fine as may be and pick off the stones then sow the seed without any corn in it or before it according to the following directions Keep your Land well inclosed that it may not be trod upon by any cattel till about the middle of April then Graze it if you will or keep it a little longer and Mow it I sowed last year about eight Acres without any Grain or any thing else upon the ground with it and it thrives very well but it was sowed in April and I conceive if it had been sowed in August it had been much better and amongst others one reason why I conceive sowing in August is best is because I find one great enemy to Clover is natural Grass Now if the seed be sowed in August it will have taken root and be able to bear out the winter and when the spring cometh it will be so high and forwardly that it will be able to cover all the ground and shade and keep down that grass which else would be injurious to it For the quantity of seed I need say but little for all men are now convinced of the error in sowing six or eight pound upon an Acre and I cannot hear of any that sow less then twelve pound some sow fourteen pound and some sixteen pound I have my self sowed sixteen pound upon an Acre but for your directions herein I shall onely give you the very words of my last Book The quantity of seed that I do prescribe to sow one Acre is twelve or thirteen pound it 's true formerly they did not sow above six pound of seed upon an Acre but I finde by practice that no less then twelve pound must be sowed for when but six pound was used to be sowed then the natural grass did presently abound and the branches did grow into great stalks whereby the Clover grass did soon decay and the grass was course but now by sowing twelve pound upon an Acre you do prevent the natural grass which is a great enemy to the Clover as also sowing thick doth make the grass the finer and by consequence sweeter and it doth also by its thickness and shade kill all Broom and Fearn and other weeds which a good husbandman knows are great advantages to the Land in order to the next breaking up for Corn therefore I desire that all would sow twelve pound on each Acre As for the manner of sowing it I do not by any means approve of the mixing it with Sand or any thing else I shall not trouble you with reasons against it because it is now wholly laid aside the Country is sensible of the great hazard and inconvenience of it my direction therefore is if you sow in August let your ground be ploughed as aforesaid and made as even fine and plain as one plowing and harrowing will well make it then sow your Seed thus put about so much as will sow one Land into a bowl or some such thing holding it in your left hand or under your left arm and with your right hand sow it as you do Corn taking it between your two forefingers and thumb and according to your best skill divide your Seed so as that every place may have its share wherein you must observe that the wind be not too high and so to order your Seed that the wind do not drive it together in heaps If you sow it after Barley prepare your Land and make it sowed and well harrowed sow your Clover Seed either the same day or two or three days after then line your Harrows with a Bush so that they may not go above two inches in the ground and if good part of the Bush hangs behind the Harrows it will be much the better I have sometimes sowed when the Barley hath been two inches above the ground and onely rolled the Barley and herein I have had good success but I approve not this way except in case of necessity for if drie weather come immediately upon it it will not be sufficiently covered I finde by experience that it is much better to sow Clover with Barley when you lay down your Land rather then with Oats and if I mistake not the Clover will be much the better it will not be labour lost if you take notice of the birds lest they devour the Seed so soon as it is sowed Directions for mowing making and using the Hay THe best time to mow Clover-grass is about the beginning of June for the first cutting of it and in August for the second cutting In making your Hay do not shake your swathes as you do other Hay onely turn it with as much tenderness as may be until it is fit to cock for the leaves of it are too apt to fall which must be prevented for such is the vertue of them your labour will not be lost and if it should happen to be an extream wet time so that you cannot make your Clover Hay as it should if you mix it in the Rick with a little Barley or Oaten-straw it will tend much to the preservation of your Hay and in the winter will be excellent fodder If it so happen that you have a piece of ground that you can float with water in summer about two or three days after you have taken off your Clover-Hay let your water run quick over your Land and you will have speedily a wonderful burthen of Clover-Grass upon the ground A little rain upon our Clover-Hay while it is withering doth it no hurt but maketh it more tough but too much drought and heat when we out our Clover maketh our Hay too brittle short and apt to crumble and I finde also the roots are much damnified by cutting Clover in a hot time Some think it is better rick Clover-Hay then house it but that