that must be spread upon it that the roots may have the more liberty to spread backwards Fill up the hole with the mold and use all diligence to place the roots of your Tree in the same posture they were in before you removed it If the Tree be young and the Roots slender this can be performed no way but by throwing in a little Soil at a time and then raising up with your hands such Roots as are pressed down by it below their proper situation spreading them on the soil you have cast in and then throwing in more and ordering the Roots as before so continuing to do till you have fill'd up the hole Old Trees with sturdy Roots do not require so much curiosity but you must be sure that the mold lye close under betwixt and among the Roots If the Soil be light you must press it down gently with your foot then cover them half a yard about with Fearn or Straw or if your ground be not very rich with Dung 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 Sect. 4. Every year it will be necessary to prune and nail them to the Wall twice or thrice according as they grow more or less wherein you must observe to bend down the strongest shoots that would grow upward towards the sides otherwise they will be apt to run straight upward and not cover the space you design for them and by their luxurious growth will extreamly rob the side branches of their nourishment There will branches enow spring out fresh to run upwards out of them when they are so bowed Cut off such as grow directly outward close to the body if you cut a part of any branch off do it at a bud that the cut may be covered with a fresh sprig Lay none a-cross or under one another but let them spread as the fingers of your hand when it is expanded The Winter pruning may be done as soon as the fruit and leaves are fallen or any time before February except Nectarines and Peaches which are apt to dye if prun'd before the Sap rise Mr. Rea saith the best time to Prune them is after they flower Shreads of Woollen-Cloth are the best things to Nail them up with some use gentle Leather or an old Hat any of these may serve turn 〈…〉 Sect. 5. Sometime in the Winter after two or three years if the Soil the roots are to spread into be not rich enough open the ground at the outside of the holes you made at setting as near round about as the Wall will permit If you find no roots bare let it lye open a month and then sill it up with the Earth that came forth well mixt with such a manure as suits with it Amenling Soil Sect. 6. Where the natural soil is not good enough of it self whether it be in Garden Orchard or Field there it ought to be by skill assisted and better'd at least-wise for such a compass as the roots of every Tree take up for some time if not so far round as they are ever like to extend themselves And this must be done by mixing such Manures with the Soil as suit best with its temper If the Soil be clay or clay mixed with gravel or wet heavy land hot Dung as that of Horses or Poultry is best to mix with it to bring it to a due temperament And if the soil be a light hollow eskie or sandy land Marl Mud our of a Pond or River or shovelling◠of dirty yards or high-ways if they be not sandy and be well mellowed by lying on heaps and especially if those heaps are mixed with Lime are proper to mend it If this last soil be barren likewise you may properly add a mixture of Neats-dung If your Land be too rich which is seldom seen you may mix coal Ashes with it I have seen an Apple-tree on a Hemp-but which was constantly Plowed and Manur'd to a great richness bear more Apples than four such Trees in an Orchard would do And it 's constantly seen in barren hungry Land Trees thrive poorly grow Mossey or Bark-bound bearing very little and that a very poor Fruit. Only walnut-Walnut-trees and pear-Pear-trees do not necessarily require a very rich ground and will prosper best on stony and light land 〈…〉 Sect. 7. When your wall-Wall-trees are grown old and full of big wood you may in three or four years time renew them by cutting out some of the biggest stems or boughs yearly cutting each branch off at some small twig if it may be that either it or a fresh branch may grow over the cut place which must be kept covered with Clay and so go on yearly till all the big wood is cut out Or if you dislike the kind of Fruit you may Inoculate or Graff the boughs with a better sort of Fruit but not all in one year but some one and some another By either of these ways you may renew a decaying Tree and keep your Wall almost still furnished with less trouble and charge or loss of time than by taking up the old one and planting a young one in its stead Appropriating Fruit to Walls Sect. 8. In furnishing your Walls with Fruit-trees observe always to Plant Peaches and Nectarines up to the Wall that is most South-ward the East Wall is to be allotted to Apricocks carly Cherries and the choicest Plums the West may be set with Pears Cherries and Plums Some of the coursest Pears and Plums you may set to the North Wall both to cover the wall handsomly and many years they will bear as well on it as on standards especially if your wall stand not directly North but so as to have some considerable benefit of the Sun Nut-trees likewise are proper for this wall and will prosper well up to it If your conveniencies will allow it and you are to build a new Wall it is much better to have your Garden walls not stand directly towards the four points than otherwise and then the worst wall will be much better and the best good enough for your purpose As thus the East-wall to incline to the South the South to the West the West to the North the North to the East or contrary but not so well In the first way the two first walls will be extraordinary good and the two later good enough for ordinary Fruit. Making a Wall Sect. 9. In building a New Wall it would be very advantagious to make it with half rounds each semi-circle being eight yards round in the inside and about six yards in the face or diameter each taking two Trees and betwixt every half round let there be two foot breadth of plain walling where you may place a Flower-pot on a pillar two soot high or Plant a Vine to run up it which every Summer you may let spread it self a little into the half rounds on each side it I know an honourable Gentleman in somewhat a cold Country that hath his Garden walls so made and his
a years time and more choose such suckers as grow at greatest distance from the old Tree Ordering the heads of Dwarfs Sect. 9. In Graffing or Inoculating Stocks for dwarf-Dwarf-trees observe to do it as low as you well can with two Cyens and those longer than in Graffing for large Standards that they may spread from the ground And after they are grown two or three years in the places they are to stand in to make them spread and to keep the boughs outward you may tye an old hoop of a Barrel or some such thing in the midst of the branches to bear them a good distance one from another but if one branch be much stronger or more inclined to grow upright than the rest then you may drive a Stake into the ground and tye the sturdy one down to it If you cut the bark cross-wise in several places on the inside of the branches when they are placed as you would have them it will be a means to make them more willing to continue in that order of their own accord after some years growth If any one branch shoot out much further than the other cut off its top to keep it even with the rest and yearly cut much off especially new shoots that grow directly upward after they are grown to that height you design them to be of which may be about a yard and a half Trees of Cuttings Sect. 10. Having directed how to raise Kentish-Codlings Gennet-moils Quinces or any that grow of cuttings for Stocks I need give no other rules for raising Trees or Hedges of the same kind of Fruit only you need not cut them so short as you do for stocks I have seen Codlings Graffed on Crab-stocks and set in a Garden but I think it will encrease their growth because Crab-stocks have great roots and will yield them more plenty of nourishment than roots of their own putting forth when they are raised by Cuttings Others Graff Gennet-moils on Crab-stocks and they thrive well and bear a larger and some think a better Fruit than those Trees of that kind raised by Cuttings I have Graffed several of them in rough and woody grounds which have grown with very strong shoots and covered the Stocks very soon CHAP. X. Of Planting an Orchard SECT 1. So far as it lyeth in a Mans power to choose a plot of ground for his Orchard Choice of ground he ought to do it with respect to these advantages It should lye conveniently near him declining and lying open towards the South South-East or South-West and defended from the North North-East and North-West winds by buildings woods or higher grounds the land should rather incline to dryness than moisture without Springs the Soil deep and a fat Earth not a stiff cold Clay or binding Gravel nor a light sandy or eskie hollow Earth Yet with good Husbandry if it run not into the extreams of any of these fruit-Fruit-trees may prosper reasonable well in it A. The erder of Trees in the Orchard B. The Garden wall C. The Chissell D. The Ladder E. The Instrument to graff in the bark with To qualifie ground Sect. 2. If the Land you intend for it be a Turf or green-sward you will do well to Plow it two years before you set your Trees in it to make it mellow and loose that the Trees may the better take root and you may then lay on Manure which by Plowing will be well mixt with the natural Soil and use such Manure as will best suit to amend it according to what you have heard before in the 8th Chap. Sect. the 6th If your Land lye very flat that wet is apt to stand upon it or be a shallow soil you may something help it in Plowing also by gathering the Land always up in and near the place where you intend the rows of Trees shall afterwards stand which in two years time will something raise it and thicken the Soil and the Reanes or Furrows so made will help to carry off the Water But if it be a springey Land you must Trench it at the head of the Spring and that deeper than the Channel of the Spring runs in the Earth which you may leave open and yearly cleanse or fill it with Oler boughs and cover them with the Turf and Earth that came forth much higher than the other Land for the Wood and loose Earth will sink very much by degrees If it be not springey but only lye so low and flat that in the Winter Rain or Land-floods will lye upon it and that it hath been lately Plowed or that you will not lose two years time by Plowing it before you set your Trees or if it be a shallow or ebb soil you had best set the Trees by Tumping according to the directions in Field-planting which you will find hereafter spoken fully to in its proper place Of uneven ground Sect. 3. If there be any unevenness in the Land some direct to level it by carrying the banks into low places but this will not only be very chargeable but hurtful by making the high places too barren and the low ground too rich But that your Trees may grow somewhat level in their tops and not one over-shade another and also appear comely you may forecast to set such Trees as grow pendant or are not apt to grow tall Trees on the highest ground and such as are aspiring in the lower places Time and manner of planting it Sect. 4. The best time to Transplant into Orchards is from the end of September to near the end of November the sooner the better If the leaves are not all fallen when you remove your Trees pick them off If your Trees are not very weak bodied Prune them up leaving three or four of the principal branches on the top that grow outward which should be lopp'd off almost a years growth but if they be weak lest the wind should injure them by tossing them you may top them lower doing it at a bud or small twig and in big Trees cut the top almost all off and whensoever you transplant young Trees cut off the end of all big roots Of removal of Trees Sect. 5. At three years end after Graffing in the Nursery Trees may be fit to be removed into an Orchard especially if you Plow or which is safer dig the Orchard land and set Beans and other Kitchen-Garden-stuff in it for some years but if it be such a piece of Land that you Graze then you must be sure their heads be grown out of the reach of Cattle before you set them there and you must Fence them one of the ways mentioned hereafter in the Chapter of Field-planting Of distance Sect. 6. The distance of Trees in Orchards ought not to be less than eight yards neither need it be more than thirteen or fourteen the richer the Land is the greater distance you ought to set the Trees at from one another to which
you ought to have respect and also to the kinds of Fruit-trees you Plant for some Trees take up more room in their growth than others as most Pear-trees more than Apple-trees and some Apple-trees more than others according to their aptness to grow more or less too tedious and difficult to be here related only the Redstrake being generally a desired Fruit you may take notice that it 's one of the least Apple-trees where it yields the best Cyder sometimes it 's almost but a shrub It 's certainly best in many respects for Trees to be Planted at a very good distance for 1. The Plantation will be little annoyance to the Land if either you set Garden stuff in it sow Corn on it while the Trees are young or Graze it when they are grown up 2. Whereas some say the more Trees the more Fruit that 's absolutely false for when they are set so close that the Sun cannot have a good influence upon them they bear poorly and ripen worse 3. They cannot grow to be Trees of that size as they would if the land be good being set at a good distance and some kind of Trees being of stronger and swifter growth than others will so domineer over their neighbours that they will make them almost good for nothing 4. You may plant betwixt every Tree a Cherry-tree or Codling-tree which may grow up and bear with the other Trees many years and never prejudice them but will decay before the others are at full growth Or you may set a young Apple-tree or Pear-tree betwixt every two of your standards that you set in your Orchard and nurse it up with necessary dressing and pruning seven or eight years or less time to Transplant into Fields or Pasture-land where Cattle feed whereby with little help it will not be in such danger of hurt from Cattle as small ones would and bear Fruit soon after it 's set and you cannot let them grow so long in your Nursery without galling or hurting one another unless when you remove Trees out of your Nursery you take care to leave every other Tree whereby they may have liberty to grow big and so more sit for your fields Of transplanting Trees young or old Sect. 7. I know some are for removing Trees very young and it 's certainly the best way if they can be secure from danger which in Orchards or Fields where Cattle have liberty to feed they cannot well be with ordinary fencing unless they be of five or six years growth after graffing He that hath a Nursery of his own and removes them into places so near that he can well do it let him the very same or the next day after they are taken up set them in the place appointed for them and not cut off too much of the roots but the greatest part of the top And he may do well to plant strong and well grown Trees especially in his fields and out-out-grounds for the charge of Fencing will be much eased and being carefully set they may prosper as well or better than small ones especially in uncultivated or stiff land by Nature where young Trees cannot so well put forth roots And here I shall propose a surer way to have old Trees remov'd grow and prosper well than is commonly practis'd that is If you chance to have any Trees betwixt ten and thirty years old that you have a mind to remove you must about November the year before you transplant them dig a trench as narrow as you please but so deep as to meet with most of the spreading Roots at such a distance round about the body of the Tree as you would cut the roots off at when you remove it about half a yard distant from the body may do well if they be not very large Trees but if you have not far to carry them leave them longer as you make the Trench cut the roots you meet with clear off and smooth without splitting them or bruising the bark fill up the Trench again and by October next after when you take up the Tree to set it elsewhere you will find those great roots will have put forth many fibrous roots and made preparation for more which fresh and tender roots upon removal will enable the Tree to draw more nourishment than otherwise it would and consequently to prosper the better in its new mansion The order Sect. 8. The best way you can set Trees in an Orchard is according to the Figure which is called a Quincunx You are to proceed in setting your Trees in the ground by the same general rules given for Wall-fruit observing exactly all that is there but only what in particular concerns the wall Also in transplanting any big Trees men generally observe to coast them as it 's termed thaâ— is to place the same side of the Tree â—o the South East c. as grew so meâ—ly that way where it stood before to which end before you remove it you had best make some mark in the bark of the Tree which way it stood this you may observe in straight Trees but it 's more material if your Trees lean one way more than another to set the leaning side towards the South-West from whence the strongest winds blow Tâ—â— Fence Sect. 9. The best quick Fence for your Orchard is a good white-thorn that when it 's grown up may be plashed the better to prevent the creeping of Hogs or Sheep into it set no smooth quick in it that may grow to great Trees because they will be hurtful both to the Hedg and Fruit-trees both by their tops and roots when they are grown up but set two rows of good Hawthorn and make the dead-hedg on the outside the ditch and the quick-set will grow the faster for the hedg upon the ditch is apt to choak the quick And thus with sometimes weeding it you may soon raise a good fence If you have an old hedg already about your Orchard scour the ditch and plash the hedg and cut down all big Trees that grow in it unless on the North or West-side the one requiring a defence to keep the Orchard warm the other to secure it somewhat from the strong winds that blow down the fruit before it's ripe though it 's better they grew on the outside the hedg Sect. 10. Your Orchard-fruit-trees as well as others Pruning will need some pruning which you may observe to do after this manner if you desire they should be tall Trees cut off all the side branches till they are grown to the height you desire if to spread low let some be left on each side that the boughs on any one side may not weigh down the Tree but that it may grow straight upright And suffer them not the first three years at least to grow thick and bushey headed by cutting off some of the inside shoots and such as grow cross one another or pendant what you cut off from the bodies or
you intend to cut them off at for about a foot in length fasten about them some Earth in an old Hat or Boot or Bag made of some strong Cloth and in that Earth they will have put forth Roots against the October following when you are to cut them off to set them Or which is a quicker and readier way you may dawb some wet Earth or Clay about the place and wrap a Hay-band about it putting some moist Earth likewise betwixt the rounds of the band and then running it about again over the spaces betwixt those first rounds of the Hay-band and making fast the ends of it If the stem have no burr before you go either of these ways to work then first take off here and there a little slice of Bark about an inch long round about it near the middle of the place to be covered as hath been directed Some direct That before this application of the Earth about an inch breadth of the Bark be taken off round about the part of the branch that is to be surrounded with the Earth that roots may shoot out in greater quantity by coming out in the upper skirts of that circle as well as in the lower but this is but a Crotchet and grounded as my Lord Bacon hath truly observed upon the opinion of the Descension of the Sap whereas indeed there is no such thing for the whole mass of Sap is always afcending in lesser quantity in the Winter because the Tree is then only to be nourished and kept alive to which end a small supply is sufficient and yet necessary and in greater plenty in the Summer to furnish the Tree with leaves fruit and new yearly growth And the true reason why the leaves and fruit fall off towards Winter is not because the sap returns downward from them but because they have arrived to their full ripeness and the Tree fails by degrees to convey up so much Sap as it did in the Summer to them to produce fresh ones and therefore consequently that 's an idle mistake too to think that the sap or juice in the Winter is laid up in the Roots as a repository as appears plainly inasmuch as they are ever found dryer in the Winter than in the Summer So that upon the whole this taking the Bark off round the branch is good for nothing but to endanger it by intercepting the juice or sap which rifes in greatest quantity betwixt the bark and the wood but if as before was hinted you take some little slices of the bark off round the branch here and there leaving the Bark intire in some places this may by checking the Sap cause it the more abundantly to pass into roots But to proceed to the business in hand you have seen the way of preparing cutting by circumposetion and though some will pretend to raise Trees of any kind by the use of it yet it 's certain it avails not but only in such as by a peculiar property are apt to put forth roots being cut off and set into the ground and those generally known and made use of this way are the Kentish Codling the Genneâ—-Moil some sorts of Sweet-Apples and Bitter-sweets the quince-Quince-tree the Mulberry-tree and the Paradise-Apple-tree which last is much commended by the skilful Mr. Rea for to raise Stocks for Dwarf-Apple-trees 〈…〉 Sect. 6. Another way to raise Stocks for Dwarf-trees is to cut down some one Tree of little worth of such a kind as you want Stocks of about a foot or more from the ground This will make some kind of Trees very apt to cast forth very good Suckers from the old roots such as at two years growth may be transplanted and the Stump above ground will also put forth abundance of young Shoots After these young shoots have grown out of the stump one year cast Mold or Earth about them a good height so that you cover not the tops of any of them where let them grow two years more and they will be well rooted then cut them off from the old Stock which after that may yield fresh ones again and set the shoots you take off as before hath been directed about Cuttings These will be about three years longer before they be ready to Graff than Cuttings but will be very good young fresh Stocks and is a good way to raise Stocks of the Quince-tree for Pears because Quince-trees generally grow so crooked and irregular that it 's difficult to procure any considerable quantity of them by Cuttings If they shoot up tall after they are molded you had best top them at a convenient height it will make them grow the more in bigness and so be sooner sit to Graff But if you have a desire to have any of the same kind as the old Tree was you need not top them And by this means if you want Quince-trees Codlings c. you may be furnished with plenty that will make better and handsomer Trees than if you raise them by Cuttings By Suckers Sect. 7. You may also raise Stocks for Dwarf-Pear-trees from Suckers of old Pear-trees if you cannot conveniently get enow of the Quince-tree for many Pear trees cast them naturally which being preserved from Cattle may be taken up and set in beds of Earth as you did the Seedlings If your Pear-trees yield not Suckers of themselves you need only cut off the top of some old ill Pear-tree and Graff it with a better Fruit if you please and the roots will cast forth Suckers plentifully and you may help them by making a small Ditch or Gutter so as to bare some of the roots about two yards distant from the Tree or pare off the Grass if any grow about the Tree that they may have the more liberty to spring up Or in this case you may bare the roots and then give a cut cross some roots almost to the heart and from the cross cut cleave the root raising up the loose part and put in a little stone to keep it open cover it three inches over with mold let this be done if you can where you find a bud or eye on the root for the sucker to shoot out at and either Inoculate the young shoot in the place where it stands or remove it to some other place after a years growth and when you do cut off with it about a foot of the old root and by this means you may have suckers from some other Trees that do not naturally yield them For Câ—erriâ—s and Plums Sect. 8. To have Stocks for Dwarf-Cherries and Plums or for such Trees for a Wall the speediest way and such as will succeed for that purpose is by suckers of the common Red-Cherry and any ordinary Plum-tree both which cast up suckers plentifully If the Suckers grow in a place that is secure from harm you may Inoculate or Graff them before removal under their Mother Plant and let them grow there one year after and hereby you will gain
any branch do it close and even that the bark may grow over it It you cut part of any shoot or a Cyen for graffing cut it close at a bud or sprig that in that case the wound may again grow up and a stub end not be left behind When Trees grow big that a knife will not prune them procure an Instrument like a broad Chissel the handle of Iron and the edge alike on both sides not sloping on one side like that of Joyners but plain as a knife and very thin about 3 or 4 inches in breadth the form you will see in the Table of Figures with which and a Mallet you may take off a bough or large branch as you will without either hurting the bark of the Tree by cutting too near or leaving a stump by not cutting near enough one of which is not easily avoided by the chance blows of an Ax or Hatchet and being amongst thick boughs your Chissel and Mallet will be more governable than other instruments If the boughs are very large you may use a Saw first and then smooth it with the Chissel 〈…〉 Sect. 11. You will do well if your soil be not rich enough once in three or four years in the Winter time to open the Earth for a good space round about the body of each Tree and about a month after with some proper manure mixt with what came forth fill up the hole again but if you Dig or Plow your land you will have no need to do this so long and if your Trees were set by tumping you need not do this till the roots are grown past the ditch that was made about the tump The Water that soaks from a Dunghil is a good thing to enrich the Earth about the roots of Trees and if your Orchard chance to lye so as that it may be sloted with it sometimes you may do it after this manner Make a little trench along the upper part of the Orchard and from it cut a small gutter down every row of Trees take off the upper turf for half a yards breadth round about every Tree at about a foots breadth distant from the body when a rainy day comes let this soke go down one row so that as near as you can every Tree may enjoy it three or four days at several times in one Winter If your Orchard stand so that you cannot convey this water to the Trees after this manner you may carry two or three Pale-full to every Tree twice or thrice a year and pour it in where the Roots were opened and against spring put in the old Earth again when you do this first stir up with something the bottom of this water the more to thicken and enrich it This will follow the roots and enrich Trees more than can be done by Manure or Dung so that you suffer the water not to be above a days time at once upon any one Tree 〈…〉 Sect. 12. Within your Orchard on the North-side set the first rows of Pear-trees or such other Trees as you know are apt to grow tallest and the rest Southward as they decrease in height as near as you can judge for so shall all your Trees share in greater measure of the South-Sun and will be less lyable to receive damage by the Northern cold On the outside of your Orchard if it be not well defended plant on the North-side two or three rows of Walnut-trees Chesnut-trees or some large growing Trees thicker than is usually done on other accounts to preserve your Orchard from the Northern air Some are also for Planting a defence on the West side to help to preserve them from the Autumnal winds which throw down the Fruit before it's ripe CHAP. XI Of Planting in Fields 〈…〉 SECT 1. The benefit of this kind of Planting is apparent in several Countries in England where it hath been of long and general usage and in many other Countries Gentlemen have begun already to imitate them which should much encourage others to follow for the more there are that plant the less particular persons will lose by Thieves and where fruit is in great plenty it is found to be more slighted by idle people and besides if a Man have store he will not feel the loss of a little or it may quit his cost to have one to cast an eye to them for a Months time near ripening and further yet Cyder-Apples Baking-Pears and Pears for Perry are so little grateful to the tast which pilferers chiefly aim at pleasing that he that tasts them once shall scarcely find his teeth water after them a second time However the benefit of planting in Fields much out-weighs these and all other inconveniences for by this means you may almost have a double crop on your lands viz. grass or grain and your fruit and the land rather benefited as the matter may be ordered than damaged one of these Trees also sometimes bears as much fruit as three of the best in a thick planted Orchard the benefit whereof for sale or use in a Family for baking or Liquors or other uses is known to be so considerable that I need say no more of it Particularly of Pears Sect. 2. But because the planting Pear-trees abroad in Fields is of less reputation generally than the planting other Fruit-trees I shall here give you sufficient suggestions to take off the Aspersion 1. Some Pears do not make so contemptible a liquor as Perry is commonly reckoned but very strong and kept two or three years drinks to admiration so that several good Palates that have drank of it have not been able to distinguish it well from liquors of more esteem 2. Their fruit is not eatable and so in less danger of Thieves in your out-out-grounds than Apples are 3. They will grow on barren land where Apples will not prosper so well 4. They are Trees of long continuance and often grow to that bigness and bear so plentifully that one single Tree will bear fruit enough to make a Hogshead of Perry sometimes two or three in one year which would save the expence of much Malt though the liquor were but mean Seven ways Sect. 3. There be seven ways of Planting in this kind I shall set them all down that every man may use that which best suits with his conveniency and good liking I. Of Planting whole fields 1. If your land be in Tillage you may set fruit-trees at thirty yards distance from one another throughout the whole Field after the manner of an Orchard and you may go on with your Plowing with the loss only of about a yard or four foot square of land about every Tree for twenty years and when they are grown so big that you think your Corn receives hurt by the shade or droppings of the Trees if you can turn it to Pasture the Trees will improve most kind of land by keeping it warm in the Spring they will make the Grafs
very rich as not having been impoverished by Tillage but improved sometimes by the oft scouring of the ditch and commonly with the dung of Cattle that for shelter shade or foder repair much thither 3. It 's not the least hindrance to plowing or grass for the hedg when it 's grown up usually beareth out as far as the tree is set in the field 4. And this is much better than planting in the hedg-row as many do for in the hedg when the tree is grown to have a large top it 's apter to weaken the hedg under it but these being set a little distance from the hedg and growing as they will with the greatest part of their heads from it will not damage it 5. The Fruit will be gathered with much more ease than of those that are planted in the hedges 6. They will not be choakt or hurt by the hedg when it 's grown up but be good handsome fair Trees You may set these at eight yards distance Distance or nearer being but one single row and so if but half a field as usually it falls out have the ditch on the outside you may set a considerable number and find advantage without damage and with inconsiderable charge especially if the ditch stand on the North-side if you can therefore choose such hedges Where not good This is not to be practis'd near hedges that are full of great wood or trees but if there be but few trees it 's but leaving a vacancy near such trees and setting your fruit-trees against such places where there grow none in the hedge IV. In Hedges Sect. 6. Another way of planting in Fields is this If you would Plant without any charge of fencing you may do it in your Hedges these Trees must be well grown and strong that the hedg choak them not while they are young And when you plash or cut down a quick hedg observe no certain distance but as it happens where you find it most free from quick set a tree and enclose the body in the hedg but bind not the Etherings too close about it lest they gall it and as it groweth observe what Thorns annoy it and cut them off V. By Cuttings Sect. 7. If you have a mind to set any Cuttings of Gennet-moils or other Apple-trees that grow of Cuttings they will prosper very well in or rather near a hedg because generally there the mold is loose and mellow for them to put forth Roots in and somewhat enricht by the frequent cleansing of the ditch If you plant them near the hedg you must a little fence them on the one side as by the third foregoing direction but the tumps you raise to set the thorns in must not be above a foot high for the cuttings will shoot out their roots almost to the top of the Earth about them and a high mound falling down by degrees some of the best roots may be left bare or very little Earth upon them Of preparing them The way of preparing plants for this purpose is by circumposition c. as is directed in the Chapter of Dwarf-trees Choice and ordering Make choice of Cuttings or stems as big as a mans wrist if you can towards the lower end before you set them prune them out of the reach of Cattle and leave but little top on them when you set them neither let them be very long If the tops be out of the reach of Cattle it 's enough VI. By long Crab stocks Sect. 8. There be some that get long Crab-tree-stocks out of woods or else dress some up in their Nurseries to grow tall and set them in their fields or hedges and at three years standing graff them which may do well Advantage and is the better approved of because there needs no removal after they are graffed but some inconvenience there is in this way Disadvantage The long stocks out of woods being commonly very old their bark thick their roots big they thrive but indifferently and those raised in Nurseries will seldom be taper grown or strong enough to bear a large top well after they are graffed so high as they ought being set in fields You will also be longer in raising stocks to that height and any considerable strength as is necessary for this purpose than in raising trees if your stocks be graffed young in your Nursery because they thrive more after graffing than before And in both cases if you graff them high the stocks will be continually putting forth sprouts of their own kind below the place they were graffed at which will require frequent cutting off If you graff them not very high you will find it difficult to defend them from the nipping of Cattle and from the Cyens being broke out of the stock by some casualties or other to which they are more exposed in fields that lye common to Cattle than Nurseries that are inclosed VII By Graâ—â—â—â— old Crab-trees Sect. 9. The last way I shall speak of is that which is most used in the planting Countries and that is by graffing such Crab-trees as grow in the hedges or grounds and this is the speediest way to have fruit because the big Trees have bodies already and in four or five years time well ordered will have good tops to bear and if you graff small stocks in your ground that have grown of their own accord there and fence them they will speedily bring on graffs being so well rooted A mischief used herein I have seen many cut off the tops of old Crab-trees and Apple-trees and graff the body or trunk but the Cyens could never cover the heads of those stocks and by that time the top was a little grown up the body was ready to perish with rottenness Necessary directions The best way for big Crab-trees or if you would change the kind of any Fruit-trees is to graff them in the boughs where they are not bigger than a mans arm making use of none but those that grow handsome at convenient distance one from another cutting off the others smooth and even close to the body of the tree To do this that Winter that you cut or plash a hedg order the work-men to trim up but not to lop or top the Crab-trees unless it be the tops of the boughs half a yard or more above the place you intend to graff them at and then in March following saw off the heads at proper places and graff them Of graffing 〈◊〉 in the Cleft Many are for graffing these in the cleft because they think the Cyen hath better hold and will not be so subject to be broke out by the wind as those graffed in the bark but I have seen those in the cleft broke out by the wind neither could I ever find that the wood of the Cyen in the cleft did ever cement with the wood of the stock but only on the out-side as the others do And those
Cyen that is graffed c. must have some agreement in nature with the Stock Sect. 5. Stocks may contribute something to the bettering of the Fruit. Sect. 6. That Crab-kernels yield best Stocks for Orchards and Fields yet Apple-kernels are of special use Sect. 7. A Discourse of the sympathy betwixt the pith of a Tree and the kernels of its Fruits CHAP. III. Of Transplanting the Seedlings Sect. 1. Of what growth the Seedlings must be before they are removed into the Nursery and how the soil for these must be ordered Sect. 2. In what Order and Manner they are to be set at this removal and how to be ordered Sect. 3. Some difference to be observed about Stocks to be set in Fields and how all those young Stocks are to be dressed up CHAP. IV. Of Inoculating Sect. 1. The way of Inoculating described Sect. 2. Of the different ways of Inoculating CHAP. V. Observations concerning Inoculating Sect. 1. Several necessary things to be observed about Inoculating Sect. 2. How high above ground the Stocks are to be Inoculated Sect. 3. Of buds that are to be inoculated and when Inoculation is to be used rather than Graffing Sect. 4. Reasons why Inoculating is to be preferred before Graffing where it may be used Sect. 5. What time of the day is best for Inoculating CHAP. VI. Of the several ways of Graffing Sect. 1. Of Slicing or Packing Sect. 2. Of Graffing in the bark and the reason why these two are the best ways of graffing Sect. 3. Of Whip-graffing Sect. 4. Of Side-graffing Sect. 5. Of Graffing in the Cleft Sect. 6. Of Graffing by Approach CHAP. VII Observations concerning Graffing Sect. 1. What bigness Stocks are to be of at Graffing Sect. 2. About the choice of Cyens or Graffs Sect. 3. Of the time of Graffing Sect. 4. Of cutting of Graffs and ordering them before graffing Sect. 5. About the joint in a Graff or Cyen and how high Stocks are to be graffed above ground Sect. 6. What course may be taken to know readily of what kind every Tree is CHAP. VIII Of Planting Wall-fruit Sect. 1. The best time to remove young Trees after graffing and inoculating Sect. 2. Of preparing the ground for Wall-fruit and what distance is to be observed in setting such Trees Sect. 3. How to temper the Soil for them and to settle their roots in the holes they are to be set in Sect. 4. How to order a Tree in spreading it upon a Wall Sect. 5. The roots are sometimes to be bared and the soil about them recruited Sect. 6. How the soil for these or other Trees is to be amended Sect. 7. How to renew old Trees Sect. 8. Directions what Walls are proper for each kind of Fruit. Sect. 9. Instructions about making the Wall CHAP. IX Concerning Dwarf-trees Sect. 1. The advantage of Dwarf-trees Sect. 2. Stocks for Dwarf-Pear-Trees Sect. 3. What Stocks are best for Dwarf-Apple-trees Sect. 4. What things are to be observed in getting and ordering Cuttings that are to be set for Stocks Sect. 5. How they may be helped to roots by Circumposition Sect. 6. Other ways to raise Stocks for Dwarf-trees Sect. 7. Of raising them of Suckers Sect. 8. How to raise Stocks for Cherries and Plums Sect. 9. How to order the heads of Dwarf-trees Sect. 10. Codling-hedges and Trees may be raised from the Cuttings only of such Trees whose Cuttings will grow Sect. 10. Codlings and Moils may be graffed on Crabstocks CHAP. X. Of Planting an Orchard Sect. 1. How to choose ground for an Orchard Sect. 2. Directions how to qualifie that ground when it is not of it self as divers ways it may not be fit for Planting Sect. 3. How an uneven ground is to be ordered in Planting Sect. 4. The time and manner of ordering Trees in planting an Orchard Sect. 5. How long they may remain in the Nursery after Graffing before they are transplanted Sect. 6. Of the distance these Trees ought to be set at one from another Sect. 7. Whether old Trees or young are fitter to be transplanted and how to order old ones at such a time Sect. 8. What order these Trees are to be set in Sect. 9. Concerning the fence for an Orchard Sect. 10. Concerning Pruning of Orchard-trees Sect. 11. The soil about their roots must ever after be kept in good heart CHAP. XI Of Planting in Fields Sect. 1. Exceptions against Planting in Fields answered Sect. 2. Reasons to shew it's profitable to plant Pear-trees in Fields Sect. 3. Seven ways The first By planting in whole Fields Sect. 4. A second way of planting in Fields where an account is given how such Trees may best be fenced Sect. 5. The Third By doing it near Hedges Sect. 5. The Advantages Sect. 5. The Distance Sect. 5. Where not good Sect. 6. The Fourth In Hedges Sect. 7. The Fifth By Cuttings Sect. 7. Of choice and ordering them for that purpose Sect. 8. The Sixth By long Crab-stocks Sect. 8. Advantage Sect. 8. Disadvantages Sect. 9. The Seventh By Graffing old Crab-trees Sect. 9. Directions therein Sect. 9. Of doing it in the Cleft or Bark with some difference from graffing small Stocks in the bark Sect. 9. Directions to prevent the breaking out of the Cyens Sect. 9. And for pruning the bodies CHAP. XII Of the Annoyances about Fruit-trees Sect. 1. To prevent Moss and Canker c. Sect. 2. To preserve Trees from Hares or Rabbets Sect. 3. Against Ants or Pismires Sect. 4. Of Moles Water-rats Snakes and Emets or Askers Sect. 5. To prevent Blasting Cuterpillers Snails c. CHAP. XIII Some particulars about raising some kinds of Fruit-trees Sect. 1. Directions about planting Vines Sect. 2. Of the Soil and manner of propagating them and renewing old Vines Sect. 3. Of Pruning them Sect. 4. Concerning Vineyards Sect. 5. Of planting Fig-trees Sect. 6. Of raising Quince-trees Sect. 7. Of propagating the Medlar and Service-tree Sect. 8. Of Walnut-trees Sect. 9. Of raising Goosberries Currans Barberries and Rasberries CHAP. XIV Of the several kinds of Fruits Sect. 1. That it 's convenient to have variety of Fruit. Sect. 2. Of several sorts of Peaches Sect. 3. Of Nectarines Sect. 4. Of Apricocks Sect. 5. Of Plums Sect. 6. Of Cherries Sect. 7. Of Grapes Sect. 8. Of Pears Sect. 9. Of Apples Sect. 10. Of Quinces Sect. 11. Of Walnuts Chesnuts Filbeards c. Sect. 12. Of Figs Medlars and Services Sect. 13. Of Mulberries Goosberries Currans Rasberries and Barberries CHAP. XV. Of gathering Fruit and making several sorts of liquors Sect. 1. Of gathering Fruit and ordering them in keeping Sect. 2. Of a Ladder Sect. 3. Of a Mill. Sect. 4. Of Cyder Sect. 5. Of Perry Sect. 6. Of Rasberry Wine Sect. 7. Of Curran Wine Sect. 8. Of Goosberry Wine Sect. 9. Another way to make any of the three last sorts of Wine and Cherry Sect. 10. Cherry and Goosberry Brandy Sect. 10. The Conclusion THE INTRODUCTION HAving undertaken in this Book to publish all necessary Directions concerning Planting the first step
I am to take to proceed in due order is to give instructions about Seminaries and Nurseries wherein young Plants are to be raised and cherished in their Infancy And because Men are generally through ignorance so indifferent whether they have these of their own or no because for a little mony they can have Plants from others ready brought up to their hands therefore I shall here in the first place present such with reasons that I suppose cannot but make them of the same mind that I am my self That it 's far better to have them of their own bringing up and to have Seminaries and Nurseries of their own for this purpose 1. Because this way a Man shall be sure to meet with no failure either in the kind or goodness of his Trees and Fruit in both which he shall be often disappointed if he have his Trees upon trust from others who make a Trade of selling them and are therefore many times incurious in raising them and instead of the right kind if they can get any thing by it will not stick to put him off with another 2. The trouble and expence of buying young Plants and getting them home many times from places very remote and the prejudice they often receive in the carriage will be wholly prevented 3. This way a man shall with almost the same labour and charge both furnish himself sufficiently and have so many more as to defray the charge he may be at about it if he will sell them or to gratify his Friends if he had rather bestow them 4. He will this way be provided with Stocks for Apples Pears Plums Cherries and all choice Wall-fruit raised from Kernels and Stones of Fruit which are incomparably better than Stocks procured any other way The means some use to furnish themselves with Stocks for Apple-trees is by getting young Crab-trees out of Hedges rough Grounds and Woods and with Stocks for Pears Plums and Cherries by Suckers springing from the Roots of old Trees of those kinds but there is much to be said against both courses Against using those Crab-trees got out of Woods c. there lie these Objections 1. The workmen in getting them break some and hurt others of the principal Roots and it sometimes falls out that they have been cut down and sprung up again out of the remaining stump or otherwise hurt which though not easily discerned because skinned over yet will be a prejudice to them for ever 2. Many of the Stocks so got out of Woods and Hedges have for want of room and by reason of shades and the dropping of other trees about them been check't and baffled in their growth and so become crooked scabby ill grown rough and unkindly and never like to make good Trees 3. Some that furnish themselves this way with Stocks choose such as are largest and those having for the most part thick and hard bark and old roots come on but slowly when they are removed to make Apple-trees 4. If these Stocks be not graffed very low and if they are a years growth or two will be lost they will put forth branches of their own every year in such abundance that without constant pruning of them off the graffs will be in danger of being starved 5. A better advantage may be made of Crab-trees in Hedg-rows and rough grounds by graffing them where they are as you shall be hereafter directed where they will thrive better There is but one scruple that I can foresee that can here be started and that is that a man cannot be furnished with Trees of a good largeness to bear so soon by stocks raised by Kernels and Stones as by either those gotten out of Woods c. or those raised by Suckers that may be of several years growth before they are made use of To this I answer That if at the same time that you get Crab-tree-stocks of six or seven years growth out of the Wood or Suckers and set them in order to be graffed you sow Kernels and Stones the Stocks and Suckers you so graff for six or eight years may continue larger and bigger than the Trees that come of Kernels and Stones but yet these lesser Trees shall so get ground of the other that by the tenth or twelfth year they shall have overtaken them And as to the way of raising Stocks for Pears Plums and Cherries by suckers it is to be noted that Trees so raised will be ever apt to cast up such Suckers themselves and such as do are seldom found to be good bearing Trees by reason they expend their Sap so much that way Nevertheless they may be useful for Wall-fruit and Dwarf-trees as you will see hereafter in a peculiar Chapter And lastly against both these ways of furnishing a mans self with the aforemention'd Stocks there is this to be said That a man shall very difficultly store himself with as many as he may desire and many of them will prove bad and miscarry whereas from Kernels it s almost the same labour to have thousands as hundreds and such as will almost all of them be sit for use Having thus given reasons from certain experience why a Planter ought to have a Nursery and Seminary of his own I shall proceed to direct how to order them and thence take my first rise from whence the Planter is to take his CHAP. I. Of the Seminary Of ordering the Ground SECT 1. Against the beginning of October prepare Ground by digging and cleansing it from weeds and roots making the mold very fine choose not a wet or very stiff Clay-land nor over rich with Dung but such as being of it self good you may make better only with a little mixture of very rotten dung let it be fenced from the cold as well as you can so that it be free from shade and droppings of Trees Of sitting Stones Sect. 2. When you set Stones which if they be Stones of Fruit soon ripe you must keep in sand till October do it by a Line pricking holes about a hands breadth distance one from another and then put in the Stones about three inches deep with the sharp end uppermost when one row is finished remove your Line a foot further and set another row in the same manner but let your third row be about two foot distant from the second that you may have liberty to go betwixt every two rows to weed c. and so proceed to set as many as you have a mind possibly some of these Stones may not come up till the second spring after they are set and may not deceive you if you then expect them Of setting Nuts Sect. 3. After the same manner you are to set all kind of Nuts but because it 's necessary that your young Walnut-trees and Chesnut-trees should grow longer in your Seed-plot than Stone-fruit before they will be fit to be removed to the place they are to spend their lives in you must set them at much
further distance that they may have more room to grow big without hurting one another Of sowing Seeds Sect. 4. To raise Stocks from Seeds or Kernels of Apples or Crabs each of which sorts are to be sowed by themselves you must thus go to work When either you or any Neighbour hath made Cyder Verjuice or Perry take the Must or as some call it the Pouz which is the substance of the Fruit after the juice is pressed out the same day or the next day after before it heats and with a riddle sift out the Seeds on a clean floor or cloth and these you must sow as soon as you can conveniently upon beds of very fine Farth very thick for some being bruised in the grinding or pounding the Fruit and others not being ripe many never come up then sift mold upon them about two fingers breadth in thickness this way is much better than to sow the Seeds with the Must or Pouz together as some do because the Must will heat them and many of the Seeds will putrify and others will not be able to root or shoot up because they are so imprison'd in that dry and tough stuff clinging about them The beds of Earth you sow them on may be made about two foot in breadth with a good distance between the beds that you may the better come at to weed them and draw them up as you have occasion Of securing them from prejudice Sect. 5. To keep Fowls or Birds from scraping them up lay some white-thorn on the beds till the Ground be well setled Some cover the beds with Fearn or Straw to keep them warm in the Winter which may not do amiss but then it ought to be taken off when the Spring approacheth If Moles or Mice get in which you will discover easily the Mice leaving shells of the Seeds on the top of the beds they must be destroyed For Mice therefore lay Poyson or Oatmeal mixt with pounded Glass and Butter and cast bits of it upon the beds or set traps for the Mice and Moles better known than described Ordering Plants Sect. 6. The next spring you will see these Stones and Seeds come up plentifully first the dissimilar leaves almost of the shape of the Kernel split in two and from betwixt them will the stem put forth keep them clean from weeds all the year which must be plucked up while they are young lest if they get root in drawing them up you root up the seedlings with them These weeds and such as are pluckt up any where else thrown up into a heap will rot and become very good Manure but this should be before they are seeded for then the Manure made of them will be apt to make the ground it is cast upon more subject to weeds If a dry time happen you may sometimes in the Summer water the beds The proper Seeds for Stocks Sect. 7. To furnish your self with a competent variety of Stocks for the several sorts of fruit-Fruit-trees your Seminary is to be stored with these following such as come of Peach-stones Plum-stones Cherry-stones Apple-kernels Crab-kernels and Pear-kernels and from Nuts you raise your Nut-trees Peach-stones are to yield you Stocks for Peaches and Nectarines Plum-stones Stocks for Peaches Nectarines Apricocks and Plums Cherry-stones Stocks for Cherries Seeds of Apples and Crabs produce Stocks for Apple-trees and lastly the Seeds of Pears yield Stocks for Pear-trees Other ways to raise Stocks Sect. 8. There are likewise some other ways to be furnished with Stocks and which you shall find hereafter are in some cases to be made use of that is for Pears Plums and Cherries by Suckers springing out of the roots of Trees of the same kind and for several sorts of Apples and Pears by Cuttings of Apple-trees and Quince-trees which I here intimate because Stocks thus raised are sometimes brought up in Nurseries but the full directions about them are given in the Chapter of Dwarf-trees Mr. Evelyn saith the ends of roots that are cut off from young trees taken up to be Transplanted and set in beds of good Earth will shoot forth tops and become good Stocks Such may serve for Dwarf-trees or for Walls And I have heard an Ingenious person speak of inoculating Buds on the small roots of great trees that grow at furthest distance from the bodies and after a years growth to cut off the root about a foot in length with the new shoot growing upon it and Transplant it because a Tree will be sooner raised thus than from a Seed or Stone In case of an exigent for a Stock or two this way may be practised but it would be found too troublesome for general use CHAP. II. Observations concerning the raising of Stocks in the Seminary or elsewhere Seeds produce not their own Fruit. SECT 1. Seeds or Stones of Fruits gathered from Trees that have been graffed or inoculated on Stocks of different kinds from the Cyens produce of themselves not being graffed or inoculated not the same Fruit as that was from whence the Seed or Stone came but a different and most commonly a worse The Stones of Peaches produce Trees that will bear Peaches sometimes better than the Peaches out of which the Stones were taken although those Peaches grew upon a Tree that was inoculated on a Plum And therefore some Gardiners by setting many Stones of the Newington Peach have found some among the Trees come up from them to bear a fruit rather improved than worse and by giving it a new Name and inoculating from it have made good gain of it But this is not a practice for every private person because Peach-trees so raised will be longer before they bear fruit than those which are inoculated and because he must run the hazard of filling great part of his wall with these Peach-trees thus raised from Stones and not one it may be in many prove any thing extraordinary and the rest of no use unless for Stocks after he hath waited several years to see what Fruit they will bear Stocks for Apricocks Nectarines and Plums Sect. 2. It is controverted amongst men of this Profession whether Stocks from Peach-stones are best to inoculate Peaches upon both sides have their peculiar advantages which I shall here set down and leave every man to his choice Stocks from Peach-stones will be sooner ready to inoculate and the buds will take very sure that are inoculated into them but they must be carefully and tenderly used in the removal and must not be expected to make long lasting Trees Stocks from Plum-stones and budded with a Peach will make a more firm and lasting Peach-tree and such as will bear Fruit well Therefore rather raise Stocks for Peaches Nectarines Apricocks and Plums from Stones of the Wheat-plum which is a White-plum ripe in August if you can have them or in want of them from the Stones of the White-pear-plum which is generally commended and used or of other good
likelyhood lost at last But if a man had a mind to raise a good new Fence about a field he designs to inclose which he can keep for four or five years together to bear Corn or Clover-grass to mow that Cattle may be so long kept out of it he might do it rarely well by sowing Apple-kernels of as many sorts as he will on the top of a new made Ditch-bank making the dead Hedg that is usually on the top of the bank on the outside of the ditch to defend them When they are grown up he may plash this Hedg leaving at every four or five yards distance one of the best Trees to grow up which of themselves will bear good Cyder-fruit or may be graffed to bear what pleaseth the owner and by this means in a little time and with small charge he shall have a fruit-bearing and impregnable Hedg Of the Pith and Kernels Sect. 7. It 's held by some that the Kernel of the fruit hath a great dependence upon and sympathy with the pith of the Tree and that hollow-trees though they grow and bear fruit yet that fruit hath few kernels in it and those little better than withered husks When I was a young Planter I was once in want of Pear-stocks and made my complaint to an ancient practiser a man of very good judgment in the opinion of those that knew him and he told me he had oft sowed kernels of Pears and never could get any to grow Yet I procured some Seeds of Pears from the Mill that were very ripe and had stocks enough from them which makes me believe my friend took his kernels from a Tree that was hollow-hearted as Pear-trees are more subject to be than any other Fruit-trees I mention this the rather because if a Planter try any thing but once and fail he should not be discouraged and particularly in this but if he can get ripe Seeds which will be then very black and of a sound Tree he need not doubt the success And to have plenty of stocks such as are best for large standards for Orchards or Fields there is no better way of raising them than by Kernels with which a man can no way be plentifully and easily provided but at the time and place of making Perry though he do send some miles for them I shall end this Chapter with this one Observation more not unsuitable to what went before and which I have met with verify'd more than once or twice in my own Experience That there are some hollow Fruit-trees that bear fruit so much more excellent than any of the same kind the owners have had or could elsewhere meet with that they have been very desirous to propagate from them but never could any manner of way raise young ones of those old Trees that would bear so good a Fruit which seems to infer that the fruit of a Tree may be the better for the piths being consum'd and if that be true it must be so because the pith conveys to the fruit a worse sort of juice than any other part of the Tree doth and therefore being freed from that infection by the Consumption of the Pith the Fruit becomes more choice and delicate And that the Pith is the conveyance of a courser or other sort of juice is rendred in some sort probable because as hath been before observed the Kernels of Fruit depend much upon the Pith which almost never produce such good fruit as they come out of and generally much worse CHAP. III. Of Transplanting the Seedlings Of removing Seedings SECT 1. In October after one Summers growth in the Seed-plot you ought to draw up with your hand such of your Crab Apple or Pear-seedlings as you sind grown above a foot in height as for those from Stones they need not be removed but inoculated in the Seminary the stones being set at the distance aforesaid When they are drawn up cut off the side-spriggs from about the top and the strings from about the roots and snip off the extremities both of the top that it may not run too fast upward but the body may grow in bigness and of the tap or heart-root that it may not run directly downward lest it run further than the good soil but may be more apt to spread its Roots in breadth Have beds ready prepared of good fertile dry Earth not over rich lest upon removal afterwards into a much worse Soil as for the most part Orchard and Field ground is your Trees coming of a sudden from such delicate food to such course fare pine away if they do not perish and this is but reasonably thought to be the cause why many Trees bought out of London Nurseries which are vastly deep with fat and rich manure decay or come on very poorly when they are brought into the Country Therefore upon every removal endeavour to have Earth as good or better to place next the roots than that out of which they were taken If any of these spring upright top them early it will make them grow bigger bodied and so become sooner ready for graffing Of saving them Sect. 2. Let every bed you make for setting these Plants in be about two foot broad leaving room betwixt each bed to walk and work about them without prejudicing the Plants Set two rows a foot or more distant each from other on every bed by drawing a line and pricking holes a full foot asunder let the holes be so deep that if the roots be not very long you may set your Plants at least two singers breadth deeper in the ground than they grew in the Seed-plot close the mold about them and if it be a very dry time water them the same day the better to settle the Earth about them If you can get old Fearn in some places call'd also Brakes or for want of it Straw or new Dung cover the Beds with it which will keep the roots warm in the Winter and preserve them from overmuch heat in the Summer if the land be any whit stiff this cover will make it mellow and when rotten enrich it and very much hinder the growth of weeds which ought duly to be pluck't up and put new Fearn c. as the old rots Of dressing them Sect. 3. Those of your Plants which are not grown above a foot in height you may let remain in your Seed-plot till another year If you intend to raise any Stocks to be set out in Fields before they are graffed you need not top them upon their first removal neither need you remove them till they are grown high enough to stand in the Fields if you find that they spread their roots and run not downward as in gravelly and such kind of soils they will not be apt to do and by the first you draw up you may judge of the rest whether they do or no If you reserve any for this use you had best choose such as grow straight
and often not till April because this is necessary for the best way of Graffing them but if you will Graff any Apples in the cleft you may do it a little sooner Perhaps you may not have several sorts of Plums Cherries or Pears so near you as that you may get buds fresh enough for Inoculation In this case you may procure Cyens and Graff them and they will continue fresh though you should send for them from beyond Sea Cutting and ordering Sect. 4. These Cyens may be kept three weeks or a month after they are cut before they are used and there ought to be a fortnight or three weeks betwixt the time of their being cut and of their being Graffed that the Stocks in that time may be more replenisht with sap and the Cyens be more empty of it To keep your Cyens or Graffs after they are cut you need not as some direct bury them in moist mold for this may be a means to make them swell and bud forth by receiving moisture from the Earth and then when by Graffing they are exposed to the cold open Air they will be in danger to wither and dye before they have nourishment from the Stock You may lay them in a dry house so it be near no heat or under an old Tree or Hedg and cover them all over with dry mold that the Air may not have too much influence upon them though they seem somewhat dry yet if they cut with a fresh colour and be not much withered they will not grow the worse but rather the better yea some that have seemed withered being carried in a Cloak-bag seventy or eighty miles have grown well Suffer not the buds to be hurt or rub'd in the binding or carriage Of joints and height of Graffing Sect. 5. There be some indifferent whether they Graff at a joint or no but forecast to have a bud directly behind the shoulder of the Cyen If Cyens with joynts were scarce you might practise so on small Stocks that will be speedily covered but if Cyens can be had with joints never Graff with others for these will cover the Stocks sooner It will do well in Graffing Stocks for large Standards to put but one Cyen into a Stock and if it put forth several shoots to cut off all but one that is the straightest and strongest But for Dwarfs and Wall-fruit put in two Cyens if the Stock be big enough Let the later be Graffed near the ground the former at such height as the Stock will allow Marking Tâ—ees Sect. 6. In Graffing or Inoculating it may be necessary to have some mark to know what kind of Fruit is put upon each Stock if you Graff many of one kind as it 's necessary for Cyder-Fruit you may observe to make every row to consist but of one kind and it 's but entring in a Book that such a row hath such a kind of Fruit in it and no other but where there are several in one row there may be a Stake knockt into the ground at the beginning of every new sort and so entred in your Book and where you have very few of a kind or for your whole Nursery if you please you may make marks of several figures or shapes in the bark of the Stocks which marks enter into your Book and what kind it denotes and at two or three years when you remove it the mark will be very visible and by renewing the marks sometimes you may continue it as long as you please and if any Tree be stolen you may own it by the mark CHAP. VIII Of Planting Wall-Fruit SECT 1. Time Stone-fruit will be first ready to remove for after two years growth in the Seed-plot or Nursery after they are Inoculated or Graffed you may well remove them be they for Wall or Dwarfs which you ought to do in October or November early removing being advantagious for all Fruit-Trees both for the security of their growing and for their well growing Young Trees having been taken up about November and the ends of the roots cut off and laid in the Earth till March to be Planted being then taken forth again it hath appeared that they have put out many fibrous roots at the ends of those big roots that were cut off which had they done in the place they were to grow in the next Summer this would have been a good preparation against Spring and it 's always seen that Trees set in February or March make generally a much less growth the next year than those that were set before Winter If a dry Summer happen to succeed it often kills some of the late set Trees and puts such a stop to others that they recover not of many years In sharp Frosts though you could dig it 's not good to remove Trees Preparing ground and distance Sect. 2. Make a Trench by the Wall-side you are to set them up to about two foot broad and as deep and in every place where a Tree is to be set about a yard square mingle good old rotten Neats-dung with the Earth and fill it up near as high as you intend the borders to be and when you have fill'd it about half full tread it down But if you design no borders make then only a hole for each Tree of the square before mentioned but if your Soil be wet or binding gravel or such like very bad in the bottom go not so deep it will be better to set them shallow and raise the Earth about them As to the distance Wall-fruit-trees are to be set at where they are to grow you may learn that best by considering their aptness to spread Apricocks and Pears spread most the May Cherry and some others are of very small growth it 's impossible to give rules for all but the general distance is about four yards asunder Mixing Soils and setting them Sect. 3. If it be not a manur'd Land you set them in have in readiness some very fine rich Mold or shovellings of a yard where Cattle are frequently lodged or fed that hath lain on heaps till it 's mellow and become dry or rotten Neats-dung which you may mix with the Earth that came forth of the hole and so order it that it may be as good or better than that out of which your Trees came Fill the hole half way up with this and tread it down in such form having respect to the roots of the Tree that is to be set in it that the roots may rest close upon it Cut off the ends of all the roots if it have one long downright root you may cut it almost half off try by setting the Tree in the hole which side will stand best to the Wall and then cut off such branches as grow directly toward and fromward the Wall leaving only the side branches to be nail'd unto it then clap your Tree in placing it as far from the Wall as the top will allow
grow more early and by shades in the Summer preserving it from burning but the Trees being set at such a distance the land may continue sit for my purpose for ever if you dress or prune these Trees higher up than any other that no boughs may hang in the reach of Cattle and for the convenience of going about them with your Team to any work and thereby the Air and Rain will have free access to the grass or grain near about them and the fruit will be safer from common pilferers These need no other fencing than thorns bound about them and a stake driven in the midst to keep them from shaking because you may receive the profit of the Stubble or Fallow without suffering any large Cattle that will browse upon them to come into the ground Sect. 4. II. Walks Another way of planting fruit-fruit-trees in Fields is by setting walks of them running through the midst or along the sides of your Pasture ground where you have a mind to have walks for ornament For why we should not plant fruit-Fruit-trees for walks as well as Sycomores Ash-trees c. I know not there being some sorts of Fruit-trees that will and almost any kind may be ordered by pruning so as to grow very handsome in shape besides the beauty and sweet smell of the blossoms and worth of the fruit To prevent damage by Cattle Of Fencing if you go this way to work in Field-planting they must be well grown before you set them that is they must be of about six years growth and then well fenced and there are two ways used to save them harmless By Tumping 1. One much commended is by tumping them and it is performed thus Set your Tree in the place design'd almost on the top of the ground no deeper than to make it stand though all the roots be not covered till the tump or mound be raised about it and then take a line about a yard and quarter long tye the one end of it about the Tree but so that in going round the Tree with the line strain'd it may slip about the Tree as you go fasten the other end to an iron setter or stick with a sharp point and as you go round the tree mark the ground make then a ditch on the outside of the round score and lay the turf handsomly two or three heights with the grass side outward so as to make the work full half a yard high cast the mold out of the ditch observing to throw the best of it next the roots of the Tree till you have raised it within as high as the turf then prick strong thorns into the mold that they may lye upon the turf and point outwards a yard over the turf as you place the thorns put more turf or fast heavy Earth out of the ditch upon the ends of them treading it down the better to six them and lay the Earth shelving down from the turf towards the Tree that if rain fall it may soak towards the roots if you have any small Thorns Briers Furs or Gorst lay it on the top of the work finished round the Tree and repair all yearly as you see cause which may be done with small trouble The great convenience of this way of setting fruit-trees will appear in these following Observations Advantages therein 1. If your land be over moist this ditch will drain all wet from the roots of the Tree but if the land be clay or such that water will stand in then when you perceive it which is very rarely cut some little notch or trench to let it out 2. This way of setting is commended in dry land because the Earth of the mound will secure the roots from the heat of the Sun and every shower of rain will much refresh it by soking towards the Tree 3. You need not bind your tree to a stake which doth often gall and hurt the Tree for so much Earth about it will keep it steady 4. If your land be stiff or strong old land the mound made of it will mellow and improve about the roots and also by that time the roots spread as far as the ditch it will be fill'd up with mold fallen from the tump and with sticks leaves c. which will be rotten loose and good for Trees to root in and by that time they will need little or no defence if any at all a few thorns tyed about the bodies of the Trees to keep Cattle from rubbing against them will be enough 5. The chief benefit of setting Trees thus is that where the soil is somewhat too moist or shallow the Tree being set on the top of the land will put forth its roots plentifully into the Earth cast up and thence shoot into the upper turf and best land that had been Plowed and manur'd before 2. The second way of fencing is By Paâ—ing by erecting at a foot and half distance one from another about every tree three small posts if they be sawed they need be but three inches square or you may use poles or straight boughs either whole or if big enough cloven in two three or four parts about five foot above the ground in height being driven into the ground nail a cross-bar of wood from each to other within a hand breadth of the tops of the posts to which bar nail a pale or two betwixt each two posts stuck into the ground or nail'd to the like cross bar within a foot of the bottom of the posts the way of it may be seen now in diverse places and learnt in a minute but I think what 's here said makes it plain enough Where it 's requisite This is more chargeable than tumping where timber is scarce but much more durable than it and absolutely necessary where Deer or Rabbets or any thing that peels the bark of Trees come into the land planted III. By Planting near hedges Sect. 5. Another way of planting in Fields which I have practised successfully is thus When you scower a ditch and cut down or plash an old quick-hedg then set a row of Trees within a yard of the hedg on that side that is not ditcht and fence them with half round tumps only on the one side for the hedg will secure them on the other and from the cut or plasht hedg you will commonly have Thorns and Briers enough for the mounds to fence it as hath been before directed and at the same time or in Summer draw some of the quick thorns hips or briers from the hedg into the fence about the tump which will contribute to the strengthening and preserving the dead fence you had made about it before so that you may be free from trouble about it for ever after There are these advantages in this way of Planting 1. The ditch on the outside the hedg Benefits hereby drains the ground and makes it healthful 2. The ground near the hedge is commonly
in the cleft are not so apt to grow all of them nor to make so great a growth as those in the bark In the Bâ—â—… which with a little wariness may be preserved from danger of wind and full as much care must be had about those graffed in the cleft if you will preserve them all from the same prejudice 〈◊〉 to be observed I have been used to observe the following difference in graffing these great boughs from all the forementioned varieties of graffing and look upon it as a thing well worthy to be taken notice of and observed In sâ—itting 〈…〉 When you have prepared the Cyen as you are directed to do when you graff in the bark apply it to the place you design to put it in and slit the bark of the bough through on both sides the Cyen close to it beginning at the top of the bough and not carrying the slits much above half the length of the slope of the Cyen separate that little portion of the bark between the two slits from the wood with your instrument thrusting it a little lower than the slits to let in the Cyen as far as it is sloped and then stick the Cyen in having first taken off from the edges of the Cyen any unevenness not cutting through the bark that all may the better sit together and you may put in two three or four Cyens in every head having respect to the bigness of it or you may in the biggest put in two Cyens in the cleft and two others in the bark doing one of the later on the West-side of it for then the wind blowing it towards the head is not so apt to break it out as if it drave it from the head bind the heads and clay them as you heard before and continue so to do yearly till the heads are almost covered Of preserving them fâ—om injuâ—â—s At the first claying stick in feathers or long escures to prevent birds lighting on the Cyens In July following whether you graff these big stocks in the cleft or bark pick off most of the leaves of the Cyens and cut off such sprigs as growing inward will make the head thick and all stragleing out-boughs that the wind may not have so much force upon them to break the branches out of the stocks Of 〈…〉 Cut off also some of the biggest shoots the Crab-tree puts forth of its own kind but for the first three years you must not cut off all lest the Tree not having liberty to vent all the sap that cometh up furfeit and dye the small graffs not being able to receive near so much sap as the old top did the year before Thus many Country-men when they take off the whole head of an old Oak have sometimes found it dye and therefore in some Countries they leave one big bough to grow for one year to draw up the sap as they term it whereas it is indeed that the sap may have liberty to vent it self for Trees that have a thick bark as old Oakes have when all the small boughs are cut off are long in putting forth branches and difficultly at last put forth so many as will spend the sap which comes up the Tree in some proportion to what it did the year before when the whole top was on which sap being chiefly in the greatest channel betwixt or near the bark and out-side of the body of the Tree and not being vented is either dryed or consumed by the heat of the Sun or putrisies for want of that continual motion that is in it when it hath vent that several trees dye of this disease and when trees dye this way the bark will drop off from the body of them sooner by some years than otherwise Hence it is that you may kill a Tree by lopping off the whole top in the Summer time or so much of it that the remaining boughs cannot receive all the sap but lieth choakt up for want of issue The second Summer you ought to bind some hay-ropes about the lower part of the Cyens I have not seen need of repeating this the third Summer but if done it will the more certainly secure them from breaking by the wind And thus I have ended what I had to say of Field-planting and haue been the more large in it because I have not seen it any where else taught without much imperfection and many defects and indeed not much more than mentioned rather than treated of CHAP. XII Of the annoyances about Fruit-trees Of Moss and Canker SECT 1. The nature of the soil is the chief cause of Moss and Canker and therefore without altering the one you can scarce prevent the other However you may scrape or with a hair-cloth rub the moss off after rain or as some say burn it with a bottle of straw under the Tree All Canker filth and worms must be picked clean off and bind some clay well mixt with hay about the canker'd place If the Tree grow but poorly which is for the most part caused by the ill temper of the soil open the ground about the roots and put in some manure proper to cure it Bark boand Slitting the bark is an excellent additional help to most of the aforesaid evils and also for bark-binding some advise that the bark be cut according to the grain of it as in Apple-trees pear-Pear-trees c. straight down in Cherries Some Trees prosper where others will not c. round about the Trees But I have found in the same land some kinds of Fruit-trees very subject to some of these evils and others prosper very well when once you discover this because it 's utterly in vain to make ground and trees of different genius agree together you must make it your business by degrees to change your Trees till you have left none against which your soil beareth such an implacable hatred and furnish it with such as will flourish and be fruitful Bark galled If any of your Trees are galled by being bound to stakes or by thorns or otherwise lay some clay upon the gall'd place and wrap hay-hands about them Dead tops Big Plants also that upon their removal have had their tops cut off are apt to dye from the place they were cut off at to the next sprig or branch upon them these dead parts ought to be cut off close to the next good twig or shoot and covered with clay as in graffing that the head may be well grown over by such twig or shoot and the wet prevented off getting into the pith to the damage of the Tree Hares and Coneys Sect. 2. Hares and Rabbets are very mischievous to Nurseries and young Orchards by peeling off the bark of the Plants If your fence be a wall or close pale or water there 's little danger of them but because such fences about Orchards are rare and no other can keep them out some expedient must be made use
of Some have used Hay-ropes Hay-ropes bound about the Tree from the ground to a sufficient height but this were endless in a Nursery it may be done in an Orchard but there are other ways to be preferr'd before it Others therefore dawb the bodies of the Trees over with Tar Tar. which being used alone endangers the life of very young Plants and extreamly hardens the bark and otherwise hurts them which evil is prevented by mixing the Tar with any kind of Grease Tar and Grease and boiling them on a fire so as both may incorporate then with a brush or little broom daub over the body of the Tree as high as a Hare or Rabbet can reach and if this be done in November it will preserve the Trees for that whole year with that once doing it being the winter time only that they will feed upon the bark Some use Grease alone Grease and then it may require to be laid on twice in a Winter Mans dung Some thin stuff out of a House of Office or the thick tempered with water and brush't on once in a Winter hath been often used with good success Sect. 3. Pismires If you find Pismires or Ants breed about or near the roots of any of your Trees cast away the Earth they lodge in and supply its place with some stiff clay if they breed distant in several places some direct to dawb the Tree about with Tar that their feet may be taken in it but you heard already that 's prejudicial to young Trees but if they pester you extreamly and your Tree be young you may bind a single list or shread of Cloth about it and once aweek when buds and blossoms are putting forth for that is the chief time they prejudice them daub the Cloth over with Tar. Sect. 4. Moles Moles are to be kill'd especially in Seed-plots and Nurseries Spring-traps or Box-traps are best to destroy them not easily describ'd but are now know almost generally I have heard that Water-Rats will spoil a whole Nursery Water-rats getting through Mole-holes and barking or eating the young roots I found several roots once so served and it being near a Fish-pond I suspected it was done by them but finding also a Snake in a hole among the Roots Snakes I knew not whether that might not be the Enemy Ests or Askers Ests or as some call them Askers are also said to be pernicious to Trees but these three last accidents are so rare and inconsiderable that it 's needless to labour much about remedies against them only as men find them to destroy them Blastings Caterpillars Sect. 5. The greatest prejudice to fruit is by blastings frosts immediately succeeding rain Caterpillars or black Flies that cat up buds leaves and blossoms There 's one way used to help in all these cases for Orchard fruit but I know not how it should be useful for any but the last two for which I dare commend it And that is that when in the Spring you perceive these Caterpillars or Flies appear make fires of something that will smoak so near the Orchard and in such places that the wind may carry the smoak as much through the Trees as may be Smoak A thing frequently used is Hempsheaves as it 's called being the stalk of the Hemp when the tow is separated from it and it s certainly very good but bad Chaff wet Straw or moldy Hay or any thing of that nature may serve turn Snails are pernicious to Wall-fruit Snails therefore destroy as many of them as you can when they are best to be discovered which is early in the morning Cover wall-fruit And to preserve your Wall-fruit from blasting winds and Frosts it will be necessary to cover them in the nights and cold days by hanging before them Matts or Blankets some stick branches of broom before the blossoms and young tender fruit To preserve ripe fruit from birds Birds spread an old Net before the Wall-fruit or upon the Dwarf-trees CHAP. XIII Some particular Rules about some kinds of Fruit-trees besides the general rules already mentioned Of Vines SECT 1. Grapes seldom or never ripen well in this Isle without help of art and industry to which purpose take these directions 1. To plant such as ripen soonest in the year that they may have as much of the summer heat at ripening time as may be 2. Let the wall you plant them against be a full South or but a little inclining to the East or if you have a half-round or corner in a wall or the back of a brick Chimney make use of such places for them Of low Walls Vines will prosper well against a high wall yet that is not altogether so necessary but that low walls may serve turn and the higher may be reserved for such fruit-trees as will not do well without them That of a Tarras-walk may do well for Vines and the gravel-walk under the wall will mightily encrease the heat about them Narrow places in Walls If you plant any Trees against your dwelling House-wall there may be some narrow places between two Windows or the like where other fruit-trees have not room to spread A Vine may grow up there and above those narrow places enlarge it self where ever it meets with room Betwixt Fruit trees You may also plant a Vine betwixt every fruit-tree that groweth against your hottest walls and let it spread a little in the Summer time into the Fruit-trees on either side especially if the fruit of such Trees use to be early ripe or that they bear little Fruit or have not been so long set as to have covered the wall And though such Vines cannot extend themselves to that bigness as those planted where they have more room yet by this means you will make advantage of such portions of your wall as otherwise you could have had little benefit from Proper Soil Sect. 2. The best ground for them is that which is rich and dry inclinable to stony or gravel so it bind not the best dung to fatten the Earth they grow in is Horse or Sheeps dung Make bare the roots in the beginning of Winter and throw in plenty of the same dung most Winters Way of propagating The best way of propagating of them is in November to lay a branch of that years growth into the Earth under the old Tree without cutting it off lay as many joynts or buds in the Earth as you can leaving but one or two out for it puts forth its roots chiefly at the joynts at a years end or in the February cometwelve-month cut it off from the old one and plant it where you design it should grow lay it in the Earth in the same posture it lay in before and also lay some of the buds of the new wood that grew out since it was first laid down that it may gain the more roots leaving out
of the ground again not above one or two buds You may chance to have suckers of an old Vine which will be sure to grow Suckers Or you may take Cuttings of Vine branches of that years growth Cuttings and set them in good warm loose land and many will grow if it be in the place you intend they shall always stand in next year lay down a part of that which hath grown out to root also or else upon removal lay in the new growth all but a bud or two with that part which is already rooted If it have made but small growth the first year lay part of the second years growth in the ground it will more advantage them by helping them to good roots than the loss of a year or two's growth in the top will amount to Cure an old Vine If you have an old Vine that beareth not well lay down in February or March some of the strongest branches of the foregoing year that grow low in the mold under the old Tree without cutting them off leaving out of the ground a bud or two to grow and your wall will quickly be furnished with new and fresh branches so that by degrees you may cut off many of the old branches of the Vine for though one Vine may cover abundance of walling yet three or four roots in that compass will strengthen it the more to bear Of pruning Sect. 3. As Vines stand in more need of pruning than other Fruit-trees so great care is to be taken in the performing of it when you have set your Vine as you have been before directed so that not above two buds of it remain above ground you are to nail up such branches as grow forth up to the wall till it have overspread as much wall as you design for it suffering not above two branches to grow from the ground and snipping yearly the tops of the branches a considerable length as far as they are weak and tender and also all small poor ones close to the body unless the well liking branches be but few and then you may leave the lowest bud of some of them to grow forth next year and this you are to do towards the end of February or beginning of March yearly When your Vine comes to bear you are to use your knife about it three times in the year 1. Time In February or the beginning of March you are to prune off part of the foregoing years shoots where they are too thick close to the old wood As it enriches your Vine to keep it thin of branches so you must take care it be well stor'd with buds against the spring following for it bears Grapes only on the new shoots of every year and in cutting off these branches you must take care your wall continue furnished with such branches as may be spread upon the wall regularly and decently not thick in one place and thin in another nor crossing one another 2. The next time to take off superfluities from your Vine is about Midsummer when the Grapes are knit clip off then the end of the branches that have Grapes on them a little above the Grapes that they may have the more nourishment and keep them nail'd to the wall as also barren branches where the wall needs them 3. The last time of cutting is in August for then because leaves and branches may be so thick as to keep the heat of the Sun from the Grapes which is necessary to ripen them you may pluck off some of the leaves and cut off some of the branches to open way for the Sun to come to them There 's one thing to be observed in the pruning these peculiar to it Place That whereas others are cut at a bud the branches of these must be cut off near the midst betwixt two buds and that not later in the year than the beginning of March for afterward the sap or juice will run out and the Vine will be much weakned by bleeding Bleed You will by that time also see what the Frost of the Winter foregoing hath kill'd which must be taken all away If Frosts come before any Grapes are ripe Frosts defend them in the night time with Tilâ—s or Mats Sect. 4. Vineyard It 's scarce worth while to have a Vineyard here in England there having begn many and now so few affords a strong Argument to prove that attempts of that kind never turn to account The usage of the People in such cases being of no small authority It 's possible that persons that have very warm ground well situated with care and industry may some years have good Grapes without the benefit of a wall I have seen not far from Bristol in a year that was very favourable to them Grapes ripen well without such help Sect. 5. Fig-tree Fig-trees ought to be planted in a very warm place against a wall defended from the North and North-East wind every old Tree will yield plenty of suckers fit to raise new ones Sect. 6. Quince-tree You have seen the way of raising Quince-trees in the Chapter of Dwarfs I shall here only add that if you have a part of a Tree that groweth so low that you can bring it to the ground either by plashing or otherwise you may do it in the beginning of Winter and cover it all with Earth but the ends of the branches and let it continue so one year and then uncover it and every twig will have put forth roots in the Earth which being cut off and transplanted will make you a tree And this is the way of propagating of Fruit-trees by layers Layers and you may here take notice that all such Trees that may be propagated by Cuttings may be raised likewise by Layers and this way takes more sure than by Cuttings Quince-trees delight in a moist rich Land Soil near some gutter that carries away the soke or wash of a Dunghil or House is a place usually chosen for them and is such as they like very well in Sect. 7. Medlar-tree Medlars are raised by graffing on the Pear-tree Crab-tree White-thorn or Service-tree the last is the best and the White-thorn by much the worst You may get Plants of Services out of woods Service-tree where they grow wild from which you may raise Service-trees or stocks for Medlars or if you can get none such graff the Service on the Wickey-berry-tree or the White-thorn Sect. 8. Wallnut-trees Wallnut-trees are much Planted of late and are very proper for walks in grounds and a good fence to shelter Buildings and Orchards the fruit is useful and very profitable if you can spare any to sell or for Oil for Painters if the market should be glutted with them and the Timber so excellent for Tables Chairs and Stools stooking of Guns c. that it goes off well and takes a good price way of raising They are raised by Nuts
that is sooner ripe and better tasted Of Medlars There are three or four sorts of Medlars the biggest sort is best without any thorns upon the branches as the common hath There is another kind also without stones in the Fruit. Of Services There are two sorts of Services one larger than the other that groweth wild in the wood but neither the sorts of these nor of Medlars are distinguished by Names and the fruit of both is not eatable till they are rotten Of Mulberries Sect. 13. Mulberries are distinguisht by their colours for there are black red and white Of Goosberries There is some variety in Goosberries likewise the best sorts are the Amber and great Hedghog Goosberry which is prickly but the other smooth both of a bright yellow colour and the white Holland Goosberry which is large and transparent there are likewise some that are of a blew others of a red and others of a green colour Of Currans The white and red Currans of the largest size are the best sorts of that kind of Fruit the great dark-red Dutch-Curran is largest and hath a sweet relish some persons affect the common black Curran Of Rasberries There 's scarcely any other difference found among Rasberries but that some are red and some white Of Barberries And the like difference is to be found among Barberries but some are without Stones CHAP. XV. Of Gathering Fruit and making several sorts of liquors of them Hurt not the Trees SECT 1. In gathering of Fruit be careful the branches of your Trees be not battered and broken How to gather Fruit for keeping Such as you design to keep any time ought not to be shaked off the Trees because of bruising but picked off with your hands Be sure the Fruit you gather be throughly ripe which you may know by its beginning to drop or the kernels turning black Let the weather be fair and dry when you gather and no dew upon the Trees Lay up what you thus gather in a close but sweet room upon a boarded-floor without any green leaves or sticks among them Of preserving If you have some Pears that are choice and lasting wrap them up in Paper and lay them one by one upon a shelf or hang them up by the stalks and keep out the air from them as much as you can As you find any in your heaps rot pick them out and in a sharp Frost cover them with a Straw Mat. In gathering Cyder Fruit you must be sure to let them be well ripe then let them be gently shaken down and laid upon a sweet and dry floor in a heap and there lye a fortnight The Red-strake and harder Apples you may let lye longer that is three weeks or a month the longer they lye the less Cyder indeed they will yield but much the better it being necessary to have them as ripe as may be so that too many of them begin not to rot some are for picking out the rotten ones before you grind them others say a few rotten Apples do no hurt but rather good in helping the liquor to ferment Of a Ladder Sect. 2. And because I am here speaking of gathering Fruit I shall give you the description of a Ladder convenient to be used both in getting the fruit off young trees and pruning them they not being strong enough to bear an ordinary Ladder without harm Take a Board like the head of a joint-stool but thicker let there be join'd to it a Ladder of what length you judge convenient having respect to the height of your Trees with such Irons as it may ply to and fro and at the other end let two feet of equal length with the Ladder be put in so as they may stand wider at the bottom than the top See the Figure Of an Engine or Mill for grinding fruit Sect. 3. Of many sorts of Fruits may be made very noble and delicious liquors for drinking by separating the juice from the feculent parts of them which is performed by Pounding or Grinding them by such instruments as were to be had But lately hath been found out an Engine incomparably more commodious for this work than any thing ever known before many of which are already dispersed throughout the Kingdom made according to the first model But they have lately received so vast an improvement that they seem now quite another Invention and to want nothing to their perfection The Inventor had a Patent for them the property of which is now in one Mr. Henry Allen at the sign of the Cabinet in Exeter-street on the back of Exeter-Change in the Strand in London who makes them himself and licenses any Artists in the Country to do the same upon reasonable terms Any that are near London may have the Engine with the Frame those that live more remote may have the Engine alone with directions how to make the frame The price of this Mill is from 4l. to 10l. according as it is in bigness or for curiosity of work The excellencies of it are That it takes up so little room no more than two yards square It grindes according to the bigness of it from 50 to 20 Bushel an hour with the labour only of one man the feeding of it now being contrived with a little assistance of another It performs the work better than any thing else And lastly It grindes all manner of Fruit with a little alteration in setting of it Sect. 4. Other Authors have given directions about making liquors of several sorts of Fruit but that he that hath this Book may not be troubled to seek for them any where else and because I can truly pretend to exactness in this particular no less than I believe I have justly done in all that went before and withal having guided the Reader in the way to get choice Fruit before I take leave with him I shall in the last place instruct him how to order it and how to make use of it Of â—â—king Oâ—der In grinding or pounding and pressing their Fruit every one may be safely left to the custom or convenience of his Country but the management of the liquor after it is pressed out is of great importance Thus therefore you must proceed When your Apples are ground or pounded sufficiently and the liquor prest forth strain it immediately through a sieve and tun it up in a Hogshead or Barrel seasoned and sweet fill it not up by two gallons at least and stop it up only with a loose stopper for two or three days and then stop it up close with clay on the top and put a cork or some stopper in the vent hole but for a weeks time or more you may once a day draw it forth a little lest it break the vessel or force some other vent then stop it close up also and so let it stand till you think it may be something clear and then pierce it