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
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
distance and be set in a frame two foote high the one from the other Then let there be a funnell for every hole made of thinne boardes about two inches square Then for the top let there be two thinne boards of equall breadth boared likewise whereof the uppermost is to be boared with an hot iron with holes longer the one way then the other and is to be of such a thicknesse that but one Corne onely can lie in the hole The other board is be boared with wide holes and to be loose that while the Engine is charged the whole part may be under the holes of the uppermost board and when the holes in the earth are made by the neather workes then to be moved so that all the Cornes may drop downe And for charging a little Corne being swept up and downe by a broome or a brush will fill the holes and if any misse the workeman may put in here and there an odde Corne with his fingers and then moving the second board till the holes be answerable all the Cornes will droppe downe at an instant Then let a large ledge be set about the toppe of the Engine to keepe the Corne from spilling and so is the upper part thereof made As for the nether worke it is somewhat more chargeable and intricate for there must be for every hole a little socket of brasse cast with a verge to naile unto the neather board about the hole which must be turned and boared all of one widenesse to an haires breadth and must be wide above and straite below like a faucet Then there must be iron pinnes of five inches long of great thicke iron wier drawne so fit that no earth can come into the brasse sockets Now to make these play up and downe at pleasure is the greatest skill in the whole worke and there is no other way but that which is here described There must be for every woodden funnell a peece of iron forged flat with an hole in the middle edgwise which through two slits in the neather part must play up and down through which a brasse naile must be fastened cast with an head contrary to other nailes bowing downewards to which the iron pinnes must be fastened with wiers and so thrust downe and plucked up at pleasure And then every end of the flat pieces of iron must be fastened into a piece of wood of such thicknesse that two thereof may fill up the distance betweene the rowes of the woodden funnels These may be made to play up and downe like Virginall Iackes and when they are lifted up then the brasse funnels being wider above then below giveth leave for the Corne to fall into the holes all an an instant These Iackes must be fastened together the two first on either side of the wodden funnels then so many together as the weight of the workemen is able to thrust downe to make the holes And there must be a stay to hold up the Iackes at pleasure when they are lifted up againe to such an altitude as that the cornes may descend by them into the holes And the bottome of the iron pins must be flat and by that meanes they will not be so apt tp draw up earth into the funnels also the rootes of the Corne will spread better and bring a greater increase if the ground be saddened a little in the bottome of every hole And the toppes of the iron pinnes must likewise be flatte and hang a little loose in the wiers else if any of the brasse sockets get a little wrench they will not be drawne thorow because the holes must be straite Though the making of this Engine be somewhat chargeable and toublesome yet if skilfull men first breake the ice then it will be common and the most profitable Invention that ever was found out And the toppe of the Engine must be ledged about with large ledges to keep the Corn from spilling so will a quart or two of Corne serve a good while and must be renewed upon occasion And the neather halfe part of every woodden funnell must be loose on one side to take off and on at pleasure to amend that which is amisse upon every occasion Also if the slittes in the funnels be lined with iron the worke will be more durable But lest that the charge of this Engine together with the difficultie of getting it may be a hinderance to the worke intended I will adde a description of a more easie way for the poorer sort which is subject to the capacitie of every ordinary workeman and is made of wood onely without either brasse or iron but herein I will tell no woers tales but the worst as well as the best for these Engines will not endure like the other besides that there must be foure workemen because that the Engine must be made of two parts the one to goe before and make the holes the other to come after and to drop in the Corne this last must not differ a whit from the upper part of the former onely it must have foure feete like toppes in the foure corners which must be set right in the holes which are made by the other part which goeth before which likewise must have foure such feete to leave an impression when it is remooved forward whereby the second may be rightly placed so that the Cornes may fall right into every hole That part which must make the holes is to be made of two boards of equall breadth to the other and must be boared full of holes of equall distance likewise the wooden pins must be greater then those of iron because the holes will need to be somewhat large and wide and they must be fast in the upper board and loose in the neather board And if the Engine be large as this way it may be larger then the other by reason that it is easilier lifted and removed being in two parts then the upper part must be slit and divided into so many parts that the weight of the workemen by treading upon them may presse them downe to make the holes And though this way will require foure workemen yet the charge will not be double nor much more then the former way by reason that the workemen may goe forward with more expedition and may set a broader compasse of ground at one time CHAP. IX Wherein is manifestly shewed the cause of the mildew with the preventions and cures AS for the Mildew it is a thing quite contrary to Blasting and is thus caused When the flowers and blossomes are in their pride and fulnesse the Sunne by his heate exhaleth some part of their sweetnesse and converteth the same into Common Aire which in the night is condensed and falleth into dew upon such things as have most vertue attractive to draw it unto them Of which sort are chiefly the leaves of the Oake tree next to that are Hops next to that is Corne this dew being unctuous and clammie
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