so soone as the seede is in the ground that it may be harrowed in with the corne But in case this manner of dunging be neglected it followeth then before that you do harrow to strew the short small dung in manner of dust gathered out of Coupes Mues and Bartons where foule are fed or els to cast Goats treddles vpon the land as if you would sow seed and then with rakes and harrowes to mingle it with the soile To the end now that we may determine fully as touching this care also belonging to dung euery sheep or goat and such small cattell should by right yeeld ordinarily in dung one load in ten daies and euery head of bigger beasts ten load for vnlesse this proportion and quantity of muck be gathered plain it is that the granger or master of husbandry hath not don his part but failed in litering of his cattell Some hold opinion that the best way of mucking a land is to fold sheep and such like small cattell thereupon euen in the broad open field and to this purpose they inclose or impark them within hurdles In a word a ground not dunged at al groweth to be cold and again if it be ouermuch dunged the heart thereof is burned away And therefore the better and safer way is to muck by little at once and often rather than to ouerdo it at once The hotter that a soile is it stands by good reason that the lesse compost it requireth CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of good seed-corne The manner of sowing ground well How much seed of euery kind of graine an acre will take The due seasons of Seednesse THe best corne or Zea for seede is of one yeares age two yeares old is not so good that of three is worst of all for beyond that time the heart is dead and such corne wil neuer spurt And verily this that is said of one sort may be verified of all kindes The corne that setleth to the bottome of the mowgh in a barn toward the floore is euer to be reserued for seed And that must needs be best because it is weightiest for therein lieth the goodnesse neither is there a better way to discern and distinguish good corn from other If you see an eare of corn hauing grains in it here and there staring distant asunder be sure the corn is not good for this purpose and therefore it must be cast aside The best graine looketh reddish and being broken between ones teeth retaineth stil the same colour within the worse corn for seed is that which sheweth more of the white flower within Furthermore this is certain that some grounds take more seed and some lesse And hereby verily do husband men gather their first presage religiously of a good or bad haruest for when they see the ground swallow more seed than ordinary they haue a ceremonie to say beleeue that it is hungry and hath greedily eaten the seed When a man is to sow a moist ground good reason there is to make the quicker dispatch and to do it betimes for fear lest rain come to rot it But contrariwise in dry places it is not amisse to stay the later and attend till raine follow lest by lying long in the earth and not conceiuing for want of moisture it lose the heart turn to nothing Semblably when a man soweth early he must bestow the more seed and sow thick because it is long ere it swel and be ready to chit But if he be late in his seednes he should cast it thin into the ground for thick sowing will choke and kill the seed Moreouer in this feat of sowing there is a pretty skil and cunning namely to cary an euen hand and cast the seed equally thorowout the whole field The hand in any case of the seeds-man must agree with his gate and march it ought alwaies to go iust with his right foot Herein also this would not be forgotten that one is more fortunate and hath a more lucky hand than another and the seed will prosper better and yeeld more encrease that such a one soweth an hidden secret surely in Nature and whereof we can yeeld no sound reason Ouer and besides this is to be considered that corn comming from a cold soile must not be sowne in a hot ground nor that which grew in a forward and hasty field ought to be transferred into lateward lands Howsoeuer some there be that haue giuen rule clean contrary howbeit they haue deceiued themselues with al their foolish curiositie Now as touching the quantitie of seed that must be giuen according to the varietie both of ground and grain these principles following are to be obserued in a reasonable good ground of a mean temperature an acre in ordinarie proportion wil ask of common wheat Triticum or of the fine wheat Siligo 5 modij of the red wheat Far or of seed for so we cal a kind of bread corn ten Modij of Barly six of Beans as much as of common wheat and a fift part or one Modius ouer of Vetches 12 of Cich pease the greater Cichlings the lesse and of pease three of Lupines ten of Lentils 3 as for these folk would haue them sowed together with dry dung of Ervile six of Silicia or Feni-greek six of Phaseols or Kidny beans foure of Dradge or Balimong for horse prouender 20 but of Millet and Panick 4 Sextars Howbeit herein can be set down no iust proportion for the soile may alter all And in one word a fat ground will receiue more and a lean lesse Besides there ariseth a difference another way in this manner if it be a massie fast chalky and moist ground you may bestow in one acre thereof six Modij either of common wheat or of fine Siligo but in case it be loose and light naked dry and yet in good heart and free it will aske but foure For the leaner that a ground is vnlesse it be sown scant and the straw come vp also thinne the shorter eare will the corne haue and the same light in the head and nothing therein Be the ground rich and fat ye shall see out of one root a number of stems to spring so that although the grain be thin sown yet will it come vp thick and beare a faire and full eare And therefore in an acre of ground you shall not do amisse to keep a meane between foure and six Modij hauing respect to the nature of the soile And yet some there be who would haue of wheat fiue Modij sown at all aduenture and neither more not lesse whatsoeuer the ground be To conclude if the ground be set with trees or lying on the side of an ãâã all is one as if it were lean hungry and out of heart And hereto may be reduced that notable Aphorisme worthy to be kept and obserued as a diuine Oracle Take not too much of a land weare not out all the fatnesse but leaue it in some heart Ouer and
for feare least it being replanted againe by these Herbarists such is the malicious sorcerie of some of them as I haue already shewed the malady returne and be as bad as it was before the like caueat I find giuen vnto them who are cured of this disease eitherby Mugwort or Plantaine The herb Damasonium called likewise Alisma if it be gathered about the Summer solstead applied vnto the foresaid wens with rain water is singular good for them for which purpose the leaues are to be stamped or the root bru sed and incorporat with hogs grease and so applied in a liniment with charge That the place be couered with a leafe of the same in which manner prepared and vsed it serueth to allay all pains in the nape of the neck and to keep downe or dissipat the swelling in any part of the body There is an herb growing commonly in ââ¦o vs called the Daisie with a white floure partly inclining to a red which if it be ioined with Mugwort in an ointment is thought to make the medicine far more effectual for the kings euil Condurdum is an herb of smal continuance for about the Summer Solstice it sheweth a red floure and soon sheddeth the same which as they say if it be hanged about the neck represseth and keepeth vnder the foresaid disease the like doth Veruaine together with Plantaine vsed and worne in the same manner Touching all the accidents happening to the fingers and namely the excrescences risings of the skin about the roots of the nailes called in Greeke Pterygia Cinquefoile is a singular good herb for them Amongst all the infirmities of the breast the cough is most troublesome and grieuous for which the root of Panaces in sweet wine is a soueraigne remedie The juice of Henbane is excellent for them also that reach vp bloud out of the breast and the very smoke therof as it burneth is as proper for them that cough In like manner Scordotis beeing dried and made into pouder afterwards mingled with cresses and rosin and so reduced into a liquid confection or lohoch cureth the cough The said herb taken simply by it self alone raiseth tough flegme out of the brest and causeth it to break from the patient with ease The like effect hath Centaurie the greater yea though a man did bring vp bloud for which infirmity the juice of Plantain also is thought to be singular Betony taken in water to the weight of three oboli is of great force against the spitting of bloud and raising vp of filthy matter out of the chest The root of the great bur hath the like vertue if it be eaten to the weight of one dram with 11 Pine-nuts The juice of Harstrang as also Galangale is good for the pain in the brest and therfore they go both of them into preseruatiues and antidots which serue for counterpoisons The Carot likewise helpeth those that cough like as the herb Scythica which is the wild Caraway for beeing drunk to the weight of 3 cyaths in sweet wine cuit it is generally good for all diseases of the brest for the cough and helpeth such as fetch vp filthy and rotten matter CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Mullen or Lungwort of Cacalia of Folefoot called Tussilago or Bechium and of Sauge herbs all appropriate for the cough MVllen or Lungwort with the yellow golden floure being in like maner taken to the same quantity eases the foresaid infirmities Certes this herb is of that efficacy in these cases that if a drench thereof be giuen to horses which not onely haue the cough but also bee broken winded it wil help them the same effects I find attributed to Gentian The root of Cacalia soked in wine and chewed is good not onely for the cough but also for the infirmities in the throat Take 5 branches or slips of hyssop and two sprigs of rue with 3 figs seeth these together it is an excellent drink for to discharge the brest of flegme that stuffeth it Folefoot called in Greek Bechion that is to say in Latin Tussilago doth appease the violence of the cough Two kinds there be of this herb the wild which wheresoeuer it is seene to grow sheweth that there is water vnder it a thing that they know well enough who seek for springs for they take it to be an assured sign and direction to water it beareth leaues like to Iuy but somwhat bigger either 5 or 7 in number which vnderneath or toward the ground be somwhat whitish but aboue in the vpper side of a pale colour without floure stem or seed and the root is but small Some would haue it and Chamââ¦leuce both to be one and the same herb called by diuers names take this herb leafe and root together when they be dried set all on fire and receiue the smoke by a pipe as if you would suck or drinke it downe it is they say a notable medicine to cure an old cough but between euery pipe you must sip a pretty draught of sweet wine The second Bechion some would haue to be called Saluia an herb like vnto Mullen stampe the same and let the juice run through a streiner which being made hot drink it for the cough and pain in the sides This herb likewise is very effectuall against scorpions sea-dragons Also an inunction made therwith and oile together is commended much for the sting of serpents A bunch of hyssope sodden with three ounces of hony is a fine medicine for the cough CHAP. VII ¶ For the paine of the sides and breast for those that cannot draw their wind but sitting vpright for the paine of the lââ¦uer the heart ach for the lights difficulty of vrine the cough the breast vlcers for the eies for the flux of the belly occasioned by a feeble liuer against immoderat vomits for the yex the pleurisie and all griefes of the side LVngwort or Mullen drunke in water with Rue is very good for the pain of the sides and the brest for which purpose also they say that pouder of Betony is as good if it be taken in water wel warmed The juice of Scordotis is holden to be a great corroboratiue of the stomack so is Centaury also Gentian drunk in a draught of water Plantain either eaten alone by it selfe or with a gruell broth of Lentils or els with a frumenty potage made with wheat is comfortable to the stomack Betony although otherwise it lie heauy in the stomacke yet if one either chew the leaues or drink them in some broth it helpeth much the defects infirmities thereof In like case Aristolochia if it be taken in drinke Also Agaricke chewed drie so as betwixt whiles the patient sup a little of pure wine of the grape hath like vertue as for Nymphââ¦a or Nemphar syrnamed Heraclia it strengtheneth the stomacke applied outwardly in a siniment euen so doth the juice of Harstrang For the hot distemper of the stomacke it is good to lay vnto
Anthonies fire In agues it procureth sweat so that the patient drink the juice thereof mingled with hot water But of all herbes that be there is none more wonderful then Greimile some call it in Greek Lithospermon others Aegonychon some Diospyron and other Heracleos It groweth ordinarily fiue inches high and the leaues be twice as big as those of Rue The foresaid stalks or stems be no thicker than bents or rushes and the same garnished with small and slender branches It bringeth forth close ioining to the leaues certain little beards one by one in the top of them little stones white and round in manner of pearls as big as cich pease but as hard as very stones Toward that side where they hang to their steles or tailes they haue certain holes or concauities containing seed within This herb groweth in Italy but the best in the Island Candy And verily of all the plants that euer I saw I neuer wondred at any more so sightly it groweth as if some artificiall goldsmith had set in an alternatiue course and order these prety beads like orient pearls among the leaues so rare a thing it is difficult to be conceiued that a very hard stone should grow out of an herb The Herbarists who haue written thereof do say that it lieth along and creepeth by the ground for mine owne patt I neuer saw it growing in the plant but shewed it was vnto me plucked out of the ground This is for certaine knowne that these little stones called Greimile seed drunke to the weight of one dram in white wine breake the stone expell the same by grauell and dispatch those causes that be occasions of strangurie Certes a man no sooner seth this hearb but he may presently know the vertues thereof and for what it serueth in Physicke a thing that he shall not obserue again in any other whatsoeuer for at the very first sight of these little stones his eie will tell him what it is good for without information from any person at all There be common stones found about riuers bearing a certain drie hoary mosse vpon them Rub one of these stones against another hauing spit first therupon and then therewith touch the tettar or ringworme in any part of the body it will kill the same but the party must as he toucheth it vtter this charme following ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That is to say Cantharides flie apace for a wilde Wolfe followeth in chase The French-men haue a certaine herbe which they call Limeum out of which they draw a venomous juice named by them Stags-poison wherewith they vse to envenome their Arrow heads when they go to hunt their red Deere Take of this as much as goeth to the poysoning of one arrow and put it in three measures or Modij of a mash wherewith they vse to drench cattel and make sops thereof and conuey them down the throat of sick oxen or kine it will recouer them But presently after the receit of this medicine they must be tied vp sure vnto their bousies vntill the medicine haue done purging for the beasts commonly fare all the while that it is in working as if they were wood In case they fall a sweating vpon it they must be washed all ouer with cold water Leuce is an herbe like vnto Mercury but it tooke that name by reason of a certaine white strake or line that runneth crosse through the mids of the leafe for which cause some cal it Mesoleucas The iuice of this herbe healeth fistuloes and the substance of the herbe it selfe stamped cureth cancerous sores It may be peraduenture the same herb which is named Leucas that is so effectuall against all venomous stings proceeding from any sea-fishes The herbarists haue not described this herb otherwise than thus That the wild kind thereof with the broader leafe is more effectual in the leaues and that the seed of the garden kind hath more acrimony than the other Touching Leucographis what manner of herbe it should be I haue not found in any writer and I wonder thereat the rather because it is reported to be so good for them that void reach bloud vpward namely if it be taken to the weight of three oboli with Safron likewise stamped with water and so applied it is singular good against those fluxes that proceed from the imbecility of the stomacke soueraigne also for to stav the immoderat flux of womens termes And it entereth into those medicines which are appropriate for the eies yea and into incarnatiues such especially as be fit to incarnat those vlcers which are in the most tender and delicat parts of the body CHAP. XII ¶ Of Medium Myosota Myagros Nigina Natrix Odontitis Othonne Omosma Onopordos Osyris Oxys Batrachion Polygonon Pancration Peplos Periclymenos Laucanthemon Phyteuma Phyllon Phellandrion Phalaris Polyrrhizon and Proserpinaca of Rhacoma Reseda and Stoechas MEdion hath leaues like vnto garden Floure-de-lis A stem three foot high garnished with faire large floures of purple colour and round in forme the seed is small and the root halfe a foot long it groweth willingly vpon stony grounds lying in the shade The root taken in a liquid electuary or lohoch made with hony to the quantity of 2 drams for cerdaies together staieth the immoderat flux of womens monethly termes The seed also reduced into pouder and drunke in wine represseth their extraordinary shifts Myosota otherwise called Myosotis is a smooth herbe shooting forth many stems from one single root and those in some sort of a reddish colour and hollow garnished with leaues which toward the root be narrow long and blackish hauing their backe part sharpe and edged which leaues grow along the stems two by two together and out of the concauities or armpits between the stalk and them there put forth other small branches with a blew floure The root is of the thicknesse of a mans finger bearded with many small strings resembling hairs This root is of a corrosiue nature fretting and exulcerating any place wherunto it is applied in which regard it healeth vp the fistulous vlcers called Aegilops growing between the nose and angles of the eies The Aegyptians are of opinion that if vpon the 27 day of that moneth which they call Thiatis and which answereth very neare to our moneth August a man or woman do annoint themselues with the juice of this herb in a morning before they haue spoken one word he or she shall not be troubled with bleared eies all that yeare long Myagros is an herb growing vp with stems in manner of Fenell geant in leaues resembling Madder and riseth to the height of 3 foot The seed which it beareth is oleous out of it there is an oile drawne which is good for the sores in the mouth if they be annointed therewith The herbe called Nigina hath three long leaues like vnto those of Succorie wherewith if scars remaining after vlcers and wounds be rubbed it will
reduce them to the natural color of the other skin There is an herb which in Latine is named Natrix the root whereof being pulled out of the ground hath a rank smell like vnto a Goat with this herbe they vse in the Picene countrey to driue away those hob-goblins which they haue a maruellous opinion to be spirits called Fatui but for mine own part I am verily persuaded they be nothing else but fantasticall illusions of such as be troubled in mind and bestraught the which may be chased and rid away by the vse of this medicinable herbe Odontitis may be reckoned among the kinds of hey-grasse putting forth many small stems growing thicke together from one root and those knotted and ful of ioints triangled and blackish withall in euery ioint small leaues it hath resembling those of knot-grasse howbeit somwhat longer in the concauities between the said leaues and the stem there is contained a seed like vnto Barly corns the floure is of a purple colour and very small It groweth ordinarily in medow grounds The decoction of the branches and tender stalks of this herb to the quantitie of one handful boiled in some astringent wine cureth the toothach if the patient hold the same in the mouth Othonne groweth plenteously in Scythia like vnto Rocket the leaues be full of holes and the floure resembleth Safron which is the cause that some haue called it Anemone The juice of this herbe entreth very well into those medicines which are appropriate to the eies for it is somewhat mordicatiue and heateth gently besides exiccatiue it is and by that meanes astringent It clenseth the eies of those films and clouds which darken the sight and remoueth whatsoeuer hindereth the same Some ordain for this purpose that it should be washed first and after it is dried againe made into certain balls or troschisks Onosma beareth leaues wel-neare three fingers long and those lying flat vpon the ground three in number and indented or cut after the manner of Orchanet without stem without flour without seed If a woman with child eat thereof or do but step ouer it she shal cast her vntimely birth out of her wombe As for Onopordon they say if Asses eat thereof they will fall a fizling and farting Howbeit of vertue it is to prouoke vrine and the monethly sicknesse of women to stop a laske to discusse and resolue impostumes and to heale them when they be broken and do run Osyris putteth forth small branches of a browne colour slender pliable and easie to wind the same be garnished with leaues resembling those of Line or flax of a dark duskish green at first but afterwards changing colour and inclining to a red colour and the seed is contained in those branches Of these leaues are made certain washing balls to scoure womens skin and make them look faire The decoction of the root being drunk cureth those that haue the jaundise The same roots gathered before the seed be ripe cut into roundles and dried in the Sun do stop the laske but drawn after that the seed is ripe they represse all catarrhes and fluxes of the belly if the patient drink the supping wherein they are boiled Also stamped simply and so giuen in rain water they haue the same effect Oxys beareth three leaues and no more This herb is singular to be giuen for a feeble stomack which hath lost all appetite to meat They also who haue a rupture and whose guts be fallen down eat thereof to very good successe Polyanthemum which some call Batrachion hath a causticke quality whereby it doth blister any vnseemly scars by means whereof reduceth them to their fresh and former colour the same also applied scoureth away the morphew and bringeth the skin to the natiue hue answerable to the rest of the body Knot grasse is that herb which the Greeks name Polygonon and we in Latine Sanguinaria in leaf it resembleth Rue in seed common quich grasse riseth not from the ground but creepeth along the juice of this herb conueied vp into the nosthrils stancheth bleeding at the nose They who set down many kinds of Polygonon do hold that this is to be taken for the male and by reason of the multitude of seed which it beareth is called Polygonon or for that it groweth so thick in tufts Calligonon Others name it Polygonaton for the number of knots or knees which it carrieth There be again who giue it the name Theuthalis some cal it Carcinetron others Clema many Myrtopetalon and yet I meet with some writers who say this is the female knot-grasse and that the male is the greater and not altogether so dark of colour growing also thicker with knots swelling with seed vnder euery leaf wel how soeuer it it the property of them both the one as well as the other is to bind and coole and yet their seed doth loosen the belly which if taken in any great quantity is diuretical and represseth any rheums prouided alwaies that the patient be troubled therwith otherwise it doth no good The leaues are singular good to be applied vnto the stomack for to assuage the heat thereof in a liniment they mitigat the griefe of the bladder and stop the course of shingles and such like wilde-fires The juice is soueraigne to be dropped alone by it selfe into the eares that run and into the eyes to abate their pain It is vsually giuen to the quantity of 2 cyaths in tertian Agues and Quartans especially before the fit commeth likewise for the feeblenesse of the stomack when it will keep nothing for the bloudy flix and the rage of cholerick humors both vpward and downward A third kind there is which they cal Oreon growing vpon the mountains resembling a tender reed rising vp in one single stem but full of little knees or knots and those couched thrust together Leafed it is like the Pitch tree the root needlesse and of no vse and generally the whole herb of lesse strength and operation than the former Howbeit this singular propertie hath it to help the sciatica A fourth Polygonum there is called the wild and this busheth like a shrub or a prety tree rather the root is of a wooddy substance the stock or plant of a reddish colour resembling the Cedar it beareth branches much like to Spart or Spanish broome two spans long iointed into three or four knots and those of a blackish colour This also hath an astringent nature and tasteth in the mouth like to a Quince The decoction thereof in water till the third part be consumed or the pouder of it dried is commended for the sores in the mouth and for any part that is fretted and galled And the very substance thereof is good to be chewed in case the gums be sore It represseth the malignity of eating corrosiue vlcers and cankers and in one word staieth the malice of all sores that run on end and
he contained in long and flat according to the forme and figure of the seed which they hold Pease by themselues haue a long round cod in forme of a Cylinder The Pulse called Phasââ¦oli i. Kidney Beans vse to be eaten cod and al together These may be set or sowne in what ground you list from the Ides of October to the Calends of Nouember Finally all kinds of Pulse so soone as they begin to ripen are to be gathered or plucked hastily for stay neuer so little they leape out of their cods and shed and being once fallen they lie hidden in the ground like as the Lupine also CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Rapes or Neuewes of Amiternium Turneps NOw let vs proceed and passe to other matters and yet in this discourse it were meet to write somwhat as touching Rapes or Nauews The Latin writers our countreymen haue slightly passed by and touched them only by the way The Greeks haue treated of them somwhat more diligently and yet among pot-hearbes and worts growing in gardens whereas indeed according to good order they would be spoken of immediatly after Corne or Beanes at least wise considering there is not a plant of more or better vse than is the Rape or Nauew First and formost they grow not only for beasts of the earth and the Foules of the aire but also for men For all kinds of Pullen about a Farme-house in the countrey doe feed vpon the feed thereof as much as of any thing else especially if they be boiled first in water As for four-footed beasts they eat the leaues thereof with great delight and wax fat therewith Last of al men also take as great pleasure and delight in eating the leaues and heads of Rapes or Nauewes in their season as they do of young Coly-flories Cabbages or any tender crops of hearbs whatsoeuer yea when they are faded flaggie and dead in the Barn they are esteemed better than being fresh and green As for Rapes or Nauewes they will keep long and last al Winter both within the ground where they grew and being well wintered they will continue afterwards out of the earth lying abroad euen almost till new come so as they yeeld men great comfort to withstand hunger and famin In Piemont Lombardie those countries beyond the Po the people make the most account of gaine by gathering Rapes next to wine vintage and corne haruest It is not choise and daintie of the ground where it will grow for lightly it wil prosper where nothing els can be sowed In foggy mists hard frosts and other cold weather it thriues passing wel and grows to a wonderfull bignes I haue seene one of their roots weigh aboue fortie pounds As touching the handling and dressing of them for our table there be many waies and deuises to commend and set them out Preserued they may be till new come specially condite with sharp and biting Senuie or Mustard seed Moreouer our Cooks know how to giue them six other colours besides their owne which is pure and naturall they haue the cast to set euen a purple hew vpon them And to say a truth there is no kind of viands besides that being thus painted colored hath the like grace The Greeke writers haue diuided them by the sexe and therby made two principal kinds therof to wit the male and the female Nay more than that out of one and the same seed according as it is sowed they can make male or female whether they please For if they sow thicke and chuse therto a hard and churlish ground it will proue of the male kind Also the smaller that the seed is the better it is esteemed But of al Rapes male or female three especiall sorts there be no more For some roots spread flat and broad others are knit round like a ball the third sort that runs downe into the ground with a long root in manner of a Raddish they cal the wild Rape or Nauew this bears a rough lease and ful of angles or corners the juice that it yeelds is sharp hote and biting which being gathered in haruest time reserued mundisieth the eies and cleareth the sight especially being tempered with brest-milke If the weather be cold they are thought not only to thriue in bignesse of the root but also to prooue the sweeter whereas contrariwise in a warm season they run vp all to stalke and leafe The best simply are those that grow in the Nursine territory For they are sold by the weight and euery pound is worth a Roman Sesterce yea and otherwhiles twaine if there be any scarcity of them Next to these in goodnes be those that come out of Algidum Thus much of Rapes Navews As for the Turneps of Amiternum they be in a manner of the same nature that the Rapes aforesaid cold they loue as well Sown they are before the Calends of March foure quarts of their seed will take vp a whole acre of ground The best Husbandmen and such as are more exquisite in their practise of Agriculture giue order That the ground for Turneps should haue fiue tilthes whereas Rapes or Nauewes are content with foure but both the one and the other had need of a soile well inriched with dung or compost By their sayings also Rapes will prosper the better and come vp thicker if they be sowed in their huls chaffe and all together Moreouer they would haue the seeds-man to be naked when he sowes them and in sowing to protest that this which he doth is for himselfe and his neighbors and withall to pray as he goeth The proper season for the seednesse of them both is between the feasts of the two gods to wit Neptune and Vulcan To conclude there is a subtill and curious obseruation that many go by and do hold namely this To marke how many daies old the Moon was when the first snow sel the winter next before for if a man do sow Rapes or Turneps within the foresaid compasse of that time the moon being so many daies old they will come to be wondrous great and increase exceedingly Men vse to sow them also in the Spring but then they make choise of moist and hot grounds CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of Lupines AFter Rapes and Turneps the Lupines haue greatest vse and serue to be raunged next for that they indifferently serue both men and also all foure footed beasts that be houfed either whole or clouen Now for that the stalke is very shittle in mowing and therefore flyeth from the edge of the syth the onely remedie therefore that the mower may catch it is to goe to worke presently after a good shower And verily there is not a plant growing vpon the earth I meane of such as are sowne of seed more admirable than the Lupine in regard of the great amity and sympathie betweene the earth and it Looke how the Sun keepeth his course in our Horizon aboue so doth it turne and go withall insomuch as the
sowed needs the great harrows and clotting Contrariwise a man may know where there is good worke namely if the turfe be so close couched that there be no seams to be seen where the plough-share went finally it is a profitable point of husbandry and much practised where the ground doth both beare and require it For to draw here and there broad gutters or furrows to drain away the water into ditches and trenches cast for the nones betweene the lands that otherwise would stand within and drowne the corne CHAP. XX. ¶ Of harrowing and breaking clods Of a certaine kind of ploughing vsed in old time Of the second tilth or fallow called Stirring and of cutting AFter the second fallow called Stirring done with crosse and ouerthwart furrow to the first then followeth clodding if need be either with rakes or great harrowes vpon which insueth sowing and when the seed is in the ground harrowing a second time with the smal harrow In some places where the manner of the country doth so require this is performed with a tined or toothed harrow or els with a broad planke fastened vnto the plough taile which doth hide and couer the seed newly sown and in this maner to rake or harrow is called in Latine Lirare from whence came first the word Delirare which is to leaue bare balks vncouered and by a Metaphore and borrowed speech to raue and speake idlely It should seem that Virgil prescribed that the ground should haue foure tilthes in all by these words when he said That the corne was best which had two Summers and two Winters But if the ground be strong and tough as in most parts of Italy there needs a fift tilth before sowing and in Tuscan verily they giue their ground otherwhiles no fewer than nine fallowes before it be brought into tillage As for Beans and Vetches they may be sowed vnder furrow without breaking vp the ground before for this is a ready way gaining time sauing charges sparing labour And here I cannot ouerpasse one inuention more as touching earing and ploughing the ground deuised in Piemont and those parts beyond the Po by occasion of some hard measure and wrong offered to the people and peisants of that country during the wars And thus stood the case The Salassians making rodes into the vale lying vnder the Alpes as they forraied and harried the country all ouer assaied also to ouerrun their fields of Panick and Millet being now come vp and wel growne meaning thereby to destroy it but seeing the nature of that graine to be such as to rise againe and to check this iniury they set ploughs into it and turned all vnder furrow imagining by that means to spoil it for euer But see what insued therupon those fields thus misused in their conceit bare a twofold crop in proportion to other yeres yeelded so plentifull an haruest as that thereby the peisants aforesaid learned the deuise of turning corn in the blade into the ground which I suppose in those days when it new came vp they called Aratrare And this point of husbandry they put in practise when the corne beginnes to gather and shew the stem or straw to wit so soone as it hath put forth two or three leaues and no more Neither will I conceale from you another new deuise practised and inuented first not aboue three yeres past in the territory of Treuiers neer to Ferrara For at what time as their corn fields by reason of an extreme cold winter seemed to be frost-bitten and spoiled they sowed the same again in the month of March raking and scraping the vpper coat of the ground onely without more ado and neuer in their liues had they the like increase when haruest came Now as touching all other tillage and husbandry meet for the ground I will write thereof respectiuely to the seuerall kinds of corne CHAP. XXI ¶ Of the tillage and ordering of the ground THe fine Wheat Siligo the red bearded Wheat Far and the common Wheat Triticum Spelt or Zea generally called Seed and Barly when they be new sown would be wel clotted and couered first harrowed afterwards weeded at the last to the very root al at such seasons as shall be shewed hereafter And to say a truth euery one of these is a sufficient worke for one man to do in a day throughout an acre As for the Sarcling or second harrowing it doth much good to corn for by loosening the ground about it which by the winter cold was hardened clunged and as it were hide bound it is somwhat inlarged and at libertie against the Spring tide and full gladly admitteth and receiueth the benefit of the fresh and new come Sun-shine daies let him take heed who thus sarcles or rakes the ground that he neither vndermine the roots of the corn nor yet race or disquiet loosen them The common wheat Barley the Seed Zea i. Spelt and Beans would do the better if they were thus sarcled and the earth laied loose about them twice the grubbing vp of weeds by the root at what time as the corne is iointed namely when the vnprofitable and hurtful hearbs are plucked forth and rid out of the way much helpeth the root of the corn discharging it from noisom weeds procuring it more nutriment and seuering it apart from the other green sourd of common grasse Of all Pulse the cich pease asketh the same dressing and ordering as the red wheat Far. As for beans they passe not at all for weeding and why they ouergrow all the weeds about and choke them The Lupines require nought els to be done to them but only weeding Millet and Panick must be clotted and once harrowed vntill they be couered they call not for a second raking scraping about them for to loosen the earth and to lay fresh mould vnto them much lesse to be weeded As for Silicia or Siliqua i. Fenigreeke and Fasels i. Kidney-beans they care onely for clodding there an end Moreouer there be certain grounds so fertile that the corn comming vp so thick ranke in the blade ought then to be kembed as it were raked with a kind of harrow set with teeth or spikes of yron and yet for all this they must be grased or eaten down besides neuerthelesse with sheep Now we must remember that after such cattel hath gon ouer it with their teeth the same corne thus eaten downe must of necessity be sarcled and the earth lightly raked and raised vp fresh againe Howbeit in Bactriana Africke and Cyrene there needs no such hand at all for the climate is so good so kinde and beneficiall that none of all this paines is required for after the seed is once sowne they neuer visit it but once for all at nine months end at what time they returne to cut it down and lay it vpon their thrashing floores the reason is because the drought keepeth downe all weeds and the dewes that fall by
translate it into a warm sun-shine bank and there replant it then cut it off leauing not aboue 2 fingers breadth from the root aboue the ground but this must be don about the Spring Aequinox in mid-March then take a Cucumber seed set it within the soft pith of the said bramble bank it will round about with fine fresh mould dung blended together This is the way he assureth vs to make that the roots therof bearing such cucumbers or Melons will abide the greatest cold in Winter and neuer shrink at it of cucumbers the Greeks haue set down 3 kinds to wit the Laconick the Scvtalick the Boeotick Of which as they say the first sort only they be that loue waters so wel some there be who prescribe to take the seed of Cucumber or Melon to temper it in the juice of a certain hearb stamped which they cal Culix then to sow it persuading vs that we shal haue fruit therof without anyseed Of the like nature I meane for their manner of growing be the Gourds Winter and al cold weather they canot endure they loue also places wel watered dunged As wel Gourds as the cucumbers or Melons aboue said are commonly sowed between the Aequinox in March the Sunstead in Iune prouided alwaies that their seedly in a trench within the ground a foot a halfe deepe But in very deed the best and meetest time to sow them is about the feast Parilia howsoeuer there be some would haue the seed of gourds to be put into the ground presently after the Calends or first day of March but of cucumbers about the Nones i. the 7 day thereof or at farthest by the feast or holy-daies of Minerva named Quinquatrus They loue both alike to creep and crawle with their winding top branches or tendrels and gladly they would be clambering vpon walls and climbing vp to the house roofe if they can meet with any rough places to take hold by for naturally they are giuen to mount on high Howbeit their strength is not answerable ââ¦o their will and desire for stand they canot alone without the help of some props forks or railes to stay them vpright Exceeding forward and swift they be in growth They run on end when they are set on it and if they may be born vp sustained in maner aforesaid they will gently ouershade galleries walking places arbors frames allies vnder them in a garden and that right quickly In regard of which nature and behauior of theirs two principall kindes there be of them the one Camerarium as one would say the frame or trail Gourd and cucumber which climbeth aloft the other Plebeium i. the vulgar and common which creepeth along the ground beneath In the former kind it is worth the noting to see how the fruit heauy as it is hangeth stiffe poised as it were in the wind and will not stir notwithstanding the stele wherto it groweth be wondrous fine and smal Moreouer Gourds also may be fashioned in the head euery way as a man will like as the Cucumbers or Melons before named and specially within wicker cases made of pliable oisiers into which they are put for to grow to take their form so soon as they haue cast their blossom The nature of them I say is to receiue what figure a man will force and put them to but commonly shaped they are in their growth like to a Serpent winding and turnign euery way There haue bin known of them such I meane as were of the traile kind being led vpon a frame from the ground and permitted to run at libertie which grew to an incredible length for one of them hath bin seen 9 foot long As for cucumbers they bloom not all at once but by piece-meale floure after floure now one and then another yea and floure vpon floure one vpon the head of another Howsoeuer the Cucumber loueth waterish grounds yet can he abide drier places also Couered al ouer this plant and fruit is with a white down euen at the first but especially all the while he is in his growth Gourds are imploied sundry waies and to many more vses than Cucumbers For first their yong and tender stalks be very good meat and being dressed are serued vp as a dish to the table but the rind is of a cleane contrary nature Gourds of late time came to be vsed in stouves and baines for pots and pitchers but long before that they stood in stead of rundlets or small barrels to keep wine in The green of this kind hath a tender rind which must be scraped notwithstanding before a dish of meat can be made thereof And certes albeit Gourds be of digestion hard and such as will not throughly be concocted in a mans stomacke yet they are taken ãâã be a light mild and wholsom meat as they be handled and dressed diuers waies for that they ãâã not a mans belly to swel as some meats doe Of those seeds which be found within the gourd next ââ¦o the neck therof if they be set come the long gourds commonly such lightly you shall haue ingendred of those also that are in the bottom howbeit nothing comparable to the other Those that lie in the midst bring forth round ones but from the seeds that are taken out of the sides ordinarily there grow the shorter sort of Gourds such as be thicke and broad These grains or seeds would be handled in this manner First they are dried in the shadow and afterwards when a man list to sow them they ought to be steeped in water The longer slenderer that a Gourd is the better meat it yeelds and more pleasant to be eaten and therefore it is that they be thought more wholesome which grew hanging vpon trailes such indeed haue least store of seed within them Howbeit wax they once hard away with them out of the kitchen for then they haue lost all their grace and goodnes which commended them to the cooks dresser Such as are to be kept for seed the manner is not to cut vp before winter and then are they to hang or stand a drying in the smoake as proper stuffe and implements to be seen in a country house to keep as good chaffer seeds for the gardner against the time Moreouer there is a means deuised how to preserue them and cucumbers too for meat sound and good almost til new come that is by laying both the one and the other in a kind of brine or pickle Some say also that they may be kept fresh and greene interred in a caue or ditch vnder the ground in some darke and shady place with a good course or bed of sand laid vnder them and well couered afterward with dry hay and earth vpon the same in the end Ouer besides as in all plants and herbs in maner of the garden there be both wild and tame so is there of Gourds and Cucumbers both a certain sauage
of the stomack The Empresse Iulia Augusta passed not a day without eating the Elecampane root thus confected and condite and therupon came it to be in so great name and bruit as it is The seed therof is needlesse and good for nothing therefore to maintaine and increase this plant gardeners vse commonly to set the joints cut from the root after the order as they doe Reeds and Canes The manner is to plant them as well as Parsnips Skirwirts and Carrots at both times of seednes to wit the Spring and the Fall but there would be a good distance betweene euery seed or plant at least three foot because they spread and braunch very much and therewith take vp a deale of ground As for the Skirwirt or Parsnip Siser it will do the better if it be remoued and replanted It remaineth now to speak in the next place of plants with bulbous or onion roots and their nature which Cato recommendeth to Gardeners and he would haue them to be set and sowed aboue all others among which he most esteemeth them of Megara Howbeit of all this bulbous kind the Sea-onyon Squilla is reputed chiefe and principall notwithstanding there is no vse of it but in Physick and for to quicken vinegre As there is none that groweth with a bigger head at the root so there is not any more aegre and biting than it Of these Sea-onyons there be two kinds medicinable the male with the white leafe the female with the blacke There is a third sort also of Squillae which is good for to be eaten the leaues whereof be narrower and not so rough and sharp as the other and this they cal Epimenidium All the sort of these squilles are plentifull in seed howbeit they come vp sooner if they be set of cloues or bulbes which grow about their sides And if a man would haue the head of the root wax big the leaues which vsually be broad and large ought to be bended downe into the earth round about and so couered with mould for by this means all the sap and nourishment is diuerted from the leafe and runneth backe into the root These Squils or sea-onions grow in exceeding great abundance within the Baleare Islands and Ebusus as also throughout all Spaine Pythagoras the Philosopher wrote one entire volumne of these onions wherein he collected their medicinable vertues and properties which I meane to deliuer in the next booke As touching other bulbous plants there be sundry kinds of them differing all in colour quantity and sweetnesse of tast for some there bee of them good to be eaten raw as those of Cherrhonesus Taurica Next vnto them are they of Barbary and most commended for goodnesse and then those that grow in Apulia The Greeks haue set downe their distinct kindes in these terms Bulbine Setanios Pythios Acrocorios Aegylops and Sisyrinchios But strange it is of this Sisyrinchios last named how the foot and bottom of the root wil grow down stil in winter but in the Spring when the Violets appeare the same diminisheth and gathereth short vpward by which meanes the head indeed of the root seedeth and thriueth the better In this rank of bulbous plants is to be set that which in Egypt they call Aron i. Wake-Robin for bignesse of the head it commeth next to Squilla beforesaid the leaues resemble the herb Patience or garden Dock it riseth vp with a streight stem or stalke two cubits high as thicke as a good round cudgell As touching the root it is of a soft and tender substance and may be eaten raw If you would haue good of these bulbous roots you had need to dig them out of the ground before the spring for if you passe that time they will presently be the worse You shall know when they be ripe and in their perfection by the leaues for they will begin to wither at the bottom If they be elder or if their roots grow small and long they are reiected as nothing worth Contrariwise the ruddy root the rounder and the biggest withall are most commended know this moreouer That the bitternesse of the root in most of them lyeth in the crowne as it were or top of the head for the middle parts be sweet The antient writers held opinion That none of these bulbous plants would grow but of seed only howbeit both in the pastures and fields about Preneste they come vp of themselues and also among the corn lands and arable grounds of the Rhenians they grow beyond all measure CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the roots leaues floures and colours of Garden-herbes ALl Garden plants ordinarily put out but one single root apiece as for example the Radish Beet Parsley and Mallow howbeit the greatest and largest of all others is the root of the herb Patience or garden Docke which is knowne to run downe into the ground three cubits deep In the wild of this kind which is the common docke the roots be smaller yet plumpe and swelled whereby after they be digged vp and laied aboue ground they will liue a long time Some there be of them that haue hairy strings or beards hanging to the roots as namely Parsley or Ach and Mallows Others there be againe which haue branching roots as the Basill As the roots of some be carnous and flââ¦ie altogether and namely of the Beet but especially of Saffron so in others they consist of rind and carnositie both as we may see in Radishes and Rapes or Turneps And ye shall haue of them that be knotty and full of ioints as for example the root of the Quoich grasse or Dent-de-chien Such hearbs as haue no streight and direct root run immediatly into hairie threds as we may see plainly in the Orach and Bleet as for the sea Onion Squilla and such bulbous plants the garden Onions also and Garlicke they put forth their roots streight and neuer otherwise Many hearbes there be which spring of their own accord without setting or sowing and of such many there be that branch more cloue in root than in leafe as we may see in Aspalax Parietarie of the wall and Saffron Moreouer a man shall see these hearbes floure at once together with the Ash namely the running or creeping Thyme Southernewood Naphewes Radishes Mints and Rue and by that time as others begin to blow they are ready to shed their floures whereas Basill putteth forth floures by parcels one after another beginning first beneath and so going vpward by leisure which is the cause that of all others it is longest in the floure The same is to be seene in the herb Heliotropium i. Ruds or Turnsol In some the floures be white in others yellow and in others purple As touching the leaues of herbes some are apt to fall from their heads or tops as in Origan and Elecampane yea and otherwhiles in Rue if some iniurie be done vnto it Of all other herbes the blades of Onions and Chibbols be most hollow Where by
head it somwhat stuffeth and offendeth The floure is of a golden colour And say that it carrieth neither seed nor floure yet commeth it vp of it selfe in void and vacant places altogether neglected and without any culture for it doth propagat and increase by the tops and tips of the branches lying vpon the ground and so taking root And therefore it groweth the better if it be set of root or slip than sowed of seed For of seed much adoe there is to make it come vp and when it is aboue ground the yong plants are remoued and set as it were in Adonis gardens within pots of earth and that in Summer time after the maner of the herb and floure Adonium for as well the one as the very tender and can abide no cold and yet as chill as they be they may not away with ouer-much heat of the Sun for taking harme But when they haue gotten head once and be strong enough they grow and branch as Rue doth Much like vnto Sothernwood in sent and smell is Camomile the floure is white consisting of a number of pretty fine leaues set round about the yellow within CHAP. XI ¶ Of Marioram the greater and the lesse called in Latine Amaracus or Sampsuchum Of Nyctygretum Melilote the white Violet of Codiaminum and wild Bulbes of Heliochrysum and Lychnis or Rose Campain And of many other herbs growing on this side the sea DIocles the Physitian and the whole nation in maner of the Sicilians haue called that herb Amaracus which in Egypt and Syria is commonly named Sampsuchum It commeth vp both waies as well of seed as of a slip and branch It liueth and continueth longer than the herbs beforenamed and hath a more pleasant and odoriferous sent Marjoram is as plentifull in seed as Sothernewood but whereas Sothernewood hath but one tap root and the same running deep into the ground the rest haue their roots creeping lightly aloft and eb within the earth As for all the other herbes they are for the most part set and sowne in the beginning of the Autumne some of them also in the spring and namely in places which stand much in the shade which loue to be well watered also and inriched with dung As touching Nyctygretum or Lunaria Democritus held it to be a wonderfull herb and few like vnto it saying that it resembleth the colour of fire that the leaues be pricky like a thorne that it creeps along the ground he reporteth moreouer That the best kind therof growes in the lad Gedrosia That if it be plucked out of the ground root and all after the Spring Aequinox and be laid to drie in the Moonshine for 3 daies together it will giue light and shine all night long also That the Magi or Sages of Persia as also the Parthian kings vse this herb ordinarily in their solemn vowes that they make to their gods last of all That some call it Chenomychos because Geese are afraid of it when they see it first others name it Nyctilops because in the night season it shineth and glittereth afarre off As for Melilote it commeth vp euery where howbeit the best simply wherof is made the greatest account is in Attica but inwhat place soeuer it growes that is most accââ¦pted which is fresh new gathered not enclining to white but as like vnto Saffron as is possible And yet in Italie the white Melilote is the sweeter and more odoriferous The first floure bringing tidings of the springs approch is the white bulbous stock-Gillofre And in some warmer climates they put forth and shew euen in Winter Next vnto it for their timely appearance is the purple March Violet and then after them the Panse called in Latine Flammea and in Greeke Phlox I meane the wild kind onely Codiaminon bloweth twice in the yeare namely in the Spring and the Autumne for it cannot abide either Winter or Summer Somewhat later than those before rehearsed are the Daffodil and Lilly ere they flour especially in countries beyond sea in Italy verily as I haue said before they bloum not till after Roses for in Greece the Passe-floure Anemone is yet more lateward Now is this Anemone the floure of certain wild Bulbes different from that other Anemone whereof I will speake in the Treatise of Physick-hearbs Then followeth Oenanthe and Melanion and of the wild sort Heliochrysos After them a second kind of Passe-flower or Anemone called also Leimonia beginneth to blow And immediatly vpon it the pety Gladen or sword-grasse accompanied with the Hyacinth last of all the Rose sheweth in her likenes But quickly hath the Rose done and none so soone and yet I must except the garden Rose Of all the rest the Hyacinths or Harebels the stock-Gillo floure and Oenanthe or Filipendula beare floures longest But of this Oenanthe this regard must bee had that the floures bee often picked and plucked off and not suffered to run to seed This groweth in warme places It hath the very same sent that Grapes when they first bud and put out blossom whereupon it took the name Oenanthe But before I leaue the Hyacinth I cannot chuse but report the fable or tale that goeth thereof and which is told 2 maner of waies by reason that the floure hath certaine veines to be seen running in and out resembling these two letters in Greek AI plaine and easie to be read which as some say betoken the lamentable mone ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that Apollo made for his wanton minion Hyacinthus whome he loued or as others make report sprung vp of the bloud of Aiax who slew himselfe and represented the two first letters of his name AI. Helyachrysos beareth a yellow floure like to gold a small and fine leafe a little stalk also a slender but hard and stiffe withall The Magi or Sages of Persia vse to weare this hearbe and floure in their Guirlands and they be fully persuaded that by this meanes they shall win grace and fauour in this life yea and attaine to much honour in glorie prouided alwaies that their sweet compositions wherewith they annoint and perfume themselues be kept in a vessel or box of gold not yet fined nor purified in the fire which gold they call Apyron And thus much for the floures of the Spring Now succeed and comeafter in their rank the summer floures to wit Lychnis Iupiters flower or Columbine-and a second kind of Lilly likewise Iphyon and that Amaracus or Marjeram which they cal the Phrygian But of all others the flower Pathos is most louely beautifull whereof there be two kinds the one with a purple flower like vnto the Hyacinth the other is whiter and groweth commonly in churchyards among graues and tombs and the same holdeth on flouring better and liueth longer The flower de-luce also is a Summer flower These haue their time fade and are soone gone And then come other flowers for them in their place in
make them cups of diuers forms and fashions out of which they take no small pleasure to drink And now adaies this herb is planted here in Italy Next to Colocasia the Aegyptians make most account of that Cichory which I named before the wild and wandring Endiue which herb commeth vp in that country after the rising of the Brood hen star it floureth not all at once but bloweth by branches one after another a supple and pliable root it hath and therefore the Aegyptians vse it in stead of cords to binde withall As for Anthalium it groweth not in Nilus but not far from the riuer it beareth a fruit in bignesse and roundnesse resembling a Medlar hauing neither kernell within nor husk without and the leafe of this plant is like to Cyperus or English Galangale This herbe they vse to eat being first dressed and prepared in the kitchin They feed likewise vpon Oetum a plant that hath few leaues and chose very small howbeit a great root Touching Aracidna and Aracos they haue many roots verily branching and spreading from them but neither leafe nor herbage ne yet any thing els appearing aboue ground And thus much of the chiefest and greatest herbs of Egypt serued vp to the table the rest are common or vulgar and euery mans meat by name Condrylla Hypochoeris Caucalis Authriscum Scandix called by some Tragopogon which beareth leaues like to Saffron Parthenium Strychnum Corchorus and A pace which sheweth his head about the Aequinox also Acinos and that which they name Epipetron and it neuer beareth floure whereas Aphace contrariwise neuer giueth ouer flouring but when one floure is faded and shed another commeth vp and this course it holdeth all Winter long throughout the Spring also euen to the heat of Summer Many other hearbs they haue of base reckoning but aboue all they make greatest account of Cnicus an herbe not knowne in Italy not for any good meat they find in it but for the oyle drawne out of the seed thereof Of this herb there be two principall kinds to wit the Wild and the Tame the Wild is subdiuided into two speciall sorts the one of a more mild and gentle nature than the other although the stalks of both be alike that is to say stiffe and streight vpright and therefore women in old time vsed the stems thereof for rocks and distaffes whereupon some do call the herb Atractylis the seed is white big and bitter The second is more rough and hairy creeping long on the ground with stalks more musculous and fleshy and carrieth a small seed The herb may be ranged among those that be prickly for so must herbs be diuided into such general heads namely that some be full of pricks others cleane without and smooth As for those which stand vpon pricks they be subdiuided into many members and branches And to begin with a kind of Sperage called also Scorpio it hath no leafe at all but instead therof pricks and nothing els some there be leafed indeed but those are beset with prickes as the Thistle Sea-holly Liquorice and Nettle for the leaues of all these herbs be pricky stinging withall Others besides their leaues haue prickles also as the bramble Rest harrow or whin Some be provided of pricks both in lease and stalk as Phleos which others haue called Stoebe As for Hippophacet it hath a prick or thorne in euery joint but the bramble Tribulus aforesaid hath this property by it selfe That the fruit also which it beareth is set with pricks Of all these sorts the Nettle is best knowne which carrieth certain goblets and concauities and the same yeelding a purple kind of downe in the floure and it riseth vp sometimes aboue two cubits high Many kinds there be of these Nettles namely the wild Nettle which some would haue to be the female and this is more milde than the rest In this wilde kinde is to be reckoned also that which they cal Cania and is of the twain more aegre for the very stalke will sting and the leaues be purfled as it were and jagged But that Nettle which carrieth a stinking sauor with it called is Herculanea All the sort of them are full of seed and the same blacke A strange quality in these Nettles that the very hairy downe of them hauing no euident prickes sticking out should be so shrewd as it is that if one touch it neuer so little presently there followeth a smarting kind of itch and anon the skin riseth vp in pimples and blisters as if it had been skalt or burnt but well knowne is the remedie of this smart namely to annoint the place with oyle Howbeit this biting property that it hath commeth not to it at the beginning when it is new comevp but it is the heat of the Sun that fortifieth this mordacitie And verily in the Spring when the Nettle is young and peepeth first out of the ground they vse to eat the crops therof for a pleasant kind of meat and many be persuaded besides that it is medicinable therefore precisely religiously feed thereupon as a preservatiue to put by all diseases for that present yeare Also the root of the wild Nettle if it be sodden with any flesh maketh it to eat more tender The dead nettle which stingeth not at all is called Lamium As touching the herb Scorpio I will write in the treatise of herbs medicinable CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Carduus and Ixine of Tribulus and Anchusa THe common Thistle is ful of pricky hairs both in leafe stalk likewise Acorna Leucacanthos Chalceos Cnicos Polyacanthos Onopyxos Ixine Scolymos As touching the Thistle Chamaeleon it hath no pricks in the leafe Moreouer these pricky hearbes are distinguished different one from another in this that some of them be furnished with many stems and spred into diuers branches as the Thistle others againe rise vp with one maine stalk and branch not as Cnecos Also there be of them that be prickly only in the head as the Eryngium or Sea-holly Some floure in Summer as Tetralix and Ixine As for Scolymus late it is also ere it blow but it continueth long in the floure Acorna differeth from it onely in the red colour and fattier juice that commeth from it Atractylis also might go for Scolymus but that it is whiter and yeeldeth a liquor like bloud wherupon there be some who cal it Phonos i. Murderer this quality it hath besides that it senteth strong the seed also ripeneth late not before Autumne and yet this is a property common to all plants of this pricky and thistly kind But all these herbs wil come of seed and root both As for Scolymus it differeth from the rest of these Thistles herein that the root if it be sodden is good to be eaten besides it hath a strange nature for all the sort of them during the Summer throughout neuer rest and giue ouer but
Apollodorus who forbiddeth expressely to take Cypirus inwardly in any drink and yet he protesteth that it is most effectuall for them that be troubled with the stone and full of grauel but by way of fomentation onely He affirmeth moreouer that without all doubt it causes women to trauell before their time to slip their vntimely fruit But one miraculous effect therof he reports namely that the Barbarians vse to receiue the fume of this herb into their mouth and thereby wast and consume their swelled Spleens also they neuer go forth of dores before they haue drunk a pipe therof in that maner for persuaded they are verily saith he that by this means they are more youthful liuely and strong He saith moreouer that if it be applied as a liniment with oile it healeth all merry-gals and raw places where the flesh is rubbed off or chafed it helpeth the rank rammish smel vnder the arm-holes and without faile cureth any chilling numnesse and through cold Thus much of Cypirus As for Cyperus a Rush it is as I haue said growing square and cornered neere the ground it is white toward the top of a dark blackish green and fattish the vnder leaues that be lowest are slenderer than leek-blades the vppermost in the head are smal among which is the seed the root is like vnto a black oliue which if it grow long-wise is called Cyperis and is of singular operation in Physick The best Cyperus is that which groweth amongst the sands in Africke neere the temple of Iupiter Ammon in a second rank is that of Rhodes in a third place may bee ranged the Cyperus in Thracia and in the lowest degree that of Egypt And hereupon came the confounding of these two plants Cyperus and Cypirus because both the one and the other grow there But the Cyperus of Egypt is very hard and hath no smell at all whereas in the other there is a sauor resembling the very Spikenard There is another herb also comming from the Indians called Cyperis of a seuerall kind by it selfe in forme like vnto ginger if a man chew it in the mouth it coloureth the spittle yellow like as Saffron But to come again to Cyperus and the medicinable properties therof It is counted to haue a depilatory vertue for to feth off haire In a liniment it is singular good for the excrescence of the flesh about the naile roots or the departure and loosenesse therof about them which both imperfections be called Pterygia it helpeth the vlcers of the secret parts and generally all exulcerations proceeding of rheumatick humors as the cankers in the mouth The root of Cyperus is a present remedy against the stinging of serpents and scorpions specially Taken in drink it doth desopilat open the obstructions of the matrice but if a woman drink too much therof it is so forcible that it will driue the matrice out of the body It prouoketh vrine so as it expelleth the stone and grauell withall in which regard also it is an excellent medicine for the dropsie A liniment thereof is singular for cancerous and eating sores but especially for those that be in the stomack if it be annointed with wine or vineger tempered with it As concerning the rushes beforesaid their root sodden in three hemines of water vntill one third part be consumed cureth the cough The seed parched against the fire and so drunk in water staieth the flux of the belly and stoppeth the immoderat course of womens moneths but it procureth head-ach As for the rush called Holoschoenos take that part of it which is next the root and chew it then lay it to the place that is stung with a venomous spider it is an approoued remedie I find one sort more of Rushes which they cal Euripice and this property withal That it bringeth one to sleepe but it must be vsed with moderation for otherwise it breedeth drowsinesse sib to the lethargy Now seeing I am entred into the treatise of rushes I must needs set down the medicinable vertues of the sweet Rush called Squinanth and the rather because as I haue already shewed it groweth in Syria surnamed Coele The most excellent Squinanth commeth out of Nabataea and the same is knowne by the addition or syrname Teuchites In a second place is that of Babylon The worst of all is brought out of Africke and it is altogether without smell Squinanth is round of an hote and fiery taste biting at the tongues end The true Squinant indeed which is not sophisticated if a man rub it hard yeeldeth the smel of a Rose and the fragments broken from it do shew red As touching the vertues thereof It resolueth all ventosities and therefore comfortable it is and good for the wind in the stomack also it helpeth them that puke vp choler or reach and spit bloud it stinteth the yex causeth rifting and breaking wind vpward it prouoketh vrine helpeth the bladder The decoction thereof is good for womens infirmities if they sit therein A cerot made therewith and dry rosin together is excellent against spasmes and cricks that set the neck far backward As concerning Roses the temperature thereof is hot howbeit they knit the matrice by an astrictiue quality that they haue and coole the naturall parts of women The vse of Roses is twofold according to the leafe of the floure and the floure it selfe which is the yellow The head of the Rose leafe to wit the white part thereof is called in Latine Vnguis i. the Naile In the yellow floure aforesaid are to be considered seuerally the seed the hairy threds in the top the husk and pellicle that couereth the Rose in the bud the cup within euery one of these haue their proper qualities vertues by themselues The leaues are dried or the iuice is drawn and pressed out of them three waies either all whole as they be without clipping off the white nailes for therein lyeth the most moisture or when the said nails are taken off and the rest behind is infused in the sun lying either in wine or oile within glasses for oile rosat or wine rosat Some put thereto salt others mingle withall either Orchanet or Aspalathus or els Squinanth and this manner of juice thus drawne and prepared is very good for the matrice and the bloudy flix The same leaues with the whites taken away are stamped then pressed through a thicke linnen cloth into a vessell of brasse and the said juice is sodden with a soft fire vnto the consistence of hony and for this purpose choise would be made of the most odoriferous leaues CHAP. XIX ¶ The medicinable vertues of Roses of the Lilly and Daffodill called Laus tibi Of the Violet of Bacchar Combretum and Azarabacca HOw wine of Roses should be made I haue shewed sufficiently in the treatise of diuers kinds of wines The vse of the juice drawn out of Roses is good for the eares the cankers and exulcerations in the
the Pitch tree Larch tree brused and sodden in vineger do ease the tooth-ache if the mouth be washed with the decoction The ashes made of their barks skin the places that be chafed fretted and galled betweene the thighs and heale any burn or scald Taken in drinke they bind the belly but open the passages of the vrin A perfume or suffumigation therof doth settle the matrice when it is loose and out of the right place But to write more distinctly of these two trees the leaues of the Pitch tree haue a particular property respectiue to the liuer and the infirmities thereof if one take a dram weight of them and drink it in mead and honied water It is well known and resolued vpon that to take the aire of those woods and forests only where these trees be cut lanced and scraped for to draw pitch and rosin out of them is without all comparison the best course which they can take who either be in a consumption of the lungs or after some long and languishing sicknes haue much ado to recouer their strength Certes such an aire is far better than either to make a long voiage by sea into Egypt or to goe among the cottages in summer time for to drinke new milk comming of the fresh and green grasse of the mountains As for Chamaepitys it is named in Latine by some Abiga for that it causeth women to slip their conception beforetime of others Thus terrae i. ground Frankincense this herb putteth forth branches a cubit long and both in floure and sauor resembleth the Pine tree A second kind there is of Chamaepitys lower than the other seeming as though it bended and stooped downward to the ground There is also a third sort of the same odor that the rest and therefore so named This last Chamaepitys riseth vp with a little stalke or stem of a finger thicknesse it beareth rough small slender and white leaues and it groweth commonly amongst rockes All these three be herbs indeed and no other and should not be ranged among trees yet for names sake because they carry the denomination of Pitys i. the Pitch-tree I was induced the rather to treat of them in this present place to stay no longer Soueraigne they bee all against the pricks or stings of Scorpions applied in manner of a liniment with dates and quinces they be wholsome for the liuer their decoction together with barly meale is good for the infirmities of reins and bladder Also the decoction of these hearbes boiled in water helpeth the jaundise and the difficulty of vrine if the Patient drinke thereof The third kind last named taken with hony is singular against the poison of serpents and in that maner only applied as a cataplasme it clenseth the matrice natural parts of women If one drink the same herbe it will dissolue and remoue the cluttered thick bloud within the body it prouoketh sweat if the body be therwith annointed and it is especially good for the reins Being reduced into pills together with figs it is passing wholsome for those that be in a dropsie for it purgeth the belly of waterish humors If this herb be taken in wine to the weight of a victoriat piece of siluer i. halfe a Roman denier it warisheth for euer the pain of the loins and stoppeth the course of a new cough Finally if it be boiled in vineger and so taken in drink it is said that it will presently expel the dead infant out of the mothers wombe For the like cause and reason I will do the herb Pityusa this honor as to write of it among trees since that it seemeth by the name to come from the Pitch tree this plant some do reckon among the Tithymals a kind of shrub it is like vnto the Pitch tree with a small floure and the same of purple color If one drink the decoction of the root to the quantity of one hemina it purgeth downward both fleam and choler so doth a spoonfull of the seed therof put vp into the body by suppositories The decoction of the leaues in vineger doth cleanse the skin of dandruffe and scales if the decoction of rue be mingled therwith it is singular for sore brests to appease the wrings and tormenrs of the cholick against the sting of serpents and generally for to discusse and resolue all apostemations and botches a breeding But to returne againe to our former trees how Rosine is ingendred in them of their seuerall kinds and the countries where they grow I haue shewed before first in the treatise of wines and afterwards in the discourse and histories of Trees And to speak summarily of rosins they may be diuided into two principal kinds to wit the dry and the liquid rosin The dry is made of the Pine and the Pitch trees the liquid commeth from the Terebinth Larch Lentisk Cypresse trees for these beare rosin in Asia and Syria wheras some there be of opinion That the rosins of the Pitch and Larch trees be all one they be much deceiued for the Pitch tree yeeldeth a fatty rosin and in maner of frankincense vnctuous but from the Larch tree there issueth a subtill and thin liquor running like to life hony of a strong and rank vnpleasant smell Physitians seldome vse any of these liquid Rosins and neuer prescribe them but to be taken or supped off with an egge As for that of the Larch tree they giue it for the cough and exulceration of some noble parts within neither is that per-rosin of the Pine tree much vsed as for the rest they be not of any vse vnlesse they be boiled Touching the diuers manners of boiling them I haue shewed them sufficiently But if I should put a difference between these rosins according to the trees from whence they come the right Terpentine indeed which the Terebinth yeeldeth liketh and pleaseth me best being of all others lightest and most odoriferous If I should make choice of them in regard of the countries where they are found certes they of Cypresse and Syria be best and namely those that in colour resemble Attick hony and for the Cyprian rosin that which is of a more fleshie substance and drier consistence Of the dry per-rosins those are in most request which be white pure transparent or cleare quite through In generall those that come from trees growing vpon mountains be preferred before them of the plains also regarding the Northeast rather than any other wind For salues to heale wounds as also for emollitiue plasters rosins ought to be dissolued in oile for drinks or potions with bitter almonds As touching their medicinable vertues they be good to clense and close vp wounds to discusse and resolue any apostemes which bee in gathering Moreouer they be vsed in the diseases of the brest and namely true Terpentine by way of liniment for then it is singular good especially if it be applied hot also for the
or poole it would draw the same dry and was of power by touching onely to open lockes or vnbolt any dore whatsoeuer Of Achoemenis also another herb they made this boast That beeing throwne against an armie of enemies ranged in battel array it would driue the troups and squadrons into feare disorder their ranks and put them to flight Semblably they gaue out and said That when the king of Persia dispatcââ¦ed his Embassadors to any forrein states and Princes he was wont to giue them an herb called Latace which so long as they had about them come where they would they should want nothing but haue plenty of all that they desired besides a number of such fooleries wherewith their bookes bee pestered But where I beseech you were these herbs when the Cimbrians and Teutons were defeated in a most cruell and terrible battell so as they cried and yelled again What became of these Magitians and their powerfull herbs when Lucullus with a small army consisting of some few legions ouerthrew and vanquished their owne kings If herbs were so mighty what is the reason I pray you that our Romane captaines prouided euermore aboue all things how to be furnished with victuals for their camp and to haue al the waies and passages open for their purveââ¦ours In the expedition of Pharsalia how came it to passe that the souldiers were at the point to be famished for want of victuals if Caesar by the happy hauing of one hearbe in his campe might haue injoied the abundance of all things Had it not bin better think ye for Scipio Aemilianus to haue caused the gates of Carthage to flie open with the help of one herbe than to lie so many yeres as he did in leaguer before the city with his engins ordinance to shake their wals batter their gates Were there such vertue in Ethiopius aforesaid why do we not at this day dry vp the Pontine lakes and recouer so much good ground vnto the territory about Rome Moreouer if that composition which Democritus hath set downe and his bookes maketh prayse of to be so effectual as to procure men to haue faire vertuous and fortunat children how happeneth it that the kings of Persia themselues could neuer attaine to that felicity And verily wee might maruell well enough at the credulity of our Ancestors in doting so much vpon these inuentions howsoeuer at the first they were deuised and brought in to right good purpose in case the mind and wit of man knew how to stay and keepe a meane in any thing els besides or if I could not proue as I suppose to doe in due place that euen this new leech-craft brought in by Asââ¦lepiades which checketh those vanities is growne to farther abuses and absurdities than are broched by the very Magitians themselues But this hath beene alwaies and euer will bee the nature of mans mind To exceed in the end and go beyond all measure in euery thing which at the beginning arose vpon good respects and necessary occasions But to leaue this discourse let vs proceed to the effects and properties remaining behind of those herbs which were described in the former booke with a supplement also and addition of some others as by occasion shall be offered and presented vnto vs. Howbeit to begin first with the remedies of the said Tettars so foule and vnseemly diseases I mean to gather a heape of as many medicines as I know appropriat for that malady notwithstanding I haue shewed alreadie of that kind not a few Well then in this case Plantaine stamped is very commendable so is Cinquefoile and the root of the white Daffodill punned and applied with vineger The young shoots or tender branches of the fig-tree boiled in vineger likewise the root of the Marsh-Mallow sodden with glow in a strong and sharpe vineger to the consumption of a fourth part Moreouer it is singular good to rub tettars throughly with a pumish stone first to the end that the root of Sorrell stamped and reduced into a liniment with vineger might be applied afterwards therupon with better successe as also the floure of Miselto tempred incorporat with quick-lime the decoction likewise of Tithymale together with rosin is much praised for this cure but the herb Liuerwort excelleth all the rest which therupon tooke the name Lichen it groweth vpon stony grounds with broad leaues beneath about the root hauing one stalke and the same small at which there hang downe long leaues and surely this is a proper herb also to wipe away all marks and cicatrices in the skin if it be bruised and laid vpon them with hony Another kind of Lichen or Liuerwort there is cleauing wholly fast vpon rockes and stones in manner of mosse which also is singular for those tettars being reduced into a liniment This herb likewise stancheth the flux of bloud in green wounds if the juice be dropped into them and in a liniment it serueth well to be applied vnto apostumat places the jaundise it healeth in case the mouth and tongue be rubbed and annointed with it and hony together but in this cure the Patients must haue in charge To bathe in salt water to anoint themselues with oile of almonds and in any case to abstain from all salads and pothearbs of the garden For to heale tettars the root of Thapsia stamped with hony is much vsed As for the Squinsie Argemonia is a soueraigne remedy if it be drunk in wine Hyssop also boiled in wine and so gargarized likewise Harstrang with the rennet of a Seale or Sea-calse taken both of them in equall portion moreouer Knot-grasse stamped with the pickle made of Cackrebs and oile and so gargled or els but held only vnder the tongue Semblaby the juice of Cinquefoile being taken in drink to the quantity of three cyaths this juice besides in a gargarisme cureth all other infirmities of the throat And to conclude with Mullen if it be drunk in water it hath a speciall vertue to cure the inflammation of the amygdals or almond kernels of the throat CHAP. V. ¶ Receits for the scrophules ar wens called the Kings-euill for the paines and griefes of the singers for the diseases of the breast and namely for the Cough PLantaine is a soueraigne herb to cure the Kings euill also Celendine applied with honey and hogs lard so is Cinquefoile The root of the great Clot-bur serueth for the same purpose if it be incorporat with hogs grease so that the place after it is annointed therewith be couered with a leafe of the said Bur laid fast vpon it in like manner Artemisia or Mugwort also a Mandrage root applied with water is good for that purpose The broad leafed Sideritis or Stone-sauge being digged round about with a spike of yron and taken vp with the left hand and so applied vnto the place cureth the kings euill prouided alwaies that the Patients when they be healed keep the same herbe still by them
Aloe a certain liquid gum issuing out of it self and sticking fast to the stem thereof and therefore they hold it good to paue or ram the ground hard all about the place where Aloe groweth that the earth should not drink vp the liquor which distilleth from it Some haue written that in Iury aboue Ierusalem higher into the country there is a certain minerall Aloe to be found growing in manner of a mettal within the ground but there is none worse than it neither is there any blacker or moister If you would know the best chuse that which is fat and cleare of a red colour brittle and apt to crumble close compact in manner of a liuer easie also to melt and resolue If you see any that is black hard sandy or grittie a thing which may soone be knowne betweene the teeth in tasting of it the same is to be rejected for naught Many there be who do sophisticat it with other gums and the juice Acacia Aloe is of an astringent nature seruing to make thick to close fast and gently to heat any part of the body Much vse there is of it in many cases but principally to loosen the belly being the onely purgatiue medicine that is comfortable to the stomack and strengtheneth it so farre is it from offending the same by that laxatiue vertue or any contrary qualitie that it hath for this purpose the ordinary dose to be giuen in drinke is one dram But when the stomacke is feeble and wil keep nothing the manner is to take the quantity of one spoonfull thereof in two cyaths of water either warm or cold twice or thrice in a day by turns pausing some space between as need requireth and as the patient shall find expedient Moreouer if occasion be to purge the bodie throughly Physitians vse to giue three drams thereof and not aboue And the better wil it work if it be taken presently before meat If the head be rubbed or annointed therewith and some austere and astringent wine against the haire and in the Sunne it retaineth the haire that is ready to fail A liniment made of it together with vineger and oile Rosat applied vnto the forehead and temples in maner of a frontall easeth the head ach so doth it also if by way of embrochation it be distilled from aloft vpon the head in a more thin and liquid substance A very conuenient and singular medicine it is to heale all the diseases incident to the eies but especially for the itch and scab rising in the eie-lids Also when the skin looketh blacke and blew vnder the eies or otherwise be marked by occasion of some bruise it taketh them all away if it be applied thereto with hony and namely that which commeth out of Pontus It is a proper remedy for the amygdals the gums and all the vlcers of the mouth Taken to the weight of a dram in water it staieth the spitting and voiding of bloud vpward if it be not excessiue but in case it bee violent immoderat it ought to be drunk in vineger The flux of bloud in wounds or the bleein any part whatsoeuer it stancheth either applied by it self alone or els with vineger In other respects also it is right soueraign for wounds a great healer and that which vniteth skinneth quickly A singular remedy it is to be either cast vpon the vlcers of a mans yard the swelling piles the rifts chaps of the seat in plain dry pouder by it self alone or els to be applied therto with wine or with cuit according as the griefe requireth to be mitigated or repressed Moreouer it gently staieth the immoderat flux of bloud by the haemorrhoids And in a clyster it is excellent to heale the exulceration of the guts in the bloudy flix Also it is very good wholsom for those who hardly digest their meat to drink it a pretty while after supper And for the Iaundise it is singular to take the weight of 3 oboli thereof in water It is good to swallow pils of Aloe either with boiled hony or Turpenttne for to purge the guts and inward bowels and a salue made therewith taketh away the whitflaws and impostumations about the naile roots for eie-salues and other ocularie medicines it ought to be washed that the most sandy and grosse parts therof may settle to the bottom and be separated from the purer substance or els it ought to be torrified in an earthen vessell and plied continually with stirring with a quill or feather that it may be burnt and calcined equally Touching Alcaea it is an herb bearing leaues like vnto Veruain which also is called Peristereon rising vp with three or foure stems well garnished with leaues and carrying floures in maner of Roses it putteth forth for the most part six white roots and those a cubit long not directly but crooked and bending bias It groweth ordinarily in battle grounds and such as stand somwhat vpon water The roots chiefely do serue in Physick which being taken with wine or water do cure the dysentery or bloudy flix stop a lask and knit those that are burst inwardly vpon some violent strain or convulsion As for Alypon a pretty herbe it is shooting vp with a slender stem adorned with little soft and tender heads not vnlike to the Beet quick and sharp in taste biting exceedingly and burning howbeit clammy to the tongue Taken in mead with a little salt it maketh the body soluble The least dose that is giuen thereof is two drams from which they arise to foure which is counted a reasonable indifferent potion but neuer exceed the weight of six And ordinarily this purgation is taken by them that haue occasion to vse it in broth of a cock capon or pullet Alsine which some call Myosoton is an herbe growing among groues whereupon it tooke that name Alsine It begins to put forth and appeare aboue ground about midwinter and by midsummer it is dried away when it traileth and creepeth vpon the ground the leaues doe represent the ears of little mice But another herb there is as I will shew hereafter which more fitly and properly in that regard may be called Myosotis Surely this might be taken well enough for Hexine but that the leaues be smaller and those lesse hairy It groweth vsually in gardens and most of all vpon walls when it is stamped or bruised it senteth of a Cucumber Commonly vsed it is in cataplasmes for to be applied vnto impostumes and inflammations and emploied it may be in all those cases whereunto Parietary serueth For the same effect they haue both but that Chickweed is weaker in operation And this particular property it hath by it selfe besides to stay the flux of waterie humors into the eies also to heale all vlcers and those especially which are in the priuy parts being applied thereto in a pultesse with Barly meale the juice thereof is good to be dropped or poured into
Nicander Homer Hesiodus Musaeus Sophocles and Anaxilaus Physicians Mnestheus and Callimachus who wrote both of Guirlands made of floures Phanias the naturall Philosopher or Physician Simus Timaristus Hippocrates Chrysippus Diocles Ophion Heraclides Hicesias Dionysius Apollodorus of Citia Apollodorus of Tarentum Praxagoras Plistonicus the Physician Dieuches Cleophantus Philistio Asclepiades Cratevas Pââ¦tronius Diodotus Iolla Erasistratus Diagoras Andreas Mnesicles Epicharmus Damion Dalion ââ¦osimenes Theopolemus Metrodorus Solon Lycus Olympias the midwife of Thebes Phillinus Petreius Miction Glaucias and Xenocrates ¶ IN THE XXII BOOKE ARE CONTAINED discourses as touching the estimation of Hearbes Chap. 1. Of certaine nations that vse herbes to beautifie their bodies 2. Of clothes died with the juice of herbes 3. Of the Chaplet made of the common medow grasse 4. How rare these Guirlands of grasse were 5. Which were the only men that had the honour to be crowned with the sad Chaplets 6. The onely Centurion allowed to weare the said Guirlands 7. Medicinable vertues obserued in the rest of herbes and floures that serue for Guirlands and first of Eringe or sea Holly 8. Of the Thystle or hearbe which they call Centum-capita 9. Of Acanus and Liquerice 10. Of Brambles or Thystles called Tribuli their kinds and vertues 11. The vertues and properties of the hearbe Stoebe 12. Of Hippophyes and of Hippope i. the Tazill and their properties 13. Of the Nettle and the medicinable vertues of it 14. Of the white dead Nettle or Archangell Lamium and the vertues of it 15. Of the hearbe Scorpius or Caterpillers the kinds and vertues thereof 16. Of Leucacantha or our ladies Thystle and the vertues of it 17. Of Parietarie of the wall called Helxine or Perdicum of Feuerfew or Motherwort Parthenium of Sideritis i. wall Sauge or stone Sauge and the vertues thereof good for Physicke 18 Of Chamaeleon the sundry sorts and properties that it hath 19. Of Coronopus i. Crow-foot Plantaine or Buckhorn Plantain and the vertues therof 20. Of Orchanet as well the right as the bastard and the vertues of them both 21. Another kind of Orchanet called Onochelis of Camomile of the hearbe Lotus or common Melilot of Lotometra which is a kind of garden Lotus or sallade Clauer of Heliotropia i. Turnsoll or Solcium and Tricoccum a kind thereof of Maiden haire called Adiantum and Callitricum 22. Of bitter Lectuce or wild Cichorie of Thesium of Daffodill of Halimus of Brankursine of Buprestis of Elaphoboscum or Gratia Dei of Scandix i. wild Cheruill or shepheards needle of the wild wort Iasione of bastard Persly Caucalis of Lauer or Sillybum of Scolimus i. the Artichoke or Limonia of Sowthystle of Chondrilla and of Mushromes 23 Of Toadstools of Silphium of Laserjuice 24. The nature of Hony of Mead or Hydromel how it commeth that the fashions are changed in certaine kinds of meat of honied wine of wax A discourse against the composition of many simples 25. The medicinable vertues of corne In summe here you shall find of medicines stories and obseruations 906 gathered out of The same Authours which were named in this booke before and besides out of Chrysermus Eratosthenes and Alcaeus ¶ IN THE XXIII BOOKE IS CONTAINED a Treatise of Hort-yard trees Chap. 1. The medicinable qualities of grapes fresh and new gathered of Vine cuttings and of grape kernils of the grape Theriace or Treacle Grape of dried Grapes or Raisins of Astaphus of Stauesacre called also Pituitaria of the wild Vine of the white Vine which is called Bryonie of the blacke Vine of new wines of diuerse and sundry sorts of wines and also of vinegre 2. Of the medicinable vertues of vinegre Sqilliticke of Oxymell or honied vinegre of cuit of the dregs or lees of wine vinegre and cuit 3. The vertue of Oliues of the leaues of the Oliue of the floure and ashes of the Oliue of the white and blacke fruit of the Oliue also of the dregs or grounds of oile 4. Medicinable properties obserued in the leaues of the wild Oliue of the oile made of the wild vine floures of the oile Cicinum the oiles of Almonds Baies and Myrtles the oile of Chamamyrsine or grand Myrtle also of Cypresse of Cytrons walnuts c. 5. The Aegyptian Palmetree that beareth Ben also of the Date tree called Elate and the vertues of them 6. The medicinable vertues of sundry plants namely in their floure leafe fruit boughs barke wood juice root and ashes 7. Of peares and the obseruations to them belonging of Figges both wild and sauage of Erineum and other sorts of plants with their vertues 8. Of Pine-nuts and Almonds of the Filbard and Walnut of Fistickes and Chestnuts of Charobs Corneiles Strawberrie trees and Baies 9. Of the Myrtle gentle of Myrtidanum and the wild Myrtle In summe there be noted in this booke medicines stories and obseruations a thousand foure hundred and nineteene Latine Authours cited C. Volgius Pompeius Lenaeus Sextius Niger and Iulius Bassus who wrote both in Greeke Antonius Castor M. Varro Cornelius Celsus and Fabianus Forreine Writers Theophrastus Democritus Orpheus Pythagoras Mago Menander the author of the booke Biochresta Nicander Homer Hesiodus Musaeus and Anaxilaus Physicians Mnestheus Callimachus Phanias the naturall Philosopher Simus Tamaristus Hippocrates Chrysippus Diocles Ophion Heraclides Hicesius Dionysius Apollodorus of Cittia Apollodorus the Tarentine Praxagoras Plistonicus Medius Dieuches Cleophantus Philistio Asclepiades Cratevas Petronius Diodotus Iolla Erasistratus Diagoras Andreas Mnesicles Epicharmus Damion Dalion Sosimenes Theopolemus Metrodorus Solon Lycus Olympias the midwife of Thebes Phyllinus Petreius Miction Glaucia and Xenocrates THE XXIIII BOOKE TREATETH OF Trees growing wilde Chap. 1. Medicinable vertues obserued in wild trees 2. The Aegyptian Beane tree Lotus 3. Mast and Acornes 4. The grain or berrie of the tree Ilex of Gals of Misselto of little bals and mast of trees the root of Cirrus and of Corke 5. Of the Beech the Cypresse tree the tall Cedar the fruit or berry therof and of Galbanum 6. Of Ammoniacum Storax Spondylium Spagnus the Terebinth tree of Chamaepitys or Iva Muscata of Esula or Pityusa of Rosins of the Pitch-tree and the Lentiske 7. Of stiffe Pitch of Tarre of Pitch twice boyled of Pissasphalt of Sopissa of the Torch tree and Lentiske 8. The vertues of the Plane tree the Ash the Maple the Aspe the Elme the Linden tree or Teil the Elder and Iuniper 9. Of the Willow the Sallow Amerina and such like good for windings and bands also of Heath or Ling. 10. Of Virga Sanguinea of the Oisier of the Priuet the Aller of Yvie of Cistus or Cifsus of Erythranum of ground Yvie or Alehoufe of Withwind of Perwinke or Lesseron 11. Of Reeds of Paper cane of Ebene of Oleander of Rhus or Sumach of Madder of Alysium of Sopeweed of Apaynum of Rosemarie and the seed thereof of Selago of Samulus of Gums and the medicinable vertues of them all 12. Of the Arabian thorne or thistle of Bedegnar of Acanthium
or crier pronounced noon when standing at the hall or chamber of the councell he beheld the Sun in that wise betweene the pulpit called Rostra and the Grecostasis which was a place where forrein embassadours gaue their attendance but when that the same sun inclined downeward from the columne named Moenia to the common gaole or prison then he gaue warning of the last quarter of the day and so pronounced But this obseruation would serue but vpon cleere daies when the sun shined and yet there was no other means to know how the day went vntill the first Punicke war Fabius Vestalis writeth that L. Papyrius Cursor 12 yeres before the war with Pyrrhus was the first that for to do the Romans a pleasure set vp a sun-dyall to know what it was a clocke vpon the temple of Quirinus at the dedication thereof when his father had vowed it before him Howbeit mine aurhor sheweth not either the reason of the making of that diall or the workman ne yet from whence it was brought nor in what writer he found it so written M. Varro reporteth that the first diall was set vp in the common market place vpon a columne neere the foresaid Rostra in the time of the first Punicke war by M. Valerius Messala the Consull presently after the taking of Catana in Sicily from whence it was brought thirty yeares after the report that goeth of the foresaid quadrant and diall of Papyrius namely in the yeare after the foundation of the city 477. And albeit the strokes and lines of this Horologe or diall agreed not fit with the houres yet were the people ruled and went by it for an hundred yeares saue one euen vntill Q. Martius Philippus who together with L. Paulus was Censor set another by it framed made more exquisitly according to Art And this piece of work among other good acts done by the Censor during his office was highly accepted of the people as a singular gift of his Yet for all this if it were a close and cloudy day wherein the Sun shone not out men knew not what it was a clocke certainly and thus it continued fiue yeres more Then at last Scipio Nasica being Censor with Laenas made the deuise first to diuide the houres both of day and night equally by water distilling and dropping out one vessell into another And this manner of Horologe or water-clocke he dedicated in the end within house and that was in the 595 yere from the building of Rome Thus you see how long it was that the people of Rome could not certainly tell how the day passed Thus much concerning the Nature of man let vs returne now to discourse of other liuing creatures and first of land-beasts THE EIGHTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ Of landbeasts The praise of Elephants their wit and vnderstanding PAsse we now to treat of other liuing creatures and first of land-beasts among which the Elephant is the greatest and commeth neerest in wit and capacitie to men for they vnderstand the language of that country wherin they are bred they do whatsoeuer they are commanded they remember what duties they be taught and withall take a pleasure and delight both in loue and also in glory nay more than all this they embrace goodnesse honestie prudence and equitie rare qualities I may tel you to be found in men and withal haue in religious reuerence with a kinde of deuotion not only the stars and planets but the sun and moon they also worship And in very truth writers there be who report thus much of them That when the new moon beginneth to appeare fresh and bright they come downe by whole heards to a certaine riuer named Amelus in the desarts and forests of Mauritania where after that they are washed and solemnly purified by sprinckling and dashing themselues all ouer with the water haue saluted and adored after their manner that planet they returne again into the woods chases carrying before them their yong calues that be wearied and tired Moreouer they are thought to haue a sense and vnderstanding of religion conscience in others for when they are to passe the seas into another country they wil not embarke before they be induced thereto by anoath of their gouernors and rulers That they shall returne again and seene there haue bin diuers of them being enfeebled by sicknesse for as big and huge as they be subject they are to grievous maladies to lie vpon their backs casting and flinging herbes vp toward heauen as if they had procured and set the earth to pray for them Now for their docility and aptnesse to learne any thing the king they adore they kneele before him and offer vnto him garlands and chaplets of floures and green herbes To conclude the lesser sort of them which they call Bastards serue the Indians in good stead to eare and plough their ground CHAP. II. ¶ When Elephants were put to draw first THe first time that euer they were knowne to draw at Rome was in the triumph of Pompey the Great after he had subdued Africke for then were two of them put in geeres to his triumphant chariot But long before that it is said that Father Bacchus hauing conquered India did the like when he triumphed for his conquest Howbeit in that triumph of Pompey Procilius affirmeth That coupled as they were two in one yoke they could not possibly go in at the gates of Rome In the late solemnity of tournois sword-fight at the sharp which Germanicus Caesar exhibited to gratifie the people the elephants were seen to shew pastime with leaping keeping a stir as if they danced after a rude and disorderly manner A common thing it was among them to fling weapons darts in the aire so strongly that the winds had no power against them to flourish also before hand yea and to encounter and meet together in fight like sword-fencers and to make good sport in a kinde of Moriske dance and afterwards to go on ropes and cords to carry foure together one of them laid at ease in a litter resembling the maner of women newly brought a bed last of all some of them were so nimble and well practised that they would enter into an hall or dining place where the tables were set full of guests and passe among them so gently and daintily weighing as it were their feet in their going so as they would not hurt or touch any of the company as they were drinking CHAP. III. ¶ The docilitie of Elephants THis is knowne for certaine that vpon a time there was an Elephant among the rest not so good of capacity to take out his lessons and learn that which was taught him and being beaten and beaten again for that blockish and dull head of his was found studying and conning those feats in the night which he had bin learning in the day time But one of the greatest wonders of them was
for the male putteth forth his bloome in the branch but the female sheweth no floure at all but sprouteth and shooteth out buds in manner of a thorne howbeit both in the one and the other the pulp or flesh of the Date commeth first and after it the wooddy stone within which stands in stead of the grain and seed of the Date And this appeares euidently by a good token for that in the same branch there be found little yong Dates without any such stone at al. Now is the said stone or kernell of the Date in forme long not so round and turned like a ball as that of the Oliue Besides along the back it hath a cut or deep slit chamfered in as it were between two pillowes but in the mids of the belly on the other side for the most part it hath a round specke formed like a nauill whereat the root or chit beginneth first to put forth Moreouer for the better planting of Dates they set two together of their stones in a ranke with the bellies downward to the earth and as many ouer their heads for if one alone should come vp it were not able to stand of it selfe the root and young plant would be so feeble but foure together so ioine clasp and grow one to another that they do well enough and are sufficient to beare themselues vpright the kernel or wooddy substance within the Date is diuided from the fleshy pulp and meat thereof by many white pellicles or thin skins between neither lieth it close thereto but hollow a good distance from it saue that in the head it is fastened thereunto by a thred or string and yet there be other pellicles that cleaue fast and sticke to the substance of the Date within The Date is a yeare in ripening Howbeit in certaine places as namely in Cyprus the meat or fleshie pulp thereof is sweet and pleasant in taste although it be not come to the full ripenesse where also the leafe of the tree is broader and the fruit rounder than the rest mary then you must take heed not to eat and swallow down the very bodily substance of it but spit it forth after you haue wel chewed sucked out the iuice therof Also they say that in Arabia the dates haue but a faint weak sweetnes with them yet K. Iuba makes greatest account of those which the region of the Scenites in Arabia doth yeeld where they be called Dabula and he commends them for their delicate and pleasant tast before all others Moreouer it is constantly affirmed That the females be naturally barten and will not beare fruit without the company of the males among them to make them for to conceiue yet grow they wil neuerthelesse and come vp of themselues yea and become tall woods and verily a man shall see many of the females stand about one male bending and leaning in the head full kindly toward him yeelding their branches that way as if they courted him for to win his loue But contrariwise he a grim sir and a coy carries his head aloft bears his bristled rough arms vpright on high and yet what with his very lookes what with his breathing and exhalations vpon them or else with a certain dust that passes from him he doth the part of an husband insomuch as all the females about him conceiue and are fruitfull with his only presence It is said moreouer that if this male tree be cut downe his wiues wil afterwards become barren and beare no more Dates as if they were widows Finally so euident is the copulation of these sexes in the Date trees knowne to be so effectuall that men haue deuised also to make the females fruitful by casting vpon them the blooms and down that the male bears yea and otherwhiles by strewing the pouder which he yeelds vpon them Besides the maner abouesaid of setting date stones for increase the trees may be replanted of the very truncheons of two cubits long sliued and diuided from the very brain as it were of the green tree in the top and so couched and interred leauing only the head without the ground Moreouer Date trees wil take again and liue if either their slips be pluckt from the root or their tendrils small branches be set in the earth As for the Assyrians they make no more adoe but if it be a moist soile plash the very tree it selfe whole as it stands and draw it along and so trench it within the ground and thus it will take root and propagate but such will neuer proue faire trees but skrubs only And therefore they deuise certain Seminaries or Nource gardens of them and no sooner be they of one yeares growth but they transplant them and so againe a second time when they be two yeares old for these trees loue alone to be remoued from one place to another But whereas in other countries this transplantation is practised in the spring the Assyrians attend the very mids and heat of Summer and in the beginning of the Dog-daies vse to replant them Moreouer in that countrie they neither cut off the heads ne yet shred the branches of the yong plants with their hooks and bils but rather bind vp their boughes that they may shoot vp in height the better Howbeit when they are strong they cut their branches for to make the bodies burnish and waxe thicker but yet in the lopping they leaue stumps of boughes halfe a foot long to the very tree which if they were cut off in other places would be the death of the mother stocke And forasmuch as Date trees delight in a salt and nitrous soile according as hath bin before said the Assyrians therefore when they meet not with a ground of that nature strew salt not close about the roots but somwhat farther off In Syria and Egypt there be some Date trees that diuide themselues and are forked in twaine rising vp in two trunkes or bodies In Crete they haue three and some also fiue The nature of the Palme or Date tree is to beare ordinarily when they be three yeares old howbeit in Cyprus Syria and Egypt it is soure yeares first ere some bring fruit yea and fiue yeares before others begin and such neuer exceed a mans height neither haue they any stone or wooddy kernel within the Date so long as they be young and tender during which time they haue a pretty name for them and call them Gelded Dates and many kindes there be of these trees As for those that be barren and fruitlesse all Assyria and Persia throughout vse them for timber to make quarters and pamels for seeling wainescot and their fine ioyned workes There be also of Date trees coppey woods which they vse to fell and cut at certaine times and euermore they put forth a yong spring from the old root and stock These haue in the very head and top a certain pleasant and sweet marow which they terme The braine and
drying confiture Some grapes there be that are condite in Must or new wine and so they drinke their owne liquor wherein they lie soking without any other seething Others againe are boiled in Must abouesaid vntill they lose their owne verdure and become sweet and pleasant Moreouer yee shall see old grapes hang still vpon the Vine their mother vntill new come but within glasses that a man may see them easily through howbeit to make them to last and continue in their full strength as well those which be preserued in barrels tuns and such like vessels aforesaid they vse the helpe of pitch or tarre which they poure vpon the stalks that the cluster hangs to and wherewith they stop close the mouth of the said glasse It it not long since that there was a deuise found that wine of it selfe as it came naturally from the grape growing vpon the vine should haue a smack and sent of pitch And surely this kind of Pitch wine brought the territory about Vienna into great name reputation before that this vine was known those of Auern Burgundy and the Heluij were in no request at all But these deuises as touching vines wines were not in the daies of the Poet Virgil who died about 90 yeres past But behold what I haue to say more of the Vine tree the vine wand is now entred into the camp and by it our armies are ranged into battalions nay vpon the direction thereof depends the main estate of our soueraigne Empire for the Centurion hath the honour to carry in his hand a Vine-rod the good guidance and ordering whereof aduanceth after long time the centeniers for a good reward of their valorous and faithfull seruice from the leading of inferior bands to the captainship of that regiment and chiefe place in the army vnto which the maine standard of the Aegle is committed yea and more than that the Vine wand chastiseth the trespasses and lighter offences of the souldiers who take it for no dishonor nor disgrace to be thus punished at their Centurions hand Ouer and besides the planting of Vineyards hath taught martiall men how to approach the wals of their enemies to giue an assault vnder a frame deuised for the purpose which therupon took the name of Vinea Lastly for medicinable vertues in phisick the Vine is so profitable to mans health that the vse of it alone is a sufficient remedy for the distemperature of mans body caused by wine it selfe CHAP. II. ¶ Of the diuers kindes of vines DEmocritus was the onely Philosopher euer known who made profession to reduce all the sorts and kinds of vines to a certaine number and indeed he vaunted and made his boast that he had the knowledge of all things that were in Greece All others besides himselfe and those comming neerer to the truth as shal appeare more euidently by the variety of wines resolutely haue set downe that there be infinit sorts of Vine-trees Looke not therefore at my hands that I should write of them all but onely of the principall for that in truth there bee in manner as many and as sundry kinds of them as are of grounds Wherefore I will content my selfe and thinke it sufficient to shew those that be singular and most renowned among them or such as haue some secret propriety wortlradmiration And first to begin with the Aminean Vines all the world giueth them the chiefe praise and greatest name as wel for their grapes of so lasting and durable a nature as for the wine made thereof which in all places continues long invigor is euer the better for the age And hereof there be fiue sundry sorts Of which the kindly Vines named Germanae haue both lesse grapes and grains within but they burgen and bloom better than others and after the floure is gon they can abide both rain and tempest but the second kind which is the greater is not so hardy howbeit lesse subiect to wind and weather when they be planted to run vp a tree rather than to creepe vpon a frame A third sort are called Gemellae for that their grapes grow double like twins they be very harsh and in taste vntoothsome howbeit their vertue and strength is singular The smaller sort of these take harm by the South wind but all other winds nourish them as we may see in the mount Vesuvius and the little hils of Surrentum for in all other parts of Italy ye shal neuer finde them but wedded to trees and growing vpon them As for the fift kind of these Amminean vines they be called Lanatae so freezed they are with a kind of down or cotton insomuch as we need not wonder any more at the Seres or Indians for their cotton and silken trees The first kind of these Amminean grapes come soonest to their ripenesse and perfection and most quickly do they rot putrifie Next to these Amminean vines those of Nomentum are in most account and for that their wood is red some haue called them Rubellae These grapes yeeld no great plenty of wine but in stead thereof their stones and kernels and other refuse remaining grow to an exceeding big cake howbeit this property they haue The frost they will indure passing well lesse harme they take also by raine than drought and thriue better in cold than heat and therefore in cold and moist grounds they excell and haue no fellow Of these vines they are more plentifull which beare grapes with smaller stones and leaues with lesse cuts and iags indented As touching the Muscadell vines Apianae they tooke that name of bees which are so much delighted in them and desirous to settle and feed of them Of two sorts they are and both carry cotton down Howbeit this difference is between them that the grapes of the one wil be sooner ripe than the other and yet there is neither of them both but be hasty enough These Muscadell grapes like wel and loue cold countries and yet none sooner rot than they if showers take them The muscadell wines are at the first sweet but with age become harsh and hard yea and red withal And to conclude there is not a grape that ioies more to hang vpon the vine than it doth Thus much of the very floure of Vines and the principall grapes that be familiar and proper vnto our countrey of Italy as their natiue soile The rest be strangers come out of Chios or Thasos As for the Greeke grapes of Corinth they be not in goodnes inferior to the Aminean aforesaid They haue a very tender stone within and the grape it selfe is so small that vnlesse the soile be exceeding faâ⦠and battle there is no profit in planting and tending such vines The quick-sets of the vine Eugenia were sent vnto vs from the Taurominitane hils in Sicily together with their syrname pretending a noble gentle race Howbeit they are neuer in their kind with vs but only in the Alban country for if
all other the thinnest hauing but one kernel within which they call Gigarton and the same very small and a man shall not find a bunch without one or two passing great grapes aboue the rest there is also a kind of black Aminean grape which some name Syriaca likewise the grape of Spain which of the base and common kinds carries the greatest credit and is most commended As touching both vines and grapes that run and traile vpon frames there be those which are called Escariae good only for to eat and namely those which haue grains or stones like to Ivie berries as well white as black Grapes resembling great dugs named therupon Bumasti both black and white are carried vpon frames in like sort But al this while we haue not spoken of the Aegyptian and Rhodian grapes ne yet of the Ounce-grapes whereof euery one weighes a good ounce and thereupon tooke that name Item the grape Pucina the blackest of all others the Stephanitis also wherein Nature hath seemed to disport her selfe for the leaues run among the grapes in manner of a garland plaited with them Moreouer the market-grapes called Forenses they grow and are ripe with the soonest vendible at the very first sight and sold with the best and most easie to be carried from market to market But contrariwise the ash-coloured grape Cinerea the silk-russet grape Ravuscula the asse-hued grape Asinisca please not the eie but are presently reiected and yet the Fox-tailed grape Alopecis for that it resembles Rainards taile is not so displeasant nor so much discommended as the former About a cape or crest of the hill Ida which they call Phalacra there is a vine named Alexandrina smal of growth and puts forth branches of a cubit in length the grapes be black as big as beans the pepin or kernell within soft tender and exceeding small the bunches are crooked full of grapes passing sweet and finally the leaues little round and not cut or iagged at all Within these seuen yeres last past about Alba Eluia a city in Languedock or the prouince of Narbon there was found a vine which in one day both floured and shed her floures by which meanes most secured it was from all dangers of the weather They call it Narbonica or the vine of Languedock and now it is commonly planted all that prouince ouer and euery man desireth to store his vineyard therewith CHAP. IIII. ¶ Notable considerations about the husbandrie and ordering of Vineyards THat noble and worthy Cato the first of that name renowned among other dignities for his honorable triumph and the incorrupt administration of his Censorship and yet more famous and renowned to posterity for his singular knowledge and learning and namely for the good precepts and ordinances tending to all vertues and commendable parts which he left in memory for the people of Rome principally touching agriculture as he was by the common voice and generall accord of that age wherein he liued reputed for an excellent husbandman and one who in that profession had neither peere nor second that came neere vnto him This Cato I say hath in his workes made mention but of a few kinds of vines and yet some of them already be growne out of knowledge so as their verie names are quite forgotten Yet neuerthelesse his opinion and judgement would be set downe in particular as it may be gathered out of his whole treatise to the end that we might both know in euery kind of vine which were of most account in his daies to wit in the 600 yere after the foundation of Rome about the time that Carthage and Corinth were forced and woon when he departed this life and also learn how much we haue profited and proceeded in good husbandry and agriculture from his death vnto this present day namely for the space of 230 yeares As concerning vines and grapes therefore thus much hath Cato deliuered in writing and in this manner following All places or grounds quoth he exposed to the Sun-shine and which in other regards shall be found good for to plant vineyards in see they bee employed for the lesse Aminean for both the Eugenian Vines and the smaller Heluine Item In euery tract that is more grosse thicke and mistie looke that you set the greater Aminean or the Murgentine the Apician also and the Lucane Vine All other vines and the common mingled sort especially will agree well enough with any ground The right keeping of grapes is in a small thinne wine of the second running The grapes Duracinae and the greater Amineans are good to be hanged or else dried before a blacke-smithes forge and so they may be well preserued and goe for Raisins of the Sun Loe what the precepts of Cato be neither are there any of this argument more antient left vnto vs written in the Latine tongue Whereby we may see that we liue not long after the very first rudiments and beginnings of knowledge in these matters But by the way the Amineans last named Varro calleth Scantians And in very truth few there be euen in this our age who haue left any rules in forme of Art as touching the absolute skill in this behalfe Yet such as they be and how few soeuer we must not leaue them behinde but so much the rather take them with vs to the end it may be knowne what reward profit they met with who trauelled in this point of husbandry reward I say and profit which in euery thing is all in all To begin therefore with Acilius Sihenelus or Stelenus a mean commoner of Rome descended from the race of Libertines or Slaues newly infranchised he attained to the highest glory and greatest name of all others for hauing in the whole world not aboue 60 acres of land lââ¦ing all in vineyards within the territory of Nomentum he plaied the good husband so well therââ¦n that he sold them again at the price of 400000 Sesterces There went a great bruit and fame likewise of one Verulenus Aegialus in his time a man but of base condition by birth and no better than the former namely come of the stocke of freed-men who by his labor husbandry greatly inriched a domain or liuing at Liternum in Campaine and the more renowned he was by occasion of the fauour of so many men affectionate vnto Africanus whose very place of exile he held in his hands and occupied so well for vnto Scipio the aboue said Liternum appertained But the greatest voice and speech of men was of Rhemnius Palaemon who otherwise by profession was a famous and renowned Grammarian for that he by the means and helpe of the foresaid Sthenelus bought a ferme within these twenty yeares for 600000 Sesterces in the same territorie of Nomentum about ten miles distant from Rome lying somewhat out of the high way Now is it well knowne farre and neare of what price and account all such fermes are and how cheape such ware is lying so neere to the
city side but amongst the rest this of Palaemons in that place was esteemed most cheap and lowest prised in this regard especially That he had purchased those lands which through the carelesnesse bad husbandry of the former owners lay neglected and fore-let were not of themselues thought to be of the best soile chosen and piked from among the worst But being entred once vpon those grounds as his owne liuelode and possession he set in hand to husband and manure them not so much of any good mind and affection that he had to improue and better any thing that he held but vpon a vaine glory of his own at the first whereunto he was wonderously giuen for he makes fallows of his vine-plots anew and delueth them all ouer again as he had seen Sthenelus to do with his before but what with digging stirring and medling therewith following the good example and husbandry of Sthenelus hee brought his vineyards to so good a passe within one eight yeares that the fruit of one yeares vintage was held at 400000 Sesterces and yeelded so much rent to the lord a wonderfull and miraculous thing that a ground should be so much improoued in so small a time And in very truth it was strange to see what numbers of people would run thither onely to see the huge and mighty heaps of grapes gathered in those vineyards of his and ill idle neighbors about him whose grounds yeelded no such increase attributed all to his deepe learning and that he went to it by his book had some hidden speculation aboue other men obiecting against him that he practised Art Magicke and the blacke Science But last of all Annaeas Seneca esteemed in those daies a singular clerke and a mighty great man whose ouermuch Learning and exceeding power cost him his ouerthrowing in the end one who had good skill and judgement in the world and vsed least of all others to esteeme toies and vanities brought this ferm into a greater name and credit for so far in loue was he of this possession that hee bought out Palaemon and was not ashamed to let him go away with the pricke and praise for good husbandry and to remoue him into other parts where he might shew the like cunning and in one word paid for these foresaid vineyards of his fourfold as much as they cost not aboue ten yeres before this good husbandry was bestowed vpon them Certes great pity it is that the like industry was not shewed and imploied in the territories about the hils Cecubus Setinus where no doubt it would haue well quit all the cost considering that many a time afterwards euery acre of vineyard there yeelded seuen Culei that is to say 140 Amphores of new wine one yere with another But lest any man should thinke that wee in these daies haue surpassed our ancestors in diligence as touching good husbandrie know he that the aboue named Cato hath left in writing How of an acre of vineyard there hath arisen ordinarily ten Culei of wine by the yeare Certainly these be effectuall examples and pregnant proofes that the hardy and aduenturous voiages by sea are not more aduantageous ne yet the commodities and merchandise and namely Pearls which be fet as far as the red sea and the Indian Ocean are more gainefull to the merchant than a good ferm and homestall in the countrey well tilled and carefully husbanded As touching the wines in old time Homer writes that the Maronean wine made of the grapes growing vpon the sea coasts of Africk was the best most excellent in his daies But my meaning is not to ground vpon fabulous tales variable reports as touching the excellency or antiquitie of wine True it is that Aristaeus was the first who in that very nation mingled honey with wine which must needs be a passing sweet and pleasant liquor made of two natures so singular as they be of themselues And yet to come againe to the foresaid Maronean wine the same Homer saith That to one part therof there would be but 20 parts of water and euen at this day that kind of wine continues in the said land of the same force and the strength thereof will not be conquered nor allaied For Mutianus who had bin thrice consul of Rome one of those that latest wrote of this matter found by experience being himselfe personally in that tract that euery sextar or quart of that wine would beare 8 of water who reports moreouer that the wine is of colour blacke of a fragrant sweet smell and by age comes to be fat and vnctious Moreouer the Pramnian wine which the same Homer hath so highly commended continueth yet in credit and holds the name still it comes from a vineyard in the countrey about Smyrna neere to the temple of Cybele the mother of the gods As for other wines no one kind apart excelled other One yere there was when all wines proued passing good to wit when L. Opimius was Consul at what time as C. Gracchus a Tribune of the Commons practising to sow sedition within the city among the common people was slaine for then such seasonable weather happened and so fauorable for ill fruit that they called it Coctura as a man would say the ripening time so beneficiall was the Sun to the earth and this fell out in the yere after the natiuity and foundation of the city of Rome 634. Moreouer there be some wines so durable that they haue beene knowne to last two hundred yeares and are come now by this time to the qualitie and consistence of a rough sharpe and austere kind of hony and this is the nature of all when they bee old neither are they potable alone by themselues vnlesse the water be predominant so tart they are of the lees and so musty withall that they are bitter againe Howbeit a certaine mixture there is of them in a very small quantity with other wines that giues a prety commendable tast vnto them Suppose now that according to the price of wine in those daies of Opimius euery Amphore were set but at an hundred Sesterces yet after the vsurie of six in the hundred yearly which is the ordinary proportion and a reasonable interest among citizens for the principall that lieth dead and dormant in stock by the hundred and sixtieth yere after the said Amphor was bought which fell out in the time that C. Caligula Caesar the son of Germanicus was Emperor no maruell if an ounce in measure of the same wine to wit the twelfth part of a Sextarius cost so many Sesterces for as we haue shewed by a notable example when we did set downe the life of Pomponius Secundus the Poet and the feast that he made to the sayd Prince Caligula there was not a Cyathus of that wine drawne but so much was paied for it Loe what a deale of mony lieth in these wine-cellars for keeping of wine And in very truth there is nothing
fire than to flie from it to the leaues of the Ash. A wonderfull goodnesse of dame Nature that the Ash bloometh and flourisheth alwaies before that serpents come abroad and neuer sheddeth leaues but continueth greene vntill they be retired into their holes and hidden within the ground CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the Line or Linden tree two sorts thereof GReat difference there is euery way between the male female Linden tree for the wood of the male is hard and knottie of a redder colour also and more odoriferous than the female The barke moreouer is thicker and when it is plucked from the tree it is stiffe and will not bend It beareth neither seed nor floure as the female doth which also is rounder and bigger in bodie and the wood is whiter more faire and beautifull by farre than is the male A strange thing it is to consider that there is no liuing creature in the world will touch the fruit of the Linden tree and yet the juice both of leaf and barke is sweet ynough Between the bark and the wood of this tree there be thin pellicles or skins lying in many folds together whereof are made bands cords called Brazen ropes The finest of these pellicanes or membrans serued in old time for to make labels and ribbands belonging to chaplets and it was reputed a great honor to weare such The timber of the Linden or Tillet tree will neuer be worm-eaten The tree it selfe is nothing tall but of a meane height howbeit the wood is very commodious CHAP. XV. ¶ Ten kinds of the Maple tree THe Maple in bignesse is much about the Linden tree the wood of it is very fine and beautifull in which regard it may be raunged in the second place and next to the very Citron tree Of Maples there be many kinds to wit the white and that is exceeding faire and bright indeed growing about Piemont in Italie beyond the riuer Po also beyond the Alps and this is called the French Maple A second kind there is which hath a curled graine running too and fro with diuers spots the more excellent worke whereof resembling the eies in the Peacockes taile thereupon took also the name And for this rare and singular wood the countries of Istria and Rhaetia be chiefe As for that which hath a thicke and great graine it is called Crassiuenium of the Latines and is counted to be of a baser kind The Greekes distinguish Maples by the diuerse places where they grow For that of the champion or plaine countrey which they name Glinon is white and nothing crisped contrariwise the wood of the mountaine Maple is harder and more curled and namely the male of that sort and therefore it is in great request for most exquisite and sumptuous workes A third sort they name Zygia which hath a reddish wood and the same easie to cleaue with a barke of a swe rt colour and rough in handling Others would haue it to be no Maple but rather a tree by it selfe and in Latine they call it Carpinus CHAP. XVI ¶ Of the Bosses Wennes and Nodosities called Bruscum and Molluscum Of the wild Fisticke or Bladder nut-tree called Staphylodendron also three kinds of the Box tree THe bunch or knurre in the Maple called Bruscum is passing faire but yet that wich is named Molluscum excelleth it Both the one and the other swell like a wen out of the Maple As for the Bruscum it is curled and twined after a more crawling and winding manner whereas the Molluscum is spread with a more direct and strait course of the grain And certes if there might be plankes hereof found broad enough to make tables doubtlesse they would be esteemed and preferred before those of the Citron wood But now it serueth only for writing tables for painels also and thin bords in wainscote work to set out beds heads and seelings and such are seldome seen As for Bruscum there be tables made of it inclining to a blackish color Moreouer there be found in Alder trees such nodosities but not so good as those by how much the wood of the Alder it selfe is inferior to the Maple for beauty and costlines The male Maples do put forth leaues and flourish before the female Yea and those that grow vpon dry grounds are ordinarily better esteemed than those of moist and waterish places in like sort as the ashes Beyond the Alps there is a kind of bladder Nut-tree whereof the wood is very like to the white white Maple and the name of it is Staphylodendron It beareth certain cods and within the same kernels in tast like the Filberd or Hazell-nut Now for the Box tree the wood thereof is in as great request as the very best seldom hath it any grain crisped damask-wise and neuer but about the root the which is dudgin and ful of work For otherwise the grain runneth streight and euen without any wauing the wood is sad enough and weighty for the hardnesse thereof and pale yellow colour much set by and right commendable As for the tree it selfe gardeners vse to make arbors borders and curious works thereof Three sorts there be of the Box tree the first is called the French Box it groweth taper-wise sharp pointed in the top and runneth vp to more than ordinarie height The second is altogether wild and they name it Oleastrum good for no vse at all and besides careith a strong and stinking sauor with it The third is our Italian box and so called Of a sauage kind I take this to be also howbeit by setting and replanting brought to a gentle nature This spreadeth and brancheth more broad and herewith a man shall see the borders and partitions of quarters in a garden growing thick and green all the yeare long and kept orderly with cutting and clipping Great store of box trees are to be seen vpon the Pyrenaean hils the Cytorian mountains and the whole Berecynthian tract The thickest and biggest Box trees be in Corsica and they beare a louely and amiable floure which is the cause that the hony of that Island is so bitter there is not a beast that will eat the fruit or grain thereof The Boxes of Olympus in Macedonie are more slender than the rest and but low of growth This tree loueth cold grounds yet lying vpon the Sun The wood is as hard to burn as iron it will neither flame nor burn cleare it selfe nor serue to make charcole of CHAP. XVII ¶ Of the Elme foure kinds BEtween these wild trees abouesaid and those that bear fruit the Elm is reckoned of a middle nature in regard of the wood and timber that it affords as also of the friendship acquaintance that it hath with vines The Greekes acknowledge two sorts thereof namely one of the mountains which is the taller and the bigger and the other of the plaines champion which is rather more like a shrub the branches that it shooteth forth are so smal and slender
sorts of Holly The leaues of the Oliue tree and the Mast-Holme hang by a short stele the Vine leaues by a long The Poplar or Aspen leaues doe shake and tremble and they alone keep a whistling and rustling noise one with another Moreouer in the very fruit it selfe and namely in a certain kind of Apples ye shall haue small leaues breake out of the very sides in the mids in some single in others double and two together Furthermore there be trees that haue their leaues comming forth about their boughs and branches others at the very end and shoot of the twig as for the wild Oke Robur it putteth leaues forth of the trunk and maine stock Ouer and besides the leaues grow thicker or thinner in some than in others but alwlies the broad and large leaues are more thinne than others In the Myrtle tree the leaues grow in order by ranks those of the Box tree turn hollow but in the Apple trees they are set in no order at al. In Pyrries Apple trees both ye shal see ordinarily many leaues put forth at one bud hanging at one and the same taile The Elme and the Tree-trifolie are full of small and little branches Cato addeth moreouer and saith That such as fall from the Poplar or the Oke may bee giuen as fodder to beasts but he wils that they be not ouer drie and he saith expressely that for kine and oxen Fig-leaues mast Holm leaues and Iuie are good fodder yea and such kind of beasts may well brouse and feed of Reed leaues and Bay leaues Finally the Seruise tree looseth her leaues al at once others shed them by little and little one after another And thus much for the leaues of trees CHAP. XXV ¶ The order and course obserued in Nature as touching plants and trees in their conception flouring budding knotting and fructifying Also in what order they put forth their blossomes THe manner and order of Nature yeare by yeare holdeth in this wise first trees and plants do conceiue by the meanes of the Westerne wind Fauonius which commonly beginneth to blow about sixe daies before the Ides of Februarie for this wind is in stead of an husband to all things that grow out of the earth and of it they desire naturally to be conceiued like as the Mares in Spaine of which we haue written heretofore This wind is that spirit of generation which breathes life into all the world which the Latines call thereupon Fauonius à fauendo i. of cherishing and nourishing euery thing as some haue thought It blowes directly from the Aequinoctiall Sun-setting and euermore beginneth the Spring This time out rusticall peasants call the Seasoning when as Nature seemeth to goe proud or assaut and is in the rut and furious rage of loue desirous to conceiue by this wind which indeed doth viuifie and quicken all plants and seeds sowne in the ground Now of all them conceiue not at once but in sundry daies for some are presently sped in a moment like as liuing creatures others are not so hastie to conceiue but long it is first ere they retaine and as long againe before their vitall seed putteth forth and this is therupon called their budding time Now are they said to bring forth and be deliuered when in the Spring they bloome and that blossome breaketh forth of certain matrices or ventricles After this they become nources all the while they cherish and bring vp the fruit and this time also the Latines call Germinatio i. the breeding season When trees are full of blossomes it is a signe that the Spring is at the height and the yeare become new againe The blossom is the very ioy of trees and therein standeth their chiefe felicitie then they shew themselues fresh and new as if they were not the same then be they in their gay coats then it seemeth they striue avie one with another in varietie of colours which of them should excell and exceed in beautifull hew But this is not generall for many of them are denied this pleasure and enjoy not this delight for all trees blossome not some are of an heauie and sad countenance neither cheare they at the comming of this new season and gladsome Spring for the mast-Holme the Pitch tree the Larch and the Pine doe not bloome at all they are not arrayed in their robes they haue not their liueries of diuers colors to fore-signifie as messengers and vantcourriers the arriuall of the new yeare or to welcome and solemnize the birth of new fruits The Figge trees likewise both tame and wild make no shew of floures for they are not too soon bloomed if they bloom at all but they bring forth their fruit And a wonderful thing it is to see what abortiue fruit these Figge-trees haue and how it neuer commeth to ripenesse Neither doe the Iunipers bloome at all And yet some writers there be who make two kinds thereof and they say that the one flowreth and bears no fruit as for the other which doth not blossome it brings forth fruit vpon fruit and berrie vpon berrie which hang two yeres vpon the tree before they come to maturitie But this is false for in very truth all Iunipers without exception haue euermore a sad looke and at no time shew merie And this is the case and condition verily of many a man whose fortune is neuer in the floure nor maketh any outward shew to the world Howbeit there is not a tree but it buddeth euen those that neuer blossome And herein the diuersitie of the soile is of great power for in one and the same kind such as grow in marish grounds do shoot and spring first next to them those of the plaines and last of all they of the woods and forrests And generally the wilde Pyrries growing in woods doe bud later than any other At the first comming of the western wind Fauonius the Corneil tree buddeth next to it the Bay and somewhat before mid-march or the spring Aequinoctiall the Tillet or Linden and the Maple the Poplar Elme Willow Alder and Filberds or Hazell nut trees bud with the first The Palme also maketh hast and is loth to come behind All the rest at the point and prime of the spring namely the Holly the Terebinth the Paliurus the Cheston and the Walnut-trees or Mast-trees Apple trees are late ere they bud but the Corke tree longest of any other Trees there be that put forth bud vpon bud by reason that either the soile is exceeding battill and fat or else the weather faire and pleasant and this happeneth more to be seene in the blades of corne But trees if they happen to be ouer rancke in new shoots and buds they waxe wearie and grow out of heart Moreouer some trees there be that naturally do sprout at other seasons besides the spring according to the influence of certaine starres whereof the reason shall be rendred more conueniently in the third booke next ensuing after this Meane time this
odoriferous any wood is the more durable also it is and euerlasting Next to these trees aboue rehearsed the wood of the Mulberrie tree is most commended which in tract of time as it growes to be old waxes also blacke Moreouer some kinds of wood as they be more lasting than other so they continue better being emploied in one kind of work than they do in another The Elme timber will well abide the aire and the wind The wild Oke Robur loueth to stand within the ground and the common Oke is good in the water let it bee vsed aboue ground to take the aire and the weather it will cast warpe and cleaue too bad The Larch wood agreeth passing wel with water works and so doth the black Alder. As for the Oke Robur it will corrupt and rot in the sea The Beech will doe well in water and the Walnut tree likewise but to stand within the earth they are principall good and haue no fellow And for the Iuniper it will hold the owne being laid vnder ground but for building aboue in the open aire it is excellent good The Beech and the Cerus wood rot quickly The smal Oke called Esculus canot abide the water The Cherrie tree wood is firme and fast the Elme and the Ash are tough how beit they will soone settle downward and sag being charged with any weight but bend they will before they break and in case before they were fallen they stood a while in the wood after they had a kerfe round about for their superfluous moisture to run out vntill they were well dried they would be the better and sure in building It is commonly said that the Larch wood if it be put into ships at sea is subject to wormes like as al other kinds of wood vnlesse it be the wild and tame Oliue For to conclude some timber is more readie to corrupt and be marred in the sea and others againe vpon the land CHAP. XLI ¶ Of wormes that breed in wood OF vermine that eat into wood there be 4 kinds The first are called in Latine Teredines a very great head they haue for the proportion of the body and with their teeth they gnaw These are found only in ships at sea and indeed properly none other be Teredines A second sort there be and those are land wormes or mothes named Tineae But a third kind resembling gnats the Greeks tearme by the name of Thripes In the fourth place bee the little wormes whereof some are bred of the putrified humor and corruption in the very timber like as others againe engender in trees of a worme called Cerastes for hauing gnawne and eaten so much that he hath roume enough to turne him about within the hole which he first made hee engendreth this other worm Now some wood there is so bitter that none of these wermin will breed in it as the Cypresse others likewise so hard that they cannot eat into it as the Box. It is a generall opinion that if the Firre be barked about the budding times at such an age of the Moon as hath been before said it will neuer putrifie in the water Reported it is by those that accompanied Alexander the great in his voiage into the East that in the Isle Tylos lying within the red sea there be certain trees that serue for timber to build ships the which were known to continue two hundred yeares and being drowned in the sea were found with the wood nothing at all perished They affirmed moreouer that in the same Island there grew little plants or shrubs no thicker than would wel serue for walking staues to cary in a mans hand the wood whereof was massie and ponderous striped also and spotted in manner of a Tygres skin but so brittle withall that if it chanced to fall vpon a thing harder than it selfe it would breake into fitters like glasse CHAP. XLII ¶ Of timber good for Architecture and Carpentrie what wood will serue for this or that worke and which is the strongest and surest timber for roufes of building WEe haue here in Italie wood and timber that will cleaue of it selfe For which cause our Maister Carpenters giue order to besmeare them with beasts dung and so to lie a drying that the wind and piercing aire should not hurt them The joists and plankes made of Firre and Larch are very strong to beare a great weight although they bee laid in length ouerthwart Contrariwise the Rafters made of the wild Oke Robur and Oliue wood wil bend yeeld vnder their load whereas the other named before do resist mainly withstand neither will they easily break vnlesse they haue much wrong nay sooner do they rot than faile otherwise in strength The Date-tree wood also is tough and strong for it yeeldeth not but curbeth the contrarie way The Poplar setteth and bendeth downeward whereas the Date-tree contrariwise rises vpward archwise The Pine and the Cypres are not subject either to rottennesse or worme-eating The Walnut tree wood soone bendeth and is saddle-backt as it lieth for thereof also they often vse to make beames and rafters but before that it breaketh it will giue wââ¦ing by a cracke which saued many a mans life in the Island Antandros at what time as being within the common baines they were skared with the crack that the floore gaue and ran forth speedily before all fell Pines Pitch trees and Allar are very good for to make pumps and conduit-pipes to conuey water and for this purpose their wood is boared hollow lying buried vnder the ground they will continue many a yeare sound and good let them bee vncouered without any mould and lie aboue ground they will quickly decay But if water also stand aboue the wood a wonder it is to see how they will harden therewith and endure Firre or Deale wood is of all other surest and strongest for roufes aboue head the same also is passing good for dore leaues for bolts and barres also in all seelings and wainscot or whatsoeuer it bee whether Greekish Campaine or Sicilian it is best and maketh very faire worke A man shall see the fine shauings thereof run alwaies round and winding like the tendrills of a vine as the Ioyner runneth ouer the painels and quarters with his plainer Moreouer the timber of it is commendable for coaches and chariots and there is not a wood that makes a better and stronger joynt with glew than it doth insomuch as the sound plank will sooner cleaue in any other place than in the joynt where it was glewed CHAP. XLIII ¶ Of glewing timber of rent clouen and sawen painell GReat cunning there is in making strong glew and in the feat of joyning with it as well in regard of seelings and wainscot made of thin bourd and painell as of marquetry other inlaid workes and for this purpose Ioyners doe chuse the mistresse threadie grain that is most streight which some call the Fertill veine because ordinarily it breedeth others
he is that hee beareth downe before him the roofe of many a house and carrieth it cleane away CHAP. III. ¶ The societie of the skie and aire with the earth respectiue to trees SOme men do force the skie for to be obedient conformable to the earth as namely when planting in dry grounds they haue regard to the East and North and contariwise when in moist places they respect the South Moreouer it falleth out that they be driuen otherwhiles to follow the nature of the very Vines and thereby to be ruled wherupon in cold ground they plant such as be of the hastie kind and soone ripen their grapes to the end that they may come to their maturity and perfection before cold weather comes As for such Vines and trees bearing fruit as canot abide dews those they set in to the East that the Sun may soon dispatch and consume the said dew but looke what trees do loue dewes and like well therewith those they will be sure to plant against the West or at leastwise toward the North to the end they may inioy the full benefit thereof All others againe grounding in manner vpon natural reason only haue giuen counsell to set as well Vines as Trees into the Northeast And Democritus verily is of this mind that such fruits will bee more pleasant and odoriferous CHAP. IIII. ¶ The quality of sundrie regions AS touching the proper seat of the Northeast wind and of all other winds we haue spoken already in the second booke and our purpose is in the next following to treat of the rising and falling of signes and notable stars of other Astronomical points also concerning heauen Now in the mean time for this present it is sufficient that in the former rule of the North wind we seem to rest and resolue vpon the apparent and euident argument of the wholesome and healthfull climate of the heauen forasmuch as we see that euermore all such trees as stand into the South soonest shed their leaues the same reason also is to be giuen of those that grow vpon the sea coasts and albeit in some places the winds blowing from thence and the very aire of the sea be hurtfull yet in most parts the same are good and profitable Certaine plants and trees there are which take pleasure to be remot from the sea and ioy to haue the sight of it only a farre off set them neerer to the vapors and exhalations ascending from thence they will take harm and mislike therewith The like is to be said of great riuers lakes and standing pooles As for those which we haue spoken of they either burn their fruit with such mists or refresh and coole such as be hot with their shade yea take joy and prosper in the frost and cold And therfore to conclude this point the surest way is to beleeue trust vpon experience thus much for this present concerning the heauen our next discourse will be of the Earth and Soile the consideration whereof is no lesse difficult to be handled than the other First and formost all grounds are not alike good for trees and most kinds of corne For neither the black mould such as Campain standeth vpon much as in all places best for Vines or that which ââ¦umeth and sendeth vp small and thin mists neither is the red veine of earth any better how soeuer there be many that commend it The white earth or chalkie marle the clay also within the territory of Alba and Pompeij for a vineyard are generally preferred before all other countries although they be exceeding fat which in that case is otherwise vsually reiected On the other side the white sand about * Ticinum likewise the blacke mould or grit in many places as also the red sandy ground although it be wel mingled tempred with fat earth are all of them nothing to the purpose for increase fruitfulnesse And herein must men take heed because oftentimes their judgement may faile when it goeth but by the eie for wee must not streight waies conclude that the ground is rich battle wheron we see goodly faire tall trees to grow vnlesse it be for those trees only for where shal we meet with any higher than the Fir is there a tree again that possibly can liue where it doth No more is rank grasse plentifull forrage a true token alwaies of a good ground for there is no better pasture nor grasing to be found than in Almaine and yet dig but vp the greene sourd and the thinnest coat of turfe that may be ye shal presently come to barren sand vnder it ne yet is it by by a moist ground that hath vpon it deepe grasse and hearbes shooting vp in height no more verily than a fat and rich soile is knowne by sticking to one fingers as appeareth plainly in all sorts of clay And verily no earth doth fill vp the trenches euen againe out of which it was cast that therby a man might find out whether the ground be sad or hollow and generally all sorts thereof will cause yron to rust that shal be put into it Moreouer there is no weighing of earth in ballance to know by that means which is lighter or heauier for who could possibly euer set down the iust weight that earth should haue Againe the ground that is cast vp into banks by the ouerflow of great riuers is not alwaies commendable seeing that some plants there be that decay if they be set in water And say that some such bank were ground good enough yet it continueth not so long vnlesse it be for Willowes and oisiers onely But if you would know a rich ground indeed one of the best arguments and signes therof is this when you see it to bring forth a thick strong haulme or straw such as vsually groweth in that noble territorie Laborine within Campaine which is of that bignesse that the people of the country vse it for fewell in stead of wood Now this ground so good as it is where whensoeuer we haue found it is hard enough to be tilled and requireth great labour and husbandry putting the poore husbandman to more paines in manner with that goodnesse of it than possibly he could haue with any defects and imperfections thereof For euen the hot earth called by the name of Carbunculus which vseth to burn the corne sown therupon may be helped remedied as it is thought by setting it with plants of poore hungry vines The rough grauell stone which naturally will crumble as grit many writers there bee that allow and commend for vines As for Virgil he findeth no fault with the ground that beareth fern and brake for a Vineyard The earth that is brackish and standeth much vpon salt pââ¦tre is thought to be more found for many plants than others and in regard of vermine that vse to breed therein much safer also Neither do high banks and hils remaine vntilled and naked for want of
thirsty Now doth this ground shine againe after the plough-share resembling that veine of earth which Homer the very fountaine and spring of all good wits reported to haue bin engrauen by a god in the armour of Achilles adding moreouer that the said earth looked black withall wherein hee obserued a wonderfull piece of workemanship notwithstanding it was wrought in gold This is that ground I say which beeing new broken and turned vp with the plough the shrewd and busie birds seeke after and goe vnder the plough-share for it this is it that the very Rauens follow the plough man hard at heeles for yea and are readie for greedinesse to pecke and job vnder his very feet And here in this place I cannot chuse but relate the opinion that is currant among our roiotous and delicate gallants which some other thing also making for our purpose in the discourse of this argument which wee haue in hand Certes Cicero a man reputed as he was no lesse indeed for a second light of all good learning and literature Better are esteemed quoth hee the sweet compositions and ointments which tast of earth than of saffron where note by the way that this great Clearke chose to vse the word of tast rather than of smell in such odoriferous perfumes and mixtures Well to speake at a word surely that ground is best of all other which hath an aromaticall smell and tast with it Now if we list moreouer to be better instructed what kind of sauour and odour that should be which we would so gladly find in the earth we may oftentimes meet with that sent euen when she is not stirred with the plough but lieth stil and quiet namely a little before the sun-setting especially where a rainbow seemeth to settle pitch her tips in the Horizon also when after some long and continuall drought it beginneth to rain for then being wet and drenched therwith the earth will send vp a vapor and exhalation conceiued from the Sun so heauenly and diuine as no perfume how pleasant soeuer it be is comparable vnto it This smell there must be in it when you ere it vp with the plough which if a man find once he may be assured it is a right good ground for this rule neuer faileth so as to say a truth it is the very smel and nothing els that will iudge best of the earth and such commonly are new broken grounds where old woods were lately stocked vp for all men by a generall consent do commend such for excellent Moreouer the same ground for bearing is held to be far better whensoeuer it hath rested between and either lien ley or fallow whereas for vineyards it is clean contrary and therefore the more care and diligence is to be emploied in chusing such ground least wee approoue and verifie their opinion who say That the soile of all Italie is alreadie out of heart and weary with bearing fruit This is certaine that both there and elsewhere the constitution of the aire and weather both giueth and taketh away the opportunitie of good husbandrie that a man cannot otherwhiles do what he would for some kind of grounds there is so fat and ready to resolue into mire and dirt that it is impossible to plough them and make good worke after a shower of raine Contrariwise in Byzacium a territory of Africke it is far otherwise for there is not a better and more fruitfull piece of ground lieth without dore than it is yeelding ordinarily 150 fold let the season be dry the strongest teeme of oxen that is cannot plough it fall there once a good ground shower one poore asse with the help of a silly old woman drawing the plough-share at another side will be able to go round away with it as I my selfe haue seen many a time and often And whereas some great husbands there be that teach vs to inrich and mend one ground with another to wit by spreading fat earth vpon a lean and hungry soile likewise by casting drie light and thirstie mould vpon that which is moist and ouer-fat it is a meere follie and wastfull expence both of time and trauaile for what fruit can he euer looke to reape from such a mingle mangle of ground CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the earth which Britaine and France loue so well THe Britaines and Frenchmen haue deuised another meanes to manure their ground by a kind of lime-stone or clay which they call Marga i. Marle And verily they haue a great opinion of the same that it mightily inricheth it maketh it more plentiful This marle is a certaine fat of the ground much like vnto the glandulous kernels growing in the bodies of beasts and it is thickned in manner of marrow or the kernell of fat about it CHAP. VII ¶ The discourse of these matters continued according to the Greekes THe Greekes also haue not ouerpassed this in silence for what is it that they haue not medled withall The white clay or earth wherewith they vse to marle their grounds in the territorie of Megara those onely I meane which are moist and cold they call Leucargillae These marles all the kind of them do greatly inrich France and Britaine both and therefore it would not be amisse to speak of them more exactly In old time there were two sorts therof and no more but of late daies as mens wits are inuentiue euery day of one thing or other they haue begun to find out more kindes and to vse the same for there are now diuers marles the white the red the Columbine the clay soile the stony and the sandy and all these are but two in nature to wit either hard and churlish or else gentle and fat The triall of both is knowne by the handling and a twofold vse they yeeld either to beare corne onely or els for grasse and pasture also The stonie or grauelly soile is good only for to nourish corne which if it be white withall and the pit thereof found among springs or fountains it wil cause the ground to be infinite fruitfull but it is rough in handling and if it be laid too thick vpon the lands or leyes it wil burn the very ground The next to it is the red marle called also Capnumargos which hath intermingled in it a certaine small stony grit full of sand This stony marle the manner is to break and bruise vpon the very lands and for the first yeares hardly can the straw be mowne or cut downe for the said stones Lighter is this marle than the rest by the one halfe and therefore the cariage thereof into the field is least chargeable It ought to be spred and laid thin some thinke that it standeth somewhat vpon salt But both the one and the other will serue well for fifty yeares and the ground inriched thereby will during that time yeeld plenty as well of corne as grasse CHAP. VIII ¶ Sundry sorts of Earth and Marle OF those marles which are
onely those that being cut downe doe spring new again from the root Of seed also although the same be farre vnlike to others those also will grow that are vsually planted otherwise as for example Vines Apple trees and Pyrries for in these the stone and pepin within serueth in stead of the seed and not the fruit it selfe as in those before rehearsed the kernels whereof i. the fruit are sowne Medlars likewise may come vp of seed But all the sort of these that spring after this maner be late ere they be come forward and slow in growth they turn also to a degenerat and bastard nature and had need to be graffed anew ere they be restored to their owne kind which is the case of Chestnuts also otherwhiles Howbeit there be others for them againe which sow or set them what way you will neuer grow out of their owne kind and such be Cypresses Date trees and Lawrels for the Lawrell commeth vp by sowing by setting and planting after sundry sorts The diuers kinds whereof we haue described already Of all which the Lawrell Augusta with the broad leaues the common Bay tree also that beareth berries as also the wild kind named Tinus be ordered all three after one and the same sort The manner whereof is this the Bayes or berries thereof be gathered dry in the moneth of Ianuary when the Northeast wind bloweth they are laid abroad thin to wither one apart from another not in heaps for feare they should catch a heat This done some put them afterwards in dung and being thus prepared and ready for to be sowne they steep them in wine Others take and lay them within a large basket or twiggen panier trample them vnder their feet in a brook of running water vntill they be pilled and rid of their outward skins for otherwise their skin is of so tough and moist a substance that it would hardly or not at all suffer them to come vp grow After all this in a plot of ground wel and throughly digged once or twice ouer a trench or furrow must be made a hand full deepe and therein the berries ought to be buried by heaps to wit twenty or thereabout together in one place and all this would be done in the month of March. Lawrels also will grow if their branches or boughes be bended from the stocke and laid within the ground but the Triumphall Lawrell will come vp no other way but by setting a graffe or impe cut from it As for the Myrtle all the sorts thereof within Campaine come of berries sown but we at Rome vse to interre only the boughes of the Tarentine Myrtle growing still to the body and by that means come to haue Myrtle trees Democritus sheweth another deuise also to increase Myrtles namely to take the fairest and biggest berries thereof lightly to bruise or bray them in a mortar so that the grains or kernels within be not broken then to besmere with the batter or stamped substance thereof a course cord made of Spart or Spanish broome or els hempen hurds and so lay it along within the ground Thus there wil spring therof a maruellous thick hay or wall as it were of yong Myrtles out of which the small twigs you may draw which way you will yea and plant them elswhere After the like manner folke vse to sow thorns or brambles for to make hedges mounds namely by annointing such another hempen rope with bramble blacke-berries and interring the same As for Bayes thus sowne when they come once to beare a dark and blackish leafe Myrtles also when their leaues be of a wine color to wit of a deep red which commonly happeneth when they be three yeres old it wil be time to remoue and transplant Among those plants and trees that are sowne of seeds Mago maketh much ado and is foully troubled about those trees that beare nuts such like fruit in shels for to begin with almonds first he would haue them to be set in a soft clay ground that lieth into the South yet he saith again that Almond trees loue a hot and hard soile for in a fat or moist ground they will either die or els wax vnfruitful But aboue all he giueth a rule to chuse Almonds for to set or sow that be mo stââ¦oked and especially such as were gathered from a young tree also he ordaineth that they should be well soked or infused in soft beast sherne or thin dung for three daies together or at leastwise in honied water a day before they be put into the ground Item they ought by his saying to be set charilâ⦠with the sharp and pointed end pitched downward and the edge of the one side to turne into the Northeast Also that they must stand three and three together in a triangle forsooth so as there be a handbredth iust between euery one Moreouer that euerie tenth day they ought to be watered till they be shot vp to a good bignesse Now to come vnto walnuts they be laid along within the earth with this regard that they do ly vpon their ioints As for pine nuts there would be six or seuen of their kernels put together into pots that haue holes in them and so buried in the ground or else they should be ordered after the manner of the Bay tree which commeth of berries bruised as hath been shewed before The Citron tree will grow of seed and may be set also of sprigges or twiggs drawne to the ground from the tree and so couched Servis trees come of the grains thereof sowed of a quick-set plant also with the root or of a slip plucked from it But as the Citron trees liue in hot grounds so these Servises loue cold and moist As concerning seminaries and nourse-gardens Nature hath shewed vs the reason and maner thereof by certaine trees that put forth at the root a thick spring of yong shoots or sions but lightly the mother that beareth these imps killeth them when she hath done with her shade and dropping together And this is euident to be seene in Lawrels Pomegranate trees Planes Cherry trees and Plum trees for standing as these imps doe a number of them without all order vnder their mother stocke they be ouershadowed and kept downe so that they mislike and neuer come to proofe Howbeit some few there be of this sort that are not so vnkinde to their yong breed as to kill them with the shadow of their boughs and namely Elmes Date trees This would be obserued by the way that no trees haue such yong imps springing at their feet but they only-whose roots for loue of the warm sun and moist rain spred aloft and ly eb within the ground Moreouer the manner is not to set these yong plants presently in the place where they must remaine and continue for altogether but first they are to be bestowed in a piece of ground where they may take nourishment to wit in some
nurse-garden for the nones vntil they are grown to a good stature and then they are to be remoued a second time to their due place And a wonder it is to see how this transplanting doth mitigate euen the sauage nature of the wildest trees that are whether it be that trees as well as men are desirous of nouelties and loue to be trauelling for change or that as they go from a place they leaue behind them their malicious qualitie and being vsed to the land become tame and gentle like the wild beasts especially when such yong plants are plucked and taken vp with the quicke root Wee haue learned of Nature also another kinde of planting like to this for we see that not only water shoots springing out of the root but other sprigs slipped from the stocke liue and doe full well but in the practise of this feat they ought to be pulled away with a colts foot of their owne so as they take a quicke parcell also of their mothers bodie with them in manner of a fringe or border hanging thereto After this manner they vse to set Pomegranate Filberd Hazell Apple and Servise trees Medlars also Ashes and Figge trees but Vines especially marie a quince ordered and planted in that sort will degenerate and grow to a bastard kinde From hence came the inuention to set into the ground yong sprigs or twigs cut off from the tree This was at first practised with foot-sets for a prick-hedge namely by pitching down into the earth Elder Quince-cuttings brambles but afterwards men began to do the like by those trees that are more set by and nourished for other purposes as namely Poplars Alders and the Willow which of all others may be pricked into the ground with any end of the cutting or sprig downward it makes no matter whether for the smaller end will take as wel as the bigger Now al the sort of these are bestowed and ranged in order at the first hand euen as a man would haue them and where he list to see them grow neither need they any remouing or transplantation at all But before we proceed any further to other sorts of planting trees it were good to declare the manner how to order seminaries seed-plots or nource-gardens For to make a good pepinnier or nource-garden there would be chosen a principal and special peece of ground for oftentimes it falleth out yea and meet it is that the nource which giueth sucke should be more tender ouer the infant than the owne naturall mother that bare it In the first place therefore let it be sound and drie ground how be it furnished with a good and succulent elemental moisture and the same broken vp and afterwel digged ouer and ouer with mattock and spade and brought to temper and order so as it be nothing coy but readie to receiue al manner of plants that shall come and to entertain them as welcome guests withall as like as may be to that ground vnto which they must be remoued at last But before al things this would be looked to that it be rid clean of all stones surely fenced also and paled about for to keep out cockes and hens and all pullen it must not be full of chinkes and cranies for feare that the heat of the sunne enter in and burne vp the small filaments or strings and beard of the new roots and last of all these pepins or kernels ought to stand a foot and a halfe asunder for in case they meet together and touch one another besides other faults inconueniences they will be subiect to wormes and therefore I say there would be some distance between that the ground about them may be often harrowed and raked to kill the vermin and the weeds pluckt vp by the heeles that do breed them Moreouer it would not be forgotten to proin these yong plants when they are but new come vp to cut away I say the superfluous springs vnderneath and vse them betimes to the hooke Cato giueth counsel to sticke forks about their beds a mans height and lay hurdles ouer them so as the Sun may be let in vnderneath and those hurdles to couer and thatch ouer with straw or holme for to keepe out the cold in winter Thus are yong plants of Peare trees and Apple trees nourished thus Pine nut trees thus Cypresses which do likewise come vp of ââ¦eed are cherished As for the grains or seeds of the Cypres tree they be exceeding small and so small indeed that some of them can scarce be discerned well by the eye Wherein the admirable worke of Nature would be considered to wit that of so little seeds should grow so great and mightie trees considering how far bigger are the cornes of Wheat and Barley to make no reckoning nor speech of Beans in comparison of them What should we say to Peare trees and Apple trees what proportion or likenesse is there between them and the pretty little pepins whereof they take their beginning Maruell we not that of so slender and small things at the first they should grow so hard as to checke and turne again the very edge of ax and hatchet that frames and stocks of presses should be made thereof so strong and tough as will not shrinke vnder the heauiest poise and weights that be that Mast-poles comming thereof should be able to beare saile in wind and weather and finally that they should afford those huge and mightie Rams and such like engins of batterie sufficient to command towers and bastils yea and beat downe strong walls of stone before them Lo what the force of Nature is see how powerfull shee is in her works But it passeth and exceedeth all the rest that the very gum and liquour distilling out of a tree should bring forth new plants of the same kind as we will more at large declare in time and place conuenient To returne then againe to the female Cypres for the male as hath bin said already bringeth forth no fruit after that the little balls or pills which be the fruit thereof be gathered they are laid in the Sun to dry during those moneths which we haue before shewed and being thus dried they will breake and cleaue in sunder Now when they are thus opened they yeeld forth a seed which Pismires are very greedy of Where another wonder of Nature offereth it selfe vnto vs That so small a creature as it should eat and consume the seed which giueth life and being to so great and tall trees as the Cypres Well when the said seed is gotten and the plot of ground ââ¦aid euen and smooth with cilinders or rollers it must be sowne of a good thicknesse in the moneth of Aprill and fresh mould sifted and strewed ouer with riddles an inch thicke and no more for if this grain be buried ouer-deep and surcharged it is not able to break through against the weight of the earth but in stead of rising vp the new chit turneth and bendeth
blossome and fruit This is a generall thing obserued That al trees will thriue and prosper better yea and grow sooner to perfection if the shoots and suckers that put out at the root as also other water twigs be rid away so that al the nourishment may be turned to the principall stocke only The work of Nature in sending out these sprigs taught vs the feat to couch and lay sets in the ground by way of propagation and euen after the same manner briers and brambles doe of themselues put forth a new off-spring for growing as they do smal and slender and withal running vp to be very tall they cannot chuse but bend and lean to the ground where they lay their heads againe and take fresh root of their owne accord without mans hands and no doubt ouergrow they would and couer the whole face of the earth were they not repressed and withstood by good husbandrie The consideration whereof maketh me to enter into this conceit That men were made by Nature for no other end but to tend and look vnto the earth See yet what a commodious deuice we haue learned by so wicked and detestable a thing as this bramble is namely to lay slips in the ground and quick-sets with the root Of the same nature is the Yuie also euen to grow and get new root as it creepeth and climbeth And by Catoes saying not onely the Vine but Fig trees Oliues also wil grow increase of cuttings couched in the ground likewise Pomegranate trees all kinds of Apple-trees Baies Plum-trees Myrtles Filberds Hazels of Praeneste yea Plane-trees Now be there two waies to increase trees by way of propagation or enterring their twigs The first is to force a branch of a tree as it grows downe to the ground so to couch it within a trench foure foot square euery way after two yeares to cut it atow where it bent from the tree and after three yeares end to transplant it But if a man list to haue such plants or young trees to beare longer the best way were to burie the said branches at the first within would either in paniers or earthen vessels that when they are once rooted they might be remoued all whole and entire in them and so replanted The second is a more curious and wanton deuise than this namely to procure roots to grow on the very tree by carrying and conveighing branches either through earthen pots or oisier baskets full of earth thrust close to the said branches and by this means the branches feeling comfort of the warme earth enclosing them on euery side are easily intreated to take root euen among Apples and other fruits in the head of the tree for surely by this meanes we desire to haue roots to chuse growing vpon the very top So audacious are men and of such monstrous spirits to make one tree grow vpon another far from the ground beneath Thus in like manner as before at 2 yeares end the said impes or branches that haue taken root be cut off and carried away in the foresaid pots or paniers thither where they shall grow As for the Sauine an hearb or plant it is that wil take if it bee in this sort couched in the ground also a sprig if it be slipped off cleane from the stocke will come again and root Folke say that if a man take wine lees or an old bricke out of the wal broken small and either pour the one or lay the other about the root it wil prosper and come forward wonderfully In like manner may Rosemarie be set as the Sauine either by couching it or slipping off a branch from it for neither of them both hath any seed To conclude the hearb or shrub Oleander may be set of any impe and so grow or else come of seed CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of encreasing trees by seed the manner of graffing one in another how the fine deuise of inoculation by way of scutcheon and emplaister was deuised NAture not willing to conceal any thing from man hath also taught him to engraffe trees with their seed and graine For oftentimes it happeneth that birds being hungrie haue greedily gobled vp seed and fruit whole and sound which after they haue moistened in their gorge and tempered it also with the warmth and natural heat of their stomack they send forth and squirt out again when they meute together with their dung that giueth vnto it a vertue of fecunditie and so lay it vpon the soft beds of tree leaues which many a time the winds catch and driue into some clifts and cranies of the barke by meanes whereof wee haue seene a Cherrie tree vpon a Willow a Plane tree vpon a Lawrell a Lawrell vpon a Cherrie trre and at one time Berries and fruits of diuerse sorts and sundry colors hanging at one and the same tree It is said moreouer that the Chough or Daw hath giuen occasion herof by laying vp for store seeds and other fruit in creuises and holes of trees which afterwards sprouted and grew From hence came the manner of inoculation or graffing in the scutcheon namely to cut out a parcel of the barke of that tree which is to be graffed with a sharp knife made in manner of a shomakers nall blade and then to enclose within the said concauity the eie or seed taken out of another tree with the said instrument And in old time verily this was the only maner of inoculation vsed in fig-trees and apple trees Virgil teaches vs to open a concauity in the knot or joint of a bud that driueth out the barke and within it to enclose the gem or bud taken out of another tree And thus much for the graffing that Nature hath shewed But there is another way of graffing which casualtie and chance hath taught And to say a truth this Maister hath shewed well neer more experiments now daily practised than Nature her selfe Now the manner of it came by this occasion A certain diligent painfull husbandman minding to mound and empale his cottage round about with a fence of an hedge to the end that the stakes should nor rot laid a sill vnder them of Iuie wood but such was the vitall force of the said Iuie that it took hold fast of the stakes and clasped them hard insomuch as by the life therof they also came to liue and euident it was to the eye that the log of Iuie vnderneath was as good as the earth to giue life and nourishment vnto the stakes afore-said To come then vnto our graffing which we haue learned by this occasion first the head or vpper part of the stock must be sawed off very euen and then pared smooth with a sharp gardenhook or cutting-knife which don there offers vnto vs a two-fold way to perform the rest of the worke The first is to set the graffe or Sion between the barke and the wood for in old time truly men were afraid at first to cleaue the stocke but
said graffe remain bound vntill such time as it haue put forth shoots two foot long and then the foresaid bands to be cut in sunder that they may burnish in thicknes and at ease accordingly The season which they haue allowed for to graffe vines is from the Equinoctial in Autumne vnto the time that they begin to bud forth Generally all trees that are tame and gentle may wel be graffed into stocks and roots of the wild which by nature are dryer contrariwise grasse the wild and sauage kind vpon the other you shal haue all degenerate and become wild Touching other points belonging to the seat of graffing all dependeth vpon the goodnesse or malignitie of the sky and weather In sum a dry season is good for all trees graffed in this maner and say that the drought were excessiue there is a good remedie for it namely to take certain earthen pots of ashes and to let water distill through them softly by little and little to the root of the stock As for inoculation it loueth small dewes otherwhiles to refresh both stock scutcheon and Oilet CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Emplastration or graffing with the Scutcheon THe manner of graffing by way of emplaistre or scutcheon may seeme also to haue come from inoculation and this deuise agreeth best with those trees that haue thick barks as namely Fig trees To goe therefore artificially to worke the mother stocke or tree to be graffed must be well rid and clensed from the branches all about the place where you mean to practise this feat because they should not suck the sap from thence and chuse the nearest and frimmest part which seems most fresh and liuely then cut forth a scutcheon of the barke but be careful that your instrument pierce no farther than the bark nor enter into the quick wood which done take from another tree the like scutcheon of the bark sauing the eye or bud thereon and set it in the place of the other but so equall this must be to the place and so close ioyned and vnited to it that a man may see no token at all or apparance in the ioynt of any wound or skar made to the end that presently they may concorporat that no humor of the sap may issue forth nor so much as any wind get between and yet to make sure work the better way is to lute it well and close with clay and then to bind it fast This deuice of graffing thus with the scutcheon was but lately found out by their saying that fauor all new and modern inuentions howbeit I find that the antient Greeks haue written thereof yea and Cato also our own Countryman who ordained to graffe both Oliue and Fig tree in that order and as he was a man verie diligent and curious in all things that he tooke in hand he hath set downe the iust measure and proportion of the scutcheon for he would haue the barks both the one and the other to be cut out with a chisell foure fingers long and three in bredth and so to close vp all in manner aforesaid that they might grow together and then to be dawbed ouer with that mortar of his making aforesaid after which maner Apple trees also may be graffed Some there be who haue intermingled and comprehended vnder this kinde of graffing with the scutcheon that deuise of making in the side a cleft and namely in vines for they take forth a little square piece with the bark and then set in an impe very hard close on that side where it is plain and euen to the very marow or pith Certes neere to Thuliae in the Tyburtines country I haue seen a tree graffed all these waies abouesaid and the same laden with all manner of fruits one bough bearing Nuts another berries here hung Grapes there Figs in one part you should see Peares in another Pomegranats and to conclude no kind of Apple or other fruit but there it was to be found mary this tree liued not long Howbeit let vs vse what diligence we can yet neuer shal we able with all our experiments to attain vnto the depth of Natures secrets For some Trees there be that come vp of themselues and by no art and industry of man wil be made to grow such also loue ordinarily to be in wild forests and in rough desarts where they prosper well wheras the Plane tree wil beare all manner of graffing best of any other and next vnto it the wild and hard Oke but both the one and the other corrupt and mar the tast of what fruit soeuer is graffed thereupon Some trees there be that refuse not to be ingraffed vpon any stock and what way soeuer they be graffed it skils not as fig trees and Pomgranat trees As for the Vine it will not beare the scutcheon neither any Tree besides that hath a thin barke or which doth pill and rift no nor such as be dry or haue small store of sap within them can away with inoculation Howbeit this maner of graffing is most fruitfull of all other and next vnto it that which is done by way of scutcheon or emplastre yet trees so graffed be of all others most tender and feeble as also such as rest and stay vpon the bark only are with the least wind that is soonest displanted and laid along on the ground The surest and strongest way therefore is to graffe imps vpon the head of a stocke yea and more plentifull by far than to sow them of seed or plant them otherwise CHAP. XVII ¶ An historie shewing the example and proofe hereof IN this discourse and question concerning grafts I cannot passe ouer the rare obseruation of one example practised by Corellius a Knight of Rome borne at Ateste This Gentleman of Rome in a ferme that he had within the territorie of Naples chanced to graffe a Chestnut with an imp cut from the same tree This graft tooke and bare faire Chestnuts and pleasant to the tast which of him took their name After the decease of this gentleman his heire who had bin somtime his bondslaue and by him infranchised graffed the foresaid Corellian Chestnut tree a second time and certainly between them both was this difference The former Corellian bare the more plenty but the nuts of the other twice graffed were the better As for other sorts of graffing or planting mans wit hath deuised by obseruing that which hath fallen out by chance thus are we taught to set broken boughs into the ground when we saw how stakes pitched into the earth tooke root Many trees are planted after that maner and especially the Fig tree which will grow any way saue only of a little cutting but best of all if a man take a good big branch thereof sharpen it at the end in manner of a stake and so thrust it deepe into the ground leauing a small head aboue the ground and the same couered ouer with sand The Pomegranate likewise and the Myrtles are set
of branches but the hole first ought to be made easie and large with a strong stake or crow of iron In sum all these boughs ought to be 3 foot long smaller in compasse than a mans arme sharpned at the one end and with the barke saued whole and sound with great care As for the Myrtle tree it wil come also of a cutting the Mulberry will not otherwise grow for to couch and plant them with their branches we are forbidden for feare of the lightnings And forasmuch as we are fallen into the mention of such cuttings I must now shew the manner of planting them also aboue all things therefore regard would be had that they be taken from such trees as be fruitfull that they be not crooked rough and rugged nor yet sorked ne yet slenderer than such as would fil a mans hand or shorter than a foot in length Item That the barke be not broken or rased that the nether end of the cut be set into the ground and namely that part alwaies which grew next the root and last of al that they be banked wel with earth about the place where they spring and bud forth vntil such time as the plant haue gotten strength CHAP. XVIII ¶ The manner of planting ordering and dââ¦essing Olive trees Also which be the conuenient times for graffing WHat rules by the iudgment of Cato are to be obserued in the dressing and husbanding of Oliues I think it best to set down here word for word as he hath deliuered them Thus he saith therefore The trunches or sets of Oliue trees which thou meanest to lay in trenches make them 3 foot long handle them gently and with great care that in cutting sharpning or squaring them the bark take no harm nor pill from the wood As for such as thou dost purpose to plant in a nourse-garden for to remoue again see they be a foot in length and in this manner set them Let the place be first digged throughly with a spade vntill it be well wrought lie light and brought into temper when thou puttest the said truncheon into the ground beare it downe with thy foot if it goe not willingly deepe enough by that means driue it lower with a little beetle or mallet but take heed withall that thou riue not the barke in so doing A better way there is To make a hole first with a stake or crow before thou set it into the ground and therein maist thou put it at ease and so will it liue also and take root the sooner when they be three yeares old haue then a carefull eye to them in any case and marke where and when the bark turneth If thou plant either in ditches or furrowes lay three plants together in the earth but so as their heads may stand a good way asunder aboue the ground also that there be no more seen of them than the bredth of foure fingers or els if thou thinke good set the buds or eyes only of the Oliue Moreouer when thou art about to take vp an oliue plant for to set again be wary and carefull that thou break not the root get as many spurres or strings called the beard as thou canst earth and all about them and when thou hast sufficiently couered those roots with mould in the replanting be sure thou tread it down close with thy foot that nothing hurt the same Now if a man demand and would gladly know what is the fittest time for planting oliues in one word I will tell him Let him chuse a dry ground in seed time i. in Autumne and a fat or battle ground in the spring furthermore begin to prune thy Oliue tree 15 daies before the Aequinox in the spring and from that time forward for the space of sorty daies thou canst not do amisse The maner of pruning or disbranching them shall be thus Looke where thou seest a place fertile if thou spy any dry or withered twigs or broken boughs that the wind hath met withall be sure thou cut them away euerie one but if the plot of ground be barren eare it vp better with the plough take pains I say to till it well to breake all clots and make it euen to clense the trees likewise of knurs and knots and to discharge them of all superfluous wood also about Autumne bate the earth from about the roots of Oliues and lay them bare but in stead thereof put good mucke thereto Howbeit if a man do very often labor the ground of an olive plot and take a deep stitch he shall now and then plough vp the smallest roots thereof so ebbe they will run within the ground which is not good for the trees for in case they spread aloft they will wax the thicker and so by that means the strength and vertue of the Oliue will turne all into the root As touching all the kinds of Olive trees how may they be also in what ground they ought to be set and wherein they will like liue best likewise what coast of the heauen they should regard we haue shewed sufficiently in our discourse and treatise of Oile Mago hath giuen order in his books of husbandry that in planting them vpon high grounds in dry places and in a vein of clay the season should be between Autumne and mid-Winter but in case you haue a fat moist or waterish soile he sets down a longer time namely from haruest to mid-winter But this rule of his you must take to be respectiue to the clymat of Africk only for in Italy at this day verily men vse to plant most in the Spring howbeit if a man hath a mind to be doing also in Autumne he may be bold to begin after the Equinox for during the space of 40 dayes together euen to the setting of the Brood-hen star there are no more but 14 days ill for planting In Barbarie the people haue this practise peculiar to themselues For to graffe in a wilde Oliue stock whereby they continue a certain perpetuity for euer as the boughs that were graffed and as I may say adopted first wax old and grow to decay a second quickly putteth forth afresh taken new from another tree and in the same old stock sneweth yong and liuely and after it a third successiuely and as many as need so as by this meanes they take order to eternise their Oliues insomuch as one Oliue plant hath bin known to haue prospered in good estate a world of yeares This wilde Oliue aforesaid may be graffed either with sions set in a cliffe or els by way of inoculation with the scutcheon aforesaid But in planting of Oliues this heed must be taken that they be not set in a hole where an Oke hath been stocked vp by the root for there be certain canker-wormes called Erucae in Latine or Raucae breeding in the root of an Oke which eat the same and no doubt will do as much by the Oliue tree Moreouer it is found by experience
euery two sets there be a foot an half one way to wit in breadth and halfe a foot another way to wit forward in length These plants being thus ordered after they haue growne to twelue moneths they should be then discharged of all their burgeons euen to the nethermost knot vnlesse haply it bee spared and let alone for some there be that cut it also after these commeth forth the matter of the oilets shew themselues and therewith at the third tweluemonth end the quick-set root and all is remoued to another place in the vineyard Besides all this there is another pretty and wanton deuise more curious ywis than needfull to plant Vines and ââ¦mely after this manner Take foure branches of foure vines growing together and bearing sundry kindes of grapes bind them wel and strongly together in that part where they are most ranke and best nourished being thus bound fast together let them passe along either through the concauitie of an Oxe shanke and maribone or els an earthen pipe or tunnell made for the nonce Thus couch them in the ground and couer them with earth so as two ioints or buds be seen without By this meanes they inioy the benefit of moisture and take root together and although they be cut from their owne stocke yet they put out leaues branches After this the pipe or bone aforesaid is broken that the root may haue libertie bo th to spread and also to gather more strength And will you see the experience of a pretty secret you shall haue this one plant thus vnited of foure to beare diuers and sundry grapes according to the bodies or stocks from whence they came Yet is there one fine cast more to plant a Vine found out but of late and this is the manner thereof take a Vine-set or cutting slit it along through the midst and scrape out the marrow or pith very cleane then set them together again wood to wood as they were before and bind them fast but take heed in any case that the buds or oilets without-forth be not hurt nor rased at all This done put the same cutting into the ground interre it I say wel within earth and dung tempered together when it begins to spread yong branches cut them off and oftentimes remember to dig about it lay the earth light certes Columella holdeth it for certain and assureth vs vpon his word That the grapes comming of such a vine wil haue no stones or kernels at all within them A strange thing and passing wonderfull that the very set it selfe should liue and that which more is grow and beare notwithstanding the pith or marrow is taken quite away Furthermore since we are entred thus far into this discourse and argument I cannot passe by but I must needs speake of such twigs and branches of trees as wil knit and grow together euen to a tree For certain it is that if you take fiue or six of the smallest sprigs of box binde them together and so prick them into the ground they will proue and grow to one entire tree Howbeit in old time men obserued that these twigs should be broken off from a Box tree which neuer had bin cut or disbranched for otherwise it was thought verily they would neuer liue but afterwards this was checked by experience and the contrary knowne Thus much as touching the order of Vine-plants and their nource-garden for store It remaineth now to speak of the manner of Vineyards and Vines themselues Where in the first place there offer vnto vs fiue sorts thereof For some traine and run along vpon the ground spreading euery way with their branches others grow vpright and beare vp themselues without any staies Some rest vpon props without any traile or frame at all others be bornvp with forkes and one single raile lying ouer in a long range and last of all there be vines that run vpon trailes and frames laid ouer crosse-wise with foure courses of railes in manner of a crosse dormant The same manner of husbandry that serues those Vines which beare vpon props without any other frame at all will agree well enough to that which standeth of it selfe without any staies For surely it groweth so for default onely and want of perches and props As for the vine that is led vpon a single range as it were in one direct line which they call Canterius it is thought better than the other for plenty of liquor for besides that it shadoweth not it selfe it hath the furtherance and help of the Sun-shine continually to ripen the grapes it hath the benefit also of the wind blowing through it by which means the dew will not long stand vpon it Moreouer it lieth more handsome to the hand for the leaues to be plucked away and for the clods to be broken vnder it in one word is readiest for all kind of good husbandry to be don about it But aboue all other commodities it hath this that it is not long in the floure but bloometh most kindly As for the frame aforesaid that is ranged in one line a length it is made of perches or poles reeds and canes cords and ropes or els lines of haire as in Spaine and about Brindis The other kind of frame with railes and spars ouerthwart beareth a vine more free for plenty of wine than the rest and called this is Compluviata vitis because it resembleth the hollow course of gutter tiles that in houses receiue all raine water and cast it off For as the crosse dormant in building shutteth off the raine by foure gutters euen so is this Vine led and caried foure waies vpon as many trailes Of this Vine and the maner of planting it we will only speak for that the same ordering will serue well enough in euery kind besides marie there be far more waies to plant this than the rest but these three especially The first and the surest is to set the Vine in a plot well and throughly delued the next to it is in the furrow the last of all in a trench or ditch As for digging a plot and planting therein ynough hath been written already CHAP. XXII ¶ Of furrowes and trenches wherein vines are planted also of pruning vines IT sufficeth that the furrow or trench wherin a vine is to be planted be a spade or shouels bit breadth but ditches would be three foot long euery way Be it furrow trench or ditch wherin a vine is to be replanted it ought to be three foot deepe and therefore no plant thereof should be remoued so little but that it might ouer and besides stand aboue ground and shew two buds at the least in sight Needful it is moreouer that the earth be well loosened and made more tender and gentle by small furrowes ranged and trenched in the bottom of the ditch yea and be tempered sufficiently with dung Now if the vineyard lie pendant vpon the hanging of the hill it requireth deeper ditches and
wrong yea to stifle and strangle them outright whereas indeed a vine as it ought to be kept down with oisier twigs so it must not bee tied ouer streight For which cause euen they also who othewise haue store plenty ynough euen to spare of willows oisiers yet chuse rather to bind vines with some more soft and gentle matter to wit with a certain hearb which the Sicilians in their language called Ampelodesmos i. Vine-bind But throughout all Greece they tie their vines with Rushes Cyperus or Gladon Reeke and sea grasse Ouer and besides the maner is otherwhiles to vntie the Vine and for certain daies together to giue it liberty for to wander loosely and to spred it selfe out of order yea and to lie at ease along the ground which all the yere besides it onely beheld from on high in which repose it seemeth to take no small contentment and refreshing for like as draught horses when they be out of their geeres and haknies vnsadled like as Oxen when they haue drawn in the yoke yea and greyhounds after they haue run in chase loue to tumble themselues and wallow vpon the earth euen so the Vine also hauing bin long tied vp and restrained liketh wel now to stretch out her ââ¦ims and loins and such easement and relaxation doth her much good Nay the tree it selfe findes some comfort and ioy therby in being discharged of that burden which it carried continually as it were vpon the shoulders and seemeth now to take breath and heart again And certes go through the whole course and worke of Nature there is nothing but by imitation of day and night desireth to haue some alternatiue ease and play dayes between And it is by experience found very hurtfull and therefore not allowed of to prune and cut Vines presently vpon the Vintage and grape-gathering whiles they be still wearie and ouertrauelled with bearing their fruit so lately ne yet to binde them thus pruned in the same place again where they were tied before for surely vines do feel the very prints and marks which the bonds made and no doubt are vexed and put to pain therewith and the worse for them The maner of the Gaules in Lumbardy in training of Vines from tree to tree is to take two boughs or branches of both sides and draw them ouer in case the stock Vines that beare them be sorty foot asunder but foure if they are but twenty foot ââ¦istant And these meet one with another in the space between and are interlaced twisted and tied together But where they are somwhat weake and feeble they be strengthened with Oisier twigs or such like rods here and there by the way vntill they beare out stiffe and look where they be so short that they wil not reach out they are with an hook stretched and brought to the next tree that standeth without a Vine coupled thereto A Vine branch drawn thus along in a traile they were wont to cut when it had growne two yeares for in such Vine stocks as by reason of age are charged with wood it is the better way to giue time leisure for to grow and fortifie the said branch that is to passe from tree to tree so as the thicknes thereof will giue leaue yea and otherwise it is good for the old main bough to feed still and thriue in pulp and carnositie if we purpose that it should remaine and carrie a length with it Yet is there one maner besides of planting and maintaining Vines of a mean or middle nature between couching or interring a branch by way of propagation and drawing them thus in a traile from one to another namely to supplant that is lay along vpon the ground the whole stock or main body of a Vine which done to cleaue it with wedges and so to couch in many furrowes or raies as many parcels thereof comming all together from one Now in case each one of these branches or armes proceeding from one body be of it selfe small weake and tender they must be strengthned with long rods like staues bound vnto them round about neither ought the small sprigs and twigs that spring out of the side be cut away The husbandmen of Novaria rest not contented with a number of these trailed branches nor with store of boughs and trees to sustaine and beare them vnlesse they be shored and supported also with posts and ouerthwart railes about which the yong tendrils may creep wind No maruell therefore if their wines be after a sort rough hard and vnpleasant for besides the baduesse of their soile the maner of their husbandry is so crooked and vntoward Our husbandmen moreouer here about vs neer vnto the city of Rome commit the like fault and find the same defect thereupon in the Varracine Vines that be pruned but once in two yeres a piece of husbandry by them practised not for any good that it doth vnto the vine but because the wine thereof is so cheap that oftner pruning would not quit cost neither doth the reuenue answer the labor and the charges In the territorie of Carseoli a champion and plain countrey about Rome the peasants take a better order and hold a middle and temperat course For their maner is to proin and cut away from the Vine those parts onely that are faulty and rotten when they begin once to drie and to wither leauing all the rest for to beare Grapes and thus discharging it of the superfluous burden that it caried they hold opinion that it is not good to wound it in diuers places for by this means say they it will be nourished and come on very well But by their leaue vnlesse the ground be passing rich and fat Vines thus ouercharged with wood will for want of pruning degenerate into the bastard wild wines called Labruscae But to returne againe vnto our plots planted with Trees and Vines coupled together such grounds when they be plowed require a good deep stitch although the corn therein sown need it not Also it is not the manner to disburgen or deffoile altogether such trees and thereby a great deale of toile and labor is saued but when the Vines are a pruning they would be disbranched at once with them where the boughs grow thickest and to make a glade onely thorow the superfluous branches would be cut away which otherwise might consume the nutriment of the grape As for the cuts and wounds remaining after such pruning and debranching we haue already forbidden that they should stand either against the North or the South And I think moreouer it were very well that they did not regard the West where the Sunne setteth for such wounds will smart and be long sore yea and hardly heale again if either extreme cold pinch or extreme heate parch them Furthermore a Vine hath not the same liberty in a vineyard that it hath vpon a tree for better means there are and easier it is to hide the said wounds from the
weather flanked as they be within those close sides than to wryth and wrest them to a mans mind to fro In lopping and shredding of trees when the cut standeth open there would be no hollow places made like cups for feare that water should stand therein Last of all if a Vine be to climbe Trees that are of any great height there would be stayes and appuies set to it wherupon it may take hold and so by little and little arise and mount vp aloft CHAP. XXIIII ¶ The maner of keeping and preseruing Grapes Also the maladies whereto Trees be subiect IT is holden for a rule That the best Vine-plants which run vpon a frame of rails ought to be pruned in mid-March about the feast of Minerua called Quinquatrus and if a man would preserue and keep their grapes it would be done in the wane of the Moone Also that such vines as be cut in the change of the Moon wil not be suââ¦iect to the iniurie and hurt of any noisom vermin Although in some other respect men are of opinion that they should be cut in the night at the full of the Moon when the signe is in Leo Scorpio Sagittarius and Taurus and generally it is thought good to set them when the Moon is at the full or at leastwise when she is croissant Moreouer this is to be noted that in Italy there need not aboue ten men for to look vnto a vineyard of an hundred acres And now that I haue discoursed at large as touching the manner of planting graffing and dressing of Trees I purpose not here to treat again of Date Trees Tretrifoly whereof I haue sufficiently written already in the Treatise of strange and forrein Trees but forasmuch as my meaning is to omit nothing I will proceed forward to decipher those matters which concerne principally the nature of Trees and namely their maladies and imperfections whereto they also as well as beasts and other liuing creatures are subiect And to say a truth what creature is there vnder heauen freed therefrom And yet some say that wild and sauage trees are in no such danger only the hail may hurt them in their budding and blooming time True it is also that scorched they may be otherwhiles with heate and bitten with cold black winds comming late and out of season for cold weather surely in due time is kindly and good for them as hath bin said before But let me not forget my self See we not many times the cold frost to kill the very Vines Yes verily but this is long of the soile and nothing else for neuer hapneth this accident but in a cold ground So as this conclusion holdeth still That in winter time we alwaies find frost and cold weather to do much good but we neuer allow of a cold and weake ground Moreouer it is neuer seen that the weakest and smallest trees are indangered by frost but they are the greatest and tallest that feele the smart And therefore no maruel if in such the tops being nipped therewith seem first to fade and wither by reason that the natiue and radical moisture being bitten and dulled before was neuer able to reach vp thither Now concerning the diseases that haunt Trees some there bee that are common vnto all others againe that extend peculiarly to some certaine kind or other As for the former sort generall it is that no trees are exempt from the worme the blasting and the joint-ach Hereof it commeth that we see them more feeble and weake in one part or member than in another as if they did participate the maladies and miseries of mankind so common are the names of diseases vnto them both For certes we vse to say indifferently That trees are headlesse when they be lopt and topt as wel as men who are beheaded we tearme their eyes to bee enflamed sendged and bloud-shotten when their buds be blasted many other infirmities according to the like proportion And therupon it is that we say they be hungerstarued and pined and contrariwise that they be full of crudites and raw vndigested humors namely when moisture aboundeth in them Yea and some of them are said to be grosse and ouerfat to wit al such as bear rosin when by the means of too much grease as it were they begin to putrifie and turn into Torch-wood yea and it falleth out that they die withall in case the said grease take once to the roots euen as liuing creatures being ouergrowne with fat Moreouer ye shall see a kind of pestilence light amongst one peculiar kind of trees like as it fareth sometimes with men in sundrie states and degrees whereby one while slaues only die of a plague another while the Commons and those either artisans in a citie or peasants and husbandmen of the countrey Now as touching the Worme some trees are more subject vnto it than others and to say a truth in manner al more or lesse and that the birds know well ynough for with their bills they will job vpon the barke and by the sound trie whether they be worm eaten or no. But what say we to our gluttons and belly gods in these daies who make reckoning among their dainty dishes of wormes breeding in trees and principally of those great fat ones bred in Okes which wormes they call Cossi are esteemed a most delicat meat These forsooth they feed in mue and franke them vp like fat-ware with good corn-meale But aboue al others Pear trees Apple trees and Fig trees are soonest worme-eaten and if any trees escape they be such as are of a bitter wood in tast and odoriferous in smell Touching those wormes that be found in Fig trees some are engendred of themselues and of the very wood others are bred of a bigger vermine called Cerastes Howbeit al of them which way soeuer they come are shaped in maner of the said Cerastes and make a certaine small noise like the shrill and creaking sound of a little criquet The Seruise tree likewise is haunted and plagued with little red and hairie wormes that in the end doe kill it The Medlar trees also when they be old are subject to this maladie As for the misliking of trees calsed Sideratio wherby they consume wither away crumble to powder it is a thing caused only of the weather and influence of some Planet And therfore in this ranke are to be raunged Haile Blasting with some vntoward winds and frosts that bite and nip them to the heart And verily it falleth out that in a mild and warme Spring when plants bee too forward and put foorth their soft buds and tender sprouts ouer-soone the black wind taketh them on a suddaine and a certaine rime settleth thereupon sendging and burning the oilets of the Burgeons whiles they be ful of a milky sap which accident if it light in blooming time vpon the blossome is called properly Carbunculus i. a Mieldeaw As for the Frost at such a time it is far
people were holden to call the Commons away from their market affaires Also the manner in those daies was to take their sleepe and repose in good straw and litter Yea and when speech was of glory and renowne men would call it by no other term but Adorea of Ador a kind of fine red wheat Where by the way I haue in great admiration the antique words of those times and it doth me good to think how significant they were For thus we read in the sacred Pontificall Commentaries of the high priests For the Augurie or solemne sacrifice called Canarium let there be certain daies appointed to wit before the corn shew eare out of the hose yea and before that it come into it But to return againe to the praise of Husbandry When the world was thus addicted and giuen to Agriculture Italy was not only well prouided and sufficiently furnished of corne without any help from out prouinces but also all kind of grain and victuals were in those daies so exceeding cheap as it is incredible for Manius Martius a Plebeian Edile of Rome was the first man that serued the people wheat at one Asse the Modius and after him Minutius Augurinus the eleuenth Tribune of the commons euen he who indited that mutinous and seditious citizen Sp. Melius brought down the price of wheat for 3 market daies to an Asse the Modius The people therefore of Rome in regard of this good deed of his erected a statue for him without the gate Trigemina and that with such affection and deuotion that euery man contributed somewhat thereto by way of beneuolence Trebius also in the time of his Aedileship caused wheat to be sold vnto the people at the same rate to wit one Asse a Modius For which cause there were 2 statues also in memorial of him set vp both in the Capitoll and also in Palatium and himselfe when he was departed this life had this honor done vnto him by the people at his exequies as to be carried on their shoulders to his funerall fire It is reported moreouer That in the very same yeare wherein the great goddesse Cybele called also the mother of the gods was brought to Rome there was a more plentifull haruest that Summer and corn was at a lower price than had bin known in ten yeares before Likewise M. Varro hath left in writing That when L. Metellus made shew of so many Elephants in his triumph at Rome a Modius of good red wheat was worth no more than one Asse also a gallon of wine cost no more And as for drie figges thirty pound weight carried no higher price and a man might haue bought a pound of Oile oliue and 12 pound of flesh at the very same reckoning And yet all this plenty and cheapnesse proceeded not from the great domaines and large possessions of those priuate persons that incroched vpon their neighbors and hemmed them within narrow compasse For by the law published by Stolo Licinius prouided it was that no Roman citizen should hold in priuat aboue fiue hundred acres The rigor of which law or statute was extended and practised vpon the Law-maker himselfe and by vertue thereof he was condemned who for to possesse aboue that proportion and to defraud the meaning of the said Act purchased more lands in the name of his Son Loe what might be the proportion and measure of possessions allowed euen then when as the State and Common-wealth of Rome was in the prime and began to flourish And as for the Oration verily of Manius Curius after such triumphs of his and when he had subdued and brought vnder the obeisance of the Roman Empire and laid to their dominion so many forrein nations what it was euery man knoweth wherin he deliuered this speech That he was not to be counted a good man but a dangerous citizen who could not content himselfe with a close of seuen acres of ground And to say a truth after that the kings were banished out of Rome and their regiment abolished this was the very proportion of land assigned to a Roman Commoner If this be so What might be the cause of so great plenty abundance aforesaid in those daies Certes this nothing els great LL and generals of the field as it should seem tilled themselues their ground with their own hands the Earth again for her part taking no small pleasure as it were to be eared and broken vp with ploughes Laureat and ploughmen Triumphant strained her selfe to yeeld increase to the vttermost Like it is also that these braue men and worthy personages were as curious in sowing a ground with corne as in ordinance of a battell in array as diligent I say in disposing and ordering of their lands as in pitching of a field and commonly euery thing that commeth vnder good hands the more neat and cleane that the vsage thereof is and the greater paines that is taken about it the better it thriueth and prospereth afterwards What shall we say more was not C. Attilius Serranus when the honorable dignity of Consulship was presented vnto him with commission to conduct the Roman army found sowing his own field and planting trees whereupon he took that syrname Serranus As for Quintius Cincinnatus a purseuant or messenger of the Senat brought vnto him the letters patents of his Dictatorship at what time as he was in proper person ploughing a piece of ground of his owne containing foure acres and no more which are now called Prata Quintiana i. Quintius his medowes lying within the Vaticane and as it is reported not onely bare-headed was hee and open breasted but also all naked and full of dust The foresaid officer or sergeant taking him in this maner Do on your cloths sir quoth he and couer your body that I may deliuer vnto you the charge that I haue from the Senate and people of Rome Where note by the way that such Pursevants and Sergeants in those daies were named Viatores for that eftsoones they were sent to fetch both Senatours and Generall captaines out of the fields where they were at worke but now see how the times be changed They that doe this businesse in the field what are they but bond-slaues fettered condemned malefactors manacled and in one word noted persons and such as are branded and marked in their visage with an hot yron Howbeit the Earth whom wee call our Mother and whom wee would seem to worship is not so deafe and sencelesse but she knoweth well enough how shee is by them depriued of that honour which was done in old time vnto her insomuch as wee may well weet that against her will shee yeeldeth fruit as shee doth howsoeuer wee would haue it thought by these glorious titles giuen vnto her that she is nothing displeased therewith namely to be labored and wrought by such vile and base hirelings But we forsooth do maruell that the labor of these contemptible bond slaues and abiect villains doth not render the
haue water at command and good cause why prouided alwaies that they lie vnder a good towne side In the third place he rangeth the Oââ¦r plots and after them Oliue rewes then he counteth of medows which our ancestors called Parata as a man would say Ready and prouided The same Cato being asked What was the most assured profit rising out of land made this answer To feed Cattell well beeing asked againe VVhat was the next Marie quââ¦th hee to feed in a meane By which answers he would seeme to conclude That the most certain and sure reuenue was that which would cost least Howbeit this is not so generall a rule but it may alter according to the diuersitie of places sundry occasions occurrent Herunto also is to be referred another speech of his That a good husbandman ought to be a seller and not a buyer as also That a man should make speed in his youth and not delay to plant and stocke his ground but not to build thereupon before it be well and throughly stored that way and euen then also he should not be forward thereto but take leisure ere he be a builder for it is the best thing in the world according to the common prouerbe To make vse and reap profit of other mens follies prouided alwaies that a mans land be not ouer-built lest the expence of keeping all in good repaire be chargeable and burdensome Now when there is a sufficient and competent house builded thereupon a good husband will vse to repaire often thereunto and take pleasure so to do and verily a true saying it is That the lords eie is far better for the land than his heele CHAP. VI. ¶ How to chuse a conuenient place for to build a manour house in the country Also certain rules obserued in antient time as touching Husbandrie and tilling ground IN building vpon a mans land this mean and moderation is commended That the house be answerable in proportion to the ground for as it is a bad sight to see a large domain and circuit of ground without a sufficient graunge or home-stal to it so it is as great a folly to ouer-build the same to make a faire house where there is not land enough lying to it Like as there were two men at one time liuing who faulted diuersly in this behalfe to wit L. Lucullus and Q. Scaeuola for the one was possessed of faire lands without competent building thereto whereas Lucullus contrariwise built a goodly house in the country with little or no liuing adjoyning to it in which regard checked he was by the Censors for sweeping more floures than he ploughed lands Now in building there would be art and cunning shewed for euen of late daies C. Marius who had bin seuen times Consull of Rome was the last man that built an house within the territory of the cape Misenum and he seated it so as if he had pitched fortified a camp right skilfully in such sort that when Sylla syrnamed Foelix i. Happy saw his manner of building he gaue out and said That all the rest in comparison of him were blind beetles and knew neither how to build nor to encamp Well then a house in the country would be set neither neere vnto a fenny and dormant water ne yet ouer-against the course and stream of a running riuer and yet what saith Homer besides to this purpose The aire and mists quoth he and that right truly arising from a great riuer betimes in a morning before day-light cannot chuse but be euer cold and vnholesome How then mary if the country or climat be hot an house must stand into the North but in case the quarter be cold it ought to affront the South if the tract be temperate between both it should lie open vpon the East point where the Sun riseth at the Aequinoxes As touching the goodnesse of the soile and namely what signes and marks there be of it although I may seem to haue sufficiently spoken already in the discourse which I had of the best kind of ground yet I am content to subscribe to other tokens thereof deliuered by other men and especially by Cato in these words following When you see quoth hee growing vpon any land store of Walwort Skeg trees Brambles the little wild Bulbous Crow-toes called otherwise our Ladies Cowslips Clauer-grasse or Trifoââ¦le Melilote Oke wilde Pyrries and Crab-trees know yee that these doe shew a ground good for Wheat and such like white-corne So doth also the blacke mould and that of ashes colour testifie no lesse Where there is store of chalke or plaister the ground is not so fit for corne for all kinde of chalke doth heat ouermuch vnlesse the same be very leane The like doth sand also if it be not passing fine and small And the effects abouesaid are much more seen in the plaines and champaine vallies than vpon the hills and mountaines Our ancestours in old time thought it a principall point of Husbandry not to haue ouermuch ground about one graunge for they supposed more profit grew by sowing lesse and tilling it better of which mind I perceiue Virgil was And to say a truth confesse we must needs That these large enclosures and great domains held by priuat persons haue long since bin the ruine of Italie and of late daies haue vndone the prouinces also thereto belonging Six Land-lords there were and no more that possessed the one moitie of all Africke at what time as the Emperour Nero defeated and put them to death Where by the way I may not defraud Cn. Pompeius of the due glory answerable to that greatnesse of his who neuer in all his life would purchase any ground that butted or bordered vpon his owne land Mago thought it no reason but a very vngentle and vnkind part for the buying of land to sell a mansion house and in his conceit it preiudiced much the weale-publick And verily this was the principall point that he recommended in the entrance of his treatise and rules set downe for Husbandry so as a man might perceiue very euidently that hee required continuall residence vpon the land Next to these principles aboue named great regard would be had in chusing of good skilful bayliffs of the husbandry concerning whom Cato hath giuen many rules For mine own part it shal suffice to say thus much only that the lord ought to loue his bayliffe very well set him next to his heart but himself should not let him know so much Moreouer I hold it the worst thing that is to set slaues condemned persons in their gyues chains about tilling and husbanding of a ferm neither do I like of any thing don by such forlorne and hopelesse persons for lightly nothing thriues vnder their hand I would put down one saying more of our antient forefathers but that haply it may seeme a fond rash speech yea and altogether incredible that is this Nothing is lesse profitable expedient
sayd saw so rife in euerie mans mouth that the only thing to make ground most fertile and fruitfull is the Masters eie As for all other rules and precepts of Agriculture respectiue to this or that peculiar point of husbandry I will deliuer them in their proper places accordingly And in the meane time I wil not omit such as be more generall as they shal come into my mind and remembrance First and formost there offereth it selfe to me one aboue the rest wherof Cato is the Author and which of all others I hold to be most profitable and sounding to ciuilitie to wit that in all our doings we aime at this To haue the loue and good will of our neighbors and that for many and sufficient reasons by him alledged which I suppose no man will make any doubt of Imprimis hee giueth a good caueat That our seruitors and people about vs be not shrewd but well ordered and that none of our family be ill disposed to offer any wrong Item All good husbands agree in this that nothing would be done too late and when the time is ouerhipt And againe That euery worke should haue the due and conuenient season to the same effect there is a third admonition namely That when the opportunity is once past in vain we seek to recall and recouer it As touching a rotten and putrified ground we haue at large shewed already how much Cato doth abhor and curse it And yet he ceaseth not to forewarne vs of it and besides to giue vs these rules following What work soeuer may be performed by a poore Asse is thought to cost little or nothing and to be done very cheape Ferne or Brake will die at the root in two yeares if you wil not suffer it to branch and grow aboue ground and this shall you hinder most effectually in case you knap off the head of the first spring with a wand or walking staffe for the liquid juice dropping downe from them doth kill the root It is commonly said also that if they be pulled vp about the summer Sun-stead they will not come againe but die as also if they be topt or their heads whipt off with a reed or if they be eared vp with the plough so as there be a reed fastned to the share Semblably for to kill reeds they giue order to plough them vp with some Fern likewise laid vpon the share A rushie ground must be broken vp and turned ouer ouer with the broad spade but if it be stony it would be digged with a mattock or two tined fork Rough grounds and giuen to beare shrubs if a man would stork the best way is to burne them vp by the roots If the place lie low and be ouermoist the onely meanes to make it sound and drie is to draine away the water by trenching In case a ground doe stand vpon chalke or plaister the ditches or trenches therin should be left wide open but if the soile be more loose not so fast they must be strengthned and kept vp with quick-set hedges for feare of salling or else they ought to be made in such sort as both the sides thereof be well bedded and couched bearing out a belly aslope and not digged plum downe-right Some would be closed vp aboue and made very strait and narrow for to run directly into others that are more wide and large also if occasion doe so require the bottome of their channell would be paued with pebble or laied with good grauell As for the mouth and end therof to wit for entrance and issue they ought both of them to be fortified and vnderset with two stones at either side and a third laied crosse ouer them Last of all if a ground run to wood and be ouergrowne therewith Democritus hath taught vs the means how to kill the same in this manner Take Lupine floures let them be steeped one whole day in the juice of Hemlock and therewith besprinckle and drench the roots of the shrubs that ouerrun the place and they will die CHAP. VII ¶ Sundry sorts of corne and their seuerall natures NOw that we haue thus shewed the way how to prepare a field for to beare corne it remaimaineth to declare the nature of corne And to speake generally of all graine there are two principall kinds thereof to wit first Fourment containing vnder it wheat and Barley and such like secondly Pulse comprising Beans Pease Chiches c. The difference obserued both in the one sort and the other is so euident and plaine that needlesse it is for me to vse any words thereof And as for the former kind called Fourment it is diuided also into sundry sorts according to the seuerall seasons wherein they be sowne First there is the Winter corn which ââ¦eing sowed about the setting of the star Virgilia i. in Nouember lieth all winter long in the ground and there is nourished as for example Wheat Rie and barley Secondly Summer corne which is put into the earth in Summer about the rising of the foresaid star Virgilia i. The Brood-hen to wit in May namely Millet Panick Horminum and Irio two kinds or grain But note that I speak here of the manner vsed in Italy For otherwise in Greece and Asia they sow all indifferently at the retrait or occultation of Virgiliae and to come again to our Italy some grain there is which is sown there both in Winter and Summer as also you shall haue other corne sowed in a third season to wit in the Spring Some there be who take for Spring-corn Millet Panick Lentils ââ¦ich Pease and the grain wherof Fourmenty is made But Wheat Barley Beans Navews Turneps and Rapes they hold for Sementina i. to be sowed at the proper and timely season of seeds ãâã in Autumne In that kind of corne which comprehendeth Wheat there is to be reckoned that grain which serueth for prouender and forrage and is sown for beasts namely that which they call dredge or ballimong Likewise in the other kind to wit of Pulse the Vetches be comprised but that which is good indifferently both for man and beast is the Lupine All sorts of Pulse called in Latine Legumina vnlesse it be the Bean haue but one root apiece and such be as hard as wood and full of shoots and those diuided into forked branches and the roots of the cich Pease run deepest into the ground But all other corne vnder the name of Frumentâ⦠haue many small fillets or strings appendant to the roots otherwise branch not as for Barly ãâã chitteth and begins to shew within 7 daies after it is first sowne All sorts of Pulse appeare aboue ground by the fourth day or the fift at the vtmost And yet Beans ordinarily do lie in the ground 15 or 20 daies Howsoeuer in Aegypt all Pulse commeth vp by the third day In Barlââ¦y one end of the seed runneth to root downward and the other into blade and that bloometh first Now
if you would know which end serueth for the one and the other certaine it is that the bigger and thicker part of the grain yeeldeth root and the smaller the greene blade In all other seeds there is no such diuersitie for from one and the same end breaketh our both root and greene blade All kind of corn carying spike or eare called Frumenta shew nothing but the green blade during winter howbeit no sooner commeth the spring but they begin to grow vp into straw and to spindle vpward pointwise I meane all that be of the winter kind But Millet and Panick run vp into an hollow stem full of knots and ioynts and Sesama by it self into a kex or hollow stem in maner of fenell and such like The fruit or seed of all graine that is sowne or set is contained within eares as we see in bearded wheat and barley and the same is defended as it were with a palisaide of eales disposed square in foure rankes or is inclosed within long cods and husks as the Pulse kind or els lieth in little cups as Sesame and Poppie Millet and Panick only put forth their fruit grape-wise and openly without any partitions and defences so as their seed is exposed to the little birds of the aire for no otherwise are they defended than within small skins and thin huls And as for Panick it taketh the name of certain panicles or chats hanging from the top thereof whereby the head bendeth and leaneth downward as if it were weake and wearie of the burden The stem or stalk thereof groweth smaller and smaller and pointed vpward insomuch as by little and little it runneth vp in maner of a little sprig or sion and there you shall see a number of seeds or grains clustered together thicke insomuch as they are somtimes bunched with an head a good foot long As touching the Millet the head thereof bearing seed round about is bent likewise and curbed beset also with fringes as it were of hairy fillets But to return to Panick againe there be sundry sorts thereof for some of it is found with a tuft or bunch from which depend certain small clustered chats or panicles the same also hath two knaps or heads and this is called Mammosum as one would say the Panick with bigs or dugs Moreouer you shall haue Panick seed of sundry colours white blacke and red yea and purple Of Mill or Millet there be diuers sorts of bread made in many places but of panick it is not so common howbeit there is no grain more ponderous and weighty than it or which in the seething or baking swelleth and riseth more for out of one Modius or pecke thereof there is ordinarily made 60 pound of dough for bread Moreouer take but 3 sextares or quarts of it being steeped and it will yeeld a measure called Modius of thicke gruel or batter called in Latine Puls It is not fully ten yeres since there was a kind of Millet brought out of India into Italy and the same was of colour black the seed or grain in quantitie big and faire and for stem like vnto a reed It riseth vp in height seuen foot the stalks are mighty and great some call them Lobae or Phobae Of all sorts of corne it is most fruitfull and yeeldeth greatest increase for of one grain a man shal haue 3 sextars or quarts again But it loueth yea ãâã to be sown in a moist soile Moreouer some kinds of spiked corn begin to spindle and gather eare at the third ioynt others at the fourth but there it lieth as yet hidden and inclosed Now as touching these ãâã wheat beareth vsually foure beere Barly six and the common sprit Barly eight which is wel ãâã be considered for no corn vseth to spier before it be fully knotted or iointed in maner abouesaid And so soon as the said spier sheweth some hope of an eare within 4 or fiue daies after at the most they begin to bloum and in as many dayes space or little more they will haue done and shed their floures And yet I must needs say that all sorts of barley are a seuen-night at the vtmost in so doing Varro saith that in foure times 9 daies this kind of corn commeth to perfection but it ought to stay nine moneths before it be ripe for to be reaped and mowne downe As for Beanes after they be set or cast into the ground first they put forth leafe and afterward stalk that shooteth vp euen without any partition of ioynts or knots between All other pulse besides the Bean haue a more sollid and wooddy substance in the straw Of which the Chich pease the Ervile and Lentils doe spred forth in branches And some of them runne so low that they creep along the ground vnlesse they be born vp and supported with some props as for example Pease which help if they misse they proue the worse for it Of all manner of Pulse the Bean alone and Lupine beare but one single stalke apiece the rest doe branch into very small sprigs or tendrils Howbeit none of them but their stalke or straw is fistulous and hollow in maner of reeds Some pulse put out leaues presently from the root others again from the top or head only wheat and Barly both the one and the other and what corn soeuer standeth vpon a stalk beareth one leafe in the head or top thereof But the leaues of Barly are rough wheras in other corn they be smooth Contrariwise Beanes Chiches and Pease haue many leaues In spiked corn the leafe resembleth that which groweth to reeds in beans they be round and so likewise in the most kinds of puls how beit in pease and Ervile we see they be somwhat longer The leaues of Fasels or Kidney beanes are ribbed and full of veines of Sesama and Irio they be red and resemble bloud The Lupines only and the Poppies do shed their leaues All pulse is long in the bloom and namely Ervile and the Cich pease but Beans continue longest euen for the space of 40 daies together howbeit euery single stalk beareth not bloom so long but thus it is as one hath done and giuen ouer another beginneth afresh Neither bloumeth the whole field at once as spiked corn doth Also all kinds of Pulse doe cod at sundrie times and not vpon the same day beginning first at the bottome and so likewise the floure riseth vp higher by little and little All corne growing in spike or eare so soone as it hath done blooming waxeth big and strong and commeth to maturitie within forty daies at the farthest so doth Beanes also but the Cich pease receiueth her full perfection in very few daies for from the time that it was first sowed it groweth to be ripe in forty daies Millet Panick Sesame and all Summer corn haue their full ripenesse forty daies after their blooming But herein there is great diuersitie according to the clyme and the soile in which respects
remuneration were giuen of Far which they called Adorea as hath beene said before Moreouer that the Romans for a long time liued of a kinde of batter or gruell made of meale sod and not of bread is very euident by old records and Chronicles for euen at this day such thick gruels or pottage be called Pulmentaria in Latine And Ennius a most antient poet when he would expresse the famin of a city that had endured long siege reporteth that the parents took by force from their chiââ¦dren their sops notwithstanding they cried pitteously for very hunger Moreouer euen in our time wherein we liue the sacred and ceremonious feasts by vs obserued in memorial of our birth daies and natiuitie standeth much vpon furmenty gruel fritters and pan-cakes It seemeth also that our gruels and such like pottage were as much vnknown to Greeks as their Polenta or dried groats were strange to vs here in Italy There is no corn more hungry and greedy of nourishment than Seed wheat or that draweth more vertue and fat out of the earth for nutrimentâ⦠ãâã ââ¦ouching the winter grain called in Latine Siligo I may be bold to say it is the daintâ⦠ãâã ââ¦st delicate wheat that is for whitenesse mildnesse and lightnesse It agreeth wel with ãâã ââ¦untries such as Italy is and that part of Gaul called Comata i. Lumbardy Beyond tââ¦ââ¦s also in Sauoy only and the territorie of the Meninians it will endure and hold the owâ⦠ãâã well Mary in other parts of that countrey within two yeares it turneth into the common ãâã The only remedy therefore is to chuse forth the heauiest and weightiest cornes and them ãâã sow CHAP. IX ¶ Of Pastry of Grinding and of Meale THe best manchet bread for to serue the table is made of the winter white Wheat Siligo and the most excellent works of pastrie likewise are wrought thereof And yet in Italie it passeth all the rest in case that of Campain bee blended with another sort which doth grow about Pisâ⦠for the Wheat of Campaine is redder but this of Pisae whiter and more weighty it is if it come from a chalky ground or haue chalk mingled among Moreouer this is the ordinary proportion that of the very pure corn of Campain wheat which they cal guelded i. wel husked and clensed a measure named Modius should yeeld four Sextars or quarts of fine meale but of the vulgar and common grain which is not so guelded 5 sextars and half a Modius besides of bolted floure and for a courser houshold bred which they call the second bread 4 sextars of meale and as many of brans Also of the Pisane wheat one Modius should yeeld fiue sextares of good meale and the rest equall to the former As for the Clusine and Aretine wheat in euery Modius it answereth again six sextars of meale that is to say one more than the rest otherwise they be all alike Now if you list to range and boult it for cork flower to make bread ye shall haue of manchet 16 pound of course houshold bread three and halfe a Modius of brans But this proportion doth not alwaies hold for it altreth according to the good or bad grinding vpon the mill for that which is ground dry rendereth againe more meale but if it be wet or be sprinckled with salt water it maketh the fairer meale and fuller of fine flower and then shall ye haue more go away in brans As for the word Farina in Latine i. meale it is deriued of Far which in old time was the best finest red wheat as may appeare by the very name that it carieth Finally a Modius of meale comming of the French Siligo called Blancheen or Ble-blanch maketh in bread 22 pound weight but of our Italian 3 or 4 pound more in bread pan-baked for what corn soeuer it be there must be allowance of two pound vantage ouer and aboue for ouen-baked bread CHAP. X. ¶ Of the meale called Similago of the white flower Siligo Of other sorts of Meale and of the maner of baking THe best meale of that kind which they call in Latine Similago is made of the common wheat If the corne come out of Africk it yeeldeth ordinarily for euery Modius half so much in ordinarie meale and fiue sextars besides of flower called Pollen for that is the Latine tearme which they vse in the finest of the common wheat Triticum proportionable to that which in the other winter wheat Siligo they call Flos. And great vse herof there is in copper-smiths forges and in work-houses where paper is made Ouer and besides of courser grodgeons for brown bread foure sextars and as much of brans Moreouer the ordinarie proportion goeth thus that of one Modius of the fine meale Similago there should be made 122 loues of bread that a Modius of the pure flower of Siligo should yeeld 117. As touching the price thus it goeth commonly in the market one yere with another when corn is at a reasonable and indifferent rate A Modius of down-right meale is worth 40 Asses but if the meale be sifted and ranged from the grosse brans vntill it be Similago it will cost eight Asses more and if it be boulted yet finer to the nature of the fine flower Siligo the ouer-deale in the price wil be double Another distinction or difference there was known of this proportion when a Modius comming of wheat of Similago was seen to answer 17 pound in bread and as much of Wheat flower called Pollen thirtie pound and foure ounces besides for second houshold bread two pound and a halfe and of the coursest or brownest as many and six Sextars ouer and aboue of brans But to return to our winter white wheat called Siligo it neuer ripens kindly all together as other corn doth and for that it is so tender and ticklish as that no corn wil lesse abide delay and tarry on worse great heed must be taken thereof for so soone as any is ripe presently the seed sheds and falls out of the eare Howbeit lesse danger is it subiect vnto whiles it standeth in the field than other kindes of wheat for it beareth alwaies an vpright spike or eare neither wil it hold and retain that mildew which blasteth corn so much and turneth it into black pouder As for that kind of corn which they call Arinca it maketh the sweetest bread the grain it selfe is more fast ful than the fine red wheat Far it carieth a bigger eare and is besides more ponderous and weighty Seldom is it seen that a Modius of this grain maketh full 16 pound In Greece they haue much ado with it to thresh it cleane and falter it from the huls and eiles For which cause Homer saith that they were wont to giue it as prouender to horses and such labouring garrons and the very same it is which he calleth Olyra Howbeit this corn in Aegypt goeth out easily vnder the flaile is
be made of Zea than of Wheat and called it is Granum or Granatum although in Alica that be counted a fault To conclude they that wil not vse chalk do blanch and make their Frumentie white by seething milke with it and mingling all together CHAP. XII ¶ Of Pulse IT followeth now to write of the nature of Pulse among which Beanes do challenge the first ranke and principall place for thereof men haue assaied to make bread The meale of Beans is called in Latine Lomentum There is not a Pulse weigheth more than it and Beane meale makes euery thing heauier wherin it is Now adaies they vse to sel it for prouender to feed horses And indeed Beanes are dressed and vsed many waies not only to serue all kind of four-footed beasts but also for man especially For in most countries it is mingled with Frumentiâ⦠corn and namely with Pannicke most of all whole and entire as it is but the more delicat and daintie way is to break and bruise it first Moreouer by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice called Fabraria the maner was to offer vnto certain gods and goddesses Beane cakes This was taken for a strong food being eaten with a thick grewel or pottage howbeit men thought that it dulled a mans sences and vnderstanding yea and caused troublesome dreames in the night In regard of which inconueniences Pythagoras expressely forbad to eat Beanes but as some haue thought and taught it was because folke imagined that the soules of such as were departed had residence therein which is the reason also that they be ordinarily vsed and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead Varro also affirmeth That the great Priest or Sacrificer called the Flamine abstains from Beanes both in those respects aforesaid as also for that there are to be seen in the floure thereof certain letters or characters that shewheauines and signs of death Further there was obserued in old time a religious ceremonie in Beanes for when they had sown their grounds their maner was of all other corne to bring back with them out of the fieldes some Beanes for good luck sake presaging thereby that their corne would returne home again vnto them and these Beanes thereupon were called in Latine Refriuae or Referiuae Likewise in all port-sales it was thought that if Beanes were entermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would be luckie and gainefull to the seller This is cerataine that of all the fruits of the earth this only will be full and sound when the Moone is croisant notwithstanding it were gnawne and halfe eaten with some thing before Set them ouer the fire in a pan with sea water or any other that is saltish they will neuerbe thoroughly sodden They are set or sowne before the retrait of the Starre Vergiliae i. the Brood-hen the first of al other Pulse because they might take root betimes and preuent the Winter And yet Virgill would haue them to be put into the ground in the Spring like as the manner is in Piemont and Lombardie all about the riuer Po. But the greater part of good Husbandmen are of this opinion That the stalke or straw of Beanes sowne early or set betimes are better than the very fruit it selfe which hath had but three months being in the ground For the cods and stalks only of Beans are passing good fodder and forage for cattell Beanes when they are blouming and in their floure desire most of al to be refreshed with good store of rain but after they haue don flouring they care for little the sowing of this Pulse in any ground is as good as a mucking vnto it for it enriches it mightily And therefore towards Macedonie and about Thessalie the manner is when Beanes begin to blossom for to turne them into the ground with the plough Beans come vp and grow in most places of their owne accord without sowing and namely in certaine Islands lying within the Northern ocean which our countrymen therupon haue named Fabariae Semblably they grow wild commonly thoroughout Mauritania but exceeding hard and tough they be and such as possibly canot be sodden tender There are likewise in Aegypt to be found Beanes with a stalk beset full of prickles or thornes which is the cause that Crocodiles wil not come neer them for feare of hurting their eyes The stemme of these Beanes is foure cubites in height but exceeding thicke and big withall tender it is notwithstanding and soft running vp euen and smooth without any knots or joints at al it caries a head in the top like Chesboule or Poppy of a rose red color wherin are contained not aboue 30 Beanes at the most The leaues be large the fruit it selfe or the Bean is bitter in tast and the smel not pleasant howbeit the root is a most dainty meat which the inhabitants do eat as wel raw as sodden and like it is to reed cane roots These grow in Syria and Cylicia as also about the lake Torone within Chalcis As touching other Pulse Lentils be sown in Nouember and so are Pease but in Greece only Lentils loue a light ground better than a fat heauie they like also drie and faire weather Two kinds thereof be found in Aegypt the one more round and blacke than the other the rest be fashioned as common Lentils According to the manifold vse and diuers effects of Lentils there haue sundrie names and denominations beene borrowed from them for I find in writers that the eating of Lentils maketh men to be mild and patient whereupon they be called Lenti and Lenes As for Pease it ought to be sowed in warm places lying well vpon the Sunne for of all things it cannot abide the cold Which is the cause that in Italie and in other countries where the clime is tough and hard they are not sowne vsually but in the Spring and folke chuse a gentle light and loose ground To come now to the Ciââ¦h pease the nature of it is to be nitrous and saltish and therefore it burneth the ground where it grows Neither must it be sowne vnlesse it were well steeped and soked in water the day before many sorts there be of these cich-pease different in bignes form colour and tast for there are both blacke and white and those in fashion shaped like to a Rams head and therupon they are so called There is a second kind named Columbinum or by others Venerium These are white round light lesse than the former Rams-head ciches which men do eat ceremoniously with great religion when they meane to watch thoroughly all night long There is a little cich pease also called Cicercula made cornered and otherwise vneuen like vnto a Pease But the best ciches and most pleasant are those that come neerest in resemblance to the Eruile and generally the red kind and the black are more firm and fast than the white cich pease grow within round cods whereas other Pulse
winds hurt all spiked corne as well Wheat as Barly at three seueral times to wit in their floure presently vpon their blooming and last of all when they begin to ripen for then namely when they are vpon the point of maturitie those blasts consume the grain and bring it to nothing which before was full whereas at the two former seasons they hinder it altogether from knitting and growing The hot gleames moreouer of the Sun betweene often clouding do much harme to corne Furthermore there be certaine little wormes breeding in the root that do eat it which happeneth by occasion of much raine falling immediatly after the seednesse especially when some sudden heat and drowth ensueth therupon which bindeth the earth aboue and so encloseth the moisture conceiued within the very cause nourice of putrifaction Ye shall haue other such like vermin engender likewise in the very grain of the corn namely when the ear doth glow within and is chafed with sultry hot rains Ouer and besides there be certain green flies like small Beetles called Cantharides which do gnaw and eat the corne But al these and such like worms or flies die presently when the corn which was their food is gone Moreouer Oile Pitch and Tarre all manner of greace also be contrarie to seed-corne especially and therefore take heed that you sow none such as hath caught oile pitch or grease As for showers of raine good they are for corne so long only as it is in the green blade when corne is blooming be it either wheat or barley or such like raine is hurtfull Mary Pulse takes no harme thereby vnlesse it be the Cich-pease All kinds of wheat and other bread corne when they be toward ripenesse catch hurt by showers but Barley more than any Besides all this there is a certaine white hearbe or weed resembling Panicke growing among corne and ouerspreading whole fields which not onely hindereth corne but also killeth all the cattell that feedeth thereupon For as touching ray or darnel burs thistles and brambles I may hold and reckon them not so much for faults and imperfections of corn as rather the plagues and infections proceeding from the very earth And for blasting which commeth of some distemperature of the aire a mischiefe common as well to corn as vines it is as hurtful as any other malady whatsoeuer This vnhappie blast falleth most often in places subject to mists and dewes and namely hollow vallies and low grounds lying vnder the winde for contrariwise windie quarters and such as are mounted high are not subiect to this inconuenience Also we may number among the faults incident to corne their rankenesse namely when the blade is so ouergrowne and the stalke so charged and loden with a heauie head that the corn standeth not vpright but is lodged lieth along Moreouer when there fals a great glut of rain insomuch as the ground stands with water there befalleth vnto all corn and pulse yea and whatsoeuer is sowne a certaine disease called in Latine Vrica insomuch as the very Cich-pease taketh hurt therby for by reason that the rain washed from them that salt quality which was naturall thereunto it becommeth sweeter than it should be and loseth the kind tast There is a weed that claspeth and tieth about Ciches and Eruiles wherby it choketh and killeth them both and thereupon it is called Orobanctum i. Choke Eruile After the same maner dealeth Ray or Darnel by wheat wild Otes likewise named by some Aegilops with barly as also the weed Securidaca i. Ax-fitch which the Greeks also for the resemblance that it hath to an axe head call Pelicinon with Lentils These weeds I say kill corne by winding about it Another herb there is growing neere to the city Philippi which killeth Beans if the ground be fat and good they name the said weed Ateramnon but if it be found in a hungry and leane soile and namely when being wet some vnhappy wind bloweth vpon it they call it Teramnon As for the graine of Raie or Darnell it is very small and lieth inclosed with a sharpe-pointed husk The bread which hath any of this seed in it soone causeth dizinesse and swimming of the head And by report in Asia and Greece the masters of the common Bains and Stuphes when they would keep away the great resort of multitude thither haue a deuise to cast Darnell seeds vpon burning coles for this perfume will quickly set them farther off Moreouer if the Winter proue to be wet and waterish ye shall haue in the Pulse called Eruile a little vermin ingendred there called Phalangion and it is of the kind of these spiders Likewise vpon Vetches there wil breed naked dew-snails yea otherwhile those little ones with shels or houses on their backs which creeping from the ground wil gnaw eat them that it is a wonder to see what foul work they will make Thus much concerning all the maladies and inconueniences to speak of incident to corne It remaineth now to treat of the remedies As touching the cure of those harms that come by hurtful weeds to the corn in blade it consisteth principally in two things namely either in the vse of the weeding knife or hooke when they be newly come vp or els in strewing ashes when the corn is a sowing But as for those dangers that touch the seed or grain in the eare and cod as also that settle about the root they must be preuented by good forecast euen before it be thrown into the ground It is generaly thought that if seed-corn lie steeped beforehand in Wine it will be better able afterwards to resist all diseases whatsoeuer Virgil giueth order to infuse or soke the Beanes that must be sown in nitre and oile lees or dregs and he assureth vs that they will prosper mightily besides and become exceeding great But others are of opinion that if for 3 daies before they be cast into the earth they lie in vrine shere water mingled together they wil being thus prepared come on apace and thriue passing well It is said moreouer That if Beans be thrice raked and rid from weedes one Modius of them being whole and solid wil yeeld a Modius again after it is husked broken As for other seed-corn it wil escape the danger of the worme if either it lie before among Cypresse leaues bruised or be sowed in and about the change of the Moon namely when she is not to be seen aboue the earth in our hemisphaere Many there be who practise other remedies namely for the Millet they would haue a toad to be caried round about the field before that it be harrowed which done to be put close within an earthen pot and so buried in the middest of the said field and by this meanes for sooth neither Sparrows will lie vpon the corn nor any worm hurt it Mary in any case this same toad must be digged out of the ground againe before the field be
both lighter and also more massie and richer ground for our ordinary wheat In a low and wet piece of ground it is good to sow the red wheat Adoreum rather than the common wheat Triticum but both it and barley will sort well with a soile of a middle temperature The hills yeeld a firm fast and strong kind of wheat but the grain is but smal And to conclude the best kinds of wheat to wit Far and Siligo challenge for their lot to bee seated in a chalky soile and therwith alwaies wet and soked in water CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of strange prodigies and wonders obserued in corne the knowledge and skill of earing and tilling the ground also diuers sorts of plough-shares ALbeit I haue in the title of this chapter purposed to write of prodigies seen in corne yet to my knowledge there neuer happened but once the like wonder and portenteous sight to this which I shall tell and which befell in the time that P. Aelius and Cn. Cornelius were Consuls of Rome that very yeare wherein Annibal with his whole armie was defeated and vanquished for then by report there was corne grew vpon trees But forasmuch as I haue discoursed at large of the sundry kinds as well of corn as of ground I will proceed now forward and come to the manner of ploughing the earth after I haue first set downe before all things els how easie the husbandrie is in Egypt for there the riuer Nilus seruing in stead of a good plough man beginneth to swel and ouerflow as we haue before rehearsed at the first new Moone after the Summer Sunstead Hee beginneth faire and softly and so increaseth more and more by little and little but all the while that the Sun passeth vnder the signe Leo he higheth apace vntill he be risen to his ful heigth being entered once into Virgo his fury slaketh then decreaseth he as fast vntill hee be fallen againe into his wonted channell which ordinarily happeneth by the time that the Sun is in Libra Now this is obserued That if he rise not plumb aboue 12 cubits high the people are sure to haue a famine of corn that yere the like also do they make account of in case he passe the gage of sixteen cubits for the higher that he is risen the longer it is again ere he be fully fallen by which time the Seednesse is past and men cannot sow the ground in due season It hath bin generally receiued for a truth That presently vpon the departure of this deluge and ouerflowing of Nilus they were woont to cast their seed-corne vpon the floten ground and presently let in their swine after for to trample it with their feet into the earth whiles it was soft and drenched And verily for mine owne part I beleeue wel they vsed so to do in old time for euen now adaies also much more ado they make not about it Howbeit this is certaine that first they cast their seed vpon the slime and mud so soone as the riuer is downe which commonly falleth out in the very beginning of Nouember which done they go ouer it with the plough and giue it a light tilth so as it may be couered only and lie vnder a small furrow Some few there be that afterwards fall aweeding which point of husbandry they call Botanismos but the most part after they haue once sowed and turned their seed into the ground neuer after make a step into field to see how their corne groweth vntil they go once for all with syth on neck or sickle in hand namely at the end of March for then they fall to reaping and cutting it downe so as by the moneth of May they sing in Egypt Haruest in and all is done for that yeare As touching this corne gathered in Base Egypt the straw is neuer a cubit long the reason is because the seed lieth very ebbe and hath no other nutriment than from the mud and slime aforesaid for vnder it is nothing but sand and grauell But those that inhabit higher vp into the countrey namely about Thebais they be far better prouided for corne because Egypt indeed for the most part lyeth low vpon marais ground Toward Babylon likewise and Seleucia where the riuers Euphrates and Tigris doe swell ouer their banks and water the country the same husbandry is practised but to better effect and greater profit by reason that the people may let in the water at sluces and floud-gates more or lesse with their owne hands according as they list themselues Also in Syria they haue their small ploughs for the nones to take a shallow stitch and make light worke whereas in many places here with vs in Italy eight oxen are little enough to euery plough and to go away withall they must laborat it till they blow and pant again It is an old said Saw and may goe for an Oracle to be practised in all parts of husbandry but in this point of ploughing especially Bee ruled by the nature of euery countrey and see what each ground will abide To come now vnto our ploughes Of Shares there be many sorts first there is that instrument called a culter which serueth to make way before cutting and cleauing the hard and thick ground as it goeth before it be broken vp and turned atoneside this sheweth by the slits and incisions that it maketh as it were by a true line drawn how the furrows shal go after which commeth the broad bit of the ploughshare indeed lying flat-wise and in earing casteth vp all before it and cleareth the furrow A second sort there is commonly vsed in many places and it is no more but a bar of yron pointed sharpe in manner of a beak-head or stem of a ship and it may be called a Rostle And when the ground is not stubborn but gentle to be wrought there is a third kind vsed which is nothing but a piece of yron not reaching all ouer the plough head and shooing it to the full but turning vp like a snout with a small point sharp at the end This neb is somewhat broader in a fourth kinde of shares but as it is broader in blade and trenchant withall so it is sharper also at the end insomuch that both with the point forward the edges of the sides it not only pierces the ground before it poinctant like a sword but also cutteth the roots of weeds which it incountreth a deuise inuented not long since in Rhoetia As for the Gaules they set too besides certain smal roundles or wheels a plough thus shod harnaised they call in their language Planarati the head of their share is broad fashioned like vnto the bit of a spade and thus they sow their grounds for the most part new broken vp and not tilled nor eared before And for that their plough-shares be large and broad so much the easier turn they vp good turfs of earth and make broad furrows Presently after the plough they
night are sufficient to refresh and nourish the corne Virgil is of opinion That fallowes would be made euery yeare and that our corn field should rest betweene whiles and beare but each other yere And surely I doe find this rule of his most true and doubtlesse right profitable in case a man haue land enough for to let his grounds play them and rest euery second yere But how if a man is streighted that way and hath no such reach and circuit lying to his liuing Let him help himselfe this way let him I say sow his good red wheat Far against the next yere vpon that ground from whence he gathered this yeare a crop of Lupines Vetches or Beans or some such grain as doth inrich and muck the ground For this also is principally to be noted that some corne is sowne for no other purpose but by the way as it were to aduance and help others to fructifie howbeit small fruit and increase to speak of ariseth thereby as I haue obserued once for all in the booke immediatly going before because I would not willingly reiterate and inculcate one thing often For herein regard especially ought to be had vnto the nature and property of euery soile CHAP. XXII ¶ Of certaine countries exceeding fertile and fruitfull Of a vine bearing grapes twise in one yeare Of the difference and diuersitie obserued in waters THere is in Africke or Barbary a city called Tacape scituate in the midst of the sands as men go to the Syrts and Leptis the great the territory lying about which city by reason that it is so well watered is maruellous fruitfull and indeed passeth a wonder and is incredible Within this tract there is a fountain which serueth abundantly for three miles well neer euery way the head therof verily is large enough otherwise howbeit the inhabitants about it are serued with water from thence by turns and dispensed it is among them at certain set hours and not otherwise There standeth there a mighty great date-tree hauing vnder it growing an oliue vnder which there is a fig-tree and that ouerspreadeth a Pomegranat tree vnder the shade whereof there is a Vine and vnder the compasse thereof first they sow Frument or eared corne after that Pulse and then worts and herbs for the pot all in one and the same yere Euery one of these rehearsed liue joy and thriue vnder the shade of others Euery foure cubits square of this soile taking the measure of a cubit from the elbow not to the fingers ends stretched out in length but clasped together into the fist is sold for 4 deniers Roman but this one surpasseth all the rest The vines in the said territory beare twice a yeare and yeeld their grapes ripe for a double Vintage So exceeding fruitfull is the soile that vnlesse the ranknesse thereof were abated and taken downe by bearing sundry fruits one vnder and after another so that it were imploied to one thing alone the inhabitants should neuer haue any good thereof for by reason of the ouer-ranknesse each seuerall fruit would perish and come to nought but now by meanes of plying and following it still with seed a man shall gather one fruit or other ripe all the yeare long And for certaine it is knowne that men cannot ouercharge the ground no nor feed the fertilitie of it sufficiently Moreouer all kinds of water are not of like nature nor of equall goodnesse for to drench and refresh the ground In the prouince of Narbon now Languedoc there is a famous wel or fountain named Orge within the very head wherof there grow certaine herbes so much desired and sought for by kine and oxen that to seeke and get a mouthfull of them they will thrust in their whole heads ouer their eares vntill they meet therewith but howsoeuer these herbs seeme to spring grow within the water certain it is that nourished they are not but by rain from aboue And therefore to conclude knit vp all in one word Let euery man be wel acquainted with the nature both of his own land which he hath and also of the water wherewith he is serued CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of the diuers qualities of the soile Also the manner of dunging or manuring grounds IF you meet with a ground of your owne which we called heretofore by the name of Tenera the floure indeed and principall of all others after you haue taken off a crop of Barley you may very wel sow Millet thereupon and when that is inned and laid vp in the barne proceed to Raddish Last of all after they be drawne there may be barly or common wheat sowed in the place like as they do in Campaine for surely such a piece of ground needs no other tillage but often sowing Another order there is besides this in sowing of such soile namely that where there grew the red wheat Adoreum or Far there the ground should rest all the four winter moneths and in the Spring be sowed again with Beans so that it alwaies be imploied and kept occupied vntill Winter without any intermission And say that the ground be not altogether so fat yet it may be ordered so that it be euer bearing by turns in this sort that after the Frumenty or Spike corne be taken off there be pulse sowne three times one after another But in case the ground be ouer poore and lean it must be suffered to rest and take repose two yeares in three Moreouer many husbandmen do hold that it is not good to sow white corne or Frument vpon any land but such as lay fallow and rested the yeare before Howeuer it be the principall thing in this part of Agriculture consisteth in dunging wherof I haue written already in the former book next to this This one point only is resolued vpon by all men that none of our grounds ought to be sowed vnlesse they be manured and mucked before And yet herein must we be directed by certain rules peculiar and proper thereunto as follow Millet Panick Rapes Turneps or Navews ought neuer to be sowed but in a ground that is dunged If there be no compost laid vpon a ground sow vpon it Frument or bread-corne rather than Barley Likewise in grounds that rest and lie fallow euery other yere albeit in all mens opinion they are thought good for to beare Beans yet notwithstanding beans loue better wheresoeuer they come to be sowed in a ground but newly mucked He that mindeth to sow at the fal of the leafe must in the month of September before spread his dung turn it in with the plough and so incorporat it with the soile presently after a shower of rain euen so also if a man purpose to sow in the spring let him in the winter time dispose of his mucke vpon the lands and spread it The ordinary proportion is to lay 18 tumbrels or loads therof vpon euery acre Throwne abroad it must be also before it be dried and ere you sow or els
steep it in sea water for that is best or els in fresh for want of the other After this watering it must be dried in the Sun and then steeped in water a second time but if a man haue vrgent occasion to vse it presently out of hand he must put it in a great tub or bathing vessel let it soke there in hot water a time Now if when it is dried againe it be stiffe and will stand alone they take it for a sure signe that it is sufficiently watered and hath that which it should haue This is a very neere and ready way saueth them much labour Thus being prepared one of these two waies it ought to be brayed and beaten before it will serue the turne and then no cordage in the world is better than that which is made of it nor lasteth so well within the water and the sea especially for it will neuer be done For drie worke I confesse and out of the water the gables ropes wrought of hemp are better but Spart made into cordage will liue receiue nourishment within the water drinking now the full as it were to make amends for that thirst which it had in the natiue place where it first grew Of this nature is Spart besides that if the ropes made thereof be worne and with much occupying out of repaire a little thing will mend and refresh them yea and make them as good as euer they were for how old soeuer it be yet will it be wrought very well again with some new among A wonderfull thing it is to consider and look into the nature of this herb and namely how much it is vsed in all countries what in cables and other ship-tacking what in ropes for Masons and Carpenters and in a thousand necessities of this our life And yet seel the place which furnisheth all this store lying along the coast of new Carthage we shal find to be within the compasse of thirty miles in bredth lesse somewhat in length And verily if it were fetched farther off within the main the cariage would not quit for the cost and expences The Greekes in old time emploied their rishes in drawing of ropes as may appeare by the very word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth with them a rish and a rope But afteââ¦ards they vse their cordage of Date tree leaues the thin barks of the Linden or Tillet tree from whence verily like and probable it is That the Carthaginians borowed both their vse of Spartum and maner also of dressing it Theophrastus writeth That there is a bulbous plant with a root like an Onion-head growing about the banks of riuers between the vtmost rind whereof and that part within which is good to be eaten there is a certain cotton or woolly substance whereof folke vse to make woollen sockes and some such slight peeces of apparell But he neither named the countrey where they be made nor sets downe any other particularities more than this That the said plant they called Eriophoron i. Bearing wooll so far as euer I could find in any copies comming to my hand And albeit Theophrastus was otherwise a diligent and curious writer of plants and searched deep into the nature of simples foure hundred and ninety yeres before my time yet hath he made no mention at all of Spart a thing that I haue obserued and noted in him once already before now Whereby euident it is that the manner of dressing and vsing Spart came vp after his daies And since we are entred into a discourse of the wonders of Nature I will follow on still and continue the same wherein this may be one of the greatest That a thing should liue and grow as a plant without root Looke but to those Mushroomes or Toad-stooles which are called in Latin Tubera out of the ground they grow compassed about on euery side with the earth with out root without any filaments or so much as small strings beards resembling a root wherevpon they should rest the place where they breed doth not swel or bear vp one jot nay it shews no chink or creuasse at all out of which they should issue and to conclude they seem not once to stick and cleaue to the ground whereupon they stand A certaine barke or pill they seem to haue which encloseth them such as to speake plainely we cannot say is earth indeed nor any thing else but a very brawnie skin or callositie of the earth These breed commonly in drie and sandie grounds in rough places full of shrubs and bushes and lightly in none else Oftentimes they exceed the quantity of good big Quinces euen such as weigh a pound Two sorts there be of them Some be full of sand and grit and such plague folkes teeth in the eating others bee clean and their meat is pure without any such thing among They differ also in color for there be of them that are red ye shall haue those also that seem blacke and yet are white within But the best simply are those that come out of Africk or Barbarie To determin resolutely whether they grow still from day to day as other plants or whether this imperfection of the earth for better I know not how to call it commeth at one instant to that full growth that euer it will haue also whether they liue or no I suppose it is a difficult and hard matter surely this is certaine that their putrifaction is much after the manner of wood and they rot both alike Many yeres past there are not since Lartius Licinius sometimes lord Pretor and gouernour vnder the Romans in the prouince of Spain chanced of my knowledge while he was there at Carthage in biting one of these Mushroms to meet with a siluer Roman denier within it that turned the edge againe of some of his fore teeth and set them awry Whereby a man may perceiue manifestly that they be a certaine excresence of the very earth gathering into a round forme as all other things that grow naturally of themselues and come neither by setting nor sowing CHAP. III. ¶ Of the excrescence named Misy and of other such like Puffes and Mushroms Of those flat Fusses and broad Toad-stooles called Pezici Of the plant or hearbe Laserpitium Of Magydaris Of Madder Of Sope-weed or the Fullers hearbe Radicula WIthin the prouince of Cyrenaica in Affricke there is found the like excrescence called Misv passing sweet pleasant as well in regard of the smell as the tast more pulpous also fuller of carnositie than the rest likewise another of that nature in Thracia called Ceraunium As touching al the sorts of Mushroms Toad-stooles Puffes Fusbals or Fusses these particulars following are obserued First it is known for certain that if the autumn be much disposed to rain and withal the aire be troubled and disquieted with many thunders during that season there wil be good store of such Mushromes c.
or stem which they called Magydaris And they affirme besides that it beareth leafy flat graines for the seed in color like gold which shed presently vpon the rising of the Dog-star especially if the wind be south Of which grains or seeds fallen to the ground young plants of Laserpitium vse to grow vp vnderneath that within the compasse of one yere wil thriue both in root and stem to the just and full perfection they haue writen moreouer that the vse was to dig about their roots and to lay them bare at certain times of the yeare Also that they serued not to purge cattell as is aforesaid but to cure them if they were diseased for vpon the eating thereof either they mended presently or else ended and died out of hand but few they were that miscaried in this sort As touching the former opinion of purging and scouring true it is that it agreeth well to the other Silphium or Laserpitium of Persia aforesaid Another kind there is of it named Magydaris more tender and lesse forcible and strong in operation than the former and affourdeth no such juice or liquor at all it grows about Syria and commeth not vp in all the region about Cyrenae Moreouer vpon the mount Pernassus there is great plentie found of a certaine hearbe which the inhabitants would needs haue to be Laserpitium and so they cal it wherewith indeed they are wont to abuse and sophisticat that singular and diuine plant the true Laserpitium so highly commended and of so great account and regard The principall and best triall of the true and sincere Laser is taken from the colour somewhat enclining to rednesse without breake it you shall haue it appeare white within and anone transparent If you drop water vpon it or otherwise thin spittle it will resolue and melt Much vse there is of it in many medicines for to cure mens maladies Two plants more therebe well knowne to the common sort and base multitude and to say a truth few els are acquainted with them notwithstanding they be commodities of much gaine and many a peny is gotten thereby The first is Madder in great request among diers and curriers and for to set a color vpon their wooll and leather right necessarie The best of all and most commended is our Madder of Italie principally that which groweth about villages neere vnto our citie of Rome And yet there is no country or prouince lightly but is full of it It commeth vp of the owne accord and is sowed besides of seed and set of slips in manner of Eruile Howbeit a prickie stalke it hath of the owne the same is also full of joints and knots and commonly about euery one of them it hath fiue leaues growing round in a circle The seed is red What medicinable vertues it hath and to what purpose it serueth in Physicke I will declare in place conuenient The second is that which is called in Latin Radicula i Sope-wort an hearb the juice wherof Fullers vse so much to scoure their wooll withall and wonderfull it is to see how white how pure how neat and soft it will make it Beeing set it will come vp and grow in any place but of it selfe without mans hand it groweth most in Asia and Syria among rough craggie and stony grounds The best is that which is found beyond the riuer Euphrates and that bears a stem like tall Fennell howbeit small and slender and whereof the inhabitants of the countrey there doe make a delicate dish for besides that it hath a commendable tast and much desired it giueth a pleasant colour to what meat soeuer is sodden in the pot with it It beareth a leafe like the Oliue the Greeks cal it Strution it floureth in Summer louely it is to the eie but no smel at all it hath to content the nose prickie moreouer it is like a thorne and the stalke notwithstanding couered with a soft down seed hath it none but a big root which they vse to cut shred mince small for the purposes aforesaid CHAP. IV. ¶ The manner of trimming and ordering Gardens the sorting of all those things that grow out of the Earth into their due places besides corne and plants bearing fruit IT remaineth now to treat of Gardens and the carefull diligence thereto belonging a commendable thing in it selfe and recommended vnto vs besides by our fore-fathers and auncient writers who had nothing to speake of in more account and admiration in old time than the gardens of the Hesperides of Adonis and Alcioniis as also those pendant gardens vpon tarraces and leads of houses whether they were those that Semyramis Queene of Babylon or Cyrus K. of Assyria deuised and caused to be made Of which and of their workmanship my intent is to make a discourse in some other booke Now for this present to goe no farther than Rome the Romane KK verily themselues made great store of gardens and set their minds vpon them for so we read that Tarquin surnamed the Proud the last king of Rome was in his garden when he gaue dispatch vnto that messenger that was sent from his sonne about a cruell and bloudie errand for to know his fathers aduise and pleasure as touching the citizens of Gabij In all the twelue tables throughout which contain our ancient lawes of Rome there is no mention made so much as once of a Grange or Ferm-house but euermore a garden is taken in that signification and vnder the name of Hortus i. a Garden is comprised Haeredium that is to say an Heritage or Domain and herupon grew by consequence a certain religious or rediculous superstition rather of some whom we ceremoniously to sacre and blesse their garden and hortyard dores only for to preserue them against the witchcraft and sorcerie of spightful and enuious persons And therefore they vse to set vp in gardens ridiculous and foolish images of Satyres Antiques and such like as good keepers and remedies against enuy and witchcraft howsoeuer Plautus assigneth the custodie of gardens to the protection of the goddesse Venus And euen in these our daies vnder the name of Gardens and Hortyards there goe many daintie places of pleasure within the very citie vnder the color also and title of them men are possessed of faire closes and pleasant fields yea and of proper houses with a good circuit of ground lying to them like pretie farmes and graunges in the countrey all which they tearme by the name of Gardens The inuention to haue gardens within a citie came vp first by Epicurus the doctor and master of all voluptuous idlenesse who deuised such gardens of pleasance in Athens for before his time the manner was not in any citie to dwell as it were in the countrey and so to make citie and countrey al one but all their gardens were in the villages without Certes at Rome a good garden and no more was thought a poore mans cheiuance it went I say for land and liuing The
afterwards be tied fast vnto them Of all Garden-hearbs Beets are the lightest The Greeke writers make two kinds thereof in regard of the colour to wit the black Beets and the whiter which they prefer before the other although it be very scant and sparie of seed these also they cal the Sicilian Beets and for their beautiful white hew and nothing else they esteeme them aboue Lectuce But our countreymen here in Italy put no other difference between Beets but in respect of the two seasons when they be sowed namely in the Spring and Autumne whereof we haue these two sorts the spring Beets and the Autumnall and yet they be vsually sowne in Iune also This herbe likewise is ordinarily remooued in the plant and so replanted or set againe it loueth besides to haue the roots medicined with muck as well as the other abouesaid yea and it is very wel content with a moist and waterish ground The roots as well as the leaues or herbage thereof vse to be eaten with Lentils Beans but the best way to eat them is with Senuie or Mustard for to giue a tast and edge as it were to that dull and wallowish flatnesse that it hath Physitians haue set downe their iudgement of this herb That the roots be more hurtfull than the leafe and therefore being set vpon the bourd before all persons indifferently as well the sound as the sick and crasie yet many a one maketh it nice and scrupulous once to tast therof and if they do it is but slightly for fashion only leauing the hearty feeding thereupon to those rather that be in health and of strong constitutions The Beet is of two diuers natures and qualities for the herbage or leafe hath one and the bulbs comming from the head of the stem another but their principall grace and beautie lieth in their spreading and breadth that they beare as they cabbage And this they come vnto as the manner is of Lectuces also by laying some light weight vpon the leaues when they begin once to gather into a stalke and shew their colour And there is not an hearbe throughout the Garden that taketh vp greater compasse with fuellage than doth the Beet for otherwhiles you shal see it to spread it selfe two foot euery way whereunto the goodnesse and nature of the soile is a great help The largest that be knowne of these Beets are those which grow in the territory about Circij Some hold opinion that the only time to sow Beets is when the Pomegranat doth blossome and to transplant them so soon as they haue 5 leaues A wonderfull thing to see the diuersitie in Nature of these Beets if it be true namely that the white should gently loosen the belly and make one soluble whereas contrariwise the black doe stay a flux and knit the body It is as strange also to obserue another effect thereof for when the Colewort hath marred the taste of wine within the tun or such like vessell the only sauour and smell of Beet leaues steeped therein will restore and fetch it againe As touching the Beets as also Colewoorts which now beare all the sway and none but they in Gardens I do not find that the Greeks made any great account of them yet Cato highly extolleth Coules and reporteth great wonders of their vertues and properties which I meane to relate in my treatise of Physick For this present you shall vnderstand that he putteth downe three kinds of them the first that stretcheth out broad leaues at ful and carieth a big stem the second with a crisped and frizled leafe the which he calleth Apiana the third is smooth plain and tender in leafe and hath but a little stalke and these are of no reckoning at all with Cato Moreouer like as Coleworts may be cut at all times of the yeare for our vse so may they be sown set al the yere long yet the most appropriat season is after the Aequinox in Autumn Transplanted they be when they haue once gotten fiue leaues The tender crops called Cymae after the first cutting they yeeld the Spring next following now are these Cymae nothing else but the yong delicat tops or daintier tendrils of the maine stem And as pleasant and sweet as these crops were thought to other men yet Apicius that notable glutton tooke a loathing of them and by his example Drusus Caesar also careth not for them but thought them a base and homely meat for which nice and dainty tooth of his he was well checked and shent by his father Tiberius the Emperor after this first crop or head is gone there grow out of the same colewort other fine colliflories if I may so say or tendrils in Summer in the fall of the leafe and after them in winter and then a second spring of the foresaid Cymae or tops against the spring following as the yeare before so as there is no hearb in that regard so fruitfull vntill in the end her owne fertility is her death for in this manner of bearing she spends her heart her selfe and all There is a third top-spring also at mid-summer about the Sunstead which if the place bee any thing moist affoordeth yong plants to be set in summer time but in case it be ouer-drie against Autumne If there be want of moisture and skant of muck the better taste Colewoorts haue if there be plenty and to spare of both the more fruitfull and ranke they are The onely muck that which agreeth best with Coleworts or Cabbages is Asses dung I am content to stand the longer vpon this Garden-wort because it is in so great request in the kitchin and among our riotous gluttons Would you haue speciall and principal Coleworts both for sweet tast and also for great and faire cabbage first and foremost let the seed be sowne in a ground throughly digged more than once or twice and wel manured secondly see you cut off the tender springs and yong stalkes that seem to put out far from the ground or such as you perceiue mounting too ranke and ouer-high from the earth thirdly be sure to raise other mould in maner of a bank vp to them so as there peep no more without the ground than the very top these kind of Coleworts be fitly called Tritiana for the threefold hand and trauell about them but surely the gaine will pay double for all the cost and toile both Many more kindes there be of them to wit that of Cumes which beareth leaues spreading flat along the ground and opening in the head Those of Aricia be for heigth no taller than they but rather more in number than for substance thinner and smaller this kind is taken for the best and most gainfull because vnder euery main leafe in maner it putâ⦠forth other yong tendrils or buds by themselues which are good to be eaten The Colewort Pompeianum so called of the towne Pompeij is taller than the rest rising vp with a smal
so defended against the frost and cold weather also during the spring insuing to be opened at the root sarcled and well weeded In the third yeare by his rule they ought to be burned in the spring time and the sooner that the ground is thus burned the better wil they come vp again and in greater plenty which is the cause that they like and prosper best in plots set with Canes and Reeds for such desire to be burnt betimes in the yere Moreouer he giueth another precept that they must not be sarcled nor haue the earth opened laid hollow about them before their buds or tops be aboue ground to be seen for feare least in the sarcling the roots take harm thereby either by rasing or shaking them vntill they be loose From which time forward if a man would gather any of the said buds or yong springs for salad or other vse they ought to be plucked and slipped from the root for otherwise if they be broken and knapt off in the mids the root wil presently put forth many vnprofitable sprouts which wil suck away all the heart and kill it in the end Sliue and pluck it you may in manner aforesaid vntil it spindle and run to seed which commonly beginneth to be ripe in the Spring then it must be set on fire as is before said and then once again so soon as new buds and tendrons appeare aboue ground from the root they must be sarcled bared and dunged afresh Now after it hath grown in this manner nine yeres so as by this time it is waxen old the roots must be taken vp and then replanted again in a piece of ground well digged and as throughly dunged Then I say ought the smal roots called Spongiae in Latine to be set again a foot distant one from another Furthermore Cato ordaineth expressely by name That sheeps dung should be vsed for that purpose because any other would breed store of weeds And verily there was neuer knowne any other thing practised or assaied afterwards to more gain and benefit about this Garden-herb vnlesse it were this That about the Ides or mids of February some haue let the seeds of Sperage lie well soked in dung and then sowed the same by heaps in little trenches or holes made for the purpose after which when the roots are wouen and knit one within another into a knot the spurns shooting from them they plant after the Aequinox in Autumne following a foot asunder by which means they wil continue bearing plenteously for ten yeres together For to breed and maintaine these garden Sperages there is no better soile than the gardens of Rauenna from whence we haue the fairest of all other As for the herb named in Latine Corruda I haue written heretofore of it and I vnderstand thereby the wild Sperage which the Greekes call Orminum and Myacanthon howbeit there be who giue it other names Finally I reade of certaine Sperages which will engender and grow of Rams hornes beaten or stamped and then put into the ground A man would thinke that I had discoursed already of all such Garden herbes as were of any price and regard but that there remaineth one thing yet behind whereof the greatest gaine of all other is raised and yet me thinks I cannot write thereof but be abashed to range it amongst the good herbs of the garden and that forsooth is our Thistle howbeit this is certaine to the shame be it spoken of our wanton and wasting gluttons that the Thistles about Carthage the great Corduba especially cost vs ordinarily six thousand thousand Sesterces to speak within compasse See how vaine and prodigal we be to bring into our kitchin and serue vp at our table the monstruosities of other nations and cannot forbeare so much as these Thistles which the very asses and other fourfooted beasts haue wit enough to auoid refuse for pricking their lips and muzzles Well since they be grown into so great request I must not ouer-passe the gardinage to them belonging and namely how they be ordered two maner of waies to wit replanted of yong sets or roots in Autumn and sowed of seed before the nones of March. As for the plants beforesaid they ought to be slipped from it and set before the Ides or mids of Nouember in any hand orels if the ground be cold we must stay vntil February and then be doing with them about the rising of the Western wind Fauonius Manured ywis it ought to be dunged I would not els so faire and goodly an herbe it is and so forsooth and it please you they prosper the better and come on trimly They are condite also and preserued in vineger or else all were mard in delicate liââ¦e honey seasoned also and bespiced I may say to you with the costly root of the plant Laser-woort yea and with Cumin because wee would not be a day without Thistles but haue them as an ordinary dish all the yeare long As for the rest of Garden-herbs behind they need no long discourse but a light running ouer them may serue well enough First and foremost men say That the best sowing of Basil is at the feast Palilia but some are of mind that Autumne is as good and they that would haue it done in winter giue order to infuse and soke the seed first in vineger Rocket also and garden Cresses are not dainty to grow but be it winter or Summer they will soon come vp prosper at al times But Rocket of the twain stands more at defiance with winter and scorns al his frowning looks and cold weather as being of a contrary nature to Lecture for it stirreth vp fleshly lust and therfore commonly it is ioined with Lecture in sallads both are eaten together that the exceeding heat of the one mixt with the extreme coldnes of the other might make a good mariage and temperature Cresses tooke the name in Latine Nasturtium a narium tormento as a man would say Nose-wring because it will make one writh and shrink vp his nosthrils which is the reason that the word is grown into a prouerb when we would signifie a thing which will put life into one that is dull and vnlusty In Arabia the Cresses by report proue to a wonderful bignesse Rue also is sowed vsually in February when the Western wind Fauonius bloweth and soon after the Aequinox in Autumne It cannot away with winter for it brooketh not cold or rain nor moist ground neither will it abide muck it liketh well to grow in dry places and such as lie faire vpon the Sun-shine but a clay ground which is good for bricke and tile that is alone for it and best of all other it delighteth in ashes and therewith is it fed and nourished insomuch as they vse to blend ashes the seed together for to keep away the canker worm and such like Certes we find that in old time Rue was in some great account and
Reader that we Romanes are acquainted with very few garden floures for Guirlands and know in manner none but Violets and roses CHAP. IV. ¶ Of the Rose employed in Coronets The diuers kinds thereof and where it is set and groweth THe plant whereupon the Rose doth grow is more like a thorn or bush than a shrub or any thing else For it will come of a very Brier or Eglantine also where it wil cast a sweet and pleasant smell although it reach not far off All Roses at their first knitting seeme to be inclosed within a certain cod or huske full of graines which soon after beginneth to swell and grow sharp pointed into certain green indented or cut buds then by little and little as they wax red they open and spred themselues abroad containing in the midst of their cup as it were certain small tufts or yellow threds standing out in the top Vsed they are exceeding much in Chaplets and Guirlands As touching the oile Rosat made by way of infusion it was in request before the destruction of Troy as may appeare by the poet Homer Moreouer Roses enter into the composition of sweet ointments and perfumes Ouer and besides the Rose of it selfe alone as it is hath medicinable vertues and serueth to many purposes in physick It goeth into emplastres and collyries or eye-salues by reason of a certain subtil mordacitie and penetratiue qualitie that it hath Furthermore many delicate and dainty dishes are serued vp to the table either couered and bestrewed with Rose leaues or bedewed and smeared all ouer with their juice which doth no harme to those viands but giue a commendable tast therto We at Rome make most account of two kinds of Roses aboue the rest to wit those of Praeneste and of Capua And yet some haue ranged with these principal Roses those of Miletum which are of a most liuely and deep red colour and haue but twelue leaues in a floure at the most The next to them are the Trachinian Roses not so red all out Then those of Alabanda which be of a baser reckoning with a weak colour inclining to white Howbeit the meanest and worst of all is the Rose Spineola Most leaues in number it hath of all others and those in quantity smaller For this would be knowne that Roses differ one from another either in number of leaues more or lesse or els that some be smooth others rough and pricky also in colour and smell The fewest leaues that a Rose hath be fiue and so vpward they grow euer still more and more vntill they come to those that haue an hundred namely about Campain in Italy and neere to Philippos a city in Greece whereupon the Rose is called in Latine Centifolia How beit the territorie of Philippi hath no such soile as to bring forth these hundred-leafe Roses for it is the mountain Pangaeus neare adioyning vpon which they naturally doe grow with a number of leaues I say but the same small which being remoued transplanted by the neighbor borderers do mightily thriue in another ground namely about Philippi aforesaid proue much fairer than those of Pangaeus Yet are not such Roses of the sweetest kind that are so double and double againe no more than those which are furnished with the largest and greatest leaues But in one word if you would know a sweet smelling rose indeed chuse that which hath the cup or knob vnder the floure rough pricky Caepio who liued in the time of Tiberius the Emperour was of opinion That the hundred-leafe Rose had no grace at all in a garland either for smel or beauty therfore should not be put into chaplets vnlesse it were last in maner of a tuft to make a sur-croist or about the edges as a border no more than the Rose Campion which our men cal the Greek Rose and the Greekes name Lychnis which lightly groweth not but in moist grounds and neuer hath more than siue leaues The floure exceeds not the bignes of a certain violet and carieth no sent or sauor at all Yet is there another Rose called Graecula the floures leaues wherof are folded and lapped one within another neither wil they open of themselues vnlesse they be forced with ones fingers but looke alwaies as if they were in the bud notwithstanding that the leaues when they be out are of all others largest Moreouer there be Roses growing from a bush that hath a stalk like a Mallow and beareth leaues resembling those of the oliue and this kind is named in Greek Moscheuton Of a middle sise between these abouenamed is the Rose of Autumne commonly called Coroneola And to say a truth all the said Roses except this Coroneola and that which groweth vpon the brier or Eglantine before-named haue no smell with them in the whole world naturally but are brought to it by many deuises sophistications yea the very Rose it selfe which of the own nature is odoriferous carieth a better smell in some one soile than in another For at Cyrene they passe all other for sweetnes and pleasant sauor which is the reason that the oile Rosat and ointment compounded thereof is most excellent there of all other places And at Cartagena in Spain there be certaine timely or hastie Roses that blow and floure all winter long The climat also and temperature of the aire makes for the sweetnesse of the Rose for in some yeares yee shall haue them lesse odoriferous than in others Ouer besides the place would be considered for the roses be euer more sweet growing vpon dry than wet grounds And indeed the Rose bush loueth not to be planted in a fat and rich soile ne yet vpon a vein of cley no more than it liketh to grow neere vnto riuers where the banks be ouerflowed or in a waterish plot but it agreeth best with a light and loose kinde of earth and principally with a ground full of rubbish and among the ruines of old houses The Campain Rose bloweth early and is very forward The Milesian comes as late How beit those of Praeneste be longest ere they giue ouer bearing As touching the maner of planting them as the ground would be delued deeper than for corn so a lighter stitch had need be taken than for Vine sets Those that be sowed of seed be latest of all others ere they come vp and thriue most slowly Now lieth this seed in the cup or husk thereof iust vnder the very floure and is couered all ouer with a down And therefore it is better to set sions cut from the stalk or els to slip the little oilets and shoots from the root as the maner is in reeds and canes After which sort they vse to set yea to graf one kind of a pricky pale rose bush putting forth very long twigs shoots like to those of the Cinq-foile rose which is one of the Greekish kind There is no rose bush whatsöeuer but prospereth the better for cutting
pruning yea and burning Moreouer it loueth to be remoued and transplanted as well as the Vine and by that meanes will it come to the proof and beare best As for the sets or sions they ought to be foure fingers long or more aboue the ground when they be first put into the earth to wit after the occultation of the brood Hen star Then would they be translated in Februarie at what time as the Western wind Favonius is aloft and replanted with a foot distance one from another but they require to be euer and anon digged about the root They that desire to haue Roses blow betimes in the yeare before their neighbours vse to make a trench round about the root a foot deep and poure hot water into it euen at the first when the bud of the Rose beginneth to be knotted CHAP. X. ¶ Of Lillies three kinds and the maner of planting or setting them NExt to the Rose there is not a fairer floure than the Lilly nor of greater estimation The oiles also and ointments made of them both haue a resemblance and affinitie one to the other As touching the oile of Lillies the physitians call it Lirinon if a man should speak truly a Lilly growing among Roses becommeth and beautifieth the place very well for it beginneth then to floure when Roses haue halfe done There is not a floure in the garden again that groweth taller than the Lilly reaching otherwhile to the height of three cubits from the ground but a weak and slender neck it hath and carieth it not streight and vpright but it bendeth and noddeth downeward as being not of strength sufficient to beare the weight of the head standing vpon it The floure is of incomparable whitenesse diuided into leaues which without-forth are chamfered narrow at the bottom and by little and little spreading broader toward the top fashioned altogether in maner of a broad mouthed cup or beaker the brims or lips wherof turn vp somewhat backward round about and lie very open Within these leaues there appeare certain fine threds in maner of seeds and iust in the midst stand yellow chiues like as in Saffron As the colour of the Lilly is twofold so carieth it a double smell one in the leaues which resembleth the cup a foresaid and another in those strings or chiues how beit the difference is not much Now for to make the oile and ointment of Lillies the leaues also are not reiected There is an herb named in Latine Convolvulus i. with wind growing among shrubs bushes which carieth a floure not vnlike to this Lilly saue that it yeeldeth no smell nor hath those chiues within for whitenesse they resemble one another very much as if Nature in making this floure were a learning and trying her skill how to frame the Lilly indeed Now Lillies be set and sowed after the same maner in all respects as the Roses and grow as many waies This vantage moreouer they haue of the roses That they will come vp of the verie liquor that distilleth and droppeth from them like as the herbe Alisanders neither is there in the world an herb more fruitful insomuch as you shal haue one head of a root put forth oftentimes fiue hundred bulbes or cloues There is besides a red Lilly which the Greeks in their language cal Crinon and some name the floure of it Cynorrhodon The excellent Lilly of this kind groweth in Antiochia Laodicea cities both in Syria the next to that is found in Phaselis In a fourth place is to be set the Lilly growing in Italy There are besides purple Lillies which otherwhiles rise vp with a double stem these differ from the rest only in the pulpous root which they haue and the same carrie a great bulbe in one entire head and no more such they call Daffodills A second sort there is of these Daffodils with a white floure a purple cup or bel within Herin differ Daffodils from Lillies for that the Daffodil leaues be toward the root namely those in the best mountains of Lycia wheras in Lillies they put forth in the stalk The third kind agreeth in al points with the rest but that the cup in the mids of the floure is of a grasse greene Al the sort of them be late ere they floure and begin not to blow before the retreat of the star Arcturus and about the Autumn Aequinox but such are the monstrous deuises of some fantastical spirits that they inuented forsooth a new kind of artificiall coloring and dying of Lillies for which purpose in the month of Iuly they gather their stems when they begin to wither hang them vp in the smoke to drie Now when the knobs or heads of their roots looke once bare and are shot out from the said stalks which commonly falleth out in the month of March they infuse steep them in the lees of deepe red wine or some Greekish wine for to suck and drinke in the colour thereof which done they set them in little trenches whereinto they poure certaine hemines or pints of the said wine and by this means become the Lillies aforesaid purple A straunge and wonderfull matter that any root should take a tincture so deep as to bring forth a flour of the same die and colour CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the Violet and the Marygold of Bacchar and Combretum of Azara-bacca and Saffron IN the third ranke of floures be ranged the Violets whereof be many kinds to wit the purple the yellow and the white All of them may be set of plants like as worts and garden pot-hearbs But of those which naturally come vp grow of their own accord in leane grounds and those exposed to the Sunne the purple March Violets they haue a broader leafe than the rest those spring immediatly from the root which is pulpous and fleshy These alone be distinct from the rest by a Greek name and are called Ia whereupon purple cloth is likewise of them named Ianthina But of those which are sowne or set by hand the yellow beare the greatest name aboue all other These floures be distinguished into diuers kinds namely into the Tuscan Violets and those of the sea which haue a broader leafe but are not so sweet as others Some smell not at all to wit the Calathian Violet with the small leafe a floure this is that Autumne yeeldeth whereas the rest doe flourish in the Spring Next vnto the Violet are the Marigolds all of one colour In number of leaues this floure passeth the Sea-violet aforesaid which neuer exceedeth fiue but in recompence of that defect this Violet goeth beyond the Marigold in sweet sauour for the Marigold carrieth a strong sent with it and an vnpleasant As for the hearb called Scopia regia it hath a smell nothing milder than it although the leaues to say a truth doe smell and not the floures Bacchar is named by some Rustick-Nard this plant hath nothing in
it odoriferous and senting well but the root Of which root as Aristophanes an auncient Comicall Poet testifieth in one of his Comoedies they were woont in old time to make sweet perfumes and odoriferous compositions for their ointments whereupon some there be who call the root Barbarica but falsly for deceiued they are The sauour that this root doth cast draweth very neere to the sent of Cinamon It loueth a leane and light soile and in no wise commeth vp in a moist ground As touching the hearb named Combretum it resembleth the same very much howbeit the leaues be passing small and as slender as threds but the plant it selfe is taller than Bacchar well rest we must not in the description of these hearbes and floures only but also we are to reforme and correct their error who haue giuen to Bacchar the name of Nard-rustick For there is anotheir hearbe properly so called to wit that which the Greeks name Asaron i. Asara-bacca or Fole-foot a plant far different from Bacchar as may appear by the description therof which I haue set down among the sundrie kinds of Nardus And verily I do find that this plant is named Asarum because it is neuer vsed in making of guirlands and chaplets Concerning Saffron the wild is the best To plant it within any garden in Italic is held no good husbandry for it will not quit cost considering there is neuer a quarter set therewith but it asketh a scruple more in expence than the fruit or increase commeth to when all the cards be told For to haue Saffron grow you must set the cloues or bulbous heads of the root and being thus planted it prooueth larger bigger and fairer than the other howbeit sooner far it doth degenerate and become a bastard kind neither is it fruitfull and beareth chiues in euerie place no not about Cyrene where the goodliest floures of Saffron in the world are to be seen at all times The principal Saffron groweth in Cilicia and especially vpon the mountain Corycus there next to it is that of Lycia and namely vpon the hill Olympus and then in a third degree of goodnesse is reckoned the Saffron Centuripinum in Sicily although some there bee who attribute the second place vnto the saffron of the mount Phlegra Nothing is so subject to sophistication as Saffron and therfore the only triall of true Saffron indeed is this If a man lay his hands vpon it he shall heare it to cracke as if it were brittle and readie to burst for that which is moist a qualitie comming by some indirect means and cunning cast yeeldeth to the hand and makes no words Yet is there another proofe of good Saffron If a man after hee haue handled it reach his hand vp presently to his mouth perceiue that the aire and breath therof smiteth to his face and eyes and therewith fretteth and stingeth them a little for then he may be sure that the saffron is right there is a kind of garden saffron by it self and this commonly is thought best and pleaseth most when there appeareth some white in the mids of the floure and thereupon they name it Dialeucon whereas contrariwise this is thought to be a fault and imperfection in the Corysian Saffron which is chiefe and indeed the floure of it is blacker than any other soonest fadeth But the best simply in any place whersoeuer is that which is thickest and seemes to like best hauing besides short chiues like hairs the worst is that which smelleth of mustines Mutianus writeth that in Lycia the practise is to take it vp euery 7 or 8 yere and remoue it to a plot of ground wel digged and delued to a fine mould where if it be replanted it will become fresh again and youg whereas it was ready before to decay and degenerate No vse thereis in any place of Saffron floures in garlands for the leaues are small and narrow in manner almost of threads Howbeit with wine it accordeth passing well especially if it be of any sweet kind and being reduced into powder and tempered therewith it is commonly sprinkled ouer all the theatres and filleth the place with a persume It bloometh at the setting or occultation of the star Vergiliae and continueth in floure but few daies and the leaf driueth out the floure In the mids of winter it is in the verdure and al green and then would it be taken vp and gathered which done it ought to be dried in the shadow and the colder that the shade is so much the better For the root of Saffron is pulpous and full of carnositie and no root liueth so long aboue ground as it doth Saffron loueth a-life to be trampled and trod vpon vnder foot and in truth the more injurie is done vnto it for to mar it the better it thriueth and therefore neare to beaten paths and wells much frequented it commeth forward and prospereth most CHAP. VII ¶ Of the floures vsed in old time about coronets and guirlands the great diuersitie in aromaticall and sweet smelling simples Of Saliunca and Polium SAffron was no doubt in great credit and estimation during the flowring estate of Troy for certes the Poet Homer highly commendeth these three floures to wit Melilot Saffron and Hyacinth Of all odoriferous and sweet senting simples nay of all hearbes and floures whatsoeuer the difference consisteth in the colour the smel and the juice And note this to begin withall that seldome or neuer you shal meet with any thing sweet in sent but it is bitter in tast and contrariwise sweet things in the mouth be few or none odoriferous to the nose And this is the reason that wine refined smelleth better than new in the lees and simples growing wild haue a better sauor far than those of the garden Some floures the further they be off the more pleasant is their smell come nearer vnto them their sent is more dull and weaker than it was as namely Violets A fresh and new gathered rose casteth a better smel afar off than neere at hand let it be somwhat withered and dry you shal sent it better at the nose than farther off Generally all floures be more odoriferous and pleasant in the Spring than at any other season of the yeare and in the morning they haue a quicker and more piercing sent than at any houre of the day besides the neerer to noon the weaker is the smell of any herb or floure Moreouer the floures of new plants are nothing so sweet as those of an old stock and yet I must needs say that floures smell strongest in the mids of Summer As for Roses and Saffron floures they cast the pleasanter smell if they be gathered in cleare weather when it is faire and dry aboue head and in one word such as grow in hot countries be euer sweeter to smell vnto than in cold Climats Howbeit in Aegypt the floures haue no good sent at all by reason that the aire
either they floure or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit and look when the leaues begin to wither their prickes lose their force and will not pierce Ixine is a rare herb and geason to be seen and not found growing in al countries alike Immediatly from the root it putteth forth leaus plenty out of the mids of which root there swelleth out a bunch like an apple but the same is couered with the foresaid leaues in the very ââ¦p of which fruit there is contained a gum of a pleasant tast called the thistle Mastick Touching the herb Cactos which groweth also in Sicily and no where els it hath a property by it self the stalks whereof shooting from the root creep along the ground and it carrieth a broad leafe full of pricks and thorns and indeed these stalks thus running vpon the earth the Sicilians cal Cactos which they vse to keep and preserue and being thus condited also they commonly eat as very good meat One stem it hath growing vpright which they terme Pternix as sweet pleasant as the other but it will not abide to be kept long The seed thereof is couered with a certain soft down which they call Pappos which being taken off with the husk there remaineth a tender kernell within which they eat find it as delicat as the very heart of the Date tree top which is called the Brain and this pith aforesaid the Sicilians name Ascalia The Caltrop thistle Tribulus groweth not but in moory grounds and standing dead waters Surely in other places folke curse it as they passe by the prickes and spurs stick out so dangerously but about the riuers Nilus and Strymon the inhabitants do gather it for their meat the nature of this plant is to lean and bend downward in the head to the water The leafe resembles in form those of the Elme and they hang by a long stele or taile But in other parts of the world there be two other kinds of Tribulus the one is leafed like vnto the Cichling pease the other hath leaues sharp pointed this second kind is later ere it floure and commonly groweth about the mounds of closes lying by villages and town sides the seed lieth in a cod rounder than the other and black withall whereas the former hath a sandy seed Of these thorny and pricky plants there is yet one kind more namely Ononis i. Rest. harrow for it carrieth pricks close to the very branches the leafe is like to Rue the whole stalk throughout is set with leaues disposed in manner of a garland This plant commonly groweth after corn it plagueth the plough and yet there is much adoto rid it out of a ground so loth it is to die Of plants that be prickie some haue their stalkes and branches trailing by the ground as namely that hearbe which they call Coronopus i. Harts horn or Buck-horne Plantaine contrariwise there stand vpright Orchanet the root whereof is so good to colour wax and wood red And of such as be more gentle in handling Camomile Phyllanthus Anemone and Aphace As for Crepis Apate their stalks be all leafe Moreouer this would be noted that the leaues of herbs differ one from another as well as in trees some in the length or shortnesse of the stele whereto they hang others in the breadth or narrownesse of the leafe it selfe in form also whereby you shal haue some cornered others cut and indented likewise in sent and floure for some there be that continue longer in flouring than others and blow not all at once but one part after another as Basill Tornsall Aphaca and Onocheile CHAP. XVII ¶ The difference of herbs in their leafe what hearbes they be that floure all the yeare long of the Asphodell Pistana and Petie-Gladen or Sword-grasse MAny hearbes there be as well as some trees which continue greene and hold their leaues from one end of the yeare to the other as Tornsol and Adianthum or Capillus Veneris Another sort there is of herbs that floure spike-wise of which kind are Cynops Alopecurus i. Foxtaile Stelephuros which some call Ortyx others Plantaine of which I will write more at large among Physick herbs and Thryollis Of these Alopecurus carrieth a soft spike and a thick mossie down not vnlike to Fox-tails whereupon it tooke that name in Greeke and Stelephurus resembleth it very much but that the Foxtaile bloweth not all together but beareth floures some at one time some at another Cichory and such like haue their leaues spreading vpon the ground and those put forth directly from the root beginning to spring immediatly after the apparition of the star Vergiliae As touching Parietary there be other nations as wel as the Aegyptians who feed vpon it it took the name Perdicium in Latine of the bird Perdix i. the Partridge that seeketh after it so much and plucketh it out of the wals where it groweth it hath many roots and the same thick In like maner the herb Ornithogale i. Dogs onion hath a small stem and a white but a root halfe a foot long the same is full of bulbs like onions soft also and accompanied with three or foure other spurs growing out of it This hearbe they vse to seeth among other pot-herbs for potage I will tell you a strange quality of the herb Lotos and of Aegilops if their seed be cast into the ground it wil not come vp in a yeare As wonderfull is the nature also of the Camomile for it beginneth to floure in the head whereas all other herbes which blow not all at once floure at the foot first Notable is the Bur likewise and worthy to be obserued I mean that which sticketh to our clothes as we passe by the floure lieth close and groweth within the said Bur and neuer appeareth without-forth it is I say as it were hatched within much like vnto those liuing creatures that couve and quicken their egges within their belly Semblably about the city Opus there is an herb called Opuntia which men delight to eat this admirable gift the leafe hath That if it be laied in the ground it will take root and there is no other way to plant this herb maintain the kind As for Iasione one leafe it hath and no more but so lapped and infolded that it seemeth as if they were many Touching Condrylla the herb it selfe is bitter but the juice of the root is hot and biting Bitter also is Aphaca or Dent de Lion as also that which is called Picris which name it took of the exceeding bitternesse that it hath the same floureth all the yere long As for Squilla and Safron they be both of a maruellous nature for whereas all other hearbes put out leafe first and then knit round into a stem in those two a man may euidently see the stalk before the leafe And in Saffron verily the said stalk thrusteth out the floure before it but
it carrieth a purple floure leaues and branches rough a root in haruest time as red as bloud otherwise black and groweth in sandy grounds effectuall it is against serpents and Vipers most of all others both in the root and leafe as well eaten with meat as taken in drinke In the full strength it is in haruest The leaues if it be bruised or stamped do yeeld the sauor and smel of a Cucumber If the matrice of a woman be slipt downe a draught of three cyaths thereof doth reduce it vp into the place and together with hyssope it driueth out the broad wormes in the belly For the pain of the kidnies or the liuer it ought to be taken in mead or honied water if the Patient haue an ague withall otherwise in wine The root brought into a liniment cureth the Lentils or red spots yea and the infection of the leprosie And it is said That as many as haue it about them cannot be stung by serpents There is yet another Orchanet or Anchusa like vnto this in regard of the red floure which it beareth howbeit a lesse herb than the other hauing the like operation and imploied in the same vses It is reported That if one chew it in his mouth spit it forth vpon a serpent the same will surely die thereupon As touching Anthemis i. Camomile Asclepiades the Physitian doth highly praise and commend it Some name it Leucanthemis others Leucanthemus there be who giue it the name Eranthemon because it flourisheth in the Spring others againe name it Chamaemelon for the sent or sauour that it hath of an Apple many call it Melanthemon Three kinds there be of it differing onely in the floures for none of them exceed an hand-breadth in heighth which bee small and in forme resemble those of Rue howbeit these floures be either white yellow or red In a lean ground and neer to beaten paths this herb loueth to grow gathered it is in the spring and layed vp for to serue in garlands at which time the Physitians also stampe the leaues and make them vp into Trosches so do they also by the floure and the root This vertue they haue That if they be all mingled together to the weight of one dram they are thought to be a soueraigne remedie against the sting of all serpents This herbe expelleth dead infants within the mothers wombe if it be taken in drinke It bringeth downe also the monthly fleurs of women prouoketh vrine and sendeth forth the stone and grauell Being chewed it dissolueth ventosities it cureth the obstructions and defects of the liuer it helpeth the jaundise healeth the fistuloes between the angle of the eye and the nose and generally all running sores and mattering vlcers But of all these kinds that which beareth the red purple floure hath most effectuall operation for the stone and indeed both the leaues and also the branches of this Camomile are somewhat larger than of the rest and some there be who giue this a name it selfe and call it Eranthemon As for those who take lotos to be a tree only may be conuinced euen by the authority and restimony of Homer who among other herbes growing for the delight and pleasure of the gods hath named Lotos as principall The leaues of this herbe incorporat with honey and so applied cureth the cicatrices or scars in the eie the spots also appearing therein and disolueth the cloudy skins which ouercast the sight there is a kind of lotos named Lotometra comming of the garden Lotos it carrieth a seed like to Millet whereof in Aegypt the Bakers make bread but they work knead the floure of this seed with water or milk There is not any bread in the world by report more wholsom and lighter than this so long as it is hot but being once cold it is harder of digestion becommeth weighty ponderous This is known for certain that as many as liue thereof are infested troubled neither with the dysenterie or bloudy flix ne yet with the trouble some offers and strains to the siege without doing any thing nor any other diseases of the belly and therefore it is counted a principal remedie for those maladies Concerning Turnsol I haue oftentimes related the wonderfull nature thereof namely how it turneth about with the sun although it be a close and cloudy day so great is the loue of this herb to that planet and in the night season for want of the Suns presence as if it had a great misse thereof it draweth in and shutteth the blew floure which it beareth Two kinds there be of this Heliotropium or Turnesol of which the lesse is called Tricoccum the other Helioscopium of the twain this later is the taller and yet neither of them both exceedeth halfe a a foot in height and putteth forth branches from the very root The seed of this greater sort lieth within a little cod and is gathered in haruest time it groweth not but in a fat soil wel manured whereas Tricoccum comes vp euery where I find that if it be boiled it is a pleasant and delectable meat but sodden in milk it loosneth the belly gently and with ease for otherwise the bare colature of the decoction in water if it be taken purgeth most extremely The juice of the greater kinde ought to be drawn or gathered in summer at noontide which if it be tempered with wine becommeth more strong and effectual A property it hath being mingled with oile of roses to mitigat the head-ach The juice drawn out of the leafe medled with salt takes away werts whereupon our herbarists haue called the herb in Latine Verrucaria ãâã Wertwort whereas indeed for other better effects and operations that it hath it deserueth to haue some denominations correspondent thereunto for a countre-poison it is against serpents and scorpions if it be drunk with wine or honied water as Apollophanes and Apollodorus do report in their writings A liniment made of the leaues cureth the rheumes and distillations of the braine in children which disease they call Siriasis Likewise it helpeth contractions of sinues and the drawing in of joints although the patient be taken after the maner of the falling sicknesse and for such as be thus afflicted a somentation made of the decoction of this herb is very wholesom and comfortable but if one drink the colature thereof it thrusteth forth the wormes in the belly and scoureth out the grauell in the kidnies If Cumin be put thereto it breaks the stones ingendred and confirmed there already Boiled it ought to be root and all the which with the leaues and goats tallow being reduced into a liniment is singular good for all kinds of gout The other kind which we call Tricoccon and is otherwise named Scorpiurion hath not only smaller leaues but also they incline and bend downward to the ground A seed it beareth resembling the figure of a scorpions taile whereupon it took that name A liniment made
Contrariwise the blacke oliue is not so friendly to the stomacke better for the belly but offensiue both to the head and the eies Both the one and the other as well the white as the black being punned and applied to burned or skalded places do cure them but the black haue this propertie That if they be chewed and presently as they be taken out of the mouth laid to the burne or scald they will keep the place from blistering Oliues in pickle are good to clense foule and filthie vlcers but hurtful to those who pisse with difficultie As touching the mother or lees of oliue I might be thought to haue written sufficiently following the steps of Cato who deliuered no more in writing but I must set down also the medicinable vertues obserued therein First and foremost therefore it helpeth the sorenesse of the gumbs cureth the cankers vlcers of the mouth and of all other medicins it is most effectuall to fasten the teeth in the head If it be dropped or poured vpon S. Anthonies fire and such other corrosiue and fretting vlcers it is of singular operation to heale them but for kibed heeles the grounds or dregs of the black oile-oliue is the better as also therewith to foment smal children As for that of the white oliues women vse to apply it with wooll to their secret parts for some accidents thereto belonging Be it the one or the other generally it is more effectuall sodden than otherwise Boiling it ought to be in a copper or brasse vessell vntill it come to the consistence of honey Vsed it is with vineger old wine or with must according as the cause requireth in curing the infirmities of the mouth teeth and eares in healing running skalls and finally in the cure of the genetoirs or priuie members of the fissures or chaps in any part of the body In wounds it is vsed with linnen cloth or lint but in dislocations it is applied with wooll And verily in these cases and in this practise it is much emploied especially if the medicine be old and long kept for being such it healeth fistulous sores And being injected by a syring into the vlcers of the fundament genetoirs or otherwise by a metrenchyte into the secret sores within the naturall parts of women it cureth them all Also a liniment thereof is singular for to be applied to the gout of the feet also in the rest whether they be in the hands knees hucklebone or any other joint so they be not setled or inueterat but taken at the first But in case it be sodden againe in the oile of green oliues vntill it come to the consistence of honey and so applied it causeth those teeth to fall out of the head without paine which a man would willingly be rid of It is wonderfull to see how it healeth the farcines and manges of horses being vsed with the decoction of Lupines and the herbe Chamaeleon To conclude there is no better thing than to foment the gout with these lees of oile raw CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of the wild Oliue leaues The oile of the floures of the wild vine Ocnanthe Of the oile Cicinumâ⦠of Palma Christi The oile of Almonds of Bayes of Myrtles of Ruscus or Chamaemyrsine of Cypresse of Citrons and of Nuts THe leaues of the wild oliue haue the same nature that the leaues of the tame As for Antispodium or the ashes made of the tender branches of the wild oliue it is of greater force and operation in staying and repressing of rheume catarrhes and fluxes than that abouenamed in the former chapter Ouer and besides it assuageth the inflammations of the eies it mundifieth vlcers it doth incarnat and fill vp the void places where the flesh is gone it gently eateth away and without mordication the excrescence of ranke and proud flesh drieth the sores healeth and skinneth them vp In other cases this oliue is vsed as the other oliues yet one peculiar propertie hath the wild oliue That a spoonefull of the decoction of their leaues with hony is giuen with good successe to them that spit and reach vp bloud Howbeit the oile made hereof is more aegre and sharpe yea and mightier in operation than that of the other Oliues and a collution thereof to wash the mouth withall setleth the teeth that be loose The leaues of the wild oliue reduced into a cataplasm with wine and so applied do cure whitflawes about the root of the nails carbuncles and generally al such apostemations with hony the said cataplasme serueth well to clense and mundifie where need is The decoction of the leaues yea and the juice of the wild oliue is put into many compositions and medicines appropriat to the eies To good purpose also the same is dropped into the ears with hony yea although they ran filthy atter A liniment made with the floures of the wilde Oliue is singular for the swelling piles and the chilblanes that be angry in the night and the same applied with barley meale to the belly or with oile to the head for the ache thereof occasioned by some rheume is known to do very much good The young tendrils or springs of the wild oliue being boiled and laid to with hony do re-ioyn and re-vnite the skin of the head which was departed from the bones of the skull The same tendrils pulled ripe from the wild oliue and eaten with meat do knit the belly and stay lasks but torrified and so beaten to pouder and incorporat with honey they do mundifie the corrosiue and eating vlcers they breake also carbuncles As touching oile of oliues the natute and manner of making it I haue already treated of at large But forasmuch as there are many kindes thereof I purpose do set dogn in this place such as serue for physick only And first to begin with the oile made of vnripe oliues called in Latin Omphacinum and which commeth neere to a green colour it is thought of all others most medicinable moreouer the same is best when it is fresh and new vnlesse it be in some case when it were requisit to haue the oldest that may be found thin and subtil odoriferous and nothing at all biting which be qualities al of them contrarie to that oile which we vse with our meats This greene or vnripe oile I say is good for the sores of the gumbes and if it be held in the mouth there is no one thing preserueth the whitenesse of the teeth better it represseth also immoderat and diaphoretical sweats The oile Oenanthemum made of the floures of the wild vine Oenanthe hath the same operations that oile rosat hath But note by the way that any oile howsoeuer it doth mollifie the body yet it bringeth vigor and addeth strength thereto Contrary it is to the stomacke it encreaseth filthinesse in vlcers doth exasperat the throat and dul the strength of all poisons especially of ceruse or white lead and plastre namely if it be drunk with honied
tender rind thereof incorporat with wax and rosin healeth all maner of scales within ââ¦o daies The same boiled and applied accordingly cureth the accidents befalling to the cods and genetoirs The very perfume thereof coloreth the haire of the head black and the suffumigation fetcheth downe the dead infant out of the mothers belly It is giuen inwardly in drinke for the infirmitie of the kidnies bladder precordial parts how beit an enemy it is vnto the head and sinews A decoction or bathe thereof if a woman sit in it staieth the immoderat fluxe both of Matrice and belly Likewise the ashes taken in white wine are singular for the pains and torments of the collick as also a collution therewith is as effectuall to cure the fal of the Vvula and other defects incident to that part CHAP. VI. ¶ The medicin able vertues considered in the floures leaues fruit boughes branches bark wood iuice root and ashes of many trees of seuerall kinds IT remaineth now to decipher the manifold medicines which apples such like fruits tender skinned do affoord according to the variety of trees which bring them forth Of which thus much in generall is to be noted That all fruits which ripen in the Spring while they be soure and harsh be enemies to the stomack they trouble the belly disquiet the guts and bladder and withall be offen siue to the sinews but if they be ful ripe or sodden they are the better But to grow vnto particulars Quinces if they be boiled baked or rosted are sweeter and more pleasant to the tast than raw Yet being throughly ripe vpon the tree although they be eaten raw they are good for those that spit and reach bloud and are diseased with the bloudy flix such also as vpon the violent motion of vnbridled cholerick humors void vpward and downward as also for them who be subiect to continual loosnesse of the belly occasioned by the feeblenes of the stomack Being once boiled or baked they are not of the same operation for they lose therby that astringent vertue which their iuice had In hot and sharp feuers they serue for to be applied to the brest And yet if they be sodden in rain water they will do well in those cases aboue recited but for the pain of the stomack it matters not whether they be raw sodden or baked so they be reduced into the form of a cerot laid too Their down or mossinesse which they beare if it be boiled in wine and reduced into a liniment with wax healeth carbuncles And the same maketh the haire to grow again in bald places occasioned by some disease Raw Quinces condited and preserued in hony do stir the belly moue to siege They impart vnto the hony a pleasant tast whereby it is more familiar and agreeable to the stomack But such as being parboiled before are then kept and confited in honey be thought good for the stomacke in the opinion of some who ordaine and prescribe to stamp them first and then to take them in manner of a meat or consââ¦ue beeing incorporaâ⦠with Rose leaues boyled for the infirmities of the Stomacke The juice of raw Quinces is a soueraigne remedy for the swoln spleen the dropsie and difficulty of taking breath when the patient cannot draw his wind but vpright The same is good for the accidents of the breasts or paps for the piles and swelling veines The floure or blossom of the Quince as well green and fresh gathered as drie is held to be good for the inflammation of the eies the reaching and spitting of bloud and the immoderat flux of womens monthly terms There is a mild juice drawn also from these floures stamped with sweet wine which is singular for the flux proceeding from the stomack and for the infirmities of the liuer Moreouer the decoction of them is excellent to soment either the matrice when it beareth down out of the body or the gut Longaon in case it hang forth Of Quinces also there is made a soueraigne oile which is commonly called Melinum but such Quinces must not grow in any moist tract but come from a sound and dry ground which is the reason that the best Quinces for this purpose be those that are brought out of Sicily The smaller Pear Quinces called Struthia are not so good although they be of the race of Pome Quinces The root of the Quince tree tied fast vnto the Scrophules or Kings-euill cureth the said disease but this ceremony must be first obserued That in the taking vp of the said root there be a circle made round about it vpon the earth with the left hand and the party who gathereth it is to say What root he is about to gather and to name the Patient for whom he gathereth it and then as I said it doth the deed surely The Pome-Paradise or hony Apples called Melimela and other fruits of like sweetnesse do open the stomacke and loosen the belly they set the body in a heat and cause thirstinesse but offensiue they be not to the sinews The round Apples bind the belly stay vomits and prouoke vrine Wildings or Crabs are like in operation to the fruits that be eaten soure in the Spring and they procure costiuenesse And verily for this purpose serue all fruits that be vnripe As touching Citrons either their substance or their graines and seed within taken in wine are a counterpoison A collution made either with the water of their decoction or their juice pressed from them is singular to wash the mouth for a sweet breath Physitians giue counsell to women with child for to eat the seed of Citrons namely when their stomackes stand to coles chalk and such like stuffe but for the infirmity of the stomack they prescribe to take Citrons in substance howbeit hardly are they to be chewed but with vineger As for Pomgranats needlesse altogether it were now to iterate and rehearse the nine kinds thereof Sweet Pomgranats all the sort of them which by another name we called Apyrena are counted hurtfull to the stomack they ingender ventosities and be offensiue to the teeth and gums But such as in pleasant tast are next vnto them which we called Vinosa hauing smal kernels within are taken and found by experience to be somwhat more wholsom they do stay the belly comfort and fortifie the stomack so they be eaten moderatly and neuer to satisfie the appetite to the full yet some there be who forbid sick persons once to tast of these last named yea and in no hand wil allow any Pomgranats at all to be eaten in a feuer forasmuch as neither their juice and liquor nor the carnous pulp of their grains is good for the patient In like maner they giue a charge and caueat not to vse them in vomits nor in the rising of choler Certes Nature hath shewed her admirable worke in this fruit for at the very first opening of the rind she presently maketh shew
the muskles and sinews that he became paralyticke in that part and euer after vnto his dying day was rid as well of all sence as of the paine of the gout But say that in these cases it might be tollerable to set down in their books some poisons what reason nay what leaue had those Greeks to shew the means how the brains and vnderstanding of men should be intoxicat and troubled what colour and pretence had they to set downe medicines and receits to cause women to slip the vntimely fruit of their womb and a thousand such like casts deuises that may be practised by herbs of their penning for mine owne part I am not for them that would send the conception out of the body vnnaturally before the due time they shall learne no such receits of me neither will I teach any how to temper spice an amatorious cup to draw either man or woman into loue it is no part of my profession For wel I remember that Lucullus a most braue Generall and a captain of great execution lost his life by such a loue potion Much lesse then shall ye haue me to write of Magick witch-craft charmes inchantments and sorceries vnlesse it be to giue warning that folk should not meddle with them or to disproue those courses for their vanities and principally to giue an Item how little trust and assurance there is to be had in such trumpery It sufficeth me and contenteth my mind yea and I think that I haue done wel for mankind in recording those herbs which be good and wholsome found out by men of wit and learning for the benefit of posterity CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Moly and Dodecatheos of Poeony otherwise called Pentorobus or Glycyside Of Panaces Asclepium Heraclium and Chironium Of Panaces Centarium or Pharnaceum Of Heraclium Siderium Of Henbane called Hyoscyamus Apollinaris or Altercangenus HOmer is of opinion That the principall and soueraigne hearb of all others is Moly so called as he thinketh by the gods themselues The inuention or finding of this hearbe hee ascribeth vnto Mercury and sheweth that it is singular against the mightiest witcheraft inchantments that be Some say that this herb Moly euen according to Homers description with a round and black bulbous root to the bignesse of an onion and with a leafe or blade like that of Squilla groweth at this day about the riuer or lake Peneus and vpon the mountain Cylleum in Arcadia also that it is hard to be digged out of the ground The Grecian Simplists describe this Moly with a yellow floure wheras Homer hath written that it is white I met with one physitian a skilful Herbarist who affirmed vnto me That this Moly grew in Italy also and in verie truth he brought and shewed me a plant which came out of Campaine about the digging vp whereof among hard and stony rocks he had bin certain daies but get he could not the entire root whole and sound but was forced to break it off and yet the root which he shewed mee was thirtie foot long Next vnto Moly in account and reputation is that plant which they call Dodecatheos for that it doth represent comprehend the maiesty of all the chiefe gods They say if it be drunk in water it is a soueraign medicine for al maladies Seuen leaues it hath resembling very much those of Lectuce and the same spring from a yellow root As touching Paeony it is one of the first herbs that were euer known and brought to light as may appeare by the author or inuentor thereof whose name it beareth still Some call it Pentorobos others Glycyside where by the way I am to aduertise the Reader of the difficulty in the knowledge of herbs by their names considering that the same herbe hath in sundry places diuers appellations But to proceed forward with our Paeony it groweth among bleake and shady mountains rising vp with a stem between the leaues 4 fingers high and bearing in the top 4 or 5 heads fashioned somwhat like to Filberds within which there is plenty of seed both red and black This herb is good against the fantasticall illusions of the Fauni which appeare in sleep It is said that this herb must be gathered in the night season for if the Rainbird woodpeck or Hickway called Picus Martius should chance to spie it gathered he would flie in the face and be ready to peck out the eies of him or her that had it The herb Panace promiseth by the very name a remedy of all diseases A number there be of herbs so called and all ascribed to some god or other for the inuention of them for one of them hath the addition of Asclepion for that Aesculapius had a daughter named also Panacea As touching the concret juice named Opopanax it is drawn from the root of this plant beeing of the Ferula or Fennell kind such as I haue heretofore shewed by way of incision the which root hath a thick rind and of a saltish sauor When the root is pulled out of the ground there is a religious ceremony obserued to fil vp the hole again with all sorts of corn as it were in satisfaction to the earth for the violence offered in tearing it vp As for the said juice Opopanax where and how it should be made and which is the best kind therof and not sophisticat I haue declared already in my Treatise of forrain and strange plants That which is brought out of Macedony they cal Bucosicum because the Neat-heards of the country mark when the liquor breakes forth and runneth out of it selfe and so receiue and gather it from the plant this wil not last but of all the rest soonest loseth the force Moreouer in all sorts of it that is rejected principally which is black and soft for these be markes to know that it is corrupted and sophisticate with wax A second kind there is of Panaces which they cal Heraclium the inuention of the vertues and properties whereof is attributed vnto Hercules Some there be who call it Origanum Heracleaticum the wild because it is like to Origan wherof I haue heretofore written but the root of this Panaces is good for nothing A third kind of Panaces took the name of Chiron the Centaur who was the first that gaue intelligence of the herbe and the vertues thereof The leafe is like vnto the Dock but that it is bigger and more hairy the floure is of a golden yellow color the root but small it loueth to grow in rich fat and battle grounds The floure of this Panaces is most effectual in Physick in which regard there is more vse and profit thereof than of all the former kindes A fourth Panaces there is besides found out also by the same Chiron whereupon it hath the denomination of Centaureum called also it is Pharnaceum the occasion of this two fold name is this because there is some controuersie in the first inuention
Langwort and indeed so like as oftentimes one is taken for the other howbeit the leaues be not altogether so white and more little branches it putteth forth bearing likewise a pale yellow floure cast this herb or strew it in any place all the moths there about will gather to it whereupon at Rome they call it Blattaria The herbe Lemonium yeeldeth a white juice much like vnto milke which will harden and grow together in manner of a gum and it groweth in moist places The weight of one denarius giuen in wine is a singular preseruatiue against the dangerous sting of serpents As for Cinque soile or fiue leaued grasse there is not one but knoweth it so common it is and commendable besides for the strawberries which it beareth The Greeks call it Pentapetes Chamaezelon or Pentaphyllon the Latines Quinquefolium The root when it is new digged looketh red but as it beginneth to drie aboue ground so it waxeth black and becommeth also cornered It tooke the common naââ¦e both in Greeke and Latine of the number of leaues which it beareth This herb herein is of great affinitie with the vine that they both bud spring leafe and shed the same together It is vsed also about purging blessing of the house against naughtie spirits or inchantments As for Sparganium an herb so called by the Greeks the root thereof is good to be giuen in white wine against venomous serpents Of Carrots Petronius Diodotus hath set downe 4 seueral kinds But what need I to go through them all foure seeing they may be reduced well enough into twaine and doe require no other distinctions The best and most approued Carrots be those of Candy the next to which in goodnesse come out of Achaia But generally in what countrey soeuer they grow the better be such as come vp in the sounder and drier grounds As touching the Candy Carot it resembleth fennel but that the leaues stand more vpon the white they be smaller also and hairy withall The stem groweth vpright a foot high and hath a root odoriferous to smell vnto and of a most pleasant tast this ioieth in stony places exposed to the South quarter of the world As for the other Carots of a wild nature In what countrey grow they not you shall finde them vpon earthie bankes and hils you shall haue them about high waies but neuer shal a man meet with them in a leane and hungry ground they loue a battle and fat soile their leaues come neare to the Coriander their stem ariseth to a cubit heigth bearing round heads three ordinarily and otherwhiles more the root is of a wooddy substance and being once dried it serueth to no purpose The seed of this kind is like vnto Cumin but of the former to Millet grain white quick and sharp and they be all odoriferous and hot in the mouth The seed of the second is more aegre and biting than the former and therefore ought to be taken in lesse quantitie As for the third kind if we list to make so many it is much like to the wild Parsnep called in Greek Staphylinos and in Latine Pastinaca Erratica the same beareth a seed somwhat long in form and a sweet root All the sort of these Dauci or Carots are safe enough from the bit of four-footed beasts both winter summer vnlesse it be after they haue cast their abortiue fruit before-time for then they seek therto to be clensed of their gleane Of all Carots the seeds be vsed only but that of Candie affordeth the root also which is sweet but both the seed of the one sort and the root of the other be most appropriat remedies against serpents a dram weight in wine is a sufficient dose at a time which also may be giuen in a drench to foure-footed beasts that be stung by them Touching the herb Therionarca I mean not that which the Magitians vse it groweth also in this part of the world here with vs in Italy many branches it putteth forth and springs thick with diuers shoots from the root the leaues be of a light green and the floure of a red-rose colour it killeth serpents outright besides it hath this property That if it be brought neere vnto any wild beast whatsoeuer it benummeth their sences whereupon it took that name Persolata which the Greek writers call Arcion there is not one but knoweth large leaues it hath and bigger than the very Gourds more hairy blacker also and thicker a white root and a great this root taken in wine to the weight of two deniers Roman is good likewise against the venom of serpents In like manner the root of Cyclaminus or Sow-bread is as effectual against them all leaues it hath somewhat resembling those of Ivy but that they be of a more duskish and sad greene smaller also and without corners wherein a man may perceiue certaine whitish specks The stem is little and hollow within the flours of a purple colour the root broad so as a man would take it to be a Turnep and couered ouer with a black rind it groweth in shadowy places Our countrymen here in Italy call it in Latine Tuber terrae that is to say The knur or bunch of the ground Sowne and planted it would be in euery garden about an house if so be it be true that is reported of it namely that wheresoeuer it groweth it is as good as a countercharm against al witchcraft and sorceries which kind of defensatiue is called properly Amuletum Moreouer this root they say if it be put into a cup of wine turneth the brain presently and maketh as many drunk as drink therof For the better keeping and preseruing of this root it must be ordered after the manner of Squilla or Sea-onion roots i. cut into thinne slices or roundles then dried and so laid vp the same also is vsually sodden to the consistence or thickenesse of hony As good as this root is in those former respects yet it is not without some venomous quality for it is commonly said That if a woman with child chance to step ouer it shee will fall presently to labour before her time and lose the fruit of her wombe A second kind of Cyclaminus or Swine bread I finde syrnamed by the Greekes Cissanthemos growing with stems full of knots or joints hollow within and good for nothing far different from the former winding and clasping about trees bearing berries much like to those of Ivy but they are soft a white floure faire and louely to see too but a needlesse root for any goodnesse in it the berries that it beareth be only in vse and those are of a sharp and biting tast yet they be viscous and clammy to the tongue these being dried in the shadow and stamped are afterwards reduced into certain bals or trosches My self haue seen a third kind also of Cyclaminos carying the name besides of Chamaecissos which brought forth but one only leafe the root
the forehead together with Cinquefoile stoppeth the fall of humors into the eies and cureth all other maladies incident vnto them Mullen or Lungwort is likewise a great defensatiue against the foresaid rheums which haue taken a course to the eies and cause them to water so is Veruain if it be applied with oile rosat or vineger For the cataract or suffusion of the eies for the pin and web which offend the eie-sight the Trosches of Cyclamine being dissolued and so applied are soueraigne As for the juice of Peucedanum i. Hare-strange it is as I said before a notable medicine for to cleare the sight and rid away the muddy mists before the eies if it be laid to with Opium and oile rosat Finally Flea-woort staieth and keepeth vp the flux of humors into the eies if the forehead be annointed with the mucilage thereof CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Pimpernell named Anagallis and Corchoros Of Mandragoras or Circeium Of Hemlocke Crestmarine or Sampire named in Greeke Crithmos Agria Of the herbe Molybdaena Of Fumiterre Of Acorus or Galangale Of Floure-de-lys Of Cotyledon or Venus navill Of Sengreen and Purcellane Of Groundswell Of Ephemeron Of the Tazill and of Crowsoot with the medicinable vertues of the said hearbes appropriate to the diseases of the eies cares nosthrils teeth and mouth THe herbe Pimpernell some call Anagallis others Corchoros Of it be found two kindes the male with a red floure the female with a blew neither of them both be taller than the hand-bredth or a span at most tender they be likewise in all parts the leaues be very smal round and lying vpon the ground they grow as well the one as the other in gardens and watery places that with the blew floure bloweth first the juice of them both tempered with hony dispatcheth the mist and dimnesse of the eies consumeth the rednesse occasioned by a stripe or bruise and taketh away the red spots in the white of the eie and so much the sooner if the hony be of the best and made about Athens wherewith the eies be annointed The said medicine likewise is good for to extend and dilate the tunicles that make the ball or apple of the eie and therefore it is an ordinary course that their eies be annointed therewith beforehand who are to be pricked with a needle for couching of a cataract These herbs be singular good likewise for the haw in horses or beasts eies The iuice of Pimpernell conueyed vp into the nosthrils cleanseth the braine by the emunctory of the nose so that afterwards the Patient do draw vp wine into the nosthrils for a collution to wash them A dram of the said iuice drunk in wine is a counterpoison against the venom of snakes But this is strange and I cannot chuse but maruell of it that sheep should so much hate and abhor the female Pimpernell as they do howbeit in case they should mistake the one for the other because they are so like for in flour only they differ and tast the Pimpernel with the blew floure presently they haue recourse by a natural instinct to an herbe for remedy called in Greeke Asyla and by vs in Latine Ferus oculus i. the wild and cruell eie or Margellane Some there be who set down certain ceremonies and circumstances to be obserued by them who are to dig or plucke vp this hearbe namely That they goe to this businesse before the Sun-rising and salute or bid good morrow to it three times before they speak any other word that morning and then to take it vp and cast it on high which don to presse forth the iuice of it Thus ordered forsooth they say it is of better operation and will do the deed surely Touching Euphorbium what it is I haue sufficiently spoken The iuice thereof is singular for bleered eies especially if they be swelled withall likewise wormwood stamped and incorporat with hony as also the pouder of Betony There groweth many times a fistulous vlcer betweene the corner of the eie and the nose called Aegilops for to heale which sore there is a soueraigne herbe of that name growing among Barly in blade or leafe it resembleth that of wheat the seed or graine whereof beaten into pouder and mixed with meale or floure or the juice drawne out of the herbe they vse for the said purpose to applie vnto the affected place in manner of a salue or liniment Now the said juice must be pressed out of the stalke and leaues thereof whiles they be fresh and fullest of sap but then the haw or eare that it beareth ought to be taken away which being incorporat with the floure of three moneths corn is made vp into bals or trosches Some were wont in this cure to vse the juice also of Mandragoras but they gaue it ouer afterwards Howbeit for certain the root of Mandragoras bruised or stamped and tempered with the oile of roses and wine cureth weeping and watering eies yea and assuageth their pain the said juice how soeuer it be rejected in the former case goeth into many collyries or eye-salues This herbe Mandragoras some writers cal Circeium and two kinds there be of it the white which is supposed the male and the black which you must take for the female the leaues of this female resemble those of the Lectuce but that they be narrower hairy also they are and al of an equall bignesse Two or three roots it hath and those of a reddish or russet colour without but white within of a fleshy substance and tender running downe into the earth almost a cubit in length A certain fruit or apple they beare of the bignesse of Filberds or Hazel-nuts within which there be seeds like vnto the pippens or Pears The white Mandrage some name Arsen i the male others Morion and there be again who cal it Hypophlomos The white leaues of this Mandrage be broader than the other and indeed equall to the garden Docke or Patience In the digging vp of the root of Mandrage there are some ceremonies obserued first they that goe about this worke looke especially to this that the wind be not in their face but blow vpon their backs then with the pont of a sword they draw three circles round about the plant which don they dig it vp afterwards with their face into the West There is a juice pressed forth both of the fruit and also of the leaues shred and minced of the stem likewise being first headed or the top cut off and also of the root which somtime they do pounce and prick for to let out the liquor otherwhiles they boile it and the root so prepared is as good as the juice The same also being cut into certain thin rundles they vse to preserue in wine Howbeit Mandrage is not found alwaies and euery where full of juice but in what place soeuer such may bee gotten the right season to seek for it is about vintage time the sent therof is
the pleurisie Touching that Plant which the French cal Halum the Venetians Cotonea it is holden excellent for the griefe of the sides for the reines those that be plucked with the cramp and bursten by any inward rupture this herb somwhat resembleth wild Origan or Marjeram saue that in the ââ¦ead it is like rather vnto Thyme sweet it is in tast and quencheth thirst a spungeous and ââ¦ht root it hath in one place white in another black Of the same operation for the paires of the ââ¦de is Chamaerops an herbe which hath leaues growing double about the stalk and those like vnto the Myrtle leaues and bearing certain buttons or heads much after the manner of the Greekish Rose and the way to take it is in wine Agarick drunk in that order as it was prescribed for the cough doth assuage the paine of the Sciatica and the back bone Semblably doth the pouder of dried Stoechas or Betony if it be taken in mead or honied water CHAP. VIII ¶ Of all the infirmities and remedies of the belly and those parts that either be adioining to it or within contained The means how to loosen and bind the belly TOuching the panch or belly much ado there is with it and although most men care for nothing els in this life but to content and please the belly yet of all other parts it putteth them to most trouble for one while it is so costiue as that it will giue no passage to the meat another while so slippery as it will keep none of it one time you shal haue it so peeuish as that it can receiue no food and another time so weake and feeble that it is able to make no good concoction of it And verily now adaies the world is growne to that passe that the mouth and panch together are the chiefe meanes to worke our death The wombe I say the wickedest vessell belonging to our bodies is euermore vrgent like an importunat creditour demanding debt and oftentimes in a day calleth vnto vs for victuals for the bellies sake especially we are so couetous to gather good for the belly we lay vp so many dainties and superfluities to content the belly we stick not to saile as far as the riuer Phasis and to please the belly we seek sound the bottome of the deep seas and when all is done no man euer thinketh how base and abject this part of the body is considering that filthy ordure and excrement which passeth from it in the end No maruell then if Physitians be much troubled about it and be forced to deuise the greatest number of medicines for the help and cure thereof And to begin with the staying and binding of it a dram of Scordotis the herbe stamped greene and taken in wine doth the feat so doth the decoction thereof if it be drunke Also Polemonia is a soueraigne herb to be giuen in wine for the bloudy flix The root of Mullen or Lungwort taken to the quantity of two fingers in water worketh the same effect The seed of Nymphaea Heraclea drunk in wine is of the like operation so is the vpper part of the double root of Glader or the Flagge ministred to the weight of two drams in vineger To this purpose also serueth Plantaine seed done into pouder and put into a cup of wine or the herb it selfe boiled with vineger or els frumenty pottage taken with the juice thereof Plantaine sodden with Lentils or the pouder of the dry herb strewed like spice into drinke together with the pouder of starched Poppie The iuice also of Plantain or of Betony put into wine that hath bin heat with a red hot gad of steele either ministred by clystre or drunk in the said case is very commendable Moreouer the same Plantain or Betony is singular to be giuen in some green or austere wine for those who are troubled with the lask proceeding from a weake stomack and for that purpose Iberis may be applied vnto the region of their belly as I haue before said In the disease Tinesmus which is an inordinat quarrell to the stool and a straining vpon it without doing any thing the root of Nemphar or Nymphaea Heraclia is singular good to bee drunk in wine likewise Fleawort taken in water the decoction of Galangale root the juice of Housleeke or Sengreene stoppeth the flux of the womb staieth the bloudy flix and chaseth out of the body the round worms The root of Comfrey and of the Carot stoppeth likewise the bloudy flix The leaues of Housleeke stamped and taken in wine are singular good against the wringing torments of the belly The pouder of dried Alcaea drunk cureth the said wrings Astragalus i. Pease Earth-nut an herb bearing long leaues indented with many cuts or jags and those which be about the root made bias riseth vp with three or foure stems full of leaues carieth a floure like to the Hyacinth or Crow toes the roots are bearded and full of strings enfolded one within another red of colour and exceeding hard in substance it groweth in rockes and stonie grounds exposed to the Sun and yet charged or couered with snow the most part of the yeare such as is the mountain Pheneus in Arcadia This herb hath an astringent power the root if it be drunk in wine bindeth the belly by which means it prouoketh vrine namely by driving backe the serous and watery humors to the reines like as most of those simples that be astringent that way are diureticall The same root stamped and taken in red wine healeth the exulceration of the guts thereby staieth the bloudy flix but suââ¦ely hard it is to bruise or stamp it the same is singular for the apostumation of the gums if they be fomented therwith the right season to draw and gather those roots is in the end of Autumne when the herb hath lost the leaues and then they ought to be dried in the shade Both sorts of Ladanum growing among corne be excellent for to knit the belly if they be stamped and searced The manner is to drink them in mead likewise in wine to represse choler Now the herb whereof Ladanum is made is called Lada groweth in the Island Cypros the liquor wherof sticketh commonly to goats beards The excellent Ladanum commeth out of Arabia There is a kind of it made now adaies in Syria and Africke which they call Toxicon for that in those countries the people vse to take their bow strings lapped about with wooll trail the same after them among those plants which beare Ladanum and so the fattie dew cleaueth therto Of this Ladanum I haue written more at large in my treatise of ointments redolent compositions but this later kind is strongest in sauor hardest in hande and no maruell for it gathereth much grosse and earthy substance whereas indeed the best Ladanum is commended and chosen when it is pure clear odoriferous soft green and full of rosin The
hath a round root and the same yellowish and senting much of the earth the stem is foure cornered of a mean height small and slender and the floure much like to that of Basill Found it is ordinarily in stony grounds The root of this hearb drunk in mead to the weight of 2 deniers doth euacuat downward by the belly both cholericke and also flegmatick humors The seed causeth troublesome and vnquiet dreams if one drinke a dram therof in wine Fumiterre also consumeth and dispatcheth the kings-euill Polypodium which wee cal in Latine Filicula because it is like vnto Fearn purgeth choler The root which is only medicinable and in vse is ful of hairs of a greenish colour within as big commonly as a mans little finger full of hollow concauities it is representing those holes that the fishes called Polypi haue about their feet or clees sweetish it is in tast and groweth either vpon rocks or else at the foot of old trees After that this root hath bin wel soked in water they vse to presse the iuice forth of it or the same may be shred minced smal strewed among pothearbs either of Beers or Mallows yea and put into the pot with them or els tempered in some salt sauce or sodden in broth a fine medicine and a safe gently loosing the belly though the patient were in an ague it doth euacuat choler and flegme both but somwhat offensiue it is to the stomack The pouder of it dried conueighed vp into the nosthrils consumeth the ill-fauoured sore within called Polypus or Noli-me-tangere It floureth but seedeth not Moreouer Scammonie also ouerturns and hurteth the stomack vnlesse two drams of Aloe be put vnto as many oboli of it for then it purgeth choler and sendeth it down by the belly Now this Scammonie is the juice of a certain herb called likewise Scammonea which brancheth and tufteth immediatly from the root the leaues be fat white and made triangle wise the root thick moist and in handling wil make ones stomack to rise and be ready to heaue It loueth to grow in battle grounds and those of a white leere About the rising of the great Dog-star they vse to make an hollow trough in the root as it groweth to the end that all the moisture thereof may fall and gather into it which liquor beeing dried in the Sun is wrought and made into bals or trochisks The root it selfe also is commonly dried or at leastwise the rind thereof In regard of the countrey where it groweth that is commended most which comweth from Colophon Mysia and Priene but if you respect the form and look of it chuse that which is neat and clean resembling as neare as possibly may be strong Oxe glue spungeous or fistulous full of holes or passing small pipes If you go by other qualities take that which wil soon dissolue or melt which also hath a strong and stinking smel clammy and gummy turning into a whitish liquor like milk if you taste it at the tongues end exceeding light in the hand and when it is resolued growing to a whitish colour And yet this property you shall see in that Scammonie which is sophisticate and that yw is may soone be done for do but take the meale or floure of Eruile and the iuice of the sea Tithymal such is that commonly which commeth from Iudaea it wil counterfeit the right Scammony but such stuffe as this offendeth the throat and is ready to choke or strangle as many as vse it Howbeit this may be soon found by the very tast only for the Tithymall setteth the tongue in a heat as if it were a bulb root and is not good to purge whether a man take it fasting or full As for the true and sincere Scammony they were wont to exhibit it for a purgation euen simply by it self alone in a draught of mead with some salt and the dose was four oboli But it was found to do the deed best and most effectually taken with Aloe so that the patient when it began once to worke took a prety draught of sweet honied wine Furthermore the root if it be boiled in vineger to the consistence of hony maketh a singular liniment for to annoint the leptosie yea and in case of head-ach it is found good to annoint the head with it oile together As for the Tithymall aforesaid our countrymen here in Italy some call it Lactaria as one would say the Milke herb other Lactuca caprina i. Goats Lectuce It is commonly said that with the milke or juice of these Tithymals a man may write vpon the skinne of the body for draw any letters therewith and strew ashes or dust thereupon when they be drie they will appeare very legible And this is a tricke practised by those that make court vnto other mens wiues their mistresses deliuering their minds secretly vnto them by this means which they dare not set down in paper or missiue letters Many kinds there be of these Tithymals The first is known by the addition of Characias which also is called the male Tithymall the branches be of a finger thicknes red riueled 5 or 6 in number running vp to the height of a cubit and leaued they be immediatly from the root which hang downward inclining to the earth but in the top it hath an hairy tuft or head in manner of rushes This groweth in rough places and rocks by the seas side The seed together with the hairy bush that it hath they vse commonly to gather in Autumn which after it be dried in the Sun they stamp and then lay vp against their need As for the iuice men draw it about the time that Quinces begin to ripen and gather a downe about them for then they breake the sprigges and tender crops of the plant out of which there issueth the iuice or milk which they receiue either in Eruile floure or els vpon figs that it may dry with them together Now it is sufficient to let fiue drops fall vpon euery such fig for this opinion they haue that looke how many drops light vpon a fig so many stooles shall hee haue who taketh that fig in a dropsie to purge waterish humors But in the gathering of this iuice or liquour great heed must be taken that no drop of it touch the eyes There is a iuice also pressed out of the leaues being bruised and stamped but not so effectuall as the former The decoction of the branches also is vsed to the same purpose And the seed being sodden serueth to the making of certaine pils confected with hony which are highly commended for purgatiues the same seed enclosed within wax is good to be put into hollow teeth when they ake in which case also a collution made of the root boiled in wine or oile is singular good if they be washed therewith With the iuice of this herb there is a liniment made for tettars and ringworms and some
water vpon it whensoeuer it began to drie vpon him with the heat of his body seldome was it vndone or remooued and neuer but when of necessity for verie change fresh was laied too for default of the other and by this manner of cure and no other the poore wretch recouered perfectly in so smal a time that it was wonderful and almost incredible CHAP. IX ¶ Of the berrie called Coccum Gnidium Of the Tazill and Oke ferne Of Dryophonon and Elatine Of Empetrum otherwise named Calcifraga Of Epipactis or Elleborine Of Epimedium Enneaphyllon and Ferne. Of the herbe named Oxe-thigh Of Galeopsis otherwise Galeobdolon Of Glaux or Eugalactum THe berrie Coccum Gnidium in colour resembleth the Scarlet graine in quantity a pepper corne but that it is bigger of an ardent and caustick quality it is and therefore they vse to lap it in the soft crum or pith of a loaf of bread and to swallow it for feare it should burn the throat as it passeth down A present remedy this is for those who are impoisoned with Hemlocke and it hath a good propertie to stop a laske The Tazill called in Greeke Dipsacos hath leaues much resembling Lectuce sauing that in the mids of the back-part there are to be seen certain bubbles as it were or risings and those be prickly the main stem which it beareth is two cubits high and the same armed with pricks at euery ioint and knot whereof it putteth forth two leaues which do compasse and inclose the same round about in maner of wings making thereby a certaine concauitie or hollow receptacle wherein alwaies there standeth a saltish dew or water In the top of this maine stem and other branches proceeding from it it beareth certaine burry heads beset all ouer with sharpe pricks like those of an Vrchin and it loueth to grow in waterie places This herb closeth vp and skinneth the fissures or chaps in the fundament also the root boiled in wine healeth fistuloes but the same ought to be so tender sodden as it may be wrought like wax that a colyrie or tent made of it may be put into the concauitie of the sore Moreouer it cureth werts of all sorts and some there be who to take away werts wash them with the liquor found in the hollow pith of the foresaid wings The Oke fern named in Greek Dryopteris is like to other fern groweth vpon trees hauing leaues finely slit and those somewhat sweet in tast the root is rough and hairy of a caustick and fiery nature is this herb and therefore the root being punned is a depilatory and fetcheth off haire for which purpose the manner is to apply it in manner of a liniment vntill it procure sweat which course would be re-iterated twice or thrice during which time the sweat must not be wiped away Dryophonon is an herb much like to Dryopteris the stems wherof be small yet growing to the length of a cubit those be inuironed on both sides with leaues an inch broad in shape much like to Bruscus or butchers-broom called in Greek Oxymyrsine but they be whiter and softer bearing a white floure likewise in manner of the Elder The young crops and tendrils of this herb may be eaten when they are sodden and the seed is commonly vsed in stead of pepper Running Buckwheat or Bindweed named in Greek Elatine putteth forth smal leaues round and hairy much like to those of Parietary of the wal and immediatly from the root there spring fiue or six prety branches halfe a foot long furnished well with leaues This herb grows among corn soure it is and harsh in tast wherupon it is taken to be very effectuall to represse the fluxe of humors which cause watering eies if the leaues be stamped with barley groats and applied with a fine linnen cloath vnderneath The same boiled together with Lineseed cureth the bloudy flix in case the patient drinke the broth or decoction thereof As for Empetron which our countrymen in Latine name Calcifraga it groweth vpon mountains regarding the sea and commonly vpon rocks and stony cliffes the nearer it is to the sea the salter tast it hath by which means if it be taken in drink it purgeth choler fleam the farther off that it groweth from the sea and the more terrene and earthly substance that it hath the bitterer is it found to be and this doth euacuat waterish humors but the manner of taking it is in some potage or els in mead Being long kept it loseth the force if it be fresh and new gathered and then either sodden or stamped it is diureticall and breaketh the stone And verily they that promise thus much in the behalfe of Empetron and would seem to justifie and make good their word do affirme for the better credit thereof That if stones doe boile with it in the same pan they will burst in pieces Epipactis named by some Elleborine is a little herb bearing small leaues soueraign for the diseases of the liuer and against all poisons if it be taken in drinke Epimenidion putteth forth no great stem bearing ten or twelue leaues resembling the Iuie but it neuer sheweth floure the root is smal black and of a strong and stinking smel it groweth vpon moist grounds of an astringent nature it is and cooleth mightily an hearbe that women must beware of The leaues stamped and applied to the paps of maides keep them down that that they shall not grow Enneaphyllon hath long leaues in number nine neither fewer nor more and those be of a burning or causticke nature a singular hearbe for the paines of loines and the Sciatica but it ought to be applied enwrapped well in wooll for feare least it burne the flankes for presently it raiseth blisters Of Ferne be two kinds and they beare neither floure nor seed Some of the Greekes call the one Pteris others Blechnon from one root whereof there spring many branches representing wings and those exceed two cubits in length yeelding no vnpleasant sauor and this they suppose to be the male The second kind the said Greeks some call Thelypteris others Nymphaea Pteris this groweth single and brancheth not into many stems shorter it is than the former softer also and thicker of leaues and those toward the root guttered and somwhat hollow there is neither of them both but their roots will feed swine fat and the leaues of the one as well as the other are disposed on both sides so as they do represent birds wings wherupon the Greeks gaue them the name Pteris The roots of both Fernes be long and those growing bias in colour blacke especially when they be drie and dried they ought to be in the Sunne Fern groweth euery where but their most delight is in a cold soile The due time of digging them vp is about the setting of the star Virgiliae There is no vse in Physicke of their roots but when they be iust two yeres
yong hare or leueret it is wonderfull to see how effectually they will worke Snakes bones incorporat with the rennet of any foure-footed beast whatsoeuer within lesse than 3 daies shew the same effect and draw forth any thing that sticketh within the body Finally the flies called Cantharides are much commended for this operation if they be stamped and incorporat with barly meale CHAP. XIIII ¶ Proper remedies for the cure of womens maladies and to help them for to goe out their full time and bring forth the fruit of their wombfully ripe and accomplished THe skin or secundine which an Ewe gleaneth after she hath yeaned and which inlapped the lambe within her belly prepared ordered and vsed as I said before as touching goats it is very good for the infirmities that properly bee incident vnto women and occasioned by their naturall parts The dung likewise of sheep be they rammes ewes or weathers hath the same operation But to come vnto particulars the infirmity which otherwhiles putteth them to passe their vrine with difficulty and by dropmeale is cured principally by sitting ouer a perfume or suffumigation of Locusts If a woman after that she is conceiued with child vse eft-soons to eat a dish of meat made of cock-stones the infant that she goeth with shall proue a man child as it is commonly thought and spoken When a woman is with childe the meanes to preserue her from any shift and slip that she may tarry out her full terme is to drink the ashes of Porkepines calcined also the drinking of a bitches milk maketh the infant within the womb to come on forward to grow to perfection before it seek to come forth vntimely also if the child stick in the birth or otherwise make no haste to come forth of the mothers body when the time is come the skin wherein the bitch bare her whelps within her body and which commeth away from her after she hath puppied hasteneth the birth if so be it were taken away from her before it touch the ground If women in labour drinke milke it will comfort their loins or smal of the back Mice dung delaied and dissolued in rain water is very good to annoint the brests of a woman new laied to break their kernel and to allay their ouermuch strutting presently after childbirth The ashes of hedgehogs preserueth women from abortion or vntimely births if they be annointed with a liniment made of them and oile incorporat together The better speed and more ease shall those women haue of deliuerance which in the time of their trauell drinke a draught of Goose dung in two cyaths of water or else the water that issueth out of their owne body by the natural parts a little before the child should be borne and that out of a weazils bladder A liniment made of earth-wormes if the nouch or chine of the necke and the shoulder blades be annointed therewith preserueth a woman from the pain of the sinews which commonly followeth vpon child-bearing and the same send away the after-birth if when they bee newly brought to bed they drink the same in wine cuit A cataplasme made of them simply alone without any other thing and applied to womens sore brests which are impostumat bring the same to maturation breake them when they are ripe draw them after that they runne and in the end heale them vp cleane and skin all again The said earthwormes also if they be drunk in honied wine bring down milk into their brests There be certain little wormes found breeding in the common Coich-grasse called Gramen which if a woman weare about her neck serue very effectually to cause her for to keep her infant within the wombe the ordinary terme but she must leaue them off when she drawes neere to the time when she should cry out for otherwise if they be not taken from her they would hinder her deliuerance Great heed also there must be taken that these wormes bee not laid vpon the ground in any hand Moreouer there be Physitians who giue women to drink 5 or 7 of them at a time for to help them to conceiue If women vse to eat snailes dressed as meat they shall be deliuered with more speed if they were in hard labour let them be applied to the region of the matrice or naturall parts with Saffron they hasten conception If the same be reduced into a liniment with Amylum and gum Tragacanth and laid too accordingly they do stay the immoderat flux of reds or whites Being eaten in meat they are soueraigne for their monthly purgations And with the marrow of a red Deere they reduce the matrice againe into the right place if it were turned a to-side but this regard must be had that to euery snaile there be put a dram weight of Cyperus also If the matrice be giuen to ventosities let the same snails be taken forth of their shels stamped and laid too with oile of Roses they discusse the windinesse thereof And for these purposes before named the snailes of Astypalaea be chosen for the best Also for to resolue the inflation of this part there is another medicine made with snailes especially those of Barbarie namely to take two of them and to stampe them with as much Fenigreeke seed as may be comprehended with three fingers adding thereto the quantity of four spoonfuls of hony and when they be reduced all into a liniment to apply the same to the region of the womb after the same hath been well and throughly annointed all ouer with the iuice of Ireos i. Floure-de-lis There be moreouer certaine white snailes that be small and long withall and these be commonly wandering here and there in euery place These beeing dried in the Sun vpon tiles and reduced into pouder they vse to blend with bean floure of each a like quantity And this is thought to be an excellent mixture for to beautifie their body and make the skin white and smooth Also if the itch be offensiue so as a woman be found euer and anone to scratch and rub those parts there is not a better thing therefore than the little flat snails if they be brought into a liniment with fried Barly groats If a woman with child chance to step ouer a Viper shee shall be deliuered before her time of an vnperfect birth The like accident wil befal vnto her in case she go ouer the serpent Amphisbaena if the same were dead before And yet if a woman haue about her in a box one of them aliue shee shall not need to feare the going ouer them though they were dead And one of these Amphisbaenes dead as it is and preserued or condite in salt procureth safe and easie deliuerance to a woman that hath it about her A wonderfull thing that it should be so dangerous for a woman with childe to passe ouer one of them which hath not bin kept in salt and that the same should be harmelesse and do no hurt at
it And verily so aduerse and contrary are they vnto Scorpions that if they be punned with Basill into a certaine composition it will kill them if the same be but laid vpon them Of the same force they are against the sting or biting of any other venomous beast besides and more especially of the pernicious hardishrew Scytale of snakes sea-hares and hedge-toads Many there be who vse to saue the ashes of Creyfishes calcined as a soueraigne remedy for all such as be in danger to fall into the symptome of fearfulnesse to drink incident to those that are bitten by mad-dogs some adde thereto the herbe Gentian and giue both together in wine to drink but if the sayd symptome of Hydrophobie haue surprized them already then the said ashes or powder ought to bee reduced by the meanes of wine into trosches or pils which they prescribe vnto their patients for to be swallowed downe The Magitians proceed farther and affirme that if a man take ten Creifishes and tie them all together with a good bunch or handfull of basill all the Scorpions that be thereabout will assemble together to that one place and they giue order that if a man be hurt already with a scorpion there should be a cataplasme made of them or at leastwayes of their ashes mixed with Basill and so applied to the place affected The sea-crabs are nothing so good of operation in all these causes as the Land-crabs or Creifishes aforesaid according as Thrasillus mine Authour doth report Howbeit hee sayth neuerthelesse that there are no such enemies to serpents as Crabs and he affirmeth moreouer That if swine be stung or hurt by serpents they helpe and cure themselues by feeding vpon sea-Crabs onely and seeke for no other helpe or remedie Hee addeth furthermore and auoucheth that serpents are ill at ease yea and much tormented with paine when the Sunne is in the signe of the crab called commonly Cancer To come now to the riuer shell-snailes most certaine it is that their flesh whether it bee raw or boyled is singular good to resist the venome of scorpions inflicted by their pricke or sting and some there be who for to haue them in a readinesse to serue in those cases keep them in salt and they ordaine them to be applied vnto the very sore it seife occasioned by their foresayd sting As for the blacke fishes named Coracini they are peculiar and appropriate vnto the riuer Nilus howsoeuer my determination and purpose is to deliuer medicines profitable and beneficiall to all parts of the earth in general Their flesh is good to be applied vnto the sores caused by scorpions The Sea-swine or Porpuis hath pricky fins vpon his back and those are counted amongst other venomous things that the sea yeeldeth putting them to much paine that are wounded or hurt thereby but what help therfore surely the very muddy slime that gathereth about the body of the same fish is the onely remedy The Sea-calfe otherwise named a Seale hath a certaine greace wherewith it is good to annoint the face or visage of those who by reason that they are bitten with a mad dog are afraid to drink and cannot away with water but it will worke the better if there be mingled therewith the marrow of an Hyaena the oile of the Mastich tree and wax that all may be reduced into a liniment As for the biting of a Lamprey there is not a better thing to heal it than the ashes of a lampreys head The Puffin likewise or Fork-fish cureth the wound that himselfe inflicted namely if the place be annointed with his own ashes tempered with vineger or mixt with the ashes of any other fish If a man would make meat of this fish there ought to be taken out of the backe whatsoeuer is there found like to saffron likewise the head all and whole would be taken away and yet to maintain and keep the tast thereof the same must be washed but a little and no more than all shell fishes for otherwise all the pleasantnesse in the eating would be clean gone The mischieuous venome of the sea-hare called otherwise Imbriago is quenched clean and mortified by taking the flesh of the sea-Horse any way in drinke Against the poison of deadly dwale the meat of sea-vrchins is soueraigne whosoeuer haue drunk the dangerous juice of Carpasum find much ease and help especially by supping their decoction To conclude the broth of sea-crabs likewise taken is thought to be effectual against the foresaid dwale named Dorycnium CHAP. VI. ¶ Of Oisters and Purple shell-fishes of Sea-mosse or Reits and the remedies which they affoord MOreouer Oisters haue a speciall vertue to resist the venome of the sea-hare And albeit I haue written already of oisters yet me thinks I cannot speak sufficiently of them seeing that for these many yeres they haue bin held for the principal dish daintiest meat that can be serued vp to the table This fish loueth to haue fresh water joieth to be in those coasts where most riuers do run into the sea which is the reason few of them are found in the deep called therupon Pelagia and those thriue not but are in comparison very small Howbeit they breed and ingender otherwhiles among rocks in such holes which want the recourse of sweet waters as for example about Grynia and Myrina They wax big and full according to the encrease of the Moon as I haue shewed already in my treatise of creatures liuing in waters but principally about the spring prime when they be full of a certain humour or moisture like vnto milk and in those shallow places where the sun pearceth with his beams to the very bottom of the water And this seemeth to be the reason that in other coasts and parts of the sea they bee found far lesse for shade hindreth their growth and for want of the cheerfull sight of the sunne they haue lesse appetite to meat feed not moreouer this is to be noted that oisters differ one from another in colour In Spaine they be reddish whereas in Sclauonia they be brown and duskish but about the cape Circeij in Italy their shell and flesh both be blacke In what coast or countrey soeuer they be found the best and principall those are held to be which be massie and compact not glib and slippery without with their owne humour and moisture and rather bee they chosen which are thicke than broad and flat such also as bee taken neither in muddy nor yet in sandie places but vpon the sound and firme ground in the bottome hauing their white meat trussed vp short and round and not flaggie as flesh the same not jagged and fringed about in the edges with smal strings but lying all close vnited together as it were couched within the belly They that be more expert and practised in the choice of oisters adde one marke more to chuse them by namely if there be a purple thread or string that compasseth them
floure of salnitre it healeth corrupt and putrified vlcers such as stink again the same being boiled in hony with Nigella Romana doth gently loose the belly if the naual be anointed therwith To conclude M. Varro saith that gold wil cause werts to fal off CHAP. V. ¶ Of Borras and the six medicinable properties that it hath the wonderfull Nature thereof in sodring one mettall with another and in bringing all mettals to their perfection CHrysocolla called otherwise Borax or green earth is found in those pits and mines that are digged for gold and a humor it is at the first running along the veine of gold which as it thickneth and groweth muddy congealeth at length by the extreame cold of winter to the hardnesse of a pumish stone Howbeit the best kind of Borax we haue known by experience to be ingendred in mines of brasse and the next to it for goodnes in those of siluer otherwhiles also men meet withal in leaden mines but the same is not so good as that which the gold mines doe yeeld Moreouer there may be an artificiall Borras made in all the said mettall mines but far inferior to that which is naturall namely by letting water gently to run among their veines all winter long vntill the month of Iune the which water in Iune Iuly wil grow to be dry and prooue Borras whereby a man may perceiue plainely that Borras is nothing els but a putrified vein of mettall But this Minerall if it be of the own kind differeth from this other which is made by art of man especially in hardnesse for much harder it is and called the yellow Borax or in Latine Lutea and yet it may be brought to that colour by artificiall means namely by dying with an herb called likewise Lutea for of this nature it is that it will take color drink it in as well as linnen or woollen But for to dresse and prepare it for the purpose first they pun it in a morter then they let it passe through a fine serce afterwards it is ground or beaten againe so it is serced a second time through a finer serce whatsoeuer passeth not through but remaineth behind must be punned once more in a mortar so ground into a small pouder and euer as they haue reduced any into pouder they put it into sundry pots or cruses then they let the same to lie enfused and soked in vinegre till the hardnes therin be wholly resolued which done to the mortar it goeth againe where it must be throughly stamped for altogether and so when it is well washed out of one trey or boll into another they let it dry after it is thus prepared they giue it a colour with the herb Lutea beforesaid and alume de plume and thus you see it must be painted and died first before it selfe serue to paint or die withall And herein it skilleth much how pliable apt it is to receiue the said color for vnlesse it haue willingly taken a deep tincture they vse to put therto Schytanum and Turbystum for so they call two drugs which serue to make it take a color the better This Borax thus died our painters vse to call Orobitis and two kinds they make therof to wit Lutea i. the yellow which they keep for the pouder or colour Lomuntum the other liquid namely when the said grains or pellets be resolued into a kind of moisture like drops of sweat This Borax of both sorts is made in the Isle Cypros The principall and best of all other comes from Armenia in a second degree from Macedonia but the greatest quantity therof is in Spain The excellent Borax is known by this mark especially If it resemble perfectly in colour the deep and full green that is in the blade of corn wel liking In our time namely in the daies of the Emperor Nero the floore of the grand cirque or shew-place at Rome was seen paued all ouer with greene Boras at what time as he exhibited goodly sights and pastimes to the people and namely when he meant himselfe to run a race with charriots and took pleasure to driue his horses vpon a ground sutable to the colour of the cloth or liuerie that he wore himself at that time and in truth a world of workemen he brought thither to lay the said pauing Al the sorts of Boras may be reduced into three distinct kinds to wit the rough valued at seuen denarij a pound the meane which is worth fiue and the poudred Boras called also the grasse-green Borax which costeth not aboue three deniers the pound As for the sandie or poudred Boras the painters before they vse it lay the first ground vnderneath it of vitrioll and Paraetonium and then the Borax aloft for these things take it passing well besides giue a pleasant lustre to the color This Paraetonium for that it is most fattie vnctious by nature for the smoothnes besides most apt to sticke too and take hold ought to be laid first vpon which must follow a course of the vitrioll ouer it for feare least the whitenes of the foresaid Paraetonium do pall the greenesse of the Borax which is to make the third coat As for the Borax called Lutea some thinke it tooke that name of the herbe Lutea which also if it be mixed and tempered with azure or blew maketh a greene which many do lay and paint withall in stead of Borax which as it is the cheapest greene of all other so is it a most deceitfull colour Borax doth not onely serue painters but is much vsed also by Physicians and namely to mundifie wounds and vlcers if it be made into a salue with wax and oile and dry as it is of it selfe in pouder it hath a desiccatiue qualitie and doth conglutinat and sodder very well being mixed with hony into an electuarie they giue it inwardly vnto those that haue the squinancie and cannot draw their wind but sitting vpright and so it prouoketh vomit Moreouer it entreth into many collyries or eie-salues especially to consume and discusse the cicatrices and filmes growing with in the eie it goeth also to the making of green plasters such as be applied either to mitigat paine or to heale the skin And verily this Borax not artificially died thus emploied in Physick the Physicians call Acesin and is not that which men name Orobitis and which receiueth a tincture from mans hand Furthermore there is a Borax or Chrysocolla that goldsmiths occupie especially about sodring their gold of this kind al the rest take the name also of Chrysocolla This is altogether artificiall and is made of Cyprian Verdegris or rust of brasse the vrin of a yong lad and salnitre tempered all together incorporat in a brasen morter stamped with a pestill of the same mettall Our countrymen in Latin call this Borax Santerna with it they vse to sodder that gold especially which standeth much
aboue the Pyramides abouesaid a great name there is of a tower built by one of the kings of Egypt within the Island Pharos and it keepeth commands the hauen of Alexandria which tower they say cost 800 talents the building And here because I would omit nothing worth the writing I cannot but note the singular magnanimity of K. Ptolome who permitted Sostratus of Gnidos the master workeman and architect to graue his owne name in this building The vse of this watch-tower is to shew light as a lanthorne and giue direction in the night season to ships for to enter the hauen where they shall auoid bars and shelues like to which there be many beacons burning to the same purpose and namely at Puteoli and Rauenna This is the danger onely lest when many lights in this lanterne meet together they should be taken for a star in the skie for that a far off such lights appeare to sailers in manner of a star This enginer or master workman beforesaid was the first man that is reported to haue made the pendant gallery and walking place at Gnidos CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the Labyrinths in Aegypt Lemnos and Italy SInce wee haue finished our Obelisks and Pyramides let vs enter also into the Labyrinths which we may truly say are the most monstrous workes that euer were deuised by the head of man neither are they incredible fabulous as peraduenture it may be supposed for one of them remaineth to be seen at this day within the jurisdiction of Heracleopolis the first that euer was made to wit three thousand and six hundred yeares ago by a king named Petesuccas or as some thinke Tithoes and yet Herodotus saith it was the whole worke of many KK one after another and that Psammerichus was the last that put his hand to it and made an end thereof the reason that moued these princes to make this Labyrinth is not resolued by writers but diuerse causes are by them alledged Demoteles saith that this Labyrinth was the roiall pallace and seat of king Motherudes Lycias affirmeth it to be the sepulchre of K. Moeris the greater part are of opinion that it was an aedifice dedicated expressely and consecrated vnto the Sun which in my conceit commeth nearest to the truth Certes there is no doubt made that Daedalus tooke from hence the pattern and platforme of his Labyrinth which he made in Crete but surely he expressed not aboue the hundreth part thereof chusing onely that corner of the Labyrinth which containeth a number of waies and passages meeting and incountring one another winding and turning in and out euery way after so intricat manner and so inexplicable that when a man is once in he cannot possibly get out againe neither must wee thinke that these turnings and returnings were after the manner of mazes which are drawne vpon the pauement and plain floore of a field such as we commonly see serue to make sport and pastime among boies that is to say which within a little compasse and round border comprehend many miles but here were many dores contriued which might trouble and confound the memorie for seeing such variety of entries allies and waies some crossed encountred others flanked on either hand a man wandred still and knew not whether he went forward or backward nor in truth where he was And this Labyrinth in Crete is counted the second to that of Aegypt the third is in the Isle Lemnos the fourth in Italy made they were all of polished stone and besides vaulted ouer head with arches As for the Labyrinth in Aegypt the entrie thereof whereat I much maruell was made with columns of stone and all the rest stuffed so substantially and after such a wonderfull maner couched and laid by art of Masonrie that impossible it was they should in many hundred yeres be disjointed and dissolued notwithstanding that the inhabitants of Heracleopolis did what they could to the contrary who for a spight that they bare vnto the whole worke annoied and impeached it wonderfully To describe the site and plot therof to vnfold the architecture of the whole and to rehearse euery particular therof it is not possible for diuided the building is into sixteene regions or quarters according to the sixteene seuerall gouernments in Aegypt which they call Nomos and within the same are contained certain vast stately pallaces which bear the names of the said jurisdictions and be answerable to them besides within the same precinct are the temples of all the Aegiptian gods ouer and aboue fifteen little chappels or shrines euerie one enclosing a Nemesis to which goddesse they be all dedicated to say nothing of many Pyramides forty ells in height apiece and euery of them hauing six walls at the foot in such sort that before a man can come to the Labyrinth indeed which is so intricat inexplicable wherein as I said before he shall be sure ro lose himselfe he may make account to be weary tyred out for yet he is to passe ouer certain lofts galleries garrets all of them so high that he must clime staires of ninety steps apiece ere he can land at them within the which a number of columns and statues there be all of porphyrit or red marble a world of images and statues representing as well gods as men besides an infinit sort of other pieces pourtraied in monstrous and ougly ââ¦hapes and there erected What should I speake of other roums and lodgings which are framed and situat in such manner that no sooner are the dores and gates opened which lead vnto them but a man shall heare fearfull cracks of terrible thunder furthermore the passages from place to place are for the most part so conueighed that they be as dark as pitch so as there is no going through them without fire light and still be we short of the Labyrinth for without the main wall therof there be two other mighty vpright wals or wings such as in building they call Ptera when you are passed them you meet with more shrouds vnder the ground in manner of caues and countermines vaulted ouer head and as dark as dungeons Moreouer it is said that about 600 yeares before the time of K. Alexander the Great one Circamnos an eunuch or groome of K. Nectabis chamber made some small reparations here about this Labyrinth neuer any but hee would go about such a piece of work It is reported also that while the main arches and vaults were in rearing and those were made all of foure square ashler stone the place shone all about and gaue light with the beams and plancher made of the Aegyptian Acacia sodden in oile And thus much may serue sufficiently for the Labyrinths of Aegipt and Candy The Labyrinth in Lemnos was much like to them only in this respect more admirable for that it had a hundred and forty columns of marble more than the other all wrought round by turners craft but with such dexterity that a
flesh and bone all saue the teeth And Mutianus mine author affirmeth that look what mirroirs currycombs cloth or shoos soeuer be cast into the said coffins with the dead they will turn all into stone Of this nature there be stones in Lycia and in the East countries which if they be hung or applied to liuing bodies also will eat and fret them away Yet the stone called Chernites resembling yvorie is more mild and gentle for keepe it will and preserue dead bodies without consuming them at al in a sepulchre or coffin of this stone the body of K. Darius they say was bestowed Touching the stone called Porus like it is vnto the marble of Paros for white colour and hardnesse howbeit nothing so weighty Theophrastus writeth That there be found in Aegypt certain cleare and transparent stones and those he saith bee like vnto the Serpentine marble Ophites haply such there were in his time for now are there none of them to be found but as they are gone so there be new come in their place As for the stone Assius in tast it is saltish but singular good to allay the paine of the gout if the feet onely be put into a trough or hollow vessell made of that stone Moreouer all griefes pains and infirmities of the legs will be healed in such quarries wheras in all mettall mines the legs take harm Furthermore this stone yeeldeth in the top of the quarrie a certain light substance apt to be reduced into a soft pouder which they call the floure of the said stone and is as effectuall as the stone it selfe in some cases Like it is for al the world to a red pumish stone If it be mixt with Cyprian brasse or copper it cures the accidents of womens brests but being incorporat with pitch or rosin it discusseth the kings euill and any biles or botches The same reduced into a lohoch to be licked down leasurely serueth well in a phthysicke and tempered with hony it healeth vp old vlcers and skinneth them cleane and yet this property it hath to eat away any excrescence of proud flesh The same is good for the bitings of wild and venomous beasts Such morimals or sores as scorne ordinary cures be full of suppuration it drieth Finally there is an excellent cataplasme made with it and beane floure put together for the gout CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of Yvorie minerall digged out of the ground Of stones that are of abonie nature and such as their veines represent Datetrees within and of other kinds of stone THeophrastus and Mutianus aboue named are verily persuaded That there be some stones which ingender others And as for Theophrastus he affirmeth That there is a minerall Yvorie found within the ground as well black as white also that there be bones growing within the earth yea and stones of a bony substance About Munda a city in Spaine where Caesar dictator defeated Pompey there are found stones resembling Date-trees breake them as often as you will There be also certaine black stones whereof there is as great account made as of marbles like as the stone also of the cape Taenara And such black stones Varro saith be more firm and hard which come out of Africa than those of Italy and contrariwise that there be white stones harder to be wrought by the Turner than the marble of Paros the said Varro affirmeth that the flint of Luna may be slit with the saw whereas that of Tusculum will cracke and flie in pieces in the fire also That the darke and duskish Sabine stone if it be sprinckled with oil will burne of a light fire moreouer That about Volsinij there haue been found quernes or hand mill-stones framed ready for worke yea and some we haue seen to turne about and grind of their owne accord but such haue bin taken for prodigies And since I am fallen vpon the mention of such mill-stones there is not a country in the world affoordeth better of that kinde than Italy doth neither do such grow in the rocke and are hewed forth but be entire stones of themselues apart and yet in some prouinces there are none of them to be had at all And in this kind there be of a more free and softer grit which being smoothed and polished with a slicke stone may seem a far off as if they were Serpentine marble and verily there is not a stone wil indure better or lie longer in building For thus you must thinke that all stones bee not of one and the same nature to abide rain and weather heat of Summer and cold in Winter alike for some be more durable than others like as we find in sundry kinds of timber Finally there be stones also which may not away with the raies of the Moon which in continuance of time wil gather rust yea and with oile will change their white colour CHAP. XIX ¶ Of Curalium or Pyrites i. the Marcasin and the medicinable vertues thereof Of the stone Ostracites and the Amiant together with the properties seruing in Physicke also of the stone Melitites and the vertues thereof Likewise of the Geat and the effects that it worketh in Physick Of Spunges Lastly of the Phrygian stone and the Nature of it THe mill-stone Curalium some call Pyrites because it seemeth to haue great store of fire in it howbeit there is another fire stone going vnder the name of Pyrites or Marcasin that resembleth brasse ore in the mine And they say that of it there is found great plenty in the Isle Cypros and in those mines which are about Acarnania where a man shal meet with one in colour like siluer and another like gold These stones be calcined many sundry waies some boile them two or three times in hony so long vntill all the liquor be consumed others burne them first in fire of coales then they calcine them with honey and afterwards wash them after the maner of brasse These stones thus prepared are good in Physick namely to heat to dry to discusse to subtiliat grosse humors and to mollifie all schirrhosities or hard tumors The same are much vsed also crude and vncalcined being reduced into pouder for the kings euill and fellons Moreouer in the rank of these Marcasines some range certaine stones which we cal quicke fire-stones and of all others they be most ponderous these be most necessarie for the espials belonging vnto a camp if they strike them either with an iron spike or another stone they will cast forth sparks of fire which lightning vpon matches dipt in brimstone dry pufs or leaues wil cause them to catch fire sooner than a man can say the word As touching the stones Ostracitae they haue a resemblance to oister shels wherof they took their name vsed they are much in stead of a pumish stone to smooth and slick the skin taken in drink they stanch any flux of bloud and in forme of a liniment applied with hony they heale the vlcers in womens brests and
it to exhibit a spectacle wherat the world should lament and cry out in detestation of Fortune no lesse ywis than if they had bin the bones and reliques of king Alexander the Great his corps to be laid solemnly in his sepulchre and herein he pleased himselfe not a little Titus Petronius late Consull of Rome when he lay at the point of death called for a faire broad-mouthed cup of Cassidoine which had cost him before-time three hundred thousand sesterces and presently brake it in pieces in hatred and despight of Nero for feare lest the same prince might haue seazed vpon it after his disease and therewith furnished his own bourd But Nero himselfe as it became an Emperour indeed went beyond all others in this kind of excesse who bought one drinking cup that stood him in three hundred thousand festerces a memorable matter no doubt that an Emperour a father and patron of his country should drink in a cup so deare But before I proceed any farther it is to be noted that we haue these rich Cassidoine vessels called in Latine Murrââ¦ina from out of the Leuant for found they be in many places of the East parts and those otherwise not greatly renowned but most within the kingdom of Parthia howbeit the principall come from out of Carmania The stone whereof these vessels be made is thought to be a certaine humour thickened and baked as it were within the ground by the naturall heat thereof In no place shali a man meet with any of these stones larger than small tablements of pillars or counting-bourds and seldome are they so thicke as to serue for such a drinking cup as I haue spoken of already resplendant they are in some sort but that brightnesse is not pearcing and to say a truth it may be called rather a polishing glosse or lustre than a radiant and transparent clearenesse but that which maketh them so much esteemed is the variety of colours for in these stones a man shall perceiue certaine vains or spots which as they be turned about resemble diuers colours enclining partly to purple and partly to white he shall see them aââ¦o of a third colour composed of them both resembling the flame of fire Thus they passe from one to another as a man holdeth them in so much as their purple seemeth to stand much vpon white and their milkie white to beare as much vpon the purple Some esteemed those Cassidoine or Murrhene stones richest which represent as it were certain reuerberations of sundry colours meeting all together about their edges and extremities such as we obserue in rainbowes others are delighted with cerataine fattie spots appearing in them and no account is made of them which shew either pale or transparent in any part of them for these be reckoned great faults and blemishes In like maner if there be seene in the Cassidoine any spots like corns or graines of salt if it containe resemblances of werts although they beare not vp but lie flat as they doe many times in our bodies finally the Cassidoine stones are commended in some sort also for the smell that they do yeeld As touching Crystall it proceedeth of a contrary cause namely of cold for a liquor it is congealed by extream frost in maner of yce and for the proofe hereof you shal find crystal in no place els but where the winter snow is frozen hard so as we may boldly say it is very yce and nothing els whereupon the Greeks haue giuen it the right name Crystallos i. Yce We haue this crystall likewise out of the East-parts but there is none better than that which India sends to vs. Ingendred it is also in Asia and namely about Alabanda Ortosia and the mountains adioyning but in request it is not no more than that which is found in Cyprus howbeit there is excellent crystall within Europe and namely vpon the crests of the Alps. King Iuba writeth that in a certaine Island lying beyond the red sea ouer-against Arabia named Neron there growes crystall as also in another thereby which yeeldeth the Topase pretious stone where Pythagoras lieutenant or gouernour vnder king Ptolome digged forth a piece which carried a cubit in length Cornelius Bocchus affirmeth that in Portugall vpon certaine exceeding high mountaines where they sinke pits for the leuell of the water there be found great crystal quarters or masses of a wonderfull weight But maruellous is that which Xenocrates the Ephesian reporteth namely that in Asia and Cyprus there be pieces of crystall turned vp with the very plough so ebb it lierh within the ground an incredible thing considering that before-time no man beleeued that euer it could be found in any place standing vpon an earthly substance but onely among cliffes and craggs It soundeth yet more like a truth which the same Xenocrates writeth namely that oftentimes it is carried down the streame running from the mountains As for Sudines hee saith confidently that crystall is not engendred but in places exposed onely to the South and verily this is most true for you shall neuer meet with it in waterish countries lying Northerly be the climat neuer so cold no though the riuers be frozen to an yce euen to the very bottome Wee must conclude therefore of necessitie that certaine coelestiall humours to wit of raine and some small snow together do concurre to the making of crystall and here upon it comes that impatient it is of heat and vnlesse it be for to drinke water or other liquor actually cold it is altogether reiected but strange it is that it should grow as it doth six angled neither is it an easie matter to assigne a sound reason thereof the rather for that the points be not all of one fashion and the sides betweene each corner are so absolute euen and smooth as no lapidarie in the world with all his skil can polish any stone so plain The greatest most weightie piece of crystal that euer I could see was that which Livia Augusta the Empresse dedicated in the Capitoll which weighed about fiftie pounds Xenocrates mine authour aboue-named affirmeth that there was seene a vessell of crystall as much as an Amphore and some besides him doe say that there haue beene brought out of India crystall glasses containing foure sextars a piece Thus much I dare my selfe auouch that crystall groweth within certaine rockes vpon the Alps and those so steep and inaccessible that for the most part they are constrained to hang by ropes that shall get it forth They that be skilfull and well experienced therein go by diuers markes and signes which direct them to places where there is cristall and where also they can discerne good from bad for this you must think there be many imperfections and faults therein as namely when it is rough or rugged in hand rustie like yron cloudie and full of speekes otherwhiles there is a secret hidden fistulous vlcer as it were within there lieth
by visions and dreams in the night all that hee is desirous to know euen as well as an oracle As for Eumetres the Assyrians call it the stone or gem of Belus the most sacred god among them whom they honor with greatest deuotion as green it is as a leeke and serueth very much in their superstitious inuocations sacrifices and exorcisms Eupetalos hath foure colors to wit of azur fire vermilion and an apple Eureos is like the stone of an oliue chamfered in manner of winkle shels but very white it is not Eurotias seemeth to haue a certain mouldines that couers the black vnderneath Eusebes seemeth to be that kind of stone whereof by report was made the feat in Hercules temple at Tyros where the gods were wont to appear and shew themselues Mereouer any precious stone is called Epimelas when being of it selfe white it is ouercast with a blacke colour aloft The gem Galaxias some call Galactites like vnto those last before-named but that it hath certain veins either white or of a bloud color running between As for Galactites indeed it is as white as milk and therupon it took that name Many there be who call the same stone Leucas Leucographias Synnephites which if it be bruised yeeldeth a liquor resembling milk both in color and tast in truth it is said that it breeds store of milke in nources that giue suck also that if it be hung about the necks of infants it causeth saliuation but being held in the mouth it melteth presently Moreouer they say that it hurteth memory and causeth obliuion this stone commeth from the riuer Achelous Some there be who call that Emeraud Galactires which seemeth as it were to be bound about with white veins Galaicos is much like to Argyrodamus but that it is somewhat souler commonly they are found by two or three together As for Gasidanes we haue it from the Medians in colour it resembleth blades of corne and seemes beset here and there with floures it groweth also about Arbelae this gem is said likewise to be conceiued with young and by shaking to bewray and confesse a child within the wombe and it doth conceiue euery three moneths Glossi-petra resembleth a mans tongue and groweth not vpon the ground but in the eclipse of the Moone falleth from heauen and is thought by the magitians to be very necessary for pandors and those that court faire women but we haue no reason to beleeue it considering what vaine promises they haue made otherwaies of it for they beare vs in hand that it doth appease winds Gorgonia is nothing els but Coral the name Gorgonia groweth vpon this occasion That it turneth to be as hard as a stone it assuageth the trouble of the sea and maketh it calme the magitians also affirme that it preserueth from lightning and terrible whirlewinds As vaine they be also in warranting so much of the hearbe Guniane namely that it will worke reuenge and punishment vpon our enemies The pretious stone Heliotropium is found in Aethiopia Affricke and Cyprus the ground thereof is a deepe green in maner of a leeke but the same is garnished with veins of bloud the reason of the name Heliotropium is this For that if it be throwne into a pale of water it changeth the raies of the Sun by way of reuerberation into a bloudie colour especially that which commeth out of Aethiopia the same being without the water doth represent the body of the Sun like vnto a mirroir and if there be an eclipse of the Sun a man may perceiue easily in this stone how the moone goeth vnder it and obscureth the light but most impudent and palpable is the vanity of magitians in their reports of this stone for they let not to say that if a man carrie it about him together with the herbe Heliotropium and besides mumble certaine charmes or prayers he shall goe inuisible Semblably Hephaestites is of the nature of a looking-glasse for although it be reddish or of an orenge colour yet it sheweth ones face in it the meanes to know this stone whether it be right or no is this in case being but into scalding water it presently cooleth it or if in the Sun it wil set on fire any dry wood or such like fewel this stone is found growing vpon the hill Corycus Horminodes is a stone so called in regard of the greene colour that it hath resembling the herbe Clarie for otherwhiles it is white and sometime againe blacke yea and pale now and then howbeit hooped about it is with a circle of golden colour Hexecontalithos for bignesse is but small and yet for the number of colours that it hath it got this name found it is in the region of the Troglodytes Hieracites changeth colour all whole alternatiuely by turns it seemeth to be blackish among kites feathers Hamnites resembleth the spawne of fishes and yet some of them be found as it were composed of nitre and otherwise it is exceeding hard The pretious stone called Hammons-horne is reckoned among the most sacred gems of Aethyopia of a gold colour it is and sheweth the forme of a rams horne the magicians promise that by the vertue of this stone there will appeare dreames in the night which represent things to come Hormesion is thought to be one of the loueliest gems that a man can see for a certaine fiery colour it hath and the same spreadeth forth beams of gold and alwaies carrieth with it in the edges a white and pleasant light Hyenia tooke the name of the Hyens eie sound they are in them when they be assailed and killed and if we may giue credit to Magitians words if these stones be put vnder a mans tongue hee shall presently prophesie of things to come The bloud-stone Haematites is found in Aethiopia principally those be simply the best of al others howbeit there are of them likewise in Arabia and Affrick in colour it is like vnto bloud and so called a stone that I must not ouerpasse in silence in regard of my promise that I made to reproue the vanities and illusions of these impudent barbarous magicians who deceiue the world with their impostures for Zachalias the Babylonian in those books which he wrote to king Mithridates attributeth vnto gems all the destinies and fortunes that be incident vnto man and particularly touching these bloud-stones not contented to haue graced them with medicinable vertues respectiue to the eies and the liuer he ordained it to be giuen vnto those for to haue about them who carry any Petition to a king or great prince for it would speed and further the suit also in case of law matters it giueth good issue and sentence on their side yea and in wars victory ouer enemies There is another of that kinde called by the Indians Henui but the Greekes name it Xanthos of a whitish colour it is vpon a ground of a yellow tawnie The stones called Idaei Dactyli be found
CHerry-trees Peach-trees and generally all that either haue Greek names or any other but Latine are held for aliens in Italy Howbeit some of them now are infranchised and taken for free denizens among vs so familiar they be made vnto vs and they like the ground so well But of them we will speake in the ranke of those trees that beare fruit For this present we are to treat of those that be meere forrainers and for good lucke sake begin we will with that which of all others is most holesome to wit the Citron tree called the Assyrian tree and by some the Median Apple-tree the fruit whereof is a counterpoison and singular Antidote against all venome The tree it selfe bears the leafe like vnto an Arbut tree mary it hath certain pricks among The Pomecitron is not so good to be chewed and eaten of it selfe howbeit very odoriferous it is as be the leaues also therof which are vsed to be laid in wardrobes among apparel for the smel thereof wil passe into the cloths and preserue them from the moth spider and such like vermin This tree beares fruit at all times of the yere for when some fall for ripenesse others wax mellow and some again begin then but to shew their blossome Many forrainers haue assaied to transplant them and set them in their own countries in regard of their excellent vertue to resist poisons And for this purpose they haue caried yong quick sets or plants of them in earthen pots made for the purpose and inclosed them well with earth howbeit the roots had liberty giuen them to breath as it were at certain holes for the nones because they should not be clunged and pent in prison Which I rather note because I would haue it known once for all and well remembred That all plants which are to be remoued and carried far off must be set very close and vsed in the same order most precisely But for all the care and paines taken about it for to make it grow in other countries yet would it not forget Media and Persia nor like in any other soile but soon die This is that fruit the kernels wherof as I said before the lords and great men of Parthia vse to seeth with their meat for to correct their soure and stinking breaths And verily there is not a tree in all Media of better respect than is the Citron tree As for those trees in the region of the Seres which beare the silk wool or cotton we haue spoken thereof in our Cosmographie when we made mention of that Nation CHAP. IV. ¶ Of Indian Trees and when the Ebene was first knowne at Rome IN like manner discoursed we haue of the talnesse and greatnesse of Indian trees Of all those trees which be appropriate to India Virgil hath highly commended the Ebene aboue all the rest and he affirmeth That it will not grow elswhere But Herodotus assigneth it rather to Aethyopia and saith That euery three yeares the Aethyopians were wont to pay by way of tribute vnto the kings of Persia 100 billets of the timber of that tree together with gold and yuory Moreouer I must not forget since that mine author hath so expressely set it downe that the Ethyopians in the same regard were bound to pay in like manner twentie great and massie Elephants teeth In such estimation was yuorie then namely in the 310 yeare after the foundation of Rome at what time as Herodotus put forth that historie at Thurij in Italy The more maruell it is that we giue so much credit to that writer saying as he doth How that in his time before there was no man knowne in Asia or Greece nor yet to himselfe who had not so much as seen the riuer Po. The Card or Map of Ethiopia which lately was presented and shewed to the Emperor Nero as wc haue before said doth sufficiently testifie That from Syene which confines and bounds the lands of our Empire and dominion as far as to the Island Meroe for the space of 996 miles there is little Ebene found and that in all those parts betweene there be few other trees to be found but Date trees Which peraduenture may be a cause That Ebene was counted a rich tribute and deserued the third place after Gold Iuory Certes Pompey the Great in that solemnitie of triumph for the victorie and conquest of Mithridates shewed one Ebene tree Fabianus is of opinion that it wil not burne howbeit experience sheweth the contrary for take fire it will yea and cast a pleasant and sweet perfume Two kindes there be of Ebene the one which as it is the better so likewise it is rare and geason it carrieth a trunke like another tree without knot the wood thereof is blacke and shining and at the very first sight faire and pleasant to the eie without any art or polishing at all The other is more like a shrub and putteth forth twigs as the Tretrifolie A plant this is commonly to be seene in all parts of India CHAP. V. ¶ Of certaine Thornes and Fig-trees of India THere groweth also among the Indians a Thorne resembling the later kind of Ebene and found to serue for the vse of candles for no sooner commeth it neere vnto the fire but it catcheth a flame the fire leaps presently vnto it Now it remains to speak of those trees which set Alexander the Great into a wonder at what time as vpon his victory he made a voiage for to discouer that part of the world First and formost there is a fig tree there which beareth very small and slender Figs. The property of this tree is to plant and set it selfe without mans help For it spreadeth out with mighty armes and the lowest water-boughes vnderneath doe bend so downward to the very earth that they touch it againe and lie vpon it whereby within one yeares space they will take fast root in the ground and put forth a new Spring round about the Mother-tree so as these branches thus growing seeme like a traile or border of arbors most curiously and artificially made Within these bowers the Sheepherds vse to repose and take vp their harbor in Summer time for shady and coole it is and besides well fenced all about with a set of young trees in manner of a pallaisado A most pleasant and delectable sight whether a man either come neere and looke into it or stand a farre off so faire and pleasant an arbour it is all greene and framed arch-wise in just compasse Now the vpper boughes thereof stand vp on high and beare a goodly tuft and head aloft like a little thicke wood or forrest And the body or trunke of the Mother is so great that many of them take vp in compasse threescore paces and as for the foresaid shadow it couereth in ground a quarter of a mile The leaues of this Tree are verie broad made in forme of an Amazonian or Turkish Targuet which is the reason that
the Figges thereof are but small considering that the leafe couereth it and suffereth it not to grow vnto the full Neither doe they hang thicke vpon the Tree but here and there very thinne and none of them bigger than a beane Howbeit so well and throughly ripened they bee with the heate of the Sunne notwithstanding the leaues are betweene that they yeeld a most pleasant and sweet rellice in tast and are a fruit for a king answerable to the mightie huge and prodigious tree that beareth it These Fig-trees grow abundantly about the riuer Acesine CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the tree named Pala of other Indian trees whereof the names be vnknowne Also of those that beare wooll or Cotton ANother tree there is in India greater yet than the former bearing a fruit much fairer bigger and sweeter than the figs aforesaid and whereof the Indian Sages Philosophers do ordinarily liue The leafe resembleth birds wings carrying three cubits in length and two in bredth The fruit it puts forth at the bark hauing within it a wonderfull pleasant iuice insomuch as one of them is sufficient to giue 4 men a competent and ful refection The trees name is Pala and the fruit thereof is called Ariena Great plenty of them is in the country of the Sydraci the vtmost limit of Alexander the Great his expeditions and voiages And yet is there another tree much like to this and beareth a fruit more delectable than this Ariena howbeit the guts in a mans belly it wringeth and breeds the bloudy-flix Whereupon Alexander made open proclamation and straitly forbad That no man should taste thereof As for the Macedonian souldiers they talked much of many other trees but they described them in generall tearmes only and to the most of them they gaue no names at all For one tree there is besides in other respects resembling the Terebinth and it carrieth a fruit much like to Almonds onely it is lesse but of a most sweet and toothsome taste In Bactriana verily some take it to be a speciall kind of the Terebinth indeed rather than a tree like vnto it but that tree which carrieth a fine flax whereof they make their dainty linnen lawn it hath leaues like to those of the Mulbery tree and beareth a red berry like to the hips of an Eglantine They plant and set these in their fields and plains and surely standing as they do in such order there are no roweâ⦠of any trees thatyeeld a fairer sight and prospect The Oliue tree of India is but barren saue that it brings a fruit much like the Wild Oliue CHAP. VII ¶ Of Peppertrees of the Cloue tree and many other THe trees that beare Pepper euery where in those parts be like vnto our Iuniper trees And yet some haue written That they grow only vpon the front of the hill Caucasus on that side which lieth full vpon the Sun The corns or graines that hang thereupon differ from Iuniper berries and those lie in certain little huskes or cods like to the pulse called Faseââ¦s or Kidney beans If that be plucked from the tree before they gape and open of themselues they make that spice which is called long-Pepper but if as they do ripen they cleaue and chawn by little little they shew within the white pepper which afterwards being parched in the Sun changeth colour and waxeth black and therewith riueled also Peppers be subiect to the iniury of the weather as well as other fruits for if the season be vnkindly and vntemperat they will catch a blast and then the seeds will be deafe void light naught This fault is called among the Indians Brechmasis which in their language signifieth an abortiue or vntimely fruit This pepper of all other kinds is most biting and sharp but it is the lightest and pale of colour withall The blacke is more kindly and pleasant and the white is more milde in the mouth than both the other Many haue taken Ginger which some cal Zimbiperi and others Zingiberi for the root of that tree but it is not so although in taste it somwhat resembles pepper For Ginger grows in Arabia and Troglodytica in medowes about the villages and it is a white root of a certain little herbe And how soeuer it be very bitter and biting yet it quickly meeteth with a worme and rottes A pound of Ginger is commonly sold at Rome for six deniers Long pepper is soon sophisticated with the Senuie or mustard-seed of Alexandria a pound of it is worth fifteen Romane deniers The white costeth seuen deniers a pound and the blacke is sold after foure deniers by the pound As for Pepper I wonder greatly that it should be so much in request as it is for whereas some fruits are sweet and pleasant in taste and therefore desired others beautifull to the eie and in that regard draw chapmen Pepper hath neither the one nor the other A fruit or berry it is call it whether you will neither acceptable to the tongue nor delectable to the eie and yet for the biting bitternesse that it hath we are pleased therwith and we must haue it fet forsooth from as far as India What was he gladly would I know that ventured first to bite of pepper and vse it in his meats Who might he be that to prouoke his appetite and find himselfe a good stomack could not make a shift with fasting and hunger onely Surely Ginger and Pepper both grow wild in those countries where they do like and yet wee must buy them by weight as we do gold and siluer Of late daies here in Italy wee haue made means to haue the Pepper tree growing among vs and verily a litle scrubby plant it is or shrub rather bigger somwhat than the myrtle and not far vnlike The graine that ours beareth carrieth the very same bitternesse that the greene pepper of India is thought to haue before it be ful ripe For here it wanteth the due parching and ripening against the sun and by that means commeth short of the riuels and blacknesse that the outlandish pepper hath Sophisticated it is by intermingling with it the grains or berries of Iuniper for surely they do maruellous soon take the taste and strength of pepper And as for the weight there be diuers waies to deceiue the chapman therein Ouer and besides there is another fruit that commeth out of India like vnto pepper cornes and it is called Cloues but bigger somwhat and more brittle And they say that it groweth in a certain groue consecrated to their gods in India Transported ouer it is vnto vs for the sweet smell that it casteth Moreouer the Indians haue a thorny and pricky plant which beareth a fruit like to pepper and passing bitter the leaues be smal and grow thick after the maner of Priuet it putteth forth branches 3 cubits long the bark is pale the root broad and of a wooddy substance resembling the colour of box Of the infusion of this root in