and so at length pleasant drinks and Aqua-vitae is made thereof which things I suppose may as well if not better be accomplished by other wayes of fermentation and all the vertue of the Grain preserved But enough of this Paradox 2. I suppose that all who have the least skill in distillations now that if any liquour will ferment it will produce an Aqua-vitae yea and that Spirits or Aqua-vites may be drawn in some measure even out of Roses Violets Cold Plants why then is it so observed to say that Aqua-vitae may be drawn from Hawks and Hips c. For though they are fruits of unpleasant tasts yet we know that even the roughest and harshest Pears will make Perry not inferiour to the best and in Normandy such a kind of Pear is in greatest use and further though I will not affirm that the Aqua-vitae of any thing may be made as good as that of Wine c. as a late French Writer doth yet I say that ingenuity will advance much in this kind and cannot but once again exhort men to try what may be had out of such common and trivial things as Haws Hips Black-berries c. Animadversor Fond opinion of Astrologers FIrst I name none in particular 2. The worst word I use is fond which is not alwayes taken in the worst sence and then at worst it is but a diminution of folly and may onely be applyed to that particular wherein they erre but because it offendeth I desire that hereafter it may be expunged as also degrees to be changed into a thousand miles Howe is an instrument well known about London and in all Plantations with which they cut off weeds I suppose it comes from the French word Hoyan which instrument is used about their Vines Wheat is said to lodge when through ranknesse it falleth and lyeth on the ground Hips are not Haws but rather what grows or Eglantine Rosa Canina Piles are pieces of Timber driven into the ground to break the violence of the Seas and Rivers Glassenbury thorne is called of Parkinson Spina acuta bistora Britanica because it usually blassometh at Christmas as also Walnut-tree in New-Forrest in Wiltshire and after in May as other thorns Simple people call it Joseph of Arimathea's staffe and repute it among the wonders of England but it 's found growing elsewhere To the third Letter of Animadversions concerning Cyder I say in my former discourse and truly that there are two wayes of making Cyder First After the juice of the fruit is expressed presently to put it into Barrels and there to let it work as Beer usually doth and that there is not any necessity to put it first into Caves or great Tubs to work in and thus I have oft seen it made in Kent and very good The second way which I especially commend is to boyle the juice sometime over the fire gently either by it self alone or with some good spices and then to make it work with some barm or yest as Beer doth and afterwards to barrel it and bottle it up and this truly I conceive to be the best way for many reasons and I suppose the West-Countrey Gentleman whom the Animadversor quoteth consenteth to this way for he acknowledgeth that by boyling it may be kept longer and that is fitter for long Sea-voyages and consequently better for boyling purifieth disgesteth and taketh away windinesse and crudities as we daily see in boyling of Beer and Ale especially if it be with spices Now this boyling ought to be before the working or fermenting for then the watry part flyeth away first and there is not any considerable decay of the Spirits but if Cyder be boyled after it hath wrought as we call it then the Spirit Aqua-vitae or life of the liquour first flyes away as it is well known even to all Aquavitae Distillers and nothing remaineth but a dead flat unpleasant liquour nauseous to the stomack and also narcotick and very in-ebriating as I have found by experience for on a time distilling a strong red wine called Tont that I might have a fine spirit for a peculiar use I received what remained in glass bottles well stopt for some other occasions But a servant-maid of my brothers supposing it had been that good wine she saw me bring into my Chamber was so bold as to drink two or three spoonfuls which caused her to be extreamly sottishly drunk her Mistress seeing her in that case examined her what she ailed she truely told her that she had onely tasted a little and truely it was but a little of that wine I had in my Chamber her Mistress presently came to me with open mouth fearing her maid had been poysoned but when I had told them the whole truth the fear was turned into laughter and amazement and then I remembred what formerly I had read in De la Brosse his History naturall concerning the in-ebriating vertue of the slegm of wime which Doctor French likewise hath published in English in his Book of Chymistry To the fourth Letter of the Animadversor FIrst I answer that I am not mistaken for I certainly know that we have Quinces from Flaunders Chestnuts from Portugal Walnuts from France in considerable quantities I deny not but that they may also come from other parts but if Walnuts come from Holland as the Animadversor saith I am sure that they grow not there c. Further I affirm and truely that small nuts are oft brought of Spain in abundance and it is well known to all which nut is very small but it hath a very thin shel and a fine taste a filbert I grant also that some years Ireland in the woody parts thereof hath plenty of small nuts but these nuts have thicker shels and have not that sweet taste that the Spanish have yet in Vlster where woods do abound I never knew them cheaper then in Kent Neither can Ireland supply the World nay not England with these nuts for the greater part thereof is extreamly destitute of woods Concerning brewing without multing Corn I have already spoken and I hope shown probabilities that it is not onely feasible but also to be done with profit Animadversor Grafting Inoculating c. cannot be learned in two hours I answer That the Rules for grafting and inoculating are so easie the instruments so few and common that I suppose a less time may suffice and I know divers who can both graft and inoculate excellently and yet have obtained this Art only by beholding a Gardiner grafting and inoculating that but a little while but I confess that to be excellent in this Art as in all other handy-crafts there is required a convenient time continual use and a promp and ready hand which every man hath not Animadversor Vines flourish not many hundred miles North of Alsatia in France Lorayn Germany Answer That it is so in Germany when Vines flourish not onely in Silesia and the Palatinate but also in Brandenbâ—â—g and also in Prussia
can be no question but that instead of the charge of emptying and noysomness of the smell he may have it emptied for nothing and feel the sweet smell of money very gratefull to most men and that in as great quantity or greater than he receiveth for his ordinary Edifices besides that he will shew himself to be a good member of the body politick or Common-wealth wherein he liveth but he must beware that the matter doe lye dry and that no adventitious moysture come to it either from beneath or above which will be somewhat more chargeable in moyst grounds then where the earth is very dry by its own nature And whereas it is as clear as the Sun that the flesh and blood of a beast is five times as good as the dung of a beast and that the skin hair wooll horns and hoofs are ten times as good as the dung and that these things are at the least the third part of the fertility and wealth of the Kingdome and that these things are for the most part lost and cast away for want of general knowledge I could wish that every Housholder in the Kingdom would make use of this Book and let it be common for all his family to read or hear it read to the end that some considerable quantity thereof might be preserved the soot in every ones chimney will pay him again for a Bushel of soot will produce two Bushels of wheat if it be well ordered because it aboundeth much with the vegetable spirit of the world by which all sublunary things doe encrease and multiply And whereas there is much food of all kind spoyled for want of looking as musty Corn mouldy Cheese stinking Flesh and Fish also if any man have any Horses or beasts that dye by accident let all men be pleased to receive instructions in the said book formerly mentioned how to recover some considerable share of their losses and if any one cannot finde out some way or other to benefit himself more or lesse by the reading of the said book besides the good to the publick let him lay the blame no where else but upon the weakness of his own understanding for it will be proved against him that some have advanced their revenues above a thousand pounds per annum by some small part of the skill contained in the said book And if every poor servant cannot get themselves portions of considerable value by reason that their Masters houses afford not store of such materials nor spare room to lay them in then let them get five shillings a year that they may doe in the poorest house in the kingdom yea the poorest beggars that goe from door to door may get more than that so shall they get themselves every year a suit of cloathes if they buy them at the second hand and shew their love to the Common-wealth and perhaps some good minded man seeing their industry may disburse money for the accomplishing of one crop and take it again with interest or without interest out of the first part that is sold and so will the remainder afford them a considerable portion And though that waste paper of all sorts either white or brown written or printed be not very good to make barren land fertile yet it will make good Passeboard the white is worth three farthings a pound and the other an half penny a pound to make brown Passeboard good to cover Bookes and all other things where the colour is hidden in the work and therefore worthy to be reserved for in some houses it is of very considerable value And let all men be pleased to take into serious consideration that as in every century of yeares there doe more people dye than are in the World at any one time so in every century of yeares there is more Wealth lost fondly for want of knowledge in England in the compleat Art of Agriculture then is in the Kingdome at any one time yea though an Inventory were taken and valued at Michaelmass when the whole yeares fruits are engrossed together which summe will double throughout the whole Kingdom especially in the Country to the like Inventory taken at May day when the yeares fruit are almost wasted and little remaining but hopes which are not usually put into Inventories Whereas it will plainly appear to all rational men that I wish well to all in general let them be pleased to accept of one friendly advertisement more Christ saith He that is not with me is against me admitting of no neutrality and I say that whosoever doth not according to his abilitie and opportunity further this blessed worke more or lesse liveth in a destructive way to the Common-wealth or body politick whereof he is a member though an unworthy one A Letter of an experienced Husbandman who hath also brought the Invention of setting of Corn to greater perfection expressing his judgement upon the following Notes Observations Experiences and Improvements SIR YOu have often favoured and honoured me with the like favour of allowing we the perusal of many choice peices and that particularly of Mr. Gabriel Plat's some printed and some as this in Manuscript All which I professe to have liked me very well and none that related to any the parts of Husbandry so well as Mr. Plat's but I must also confâ—sse that if this little piece I herewith return you and with it abundance of hearty thanks for the reading of it be not the best clearely of all I have seen of his yet it at least comes nothing short of the best some mistakes in the computations in the beginning bated Certainly that man had as excellent a genius that way as any that ever lived in this Nation before him and was a most faithfull seeker of his most ingratefull Countries good I never think of the great judgement pure zeale and faithfull intention of that man and withall of his strange sufferings and manner of death but I am struck with amazement that such a man should be suffered to fall down dead in the streets for want of food whose studies tended to no less than the providing and preserving food for whole Nations and that too as with much Skill and Industry so without Pride or Arrogancie towards God or man Sir I can give you no other or better accompt but constant praises Onely this I say that whereas I suppose Mr. Plat's invention for Setting was far better than any thing that preceded yet since it is lost and was not so very perfect neither as you know hath been since invented the world may be supplyed by this that is as to action being satisfied by Mr. Plat's Reasons why it is necessary to have such an expeditious way which as it is really invented so will it be in due time divulged In the mean time and ever I rest The humblest of your obliged Servants C.D. Certain Notes and Observations concerning Setting of Corn and the great benefit thereof Together with several Experiments
be mellow not much more chargeable 3. That it would imploy many thousand of people that a third part of the seed might be saved As I have found by experience that all the weeds and grasses might be more easily destroyed thereby and the ground better accommodated for other crops and to conclude the crop considerably greater Yet thus much I must further say concerning setting of Grain That great Beans are even of necessity to be set and that small Beans in Surrey and other places are likewise set with profit for the reasons above mentioned that to set Pease unless Hastevers and Roncivals Oats Barley is a thing even ridiculous that Wheat although in divers grounds it may be set with profit yet to how it in as the Hardiners speak as they do Pease though not at the same distance but about a foot the ranges one from another is better then setting for these Reasons 1. Because to set Corn is an infinite trouble and charge and if it be not very exactly done which children neither can nor will do and these must be the chief setters will be very prejudicious 2. If worms frost ill weather or fowls destroy any part of your seed which they will do your crop is much impared 3. The ground cannot be so well weeded and the mould raised about the roots by the how Which 3 inconveniences are remedied by the other way Further I dare affirm that after the ground is digged or ploughed and harrowed even it 's better to howe Wheat in then to sowe it after the common way because that the weeds may be easily destroyed by running the howe through it in the Spring and the mould raised about the roots of the Corn as the Gardiners do with Pease it would save much Corn in dear years and for other Reasons before mentioned Yea it is not more chargeable for a Gardiner will howe in an Acre for 5 s. and after in the Spring for less money run it over with a howe and cut up all the weeds and raise the mould which charges are not great and you shall save above a bushel of seed which in dear years is more worth then all your charges Further 1 s. 6 d. or 2 s. an Acre for the sowing and harrowing of an Acre in Kent is accounted a reasonable price and may be saved but if any fear charges let him use a Dril-Plough with one horse which is commonly known at Fulham and about London I therefore cannot but commend the howing in of wheat as an excellent piece of good Husbandry whether the ground be digged or ploughed not only because it saveth much Corn imployeth much people and it is not chargeable but it also destroyeth all weeds fitteth grounds for after crops and causeth a greater increase and in my apprehension is a good Remedy against Smut and Mildew There is an Ingenious Italian who wondreth how it cometh to pass that if one setteth a Grain of Corn as Wheat Barley c. it usually produceth 300 or 400. yea 1000 2000 as I have tryed yet if you sow Wheat after the ordinary way 6 or 8 for one is accounted a good crop what becometh of all the Corn that is sown when as the 50th part if it do grow would be sufficient For answer to this 1. I say much Corn is sown which nature hath destinated for the Hens and Chickens being without any considerable vegetative faculty 2. Worms Frosts Floods Crows and Larks which every one doth not consider do devour not a little 3. Weeds as Poppy May-weed and the grasses growing with the Corn do destroy much Lastly When Corn is so sown after the ordinary manner much is buried in the furrows especially if the ground be grazy much is thrown on heaps in holes and consequently starve and choak one another Most of these Inconveniencies are to be remedyed by this way of setting and howing in of Corn. Gardening though it be a wonderfull improver of lands as it plainly appears by this that they give extraordinary rates for land viz. from 40 s per Acre to 9 pound and dig and howe and dung their lands which costeth very much Yet I know divers which by 2 or 3 Acres of land maintain themselves and family and imploy other about their ground and therefore their ground must yeild a wonderfull increase or else it could not pay charges yet I suppose there are many Deficiencies in this calling 1. Because it is but of few years standing in England therefore not deeply rooted nor well understood About 50 years ago about which time Ingenuities first began to flourish in England This Art of Gardening began to creep into England into Sandwich and Surrey Fulham and other places Some old men in Surrey where it flourisheth very much at present report That they knew the first Gardiners that came into those parts to plant Cabages Colleflowers and to sow Turneps Carrets and Parsnips to sow Raith or early ripe Pease Rape all which at that time were great rarities we having few or none in England but what came from Holland and Flanders These Gardiners with much ado procured a plot of good ground and gave no less then 8 pound per Acre yet the Gentleman was not content fearing they would spoile his ground because they did use to dig it So ignorant were we of Gardening in those days 2. Many parts of England are as yet wholly ignorant Within these 20 years a famous Town within less then 20 miles off London had not so much as a Mess of Pease but what came from London where at present Gardening flourisheth much I could instance divers other places both in the North and West of England where the name of Gardening and Howing is scarcely known in which places a few Gardiners might have saved the lives of many poor people who have starved these dear years 3. We have not Gardening-ware in that plenty and cheapness unlesse perhaps about London as in Holland and other places where they not onely feed themselves with Gardiner's ware but also fat their Hogs and Cows 4. We have as yet divers things from beyond Seas which the Gardiners may easily raise at home though nothing nigh so much as formerly for in Queen Elizabeths time we had not onely our Gardiners ware from Holland but also Cherries from Flaunders Apples from France Saffron Licorish from Spain Hops from the Low-Countreys And the Frenchman who writes the Treasure Politick saith That it 's one of the great Deficiencies of England that Hops will not grow whereas now it is known that Licorish Saffron Cherries Apples Pears Hops Cabages of England are the best in the world Notwithstanding we as yet want many things as for example We want Onnions very many coming to England from Flaunders Spain c. Madder for dying cometh from Zurick-Sea by Zealand we have Red Roses from France Annice-seeds Fennel-seeds Cumine Caraway Rice from Italy which without question would grow very well in divers
do not only make Honey for I suppose that they have a peculiar propriety of making Honey as the Silk-worms Silk out of Mildews or Honey but also out of all sweet things as Sugar Molossoes c. 3. That many sweet things may be had far cheaper then Honey which I suppose the Bees will transmute into perfect Honey This way I conceive would be very advantageous to us in England for the preserving of late swarms and also for the enriching of old stocks so that we need not destroy them but might drive them from hive to hive and set them to work again and truly I think there is no place in the World so convenient for this purpose as England because that though our Winters be long yet they are not very cold but Bees would be stirring in them and further our Summers are so subject to winds and rains that many times there is scarce a fine day in a whole Week and further Molossoes Refuse-Sugar Sweet-Woort Milk c. may be had at reasonable rates I hope ere long to give an exact account of this experiment and desire those who have any Ingenuities in this kind freely to communicate them I have not observed many things more of importance concerning Bees in my travels onely in Italy they make their Hives of thin boards square in two ar three partitions standing either above one another or very close side to side by the which means they can the better borrow part of their honey when they please In Germany their hives are made of straw to the which they have a summer-door as they call it which is nigh the top of the Hive that the Bees when they are laden may the more easily enter and discharge themselves of their burthens 3. We are to blame that we do not imploy our Honeys in making Metheglin It 's true that in Herefordshire and Wales there is some quantity of this liquor made but for want of good cookery it 's of little worth but usually of a browne colour of an unpleasant taste and as I suppose commonly made of the refuse honey wax dead Bees and such stuffe as they ordinarily make it else-where for the good house-wife thinks any thing good enough for this purpose and that it is pity to spoyl good Honey by making Mead but I know that if one take pure neat Honey and ingeniously clarifie and scum and boyl it a liquour may be made not inferiour to the best Sack Muskadine c. in colour like to Rock-water without ill odour or savour so that some curious Pallats have called it Vin-Greco rich and racy Canary not knowing what name to give it for it's excellency This would bring very great Profit not onely to the Publique by saving many a thousand pound disbursed for Wines through all the world but would be very advantageous to private families who use to entertain their friends very nobly Wines being at present intolerably dear and naught I hope therefore ere long to see it put in execution An excellent drink not much unlike this may be made of Sugar Molossoes Raisins c. of the which I have already spoken yet think it fit to put you in mind of it again It 's a great Deficiency here in England that we do not keep Silk-wormes which in Italy are called Cavalieri for to make Silke I know that is a great Paradox to many but I hope by this short discourse to make this truth to appear plainly The first original of Silk-wormes by what I read in Histories is from Persia where in infinite numbers they are still maintained and the greatest profits of that great Monarch do arise from hence China also aboundeth very much with Silke In Virginia also the Silk-worms are found wilde amongst the Mulberry-woods and perhaps might be managed with great profit in those Plantations if hands were not so scarce and dear I suppose this Silk-worme of Virginia is produced by the corruption of the Mulberry-tree as Cochinneal from Ficus Indica or Indian-figtree for some ingenious curious men who have strictly observed the generation of Insects do find that every Plant hath an Insect which groweth out of its corruption as divers sorts of lice from Animals and that these Insects do usually feed on that Plant out of which they were made as Lice on the same Animals from whence they were engendred I know a Gentleman here in London who hath three or four hundred Insects and can give a very good account of their original feedings And also Mr. Moriney in Paris hath a large Book of the same subject But to return to our purpose I say that we had Silkworms first from Persia In Justinian's time about 1000 or 1100 years ago some Monks presented a few to him at Constantinople where in his time they began to plant Mulberies from thence it came to Italy about three or four hundred years since for the Auncient Writers of Husbandry as Cato Pallad Columell do not so much as mention these creatures and at length these have passed over the Mountains into France within an hundred years where they flourish so much that if we will believe our own Authours they bring greater profit then the Wine and Corn of that large Countrey But be it so or no I know that France hath Silk enough to maintain their excesse of apparel and to export Plushes Velvets c. Now then if that these worms can thrive not onely in the parched Persia but also in Greece Italy yea in France which differeth not much from the temper of England why should we think that they are confined to that place and must move no further Northward for they have come many an hundred miles towards the North why not one hundred or two more And further we see that Mulberries which is their food thrive here as well as in any place But some will object that our Air is too cold and moist To which I answer 1. That those who write of Silkworms say that you must take heed that you make not the place too hot for too much heat may destroy and therefore that you must set the windows open to let in the cold Aire 2. We know that Moistnesse of Aire rather increaseth Insects and nourisheth them Indeed if Moisture hurteth it 's because that it too much corrupteth their food and causeth a flux amongst them but this is easily prevented as I shall shew you anon But to be short it is not onely my opinion that Silkworms will thrive here but the solid judgement of King James and his Council confirmeth the same as you may see by his letter to the Deputy-Lievtenants of every County wherein also many weighty reasons are contained to convince men of the same which Letter followeth anon with the Instructions for the increase and planting of Mulberry-Trees Printed by Eliaz. Edgar in the year 1609. Lastly We find by experience that Silk-worms will thrive here and therefore the matter is out of
fashions each of them shall make Cheeses not such as they were wont to make at home but as used to be made in the places to which they are come The like may be said of the green cheeses made in Holland Sheeps milk especially those of Gravesand Tessel and Grind all three most excellent ones and yet extreamly differing among themselves And not to go for examples of this further then England it self It were against all reason and experience to think that that notable difference betwixt Suffolke and Cheshire-Cheeses commeth onely from the different way of making it Another thing which I find fault withall in the same Discourse is that the Authour nameth the French Angolots among the excellent sorts of Cheese whereas they are nothing so neither in their qualities nor in their price they being sold for two Sols a piece whereas they use to weigh half a pound I do likewise mislike that he for to instance in the best kinds of Cheese he fetcheth Parmesans and Holland-Cheeses from abroad without taking notice that at home in several parts of the Land and particularly in Mountgomery-shire Cheese is made equal to the best of these kinds and at Chedder in Wiltshire that which in my judgement is far to he preferred before them and to any other Cheese in the world Page 105. I cannot brook that he complaineth England hath but a Systema or a compleat Book of all the parts of Agriculture and reckoneth Markham among them who have writ onely divers small Treatises of it whereas Markham hath comprehended in his works whatever belongeth to any part of Husbandry and Housewifery too with very few and small omissions such as in no wise can rob him of the name of a general writers his works also having that excellency that they are altogether squared for England and go on experience rather then on probabilities and hear-says to the contrary of what our Authour seemed to tax in him as well as in other writers of that kind which maketh me suspect that either he hath not at all been conversant in Mankham's writings or that in reading of him he hath been strangely fore-judged he being in my opinion one of the most excellent of his kind and in many particulars to be preferred before the most excellent of them all It is true what is said page 106. There were among the Ancient Romans some appointed to see that men did tell their Land as they should but that which follows And if they did not to punish them as Enemies to the Publique is too hyperbolically spoken there being a vast difference betwixt punishing one as an enemy to the Publique and a simple fining of him which was all the punishment inflicted for that fault as you may see in the twelfth Chapter of Aulus Gellius his fourth Book In these words page 107. He that turneth fruitful lands into barrennesse as the Land of Canaan very fruitful heretofore but now a barren Desart Our Authour says nothing but what is common in the mouth and pens almost of every body and yet the truth thereof is very questionable as an observant Reader will easily find by the exactest and latest writers of that Countrey among whom Eng. Royer is to be placed in the very first rank By the way of addition to what heretofore I have told you upon that passage of your Legacy which speaks of tame Pheasants be pleased to take notice what I was told this week by an English Gentleman viz. that many years since he hath known tame Pheasants kept in several parts of Buckinghamshire especially in a Village a little beyond Wickham where the people keep abundance for to sell them off to the Poulterers of London And at the same time an English Merchant told me that above 25 years ago he knew some kept at Middleberg in Zealand and that Mr. William Courtine the Brother of Sir William Courtine had above a dozen pair of them The same person also assured me from his own experience that the Inhabitants of the Island Chios keep huge numbers of tame Partridges the which flying abroad most part of the day do not fail to return every night each one to his own home and likewise as oft as they are called by their Keepers if they be any where within hearing of them And he assured me that they do this not onely in the places they are used to but any where insomuch that if any man carry his Partridges twenty or thirty miles from his dwelling and then letting them out of the basket in which he hath brought them throw stones among them expresly for to scatter them so as all of them do run or fly several wayes they will all come to him as soon as he calleth them and let themselves be taken up by him the one after the other And thus I make an end having nothing to say to any thing contained in the following pages of your Legacy the re-printing whereof with those alterations and amendments I have hinted to you I do most earnestly wish for it being indeed a most excellent piece and from the beginning to the end fraught with most excellent observations and experiments An Answer to the Animadversor on the Letter to Mr. Samuel Hartlib of Husbandry TO begin with the first which is about Blacklead and so to take them in order First I affirm and truely that Blacklead is found in Cumberland and not in any other place of England yea not in Europe that I can hear of though I have diligently enquired concerning it To prove this you may read Master Cambden in his description of Cumberland where he is much troubled to find what name the Ancients gave it vtr Pignitica and divers other names hardly understood And 2. I know that out of England it is exported to Holland Germany France Spain and other parts of Europe and and sold at a considerable rate per tun And 3. Little mention is there of this among the late writers as Agricola Kent-man Boot de Boot or Cysalpinus unlesse it be what he calls Creta nigra but because the Animadversor desireth further knowledge of this material I shall briefly relate what I know of it This Mine of Blacklead in Cumberland as I am well informed is in the hand of some few men as Master Bolton and Master Bret who live in Cornhil nigh the Exchange and sell Colours who once in seven years dig as much as they think convenient to serve not to glut the Market and then close the Mine up again I suppose the Dutch Merchant and consequently the Animadversor were mistaken either through the similitude it hath to some kind of Slate which colours the hands blackish as the black Irish Slate used much for bruises and of which kinds I have observed also divers sorts in New-England as in Prudence-Isle and elsewhere but the blacknesse of the Slate hath not that glittering as the black-lead or else from the Ambiguity of the word Black-lead which is not onely taken
profit a great deal than by beasts And if there be any doubt whether people may be had to improve the land and to produce greater profit than beasts can doe let but things be so ordered that the Plebeans may have such good employments whereby they may maintain a married estate plentifully and it will be found by a short experience there will be no want of servants By this means the Parsons may double their tyths the Landlord may double his rents and the common people though doubled in number may live twice as well as they did before and Princes and Statesmen shall not have half the trouble which they had before for want and necessity is found to produce grudgings and discontentments These have produced Rebellions and Insurrections all which have caused Princes for to lose their kingdoms many times and turned the state of Countries topsey turvey Besides that the lives of men would be lengthened as in former Ages by their good and wholsom diet for there can be no other cause in nature why men should be now of lesser stature and enjoy worse health and dye sooner than in former Ages but these few viz. First men are much imployed with worldly cares and difficulty for living in populous Countries which might easily be remedied by the means aforesaid Secondly the Corn which should be the preserver of other meats from too sudden corruption in the bodies of men before the chilus hath performed all his several offices is now adulteraâ—ed and contaminated much by mixing the dung with the corn before the corruptible part thereof be consumed and so the corn helped to contaminate the blood which should preserve it and would do it powerfully if my new Invention were generally put into practise Thirdly in populous Countries where there is difficulty of living the pure law of nature is not observed in Marriages and married estates but other respects doth sway overmuch which causeth defects in many generations But to return to my main subject I am now about a way to experiment to meliorate any Corn Pulse Seed Kernel Fruit c. and doubt not but to bring it to passe in such sort that the pleasantness of the tast the wholsomness of the smel and the ability to keep other meats from sudden corruption in mans body will invite great men in general to make use of the same and to give good prices so that a Farmer may maintain his family well and grow rich too by the planting of 1 Acre of land yearly For upon my certain knowledge there are fondly cast away in every family in England as well in great Cities as Country-towns so many things as being used according to my direction would produce such an increase of corn yearly as would serve for the maintenance of the said family and would be more wholsom for the body of man than the greater part of corn which now usually groweth in England yea though this Compost should be used in the more barren sort of land So that now the question is not whether this Land and so consequently other Kingdoms may live in worldly happiness and prosperity for ever hereafter but whether they will do so or not for if they be willing they wil shew the same by their actions and then I am sure there is no doubt to be made of the possibility thereof Whereby an Vtopia may be had really without any fiction at all If order were given that every Over-seer of the poor in their Parishes only one day in the year in the practise of some of these new Inventions as setting of Wheat of compounding of Composts in great Cities fit to be carried many miles then they would be expert against a year of dearth and famine so that they might be employed in that work whereby a wonderfull quantity of corn might be saved for the present relief of the Land which else must needs be imported from other Kingdomes for which the wealth of this Land must needs be exhausted The thirteenth Experiment wherein is shewed how timber for buildings and wood for houshold-stuffe may be provided in short space It is found by experience that a Chesnut will grow in ten or twelve yeares into a fair tree able to be the Master-post of a fair building and then there is no question but that it may be provided into lesser parts for studds and spars It is also found that a Walnut will grow in the like time into a tree able to make little tables boxes stools and chests very beautiful and sit for use to adorn the house Whereby any younger brother that will shew so much frugality and providence as to obtain leave of his father to plant a certain number of such trees in some convenient place in his fathers lands in his minority while he is a School-boy he may not onely have wood to build him an house and to furnish it against his occasion but also he may win so much credit by his industry and diligence that as for my part if I had a daughter to marry I would sooner match her with him though I purchase him land to set his house upon than with his elder brother if he wanted those gifts and qualities though he were able to make a good Joynture For I have seen by experience that a present estate either real or personal is not to be compared to the quality of thriving which any man else may likewise see by experience that sometimes yea many times a Farmer being industrious intelligent and provident though he pay a good round rent liveth better than a Freeholder which is owner of much free-land The fourteenth Experiment wherein is shewed divers waies concerning Fruit-trees It is found by experience that if the kernel of a Pear or Apple be set and not grafted but be let grow to a great tree then it will not bear fruit till forty or fifty yeares as a great number of other trees of the same kind It is likewise found by experience that a Siens taken from a tree that is fruitfull and also from the most fruitful bough of that tree and being grafted into a young stock of the same kind as that before mentioned will bear fruit in a quarter of the time which the other did the cause can be no other but that nature hath ordained a certain time for propagation in all things but yet the said time was accelerated in the grassed tree by Art helping Nature but in the other tree time was left to natures free determination So that every one may make choice of these two wayes at pleasure and if he aim at his present profit then graffing is his present way and best but if he aim at the profit of his posterity then it is best not to graft at all And by this means he may change the tasts of fruits at pleasure which by graffing he cannot doe for it is found by experience that if three kernels of several sorts be put into the cave