ordered for if you desire them very fair transparent clean and long you must when you sowe your Melons in some part of the Bed whilst it yet remains warm make holes as deep as your finger three inches distant from each other In every of these holes drop in two Radish seeds and covering them with a little sand leave the rest of the hole open thus they will grow to the whole length of your finger higher then otherwise they would have done and not put forth any leaves till after they are come up above the level of the Bed When your Melons are transplanted you may sowe them upon their bed and in other open ground by even lines Seed Let the first sown run to seed and gather them when you first perceive their Swads below to open and shead then lay them to ripen and drie along your Hedges as I instructed you before The best seed which we have comes from the Gardens about Amiens where amongst their low grounds they raise that which is excellent At their first coming up they appear like the wilde but after the fourth or sixth leaf they grow very lusty provided they be well watered Turneps There are several sorts of Turneps which I shall not particularize I shall onely affirme that the lesser are the best and most agreeable to the tast the other being soft flashy and insipid Season You may sowe them at two seasons at spring and in the beginning of August All the difficulty is in taking the right time for if the weather prove wet the seed will burst and not sprout at all If too dry it will not come up and therefore if you perceive your first season to faile you shall give them a second digging or howing and sowe anew Vermine So soon as they come up and have two or four leaves if the weather be very dry the Ticquet or winged wormes and the flea will fall upon them and devoure them and all your paines therefore as I said if you see your first to have failed you must begin again To be excellent they must not remain above six-weekes in the ground least they become worm-eaten withered ill meat and full of strings Housing Houseâ—hem â—hem in Winter in your Cellar or some other place where they may be exempt from the frost and without any other trouble save laying them in heaps or bunches Seed For the seed reserve the biggest longest and brightest roots which you shal plant in the ground at spring and draw forth again when you perceive the pods to open then set them a drying and afterwards rub out the seed upon a sheet expos'd the remainder of the day to the sun to exhaust their moysture then having well cleansed it reserve it in some temperate place Parsly We will range Parsly also among the roots though its leafe be the most in esteem and used in severall dishes serving oftentimes instead of Pepper and spice Season When the frosts are past you shal sowe the greater and lesser sort of Parsly the Pennach't and the curled in ground deeply dug and well â—oyled that it may produce long and goodly roots Sow your seed upon your beds in each four lines the mould made very fine and well raked You may sow Leeks over them chopping them gently in with the rake only when all is clear cover the whole bed about two fingers thick with some dung of the old bed as wel to amend the ground as to preserve the seeds from being beaten out with the raine your watring and from bursting Dressing Now â—ince Parsly-seed lyes a moneth in the ground before it comes up the leeks will have time enough to spring and be sufficiently strong to be removed and when you pull them up for this purpose it will serve as a second dressing and weeding to your parsly and when by this means they are grown you may thin them where you perceive the plants come up too thick which will very much improve them You may cut the leaves when ever you have need without the least detriment to the plant rootes Leave the roots in the ground for your use because they daily grow bigger and that even all the winter long however you 'l do well to take as many up as you conceive you may need least when the earth is hard frozen you can procure none in case of necessity Seed For the seed let one end of your bed stand unpulled up till it is all ripe which you must set a drying as you did the others Skirret The Skirret comes of seed and of plants but the best and fairest of plants and of these those which they bring from Troyes in Champagne are most esteemed To plant them you must in spring the ground well dug and dressed make four small rills on each bed two fingers deep then make holes with the dibber at half inch distance setting in every hole two or three young Slips which you may take from the old plants being carefull to water them at the beginning Spending Draw them out of the ground according as you spend them the rest which you leave will grow bigger and in their season produce their â—eed Rampions Rampions though it be a plant very agreeable to the tast and which they have severall wayes of dressing Yet I will not spend time in teaching you how to order them since they grow wild in sufficient quantity and are not worth the trouble ofrâ—aising Jerusalem Artichocks Ierusalem Artichocks are round roots which come all in knots and are eaten in Lent like the bottomes of other Artichocks they need no great ordering and if they be planted in good ground they will flowrish exceedingly Seed They are raised of seed and planted in roots bearing flowers like a small Heliotrope in which there growes a world of seed Danger The Physitians say that the use of them is prejudiciall to the health and that they are therefore to be banished from good Tables SECT V. Of all sorts of Pot-hearbs Pot-herbs Beet-leeks WE will begin with the white Beet or Leeks as being the greatest of all the Pot-hearbs and of which there is more spent then of any of the rest The white Beet or Beet-Card for so some will call it in imitation of the Picards who really merit the honour to be esteemd the best and most curious Gardiners for herbs before any other of all the Provinces of France Be it that theâ—r soyle and climate produce more or that they are more industrious Their Hearbs are a great deal more fair and large then in other places Season I have seen of those amongst them that have been of eight inches Circumference or little lesse and in length proportionable to their thickness is to be sown at Spring when the Frosts are quite gone Transplanting You may make use of your Hedge-borders for this purpose and when they come to have six leaves you shall transplant them in ground that has been deeply trenched the Autumn before and lain mellowing all
sand in your Cellar as you do other Roots but first it ought to be almost white of it self The root is very much esteemed which has made me dubious whether I should not have placed it amongst them but I concluded it most properly reserved with the curled Succory in respect of their conformity as well in growing as in producing its seeds Sorreâ—l Of Sorrel we have very many kindes the Great the Lazy c. for as much as one leaf is sufficient for Pottage being so prodigiously large that they have some leaves seven inches broad and fifteen or eighteen long It is a sort which has been transported out of the Low-Countryes and I have had of the first A second kinde is another large Sorrel resembling Patience A third produces no seed but is propagated from the small side-leaves which it shoots when it begins to spread in the ground A fourth is the Small Sorrel which we have had so long in use A fift is the round-leaved Sorrel large and small which also does not seed but is to be raised of the little strings with which it o'respreads the ground and by little tendrels which grow about the plant and which you may take up in tuffts to furnish your beds withall A sixt is the Wild sorrel frequently found upon the up-lands and therefore not worth the paines to plant in gardens Lastly there is a seventh sort which bears a small traingular leafe called Alleluja it is very delicate and agreeable by reason of its acidity like the other sorrel for tast but excellent in pottage Farces and Sallades as being endowed with the same qualities and rellish of the other sorrels Soweing You may sow all those sorts which produce seed after the frosts in narrow rills four in a bed but be diligent to weed it lest it be overgrown when it is a little strong thin it a little that it may the better prosper and if you please you may furnish other beds with what you take away Transplanting But it is the best way if you would transplant it it to gather of the strongest and at the beginning of Autumn or spring make borders a part They doe well either way continue long in perfection even till ten or twelve years But then it will be fit to remove it because the ground will be weary of being alwayes burthened with the same plant and delights in diversity besides the rootes crowding and pressing one another cannot finde sufficient substance to nourish and entertain them Dressing They must be dug at least thrice a year which should be at the entry of the hard frosts you must shake some Melon bed dung upon them The Soyl of Poultry is excellent and makes it wonderfully flourish At this second digging you shall extirpate what ever you finde grow scatring out of range by the sheading of seed and geuld them also about cutting off all the leaves and stalks neer the ground before you cover them with the dung Seed The seed is easily gatherd from such as bear it for it runs up at Midd-Summer and when you see it ripe cut off the stalkes close to ground afterwards being dryed it soon quits the pouches cleanse it well and preserve it for use Patience Patience must be ordered like Sorrel The plant is not so delicious to the Palate however one would have a bed of it that your Garden may be compleat Borrage The Vertues of Borrage recommends it to your Garden though it impaire the colour of your Pottage darkning it a little The flowers of it are a very agreeable service to garnish the meate pottages Sallades and other dishes since by reason of their sweetnesse they may be eaten without any disgust Soweing It is to be sowâ—e in the spring like other herbs and may be left in the ground their hardy Roâ—ts supporting the hardest frosts sprouting a fresh in the Spring The Gardiners of Paris pull up the whole plant and sowe it many times in the year to have it alwayes tender For the ordering of it it is sufficient that it be gently houed and weeded Seed For the seed let the fairest plants run and when they are full ripe on the stalke gather and save it Buglosse Buglosse is to be govern'd like borrage and therefore I will spend no more time upon it Chervill Chervill besides what I told you before that you should sowe it upon Beds to compose swaller Salades at the end of Winter It will be good to sowe new from moneth to moneth though it be but little that you may still have it fresh and more tender then that which is old sowne The borders of your Wall-fruit and hedges may serve for this effect forasmuch as it cannot prejudice your Trees being so small and requiring so little substance for its growth and the small time of its Sojourne in a place Seed You shall let one end of your bed run to graine which will amply suffice to furnish you let it ripen well upon the stalke then pull it up or cut it and dry it perfectly before you reserve it There is another sort of Spanish Chervill which is called Mirrhis Odorata whose leafe much resembles Hemlock But very agreeable to the tast having a perfume like the green Anis and much pleasanter being a little chewed At the spring when it makes a shoot from its old stalke they cover it with small dung and then with hot soyl over to choke it that it may be fit for Salads It is infinitely to be preferred before Allisanders or the Sceleri of Italy Sowing You shall sowe it in spring in some place by it self and till it be come up do nothing to it besides cleansing it of weeds as they spring up it being some times a whole year under ground Seed The seed you shall gather in its season and order it as you do the rest Allisanders Allisanders are to be ordered as I now shewed you in Spanish Chervill only the seed of it does not ly so long hid and that it is not to be eaten till it be buryed under the dung or covered with pots like Succory Sceleri Italian Sceleri shall be treated after the same manner the shoot or stalke is that which is the most excellent in the plant because it is so delicate and tender Soweing These three last plants are not to be sowne every year but preserve themselves in the ground during Winter without prejudice Purslaine Of Purslaines I finde four sorts the greene and White and the Golden lately brought us from the Ilands of St. Christopher which is the most delicate of all the rest and lastly the small wild Purslain which the ground spontaneously produces and is therefore least esteemed Soweing It is to be sowne at spring upon the bed and all Summer long to have alwayes that which is tender bur first you must dig the earth well and throughly dresse it sprinkle your seed as thin as you can which is the more difficult to do because the
A Hertochs fecit The French GARDINER INSTRUCTING How to Cultivate all sorts of FRUIT-TREES AND HERBS for the GARDEN TOGETHER With directions to dry and conserve them in their Natural Three times printed in France and once in Holland An accomplished Piece First written by R. D. C. D. W. B. D. N. And now Transplanted into English by PHILOCEPOS LONDON Printed by I. C. for Iohn Crooke at the Ship in St. Pauls Church-yard 1658. TO My most Honour'd and Worthy Friend THOMAS HENSHAW Esquire Sir I Have at length obey'd your Commands only I wish the Instance had bin more considerable though I cannot but much approve of the designe and of your election in this particular work which is certainly the best that is exstant upon this Subject notwithstanding the plenty which these late years have furnish'd us withal I shall forbear to publish the accident which made you engage me upon this Traduction because I have long since had inclinations and a design of communicating some other things of this nature from my own experience and especially concerning the Ornaments of Gardens c. Because what respects the Soyle the Situation and the planting is here performed to my hand with so muâ—h ingenuity as that I conceive there can very little be added to render it a piece absolute and without reproach In order to this my purpose was to introduce the least known though not the least delicious appendices to Gardens and such as are not the Names only but the Descriptions Plots Materials and wayes of contriving the Ground for Parterrs Grotts Fountains the proporâ—ions of Walks Perspectives Rocks Aviaries Vivaries Apiaries Pots Conservatories Piscina's Groves Crypta's Cabinets Eccho's Statues and other ornaments of a Vigna c. without which the best Garden is without life and very defective Together with a Treatise of Flowers and Ever-greens especially the Palisades and Contr-Espaliers of Alaternus which most incomparable Verdure together with the right culture of it for beauty and fence I might glory to have been the first propagator in England This I say I intended to have published for the benefit or divertisement of our Country had not some other things unexpectedly intervened which as yet hinder the birth and maturity of that Embryo Be pleased Sir to accept the productions of your own Commands as a Lover of Gardens you did promote it as a Lover of you I have translated it And in the mean time that the Great ones are busied about Governing the World which is but a Wildernesse let us call to minde the Rescript of Dioclesian to those who would perswade him to re-assume the Empire For it is impossible that he who is a true Virtuoso and has attain'd to the felicity of being a good Gardener should give jealousie to the State where he lives This is not Advice to you who know so well how to cultivate both your self and your Garden But because it is the only way to enjoy a Garden and to preserve its Reputation Sir I am Your most Humble and most Obedient Servant J. E. TO THE READER I Advertise the Reader that what I have couched in four Sections at the end of this Volume under the Name of an Appendix is but a part of the third Treatise in the Original there remaining three Chapters more concerning Preserving of fruits with Sugar which I have therefore expresly omitted because it is a Mysterie that I am little acquainted withall and that I am assured by a Lady who is a person of quality and curious in that Art that there is nothing of extraordinary amongst them but what the fair Sex do infinitely exceed whenever they please to divertise themselves in that sweet employment There is also another Book of the same Author intituled Les delices de la Campagne or the Delights of the Countrey being as a second Part of this wherein you are taught to prepare and dresse whatsoever either the Earth or the Water do produce Dedicated to the good Housewives There you are instructed to make all sorts of French Bread and the whole Mysterie of the Pastry Wines and all sorts of drinks To accommodate all manner of roots good to eat cocking of Flesh and Fish together with precepts how the Major Domo is to order the services and treat persons of quality at a Feast a la mode de France which such as affect more then I and do not understand in the Original may procure to be interpreted but by some better hand then he that did the French Cook which being as I am informed an excellent Book of its kinde is miserably abused for want of Skill in the Kitchin If any man think it an employment fit for the Translator of this former part it will become him to know that though I have some experience in the Garden and more divertisement yet I have none in the Shambles and that what I here present him was to gratifie a noble Friend who had only that empire over me as to make me quit some more serious Employments for a few dayes in obedincâ— to his command Farewell THE French Gardiner The first Treatise SECTION I. Of the Place of the Earth and mould of the Garden together with the means to recover and meliorate ill ground Site ALL those who have written concerning the husbandry of the Countrey have accompanied it with so many insupportable difficulties about the disposition of the Edifices and other parts appertaining to the Demesnes that it were altogether impossible to accommodate a place sutable to their prescription forasmuch as the Situations never perfectly correspond to their desires and therefore I shall by no means oblige you to the particular Site of your Garden you shall make use of the places as you finde them if already they are laid out or else you shall with good advice prepare a new one in some part that lyes most convenient to your Mansion Soile Touching the Ground if you meet with that which is good it will be to your great advantage and much lessen your expence but it is very rarely to be found where the land doth not require a great deale of labour for many times the surface of the ground shall be good which being opened the depth of a spade-bit onely will be found all clay underneath which is a more pernicious mould for Trees then the very Gravell it self since in Gravell the rootes may yet encounter some smal veynes for their passage in searching the moysture beneath from whence to draw nourishment but the Clayie which is a sort of earth wherewithall the Bakers of Paris do make the hearths of their Ovens is like a board so thick and hard that the roots cannot Peirce it and in the extraordinary heats of Sommer it hinders the moysture which is below that it can by no means penetrate in so much as the Trees and other plants become so extreamely drie that instead of advancing their growth they altogether languish and in concâ—usion perish Dressing
For redresse of this defect there is onely one expedient and that is by hollowing and breaking up the ground 3 or 4 foot deep beginning with a trench 4 or 5 foot large the whole length of the place that you will thus open casting the several moulds all upon one side and thus when your trench is voyded and emptied to the depth which you desire you shall cast in long dung of the Marc or husks of the wine-presse or Cider and fearne which if you can commodiously procure is of all other composts the best leaves of trees even to the rotten sticks and mungy stuffe to be found under old wood piles mosse and such like Trash in fine whatever you can procure with the most ease and least charge for all the design in this stirring the ground is onely to keep it hollow that so the moysture beneath may invigorate the Trees and plants during the excessive drouths You shall therefore lay it halfe a foot thick at the bottome of your Trench and afterwards dig a second of the same proportion casting the mould which lies uppermost and which is ever the best upon the dung and so making this Second trench as deep as the former you shall fill your first trench and the mould which you found undermost shall now lye on the top thus continuing your Trenches till you have finished the whole piece Peradventure you may object that the earth which you take from beneath will be barren I confesse with you that for the first year the goodnesse of it will not appear but when with that little amendment which you bestow upon it it shall be mellow'd by the rains and frosts of one Winter it shall produce abundantly more then what before lay above which being exhausted and worn out through the long usage hath certainly lost a great part of its vertue Neither are all Seasons proper for this Labour because during the great heats This earth is so extreamely hard and bound that neither Crow nor Pick-axe can enter it The Winter is then the most convenient season of all other for as much as the Autumn raines having well moystned the earth it is dug with the more facility and besides the rain the snow and the frosts which are frequent in that season contribute much to the work nor are Labourers being at that time lesse imployed so chargable as when they work in the Vineyards and during August when they are hardly to be procured for money As concerning the bottom where you encounter with Gravell you shall husband it as we have allready described by breaking it and the stones that are mingl'd in the ground shall be carried out of the Garden But in case the gravell lie not very thick and that when it is broken up you arrive at sand or to another smaller loose gravell it shall suffice that it be broken up without flinging out of the trench since the Trees will shoot sufficient rootes amongst this smaller graâ—vell by reason of the moysture which the duug lying above them will coutribute You must remember to lay excellent dung half consumed at the bottome of such Trenches out of which you have cast the gravell to the end that the rain and all other refreshings may the more easily passe through it especially if it be of the huskes of the presse fearne and the like such as we have already mentioned You will object I suppose that to trench and dresse a whole Garden in this manner is to engage one into an extraordinary expence I grant it indeed but it is once for all and the emolument which will result from one such Labour will recompence the charge an hundred fold since the Trees will be more beautifull without mosse or galls and without comparison produce their Fruits abundantly more faire then those which are planted in a ground which is not thus dressed Artichocks Leekes and other rootes grow there to a monstrous bignesse briefly you will finde your self so extreamely satisfied perceiving the difference to what your Garden produced before it was thus loosened that you will have no cause to regret your expences However if you would be yet more thrifty I shall instruct you how by another expedient you may amend your Garden with lesse charge but withall as the expence will not be so great so neither will the product be so faire Of this I purpose to treate hereafter in the planting of pole-hedges and the Kitchen-garden Many that are curious do extreamely exceed all this for they passe all their Earth through a Hurdle to cleer it from the stones which is done by placing the Hurdle or Cive upon the margent of the Trench and so shoveling the mould to the top of the Cive the earth passes and the stones rolle to the foot of the Cive which are afterwards carried forth of the Garden The forme of this Cive is a frame joyned together two Inches thick six-foot high and five foot in breadth which shall have two crosse quarters within the height of the same bignesse of the frame and all the four crosse peices shall be equally bâ—ared about the bignesse of those sticks which the Chandlers use to make their Candles on these holes must be a fingers thicknesse distant one from another and in them you shall fit sticks of Dog-wood because it is tough and very hard when it is dry and which will endure longer without breaking then any other Note that both the top and the bottome of your frame must be pierced quite through that when any of the sticks are broken you may put new ones in their places fastning them with small wedges at the extreames SECT II. Of Espaliers or Wal-fruit and of single pole-hedges and shruls Wall-fruit â—edges WAl-fruits being the principal ornament of Gardens it is most reasonable that we should assigne them the most eminent place and give a full description of them as being indeed the subject upon which I determine chiefly to discourse in this first Treatise By Espalier we mean those Trees with which the Wals of Gardens be adorned and furnished To bring this to perfection you must make a Large trench as I have described it before If the ground be of Clay you are to husband it as hath bin spoken of Clay and if of a rocky nature as of rocky But you shall leave one foot of Earth unbroken next to the wal for fear least you indanger the foundation and after having layed a bed of Dung of halfe a foot thick at the bottome of your trench you shall cast thereupon of the very best mould which came forth of the Trench to the thicknesse of a foot This done you shall marke out the places where you design to plant your Trees which shall be at a reasonable distance That of twelve foot to me seems the most convenient but this at your owne discretion I shall oblige you to no Law every man hath his particular fancy but my opinion is that if they are planted
bends and wrests the trunck by reason of its weighty head which renders its top heavy and hinders the body of the tree of its growth because the sap speedily Passing upwards to the new shoots makes no halt by the way as it would doe if some of the young branches were left Nipping There is a season when to nip the bud and stop the trees whilst the sap is up and the buds which may in this case be taken away are such as most deforme the tree but you must ever spare those which will be fruit And to distinguish them one from the other such as have but one leafe apendant produce wood only whereas those which are fruitfull are plentifully furnished with leaves Pruning You may also prune off those yong shoots which are too exuberant and that may draw too much sap from the tree to the prejudice of the rest of the branches where therefore you observe this you shall stop them at the third or fourth knot and after it hath put forth its Sap. They use also to prune in Augustspring as well to impeach its unhandsome spreading as that it may ripen before Winter and not starve the branches below which must of necessity be cut off in February If you desire to make a plantation of great trees in an Orchard by themselves you must of necessity Graft them upon Freestocks and not upon the quince that is to say Pears and the Apples upon the Apples of Paradise for otherwise they will never become of any stature but will be low and shrubbie Distance You may Plant your Apple trees 30 foot distant and your Pears Plum-trees and other fruits 24 Forme and be carefull that you plant them in the quincunx that is in lines which mutually cut at right angles In such a plot of ground you may safely sow some seeds and pulse which will occasion you to open and stirr the ground for I advise you above all things not to permit any wild herbs or weeds in your Orchard rather restraine your self to a smaller circuit of ground which you may manage well then to undertake a larger and neglect it for want of dressing Great Orchards are admired but the smaller better cultivated and you shall receive more profit from a small spot well husbanded then from a large plantation which is neglected SECTION V. Concerning Graffs and the best directions how to choose them Graffing THere is a great deale of dificulty in the well choosing of Grafts for upon that does depend their earely bearing there being some which produce no fruit in ten or twelve years The best Grafts are those which grow upon the strongest and master branch of a tree which is wont to be a good bearer and such a one as does promise a plentiful burden that year and is thick of buds for hence it is that your young grafted trees have fruit from the second or third year and sometimes from the very first Whereas on the contrary if you take a graft from a young tree which has not as yet borne fruit that which you shall propagate from such a tree will not bear a long time after â—noculating The graffe or bud for the Scutcheon ought to be gathered in the moneth of August at the decrease and immediatly grafted or for a more certain rule without such notice of the Moon observe when your wild-stock and Free are in the Prime of their sap for the Escutcheon is allwaies fit enough but the wild-stock does frequently fail of being disposed to receive it for want of sap as it commonly happens in an extreame drie Summer where they shoot not at all or very little in the Agust-spring And therfore if you have many trees to graft loose no time and be sure to begin early Season You shall know whether your wilde-stock be in the vigour of his Sap by two indications The one is by making incision and lancing the bark with a Pen-knife and lifting it up if it quit the wood there is Sap sufficent but if it will not move readily you must attend till it ascend for it will else be but labour in vain and prejudice your Tree The other is when at the extremities of the branches of the wilde stock you see the leaves of the new Sap appear white and pallid it is a Symptome that the tree is in case and fit to graffe Choyce A Graffe for the Scutcheon shall be chosen from a Shoot or Syen of that year mature and very fair for there are many which are thin and meagre at the points and upon such you shall hardly finde one or two buds that are good gather it neer to the Shoot of the precedent year cutting the upmost point in case you may not take off the Scutcheons and cut away also all the leaves to a Moyety of the stalk And the reason why I oblige you to cut off the top of the Graffe and its leaves so far is because if you spare them they will wither and so drie all the graffe that it will not be possible to separate the Escutcheon from the wood and besides all the leaves are worth nothing Time If you defer your graffing till the morrow or some dayes after they are gathered you shall dip their ends in some vessel the water not above two inches deep till such time as you intend to graffe them but if you will graff them on the same day you need onely keep them fresh in some Cabbage leaves or moyst linnen clout Cleft Graffs for the Cleft are to be gathered in the wain of the Moon in Ianuary to the increase of it in February and so continuing from Moon to Moon till you perceive that the Sap being too strong in the Stock separates the Rinde from the wood Choyce To choose a Graff well for the Cleft my opinion is that it should have of the wood of the two saps of the precedent year whereof the oldest will best accommodate with the Cleft and the other will shoot and bud best though I do not utterly reprove the graffing of the wood though but of one year but the tree will not bear fruit so soon You shall gather your Graffs at the top of the fairest branches as I have formerly said and you shall leave three fingers length of the first Sap or old wood that you may cut your graffe with the greater case To conserve them till you graffe it is sufficient to cover them by bundles half wayes in the earth their kindes distinguished least if you should mingle them and should graffe of two sorts upon the same same tree you be constrained to cut one of them off since two several kindes of fruit do never agree well upon the same Stem the one hindring the other from arriving to its perfection by robbing it of the Sap. SECT VI. The manner how to graffe I Have never observed above four several necessary manners of graffing and from which you may hope for an assured success the
wilde or bitter Cherrie then upon the Suckers which spring from the roots of other Cherrie-trees of a better kinde though tollerable in defect of the other and the right season to bud them is when the fruit begins to blush and take colour They do very well graffed in the stock and shoot wonderfully but the Bud is much to be preserved They have of late found out an expedient to prevent the Gumme which incommodes the graffes and Clefts of Cherry-trees to which they are wonderfully obnoxious and that is by sawing and paring the part smooth with a knife afterwards to make an incision of two inches length into the first and utmost rinde drawing it aside and separating it from the green some two inches long without peeling it quite off Then in the middle of this length to make the Cleft lodge the graff and cover it with this skin by replacing it and then swathe it as the custome is For Stones and Almonds of all sorts which you would sow to produce natural fruit or graffe upon prepare a Bed of Earth before Winter trench it and tread it then rake and water it which done range all your Stones on it at three inches distance every species apart then lay as many boards upon them as wil cover the Bed and upon the boards a good quantity of weighty stones cover all this with new dung to prevent the Frost the moneth of May following take up your boards you shall finde your stones sprouted which you shall immediately take up without impeaching the Sprouts and so place them where you would have them remain This is a particular which will extreamly satisfie you as in time you will finde Figs. Figs of all sorts are propagated by Layers and suddenly bear fruit which you may facilitate by passing a fair branch through some Bushel or Bushels and environing it with rich earth that it may take root But be careful that you fasten the Vessel very well to the side of the tree lest the windes and its own weight turn it over and ruine your Labour You may also take the Suckers which spring out of the earth from the foot of a Fig-tree ready rooted or the Cuttings which you may cultivate and govern after the manner of Quinces but yet without cutting off the tops of the branches which you so lay for this wood having a large pith is very subject to the iniury of winde and water and the sooner you plant these trees in the places designed for their abode the better they will take Winter past gather off all the unripe Figs before they fall off themselves for if they stay till they spontaneously quit the trees they will have exhausted them very much of their Sap to the great prejudice of the Figs which are to succeed them and which by neglecting this do oftentimes never arrive to their maturity And forasmuch as the Fig-tree does very much suffer by reason of the Frosts you are obliged to plant them in a warm place or in Cases which you may remove and house with your Orange-trees in the Winter Mulberies take likewise of Cuttings and Layers pricking them in a moyst place half a â—oot profound not permitting above three fingers of the tops to peer out of the earth and treading it down with your feet as you should do Quinces If you would sowe Mulberies to produce a great quantity in a little ground take an old Well-rope which is made of a certain wood called the Bline easy to be twisted and rub it with such ripe Mulberies as you finde fallen off the tree bury this Cord four fingers deep in a trench cover it with earth and the next year you shall have Trees enough both to store your self and your Friends Oranges Limmons Concerning Orange and Limmon-Trees I shall only deliver the principal and most ordinary government of them which is to sowe their Repins in Boxes and when they are two years old transplant them in Cases every one in a Case by it self filled with rich Mellon bed-mould mingled with Loam refined and matur'd by one winter and when they can well support it you may either inoculate or graffe them by Approch in the Spring of the year Above all things be diligent to secure them from cold and commit them early to their shelter where that they may intirely be preserved from the Frost you may give them a gentle Stove and attemper the Air with a fire of Charcoal during the extream rigour of the Winter in case you suspect the Frost has at all invaded them But so soon as the Spring appears and that the Frosts are intirely past you may acquaint them with the Air by degrees beginning first to open the doors of the Conservatory in the heat of the day and shutting them again at night and so by little and little you may set open the windowes and shut them again in the evening till all danger is past and then you may bring them forth and expose them boldly to the Ayr during all the Summer following As these trees grow big you may change and enlarge their Cases but be sure to take them out earth and all razing the stringy and fiberous roots a little with a knife before you replace them and supplying what their new Cases may want with the fore-described mould Some when they alter their Cases denude them of all the earth conceiving it exhausted and insipid but it is to the extream prejudice of the Tree and does set it so far back that a year or two will hardly recover it You may gather the Flowers every day to prevent their knotting into fruit or being too luxurious their languishing it will suffice therefore that you spare some of the fairest and best placed for fruit and of them as many as you conceive the tree can well nourish The Spiders do extreamly affect to spread their Toyles among the branches and leaves of this Tree because the flies so much frequent their flowers and leaves which attract them with their redolency and juice and to remedy this use such a Brush as is made to cleanse pictures withal from the dust but treat them tenderly Shrubs Arbusts and all Shrubs such as Pome-granads Iassemins Musk-Roses c. Woodbines Myrtles ordinary Laurel Cherry-Laurel Râ—se-Laurel Althea-frutex Lilac Guelder-Roses Phylirea Alaternus and divers more superfluous to repeat here Of these we will only take the principal and discourse a little upon them Granads Granads as well those which bear the double Flower are propagated from Layers letting them passe the year in the ground they will be sufficiently rooted before winter to be transplanted You may likewise govern their branches and cuttings as you did the Quince They may be either budded or graffed in the Cleft in the ordinary season And some plant them in Cases to preserve them in the house during Winter but they will endure without doors planted against some well-sheltered Wall where they will prosper very well The Granads which
upon the earth but become daily riper by it When the first cold begins to come gather them in a Morning and heape them one upon another that they may drie in the sun and afterwards carry them into some temperate Roome upon boards where let them ly without touching one another above all preserve them from the frost for that will immediately perish them If you have plenty and abound you may put it into your ordinary House-hold bread or that of your owne table But first you must boyle it after the same manner as you prepare it to Fry only a little more tender then drain the water from it and wet your flower with this mash and so make your bread It wil be of better colour and better relish being a little Dow and is very wholesome for those who stand in need of refreshment There is a small kind of Pumpeon which knots into fruit neer the foot without trailing and bears abundantly they must be guelded leaving none but the fairest Poitirons Potirons white and coloured Priest-capps Spanish trumpets Gourds and the like are to be order'd as you doe Pumpeons with this only difference that some of them would be stalked and not suffered to ramp upon the ground Seed The seeds of these as also of pumpeons are to be saved as you spend their fruite but it must be carefully cleansed and dried in the air and secured from mice which devour these seeds as well as those of Melons and cowcumbers SECT II. Of Artichocks Chardons and Asparagus Artichokes THe Artichock is one of the most excellent Fruits of the Kitchen Garden and recommended not only for its goodnesse and the divers manners of cooking it but also for that the fruit contiuues in Season a long time Of these there are two sorts the Violet and the Green The Slips which grow by the sides of the old Stubs serve for Plants which you must set in very good ground deep dunged and dressed with two or three manures Planting When the Frosts are entirely past in April you shall plant the Slips having separated them from the Stem with as much root as you can that they may take the more easily and if they be strong enough they will bear Heads the Autumn following You shall plant them four or five foot distant one from another according to the goodnesse of the Soil for if it be light and sandy you may plant them closer if it be a strong ground at a greater distance to give scope to the leaves which with the fruit wil come fairer and bring forth more double ones They shall need no other Culture before Winter then to be dress'd and weeded sometimes You shall cover them in Winter to preserve them from the Frost and to do this they order them after divers manners some cutting all the Plants within a foot of the ground and gathering up the rest of the leaves as they do to blanch Succory think it sufficient to make it up in form of a Mole-hill leaving out at the top the extreams of the leaves about two fingers deep to keep the Plant from suffocating and then covering them with long dung preserve them thus from the Frosts and hinder the rain from rotting them Others make trenches 'twixt two ranges and cast the earth in long bankes upon the plants covering them within two fingers of the topps as I shewed you above And there be some which onely put long dung about the plants and so they passe the winter very well All these severall fashions are good and every man a bounds with his particular reason Earâ—hâ—ng Onely be not over eaâ—ly in earthing them least they grow rotten but be sure that the great frosts doe not prevent and surprise you if you have many to govern If you desire to have fruit in Autumne you need onely cut the Stemm of such as have borne fruit in the spring to hinder them from a second shoot And in Autumn these lusty Stocks will not faile of bearing very faire heads provided that you dresse and dig about them well and water them in their necessitie taking away the Slips which grow to their sides and which draw all the substance from the plants The Winter spent you shall uncover your Artichockes by little and little not at once least the cold ayr spoyl them being yet tender and but newly out of their warm beds and therefore let it be done at three times with a four dayes interval each time at the last whereof you shall dresse dig about and â—rim them very well discharging them from most of their small slips not leaving above three of the strongest to each foot for bearers Chard To procure the Chard of the Artichocks which is that which growes from the rootes of old plants you shall make use of the old stemmes which you do not account of For it will be fit to renew your whole plantation of Artichocks every five-year because the plant impoverishes the earth and produces but small fruite Slips The first fruites gathered you shall pare the plant within halfe a foot of the ground and cut off the Stemm as low as you can possible and thus you will have lusty slips which grown about a yard high you shall bind up with a wreath of long straw but not too close and then inviron them with dung to blanch them Thus you may leave them till the great frosts before you gather them and then reserve them for your use in some Cellar or other place lesse cold Gatheâ—ing But it is best to gather them from time to time as you spend them beginning wâ—th the largest and sparing the rest which will soon be ready having now all the nourishment of the plant Spanish Chardon The Spanish Chardons are not so dilicate to govern as those of the Artichocke nor produce they chards so sweet and tender they are to be tyed up after the same manner to make them white They spring of seeds and are transplanted in slips The flowers of these chardons which are little violet colour'd beards being dryed in the Ayr will serve to turne milk withall and make it curdle like rennett The Spanyard and Languedociens use it for that purpose Asparagus Asparagus are to be raised of seeds in a bed a part the ground prepared before with divers diggings and well dunged at the end of two years you may take up the rootes and transplant them To lodg them well you must make trenches four foot large and two in depth leaving an intervall of four foot wide 'twixt the trenches to cast the mould on which you take out of them and make them very levell at bottom the earth cast in round banks on both sides bestow a good dressing upon the bottoms of your trenches mixing the mould with fine rich dung which you must lay very even in all places This done plant your Asparagus by line at three foot distance placeing two rootes together You may range the first at the very edg
two ranges are sufficient for each Bed But be careful to keep them weeded and dug as often as they require it till the leaves cover the ground and are able to choke the weeds that grow under them If you make Pits in the places where you remove them aud bestow some good Soil as I described in Melons and Cucumbers they will the better answer your expectations for they will produce much fairer heads Cabbage Watring All sorts of Cabbages whatever they be must be carefully watred at first for a few dayes after their planting that they may take the better root which you shall then perceive when their leaves begin to erect and flag no longer upon the ground Sowing All kindes of Cabbages are to be sown upon the Melon bed whilst the heat remains that they may cheq and spring the sooner sowe them therefore very thin in travers lines cross your Melon bed In April you shall sowe fresh upon the same bed and place where your Melons and Cucumbers stood Birds Now forasmuch as the Birds are extreamly greedy to devour their seeds as soon as they peep because they bear the husk of it upon the tops of their leaves I will teach you how you may preserve them Some spread a Net over the Beds sustaining it half a foot above the surface others stick little Mills made of Cards such as Children in play run against the winde with and some make them with thin Chips of Firre such as the Comfit makers boxes are made withall tying to the tree or Pole which bears it some Feathers or thing that continually trembles this will extremely affright the Birds in the day time and the Mice in the night for the least breath of winde will set them a whirling and prevent the mischief Wormes There breeds besides in these beds a winged Insect and Palmer worms which gnaw your seeds and sprouts To destroy these Enemies you should place some small vessels as beâ—r glasses and the like sinking them about three fingers deeper then the surface of the bed and filling them with water within two fingers of the brim and in these they will fall and drown themselves as they make their subterranean passages Large sided cabbages The large sided Cabbages shall not be sowne till May because they are so tender and if they be strong enough to be removed by the begining of Iuly they will head in Autumn To my Gusto there is no sort of Cabbage comparable to them for they are speedily boyled and are so delicate that the very grossest part of them melts in ones mouth If you eat broth made of them Fasting with but a little bread in it they will gently loosen the belly and besides what ever quantity of them you eat they will never offend you Briefly t is a sort of Cabbage that I can never sufficiently commend that I may encourage you to furnish your Garden with them rather then with many of the rest VVhite cabbage Of the White headed Cabbage those which come out of Flanders are the fairest and of these one of the heads produced in a rich mould hath weighed above fourty pounds Those of Aubervilliers are very free and a delicate meate There is another sort of Cabbage streaked with red veines the stalk whereof is of a purple colour when you plant it and they seem to me the most naturall of all the rest for they pome close to the ground and shoot but few leaves before they are headed growing so extreamly close that they are almost flat at top Red cabbage The red Cabbage should likewise have a little place in your Garden for its use in certain diseases Pefumed cabbage There is yet another sort of Cabbage that cast a strong musky Perfume but bear small heads yet are to be prized for their excellent odor The pale tender Cabbages are not to be sown till August that they may be removed a little before the Winter where they may grow and furnish you all the winter long and especially during the greater Frosts which do but soften mellow and render them excellent meat They plant also all those Italian kindes of which the Pancaliers are most in esteem by reason of their perfum'd relish Planting To plant all these sorts of Cabbages the ground deeply trenched and well dunged beneath you shall tread it out into beds of four foot large and within a foot of the margent you shall make a small trench four fingers in depth and of half a foot large angular at the bottome like a Plough-Furrow new turned up In this Trench towards the Evening of a fair day you shall make holes with a Setting stick and so plant your Cabbages sinking them to the neck of the very tenderest leaves having before pared off their Tops Place them at a convenient distance according to their bignesse and spreading then give them diligent Waterings which you shall pour into these furrowes only since it would be but superfluous to water the whole bed A man may transplant them confusedly in whole quarters especially the paler sort for the frosts but it is neither so commodious as in beds for the ease of watring them nor for the distinction of their species Be carefull to take away all the dead leaves of your Cabbages as well that they may looke handsomely as to avoid the ill sents which proceed from their corruption which breeds and invites the Vermine Snaile Frogs and Toads and the like which greatly endamage the Plants Seed When their heads and pomes are formed if you perceive any of them ready to run to seede draw the plant half out of the ground or tread down the Stem till the cabbage inclines to one side this will much impead its seeding and you may mark those Cabbages to be first spent For the seeds reserve of your best Cabbages transplanting them in some warm place free from the Winter winds during the greater frosts and covering them with Earthen Pots and warm soyl over the pots But when the weather is mild you may sometimes shew them the ayr and reinvigorate them with the sun being carefull to cover them again in the evening least the frost surprise them Others you shall preserve in the house hanging them up by their rootes about a fourtnight that so all the water that lurks amongst the leaves may drop out which would otherwise rot them That season past bury them in ground half way the stalk ranging them so neer as they may touch each other For those which arive to no head you need only remove them or leave them in the places where they stand they will endure the Winter well enough and run to seed betimes When the seed is ripe which you will know by the drinesse of the swads which will then open of themselves you shall gently pull up the Plant drawing it by the stalks and lay them aslope at the foot of your Hedges or Walls to dry and perfect their maturity but it wâ—ll not be amisse to
how you should better and improve your Garden at lesse charge and this I esteem sufficient for the raising of all sorts of pot herbs and pulse â—owing The winter intirely past you shall sow your Red Beets either upon Beds making holes with the setting stick fourteen or fifteen inches asunder and dropping 3 seeds into every hole or confusedly to be transplanted those which are not transplanted be subject to grow forked but those which you thus remove grow ordinarily longer and fairer because you will be sure to choose the likeliest plants Removing In removing the plants you shall practise the same rule that I shewed in Cabbages excepting only that you cut not off the tops Housing A little before the frosts you shall draw them out of the ground and lay them in the house burying their Rootes in the Sand to the neck of the Plant and ranging them one by another somewhat shelving and thus another bed of sand and another of Beets continuing this order to the last After this manner they will keep very fresh spending them as you have occasion and as they stand and not drawing any of them out of the middle or sides for choyce Seed For the Seed you shall reserve of the best and fairest Roots which you shall bury as you did the rest to replant in the Spring in some voyd place neer the borders of your fruit-hedges because there you may stop its growth which the windes would overthrow by reason of its overlopping and poize unlesse it be sustained except that you had rather place them in some Bed where you must support them with strong stakes for the purpose The Grain ripe pull up the Planâ—s and tye them to your Pole-hedg that they may dry and ripen with the more facility then rub it out gently 'twixt your hands and be sure to dry it well to preserve it from becoming musty Carrots Carrots and Parsneps are to be governed like Beets but are much more hardy and easily endure the Winter without prejudice till the Spring when they run up to seed and are then not to be eaten and therefore you shall draw your provisions in the Winter and preserve them for your spending as you did the Beets Season There are Carrots of three colours yellow white and red The first of these is the most delicate for the Pot or Inter-mess If you would have those that be very tender in May as the Picards and those of Amiens have them who put them in their Pottage instead of hearbs you must soyl the ground and prepare it by good dressing before Summer In August you shall sowe at the decrease of the Moon They will spring before Winter and when you cleanse them from weeds you must thin them where you finde they grow confusedly since you need not transplant them as you do your Beets Seed For the Seed chuse the very prime and longest Roots lay them all Winter in the Cellar and set them in the ground again at the Spring as you do Beets that they may run to seed and in case you leave any in the grouâ—d they will easily passe the winter without rotting and come to seed in their season but it is best to draw them out as I said that you may cull the best for propagation a Rule to be well observed in all sorts of Plants if you be ambitious to have the best Salsifix Garden Salsifix is of two sorts the common is of a Violet colour the other is yellow This is the Salsifix of Spain which they call Scorsonera they are different as well in leaf as in flower For the Violet have their leaf like the small five rib'd Plantine and those of the Yellow are much larger It is but very lately that we have had this Scorsonera in France and I think my self to be one of the first 'T is a Plant aboundantly more delicious then the common Salsifix and has preheminence above all other Roots that it does not lye in the ground as other roots which become stringy and endure but a year Leave these as long as you please in the Earth they will dayly grow bigger and are fit to eat at all seasons though it yearly run up to Seed Dressing 'T is good to scrape off the brown crusty part of the Rinde from whence they derive their name Scorfonera and to let them soak a while in fair water before you boyl them because they cast forth a little Bitternesse which they will else retain and that the common Salsifix is free of which being simply washed are boyled and the Skin peeled off afterward Season There are two seasons of sowing in the Spring and when the Flower is past letting the seed flye away for the more uniformity they are sown in Lines upon Beds four rankes on a bed When they blowe you must Raile about your bed with stakes and poles like a pole hedg for fear the wind breake their stalks and fling them downe to the great prejudice of your seed But the common salsifix does flower before the Spanish Seed To gather the seed you must be sure to visit your salsifix four or five times a day for it will vanish and flie away like the down or Gossemeere of Dandelyon and therefore you must be watchfull to gather all the beards and taking them with the tops of your fingers pluck out the seed as soon as ever you perceive their heads to grow downy which you shall put into some earthen pot which must stand ready neer the bed that you may not be troubled to carry it in and out so often covering it with a tyle to keep out the raine c. Radishes There are three sorts of Radishes The Horse-Radish the Black-Radish and the Small ordinary eating radish Horse-radishes The Horse-radish is a grosse kinde of food very common in Limoges amongst the poorer people who diversly accommodate them by boyling frying and eating them with oyle having first cut them in slices and soaked them in water to take away their rankness You may sowe them all Ialy even to three lines that in case the first crops do not prosper the other may They affect a sandy ground well soyled and turned up two or three times and so they will come very fair there are some that are as big as a twopeny loafe You must draw them out of the ground before the frosts and conserve them in a warme place as you do your Turneps Seed For their seed you need only leave the fairest in the ground which will passe the Winter well enough and produce you their seed in their season but the most certain way is to transplant some of the biggest as soon as the hard Frosts are past The Black Radish is little worth but they are raised as the smaller are Small raddish Sowing The Small Radish or little Rabbon may be sown at every decrease of the Moon from the time you begin your hot Melon-Bed to the very end of October They are several wayes
the Winter Before you remove them soyl the ground very well and then giving it another digging turn the dung into the bottom then taking them out of your Nursery beds cut off their tops and transplant them in quarters two ranges in a Bed and a yard distant making a small Trench or Line as I shewed before concerning removing of Cabbages which I forbear to repeat to avoid prolixity If you would have them abound in fair Cards you must keep them well hou'd Weeded and watred when you perceive they need it Gathering You must not cut them when you gather but pull them off from the plant drawing them a little aside and so you shall not injure the stalk but rather improve those which remain a little time will repair its loss Plant not those for Cards which you shall finde green for they degenerate Sowing You may sowe them all the Summer that you may have for the Pot and to farce such as are tender also at the end of August which you may let stand all the winter as a Nursery and transplant at Spring which will furnish you with Leeks very early red Beets There is a Red Beet if you desire to have of them for Curiosity rather then for use because they produce but small Cards which being boyled lose much of their tincture becoming pale which renders them lesse agreeable to the Palat and to the Eye then the white Seed For the Seed leave growing of the whitest and largest without cropping any of their leaves which you shall support with a good stake lest its weight overthrow it to the prejudice of the Seeds which would then rot in lieu of ripening Two Plants are sufficient to store you amply which you shall pull up in fair weather when by the yellownesse of the colour you shall judge it to be ripe and lay a drying afterwards rub out the seeds with your hands upon some cloth and cleansing it from the husks give it a second drying lest it become musty for being of a spongy substance as the Red Beets are it will continue a long time moyst Orache There is another sort of Beets which is called Oracke very agreeable to the taste it is excellent in Pottage and carryes its own Butter in it self it is raised as the former is excepting only that you may plant it neerer and needs no transplanting 't is sufficient that it be weeded and houed when there is cause Succory There are several kindes of Garden Succories different in leaf and bignessâ— but resembling in taste and which are to be ordered alike Season Sow it in the Spring upon the borders when it has 6 leaves replant it in rich ground about 18 inches distance paring them at the tops When they are grown so large as to cover the ground tye them up as I instructed you before where I treated of Rom Lettuce not to bind them up by handfuls as they grow promiscuously but the strongest forwardest at first letting the other fortifie I remit you thitherto avoâ—d repetition It is in the second Section Art Lettuce where you will also finde the manner of whiting it under earthen Pots Blanching There is yet another fashion of Blanching it In the great heats when instead of heading you perceive it would run to seed hollow the earth at one side of the Plant and couch it down without violating any of the leaves and so cover it leaving out only the tops and extremity of the leaves and thus it will become white in a little time and be hindred from running to seed Those who are very curious bind the leaves gently before they interre them to keep out the Grit from entring between them which is very troublesome to wash out when you would dresse it Remember to couch them all at one side one upon another as they grew being planted beginning with that which is neerest the end of the Bed and continuing to lay them the second upon the first and the third upon the second till you have finished all the ranges I finde likewise two other manners of blanching them for the Wintâ—r The first is at the first frosts That you â—ye them after the ordinary way and then at the end of eight or ten dayes plucking them up couch them in the bed where you raised them from seeds making a small trench cross the Bed the height of your plant which will be about eight inches beginning at one end In this you shall range your plants side by side so as they may gently touch and a little shelving this done cover them with small rotten dung of the same bed Then make another Furrow for a second range in which order lay your plants as before continuing this order til you have finish'd and last of all cover the whole bed four fingers thick with hot soyl fresh drawn out of the Stable and in a short time they will be blanched If you will afterwards cover the Bed with some Mats placed aâ—lant like the ridge of a house to preserve them from the rain they will last a very long time without rotting When you would have any of them for use begin at the last which you buried and taking them as they come draw them out of the range and break off what you finde rotten upon the place or that which has contracted any blacknesse from the dung before you put it into your Basket for the Kitchen Housing A second manner of preserving it is to interre it as before in Furrows of Sand in the Cellar placing the root upmost lest the Sand run in between the leaves and you finde it in the Dish when they serve it You need not here bestow any Dung upon them it is sufficient that the Sand cover the Plant four fingers high and when you take it out for use before you dresse it shake it well the Root upmost that all the Sand may fall out from the leaves Take them likewise as they happen to lye in the Ranges There is a kinde of Succory which hardens of it self without binding which is a small sort but very much prized for its excellence Seed For the Seed leave of the fairest Plants growing and particularly such as you perceive would whiten of themselves and head without tying Let it well mature though it a little over ripen since it is not subject to scatter and fall out as many others are On the contrary when being exceedingly dryed you shall lay it upon the Barn-floor you shall have much adoe to fetch out the Seeds from the heads though you thrash it with a Flail Endive Of Endive or wilde Succory some of it bears a blew Flower others a white it is to be governed like the Garden but with lesse difficulty for you need only sowe it in a small Rill weeding houing and thinning it in due season Blanching Housing To blanch it cover it only with reasonable warm dung and drawing it out at the first appearance of Frost keep it under
Field for since they do not branch much they never choak Soweing They may be sown in two fashions either in ground newly dug and which has one dressing before wet winter or under furrow that is to say by sowing them upon the field before you Plough and then in making the furrows the peas slide in and are coverd with earth by the culter Pidgeons This kind of husbandry is practised for two respects the one to lodg them coldly when the earth is too light and the other to preserve them from the Pigeons for those which are onely harrow'd in upon the superficies they scrape out like Poultry and so devour the greatest part of your seed Houing There is also another method of soweing peas in use amongst those of Picardy They have a kind of flat â—hou like those which the Vignerons use about Paris where the Vines grow in a pale moyst soyl or in a sandy This Instrument is very like their hou's when they have done with them being too much worn at the sides these they round to a point in the middle or to make it more intelligible they do very much resemble the culter of a Plough and use it after the same fashion as they plow the furrows that is without ridges or pathes save only upon the Lands where it is divided 'twixt neighbour and neighbour With these upon newly dug ground cleansed of weeds and well dress'd they make a rill or trâ—nch going backward and drawing the earth which separates it self on both sides And in these furrows they sowe their Pease at a reasonable distance and then beginning a second rill the Houe covers that which was sown before And so the third the second till they have finish'd the whole Plot. This manner of Husbandry is very expedite and commodious for their cleansing without danger of treading upon them when they are grown In this manner they sowe like-wise all sorts of Beans Radishes Sorrel Leeks and divers other hearbs some deeper then other according to the nature and strength of the seed Moâ—ethly peas Monethly Pease so called because they last almost the whole Year continually flourishing must be sown in some place of your Garden well defended from the cold winâ—les that you may have Fruit betimes Câ—â—ting They need no other curiosity about ordering then other Pease only that they would be speedâ—ly cut being green leaving none of them to drie and as you perceive that any thing springs from them of which you have no hope it should produce Cods to cut it off Watâ—ing You must have a great care to water them especially during August and to shelter them with pannels of Reeds or Mattresses during the excessive heats to preserve them from the scorching Sun Lupines Lupins or Taulpins so called because the Mole flyes the place where they are sowen are a flat kinde of Pease round like a bruised Pistol bullet Slave-peas In the Gallyes they call them Slave-peas because they are their chief sustenance They are bitter of tast and must be a long time soaked before they be boyled They proceed from pods fastned to the stalk like beanes and are very full In Spain they sowe whole fields of them for their Cattell Soweing They must be sown in furrows four fingers distant and four files in a bed and will prosper well enough in ordinary ground Lentills Lentils should be sown at the same season as peas in ground newly dug but if it were prepared the winter before they will be a great deal fairer Mould They affect Sandy mould and are to be gathered being ripe and may be bound in swaths Thus you may leave them in the barns as long as you please unthrashed because they are not so obnoxious to the mice not to be worme-eaten as other peas which are continually gnawn as long as they remain in their cods Thrashing and therefore they must be thrashed out as soon as possible you can for which reason some bringing them out of the Field in a fair day thrash them in the very Street upon some Spacious place expos'd to the Sun which dos much contribute to their loosning Housing For there is a great deal of trouble in housing them and besides they will Sweat as many other graines do and Soften their Cods which makes them difficult to beat out Notwithstanding you may House the Gray Peas to give your Horses in the Hâ—me which will whet their appetite and much restore them if they be fallen in their flesh SECT VII Of Onions Garlick Chibols Leeks Odoriferous Plants and other Conveniences of a Garden not comprehended in the Precedent Chapters Onions ONions are of three Colours the White the Pale and the Purple-Red I say of three Colours for I do not conceive them to be of three different Species because they are so alike in taste but I referre their qualities to the judgement of the Botanists oweing Besides your sowing of Onions with Parsly as I shewed you before you shall sowe others upon a Bed apart and when it is grown as big as a Hens quill you may transplant it in lines with a Dibber that you may have them very fair If you leave any upon the Bed where you sowed it 't will diminish and rise out of the ground at the Season sooner then that which you removed Seeding During the great Heat of Summer it would run to seed which you must prevent by treading upon the Spindle which will stop its carreer and make the Onion the fairer Drying Housing When you finde them out of the ground and that the leaf is become very drie as it uses to be in August then you shall take them quite out of the earth searching with your Spade for every small head letting them dry upon the Bed and afterward lay them up in some temperate place and an ayr rather dâ—ie then moyst Seed For the seed you shall choose â—he fairest and biggest that you reserved and when the Frosts are past plant them in Ground very well soyled and clear from stones which is the mould thy best affect For this you may make use of the houe rilling the bed where you would set them not long-wayes but a thwart and deep enough then lay them in the bottom of the rills half a foot distant and cover them by drawing the second trench and thus a third and a fourth continuing the order till your bed be finished When it is in seed 't is very Subject to be overthrown by the wind by reason of its weight and the weaknesse of thâ— spindle which being easily bent or broken fals with the head to the ground which rots the seed instead of ripening it and therefore to remedy this you shall rail the bed a-about as I directed you concerning Salsifix or else stake them from space to space to which you shall tie them up by four or five spindles together bending them gently to the props if it be possible without breaking them The stalks drie and the head discovering the