with five mouthes also they lose more fatnesse in one hot day then they gaine in three coole dayes which is a thing to be considered upon And I dare undertake to extract more riches by ten times unto the ground where any tree groweth out of an hedgerow then it will be worth when it cometh to be a tree fit for use therefore I advise all men to kill many Birds with one boult for in the hedgerowes a tree spreadeth fenceth sheltereth shadoweth and increaseth in magnitude altogether And there is no question but the Tenants will be better able to live and pay their rents when they have neither houseboote ploughboote nor fire boote to buy according to the old phrase in ancient Evidences but have all in their owne grounds as they had in ancient time before this improvident husbandry was used for now Husbandmen are turned prodigals wasting all in their owne time without care or providence for their posteritie And as in Cities their rents are improved onely by the multitude of chambers and roomes in the Houses to be let because that there the rents are onely given for the conveniencie of habitation so in the Countrey on the contrary the habitation being least regarded the rents are raised out of the improvements of the land which if it be well stored with timber trees and fruit trees bringeth no little benefit to both Landlord and Tenant Therefore seeing that if Timber trees should be planted thick in forme of a Wood there would be more losse in the land before the trees come to perfection then the trees would be worth considering the length of time and also how the land might be improved in the meane time therefore I would have all trees planted in hedgerowes for the reasons heretofore mentioned Also I have knowne an Orchard of ten Acres of ground which might have beene so improved otherwayes that it would have mainteined a familie of ten persons if all the trees had beene transplanted into the hedgerowes according to the practice used in Worcester and Herefordshires and in divers places beyond the Seas And if this practise was once generally used there would be no more danger of stealing then there is of wheat or of grapes or of these fruits where this practise is generall through the Countrey Now for this purpose it behooveth every Farmer to have a little Nurcery where to sow or set Acornes Ash-keyes Hawes Plumber-stones Chery-stones kernels of Apples Peares and all manner of fruits fit for his Climate And for new Invention let him choose the best fruits For Nature suffereth her Elements to be congealed into good fruits as gladly as into bad Also when he setteth his small trees at the first let him ramme downe the earth sad below and lighter towards the superficies that so the rootes may have a better fabrick and may spread through all the points of the Compasse or the more of them the better though not all and may not point downewards towards the barren earth but spread in the rich mould the better to draw nutriment And when any man would plant twentie fruite trees let him set fourtie kernels and when he seeth how they prove he may choose the kindely ones and throw away the other and not cumber the grounds with them And let him choose neither those that have very long joynts nor those that have very short ones but the middle sort for the long joynted plants are apt to spend themselves into leaves and branches and the short joynted ones will be but dwarfe-trees And let him choose his grafts precisely for he shall be sure to finde the Proverbe true in this worke viz. Such a Mother such a daughter Whereas divers attempts have beene made for the preserving of fruits form falling in the Spring time and have not taken that good effect which was hoped for I will declare my experience therein by laying open the cause thereof more plainely then ever I could finde written in any booke or discoursed of by any man in all my travels And first I finde the cause thereof to be double the one by frosts in May the other by reason that the Trees are repleat with a more flegmaticke and waterish juice then is convenient To redresse the first let there be made an earthen pot like a little Still to be hanged with a coard in every tree in frosty nights halfe a pecke of small coales which will cost but an halfe-peny will give an aire all night if the pot be covered with a tile and some wet hay be laid upon it And some yeares two or three nights will be sufficient some yeares there will need none at all the way to know when it will freeze may be found by the weather-glasse described in the Chapter of the Sheepe To redresse the other inconvenience I must discourse a little more largely of the cause first it is found by experience that those Trees which were barren the former yeare doe not so easily let their fruits fall with frosts as the other the reason is because those Trees got a more solid juice by their barrennesse for the Sunnes heate in the former yeare exhaled and drove out the more flegmaticke juice and so left the trees better furnished with more firme nutriment for the next yeare that being the principall component in all things naturall and being wanting no fruit prospereth for as is declared in divers places of the booke all fruits are compounded of a double substance the one terrestriall and the other aethereall and for the most part the want of the terrestriall part causeth ill successe Now to helpe this evill it is found by experience that when a Tree hath beene blowne downe with the winde and hath beene lifted up againe and covered with new earth that Tree hath beene more fruitfull by much then ever it was before the reason is that while it stood firme without altering the earth it had sucked all the solid juyce which lay within its reach and could get no more Therefore it is very good sometimes to change the earth about the principall rootes and if any rootes grow right downward into the barren earth then to cut them off So shall you have fruites in scarce yeares when others have none in such a yeare one bushell of fruites is worth a great number in other yeares when Nature is so friendly as to prosper them every where whether industry be used or not CHAP. IIII. Wherein is shewed how food and maintenance for the workmen may be provided by the industry of the said workmen AS for maintenance for the workmen I see no reason why the Landlords should be remisse in providing the same in regard that the money laid out upon the improoving of their own lands will yeeld a farre greater annuall revenew then twice so much money laid out in the purchasing of new lands And I see no reason why Tenants at will Tenants for terme of life or for a short tearme of yeares should be
place I have tried to putrifie water by it selfe and also with helps and doe finde that it may be done even as milke by helpe of rennet is curded into cheese a thing that no man would beleeve but that experience shewes it to be true but as yet I have not brought the experiment to full perfection and therefore as yet I will respit the publishing thereof some experience hereof may be seene in the Moats and standing Pooles which yeeld great store of good Manure and I wish that they were more made use of For I have seene much over-sight committed by many Husbandmen in letting out the putrified and coloured water from their Moats and dunghill Pooles to the intent that the Manure in the bottome might be the sooner dried in Summer and fit for carriage to their Land whereas all the water that was high coloured might have been improved in such frugall manner by a little industry that it would have produced such an increase of so much Barley as would have made as much good drinke for the Husband mans provision as the coloured water which was lost And in this manner I would have it ordered in the heate of Summer when the Sunne hath exhaled a great part of it and that it groweth thickish and fat then reserve a good pit full thereof well bottomed with Clay that will hold water and at Seed time steepe your Seed Corne in it but put the fat water to it by little and little as it drinketh it up that at the last it may be almost dry of it selfe but before it be full dry sift a small quantitie of Lime amongst it that so it may grow dry with the Lime and be like Comfits then with this Seed Sow or Set your most remote ground from your Dung-hills and by this meanes you will save ten times as much labour in carriage of your dung so farre as this labour cometh too and as for your crop though you shall not have so much increase as some have Mountebanklike reported of it yet you shall have a good materiall increase for one crop onely and corne thus ordered is not subject to be devoured of fowles when it is new sowne The like infusion may be made with Lees of Wine Ale Beere Perry Sider also with Beefe-Broth and the Brine of powdring Tubbs and all such liquors as conteine any fatnesse and these liquors are best mixed divers sorts together where they may be had And I have sometimes spritted the Corne a little as they use to do for Malt and then have sowne it and it came up speedily and got the predomination of the weedes at first and so kept the same whereby I had farre greater increase then ordinary Also I found sometimes when a dry season came upon the sowing that my Corne thus ordered took root far better then other mens Corn who would not take this small paines to steep it and sprit it Now for the residue of your coloured fat water it may be carried in great Tuns as the Salt-peter-men carry their liquors and therein having divers holes you may water your arable Land that lyeth next to your houses also you may get good quantitie of old Thatch or Straw and spread it on the ground by the Pondside in the heate of Summer and ever at spare times as you see it dry water it with a Scoope but not so much as that any shall run away and continue this worke till all the fat water be dried upon it then lay it on round heapes and let it rot into dust this dust is little inferiour to Pidgeons dung for the manuring of Land especially if you have dried great quantitie of the fat water upon it And I would have your Moats and standing Pooles so placed that all the Urine and fat moisture of your Stables beast-houses Kitchins and other houses of Office may descend unto it By these severall meanes aforesaid you may double your quantitie of manure every yeare and so consequently the increase of your crops if good heed be taken that none of your coloured fat water passe away for there is a wonderfull fatning vertue in that part of the Manure which is the most apt to dissolve and to colour the water And this fat Musselage being so apt to be carried in the belly of the Water at Land-floods hath caused the valleys to be so fat and fertile and the high ground to be so barren Yet we see by manifest experience that there is a remedy by industry to cure the barrennesse of the high grounds for if we observe it well we shall finde that the Farmers dwelling in barren soiles are generally richer by their industry then those that dwell in the fatter soiles Now for so much as there is so great a difference of the nature of Land and also there is so great varietie of the weather in these insulary Countryes there can be no absolute rule prescribed to hit the bird in the eye in the composition of Manure for all sorts of grounds and weathers Therefore every one is to make use of his owne experience sometimes in small quantities whereby many excellent and profitable experiments may be discovered And for his better furtherance to hit the marke I will here set downe as plainly as I can the causes of barrennesse in this kinde which I finde to be these when the combustible fatnesse doth much predominate in any earth as it doth usually in the higher grounds and the reason is because that the water is prone to carry the incombustible fatnesse in his belly from the higher grounds and to leave the same upon the lower and more levell grounds and therefore that ground requireth Cowe or Oxe dung which is combustible to bring it to a good temperament likewise the higher grounds require Lime Ashes Chalk Pigeonsdung and Poultry dung to bring them to a good temperament for these two fatnesses are of different nature yet nothing increaseth without them both mixed for it is the nature of the combustible fatnesse to grow soft to rarifie and turne into a vapour by the heate of the Sunne and of the incombustible fatnesse to harden and coagulate by the heate of the Sunne and by these two contrary qualities all riches are engendred Wherefore as Actuarius the Physician summeth up all his Art in one line in these words In omni affectione morhosa conâ—rarâ—s est pugnandum So I summe my Art as briefely viz. that every cure in Husbandry is to be performed by mixing the Land with a composition of Manure contrary to that which causeth its barrennesse And oftentimes this labour may be saved by choosing apt Seeds and Plants for some soiles which will not beare one thing at all yet are very fertile in bearing another And this is the reason that the old saying is true Non omnis fert omniatellus For where the Seed or Plant requireth a greater part of the one of the fatnesses more then the other there that Seed or Plant
is apt to coagulate and harden by the heate of the Sunne upon the Corne the next day and if it happen often to fall upon divers dayes together and no raine come to wash it off then it getteth power to suffocate and strangle the vegetative vertue of the Corne and so it withereth by the heate of the Sunne whose heate before caused it to vegetate and multiply as for the remedy it is thus to be cured let two men in the morning before the rising of the Sunne goe up and downe the furrowes of the Corne and holding a cord stretched betwixt them carry it so that it may shake off the dew which will easily be done before that the Sunnes heate hath exhaled the thinnest part thereof and caused the thicker part to be clammie and glutenous and for better information of the time of this accident let men observe when the Hive Bees goe abroad more early then ordinary and let there be watchmen for this purpose and to the end that all things might be conducible to the generall profit I will spend a few lines in the commendation of this creature of God the Bee who getteth her riches totally out of nothing but what else would be lost for whatsoever she getteth is that which the flowers by their attractive vertue draw to them in the night out of the dew that falleth and if the Bees should not by their industrie in the day time fetch it away the said flowers would not draw the same the next night and so the foode of honey would be lost for all foode is nothing but Aire congealed which is manifest in the precedent and ensuing discourses therefore seeing that these creatures are such an excellent instrument to congeale Aire I wish they were more made use of for what were it for every one to have Bees they aske nothing but an house rent-free to dwell in and when they die they bequeath their riches to their landlords I have knowne many experiments tried to save their lives by driving them feeding them sleeping them that they should not eate that in Winter which they got in the Summer but all was vaine for what was gotten in the East was lost in the West and when all wayes were tried the old wayes were found to be the best and surest I must confesse I have seene Bees driven into a new hive in the plaine Countrey and so carried into the Forrest wherein the flowers and blossomes flourished later then in the plaine Countrey and by that meanes they got maintenance for the Winter following but this was in a yeare when the weather was faire and prosperous all the while during the flourishing of the flowers and blossomes in both Countries which is a thing very seldome seene and therefore I will advise no man to the practice being so fickle and dangerous for I love not to Tantalize men with vaine hopes for Tantalus his Apples never filled the belly nor the purse which was cause that I advise men so much to industry as the surest way for their profit and wish that they may not be Tantalized by others which tell them faire tales sorting with their humours thereby gaining opportunitie to make use of the most dispositions which are apt to give credence upon slight grounds if the tale told be such as they desire to be true though it be unpossible according to the old Proverbe Quod volumus omnes facile credimus which is cause that so many are deceived in the world for their constitution ruleth their passion almost generally and their passion likewise overruleth their reason so that he that looketh into the businesse perspicuously thinketh the world to be mad or foolish and the world thinketh the same by him as it was by Democritus who through his contrarietie in conceit to the vulgar multitude was deemed mad though he had more wit then all the rest whereby it appeares that strong conceit rather then solid understanding beareth the greatest sway in the world and there is another reason why I would have every one to have Bees and that is that they might be their Schoole Masters as well as their watchmen to forewarne them of the mildew for their industrious heed in this worke that no opportunitie escape them to worke while the time serveth for the generall welfare of their Common-wealth declareth the admirable discipline of the great law of Nature which they obey and will by no meanes breake for any conceits or private quarrells and let me not forget to spend a little Inke and Paper about Hops I have knowne a thousand pound dammage in one Hoppe Garden in a weeke or a fortnights time by this Mildew I have shaken some poles in the morning and have found that it did good by the difference betwixt those and the others but I have not brought the experiment to full perfection for want of oportunitie I thought to have watered the Hops with such spouts as are used in London when houses are on fire by sprouting up the water very high that it might fall like raine and performe the effect thereof and let no man overvalue the charge for one thousand pounds worth of Hops being preserved thus when others neglect the worke will be worth neere ten thousand pound such a yeare when the greatest part are spoiled by this misfortune which is manifest by the difference of the prizes at Sturbridge Faire and other places being one yeare at twentie or thirtie shillings a hundred and the next yeare at ten pound a hundred If any one will try this experiment fully that hath better oportunitie then I have and then publish it for the generall good he shall be my brother for that we are both of a Trade or profession which shall be called Knowledge-mongers differing from Fishmongers Iron-mongers c. in that we pay so deare for our wares and give them away for nothing which is the cause why we thrive no better of our Trades but let us not be disheartned for we will lay our heads together to bring our Trade into request by laying open the benefit of our Inventions and by discovering the vanitie of other devices where one mans gaine cometh by anothers losse so will the Major part come tous through their good dispositions and love to vertue honesty and goodnesse and so the rest must come to us by force or else want and povertie will expell them out of the Schoole of Husbandry and we will comfort our selves in the meane time with the incomparable joy of a good conscience and feare no disaster in our enterprise assuring our selves that God is on our sides and so conclude with the saying Si Deus nobiscum quis contra nos CHAP. X. Wherein is manifestly shewed the cause of the rotting of Sheepe with the prevention and cure AS for the rotting of Sheepe a thing which hath undone many an honest simple man for want of knowledge to prevent it I will proceed according to my wonted manner to
follies that they did not rather suffer it with patience then suffer their hearts to breake so untemperately with discontent and so long till the vapours thereof had lifted up so much melancholly to the braine that it was therewith overwhelmed and the curious Organs thereof so obstructed and stopped that it was afterward uncurable Of which things I wish every one to take heede betime for when the Steede is stolne it is too late to make fast the stable doore I deny not but that in other yeares and by much moisture falling in other moneths some few Sheepe of the most waterish and flegmaticke constitution may be caught with this disease but this is not of that materiall consequence which I aime at my meaning being to prevent the grand inconveniences caused by ignorance as for those which are more triviall I desire that every one may indeavour to prevent or cure by his owne industrie by adding somewhat of his owne for the full accomplishing of the worke intended and for his furtherance I will here set downe the erronious opinions of many Husbandmen in this matter some are of opinion that much rainie weather in clipping time doth cause this effect which is manifestly false for that the same cause is in the salt marshes and barren forrests where the rot never commeth as is in the plaine and fertile fields I denie not but that the externall coldnesse and moisture when the Sheepe are new shorne may be somewhat coadjuting to produce this mischievous effect but yet not the sole cause which I desire may be prevented by taking time to sheare Sheepe in faire and pleasant weather and to house them a day or two upon urgent occasion of sudden and great raine If any one object that no man knoweth how to choose this time I answer him that he may foresee it by weather-glasses for that purpose which I could demonstrate but that I delight not to plod on in common paths but will rather referre him to Master Bates his Booke lately written and intituled The Masteries of Nature and Art wherein he may see the worke made manifest and that sufficient warning is given of all mutations of weather by an infallible Prognosticutive experiment I have seene many of these glasses ready made fit and sold in the Glasse-shops in London together with a printed paper shewing the use thereof which will be profitable for the Countreymen for divers other occasions as well as this and every active handed man may make them the plainest way for twelve pence charge which will serve as well as the best others are of opinion that Honey-dewes cause this effect but this is false also for there are more honey-dewes in sound yeares for Sheepe then in rotten yeares and this is manifest that in yeares when Sheepe are most subject to this disease the Bees are likewise most subject to die in the Winter time with famine which may be discerned by the lightnesse of their Hives in Iuly but this is not a generall rule for Hives in all Countries for some yeares when the Hives in the plaine Countrey are light and not well furnished for maintenance in the Winter time the same yeare Forrest Hives are rich and heavie and the cause is for that the weather was faire and pleasant in the latter part of Summer when the barren Forrests flourished and foule and rainie in the former part of Summer when the plaine Countrey did flourish and this is generally observed by my selfe and my Predecessour for the space of threescore and fourteene yeares that alwayes when the Hives of Bees were hight and not well provided for Winter 〈…〉 Vallies the same yeare the Sheepe died of the rot extreamely which upon my first taking notice of I thought that both these diseases proceeded from one and the same cause but upon further investigation it proved to be true in part but not in the totall for the multitude of raine in May and Iune caused both these effects but yet in the Bees it caused their ruine by frequent washing of the honey-dewes and also by hindring them from working in their best season and in the Sheepe by producing frimme and frothie grasse abounding with moisture which these cattle can not beare for if the grasse be never so firme yet sheepe though they never drinke their bodies will yeeld Urine contrarie to other Cattle who if their meate be moist drinke so much lesse water and thereby save their livers from dissolution and putrifaction some have though that the kells like cobwebs have done this effect but that is false likewise for that they are as plentifull in the salt Marshes and barren places as in the fertile grounds some have thought that a certaine kinde of thicke-leaved grasse like almost to Purslaine hath done the mischiefe but this is also false for that the rot commeth where there is none of it some have thought that the Land-flouds caused it these have some hint of the truth but not fully for it is found by experience that where the earth is fattened with Land-flouds in the neather part of the fertile fields there the sheepe are most subject to this discase but the reason is that there the grasse is most frimme and frothie and most abounding with moisture in moist Summers therefore let them be withdrawne to the higher places of the fields in such yeares onely when the moneths of May and Iune prove very moist and rainie and the field is noonne these things being duely observed will produce more generall benefit then many greater studies and seeing that Husbandrie did not onely build but also maintaine all Schooles I could wish that it was better fortified being the very foundation of a prosperous Common-wealth and if every one would equalize my benevolence who have reaped double benefit out of the Schooles we will erect a Colledge for Inventions in Husbandrie in retribution of their former supplies to Learning and so conclude that quid pro quo is lawfull payment this is one of the richest experiments in this Booke and dependeth upon skill more then upon corporall labour and therefore I desire that it may be thankfully accepted and made use of being a thing that no man could fully ever discover before my selfe nor my selfe neither but that I had helpe by the experience of my Predecessour And to the end that men may with the most ease prevent this great losse in their flockes of sheep by rotting let it please them to understand that during my owne 24. yeeres observations and for any thing that I can finde in my Book of 50. yeeres observations there was never any materiall losse by this misfortune nor any rot of sheepe worthy to be taken notice of but in such years when the months of May and Iune and especially Iune proved to bee extreame moist and rainie weather for I have observed that in some yeeres Iuly August and September haue been so immoderate moist and rainie that no hay not Corne could be well gotten