for it maketh a fine Gentile wine with a curious colour In Germany when their Grapes are green they make fire in their Sellars in Stoves by the which means their wines work extraordinarily and do digest themselves the better This course we must also take here in England some years for it helpeth the rawnesse of all liquours very much There is an Ingenious Dutchman who hath a Secret which as yet he will not reveal how to help Maturation by a Compost applyed to the roots The Compost which I have spoken of before made of Brimstone Pigeons-dung is very excellent for that purpose as also Lâ—es of wine blood lime used with moderation He also knoweth how to make sour Grapes produce good wine I suppose his way to be this First all juice of Grapes newly expressed is sweet and which may by it selfe alone be made into a sweet syrup by boiling which the French call Racineè Further in the Evaporation of liquors which have not fermented or wrought the watery part goeth away first 3. Fermentation giveth a vinous taste and maketh a liquour full of spirits You may then easily guess at the way and perhaps he may adde also sugar and spices as the Vintuers do when they make Hippocras I know a Gentleman who hath made excellent wine of Raisins well boiled in water and afterward fermented by it self or with Barm it 's called usually Meade I likewise know that all sweet and fatty Juices will make sine vinous liquours as Damsins if they be wrought or fermented ingeniously but whosoever goeth about such experiments let him not think that any thing is good enough for these purposes but let him use the best he can get for of naughty corrupt things who can expect that which is excellent and delicate The Deficiency of us in this kind is so obvious that all the world takes notice of it and it is next the neglect of fishing the greatest shame to this Nation for all know that we have as good land for these seeds as any can be found in Europe and that the sowing of them requireth neither more labour cost or skill then other seeds And further that the Materials made from these are extreamly necessary for how miserable should we be without Linnen Canvases Cordage Nets How can we put our ships to Sea which are the bulwarks of this Isle And yet we are necessitated to have these Commodities from those who would destroy I will not say the Nation but I may boldly say our Shipping and Trade I hope that this will more seriously be considered by those at the Helme of our State I will freely and plainly relate how this Deficiency may easily be remedied according to my judgment 1. To compel by a Law that all Farmers who plough and sow 50 or 100 Acres of Land should sow half an Acre or an Acre of Hemp or Flax. or to pay 5 s. or 10 s. to the poor of the Parish where they live or some Law to this purpose for there is no man but hath land fit for one of these Hemp desiring a stiff deep rich land Flax that which is light For there is so much irrationality in some professions that they must be forced even like Bruits to understand their own good· In King Edward the sixth days something was enacted to this purpose as I am informed In Henry the eighth days there was a Law enacted that every man should sow his lands and that no man should enclose his lands lest he should turn it to Pasture for we have had great dearth in England through the neglect of Tillage which Laws even as yet stand in force yet there is not nor needeth there be any force to compel men to till and sow their lands for they have at length found the sweetnesse and willingly go about it for their own profits sake and now we suppose and not without cause that Enclosing is an Improvement and so concerning Hemp and Flax I say if they were once accustomed to sow them they would never leave it as I see Farmers do in East-Kent scarce a man but he will have a considerable plot of ground for Hemp and about London far greater quantities of Flax is sown then formerly 2. It were convenient that every Parish through the Nation should have a stock to set their poor to work that the young children and women might not run up and down idle and begging or stealing as they do in the Country of Apples Pease Wood Hedges and so by little and little are trained up for the Gallows 3. That a severe Law should be enacted against those who run up and down and will not work for if all know that they may have work at home and earn more within doors honestly then by running roguing up and down why should they not compel them to it And though some may think the Parishes will lose much by this way because that the stock wrought will not be put off but with losse as perhaps 10 l. will be brought to 8 l. yet let them consider how much they shal save at their doors how many inconveniences they are freed from their hedges in the Countrey shall not be pulled their fruits stoln nor their Corn purloined and further that the poor will be trained up to work and therefore fit for any service yea and in their youth learn a calling by the which they may get an honest livelyhood and I dare say their Assessements for the poor would not be so frequent nor the poor so numerous and the benefit which redounds to the Nation would be very great 4. The charitable deeds of our forefathers ought to be enquired after that they be not misplaced as usually they are but be really bestowed for the good of the poor that are laborious as in London is begun and if there be any that will not work take Saint Pauls rule who best knew what was best for them I dare not advise to take it in part of Commons Fens c. and to improve them for this use lest I should too much provoke the rude mercilesse multitude But to return to my discourse I say that sowing Hemp and Flax will be very beneficial 1. To the Owners of Land for men usually give in divers places 3 l. per Acre to sow Hemp and Flax as I have seen at Maidstone in Kent which is the only place I know in England where thread is made and though nigh an hundred bands are imployed about it yet they make not enough for this Nation and yet get good profit How advantageous will this be to those who have drained the Fens where questionlesse Hemp will flourish and exsiccate the ground for Hemp desireth stiff moist land as Flax light and dry and likewise to those in the North of England where land is very cheap I hope in a little time Ireland will furnish us with these commodities if we be idle for there land is very cheap and those
Diamonds are found about Bristol and Cornwall very large but soft There is a stone near Beaver Castle like a Star In York-shire another like a Serpent petrefied and also other stones round like bullets which being broken have as it were a Serpent in them without an head c. 6. Of all Minerals and Metals Iron-stone is found almost in every County and is profitable where Wood is plentiful the best is found in Laneashire one load and an half making a Tun of Iron it hath been transported into Ireland to mix with poor Mine In Richard the seconds time a Copper-Mine was found in Wenlock in Shrepshire but exhausted in Queen Elizabeth's dayes one was found at Keswick in Cumberland and ately in Staffordshire York-shire and near Barstable in Devonshire on which some Gentlemen intend speedily to work Lead is found in Durham Wales and Devonshire Brimstone in York-shire and Wales Antimony in Staffordshire a silver Mine in Cardiganshire a gold Mine was discovered in Scotland in King James his time and many rich Mines might be discovered in England if that the Kings Prerogative which was to take all Royal Mines to himself viz. Silver Gold Copper were so cerainly abolished that they which should find these Metals in their own Lands might safely dig them But some wil object say that many things are of little worth and profit To these I answer that God hath made nothing in vain every thing hath his peculiar use and though some things seem to be of little worth and contemptible as Sand Loam Chalk yet it hath pleased the wise Creatour to make these things very necessary for mans comfortable subsistence which they that want these things can testifie As for example in New-England where there is no Chalk nor Lime-stone they are compelled to burn Oyster-shels Cockles to make Lime or else they could hardly build any houses The like I may say of Sand and Loam in divers places where they are wanting 2. I say that most of those things I have spoken of are very profitable in one place or other To instance in some of the meaner sort at London Brickmen give 50 li. per Acre onely for Loam to make Bricks and pay 3 li. per Acre of yearly Rent and are to leave the Land worth the same yearly Rent likewise I know a Chalk-cliff in Kent not two Acres of ground valued at many an hundred pound and that one Colum of Chalk which is ten foot square is valued at forty or fifty pound at 8 d. per load The Oker Mines of Oxford and Glocestershire are of great value and so would others of that kind if they could be found so is the Black-lead Mine Also the pits of Clay Marle Coale Turffe c. And therefore I desire all Country men to endeavour to know all sorts of Stones Clays Earths Oares and to teach their Children the use of them that they may know that this sand is for building this Loam is for Bricks this Clay for Pots this Marle for Corn-land and if that they shall find any Stones Earths which they know not that they would lay them up till that they meet with some ingenious man that can inform them The richest Mines of the world have been found out by these means if we will believe Histories And this I am sure of that by this means they may much advance their knowledge and be more profitable to the Publique their Neighbours and also to themselves 17. Deficiency is the ignorance of the Vegetables of this Island and their Vertues and Vses And the first Deficiency that I take notice of is the ignorance of the ordinary seeds which are commonly sown amongst us for usually the Countrey-man contenteth himself with one or two sorts and knoweth no more when as there are very great varieties some of which agree with one sort of ground some with another As for example there are very many sorts of Wheats some called White Wheat some Red Wheat some Bearded which as I have said before is not so subject to Mildews as others others not some sorts with two rows others with four and six some with one ear on a stalk others with double ears or two on the same stalk Red-stalk Wheat of Buckinghamshire Winter Wheat Summer Wheat which is sown abundantly in New-England in April and May and reaped ordinarily in three months and many sorts more Not to trouble my discourse with Spelt Zea Tiphine-Wheat or Olew Far Silâ—go Alica which were used amongst the Ancients but now unknown not onely to the Countrey-man but even to the learnedest Botanicks so I may say that the ordinary Yeoman is ignorant of the diversities of Barley's for there is not onely the ordinary Barley but big sprat-Barley which hath lately been sown in Kent with good profit also Winter-Barley sowen in Winter Barley with four six rows naked Barley which require divers dispositions in Land some delighting in finer others in stiffer grounds So there is also Winter and Summer-Rie and twenty sorts of Pease the ordinary Schew the Raith or Early-ripe Pease the Roncivals Hastivers Hotarses Gray-Pease Green-Pease Pease without skins Sugar-Pease whose shels are sweeter then the Pease it self and have been within these ten years plentifully sowen in Lincoln-shire with profit also Fulham Sandwich-Pease c. which require divers sorts of lands and seasons so also there are divers sorts of Oats white black naked which in New-England serveth well for Oatmel without grinding being beaten as they come out of the Barn Scotch Poland c. Also Buck-wheat Lentiles divers sorts of Tares of Hemp and Flax altogether unknown to most Countrey-men but I hope that hereafter they will be more inquisitive after them for divers of them may be of good use on their lands 2. Deficiency in this kind is that they are ignorant of the Plants and Grasses which naturally grow amongst us and their Uses which likewise were made for to be food for Cattel and also for the service of man This ignorance causeth them to admire and to esteem even as miraculous ordinary and trivial things as for example how it cometh to passe that in one Meadow an Horse thriveth very much and speedily and yet a Bullock will not in that place and contrariwise in a Meadow close by the former the Bullock will thrive and the Horse not so also how it cometh to pass that Conies and Sheep will thrive well where there is scarcely any pasture and yet come to nothing on Commons where there is a greater quantity of pasture which proceedeth from this cause that some kind of Plants are more agreeing and sweeter to one sort of Cattel then to another and every Beast almost hath some Plant or other which they love exceedingly I suppose that the observances of this kind might be very useful in Husbandry These Deficienciâ—s I will draw to three Heads 1. I say that divers Plants not to speak of Fruits because we have already spoken of them that grow
it causeth barrenness but the like we may say of Lime Soot Ashes c. yea of Niter it self for I know by experience that under great Pigeon-houses Walnut-trees as Vines Peaches c. will not prosper and I know no other cause then this That too great a quantity of Pigeons dung doth fall down from the Roofe of the house and so the Trees are destroyed Animadversor They in Holland preserve their Dung and Vrine no otherwise then else-where c. They are far more careful then we are in England so that the Sun may not exhaust the vertue nor the rain wash away the strength thereof which I note as a good kind of Husbandry both to be commended and imitated Animadversor Italy sendeth forth little paper as also Holland c. The finest paper we have in England comes from Genoa and Venice yet not so much from the latter place as formerly since the plague there 1630. Much of this paper is gilded with Gold on the edges Holland ships not onely furnish us with a thick strong white paper which is commonly called Dutch paper but also abundantly with a strong brown paper much desired by the Grocers Although at present lesse is imported because we have many Paper-mils lately erected but whither this be made in Holland Friezland in Germany or elsewhere I dispute not The fifth Letter of the Animadversor The Abel Tree is a Popular not a Salix I Thank the Animadversor for reforming my errour for I was informed that it was a kind of Sallow but it seemeth it is a kind of Popular or Aspe and so at length by enquiry I have found it named by Parkinson in his Herbal Animadversor The profit of Silk is not so great as of Corn and Wine to France I do not positively affirm it but onely report it upon the credit of a late French Writer whose name I at present remember not and I am also far from my Library that I cannot turn to him It indeed seemeth to me likewise very probable for I know that Corn and Wine are heavy bulky commodities of low rate Wine sometimes being not much more worth then the Barrel and Corn scarce a Merchandable commodity in any place yea France it selfe sometimes wants it so that a little Silk will ballance these two and France as it is well known hath not onely sufficient for it selfe but many Plushes Velvets and other Manufactures of Silk were in a considerable quantity exported for England till the late prohibition and why may not Silk do that in France it doth in Italy Yea that which all will grant Flax doth for Linnen Canvases c. and are of greater value Animadversor Silk is a stranger to the parts that are nigh Englands Temper King James and his learned Councel in their Letter to the Deputy Lieutenants affirm the contrary and bring this as an Argument to encourage the people to set upon this work Secondly Much Silk is made at Tours yea I am informed that that populous Town doth even totally subsist by it which place is not very much different from Englands temper being not much above two degrees from the South of England and I say again if Silk-worms are come even out of Persia China and those very hot Countreys as far as the heart of France which is very temperate and yet these Worms thrive very well there why may they not come a little farther and why do we not strive to advance them here as well as France yea we find by experience that some few Gentlewomen have bred divers up for their pleasure even as far North as Duckenfield in Cheshire where some quantity of Silk hath been made yet this place is nigh as far North of some places of England As they of Tours Moreover a Lady Virginia F. as I have lately seen in print hath hatched worms in England and then turned them forth to the Mulberry-trees exposed to the cold and moysture of the Air and yet they have done well yea better then those within doors These and other reasons do so far convince me that I cannot but again and again desire ingenious men to proceed in this rich and pleasant work Animadversor Moysture is no way nourishing to these Worms First I say in general that heat and moisture are the two great Causes of Insects where these abound Insects abound where one of these are wanting there are but few engendered And why should we exempt these from the common generation of Insects and consequently if ingendered by these nourished by these according to the old Axiome Ex iis nutrimur ex quibus constamus And 2. We know that the damp moist Woods of Virginia do breed Silk-worms of an incredible bignesse surpassing the Spanish and Italian And likewise that a Lady in England as I have it from a friend whom I dare believe turning the Silk-worms not long after they were hatched into the Mulberry-trees by experience found that they prospered better then those that were kept dry within dore yea in Ireland in the County of Cavan in Vlster the moistest of all places a Gentleman kept divers Silk-worms which prospered very well and therefore I cannot think moisture as moisture any considerable enemy to them for of it self it hath little activity and if these worms shall not thrive in any place I will rather attribute it to cold which is known to be an active quality and the great destroyer of all Insects for we see in England that moist Summers do increase Flies Gnats Butter-flies c. and it is the cold winds and frosts that destroy them yet I will grant that moisture accidentally hurts viz. as it introduceth too much frigidity or if it be too much in their meat it may cause fluxes rottings c. as it doth to Conies Guiny-pigs c. As for Bonveil who hath writ of Silk-worms I have both read him and commend him Libavius also I have and even all his many Volums but in my opinion he hath written Multa sed non Multum Animadversor Sassafras Sarsaparilla and Snake-weed I am sure will not grow to purpose First why not I am sure that Sassafras groweth in the Northern Plantations of New-England even as far North as Sacho where the Snow usually lyeth five moneths and the Winter extream bitter in respect of England and further this Sassafras is not a small plant or shrub easily nipt with the frost but a great Tree so that boards of ten inches Diameter have been made thereof and further where it once groweth hardly to be destroyed so that it much annoyeth the Corn by its young shoots and the Mower in Harvest more then any other Tree that I heard of in that Countrey I was informed that the Native Indians of the place when they lose themselves in the Woods presently run to these small shoots and thereby know which is North and South Indeed I have observed that one side is more speckled then another and perhaps other small shoots