then they growing too numerous againe were compelled to use the plough the chiefest of all engines and happily found out whereby all Common-wealths have ever since beene maintained and at length this invention would not serve the turne neither without new skill in the using of it for at the first they used to till the Land till the fatnesse thereof was spent and so to let it lye a long time to gather fatnesse againe of it selfe and in the meane time to till fresh Land but when they grew too numerous for the food gotten that way they were compelled to finde out the fallowing and manuring of Land by which invention the Land recovered more fatnesse in one yeare then before in many yeares and so a Countrey would maintaine double the number of people more then before now the people are growne numerous againe requiring new improvements which are discovered in this little Booke and shall be shewed by irrefragable demonstration and infallible experience also it shall be made manifest that by the Common course of Husbandry used at this day the barrennesse doth by little and little increase and the fertilitie decrease every yeare more and more which in regard that the people doe increase wonderfully must needs at length produce an horrible mischiefe and cause the Common-wealth to be oppressed with provertie and beggery When as by these new inventions and improvements being industriously practised their wealth shall not be diminished but contrary wayes wonderfully increased though the people shall grow wonderfully numerous And this businesse is not to be sleightly thought upon for so much as Husbandry is the very nerve and sinew which holdeth together all the joynts of a Monarchy Neither is Invention to be lightly regarded for all workmanship without invention resolveth it selfe into the workmans belly as may be manifestly seene for before the plough was invented and before Horses Oxen and cattell were taught to doe the works which men did before all their labour came to nothing but onely to fill the belly but since that time by the benefit of these and other inventions we see what Castles have beene built in time of Warres and what Churches in time of Peace what famous Townes Cities and Schooles and other things conducible for the Common good also by this meanes men were spared from servile labours that they might attaine to knowledge to be Statesmen Clergie men Lawyers Physicians Merchants Tradesmen c. without which no Common-wealth can subsist And for so much as the new world called America doth for the present give aide and succour for the maintenance of the surplusage of people increased in those Countryes yet in regard that the finding of new worlds is not like to be a perpetuall trade it seemeth to agree with providence to beg in to improve the Lands formerly peopled in such manner that by their industry there may be raised maintenance for double the number Which to performe is no hard taske in regard that all treasure and riches are nothing but congealed vapours for what is corne and fruits the chiefest of all riches but the fatnesse of the earth Iacobs blessing elevated by the heate of the Sunne and turned into vapour by the helpe of the Vniversall spirit of the world then drawne together by the Adamantine vertue of the Seeds and Plants and so congealed into the same forme and what is Silke Velvet fine Clothes c. but the vapours of Animalls congealed in the superficies of their bodies where the Animall heate was able to elevate them no further and if any man will hazard a wager upon it I will undertake to shew by irrefragable demonstration experience the great Test and onely triall whereby truth is distinguished from imposture That Gold that great Commander is nothing else but the said fatnesse of the earth elevated by the said universall spirit and after depuration congealed into that splendorous Body Yet I would be loath that this should animate men to spend their goods this way as many have done Therefore I will them to understand that though I affirme the Art of Gold making to be true yet I doe not affirme it to be lucrous in these times For the difference oft-times may make a gainfull art to be not gainefull for when an Earledome or Province was morgaged for a thousand Markes as we finde in credible Histories they were then gold making might be a profitable Science and yet nothing worth in these times when as one Farme will buy a thousand Markes By this meanes the wise and godly men which have written of this Art are cleared of aspersions and impostures for that they were no Prophets to foretell these mutations of times Now seeing that all treasures are nothing but congealed vapours there resteth nothing to be done for the performing of my undertaking but to shew the Art of doing the worke and then the treasure is discovered according to the Frontispiece of this booke which worke is plainely made manifest in these ensuing lines And whereas all men are invited to be sharers it concercerneth me to shew how they shall receive benefit thereby which thus I make good Though the Husbandman carry away the greatest share as they are most worthy yet part cometh to the poore workemen for their imployments and part to the Clergie by the improvements of their Tithes and part to the Gentrie by the improvement of their Lands and Rents and the King hath no cause to doubt his part to come short for if the subjects shall be rich they will be ready both with purse and person to defend and offend upon all occasions even as a man having good store of treasure being assaulted by theeves will fight more valiantly then he that hath nothing to lose and then they will not pay their money with such grudging as now they doe for that a little preserveth a great deale and as for the Kings honour it will be then as much more excellent then now by reason of the heartie affection of the honourer as a piece of true gold differeth from a counterfeit piece Also the Tradesmen whom it least concerneth shall be sharers too for when there is such store of good imployments in the Countrey the Cities will not be so overcharged with multitude of Tradesmen and more then that they will have greater dealings and better imployment Also the impotent poore as old lame blind also fatherlesse strangers widowes prisoners and succourlesse people will have share for then their number will be but very few in comparison of what is now also charitie will increase together with abilitie I dare undertake to shew a way how the working poore may be imployed in these new improvements in such manner that they may live twice aswell as they doe now and yet notwithstanding there may issue out of the benefit of their labours sufficient maintenance for the impotent poore and all others above mentioned Which worke will be almost as charibable and good as if I
A DISCOVERY OF INFINITE TREASVRE HIDDEN SINCE THE VVORLDS BEGINNING VVhereunto all men of what degree soever are friendly invited to be sharers with the Discoverer G. P. Prov. 13. ver 11. Wealth gotten by vanitie shall be diminished but he that gathereth it by labour shall prosper Homo quantò plus cognoscit intelligit bonum profert actu tantò Deo similior LONDON Printed by I. L. and are to be sold by George Hutton within the Turn-stile in Holborne 1639. TO HIS VVORTHY FRIEND MASTER VVILLIAM ENGLEBERT ESQVIRE HEALTH and Happinesse SIR I Have read of an ancient custome used amongst the Heathens that when they brought their sacrifices into the Temple they brought therewith all such receits of medicines for diseases as they had found out by experience and there delivered them to be preserved for the perpetuall benefit of their posteritie their consciences perswading them that their Sacrifices would be better accepted therefore and that it was a wicked deed to let such knowledge die with them which might do so much good to others as for the action I think so well of it as I am minded to make it my paterne and therefore desire that under your patronage I may bring in my receit containing a medicine no doubt for innumerable diseases as taking away the fundamentall cause thereof to wit indigence which by causing of the mindes sadnesse produceth Melancholious bloud and humours the fountaine of the diseases of these times the diseases thus caused kill by distance of time cordials do but deferre the time there is no approved medicine but this in an over-peopled Common-wealth to wit good improvements of the earth which may be effected by the new inventions contained in this Booke and there is nothing wanting but willing mindes to make this Countrey the Paradise of the World if Gentlemen of qualitie would be pleased to begin first and to lay the corner Stone of this building all would follow without question for that gaine the Loadstone of the World being laid a little open by practise would draw the rest there is no cause that I know why they should be slacke in it there be a great number of Parishes within my knowledge and without question infinite more that I know not where the Landlord by laying out of his money upon these improvements may gaine double as much as by purchasing of new Lands also the Parsons Tithes of many things may be doubled and the inhabitants though much increased may live better then before If this be not a better cure for an over-peopled Common-wealth then to make violent incursions upon others territories as is too frequent I referre the matter to all mens judgements the whole world is all of one Gods making and no question is or should be one body Politique wherein to use Phlebotomie when there is no other meanes ready is as foolish as to doe the same thing in Bodies naturall also there is no disparagement to men of qualitie to take this worke in hand for many men of eminent dignitie have laboured in these affaires amongst which let Dioclesian the Emperour serve for brevities sake in this place who when he had resigned his Scepter could finde no such pleasure and contentment in any thing as he did in the planting and grassing of trees and in the Sowing and Setting of profitable Seeds and surely it is a wonderfull delectation to see that the earths fatnesse being the Treasure and indeed the Fountaine of all Treasure and Riches in the World may be transformed into what forme the Workman listeth This Treasure is discovered more at large in the Chapter concerning the fertilizing of Land and is included plentifully in every Element viz. in the Aire which is manifest in that the Camelion an Animall and the Semper-vive a Plant can live and grow in magnitude and ponderositie without touching any other Element also in the Water by the infinite increase of Fishes also in the earth by the infinite and inexhaustible treasure which it produceth continually onely in the earth it is frequently miscompounded the reasons are declared at large in this Booke for it consisteth of a double nature the one Terrestriall the other Celestiall or Aethiriall if either of these predominate then the earth is barren and bringeth forth nothing that is beneficiall for if the Aethereall part be not of force and quantitie sufficient by the heate of the Sunne to lift up the Terrestriall part then no fruit thereof springeth Againe if the Terrestriall part be not of force to coagulate and harden the other into profitable fruits then all is turned into smoake like the accustomed works of Alchymistes all the skill consisteth in the right compounding of these two substances which in many places may be done with such facilitie as is wonderfull the reasons hereafter declared are sufficient to turne Plow-men into Philosophers and to make them to excell their predecessors even as a learned Physician excelleth an Empericke For though many notable improvements have been heretofore found out yet they came more by accident then by good grounds of reason yet infinitely beneficiall and therefore not to be despised for he that found out the way of fertilizing of Land with Lime or Marle though by accident did a more charitable deed in publishing thereof then if he had built all the Hospitalls in England for the one feedeth and cloatheth a few hungry and naked persons the other enableth an infinite number both to feed and clothe themselves and others these things have moved me to bestow much time and charges in these affaires deeming my attempt to be the most excellent that wit can be employed about for that these knowledges are more durable then common riches and no Lawyer can make an estate so indefesible as an approved and profitable experiment is the reason why I chose you to be my Patron is your ripenesse of Iudgement in affaires of this nature you being a Gentleman that hath spent threescore yeares time in invention to doe good to the State and Common-wealth and that hath accomplished more profitable experiments then any man in these latter ages if witnesse be expected let the noble and bountifull gift of Queene Elizabeth for your full accomplishment of your works projected and never accomplished formerly by any serve the turne To conclude my desire is that you and all Readers would be pleased to consider that my time being spent in practicall experiments may well deny mee Scholasticall Oratorie and therefore I desire no more of you or of any Reader but that my good meaning may serve in stead of Ciceroes Oratorie to smooth over and dawbe up my imperfections that way and that the paines and charges being mine and the profit being to redound to the Readers if they be so pleased may serve in stead of Demosthenes his eloquence to perswade them to take them thankfully so I humbly take my leave this twentieth of November 1638. Your bounden servant GABRIEL PLATTES The Contents
which are to be pitied rather then punished for that they differ from wicked intended deceptions even as betweene chance-medley and wilfull murder he that could undeceive the deceived by laying open to him his folly might do more good in the world then all the lawes hitherto made for men would not goe against reason rectified unlesse it were some few miscreants As for my part my will is good but I have neither much learning neither am made fit for it by nature for the writing of these few lines hath prejudiced me in my health more than many yeares spent in corporall practise wherefore I desire all Schollers to endeavour to performe my wants and by their learning to fulfill my want of learning and to studie to promote my good intents for I can but shew that I would say if I could speake and for their so doing their reward is ready for I have knowne the Tithes in one parish improved twenty pound per annum in one Parsons age through his good perswasion to the people to be industrious in the planting and grafting of fruit-trees onely and then the whole parish must needs gaine two hundred pound per annum and there being in England about ten thousand parishes it may be conjectured what benefit may accrue for the generall good of all the Land viz. about ten thousand times two hundred pound per annum and also what benefit may accrue if all my inventions and improvements shall be generally put in practise this being one of the least of very many also their honour reputation and respect shall be doubled by furthering of this pious worke whereby the working poore may be so well imployed that the impotent poore will be easily mainteined and for my requitall I desire no more but that they will remember me and my posteritie in their prayers for the heavenly benediction as for other gratuitie I am not so necessitated as to make begging letters though I be not possessed of any great estate for to deale plainly and truely with the world I know no imperfection in my selfe but that if I were minded to acquire governe and conserve a great estate with that trouble that some of my friends doe undergoe I could have it but not making that my summum bonum I am resolved that unles it come with more ease I had rather be without it and herein I challenge no immunitie from being deceived like others for my reason hath deceived me so many times that I will trust it no more unlesse it be confirmed and made manifest by experience and if many more were of my mind I suppose that the world would be lesse fooled by conceits and fancies and would not be deluded so sottishly to strive and undoe themselves in the breaking of the generall bond of peace For particular fancies it is a strange thing to see the different dispositions of men yet all thinke they have good reason for what they doe as may be seene by the laughing of Democritus and the weeping of Heraclitus at one and the same object and perhaps another spectator would have beene angry at it and a fourth being of a great minde and a large spheare would have marvelled that rationall men should be moved at all in their passions for such triviall objects and it is more strange to see men destroy one another by warres and injuries for triviall fancies and about matters of so small moment it argueth a meane love to God when men will kill their own kinde the wonderfull workmanship of Gods hands upon so slight grounds it seemeth to me a very feasible worke to rid the world of those mischievous contentions for now that the Major part of the Princes are of good and peaceable dispositions What were it to joyne together so strongly that their power should be irresistable and then the noise thereof would conquer the rest without Drummes or Cannons and Hallelujahs would come in their place but in this worke the Schollers must play their part else all will be worse then it was before for unles the world be unhoodwinked and shewed their follies every way vices will abound by prosperitie and love-sonnets and fables will come in the place of Hallelujahs after a small time for I must needs confesse the truth that at this time nature is so depraved that prosperitie will cause destruction to the enjoyers thereof unlesse their judgements be so rectified that they may doe the same things for love that now they doe for feare and want for want is now the best bridle to restraine vices and therefore I have not indeavoured to my uttermost skill to bring plenty into the world upon a sudden but that they may have some sowre sawce to their sweet meat to keepe them from surfetting yet is not the industry now required any intolerable thing for that many of these improvements consist of skill more then of bodily labour so that no man hath cause to complaine so long as his fare is bettered yet howsoever I could wish that this conclusion were put in practise that experience might conclude the question For though rationall discourses are subject to failings yet they give good aime to hit the marke which was the cause that I having a strong love to knowledge addicted my selfe so strongly to trie experiments judging no knowledge perfect till it was thereby confirmed yet I found that I prospered best in those practises wherein I did first profoundly dispute with my selfe pro contra and was not partiall but objected and accused the worke as strongly as if my enemie had done it and when I was remisse in this I usually fared just like a suitor in law who telleth his Lawyer the fairest part of his cause and concealeth the worst of it till at length he is overthrowne in his owne suite though his Lawyer were honest and learned I have sometimes marvelled at my owne folly in being carried with such a swinge to doe others good that I have prejudiced my selfe much by it 〈◊〉 my foolish pity hath many times caused me to be wittingly and willingly soothed and to part with my money rather than to suffer another to be oppressed with extreme want and miserie and this I did not meerely for very charitie for it is a double vice to make my selfe more honest then I am for the chiefe cause was my pronenesse to part with my money being a thing I so little care for finding a delectation rather in laughing at the parties mistaking in thinking he had absolutely Tantalized me with hope of some great advantage when God knowes I never expected either gaine or principall againe I know a man at this day of no meane capacitie that having a good estate but not yet very great for whom I dare sweare that he would not change estates with the King of Spaine whose dominions are so large that the Sun never setteth in them for before it goe downe in his Westerne dominions it riseth in some part of
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
as any opinion hitherto broched And the reason of this my relation is to good purpose for by this meanes men may more easily finde out the fat veines of Marle and know how to mixe their ground in such sort that it may be brought to a fertile temperament where the water hath left it in an evill temperament and for their furtherance they may make balls of earth of severall sorts and burne them in the fire and by their lightning in their weight in the burning they may get some light how to mixe them to bring them to a good temperament And I see no reason why Landlords should be remisse in these trialls for where a Lordship is discovered to have severall earths the one able to bring the other to a fertile temperament there the rents will be wonderfully advanced Neither doe I see that men should be remisse in this worke because that in length of time all their land thus improved will become Sea for the motion is so slow that all estates are changed before there can be any materiall alteration it being found by Mathematicians that the fixed starres make not their revolutions in lesse time then thirty sixe thousand yeares And the reason why the earth is more compact and firme in one place then in another can be no other then this for that the subterraneall vapours doe impregnate it and tie it together more firmely in one place then in another whereof some of them are so strong as to turne it into rockes of stone some able to glue it together like firme earth some so weake that the water is able to dig it and carry it in its belly to such places where the slow motion thereof giveth it leave to sinke And these are all the reasons that ever I could conceive why the Sea is so various in its deepenesse and also why the Land is so uneven with Mountaines and Vallies being so wrought to that unevennesse by the water in former times and I could wish that men should not thinke their labour over-much in these workes for that the riches this way gotten are more durable then other riches for that they are not gotten by the prejudice of others which is manifested by divers examples wherein the one is found to continue to many posterities the other to rust and grangrene in short time into nothing CHAP. VIII Wherein is shewed how to prevent the blasting of Corne and that the cause thereof doth not come through thunder and lightning according to the common opinion but through the deficiencie of the Husbandmens knowledge IT is found by a generall practise in the Vale of Belvoire commonly called Beaver where the best and purest Wheate in Europe usually groweth that if the Farmers sow their Wheate upon the fallowes then it is usually blasted by reason of the fatnesse of the ground which this graine cannot endure but if they sow it with Barley first and Peason next to abate the fertilitie and overmuch fatnesse thereof then it is not subject to blasting by this it appeareth at the first shew that the fatnesse of the soile is the onely cause of blasting but upon better consideration I have found two other causes concurring to produce this effect whereof neither of them are thunder and lightning according to the vulgar opinion for that would blast one eare as well as his next fellow growing so neare it for what should defend the one more then the other or what should defend the Wheate sowne after the two crops of Barley and Peason but the leannesse of the land which the former practitioners this way not considering spoiled their project by over-fatning the ground thinking thereby to regaine in the greatnesse of the increase the great charge and labour which they were at in setting it the rude way with a board with holes in it And as for the other two causes of their failing they were these First in a moist yeare the immoderate raines joyned with the fatnesse and glutted the rootes overmuch with fatnesse and moisture together which this graine will not suffer Secondly when the ground was not over-fat yet the great raines carried downe the fatnesse into the lower places of the land and so blasted that Wheate which grew there letting the other escape unblasted that grew upon the ridges and on the top of the little furrowes where the wet and fatnesse descended from them speedily and did not overcharge them with fatnesse and moisture together I have pulled up a thousand eares both blasted and unblasted and have searched into the causes as farre as my capacitie would extend and can finde no other cause but these And it is certaine that neither of these causes alone doth produce this effect but both joyned together viz. too much fatnesse and moisture both at once for the practitioners of this worke in some dry and hot yeares had extraordinary great increase which animated them to follow it so fiercely divers yeares there being no question but that else one yeares practise would have satisfied them for they knew the great charge and labour in one yeare as well as in many and had increase when the drinesse of the yeare served to recompence all or else they would have instantly ceased And it is as certaine that moisture without too much fatnesse doth not produce this effect for then it would doe it upon Wheate sowne the third Crop as well as upon the first which sometimes in immoderate rainy yeares it doth upon some eares growing in the hollower places of the land in the third Croppe the reason is as I said before because the raine carrieth thither the fatnesse of the higher ridges and so overchargeth it in those places with fatnesse and moisture together for Wheate and Hops are both of a nature they will not prosper but in moist ground yet they are easily overcharged with moisture therefore as Hops must be hilled that they may draw moisture at pleasure and not have it forced upon them so must Wheate or else the Husbandman will be often frustrated of his expected increase which our former setters of Wheate not knowing or at least not observing had their Croppe so often blasted that at length their project was blasted for want of judgement and experience Also their tedious manner of going to worke by diging their ground and setting the Wheate with such a number of workemen for want of invention did make the losse more intolerable for they hoped for a wonderfull increase which some drie yeares they observed but in moist yeares their Corne was much more blasted then that sowne the common way upon leane ground whereby we see how easily a good cause may be spoiled Now to remedy all these inconveniences there is no way but my two new Inventions or Engines the first remedieth the great charge and labour of workemen for by this invention two men or boyes may set an Acre upon a day whereas before fourtie persons were little enough to doe it and
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