remains de claro besides the one thousand pounds two thousand two hundred pounds If Coals be raised to a higher price at the Pits than formerly then the Hundreds and Loads must be sold dearer at Newark c. and the same profit will remain There are divers other benefits to be instanced and added to this design too tedious to specifie amounting to above one thousand pounds per annum and sufficiently maintainable Chap. 3. Concerning Turnips A Gentleman not far from London having dealt for store of ground part whereof being a meer dry sand and over-grown with moss that it was not worth two shillings the acre I advised him to cause a cutting-Knife to be made according to a new devised way wherwith with more conveniency than formerly they pare up such sour rushy ground as they lately farm c. and call it Devonshire Land and a Workman set about it he cut this ground some two inches thick and turned it up and layd the inside outwards that done letting the ground dry for the space of a week being formerly good neither for corn nor grass the Workman with a strong Iron rake raked the ground all over then cast it over with Turnip-seeds and raked it over again which came up so well the leaves and roots did so well rot cool mellow and meliorate the ground that the year following and after the crop of Turnips there came very good grass The ground being afterwards fit for corn or grass part of which ground he again sowed with Turnips the same year and had two very great crops and made at least thirty pounds an acre thereof besides as I came to him he received 10 s. an acre for the leaves only being from the very tops of the bindings when they are bound up in bundles and for the other part of the bindings he selling the Turnips by measure made at the least twenshillings the acre wherewith they now feed their milch Cattel which they having plenty thereof will cause them to give milk three times a day with full vessels and constantly throughout the year and better milk by far than any other and although the roots may be sold in most places as dear as near London and with the same benefit yet the commodity of them is so exceeding great being known they will not be parted with by any for they are excellent for all sorts of Cattel and will feed them very fat in a short time and will likewise feed Calves and Lambs very fat besides they being boyled will feed Swine to the height of fatness in a fortnights space and the liquor wherein they are boyled will feed them better than the best whey And I have seen Cows exceedingly greedy for the liquor and the Turnips boyled they have eat and drunk of them continually and without any other food have afforded Milk in aboundance more than with any other food whatsoever and became likewise fat therewith the Turnips boyled will feed all sorts of Poultty fat and cause them to lay their egges constantly without any corn at all whereby may be kept both Geese Turkeys Pheasants Partridges Coots Moor-cocks in abundance without any charge so that 't is clear Turnips will grow on the meanest ground with little labor without muck I have known those that have kept their horses fat by slicing them so casting them into the Manger and of all food whatsoever there is nothing so wholesom and so healthfull as they be for Cattel c. for thereby may be avoided the Murrain all other dangerous diseases There is a Knight row in this City that did preserve and keep all sorts of Poultry and Rabbits by a paste as followeth which was made of Beasts liver the coursest last corn ground and bran with a competent commixture but I have formerly left out the Liver and made a paste with the rest compounded with Turnips but I found in conclusion Turnips of themselves is the only food both for Cattel Swine and Poultry Probatum est The Swine being kept in an Orchard constantly bearing the ground will fructifie the fruit-Fruit-trees exceedingly and make them yield great store of fruit yearly larger than formerly and they need no other food than this Liquor without the roots or they may be kept up in a house with it constantly There was a Gentleman well known that would cause his Servants sometimes to scatter on the ground some small store of Tares and the Swine by taking pains to get them would drink the oftner of the Liquor and be fat the sooner I have known milch Cows kept constantly in a Yard and never fed with any thing but Turnips wherby a man might soon inrich himself and having place convenient for Poultry c. this may appear to be as thriving for them as corn Turnips likewise boyled and mingled with bran will feed Hunting dogs very highly without any other relief About seven years since I caused a woman here in London to buy a peck of meal and to divide it into two parts in the one I advised her to put a peny-worth of Turnips boyled and work it and knead it by it self and the two parcels being baked the Meal that had the Turuips in that proved to be the better bread by far and whiter every way more pleasant to the eye more toothsom it is in the judgement of most Physicians very healthfull besides it cuts far better than the other and will last as long again very moist the parcel that had the Turnips in it was in weight above five pounds more than the other and what advantage might redound hereby to publique and private families it may easily result when they may keep both Cattel Swine and Poultry with little or no charge There is as much difference almost in the roots as is in Apples therefore care is to be had in the seed there are those which are called Hackney Turnips which far exceed all other especially for bread that seed may be had as cheap as the other a paste likewise might be made with turnips to continue long which all Poultry would like very well of and excellent Horse-bread might be made of it being otherwise used thereunto all sorts of Cattel and Poultry wil take sufficient without further trouble the paste will be excellent usefull food for Rabbits both in over-stored Warrens and likewise when they are preserved with other moist meats as you may understand hereafter Turnips will afford two very good crops in one year and the crops of them are worth to be sold thirty pounds an acre as will be confirmed besides some ground they will in my knowledge afford a 3d. crop the same year although the roots of the last crop come not to full maturity yet the roots and leaves being suffered to grow thicker without cutting or pulling will be better at the present than an acre of the best Grass and compass of ground where a sheaf of Wheat doth grow which yieldeth a
the planting of Liquorish which grows naturally in many places of England and whereas formerly contrary to judgement of those that planted it used to dig the ground very deep even into the crust of earth and then planted the Liquorish downwards and too deep This Gentleman hath caused his Ground not to be mucked nor to be used therefore had that been mucked formerly and the roots placed side-waies not perpendicularly but above the crust of the earth which by that means will run a very great length and grow with greater roots by far than otherwise insomuch that the Gentlemans Servant hath observed for five acres of Liquorish to make two hundred pound an acre Besides there was a crop of Onions growing upon the five acres of Liquorish for which there was offered twenty pound an acre half thereof being formerly pick'd out and sold for at least twenty pound more and this may be confirmed for a truth at any time so that there is but one year of three void of profit and some benefit may be made that year This with the Roman Bean would be excellent commodities in divers Countries in regard of the conveniency by water they being no Drugg at all times vendible and the ground much advanced thereby for other uses which may be done in a mere dry and warm sand c. this to be confirmed to an hundred pound per annum Chap. 9. Of Saffron THere are grounds in my knowledge in most parts of England where Saffron will grow being rightly prepared as well as in any place and once having the roots which may easily be gotten and as cheap as the other seeds and plants you will ever after abound therewith and they will render very great profit with very little charge and much inrich the ground for corn after them several years for the planting and disposing of them you may have sufficient directions at pleasure and so for the other defects better Saffron groweth not in the world than here in England being worth forty pound an acre skilfully and carefully planted that will last several years and afford divers crops every year and must be gathered every morning for a months space A worthy Gentleman in whose Garden had been planted some Saffron roots for ornament sake and the rather because the flowers were very sweet of various colours and very pleasant to the eye they did exceedingly increase on the ground that the Gardner could by no means destroy them although with great diligence they weeded them up constantly when they drest and renewed their Garden yet do what they could they would grow there still at last as they drew them up still set them in some remote places in the Garden being ground very much neglected where they prospered so well that it is to be admired what benefit so little ground did afford which was a mere sand as is to be found in most Shires in England only the ground having been formerly baren I advised the Gentleman he having Commons of such kind of ground hardly worth one shilling an acre and several other waste ground with great convenience of water c. to compose some kind of soyl as I instance in my discourse following of muck and mingled earth and to lay it a foot thick on the worst part of his barren ground he might in the easiest manner concontrive a thousand loads in a year thereby questionless have divers acres of the best sort of Saffron and this soyl will so fertilize the waste ground under it with the addition of the muck water in case of dry weather that the lands will be fit for any advantagious uses whatsoever c. Probatum est Observ 1. Item French Pease will yield thirty pound per acre charge little and much inrich the ground for corn afterwards they have been known afford five hundred for one Observ 2. Mustard seed thirty pound an acre de claro and will afford very good crops for several years without replanting upon ordinary ground and will thrive very well upon Ditches newly cast up Observ 3. Tassels for Cloath-workers about thirty pound an acre de claro and will thrive and prove very well here in England and very usefull being rightly planted and with the best seed Observ 4. Madder for dying for the Apothecary worth 7 d. per pound will grow very thick on the ground and advance five pound an acre and upwards de claro it will thrive best in sandy ground as the other and is constanly vendible at high rates Observ 5. Osiars above twenty pound an acre on wet ground without trouble or charge after the first planting and when there are store of them there will be no want of Manufactorr for thither they will questionless resort and inhabit Observ 6. There is a Tree called the Abel there being none of the Plants to be had unless they be sent for out of France but in one place in England thirty pounds being laid out about these plants will render at the least ten thousand pound at eighten years and without any other charge trouble or impairing the Grass in the field where they grow This is confirmed by an Honorable Knight here in London every Tree of them so being rightly planted will afford in a short time thirty plants and every one of these thirty will afford thirty more and these Trees are at their full growth in twenty years and after seven years growth improveth every year twelve pence untill the time is up it groweth very streight and is most comely either in the Fields or walks this Timber hardly hath its parallel for all sorts of wodden Vessels as Trayes Bowls c. and so likewise for Carts it being exceedingly light very tall in growth and a very white wood The manner of the planting them I shall hereafter more at large discover with the condition of the soyl where they are to be planted their usual distance one from another under ten foot you may likewise provide French furze seeds and sow them amongst these Trees where there is want of such fewell they will grow very fast and bigge in a short time with great stock'd bodies and will soon spread their tops and become very large and high far transcending our English Furze and these together with the other Trees will afford a considerable profit and this place may likewise be very much for pleasure and very profitable for the sheltering of Pheasants and other Fowls Chap. 10. To illustrate the profit of Ground by planting of Woods I Knew a Gentleman that set an ash-Ash-tree before his House which forty years after he was offered for it thirty pounds and it is certainly to be proved that a Gentleman in Holland sold five hundred Ashes at fifty years groweth at a far higher rate and that another man in the same Country planted so much wood inhis life time for the which he was offered fifty thousand pound There is a Gentleman now living in Essex that can lop off
that I am not able at the present to impart it with my pen without too much prolixity and therefore I crave leave otherwise to finish my discourse This Engine being placed in a Centre will cast the Liquor before and behinde and on both sides that it will mildely fall down like a shower of rain with wonderfull successe and may be used with ordinary water very advantageously the Compasse of an Acre of ground at a time on a dry time in summer both to growing Corn and Grasse with very much advantage I have known Husbandmen after they have sowen their Corn they would pray that it would please God to send a shower of rain and this Engin with the blessing of God will at any time comply with their desires and make the earth so fruitfull that in my knowledge one acre so watered I mean with the muck water will render neer if not fully twenty times more benefit than any other acre being tylled in the same manner which will be I am confident as great a benefit to this Nation as ever was devised besides I shall be able to help any man with an Engine for a small matter that will be very usefull to water grounds in this nature and exceeding convenient and commodious for Gardens which will likewise wash off Caterpillars from all manner of fruit-Fruit-Trees and those that grow against the Walls and those that will alter the leaves and fruit beyond belief experience shall confirm as much unto you When your Corn is likewise steeped in the Liquor about some four and twenty hours according to my after directions you may expect a far greater fertility and profit which hath been seen above one hundred for one in Corn. When you have emptied your Pond for these purposes you are then before you fill it again to get out the mud I mean the residence of the commixture and to rake it out upon the bank side which you may perform with the back of an old Armor these or one of them being strongly fixed upon a Poles end with Iron the inward part of the Armour bending towards you will rake up all the mud by degrees with much facility and thereby you may cleanse any River or Moat without diverting the Water-course going into the water or let the water out of Moats c. I have known Rivers about Colebrook above forty years since let a yard lower besides the great benefit of drawing the Rivers and the mudd so taken out of the Rivers called small Codd was so exceeding rich that they were miraculously advantagious otherwise which I shall hereafter discover When you have gotten out this mudd you are before to provide a convenient place for your Straw muck from the Stables and Cow-Houses c. which must be contrived in this manner or other such way according to the fancy of the Owner viz. to incompass the place where you lay your muck with a Brick wall about four foot high only leaving a place for entrance to fill out the muck in Carts and by any means to cause the flooring to be stanch not to soak and drink in the water of the Muck-hill at all but rather for the prevention thereof to make such a pavement of Brick-stone or Free-stone if it may be had near and the floor to be made with a little descent on both sides to the middle that the water may pass out in a Chanel into some wooden Vessel or Cestern that may stand in the Ground near and so low that the Muck-water may pass into it which may be contrived so full of vertue and fertility that the worth of it is of high esteem being once truly experienced will transcend exceedingly and cannot be bought at too dear a rate There are many places where the Ground is so firm it needs not any other bottom and the Liquor may be made by the meaner sort in Vessels without a Pond for small parcels of ground and thereby the other charges might be saved but I first conceive it to be more proper to lay in the same quantity Then by digging a pit to cast certain Loads of good Sand upon the Straw and then loads of other Earth to concorporate with it which if it were commixed at the first it were better but I leave the disposing of that to knowing Husbandmen to be ordered according to the condition of the soyls being certain that any kind of earth that is moist digged out of pits without stones may be so mingle as it may be excellent fruit full soyl as Sand with Clay Loam with Chalk c. the one very much enriching the other as gravel ground Dung'd with Chalk and Chalk mingled with Gravel for want of Dung but you may use if you please only Sand then the muck out of the Pond or Earth of Commons near the Ditch-sides and Hedges mud of standing Pools Sea-weeds which are excellent soyl shovelings of Streets Yards High-waies and leaves of Trees as also Sea sand or any liquid brackish fatness greasie or oyly matter tarry stuff pitchmarks the blood and offall of Beasts empty marrow-bones the dressing and remainder of Trotters of sheep which are most excellent the cuttings or shavings of Horns hair which is best to lay them upon the ground before the Corn is sown then fuffer the Swine to musle it up and down Pilchers after the oyl is taken from them the garbage of stinking Sprats or the best of them when they are plentifull and cheap they being cryed sometimes for a peny a peck about the Streets in London Upon your mudd lay more straw then more loads of Sand c. and as your judgement shall direct you some Lyme properly disposed and some fat Chalk or Marl in equal wreathes you may likewise cast it over in the right place with some Bay salt and sometimes when the Straw is uppermost or otherwise you may spare some of your Pond water and scatter on all the mass that will occasion the other to concorporate the better and afford more and richer Dung-water By this means and with indifferent charge you may have manure sufficient to serve all your Land and such that one load being rightly ordered shall maintain it as well as some ten loads of your common sort of muck and the water that comes from it will be so rich for the steeping of your seed that the discourse thereof till experimented would be incredible A Gentleman did lately assure me that the brine of powdering Tubs did afford him as good a crop of Corn as ever was seen grow urine of Mankind is of very great worth to cast upon the Muck-hill Wood-ashes are best next to Soap ashes which hath a vigorous operation of it self and Soot is excellent good also and likewise for Pasture being only strewed over it You may sometimes cast the water that drayneth from the Muck upon the muck heaps again which will afford the more vegetative salt and desend to the former receptacle more fructiferously upon
small quantity of wheat it will afford one hundred of Turnips near two hundred so that the profit of two crops thereof will far transcend the profit of the wheat and the charge of the wheat far greater ordinarily Turnips may be sown in heathy ground at the first breaking up and some have sowed them immediatly after rye flax and especially after pease With their tops and Rape-cakes or Lynt-seed cakes and grains you may make Pottage and wholesome food for your Cows which being warm they will eat exceeding greedily and by this means give milk in abundance and for the same purpose the Holland Merchants did lately buy up all the Rape-seed here in England after the oyl was prest out and made up into great Cakes which hath been a very great commodity in Holland The roots and leaves being made very clean and stamped together then boyled in water and then given to the Cows may make them abound with Milk and yet grow very fat if they are kept up all the year A worthy Gentleman doth every year sow a very large field with turnips according to my directions and in the middest thereof he causeth to be built a little sleight shade or loppel with poles covered with straw or some sleight stuff on the top where he ties up his oxen and other feeding Cattel and giveth them the Turnips and the leaves cleanly washed and with them only seedeth his Cattel very fat to the Markets he continueth the same course constantly every year and preserveth all his grass for other uses to his very great advantage Turnips also with some small addition will make very good Syder and exceeding good Oyl hath been made thereof which may be very advantagious and will prove no drug Probatum est You may boyl Barly chaff in the Liquor of Turnips together with the Turnips and their leaves which makes it as feeding and as fatning as any foood whatsoever Rabbits may be kept with Turnip-bread or past of Turnips all the year either in the fields or house and better than with Turnips themselves being a most wholesom food for them and the roots and leaves will feed and preserve sheep to the highest condition and the Calves which you shall breed up by hand with these Turnips their leaves with their Liquor will be constantly fat and will much exceed their breed in largeness and with increase of Milk Let your Turnips grow little less than half a foot distance and less than ten quarts will sow an acre Chap. 4. Of Sow-Thistles ONe sleight plowing and harrowing or but raising the round in the least kind to have two crops in one year proportionably to the fruitfullest grass and so constantly every year without any further trouble or charge at all which is so wonderfully fruitfull for milch Cows that besides the double increase of milk it is better than any other for it will afford two scimmings of excellent cream this exceeds all other for Cheese and when all the Cream is taken off the milk will be as good as any other milk this seed will cost nothing and will sow it felf after the first year it will afford in seed above one thousand for one this is vulgarly called Sow-Thistle it will yield great store of seed the first crop letting it grow a while longer for that purpose it will be ripe very timely in the year you may gather the seeds which may be sowen presently and will afford a crop within a Month or a little more and may be cut every month during Summer if it be not prejudiced by cattel you may sow a small parcel of ground therewith preserving that for seed that will serve your turn it will grow upon any ordinary ground and the oftner you cut it the thicker it will be and be very tender and excellent fruitfull food you may feed your Cattel therewith by parcels in Racks or Houses and maintain them all the Summer in the highest manner It hath been observed formerly that when Sows could not maintain their Pigs for want of milk the Country people would find out these Sow-thistles which would exceedingly advantage them for the increase of their Milk and I have known the like performed by Rabbits in a very strange manner whilst the Thistles are young they willmaintain Calves Lambs Pigs c. which you may wean and raise to the highest perfection without any other food when they be come old and seedy Cattel will eat only the tops and therefore the oftner you cut themthemore usefull they are when the down is upon them ready to flye then gather the seeds when the Sun is up the seed being dry you may find sufficient of them in Corn-fields upon Ditches where Cattel cannot come at them the benefit might be made so great thereof that the worth cannot be with brevity exprest Sow up sheets of Paper and gather up the seeds into them or some other such way as may keep them from flying from you and take hold of the knot and pull the seeds and put them together and when you sow them mingle amongst them mould as they are with the down because they can hardly be severed those Thistles being planted in a barren ground and given to Rabbits would maintain millions of them all the Summer for want of grass in the Warrens Turnips and the paste thereof all the Winter Chap. 5. Of Clover-gras ONe Sir Richard Weston hath a think between thirty and forty acres about ten acres thereof he sowed this year with Barly which Barly being in cutting and proved so great adjudged worth ten pound an acre he feared it might hinder the Clover-grass not-notwithstanding we viewing it narrowly did perceive the grass much of it as it were begining to look out of the ground the which leaves were not bigger than an Onion which yet Sir Richard was glad to see he intends that nothing comes in that untill Michaelmas and by that time he hopes especially with a good shower soon after the Barly is taken off it will cover the ground the last year he sowed two Fields each about eight acres one with Flanders seed the other with his own in the Husks the former was so fair upon the ground at the felling in mid May last that he protested he would not have taken ten pound for the seed only he expected therefrom nevertheless the Summers draught especially soon after the cutting before it could get head again to shade it self and the ground so scorchd it together with his hopes at length be resolved to feed his Cattel with and reserve for seed the Cotten close being colder a moyster soyl and thereupon the better enduring the heat which otherwise he made far less esteem of because it came up unevenly or in Banks like Mr. Houghtons or rather worse which I conceive was to be attributed partly to the wetness but perhaps chiefly the seeds in the Husks which could not be but unequal experience shewing that some of the Husks are
and so good to feed all the sorts of Cattel that the best meadows do not yield the like so it will continue four or five years together without sowing it Probatum est One acre of Clover-grass being made part into hay and the rest eaten green will keep four Cows winter and summer and one acre laid for seed might carry five bushels and I am confident that here are thousands in England would give five shillings the pound for such as grow here in this Nation being indeed the very best The hay of an acre is about seven loads and one half no man will sell for six pound six shillings and eight pence the load Besides the after pasture in the Summer mow the Clover-grass and give it the Cattel by parcels One Mr. Bromley a Minister did assure me that he lately knew a very large field of Clover-grass which grew naturally in Glocester shire and was yearly very much advantageous to the owner thereof When the ground is laid down it will fatten Cattel and feed them very lusty and fit for the Butcher in a short time especially Sheep the seed may be provided and sowed and will thrive in most grounds being exceeding sweet and pleasant will very much advantage pasture grounds and raise to great improvement There is a Gentleman in Essex who makes great store of Soap with the Ashes thereof spread upon base baren ground and hath many acres thereof wonderfully rich with the best and sweetest Tree-soyl the like was never seen in England upon any ground chiefly downs being commonly reputed most proper for such grass the Ashes being formerly of so base an esteem that they would have given mony for the carrying them away out of the Country There is a strange kind of Grass growing in Wilt-shire with which they fat hogs being four and twenty foot long if the seed of this grass were sown in other rich and fertile meadows that would thrive and prosper as well as where I saw it grow it is of a very great consequence and may be so well approved of by those that shall make tryal thereof Chap. 6. Of Potatoes THe like benefit as with Turnips may be made of Potatoes which usually grow here in England they will encrease exceedingly are excellent food several waies they will make very good bread cakes paste and Pyes and both crust without and food within they will hardly be destroyed but increase of themselves in a very plentifull manner with very little labour they will likewise grow and thrive very well being cut in slices and so put into the earth and the very threds comming from the roots will increase to great roots The like benefit may be made for Poultry and Swine of Artichoaks Jerusalem Chap. 7. Of Pumpions THe next are Pumpions which may be occasioned to grow in the coarsest ground even all stone in a manner as followeth First make several holes a foot and a half one from an other and fill either hole about the bigness of a peck with mold that you may get from hedge-rows mixed with a little good muck purposely prepared or with Cow-dung you may cut up the Mole-hils within the neighbouring grounds sowing the places again with hay seeds or treefoyl seeds then plant in one of the holes being well tempered with muck mold or some of the best composed muck some three Pompion seeds you need not care for the seed the first year for they will afterwards be plentifull enough and suffer one of the best to continue growing the rest pull up and plant them in hedge-rows or cast them away And this manner you may if you please dispose of an acre of ground or more at the first which in all likelihood may produce some four large Pumpions on a plant the rest may be cut off being newly planted with the superfinous branches and the other will grow the bigger and in all probability will amount to at vendible rates 30 and 40 pound per acre and will sell dearer in the Country than near London and if not sold they will with the greater advantage serve for Poultry Swine and Cattel being boyled and used as Turnips which may accordingly be contriv'd into paste as before specified with more advantage for feeding than with the best grass or corn and whereas I have known dry grounds that have been so barren that they would bear no grass at all in comparison yet being laid all the year long used and no Cattel turned therein that little grass that was rotting upon the ground and the seed shedding thereon hath afforded the years following very good grass admitting the ground wher the Pompions grow are very poor yet the grass being suffered to grow though but little the Pumpion leaves shadowing the ground and keeping it cool in hot weather and warm in cool seasons a year or two especially with the help of the Muck water Yet such soyls the ground will afford very good grass and the seeds of the Pumpions being shifted into new holes will improve the basest ground whatsoever to great perfection You may likewise use the Root of the Pumpions which will occasion them to be as large again as otherwise You may cause a large bed to be made of rich mold c. whereby you may plant great store of Pumpion seeds and then transplant them according to your uttermost accommodation but by all means they must be well watered with the muck water of the fattest sort as followeth hereafter Suffer but two or three main runners according to discretion and cut off the rest of the branches about the time they begin to flower carefully preserving the other main runners from prejudice In like manner may be planted Cabbages which will afford the like profit upon such kind of ground and although they may afford a great benefit by the sale therof yet they will be less trouble and more advantagious for feeding of Cattel especially those that give milk which will make them exceedingly abound therewith and one acre of ground so planted will be far better than an acre of hay and the ground much benefited thereby after the Cabbages are cut up there will be a crop of Coleworts c. Chap. 8. Of the Roman Bean and Liquorish THere is a Grain called by some the Roman Bean which are excellent for Horses Dogs Poultry and Swine and will as is made apparent beyond contradiction afford above one hundred pound per acre benefit as they may be ordered They are to be set once and they will continue four years after exceedingly without the use of muck this Grain is indeed the greatest advantage that ever was heard of considering the little charge and trouble I dare not profess the wonderfull increase they will afford being rightly used what benefit may be made thereof I leave it to judgement when if five hundred acres were planted therewith they might be all sold There is a Gentleman in London that hath found out a new way for
ADAM OUT OF EDEN OR An abstract of divers excellent Experiments touching the advancement of Husbandry SHEWING Among very many other things an Aprovement of Ground by Rabbiss from 200 l. annual Rent to 2000 l. yearly profit all charges deducted By Ad. Speed Gent. LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane 1659. A Digression to the usage of divers Countries concerning the Tillage EAch soyl hath no liking of every Grain Nor Barly nor Wheat is for every vain Yet know I no Country so barren of soyl But some kind of coin may be gotten with toyl Though Husband at home be to count the was what Yet Huswife within is as needfull as that What helpeth in store to have never so much Half lost by ill usage ill Huswifes and such To the Reader HOw excellent and how innocent the art of Husbandry is has been sufficiently made out by the best of Authors God himself who chose out that employment for the best of the Creatures Man whom he placed in Eden not only to enjoy but to labour without both which no place can be a Paradise Perpetual enjoyments without bodily exercise breeding nothing but loathing and diseases For which cause the actions of body or mind are called Recreations as carrying on the grand design of God himself Nor can there be found in Nature a more ingenuous necessary delightfull or honourable employment than Agriculture a Calling born with us and bred in us affording matter for the most refined Wits without which Mankind cannot be preserved by which we are both sustained and delighted An Art wherein renowned Scholars have employed their parts and Princes without dishonour their time and pains Yet such is the pride and folly of our Nation that most aspire to collateral Vocations which owe their life and sustenance to the Husband-man and consist only in over-reaching each other And scarce any are left to study the Georgicks but such as can do nothing else For which cause our Ancestors have left the rules and observations by which our skill herein should be improved only by tradition except Virgil and some others who have eternized their names by transmitting to posterity their knowledge herein For the promotion of which great and needfull work our ingenuous Author hath exposed his Observations and Experiences to the publick view which have long been smothered in private hands till by the good nature of a Publick-spirited Gentleman to whose industry in several other things our Age is obliged they have blest our eyes Embrace this opportunity and reduce these Precepts to practice England affords Land enough for the Inhabitants and if men did but industriously and skilfully improve and manure it we need not go to Jamaica for new plantations Farewell Chap. 1. Of Improvement of ground by Rabbits IT is in Husbandry as in other practical Professions Art Industry and Experience adde every day new supplies to the better either by contracting the charge and then the improvement is in the Method or by multiplying the advantage and then it is in the increase How many rare secrets are there now discovered whereby the Publick is enriched whereof our Fore-fathers never dreamed and some doubtless are as yet concealed from us being left to posterity and the next age to find out Because amongst many others relating to Husbandry some are of more excellent use I have here made a select choyce of them reporting nothing but what observation and experience to which my Genius hath been long addicted have found certainly true And first I shall begin with the improvement of ground by Rabbits There is to be taken five hundred acres of ground within fifteen miles of London for eight shillings the acre which being stored with twenty Rabbits per acre highly bred sixteen of them being Breeders cacording to direction will in all probability afford either of them twelve Rabbits at three litters I have known those so bred that one Rabbit hath brought at one litter sometimes ten and commonly eleven and hath brought them up very well and fat and at a Lords ground I have known the like increase besides those of my own whereof I have had sufficient experience admit sixteen Rabbits bring either of them but ten at three litters they come to one hundred and sixty Rabbits for the which after six weeks of age I know a Poulterer that giveth eight pence the Rabbit and constantly untill Michaelmas and some Poulterers more after Michaelmas which may be sold so then between one shilling and one shilling eight pence the Rabbit admit them but at eight pence the Rabbit all the year one hundred and sixty Rabbits come to five pound six shillings and eight pence the acre and I am confident that in grounds not proper for them they brought the last unseasonable years before this four five and seven at three litters I have been sufficiently resolved in this design by the most of the Warreners throughout England though I needed not their judgement In five hundred acres at five pound six shillings eight pence per acre to be considered the herbage for sheep and other cattel at least one hundred pound per annum besides the keeping of Poultery Pheasants Partridge and other fowl with Pigeons Bees c. and places for divers other plantations at twenty thirty forty fifty pound an acre profit per annum and upward with fish-ponds accordingly stored besides there is an other profit in this design very considerable and of no small consequence with house-keeping compleat for all occasions and great conveniency for a Dairy and very conveniently near London Sum total two thousand seven hundred sixty and six pound rent for the ground two hundred pound salaries sixty five pound food for the Rabbits in Hutches one hundred pound admit though more than needs by far being there are now better preventions than formerly one thousand Rabbits at eight pence the Rabbit three hundred thirty three pounds total six hundred ninety eight pounds de claro two thousand sixty five pounds If the number of the Rabbits be thought too high and the casualties too low that followeth to make up all and to obstruct all objections the first litter will breed the same year being rightly bred and disposed of allow three of the last litters from every one of the first breeders the Buck being first destroyed bring ten Rabbits which come to one hundred and sixty Rabbits per acre and amount unto five pounds six shillings eight pence per acre total six hundred sixty and six pounds as before There are two Gentlemen now in London of great ability and repute that will justifie these proportions and that they made out of two several five acres of ground either of them at least ten pounds an acre per annum That there is to be taken fifteen hundred acres for one shilling per acre that will after the like proportion according to the number of acres bring many thousand pounds more That two thousand acres may be
had at the same rate that will very near render the same emolument according to the number of the acres the same I leave to consideration It matters not whether the ground afford any grass at all in a manner so it be warm and dry being there are several waies to feed them as formerly I have done with very little charge which will preserve them very high and make them breed extraordinarily and maintain more Rabbits by half than any Warren in England was ever known to do they having totally neglected and never ordered the right ways Rabbits being of the most profitable creatures of England rightly used the several sorts of food that may be provided for them being not considerable as may be perceived hereafter the later they are kept the better are the Rabbits and the richer the fur I have known five hundred Breeders kept at a time in an house as may be within the 500 acres in Hutches which would bring seven eight nine or ten at a litter but accounting only five at a litter one with another being I formerly have destroyed the rest they are compleated to two thousand five hundred Rabbits per Month and in ten Months per annum twenty five thousand which at eight pence a Rabbit comes to about eight hundred thirty and three pounds the charge indifferent and with the same charge doubled one thousand Breeders may be kept and they probably amount to one thousand six hundred sixty and six the Rabbits in the house we turn out at liberty to go out and come in when they please At a Months age and at six weeks of age when they shall be doubtless exceeding fat with such food as shall be easily provided for them they are then at the dispose of the Poulterer only such as are preserved especially for store It. A sort of Rabbits to be had their fur beingworth near 3 s. 4 d. the skin and in goodness near Bever which I am confident may be made very near equal to Bever That upon tryal I found the difference between the weight of the ordinary Rabbits usually in Warrens and the breed which may be provided otherwise to be half in half besides the great difference in the goodness of them If the ground want Covert shelter or be too naked they may be made warmer by sowing French furze seeds which will grow very spacious and to great flockt bodies in few years and will prosper very well here in England and extend to great profit yearly there may be Malt made within the housing belonging to the five hundred acres that with other emoluments may sufficiently advance five hundred pounds per annum beyond exceptions by a discreet and provident way of buying Barley at the best hand and by the disposing of the Malt both in making and selling thereof there being great plenty of the best fewel therefore being fearn There may be many Swine kept within the compass and several sorts of food to preserve and fatten them not considerable Item Geese Turkeys Ducks that will lay two egges a day throughout the year Pheasants Partridges Coots and all other sorts of Fowl kept with such several wholsome foods so easily prepared and so little charge the benefit may be made of them may arise to be exceeding great And for Bees being a place so convenient the profit of them may be maintainable under God one hundred pounds per annum Item Pigeons c. And for the too much neglected Creature the Silk vorm whereas there are divers at this time that make a very great profit of them in a very high degree I am confidently assured that by them may be only in one room advanced 500 pounds per annum and upwards whereas the only cause of not keeping them more plentifully is for want of Mulberry leaves the Trees whereof may be planted here with the stocks and branches thereof being brought for the most part beyond the Seas which are dear and most commonly spoyled with bringing There is a leaf lately discovered growing here in England and to be preserved constantly in every Garden that doth and hath maintained them better by far than the other leaves which will likewise cost nothing being that the ground in the five hundred acres may be justifiably advanced to above twenty thirty forty fifty pounds an acre per annum as may appear by the several discoveries at large as followeth in the other papers When you would have Rabbits fat to the desire geld the Bucks that you intend to slaughter which the Warrener may easily do turn them out a while longer and they will exceed in fatness and eat more pleasantly by far than otherwise The first breed charges and contingencies allowed may probably come to as before specified two thousand sixty and eight pounds The second breed allowing some abatement for charges comes to two thousand six hundred sixty and six pounds Item Rabbits in Hutches charges to be abated 1 thousand six hundred sixty and six pounds Malt per annum five hundred pounds Benefit of fearn furze and other fewel five hundred pounds Swine fowl c. two hundred pounds Bees c. one hundred pounds Silk worms five hundred pounds All these I cast in to make up the first design with two hundred pounds to advance two thousand pounds per annum Chap. 2. An undeniable proportion of Coles to be had from the Pits near Notingham to the Trents side and so by Boats to Newark and the Towns adjacent with the benefit may apparently accrew thereby beyond contradiction FIve double Waggons and five Boats to convey to Newark down the Trent eight thousand loads per annum for which they have paid at the pits five shillings the load and whereas they pay commonly nine shillings and upwards the hundred most part of the year and much under weight and but sixteen seventeen or eighteen hundred weight to the load which should be twenty hundred weight being a miserable griping to the poorer sort of people to allow them constantly at six pence the hundred being ten shillings the load will be a very great publique good and an Act of charity in the undertakers and will render much honor to them together with the prayers of the poor c. The eight thousand loads at five shillings the load benefit comes to two thousand pounds carriage by the return of Boats at the least three hundred pounds It. five hundred weight overplus which are to he had at the Pits by agreement allowing two hundred thereof waste six hundred pounds total two thousand nine hundred pounds That with a reasonable sum deposited to have the Coals delivered at two shillings six pence per load the rest amounting to one thousand pound de claro disbursements for horses wains and boats being the standing stock upon considerable computations five hundred pounds or there abouts Charges for horses servants c. per annum under seven hundred pounds which will be defrayed by the week though deducted there
empty others full Sir Richard himself told me that he had found eight score seeds as I remember he said or at least eighty I am sure he said in one head and then he resolved to cut it and because hay is dear in those parts this year near three pound a load Sir Richard told me he sold it near that rate one hundred and fifty Loads of his extraordinary hay which his meadows watered with his new River and thereby continuing the draught did yield he intends to get off the head of the grass as he doth those of the Flax and dry them in the Sun to get out the seed more easily and withall to save his hay for he says that when once he can get sufficient seed of his own he shall then and not before then be Master of the work for he suspects sophistication of the out-landish seed that it is mixed with old and some not fully ripe baked in Ovens the easier to make it unhusk it self for the manner of sowing of it he having experimented divers wayes finds the best peece that ever he had to be sowed alone without any other grain for the time the beginning of the mid April is the best and therefore he would advice Mr. Houghton not to venture his Summer fallow at Autumn unless it be a little quantity to make experiment besides he did much disapprove the laying sheep upon it two or three nights as he intended to do last May as soon as it was cut because it would prove a hinderance to the next crop which with a shower would as he says in six days grow half a foot high for the quantity of the hay it yielded two load and an half on an acre at a selling rate for the nature of the ground that is most proper for it which will bear little other grass To conclude he findeth that the grass improves the ground for he hath this year exceeding great buck Wheat upon a piece of heathy ground not one shilling the acre before which hath been Clove grass three years for flax he said that requires a dry soyl c. Lastly he saith that at St. Foyn it is exceeding profitable and may be cut seven or eight times in a year but that it requires a very rich Land and must not be fed at all And now I hope that my faithfull desires to relate fully all that I had learned in this will plead excuse for me Concerning Esperate or Clover-grass THe Country where Esperate or Clovergrass is most in use at this day is Daphine towards the quarter of Day It is a grass very hardy not much inferionr to Luceran it renders abundance of very exquisite hay very great substantial and much desired proper to nourish and fatten all sorts of four footed Beasts young and old Lambs and Calves making their Dams exceedingly to abound with milk it also produceth seed every year that serveth the Cattel instead of Oats and fattens Poultry it makes them to prove and quickly to lay egges it will grow in a poor sandy Land and it leaves a certain fatning vertue in it for the profit of Corn being sown after it which makes it more in request it desires not watering it fears the biting of the Beasts the delicacy of it draws them in such am anner that having once tasted of it they will go three leagues to feed of it if it be not well inclosed the hay of this grass is little higher than two foot but it is so much the thicker it is cut three times a year provided that the place agree with it and that the grass be noteaten with beasts the first time is at the end of March the second towards July the last about the midle of September the hay of the first cuts not so great as the second because that in this place it produceth seeds and by consequence it groweth bigger this being cut the seed is taken up like Oats and then is thrust together with the first expecting the last that these three mingled togemay serve for profitable provision for the beasts all the year a Master of a Family may be well advised to use this Husbandry considering the notable profit which will come to him thereby in regard of the Hay the Oats and the grass of the Field he will find the seed of this exquisite pasture is a thing one may well send to enquire after in Daphine although it be as far almost as the utmost of France without fear of introducing a novelty seeing these will so exceedingly countenance his labour which principally he doth regard assuring himself that in what part soever of these three Countries he shall remain this grass will profit him for its faculty to grow nevertheless in a temperate air than in a hot and in a land more light than heavy and to effect this business I give you notice that this seed of Clover-grass is sold commonly at the double price of Oats to plant it must be appointed for some acres of Land chosen as aforesaid not stony because of cutting of the grass then it must be in a place commodiously inclosed for the reasons aforesaid and after that he hath well and to the purpose laboured the land during Winter the Spring approaching at the end of February or the beginning of March he shall sow the seeds but very thick it being necessary four times more of that than of wheat that it may grow to cover all the ground with the grass without leaving place for any malignant grass which may come to grow there to its detriment the flower of the land must be well plowed like a meadow so that without hinderance the Sythe may go up and down freely the first year this grass makes no great increase being almost wholly imployed to take hold and strengthen it self but the three years following it recompenceth the slackness producing abundance of good hay also all the time it stays in the ground it imyloys all the meās to be profitable unto it which in times past it comes to nothing for which cause the place where the Clover-grass grows is then converted into tillage and by that means the ground being deep plowed produce very fair Winter and Summer corn for three or four years And for that you shall be accommodated with such good pasture and fair corn with it you should manage this Husbandry so that you should alwaies have new and old Clover-grass to make some serve for hay and other for corn whereby you can neither want for one nor the other Probatum est The second Experiment First sow Flax then a crop of Turnips and after about April following you may sow the ground with Oats and upon Clover-grass seeds only harrowing it with Bushes or bushed harrows which will come up after the Oats are mowed and will yield you a very great pasture till Christmas and the next year following you may cut the grass three times and it will every year bear such burden
his own ground two thousand Willows every year out of the number he formerly planted His improvements of grounds for Orchards twenty pound an acre per annum twenty acres four hundred pound A Gentleman in Kent besides the great benefit he converteth the ground to otherwise advanceth to himself yearly for Cherries and other fruit of his own planting at least five hundred pounds Certain Observations There is a Knight now living in England that got a thousand pounds per annum by planting Carrets in a mere sandy ground 2. There are divers in London that will give thirty pound an acre to sowe Clove Gilly flowers and so for many years I especially by means of the Muck water and the muck the like benefit made per annum of red Roses 3. There are about London that do make two hundred pound an acre by gardening and exceeding great profit may be made thereby in most places of England which may be performed only an experienced Gardner of London told me they usually fat their Cows and Swine with the offal of Gardening-stuff Chap. 11. To preserve Horses in a very good Condition without hay AN honorable Knight in Kent and a Doctor there of fifteen hundred pound per annum have not given their Horses any hay these twelve years but only chopt straw cut small with such a Knife as they cut hay withall they mingle with a handfull of Oats half a peck of this Straw so cut and put into the Manger several times in the day and let them drink often and in this manner they use all their Horses both that work and travel you may put in the paste of Turnips instead of the Oats which being used thereunto will do as well and better and satisfie all expectations with very great success without any additional food cut chop and shred all your Furs-tops and give them to your Horses and they will exceedingly thrive therewith this I received from the greatest Lord of Scotland which was the continual custom of his Servants Item a Gentleman traveling much when others gave their Horses that travelled at the least half a peck of Oats he gave his Horse but one half penyworth of Carrets where he could have them I have know the like increase with Turnips no food exceeding them for health and feeding In Kent and Hurtford-shire they usual cut all their Oats and Pease small and give them their Horses with chaff or cut straw by which means they eat up all and thrive exceedingly therewith and feed theron the more greedily Chap. 12. Of Hops OUt of a small plot of ground scarce an acre and an half a Gentleman got by Hops in one year at least one hundred and eightie pound A worthy Friend of mine out of less than a quarter of an acre of Ground received hately for Hops in one year ten pound and for several years besides which ground in my knowledge was very much neglected otherwaies would have returned many more being they stood much protected from the Nothern winds The last year a Gentleman experienced used Muck-water by watering his Hops therewith only at the very roots whereby he had a return beyond expectation and is resolved thereupon to take in more grounds for that purpose the improvement that may happen thereby cannot in any rational mans judgement but be exceeding great being the liquor doth exceed your ordinary muck He likewise planted upon the Hop-hills divers seeds of Pumpions the running branches thereof being turned into the paths with sticks and causing the superfluous branches to be cut off leaving only about three of them that were well knotted he made a double benefit thereby part whereof was sold at good rates the rest were boyled in the manner of Turnips he caused his Cattel Swine to be sed therwith to his great advantage so with these and with Turnips he boyled all the Barly chaff he could get which made the Liquor the thicker and proved more commodious to his Cattel and sometimes when bran was to be had at reasonable rate he caused it to be boyled therin otherwise the Liquor was only used The usual way of keeping the roots of his Pumpion plants was to get all the pieces of Pots Dishes and old Vessels that would hold Water and filling them with the former Liquor he caused the end of an old rotten list or rag to be put into the Vessel and the other end unto the Pumpion plant which would descend unto the root and the Liquor being thereby dreyned out of the old Vessels they were seasonably replenish'd from which occasion he had the fairest Pumpions that ever were beheld and the Hops wonderfully improved thereby he had also by vertue of this Liquor white Straw-berries six inches compass which may at any time be attested and such kind of roots and Gardening-stuff that the like for the generality was never seen before Chap. 13. Of Flax. FLax will yield thirty or forty pound an acre sandy baren and heathy ground is best for it and after Flax Turnips one acre of good Flax accounted worth three or four acres of the best Wheat and the Liquor hath much advanced the goodness thereof The best time for the sowing therof is about the beginning of April presently after a shower of rain which may abundantly be supplyed by the Engine and Muck-water following some do usually sowe Flax untill the end of May and some after Observ 1. Of Bees There are divers places in England that would maintain one hundred hives of Bees without providing conveniency of food for them and it was an easiy thing to get five hundred pound per annum by Bees in places convenient Observ 2. To make trees bear much and excellent fruit and to advantage them in their growth half in half is only by the scasonable application of the Muck-water and the water following for worms Observ 3. A way how to recover an old Tree When a tree is spent and hath done bearing under-prop it so as that it may be stedfastly supported that the body may not sink then take away the earth under the roots and adde thereunto good rich Mould to the empty places or your best mixed earth with the Muck-water and you shall perceive the tree to revive again flourish prosper and bear fruit more plentifully than ever it did so may you do with a tree that is fallen down Observ 4. To make barren Trees bear much and exceeding good fruit First split the root of an old tree and adde thereunto Pingeons dung Lees of Wine _____ and a little Brimstone or any such thing as you shall understand to be destructive to worms which composition hath been often tryed Observ 5. I have known a Vine planted upon the top of an Oak that did yield aboundance of excellent Grapes very large pleasant and full of Juyce and why not many Oaks so planted In ground fit to be digged up to set corn and thereby to reap an hundred for one and all charges born and
less than a peck of wheat will fat an acre and with the use of Muck-water a far greater increase That one good digging being it goeth deeper than the Plow and thereby destructive to all sorts of weeds and Grass is as good as three plowings if the Land be mellow and the charge is no more This course would imploy hundreds thousands and the ground be made convenienter for other crops which would be far greater If we set a grain of Corn as Wheat Barly c. it usually produceth three hundred and four hundred for one according to experience but if you sowe Wheat the accustomed way six for one is accounted a good crop If the same quantity of acres of poor heathy barren Land by producing Flax Turnips and Clover-grass will yield more profit than the richest Land that beareth wheat Barly Meadow and good pasture then by consequence the poor Land is better than the rich It is also justified that two acres of corn being equally sowen if the Muck-water be in time cast over the one acre sufficiently either with the Engine or otherwise that acre shall exceed the other five for one and upwards You may have six times more Hay in a Meadow when it is turned up with the Plow or a Cutting-knife and sowed thick with the Ashes burnt of out the substance thereof But the rain must follow first otherwise use the Muck-water or ordinary water with the Engine then sowe the Meadow with the seed of Trefoyl and plow and harrow them or in some ground you may use a strong Iron rake let the first Grass that groweth thereon be very ripe that it may fall off it self then let some pass over it rakes and cords and stir it that it may fall out afterward let it be mowed off and carried to a certain place where it may be conveniently dryed and the Grass will grow again presently and may be mowed again in that year Observ 6. There are waies to make rushy ground bear very good grasse first plow it up then Marl it or plow and burn it according to the usual custome and being wet trench it and then add a proportion of the muck following thereunto with being rightly ordered will exceed the ordinary muck five for one and upwards Obser 7. To make Corn-ground quite out of heart and worn out to afford as good a Crop on the last yeer of the lease as ever it did before and this hath been performed by steeping the Corn and muck Water Sow with your Oats the bottom of a Hay-mow and although your Land be out o sheart and very poor you may have that yeer not onely a Crop of Oats but also a Crop of Grass likewise which was spared till the next yeer that it might beget a good sword c. There is a workman that made a Cart to draw as much with one horse as with five and is still living at Dedford An Honourable person neer London hath devised a Plough that with one horse and a boy will perform as much in a day as his neighbours onely with the partition of a hedge between them upon the same sort of ground can dispatch with four or five horses and two men besides the Gentleman doth advance twenty for one in an Acre more than his neighbours can do and these people when they have been very much cast behinde have been offered the help of this Plough but they have refused it because they would not alter their antient course The same Gentleman hath like wise a Cart with three wheeles wherewith one horse will draw about fourty loads of Muck in a day to a field of some distance neither is the horse put to any hardnesse of labour for a man may draw the Cart with his hand it will passe with great facility the horse doth not bear any weight at all he hath likewise a very large Cart with three wheels wherewith one horse can draw a full load This Gentleman hath likewise a Chariot with three wheeles being like the hinder part of a Coach and hath a seat behinde the chair where his foot-boy may sit if the wayes prove foul in which Chariot his wife and himself have travelled eighty Miles in two dayes with one horse and although he be sufficiently provided with horses yet he commonly useth his Chariot and guideth the horse by the reigns himself with much ease and delight And therewith he hath outgone a Coach and six horses he constantly useth the same Chariot upon any occasion from his house to London Chap. 11. To make Clay burn as clear as any other fire and as usefull TAke one third part of small pit Coal or sea Coal and mingle them together as you would Morter then make them up in round balls lesse than your head and lay them upon a place to dry then lay them upon the fire one upon another and observe the conclusion There is also a sort of Lome which is of it self combustible and will with the addition of a few Charcoales burn very clear and prove exceeding usefull Pâ—â—batum est Chap. 12. A way to convay Water under ground up to a very high hill and so to the top of the highest house THis must be performed as it may be seeen at Barkhamsted in Hartfordshire by a wheele leaving the rest to avoid prolixity to be demonstrated by discourse Observ 1. Out of two pecks and a half of Rape seeds sown neer York the last yeer there was sould as much of the seed as came to fourty pounds Observ 2. There is a sure way to feed old cattell fat in a short time and to make the meat as tender as the youngest First make them as poore as you can possible then turn them to very good fresh grass by which means you may enjoy your desire Observ 3. To make Heifers as large again as their dams and as formal as the fayrest Oxen onely by spaying them while they are young and they will sell at the rates equal with Oxen. Observ 4. I Have known Gentlemen that have caused Tares to be sowed amongsts their Grasse in their Meddowes which thereby have afforded a double proportion of fodder for their Cattell and to very great advantage There is a Gentleman who doth usually sow several Acres of Fennell wherewith he feedeth and fatteneth his Cattell in a very short time and one Acre thereof will extend very farre and will afford several Crops in one yeer according to the Sowe-thistle the oftner you cut it the thicker it will grow and once sowen it will continue many yeers without trouble you may give it your Cattle in Racks by bundles as you cut it Observ 5. Another doth usually and priuately every yeer sow divers Bushells of Bay salt on his Corn ground and to the admiration of all his neighbours he hath constantly better Crops of Corne by far than any of them they being wholy ignorant of his wayes This being made known to a Gentleman he hath
bought great store of Bay Salt at two shillings six-penee per bushell and being a great husband and very knowing in husbandry is confident to advantage himself much thereby for there is no Muck or soyle Comparable thereunto both for Grasse and Corn as may evidently appear by the Salt Marshes in severall places of this Nation Chap. 13. To make a sufficient fence of Sallowes or VVillowes or both in a very short time LEt your ditch be ordered according to the usual manner and and if it may be with good Mould and take small sticks of Willowes or Sallowes cut from the trees and cut the Bark round with the knife about three inches distant the one from the other and place two of the sticks sidewaies one foot distant the one from the other then cover them with earth and with Mould and they will soon shoot forth to very good perfection and from every place so cut round will spring forth a branch which after they are grown about half a yard you may cut them off about three inches from the ground and they will thereby grow the thicker and become a very compleat fence suddenly and especially if you water them with the muck Water Chap. 14. Of Muskmelons THe way to have as good Musk-melons as are any in Italy without the unwholsome use of the muckbeds here in London is confirmed by the Earl of Dorset Plant them under a Wall Pale or Hedge on the Sunny side with very good mould purposely prepared and underneath the Mold lay a quantity of fresh Barly straw and by this easie meanes using the seasonable Covertures and necessary futherance you may attain to your uttermost desire without any further trouble but if you do discern the straw to make the earth too hot thrust in a stake through the mould to the straw that the vapour and heat evaporate and passe forth this from the Earl of Tenett I shall more copiously inlarge my self herein with the ready way to ripen them and such other fruits before their season by planting them in dry weather and every third or fourth day watering them with warm water Whereas there hath happened an exceeing great destruction of Beanes Pease and other corn of late yeers by Wormes and other creeping things both about the City and in most places of the Countrey there being no means imagined by any for the prevention thereof you may observe how to avoid them both in Fields Gardens and at the roots of trees Take sliced or bruised Onions and steep them in Water all night or longer add thereunto a proportion of Salt and Soot and Lime if you please or Ashes in your Gardens you may use it with your watering Pots especially to the roots of trees And for the Corn fields the engine following is most proper which I refer to my after discourse This composition will not leave a Worm in the ground where it is used besides it will strengthen the Land very much for Corn and bring the Trees to much fruitfulnesse that were formerly decayed at the roots if there be Wormes take but a drop or two of the Onion water and some Salt put it into a Worm-hole and the worm will come out and dye presently and the same water with Onions and Salt by drinking a little of it in a morning fasting at the full of the Moon will destroy all Wormes in men women and children you may use onely the Onions which will be sufficient A remedy for the worms in men women and children you must three mornings before the full of the Moon give them to drink a quantity of new Milk and give it them in the morning of the full Moon and the worms then expecting breakfast as before they having then as Physicians say their mouths open are destroyed To bring into one place and destroy all Worms that are hurtfull in a Gardens take the belly or panch of a Weather newly killed and all the filth and dung that is in it and bury the same in the place were they be cover it a little with the earth and within two dayes you may see all the hurtfull things resort thither which you may destroy as you please Centaury Colloquintida and Wormewod are good ingredients to adde if need were to the former designe to destroy Wormes You may at the end of March or February make the ground very wet by casting water thereon and about eight or nine of the clock by candle light gather up all the wormes whereby you may destroy them in Gardens Water wherein the leaves and seed of Hemp is sodden being cast and sprinkled on the earth will make the wormes come out of the ground if there be any Cabbages puld up by the roots set in sand in a Cellar or some other room may be kept all the Winter or you may hang them up with strings and so may you keep Artichokes and other plants and roots for constant use as Carets Parsnips and Turnips In dry weather in October and November make a layr of Sand and a layr of Carrets cutting away the tops close to the roots with some of the small ends of the Carrets and about the last of December when there is no frost uncover them and you may keep them longer if you pare off the the shootings of the upper end of the root and then lay them in Sand and so Parsnips and Turnips Obser 1. In Herefordshire they feed their Swine with Elm-tree-leaves gathering them in bags There was fifty pound an Acre offered for Tobacco lately in Worcestershire and at that rate for severall Acres Chap. 14. To get off the Smutt from VVheat FIrst lay a lay of Barly Chaff then a layer of smutty Wheat then a layer of Chaff again then a layer of VVheat c. and so thrash it and it will break very fair Obser 2. Bury Hawthorn Berries deep in the ground all the winter then sow them in February and water them with muck-water as followeth and you shall finde wonderfull expedition in the growth Observ 3. Quicksets are not to be weeded at all after Mich. Obser 4. That VVheat being newly sown upon ground on a hill side very poor and not worth two shillings an Acre and never mucked there was Clover Grasse sown amongst the VVheat which proved to be as rich and as good a Crop as ever was seen in England or ever was known to grow without muck and after the VVheat was cut the Clover grew up beyond expectation and served for excellent pasture all the yeer following A very good crop of Clover Grasse was cut in the same yeer which was performed by steeping the VVheat in Salt Brine and Lime which hindred the prejudice of the Crowes birds worms c. The seed was steeped in strong Brine that would bear an Egge about twenty four hours First there was laid a lay of the steeped seed spread upon a floor then a lay of Lyme upon the corn then a layer of corn again c.
The like benefit was made with part of this ground by sowing of Barley steeped and mingled with Clover Grasse which ground hath lately afforded three Crops a yeer of Clover as high as hath been seen in England one crop thereof transcending VVheat And that after the wheat is steeped as before with Lyme A Gentleman cast the Clover Grasle seeds thereon often stirring them together with a Shovell the seed did so Concorporate with the VVheat and Lyme that it made a wonderfull improvement and doth very much enrich the ground and totally prevent the Smuttiness of VVheat A Gentleman in Kent would usually with Barley which being cut the VVoold which was left standing and there was very good pasture that yeer on the ground in June the yeer following the seed of divers acres thereof was sold for six pound an acre being more commodious than wheat and without charge which hath been sold formerly for fifteen and sixteen pound an acre VVhereas there hath been a thousand bushels of corn utterly spoiled that hath been laid up in store-houses with an ordinary small black creeping worm which doth usually breed in malt and have been often seen to cover the Malt all over and are of that dangerous consequence that part of them will destroy the Malt and corrupt the Beer that is made thereof and make it very unwholsome worms which have been often seen in the like manner to breed amongst VVheat laid up in great heaps to the great spoil thereof the way to destroy them is to get about a Sack full of horse Auts which be covered in the fields with great heaps of dust and little sticks Then shovelling the Corn from the sides of the roomes and dividing the heaps of corn into severall floors and spaces lay about a quart af Ants in several of the bare places leaving there the full quantity of them in like manner and they will become destructive to the wormes Immediately The Malt will be by this means restored and rectified and the Ants have been observed to vanish suddenly Sowe Oates and Tares together and the Oates will thereby grow very rank and high and the Tares will Climbe up with the Oats and thrive the better be it far in May you may cut this Crop and dispose of it for fodder and the same summer you may have another crop which will come up more advantagiously than the other A Gentleman of Richmond hath this yeer about thirty acres of S. Foyne which is of exceeding great estimation with him and with diversothers not without sufficient cause he preserveth his seed to be ordered for greater Crops the benefit it affordeth on that sort of ground being a very dry hard soyl is two Crops in a Summer and two loads on an acre and for pasture it is of most admirable repute and equally fruitfull for Milch-kine with the other being commonly on dry barren ground not worth twelve pence an Acre Virginia wheat will yeeld here in England five hundred for one being discreetly ordered with muck and then muck water A Gentleman not far from London doth usually sow these seeds in the bellies of Sprats or some other fish whereby they come to a more seasonable maturity and with greater advantage Chap. 15. To recover old Trees TAke the quantity of a quarter of a peck of Horse blood or Oxe blood tempered with about half a peck of Pigeons dung make it up into soft paste which will be rare to apply to the greater roots and aged Trees fastning the same paste about the roots after they have been lay'n bare and have taken ayr some few dayes which course will certainly recover a Tree or Vine that is near dead will make them put forth blossoms and fruits afresh which must be done about the middle of February Apply it to the Vine about the beginning of March you may likewise recover old Trees by applying to the Roots before the Sap cometh up to make your trees florish and prosper very well round about the body of the Trees make many holes with a crow of Iron about six weeks after Michaelmas and powr into the holes your rich muck water or Oxe blood and fill them up with good mould c. Observ 1. If you would have Poles Posts Stakes Pales whch you drive into water last long burn them well at the ends so far as they are to be in the ground and they will continue without decaying many yeers this course a Gentleman in Cheshire used about five yeers since and the Posts and Pales are still standing without repair Obser 2. To help a Chimney that is dangerosly on fire let two or three persons take a Blanket or Coverlet and hold it close to the mouth of the Chimney that no ayr may enter and with a close board cover the the top of the Chimney and the fire for want of ayr will soon be extinguished A Gentleman of great worth in Hartfordshire did lately confidently affirm unto me that at Hutcher in that shire they did bestow three thousand pound per Annum in Rags in London and altough they have been infected vvith the plague very often they finde such benefit by them that they constantly use them vvhich they chop into pieces and then dispose them upon their Corn ground they likevvise buy all the shaved Rabbets skins they can get for money and all the shaved horn and Sheeps trotters the last being best of all excepting Sprats which when they are sold at a penny or 2 pence a peck being often thrown about streets upon muckhills there cannot be a more fruitfull Manure than they are and every other unsound fish Obser 3. Chaff will heat and ripen unripe Apples The drosseor that which is left after the pressing out of Lyntseeds is exceeding profitable for the feeding of Cattell as the other Rapeseeds with turnips Hempseeds given to Hens in Winter will make them lay oftner than ordinary seeds or corn Chap. 16. To feed and fatten all sorts of Poultry and Fowl BOyl Butchers blood which is easily to be had with a good qantity of Bran mingsed therewith or grains which is not so good untill it come to the manner of a blood pudding which will feed your Fowl as fat as you will desire them to be Some do use to feed Fowl with Carrets Turnips Parsnips and Pumpions sodden and mingled with Bran or coarse Pollard Turkies will become very fat in a short time and prosper exceedingly with bruised Acorns You may soak Chippings and other Crusts of bread in broken beer or fleeten Milk and feed your Capons and Hens fat presently Obser 1. To prevent blasting of Corn under God is to change the seed or by soaking it in the best muck water or mixing it with Lyme and water as before and the Corn being seasonably steeped to adde thereunto the Lyme or Ashes or both and being thereby fixed unto them and so sown hath been a speciall remedy these many yeers Obser 2. Concerning muck
and muck water Land floods are of gallant improvement and such as come from the washing down of rode wayes great towns the soyl of pastures fertile fields commons dunghills c. If Marl be good for grass and corn which is most certain then water mingled therewith must necessarily be of the same vertue Obser 3. And if tainted water couloured water and water putrified water thick and fat waters in ponds c. the riches of all these being allowed to be unvaluable for steeping of corn c. Obser 4. And if the sea from the fat and brackish nature of it self do so wonderfully enrich the lands and salt mingled with corn hath a very good operation because its brackishnesse is fruitfull to the land and if steeping the corn either in fat water Lyme water Dung water c. be of wonderfull effect to make strange things which is most true Obser 5. The residence of water that comes from Chalkie and Lymestone grounds or be coloured with land floods doth fatten the ground exceedingly these being all confirmed by those of great judgement and experience Obser 6. By some part of these experiments a Gentleman which had but five or sixe acres of Hay he had twenty four loads in the same meddow which may be made apparent Obser 7. By Flooding as Master Plat saith who was a man of the greatest judgement and experience in Husbandry who improved lands from three hundred shillings to three hundred pound per annum He likewise highly commendeth Moats and standing Pooles which may yeeld as he saith great store of excellent manure and that by the blessing of God most wonderfull and miraculous things have been effected by those means Obser 8. And farther great vertue and worth t is Concluded there is in Mud of Rivers standing Pools and Ditches being the soyl of pastures and fields common wayes yards and dunghills Shovelling of streets highwaies yards and overswathes of common land and other lands of commons neer hedges is very good both of themselves and also compounded with other soyl Mingling of grounds is exceedingly advantageous c. Which may be conceiv'd of the muck water following t is effected in Case of drought in time of Summer and in the heat thereof now and then wetting over the Land which had it been known and used this Summer might have done millions of good These being Concluded to be all excellent helps and exceeding great advantages I could wish that those that have great proportions of lands should be provided with a convenient Moat or standing Pool in some part of their grounds and if they have not any such pond rather than to be without it to dig one that will contain water and may be supplied constantly therewith by a chanel from a river or from Moats that are maintained by springs and rather than fail from a Pump or some other devise orconveniencie with pipes of Lead Wood or earth or with the Engine that followeth in the subsequent papers This being Compleated and having water sufficient let the first ingredient be a quantity of crumbling Marl if there be any near and with a strong Iron Rake fixed to a long Pose let the Marle be stirred at some times of leasure to and from you to thicken the water then having store of Poultry Fowl and Pigeons to be very carefull to preserve their dung especially the dung of Rabbits if any be to be had all which or part thereof being cast into the Pond to stir it somtimes as before then having sheep where they sit a nights in fold you may get store of their dung and use as the other In the like manner dispose of all your Cow and Horse dung without the straw and spare as many of your graines after brewing as you can seeing you may provide sufficient food for your Swine otherwise and to get as much of these sorts as you can conveniently or if you have any of these following that you can conveniently spare viz. Lynt-seed Oyl Lees of Wine Ale Bear Perry Syder Beef-broth the Brine of Poudring-tubs scrapings of _____ or sweepings thereof or any liquid brackish fatnesse greasy matter or any thing that comes from or is of the fleshly matter of the creatâ—â—e whether by Sea or Land that hath a secret operation in it to the Earth likewise to cast into the pond a proportion of Lyme fat Chalke that is not stoned and some bay Salt and what blood you can get and urine which is most excellent for all sorts of ground and whatsoever you shall think in your own judgement to be helpfull and advantagious thereunto This work being performed you are to provide a vessell containing a Tun or there abouts and being placed in a Cart with broad wheels without Iron such as are in London that they may not Root the ground much bringing the Cart to the Pond fill the vessell with a Tunnell and a Pail at a Staffs end such as Brewers use for that purpose or you may cause a little scaffold to be made such as Brewers have at the Thames side by which means you may soon fill it and Carry it to the fields or hill sides and then to provide an Engine which I am now finishing in part like that they use in London when houses are on fire which being placed in the middst of the street will cast water to the appermost part of the highest house and after this manner I have seen them water sufficiently a great plat of grasse An Engine contrived in manner like this will water an Acre compasse at one standing and then being drawn with low wheels or otherwise may be removed to any other place A reasonable quantity of the Muck water will serve an Acre compleatly and what vertue this commixture may have in it I leave to all impartial Judgments which I confidently have experimented in small parcels but with a Gardning water-pot I have found that it hath exceeded the best sort of muck by many degrees which liquor must be applied to the Land when it is fed as low as may be and the hill sides being watered in this Manner the lower grounds will fare the better by showers of rain and the washings from thence And for Corn ground there is an other way to be used with this Engine being it may be contrived in manner of a Sedan with four legs carried empty with two men and set down without prejudice at all the men passing with it onely in the furrowes and then being set down and used there may afterwards be removed to another place as occasion requireth the Cart being drawn to some lane and place in the field with the vessell of water where it may do no hurt to the tylled lands I have concluded in my thoughts how to convey the water from the vessell to the Engine without treading or soyling the lands at all which is so facil and will be allowable in any mans judgement so continuing alway with so little charge
very well in England and so Commin seed Fennel-seed and Canary seed Asparagus once sown will last twelve years These before specified one with another will afford twenty pound an acre yearly When you have composed good store of muck with earth as before you may lay of the best mould some thickness upon the basest Ground and thereon set wheat and you may have as good crops as you can desire or ever was known in England the upper sourd of that Ground by means of the mould will be much improved thereby and the soyl likewise underneath and you may farther at pleasure advantage the mould to the greatest height with your Muck water and by this means you may have all other commodities in aboundance proper for such rich soyl or appertaining to Gardening as Saffron c. Observ 1. Graft Apples upon Cherry stocks and the fruit will be exceeding red Observ 2. To make Roses by inoculation grow upon Cherry stocks Chap. 17. To make Vines grow upon Cherry stocks PLant them together and when the Vines have put out long small branches bore a hole in the Cherry stock that the branch may easily go through take up the upper bark untill it come to the Green and let it grow there when it is well grown cut off the Vine below stroak the Ground according to the ordinary wayes 〈◊〉 it well and you will have your 〈◊〉 Chap. 18. To make five sorts of Roses grow upon one Stock without inoculation WHen they begin to knot bore with an Aul under the knot and with a feather put Green in one and Yellow in another Red in the third and Blew in the fourth and close up all the holes handsomely Put the blood of Pikes before you put in the Grafts dip the end of the Graft in it and you shall have red Apples but they will be redder by far if you graft them upon Cherrie stocks Chap. 19. To make Roses smell strong and unsavoury PUt Garlick close to the Root and so with Lillies for they have all a sympathy To make a red Rose become white as it groweth kindle Brimstone and smoak the Rose with it at your pleasure and it will become white presently Take the roots of divers colours of Gillyflowers bind them together and set them in the ground in good mould and you shall have them various in one stock Obser 1. Put Rosemary in Juniper and it will endure the Winter the better and smell more fragrantly Obser 2. To make Parsly spring up in few hours steep the seed in sweet milk and straw your bed you mean to sow with unquenc'd Lime upon it three times then sow your feed and strew once more of your Lime upon it and upon that earth well prepared then water it well with temperat Muck water as followeth and you may according to discretion enjoy your expectation Obser 3. Lay Beans and Pease in warm Oyl or in the best Muck water let them lye nine daies then dry them and in the mean time to try them you may be assured that what you set in any mans presence they shall spring up in few hours or in a short time Obser 4. To make white Lillies become red you must very neatly open the clifts of the roots and fill the same with any red colour then set them in fat dunged earth Obser 5. Bore holes in Bay-berries and put into every hole the seed of Artichoaks wrap them in dung and put them into the ground whence come such sweet and pleasant Artichoaks that better were never eaten The like may be if you steep seeds three daies in sweet smelling water when you set your Cabbage Plants wrap them at the roots round about with fresh Cows muck and when they are ripe they will smell most delicioufly like Musk and thrive exceedingly Obser 6. If Roses and Lillies be planted nigh together or that they touch one another the flowers of them will smell the more curiously and thrive the better Obser 7. Gather green Beans from the stalks being ripe and fully grown and ready to eat then immediatly cut off the stalks within a handfull of the root and if the weather be dry apply unto the roots some of your muck water and more branches will shortly spring out whereupon will spring forth new Beans more plentifull and rather better than before whereby you may have near three-fold encreafe and two several gatherings of Beans in one year but by any means take heed that the first gathering and cutting away of the stalks be when the stalks be green and it is verily believed that Pease will do the like Obser 8. Gather Roses when they be ripe and presently cut away the new sprung tops and the uppermost branches of that year and you shall have new fresh Roses grow again out of the same ear about Michaelmas the more plentiful by applying the Muck water seasonably to the roots Graft Roses in the bud upon sweet Bryer and they will smell most deliciously The roots of Roses with their slips and knots removed and set amongst Broom will bring forth yellow Roses Chap. 20. To preserve Chesnuts and keep them sound LAy them together with Wallnuts and they will drink up and consume the humours whereby they corrupt and will not suffer them to be moldy I remember about thirty years since I set at least half a peck of choice Filberts in a Garden on dry sandy borders and finding not one of them to come up at the latter end of the year I caused the banks to be digged up again where I found all my Filberts fresh full and as pleasant to eat as at any time before whence you may learn that burying them in fresh sand you may preserve them fresh for your cating all the year especially being kept in the Ground in an earthen pot so may you use Wallnuts and small nuts and the reason why the Fillberts came not up was for want of moysture therefore the muck water following wil be of excellent use c. Chap. 21 ELm tree chips set in Ditches will in a short time become young Trees and make a very good fence and the slips that grow from the roots of Elms being taing off will grow to great perfection in few years Wild Oats destroyed only by wheat fallow Chap. 22. To keep Cloaths from Moaths SEeth the Dregs or mother or fome of Oyl to the half and therwith anoint the bottom corners and feet of any Chest or Press and the Cloaths that you lay therein will be freefrom any hurt with Moaths but before you put the Cloaths in the Chest or Press it must be dry Obser 1. Provide store of Wallnut leaves and hang them upon thred one distant from another when they are throughly dry strip them in the Chest or amongst the other Cloaths and beds and within the folds of every Garment lay Wormwood or Lavender amongst the Cloaths and they will be safe from Moaths Obser 2. The branches of Bay-rres wrapt