Apricocks and Plums but to have plenty of stocks for large standards for Orchards or Fields there is no better way of raising them than by ripe Kernels or Seeds of Crabs or for want of them of Apples the ripeness of the Seed or Kernel is known by its being black and of Pears for Pear-stocks and of Cherry-stones for Cherry-stocks and of Peach-stones for Peach-stocks to Inoculate Peaches and Nectarines on and of Wheat-Plum and white Pear-Plum-stones to graft or Inoculate Peaches Nectarines Apricocks and Plums on with which a Man may easily provide himself Of removing and transplanting Seedlings or Seed plants from the Seminary into the Nursery § 7. In the later end of October or beginning of November after one Summers growth in the Seed-plot you ought and must in no wise neglect to draw up with your hand such of your Crab Apple or Pear-Seedlings as you find grown a Foot or more in height but those which are not grown a Foot in height you may let remain in your Seed-Plot another year and as for those proceeding from Stones they need not be removed but grafted or inoculated in the Seminary the stones being set at six Inches distance as afore is said but very many will in October remove those coming of stones as well as of Seeds or Kernels and like it best because such as grow two or three years upon the Seed-bed before removing thrust their Roots very deep in the Earth and are not only very hard to be drawn up but their Roots when set again though a great part be cut off must of necessity be thrust down very deep into the Earth and then such spread their Roots deep and below the good Soil by thrusting their young Roots from the lowest part where the Root was cut off and so they neither have so good Nourishment from the Earth as spreading below the best Soil nor are they so easily transplanted when ready as those drawn the first year and are set very small How to order the Seedlings after drawn up § 8. When the Seed-plants or Seedlings are drawn up cut off the side-sprigs from about the top and the strings from about the Roots and snip off the ends or extremities both of the top that it may not run too fast upwards but the Body may grow in bigness and of the Tap or Heart-Root that it may not run directly downwards lest it run farther than the good Soil but may be more apt to spread its Roots in breadth and near the top of the Ground where the best Soil is Then have Beds prepared of good fertil dry Earth not over-rich lest upon removal afterward into a much worse Soil as for the most part Orchard and Field-ground is your Trees coming of a sudden from such delicate Food to such course Fare pine away if they do not perish And this is rationally thought to be the cause why many Trees bought out of London-Nurseries which are vastly deep with fat and rich Manure decay or come on very poorly when they are brought into the Country Therefore upon every removal or transplanting either of Seed-plants or young Trees endeavour to have Earth as good or better to place next the Roots at least than that out of which they were taken If any of these spring upright top them early that is cut off about an Inch long at a Bud at the uppermost end of the Seed-plant that the cut may be covered with a fresh sprig and it will make them grow bigger Bodied and spread at the cut place and so become sooner ready for Grasting And let not the Roots be too long about a handful in length or less is sufficient for if the Roots be long and set deep the Trees afterwards are taken up with more difficulty and worse Roots And the reason why all Seed-plants ought to be transplanted or removed after one Summers growth on the Seed-bed is because they get good Roots which of themselves thrust down one single Root for the most part and that into the bad Soil But if you would have stocks an Ell or more high to Graft or Inoculate for Standerds you must not top them or cut off their Tops because topping them makes them to spread at the cut place and their growing up to cease If you would Plant and Orchard and have excellent sound Trees early and great bearers and the Trees free from Cankering remove your Seed-plants into the places and in the order you intend your Apple or Pear-Trees to grow and let the Seed-plants or Stocks grow there two years and then graft them and order them as you do Trees that are set in Orchards and by this means there will need no removal after Grafting and you 'l be quit of the many mischiefs that attend Transplanting and have better bearing freer growing and sounder Trees than any you can transplant out of the Nursery into the Orchard only you must carefully preserve them from Cattel Hares and Conies both before and after Grafting until they have attain'd a sufficient height and bigness Of setting the Seedlings stocks or seed plants § 9 Let every Bed you make for setting these Plants or Stocks in be about two Foot broad leaving room betwixt each Bed to walk and work about them without prejudicing the Plants or Stocks set two rows a Foot or more distant from each other on every Bed by drawing a Line and pricking holes a full Foot a sunder let the holes be so deep that if the Roots be not very long you may set your plants or stocks about two fingers breadth deeper in the ground than they grew in the Seed-Plot close the Mold about them and if it be a very dry time water them the very same day the better to settle the Earth about them If you can get old Fern in some places call'd Brakes or Brackin or for want of it Straw or new Dung cover the Beds with it which will keep the Roots warm in the Winter and preserve them from overmuch heat in the Summer if the Land be any whit stiff this cover will make it mellow and when rotten enrich it and very much hinder the growth of Weeds which ought duly to be pluckt up and put new Fern c. as the old rots and be sure you draw the biggest of the stocks first and set them by themselves and the least by themselves and set stocks of Crab-kernels by themselves and of Apple-kernels by themselves and stocks raised of Plum-stones Cherry-stones Peach-stones each distinctly by themselves in straight rows If you intend to raise any stocks to be set out in Fields before they are grafted you must not top them upon their first removal neither need you remove them before they are grown high enough to stand in the Fields if you find that they spread their Roots and run not downwards as in gravelly and such kind of Soils they will not be apt to do and by the first you draw up you may judge
the first year and should be thus ordered viz. stretch a line from one end to the other where the Hedg is to be made and set the Trees straight at the distance aforesaid Afterwards knock down a Stake betwixt each Tree then having straight long Rods or Poles of Ash or the like tye a row of them from one end to the other about a foot from the ground fast to the Stakes with Osiers or such like or else nail them which is better and another row of Rods a foot above them and so a third if need be according to the height of the young Plants Having thus done spread and tye the Branches of the Twigs of the Trees in order to the Poles but not too hard and draw and fasten some of them down close to the ground that so there may be Blossoms and Fruit from the bottom to the top which will be a beautiful sight in the Spring and Summer Then after a few years the Stakes and Poles may be taken away and the Branches platted and woven one within another from year to year and the superfluous ones cut off Reasons for a large distance in setting Trees § 4. For many respects Trees ought to be planted at a large distance especially for the following reasons 1. The Plantation will be little Annoyance to the Land if either you set Goos-berries Currens Ras-berries Straw-berries or Garden stuff in it sow Corn on it while the Trees are young or graze it when they are grown up 2. Whereas some say the more Trees the more Fruit that 's absolutely false for when they are set so close that the Sun cannot have a good influence on them by refreshing the Roots Body Branches Blossoms and Fruits they bear poorly and ripen worse and close-set Trees in a few years when they should bear Fruits croud fret and gall one another and by rubbing often cause the Canker 3. They cannot grow to be Trees of that size as they would if the Land be good being set at a good distance and some kind of Trees being of stronger and swifter growth than others will so domineer over their neighbors that they will make them almost good for nothing and one Tree that is set at a fair distance will bear oftner and more Fruit than three or four Trees set close as is dayly seen by some Apple-trees that grow single or in a Hedge 4. You may Plant betwixt every Tree a Cherry-tree Plum-tree or Codling-tree which may grow up and bear with the other Trees many years and never reach or Prejudice them but will decay before the others are at full growth Or you may set a young Apple-tree or Pear-tree betwixt every two of your Standards that you set in the Orchard and nurse it up with necessary dressing and Pruning seven or eight years or less time to transplant into Fields or Pasture-land where Cattle feed whereby with little help it will not be in such danger of hurt from Cattel as small ones would and bear Fruit soon after it 's set and you cannot let them grow so long in your Nursery without galling fretting or hurting one another unless when you remove Trees out of your Nursery you take care to leave every other Tree whereby they may have liberty to grow big and so more fit for your Fields As for Standard Cherry-trees Plum-trees and the like six yards distance is the most convenient unless the ground be exceeding rich and then a greater distance as seven or eight yards asunder CHAP. VII Choice of Ground for an Orchard and the ordering it SO far as it lyeth in ones power to choose a plot of Ground for an Orchard let it be done with respect to the following advantages § 1. It should lye conveniently near him declining and lying open towards the South South-east or South-west and defended from the North North-east and Northwest Winds by buildings Woods or higher Grounds the Land should rather incline to dryness than moisture without Springs the Soyl deep and a fat Earth not a stiff cold Clay or binding Gravel nor a light sandy esky or hollow Earth yet with good Husbandry if it run not into the extreams of any of these Fruit-trees may prosper reasonably well in it § 2. The natural Soil for an Orchard is more to be respected than a Garden for the Garden Fruit-trees and what els groweth there rooteth little deeper than it may be easily manured but Pear-trees and Apple-trees in Orchards should grow to be large Trees and therefore send forth Roots broad and deep so that it transcends all cost and pains to enrich the Ground for them as far as the Roots every way reach § 3. But they that are seated or fixed in any place and cannot conveniently change their habitation must be content with their own and if any defect or disadvantage be in it it may be it hath some advantage that another wants if it lye to the North the Trees Bud and Blossom the later and many times the Fruit thereby succeeds the better and is free from the injurious South-winds in the Autumnal season § 4. If it lye to the East it hath not only the advantage of being later Budded and blown because of the cold Easterly Winds in the Spring but the Fruit ripens the better the morning Sun in the Summer being by much the best and the Fruits freed from the Western Winds which with the South are the worst § 5. If your Land be on a dry or rising Ground you may Plant them the thicker which will cover and shade the Ground the sooner and make them bear the better the Fruit will also yield a more vinous Liquor § 6. If your Ground lye in a cold moist Vale the sooner may you raise a natural Fence about it to defend your Trees from cold Winds and stiff Gusts which diversly anoy your Trees and Fruits and I once knew a person that had a cold moist flat springey plot of Ground who caused double Ditches to be made therein at ten yards distance each from other and about an Ell high upon these Ditches he planted Apple-trees each ten yards distant from another which Trees did grow prosper and bear exceeding well § 7. But if you have liberty to choose what Land you will for Planting of Fruit-trees observe the directions given in the first Section of this Chap. and choose a warm light Rye-land or either a black or brown mold if with a mixture of Sand so much the better but the heavy cold and moist Wheat-land is not so good § 8. If the Ground be very light and rich of it felf or so made by improvement several sorts of Apple-trees especially the Pippin will be so apt to canker that they will scarce ever be large Trees therefore a firm and strong Land is best for Winter or long lasting Fruit but for Summer-fruit Land cannot be too light the more it inclines to redness the better How to qualify the Ground § 9. If
say that the Rinds of sharp Oranges being squees'd a little into Wine renders it more agreeable to the taste of many Persons and makes it pass more readily by Urine Our sick Persons use both the one and the other and if you will believe them on their own experience they will tell you that there is not a better Remedy than these Fruits for quenching Thirst cooling the Stomach qualifying the Liver provoking Urine taking away the Heart burning opposing inward Poysons in a word for Curing the Diseases which are accompanied with an insupportable heat and drought and indeed if we cut a China or Portugal vinous Orange into four parts and throw it into a pot of Water with the Rin'd this drink will have all the Vertues ev'n now mention'd ART III. Of Spanish Pomegranates WE cultivate in our Gardens sweet Aigres-doux and sharp Pomegranate-trees which came to us from Spain for as for those of France which are wild we cannot eat the Fruits The Flowers and Rinds of Pomegranates are astringent and both serve to Cure our Diseases which are caus'd through a too great humidity They have the Vertue of constringing the parts of our Body together and of giving them the Situation which they had lost The inside of the Kernels of a Pomegranate is useless and undigested our Stomach cannot dissolve it and there is no Body who eats it There is but the pulp which is about the Kernels that yields an agreeable Juice wherewith we are often solac'd in our sicknesses Sharp Pomegranates ought to be us'd before Meals when the Stomach is empty and if the point of their sharpness does us hurt as it happens in those who have this part weak and tender we need but blunt it with Water and Sugar to make a delicious Drink Then this agreeable Liquor cools the Stomach quenches thirst qualifies the Liver weakens the sharpness of the Choler revives the Heart resists putrefaction provokes Urine in a word it s a Drink proper for the Sick and sound It is much better than the Boüillons of Veal and of cooling Herbs which are taken too often in the Summer and in Autumn to qualify the Entrals and to resist the heat and drought of the Season for the continual use which is made of Boüillons is wholly an enemy to the Stomach their substance relaxes too much the membranes and to perform well its Office it must have a certain temperament which is not too moist whereas the Drink of sharp Pomegranates by restringing it gently tempers this part and at the same time all the others Sweet and vinous Pomegranates do not cool so much as the sharp but they dulcify more and are more proper for Old and atribilarious Persons Those who find a heat in their Bowels are very much solac'd after having swallowed some Spoonfulls of the Juice of these Fruits It is so that the Carthaginians us'd of them from whose Country Pomegranates were brought and it were those also who taught us by their own experience the greatest part of the good effects which they cause in us when we use of them It cannot be said what goods the Juice of sweet and vinous Pomegranates press'd forth scumm'd and fermented may produce it strongly opposes all inward Fluxions it resists all Fevers which are accompanied with a Loosness and an exhausting of our strength and it has this proper to it that it fortifies all our languishing parts If we will make some Bottles of it we must squeeze forth in a Press a sufficient quantity of Pomegranates we must seeth the Juice over a gentle Charcoal Fire to the diminution of the third part after having well scumm'd it and afterward it must be kept for use If we put in White-wine the Kernels of sweet or vinous Pomegranates or after the same manner as we have prescrib'd for sharp Cherries we shall have a Wine which will yield in nothing to all the Remedies which Physick has invented hitherto for allaying the burning of the Reins for cleansing forth all the filth and for hindring Stones from being there form'd ART IV. Of Corands THe Red Corands and the White which we call Gadelles have very near the same qualities tho' the Gadelles are more sharp and the Red more pleasant to eat Both of them cool and restring the parts of the Body through which they pass they hinder Vomiting quench drought blunt the Choler remove Obstructions fortify the parts and they solace both the healthy and Sick that are heated if they are us'd before or after Meals Their pungent sharpness ought to be corrected as that of Cherries and Pomegranates or we may make them into a Sugar Paste or Gelly which is very proper for those who have the Stomach weakend by long Sicknesses and I have Cur'd many Persons of considerable quality who had this part very much afflicted by continual Vomitings and had a troublesome Loosness of the Belly by giving only a Paste or Gelly of Corands and of the moist conserve of Provins Roses In Imitation of the Turks during the great heats of the Summer we may make of the greatest part of the Fruits before spoken of a sort of Sherbet to be drank with Ice and I allow young Sanguine and bilous People who have known by experience that drinking with Ice does not incommode them I allow them I say to drink of it with prudence for allaying the excess of their heat This will be a sure means to hinder them from being set upon by continual and Malignant Fevers and to keep them in good Health during all the Summer and Autumn As for others who are of another temperament and of another Age they must not touch of it and they must remember that heat which we must not destroy is one of the Principles of our Life THE TABLE OF THE Chapters of the First PART THe Art of Pruning Fruit-trees Pag. 1 Chap. 1. The Pruning of Fruit-trees for the Month of February p. 2 Chap. 2. The Pruning of Fruit-trees at the beginning of May. p. 31 Chap. 3. The Pruning of Fruit-trees at the beginning of June p. 33 Chap. 4. The Pruning of Fruit-trees at the end of July p. 42 An Explanation of some words us'd by Gardiners to express themselves speaking of Fruit-trees p. 48 The end of the First Table THE TABLE OF THE SECOND PART OF the Vse of the Fruits of Trees for keeping us in Health or for Curing us when we are Sick Pag. 50 Chap. 1. Of the Fruits which ought to be eaten before Meals p. 59 Art 1. Of Figgs p. 60 Art 2. Of Nectarins and Peaches p. 65 Art 3. Of Plums and Apricocks p. 69 Art 4. Of Mulberries p. 71 Art 5. Of sharp Cherries p. 74 Chap. 2. Of the Fruits which ought to be eaten after Meals p. 78 Art 1. Of Pears p. 79 Art 2. Of Apples p. 83 Art 3. Of Quinces p. 87 Art 4. Of Medlars and Services p. 90 Chap. 3. Of the Fruits which may be eaten before and after Meals p.
fast heavy Earth out of the Ditch upon the ends of them treading it down the better to fix them and lay the Earth shelving down from the Turf towards the Tree that if Rain fall it may soke towards the Roots if you have any small Thorns Bryars Furs or Gorse lay it one the top of the work finished round the Tree and repair all yearly as you see cause which may be done with small trouble The following observations will demonstrate the great convenience of setting fruit-Fruit-trees this way First if your Land be over moist this Ditch will drain all wet from the Roots of the Tree but if the Land be Clay or such that the Water will stand in then when you perceive it which is very rarely cut some little Notch or Trench to let it out Secondly This way of setting is commended in dry Land because the Earth of the Mound will secure the Roots from the heat of the Sun and every shower of Rain will much refresh it by soaking towards the Tree Thirdly You need not bind your Tree to a stake which doth often gall and Hurt the Tree for so much Earth about it will keep it steady Fourthly If your Land be stiff or strong old Land the Mound made of it will mellow and improve about the Roots and also by that time the Roots spread as far as the Ditch it will be fill'd up with Mold fallen from the Tump and with sticks Leaves c. which will be rotten loose and good for Trees to Root in and by that time they will need little or no defence if any at all A few Thorns tyed about the bodies of the Trees to keep Cattle from rubbing against them will be enough Fifthly The Chief benefit of setting Trees thus is that where the Soil is somewhat too moist or shallow the Tree being set on the top of the Land will put forth it's Roots plentifully into the Earth cast up and thence shoot into the upper Turf and best Land that hath been Plowed and manured before Another way of Fencing is by erecting at a Foot and a half distance one from another about every Tree three small Posts if they be sawed they need be but three Inches square or you may use Poles or straight Boughs either whole or if big enough cloven in two three or four parts about five Foot above the Ground in height being driven into the Ground nail a cross Bar of Wood from each to other within a Hand 's breadth of the tops of the Posts to which Bar nail a Pale or two betwixt each two Posts stuck into the Ground or nail'd to the like Cross Bat within a Foot of the bottom of the Posts the way of it may be seen now in diverse places and learn't in a Minute though what 's said here makes it plain enough This way is more chargable than Tumping where Timber is scarce but much more dureable than it and absolutely necessary where Deer or Rabbets or any thing that peels the Bark off come into the Land Planted Planting near Hedges in the Fields § 5. Another way of Planting in Fields which hath been successfully Practised is thus When you scour a Ditch and cut down or plaish an old Quickset-Hedg then set a row of Trees within a yard of the Hedg on that side that is not Ditch't and Fence them with half-Round Tumps only on the one side for the Hedg will secure them on the other and from the cut or plaish't Hedg you will commonly have Thorns and Bryars enough for the Mounds to Fence it as hath been before directed and at the same time or in Summer draw some of the Quickthorns Hips or Bryars from the Hedg in o the Fence about the Tump which will contribute to the strengthening and preserving the dead fence you had made about it before so that you may be free from trouble about it for ever after There are these advantages in this way of Planting viz. 1. The Ditch on the out-side the Hedg drains the Ground and makes it healthful and sound 2. The Ground near the Hedg is commonly very Rich as not having been impoverished by Tillage but improved sometimes by the often scouring of the Ditch and commonly with the Dung of Cattle that for shelter Shade or Fodder repair thither 3. It s not the least hindrance to Plowing or Grass for the Hedg when it s grown up usually beareth out as far as the Tree is set in the Field 4. And this is much better than Planting in the Hedg Row as many do for in a large top it s apter to weaken the Hedg under it but these being set a little distance from the Hedg and growing as they will with the greatest part of their Heads from it will not damage it 5. The Fruit may be gathered with much more ease than of those that are Planted in the Hedges 6. They will not be choak't or hurt by the Hedg when it s grown up but be good handsome fair Trees You may set these at eight yards distance or nearer being but one single Row and so if but half a Field as usually it falls out have the Ditch on the out-side you may set a considerable number and find advantage without damage and with inconsiderable charge especially if the Ditch stand on the North-side if you can therefore choose such Hedges This is not to be practised near Hedges that are full of great Wood or Trees but if there be but few Trees it s but leaving a vacancy near such Trees and setting your Fruit-trees against such places where there grow none in the Hedg How to Plant in Hedges is the Fields § 6. Another way of Planting in Fields is this if you would Plant without any charge of Fencing you may do it in your Hedges these Trees must be well grown and strong that the Hedg choak them not while they are young and when you plaish or cut down a Quick Hedg observe no certain distance but as it happens where you find it most free from Quick set a Tree and inclose the Body in the Hedg but bind not the Etherings too close about it lest they gall and fret it and as it groweth observe what Thorns annoy it and cut them off Planting by the Cuttings of Gennet-Moils c. § 7. If you have a mind to set any Cuttings of Codlings Gennet-Moils or other Apple-trees that grow of Cuttings they will prosper very well in or rather near a Hedg because generally there the Mold is loose and mellow for them to put forth Roots in and somewhat enrich't by the frequent cleansing of the Ditch if you Plant them near the Hedg you must a little Fence them on the one side as by the third foregoing direction but the Tumps you raise to set the Thorns in must not be above a Foot high for the Cuttings will shoot out their Roots almost to the top of the Earth about them and a high Mound
and hardy against all Winds and Blasts The Fruit is so hard sharp and unpalatable from the Tree that it 's freed from the danger sweeter Fruits are subject to they hang long on the Trees before they are ripe and then being laid up until December or after and Ground yield a very delicate Cyder which will soon ferment therefore must be drawn off the Lee in a few days This being a common and in some places but a Hedg-Fruit and yielding but a thin sowr juice being Ground from the Tree hath been of late slighted when in truth there is scarce a better Fruit to be Planted than this John-Apple or Two-year-old both for the beauty of the Tree it 's quick growth it 's liking all Grounds great bearing enduring all Weathers long lasting it 's excellency for Kitchin uses and preference at the Table when most other Fruits are past Observe that Cyder Fruit may be divided into three Classes First such as are for making early Cyder or for present Drinking as the Codling and Summer Fruits c. Secondly such that are for making the best rich oyly spicy poignant and high relished Cyder and also long keeping and lasting such are the Redstreak Bromsberry Crab Golden-Pippin Westbury-Apple John-Apple the several sorts of Musts and Fillets the Elliot and Stoken-Apple c. Thirdly such that are useful Fruit for the Table yet making a very pleasant and acceptable Cyder and such are the Pippins and Pearmains Gilliflower Marigold-Apple Golden-Renneting Harvey-Apple Queening c. Generally all hard Apples and Wildings having a lively pert poignant brisk juice so that they come not too near the degree of stark Crabs make excellent Cyder but Cyder made of hard harsh Fruits is not so soon ready for drinking as that of Summer Fruits and those more pleasant That made of Table Fruit being earliest ripe is ready to drink so soon as it is well settled and cleared but that of hard Apples not till Summer following and will continue good for two or three years or longer if kept in a cool Cellar good Vessells well stopt and will improve in keeping Of Planting several kinds of Apples Some object that since one or two kinds of Fruits may be had very good for Cyder what occasion is there to Plant of so many sorts For Answer They will find it advantageous to have several sorts of Fruit for Cyder for the following considerations 1. One sort of Fruit-trees may and do bear one year when another fails 2. Cyder made of some kinds will be ready to drink sooner than others and thereby you may have it successively for your use The Must-Cyder may be clear a Month after making The Gennet-Moil a quarter of a year after the Redstreak near Half a year after though it 's much improved by longer keeping 3. You may make your Cyder with more ease the Fruits you make it of ripening one after another 4. Tho some Fruits yield not so good Cyder as others yet the Trees may be quicker of growth bear more plentifully and last longer than those that yield better and the Palates of men being various some like one sort and some another and so all may be pleased 5. Some Fruit-trees agree with the Soil and Clymate better than others which you 'l not be able to know till you have made tryal of several How to make a new kind of Apple or Pear Graft one Fruit on another many times over every year a different kind so that you keep to those kinds that will grow together As first to Graft a Crabtree near the Ground with some good kind of Apple Graft and the next year to Graft that again a handful or two above where the first was Grafted and the next year to Graft that second Graft and so proceed for five or six years by setting Graft upon Graft and this may probably make some alteration and commixture in the Fruit of the topmost Graft tho it be true every Graft keeps it's own nature yet so as it receives some small alteration from the Stock the Sap thus arising and passing through so many kinds of Stocks into the topmost may possibly raise a new Fruit. The more Red any Apple hath in it's Rind the better for Cyder the paler the worse no sweet Apple that hath a rough Rind is bad for Cyder if suffered especially to digest some time on heaps as is hereafter directed Chap. 29. Sect. 3. Mixture of Fruit is of great advantage to your Cyder the meanest Apples mixt make as good Cyder as the best alone except the Redstreak and some few celebrated Apples for that purpose but always observe that the Apples so mixt be of equal ripeness CHAP. XXVIII Of Annoyances to Fruit-Trees Concerning Moss or Canker § 1. THe nature of Soil is the chief cause of the Moss and Canker and therefore without altering the one you can scarce prevent the other however you may with a hair cloth rub the Moss off after rain or as some say burn it with a bottle of Straw under the Tree but if you only scrape or rub off the Moss in few years they 'l be as much annoyed therewith as ever because Mossiness is caused by over coldness of the Ground as in the Waterish and Clay Grounds and likewise by Barrenness of the Soil If the coldness proceed from over much moisture lay it dryer by Trenching the Ground if Clay Grounds then mix warmer Soils therewith as you are before taught at Chap. 7. Sect. 10. yet be sure you take away the present Moss All Canker filth and Worms must be picked clean off and bind some Clay well mixt with Hay about the Canker'd place If the Tree grow but poorly which is for the most part caused by the ill temper of the Soil open the Ground about the Roots and put in some Manure proper to cure it The Canker assaults generally the best sorts of Fruit-trees as the Pippin Pearmain Harvy-Apple Golden Rennet c. of Pears the Wardens of all sorts Burgamots c. And it somtimes comes by galling and fretting of Boughs on each other and somtimes by setting Trees not shallow but too deep as well as by Barrenness of Soil and somtimes it comes by breaking off Boughs which should be cut off close to the Tree tho in the Summer and Cattles nipping off the Buds or pieces of the Tree or unseasonable Pruning Raising of Stocks from Crab kernels in the same Land and Grafting on after once removed and placed where they are to grow and be Grafted prevents the Canker To cure the Canker at present cut it out if it be upon the body or great Boughs of Trees and wash the place with Cow-dung and urine mixt and then cover the place with Clay mixed with Horse-dung and cut off the small Branches that are dead however stop the cause by amending the Soil at Roots with proper Manure as the Dung of Hogs Pidgeons Poultry Horses Cows the sediments of Pools Ponds
the Tree or by taking them with Birdlime Crows will be frighted if you kill one or two of them and pull it in peices and scatter the pieces about the Trees they 'l not come their again whilst the Feathers are any thing fresh but Magpies Jackdaws Jay's are not to be frighted from your Cherries but kill'd as they come with a Gun and that early in the morning Earwiggs § 15. Earwigs are destroyed by setting Oxhoofs Canes or any hollow thing near the Roots of the Trees and among the Boughs upon the ends of sticks and they 'l Creep in and lye there then take off these Hoofs quickly and shake them and crush them on the Ground with your foot Cattle § 16. Cattle wheresoever they come amongst Trees are a mighty and mischievous enemy if the Boughs be within their reach for then they 'l bite off the ends of all and thereby with their Teeth so bruise the ends of the Boughs and Shoots that the Tree seldoms thrives of many years if ever afterwards Where this misfortune happens to any Tree the only remedy is to cut off at some Sprig or Bud so much as they have had in their mouths or is bruised by their Teeth And Fence your Orchards well from them or els which is the surest way not to let your Trees begin to spread before they be six or seven foot high of the Trunk or body and so Prun'd up that all the Boughs and every part of them be so far from the Ground as will be impossible for Cattle to reach Setting too deep § 17. Altho the setting Trees too deep and below the good Soil be no disease yet it 's the cause of many diseases to your fruit-Fruit-trees as Moss Barkbound Canker c. therefore carefully to be avoided setting shallow being attended with no other inconveniences but that the Trees are somtimes blown down if not Staked the first two years CHAP. XXIX Of Gathering Fruit and the best way of making Cyder § 1. IN gathering of Fruit be careful that the Branches of your Trees be not battered and broken § 2. Such as you design to keep any time ought not to be shaked off the Trees because of bruising but picked off with your hands Be sure the Fruit you gather be throughly ripe which you may know by it's beginning to drop or by cutting an Apple and seeing the Kernels turn black Let the Weather be fair and dry when you gather and no dew upon the Trees lay up what you thus gather in a close but a sweet room upon a boarded but not with Deal Floor and not on a Clay or plaistred Floor and lay them up without any green Leaves or Sticks among them As you find any in your heaps rot pick them out and in Frosts cover them with Straw or Straw Mats and also hang in sharp Frosts Blankets before the Windows to keep out the Frosts Lay every kind by themselves If you have some Pears that are choice and lasting wrap them up in paper and lay them one by one upon shelves or hang them up by the Stalks and keep out the Air from them as much as you can § 3. In gathering Cyder Fruit you must be sure to let them be well ripe on the Tree Gathering of Cyder Fruit and preparing it for the Mill. for there is much Cyder spoild because the Apples are Ground before they are ripe and all Fruits yield a different Liquor according to the different degrees of maturity of the same Fruit for when it 's most ripe it yields a richer pleasanter and more lasting drink but if pressed before ripe tho it yields a greater quantity yet it 's but a thin raw crude sowr phlegmatick and unwholesome drink Therefore if your Fruit be not ripe all at one time select such sorts as are of a like degree of maturity or if the Wind beat down many and you are unwilling to spoil or lose them let them lye dry as long as you can before you grind them to obtain as great a degree of ripeness as they can and let that Cyder be thoroughly fermented before barrel'd and the first that is spent neither mix ripe with unripe Fruit not ought you to permit some sorts of Fruit be too ripe because it then grows pulpy in Grinding and will not yield it's Liquor unless some Water be mixed therewith your choice Summer Fruits are some of them as also the Pippins and Renatings subject to pulpiness if full ripe Lay such Fruit by themselves to be Ground and pressed for Cyderkin that are broken but a small bruise does not much injury Your Apples being well ripe let them be gently shaken down and laid out of the Sun and Rain not abroad but in a heap upon a sweet and dry Floor that is boarded but not with Deals nor on a plaisterd Floor and on dry Rye Wheat or Oaten Straw till they have sweat out and digested their crude and phlegmatick humour and there let them so lye a fortnight the Redstreak and harder Apples you may let lye longer that is three weaks or a Month the longer they lye the less Cyder indeed they will yield but much the better it being necessary to have them as ripe as may be so that too many of them begin not to rot which rotten ones are to be picked out Grind not your Apples immediately from the Tree so soon as they are throughly ripe tho they will then yield the greater quantity of Liquor but neither pleasant nor lasting therefore let them lye on heaps as aforesaid By hoarding only of Windfalls for some time or untill the time it was expected they should have been ripe in doth very much meliorate the Cyder made of them which otherwise might have been very bad For from the due time place and manner of hoarding of the Fruit is oftentimes the Cyder very good which otherwise might have been very bad Thus when your Fruit is duly ripe gathered preserved or hoarded some time it 's ready for the Mill. When you bring your Apples to the Mill or just befor you fill them up pick out or cast by all that are Green unripe rotten or otherwise naught and all Stalks Leaves c. that may injure your Cyder for it 's better to want a small quantity of Liquor than to spoil the whole Some are of opinion that rottenness in the Apple injureth not the Cyder but that a convenient quantity of rotten Apples mixt with the sound is a great help to the Fermentation and Clarification of the Cyder but it 's supposed they mean such Apples only as have been bruised in gathering shaking down or carrying which will by lying become rotten and the skin being whole be not much the worse only the Cyder will retain a smack of them notwithstanding which by no means admit them amongst your Cyder that you intend for keeping but rather make Cyder of them for a more early spending for others affirm that one rotten
reduc't The Art of Pruning Fruit-Trees into four Chapters and I have caus'd seven Figures to be Grav'd which I Judg'd necessary for the understanding of what I say The first Chapter Treats of Pruning Trees in the Month of February The second explains that of the beginning of May. The third teaches the Pruning at the end of May and the beginning of June Lastly the Fourth comprises the Pruning of July I thought fit to reduce this Book into a form of precepts without forming a continued Discourse because often we have need of one precept without having need of another and I have writ it after so popular a manner that the most Illiterate Gardiners might comprehend what I would say Opus arduum nova Conscribere Inaudita edocere Insolentia praeceptis firmare magis arduum aliquid Antiquitati addere THE Art of Pruning OR Lopping Fruit-Trees I Suppose that a Tree has been well Planted and set in a fertile Soil that the Root of it has been well cut that good choice has been made of the Plant and of its kind and that it has some years Growth to be able to endure the Pruning-knife CHAP. I. The Pruning or Lopping of Fruit-trees for the Month of February ALmost all Trees begin to sprout forth in France toward the end of February or the beginning of March and this is the motion which we call the rise of the Sap or the shooting of Trees This nevertheless happens variously the disposition of the Air the goodness of the Soil the vigour or the kind of the Tree make the Saps or shootings to come earlier or later They come early in a dry year and are backward in a moist This rise of the Sap invites then Gardiners to Prune or Lop Trees in the Month of February which is the most proper time for this work and tho' it may be done all the Winter however the Moon be dispos'd Trees being then at rest as to their Branches nevertheless it is much better to stay for this till the Colds are past and that the Rains no longer infest the wounds which are made on Trees by this means they seal themselves in a little time and soonner cover the wound which has been made on them Before you Prune or Lop a Tree you ought to consider the strength and kind of it for rendring it beautiful and fertile for all Trees are not to be Lopt after the same fashion We Lop diverly for instance a Peach-Tree and a Winter Pear-Tree and it s by Lopping of this last that the skill of the Gardiner shews it self the most conspicuously and that we judge best of his ability There are Trees which we dare not Lop by reason of the abundance of their Sap for the more we Lop them the more Wood they shoot forth and the less Fruit even the Flower-buds yield Wood which happens often to the Tree which yields the delicate Pear call'd the little Rousselet to the lateward Bergamot to the Virgoleuse to the St. Lezan c. But when these sorts of Trees have shot forth their full after this they bear but too much In this occasion Lop sometimes short and sometimes long or not at all take away sometimes the young Wood and preserve the old another while cut away the old for the Tree to grow young again at another time cut away the Branches and all the false Sprouts but remember never to disgarnish the Stock by Lopping away all the little Branches of the sides of the Tree and making the Trunk bare Gardiners have a very true Maxim Lop in fair Weather in the decrease of the Moon and in the end of the Saps or rather when Trees are at rest The decrease of the Moon of January which happens in February is the true time for Lopping Trees and for preserving Grafts not but this Rule has some exception for weak Trees and those that are Planted but of that year ought to be Lopt at the new Moon to make them sprout vigorously And we must remember that Trees ought not to be cut when we Plant them but we ought to stay till the Month of February following When you Plant a Graft of three years which has Flower-buds preserve some to see the Fruit in the first year It is of these sorts of Trees that you must always make choice they shew from their beginning an assured fruitfulness and bear afterward a great deal of Fruit as long as they live Because it is known that an abundance of Sap makes but Branches and that a little or mean Sap makes Fruit and moreover that the Moon has less influence on sublunary things when she begins to be in the Wain than when she Increases experience has taught us that the decrease of the Moon is the most kindly time for Lopping Trees which have then less of motion The decrease is from the time of the Full to the New nevertheless some will have it that we may Lop Trees during the time that the Moon is not horned that is to say from her eighth day to her one and Twentieth They say that it is not only the Moon which causes Fruit on Trees but the disposition of the Branches and that it suffices that the Moon has strength provided that on the other side she finds in a Branch Fibres transverse and dispos'd to cause Fruit-buds to be there form'd True it is experience has taught me that the Seeds of Flowers cast into the Earth during all this time turn double sooner than those that are Sown in another time We ought first to Lop Apricock Nectarin and peach-Peach-trees c. because they shoot forth the first the Winter Pear-trees follow next after these those of Autumn and of Summer and the Portugal Quince-trees We ought shortly after to Lop and Prune Plum-trees and Apple-trees and lastly Spanish Pomegranet-trees because all these Trees shoot forth the one after the other but above all we ought not to Lop this last till it has shot forth a little that we may the better distinguish the weak or dead Branches After the Observations which we even now made we ought to begin to Lop and Trim up a Tree by one of its sides from the lower part to the top and we ought afterward to carry on our Work without confusion and to take one Branch after the other This side being thus Lopt and paled we descend on the other side from the top to the bottom in the same Order We must here remember always to cut the Branches in the form of a Hinds foot so that the Sun may not dry the wound which ought to be as far as we may on the North side but after such a manner that the sloping side of the wound be not too straight downward to the end that the knot be not endammag'd otherwise the eye which ought to push forth wood being cut too much by the slope of a too streight descent chiefly in tender Trees will not push forth at all or weakly and will
which shew that in this place there are transverse Fibres in the Wood. It s in these Fibres where is made a slow circulation of the Sap of the Tree which produces the Flower-bud whereas when the Fibres are all streight the Sap is carryed upward vigorously and without resistance and not staying it self in any place it produces nought but Wood We may Observe these transverse Fibres in cutting the Wood where there are of these Rings the cut will not be close and even as elsewhere The Figure following will Represent to you the Fertile Branch Fig. 1 A. The Wrinkles and Rings of a Branch of a Bon-Chrêtien Pear-tree 2. The Second Fertile sprouts have no Rings in their Origine where they Issue from their Mother Branch but they have in the middle that is to say when an Indifferent Branch having not been cut in February shoots forth Wood in May and forms Wrinkles at the beginning of its shoot or when a Branch in its middle forms Rings betwixt the end of its shoot of May and the beginning of that of June which may be known easily if a Man will make the experiment for in cutting the wood in this place as I ev'n now mention'd the cut will not appear smooth as elsewhere but uneven by the transverse Fibres that are there The following Figure Represents the Second Fertile Branch in a Bon-Chrêtien Fig. 2 A. Rings and Wrinkles at the beginning of the Shoot of May or betwixt the end of the Shoot of May and the beginning of that of June 3. The third kind of Fertile Branches Issues from a Flower-Bud which has fail'd to blow sometimes for outward causes and often through the abundance of the Sap of the Tree They Issue also from a Bud which has yielded Pears they are call'd Fertile because they come of a Flower or Fruit-bud which experience discovers to us to have transverse Fibres The third Figure shews it us in a little Branch with Flower and Fruit-buds of a Bon-Chrêtien Fig. 3 A. The Bud which has yielded Pears or has fail'd to blow B. The Fertile Branch which we must let grow on C. The lesser Branch which we must cut away D. Where it ought to be cut at two knots E. The Bearer 4. The Fourth kind of Fertile Branches are those which the year before were Indifferent and which are become Fertile through the little Sap that is come to them and by the Buds which are grown to a fulness 5. Finally the Fifth are those which have a Flower-bud at the end of the Branch 1. Of these three sorts of Branches that is to say of the Prodigal Indifferent and Fertile the Prodigal are always cut very short at the first or second knot to make the Sap pass to another side of the Tree and produce there Branches Indifferent or Fertile This Lopping reiterated many times makes the Prodigal Dye or at leastwise hinders the Tree from pushing them so vigorously It s by reason of this experiment that we ought not to cut Trees much because by cutting them in all their Branches they are made to Languish and afterwards to Dye The Prodigals which have been cut many times the precedent year ought to be Lopt at the first knot near the Mother Branch whence it grows as the Fourth Figure shews Fig 4 A. A Prodigal cut in February at the Second knot B. A Prodigal cut in June at the Second knot C. A Shoot of the Prodigal in July which has not been cut because it has shot very little D. Where we must cut a Prodigal in February of the following year at the first knot Lop therefore the top of the Tree where the Prodigal Branches are Ordinarily found and spread it at the bottom and at the sides this Lopping gracefully fills a Tree and hinders it from Growing to too great a height and from destroying it self in a short time 2. As for the Indifferent Branches some of them ought to be Lopt others not that is to say we ought in the Month of February to let those grow on which have Buds for Wood very near each other and which issue from a good place as also those which have two great Leaf-buds which touch each other at the end of the Branch to the end we may know their Genius at the Lopping of June The greatest and best supply'd with Juice will be the best for keeping The Indifferent which we ought to cut at the third or fourth knot are those which are least dispos'd to bear Fruit and which have the Leaf-buds far from one another 3. The Fertile ought never to be Lopt tho' they are as long as the Arm Trees left to run up from which we Lop no Branches and which bear so much Fruit shew us well that we ought never to Lop the Fertile nevertheless if there be need of them for filling up a void space where it happens and that no other Branch can be found for this purpose I permit them to be cut for embellishing the Tree And to explain my self farther in speaking concerning a Fertile Branch I say that that which has Rings in its source Wrinkles at the beginning of its shoot of May or of June or finally knots near each other ought not to be cut without a great necessity for experience has taught me that all these Branches bear Infallibly their Fruit toward the end of their Branches which our ill Gardiners always cut away So at the beginning of February Observe exactly the end of the shoots of the precedent year that you may always cut the Branch when the Saps are at a stand at the first or second knot in the Wood which comes after and to leave all the knots which will be as many Flower-buds that will not fail to form themselves there in two or three years It s an Observation which will embellish your Trees by the abundance of Fruits which they will produce That which I say being somewhat difficult to comprehend without seeing it the fifth Figure will make you understand it Fig 5 A. The Lop of February in an Indifferent Branch From B. to C. three Branches of the shoot of May. D. The Lop of June in Indifferents From D. to E. The shoot of June From E. to F. The shoot of August the Wood of which is very full of Sap. G. Where we must Lop in February of the following year when the Saps are at rest H. Where in two years Fruit-buds will be form'd in a Branch which from indifferent is become Fertile The Fertile Branches which Issue from a Bud which has yielded Fruit and which have not been cut at the beginning of May ought not to be cut in February unless they are double In this occasion we must let run the better and Lop the other at the first or second knot Experience has taught me that these Branches never fail of bearing Fruit the second or third year See the third Figure Finally the same Experience has taught me that the Fruit-buds
which is the only Tree that endures it best We must take nought from these three first Trees but the dead Wood unless we will form them at first for Bush-trees or Espaliers Because the Corand-tree has much Pith and that it comes easily of a slip its nature does not endure it to be Lopt in the middle of its Branches no more than the Peach-tree above all we must take good care of cutting it when we set it We ought in an old Corand-tree to cut near the Root a Branch past bearing in order to renew it and to cut also from the lower part some young shoots of the year to hinder it from being too much confus'd The young shoots which we preserve serve to renew it when we cut it in its old Wood. Nevertheless tho' it does not delight in being Lopt we make Bushes of it and form it in an Espalier which is beautiful to behold at the time that it is laden with Fruit. I say the same of the Mulberry-tree and of the Fig-tree which cannot endure the knife by reason of the abundance of their Pith the last especially is visibly damnified by it unless we Lop from them great useless Branches for rendring them regular and neither of them can be made to grow low they love too much the free and open Air. Medlar-trees and Service-trees naturally grow high the former endure the knife much more than the latter The Portugal Quince-trees and the Pomegranate-trees of Spain will not be Lopt because they bear their Fruit at the end of their Branches Nevertheless we may take from them entire Branches which cause a confusion and which are old and cut near the Trunk the useless Prodigals which are usual enough in these sorts of Trees As for the other Prodigals which embellish the Tree and which in four or five years will yield Fruit we ought not to Lop them Care must be taken to cover the great Wounds of Trees with a Plaister made of a pound of Drogue a flambeau four Ounces of Rosine and two Ounces of Sheeps Sewet When we walk in our Garden in a fine day of the Month of April we must have in our hand a Magdaleon of the Plaister ev'n now mentioned we must cut a little of it with a knife and after having wrought it betwixt the moistn'd Fingers for rendring it a little soft we must apply it on the great Wounds which we had forgot to seal in the Month of March. And to the end that this Plaister may keep the longer on the Wounds we must put on it a bit of paper as a binder which we must press on softly with the Finger to the end that the heat of the Summer making the Plaister melt the paper may press it stay it and glew it more to the Wood it is what we ought to do in the two other Loppings following CHAP. II. The Lopping of Fruit-trees at the beginning of the Month of May. PRoperly speaking it is not a Lopping that is done to Trees at this time they are as yet in the motion of their Sap. We cut but Scions which tho' Fertile of themselves bring in the mean time a great prejudice to the Fruit at the beginning of May we must therefore take a particular care to cut away the useless Branches which grow by the Buds for Fruit and especially in Pear-trees that is to say to cut away at the second knot a little Scion which comes among the clusters of Pears to delay this is not good the Sap which ought to Communicate it self to the Fruit is carried into the shoot which draws a part of the humour of the Fruit-bud where the Pears are fastn'd which causes either that their Stem drys for want of Sap or that they come very small You may see what I mean in the following Figure Fig. 7 A. A shoot which comes on the Fruit-bud through the abundance of the Sap. B. The place where you must cut it CHAP. III. The Lopping of Fruit-trees at the beginning of June IN the Decrease of the Moon of May which happens often in June you must Lop Trees for the second time but with more moderation than in February for we ought never in June to cut great Branches and properly speaking it is but a relopping of Trees We must wait above all till the Sap be ended according to the Maxim which we have alleag'd before and it will be good to repeat it here Lop in Fair weather in the Decrease of the Moon at the end of the Saps or rather when Trees are at rest The rest of a Tree is known by a bud Garnish't ordinarily with two Leaves which forms it self at the end of the Branches and we observe chiefly this bud at the end of May or at the beginning of June that is to say after the first Sap or shooting The second Sap or shooting of Trees begins ordinarily in the middle of June and ends a Month after towards Magdalen-tide so that betwixt the end of the first Sap and the beginning of the second there is about a Month and it s at this time that we must cut Trees again The effect of this re-cutting is to make the Buds of the first Sap to fill up to force Trees to make Fertile Branches or to form Flower-buds for the following year whereas the Lop of February furnishes but Wood to yield Fruit three years after if we except the Orange the Bergamot the Double-flower the Summer Bon-Chretien and some others You ought here to call to mind that we have distinguisht the Branches of Trees Into Prodigals Indifferent and Fertile There are few Trees Grafted on cultivated Trees and on Trees come of Kernels which do not yield some Prodigal in the first Sap and which do not continue even to yield of them in the others Care must be taken therefore to cut them at the second Leaf-bud and thus to correct the shoot which transports it self and which draw a great part of the Sap of the Tree Oâ— this matter you may see the fourth Figure As for Trees Grafted on the great Quince trees they have not often of these sorts oâ— Prodigal shoots and some Gardiners are ev'n of the mind that they ought not to be Lopt at this time and that the tops of them ought only to be pincht off with the Nails We must not deal with the Indifferent Branches as with the Prodigal for we ought to keep the best without touching them and observe exactly those which we permitted to run on in the Month of February If these have good marks for proving Fertile we must cut nothing there but if they have not they must be cut short enough to make them yield some that is to say they must be cut at the fifth or sixth knot for Leaves As for the other Indifferents we ought to cut them at half a foot or ev'n a foots length for rendring them Fertile the year following The Indifferents which we must not cut have particular marks
of Planting § 22. The advantage in Planting Trees may thus easily be computed viz. An Acre of Ground accounting eight yards to the Pole or Perch will take about 160 Trees which may be set at distance enough which Trees if bought and not raised by your self may be had for about six pounds when set and staked the yearly prosit of the herbage or Tillage of this Acre of Ground for the first seven year◠after Planting may well be employed in digging about the Roots of the Trees carrying off convenient and proper Soil or Compost for them mantaining the Fences paying duties c. At the seven year◠end these 160 Trees one Tree with another will yield a Bushel accounting 32 Quarts to the Bushel of Apples 〈◊〉 Tree altho some of them may have perished and others as yet but young raised in their places yet may some of these Trees at seven years growth bear two or three Bushels and some a Bushel and an half which may in the whole amount to one hundred and sixty Bushels which at six pence per Bushel is four Pound the Herbage then will be worth at least thirty Shillings per Annum altho the Ground were worth less before it was Planted the eighth or ninth year your Trees may one with another and one year with another yield you at least two or three Bushels on a Tree and sometimes more which at so low a rate your six Pound first expended and the forbearance of the profit of your Land and interest of your Money for seven years will bring you at least eight Pounds per Annum the Herbage being still allowed for the maintenance of your Plantation but if a good Fruit year happen and your 160 Trees yield you six or seven hundred Bushels and those worth twelve pence or eight pence the Bushel it will in one year more then retaliate all your past labour charge and loss and your self will be furnished with an excellent Orchard very serviceable to your Family both in baking and making strong and small Cyder for your Table and thereby saving great quantities of Malt. A Bushel and half or 48 Quarts of Apples will make 18 20 22 or somtimes 24. Quarts of Cyder according to the goodness of your Fruit for that purpose and there will also be so much Cyderkin made of the Pouz or Murc as will be better worth than the charge of Grinding and Pressing c. Twenty Bushels commonly make a Hogshead of Cyder They that are desirous to understand the ordering of a Garden either for the Kitchin or Flowers let them peruse a Book call'd The English Gardiner writ by Leonard Meagar and therein they 'l find both ample and true instructions Altho there is no Liquor Drink or Diet alike pleasant to all some preferring Dull Coffee before any other some stale Beer others fat Ale or Mum one Claret another Sack yet our English know no other Drink so generally palatable as Cyder because it may be made suit with any humourous Drinker It 's made Luscious by the addition of a good quantity of sweet Apples at the Grinding pleasant being made with Pippins or Genent-Moyls Racy Poignant Oyly Spicy and Rich with the Redstreak and several other sorts of Fruits even as the Operator pleases And it satisfies thirst if not too stale more than any other usual Drink whatsoever and in such years as Corn is dear the best Cyder may be made at a far easier rate than ordinary Ale The considerations whereof adds much to the exhilerating virtue of this Drink Next unto Cyder Perry claims the precedency especially if made of the best juicy Pears celebrated for that purpose as the Bosbery-Pear Bareland-Pear the Red and White Horse-Pear or many sorts of wild and choak Pears but above all the Turgovian Pear Wines or Drinks made of Currans Goosberries Rasberries Blackberries Cherries or Plums prepared and made as is before taught may be more acceptable to our Palats healthy pleasant and profitable than those exotick Wines many are so fond of and Dote on And in this very year 1682 I know Wine made of the White Dutch Curran according to the direction of the 15 Sect. of this Chap. only there was but a Pint of Water added to each Quart of the Fruit far superiour to the best French White Whine could be bought in our Country if several judicious Palats were not mistaken ℞ Of Diapalmae and of Deminio Composit of each two Ounces How to Liquor Boots or Shoos to walk in the Fields and Orchards to keep out wet and of Hogs-grease rendred no Salt being in it half a Pound melt them together keeping continual stirring and Liquor the Leather and Soles therewith before the Boots or Shoos are shaped out and afterwards when occasion is the Liquor must be warm when used An Abridgment of the Statutes of 43 Eliz. Cap. 7. and 15 Car. 2. Cap. 2. Laws against breaking Orchards and stealing Trees and Wood c. IF any shall be Convicted by his own Confession or by the Testimony of one Witness upon Oath before one Justice of Peace or Head Officer to have unlawfully cut and taken away any Grain growing robbed any Orchard or Garden digged up or taken away any Fruit Trees broken any Hedges Pales or other Fences cut or spoiled any Woods or under Woods standing and growing or the like or to have been accessary thereunto shall for the first offence pay unto the party grieved such damages and within such time as by the said Justice or head Officer shall be appointed And in case the pary offending shall not by the said Justice or Officer be thought able to discharge the sade damages or shall not discharge them according to the said Order then shall the said Offender be by them or either of them respectivly committed to the Constable or other Officer of the place where the Offence was commited or the party apprehended to be Whipped and for every other offence committed afterwards and proved as aforesaid the party offending shall receive the like punishment of Whipping The Constable or other inferior Officer that herein refuseth or neglecteth to do his duty shall by any such Justice of Peace or Head Officer be committed to Prison without Bail till he Whip or cause to be Whipped the party offending as is above limited No Justice of Peace shall execute this Statute for Offences done to him self unless he be Associated with one or more Justices of Peace whom the Offence doth not concern Vid. the Statute of 43. Eliz. Cap. 7. at large Statute 15. Car. 2. Cap. 2. reciting the Statute of 43. Eliz. Cap. 7. doth not sufficiently prevent nor punish the Cutting and spoiling of Woods Enacts that ever Constable Headborough and other person in every County City or other place where they shall be Officers or Inhabitants shall and may Apprehend or cause to be Apprehended every person they shall suspect having carrying or conveying any burden or Bundle of Wood Poles young
Trees Bark Bast of Trees Gates Stiles Posts Pales Rails or Hedg-wood Broom or Furze And by Warrant under the hand and Seal of any one Justice of the Peace directed to any Officer such Officer may enter into and search the Houses Yards Gardens and other places belonging to the House or Houses of every person or persons they shall suspect to have any kind of such Wood or other the said Trees c. and where they shall find any such to apprehend evey person suspected for Cutting and taking the same and as well those apprehended carrying any kind of Wood or other Trees and premisses as those in whose Houses or other places belonging to them any of the same shall be found to carry before any one Justice of the Peace of the same County and such persons suspected do not give a good accompt how they came by the same by the consent of the owner such as shall satisfy the said Justice or within some convenient time to be set by the said Justice produce the party of whom they bought the said Wood or some credible witness upon Oath to prove such sale which Oath the said Justice may Adminster then such persons so suspected and not giving such good accompt nor producing such witness shall be adjudged as convicted for cutting and spoiling of Woods Vnderwoods Poles Trees Gates Stiles Posts Pales Rails Hedg-wood Broom or Furze within the meaning of the Statute of Queen Elizabeth and lyable to the Punishments therein and of this Act appointed Every person so Convicted shall for the first offence give the owner satisfaction for his damages within such time as the Justice shall appoint and over and above pay down to the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish where such offence is such summ of Money not exceeding ten shillings as the Justice shall think meet in defalt of either of which payments the said Justice may commit Juch offender to the House of Correction for such time not exceeding one Month as he shall think fit or to be Whipt by the Constable or other Officer as in his judgment shall seem expedient And If such person shall again commit the said offence and be thereof Convicted as before that then the persons offending the second time and Convicted shall be sent to the House of Correction for one Month and there be kept to hard labour and for the third offence Convicted as before shall be judged and deemed as incorrigible Rogues Provided also whoever shall buy any Burdens or any the premisses mentioned in this Bill suspected to be Stolen or unlawfully come by the Justices Mayors or chief Officers or any one of them within their respective jurisdictions upon complaint may examine the matter upon Oath and if they find the same was bought of any suspected to have Stolen or unlawfully come by the same then any one of the said Justices or chief Officers shall and may award the party that bought the same to pay treble the vavalue thereof to the party from whom the same was Stolen or unlawfully taken and in default of present payment to Issue out their respective Warrants to levy the same by distress and Sale of the Offenders Goods rendring the overplus to the party and in default of such distress to commit the party to the Goal at his own charge there to remain one Month without Bail Provided no person be questioned for any offence within this Act unless within six weekes after the Offence committed CHAP. XXX Brief Monthly Memorials for the Planter JANVARY DIg Trench and Dung Ground and make it ready for the Spring prepare Soil dig Borders uncover as yet the Roots of old unthriving or over-hasty Blooming Trees Plant Quicksets transplant Fruit-trees if not finished set Vines and Prune the old Prune especially the Branches of old Planted Fruit-trees about the decrease of the Moon but Prune not the newly Planted till the Sap begin to stir Cleanse Trees from Moss the Weather moist Nail and trim the Wall-fruit-trees and Espalirs Gather towards the end of the Month Cyons for Grafts of Cherries Plums and Pears before they begin to sprout and any speck of White appears on the Buds if the Weather be open In over-wet or hard Weather cleanse mend sharpen and prepare all your Grafting and Garden Tools Destroy Vermin in your Seminary of Kernels and Stones for Stocks FEBRVARY COntinue yet to Prune Fruit-trees and bind Plaish Nail and dress the most delicate Wall-fruit if not finished before but be exceeding careful of injuring the swelling Buds and Bearers cut and lay Quick-sets trim up the Hedges and espaliers Plant Vines as yet and Hops set Kernels and Stones of all sorts Sow and set Beans Peas Radish Parsnips Carrots Onions Garlick Now is the season for circumposition by Tubs or Baskets of Earth and laying of Branches to take Root rub Moss from your Trees after a soaking Rain and scrape and cleanse them of Cankers draining away the Wet if need require from the too much moistened Roots Mold and Earth up the Roots of such Fruit-trees as were bared Pull off the Webs of Caterpillars from the Tops and Twigs of Trees and burn them Gather Worms in the Evening after Rain Plant Cabbage Plants Colliflowers Parsly Spinage and other hardy Pot-herbs Graft Cherries Plums and Pears and towards the end of the Month Apples if a forward Spring Get Cyons for Apple-grafts You may yet transplant Trees tho it had been better done in October or November Slit almost through the Bark your Bark-bound and Canker'd Trees Plant Potatos but not amongst your Fruit-trees MARCH DUnging is yet seasonable and you may transplant what Trees are yet left tho it be dangerous and full late enough unless in very backward or moist places You may Graft ' Apples all this Month and in the begining of it Plums Cherries and Pears you may as yet cut Quicksets and cover such Tree-roots as were bared in Autumn Prune last years Grafts and cut off the heads of your Budded Stocks Now is best time for raising on Hot Beds Melons Cucumbers Gourds Slip and set Sage Rosemary Lavender Thyme c. Sow in the beginning Endive Succory Leeks Radish Beets Chard-beet Scorzonera Parsnips Skerrets Parsley Sorrel Bugloss Borrage Chervil Sellery Smallage Alisanders c. Sow also Lettuce Onions Garlick Orach Purslane Turneps to have early Beans and Peas towards the full Moon Carrots Cabbages Cresses Fennel Majoran Dill Scurvy-grass Set Cabbage-plants and Colliflowers Transplant any sort of Pot or Medicinal Herbs Mid-march dress up and string your Strawberry Beds Uncover Asparagus and Transplant Asparagus-roots to make new Beds This is the prime Month for Botling Cyder and if you put in about half a spoonful of Spirit of Clary it will make the Liquor so perfectly to resemble the very best Canary that few good and exercised Palats will be able to distinguish it Set Potatos but not amongst your Fruit-trees Sets them thus Plow or Dig Ground into Buts or Borders about six Foot