of the failing of Corn in the Common fields he sold it for forty shillings a quarter which came to twelve hundred pounds with the rent and all so that he gained above a thousand pound clear by his twenty Acres of Barley Yet I would wish no man to take in hand so hazardous a work again but rather to 2aim at a meane in fertilizing of his land which is the surest way one year with another for if he make his land too extream fertile then it is ten to one he shall have nothing but straw and some light corn which is good for little use but onely for Poultry and if on the other side he take so much are able land that he is not able to enrich it so that every Acre may bear in a reasonable year five quarters by sowing the common way or thereabouts and a eleven quarters and a half or thereabouts by setting then let him cast up his accompts justly and he shall find himself to be no good friend to himself nor yet to the Common-wealth for he might have gained more by laying his Compost upon half so much land and by setting it orderly than by the whole so that he himself and the Common-wealth is deprived of that benefit of the herbage of that land which he did unadvisedly and above his ability to enrich keep in tillage to his own loss and great damage Certain Experiments and Improvements for the inriching of Land by my new Invention or Engine which disperseth the Compost in such manner that it falleth all within the reach of the attractive virtue of the Corn. The first Experiment or Improvement It is found by experience that where dung hath been layd upon heaps upon fallowed land and hath layen unspread for a moneth or six weeks and withall some store of rain hath faln to carry down the Chilus or juice of the dung into the earth there though the dung was all removed in the spreading from the place where the heap lay yet there grew more corn in a yard square of that ground so fatned with the chilus or juice of the dung than in three yards square where the dung was dispersed in the rest of the land By this we may observe that Dung doth not enrich ground till it be putrified and turned into chilus or aqua pinguis or aqua viscosa and also that Compost of land whatsoever is to be turned into such a nature and property before it can produce great encrease in the present crop Wherefore the best Husbandry is to prepare Earth and Compost in such manner that the nutritive virtue thereof may assimilated into the corn and fruits in the first year or else the Husbandman layeth out his stock and charges long before hand and is deprived of great part of the benefit thereof by reason that the rain and land-flouds doe carry away a great share of the chilus or juice of such dung as falleth out of the reach of the attractive virtue of the seed or plant and if any man doubt of it let him fill all the holes when he hath set an Acre of Corn with such fat earth and he shall find his encrease doubled upon common barren field land and contrariwise let him fill the holes with common dung and he shall finde no such success But some will say that this is a pedling business and an endless work to which I answer That so it is indeed to those which know not the use of my new Invention or Engine but that being known is the most profitablest work in the world for a man may fill 400. holes in the twinckling of an eye and may order a whole Acre in like manner with a very little charges more than the spreading of the dung doth usually cost Therefore now I will proceed to shew how divers fertile earths may be prepared wherewith the holes may be filled and so consequently the encrease may be doubled and this practise will be excellent in such places where the charge of carriage costeth much by reason of the great distance of the place from the Compost for I find that though divers imbibitions of the seed with apt liquors doe produce a good improvement yet it is not a practise comparable to this for if a Farmer have twenty acres of Arable land and have dung but for fifteen Acres and shall yet have a good crop by means of a good imbbiition yet is not this knowledge sufficient for a Husbandman upon whose skil the happiness of himself and the whole Common-wealth dependeth For by this way he may enrich his Arable land at pleasure be it never so barren nor never so much remote from his Compost for on the one side if the filling of the holes be not sufficient he may heap them as hops are usually heaped with fertile earth and dung and on the other side if the earth be too rich so that it will make the Corn too rank then he may half fill the holes or less and then fill them up with a Rake with their own proper earth or he may make his earth so rich that he may mingle with it twice the quantity of the field earth before he disperse it by which means he may save a great deale in the charge of the carriage of his Compost where the fields are far distant The second Experiment or Improvement wherein is shewed how a rich Compost may be made in form of earth fit to fill up the holes when the Corn is set Let an Acre or more or lesse of good Areable earth neither clay nor sand but indifferently well mixed be chosen in some apt place where dung is plentifull and cheap then cover it with dung a foot thick or thereabouts and then you may be at choice whether you will at six Moneths end shovel off all the dung and carry the fat earth to be used as in the former Experiment or else to plough it four or five times all together in a years space and then carry all to be used as in the former Experiment either of these waies will serve for one Acre of earth thus made fertile will make an hundred Acres fertile and to yeeld a good crop yea even as you desire so you may fertilize by the means prescribed in the first Experiment and this same work may be done in a little garden plot in Cities Corporations or Villages where a bed of good earth may be enriched at pleasure with all liquors thrown upon it which contain any fatnesse or saltnesse as urine beef-broth soapsuds blood brine of powdering tubs kitchin-wash fish-water lees of all wine bear perrey cider or whatsoever is good for hogs the same will yeeld an excellent virtue to this earth and if a cover were set over it to keep it dry for a years space you might enrich it so that you might carry it twenty miles and yet find more gains by it than by a common dung that lyeth but a mile off and any
Husbandman that dwelleth within a few miles of any City make a rich benefit by bringing certain loads of Areable earth yearly into Cities and by giving a bushel or two of wheat to certaine Housholders of his acquaintance for the enriching of it as aforesaid The third Experiment or Improvement where is shewed how a rich Compost may be made in form of earth near to the Sea which may be carried many miles You must understand that this Compost is profitable onely for such ground where bay-salt is apt to cause fructification or sea-sand as in divers places in Cornwall where they carry it on horse back divers miles and find that it maketh a very excellent Improvement Well thus may you work and make as rich a Compost as any can be in the world for ground of that nature Let a place be chosen where there is an Acre of kindly earth where it may be floated at every spring-tide and afterward the water dryed away by the heat of the Sun and then ploughed and served so many times till it be as fertile as you please The like may be done by watering the earth with sea-water and by ploughing it with scoopes all summer or till it be as fertile as you please and in some parts of England the sea water may be let into the land many miles for the purpose aforesaid The like may be done by mingling earth with Malt dust Pigeons dung or any other Compost which is found to doe much good with a small quantity as Malt and other Corn spoyled by any accident may be ground into Meal and mingled with earth or putrified with the earth a whole yeare unground till it be turned into earth Also Lime and dung or combustible earth mixed together or all three ploughed divers times for a year till they be turned into earth is a rich Compost If you can find out the true adaptation of this and of all my other Composts then you may save forescore pounds in the hundred pounds in the fertilizing of any Arable land in England and also you may afford to carry your Compost to places and barren grounds far distant which now admit of no improvement within charge by reason of their great distance of place And if the distance be very far then you may try with Bay-salt Saltpeter Soap dissolved in hot water or any other substance which enricheth Arable land exceedingly and when you have hit the mark then you may bring these substances twenty thirty or forty miles and yet you fertilize your Arable land by my new Invention cheaper than with common dung though it were to be had within a mile of the place if you enrich the earth with these Liquors or Salts dissolved and so make use of my Engine for the filling of the holes when the Corn is set The fourth Experimene or Improvement wherein is shewed how a rich Compost may be made in form of earth for the purpose aforesaid which may also be converted into Salt-peter It is found by experience that where the Salt-peter men do find an old house of Office in a dry vault where no moysture doth annoy it there they get their best Liquors Also it is found by experience that Horse-dung being putrified and turned into earth in a dry place doth likewise yeeld much Salt-peter Also it is found by good experience that Clay walls made of some kind of Clay doe yeeld great store of Salt-peter which may be seen in Oxford-shire and divers other places where Pidgeons resort to the clay walls and thereby give intelligence to the Salt-peter men to steep the same who many times finde the liquors so rich that they will steepe many pearches in length of such walls though they make up the walls again at their own charges according to the Law By all these Experiments joyned together it seemeth that a rich Compost either for Land or for Salt-peter may be made as followeth First let an little frame of an house about four foot high be framed in every mans backside as well in Cities as Countrey Towns and let there be nothing but studs and those very thin and let it be length and bigness of a Sâ—wpit or grave or greater or lesser at pleasure Then build a little house of Office over it which be broader than it to keep it from rain and moysture Then make up the walls about a foot thick with this composition of earth following and in less than a eleven years all the walls and ordure will yeeld either good store of Saltpeter or a rich earth for Compost worth twenty shillings a load at the least for the fertilizing of land If every houshold have two of these houses he shall never have more trouble but to make use of one while the other doth ripen The walls must be made of horse dung and so much clay as will temper it and the lesse the better so that it will hold together The Clay must not be of the nature of Brewers clay I mean such as will stop water of the Mawmy clay in Oxfordshire and many other places which is partly of the nature of Marle and will break it self which lying abroad in winter like unto Marle or Lime whereby it is discovered to contain much salt in its composition which if it be well chosen will wonderfully adde to the richnesse of the earth when it is putrified fox both uses to wit for Compost or Salt-peter at pleasure If this work were well put into practise the very ordure of every family might be so improved by my new invention that it would produce as much Corn again as was spent in the sayd house in the former yeares besides that barren land and far distant from other Compost might this way be made fertile And for the poorer sort whom the charge may be made considerable for the building of the houses they may lay a load or two of good earth like a bed in a garden and cover it from rain and with a moveable stoole or seat make this earth as rich as the other But in all works where Salt-peter is expected you must make a little ditch about the earth which shall produce it or else the least moysture will draw away the Salt-peter even as the Salt-peter men doe with their Tubs And if any man would take in hand to build such houses of Office in or near to any Market-place School Colledge or other place where there is a great confluence of people he might gain soundly by it and also doe a pleasure to the Common-wealth And let no man doubt of this relation for if the Compost be apt for the land and seed it is marvellous to see the increase thereof I had the last summer 18. for one upon a tryall which I made with Beere Barly which doe call Barly which some doe call Barly big it hath four square eares and I did nothing to it but steeped in blood for one night and then set it at a eleven
his own grounds and the seeds proper for it and seldome pierceth into the bowels of the earth yet if we consider that out of the earth he hath Marle Lime Stone Chalk for the enriching his lands and also Loam and Sand for his buildings often times fuel for fire c. it will plainly appear that it is necessary for him to know all subterrany things and to be a Petty-Phylosopher and that the knowledge of these things will be very beneficial for him And here I cannot but take notice of a great deficiency amongst us viz. that we have not the natural history of all the Sands Earth Stones Mines Minerals c. which are found in this Island it would not only advance Husbandry but also many other Mechanick Arts and bring great profit to the publick I hope some ingenious man will at length undertake this task for the Lord hath blessed this Island with as great variety as any place that is known as shall in part appear anon and it may be proved by that great variety which is found near the Spaw-waters in Knaresborough as Doctor Dean relateth in his Book called the English Spaw Or the glory of Knaresborough springing from several famous Fountains there adjacent called the Vitriol sulphurous and dropping Wells and also other Mineral waters whose words are these Here is found not onely white and yellow Marle Plaister Oker Rudd Rubrick Freestone an hard Greet-stone a soft Reddish-stone Iron-stone Brimstone Vitriol Niter Allum Lead and Copper and without doubt divers mixtures of these but also many other Minerals might perhaps be found out by the diligent search and industry of those who would take pains to labour a little herein Printed at York by Thomas Broad being to be sold in his shop at the lower end of Stone-gate near to Common-Hall Gates 1649. This Letter will not permit me to make a compleat Natural History of the things of this Isle yet I shall relate divers things which may be as hints to set some others to work which I have found in Mr. Cambden and others and shall briefly instruct the Husbandman what he ought to take notice of for his own and others good And first if he live nigh the Sea let him take notice of those things the Sea casteth up for it hath even with us and also in Ireland cast up Amber-greece which is worth so much Gold with the which not long since a Fisherman of Plymouth greased his boots not knowing what it was sometimes it casteth up Jet and Amber as at Whitbey often times In former times we had Oysters which had very fair great Pearls in them of good worth and at this time some of them are found in Denbighshire Coperas-stone likewise is found along by the Sea-Coasts of Kent Essex Sussex Hampshire out of the which Corporas is made a thing very useful for Dyers Curriers c. Further Sea-weeds are not to be slighted for in Jersey they have no other fuel amongst them and here in England it is burnt to make Kelp for Glassemen and is also very good manure for divers Lands also Sea-owse is not onely good to lay on Land but at Dover and other places the Inhabitants make Brick thereof called Flanders-Bricks c. Sea-sands in Cornwall do very much enrich their Lands and in Lancashire out of a certain kind of Sand they extract Salt c. 2. Let him take notice of all sorts of Waters which issue forth of the earth differing from the ordinary in Colour Odour Taste for it is well known how advantagious these waters are often-times not only to particular men but also to the Countrey about yea to the whole Island as appeareth by the waters of Tunbridge in Kent and of Epsham in Surrey Knaresborough c. Spaw in York-shire and by the Allum-waters in Newenham in Warwick-shire like Milk in taste and colour and are excellent for the Stone and wounds and also it appeareth by the salt Fountains in Worcestershire and Cheshire which furnish all those parts with an excellent fine white salt by the hot Bathes in Summersetshire and the luke-warm waters by Bristol c. At Pitchford in Shropshire is a Fountain which casteth forth liquid Bitumen which the people use for Pitch c. 3. Let him not despise the sorts of Sands which he findeth for some Sands are for buildings as the rough sorts others for scowring others for casting fine metals as Highgate-sand others for the Glasse-men as a sand lately found in Sussex In Scotland there is a sand which containeth a considerable quantity of Gold and in divers Countreys fine Gold aboundeth very much in sands and if we may believe an excellent Dutch Chymist there is scarce any sand without it 4. Let him take notice of the Earth Loams Clayes c. which have divers and necessary uses as first the stiffest Clays as Newcastle and Nonsuch are for the Glassemens Pots for Crucibles melting-pots the lesse stiffe for ordinary Earthen wares Brewers Tiles Bricks c. white Clay is for Tobacco-pipes Marle of divers colours and stiffness is excellent for Husband-men fullers-Fullers-Earth is found in Kent Surrey and lately in divers other places for the great benefit of the Clothier Rub and Rubrick in York-shire as also divers other in Oxford and Glocestershire excellent for Painters c. Turffe for firing may be found in most parts of this Isle if people were industrious necessity now and then compelleth them to be inquisitive as it did lately at Oxford and Kent where it is found in good quantity In Holland they have little fuel save what is taken out of their ditches and therefore it is truely said that their firing is as it were fish'd out of the water and it 's indifferent good fuel Coals are found in very many places yet divers places are in great want of them 5. Let him take notice of the several stones found in this Isle as of Freestones for building Cobbels and rough hard stones for paving Tomb-stones soft sandy stones commonly called fire-stones because they will endure strong fires and therefore fit for Iron furnaces and this propriety these soft stones have that when they are white hot a steele instrument will scarce touch them to hurt them Alabaster is found at Burton on the Trent and in Staffordshire and at Titbury Castle excellent Marble at Snothil in Herefordshire a course Marble near Oxford in Kent also at Purbrick in Dorsetshire Milstones in Auglesey in Flintshire Darbyshire Lime-stones Chalk in very many places for divers uses Allum-stone is found in Anglesey but especially at Gisborrow in York-shire where the Allum works are which serve this Island Lapu Cslaminaris is lately found in Somersetshire by the which Copper is made brasse Manganese for those that make white glasse lately found in the North the best Emery for polishing Iron in Jersey Plaister at Knaresborough Black-lead in Cumberland and no where else in Europe There is a stone in Durham out of which they make salt
much prejudice to Corn be planted in the furrows where it grows so as the ground be moist and you keep them well pruned and leave onely a bush at the top of the tree No stiff Clay grounds will admit them to thrive they will grow in moist Clay ground but onely in height and will not burnish for want of room to extend their rooâ—s This tree if he likes his ground will be at full growth in twenty years He is valued in Flaunders after seven years growth worth every year 12 d. until his time be up He grows very straight without boughs onely a bush on the top and so exceedingly well becomes a Walk This Timber is also uncomparable for all sorts of wooden vessels especially Traies Butchers-traies cannot well be made without it it being so exceeding light and tough Some years ago there were ten thousand at once sent over into England and transplanted into many Counties Mr. Walker at Saint James can give the best account of them to all such as desire further to be instructed in this particular Another Direction for the planting understand the second Planting of the Abele-Trees LEt your Plants be one year old ere you remove them to the plat where they must stand in the earth till they be transplantable Cut away their roots in such a manner that the cuts may fall flat against the earth but spare the little roots and the small sprigs or beards that hang about the root Cut off the upper part so short that they be but little more then half a foot long Upon which remainder you shall ordinarily have five or six buds sometimes more sometimes fewer but what ever their number be it is best to leave your plants all of one length The Land in which you mean to plant them must first be well laboured and then opened so deep that the Plants may stick up but three inches above the earth if it be dry but if your land be moist you must not set your plants so deep Plant them four-square so that every Tree may stand one foot and three quarters that is 21 inches from every one of his four next neighbours Thus In the first year take away or cut off no shoots from them but those that grow out half a foot from above the earth The time of planting is when the violence of frosts is ceased New Observations concerning Abel-Trees The least Spawners from the root will grow Any twigs cut from the body will grow They will grow in two or at most in three years above the reach of the tallest man A Set planted by Master Walker Gardiner of Saint James not above twelve or at most thirteen years since is now as big as his middle Item Two Rows of Setters three inches about planted the rows twenty four foot asunder in 47. did by the end of the year 50 meet with their boughs crosse the walk Item An Abele-Tree at Sion lopped in February 51. by the end of October 52 put forth branches as big as a mans wrist seven ten foot long Dr. Arnold Boati's Annotations upon the Legacy of HUSBANDRY Paris the first of July 1651. I Give you most hearty thanks for your Work of Husbandry the which having perused instantly à capite ad calcem I find it a most excellent piece both for the improvement of Husbandry and of the other Commodities of the Countrey as likewise for the Natural History of England and have learned many particulars by it which before were unknown to me But I remember to have heard of a Dutch Merchant in Dublin that the Dutch used to fetch their Black-lead out of Wales whereas you say it is found in Cumberland and no where else in Christendom I pray you to let me understand whether you have any particular knowledge of that Mine of the nature and properties of that Material whether it serveth for any other uses then to make pens of and to neale earthen vessels withall and how for this use Potters do prepare and apply it Paris the 12 of July 1651. J was hugely taken with the large Epistle in your Legacy upon the first reading of it and am more now upon the second which maketh me sorry that the Authour should give any advantage to carping wits as he doth here and there in some of the Parerga upon which I shall freely give you my sense that being communicated to him he may mend them in the next Edition if so he see it fitting What he saith out of Helmont page 13. The smuttinesse of Corn and the soul disease to have begun in France together about 1530. and the latter to have had some original from the former To say nothing of the small credit of that Authour even in things subject to his own knowledge and experience I being able to convince him of most palpable lies out of his own writings a more credible Author then he should not be alleadged much lesse heeded if opposite to so notorious a truth as that of the foul disease it 's original in France as well as in Italy and Spain full 36 years sooner then Helmont sayes viz. in the year 1494. and nothing could be advanced more absurd or ridiculous in the judgment of all sound Physicians then to attribute the original of that disease in any wise to smutty Corn as he doth The imperfection of smutty corn consisteth altogether in a similar distemper and that of the more spirituous part consequently not at all subject to the eyes and so not to be found out by Microscope to the contrary of what our Authour supposeth page 15. The corn sown in July produced such an increase page 18. I cannot imagine how Corn sown in Summer can come to good or what humane wit or skill can hinder it from running up and spending it self before the coming in of Winter His Philosophy of the blacknesse of the Moor-loghs as communicated by the blacknesse of the earth or turff page 25. is no wayes receivable I find him too credulous page 27. to Glaubâ—r and others about those Mountebank boastings of brewing without malt and of drawing great store of Aqua-vitae out of the imaginary Beer and other unfit materials The opinion of the Suns descending lower page 30. although justly as I hold it rejected by Moestlinus Longomontanus Keplerus Morinus Bullialdus quibus omnibus praeit Ptolomaeus ought not to be spoke of so contemptuously seeing that one of the greatest Astronomers that ever was viz. Copernicus did first advance it Reinholdus another most famous Artist approve of it and he having made the lowest descent of the Sun but of 35 minutes which is but a little more then half a degree I know noâ— what makes our Authour speak of the Suns descending many degrees lower It is true that those 35 minutes amount to many thousands of miles which expression therefore would be both more pertinent and more sutable to the vulgar capacity of most Readers then that of minutes or degrees This
a Rick of Corn upon it which may be kept three or four years without losse or trouble If when Winter is past Corn be very cheap then would I have all the richest Farmers who are able to forbear their money to thrash up the most part of their other Corn and to take down the foresaid Rick and to make it up again with a leere of thrashed Corn with chaffe and all together by which meanes he may lay up a wonderfull great quantity in a little room and have his Straw for his present use and withall the poorer sort of Farmers may have a better sale for their Corn to pay their rents withall And as for Cities and Corporate Towns I would have all Housholders of good ability to keep a yeares provision of Corn before hand and not to spend it till time of dearth by which means the dearth will not be so grievous when it cometh and also the cheapnesse in time of plenty will not so much â—rejudice the poor Farmer And for the preservation of this Bread-corn he may lay it up in a Garner four or five foot thick and it will keep sweet a long time without stirring If he mingle therewith some Flint stones Pibbles old Iron peeces of Iron taken out of the Kiln which never took rain since their burning one bushel of any of these mingled with twenty bushels of Wheat Rie Mastline or any other Bread-corn will keep it from heating and if it heat not it cannot corrupt As for Malt it will keep two or three years upon a great heap without stirring or trouble if it be well dryed at the first And if the price expected come not soon enough it is good to change this old store sometimes and to lay up new in the room and never to diminish the stock till it will yeeld double price at least I have known Barly at six pence the bushel in Northampton Market and at five shillings a bushel in the same place within a year also I have known Wheat at three shillings and six pence in London and at fifteen shillings the bushel within a year following and Histories of good credit declare greater changes than these in former Ages so that me-thinks that it were well if Rich men when they dye were strongly exhorted and perswaded to give some number of quarters of Corn to be preserved for the publick store against such miserable times of dearth and famine A friend of mine propounded to the City of London to shew them a way how they might keep a thousand quarters of Corn in such a floor where now they can keep a hundred by mingling Corn with great Beans exceeding hard dryed on a kiln which may be separated easily with a wire Trie and are as profitable as the Wheat and that they should be eased of the charges of turning Corn in the store-houses This Gentleman had learned the experience by long traveling into far Countries who when the City were not forward to gratifie him for his paines and good will told me how it was to be done which here I will divulge for the benefit of posterity In hot Countries the use is in some places to put Corn inâ— Vaults to keep it cool from putrifaction but this is not found to be a good experiment for these cold Countries In Egypt I have credibly heard that the Store-houses which Joseph erected had no covers but how it was so long preserved I cannot learn nor conceive unlesse those Countries being hot and dry having no rain at all doe ripen the Corn so well and free it from moysture that it is not apt to putrifie though it lye sub dio which seemed to be possible for that Malt well dryed will keep two or three years without stirring and also Corn in Russia where for want of maturation they are 2forced to dry it in stoves which will keep a long time but howsoever it is certain that these former directions being observed in England the extream cheapnesse in time of plenty may be remedyed whereby poor Farmers may not be so greatly damnified and also the extream dearnesse in time of scarcity may be mitigated whereby the poor buyers of Corn supply the rest which I wish may be practised with all possible diligence especially in time of dearth which will save such a wonderful quantity of Corn for present relief as 〈◊〉 he Store-houses in any Kingdom could never preserve the â—â—e in all Ages heretofore It is found by experience that when there is but a little Corn too much to sell in a Market there the price falleth too extreamly Also if there be never so little a quantity too small to serve then the price is enhansed too much in all conscience For the remedy of which two inconveniences being so great all courses seem to be taken which may possibly be devised The tenth Experiment wherein is shewed the natural cause why the changing of Seed corn produceth an improvement also certain wayes for the melioration of Seeds and Fruits It is found by experience that if Seed-wheat be brought from barren and stony land and sown upon rich clay ground it prospereth wonderfully the cause is double First the Corn that groweth upon a barren land is more plump and full than that which groweth upon very rich land and therefore hath more force to encrease Secondly the Corn that growth upon stony land hath attracted plentifully the Juter or petrifying saltish nature which falling into another earth where that substance is wanting standeth in stead not onely of seed but also of compost The like might be shewed in many other works of this kind but I wish that this may serve to give light to the rest As for the meliorating of Seeds and Fruits the former experience sheweth the way for there is in every compounded substance in the world a double kind of fatness or sulphur the one â—s apt to putrifie the other not so apt but endureth longer without putrifaction this may be seen in Cabbages and other Garden fruits growing near great Cities where dung is plentiful which if they be boyled in water and the water kept a little time it will stink sooner than that wherein the like stuffe hath been boyled which growed in grounds more barren Whereby it appeareth that the extream fatting of ground with dung doth in some sort adulterate the seeds and fruits and pisorate their quality and contrariwise the sowing the same in more barren earth doth meliorate the quality of the same Therefore the best way is to sow set or plant seeds in barren land for seeds onely for by that meanes they will get a greater melioration in their quality when they are intended for seed than the posoration can be in the sowing them in earth much enriched with dung for in all rich dunged earth the attractive virtue of the seed draweth much of the fatness which is not much putrified whereby it declineth from its former virtue and goodnesse The one of these
and so every Country that hath not the natural Lime-stone may have it now out of other stone and so save carriage To this I answer A. 1. What Glauber hath written in his first Part Operis Mineralis of Peble or Flint-stones is to shew how to extract out of them not quick or unslackt Lime but Gold and that by the mediation of spirit of Salt which must be made first good cheap and in abundance What your Doctor undertakes must be left to tryal whether it will succeed or not A. 2. I believe the Doctor who pretends to make Lime of Peble may make his undertaking good seeing that in Holland in Italy and in many parts of the East-Indies they make it of the shels of Oysters and of all kinds of Shel-fish and that ex silice ipso out of Peble it self Lime hath been made many Ages since as Pliny and Agricola tell us But I know not whether the Doctor be aware of the inconvenients which the Flint-Lime is subject unto viz. that it is nothing so good as other Lime and that in the burning of it great part of the Flint instead of being converted into Lime turneth into a kind of glassie slack The manner of Planting Timber-trees in Cornwel I Have observed a sort of Husbandry in Cornwall which I like exceedingly Namely that upon their Mounds or Fences which are high and thick banks almost like Fortifications they doe set or sow Oak or some other wood which thriveth so well that I have seen the Wood growing upon one fence that parted two Closes to be worth four or five pound This kinde of Fence doth much preserve the Land from Malignant Aires and is withall more than three times profitable beyond what that same Land the bank stands on would yeeld if the banks were taken away The best reason to be given for the well growing of this wood is the mixture of earth and great stones whereof the bank is made amongst which the Roots take so firm hold that no violence of weather can hurt them and by the same reason the roots are safe from the prejudice which other Trees receive by the suddain and unnatural suffering by heat cold moysture or drought How to hasten the growth of Timber-trees WHen any young Trees as Oak Birch Elm Ash c. but Ash especially are in their bodies about two inches diameter which they oftimes be at three or four years growth then if you take a peece of an old coat of Male or some like Net of small wyre and holding it in your palm rub it pretty hard so as you tear not the bark up and down the body of the Tree twice every year you shall find that Tree far to outstrip his fellows of the same age and kind If you ask the reason let the example of friction or seasonable rubbing or dressing in a horse or other cattle be considered which sooner be fat and fair and that with lesse provender than the like horse ill kept Note That one man may well look to three thousand and do much other businesse which is not above an half penny a year a peece but the Tree shall be better'd in its growth at least rwo pence a year As for those kind of Trees called Flanders Ashes whereof some young ones were sent for and planted in the drained Fens of Lincolnshire by Dutchmen I have it onely by relation but from able men that the charge was three shillings a Tree and that they grew so fast that at three years growth they were worth twenty shillings a peece for Timber Doctor H. spake of an Apple called the Gennet-moyle that makes the best Cyder that every slip of the Tree will grow that the Trees are great bearers and the slips will grow to bear fruit in three years Of Turky-Beans to be more frequently planted THere is a sort of Beans which grows in many parts of England namely in the Isle of Exholm in Lincolnshire that are called Turky-beans very large and yeelding a great increase to be eaten with a little butter and vineager after they are boyled shels and all they are ripe about July or later if you please and will come seasonably to succeed our Hasting-pease and if more frequently planted might be afforded cheap A Friendly Advice how a hundred and and fifty pound may be improved by Husbandry to yeeld a farre greater increase than if the said summe were imployed in a way of Usury upon Usury IN answer to your Question viz. how a Friend of yours might dispose of a hundred and fifty pound or any other summe to the best advantage I humbly tender you my opinion thus that summe may be turned and returned continually to no small advantage very many wayes I will onely instance four viz. by Sowing or Ploughing of Corn Flax Rape or by breeding or feeding of cattle any of these will almost double the summe every year For example a hundred and fifty pound will plant I mean in the most excellent way and consider also the dearnesse of the present time about forty Acres with Wheat which by the ordinary blessing of God cannot be lesse worth than eight pound one Acre with another which in all amounts to three hundred and twenty pound which again the next year according to the like account will advance it self to six hundred and forty pounds that is to say it will plant eighty Acres worth eight pound a peice at Harvest And from thence forward if you deduct one hundred pounds yearly for an increase of present maintainance Yet your stock will increase far more than by Interest upon Interest which is also nothing so just or ingenious a way of getting And if you say your friend is not a man addicted to or experienced in these wayes of Husbandry or of such employments otherwise as will not allow him to act in this way himself give me leave to say he may doe it by the assistance of some faithfull friend which is not impossible for you to find or make by those abundant obligations you use to lay upon all men such a friend as is skilful and active in these most pleasant and honest wayes To turn the same stock in Cattle will amount to near the same profit but either of the other viz. to sow Flax or Rape will be yet much more profitable and increase your present Revenue and Stock also faster Sir I humbly advise your Friend to take some one of these wayes by the help of such a Friend which shall never want the best furtherance I can give it which is my earnest prayers for an extraordinary blessing upon such honest endeavours which will in a few years and that in a way most pleasing to God and approved of good men make a very competent provision for himself and his living and leave a considerable estate to those that succeed Another friendly and more particular Advice how by a good husbandry of Rape-seed to raise an Estate or provide Portions for
extraordinary likewise on a Hop-Garden 13. Mault-dust is exceedingly good in Corn-land blood for trees also shavings of horns which are carried many miles from London for this purpose as also the dust of mault 14. Some commend very much the sweeping of a ship of salt or drossy salt and brine it 's very probable because it killeth the worms and all fertility proceedeth from salt At Nantwich they use the dross or refuse of salt for their Meadows with very good success 15. I have seen in France poor men cut up Heath and the Turf of the ground and lay them on an heap to make mould for their barren lands Brakes laid in a moist place and rotted are used much for Hop-Grounds and generally all things that will rot if they were stones would make dung 16. In New-England they fish their ground which is done thus In the spring about April there cometh up a fish to the fresh Rivers called an Alewife because of its great belly and is a kind of Shade full of bones these are caught in wiers and sold very cheap to the Planters who usually put one or two cut in pieces into the hill where their Corn is planted called Virginia-Wheat for they plant it in hills 5 Grains in an hill almost as we plant Hops in May or June for it will not endure Frosts and at that distance it causeth fertility extraordinary for two years especially the first for they have had fifty or sixty bushels on an Acre and yet plough not their Land and in the same Hills doe plant the same Corn for many years together and have good Crops besides abundance of Pompions and French or Kidney beans In the North parts of New-England where the fisher men live they usually fish their Ground with Cods-heads which if they were in England would be better imployed I suppose that when sprats be cheap men might mend their Hop-grounds with them and it would quit cost but the dogs will be apt to scrape them up as they do in New-England unless one of their legs be tyed up 17. Vrine In Holland they as carefully preserve the Cowes Vrine as the Dung to enrich their land old Vrine is excellent for the Roots of Trees Columella in his Book of Husbandry saith that he is an ill Husband that doth not make ten loads of dung for every great beast in his yard and as much for every one in his house and one load for small Beasts as Hogs This is strange Husbandry to us and I believe there are many ill Husbands by this account I know a woman who liveth five miles South of Canterbury who saveth in a paile all the droppings of the Houses I mean the Vrine and when the paile is full sprinkleth it on her Meadow which causeth the grass at first to look yellow but after a little time it grows wonderfully that many of her Neighbours wondred at it and were like to accuse her of Witchcraft 18. Woollen-rags which Hartfort-shire men use much and Oxford-shire and many other places they do very well in thin Chalky Land in Kent for two or three years It 's a fault in many places that they neglect these as also Linnen rags or Ropes-ends of the which white and brown paper is made for it 's strange that we have not Linnen-rags enough for paper as other Nations have but must have it from Italy France and Holland 19. Denshyring so called in Kent where I onely have seen it used though by the word it should come from Denbighshire is the cutting up of all the Turffe of a Meadow with an instrument sharp on both sides which a man with violence thrusts before him and then lay the Turff on heaps and when it is dry they burn it and spread it on the ground The Charge is usually four Nobles which the goodnesse of a Crop or two repayeth 20. Mixture of Lands Columella an old Writer saith that his Grandfather used to carry sand on clay and on the contrary to bring clay on sandy grounds and with good success the Lord Bacon thinking much good may be done thereby for if Chalk be good for loamy land why should not loam be good for Chalky banks 21. I may adde Enclosure as an Improvement of land not onely because that men when their grounds are enclosed may imploy them as they please but because it giveth warmth and consequently fertility There is one in London who promised to mend lands much by warmth onely and we see that if some few sticks lye together and give a place warmth how speedily that grasse will grow 22. Steeping of Grains The Ancients used to steep Beans in salt-water and in Kent it 's usuall to steep Barley when they sow late that it may grow the faster and also to take away the soil for wild Oats Cockle and all save Drake will swim as also much of the light Corn which to take away is very good If you put Pigeons-dung into the water and let it steep all night it may be as it were half a dunging take heed of steeping Pease too long for I have seen them sprout in three or four hours 23. Is the sowing of Course and cheap Grain and when they are grown to plough them in For this purpose the Ancients did use LVPINES a Plant well known to our Gardiners and in Kent sometimes Tares are sowen which when the Cattel have eaten a little of the tops they turn them in with very good Improvement for their ground Lastly To conclude I may adde as a main Deficiency that though we by experience find that all the foresaid Materials and divers others as oft-tilling Husbandry seasons c. change of Seed and Land resting of Lands fencing c. do cause Fertility yet we are very ignorant of the true causes of Fertility and know not what Chalk Ashes Dung Marle Water Air Earth Sun c. do contribute whether something Essential or Accidental Material or Immaterial Corporal or Spiritual Principal or Instrumental Visible or Invisible whether Saline Sulphureous or Mercurial or Watry Earthy Fiery Acreal or whether all things are nourished by Vapours Fumes Atoms Effluvia or by Salt as Urine Embrionate or Non specificate or by Ferments Odours Acidities or from a Chaos or inconfused indigested and unspecificated lump or from a Spermatick dampish Vapour which ascendeth from the Centre of the Earth or from the Influence of Heaven or from Water onely impregnated corrupted or fermented or whether the Earth by reason of the Divine Benediction hath an Infinite multiplicative Vertue as Fire and the Seeds of all things have or whether the multiplicity of Opinions of learned Philosophers as Aristotle Rupesc Sendivog Norton Helmont Des Cartes Digby White Plat Gla uber concerning this Subject sheweth the great difficulty of this Question which they at leasure may peruse I for my part pare not venture on this vast Ocean in my small Bark lest I be swallowed up yet if an opportunity presents shall
making deep trenches oft-mowings Chalking Liming Dunging and Ploughing I know where hungry guests Horses soon make an end of them 6. Furze Broom Heath these can hardly be so destroyed but at length they will up again for God hath given a peculiar propriety to every kind of earth to produce some peculiar kinds of Plants which it will observe even to the Worlds end unlesse by Dung Marle Chalk you alter even the very nature of the earth In Gallitia in Spaine where such barren lands do very much abound they do thus first they grub them up as clean as they can of the greater Roots and Branches they make fire-wood the smaller sticks are either imployed in fencing or else are burnt on the ground afterwards the Land being ploughed twice at least they sowe Wheat and usually the Crop is great which the Land-lord and Tenant divide according to a compact then the ground resteth and in three or four years the Furze or Brooms will recover their former growth which the painfull Husbandman grubbeth and doeth with it as formerly I set this down that you may see how laborious the Spaniard is in some places the poverty of the Countrey compelling him to it 7. There are other Inconveniences in the Land besides weeds and trumpery viz. Ill Tenures as Copy-hold Knight-service c. so that the Possessour cannot cut any Timber down without consent of the Lord and when he dyes must pay one or two years rent perhaps more because there is no certaine Fine but is at the Land-Lords mercy But these are not in the power of the poor Husbandman to remedy I therefore passe them by yet hope that in little time we shall see these Inconveniences remedied because they much discourage Improvements and are as I suppose Badges of our Norman slavery To conclude It seemeth to me very reasonable and it will be a great encouragement to laborious men to improve their barren lands if that they should have recompence for what they have done according as indifferent men should judg when they leave it as is the custome in Flaunders I have likewise observed some Deficiâ—ncies in Woods which I shall briefly declare with the best way to remedy the same 1. It 's a great fault that generally through the Island the Woods are destroyed so that we are in many places very much necessitated both for fuel and also for timber for building and other uses so that if we had Coals from Newcastle and Boards from Norwey Clap-boards Barrel-staves Wainscot and Pipe-staves from Prussia we should be brought to great extremity and many Mechanicks would be necessitated to leave their callings 2. Deficiency is that our Woods are not ordered as they should be but though Woods should be especially preserved for timber for building and shipping yet at this time it 's very rare to see a good Timber-tree in a Wood. 3. That many of our Woods are very thin and not replenished with such sorts of Woods as are convenient for the place 4. That we sell continually and never plant or take care for posterity These Deficiencies may be thus Remedyed 1. To put in execution the Statutes against grubbing of Woods which are sufficiently severe It 's well known we have good Laws but it 's better known they are not executed In the Wilde of Kent and Sussex which lies far from the Rivers and Sea and formerly have been nothing but Woods liberty is granted for men to grub what they please for they cannot want firing for themselves and they are so seated that neither fire-wood nor timber can be transported elsewhere I know a Gentleman who proffered there good Oak-timber at 6 s. 8 d. per tun and the Land in those parts in general is very good About Tunbridge there is Land which formerly was Wood is now let for 30 s. par Acre so that to keep such lands for Wood would be both losse to the owner and to the Island But in other parts of the Island it is otherwise and men are much to be blamed for destroying both timber and fuel I have seen at Shooters-hill near London some Woods stubbed up which were good ground for Wood but now are nothing but furze which is a great losse both to the owner and to tbe Countrey For the Land is made worse then it was formerly I conceive there are Lands which are as naturally ordained for Woods viz. Mountainous Craggy uneven-land as small hills for â—he Vines and Olives plain lands for Corn and low moist lands for Pasture which lands if they be stubbed do much prejudice the Common-wealth 2. That all Woods should have such a Number of Timber-trees per Acre according to the Statute There is a good Law for that purpose but men delude both themselves and the law that they every Felling cut down the standers which they left the felling before lest perchance they should grow to be Timber and leave twelve small Standers that they might seem to fulfil in some measure the Statute but it 's a meer falacy and causeth the Statute to fail of it's principal end which is to preserve Timber 3. The best Remedy against thinnesse of Woods is to plash them and spread them abroad and cover them partly in the ground as every Countrey-man can direct by this means the Wood will soon grow rough and thick It 's good Husbandry likewise to fill your Woods with swift growers as Ashes Sallow Willow Aspe which are also good for Hop-poles Hoops Sycamore is also a swift grower In Flaunders they have a kind of Poplar called by them Abell-tree which speedily groweth to be timber 4. That some Law be made that they which fell should also plant or sowe In Bisâ—ay there is a Law if that any cut down a Timber-tree he must plant three for it which law is put into execution with severity otherwise they would soon be undone for the Countrey is very mountainous and barren and dependeth wholly on Iron Mines and on Shipping their Woods are not copsed there but onely Pollards which they lop when occasion serveth I know one who was bound by his Land-Lord to plant so many Trees yearly which according he did but alwayes in such places that they might not grow In France near to the Borders of Spain they sowe Ashkey which when they grow to such a greatnesse that they may be slit into four quarters and big enough to make Pikes then they cut them down and I have seen divers Acres together thus planted hence come the excellent Pikes called Spanish-Pikes Some Gentlemen have sown Acâ—rus and it 's a good way to increase Woods Though the time is long I doubt not but every one knoweth that it 's excellent to plant Willows along the waters side and Ashes nigh their houses for firing for they are good pieces of Husbandry and it 's pity that it 's not more put in practise There is a Gentleman in Essex who hath planted so many Willows that he may lop 2000
somewhat dangerous therefore Gardiners do use very much Nux vomica which may be had every where with a little butter but take heed of the Dogs Moals likewise do much hurt both to Corn and Pasture and are too much neglected though they may easily be destroyed either with a Moal-spade or by finding their Nests in March which usually are in some extraordinary hills or else by putting a deep pot 〈◊〉 the earth where they run a clicketting in the Spring or by a Moal-trap which the Gardiners frequently use about London c. Also it were good to destroy the Birds called Tom-tits which are great enemies to Bees and fruit Sparrows Finches Snayl Warms c. 7. I cannot but adde to this place the failings in divers particulars in respect of some particular places viz. the planting of Saffron which is very well performed in some parts of Essex Cambridge c. yet altogether unknown in Kent though there are Lands both white and red as they call them with plenty of dung very proper for that purpose and yet this commodity is excellent and further I can adde as a Deficiency that I have never seen nor heard of any thing written on this Subject to any purpose 2. The planting of Hops concerning which Scot in Queen Elizabeths days wrote an excellent Treatise to the which little or nothing hath been added though the best part of an hundred years are since past and much experienced in this kind amongst us for though many fine Gardens have been planted in the Southern parts yet the Northern are deficient so that often-times we are necessitated to have great quantities from Flaunders 3. Liquorice is much planted about Pomfract in York-shire and about London but little that I hear of else-where so that we are sometimes beholding to Spain for it 4. Would is sown in divers parts of Kent not much in other places therefore we are oft beholding to the Western Isles for it 5. Wade which is abundantly sown about Coventry and yet in Kent thought to be a forraign Commodity this is of excellent use and deserveth to be sown every where I might here also adde Madder which is very necessary and scarcely sown any where as also Canary-seeds Carnways which are abundantly sown about Sandwich and Deal in Kent also Rape Cole-seeds c. whose oyl is of great use also of Fruit-trees Gardening Hemp Flax but of these I have largely discoursed before 21. Deficiency is by reason of our sins we have not the blessing of the Lord upon our labours And this the reason that although the Husbandman hath been laborious and diligent in his calling these last years yet our Crops have been thin his Cattel swept away and scarcity and famine hath siezed on all parts of this Land and if we had not been supplyed from abroad we had quite devoured all the creatures of this Island for our sustenance and yet we could not be satisfied but must have devoured one another And therefore to conclude though I desire the Husbandman to be diligent and laborious in his calling yet I counsel him to break off his sins by Repentance to have his eye towards him who is the Giver of every good thing and to pray daily to him for his blessings who giveth freely to them that ask and upbraideth not And although all callings ought to look up to him that is on high yet the Countrey-man especially for he hath a more immediate dependance on him then any other for if the Lord with-hold his fat dew from Heaven or the former or latter Rain it is in vain that the Husbandman rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness for we know that it is the Lord that maketh barren places fruitful and he likewise that turneth fruitful Lands into barrenness as the Land of Canaan which was very fruâ—tful even in the time of the Canaanites but now a barren desart and therefore I again desire the Countrey-man to walk as it becometh a Christian in all Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness not to trust or put his confidence in his own labours and good Husbandry but on the Lord that hath made all things for though even Paul himself doth plant and Apollo doth water yet it is only the Lord that giveth increase and plenty which he will not deny to those that fear him for they shall want nothing that is good Lastly for a Corollary I will adde though it doth not so much concern the Husbandman as those of greater Power and Authority That it is a great Deficiency in England that we do not magazine or store up Corn when the Lord sendeth us plenty and therefore at cheap rates as Joseph did in Egypt against dear years for then the Grain is purest the perfectest without Smut Mildew Shrankness or other imperfections and is the best for long preservation this is much used in Poland Dantrigk Italy Holland c. and is found of wonderful importance By this means Holland which soweth little or no Corn seldome or never feeleth a famine though it be incredibly populous and for want of this good policy England which many years aboundeth with Corn is sore bitten therewith as is manifest in these last years in which had not our Neighbours wisely and politickly provided for us we should have famished and devoured one another Further This storing of Corn will save vast Sums of money which in dear years are exported for bread and also well ballance the price of Corn so that the honest Husbandman needs not murmure and be discouraged because that the price is low and Markets scant in plentiful years because then the Magazins are to be restored nor the Artizans be famished by the excessive rate of bread in dear years for then the Magazines are to be exhausted The best way for the wise carrying on of this businesse the Politicians must lay forth but that belongs not to our calling Yet I shall here as I have done in former things gâ— some general hints and leave the rest to those who are wiser And first The City of London which is the mouth of the Island and as I am credibly informed by Meal-men spendeth about 5000 Quarters of Wheat weekly and I suppose it cannot do lesse considering there cannot be lesse then 600000 people therein and about viz. at least an hundred thousand in the 97 Parishes within the Walls and four times as many without the Walls as appeareth by the Bills of Mortality and at least an hundred thousand strangers of all sorts which proportion is lesse then four l. of bread the week for one this place ought I say to have a considerable Magazine for three or six months something hath been done in this kind by our fore-fathers as appeareth by the particular store-houses of the private Companies which store-houses ought to be augmented in number as the Companies yearly are and also the Quantity of Grain because the City daily grows more populous 2. I
for this material which whether it be to be referred to Terra Creta Lapides c. I will not here dispute but also for that sort of Lead over which the Dutch call glack or glittering as the Black-lead much used by the Potters for nealing as the Animadversor call it or rather for leading their pots which is abundantly found in some parts of Wales and is fusible in the Potters fire which the other black-lead is not neither doth it naturally contain any fusible Mettal or Mineral as I have proved I think it likewise not amiss to certifie that in New-England this Material is found in divers places as at Nashaway about forty miles from Boston as also on Pequat River about eighty miles from Boston this last was given from the Court of Boston to a friend of yours and mine viz. Mr. John Winthrop this Gentleman sent divers pieces thereof to me that I might enquire of some Dutch Merchants what price it bare in Holland and how much might be vendible which accordingly I did and also shewed it to the two Gentlemen above named who were very inquisitive where I had it and how much might be procured thereof and desired that I would leave one of the greater pieces with them that they might try it which I did and the next morning enquiring again what they said to my black lead they told me it was nothing worth because it would not endure the Saw they hoping as I after found to have had enough for to have furnished Europe with black Combs which are very rare and dear a small one usually sold at twenty or thirty shillings My friend Mr. W. hoped that this material had been Plumbago Cisalpini which he also calleth Mater Argenti But I suppose in this particular he was mistaken yet upon Examination we found pure silver amongst it which by calculation might amount to 15 l. per tun though the black lead sent me was found onely on the surface of the earth I am the longer on this discourse because this material hath been little considered as yet by learned men that I can find and also because my friend would be glad to have some ingenious men to joyn with him in a Work which hath very great probabilities of very great profit to the undertakers The common uses of black-lead are first to make black-lead pens for Mathematicians c. 2. For Painters and Limners 3. For those that work in Copper to make their hammer go glib And lastly if any great pieces be found which is rare in Cumberland Mine to make Combes of them because they discolour gray hairs and make black hair of a Raven-like or glittering blacknesse much desired in Italy Spain c. But I cannot believe that the Potters use it for nealing their pots as the Animadversor saith because it is altogether infusible To the second Letter of the Animadversor FIrst I see the Animadversor is offended though I hope without just cause that I quote Glauber and Helmont as men of learning and credit I know that learned Writers scorn to quote Neotericks but I hope without offence I may because I only meddle with the plough a rude and poor instrument and Agriculture is commonly thought to require little learning or judgement and being unlearned my self will not follow the Customes of those whom the World count profound and judicious 2. The Authours above mentioned are in good repute with divers whom I suppose learned 3. They have laboured and experimented much as all men know to find out the truth and to advance the Common-wealth of learning Some imperfections I impute to humane frailties old age c. And I should be glad to see a solid answer to Helmont who hath thrown down both Aristotles Philosophy and Galenâ— Physick and as yet I have not seen any man who hath in any measure vindicated their old Masters Further I should rejoyce to see an experimental Philosopher confute Glaubers Experiments by experience till this be done I cannot but account them ingenious men and well deserving of the Commonwealth of Learning and I cannot but account it robbery or at least great ingratitude to take any thing out of a learned Authour and not to acknowledge it but to the particular Exceptions The Army disease saith Helmont came into France as also smutting of Corn 1530. And the first seemeth to have proceeded from the latter also at this time the Pox raged which might also have some augmentation from this corruption of Corn. Although it never was my intention to defend other mens paradoxes yet I cannot but so far defend him as to shew that what is here spoken hath considerable probabilities for truth And first That the Smuttiness of Corn and the Army disease came both together in France I am much mistaken if the French History do not report the same and the Animadversor seemeth to grant it As for the Pox it broke forth violently at Naples 1594. in the French Army as Helmont and Historians affirm and was even then in some measure dispersed in Franse but after this smuttiness of Corn it might exceedingly more abound As the Plague in London oftentimes lurks in divers corners many years but breaketh not forth violently usually but after scarcity by the which the humors of the body are more corrupted by ill dyet But be it this or no I will not further dispute but will affirm thus much that it is not an absurd and foolish conjecture to say that the Army my disease might proceed from smuttiness of Corn they both invading France at the same time but the most probable I have yet seen especially if that other part be added viz. The bodye corrupted with the pox for I have oft seen in Italy an ordinary â—eaver in such bodyes to be at length not much unlike the fore-mentioned disease and this is that Helmont especially drives at in his Book de peste where he mentioneth only the Pox by the by and who knows not that the corruptions of the aliments somtimes produce even the plague and I think that the corruption of the best aliments as bread and which are in most use with us causeth the worst Epidemical diseases to the which Hippocrates seemeth to allude where he saith Corruptio panis pessima and it is also too well known that we who have within these few score of years altered very much our dyet and customes as by bringing in of hops into our drink 2. Using abundance of Sack which in Queen Elizabeths dayes was sold in the Apothecaries shops 3. By using of Sugar Currants and other sweet things abundantly 4. By taking Tobacco in smoak 5. By using Sea-coals abundantly in London and through the Countrey 6. By using frequently Dyet-drinks Purgations Vomits Blood-letting Issues which were scarcely known to our forefathers 7. I may adde the living altogether on flesh which in the times of Popery we did not I say have caused not onely great alterations in our wills and dispositions but
the Barley is reaped the same year the Rye or Wheat groweth little till the Barley is off then it will grow thick like grasse all the winter and next year it is reaped it groweth so thick that an horse â—an scarce get through it out of one grain come thirty or forty ears a man on horseback can scarce look over it and the Farmer reapeth an hundred for one by this you may see that what I say is not onely true but also much practised and that with incredible profit and to me the reasons are manifest for the advantages of early sowing are these First The lesser quantity of Seed is necessary Secondly The Corn is well grown and strong before the Winter and therefore more able to endure the nipping frosts which oft killeth Corn newly come up Thirdly It getteth advantage in the Spring of weeds grass wild oats c. which choak much Corn the ground being stocked with Corn so that there is no room for them to grow I know one who having his ground over-run with weeds and wild-oats by sowing Rye early had very good and clear corn But some will object that the strength of the Corn and Ground is exhausted thereby To these I answer First They do not consider the even infinite power of living creatures who will infinitely increase if nourishment fail not as fire will if wood be laid to it and that without wearisomnesse by vertue as I suppose of the divine Benediction in them 2. They are ignorant of the Causes of fertility for I suppose that straw or blade exhausteth ground no more then the boughes and leaves of Trees do which we see is little or nothing in wood continually lopt but to know the true cause of fertility I account difficult yet shall briefly declare some thoughts of mine concerning it in another place Animadversor His Philosophy concerning Moor-logs no wayes receivable JN Moorish places two sorts of wood are found One very black like Ebony and it is a kind of Oak Another sort lesse black or dusky and is a kind of Pine or Fir. In the North of England I have seen it sold publickly being slit in small pieces to light Tobacco it 's not unlike the wood which in New-England is called Candle-wood or Pitch-pine Concerning the blacknesse of these woods I say that it proceedeth from the turfy earth wherein these Trees lye which earths and all other earths as I suppose and subterrany things in their proper places hath an innate power to transmute other extraneous things into their own nature many examples of this hind we see in nature to instance onely in putrifying spirits or juces which transmute not onely wood but also shels bones mettals into their strong nature without destroying the external form so I say this earth endeavoureth to alter or change these Trees into it's turfy nature and I suppose it hath already changed as I suppose the smaller boughs into it's nature and introduced some indispositions into the greater wood for this earth hath a peculiar and more manifest faculty of multiplying then other earths have for when it is exhausted it groweth again as I have heard of divers worthy of credit if so be the water be kept on it all winter and permitted to run forth in the Spring which good Husbandry I have seen practised in divers places and further every one observeth that it presently stops the Channels and Ditches which are cut through this kind of earth and therefore from the Vapours Fumes or Effluvia call them what you will for I think all multiplicative Acts to proceed from such spiritual things and not from bodies and of this earth doth this alteration or blacknesse of the wood proceed as in putrification is seen and not as in putrifaction for the wood is strong firm and oft used for boards and building as to explain my self Smoak will discolour any thing that is long hung up in it but in this there is a vital active multiplicative Energy which worketh not by putrifaction which in smoak is wanting that the Pine is not so soon changed as the Oak it is because it is of a more resinous or oyl nature Pitch Rosin and Turpentine being made out of such Trees and therefore it is not so easily penetrated This is in briefe my Philosophy concerning Moonlog if I am in an errour I will thank him that shall shew me the truth Animadversor Too credulous to Glauber who will make Beer without malting c. Aqua-vitae c. out of Haws Canker-berries c. TO which I answer That Beer may be made of Wheat Barley Pease c. unmalted I question not for it is ordinay to adde Wheat ground or Beans with Malt to make the Beer stronger and with good successe Also Cromer in his Description of Poland saith that they oft make Beer of Wheat ground c. yea I know that Potatoes maketh excellent drink in Barbadoes also in New-England the stalks of Virginian wheat as it is usually called Squashes or Gourds Pumpions boyled make considerable drink Parsnips make that which is accounted rare therefore much more the Grains above mentioned But the great question is Whether Wheat Barley c. malted or unmalted will make most and best Beer or Aqua-vitae Glauber affirms he knows how to make more of Corn unmalted then malted which though I will not positively maintain yet I suppose that I can make it appear that it is not onely possible but probable it is so by divers Arguments besides Glaubers testimony for First An ingenious Chymist of my acquaintance altogether unacquainted with Glauber and his writings hath affirmed to me that he hath oft experimented it and hath proffered wagers even to Brewers concerning this Also De La Brosse Physician to the King of France and Keeper of the Royal Garden at Paris affirmeth that out of twenty of Wheat fermented his way he can draw forth no lesse then three pints and a Chopin of excellent Aqua-vitae which is above three English pottles more by far then any will undertake to draw out of the like quantity of Wheat maulted and further it is without question that some of the vertue of the Barley is drawn away by steeping in water for oft the water at the bottom is very red and also by the sprouting for that usually is dryed up and goes away into dust onely used for the enriching of Corn Lands and further the difference between the weight of Barley and Mault is very considerable Mault being lighter then Barley as I have tryed by a fourth part or thereabout which is certainly a diminution of the flower or strength for the husk is the same in both Further what good this fermenting or maulting doth further then to soften the Grain and make it spungy so that the liquor may more easily penetrate and liquefie the flower or nutritive part thereof into a sweet juice which juice after by fermentation or working doth more seperate it selfe from the grosser parts
Royal Garden at Paris as difficulty preserved in Mompelier Garden as Oranges Olives c. are preserved in the cold Countries As for occult proprieties of the earth for Sympathyes and Antipathies secret influences of Planets benigne aspect c. I understand them not but dare boldly affirm if I have a convenient Clime and a Soil correspondent to the nature of the Plant to cause any plant to thrive and prosper and this we see by experience that if Rye c. be sown in a dry sandy ground whether in Poland England New-England which are many thousand miles distant yet it will thrive and prosper sic de ceteris As for Astrology to the which all in these dayes are too prone even Gardiners and Husbandmen will be talking of the dark of the Moon and of the increase and decrease of the Solar and Lunar Ecclipses and accordingly dispose of their seasons of times to their great damage for I my self even by experience have found folly in these things for things sown in the great Ecclipses both of the Sun and Moon have thriven as well as other things in the decrease as well as in the increase and therefore wish all men to sow their seeds when the season appointed is come without such vain observations For this Art for what I can perceive is no way demonstrable à priori for who can prove 12 Signes Fiery Watery Domus Planetarum Dignitates c. which are the main pillars of this Art and à posteriori by calculations it is made more uncertain for though much is undertaken by divers yet little is effected many untruths for one truth and little prognosticated but what a prudent man without advising with the Stars may foresee In brief I will declare my rude thoughts which perhaps will at length be found truths for light breaketh forth a pace In the beginning the wise Creator made two great Lights for the use of this Sphere of the World the Sun and Moon the Sun to enlighten and to warm and refresh all things and to rule the day the Moon to rule the night and to be for the distinguishing of times and seasons the Sun being the Center imparts his light to the Earth and Moon also to Venus and Mercury for they are found by the Selnescope to increase and decrease as the Moon doth and also it is probable to Mars and Jupiter and Saturn and scarce further for the power of all created things are finite as the Moon being nighest reflects its light on us so its probable that the Earth illuminates the Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn have their Lunars or small Stars moving about them which have lately been discovered the Ancient knew not thereof which its probable are for the distinguishing of times and seasons for the Inhabitants of those parts Those which we call the fixt Stars are very great many of which because of their great distance cannot be discovered but by the Glass called the Telescope and therefore surely have little operation upon us who are in another Sphere so far distant from them and amongst these its probable some are Solar bodies because of their twinckling others terrestrial which are replenished with creatures endued with life by the fountain of life which creatures do as the creatures in this earth continually set forth the infinite Greatnesse Glory Mercy and Goodnesse of the Creator and these words are even infinite for the infinite Creator hath made an infinite Work worthy of so great a Workman transcending the narrow capacity of frail mans intellect and if things be thus Astrology is vain c. but I wonder some will say toto Coelo but it s no matter ad propositum Animadversor He is much mistaken if he think that those things reckoned up page 82. will prosper in England especially Ryce Cork Scarlet Oak I answer Perhaps not much mistaken things far improbable have succeeded and again I aver that I believe they will and shall believe so till experience prove the contrary And first for Rice which first came from Babylon and the East-Indyes and is in those places their usual bread where they have usually two or three Crops every year yet we see it can condiscend now to grow in the North parts of Italy in Lombardy yea it hath stept over the Mountains and is come even as far as Tours which is in the midst of France where it growth and especially delighteth in moist morish grounds also if may believe Parkinson a good and painfull Botanick either Rice or some thing so like Rice that he puts it in the same Chapter with it grows in Germany and therefore I question not but we in England might have one good Crop of this Grain in our Morish Land yearly for the reasons that this will thrive with us to me are more strong then that Coriander Sweet-fennel Caraway Canary-grass the Great-Cane c. will thrive and yet these of late begin to flourish with us very well Cork-tree I very little question the growth of this For first these trees grow abundantly in Biscay a Countrey far colder then England where the Summers also scarcely mature the grapes Likewise they grow in the North of New-England at Parcato-way Further that Tree is a great hardy bearing Acorns and leaves like to an Oak that one may easily be deceived by it and mistake it for the common Oak Scarlet Oak I hope I shall make it very probable that even this also may flourish in our Isle In Latine it is called Ilex of which there are divers sorts Some greater some less some more some less beautiful the greater sort which indeed beareth little of the Chermes groweth very well in England to a great Tree and beareth Acorns one of which I have seen at Whitehall-Gate 2. Master Parkinson reporteth that in New-England and Virginia c. The smaller Ilex which is fruitful of Chermes if it be cultivated groweth naturally 3. This Scarlet Oak groweth not onely in Languedock and the hotter parts of France but I have seen it also in Paris royal Garden grow without much art or industry 4. Divers Plants though at first they difficultly thrive yet when they are habituated to the Countrey and to cast their seed there thrive well Thus I have observed that Virginia Wheat at first difficultly thrived in New-England but the seed that matured there the next year flourished very well the same I observed of Wheat brought from England of water Melon seed brought from the Western Islands the like I observe in Ireland of Oats and Barley sown before December the Winter kills much but what endureth and ripeneth is hardened for the next Winter and flourisheth c. 5. There may perhaps other Species be found of this Scarlet Oak more proper for our Climate and I remember that on the barren plains in New-England I have seen growing even every where a small Oak seldom above two foot high yet laden with small Acorns which are indifferent good to
report for I know they are apt to make Molchils Mountames c. in the Interim I shall acquiesce in my own opinion Animadversor England hath a perfect Systeme of Husbandry viz. Markham He speaketh more of Markham than ever I heard before or as yet have seen In general he is accounted little more than a Translator unless about Cattle and yet I cannot but in that question his skill Considering how grosly he mistaketh the names of Plants The works which I have seen of his are first the great book translated out of French which whether well or ill done I will not declare but I am sure our Husbandmen in England profit little by it Secondly I have seen five several bookes bound up together two or three of which he acknowledgeth to be anothers as The Improvement of the Wild of Kent also his Houswifery he acknowledgeth to have had from a Countess also part of his Farewell is borrowed and what he owneth if I have seen all are very short in many particulars as it will easily appear by my former discourse and Blithes book of Husbandry lately augmented and printed Yea if I understand any thing he setteth down many gross untruths which every Countryman will contradict viz. That Flax is ripe after Hemp That Corn sleept in Brine encreaseth fivefold more than ordinarily That Lupin must be steeped when they were never sown in England He wisheth Husbandmen to let long Grass grow amongst their Corn for saith he it keepeth it warm Fullers earth as profitable as Marle A sack or a sack and a half of Rags for an Acre Corn reapt in the wane nought Hops not to be planted in too rich a ground One Teame in one day to plough in stiffe land two Acres and a half in light four Also one to man to mow two Acres of Grass in a day to reap and bind five rood of Wheat of Fetches and Pease two Acres Also one man to dig rake and level one rood the day c. And such like which cannot be done But I have said and doe confirme it again that he hath done well in divers things and is to be commanded for his industry Animadversor The Romane Law was onely for sining c. My expression doth not necessarily conclude that ill husbandry is Crimen Lesâ— Majestatis or Treason but that the punishment was inflicted on them because the publick received damage by their ill husbandry being averse or contrary to the common good Animadversor Holy Land not barren Royer Our Sands reporteth it such and so it is commonly voted but whether through a peculiar curse of God or for want of Cultivation for we know that many hils would be very excellent for Vines and Olives which notwithstanding are little worth for Corn or Pasture c. I will not here dispute Concerning Fish-ponds Angling c. I could wish we had a good Treatise in English Vaughan was commended to me for them but I have not read him and therefore will not speak much for him c. Thus at length I have run over all if any thing be impertinent as I fear divers things are I desire you to expunge it An Observation concerning a Fish-Calender imparted from Zurich 11. Nov. 1654. There is an exact Fish-Calender printed in the Low-Country but whether it be reprinted every year I cannot tell I was enquiring here whether they had no such curiosity One told me that there is a Catalogue extant of all the sorts of Fish ever taken in their Lake or Sea as they call it When I asked whether their seasons were not added he could not tell But said that in their Stat-house they have the twelve Months painted and that under every Month are expressed in picture without any names set by them the several sorts of Fish fit to be then eaten I have not since had leisure to go see those pictures If any think this a needless or an Epicurean Curiosity let them read Doctor Bâ—ates Natural History of Ireland where he imputes the Irish Leprosie to their brutish eating of Salmons when the very eye would have made them know they were unwholsom But saith he the English having discovered it did under a penalty forbid the selling or taking of Salmons at that time of the yeare whereupon in a few years after it was as rare to finde a Leper in Ireland as in any other Country A Copy of the Letter wherein the following Discourse entituled Mercurius Laetisicans was sent enclosed to Mr. Samuel Hartlib SIR YOur cordial love to the kingdoms good being so clearly expressed to the world not onely by your pen but also by your constant practise in promoting of all good designes which tend to the general good of the Commonwealth hath emboldened me to send you this enclosed Copy desiring that you will be pleased to take care that it may be forthwith printed and published together with this Letter Neither need you fear any dishonour by promoting of this laudable design for I have shewed the Copy to the Learned as well as the unlearned to the rich as well as the poor and all approve of it and desire to have it as soon as it shall be published They think it is a fine experiment to make good bread of an old shooe And though they differ in opinion concerning other affairs yet they all love to eat bread with one consent and if they shall agree to practise according to their profession which is to doe their best endeavours to further the good of the publick then certainly the cards will turn and we shall win our money again by concord which we have lost by discord yea and twice as much more And though many of these things which I would have to be put to the best uses seem to be trivial that is for want of understanding in the Readers for in Genoa as I have been credibly informed it is an usual practise to buy barren land for little or nothing and to carry good earth to it and cover it so deep as a spade or a plough may work upon it but this practise would never counter vail the first charge unless they did usually practise another strange work which is so common there that if an horse or a beast doe dung in any street or high-way it is a marvel if some boy or girle doe not take it up before it he cold so carefull are they that the fertility of the Kingdom should not be diminished And though these boyes and girles get nothing but sinnes and points or some other trifles yet in the general the whole Countrey is made rich and plentifull Even as we see in a Bee-hive though every Bee bring but a drop of honey at a time yet it maketh up a weighty mass and many of those masses put together do make up the great masse which I have seen at Sturbridge Fayre which is able to amaz a man that beholdeth it When this Book is published then I desire you to
think of the best way you can possibly imagine that all the Inhabitants of the whole kingdom may have knowledge of it generally for knowledge that concerneth the publick good ought not to be concealed in the breasts of a few As for the large Book to which this little one hath relation there is no thinking of publishing of it till we have obtained a Committee to examine witnesses and to print their Depositions in it for Projectors have cast so many bitter things into the publick Fountain whereof all have drunk and their minds are so poysoned that that there is no other way to unpoyson them but to win their belief and willingness to practise but such depositions of Gentlemen of quality which know the same as well as I my self and some of them have taught me and I have taught others several Secrets and some few I know my self still and no man else in the Kingdom for ought that can be proved all which reserved Knowledge in particular breasts is against the Wealth of the Publick and therefore ought to be made common to all or else this Design cannot prosper nor the Kingdom flourish according to my desire As for your particular Encouragement I need say no more but that by furthering of this friendly Advertisement and the perfecting of the Books to which it belongeth you shall become a Further of the most Charitable Design that is now on foot in England besides the great and manifold Benefit that shall redound thereby to the Commonwealth For I dare undertake that by the right Improvement of the several Directions and Experiments that shall be discovered you shall undoubtedly cause more naked to be cloathed more hungry to be fed more poor Virgins to be preferred in marriage than Suttons hospital the Savoy or all the Hospitals or Liberal Gifts in England have ever performed So I rest Westminster this 14 of May. 1644. Your Bounden Servant Gabriel Plattes Mercurius Laetisicans WHen I perused the several Mercuries which goe abroad to wit Mercurius Civicus Merc. Aulicus Merc. Britanicus Merc. Coelicus Merc. Veridicus Merc. Vapulans c. I was sorry that so much Wit Labour and Study should be so slighted and produce no better effect for I have seen them before they were a week old to be carelesly hurled up and down and sometimes torn in peeces to light Tobacco and other uses not sit to be named Whereupon I resolved to try a Conclusion to write a Mercurie that no man should so abuse but he that is an enemy to himself and to the Common-wealth And therefore I have ordered the matter so that no man in the Kingdome which hath so much learning as to read it or so much understanding as to hear it read with attention but he may learn to gain a thousand times the price of it to himself besides the general good to the Publick But before I tell my Readers what lasting and particular Benefit they are to expect if they will follow those Directions which shall be given them by the following Discourse Let all men that love themselves or â—he Common-wealth and Posterity take special notice of a certain Book of Husbandry intituled The Treasure Hoâ—se of Nature unlocked and sâ—t wide open to the world c. where they may plainly see that as God is infinite and men are infinite by propagation so the fruits of the Earth for their food and cloathing are infinite if men will consent to put to their helping hands to this commendable Design The summe of the Book consisteth in shewing how this Kingdom may maintain double the number of people which it doth now and in farre greater plenty Containing many rare Secrets for the Wealth of Men and such as will seem so strange and incredible to most men that they will be likely to slight it to the great prejudice of the Common-wealth Whereupon I am resolved to wait the Lord of Heaven and Earths leasure till such time as he shall be graciously pleased to afford so much leasure to the high and honourable Court of Parliament to hear such Witnesses as I shall produce to the end that the Depositions being printed in the same Book every Subject in the Kingdome as well in great Cities and Towns Corporate as in the Country may be satisfied concerning the truth thereof and so be more apt to yeeld unanimous consent which is all that is wanting for the full accomplishment of this laudable work And I wish no man to think that this is a device to exhaust his purse for the truth is I wrote the same for no other cause but because I saw that all those Books which were formerly written upon this subject were written by men which had not attained to any considerable Perfection in the Knowledge of Nature and such as had but a glimmering light of such great Secrets as Nature hath heretofore locked up in her Store-house and so were ignorant in the fundamental points and causes of Vegetation and Multiplication Whereupon I concluded that the Teachers and the Teached were nothing else but the blind leading of the blind by which we all fell into the ditch I mean we lived in want and misery when we might might more easily have lived in plenty and prosperity As for the particular way whereby this wonderful Improvement may be brought to passe here is no room in these few leaves therefore I will only shew how every one in the Kingdom as well in great Cities as in the Country Towns may be an helper in this happy work and raise some considerable gain to himself and that great Cities which in former times devoured the fatness of the whole Kingdom may yeeld a considerable retribution yearly without any mans prejudice so that tht fertility of the Countrey needs not be so much diminished as in former times And therefore every one is desired to take this one thing into consideration that as any parcel of good land being kept in Pasture and having the dung which it breedeth spent upon it doth continue fertile for ever without any other addition so the excrements and materials which any family produceth being wel contrived will produce yearly as much bread and drink as that family spendeth for ever But the better to stir up all poor maid-servants to put their helping hand let them be pleased to understand that I taught a poor woman to get three pounds a year which she hath continued many years without any considerable labour or neglecting her other occasions and thus she practised When she washed and swept rooms at her neighbours houses instead of casting many materials to the common dunghil she took them home with her at night and laid them in a corner and once a year she sold them for above three pound Besides she laid aside every year as many linnen rags as yeelded her forty shillings and her labour in receiving her five pounds from the Bargeman or thereabout every year was a most as much as all
fatnesses is gratefull to humane nature the other is offensive for the avoyding of which inconvenience I know none better than to let the dung be fully putrified and turned into earth without stnking before it be mingled with the Corn or Seeds And this may be done by my former Inventions in such sort that there may be above forescore pounds in the hundred saved in the Compost of all the Arable land in England There are three causes why people in the Country live longer and have better health than those that live in great Cities The first is the aire is more pure and wholsome The second is their food doth not abound so much with the fatness and sulphur which is apt to putrifaction and to contaminate the blood The third is their much exercise doth evacuate that part of their nutriment which is ungrateful to humane nature The contrary to all these is in great Cities where the aire dyet and exercise are so much different the effect doth shew the cause very clear so that there need no other or further philosophation concerning the same If any man doubt whether vegetables draw the corruptible or stinking sulphur or fatness which lyeth within the reach of their attractive virtue let him behold the places where beasts have lately dunged in Pastures and he shall finde that there the grasse is more sowre and gistastfull to the Beasts and Cattle The eleventhâ— Experiment wherein is shewed how rich Compost may be made in great Cities of things formerly cast away The water wherein Fishmongers water their Fish being made as salt as it will bear with the foul salt in the sweeping of ships salt Lime great Larders and other such places being boyled in Butchers slaughter-houses when their beasts are to be killed and the blood let run warm unto it being likewise hot it will not clodder but will be admirable good liquor to imbibe good Wheat earth whereby it may be made the richest Compost in the world to fill the holes where Wheat or Barley is set for that one bushel of this earth is sufficient to be mingled with three or four bushels of the earth of the land it self by which means great charge is saved in the carriage it selfe by reason that a little quantity will work a great effect Saltpeter for some grounds is more apt and cheaper though the price be greater for a little quantity will work a great effect especially where the land is hot and dry by nature Saw-dust is excellent to mingle with earth to fill the holes where Corn is set in strong binding clay ground Also shavings of horn hoofs of all beasts hair of beasts woollen rags chapped small are admirable Shavings of horn are now usually sold in London for three shillings and six pence a sack for the same purpose also woollen rags for two shillings a sack As for hoofs of beasts hair and Tanners horns may be putrified in good Arable wheat earth being kept dry from rain and then the earth and all together is the richest Compost in the world to be used for the filling of the holes where Wheat is set Also all other composts whatsoever mentioned in this book are the most wholsomest for mans body and most effectual for producing of great encrease if they be thus ordered The twelfth Experiment wherein is shewed how any Kingdom may live in great prosperity with half the trouble and charge which now they sustain and yet live in adversity It is found by experience that where there is a good Council of War there the kingdom is well defended and where there is good regularity in Divinity there the soul is preserved from sickness Why should it not be so for the state temporal if a council of Husbandry was erected whereupon the happiness of all kingdoms doth depend Surely if a certain number of the best experienced men were deputed for this purpose who might regulate the rest it would produce a great perfection in that knowledge which as it is the most ancient of all Sciences so it is the most excellent and honourable for that by it all Princes live and no Inferiour person can possibly live without it The Plebeans are like those in Ireland who will not lay aside their old custom to draw their horses by the tayls though an Act be made against it nor lay aside the burning their Corn in the straw to save the labour of thrashing though their houses lye unthatched I have known some Parsons in Parishes which have been skilful in Agriculture and have been excellent Improvers of land and some that were good physitians and have done much good in their Country that way I have also known some Landlords qualified with the same skils and certainly if all were so it would conduce greatly to the prosperity of a Kingdome for the greatest profit would redound to those two sorts of men yet may the marter be easily ordered so that the rest might live in twice as much prosperity as now they do and though they were doubled in number for I have known many men to live better with 30. acres of land than others have done with an hundred of acres and if need require I can shew where one acre of land hath been worth two hundred pound per an by being planted with Mellons and a whole family have lived well upon it and gathered riches If the course of Husbandry were regulated in this manner viz. That no man should occupy any land in Pasture whose fertility may perpetually be encreased by the means of water though the hay growing thereupon were totally spent to produce dung for the fertilizing of high grounds Also that no man should occupy any land in Tillage whose fertility may be perpetually increased in Pasture by having the same dung spent upon them which they yeeld naturally Also that no man should Till any other land but such high and barren land as is not able to fertilize it selfe and should make use of my several Inventions for the enriching of the same Then would there be left but little barren land in England in a short space whereby all the premises in this twelfth Experiment might be easily performed A friend of mine did search divers Register books in several Parishes in England he also searched the Parsons bookes of Tythes and found that where Arable land as turned into Pasture there were fewer Christnings and many more tyth Lambs and tyth Calves whereby he discovered a kinde of Witchcraft which is to turn men into beasts To dissolve this Witchcraft there is no other way but to goe the contrary way and whereas the Landlord found more gain in the increasing of sheep and beasts than formerly he found in the increasing of people to shew a way how more gain may accrew to the Landlord by the increase of people than formerly he found in the increase of beasts and surely this is no hard task for if the peoples employments be well regulated there will come more
Acres did yeeld me in one year which was the last year fourscore pound Hen. Cruttenden A Letter from Upton 11 April 1653. Concerning the Husbandry of clover-seed SIR UNtill now I could not be so throughly informed by the party that writes the inclosed what he hath found in his several ways of practise to be the best way and time for sowing this Clover-grass seed and how and where I might be furnisht with the best and best cheap which hath retarded this my thankfull answer to your kind Letter Mr. W. shewed me some that he sowed last year thin amongst other good English hay dust upon bare rubbish earth in North-hampton where he had demolished some of the Bulwarks Which now is throughly covered and hath a full fresh bite of very rich green sward thus early but I find the Clover-grasse seed would have Corn thicker but that the other English ordinary hay-dust being as he thinks more natural for our climate doth choke the other wherein I differ in opinion with him for it 's apparently higher and ranker and over-spreads the other much This Clover-seed was of his own growing in a little piece of ground in his Orchard very good which he mowed twice the last year viz. about Midsummer and about a fortnight after St. James that being sowed on the 6 th of April last before and yet he did not cut it untill it afforded seed both cuttings and he beleeves the last cutting afforded rather more and better then the first and that little sowed of it self is long enough but that it is not ripe enough to be mowed now He beleeves the seed that is of his own that comes of the Dutch seed is altogether as good if not better then the Dutch seed Mr. R. sowed some Dutch seed last yeer there some in his garden and about an acre or two with barley upon a red sandy ground in his close by his garden that was worn out of heart with bearing too many crops of Corn and I viewed them both last week and I found that sowed in his Garden to be throughly swarded and was as they told me mowed the last year and is now again in as forward a condition as Mr. W. sowed in his Garden But that sowed with Barley is scarce so forward as Mr. W. sowed with ordinary hay seed as aforesaid and it comes not much thicker and is in greater danger to be eaten out with Scutch grass that such kind of ground worn out of heart is apt to breed so that upon consideration of the whole matter I think the best way for me would be to sow it alone without Barley in the beginning of this moneth which cannot now be done this year unlesse I had been provided of seed earlier besides Mr. W. saith it will be hard to get good seed so late especially new seed which is best to be had at Candlemas and much cheaper then now for he saith when he was at London which was a little before I was with you new seed was risen from 8 d. the pound to 1 s. and before he came out of Town dearer but when new was at 1 s. they offered him old seed for 6 d. and he is confident it may be had at half the price of new at any time I send you in Mr. W's Letter some of the best kind of new seed by which sample if you be not skild you may know old from new Sir Richard Westons more special directions for the best ordering of Clover-grasse CLover-grass Seed thrives best when you sow it in the worst and barrennest ground Such as our worst heath ground is in England The ground is thus to be prepared for the Seed First pare off the heath then make the paring into little hils you may put to one hill as much paring as comes off from a Rod or Pole of ground which is the square of sixteen feet and a half The hils being sufficiently made and prepared as they doe in Devonshiring as we call it are to be fir'd and burnt into ashes And unto the ashes of every hill you must put a peck of unslaked Lime the Lime is to be covered over with the ashes and so to stand till rain comes and slakes the Lime After that mingle your ashes and lime together and so spread it over your land This done either against or shortly after rain plough and sow ploughing not above four inches deep and not in furrows but as plain as you can and to make yet plainer harrow afterwards and with bushes under your harrows The ground being thus prepar'd you may sow your seeds An Acre of ground will take about ten pounds of your Clover grasse-seed which is in measure somewhat more than half a peck The chief seasons of sowing it are April or the latter end of March. About the first of June it will be ready to be cut It yeelds most excellent hay The time of cutting it will be more exactly known by observing when it begins to knot For that is the time And ere the year be done it will yeeld you three of those crops all of them very good hay and after you have thus cut it the third time you may then feed the ground with Cattel all the Winter as you do other ground But if you intend to preserve Seed then must you expect but two crops that year and you must cut the first according to the foresaid directions But the second growth must be let stand till the Seed of it be come to a full and dead ripenesse and then must you cut it and thresh the tops and so preserve the Seed you shall have at the least five bushels of Seed from every Acre This Seed thus threshed off there will be left long stalks these your Cattel will eat but when they grow old and hard you are to boil those stalks and make a mash of them and it will be very nourishing either for hogs or any thing that will eat thereof After the second cutting for seed you must cut it that year no more but as it springs again feed it with Cattel One Acre of it will feed you as many Cows as six ordinary Acres and you will find your Milk much richer which induces some not to cut it at all but onely to graze it for their Dayry Being once sowed it will last five years and then being ploughed it will yeeld three or four years together rich crops of Wheat and after that a crop of Oats And as the Oats begin to come up then sow it with the Clover-seed which is in it self excellent Manure for that you need not bestow any new dressing upon the ground and by that time you have cut your Oats you will find a delicate grasse grown up underneath upon which if you please you may graze with Cattel or horse all that year after and the next year take your crops as before at pleasure Some Doubts and Queres concerning the aforesaid directions propounded in a