of Constitution to make use of the hotter Composts if hot to prescribe the cold For instance in a few of the most useful only Fruit-Trees do generally thrive with the soil of Neats and Hogs most Flowers with that of Sheep but especially Roots Peter Hondius tells us in his Book intitl'd Dapes inempt as that by the sole application of Sheeps-Dung he produc'd a Reddish-Root in his Garden as big as half a mans middle which being hung up for some time in a Butchers shop people took for an Hog Apples affect a pretty rich soil with a dash of Loam but they will bear even in Clay well soil'd and mix'd with Chalk especially the more winter fruit and in Chalk alone for some years but they produce though sweet not so large Fruit But both Apples and Pears have a better relish in Grounds that are not over-moist and where they may stand warm and the last will prosper well enough where the soil is mixt with gravel and has an harder bottom Cherries Summer and Stone-Fruit such as have their Roots like thrumbs desire a fine light Mould Sand or Gravel with Chalk and good Compost unless it be very course and stony in which case it would be well soil'd and the pit you plant in fill'd with rich Mould as far as the Roots likely use to extend before they reach the Gravel so as to make good spread and this to be renew'd every third or fourth year and for this reason it is profitable sometimes to bait steril Grounds by laying your Composts at reasonable intervals thereby to tempt and allure the Roots towards it and keep them from wandring which they will be subject to do in search of fresh nourishment For to bear constantly well and much fruit-Fruit-trees must have frequent laetations Nor are we to judge that what is excellent Ground for one sort is so for another since that which is perfectly good for Corn is not so for all Fruit Trees and slender straw will be fed and brought up with a great deal less substance and virtue than what will serve to furnish the stem bulk and head of a fertile and spreading Tree Vines than which there is no Plant more sensibly retains the different qualities of Earth or whose juice is of more variety rejoyces in light but vigorous Mould rather Sandish and inclining to dry than either fat luxurious or moist Lime temper'd with Blood exceedingly recreates it after the first accidental heats are pass'd over The Fig-tree though affected to dry Grounds is no lover of stercoration yet in some Countries they apply Oyl-Olive and Doves-dung to cause them to bear early fruit but omitting the Oyl if the Dung be mingl'd with Lime and Ashes it is not to be reprov'd Artichokes thrive exceedingly with Sheeps-dung which apply'd to the Roots make them produce very great heads Melons Asparagus and most hasty growers participate evidently of the Soil and therefore we have already shew'd how new and heady dung contaminates and this is amongst other the reason why in the more Southern Countries where they are planted in the natural and unforc'd Mould they are so racy and superiour in tast and flavour to ours I should therefore recommend the use of Sheeps-dung well reduc'd or rather the ashes of burnt straw and the hotter dungs calcin'd for some tryals to reform it or as they do in Italy mingle Dust and Earth manur'd with Sheeps-soil and wood-ashes if after all we have said the cause of our application of Composts and Dungs to these raâ—â— and choice productions be â— prevent the rains only for otherwise too rich Soils impair the most delicious Fruits rather than improve them and Grapes and other Fruits are sooner ripened which stand near the High-wayes much beaten by passengers than by all that you can lay to the Roots or spread on the Ground for that purpose the Dust investing both the Tree and Fruit with a kind of refin'd soil mellow'd with the dews and gentle showers which fall from Heaven To give some instances Roots as we have shew'd desire deep Ground fruit-Fruit-trees not so which should never go deeper than the usual penetrations of the Sun for no farther is the Mould benign Besides that they but too propensely sink of themselves especially Bulbs of Flowers whose fibers freeing their bottoms draw them down and then they change their artificial and accidental beauty and as we call it degenerate but Trees will grow and thrive if planted on the very surface with little covering of Mould so it be oft refresh'd and establish'd against the wind Besides we find that even the goodliest Fruit as well as some Timber-Trees have many times the hardest footings with reasonable depth of Earth So little does it import to have it profound and therefore in soft and deeper Sands they thrive nothing so well as on Chalk and Gravel so long as the root can be kept from descending in which case you should as we shew'd bait the Ground towards the surface and keep the roots from gadding too far from the stem for the lower roots are frequently starv'd by the upper which devour the nourishment before it arrive at them To give some other profitable instances of this nature In Transplanting Trees beginning early and when the Earth is most tractable endeavour to make your Mould as connatural to that of the place or nursery from whence you remove them as you can 'T is not therefore material it should be so much richer but where Imp-Gardens are poor the tender Plant like a Child starv'd at Nurse does seldom thrive where ever you set them and therefore they should have fair and spreading roots and be well fed what ever some pretend For other rarer shrubs and Plants the Orange Herrera tells us thrives well with the ashes of burnt Gourds and leaves and needs not change of Mould even in the Case above twice a year and that towards the surface but Amomum Plinii is a strange waster of Earth and should continually be inrich'd and planted as it were all in dung so the Myrtil and Pomegranat whilst the Red-rose Capers Sampier and other Shrubs and Plants thrive better in Gravel and rubbish Sage with ashes and so Porselan with dust and sweepings Rue affects the dry Mould Lettice the moister Flowers for the most part detest the Dunghill but if any that of Sheep or Neat mixt with Loam and light Earth Tulips delight in change and rather in poor than rich Mould yea sharp and hungry to preserve their variegations But because 't is sometimes troublesome to transplant them yearly place a layer of short stable littier a foot beneath your Mould and you will find they may remain unremov'd for some years without prejudice The Iris loves the dry beds Crocus a mixt rich and light soil Carnations would have a Loamy Earth qualified if too stiff with Sea-sand and Sheeps dung if too poor with richer Mould so the Peöny Anemony Ranunculus and other Flowers but then lay it at
and abated you may use it at the spring without addition But if you desire something that is exquisite macerate it well rotted in the Lees of Wine stale Vrine and a little Brimstone beaten very fine to mingle with your Earth for one of the richest Composts Then is this only to be noted that as the effect of this Dung is suddain so it lasts not long and therefore must be the oftner renewed The flesh of Carrion and dead Animals being as I think my Lord Bacon tell us prepar'd already by so many curious Elaborations of its juices is highly effectual but it should be very well consum'd and ventilated till it have quite lost its intolerable smell and therefore never apply'd too crude Blood is excellent almost with any Soil where Fruit is planted especially the Mural to improve the blood of the Grape of great advantage being somewhat diluted and pour'd about the Roots Vrine for being highly spiritous and sharp had need be well corrected and then being mingl'd with other Composts to allay its acrimonious salt it hardly has its equal Hair Horn-shavings Bones Skins Leather c. are deeply to be buried and so as not to touch but lie about the Roots These with Rags course Wooll and Pitch-Marks improve the Earth as being full of volatile salts And Fish is likewise spread to great advantage of Grounds where 't is to be had in plenty and for being quickly consum'd may soonest be apply'd We come to Vegetables The Marc and pressings of the Grape are good Compost and so is the Lees of Wine mingled with the Mould It is of singular comfort to the Roots of orange-Orange-trees and Case-Plants and if you sift a little brick-dust with it and bury it near the Roots of Rose-Mary it will thrive wonderfully It may be a laudable Compost for moist grounds where that Plant so unwillingly grows The Leaves of Trees are profitable for their own Fruit and natural being well rotted and not musty The Peach-leaf hurtfull to Cattel is excellent for the Tree from which it falls and the Walnut-leaf noxious to the grass is helpfull to the Tree Saw-dust Rotten wood found in the hollow of decay'd Trees under the stacks and where Trees grow thick together as in great and old Woods but especially that which is taken out of an inveterate Willow-Tree is preferable to any other for the raising of Seedlings of choice Plants mix'd as it should be with a little Loam Lime-rubbish and Mould as we have taught This and the rest should be well ventilated and is of great effect to loosen and mellow ground Wood-ashes rich and impregnate with salts are fit for wet Ground without mixture and in pasture excellent not sifted-on over thick It likewise kills the Worm but in Earth which is subject to over-heat and chap much Ashes and burning Composts do but increase the feavor and therefore contrary remedies are to be sought such as Neats and Swines Dung but not so when Lands are naturally or accidentally cold Wherefore we should endeavour by all means to detect as far as we are able the quality predominant both of the Earth we would improve and the Composts we apply and not throw them on promiscuously upon every thing without considering of what temper and constitution they be for Grounds are as nice as our Bodies and as obnoxious to infirmities upon every defect and excess and therefore it requires skill and no little study to be able rightly to marshal this Materia Medica as I may call it of Composts the virtue of which does sometimes lie very hidden at least if that be true which Sir Hugh Plat affirms that what we all this while seek after is indeed altogether invisible to humane eyes and to be discern'd only by the eyes intellectual because 't is vail'd and clad under so many different bodies whereof some are more ponderous such as Marle Chalk the Dung of Beasts c. some more light as their Flesh Bones Hair c. and some yet lighter as Grain and generous Seeds for in such as have Virtue to multiply their own Species that Spirit is invested with a very thin and curious integument as in effect is apparent in the Blood and Flesh of Animals so much more powerfull for the inriching of Land than their Dung and Excrements this industrious man computing it to no less than twenty times and to the same advance above this Hair Wooll and calcin'd Bones c. and as to the courser Soils that the Dung of Pigeons and Poultry does as far exceed that of Beafts which feed on gross Vegetables and tells us it has been found upon experience that one load of any sort of Seed contains as much Virtue as ten load of ordinary Dung and therefore 't is advisable that upon all removals of Corn-ricks Hay-stacks c. the Husband-man reserve all he can of the bottom offal and shakings and to mingle it with Chimney-soot and Blood and with that to reduce it into the consistence of a paste To this add as much dry'd Neats Dung temper'd with Vrine and made up in cakes as big as houshold loaves and after all is well dry'd in the shade crumble them to dust to be sifted or sprinkl'd on the ground for a very considerable improvement Of like effect is Earth blended with Malt-dust or putrified and decay'd Corn reduc'd to Meal so is the dust of old Fur-bushes in Devonshire call'd Dress but this last should not be taken in Seed-time lest it infect the Ground with a Plant not easily extirpable Lastly The Mud of Ponds and stagnant waters of ditches shovl'd up and well air'd is best apply'd to Roots of Trees but especially the dust of unstony high-wayes where the drift of Cattel and much passage is Let it be carried off from March to November for it being already a kind of refined Soil continually stirr'd and ventilated there is no Compost preferrable to it for any use It is prepar'd in the highest degree and will need no wintering but may be us'd immediately and so may straw haulm and other littiere trampl'd on in dirty streets after it is a while rotted and mingled Thus with no little industry are found out the several kinds of Composts and materials of improvement and what is the most genuine and true medicament of every Soil for Arable Pasture or Garden I do not say all or as if there were no more for what if indeed there should be as many sorts of Composts as there are of Ferments or Salts and as many sorts of Salts as there be of Vegetables or any other putrifiable matter The more there be the greater ought to be our industry and skill to be able to distinguish them and to know how and when rightly to apply them Nor is it sufficient to consider the nature of the Earth Mould and several Composts but of the very Plants themselves for the application of what you administer be it for Food or Medicine as if they be cold
blackish cold and moist whitish hot and moist ruddy which yet exhalations from Minerals the heat of the Sun and other accidents may cause but generally they give preeminence to the darker Grays next to the Russet the clear Tawny is found worse the light and dark-ash-colour light also of weight and resembling Ashes good for nothing but the yellowish-red worst of all And all these are fit to be known as contributing to noble and useful Experiments upon due and accurate Comparisons and enquiry from the several Particles of their Constitutions Figures and Modes as far at least as we can discover them by the best auxiliaries of Microscopes Lotions Strainers Calcinations Triturations and grindings upon such discovery to judge of their qualities and by essaying variety of mixtures and imitating all sorts of Mould foreign or Indigen to compound Earths as near as may be resembling the natural for any special or curious use and be thereby enabled to alter the genius of Grounds as we see occasion The consideration of this it was which gave me the curiosity to fall upon the examining of a Collection I had made of several sorts both of Earth and Soils such as I could find about this Territory whereof some I washed to find by what would melt reside or pass away in the percolation of what visible Figure they chiefly seemed to consist armed as I was with an indifferent Microscope of which be pleased to take this brief account Gravelly and Arenous Earths of several sorts before they were washed appeared to be most of it rough Crystals of which some very transparent and gemmy few of them sharp or angular but roundish mixed with Atoms and Particles of a mineral hue which being well dryed and bruised on a hard serpentine Stone and Mullar of the same was with little labour reduced to an impalpable whitish Sand untransparent as it happens in the bruisings of most though never so diaphanous bodies which may be so reduced Yellow Sand had the appearance of Amber bruised an untransparent paler Sand. Fat rich Earth full of black spots without much discolouring the water as hardly did any of the Sands at all being dryed was reduced to a delicate sandy Dust with very little brightness Marsh Earth contained a considerable quantity of Sand the rest resembled the Fat Earth The Vnder-pasture mould had likewise a sandy mixture and what passed with the water after evaporation seemed to be an impalpable and very fine untransparent Sand. Clay consisted of most exceeding smooth and round Sands of several opacous colours Potters-Earth of different sorts ground small became like Sand of a yellowish grey and other colours exceeding polite and smooth A certain yellowish loamy Earth which had been brought to me with some orange-Orange-Trees out of Italy was reduced to a bright soft Sand appearing more gemmy than in the other Loams Chalk resembled fine white Flower and some of it sparkling especially the harsher sort but the â—ender not Fullers-Earth appeared like Gum tragacanth a little wetted seemingly swelled yet glistering but when reduced to a fine dust a smooth Sand. Tabacco-Earth not much bruised was just like white Starch washed and well dryed it resembled the whitest Flower of Wheat a little candyed I had not the opportunity of examining the several sorts of Marles and so I proceed to the Dungs Neats-Dung the Cattel fed only with Fodder or little Grass for 't was in the Winter I made my observations appeared to be nothing but straws in the entire substance and colour little altered save what a certain slippery mucilage gave them sprinkled with a glistring Sand like Atoms of Gold but upon washing and drying again the tenacious matter vanished and the straws appeared separated and clear Sheeps-Dung was much like the former only the spires and blades of a fine short grass conglomerated and rolled up in the Pellets and the glew about it less viscous but it passed also away in the lotion Swines-Dung had the resemblance of dirty Bees Wax mingled with straws and husks which seemed like candied Eringo and some like Angelica Roots The Soil of Horses appeared like great wisps of Hay and little straws thin of mucilage and which being washed was easily to be discerned by a naked Eye Dears-Dung much resembled that of Sheeps Pigeons-Dung consisted of a stiff glutinous matter easily reducible to dust of a grey colour with some husky Atoms after dilution Lastly The Dung of Poultry was so full of Gravel small stones and sand that there appeared little or no other substance save a very small portion both of white and blackish viscous matter twisted up together of all the other the most foetid and ill smelling These were all I had time and leisure to examine I cannot say with all the accurateness they were capable of but sufficiently to encourage the more curious and to satisfie my self that the very finest Earth and best of Moulds however to appearance mixt with divers imperfect Bodies may for ought we know consist more of sandy particles than of any other whatsoever at least if from this Criterion we may be allowed to pronounce what they seem to the Eye Sands Crystals or Salts call them what you please the consideration of which being so universally the cause of Vegetation was no small inducement to me to see if by examining the several Earths though but by a cursory inspection I might possibly detect what Rudiments of such a Principle there were lurking in them abstractedly taken not that I opine Earth to be Salt alone and nothing else though perhaps little more besides Sulphur for so it produces no Vegetable that I know of without Water to dissolve and qualifie it for insumption and perhaps some other matter fitted to receive the Seeds and keep the Plant steady which yet for ought I can discern is also but a finer sort of Sand the clamminess of it being rather something extrinsecal and accidental to it than any thing natural and originally constitutive For the combination of these several Moulds which gives the ligature slipperiness and a divers temper seems rather to be caused by the perpetual and successive rotting of the Grass Plants Leaves Branches Moss and other excrescences growing upon it than any peculiar or solitary principle apart which in long tract of time has amassed together a substance heterogeneous to the ruder Particles which after the dilutions of the superficies that is of the rich and fatter Mould appears to be little other than Sand or fixed Salts of various Figures and Colours since even the most obdurate and flinty Pebble beaten and ground to powder or by Calcination reduced to an impalpable dust is as fine both to the Eye and smooth to the touch as the most Smectic Earths and Marles themselves such at least as you shall collect from the subsidence to appearance of the most Crystal Waters precipitated by deliquated Oyle of Tartar or the like and the more they be subdued and broken the harder they will
skill to modifie also the Air about them and make the remedy as well regional as topical and why not for other Fruits Strangers yet amongst us as for Oranges Lemons Pomegranats Figs and other precious Trees which of late are become almost indenizon'd amongst us and grow every generation more reconcileable to the Climate Here we might enlarge upon the several enquiries formerly suggested As how far Principles might be multiplyed and differenced by alteration and condensation Whether Earth stript of all heterogeneity and uniform particles retain only weight and an insipid siccity And whether it produce or afford any thing more than embracement to the first rudiments of Plants protection to the roots and stability to the stem unprolific as they say 'till married to something of a more masculine virtue which irradiates her but otherways nourishing only from what it attracts without any active or material contribution These indeed with many other quaeries do appositely come in here but it would perhaps render this Discourse more prolix than useful to enter upon them in detaille nor is it for me to undertake speculations of so abstruse a nature without unpardonable ostentation and therefore having only offered something towards the discovery of the great varieties and choice of Earths such as we Gardiners and Rustics for the most part meet with in our Grounds my next endeavour shall be to shew how we may improve the best and prescribe remedy to the worst by labour and stirring only which being the least artificial approaches the nearest to Nature At the first breaking up of your Ground therefore let there be a pretty deep Trench or Furrow made throughout of competent depth as the manner is of experienced Gardiners the Turf being first pared off and laid by it self with the first Mould lying under it and that of the next in succession that so they may both participate of the Air Showers and Influences to which they are exposed and this is to be done in severals as deep as you think fit that is so far as you find the Earth well natur'd or you may fling it up in several small mounds or lumps suffering the Frosts and Snows of a Winter or two according as the nature of it seems to require pass upon them beginning your work about the commencement of Autumn before the Mould becomes too ponderous and sluggish though some there are who chuse an earlier season and to open their Ground when the Sun approaches not when he retires But certainly to have the whole Winter before us does best temper and prepare it for those impregnating agents In separating the surface-mould from the deeper whether you make a Trench or dig holes to plant your Trees in be it for Standards Espalieres or Shrubs the longer you expose it and leave the receptacles open were it for two whole Winters it soon would recompense your expectation and especially if when you come to Plant you dispose of the best and fattest Earth at the bottom which if it be of sweet and ventilated Mud of Ponds or High-way-Dust were preferrable to all the artificial Composts you can devise In defect of this where it cannot be had in quantity cast in the upper Turfs if not already consumed the Sod downwards with the next adhering Mould for half a foot in thickness on this a layer of well-matur'd Dung then as much of the Earth which was last flung out mixing them very well together Repeat this process for kinds mixture and thickness till your trenches and holes be filled four or five Inches above the level or area of the Ground to which it will quickly subside upon the first refreshings and a very gentle treading to establish the Tree Fruit planted in such Mould you will find to prosper infinitely better than where young Trees are clapt in at adventure in newbroken-up Earth which is always cold and sluggish and ill complexion'd nor will they require as else they do to be supplyed every foot with fresh Soil before they be able to put forth lusty and spreading roots but which it is impossible to convey to them so as to affect the under-parts by excavating the ground and undermining the Trees after once they arrive to any stature without much trouble and inconvenience and the manifest retarding of their progress If you will plant in pits and holes and not give your ground an universal Trenching which I prefer make them the larger five foot at the least square but not above half a yard or two foot deep according to the nature of the Tree In dressing the Roots be as sparing as possible of the Fibers small and tender strings which are as the Emulgent Veins which insume and convey the nourishment to the whole Tree and such of the stronger and more confirmed parts which you trim cut sloping so as the wound may best apply to the Earth The Head or Top I advise you to let alone 'till after the most penetrating colds be past and then about February to take them off and shape them as you please and as the skilful Gardners can direct you An Orchard thus planted Spring and Autumnal stirrings of the Mould about them is of incredible advantage and even during the hottest Summer-Months carefully to abate the Weeds but not to dig above a quarter of a Spit-deep for fear of exposing them to the Sun unless it be after plentiful showers is very necessary There are I confess who fansie that this long exposure of Earth before it be employed for a Crop causes it to exhale and spend the virtue which it should retain but provided nothing be suffered to grow on it whilst it lyes thus rough and fallow there 's no danger of that there being in truth no compost or laetation whatsoever comparable to this continual motion repastination and turning of the Mould with the Spade the pared-off Turf which is the very fat and efflorescence of the Earth and even Weeds with their vegetable Salts so collected into heaps and exposed being reduced and falling into natural sweet and excellent Mould I say this is a marvellous advantage and does in greater measure fertilize the ground alone without any other additament For the Earth which was formerly dull and unactive or perhaps producing but one kind of Plant will by this culture dispose it self to bring forth variety as it lies in depths be it never so profound cold and crude the nature of the Plant always follow ing the genius of the Soil but indeed requiring time according to the depth from whence you fetch it to purge and prepare it self and render it fit for conception evaporating the malignant halitus's and impurities of the imprisoned air laxing the parts and giving easie deliverance to its off-spring I do not dispute whether all Plants have their primigenial Seeds and that nothing emerges spontaneously and at adventure but that these would rise freely in all places if impediments were removed of which something has already been spoken
to shew how pregnant most Earths would become were these indispositions cured and that those seminal rudiments wherever latent were free to move and exert their virtue by taking off these Chains and Weights which fetter and depress them It is verily almost a miracle to see how the same Land without any other Manure or Culture will bring forth and even luxuriate and that the bare raking and combing only of a bed of Earth now one way then another as to the regions of Heaven and polar Aspects may diversifie the annual production which is a secret worthy to be confidered I am only to caution our labourer as to the present work that he do not stir the ground in over-wet and slabby weather that the Sulcus or Trench be made to run from North to South and that if there be occasion for opening of a fresh piece of Earth for present use he dig not above one Spit-deep which will be sufficient to cover the roots of any plantable Fruit or other Tree otherwise not to disturb it again 'till the March following when if he please and that the ground seem to require an hastier maturation there may be a Crop of Beans Pease or Turneps sown upon it which will mellow it exceedingly and destroy the noxious Weeds after which with a slight repastination one may plant or sow any thing in it freely especially Roots which will thrive bravely and so will Trees provided you plant them not too deep but endeavour to make them spread and take in the succulent virtue of the upper Mould and therefore too deep trenching is not always profitable unless it be for Esculent Roots such as Carrots Parsneps Beets and the like since Trees especially Fruit would be tempted even by baits to run shallow such as penetrate deep commonly spending more in Wood and Leaves than in the burden for which we plant them There is only this caution due that you never plant your Roots where the stiff and churlish ground is likely to be within reach of them for though it be neither necessary nor convenient they should penetrate deep it is yet of high importance they should dilate and spread which they will never do in obstinate and inhospitable land but revert back towards the milder and better natured Mould which crumples the roots and perverts their posture to their exceeding dammage And to this infirmity our rare Exotic Plants and Shrubs are most obnoxious confined as they are to their Wooden Cases and Testaceous Prisons and therefore require to be frequently trimm'd and supplyed with fresh and succulent Mould to entertain the Fibers which else you will find to mat in unexplicable intanglements and adhere to the sides of the Vessel where they dry or corrupt Having said thus much of the Natural I should now come to Artificial helps by application of Dungs and Composts and indeed stude ut magnum sterquilinium habeas was old and good advice but for that there be who affirm any Culture of the Earth preferrable to Dung even things so slight as the haume of Peas and Lupines or any other Pulse for when I speak of Dungs I mean those excrementitious and sordid materials which we commonly heap up and lay upon our Grounds I beg your patience to suspend a while my stirring that less pleasant mixture and 'till it be well air'd and fit for use proceed a little farther on our former subject and try what aid we may yet expect from more kind and benign means before we come to the gross and violent For besides that such compost at least so prepared as it ought to be is not every where nor always to be had in quantities to confide in Dungs and Ordure is not so safe and of that importance to our Husbandman Hesiod as some are made believe since if we shall look back into the best experience of elder days we shall find they had very little or no use at all of stercoration I know some there be who attribute this neglect to the natural fertility of the Country that 't is the busie nurse of Vermine and nauseous accidents but waving these without intending to desert the aid of Soil in place and time I proceed with what I call more natural helps namely as we have shewed by opening stirring and ventilating the Earth and sometimes its contrary by coverture shade rest and forbearance for a season as we daily see it practised in our worn-out and exhausted layfields which enjoy their Sabbaths 'T is certain that for our Gardens of Pleasure the fairest beauties of the Parterre require rather a fine quick friable and well-wrought Mould than a rank or richly dunged I shall here then begin with an experiment I have been taught by a learned Person of this illustrious Body from whom I have long D. Beale since received the choicest documents upon this and many curious subjects And first That amongst the mechanical aids wherein stercoration has no hand that of pulverizing the Earth by contusion and breaking it with Plow or Spade is of admirable effect to dispose it for the reception of all the natural impregnations we have been discoursing upon as constant and undenyable I think will be evinced For the Earth especially if fresh has a certain magnetism in it by which it attracts the Salt power or virtue call it either which gives it life and is the Logic of all the labour and stir we keep about it to sustain us all dungings and other sordid temperings being but the vicars succedaneous to this improvement which of all other makes its return of Fruit or whatsoever else it bears without imparting any of those ill and pernicious qualities which we sensibly discover from forced grounds and that not only in the Plants which they produce but in the very Animals which they feed and nourish I know Laurembergius somewhere denys this and that Animals in preparing Chyle transmute alter and insume what is only their proper aliment rejecting all that is superfluous but as our Early Asparagus Cauly-flowers and divers roots manifestly refute it so does the taste of the flesh and milk of Cattel and especially Fowle that feed on the wild Garlick Fenny-grass and other rank and putrid things not here to insist on their sweet and delicate relish upon their change of Food and more odoriferous pasture But to the experiment Take of the most barren Earth you can find drain'd if you please of all its Nitrous Salts and masculine parts reduce it to a fine powder which may be done even in large proportion by a rude Engine letting fall a kind of hammer or beetle at the motion of a wheel let this pulveriz'd Earth and for the time uncessantly agitated be expos'd for a Summer and a Winter to the vicissitudes and changes of the seasons and influences of Heaven By this labour and rest from Vegetation you will find it will have obtain'd such a generous and masculine pregnancy within that period as to
to carry the preeminence with his Lordship as the most pinguid rich and least over-heating next to this Sand as the most abounding in salt chalk more heating and therefore proper for Clay cold and spewing grounds being suffer'd to lye a competent time to resolve before you turn it in earth on earth that is I suppose he means the under part upon the upper or the second spit on the first as we have all along directed at the breaking of fresh ground with the spade Another mixture he commends and which we have likewise newly touched of substances which are not meer Earth as Soot Ashes not the hard and dry Cinders of Sea-coal which we are too busie with about this Town where the ground is naturally too hot and dry but such as is apt to relent and even the sprinkling of Salt where it is wisely sown A third is the permitting Vegetables abounding in fixed salts to dye into the ground as Peasehalm Bracks all sorts of Stubble cast on about the beginning of Winter So leaves of Trees mingled with Chalk and proper compost of dungs to heat and preserve the ground from sowring with them when they are us'd alone A fourth is what we have also touch'd heat and comfort procur'd by Calcinations the burning of Ling Heath Sedge covering the ground with bushes for a time enclosures of walls and mounds when the land lies in the eye of the weather and in other cases meridian exposures and the warmth of the woolly fleeces of sheep as well as manure folded or pastur'd And to this we may add the very grazing of Cattle which in some cases has succeeded better than the best dungy compost especially for old and decay'd Orchards which have been observ'd to recover to admiration when mowing has been pernicious for even the biting of Cattel gives a gentle loosening to the roots of the herbage and makes it to grow fine and sweet and their very breath and treading as well as soil and the comfort of their warm bodies is wholsom and marvellously cherishing But this is to be understood of places where the stems are of full growth and where the beast cannot reach to crop Lastly Irrigation and watering both by admitting and excluding moisture at pleasure And certainly this has since his Lordships time been found one of the richest improvements that ever was put in practice especially where they have the command of fat and impregnate waters without grittiness or being over-harsh and cold whether it percolate through rich ground or which is better descending from eminences and moderate declivities from whence we find the Vallies so luxurious and flourishing To this belongs the cure of wet and boggy Lands by cutting Trenches deeper than the cause of the evil which proceeds from some conceal'd springs hinder'd from emerging forth by the sluggish incumbent earth This makes the ground to heave and swell but not giving vent to stagnate and corrupt both the water and the mould about it And though it lie loose and hollow yet it gathers no vigour from above but remains cold and insipid The remedy is opening the ground till you meet with a sound bottom and cutting your Furrow upwards to the Bog about a foot beneath the spewing water This is to be done in several places and when the drains appear to have wrought the effect you may fill them up again with sprag and bavine great and rough flint brick-bats tileshards horse bones or any other rubbish which will remain loose and hollow and cover them with the grassy side of the turff which you pared off and laid apart on that throw your other Mould which being cast up in heaps for some time will be much improv'd with spreading lastly sow it over with hay-seeds But the Cure is yet easier if the Land lye considerably sloping and if it happen to be a planted Ground then cut your Trench deeper than the roots of your Trees and apply the foresaid rubbish to intercept the moisture About the latter end of October trench the Ground all over for near a foot and a half in depth and when you are come within three or four foot of the stemm cut off all their larger roots sloping inwards sparing only the fibers and such of them as you find tender and about as big as your finger leaving also the more perpendicular to keep the Tree steady This done castin some rubbish of brick-bats limestone not chalk and other materials that the Mould may lye easie about them and with a mixture of good Earth plenty of rotten stubble or other soil apply it near the Root and fill your Trench with the rest and if your Ground require it as being too cold it commonly does add to your compost the Dung of Sheep Pigeons or Poultry very well consum'd And because Moss is oftner caused by starving and wet Grounds than by hot and over dry for both produce it the Cure is likewise to be effected by Ablaqueation and baring the Roots as above and for the latter by a mixture of Loame with the scouring of Pond or ditch-Earth which of it self is the most excellent manure and the planting your Trees at greater intervals for admission of Air and Sun since the scraping of it off which may also be done in wet weather is but temporary and if nothing else be perform'd it will be sure to grow again Lands which are cold and dry are as we have hinted to be improv'd by contraries namely by application of composts which are hot and moist as Sheeps-dung burning and calcining of the Earth with the Vegetables on it and the like to excite heat and fermentation but which is not to be effected without repugnant remedies and such as are of heterogeneous parts to stir and lift up the Mould and render it less unactive If it be cold and clinging as frequently 't is found there lime rubbish sea-coal-ashes a moderate sprinkling of sand with some proper compost may perform the Cure Hungry Grounds require to have the cause well look'd into the water turn'd as above directed or if it want such as is well enrich'd Lands that are hot and burning allay with Swines-dung as say some the coldest or with Neats which will certainly refresh it For Earth which is too light there 's nothing better than Pondmudd after a winter has pass'd upon it Earth over-rank for there may be some too fat as well as too lean sand and ashes will take down but still with regard to what you design to plant upon it neither the Almond nor the Hasel will indure a wanton Mould and though it seem a Paradox that any Soil should be too rich upon which some Critics have suspected the Text in Theophrastus Lib. 2â— Cap. 5 6. which asserts it twice in two successive Chapters 't is yet a Truth indubitable and holds as well in Plants as Animals which growing very fat are seldom prolific Some on the contrary are so emaciate and lean dry and insipid as
hardly any pains will make them fruitfull Such are Minerals and Metalic Soils devouring clays light and ashysands so again are putrid and fungous others though fruitfull producing only venemous Plants Hemlock and the deadly Aconitum and some though wholesom ground may be poison'd with unskilfull or malicious mixtures and with damps and Arsenical vapours which sometimes though natural are but accidental and for a season as when after extraordinary drouths and stagnant air the Earth hath not been seasonably open'd refresh'd and ventilated Moreover Ground is sometimes barren and becomes unfruitful by the vicinity of other Plants sucking and distracting the juice of the Earth from one to another For thus we see the Reed and Fern will not be made to dwell together Hemlock and Rue are said to be inimicous the Almond and the Palm which are seldom fruitful but in Conjugation and perhaps there are Effluvia or certain inconspicuous steams of dusty seeds which not only impregnate places where never grew any before but issue likewise from one to another as in our Junipers and Cypress I observe flowering about April which are Trees of Consort and thrive not well alone The Ficus never keeps her fruit so well as when planted with the Caprific By what irradiations the Myrtil thrives so with the Fig the Vine affects the Elme and Olive which is at Antipathy with the Oake and imparts also such a bitterness to the Mould as kills Lettuce and other subnascent Plants is hard to say and why some affect to live in crowds others in solitude But that Firrs Pines Cedars Elmes and divers other Trees aspire and grow so tall in society may be as from other causes so from their not over-glutting themselves with nourishment for Compost is not their delight which inclines them rather to shoot upwards than expand and spread Lastly by shade Ground is render'd barren and by the dripping of umbragious trees To these Air and Sun may be soon restor'd by removing of the skreens which intercept them and yet all shade is not unpropitious where the Soil and Climate are benign as well as that which casts the umbrage and of this we have a notable instance somewhere amongst the Astomori even in Africa where the soil and the air are reported to be so genial that the Olive is said to grow under the Date-tree the Fig under the Olive under the Fig-tree the Granade under that the Vine under the Vine a crop of Corn and at the feet of the Corn a certain pulse none of them impeded by the more than reduplicated shades But there are some we must confess amongst us which are not so propitious Trees of all sorts though the perennial Greens least breath as much after the air as the soil and do not thrive without it nor except it be wholesom But to return to barren Earths which are either out of heart by being spent or from the nature of the soil in both which the Plants which they produce though never so unprosperous run hastily to seed or make an offer they are to be restored by the Plow the Spade and the Rake by stirring and repose appositions and mixtures of Earth Calcinations and Composts and above all by the eye of the Master and dust of his feet as the Italian Proverb has it For after this Process and innumerable other Tryals mixtures of things being endless all other sorts of Earths and imperfect Moulds may be treated and meliorated namely if it be too hard and close to mollifie and relax it if too loose to give it ligature and binding if too light ballast if too meagre to fasten and impinguate it if too rich and luxurious emaciate and bring it down if too moist apply exsiccatives if too cold fermenting Composts if excessive hot to cool and refresh it for thus as we said Earths should be married together like Male and Female as if they had Sexes for being of so many several complexions they should be well confider'd and match'd accordingly and for this you see what choice I have presented you of Sand Ashes Chalk Lime Marle mixture of Mould Calcinations Air Sun Dew Rain Frosts and Snows Trenching Drilling Watering Infusions and finally of Animal Stercorations and other composts which is the next and last part of this I fear over-tedious Discourse Since indeed it is not sufficient to find out even the best and most grateful Mould in nature so as to relie for ever upon the same performance without supplys of all sorts stirring and repose constant dressing and after all we have said artificial laetations likewise to encourage and maintain it in vigour We proceed then in the next place to what farther advancement we may expect from Stercoration and manuring the ground by Composts and to discover the qualities which may be latent in their several ferments and how to apply them by a skilfull and philosophical hand without which they do alwayes more hurt than good and therefore first we will enumerate their several kinds and next inquire what it is we chiefly seek for and expect from them and lastly how to treat them so as may render them fitting for our service From Animals we have the Soil of Horses and beasts of burden Neats Sheep Goats Hogs Pigeons Poultry and Fenny-fowle We have also Flesh Fat Blood Hair Feathers Vrine shavings of Horn Hoofs Leather Skins Fish Garbage Snail-mud c. From Vegetables as of nearest affinity we have Vine-cuttings Stalks fall'n Leaves Marc of the Wine and Cider-presses Lees of Wine Oyl rotten Fruit Gourds Weeds Fern Haulme Stubble rotten Wood Saw-dust refuse of the Tan-pit Sea-woad Linnen Clowts and Old Rags also Brine Pickle Ashes Soot and of things promiscuous Washing of Dishes Bucks Barrels Soap-suds Slime and Scouring of Ponds and High-wayes Dust Sweepings In summ whatsoever is apt to rot and consume in any competent time and is either salt unctuous or fatty To which let me add impregnating Rains and Dews cold and dry Winters with store of Snow which I reckon equal to the richest Manures impregnated as they are with Celestial Nitre But with all these Auxiliaries we are not yet to imagine that any of them are therefore profitable and good because they retain an heady scent are hot moist rotten and slippery fat or unctuous and the like which are all qualities that alone and of themselves effect little till they are corrected and prepar'd but for that amongst these materials we detect the causes of fertility more eminently than in other substances partly from their fixed salts or some virtue contain'd in them or rather drawn from without and imparted to the exhausted and defective Earth and that by such a process as by converting them into a Chyle as it were it facilitates their being insum'd assimilated and made apt to pass into nourishment promoting vegetation This obtain'd the next thing is how skilfully to apply what we have prepar'd and this indeed is a difficulty worthy the heads as well as
hands of the profoundest Philosopher since it requires a more than superficial knowledge and penetration into causes We know indeed that the Earth is without any Artificial Auxiliaries indu'd with a wonderful prolific virtue but this for being possible to be lost and decay at least for a longer time than our necessities can support and from some grounds never to be expected without such helps it may be worth our while a little to consider by what expedients of digestion or other wayes the desir'd effect of perpetuating its vigour might best be accomplish'd That the secret we enquire after and which does most apparently seem to evirtuate towards this end is some Salt I suppose is generally agreed For Salt it is which gives ligature weight and constitution to things and is the most manifest substance in all Artificial Composts 'T is the Salts which intice Roots to affect the upper and saline surface of the Earth upon which the Nitrous Rains and Dews descend and the cause that some Plants the most racy and charg'd with juice of all other for such is the Vine thrive so well amongst Rocks and Pumices and in whatever best maintains this vital pickle 'T is Salt which makes all cover'd and long shaded Earths to abound in fertility and renders the dung of Pigeons Poultry and other Salacious Corn-fed Birds so eminently effectual before the soil of Horses and other Beasts in which it less abounds as having less virtue to attract it 'T is Salt that gives such vigour to places sprinkl'd with urine Soot Ashes c. which have them not diluted and to Bones Flesh Horn Hair Feathers Blood and the rest of those animal excrements And whence those seminal Masses should proceed after Calcination of the Earth when it comes to be expos'd again is hard to divine whence I say they should derive their life and energy without being destroy'd by so powerful an agent as Fire unless they lurk in some vegetant and indissoluble salts volatile fixed or nitrous Earth from whence they Phoenix-like emerge though I do not say without any other specific rudiment But 't is strange what as I remember Dr. Morison affirms of the Erysimum or Irio so seldom seen to grow spontaneously in England before the late prodigious Conflagration of this City when there appear'd more of it amongst the Ruines than was known to grow in all Europe besides it being a curious Exotic to be found most about Naples in the time of Fabius Colonna and but rarely elsewhere 'T is Salt which resuscitates the dead and mortifi'd Earth when languishing and spent by our indulgence to her verdant Off-spring her vigour seems to be quite exhausted as appears by the rains and showers which gently melt into her bosome what we apply to it and for which cause all our Composts are so studiously made of substances which most ingender or attract it 'T is Salt which fertilizes and renders Aegypt so luxuriously fruitful after the inundations of Nile and the Nitrous grounds of Jamaica and other places which cause so stupendious a growth of Plants and Trees 'T is the want of Salt which emasculates the virtue of Seeds too long macerated in hungry water and renders floated wood such unprofitable fuel and to turn into such insipid ashes and whatsoever it be some Plants may appear to affect as to the external differences of appetite some of them seeming to draw in more Air some Earth and others Water in extraordinary measure according to the several contextures of their parts or by whatever Magnetisms and attractives it is still to come at their Salts which doubtless create that inclination compose the various saps and juices which they present us Nay what if I should say that all the several parts of Vegetables were endow'd with their peculiar and distinct Salts through different motions complications and percolations or that so many Earths so many kinds of Salts digested and transported by their different Vehicles and strainers and those also though unlike in quality yet perfectly congruous to what they produce and nourish But what this Vehicle or Menstrue is I contend not 't is evident that Salts unite best with water Vernal and Autumnal Showers and Dews as the most apt to convey their insinuations You know who have dignified Salt with the prerogative of being nam'd Element-earth the vigour and close of all things yea the first and last of Elementated bodies What shall I say quid Divinum the Original of all fecundity nor can I say less since there was nor sacrifice nor discourse acceptable without it And verily upon serious contemplation of the premises and the little experience I have had of their effects in this work of vegetation as far as I am able to penetrate into causes by them I am not displeas'd at the magnificent Epithets which are given it In the mean time I know there be who are so averse to this Doctrine as to prefer Water before it nor contend I with them so they allow the near affinity and friendship which is between them as I have deduc'd it at the entry of this Discourse where I describe my Autoptical observations of the several Earths all that I pretend from hence being only to excite us to make diligent enquiry what may more likely be the cause of Vegetation and whether Salt have not a Dominion almost Monarchical in this great Work of Nature being so absolute an ingredient in all our Dungs and Composts which I am next going to speak of I cannot in the mean time but wonder how a thing so eminently sacred and fertile should come to be the Symbol of Malediction when as the custom was they us'd to sow Salt on Cities they had curs'd there being in all Nature nothing so pregnant and fruitful unless it were to invite the Plow to go there and that the fertility of the spot for Corn and Grain might divert them from rebuilding and covering it again with houses Indeed to apply Salt in excess burns the Earth for a time so as nothing will grow upon it but when once the rains have well diluted it it springs up more wantonly than ever This I daily find by sifting common Salt upon the gravel-walks of my Garden and for which cause I have left it off and we find that the Earth it self over-marl'd and too highly manur'd is as unprofitable as if it were barren for the time and that there is in all things a just proportion to be observed But neither all this while do I pretend much less determine that the Principle I so much celebrate is our common artificial Salt compos'd of Urine and the like which of it self is so burning and destructive till its acidity be qualified by the air and showers from heaven which endows it with a natural magnetism to receive their irradiant virtues but a certain more unctuous spirit or airy Nitre pregnant with a vital Balm which is the thing we endeavour to find in these materials
growing in the Barbadoes which held six foot long five foot broad and three inches thick form'd and wrought as it stands upon the frame and his Royal Highness had another of a much larger dimension namely eighteen foot in length and nine in breadth cut out of the Stem which was of prodigious growth to be fed and nourish'd as it was between the barren Rocks But to proceed we find that most esculent and culinary Roots do rather chuse a rich natural and light Mould inclining to sand than what is forc'd or over-muck't and how much they yield to soil growing hard short and fibrous and contract the smell and relish of the ferments apply'd to accelerate their growth for according to the Italian Proverb Ogni pianta serba della sua radice Every Plant has a smack of the Root I have already mention'd so as to confide in Dungs as our vulgar Gardners about this City do is no incouragement and therefore some not without good reason prefer the Corn and Grain which is reap'd from Marle Chalk Lime and other more natural Manure before what is produc'd from a Crop which grows on a Dung-hill in comparison experience also shewing that the cause of smuttiness many times proceeds from the impurity and rankness of the dressing and therefore we omit to enumerate amongst our Soils Stercus humanum which howsoever preferr'd by some before all other and mention'd by Columella with that of Fowl and Cattel does unless exceedingly ventilated and air'd perniciously contaminate the odor of Flowers and is so evident in the Vine as nothing can reconcile it To give some instances of the nature of particular and simple Composts for so I take leave to use a Solecism till they are blended together with the rest as we shall afterwards shew what ever they be they are by no means fit for the Earth and use of the Husband-man unless besides their richness they be perfectly well digested made short sweet and almost reduc'd to a crumbling Mould so order'd as not only not to lose any of their virtue but improve it and to excite entertain and communicate heat and vegetative Spirits to what you shall apply them And that this is not done per se that is by immediate application without prejudice unless it be for the Hot-Bed which yet has an Intermedium of Mould experience tells us especially in the soil of Animals which is of all other the most active as consisting of Heterogeneous parts and repugnancies without which no fermentation could be obtain'd Now since many of these being freshly made are not only sensibly hot but mordacious and burning they are with caution to be us'd That every kind of Earth as well as the Dung of Beasts c. has its peculiar ferment and operates accordingly either by attracting something to it or embasing what approaches it sufficient has been said together with directions how to mingle and attemper it as best may qualifie it for Culture That we may do the like with the several sorts of Soil let us consider what their natures are what their correctives and how to apply them Horse-dung the least pinguid and fat of any taken as it falls being the most fiery excites to sudden fermentation above any wherefore as we said 't is then fit only for the Hot-Bed and when that fervour's past may be spread on fields where we would have a rank Grass to spring but is at no hand to be admitted into the Garden or where you desire good Roots should grow unless the ground be very cold or wet and then too it had need be well rotted lest instead of curing it it leave couch and pernicious weeds worse than the Disease the seeds of Hay and other Plants of which the Horses eat coming oftentimes intire from them And such vegetables do commonly spring up from the Soil of Cattel of which they chiefly eat as long knot-grass from this Beast short clean and sweet pasture from Sheep and Cows the Sonchus or Sow-thistle from the Swine So as ground muck'd with Horse-dung is alwayes the most infected of any and if it be not perfectly consum'd it makes your Roots grow forked fills them with worms and imparts to them an unpleasing relish but being laid on at the beginning of winter and turn'd-in at spring it succeeds sometimes with Pulse The Soil of Asses is highly esteemed for its being better digested by the long mastication and chewing of that dull Animal but since we have no quantity of it in this Country it does the less concern us Neats Dung of all other is universally the most harmless and the most useful excellent to mingle with sandy and hot grounds lean or dry and being apply'd before winter renders it the most like natural Earth and is therefore for the Garden and Orchard preferr'd to any other To use it therefore with the most certain success in such thirsty Grounds apply a plentiful surface of it so blended as the rain and showers may wash in the virtue of it throughly but this is best done by making the Dung the finer and then working it in at a soaking wet not stormy season and then leaving it also cover'd with it for some time if the rain descend in too great excess The next is Sheeps Dung which is of a middle temper between that and Pigeons profitable in cold Grounds and to impregnate liquors of choise use in the Garden The Dung of Swine is esteem'd the coldest and least acrimonious though some there be who contradict it and therefore to be apply'd to burning Lands but alwayes so early interr'd as never to appear above ground where it is apt to produce weeds in abundance from the greedy devouring of what it eats This though not so proper for the Garden is said yet to edulcorate and sweeten fruit so sensibly as to convert the bitterest Almond into sweet and therefore recommended above all others for experiments of change and alteration Some qualifie it with bran or chaff well consum'd greatly comfortable to Fruit-Trees but especially the hairs and bristles buried about the Roots of Pear-Trees Pigeons Dung and that of Poultry especially of Aquatic Fowls which is too fiery full of volatile salts is hot and burning and therefore most applicable to the coldest ground There is nothing so effectual to revive the weak and languishing Roots of fruit-Fruit-trees laid early to them but first be sure they pass their mordicant and piercing spirits and be discreetly mixt Very efficacious is this Dung to keep frost out of the Earth and therefore of great use to cover the Mould in Cases of Exotic and tender Plants but if the heat be not well qualified the very steam will kill them in a moment therefore let a full winter pass over this laetation for most uses The best way of preparing it is to reduce it into powder and mingle it with the Mould and to water with its infusion which alone does wonders or if it have been well expos'd
for that I should have premis'd so as at least the down-right rains may not fall upon it cast into it first your Stable soil with the littier a foot or more thick according to the depth of your Pit upon this lay a bed of fine Mould on that another bed of Cider-Marc rotten fruit and Garden off all on this a couch of Pigeons and Poultry-dung with more littier then a stratum of Sheeps-dung a layer of Earth again then Neats-dung lastly Ashes Soot Fern a moist and a dry bottom of Wood-stack Saw-dust dry scowrings of Ponds and Ditches with all other ingredients as you happen to amass them till the Cistern be full and heaped up upon all this cast plentiful water from time to time which if you can have out of some Pond where Cattel use to drink and cool themselves in it will be excellent At the expiration of two years you may confidently open your magazine and separate the Layers as they rise to cast them into other small Pits or receptacles made a little concave to receive them where you may stir air mingle and work them in with fresh Mould or one with the other as you find cause till they become comparatively sweet and agreeable to the scent Lastly you may pass them through a screen made of lathes plac'd at moderate intervals and with the liquor remaining in your great Cistern sprinkle the several Composts and make them up for use casting the course remaining stuff which would not pass the riddle into the Cistern again for farther mortification and so keep your Pit fill'd with fresh materials from time to time after the same method There are some who advise us to suffer your mixture to remain till it be quite dry after it is thus refin'd and then being beaten to dust to strew it upon the ground And indeed this seems in Pliny's time to have been the Custom nor do I contradict it provided you could water it or were sure of a shower before the Sun had drank too deeply of the spirit and vigour of it which reduc'd in this manner it does easily part withall Now the Reason of our thus treating Compost of various soils and substances is not only to dulcifie sweeten and free them from the noxious qualities they otherwise retain and consequently impart apply'd as usually we find them crude indigested and unactive but for being immoderately hot and burning or else rank and apter to ingender vermine weeds and fungous excrescences than to produce wholesome Plants Fruits and Roots fit for the Table and grateful to the Palate for which effect it should be throughly concocted air'd of a scent agreeable and reduc'd to the next disposition of a sweet and natural Earth short and tractable yet not so macerated as to lose any of its virtue The proper season therefore for this work is the beginning of the Autumnal Aequinox and wind westerly both to prepare and lay it on your Land that whether it be of wet or dry consistence it may have a gentle soaking into the Earth As for fresh Dungs such as Sheep make when they are folded it is good advice to cover it with Mould as soon as possible before the Sun have over-dry'd it for the Reasons before hinted and by this early application you will find all that is stiff and yet any wayes contumacious subdu'd and perfectly prepar'd before you turn it in If you would meliorate Ground for fruit-Fruit-trees Roots and Esculents of the Orchards and Olitory Garden be cautious that the hotter Dungs approach not immediately to their stems or roots without such a circumposition of natural Mould as we have commended But this is a note for such as think fit to use the soil steaming as it comes from the heap but if it be prepar'd as we have shew'd there is no danger even of immediate contact And the same is to be observ'd in Ablaqueation where we find cause to bare the Roots of Trees and expose them to the air for fresh influence or to abate exuberances and that the cavity be not fill'd all at once when we conceive the Roots have been sufficiently air'd but gradually from month to month as from October till the beginning of March and upon other occasions leaving the surface rough rather than too compt and exquisitely trim'd if only you dig your Ground which once in two or three years four or five as you perceive your Trees to require Culture is advisable and then to mingle the Earth with a thorow soiling and refresh it with the impregnate water of your Cistern will exceedingly recover a worn-out Plantation This Irrigation may also be yearly given to the Roots of your Fruit-trees about June and July and the spreading of a little good Soil upon the surface and rough chopping it in with the spade before winter is good husbandry to wash in amongst the Roots and to draw them upwards the shallow running of which is of so great importance And thus having shew'd how to prepare ripen separate and apply the several Composts which for distinction sake we call the dry mixture I am next to describe the liquid in many particulars not much differing from the former Process 'Twixt East and North erect a Pergola or Shed so contriv'd with a cover as to exclude or admit the rain snows and weather at pleasure sink a Pit for the Cistern as you did the former under it cast into it all the acid Plants bitter and rank weeds that come in your way and grow in the neglected corners of your grounds such as Esula Hemlock Docks Thistles Fumary Tabacco-stalks Wormwood Cabbage-leaves and stalks Aconites the leaves trash and offal such as Cattel will not touch to these add Pigeons and Poultry dung with their Quils and Feathers any sort of Ashes Soot Hogs-hair Horn hard bones such as the dogs have gnawn also Vrine Blood Garbage Pickle Brine Sea-water if conveniently to be had otherwise Pond-water to sprinkle it with and keep it moist to accelerate putrefaction but when all is well consum'd forbear the pouring on of insipid liquors and thus leave it till it be dry then air mingle and work your Compost as you were directed above or boile it into Peter casting what you find not well digested into the Cistern again for another year and with a little addition it will give you half the quantity of the former and provided that you supply the Magazine a continu'd and farther increase Indeed this Salt and Compost is not immediately fit for use till it be well dulcified and purg'd from its over acrimony therefore mix it well with your Mould and dilute it as you see cause The Receipt is set down by old Glauber for the effecting of wonderful Vegetation by the assistance of certain Circulatory Vessels to prepare the Oylie succus and pinguid Juice which that Author teaches in his Miraculum Mundi to extract not only out of these Materials but out of Turf Wood and Stone it self by calcining