white Mulberries and likewise the Chestnut-tree into a Hasel and an Oak and likewise the Pomegranate-tree into all Trees for that it is like to a common whore ready and willing for all Comers and likewise the Cherry-tree into a Turpentine-tree and to conclude that every Tree may be mutually incorporated into each other as Columella supposeth And this is the cause of every composition of many fruits into one of every adopted fruit which is not the natural child as it were of the Tree that bare it and this is the cause of all strange and new kinds of fruits that grow Virgil makes mention of such a matter when he saith that Dido admired certain Trees which she saw that bare new kinds of leaves and apples that naturally were not their own And Palladius saith that Trees are joined together as it were by carnal copulation to the end that the fruit thereof might contain in it all the excellencies of both the parents and the same Trees were garnished with two sorts of leaves and nourished with two sorts of juices and the fruit had a double relish according to both the kinds whence it was compounded But now as we did in our tract of the commixtion of divers kinds of living Creatures so here also it is meet to prescribe certain rules whereby we may cause those divers plants which we would intermingle to join more easily and to agree better together for the producing of new and compounded fruits First therefore we must see that either of the Trees have their bark of one and the same nature and both of them must have the same time of growing and shooting out of their sprigs as was required in living creatures that both of them should have the same time of breeding their young ones for if the graffe have a dry or a hard bark and the stock have a moist or soft bark or that they be any way contrary each to other we shall labour in vain Then we must see that the ingraffing be made in the purest and soundest place of the stock so that it neither have any tumors or knobs or any scars neither yet hath been blasted Again it is very material that the young graffes or shoots be fetcht from the most convenient place or part of the Trees namely from those boughs that grow toward the East where the Sun is wont to rise in the Summer-time Again they must be of a fruitful kind and be taken off from young plants such as never bare fruit before They must also be taken in their prime when they are beginning first to bud and such as are of two years growth and likely to bear fruit in their second year And the stocks into which they are to be engraffed must likewise be as young as may be graffed into for if they be old their hardnesse will scarce give any entertainment to strange shoots to be planted upon them And many such observations must be diligently looked into as we have shewed in our book of Husbandry But we must not here omit to speak of the lome or that clammy morter which makes The Graffe and the stock to close more easily together for it is very helpful to glew or fasten the skins of both the barks one into the other and if the barks be of a divers nature yet by this lome they may be so bound into one that they will easily grow together And surely it is commodious in many respects First because as in mans body the flesh being wounded or pierced into is soon closed up again with stiffe and clammy plaisters applyed thereunto so the bark or the boughs of Trees being cut or rent will close together again very speedily by the applying of this morter For if you pill the bark off from a Tree or slip off a little sprig from a bough unlesse you close it up so cunningly that it may stick as fitly every way in the graffing as whilst it grew it will soon wither and fade and lose the natural juice and moisture which inconvenience this lome will prevent and fit them one into another Moreover if there be any open chink betwixt the bark and the Tree presently the air getteth in and will not suffer them to close therefore to make it sure that they may close without fail this lome is needful And whereas there are some Trees which cannot away to be harboured in any of another kind this lome knit them so strongly into the stock that they cannot but bud and blossom But here we must observe that this glue or morter must be as neer of the nature of the thing engraffed as may be for then it will perform this duty more kindly If you be diligent herein you may do many matters We will give you a taste of some that by these you may learn to do the like Pill off the bark of Holly and make a pit in some moist ground and there bury your Holly rines and let them there putrifie which will be done in twelve daies then take them forth and stamp them till you see they are become a clammy slime This is also made of the fruit Sebesten in Syria and likewise it may be made of ordinary birdlime but the best of all is made of the rines of Elm-roots stamped together for this hath a special quality both to fasten and also to cherish But let us return to graffing which is of such great force that it hath caused a new kind of a bastard fruit that was never heard of before namely An Apple compounded of a Peach-apple and a Nut-peach which kind of compound generation was never seen nor heard of nor yet thought upon by the Ancient This is to be done by a kind of graffing which they call emplastering Take off two young fruitful sprigges one from a Peach-apple Tree and the other from the Nut-peach Tree but they must be well growen and such as are ready to budde forth Then pare off the bark of them about two fingers breadth in compasse so that the budde to be graffed may stand fitly in the midst betwixt them both but you must do it charily lest you perish the wood Then cleave them thorough the middle a little way that they may be let one into another and yet the cleft not seen but covered with the bud Then take off a bud from one of those Trees with the bark round about the bud and set it into the midst of the boughs which we spake of before and so engraffe them together into the other Tree having first cut out a round fit place for them therein They must be engraffed in that part of the Tree which is most neat and fresh-coloured the sprigs that grow about that place must be cut off lest they withdraw the nourishment from the graffe which requires it all for it self And when you have so done binde it about gently that you hurt it not and cover it with somewhat lest the rain fall down upon it
it be somewhat dry But then when the fruit comes to be of a greater and stronger growth you must prepare earthen vessels made for the purpose with a hole in them at the lower end that the stalk of the fruit may there be let in Into these earthen vessels you must enclose the fruit and binde them about with a strong band for otherwise the growth of the fruit will break them open And when you have procured the fruit to grow up into his counterfeit or sheath as it were that it is come to the just bignesse of a fruit of that kinde it will bear the same shape and figure which you would have in it The like we have shewed before out of Florentinus Pontanus also speaks of the same device If saith he you would have a Citron to grow in divers shapes you must cover it being young with some counterfeit of clay or wood or earth wherein it may be swadled as a tender infant in his Nurses bosom and that counterfeit will fashion the fruit into any form and when it is taken out it will resemble any image that you have carved within the counterfeit So also you may deal by Pomegranates Pears or any kind of Apples making them to receive any kinde of form for the same Author writes that if you bestow the same pains and diligent care upon any other sort of Apples you may frame them to every fashion for so it is in brief saith he that all Apple-fruits may be made to grow up to the shape of any living creature if you first carve the same shape into a counterfeit of wood or earth and let the fruit be shut up into that counterfeit that it may grow up within it So may you make A Quince grow in the shape of living Creatures as Democritus affirmeth by putting them into some counterfeit that is carved within to the same proportion and so let the Quince grow in it But it is easiest to make Cucumbers grow to any form for if you take earthen vessels of any fashion and therewith cloath the Cucumbers when they are very young and binde them very fast about they will receive any shape or impression very easily If you take a Cane and make it hollow all along and bind it fast about and then put into it a young Cucumber or a young Gourd it will grow so pliable within it that it will fill up the whole length of the Cane Pliny saith Cucumbers grow to any fashion that you would frame them unto insomuch that you may if you will make a Cucumber grow in the shape of a Dragon winding himself many wayes Likewise a Gourd will be made to grow picked and sharp by many means especially if it be put into a case that is made of such pliant twigs as Vines are bound withal so that this be done as soon as it hath cast the blossom But if you lay a Gourd betwixt two platters or dishes it will grow to the same plainnesse and roundnesse and of all other fruit this is the easiest and fittest to be formed to any fashion You may make them to grow like a Flagon or like a Pear great at the one end and small at the other if you tye it hard in that part which you would have to be the lesse afterward when it is come to full growth dry it and take out all that is in it and when you go abroad carry it about you it will serve for a cup to drink in Hence we learn how it may be effected that An Almond should grow with an inscription in it Take an Almond and steep it for two or three dayes and then break the shell of it very charily that the kernel receive no harm then you must write in the kernel what you will but write it as deep in as you safely may then winde it up in some paper or some linen cloth and overlay it with morter and soil it with dung and by that device when the fruit cometh to be of full growth it will shew you your handy work as Africanus recordeth So may you make A Peach to grow with an inscription in it as Democritus sheweth After you have eaten the fruit you must steep the stone of it for two or three dayes and then open it charily and when you have opened it take the kernel that is within the stone and write upon it what you will with a brazen pen but you must not print it too deep then wrap it up in paper and so plant it and the fruit which that will afterward bear will shew you what was written in the kernel But A Fig will grow with an inscription in it if you carve any shape upon the bud the fig will expresse it when it is grown or else if you carve it into the fig when it is first fashioned but you must do it either with a wooden pen or a bone pen and so your labour shall be sure to take effect I have printed certain characters upon the rine of a Pomegranate and of a Quince-pear having first dipped my pensil in morter and when the fruit came up to the just magnitude I found in it the same impressions Now it remains that we shew how we may Fashion Mandrakes those counterfeit kind of Mandrakes which couzeners and cony-chatchers carry about and sell to many instead of true Mandrakes You must get a great root of Brionie or wilde Nep and with a sharp instrument engrave in it a man or a woman giving either of them their genitories and then make holes with a puncheon into those places where the hairs are wont to grow and put into those holes Millet or some other such thing which may shoot out his roots like the hairs of ones head And when you have digged a little pit for it in the ground you must let it lie there until such time as it shall be covered with a bark and the roots also be shot forth CHAP. XIX How fruits may be made to be more tender and beautiful and goodly to the eye NOw at length that nothing may passe us we will set down divers kinds of of sleights in husbanding and trimming of herbs and fruits whereby they may be made not onely tenderer sweeter larger and better relished but also fresher coloured and more sightly to the eye And first How an Apple-tree and a Myrtle-tree may be bettered we may learn out of Theophrastus who counselleth to water their roots with warm water and promiseth the bettering of the fruit by that means nay it will cause the Myrtle fruit to be without any kernel at all And this saith he was found out by chance in certain of these Trees growing neer unto a hot Bath If you would procure Goodlier Figs then ordinary Columella shews how you make them to grow more plentifully and to be a sounder fruit When the tops of the Fig-tree begin to be green with leaves you muâ—â— cut off the tops of the boughs with an
them when they are but half-ripe and hang them up with their boughs in some house Beritius shews How Pomegranates are to be gathered and laid up to last You must gather them saith he with a very chary hand lest if you touch them somewhat roughly they should be hurt or bruised and that would be an occasion of their putrefaction Columella saith that Pomegranates are to be gathered with their stalks and the stalks to be put into an Elder-tree because the Elder-tree is so full of pith that it may easily entertain the Pomegranate stalks The same Author reports out of Mago the Carthaginian that all fruits which you would lay up in store must be gathered with their stalks upon them yea and if it may be without the spoil or hurt of the Tree they must be gathered with their boughs too for this will be very helpful to cause the fruit to last the longer Palladius saith that Pomegranates may be preserved best if you gather them sound and lay pitch upon their stalks and hang them up in due order nay they will keep so much the better the longer the boughs are which are pluckt off from the Tree with them Pliny saith that they are to be gathered with their boughs and the boughs to be stuck into the Elder pith and so to be preserved Cato shews how we may preserve Myrtle twigs with their berries upon them They must be taken from the Tree when the berries are somewhat sowre and so bound up with their leaves about them Didymus hath taught us how we must gather Grapes that they may last long We must take special heed that every grape be perfect and sound and for this cause we must have a very sharp knife or hook to cut of those grapes that are unsound easily and without any stroke even with one touch as it were When you gather your grapes they must be in their full strength neither too raw nor yet past their best liveliness Some cut off the branches together with the clusters and when they have so done they espy out all the grapes that are either putrified or dryed away or unripe and pluck them off with a pair of nippers lest they should infect their fellows and after this they take the branches whereon the cluters grow and that end which was cut they dip into scalding pitch every one by it self Others hold that grapes must be hanged up in some high roof where the air may have full scope at them but the grapes must be none of those which grow toward the tops of the branches but they must be the lower clusters Palladius saith If we would have grapes to last we must see that we gather such as are without blemish they must not be too harsh and sowre neither must they be over-ripe but it must be a very clear grape to the eye and somewhat soft to be felt and yet it must have a reasonable tough skin If there be any amongst them that is bruised or hath any other blemish we must cut it way neither must we suffer amongst them any one that is over hard which the Sun hath not in some sort overcome with his heat After all this we must drench the cut ends of the stalks in scalding pitch and so hang them up CHAP. VI. In what grounds those fruits should grow and be gathered which we would lay up WE must not omit to speak of another necessary observation in this matter namely in what ground in what air under what Climate it is best that those fruits which we should lay up should grow and be gathered Whatsoever fruits do grow iâ— moist and waterish in hollow and low grounds as also those which grow in such grounds as are much soiled and manured with fat muck they are much subject to putrefaction for in as much as they grow with great store of moisture and heat in them they have the occasion and original of their own bane within their own bosome But in wilde fruits and such as grow upon the tops of mountains in dry grounds and such as are not manured at all and such as the Southern heat doth continually beat upon it falleth out clean otherwise for the fruits that grow in such places are for the most part dry and very solide not abounding either with heat or moisture Hesiodus in his book of Husbandry never makes any mention of muck or soiling and questionless he would never have omitted such a necessary part of Husbandry as this is but that he saw the inconvenience of it in this respect that it makes the fruit more subject to putrefaction and many infirmities Fruits that grow in wilde and stony grounds where the winde hath his full force will preserve themselves without any skill and device practised upon them wherefore if other sleights be added which are helpful to their preservation they will surely last much the longer But let us see whether Antiquity hath made any mention of this matter and first let us hearken to Theophrastus who shews In what ground there grow the best Dates or Palms to be preserved for store If you preserve and lay up any Dates or Palms saith he you must make choice of those which grow in sandy grounds as in that Country which is called Syria cava and there are in all that Country but three sandy places where they do grow and these are excellent good to be preserved those which grow in other places are not durable but presently wax rotten Of all those Palms which Syria yeelds it is held by some that none are good to last but those only which grow in the Palme-valley a place so called there But those which grow in Aegypt and Cyprus and elsewhere they are all very soon putrified And Pliny reports out of the same Author that those Palms which grow in salt and sandy grounds as in Judaea and Cyreniâ—n Africa may be preserved but not those which grow in Cyprus Aegypt Syria and Seleucia of Assyria The same Theophrastus speaking of Beans shews In what ground there grow the best Beans to be preserved for store One Country saith he differs from another and one Climate differs also from another in respect of the fruits that grow in them either to be good to lay up or to be subject to putrefaction And therefore the Beans that grow in Apollonia which is neer to the Ionian Sea are not subject at all to any worms or rottennesse so that they are best of all other to be preserved Likewise the Beans that grow about Cizicum are very durable CHAP. VII How fruits must be shut up and kept close that the air come not at them WE have shewed before that if we would preserve fruit long we must keep away both heat and moisture from them both which qualities are found in the air Wherefore we will first set down the devices of Antiquity in this behalf and then our own devices and experiments And first How to keep Apples close without
the Vine and heal that part where it is so cut and then lay it under the ground again about three fingers deep and when that stalk shall shoot up into sprigs take two of the best of them and cherish them and plant them in the ground casting away all the other branches and by this means you shall have such kinds of grapes as you desire This very same experiment doth Pliny set down borrowing it of Columella But Didymus prescribes it on this manner Take two Vine-branches of divers kinds and cleave them in the middle but with such heedful regard that the cleft go as far as the bud is and none of the pith or juice be lost then put them each to other and close them together so that the bud of either of them meet right one with the other and as much as possibly may be let them touch together whereby both those buds may become as one then binde up the branches with paper as hard together as you can and cover them over with the Sea-onion or else with some very stiff clammy earth and so plant them and water them after four or five daies so long till they shoot forth into a perfect bud If you would produce A Fig that is half white and half red Leontinus teacheth you to do it after this manner Take two shoots of divers kinds of Fig-trees but you must see that both the shoots be of the same age and the same growth as neer as you can then lay them in a trench and dung them and water them And after they begin to bud you must take the buds of each and binde them up together so that they may grow up into one stalk and about two years after take them up and plant them into another stock and thereby you shall have Figs of two colours So then by this means All fruits may be made to be party-coloured and that not onely of two but of many colours accordingly as many kinds of fruits may be compounded together And surely these experiments are very true though they be somewhat hard to be done and require a long times practice as I my self have had experience The like experiment to these is recorded by Palladius and by other Greek Writers who shew the way How a Vine may bring forth clusters of grapes that are white but the stones of the grapes black If white and black Vines grow neer together you must shred the branches of each and presently clap them together so that the bud of either may meet right together and so become one then binde them up hard in paper and cover them with soft and moist earth and so let them lie three dayes or thereabouts after that see that they be well and fitly matcht together and then let them lie till a new bud come forth of a fresh head and by this means you shall procure in time divers kinds of grapes according to the divers branches you put together I my self have made choice of two shoots of two divers Vines growing one by another I have cleft or cut them off in that place where the buds were shooting forth leaving the third part of the bud upon the branch I fastened them together and bound them up into one very fast lest when the buds should wax greater one of them might flie off from the other I fitted them so well branch with branch and bud with bud that they made but one stalk and the very same year they brought forth grapes that had cloven kernels or stones This shoot so springing up I put to another and when that was so sprung up I put that also to another and by this continual fitting of divers sprigs one to another I produced clusters of divers-coloured and divers-natured grapes for one and the same grape was sweet and unsavoury and the stones were some long some round some crooked but all of them were of divers colours Pontanus hath elegantly shewed How Citron-trees may bear divers kinds namely by joining two sundry boughs together after the bark hath been pared a-away and fastning each to other with a kind of glue that they may grow up one as fast as the other and when they are engraffed into one stock they must be very carefully covered and looked unto and so one and the same branch will bring forth fruit of divers kinds So you may procure An Orenge-tree to bring forth an Apple half sweet and half sowre And this kind of commixtion was invented by chance for there were graffed two boughs of Orenge-trees one brought forth a sweet and the other a sharp fruit When occasion served to transplant and remove the Tree it was cut off in the middle according as Husband-men are wont to do when they plant such Trees after they are grown old and by great chance it was cut off there where the two boughs had been before engraffed and so when the stock budded afresh there arose one bud out of the sharp and sweet branches both together as they were left in the stock and this one bud brought forth Apples or fruit of both relishes Wherefore no question but such a thing may be effected by art as well as it was by chance if any man have a minde to produce such kind of fruits CHAP. V. Of a third way whereby divers kinds of fruits may be compounded together WE will also set down a third way whereby we may mingle and compound divers kinds of fruits together A way which hath been delivered unto us by the Ancients though for my own part I think it to be not onely a very hard but even an impossible matter Notwithstanding because grave Ancient Writers have set it down I cannot scorn here to rehearse it and though I have put it in practice but to no purpose for it hath not so fallen out as they write yet I will not discourage any man that hath a mind to make trial hereof for it may be that fortune will second their endeavours better then she did mine The way is this to gather many seeds of sundry Trees and fruits and wrapping them up together so to sow them and when they are grown up into stalks to bind all the stalks together that they may not flie asunder but rather grow up all into one Tree and this Tree will bring forth divers kinds of fruits yea and one and the same fruit will be mingled and compounded of many It should seem that the Authors of this experiment learned it first out of Theophrastus who writes that If you sow two divers seeds neer together within a hands breadth and then sow two other divers seeds a little above them the roots which will come of all these seeds will lovingly embrace and winde about each other and so grow up into one stalk or stock and be incorporated one into another But special care must be had how the seeds be placed for they must be set with the little end upward because the bud cometh
within the earth that so the herb may not bud forth but all the nourishment may be converted to the head of the herb So may we make Onions to grow bigger as Theophrastus supposeth if we take away all the stalk that the whole force of the nourishment may descend downwards lest if it should be diffused the chief vertue thereof should spend it self upon the seeding Sotion saith that if a man plant Onions he must cut off both the tops and the tails thereof that so they may grow to a greater bigness then ordinary Palladius saith that if we desire to have great-headed Onions we must cut off all the blade that so the juyce may be forced down to the lower parts In like manner if we would have Garlick-heads greater then common we must take all the greenish substance thereof before it be bladed and turn it downward that so it may grow into the earth There is yet another Device whereby to make herbs and roots grow bigger then ordinary but yet I like not so well of it howsoever many ancient Writers have set it down and first How to make Leeks grow greater Columella hath prescribed this course you must take a great many Leek-seeds and binde them together in thin linen clouts and so cast them into the ground and they will yeeld large and great leeks Which thing Palladius also confirms by his authority in the very same words But both of them had it out of Theophrastus who putteth it for a general Rule That if a man sowe many seeds bound up together in a linen cloth it will cause both the root to be larger and the buds to be larger also and therefore in his time they were wont to sow Leeks Parsly and other herbs after the same manner for they are of more force when there be many seeds together all of them concurring into one nature Moreover it makes not a little to the enlarging of fruits to take the seeds which we would sow out of some certain part of the former fruit As for example we shall procure A Gourd of a greater or larger growth if we take the seed out of the middle of a Gourd and set it with the top downward This course Columella prescribes in his Hortulus Look saith he where the Gourd swells most and is of the largest compass thence even out of the middle thereof you must take your seed and that will yeeld you the largest fruit And this is experienced not in Gourds onely but also in all other fruits for the seeds which grow in the bowels or belly as it were of any fruit are commonly most perfect and yeeld most perfect fruit wheras the seeds that grow in the outward parts produce for the most part weak unperfect fruit Likewise the grains that are in the middle of the ear yeeld the best corn whereas both the highest and the lowest are not so perfect but because Gourds yeeld great increase therefore the experience hereof is more evidently in them then in any other Cucumbers will be of a great growth as the Quintiles say if the seeds be set with their heads downward or else if you set a vessel full of water under them in the ground that so the roots may be drenched therein for we have known them grow both sweeter and greater by this Device CHAP. XII How to produce fruit that shall not have any stone or kernel in it IT is a received thing in Philosophy especially amongst those that have set forth unto us the choicest and nicest points of Husbandry that if you take Quicksets or any branches that you would plant and get out the pith of them with some ear-picker or any like instrument made of bone they will yeeld fruit without any stone and without any kernel for it is the pith that both breedeth and nourisheth the substance of the kernel But the Arcadians are of a quite contrary opinion for say they every tree that hath any pith in it at all will live but if all the pith be taken out of it it will be so far from yeelding any stoneless fruit that it cannot chuse but die and be quite dried up The reason is because the pith is the moistest and most lively part of any tree or plant for the nourishment which the ground sends up into any plant is conveyed especially by the pith into all the other parts for Nature hath so ordained it that all the parts draw their nourishment as it were their soul and their breath thorow the marrow or pith of the stock as it were thorow a Squirt or Conduit-pipe Which may appear by experience seeing any bough or stalk so soon as the marrow is gone returns and crooks backward till it be quite dried up as the Ancients have shewed But I for my part must needs hold both against Theophrastus and against others also that have written of Husbandry both that trees may live after their marrow is taken from them and also that they will bring forth fruit having stones or kernels in them though there be no pith in the trees themselves as I have shewed more at large in my books of Husbandry Notwithstanding lest I should omit any thing belonging to this argument I have thought good here to set down the examples which those Ancients have delivered in writing that every man that lists may make trial hereof and haply some amongst the rest using greater diligence in the proof hereof then I did may finde better success herein then I have found There be many means whereby Plants may be deprived of kernels as namely by engraffing by taking out their pith by soiling with dung or by watering and by other Devices We will first begin as our wonted manner is with engraffing and will shew how to produce A Peach-apple without a stone Palladius saith he learned this new kinde of engraffing of a certain Spaniard which he saith also he had experienced in a Peach-tree Take a Willow-bough about the thickness of a mans arm but it must be very sound and two yards long at the least bore it thorow the middle and carry it where a young Peach-tree grows then strip off all the Peach-tree-sprigs all but the very top and draw it thorow the hole of the Willow-bough then stick both ends of the Willow into the ground that it may stand bending like a bowe and fill up the hole that you bored with dirt and moss bind them in with thongs About a year after when the Peach-tree and the Willow are incorporated into each other cut the plant beneath the joyning place and remove it and cover both the Willow-bough and the top of the plant also with earth and by this means you shall procure Peaches without stones But this must be done in moist and waterish places and besides the Willow must be relieved with continual watering that so the nature of the wood may be cherished as it delights in moisture and it may also minister abundant
stone You must saith he bore a hole beneath through the body of the Tree and having so cut off the pith from passing upward you must fill up the hole with a stake of Willow or Prick-wood so shall you intercept the pith from ascending out of the root into the branches Some Writers there are which shew how to procure stoneless fruit by diligence in dressing and trimming of plants It is held for a rule in Husbandry that soft fat and moist nourishment doth alter all wilde and unkindly fruit into that which is milder and more natural It is a kind of mildeness in fruits to have a little soft and sweet kernel as on the contrary it is wildenesse to have a great and a hard kernel for it cometh by reason of a kind of harsh and dry nourishment that the earth sends up into them Wherefore no doubt but we may procure the kernel of a fruit to be smaller and more tender by diligence and skill in dressing them To begin with a Vine How a Vine may bring forth grapes without a harsh and stony kernel At such time as Vines are pruned you must take a fruitful sprig somewhat neer the top as you can and there as it grows you must pick out the pith at the highest end never cleaving it but hollowing it with some fit instrument as well as you can and there uphold it with a prop that it bow not down then take some Cyrenian juice as the Greeks call it and pour it into the place that is hollow but first you must steep this juice in water to the thickness of sodden wine and this you must do for eight dayes together every day once till the vine-branch sprout forth again Columella saith the very same that the vine-branch as it grows upon the Vine must be cut and the pith of it fetched out with some fit instrument as well as you may out of the top without the cleaving of the branch but the branch being whole and still growing on the Vine you must put into it some Benjamin or Cyrenian juice steeped in water as was shewed before and set it upright with a prop that the juice may not run forth and this is to be done for eight dayes together So if we would procure A Myrtle without a kernel Theophrastus teacheth us how to do it If you water the Myrtle-tree with hot water then saith he the fruit will be the better and without any kernel Some affirm that this experiment was found out by chance for whereas there stood neer to a Bath a Myrtle-tree which no man regarded the Commers by took off some of the fruit by chance and found them without any kernels then they carried some home and set them and so this kind of fruit began first in Athens Didymus also saith that if the Myrtle-tree be often watered with warm liquor it will yeeld berries without any stones or kernels within Theophrastus sheweth yet another way whereby this may be effected take saith he the filth or shavings of skins and put them in Urine and so lay them about the root of the Myrtle-tree at such time as the buds begin to shew themselves and so shall you have berries that have either none at all or else very small kernels in them Likewise the Pomegranate may be produced without any kernels within it if you lay good store of Swines-dung about the root of the Pomegranate-tree CHAP. XIII How fruit may be produced without any outward rines or shels THe very same helps and devices which we prescribed for the producing of fruits without their inner kernel we may likewise use in the practice of producing Nuts such like fruits as are wont to grow in shells and rines that they may grow naked as it were without any shel at all And first this may be effected by taking away the pith out of the plants that bear them so A Nut without a shell may be produced as Damageron teacheth If you bore a hole quite thorough the Nut-tree and put into it a stake of Elm to fill it up you shall thereby stop the pith from ascending into the upper parts and so no shells can grow because it is the pith only that causeth them Palladius counselleth you to bore the hole through the root and stop it up with a stake of box or some wedge made of iron or of copper But Theophrastus sheweth how to procure Almonds and Chest-nuts with a soft shell and this is by skill in dressing the Trees If you would soften and alter the fruit we must apply the root with Swins-dung for this is a very forcible worker likewise often digging will cause both the plants to prosper better and the fruit to become better also for the kernels will be smaller in such fruit as have any stones in them and such fruit as grow in shells or rines as Almonds and Chest-nuts will have the softer shell without and the larger kernel within for the greater store of nourishment there is applyed to the Tree the moister it is and the substance of the fruit is so much the more encreased But Palladius would perswade us that if we rid away the earth from the rootes of the Almond-tree some certain daies before it begin to blossom and all that while apply them with warm water we shall hereby procure the Almond-shels to be very tender If we would procure That kinde of Nut which is called Nux Tarentina the same author Damageron hath shewed us how to do it Every Nut and Almond will yeeld a mild fruit with a tender shell if we continually apply the body and root of the tree with pouring ashes upon them and likewise all other kind of fruits that grow in any shell or rine may be so wrought upon and will suffer the like alteration by the like means practised upon them If you would procure a Tarentine Nut Palladius saith you must water the Tree with Lye thrice a moneth throughout a whole year and so you may obtain your purpose Others effect such alterations by correcting the plants as by cutting off the tops of the roots If the Nut be too hard shelled you may also remedy it by cutting and paring off the bark of the Tree as Damageron sheweth for by this means you draw down that harsh and wilde humour The reason whereof is because the bark of the Tree answereth to the shell of the fruit as the pith of the Tree answereth to the kernel of the fruit and therefore as to amend the inner kernel we abated the pith so to soften or amend the utter shell or rine of the fruit we must abate the utter bark of the Tree A thing which we have observed by another like example for a Peach being engraffed upon a bitter Almond-tree the pill of the fruit thence growing was so bitter that it could not be eaten till the pill were pared off This secret may stead you in many other experiments of the like kind But this
if you put that part to it from which it received its force it will not endure it but drives it from it and draws to it the contrary and opposite part namely the Southern part the reason whereof I set down before The same falls out if you touch the Needle with the South part of the Loadstone for if you presently put the same to it it will resist it and draw to it the North point Hence the parts that are alike are at enmity and rejected as Adversaries and the parts that are unlike do agree as Friends Whence it is apparent That the Loadstone imparts to the Iron a contrary force from what the end it self is and the Steel receives the force of that point of the Loadstone which it toucheth not And I prove it thus Take two Needles and put them in Boats or hang them by Threeds that being touched with the Loadstone they may move freely they are contrary one to the other and they will joyn in the parts that were touched with contrary ends of the Loadstone and will not endure the ends that are alike CHAP. XLI Two Needles touched by the Loadstone obtain contrary Forces I Will relate a strange thing yet not far from Reason If you touch two Needles with a Loadstone together and set them on the same point of it the other parts that hang on the Loadstone will abhor and flie one from the other and if you force them together with your hands so soon as you let them alone they will presently return to their postures and depart as far as they can from one another The reason is this That if two Needles stick fast to one Northern point of the Loadstone with their points you must imagine that they did receive a Southern vertue and because they are of the same similitude they will not endure one the other and because they are fastened to the Loadstone they cannot get off being compelled by a greater force but the opposite points of the Needle because they are both alike Northerly they must needs abhor one the other and when they are free one will part from the other And when they are so hanging on if you put to them the Southern part of another Loadstone they will presently let go their hold and go as far off as they can that sometimes they are pulled off from the Loadstone being forced by an invisible vapor CHAP. XLII That the force of the Iron that draws will drive off Iron by diversity of Situation THat as I said of the Loadstone alone is true of the Iron that is touched with it for if you put a Needle touched with a Loadstone by a Boat swimming in the Water or hanged by a Threed or turning on a point equally balanced if you put upon this a Needle touched with a Loadstone it will draw it and that part that attracted the Iron above will put underneath drive it away and the part that drives off above will draw to it put underneath where you may observe that the position will work contrary operations CHAP. XLIII The Needle touched by the Loadstone on one part doth not alwayes receive Vertue on both parts IF the Needle be touched at one end by the Loadstone it receives Vertue at that end and at the other end the contrary vertue But that must not be understood absolutely but of that Needle that is of a proportionable length for if it be too long the vertue will not come to the other end But would we know how far the vertue is come we must know how far reached the Circumference of the Vertue as I said Therefore if the Circumference of it be a foot the force will go a foot-long into the Needle If we would try this Touch a long Needle three foot long with a Loadstone at one end if it touch the Iron at the other end the Iron touched will not move from its place but if you touch it a foot or two long namely as far as the Circumference of the Loadstones Vertue will reach and then touch the Needle it will presently move and be drawn by it CHAP. XLIV The Needle touched in the middle by the Loadstone sends forth its Force at both ends IF the Needle be somewhat too long and we rub it with the stone in the middle of it the forces of the stones part are diffused to both ends of it but very obscurely for you shall not know which is the end but if you touch it something farther from the middle the neerer part will receive the forces of the part that touched it be it the Northerly or Southerly part CHAP. XLV An Iron Ring touched by a Loadstone will receive both Vertues BUt if we rub an Iron Ring on the one side with a Loadstone then the part that is touched will receive the vertue of the part of the Loadstone that touched it and the opposite part will receive the contrary and therefore the middle of the Iron Ring will be capable but of half the force of it as if it were straight But if we make a Pin round as a Ring and the part joynted together with a joynt be rubbed with a Loadstone and being rubbed be stretched straight again the ends shall receive the same vertue be it Northern or Southern But by degrees that force will grow feeble and in a short time become Northerly and the other Southerly or will receive more vertue then it first had may be when it was touched farther from the end But if you would that of these a Chain of Iron should hang in the Air so soon as one ring touched on one side with the Loadstone hath received force on the other side by it we may hang a Chain of Rings in the Air as we may of Loadstones so then if the Rings be laid in order upon a Table that they may one touch the other though they do not fasten put the Loadstone to them and not onely the first will be drawn but the next and the third that they will hang like links of Rings and not only will it be so if the Loadstone touch the first that the rest will follow but if the stone be but neer it will do the same without touching them CHAP. XLVI An Iron Plate touched in the middle will diffuse its forces to both ends WHat I said of a long Needle I say also of an Iron Bar for if you touch it in the middle the Beams of it are spread like the Beams of the Sun or light of a Candle from the Centre to the Circumference and extream parts But if we touch an Iron Morter being the force is feeble where it is touched about the superficies some vertue may be be perceived but it is very weak in the extream parts CHAP. XLVII How filings of Iron may receive force IF you wrap up filings of Iron in a paper as Druggists do like a Pyramis and put a Loadstone neer it all the filings together will receive
Retort or Alembick First a Milky water will flow out with Oyl next cleer Water cast the Water in over the Oyl and separate them as we shall teach you Of a pound of Cinnamon you will scarce receive a drachm of Oyl How to draw a greater quantity of Oyl out of Cinnamon I do use to do it in this manner to the wonder of the best and subtillest Artists Provide a Descendatory out of the Bath the making of which I will shew hereafter and put your Cinnamon being grossly beaten into a Glass-Retort set it in its proper place and put water into the Bath the heat of the fire by degrees will draw a little water in many days receive it careful and pour it again into the Cinnamon that it may re-imbibe its own water so let it remain a while afterwards kindle the fire and you shall receive a little Water and Oyl Do this third and fourth time and you will gain an incredible quanity You may try the same in other things Oyl of Cloves may be extracted in the same manner To every pound of Cloves you must add ten of Water distil them as before so shall you have both Water and Oyl It will yield a twelfth part The Oyl is good for Medicines and the VVater for Sawces So also is made Liquid Oyl of Nutmegs If you bruise them and put them with the VVater into a Vessel and distil them as before they will yield a sixth part Oyl of Mace and Pepper is drawn in the same manner much stronger but in less quantity Oyl of Aniseed may be thus extracted an ounce out of a pound It congealeth in VVinter like Camphire or Snow in the Summer it dissolveth Let the Seeds be macerated in the VVater for ten days at least for the longer they lie there the more Oyl they will yield Oyl of Fennel is extracted in the same quantity when the Seeds are ripe and fresh they have most Oyl for they yield as much more Oyl of Coriander yieldeth but a small quantity and is of very hard extraction there is scarce one drachm drawn out of a pound new Seeds yield most And to be short in the same manner are extracted the Oyls out of the Seeds of Carrot Angelica Marjoram Rue Rosemary Parsely Smallage and Dill and such-like Oyl of Rosemary and Lavender-flowers and such-others which being dried afford no Oyl may be thus extracted Put the Flowers into a Receiver and set it close stopt in the hot Sun for a month there will they dissolve into Liquor and flie up to the sides of the Glass then being condensed again fall down and macerate in themselves at a fit time add VVater to them and distil them as the former so shall you draw forth with the VVater a most excellent sweet Oyl Oyl of Juniper and Cypress-Wood may de drawn out by the same Art if you macerate the dust of them in their own or in Fountain-water for a month and distil them in the same manner the Oyl will come out by drops with the water of a strong sent and excellent vertue These I have tried the rest I leave to thee CHAP. VII How to separate Oyl from Water VVHen we extract Oyls they run down into the Receiver together with the VVater wherefore they must be separated left the flegm being mixed with the Oyl do weaken the vertue of it that it may obtain its full vigour it must be purified by Distillation and Separation for being put into a Retort or broad Still over a gentle fire the VVater will run out the remaining Liquor will be clear Oyl This work of Separation is very laborious yet there are very artificial Vessels invented by the help of which all the VVater may be drawn off and the flegm onely pure Oyl will remain Prepare a Glass-Vessel let it be broad and grow narrower by degrees downwards until it come to a point like unto a Tunnel Put the distilled VVater which consisteth of the flegmatick VVater and Oyl into this Vessel let it stand a while the Oyl will swim on the top and the VVater will sink down to the bottom But stop the mouth of it with your finger so that removing it away the VVater may first run out and the Oyl sink down by degrees VVhen it is descended into the narrow part so that the Oyl becometh next to your finger stop the hole and let the Orifice be but half open for the VVater to pass out when it is all run out empty the Oyl into another small Vessel There is another very ingenious Instrument found out for to separate Oyl with a great belly and a narrow neck which a little nose in the middle Pour the Oyl mixed with Water into the Vessel the Water will possess the bottom the Oyl the neck Drop Water gently into it until the Oyl ascend up unto the nose then encline the Vessel downward and the Oyl will run out pure and unmix'd When you have emptied out some drop in more Water until the Oyl be raised again unto the nose then stop it down and pour out the rest of the Oyl But if the Oyl settle to the bottom and the Water swim on the top as it often hapneth filtrate it into a broad dish or any other Vessel with a cotten-cloth the Water will run out and the Oyl will remain in the bottom very pure CHAP. VIII How to make an Instrument to extract Oyl in a greater quantity and without danger of burning VVE may with several sorts of Instruments use several kindes of Extractions among the rest I found out one whereby you may draw Oyl with any the most vehement fire without any danger of burning and a greater quantity then by any other and it is fit for many other uses also Prepare a Vessel in the form of an Egg of the capacity of half an ordinary Barrel let the mouth of it be of a convenient bigness to receive in your arm when there shall occasion to wash it or to fill it with several sorts and degrees of things to be distilled Let it be tinned within then set a brass head upon it of a foot high with a hole in the bottom fit to receive the neck of the lower Vessel and stop the mouth of it exactly Out of the top of the head there must arise a pipe of Brass fifteen or twenty foot long bended into several angles that it may take up less room and be more convenient to be carried The other end of this Pipe must be fastened into the belly of another Vessel which must be of less capacity then the former but of the same figure Fix a head upon this also with a Pipe of the same length and bended like the former whose lower end shall be received into another straight Pipe which passing through the middle of a Barrel at last falls into the Receiver The manner of using it is this Put your Leaves Stalks or Seeds being beaten small into the Brass-pot and
When it is all soft that it is transparent as Crystal they fry them with butter and milk and bring them to the Table So Squils grow tender We must do as we did to Crabs for they cast their shells as Crabs do and Nature did this for some end for when their shells are grown too thick and weighty they can scarce crawl wherefore by the excrements that go into it that are consumed to make a new shell within the former that was made is broken and falls off CHAP. V. That living Creatures may be made more fat and well tasted I Shall endeavour to shew how living Creatures may be made more fat and well tasted that we may set more favory meats before our guests The Antients were not negligent in this matter Wherefore you shall find many ways not onely amongst Cooks but such as write concerning Husbandry Liccorish Gluttons found out the ways to fat Cattle that they might feed on them more plentifully and daintily Hence they called them cram'd because they were full fed and had gross bellies Those were called Bird pens where they fatted all sorts of Birds M. Lelius Strabo was the first that appointed this and he appointed Crammers to take care of them and ordered how much every crammed bird should eat They will fat better in winter than in summer because Birds at that time of the year are best being not so much wasted with yong and Cocks will fat better then Hens and such as never trod nor made eggs In summer when it is at an end and the sowre Grapes hang yet upon the Vines they are at the best I shall therefore teach How Hens and other Birds must be crammed Choose a place that is hot and obscure shut them all up apart and so close in their pens that they cannot come together nor turn and make two holes one for their heads to put forth and the other for their tails that they may both at their meat and shite it out again when it is digested Lay soft hay under them for if they lye hard they will never fat Pull off all the feathers from their heads thighs and 〈◊〉 under their wings there that it may breed no lice here that the dung corrupt it not For meat give them gobbets of Barley-Meal made up with water at the first for some time more sparingly then after give them as much as they can digest and you must give them no new meat till you feel their câ—ops that all the old is digested When the Bird is full let him go a while not to wander abroad but if there be any thing that urgeth him he may pick it off with his bill Let him not be set to fatting before five or after twenty Moneths old Yong Pigeons or Chickens will fat better with their dams if you pull off a few of their feathers and bruise their legs that they may stay in their places and if you give meat plentifully to their dams that they may feed themselves and their yong ones sufficiently Turtles are best fatted in summer give them nothing but meat especially Millet-seed for they much delight to eat that but Geese in winter They must be put up to fat four Moneths you need give them nothing else but Barley-Meal and Wheat-meal three times a day so that you give them water enough to drink and no liberty to walk about thus they will fat in two Moneths But tender Pullers will not be made fat in forty days Ducks will grow fat with all nutriment if it be abundance especially with Wheat Millet-seed Barley and with Water-squils Locusts and Creatures found in Lakes Columella Pheasants Partidges Heath-cocks and Turky-hens will fat being shut up and the first day they eat meat the next set them water or good strong wine to drink Let their meat be raw Barley-Meal made up with water giving them it by degrees or else broken and ground Beans and Barley sod with water and whole Millet-seed Linseed boil'd and dry mingled with Barley-meal to these you may add Oyl and make gobbets of them and give them to eat to the full and they will grow fat at longest in sixty days Now I shall shew how Four-footed Beasts are fatted The Sow will soonest fat for in sixty days she will be far First kept hungry three days as all the rest must be She grows fat with Barley Millet Acorns Figs Pears Cucumbers rest and not wandring But Sows will grow fatter by wallowing in the mire Figs and Chick-peason will fat them soonest and they desire change of meats Varro The Sow is fed with Beans Barley and other Grain for these will not onely fat them but give them a good rellish The Olive wilde Olive Tares Corn in straw Grass and they are all the better sprinkled with brine but the more effectual will they be if she fast three days before Aristotle Bean-husks and Coleworts are pleasant meat for them Salt put to them will make them have a stomack which in summer put into their troughs will season their meat and make them eat it up and by that seasoning of it they will drink and eat the more Colunmella Oxen will grow faâ— with Corn and Grass Tares ground Beans and Beanflalks Also with Barley whole or broken and parted from the hulls also by sweet things as pressed Figs Wine Elm-boughs and with a Lotion of hot water Aristotle We feed them at home with Wine of Surrentum or else we put Calfs to two Cows and thus being fed with abundance of Milk they can scarce go for fat Also in their craâ—ches we strew Salt stones that they may lick them and so drink and they will grow exceeding fat and tender CHAP. VI. How the flesh of Animals is made sweeter NOw shall I shew with some Meats and Arts How not onely the parts of Animals but their whole bodies are made fat tender and more delicate And first How to fat the Livers of Geese Out wise Ancestours saith Pliny who knew the goodness of a Goose liver taught how by cramming to make it grow great also taken forth it is augmented by sweet Milk And it is not without cause demanded who was the first man that found out so profitable a thing Whether it were Scipio Metellus that was Consul or Mar Sejus that in the same age was a Gentleman of Rome Palladius taught the way how when Geese have been fatting thirty days if you desire to have their livers tender you shall bruise old Figs and steep them in water and make gobbets of them and feed the Geese with them twenty days together But Quintilius way is when they grow fat you shall break dry wilde Radish in small pieces and tempering them with water give them this to drink for twenty days Some that the liver may be made great and the Geese fat feed them thus They shut up the Goose and cast to him Wheat sleeped in water or Barley the same way Wheat makes him fat quickly but Barley makes