the Pitch tree Larch tree brused and sodden in vineger do ease the tooth-ache if the mouth be washed with the decoction The ashes made of their barks skin the places that be chafed fretted and galled betweene the thighs and heale any burn or scald Taken in drinke they bind the belly but open the passages of the vrin A perfume or suffumigation therof doth settle the matrice when it is loose and out of the right place But to write more distinctly of these two trees the leaues of the Pitch tree haue a particular property respectiue to the liuer and the infirmities thereof if one take a dram weight of them and drink it in mead and honied water It is well known and resolued vpon that to take the aire of those woods and forests only where these trees be cut lanced and scraped for to draw pitch and rosin out of them is without all comparison the best course which they can take who either be in a consumption of the lungs or after some long and languishing sicknes haue much ado to recouer their strength Certes such an aire is far better than either to make a long voiage by sea into Egypt or to goe among the cottages in summer time for to drinke new milk comming of the fresh and green grasse of the mountains As for Chamaepitys it is named in Latine by some Abiga for that it causeth women to slip their conception beforetime of others Thus terrae i. ground Frankincense this herb putteth forth branches a cubit long and both in floure and sauor resembleth the Pine tree A second kind there is of Chamaepitys lower than the other seeming as though it bended and stooped downward to the ground There is also a third sort of the same odor that the rest and therefore so named This last Chamaepitys riseth vp with a little stalke or stem of a finger thicknesse it beareth rough small slender and white leaues and it groweth commonly amongst rockes All these three be herbs indeed and no other and should not be ranged among trees yet for names sake because they carry the denomination of Pitys i. the Pitch-tree I was induced the rather to treat of them in this present place to stay no longer Soueraigne they bee all against the pricks or stings of Scorpions applied in manner of a liniment with dates and quinces they be wholsome for the liuer their decoction together with barly meale is good for the infirmities of reins and bladder Also the decoction of these hearbes boiled in water helpeth the jaundise and the difficulty of vrine if the Patient drinke thereof The third kind last named taken with hony is singular against the poison of serpents and in that maner only applied as a cataplasme it clenseth the matrice natural parts of women If one drink the same herbe it will dissolue and remoue the cluttered thick bloud within the body it prouoketh sweat if the body be therwith annointed and it is especially good for the reins Being reduced into pills together with figs it is passing wholsome for those that be in a dropsie for it purgeth the belly of waterish humors If this herb be taken in wine to the weight of a victoriat piece of siluer i. halfe a Roman denier it warisheth for euer the pain of the loins and stoppeth the course of a new cough Finally if it be boiled in vineger and so taken in drink it is said that it will presently expel the dead infant out of the mothers wombe For the like cause and reason I will do the herb Pityusa this honor as to write of it among trees since that it seemeth by the name to come from the Pitch tree this plant some do reckon among the Tithymals a kind of shrub it is like vnto the Pitch tree with a small floure and the same of purple color If one drink the decoction of the root to the quantity of one hemina it purgeth downward both fleam and choler so doth a spoonfull of the seed therof put vp into the body by suppositories The decoction of the leaues in vineger doth cleanse the skin of dandruffe and scales if the decoction of rue be mingled therwith it is singular for sore brests to appease the wrings and tormenrs of the cholick against the sting of serpents and generally for to discusse and resolue all apostemations and botches a breeding But to returne againe to our former trees how Rosine is ingendred in them of their seuerall kinds and the countries where they grow I haue shewed before first in the treatise of wines and afterwards in the discourse and histories of Trees And to speak summarily of rosins they may be diuided into two principal kinds to wit the dry and the liquid rosin The dry is made of the Pine and the Pitch trees the liquid commeth from the Terebinth Larch Lentisk Cypresse trees for these beare rosin in Asia and Syria wheras some there be of opinion That the rosins of the Pitch and Larch trees be all one they be much deceiued for the Pitch tree yeeldeth a fatty rosin and in maner of frankincense vnctuous but from the Larch tree there issueth a subtill and thin liquor running like to life hony of a strong and rank vnpleasant smell Physitians seldome vse any of these liquid Rosins and neuer prescribe them but to be taken or supped off with an egge As for that of the Larch tree they giue it for the cough and exulceration of some noble parts within neither is that per-rosin of the Pine tree much vsed as for the rest they be not of any vse vnlesse they be boiled Touching the diuers manners of boiling them I haue shewed them sufficiently But if I should put a difference between these rosins according to the trees from whence they come the right Terpentine indeed which the Terebinth yeeldeth liketh and pleaseth me best being of all others lightest and most odoriferous If I should make choice of them in regard of the countries where they are found certes they of Cypresse and Syria be best and namely those that in colour resemble Attick hony and for the Cyprian rosin that which is of a more fleshie substance and drier consistence Of the dry per-rosins those are in most request which be white pure transparent or cleare quite through In generall those that come from trees growing vpon mountains be preferred before them of the plains also regarding the Northeast rather than any other wind For salues to heale wounds as also for emollitiue plasters rosins ought to be dissolued in oile for drinks or potions with bitter almonds As touching their medicinable vertues they be good to clense and close vp wounds to discusse and resolue any apostemes which bee in gathering Moreouer they be vsed in the diseases of the brest and namely true Terpentine by way of liniment for then it is singular good especially if it be applied hot also for the
Euphorbium The same being grown thick and hard if a man break it resembleth gum Ammoniacke Tast it neuer so little at the tongues end it setteth all the mouth on a fire and so continueth it a long time hot but more by fits vntill in the end it parcheth and drieth the chaws and throat also far within CHAP. VIII ¶ Of Plantain Buglosse and Borrage Of Cynoglossa or Hounds tongue Of Buphthalmus i. Oxe eie or Many-weed Of Scythica Hippice and Ischaemon Of Vettonica and Cantabrica Of * Consiligo and Hiberis Of Celendine the great Canaria and Elaphoboscos Of Dictamnum Aristolochie or Hertwort That fish are delighted so much therwith that they will make hast vnto it and be soon taken Also the medicinable vertues of those herbs aboue named THemison a famous Physitian set forth a whole booke of the herbe Way-bred or Plantaine wherein he highly praiseth it and challengeth to himselfe the honor of first finding it out notwithstanding it be a triuiall and common herb trodden vnder euery mans foot Two kinds of it be found the one which is the lesser hath also narrower leaues and inclining more to a blackish green resembling for all the world sheepe * or lambs tongues the stalke is cornered bending downward to the ground it growes ordinarily in medows The other is greater with leaues enclosed as it were within certain ribs resembling the sides of our body which being in number seuen gaue occasion to some herbarists for to call it Heptapleuron as a man would say the seuen ribbed herb The stem of this Plantain riseth to a cubit in height much like to that of the Naphew That which groweth in moist and waterie places is of greater vertue than the other Of wonderfull power and efficacy it is by the astringent quality that it hath for to dry and condensate any part of the body and serueth many times in stead of a cautery or searing yron And there is nothing in the world comparable vnto it in staying of fluxes and destillations which the Creeks call Rheumatismes To Plantain may be ioined the herb * Buglossos so called for that the leafe is like an Oxe tongue This herb hath one speciall property aboue the rest that if it be put into a cup of wine it cheareth the heart and maketh them that drink it pleasant and merry whereupon it is called Euphrosynon Vnto this for affinity of name it were good to annex Cynoglossos i. Hounds tongue for the resemblance that the leaues haue to a dogs tongue a proper herb for vinet-works and knots in gardens It is commonly said That the root of that Cynoglossos which putteth forth 3 stems or stalks and those bearing seed if it be giuen to drink cureth tertian agues but the root of that which hath foure is as good for the Quartains Another * Cynoglossos there is like to it which carrieth small burs the root whereof being drunke in water is a singular counterpoison against the venome of toads and serpents An herb there is with flours like vnto oxe eies wherupon it took the name in Greek * Buphthalmos the leaues resemble Fennel it groweth about town sides it shutteth forth stalkes from the root plentifully which being boiled are good to be eaten Some there be who call it Cachla This herb made into a salue with wax resolueth all * schirrous and hard swellings Other plants there be which beare the names not of men but of whole nations which first found them and their vertues out And to begin withall beholden we are to Scythia for that which is called Scythica It groweth notwitstanding in Boeotia and is exceeding sweet in tast Also there is another of that name singular good for the cramps called by the Greeks Spasmata An excellent property it hath besides for that whosoeuer holds it in their mouth shall for the time be neither hungry nor thirsty Of the same operation there is another herb among the Scythians or Tartars called Hippice because it workes the like effect in horses keeping them from hunger and thirst And if it be true that is reported the Scythians with these herbs wil endure without meat or drink for twelue daies together Touching the herbe Ischaemon the Thracians first found out the rare vertue that it hath in stanching bloud according as the very name implies For say they it wil stop the flux of bloud running and gushing out of a veine not only opened but also if it were â—…ut through It coucheth and creepeth low by the ground and is like vnto Millet but that the leaues be rough and hairy The manner is to stuffe the nosthrils therewith for to stay the bleeding at nose And that which groweth in Italy stancheth bloud if it be but hanged about the neck or tied to any part of the body The people in Spaine named Vettones were the first authors of that herb which is called in France * Vettonica in Italy Serratula and by the Greeks Cestron or Psychotrophon Surely an excellent herb this is and aboue all other simples most worthy of praise It commeth forth of the ground and riseth vp with a cornered stalke to the heigh of two cubits spreading from the very root leaues of the bignesse of Sorrell cut in the edges or toothed in manner of a saw with floures of a purple color growing in a spike seed correspondent therto The leaues dried and brought into pouder be good for very many vses There is a wine and vineger made or condite rather with Betony soueraign for to strengthen the stomack and clarifie the eiesight This glorious prerogatiue hath Betony that look about what house soeuer it is set or sowed the same is thought to be in the protection of the gods and safe enough for committing any offence which may deserue their vengeance and need any expiation or propitiatory sacrifice In the same Spain groweth * Cantabrica lately found by the people Cantabri and no longer since than in the daies of Augustus Caesar. This herb is to be seen euery where rising vp with a benty or rushy stalk a foot high vpon which you may behold small long floures like to cups or beakers wherein lie enclosed very small seeds Certes to speak the truth of Spain it hath bin alwaies a nation curious in seeking after simples And euen at this day in their great feasts where they meet to make merry Sans-nombre they haue a certain wassell or Bragat which goeth round about the table made of honied wine or sweet mead with a hundred distinct herbs in it and they are persuaded that it is the most pleasant and wholsomest drinke that can be deuised yet there is not one amongst them all who knoweth precisely what speciall herbs there be in all that number in this only they be all perfect that there go a hundred seuerall kinds therto according as the name doth import In our age we remember well that there was an hero discouered
be more sweet and pleasant There is sound within a resemblance of canes and reeds full of this iuice Howbeit about the rising of the Dog star there be certain winged wormes settle vpon the said reeds creepe in and eat away the marrow as it were which lay within so as a man shall find nought left behind but a mouldy dust or rotten powder good for nothing Next to this Storax of Syria great account is made of that which commeth out of Pisidia from Sidon Cypres and Cilicia but least reckoning is made of that which Candie sendeth vs. That which is brought from the mount Amanus in Syria is good for the Physicians but better for the perfumers and confectioners From what nation soeuer it comes the best Storax is that which is red somewhat glutinous besides by reason of the fattines The worst is that which hath no consistence and tenacitie but crumbles like bran and is so mouldie that it is ouergrowne with a white hoarie mosse The pedlers and such like petie merchants can skill how to sophisticate this drug also with the rosin of cedar and gum otherwhiles also with honie or bitter almonds But al these deceits are known by the tast The price of the best is 19 deniers a pound There is a Storax besides which Pamphylia doth yeeld but drier it is and nothing so full of moisture Moreouer we haue from Syria out of the same mountain Amanus another kind of gum called Galbanum issuing out of an hearbe like Fennell-geant which some call by the name of the said Rosin others Stagonitis The best Galbanum and which is most set by is gristly and cleare withall resembling Hammoniacum without any spils of wood in it For in that wise the hucksters vse to deceiue chapmen by mingling beanes with it or the gum Sagapenum The right Galbanum if you burn it chaseth away Serpents with the strong perfume or smoke thereof It is sold for fiue deniers the pound and is vsed only in Physicke for medicines CHAP. XXVI ¶ Of Panaces Spondylium and Malobathrum THe same perfumers seeke also into the same Syria for Panaces growing there and yet it is to be found also about Psophis a citie in Arcadia and the fountaines from whence floweth the riuer Erymanthus yea and in Affricke besides and Macedonie This Panax is an hearbe with a tall stalke and round tuft in the head like Fennell and yet it is a plant by it selfe growing to the height of fiue cubits At the first it putteth out foure leaues and afterwards six They be very large and round withall lying vpon the ground but toward the top they resemble the leaues of an Oliue it beareth seed in the head hanging within certaine round tufts as doth the Ferula Out of the stalk of this hearb there there is drawn a liquor by way of incision made in haruest time and likewise out of the root in Autumne or the fall of the leaf And this is called Opopanax The best lookes white when it is gathered and congealed The next in worth and weight is that which is yellow As for the blacke it is of no account The berter Opoponax costeth not aboue two Asses a pound Another hearbe there is of this Fennell kind namely Spondylium somwhat different from the former but in leaues only because they be lesse than those of Panax and diuided after the manner of the Plane leaues This Spondylium groweth no where but in cold and shadowie places It carrieth a fruit or graine called also Spondylium which resembleth the forme of Sil or Siler montanum and serueth for no vse but Physick We are beholden moreouer to Syria for Malobathrum This is a tree that beares leaues rolled vp round together and seeming to the eie withered Out of which there is drawne and pressed an Oile for perfumers to vse Aegypt is more fruitfull of this hearbe than Syria And yet there comes a better kind therof from India than both those countries It is said that it grows there in meeres and standing waters swimming aloft after the manner of Fen-lentils or Duckes meat more odoriferous than Saffron enclining to a blacke colour rough in handling in tast salt or brackish The white is not so well esteemed It wil soon be mouldie when it is stale The rellish thereof ought to resemble Nardus at the tongues end The perfume or smell that Malobathrum or the leafe yeeldeth when it is boiled in wine passeth all others It is strange and monstrous which is obserued in the price for it hath risen from one denier to 300 a pound whereas the Oile it selfe doth cost 60. CHAP. XXVII ¶ Of Oile Olive made of greene Oliues likewise of Grape Veriuice FOr the mixture and composition of ointments the Oile of vnripe Oliues and Veriuice is very good and verily made it is in two kinds after two sorts to wit of the Oliue and the Vine Of the Oliues if yee would haue good they ought to bee pressed whiles they be yet white for if they turn colour once and be blackish the worse is the Oyle or Veriuice that commeth thereof And such kind of Oliues be called Drupae namely before they be fully ripe and good to eat and yet haue lost their colour And herein is the difference for that the oyle of this later sort is green the other is white Now as for grape Verjuice it should be made of the Vine Psythia or Amminea and before the canicular daies when as the grapes bee but new knit and no bigger than the Cich-pease The grapes I say must be gathered for this purpose at the beginning before they change colour the juice thereof ought then to be taken Then should the Verjuice that comes from it be sunned and heed must be taken in any case that no dews by night do catch it and therefore it would stand in couvert Now when this iuice or verjuice is gathered it is put vp in earthen pots and otherwhiles kept also in vessels of copper The best grape verjuice is red sharp and soure in taste dry withall and scyptick A pound or a pinte of such verjuice is worth six deniers It may be made in another sort namely by punning and stamping vnripe grapes in morters drying it afterwards in the Sunne and so made vp into certain rolls or trochisks CHAP. XXVIII ¶ Of Bryon and Oenanthe of the tree Elate and Cinnamon Cariopus THe mosse of the white Poplar or Asp which is reputed as the grape therof is vsed likewise in these odoriferous and sweet compositions The best grows about Cnidos or Caria in thirsty dry and rough places A second sort is that which is found vpon the Cedar of Lycia To this pertaineth Oenanthae which is no more but the grapes of the wild vine called Labrusca Gathered it is when it floureth that is to say when it smels best It is dried in the shade vpon a linnen sheet lying vnder it and then put vp into little barrels
fire than to flie from it to the leaues of the Ash. A wonderfull goodnesse of dame Nature that the Ash bloometh and flourisheth alwaies before that serpents come abroad and neuer sheddeth leaues but continueth greene vntill they be retired into their holes and hidden within the ground CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the Line or Linden tree two sorts thereof GReat difference there is euery way between the male female Linden tree for the wood of the male is hard and knottie of a redder colour also and more odoriferous than the female The barke moreouer is thicker and when it is plucked from the tree it is stiffe and will not bend It beareth neither seed nor floure as the female doth which also is rounder and bigger in bodie and the wood is whiter more faire and beautifull by farre than is the male A strange thing it is to consider that there is no liuing creature in the world will touch the fruit of the Linden tree and yet the juice both of leaf and barke is sweet ynough Between the bark and the wood of this tree there be thin pellicles or skins lying in many folds together whereof are made bands cords called Brazen ropes The finest of these pellicanes or membrans serued in old time for to make labels and ribbands belonging to chaplets and it was reputed a great honor to weare such The timber of the Linden or Tillet tree will neuer be worm-eaten The tree it selfe is nothing tall but of a meane height howbeit the wood is very commodious CHAP. XV. ¶ Ten kinds of the Maple tree THe Maple in bignesse is much about the Linden tree the wood of it is very fine and beautifull in which regard it may be raunged in the second place and next to the very Citron tree Of Maples there be many kinds to wit the white and that is exceeding faire and bright indeed growing about Piemont in Italie beyond the riuer Po also beyond the Alps and this is called the French Maple A second kind there is which hath a curled graine running too and fro with diuers spots the more excellent worke whereof resembling the eies in the Peacockes taile thereupon took also the name And for this rare and singular wood the countries of Istria and Rhaetia be chiefe As for that which hath a thicke and great graine it is called Crassiuenium of the Latines and is counted to be of a baser kind The Greekes distinguish Maples by the diuerse places where they grow For that of the champion or plaine countrey which they name Glinon is white and nothing crisped contrariwise the wood of the mountaine Maple is harder and more curled and namely the male of that sort and therefore it is in great request for most exquisite and sumptuous workes A third sort they name Zygia which hath a reddish wood and the same easie to cleaue with a barke of a swe rt colour and rough in handling Others would haue it to be no Maple but rather a tree by it selfe and in Latine they call it Carpinus CHAP. XVI ¶ Of the Bosses Wennes and Nodosities called Bruscum and Molluscum Of the wild Fisticke or Bladder nut-tree called Staphylodendron also three kinds of the Box tree THe bunch or knurre in the Maple called Bruscum is passing faire but yet that wich is named Molluscum excelleth it Both the one and the other swell like a wen out of the Maple As for the Bruscum it is curled and twined after a more crawling and winding manner whereas the Molluscum is spread with a more direct and strait course of the grain And certes if there might be plankes hereof found broad enough to make tables doubtlesse they would be esteemed and preferred before those of the Citron wood But now it serueth only for writing tables for painels also and thin bords in wainscote work to set out beds heads and seelings and such are seldome seen As for Bruscum there be tables made of it inclining to a blackish color Moreouer there be found in Alder trees such nodosities but not so good as those by how much the wood of the Alder it selfe is inferior to the Maple for beauty and costlines The male Maples do put forth leaues and flourish before the female Yea and those that grow vpon dry grounds are ordinarily better esteemed than those of moist and waterish places in like sort as the ashes Beyond the Alps there is a kind of bladder Nut-tree whereof the wood is very like to the white white Maple and the name of it is Staphylodendron It beareth certain cods and within the same kernels in tast like the Filberd or Hazell-nut Now for the Box tree the wood thereof is in as great request as the very best seldom hath it any grain crisped damask-wise and neuer but about the root the which is dudgin and ful of work For otherwise the grain runneth streight and euen without any wauing the wood is sad enough and weighty for the hardnesse thereof and pale yellow colour much set by and right commendable As for the tree it selfe gardeners vse to make arbors borders and curious works thereof Three sorts there be of the Box tree the first is called the French Box it groweth taper-wise sharp pointed in the top and runneth vp to more than ordinarie height The second is altogether wild and they name it Oleastrum good for no vse at all and besides careith a strong and stinking sauor with it The third is our Italian box and so called Of a sauage kind I take this to be also howbeit by setting and replanting brought to a gentle nature This spreadeth and brancheth more broad and herewith a man shall see the borders and partitions of quarters in a garden growing thick and green all the yeare long and kept orderly with cutting and clipping Great store of box trees are to be seen vpon the Pyrenaean hils the Cytorian mountains and the whole Berecynthian tract The thickest and biggest Box trees be in Corsica and they beare a louely and amiable floure which is the cause that the hony of that Island is so bitter there is not a beast that will eat the fruit or grain thereof The Boxes of Olympus in Macedonie are more slender than the rest and but low of growth This tree loueth cold grounds yet lying vpon the Sun The wood is as hard to burn as iron it will neither flame nor burn cleare it selfe nor serue to make charcole of CHAP. XVII ¶ Of the Elme foure kinds BEtween these wild trees abouesaid and those that bear fruit the Elm is reckoned of a middle nature in regard of the wood and timber that it affords as also of the friendship acquaintance that it hath with vines The Greekes acknowledge two sorts thereof namely one of the mountains which is the taller and the bigger and the other of the plaines champion which is rather more like a shrub the branches that it shooteth forth are so smal and slender
there is not a tree not so much as the very Vine that sheddeth leaues CHAP. XXII ¶ The nature of such leaues as fall from trees and what leaues they be that change colour ALl trees without the range of those before rehearsed for to reckon them vp by name particularly were a long and tedious piece of work do lose their leaues in winter And verily this hath bin found and obserued by experience that no leaues doe fade and wither but such as be thinne broad and soft As for such as fall not from the tree they be commonly thick skinned hard and narrow and therefore it is a false principle and position held by some That no trees shed their leaues which haue in them a fatty sap or oleous humiditie for who could euer perceiue any such thing in the Mast-holme a drier tree there is not and yet it holdeth alwaies green Timaeus the great Astrologer and Mathematician is of opinion that the Sun being in the signe Scorpio he causeth leaues to fall by a certain venomous and poysoned infection of the aire proceeding from the influence of that maligne constellation But if that were true we may wel and iustly maruell why the same cause should not be effectuall likewise in all other trees Moreouer we see that most trees do let fall their leaues in Autumne some are longer ere they shed continuing green vntill winter be come Neither is the timely or slow fall of the leafe long of the early or late budding for wee see some that burgen and shoot out their spring with the first and yet with the last shed their leaues and become naked as namely the Almond trees Ashes and Elders And contrariwise the Mulberry tree putteth forth leaues with the latest and is one of them that soonest sheddeth them again But the cause hereof lies much in the nature of the soile for the trees that grow vpon a leane dry and hungry ground do sooner cast leafe than others also old trees become bare before yonger and many of them also lose their leaues before their fruit be fully ripe for in the Fig tree that commeth and beaâ—…th late in the winter Pyrry and Pomegranate a man shall see in the later end of the yere fruit only and no leaues vpon the tree Now as touching those trees that continue euer greene you must not think that they keep still the same leaues for as new come the old wither fal away which hapneth commonly in mid-Iune about the Summer Sunne-stead For the most part the leaues in euery kind of tree do hold one and the same colour and continue vniform saue those of the Poplar Ivy and Croton which wee said was called also Cici iâ—… est Ricinus or Palma Christi CHAP. XXIII ¶ Three sorts of Poplar and what leaues they be that change their shape and figure OF Poplars there be found three sundry kinds to wit the white the blacke and that which is named Lybica or the Poplar of Guynee this hath least leaues and those of all other blackest but mow commendable they are for the fungous meazles as it were that come forth thereof As for the white Poplar leafe the leaues when they be yong are as round as if they were drawn with a paire of compasses like vnto those of Citron before named but as they grow elder they run out into certain angles or corners Contrariwise the Ivy leaues at the first be cornered and afterwards become round All Poplar leaues are full of downe as for the white Poplar which is fuller of leaues than the rest the said downe flieth away in the aire like to mossie chats or Thistle-downe The leaues of Pomegranats and Almond trees stand much vpon the red colour But very strange it is and wonderfull which hapneth to the Elme Tillet or Linden the Oliue tree Aspe and Sallow or Willow for their leaues after Midsummer turn about vpside downe in such sort as there is not a more certaine argument that the Sun is entred Cancer and returneth from the South point or Summer Tropicke than to see those leaues so turned CHAP. XXIIII ¶ What leaues they be that vse to turne euery yeare Of Palme or Date tree leaues how they are to be ordered and vsed Also certain wonderfull obseruations about leaues THere is a certain general and vniuersal diuersitie difference obserued in the very leaf for commonly the vpper side which is from the ground is of greene grasse colour more smooth also polished The outside or nether part of the leaf hath in it certain strings sinues or veins brawns and ioynts bearing out like as in the back part of a mans hand but the inside cuts or lines in maner of the palme of ones hand The leaues of the oliue are on the vpper part whiter and lesse smooth and likewise of the Ivy. But the leaues of all trees for most part euery day do turn and open to the Sunne as desirous to haue the inner side warmed therewith The outward or nether side toward the ground of all leaues hath a certaine hoary downe more or lesse here in Italy but in other countries so much there is of it that it serueth the turn for wooll and cotton In the East parts of the world they make good cordage and strong ropes of date tree leaues as we haue said before and the same are better serue longer within than without With vs these Date leaues are pulled from the tree in the Spring whiles they are whole and entire for the better be they which are not clouen or diuided Being thus plucked they are laid a drying within house foure daies together After that they be spred abroad and displaied open to the Sun and left without dores to take all weathers both day and night and to be bleached vntil they be dry and white which done they be sliued and slit for cord-work But to come again to other leaues the broadest are vpon the Fig-tree the Vine and the Plane the narrowest vpon the Myrtle Pomegranat and oliue as for those of the Pine and cedar they be hairy the Holly leaues and all the kindes of Holme be set with sharpe prickes As for the Iuniper in stead of leafe it hath a very pointed thorne The Cypresse and Tamariske carrie fleshie leaues those of the Alder be most thick of all other The Reed and the Willow haue long leaues the Date tree hath them double The leaues of the Peare tree are round but those of the Apple tree are pointed of the Ivie cornered of the Plane tree diuided into certaine incisions of the Pitch tree and the Fir cut in after the maner of comb-teeth of the wild hard Oke waued and indented round about the edges of the brier and bramble sharpe like thornes all the skin ouer Of some they be stinging and biting as of Nettles of others ready to pricke like pins or needles as of the Pine the Pitch tree the Larch the Firre the Cedar and all the
if you would know which end serueth for the one and the other certaine it is that the bigger and thicker part of the grain yeeldeth root and the smaller the greene blade In all other seeds there is no such diuersitie for from one and the same end breaketh our both root and greene blade All kind of corn carying spike or eare called Frumenta shew nothing but the green blade during winter howbeit no sooner commeth the spring but they begin to grow vp into straw and to spindle vpward pointwise I meane all that be of the winter kind But Millet and Panick run vp into an hollow stem full of knots and ioynts and Sesama by it self into a kex or hollow stem in maner of fenell and such like The fruit or seed of all graine that is sowne or set is contained within eares as we see in bearded wheat and barley and the same is defended as it were with a palisaide of eales disposed square in foure rankes or is inclosed within long cods and husks as the Pulse kind or els lieth in little cups as Sesame and Poppie Millet and Panick only put forth their fruit grape-wise and openly without any partitions and defences so as their seed is exposed to the little birds of the aire for no otherwise are they defended than within small skins and thin huls And as for Panick it taketh the name of certain panicles or chats hanging from the top thereof whereby the head bendeth and leaneth downward as if it were weake and wearie of the burden The stem or stalk thereof groweth smaller and smaller and pointed vpward insomuch as by little and little it runneth vp in maner of a little sprig or sion and there you shall see a number of seeds or grains clustered together thicke insomuch as they are somtimes bunched with an head a good foot long As touching the Millet the head thereof bearing seed round about is bent likewise and curbed beset also with fringes as it were of hairy fillets But to return to Panick againe there be sundry sorts thereof for some of it is found with a tuft or bunch from which depend certain small clustered chats or panicles the same also hath two knaps or heads and this is called Mammosum as one would say the Panick with bigs or dugs Moreouer you shall haue Panick seed of sundry colours white blacke and red yea and purple Of Mill or Millet there be diuers sorts of bread made in many places but of panick it is not so common howbeit there is no grain more ponderous and weighty than it or which in the seething or baking swelleth and riseth more for out of one Modius or pecke thereof there is ordinarily made 60 pound of dough for bread Moreouer take but 3 sextares or quarts of it being steeped and it will yeeld a measure called Modius of thicke gruel or batter called in Latine Puls It is not fully ten yeres since there was a kind of Millet brought out of India into Italy and the same was of colour black the seed or grain in quantitie big and faire and for stem like vnto a reed It riseth vp in height seuen foot the stalks are mighty and great some call them Lobae or Phobae Of all sorts of corne it is most fruitfull and yeeldeth greatest increase for of one grain a man shal haue 3 sextars or quarts again But it loueth yea 〈◊〉 to be sown in a moist soile Moreouer some kinds of spiked corn begin to spindle and gather eare at the third ioynt others at the fourth but there it lieth as yet hidden and inclosed Now as touching these 〈◊〉 wheat beareth vsually foure beere Barly six and the common sprit Barly eight which is wel 〈◊〉 be considered for no corn vseth to spier before it be fully knotted or iointed in maner abouesaid And so soon as the said spier sheweth some hope of an eare within 4 or fiue daies after at the most they begin to bloum and in as many dayes space or little more they will haue done and shed their floures And yet I must needs say that all sorts of barley are a seuen-night at the vtmost in so doing Varro saith that in foure times 9 daies this kind of corn commeth to perfection but it ought to stay nine moneths before it be ripe for to be reaped and mowne downe As for Beanes after they be set or cast into the ground first they put forth leafe and afterward stalk that shooteth vp euen without any partition of ioynts or knots between All other pulse besides the Bean haue a more sollid and wooddy substance in the straw Of which the Chich pease the Ervile and Lentils doe spred forth in branches And some of them runne so low that they creep along the ground vnlesse they be born vp and supported with some props as for example Pease which help if they misse they proue the worse for it Of all manner of Pulse the Bean alone and Lupine beare but one single stalke apiece the rest doe branch into very small sprigs or tendrils Howbeit none of them but their stalke or straw is fistulous and hollow in maner of reeds Some pulse put out leaues presently from the root others again from the top or head only wheat and Barly both the one and the other and what corn soeuer standeth vpon a stalk beareth one leafe in the head or top thereof But the leaues of Barly are rough wheras in other corn they be smooth Contrariwise Beanes Chiches and Pease haue many leaues In spiked corn the leafe resembleth that which groweth to reeds in beans they be round and so likewise in the most kinds of puls how beit in pease and Ervile we see they be somwhat longer The leaues of Fasels or Kidney beanes are ribbed and full of veines of Sesama and Irio they be red and resemble bloud The Lupines only and the Poppies do shed their leaues All pulse is long in the bloom and namely Ervile and the Cich pease but Beans continue longest euen for the space of 40 daies together howbeit euery single stalk beareth not bloom so long but thus it is as one hath done and giuen ouer another beginneth afresh Neither bloumeth the whole field at once as spiked corn doth Also all kinds of Pulse doe cod at sundrie times and not vpon the same day beginning first at the bottome and so likewise the floure riseth vp higher by little and little All corne growing in spike or eare so soone as it hath done blooming waxeth big and strong and commeth to maturitie within forty daies at the farthest so doth Beanes also but the Cich pease receiueth her full perfection in very few daies for from the time that it was first sowed it groweth to be ripe in forty daies Millet Panick Sesame and all Summer corn haue their full ripenesse forty daies after their blooming But herein there is great diuersitie according to the clyme and the soile in which respects
he contained in long and flat according to the forme and figure of the seed which they hold Pease by themselues haue a long round cod in forme of a Cylinder The Pulse called Phasâ—…oli i. Kidney Beans vse to be eaten cod and al together These may be set or sowne in what ground you list from the Ides of October to the Calends of Nouember Finally all kinds of Pulse so soone as they begin to ripen are to be gathered or plucked hastily for stay neuer so little they leape out of their cods and shed and being once fallen they lie hidden in the ground like as the Lupine also CHAP. XIII ¶ Of Rapes or Neuewes of Amiternium Turneps NOw let vs proceed and passe to other matters and yet in this discourse it were meet to write somwhat as touching Rapes or Nauews The Latin writers our countreymen haue slightly passed by and touched them only by the way The Greeks haue treated of them somwhat more diligently and yet among pot-hearbes and worts growing in gardens whereas indeed according to good order they would be spoken of immediatly after Corne or Beanes at least wise considering there is not a plant of more or better vse than is the Rape or Nauew First and formost they grow not only for beasts of the earth and the Foules of the aire but also for men For all kinds of Pullen about a Farme-house in the countrey doe feed vpon the feed thereof as much as of any thing else especially if they be boiled first in water As for four-footed beasts they eat the leaues thereof with great delight and wax fat therewith Last of al men also take as great pleasure and delight in eating the leaues and heads of Rapes or Nauewes in their season as they do of young Coly-flories Cabbages or any tender crops of hearbs whatsoeuer yea when they are faded flaggie and dead in the Barn they are esteemed better than being fresh and green As for Rapes or Nauewes they will keep long and last al Winter both within the ground where they grew and being well wintered they will continue afterwards out of the earth lying abroad euen almost till new come so as they yeeld men great comfort to withstand hunger and famin In Piemont Lombardie those countries beyond the Po the people make the most account of gaine by gathering Rapes next to wine vintage and corne haruest It is not choise and daintie of the ground where it will grow for lightly it wil prosper where nothing els can be sowed In foggy mists hard frosts and other cold weather it thriues passing wel and grows to a wonderfull bignes I haue seene one of their roots weigh aboue fortie pounds As touching the handling and dressing of them for our table there be many waies and deuises to commend and set them out Preserued they may be till new come specially condite with sharp and biting Senuie or Mustard seed Moreouer our Cooks know how to giue them six other colours besides their owne which is pure and naturall they haue the cast to set euen a purple hew vpon them And to say a truth there is no kind of viands besides that being thus painted colored hath the like grace The Greeke writers haue diuided them by the sexe and therby made two principal kinds therof to wit the male and the female Nay more than that out of one and the same seed according as it is sowed they can make male or female whether they please For if they sow thicke and chuse therto a hard and churlish ground it will proue of the male kind Also the smaller that the seed is the better it is esteemed But of al Rapes male or female three especiall sorts there be no more For some roots spread flat and broad others are knit round like a ball the third sort that runs downe into the ground with a long root in manner of a Raddish they cal the wild Rape or Nauew this bears a rough lease and ful of angles or corners the juice that it yeelds is sharp hote and biting which being gathered in haruest time reserued mundisieth the eies and cleareth the sight especially being tempered with brest-milke If the weather be cold they are thought not only to thriue in bignesse of the root but also to prooue the sweeter whereas contrariwise in a warm season they run vp all to stalke and leafe The best simply are those that grow in the Nursine territory For they are sold by the weight and euery pound is worth a Roman Sesterce yea and otherwhiles twaine if there be any scarcity of them Next to these in goodnes be those that come out of Algidum Thus much of Rapes Navews As for the Turneps of Amiternum they be in a manner of the same nature that the Rapes aforesaid cold they loue as well Sown they are before the Calends of March foure quarts of their seed will take vp a whole acre of ground The best Husbandmen and such as are more exquisite in their practise of Agriculture giue order That the ground for Turneps should haue fiue tilthes whereas Rapes or Nauewes are content with foure but both the one and the other had need of a soile well inriched with dung or compost By their sayings also Rapes will prosper the better and come vp thicker if they be sowed in their huls chaffe and all together Moreouer they would haue the seeds-man to be naked when he sowes them and in sowing to protest that this which he doth is for himselfe and his neighbors and withall to pray as he goeth The proper season for the seednesse of them both is between the feasts of the two gods to wit Neptune and Vulcan To conclude there is a subtill and curious obseruation that many go by and do hold namely this To marke how many daies old the Moon was when the first snow sel the winter next before for if a man do sow Rapes or Turneps within the foresaid compasse of that time the moon being so many daies old they will come to be wondrous great and increase exceedingly Men vse to sow them also in the Spring but then they make choise of moist and hot grounds CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of Lupines AFter Rapes and Turneps the Lupines haue greatest vse and serue to be raunged next for that they indifferently serue both men and also all foure footed beasts that be houfed either whole or clouen Now for that the stalke is very shittle in mowing and therefore flyeth from the edge of the syth the onely remedie therefore that the mower may catch it is to goe to worke presently after a good shower And verily there is not a plant growing vpon the earth I meane of such as are sowne of seed more admirable than the Lupine in regard of the great amity and sympathie betweene the earth and it Looke how the Sun keepeth his course in our Horizon aboue so doth it turne and go withall insomuch as the
Husbandmen of the countrey go by no other clocke to know how the day passeth in close and cloudie weather than this obseruation Moreouer it hath three seasons of blowming it loueth the earth well but yet willingly it would not be couered ouer with mould for this is the onely seed that is sowne vpon ground without any ploughing or digging it would grow to chuse in a most grauelly drie and sandy soile and in no case can it abide any tending or husbandry about it so affected is it to the earth that cast it vpon any rough ground among bushes leaues briers and brambles it will chit and spurt neuerthelesse neuer lin til it take root within the earth If Lupines be sowed either in vineyards or vpon corne lands they inrich the same and make the ground better as we haue before written and so little need haue they of dung that they stand in stead of the very best To say a truth there is no graine lesse chargeable to be sowne than it nay there is none costeth nought at all but it for it needeth not so much as to be brought into the field and why it soweth it selfe presently in the same field where it grew and sâ—…edding as it doth of the own accord a man neuer needs to cast and throw it vpon the land as other corne It is first sowne and last gathered and lightly both these seasons fall out in the moneth of September for if the Seed-nes preuent not the winter so as it may haue good root before it commeth it will be in danger of the cold Ouer and besides if it chance to lie bare and vncouered aboue-ground left carelessely without any keeping and that no raine come vpon it presently for to driue it into the ground it is safe enough and catcheth no harme for so bitter it is that no liuing creature will touch it and yet for the most part the husbandmen bestow a light furrow vpon it and so couer it verie shallow If the ground be fast and heauie it loueth that â—…est which standeth vpon a red clay And for the maintaining and inriching of this kind of soile it must be turned vp or eared after the third flouring but in case it be grauelly or sandy it wil serue to do it after the second Chalkie grounds onely and myrie it hateth and therein it wil not grow As bitter as otherwise it is yet if it be steeped and soked in hot water it is mans meat also Moreouer one Modius or pecke of Lupines is sufficient for to satisfie and feed an Oxe or a cow at a time and this kind of prouender will make beasts strong and healthfull Moreouer the meale of Lupines applied to the bellies of yong children that haue the wormes is a singular remedy For the good keeping of Lupines all men agree that they should be laid vp in some chimney or smokie place especially for if they lie in a moist roome there be certain little worms that wil nibble off and eat the tip or nauill that it hath and by that meanes marre it for euer sprouting againe Finally if Lupines be eaten downe by beasts while they be greene in the leafe the ground where they grew must presently be ploughed vp CHAP. XV. ¶ Of Vetches and Eruile VEtches also do manure and fat the ground where they be sowed neither be they chargeable or stand the husbandman in much they be sown with one tilth otherwise there needs no harrowing nor weeding there is required no mucking onely they would be couered with mould and the clods broken for sowing of vetches there be three sundry times first about the setting of the star Arcturus that by the moneth of December it may get a good head for to be eaten with beasts and it is generally holden that being sowne in this season it will bring the best seed for say it be eaten downe then it will carry the burden neuerthelesse the second Seednesse is in Ianuarie the last in March and being then put into the ground it will run vp most to blade and yeeld the best forrage for cattell Of all seeds that are cast into the earth it loueth drought most it can brooke also shadie places well enough The chaffe that commeth of the seed thereof is excellent good and better than any other in case it were ripe when it was gathered It robbeth vines of their nourishment if it be sowed neere those trees wherto vines are wedded in somuch as a man may see euidently how they languish As touching Eruile it asketh no great hand or trauell about it yet thus much more attendance it requireth than Vetches for that it must be weeded and grubbed about the roots Besides this kind of Pulse is of great vse in Physick for Augustus Caesar was cured of a disease that he had and recouered his health by the means of Eruile as himselfe reporteth in some of his letters now extant Moreouer fiue Modij or pecks of Eruile sown is sufficient to maintain and find a yoke of oxen As for that which is sowne in March it is hurtfull forage men say for kine and oxen as also that which is sowne in Autumne maketh beasts heauie and stuffed in the head but that which is put into the ground in the beginning of the Spring is harmlesse CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Foenigreeke of Rie of Dredge of the prouender corne or Bolimong Ocymum of Spanish Trefoile or horned Clauer-grasse called in Latine Medica of the shrub Trifoile named Cytisus FOr the sowing of Silicia or Siliqua otherwise called Foenigreeke there needs no more but to scarrifie or scrape it lightly vp with a furrow not aboue foure fingers breadth deepe for the lesse cost and husbandry that is bestowed about it and the worse that it is vsed the better it prospereth and yeeldeth greater increase a strange thing to be spoken and seldom verified That Negligence should be any waies profitable and yet herein it prooueth true That which is called Secale and Farrago in Latine i. Rie needeth no more adoe but to be harrowed the clods well broken There is a kinde of Secale or Rie which the people called Taurines dwelling vnder the Alpes doe call Asia it is simply worst of all other and good for nothing but onely to driue away hunger plentifull enough this corne is and yeeldeth good increase but the straw is slender blacke it is and of an vnpleasant colour howbeit exceeding weightie and ponderous they vse to mingle the red wheat Far therewith and make thereof a Mascelline to allay the bitternesse thereof and yet for all that the bread which it maketh is most vnsauorie to the mouth and ill for the stomack It wil come vp in any ground whatsoeuer and bring forth a hundred fold ordinarily neither doth it eat the ground out of heart but rather maketh it more battle and serueth in stead of compost or mucke As for that kind of dredge of farrage which commeth of the refuse and light corne purged
translate it into a warm sun-shine bank and there replant it then cut it off leauing not aboue 2 fingers breadth from the root aboue the ground but this must be don about the Spring Aequinox in mid-March then take a Cucumber seed set it within the soft pith of the said bramble bank it will round about with fine fresh mould dung blended together This is the way he assureth vs to make that the roots therof bearing such cucumbers or Melons will abide the greatest cold in Winter and neuer shrink at it of cucumbers the Greeks haue set down 3 kinds to wit the Laconick the Scvtalick the Boeotick Of which as they say the first sort only they be that loue waters so wel some there be who prescribe to take the seed of Cucumber or Melon to temper it in the juice of a certain hearb stamped which they cal Culix then to sow it persuading vs that we shal haue fruit therof without anyseed Of the like nature I meane for their manner of growing be the Gourds Winter and al cold weather they canot endure they loue also places wel watered dunged As wel Gourds as the cucumbers or Melons aboue said are commonly sowed between the Aequinox in March the Sunstead in Iune prouided alwaies that their seedly in a trench within the ground a foot a halfe deepe But in very deed the best and meetest time to sow them is about the feast Parilia howsoeuer there be some would haue the seed of gourds to be put into the ground presently after the Calends or first day of March but of cucumbers about the Nones i. the 7 day thereof or at farthest by the feast or holy-daies of Minerva named Quinquatrus They loue both alike to creep and crawle with their winding top branches or tendrels and gladly they would be clambering vpon walls and climbing vp to the house roofe if they can meet with any rough places to take hold by for naturally they are giuen to mount on high Howbeit their strength is not answerable â—…o their will and desire for stand they canot alone without the help of some props forks or railes to stay them vpright Exceeding forward and swift they be in growth They run on end when they are set on it and if they may be born vp sustained in maner aforesaid they will gently ouershade galleries walking places arbors frames allies vnder them in a garden and that right quickly In regard of which nature and behauior of theirs two principall kindes there be of them the one Camerarium as one would say the frame or trail Gourd and cucumber which climbeth aloft the other Plebeium i. the vulgar and common which creepeth along the ground beneath In the former kind it is worth the noting to see how the fruit heauy as it is hangeth stiffe poised as it were in the wind and will not stir notwithstanding the stele wherto it groweth be wondrous fine and smal Moreouer Gourds also may be fashioned in the head euery way as a man will like as the Cucumbers or Melons before named and specially within wicker cases made of pliable oisiers into which they are put for to grow to take their form so soon as they haue cast their blossom The nature of them I say is to receiue what figure a man will force and put them to but commonly shaped they are in their growth like to a Serpent winding and turnign euery way There haue bin known of them such I meane as were of the traile kind being led vpon a frame from the ground and permitted to run at libertie which grew to an incredible length for one of them hath bin seen 9 foot long As for cucumbers they bloom not all at once but by piece-meale floure after floure now one and then another yea and floure vpon floure one vpon the head of another Howsoeuer the Cucumber loueth waterish grounds yet can he abide drier places also Couered al ouer this plant and fruit is with a white down euen at the first but especially all the while he is in his growth Gourds are imploied sundry waies and to many more vses than Cucumbers For first their yong and tender stalks be very good meat and being dressed are serued vp as a dish to the table but the rind is of a cleane contrary nature Gourds of late time came to be vsed in stouves and baines for pots and pitchers but long before that they stood in stead of rundlets or small barrels to keep wine in The green of this kind hath a tender rind which must be scraped notwithstanding before a dish of meat can be made thereof And certes albeit Gourds be of digestion hard and such as will not throughly be concocted in a mans stomacke yet they are taken 〈◊〉 be a light mild and wholsom meat as they be handled and dressed diuers waies for that they 〈◊〉 not a mans belly to swel as some meats doe Of those seeds which be found within the gourd next â—…o the neck therof if they be set come the long gourds commonly such lightly you shall haue ingendred of those also that are in the bottom howbeit nothing comparable to the other Those that lie in the midst bring forth round ones but from the seeds that are taken out of the sides ordinarily there grow the shorter sort of Gourds such as be thicke and broad These grains or seeds would be handled in this manner First they are dried in the shadow and afterwards when a man list to sow them they ought to be steeped in water The longer slenderer that a Gourd is the better meat it yeelds and more pleasant to be eaten and therefore it is that they be thought more wholesome which grew hanging vpon trailes such indeed haue least store of seed within them Howbeit wax they once hard away with them out of the kitchen for then they haue lost all their grace and goodnes which commended them to the cooks dresser Such as are to be kept for seed the manner is not to cut vp before winter and then are they to hang or stand a drying in the smoake as proper stuffe and implements to be seen in a country house to keep as good chaffer seeds for the gardner against the time Moreouer there is a means deuised how to preserue them and cucumbers too for meat sound and good almost til new come that is by laying both the one and the other in a kind of brine or pickle Some say also that they may be kept fresh and greene interred in a caue or ditch vnder the ground in some darke and shady place with a good course or bed of sand laid vnder them and well couered afterward with dry hay and earth vpon the same in the end Ouer besides as in all plants and herbs in maner of the garden there be both wild and tame so is there of Gourds and Cucumbers both a certain sauage
is besides found in mountains named by them thereupon Orâ—…oselinum i. Mountain Ach or Parsely of the hils it beareth leaues like Hemlocke and a little slender root the seed resembleth Dill seed verie much but only that it is smaller And as for the garden Ach commonly called Parsely there be many kinds thereof differing one from another first in leafe whereby you shall haue some leafed thick and ful and the same jagged and curled others thinner and those also more plain smooth and broad Item in stalk which in some is more grosse or thin than in other in one kind white in another purple and in a third of sundry colours Of Lectuce the Greeks haue set downe three kinds whereof the first riseth vp with so large and broad a stalke that by their report little garden wickets were commonly made thereof in partitions between quarter and quarter And yet the leafe of this Lectuce is not much bigger than others that be common and serue for pot-herbes the same also passing narrow by reason that all the nutriment is otherwise spent in the maine stem The second hath a round stalk the third is the broad flat Lectuce which settles neer the ground called Laconicon or the Lectuce of Lacedaemon But other writers haue described the distinct kinds therof by their colour and the sundry seasons wherein they be set for say they there be black Lectuces the seed whereof ought to be sowed in Ianuary there be white also and such would be sowed in March there are a third sort which be red and the fit time of their seednesse is the moneth of April and according to those authors all the sort of them are to be remoued in yong plants when they haue growne two moneths Howbeit those Herbarists who haue looked farther into the knowledge of Simples adde more kinds yet vnto the other to wit the purple the crisp or curled the Cappadocian the Greekish Lectuce As for these of Greece they are taller in stem than the rest and broader withall besides their leaues be long and narrow like to those of Endiue or Cichorie The worst kind of all is that which the Greeks by way of reproofe and reproch for their bitternesse terme Picris Yet is there another distinct kind of the black Lectuce which for the plenty that it yeeldeth of a milky white iuice procuring drowsinesse is termed Meconis although all of them are thought to cause sleep In old time our ancestors knew no other Lectuce in Italy but this alone and thereupon it tooke the name in Latine of Lactuca The purple Lectuce which hath the biggest root they name Caeciliana but the round kinde with smallest root and broad leaues is called Astylis i. the chaste Lectuce or the ciuil Lectuce howbeit some giue it the name of Eunuchij because of all others it cooleth lust most and is â—…n enemy to the sports of Venus And to say a truth all Lectuces are by nature refrigeratiue and do coole the body and therfore be they eaten ordinarily in Summer for they please the stomacke when it is inclined to loath meat and procureth good appetite Certes reported it is of Augustus Caesar late Emperour of famous memorie that he escaped a dangerous disease and was recouered by the meanes of Lectuce whereunto he was directed by the discreet counsell of Musa his Physician And whereas in times past folke precisely forbare to eat Lectuce now there is no doubt or scruple at all made thereof nay they are so far from abstinence that way that it is a meat generally receiued and commended insomuch as they haue deuised to keepe it in the syrrup of Oxymel all winter long for to haue it ready and euer at hand yea and more than so men are verily persuaded that Lectuce will increase good bloud Ouer and besides all the sorts of Lettuce before specified there is yet another kind named in Latine Caprina as one would say the Goats Lectuce whereof I purpose to speake more at large among other medicinable herbs As touching the wild Lectuce called Cilician see how it is crept apace into the garden after it came once to be knowne and is commended as exceeding good among other herbs there sown and planted the leafe resembleth the Cappadocian Lectuce but that it is jagged broader than it As for Endiues and Cichories I cannot tell what to make of them for neither can they be truly said a kind of Lectuce nor yet ranged well amongst other herbs More vnpatient they are and fearfull of winter than Lectuces and withall carry vnpleasant strong tast howbeit their stalks are no lesse acceptable than they Their yong plants vse to be set in the beginning of the spring but translated afterwards and replanted in the later end thereof There is a certain wild and wandring Endiue which the Aegyptians call Cichorie whereof I meane to discourse more amply in another place There hath bin a deuise lately come vp to condite and preserue as well the stems as the leaues of all Lectuces for the winter time in pitchers pots within some appropriate liquor as also to dresse and seeth them yong fresh and greene in a kinde of broth or browesse and so serue them vp between two platters And yet where the ground is rich good well watered and holpen with doung Lectuce may be sowed at all times of the yere for within two months they will grow to be good big plants and in as little space come to their ful maturity and perfection Howbeit the true time and ordinary season is to sow their seeds about the mids of December when the daies begin to lengthen and then to remooue their plants at the comming of the Western wind Fauonius in February or els to sow in that wind and to replant in March about the Spring Aequinox White Lectuce of all other can best away with the winter All Garden-herbs loue moisture and muck they loue as well Lectuce especially yet I must needs say that Endiue more than it Some gardiners there be that thinke it a great point of cunning to besmere the roots of Lectuce plants and other such herbs with dung when they are set or after they be bared at the root within the ground to cast in the mould againe and fill vp the place so soon as they be greased as it were with muck at the root Others there be who practise another feat with them to make them cabbage the better and grow faire big by cutting them vp close to the ground when they are come once to be halfe a foot high and then bedaubing them with green swines dung It is thought that white Lectuce come onely of white seed and yet that is not sufficient vnlesse there be some sea sand taken fresh from the shore and laid about the heart of the plant where the leaues put forth first and so reared and heaped vp to the mids and then to take order that the leaues growing ouer them
either they floure or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit and look when the leaues begin to wither their prickes lose their force and will not pierce Ixine is a rare herb and geason to be seen and not found growing in al countries alike Immediatly from the root it putteth forth leaus plenty out of the mids of which root there swelleth out a bunch like an apple but the same is couered with the foresaid leaues in the very â—…p of which fruit there is contained a gum of a pleasant tast called the thistle Mastick Touching the herb Cactos which groweth also in Sicily and no where els it hath a property by it self the stalks whereof shooting from the root creep along the ground and it carrieth a broad leafe full of pricks and thorns and indeed these stalks thus running vpon the earth the Sicilians cal Cactos which they vse to keep and preserue and being thus condited also they commonly eat as very good meat One stem it hath growing vpright which they terme Pternix as sweet pleasant as the other but it will not abide to be kept long The seed thereof is couered with a certain soft down which they call Pappos which being taken off with the husk there remaineth a tender kernell within which they eat find it as delicat as the very heart of the Date tree top which is called the Brain and this pith aforesaid the Sicilians name Ascalia The Caltrop thistle Tribulus groweth not but in moory grounds and standing dead waters Surely in other places folke curse it as they passe by the prickes and spurs stick out so dangerously but about the riuers Nilus and Strymon the inhabitants do gather it for their meat the nature of this plant is to lean and bend downward in the head to the water The leafe resembles in form those of the Elme and they hang by a long stele or taile But in other parts of the world there be two other kinds of Tribulus the one is leafed like vnto the Cichling pease the other hath leaues sharp pointed this second kind is later ere it floure and commonly groweth about the mounds of closes lying by villages and town sides the seed lieth in a cod rounder than the other and black withall whereas the former hath a sandy seed Of these thorny and pricky plants there is yet one kind more namely Ononis i. Rest. harrow for it carrieth pricks close to the very branches the leafe is like to Rue the whole stalk throughout is set with leaues disposed in manner of a garland This plant commonly groweth after corn it plagueth the plough and yet there is much adoto rid it out of a ground so loth it is to die Of plants that be prickie some haue their stalkes and branches trailing by the ground as namely that hearbe which they call Coronopus i. Harts horn or Buck-horne Plantaine contrariwise there stand vpright Orchanet the root whereof is so good to colour wax and wood red And of such as be more gentle in handling Camomile Phyllanthus Anemone and Aphace As for Crepis Apate their stalks be all leafe Moreouer this would be noted that the leaues of herbs differ one from another as well as in trees some in the length or shortnesse of the stele whereto they hang others in the breadth or narrownesse of the leafe it selfe in form also whereby you shal haue some cornered others cut and indented likewise in sent and floure for some there be that continue longer in flouring than others and blow not all at once but one part after another as Basill Tornsall Aphaca and Onocheile CHAP. XVII ¶ The difference of herbs in their leafe what hearbes they be that floure all the yeare long of the Asphodell Pistana and Petie-Gladen or Sword-grasse MAny hearbes there be as well as some trees which continue greene and hold their leaues from one end of the yeare to the other as Tornsol and Adianthum or Capillus Veneris Another sort there is of herbs that floure spike-wise of which kind are Cynops Alopecurus i. Foxtaile Stelephuros which some call Ortyx others Plantaine of which I will write more at large among Physick herbs and Thryollis Of these Alopecurus carrieth a soft spike and a thick mossie down not vnlike to Fox-tails whereupon it tooke that name in Greeke and Stelephurus resembleth it very much but that the Foxtaile bloweth not all together but beareth floures some at one time some at another Cichory and such like haue their leaues spreading vpon the ground and those put forth directly from the root beginning to spring immediatly after the apparition of the star Vergiliae As touching Parietary there be other nations as wel as the Aegyptians who feed vpon it it took the name Perdicium in Latine of the bird Perdix i. the Partridge that seeketh after it so much and plucketh it out of the wals where it groweth it hath many roots and the same thick In like maner the herb Ornithogale i. Dogs onion hath a small stem and a white but a root halfe a foot long the same is full of bulbs like onions soft also and accompanied with three or foure other spurs growing out of it This hearbe they vse to seeth among other pot-herbs for potage I will tell you a strange quality of the herb Lotos and of Aegilops if their seed be cast into the ground it wil not come vp in a yeare As wonderfull is the nature also of the Camomile for it beginneth to floure in the head whereas all other herbes which blow not all at once floure at the foot first Notable is the Bur likewise and worthy to be obserued I mean that which sticketh to our clothes as we passe by the floure lieth close and groweth within the said Bur and neuer appeareth without-forth it is I say as it were hatched within much like vnto those liuing creatures that couve and quicken their egges within their belly Semblably about the city Opus there is an herb called Opuntia which men delight to eat this admirable gift the leafe hath That if it be laied in the ground it will take root and there is no other way to plant this herb maintain the kind As for Iasione one leafe it hath and no more but so lapped and infolded that it seemeth as if they were many Touching Condrylla the herb it selfe is bitter but the juice of the root is hot and biting Bitter also is Aphaca or Dent de Lion as also that which is called Picris which name it took of the exceeding bitternesse that it hath the same floureth all the yere long As for Squilla and Safron they be both of a maruellous nature for whereas all other hearbes put out leafe first and then knit round into a stem in those two a man may euidently see the stalk before the leafe And in Saffron verily the said stalk thrusteth out the floure before it but
serpents haue recourse to this hearb and eat thereof The juice drawne out of this herb after it is sodden in wine bindeth the belly The same is singular good to rectifie couch and lay euen the disorderly hairs of the eye-lids as effectually as the best gum in the world Dorotheus the Poet hath deliuered in his verses that it is good for the stomack and helpeth digestion Some hold opinion That it is naught for women hurtful to the eies also that it is contrarie to the feed of man and doth hinder generation Among all those things which are earen with danger I take that Mushromes may iustly be ranged in the first and principal place true it is that they haue a most pleasant and delicat tast but discredited much they are and brought into an ill name by occasion of the poyson which Agrippina the Empresse conueighed vnto her husband Tiberius Claudius the Emperour by their means a daungerous president giuen for the like practise afterwards And verily by that fact of hers she set on foot another poison to the mischiefe of the whole world and her owne bane especially euen her own sonne Nero the Emperor that wicked monster The venomous qualitie of some of these Mushromes may be soone known by their weak rednesse their mouldy hew so vnpleasant to see to their leaden and wan colour within-forth their chamfered streakes full of chinks and chaps and finally their edges round about pale and yellow For others there be that haue none of all these markes but are drie and carie certain white spots like to drops or grains of Sal-nitre putting foorth in the top out of their tunicles And in truth before that the Mushrome is formed the earth bringeth forth a certain pellicle or coat first called in Latin Volua for this purpose that the Mushrome should lie in it and then afterwards shee engendreth it enclosed within much like as the yolke of an egge câ—…uched within the while And so long as the Mushrome is young and not come forth but â—…eth as a â—…abe within the said core or tunicle is as good meat as the Mushrom it selfe but so soon as the Mushrom is formed this membran breaketh and incontinently the body or substance therof is spent in the stele or foot that beareth it vp and seldom shall you see 2 Mushromes vpon one of these steles or feet Moreouer these mushroms take their first originall and beginning of a slim mud and the humor of the earth that is in the way of corruption or els of some root of a tree such for the most part as beare Mast. It seemeth at the first as if it were a kind of glutinous some or froth then it growes to the substance of a pellicle or skin and soone after sheweth the Mushrom indeed bred formed and consummat within as is aforesaid And verily al such are pernicious and vtterly to be rejected neer to which when they come new out of the ground there lay either a grieue-stud or leg harneisnaile or some rustie yron or so much as an old rotten cloutâ—… for looke what naughtiuesse soeuer was in any of them the same they draw and conuert into venome and poyson But none are able to discern these hurtful Mushromes from others how curious and circumspect soeuer they be saue only the peasants of the country where they grow and such as haue the gathering of them And here is not al the mischiefe that lieth in them For dangerous they be otherwise and meet with more meanes to make them deadly namely if a serpents hole or nest be neare by or if at their first discouerie and comming forth a serpent chance to breath and blow vpon them for so prepared they be and disposed as a fit subject to enter that presently they will catch and entertain any poison And therfore on any hand we must not be bold and lusty with them before the time that serpents be retired into the ground there taken vp their harbor Which is an easy matter to know by the tokens of so many herbs trees shrubs which from the time that they first came abroad aboue ground vntill they haue taken vp their winrer lodging again looke alwaies fresh and greene and principally by the leaues of the Ash alone if there were no more trees for Ashes neither bud and spring forth but after that serpents come abroad nor shed and fall away before they be gone into the ground again In summe this would be noted That Mushromes be vp and down come and gon alwaies in a seuen-night space Thus much of the Mushromes named in Latine Boleti CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of other Mushromes or Tad-stoles called Fungi Of Silphium and Laser AS touching those excrescenses in manner of Mushromes which be named Fungi they are by nature more dull and slow And albeit there bee many kinds of them yet they all take their beginning of nothing els but the slimy humor of trees The safest and least daungerous be those which haue a red callositie or outward skin and the same not of so weak a red as that of the Mushromes called Boleti Next to them in goodnesse are the white and such as hauing a white foot also bear a head much resembling the Flamins turbant or mitre with a tuffet or crest in the crown As for the third sort that be called Suilli as one would say Swine-Mushroms or Puffs they are of al others most perilous and haue the best warrant to poison folk It is not long since that in one place there died thereof all that were of one houshold and in another as many as met at a feast and did eat thereof at the same bourd Thus Anneus Serenus captaine of the Emperour Nero his guard came by his death with diuers coronels and centurions at one dinner And I wonder much what pleasure men should take thus to venture vpon so doubtfull and daungerous a meat Some haue put a difference of these mushroms according to the seuerall Trees from which they seeme to spring and haue made choise of those that come from the Fig-tree the Birch and such as beare gum For mine own part as I haue said before I hold those good that the Beech Oke and Cypresse trees doe yeeld But what assurance can a man haue hereof from their mouths who sit in the market to sell them for all the sort of those Puffes and Toadstooles look with a leaden hew and wan color Howbeit the nearer that a Mushrome or Toadstoole commeth to the color of a fig hanging vpon the tree the lesse presump tion there is that it is venomous Touching the remedies for to help those who suspect they haue eaten these dangerous mushroms I haue said somwhat alreadie and wil say more herafter Mean while this would be noted that as perilous as they be yet some goodnesse there is in them and diuers medicines they doe yeeld First and foremost Glaucias thinketh and affirmeth That the Mushromes Boleti be
drink the same with salt and hony mixed therwith but the said decoction if it be made with an hogs foot with a hen capon or cock boiled withal is the wholsomer Some Physitians were of opinion That for to purge the body both Mercuries as wel the male as the female are to be giuen either boiled alone by themselues or els with Mallows they clense the brest parts and euacuat choler but they hurt the stomacke Touching all the other properties of Mercury I will write in place conuenient As Chiron the Centaure found out the medicinable vertues of certaine herbes so we are beholden to his scholler Achilles for one which is singular to heale wounds and of his name is called Achilleos This is that wound-herb wherewith by report he cured prince Telephus Some haue thought that hee deuised first the rust of brasse or verdegreece which is so excellent for salues and plasters therfore you shall see Achilles commonly painted scraping off the rust of his speare head with his sword into the wound of the said Telephus Others say that he tooke both the said rust or verdegreece and also the herb Achilleos to worke his cure Some would haue this Achillea to be Panaces Heracleon and others Sideritis we in Latine call it Millefolia An herb it is growing with a stalk or stem to the height of a cubit spreading into many branches clad from the very root vp to the top with leaues smaller than those of Fenell Others confesse indeed that this herb is singular good for wounds but the true Achilleos say they hath a blewish stalk a foot high no more bare and naked without any branches at all howbeit finely deckt and garnished on euery side with round leaues standing one by one in excellent order and making a faire sight There be again who describe it with a foursquare stem bearing heads in the top in manner of Horehound and leaued like vnto an Oke And this they say is of that efficacy that it wil conglutinat vnite sinews again if they were cut quite a sunder Moreouer you shall haue some who take it for Achillea that kinde of Sideritis growing vpon mud walls which if it be brused or stamped yeeldeth a stinking sent Moreouer there is another going vnder the name Achilleos like to this last described but that the leaues be whiter and fattier the little stalks or sprigs more tender it groweth in vineyards Last of al there is one more called Achilleos which riseth vp to the height of 2 cubits bearing pretty fine slender branches and those three square leaues resembling Fearn hanging by a long stele the seed is much like to that of the Beet In one word they be al of them most excellent for healing wounds And as for that especially which hath the largest leaues our countrimen in Latine haue called it Scopa Regia And the same is holden to be good for to heale the Squinancy or Gargle in swine In the same age wherin Achilles liued prince Teucer also gaue the first name and credit to one speciall herb called after him Teucrion which some nominat Hemionium this plant putteth forth little stalks in maner of rushes or bents and spreadeth low the leaues be small it loueth to grow in rough and vntoiled places a hard and vnpleasant sauor it hath in tast it neuer floureth and seed it hath none Soueraigne it is for the swolne and hard spleene the knowledge of which property came by this occasion as it is credibly and constantly reported It fortuned on a time when the inwards of a beast killed for sacrifice were cast vpon the ground where this herb grew it took hold of the spleen or milt and claue fast vnto it so as in the end it was seen to haue consumed and wasted it clean hereupon some there be that call it Splenion i. Spleenwort and there goeth a common speech of it That if swine doe eat the root of this herbe they shall be found without a milt when they are opened Some there be who take for Teucrium and by that name do call another herb full of branches in manner of hyssop leafed like vnto beans and they giue order that it should be gathered whiles it is in floure as if they made no doubt but that it would floure The best kind of this herb they hold to be that which commeth from the mountains of Cilicia and Pisidia Who hath not heard of Melampus that famous diuinor and prophet he it was of whom one of the Ellebores tooke the name and was called Melampodion and yet some therebe who attribute the finding of that herb vnto a shepheard or heardman of that name who obseruing wel that his she goats feeding therupon fell a scouring gaue their milk vnto the daughters of king Proetus whereby they were cured of their furious melancholy and brought again to their right wits This herb then being of so excellent operation it shall not be amisse to discourse at once of all the kinds of Ellebore whereof this maketh one And to begin withal two principal sorts there be of it namely the white and the black which distinction of colour most writers would haue to be meant and vnderstood of the roots only and no part else others there be who would haue the root of the blacke Ellebore to be fashioned like vnto those of the Plane-tree but that they be smaller and of a more darke duskish green diuided also into more jags and cuts but those of the white Ellebore to resemble the yong Beet new appearing aboue the ground saue onely that they be of a more blackish colour and along the back part of their concauitie inclining to red Both the one and the other bringeth forth a stalke in fashion like the Ferula or Fenel-geant a span or good hand-breadth high and the same consisteth of certain tunicles or skins folded one within another in manner of bulbous plants rising from the like root and the said root is full of strings or fringes as is the head of an onion The blacke Ellebore is a very poison to horses kine oxen and swine for it killeth them and therefore naturally these beasts beware how they eat of it whereas confidently they feed vpon the white The right season of gathering the Ellebores is in haruest time Great store thereof groweth vpon the hill Oeta but the best is that which is found in one only place therof neere about Pyra The black Ellebore commeth vp euery where but the best is in Helicon a mountaine much renowned and praised for other herbs beside it wherewith it is well furnished As touching the white that of the mount Oeta is counted the principall in a second degree is the white Ellebore of Pontus in the third place is to be ranged that which commeth from Elaea which they say groweth among vines in the fourth and last place for goodnesse is that of the mount Pernassus which is sophisticated with the
or poole it would draw the same dry and was of power by touching onely to open lockes or vnbolt any dore whatsoeuer Of Achoemenis also another herb they made this boast That beeing throwne against an armie of enemies ranged in battel array it would driue the troups and squadrons into feare disorder their ranks and put them to flight Semblably they gaue out and said That when the king of Persia dispatcâ—…ed his Embassadors to any forrein states and Princes he was wont to giue them an herb called Latace which so long as they had about them come where they would they should want nothing but haue plenty of all that they desired besides a number of such fooleries wherewith their bookes bee pestered But where I beseech you were these herbs when the Cimbrians and Teutons were defeated in a most cruell and terrible battell so as they cried and yelled again What became of these Magitians and their powerfull herbs when Lucullus with a small army consisting of some few legions ouerthrew and vanquished their owne kings If herbs were so mighty what is the reason I pray you that our Romane captaines prouided euermore aboue all things how to be furnished with victuals for their camp and to haue al the waies and passages open for their purveâ—…ours In the expedition of Pharsalia how came it to passe that the souldiers were at the point to be famished for want of victuals if Caesar by the happy hauing of one hearbe in his campe might haue injoied the abundance of all things Had it not bin better think ye for Scipio Aemilianus to haue caused the gates of Carthage to flie open with the help of one herbe than to lie so many yeres as he did in leaguer before the city with his engins ordinance to shake their wals batter their gates Were there such vertue in Ethiopius aforesaid why do we not at this day dry vp the Pontine lakes and recouer so much good ground vnto the territory about Rome Moreouer if that composition which Democritus hath set downe and his bookes maketh prayse of to be so effectual as to procure men to haue faire vertuous and fortunat children how happeneth it that the kings of Persia themselues could neuer attaine to that felicity And verily wee might maruell well enough at the credulity of our Ancestors in doting so much vpon these inuentions howsoeuer at the first they were deuised and brought in to right good purpose in case the mind and wit of man knew how to stay and keepe a meane in any thing els besides or if I could not proue as I suppose to doe in due place that euen this new leech-craft brought in by Asâ—…lepiades which checketh those vanities is growne to farther abuses and absurdities than are broched by the very Magitians themselues But this hath beene alwaies and euer will bee the nature of mans mind To exceed in the end and go beyond all measure in euery thing which at the beginning arose vpon good respects and necessary occasions But to leaue this discourse let vs proceed to the effects and properties remaining behind of those herbs which were described in the former booke with a supplement also and addition of some others as by occasion shall be offered and presented vnto vs. Howbeit to begin first with the remedies of the said Tettars so foule and vnseemly diseases I mean to gather a heape of as many medicines as I know appropriat for that malady notwithstanding I haue shewed alreadie of that kind not a few Well then in this case Plantaine stamped is very commendable so is Cinquefoile and the root of the white Daffodill punned and applied with vineger The young shoots or tender branches of the fig-tree boiled in vineger likewise the root of the Marsh-Mallow sodden with glow in a strong and sharpe vineger to the consumption of a fourth part Moreouer it is singular good to rub tettars throughly with a pumish stone first to the end that the root of Sorrell stamped and reduced into a liniment with vineger might be applied afterwards therupon with better successe as also the floure of Miselto tempred incorporat with quick-lime the decoction likewise of Tithymale together with rosin is much praised for this cure but the herb Liuerwort excelleth all the rest which therupon tooke the name Lichen it groweth vpon stony grounds with broad leaues beneath about the root hauing one stalke and the same small at which there hang downe long leaues and surely this is a proper herb also to wipe away all marks and cicatrices in the skin if it be bruised and laid vpon them with hony Another kind of Lichen or Liuerwort there is cleauing wholly fast vpon rockes and stones in manner of mosse which also is singular for those tettars being reduced into a liniment This herb likewise stancheth the flux of bloud in green wounds if the juice be dropped into them and in a liniment it serueth well to be applied vnto apostumat places the jaundise it healeth in case the mouth and tongue be rubbed and annointed with it and hony together but in this cure the Patients must haue in charge To bathe in salt water to anoint themselues with oile of almonds and in any case to abstain from all salads and pothearbs of the garden For to heale tettars the root of Thapsia stamped with hony is much vsed As for the Squinsie Argemonia is a soueraigne remedy if it be drunk in wine Hyssop also boiled in wine and so gargarized likewise Harstrang with the rennet of a Seale or Sea-calse taken both of them in equall portion moreouer Knot-grasse stamped with the pickle made of Cackrebs and oile and so gargled or els but held only vnder the tongue Semblaby the juice of Cinquefoile being taken in drink to the quantity of three cyaths this juice besides in a gargarisme cureth all other infirmities of the throat And to conclude with Mullen if it be drunk in water it hath a speciall vertue to cure the inflammation of the amygdals or almond kernels of the throat CHAP. V. ¶ Receits for the scrophules ar wens called the Kings-euill for the paines and griefes of the singers for the diseases of the breast and namely for the Cough PLantaine is a soueraigne herb to cure the Kings euill also Celendine applied with honey and hogs lard so is Cinquefoile The root of the great Clot-bur serueth for the same purpose if it be incorporat with hogs grease so that the place after it is annointed therewith be couered with a leafe of the said Bur laid fast vpon it in like manner Artemisia or Mugwort also a Mandrage root applied with water is good for that purpose The broad leafed Sideritis or Stone-sauge being digged round about with a spike of yron and taken vp with the left hand and so applied vnto the place cureth the kings euill prouided alwaies that the Patients when they be healed keep the same herbe still by them
it the herbe Flea-wort or Cotyledon otherwise called Vmbilicus veneris stamped with fried Barly meale into a cataplasme or els to take Iubarb i. Sengreen to the same effect The herbe Molon hath a stem chamfered or channelled along soft leaues those small a root foure fingers long in the end whereof it beareth an head like vnto Garlicke Some call it Syron Taken in wine it helpeth the stomack and difficulty of drawing breath In which cases the greater Centaury is singular if it be reduced into a lohoch or liquid electuary Plantain also eaten any way either in a green-sauce or sallad This composition is reputed a soueraign medicine Take of Betony stamped the weight of one pound of Atticke hony as much incorporat them together and hereof drinke euery day the quantity of halfe an ounce in some conuenient liquor or in water warm Aristolochia or Agarick are soueraigne meanes to be vsed in these infirmities if one drinke the weight of three oboli thereof either in warme water or asses milke The herb Cissanthemos is good to be drunk for those that be streight winded and must sit vpright when they draw their breath In the like case Hyssop is commended as also for pursiuenesse and shortnesse of wind The juice of Harstrang is an ordinary medicine for the griefe of the liuer the pains also of brests and sides in case the Patient be cleare of the ague As for Agarick it helpeth all such as spit bloud if the pouder thereof to the weight of one Victoriat be giuen in fiue cyaths of honied wine Of the same operation is Amomum But particularly for the liuer the herb Teucria is thought to be soueraign if it be taken fresh green to the weight of foure drams in one hemine of water and vineger mixed together One dram of Betony giuen in three cyaths of warm water or in tw ain of cold is thought to be a singular cordiall The iuice of Cinquefoile helpeth all the imperfections of the liuer and lights it cureth them that voyd or reach vp bloud and generally it serueth for al inward corruptions and distemperatures of the whole masse of bloud Both Pimpernels be wonderfull medicinable for the liuer Fumiterre the herb whosoeuer do eat shal purge choler by vrine Galangale is helpfull likewise to the liuer to the chest also and the midriffe or precordial parts The herb Caucon named also Ephedra and by some Anabasis groweth ordinarily in open tracts exposed to the wind it wil clime vpon trees and hang down from their boughs and branches Leafe it hath none but is garnished with a number of haires which are no other but rushes indeed full of ioints and knots the root is of a pale colour Let this herb be beaten to pouder and giuen in red wine that is greene and hard it is good for the cough for the shortnesse of wind and the wrings of the belly it may be taken also in some other supping whereto it were conuenient to put wine In like sort the infusion of one dram of Gentian which hath lien steeped the day before may be very wel taken in three cyaths of wine for those purposes Herb Benet or Auens hath a small root of a blackish colour which hath a good sent this herb not only cureth the pains of the brest and side but also discusseth all crudities proceeding of vnperfect digestion by reason of the pleasant sauour that it hath As for Veruaine it is medicinable vnto all the prrncipall and noble parts within the body good for the sides the lungs the liuer and the breast but most properly it respecteth the lungs and namely when the patient is in a phthy sick or consumption by the means of their vlcer The root of Bearfoot an herb which I said was but lately found out is a present remedie for swine sheep goats all such cattel in case they be diseased in the lights if it be but drawn crosse through any of their eares The same ought to bee drunke in water and a piece thereof continually held vnder the tongue As for any other part of this hearbe aboue ground be it leafe stalke floure or seed it is not yet certainly knowne whether it be good or no for any purpose in Physicke As for the kidneies the hearbe Plantaine is good to be eaten Betonie to be drunke Agaricke also to be taken in drinke like as for the cough Tripolium groweth vpon the rocks by the sea side on which the sea-water beateth so as a man cannot say that it is either in the sea or the drie land in leafe it resembleth woad but that it is thicker the stemme is a span or hand-breadth high forked and diuided at the point the root white odoriferous grosse and hot in taste when it is sodden in a frumenty pottage of wheat they giue it with good successe to those that be diseased in the liuer this is thought of some to be all one with Polium whereof I haue spoken in due place Symphonia or Gromphena an herbe hauing leaues some red others greene growing to the stem in order one red and another greene is a soueraigne medicine for such as reach and void vp bloud if it be taken in oxycrat or vineger water mingled together Melandryum is an herb found growing in corn-fields medows with a white floure and the same of a sweet and pleasant sent the smal stems therof be commended for the liuer in case they be stamped giuen in old wine Chalcetum commeth vp in vineyards which if it be punned serueth for a good cataplasme to be applied vnto the region of the liuer The root of Betony taken to the weight of foure drams in wine cuit or honied wine prouoketh vomit readily as well as Ellebore But for this purpose Hyssope is better being beaten in pouder and giuen with honey but order would be giuen before vnto the Patient to eat Cresses or Irio Molemonium also is of the like effect if it be taken to the weight of one denier Moreouer the herb Silybum hath a white juice like vnto milke which after it is thickened to the substance of a gum is vsually taken to the foresaid weight with hony for a vomitorie and doth euacuat cholericke humors especially On the contrary side wild Cumin and the poâ—…der of Betony if they be drunk with water do stay vomiting For to digest the crudities of the stomack and to rid away the loathing to meat Carrot is thought to be very good so is the pouder of Betony if it be taken in honied water and Plantain also boiled in potage after the manner of Coleworts or such like potherbs Hemonium staieth the painful yex oâ—… hocquet In like sort Aristolochia Clymenos giues liberty to draw the wind more freely The greater Centaury and Hyssop are singular in drink for the pleurisie and inflammation of the lungs The iuice of Harstrang principally is a proper remedy for those that haue
reduce them to the natural color of the other skin There is an herb which in Latine is named Natrix the root whereof being pulled out of the ground hath a rank smell like vnto a Goat with this herbe they vse in the Picene countrey to driue away those hob-goblins which they haue a maruellous opinion to be spirits called Fatui but for mine own part I am verily persuaded they be nothing else but fantasticall illusions of such as be troubled in mind and bestraught the which may be chased and rid away by the vse of this medicinable herbe Odontitis may be reckoned among the kinds of hey-grasse putting forth many small stems growing thicke together from one root and those knotted and ful of ioints triangled and blackish withall in euery ioint small leaues it hath resembling those of knot-grasse howbeit somwhat longer in the concauities between the said leaues and the stem there is contained a seed like vnto Barly corns the floure is of a purple colour and very small It groweth ordinarily in medow grounds The decoction of the branches and tender stalks of this herb to the quantitie of one handful boiled in some astringent wine cureth the toothach if the patient hold the same in the mouth Othonne groweth plenteously in Scythia like vnto Rocket the leaues be full of holes and the floure resembleth Safron which is the cause that some haue called it Anemone The juice of this herbe entreth very well into those medicines which are appropriate to the eies for it is somewhat mordicatiue and heateth gently besides exiccatiue it is and by that meanes astringent It clenseth the eies of those films and clouds which darken the sight and remoueth whatsoeuer hindereth the same Some ordain for this purpose that it should be washed first and after it is dried againe made into certain balls or troschisks Onosma beareth leaues wel-neare three fingers long and those lying flat vpon the ground three in number and indented or cut after the manner of Orchanet without stem without flour without seed If a woman with child eat thereof or do but step ouer it she shal cast her vntimely birth out of her wombe As for Onopordon they say if Asses eat thereof they will fall a fizling and farting Howbeit of vertue it is to prouoke vrine and the monethly sicknesse of women to stop a laske to discusse and resolue impostumes and to heale them when they be broken and do run Osyris putteth forth small branches of a browne colour slender pliable and easie to wind the same be garnished with leaues resembling those of Line or flax of a dark duskish green at first but afterwards changing colour and inclining to a red colour and the seed is contained in those branches Of these leaues are made certain washing balls to scoure womens skin and make them look faire The decoction of the root being drunk cureth those that haue the jaundise The same roots gathered before the seed be ripe cut into roundles and dried in the Sun do stop the laske but drawn after that the seed is ripe they represse all catarrhes and fluxes of the belly if the patient drink the supping wherein they are boiled Also stamped simply and so giuen in rain water they haue the same effect Oxys beareth three leaues and no more This herb is singular to be giuen for a feeble stomack which hath lost all appetite to meat They also who haue a rupture and whose guts be fallen down eat thereof to very good successe Polyanthemum which some call Batrachion hath a causticke quality whereby it doth blister any vnseemly scars by means whereof reduceth them to their fresh and former colour the same also applied scoureth away the morphew and bringeth the skin to the natiue hue answerable to the rest of the body Knot grasse is that herb which the Greeks name Polygonon and we in Latine Sanguinaria in leaf it resembleth Rue in seed common quich grasse riseth not from the ground but creepeth along the juice of this herb conueied vp into the nosthrils stancheth bleeding at the nose They who set down many kinds of Polygonon do hold that this is to be taken for the male and by reason of the multitude of seed which it beareth is called Polygonon or for that it groweth so thick in tufts Calligonon Others name it Polygonaton for the number of knots or knees which it carrieth There be again who giue it the name Theuthalis some cal it Carcinetron others Clema many Myrtopetalon and yet I meet with some writers who say this is the female knot-grasse and that the male is the greater and not altogether so dark of colour growing also thicker with knots swelling with seed vnder euery leaf wel how soeuer it it the property of them both the one as well as the other is to bind and coole and yet their seed doth loosen the belly which if taken in any great quantity is diuretical and represseth any rheums prouided alwaies that the patient be troubled therwith otherwise it doth no good The leaues are singular good to be applied vnto the stomack for to assuage the heat thereof in a liniment they mitigat the griefe of the bladder and stop the course of shingles and such like wilde-fires The juice is soueraigne to be dropped alone by it selfe into the eares that run and into the eyes to abate their pain It is vsually giuen to the quantity of 2 cyaths in tertian Agues and Quartans especially before the fit commeth likewise for the feeblenesse of the stomack when it will keep nothing for the bloudy flix and the rage of cholerick humors both vpward and downward A third kind there is which they cal Oreon growing vpon the mountains resembling a tender reed rising vp in one single stem but full of little knees or knots and those couched thrust together Leafed it is like the Pitch tree the root needlesse and of no vse and generally the whole herb of lesse strength and operation than the former Howbeit this singular propertie hath it to help the sciatica A fourth Polygonum there is called the wild and this busheth like a shrub or a prety tree rather the root is of a wooddy substance the stock or plant of a reddish colour resembling the Cedar it beareth branches much like to Spart or Spanish broome two spans long iointed into three or four knots and those of a blackish colour This also hath an astringent nature and tasteth in the mouth like to a Quince The decoction thereof in water till the third part be consumed or the pouder of it dried is commended for the sores in the mouth and for any part that is fretted and galled And the very substance thereof is good to be chewed in case the gums be sore It represseth the malignity of eating corrosiue vlcers and cankers and in one word staieth the malice of all sores that run on end and
or crier pronounced noon when standing at the hall or chamber of the councell he beheld the Sun in that wise betweene the pulpit called Rostra and the Grecostasis which was a place where forrein embassadours gaue their attendance but when that the same sun inclined downeward from the columne named Moenia to the common gaole or prison then he gaue warning of the last quarter of the day and so pronounced But this obseruation would serue but vpon cleere daies when the sun shined and yet there was no other means to know how the day went vntill the first Punicke war Fabius Vestalis writeth that L. Papyrius Cursor 12 yeres before the war with Pyrrhus was the first that for to do the Romans a pleasure set vp a sun-dyall to know what it was a clocke vpon the temple of Quirinus at the dedication thereof when his father had vowed it before him Howbeit mine aurhor sheweth not either the reason of the making of that diall or the workman ne yet from whence it was brought nor in what writer he found it so written M. Varro reporteth that the first diall was set vp in the common market place vpon a columne neere the foresaid Rostra in the time of the first Punicke war by M. Valerius Messala the Consull presently after the taking of Catana in Sicily from whence it was brought thirty yeares after the report that goeth of the foresaid quadrant and diall of Papyrius namely in the yeare after the foundation of the city 477. And albeit the strokes and lines of this Horologe or diall agreed not fit with the houres yet were the people ruled and went by it for an hundred yeares saue one euen vntill Q. Martius Philippus who together with L. Paulus was Censor set another by it framed made more exquisitly according to Art And this piece of work among other good acts done by the Censor during his office was highly accepted of the people as a singular gift of his Yet for all this if it were a close and cloudy day wherein the Sun shone not out men knew not what it was a clocke certainly and thus it continued fiue yeres more Then at last Scipio Nasica being Censor with Laenas made the deuise first to diuide the houres both of day and night equally by water distilling and dropping out one vessell into another And this manner of Horologe or water-clocke he dedicated in the end within house and that was in the 595 yere from the building of Rome Thus you see how long it was that the people of Rome could not certainly tell how the day passed Thus much concerning the Nature of man let vs returne now to discourse of other liuing creatures and first of land-beasts THE EIGHTH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ Of landbeasts The praise of Elephants their wit and vnderstanding PAsse we now to treat of other liuing creatures and first of land-beasts among which the Elephant is the greatest and commeth neerest in wit and capacitie to men for they vnderstand the language of that country wherin they are bred they do whatsoeuer they are commanded they remember what duties they be taught and withall take a pleasure and delight both in loue and also in glory nay more than all this they embrace goodnesse honestie prudence and equitie rare qualities I may tel you to be found in men and withal haue in religious reuerence with a kinde of deuotion not only the stars and planets but the sun and moon they also worship And in very truth writers there be who report thus much of them That when the new moon beginneth to appeare fresh and bright they come downe by whole heards to a certaine riuer named Amelus in the desarts and forests of Mauritania where after that they are washed and solemnly purified by sprinckling and dashing themselues all ouer with the water haue saluted and adored after their manner that planet they returne again into the woods chases carrying before them their yong calues that be wearied and tired Moreouer they are thought to haue a sense and vnderstanding of religion conscience in others for when they are to passe the seas into another country they wil not embarke before they be induced thereto by anoath of their gouernors and rulers That they shall returne again and seene there haue bin diuers of them being enfeebled by sicknesse for as big and huge as they be subject they are to grievous maladies to lie vpon their backs casting and flinging herbes vp toward heauen as if they had procured and set the earth to pray for them Now for their docility and aptnesse to learne any thing the king they adore they kneele before him and offer vnto him garlands and chaplets of floures and green herbes To conclude the lesser sort of them which they call Bastards serue the Indians in good stead to eare and plough their ground CHAP. II. ¶ When Elephants were put to draw first THe first time that euer they were knowne to draw at Rome was in the triumph of Pompey the Great after he had subdued Africke for then were two of them put in geeres to his triumphant chariot But long before that it is said that Father Bacchus hauing conquered India did the like when he triumphed for his conquest Howbeit in that triumph of Pompey Procilius affirmeth That coupled as they were two in one yoke they could not possibly go in at the gates of Rome In the late solemnity of tournois sword-fight at the sharp which Germanicus Caesar exhibited to gratifie the people the elephants were seen to shew pastime with leaping keeping a stir as if they danced after a rude and disorderly manner A common thing it was among them to fling weapons darts in the aire so strongly that the winds had no power against them to flourish also before hand yea and to encounter and meet together in fight like sword-fencers and to make good sport in a kinde of Moriske dance and afterwards to go on ropes and cords to carry foure together one of them laid at ease in a litter resembling the maner of women newly brought a bed last of all some of them were so nimble and well practised that they would enter into an hall or dining place where the tables were set full of guests and passe among them so gently and daintily weighing as it were their feet in their going so as they would not hurt or touch any of the company as they were drinking CHAP. III. ¶ The docilitie of Elephants THis is knowne for certaine that vpon a time there was an Elephant among the rest not so good of capacity to take out his lessons and learn that which was taught him and being beaten and beaten again for that blockish and dull head of his was found studying and conning those feats in the night which he had bin learning in the day time But one of the greatest wonders of them was
power to poyson In like manner do Perwinkles and Snailes but not only in the winter season but in Summer againe they lie still cleauing so hard to rocks stones that although by force they be plucked off and turned with their bellies vpward yet they will not out of their shell In the Baleare Istands there be a kinde of them called Cauaticae which neuer creepe out of their holes within the ground neither liue they of any grasse or greene herbe but hang together like clusters of grapes Another sort there is of them but not so common hiding themselues within the couer of their shell sticking euer fast vnto them these lie alwaies vnder the ground and were in times past digged vp onely about the Alpes along the maritime coasts but now of late they be discouered in Veliternum also where men begin to get them out of the earth But the best of them all and most commendable are those in the Island Astypelaea As touching Lisards deadly enemies to the Snailes or Winkles aboue-named men say they liue not aboue six moneths In Arabia the Lizards be a cubit in length and in the mountain Nisa of India they be foure and twenty foot long some tawnie some light red and others blew of colour CHAP. XL. ¶ Of Dogges AMong those domesticall creatures that conuerse with vs there be many things worth the knowledge and namely as touching dogges the most faithfull and trustie companions of all others to a man and also horses And in very truth I haue heard it credibly reported of a dogge that in defence of his master fought hard against theeues robbing by the high way side albeit he were sore wounded euen to death yet would he not abandon the dead body of his master but draue away both wild foule and sauage beast from seizing of his carkasse Also of another in Epirus who in a great assembly of people knowing the man that had murdered his Mr. flew vpon him with open mouth barking and snapping at him so furiously that he was ready to take him by the throat vntill he at length confessed the fact that should cause the dog thus to rage and fome against him There was a king of the Garamants exiled and recouered his royall state againe by the meanes of 200 dogs that fought for him against al those that made resistance and brought him home maugre his enemies The Colophonians and Castabaleans maintained certain squadrons of mastiue dogs for their war seruice and those were put in the vaward to make the head and front of the battell and were neuer knowne to draw back and refuse fight These were their trustiest auxiliaries and aid-soldiers and neuer so needy as to call for pay In a battell when the Cimbrians were defeated and put all to the sword their dogges defended the baggage yea and their houses such as they were carried ordinarily vpon charriots Iason the Lycian had a dogge who after his master was slaine would neuer eat meat but pined himselfe to death Duris maketh mention of another dogge which he named Hircanus that so soone as the funerall fire of king Lysimachus his master was set a burning leapt into the flame And so did another at the funerals of king Hiero. Moreouer Phylistus reporteth as strange a story of king Pyrrhus his dogge as also of another belonging to the tyrant Gelo. The Chronicles report of a dog that Nicomedes king of Numidia kept which flew vpon the queene Consingis his wife al to mangled and worried her for toying and dallying ouerwantonly with the king her husband And to goe no farther for examples euen with vs here at Rome Volcatius a noble gentleman who tought Cecelius the ciuile law as he returned home one euening late riding vpon an hackney from a village neere the citie was assailed by a theefe on the high way but he had a dog with him that saued him out of his hands Caelius likewise a Senator of Rome lying sicke at Plaisance chanced to be assailed by his enemies well appointed and armed but they were not able to hurt and wound him by reason of a dog that he had about him vntill such time as they had killed the said dog But this passeth al which happened in our time and standeth vpon record in the publicke registers namely in the yeere that Appius Iunius and P. Silus were Consuls at what time as T. Sabinus and his seruants were executed for an outrage committed vpon the person of Nero sonne of Germanicus one of them that died had a dog which could not be kept from the prison dore and when his master was throwne down the staires called Scalae Gemoniae would not depart from his dead corps but kept a most pitteous howling and lamentation about it in the sight of a great multitude of Romanes that stood round about to see the execution and the manner of it and when one of the companie threw the dogge a piece of meat he straightwaies carried to the mouth of his master lying dead Moreouer when the carkasse was thrown into the riuer Tiberis the same dog swam after made all the means he could to beare it vp aflote that it should not sink and to the sight of this spectacle and fidelitie of the poore dogge to his master a number of people ran forth by heapes out of the citie to the water side They be the onely beasts of all others that know their masters and let a stranger vnknown be come neuer so suddenly they are ware of his comming and will giue warning They alone know their owne names and all those of the house by their speech Be the way neuer so long and the place from whence they came neuer so farre they remember it and can go thither againe And surely setting man aside I know not what creature hath a better memorie As furious and raging as they be otherwhiles yet appeased they will be and quieted by a man sitting down vpon the ground Certes the longer we liue the more things we obserue marke still in these dogges As for hunting there is not a beast so subtle so quick so fine of sent as is the hound he hunteth and followeth the best by the foot training the hunter that leads him by the coller and leash to the very place where the beast lieth Hauing once gotten an eie of his game how silent secret are they notwithstanding and yet how significant is their discouerie of the beast vnto the hunter first with wagging their taile and afterwards with their nose and snout snuffing as they doe And therefore it is no maruell if when hounds or beagles be ouer old wearie and blind men carry them in their armes to hunt for to wind the beast and by the verie sent of the nose to shew and declare where the beast is at harbour The Indians take great pleasure to haue their salt bitches to be lined with tygres and for this purpose when they goe proud they couple
for the male putteth forth his bloome in the branch but the female sheweth no floure at all but sprouteth and shooteth out buds in manner of a thorne howbeit both in the one and the other the pulp or flesh of the Date commeth first and after it the wooddy stone within which stands in stead of the grain and seed of the Date And this appeares euidently by a good token for that in the same branch there be found little yong Dates without any such stone at al. Now is the said stone or kernell of the Date in forme long not so round and turned like a ball as that of the Oliue Besides along the back it hath a cut or deep slit chamfered in as it were between two pillowes but in the mids of the belly on the other side for the most part it hath a round specke formed like a nauill whereat the root or chit beginneth first to put forth Moreouer for the better planting of Dates they set two together of their stones in a ranke with the bellies downward to the earth and as many ouer their heads for if one alone should come vp it were not able to stand of it selfe the root and young plant would be so feeble but foure together so ioine clasp and grow one to another that they do well enough and are sufficient to beare themselues vpright the kernel or wooddy substance within the Date is diuided from the fleshy pulp and meat thereof by many white pellicles or thin skins between neither lieth it close thereto but hollow a good distance from it saue that in the head it is fastened thereunto by a thred or string and yet there be other pellicles that cleaue fast and sticke to the substance of the Date within The Date is a yeare in ripening Howbeit in certaine places as namely in Cyprus the meat or fleshie pulp thereof is sweet and pleasant in taste although it be not come to the full ripenesse where also the leafe of the tree is broader and the fruit rounder than the rest mary then you must take heed not to eat and swallow down the very bodily substance of it but spit it forth after you haue wel chewed sucked out the iuice therof Also they say that in Arabia the dates haue but a faint weak sweetnes with them yet K. Iuba makes greatest account of those which the region of the Scenites in Arabia doth yeeld where they be called Dabula and he commends them for their delicate and pleasant tast before all others Moreouer it is constantly affirmed That the females be naturally barten and will not beare fruit without the company of the males among them to make them for to conceiue yet grow they wil neuerthelesse and come vp of themselues yea and become tall woods and verily a man shall see many of the females stand about one male bending and leaning in the head full kindly toward him yeelding their branches that way as if they courted him for to win his loue But contrariwise he a grim sir and a coy carries his head aloft bears his bristled rough arms vpright on high and yet what with his very lookes what with his breathing and exhalations vpon them or else with a certain dust that passes from him he doth the part of an husband insomuch as all the females about him conceiue and are fruitfull with his only presence It is said moreouer that if this male tree be cut downe his wiues wil afterwards become barren and beare no more Dates as if they were widows Finally so euident is the copulation of these sexes in the Date trees knowne to be so effectuall that men haue deuised also to make the females fruitful by casting vpon them the blooms and down that the male bears yea and otherwhiles by strewing the pouder which he yeelds vpon them Besides the maner abouesaid of setting date stones for increase the trees may be replanted of the very truncheons of two cubits long sliued and diuided from the very brain as it were of the green tree in the top and so couched and interred leauing only the head without the ground Moreouer Date trees wil take again and liue if either their slips be pluckt from the root or their tendrils small branches be set in the earth As for the Assyrians they make no more adoe but if it be a moist soile plash the very tree it selfe whole as it stands and draw it along and so trench it within the ground and thus it will take root and propagate but such will neuer proue faire trees but skrubs only And therefore they deuise certain Seminaries or Nource gardens of them and no sooner be they of one yeares growth but they transplant them and so againe a second time when they be two yeares old for these trees loue alone to be remoued from one place to another But whereas in other countries this transplantation is practised in the spring the Assyrians attend the very mids and heat of Summer and in the beginning of the Dog-daies vse to replant them Moreouer in that countrie they neither cut off the heads ne yet shred the branches of the yong plants with their hooks and bils but rather bind vp their boughes that they may shoot vp in height the better Howbeit when they are strong they cut their branches for to make the bodies burnish and waxe thicker but yet in the lopping they leaue stumps of boughes halfe a foot long to the very tree which if they were cut off in other places would be the death of the mother stocke And forasmuch as Date trees delight in a salt and nitrous soile according as hath bin before said the Assyrians therefore when they meet not with a ground of that nature strew salt not close about the roots but somwhat farther off In Syria and Egypt there be some Date trees that diuide themselues and are forked in twaine rising vp in two trunkes or bodies In Crete they haue three and some also fiue The nature of the Palme or Date tree is to beare ordinarily when they be three yeares old howbeit in Cyprus Syria and Egypt it is soure yeares first ere some bring fruit yea and fiue yeares before others begin and such neuer exceed a mans height neither haue they any stone or wooddy kernel within the Date so long as they be young and tender during which time they haue a pretty name for them and call them Gelded Dates and many kindes there be of these trees As for those that be barren and fruitlesse all Assyria and Persia throughout vse them for timber to make quarters and pamels for seeling wainescot and their fine ioyned workes There be also of Date trees coppey woods which they vse to fell and cut at certaine times and euermore they put forth a yong spring from the old root and stock These haue in the very head and top a certain pleasant and sweet marow which they terme The braine and
the which was made of two demie-rounds or halfe circles joined together so artificially that for the closenesse of the joint which could not be discern'd it was more admirable than possibly it could haue been if it had been naturally of one entire peece the diameter of it caried foure foot and a halfe and three inches thicke it was Likewise another such table there was surnamed Nomien of one Nomius a slaue enfranchised by Tiberius the Emperour the square or diametre whereof was foure foot within 3 quarters of an inch and the thicknesse halfe a foot lacking so much And here I cannot forget and ouerpasse how that the Emperor Tiberius himselfe had a table which being two inches and three quarters aboue 4 foot in the diametre and an inch and an half thick throughout he caused to be plated all ouer for that Nomius his freed-seruant had one so rich and magnificent made altogether of a knot a knot I say or a knur in the root of the tree which is the very beautie of the wood and giues all the grace to tables made therof and namely if this knot lie altogether within ground it is without comparison excellent and farre more rare and singular than any of the timber aboue either in the trunk and bodie or in the armes and boughes of the tree So that to say a truth this costly ware bought so deare is no better than the superfluous excrescense of trees the largenesse wherof as also of their roots may be esteemed by the roundnesse that they carie Now are these Citron trees much like to the female Cypresse especially that of the wild kind in leaf in smel and in body A mountaine there is in high Mauritania called Anchorarius which was wont to yeeld the best and fairest citron trees although now it be naked and despoiled of them But to returne to our tables aforesaid the principall be they which are either crisped in the length of the vein or beset here and there with winding spots In the former the wood curleth in and out along the graine and therefore such bee named Tigrinae i. Tigre-tables In the other there be represented sundrie tufts as it were enfolded and enwrapped round and those they call Pantherinae i. Panther or Luzerne tables There be againe whereof the worke in wainescot resembleth the waues of the sea and the better grace they haue and be more esteemed if they make a shew of the eyes appearing in Peacockes tailes Next in account and request to these abouenamed be those that are frisled with small spots standing thicke as if many graines were gathered together which they call thereupon of some resemblance of little bees or flies Apiatae as if they were speckled filed with their dung But be the worke and graine of the wood what it will the color makes all Here at Rome we set most store by that colour which is like to mead or honied wine shining and glittering in the veines of the wood After which considerations men regard much the breadth largenes of the whole plank standing of one entire peece which makes the table Some take a great pleasure to see in one Citron bourd many of those faults which be incident to trees to wit the Lignum for so they call the simple plain and bare wood and timber without any branched or curled graine at all without a shining lustre and glittering glosse without worke to be seen in any order digested or at the most if any be representing the leaues of a Plane tree Againe the resemblance either of the vein or color of a kind of Oke wood called Ilex Moreouer the rifts and chinks which timber is subject vnto by reason principally of wind and Suns heat or else hairie streakes that be like to such clifts and creuisses Afterwards men were delighted with a kind of Lamprey veine trauersing and running ouer a black crosse way and with an outward skin or coat marked with speckes or knottie knurs like to Poppie heads and generally with a color all ouer comming neer to black or at leastwise bespotted with sundrie colors The Barbarians for to season the wood of this Citron tree vse to burie the green bourds or plankes thereof within the ground and besmeare them all ouer with wax But the artificers and workemen do put them for 7 daies within heaps of corne and stay 7 daies more ere they be wrought a wonder it is incredible how much of the weight the wood loses by this means Meorouer of late daies we haue found the experience by shipwracks that this timber also wil by nothing in the world be sooner dried nor hardened to last a long time without corruption than by sea-water Howbeit to maintaine these tables best and to cause them for to shine bright the way is to rub them with a drie hand especially after that a man is newly come out of the baines or hot house Neither catch they any harme or staine if wine be spilt thereupon so as it should seeme they were naturally made for wine To conclude a tree this is seruing for the ornaments of this life and the trim furniture of our house few or none like to it and therfore me thinks I do not amisse to continue the discourse thereof somewhat longer than ordinarie CHAP. XVI ¶ Of the tree Thya what it is WEll knowne vnto Homer was this tree which in Greeke is named * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but some call it Thya for among other daintie odors and sweet woods he reports That dame Circe whom he would haue to be reputed as a goddesse burnt of this Thyon And therefore much deceiued are they who vnderstand by that word Thyon perfumes and lodoriferous spice considering that in one and the very same verse the Poet maketh mention of the Cedar and Larch tree together with Thyon whereby it appeareth plaine that he spake of trees onely Theophrastus who after the daies of Alexander the Great was the first that wrate the historie of those acts which happened about the 440 yeare from the foundation of Rome gaue great honour euen then to this Tree and reported That all carpenters worke of temples in old time was made of the same as of a timber euerlasting and which in roufes would continue without all putrefaction and corruption whatsoeuer Moreouer he writeth That the wood of the root is so curled and frisled as none more and that of no timber besides are more curious peeces of works made nor of greater price Ouer and besides he saith That the fairest and goodliest trees of this kind doe grow about the temple of Iupiter Hammon and some of them also within the countrey Cyrenaica toward the inland parts But all this while not a word of the foresaid costly tables speakes he in his whole history and verily before that of Ciceroes there is no record in writers of any such tables whereby it appeareth that they become vp but of late daies Another tree there is
is not like as wine is neither is there such difference in so many kinds of oliues as there is in wine for surely we cannot at the most obserue aboue three degrees in the goodnesse of oiles namely according to the first second and third running out of the presse Finally the thinner that oile is and the more subtill the finer and daintier is the smell thereof and yet the same same sent in the very best of them all continueth but a small time CHAP. IIII. ¶ The nature of Oile Oliue THe property of oile is to warm the body and to defend it against the iniuries of cold and yet a soueraigne thing it is to coole and mitigate the hot distemperature of the head The Greekes whom wee may count the very fathers and fosters of all vices haue peruerted the true and right vse thereof to serue for all excesse and superfluitie euen as far as to the common annointing of their wrastlers with it in their publick place of exercise Known it is for certain that the gouernors and wardens of those places haue sold the oile that hath beene scraped from the bodies of the said wrastlers for 80 Sesterces at a time But the stately maiesty of Rome contrariwise hath done so great honour to the Oliue tree that euery yere in Iuly when the Ides come they were wont to crowne their men of armes and gentlemen marching by their troups and squadrons in solemne wise with chaplets of oliue yea and the manner was of captains likewise to enter ouant in pety triumphes into Rome adorned with Oliue coronets The Athenians also honoured their conquerors with Oliue garlands But generally the Greekes did set out their victors at the games of Olympia with branches of the wild-oliue CHAP. V. ¶ The manner how to order Oliues NOw will I report the precepts and rules set down by Cato as touching oliues His opinion is that the greater long Oliue Radius of Salentum the big Orchites the Pausia the Sergiana Cominiana and the Albicera should be planted in hot and fat grounds He addes moreouer as hee was a man of singular dexterity and prudent spirit which of them in the neighbour territories and places adioining were taken for the best As for the Licinian Oliues he saith They would be planted in a weely and cold hungry ground for if it be a fat soile and a hot the oile wil be corrupt and naught and the very tree it self wil in short time be killed with ouermuch fertility and bearing too great a burden Moreouer they will put forth a red kind of mosse which eateth and consumeth the tree To conclude his mind is that Oliue hort-yards should be exposed to the sun yet so as they regard the West wind also in any case for otherwise he commendeth them not CHAP. VI. ¶ How to keep Oliues and the way to make oile of them CAto alloweth of no other means to keep and preserue oliues and specially the great ones made like cullions named thereupon Orchita and the Pausiae but either in brine and pickle when they are greene or else among Lentisk branches when they are bruised and broken The best oile is made saith he of the greenest and sourest oliues Moreouer so soon as euer they be faln they must be gathered from off the ground and if they be fouled and beraied with the earth they ought to be washed clean and then laid to dry three daies at the most Now if it fall out to be weather disposed vnto frost they should be pressed at 4 daies end He giueth order also to bestrew and sprinkle them with salt saying moreouer that if they be kept in borded sollors or garners the oile will be both lesse in quantitie worse withal So it wil be also if it be let lie long in the lees or together with the cake and grounds when they be bruised and beaten for this is the very fleshie and grosse substance of the Oliues which cannot chuse but breed filthy dregs And therfore he ordaineth that oftentimes in a day it should be poured out of one vessell into another so by setling clarified from the grounds then to put it vp afterwards into pans and panchions of earth or els into vessels or kimnels of lead for brasse mettall wil mar oile All this should be done within close presses and rooms and those kept shut where no aire or wind may come in that they might be as warm and hot as stouves He forbids also to cut any wood or fuel there to maintain fire for that the fire made of their stones and kernels is most kindly of any other To the end also that the grounds lees should be liquified and turn into oile euen to the very last drop the oile should be let run out of those vessels or kimnels aforesaid into a vat or cistern for which purpose the vessels are often to be clensed the ozier paniers to be scoured with a spunge that the oile might stand most pure clear But afterward came vp the deuise to wash oliues first in hot water then immediatly to put them whole as they are into the presse for by that means they squize forth lees all and then anon to bruise and crush them in a mil so presse them in the end Moreouer it is not thought good to presse the second time aboue 100 Modij which is the full proportion of one pressure it is called Factus That which after the mil comes first is named the floure of the oile or the Mere-gout Lastly to presse 300 Modij is thought to be foure mens work ordinarily in one night and a day CHAP. VII ¶ Of Oile Artificiall IN Cato his time there was no artificiall Oiles I meane no other but that of the Oliue and tâ—…refore I suppose it was that he made no mention thereof but now adaies there be many kinds First will we treat of those that are made of trees and principally before all the rest of the oile of the wild oliue thin it is and much more bitter than that of the other gentle true Oliue but good for medicines onely Very like to it is that which is made of Chamelaea an herb or shrub growing in stony places to the heigth of a span no more with leaues and berries resembling those of the wild oliue The next is that which commeth of Cici or Ricinus i Palma Christi a plant which groweth plentifully in Aegypt which some call Croto others Trixis or wild Sesam but long it hath not been there In Spaine likewise this Ricinus is found of late to rise suddenly to the heigth of an Oliue tree bearing the stalke of Ferula or Fennel-Geant clad with leaues of the vine and replenished with seed resembling the graines or kernels of small and slender grapes and of a pale colour withall we in Latine call it Ricinus of the resemblance that the seed hath to a ticke which is a vermin that annoies sheepe For
the same which at first was Helix and clasped trees in tract of time changed the leafe and became a very Iuie tree but fouly they are deceiued and disproued plainly they may be by this That of the said clasping Iuie Helix there be many kinds and three principall aboue the rest The first of grasse greene colour which groweth most common the second with a white leafe and the third called also the Thracian Iuie which hath leaues of diuers colours The foresaid greene Iuie is fuller of leaues and those finer and set in better order than in others whereas the contrary is to be seen in the white kind also in the third sort with variety of colours some haue smaller and thinner leaues couched likewise in good order and thicker growing whereas in the middle kind no such thing may be obserued Ouer and besides the leaues of Iuie are bigger or lesse spotted also and marked in which regard one differeth from another Among the white Iuies some be whiter than other The green Iuie groweth most of all others in length the white killeth trees for by sucking and soking al the sap and moisture out of them it feedeth and thriueth so wel it selfe that it becommeth in the end as big as a tree A man may know an Iuie being come to his perfection by these signes the leaues are very big and large withal the tree putteth forth yong shoots straight whereas in others they be crooked and bend inward the berries also stand in their clusters directly vpright Moreouer whereas the branches of all other Iuies be made like vnto roots this hath boughes strong and sturdy aboue the rest and next vnto it the black kind howbeit this property hath the white Iuie by it self that amid the leaues it putteth forth armes that clasp and embrace the tree round on euery side which it doth vpon walls likewise although it cannot so well compasse them And hereupon it is that although it be cut asunder in many places yet it continueth and liueth stil and looke how many such arms it hath so many heads likewise of roots are to be seen whereby it maintaineth it selfe safe and sound and is besides of that force as to suck and choke the trees that it claspeth Furthermore there is great diuersity in the fruit as well of the white as the black Iuie As for the rest the berries of them are so exceeding bitter as no bird wil touch them And yet there is one kind more of Iuy which is very stiffe and standeth alone of it selfe without any prop to beare it vp and this of all others only is therupon called Cissos or Iuie indeed Contrariwise Chamaecissos i. ground Iuie is neuer knowne but to creep along the ground CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of the Bind-weed or Iuie called Smilax LIke vnto Iuie is that plant which they call Smilax or rough Bind-weed It came first out of Cilicia howbeit more commonly it is to be seen in Greece it putteth forth stalks set thicke with ioints or knots and those thrust out many thornie branches The leafe resembleth Iuie and the same is small and nothing cornered from a little stele that it hath it sendeth forth certain pretty tendrils to clasp and wind about the floure is white and smelleth like to a Lilly it beareth clusters comming nearer to those grapes of the wild vine Labrusca than to the berries of Iuie red of color wherof the bigger contain within them 3 kernels or pepins apiece the smaller but one and those be hard and black withall This Smilax is not vsed in any sacrifices or diuine seruice of the gods nor serueth for garlands and chaplets for that it is held to be dolefull and ominous or of an vnlucky presage by occasion of a certain yong lady or Damosell of that name who for the loue of the young gallant and knight Crocus was turned into this shrub or plant retaining still her name which the ignorant people not knowing but taking it for a kind of Iuie stick not to make coronets therof profaning by that means many times their high feasts and sacred solemnities and yet who woteth not with what chaplets Poets are crowned and what garlands prince Bacchus or Silenus vsed to weare Of this Smilax are made certain manuell writing tables And this property moreouer hath the wood thereof That if a man hold it close to his eare he shall heare it to giue a pretty sound But to return againe to the Iuie indeed it hath by report a strange and wonderful vertue to trie wines whether they be delaied with water or no for make a cup of Iuie wood and put wine thereinto all the wine will soke and run through but the water if any be mingled therewith will tarry behind CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of Reeds Canes and other water shrubs IN this discourse touching plants that loue cold places it wil not be amisse to treat of those that grow in waters Among which the Reeds and Canes may be raunged in the first place for necessarie they be in time both of war and peace they haue their vse besides and are accepted among the delightsom pleasures of this world Moreouer in the Northern regions the people vse therewith to couer and thatch their houses and this kind of roofe will last many ages if it be laid with a thick coat euen vpon high and stately houses In other parts also of the world they are woont with it to make their arch-roufes and hanging floores of most sleight worke As for Canes particularly and those of Aegypt by name which haue a certaine resemblance of the Papyr-reed in Nilus they serue for writing Paper Howbeit those of Gnidos and which grow in Asia along the lake or meere of Anaia be held for the best As for ours heere in Italy they are of a more spungeous substance and gristly matter apt to sucke and drinke vp any liquour The same within-forth is full of holes and concauities but conuerted aloft into a fine wooddy rind and in time becommeth drie fast and hard Apt it is to cleaue and the clifts euermore carry with them a very sharp edge and besides it is full of ioints Now this woodie substance being thus distinctly parted by knots runneth alwaies euen and smooth growing smaller and smaller vntill it proue sharpe pointed in the top with a head consisting of a good thicke downe or plume which serueth also to right good purposes for either in stead of feathers they vse to stuffe beds therewith in common Innes or when it is growne hard and hath a slimie callositie about it they in Picardie and those Nether-lands do stampe it and therewith calfret or calke the ioints of their ships betweene the ribs and plankes and herein it hath no fellow for it taketh faster hold than any glue and for filling vp any rifts and chinks no solder so strong no pitch so sure and trustie Of Reeds the Easterlings make their shafts and archers they be that fight their battels and
at root and beare the fairer head Let that which you cut or shred be so little short withal that it resemble a mans fist rather than a bough the thicker will it come again a tree no doubt that would not be set in the lowest rank but be wel regarded how soeuer we make but base reckoning thereof for surely there is not a tree for reuenue and profit more safe and certain for cost lesse chargeable and for iniury of weather in better security Certes Cato among the commodities that commend a good ferm or manor esteemeth it in the third place and preferreth the increase and benefit thereby before the gain that groweth from oliue rows corn fields good medows Yet hereof we must not infer that we are not furnished with many other things which wil serue for bands to bind withal for we haue certain sorts of Spart or Spanish broom we haue Poplars Elmes the Sanguine-shrubs Birch clouen Reeds leaues of Cane as for example in Liguria the cuttings also of the very Vine and Briars so their sharp pricks be cut away to tie withall yea and the Hazell wands also so they be writhen and twined wherein a man may see a wonderful property That a wood should be stronger for to bind withal when it is crushed and bruised than whiles it was entire and sound All these I say are good for bands and yet the willow hath a gift therein beyond all the rest The Greek willow is red and commonly is sliuen for to make wit hs The Amerian Osier is the whiter but more brittle and soon wil crack therfore it is put to that vse of binding sound and whole as it groweth and not clouen through In Asia they make account of three sorts of willows the black which they imploy to wind and bind withal so tough and pliant it is the white wherewith husbandmen make their wicker paniers and baskets with other such vessels for their vse as for the third it is the shortest of all other and they cal it Helix or Helice With vs also here in Italy there be as many kinds those distinguished by their seuerall names the first which is of a deep purple colour they call the free osier or willow and that is so good for bands the second which is more thin and slender is named Vitelina or Vitellinam rather for the yellow colour of the yolke of egges for the bright hew that it hath the third that is smallest of all three is the French willow To come now to the brittle Rushes that grow in marish grounds which serue to thatch houses and to make mats and the pith whereof when the rind is pilled maketh wieke for watch-candles and funerall lights to burne by a dead corps whiles it lieth aboue ground they cannot iustly be reckoned in the ranke either of shrubbes or Brier-bushes and Brambles ne yet of tall plants growing vp with stems and stalks no more than among Hearbes and Weeds creeping along the ground but are to be counted a seuerall kind by it selfe True it is that in some places there are to be found rushes more stiffe hard and strong than in others For not onely mariners and watermen in the riuer Po do make sailes thereof but fishermen also of Affrick in the maine sea howbeit they hang their sailes betweene the masts from mast to mast after a preposterous manner contrary to all other The Mores also do couer their cottages with Bulrushes and surely if a man looke neerly to the nature of them they may seeme to serue for that vse which the Papyr-reeds in the netherland of Aegypt are put vnto about the descent and fall of the riuer Nilus As touching Brambles they may go among the shrubs of the water so may the Elders also which consist of a spungeous kind of matter yet cannot wel be counted among those plants which bee termed Fenels-gyant for surely the Elder standeth more vpon the wood than they do The shepherds are verily persuaded that the Elder tree growing in a by-place farre out of the way and from whence a man cannot heare a cock crow out of any town maketh more shrill pipes and louder trumpes than any other The Brambles beare certaine berries like the Mulberries euen as the sweet Brier of another kind which they call Cynosbatos or the Eglantine carieth the resemblance of a Rose A third sort there is of brambles which the Greeks cal Idea of the mountaine Ida. This is the Raspis smaller it is and more slender than the rest with lesse pricks vpon it and nothing so sharpe and hooked The floure of this Raspis beeing tempered with hony is good to be laied to bleared and bloud-shotten eies as also to the wild-fire or disease called Saint Anthonies fire Being taken inwardly and namely drunk with water it is very comfortable to a weake stomacke The Elder beareth certain blacke and small berries full of a grosse and viscous humor vsed especially to die the haire of the head black If they be boiled in water they are good and wholsome to be eaten as other pot-herbs CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ Of the iuice or humor in trees The nature of their wood and timber The time and manner of felling and cutting downe trees TRees haue a certaine moisture in their barkes which we must vnderstand to be their very bloud yet is it not the same nor alike in all for that of the Fig trees is as white as milke and as good as rendles to giue the forme to cheese Cherry trees yeeld a glutinous and clammy humor but Elmes a thin liquor in manner of spittle In Apple trees the same is fattie and viscous in Vines and Pyrries waterish And generally those trees continue and liue longest that haue such a glewy moisture in them In summe there are to be considered in the substance and body of trees like as of all other liuing creatures their skin their bloud flesh sinues veins bones and marrow For in lieu of their hide is the barke And I assure you a strange and maruellous thing it is to be obserued here in the Mulberry that when Physitians seek to draw the foresaid liquour out of it at seuen or eight a clocke in a morning if they scarifie or lightly cut the bark with a stone it issueth forth and they haue their desire but if they crush or cut it deeper in they meet with no more moisture than if it were stark dry In most trees next to the skin lieth the fat this is nought else but that white sap which of the colour is called in Latin Alburnum As it is soft in substance so is it the worst part of the wood and euen in the strong oke as hard as otherwise it is ye shal haue it soon to putrifie and rot yea and quickly be worm-eaten And therefore if a man would haue sound and good timber this white must be alwaies cut away in the squaring After it followeth the flesh of the tree and so
he is that hee beareth downe before him the roofe of many a house and carrieth it cleane away CHAP. III. ¶ The societie of the skie and aire with the earth respectiue to trees SOme men do force the skie for to be obedient conformable to the earth as namely when planting in dry grounds they haue regard to the East and North and contariwise when in moist places they respect the South Moreouer it falleth out that they be driuen otherwhiles to follow the nature of the very Vines and thereby to be ruled wherupon in cold ground they plant such as be of the hastie kind and soone ripen their grapes to the end that they may come to their maturity and perfection before cold weather comes As for such Vines and trees bearing fruit as canot abide dews those they set in to the East that the Sun may soon dispatch and consume the said dew but looke what trees do loue dewes and like well therewith those they will be sure to plant against the West or at leastwise toward the North to the end they may inioy the full benefit thereof All others againe grounding in manner vpon natural reason only haue giuen counsell to set as well Vines as Trees into the Northeast And Democritus verily is of this mind that such fruits will bee more pleasant and odoriferous CHAP. IIII. ¶ The quality of sundrie regions AS touching the proper seat of the Northeast wind and of all other winds we haue spoken already in the second booke and our purpose is in the next following to treat of the rising and falling of signes and notable stars of other Astronomical points also concerning heauen Now in the mean time for this present it is sufficient that in the former rule of the North wind we seem to rest and resolue vpon the apparent and euident argument of the wholesome and healthfull climate of the heauen forasmuch as we see that euermore all such trees as stand into the South soonest shed their leaues the same reason also is to be giuen of those that grow vpon the sea coasts and albeit in some places the winds blowing from thence and the very aire of the sea be hurtfull yet in most parts the same are good and profitable Certaine plants and trees there are which take pleasure to be remot from the sea and ioy to haue the sight of it only a farre off set them neerer to the vapors and exhalations ascending from thence they will take harm and mislike therewith The like is to be said of great riuers lakes and standing pooles As for those which we haue spoken of they either burn their fruit with such mists or refresh and coole such as be hot with their shade yea take joy and prosper in the frost and cold And therfore to conclude this point the surest way is to beleeue trust vpon experience thus much for this present concerning the heauen our next discourse will be of the Earth and Soile the consideration whereof is no lesse difficult to be handled than the other First and formost all grounds are not alike good for trees and most kinds of corne For neither the black mould such as Campain standeth vpon much as in all places best for Vines or that which â—…umeth and sendeth vp small and thin mists neither is the red veine of earth any better how soeuer there be many that commend it The white earth or chalkie marle the clay also within the territory of Alba and Pompeij for a vineyard are generally preferred before all other countries although they be exceeding fat which in that case is otherwise vsually reiected On the other side the white sand about * Ticinum likewise the blacke mould or grit in many places as also the red sandy ground although it be wel mingled tempred with fat earth are all of them nothing to the purpose for increase fruitfulnesse And herein must men take heed because oftentimes their judgement may faile when it goeth but by the eie for wee must not streight waies conclude that the ground is rich battle wheron we see goodly faire tall trees to grow vnlesse it be for those trees only for where shal we meet with any higher than the Fir is there a tree again that possibly can liue where it doth No more is rank grasse plentifull forrage a true token alwaies of a good ground for there is no better pasture nor grasing to be found than in Almaine and yet dig but vp the greene sourd and the thinnest coat of turfe that may be ye shal presently come to barren sand vnder it ne yet is it by by a moist ground that hath vpon it deepe grasse and hearbes shooting vp in height no more verily than a fat and rich soile is knowne by sticking to one fingers as appeareth plainly in all sorts of clay And verily no earth doth fill vp the trenches euen againe out of which it was cast that therby a man might find out whether the ground be sad or hollow and generally all sorts thereof will cause yron to rust that shal be put into it Moreouer there is no weighing of earth in ballance to know by that means which is lighter or heauier for who could possibly euer set down the iust weight that earth should haue Againe the ground that is cast vp into banks by the ouerflow of great riuers is not alwaies commendable seeing that some plants there be that decay if they be set in water And say that some such bank were ground good enough yet it continueth not so long vnlesse it be for Willowes and oisiers onely But if you would know a rich ground indeed one of the best arguments and signes therof is this when you see it to bring forth a thick strong haulme or straw such as vsually groweth in that noble territorie Laborine within Campaine which is of that bignesse that the people of the country vse it for fewell in stead of wood Now this ground so good as it is where whensoeuer we haue found it is hard enough to be tilled and requireth great labour and husbandry putting the poore husbandman to more paines in manner with that goodnesse of it than possibly he could haue with any defects and imperfections thereof For euen the hot earth called by the name of Carbunculus which vseth to burn the corne sown therupon may be helped remedied as it is thought by setting it with plants of poore hungry vines The rough grauell stone which naturally will crumble as grit many writers there bee that allow and commend for vines As for Virgil he findeth no fault with the ground that beareth fern and brake for a Vineyard The earth that is brackish and standeth much vpon salt pâ—…tre is thought to be more found for many plants than others and in regard of vermine that vse to breed therein much safer also Neither do high banks and hils remaine vntilled and naked for want of
be made of Zea than of Wheat and called it is Granum or Granatum although in Alica that be counted a fault To conclude they that wil not vse chalk do blanch and make their Frumentie white by seething milke with it and mingling all together CHAP. XII ¶ Of Pulse IT followeth now to write of the nature of Pulse among which Beanes do challenge the first ranke and principall place for thereof men haue assaied to make bread The meale of Beans is called in Latine Lomentum There is not a Pulse weigheth more than it and Beane meale makes euery thing heauier wherin it is Now adaies they vse to sel it for prouender to feed horses And indeed Beanes are dressed and vsed many waies not only to serue all kind of four-footed beasts but also for man especially For in most countries it is mingled with Frumentiâ—… corn and namely with Pannicke most of all whole and entire as it is but the more delicat and daintie way is to break and bruise it first Moreouer by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice called Fabraria the maner was to offer vnto certain gods and goddesses Beane cakes This was taken for a strong food being eaten with a thick grewel or pottage howbeit men thought that it dulled a mans sences and vnderstanding yea and caused troublesome dreames in the night In regard of which inconueniences Pythagoras expressely forbad to eat Beanes but as some haue thought and taught it was because folke imagined that the soules of such as were departed had residence therein which is the reason also that they be ordinarily vsed and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead Varro also affirmeth That the great Priest or Sacrificer called the Flamine abstains from Beanes both in those respects aforesaid as also for that there are to be seen in the floure thereof certain letters or characters that shewheauines and signs of death Further there was obserued in old time a religious ceremonie in Beanes for when they had sown their grounds their maner was of all other corne to bring back with them out of the fieldes some Beanes for good luck sake presaging thereby that their corne would returne home again vnto them and these Beanes thereupon were called in Latine Refriuae or Referiuae Likewise in all port-sales it was thought that if Beanes were entermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would be luckie and gainefull to the seller This is cerataine that of all the fruits of the earth this only will be full and sound when the Moone is croisant notwithstanding it were gnawne and halfe eaten with some thing before Set them ouer the fire in a pan with sea water or any other that is saltish they will neuerbe thoroughly sodden They are set or sowne before the retrait of the Starre Vergiliae i. the Brood-hen the first of al other Pulse because they might take root betimes and preuent the Winter And yet Virgill would haue them to be put into the ground in the Spring like as the manner is in Piemont and Lombardie all about the riuer Po. But the greater part of good Husbandmen are of this opinion That the stalke or straw of Beanes sowne early or set betimes are better than the very fruit it selfe which hath had but three months being in the ground For the cods and stalks only of Beans are passing good fodder and forage for cattell Beanes when they are blouming and in their floure desire most of al to be refreshed with good store of rain but after they haue don flouring they care for little the sowing of this Pulse in any ground is as good as a mucking vnto it for it enriches it mightily And therefore towards Macedonie and about Thessalie the manner is when Beanes begin to blossom for to turne them into the ground with the plough Beans come vp and grow in most places of their owne accord without sowing and namely in certaine Islands lying within the Northern ocean which our countrymen therupon haue named Fabariae Semblably they grow wild commonly thoroughout Mauritania but exceeding hard and tough they be and such as possibly canot be sodden tender There are likewise in Aegypt to be found Beanes with a stalk beset full of prickles or thornes which is the cause that Crocodiles wil not come neer them for feare of hurting their eyes The stemme of these Beanes is foure cubites in height but exceeding thicke and big withall tender it is notwithstanding and soft running vp euen and smooth without any knots or joints at al it caries a head in the top like Chesboule or Poppy of a rose red color wherin are contained not aboue 30 Beanes at the most The leaues be large the fruit it selfe or the Bean is bitter in tast and the smel not pleasant howbeit the root is a most dainty meat which the inhabitants do eat as wel raw as sodden and like it is to reed cane roots These grow in Syria and Cylicia as also about the lake Torone within Chalcis As touching other Pulse Lentils be sown in Nouember and so are Pease but in Greece only Lentils loue a light ground better than a fat heauie they like also drie and faire weather Two kinds thereof be found in Aegypt the one more round and blacke than the other the rest be fashioned as common Lentils According to the manifold vse and diuers effects of Lentils there haue sundrie names and denominations beene borrowed from them for I find in writers that the eating of Lentils maketh men to be mild and patient whereupon they be called Lenti and Lenes As for Pease it ought to be sowed in warm places lying well vpon the Sunne for of all things it cannot abide the cold Which is the cause that in Italie and in other countries where the clime is tough and hard they are not sowne vsually but in the Spring and folke chuse a gentle light and loose ground To come now to the Ciâ—…h pease the nature of it is to be nitrous and saltish and therefore it burneth the ground where it grows Neither must it be sowne vnlesse it were well steeped and soked in water the day before many sorts there be of these cich-pease different in bignes form colour and tast for there are both blacke and white and those in fashion shaped like to a Rams head and therupon they are so called There is a second kind named Columbinum or by others Venerium These are white round light lesse than the former Rams-head ciches which men do eat ceremoniously with great religion when they meane to watch thoroughly all night long There is a little cich pease also called Cicercula made cornered and otherwise vneuen like vnto a Pease But the best ciches and most pleasant are those that come neerest in resemblance to the Eruile and generally the red kind and the black are more firm and fast than the white cich pease grow within round cods whereas other Pulse
from the red wheat Far it ought to be sowne very thicke with Vetches otherwhiles mingled among In Africke the same mixture is made of Barley All these are good onely for prouender and beasts forage as also a bastard kind of Vetches called Cracca which pigeons loue so well that if they be fed once therewith they will neuer leaue the place where they tasted it nor flie far from thence In time past our ancestors had a kind of fodder or prouender which Cate called Ocymum wherewith they vsed to stay the gurrie in kine and oxen This forrage was made of beane stalks cut downe greene as it stood before it was iointed and codded But Sura Manlius taketh this dredge to be another thing saying that in old time they vsed to put vnto ten Modij of beanes two of Vetches and as many of Eruile and so were wont to blend al together and sow them in an acre of ground at the fall of the leafe and saith he it would be the better balimong if there were some Greek Otes mingled withall such as neuer shed the seed out of the haw this manner of dredge was called vsually Ocymum and was woont to be sowne for a kind of forrage to serue kine and Oxen. Varro saith that it tooke that name because it commeth vp so speedily as being deriued from the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Quicke or Swift As for the grasse or herbe Medica a kind of Clauer or Trefoile the Greekes held it in old time for a meere stranger as being brought into Greece from Media during the Persian warres which king Darius leuied against Greece howbeit an excellent Simple it is and worthie to be written of in the first place And to begin withal this singular property it hath That with once sowing it continueth aboue thirty yeares without any need of renewing Like it is to Clauer or three leaued grasse both in lease and stalke but that the stemme is parted by knots and ioints Moreouer as it riseth higher and runneth vp in the stalke the leaues grow narrower of this herb alone and of Cytisus Amphilochus compiled one whole book howbeit he wrote of them both confusedly The ground wherein it is to be sowed after it is well rid of stones and clensed must be broken vp and well tilled in the fall of the leafe Soone after it needeth to haue another fallow and be harrowed withall and then couered with hardles this would be done two or three times fiue daies between and therewith it ought to be throughly dunged This herb requireth a sound dry ground and yet such as is full of succulent moisture within or else where water is neere at hand to command The ground being thus prepared ought to be sowed in the moneth of May following for otherwise the frost would take it and marre all Moreouer requisite it is that it be sowed very thick so as euery place be taken vp therewith thereby to exclude all other weeds and giue them no roome there to grow To this effect therefore euery acre will take 20 Modij or pecks of seed But take heed withall that it be not burnt so soon as it is put into the ground therfore immediatly it must be couered with mould If the soile be moist and giuen to bear other grasse the seed is soon ouergrown and choked and then al wil run to grasse turn to be a medow which grasse or coich when you see begin to ouerrun the ground it must be all weeded out presently an inch deepe within the ground and by hand rather than any weeding-hooke or thistle spade Now when this hearbe Medica or Clauer grasse begins once to floure cut it down and so oftenas it floureth againe downe with it Thus you may haue six mathes in one yere or four at the least You must neuer let it spindle and beare seed for better is it to take it thus in the growth while it is but young and greene grasse for three yeares together and the forrage or fodder is most profitable Sowne I say it must be in the Spring and weeded for the first three yeares The green sourd afterwards ought to be pared away with hookes and spades close to the ground for by this meanes you shall be sure that all other weeds will die and this hearbe take no harme by it for that by this time it is deepely rooted If the weeds do get head and ouercome it the onely remedie is by the plough to turne vp the ground ouer and ouer so many times vntill all other roots be killed Moreouer heed must be taken that of this herbage or fodder beasts do not eat their fil for feare you be driuen of necessitie to let them bloud and take downe their rankenesse The greener that it is the more profit commeth thereof for it drieth branch after branch vntil at length it will crumble like dust or powder and then is it good for nothing As touching Cytisus i. the Shrub Trifolie which is a singular kind of pasturage passes al the rest I haue written at ful in my discourse of shrubs For now at this present I am to prosecure and goe through the treatise of other sorts of corne and their nature if I had once written somewhat in one part thereof as touching the accidents and imperfections that happen among them CHAP. XVII ¶ The faults incident to corne and their remedies Also what corne is respectiue to this or that soile for to be sowne therein THe first and principall defect obserued in bread-corne and Wheat especially is when it doth degenerate and turne into Otes and not only it but Barley also doth the like Semblably Otes otherwhiles serue the turne in stead of bread corne as wee may see in some countries of Almaine where they do vsually sow it and commonly they haue no other pottage there than Oatmeale gruell which they call Abremouz The foresaid defect and imperfection is occasioned chiefely by the moist soile or ouerwet weather Another cause there followeth also thereupon proceeding from the feeblenesse and weaknesse of the seed namely when it lieth long sobbing in the ground before it come vp and hereto may be referred the faultines of the seed otherwise namely if it were worm-eaten or otherwise rotten at the time of sowing and verily no sooner appeareth it aboue ground but the foresaid change or bastardie may be seene whereby it doth appeare that the cause is in the root A second defect or imperfection there is also incident to corn which hath some neer resemblance to the Otes aforesaid namely when the graine being formed and newly come to the iust proportion of bignesse howbeit not yet full and ripe before that it is firm and hard is smitten with a noisome blast and so like an abortiue fruit decaieth and windereth away within the eare in such sort as there is no substance left therein but appeareth void and emptie Now these aduerse and malignant
winds hurt all spiked corne as well Wheat as Barly at three seueral times to wit in their floure presently vpon their blooming and last of all when they begin to ripen for then namely when they are vpon the point of maturitie those blasts consume the grain and bring it to nothing which before was full whereas at the two former seasons they hinder it altogether from knitting and growing The hot gleames moreouer of the Sun betweene often clouding do much harme to corne Furthermore there be certaine little wormes breeding in the root that do eat it which happeneth by occasion of much raine falling immediatly after the seednesse especially when some sudden heat and drowth ensueth therupon which bindeth the earth aboue and so encloseth the moisture conceiued within the very cause nourice of putrifaction Ye shall haue other such like vermin engender likewise in the very grain of the corn namely when the ear doth glow within and is chafed with sultry hot rains Ouer and besides there be certain green flies like small Beetles called Cantharides which do gnaw and eat the corne But al these and such like worms or flies die presently when the corn which was their food is gone Moreouer Oile Pitch and Tarre all manner of greace also be contrarie to seed-corne especially and therefore take heed that you sow none such as hath caught oile pitch or grease As for showers of raine good they are for corne so long only as it is in the green blade when corne is blooming be it either wheat or barley or such like raine is hurtfull Mary Pulse takes no harme thereby vnlesse it be the Cich-pease All kinds of wheat and other bread corne when they be toward ripenesse catch hurt by showers but Barley more than any Besides all this there is a certaine white hearbe or weed resembling Panicke growing among corne and ouerspreading whole fields which not onely hindereth corne but also killeth all the cattell that feedeth thereupon For as touching ray or darnel burs thistles and brambles I may hold and reckon them not so much for faults and imperfections of corn as rather the plagues and infections proceeding from the very earth And for blasting which commeth of some distemperature of the aire a mischiefe common as well to corn as vines it is as hurtful as any other malady whatsoeuer This vnhappie blast falleth most often in places subject to mists and dewes and namely hollow vallies and low grounds lying vnder the winde for contrariwise windie quarters and such as are mounted high are not subiect to this inconuenience Also we may number among the faults incident to corne their rankenesse namely when the blade is so ouergrowne and the stalke so charged and loden with a heauie head that the corn standeth not vpright but is lodged lieth along Moreouer when there fals a great glut of rain insomuch as the ground stands with water there befalleth vnto all corn and pulse yea and whatsoeuer is sowne a certaine disease called in Latine Vrica insomuch as the very Cich-pease taketh hurt therby for by reason that the rain washed from them that salt quality which was naturall thereunto it becommeth sweeter than it should be and loseth the kind tast There is a weed that claspeth and tieth about Ciches and Eruiles wherby it choketh and killeth them both and thereupon it is called Orobanctum i. Choke Eruile After the same maner dealeth Ray or Darnel by wheat wild Otes likewise named by some Aegilops with barly as also the weed Securidaca i. Ax-fitch which the Greeks also for the resemblance that it hath to an axe head call Pelicinon with Lentils These weeds I say kill corne by winding about it Another herb there is growing neere to the city Philippi which killeth Beans if the ground be fat and good they name the said weed Ateramnon but if it be found in a hungry and leane soile and namely when being wet some vnhappy wind bloweth vpon it they call it Teramnon As for the graine of Raie or Darnell it is very small and lieth inclosed with a sharpe-pointed husk The bread which hath any of this seed in it soone causeth dizinesse and swimming of the head And by report in Asia and Greece the masters of the common Bains and Stuphes when they would keep away the great resort of multitude thither haue a deuise to cast Darnell seeds vpon burning coles for this perfume will quickly set them farther off Moreouer if the Winter proue to be wet and waterish ye shall haue in the Pulse called Eruile a little vermin ingendred there called Phalangion and it is of the kind of these spiders Likewise vpon Vetches there wil breed naked dew-snails yea otherwhile those little ones with shels or houses on their backs which creeping from the ground wil gnaw eat them that it is a wonder to see what foul work they will make Thus much concerning all the maladies and inconueniences to speak of incident to corne It remaineth now to treat of the remedies As touching the cure of those harms that come by hurtful weeds to the corn in blade it consisteth principally in two things namely either in the vse of the weeding knife or hooke when they be newly come vp or els in strewing ashes when the corn is a sowing But as for those dangers that touch the seed or grain in the eare and cod as also that settle about the root they must be preuented by good forecast euen before it be thrown into the ground It is generaly thought that if seed-corn lie steeped beforehand in Wine it will be better able afterwards to resist all diseases whatsoeuer Virgil giueth order to infuse or soke the Beanes that must be sown in nitre and oile lees or dregs and he assureth vs that they will prosper mightily besides and become exceeding great But others are of opinion that if for 3 daies before they be cast into the earth they lie in vrine shere water mingled together they wil being thus prepared come on apace and thriue passing well It is said moreouer That if Beans be thrice raked and rid from weedes one Modius of them being whole and solid wil yeeld a Modius again after it is husked broken As for other seed-corn it wil escape the danger of the worme if either it lie before among Cypresse leaues bruised or be sowed in and about the change of the Moon namely when she is not to be seen aboue the earth in our hemisphaere Many there be who practise other remedies namely for the Millet they would haue a toad to be caried round about the field before that it be harrowed which done to be put close within an earthen pot and so buried in the middest of the said field and by this meanes for sooth neither Sparrows will lie vpon the corn nor any worm hurt it Mary in any case this same toad must be digged out of the ground againe before the field be
mowed els will the Millet proue bitter in tast The like experiment they say is of a Moldwarps shoulder for if any corn be sowed or touched therewith before it will come vp the better and bring more increase Democritus had a deuise by himselfe for all seed corn whatsoeuer namely to temper soke the same corn in the iuice of the herb housleeke or Sen-greene growing vpon houses either tiled or shindled which in Greeke is called Aizoon and in Latine Sedum or Digitellum for this medicine will serue for all maladies The common practise of our husbandmen is this in case through the ouersweet sap or juice in greene corne wormes take to the roots for to sprinkle them with simple oile lees pure and clean without any salt afterwards to rake it in Also when the corn begins to ioint and gathet into knots then to clense the ground and put off no longer for feare least the weeds do get head ouergrow This I am sure vpon mine owne knowledge that there is an herbe but what proper name it hath I wote not which if it be interred in the foure corners of a field that is sown with Millet it wil driue away Stares and Sparrows which otherwise would by whole flights and flocks lie thereupon and do much harme nay I will speake a greater word and which may seeme wonderfull There is not a bird of the aire one or other that dare enter or approch such a field Field-mice and Rats are skared away and will not touch corne which before the sowing was either bestrewed with the ashes of weasels or cats or els drenched with the liquor and decoction of water wherein they were boiled howbeit this inconuenience insueth hereupon That bread made of such corn will haue a smach and sent strongly of such cats and Weasels and therefore it is supposed a more expedient and safer way to medicine our seed corne with oxe gall for to preserue it from the said Mice and Rats But what remedy against the blast and mildew the greatest plague that can befall vpon corn Mary prick downe certaine Lawrell boughes here and there among the standing corne all the said mists and mildewes will leaue the corne and passe to the Bay leaues and there settle What shall we do then to corne when it is ouer-rank Eat it me downe with sheep and spare not whiles it is young and in the blade onely before I say it be knotted and neuer feare harm by the sheeps teeth as neere as they go to the ground for let it be thus eaten many times the corn will be the better yea and the head will take no harme thereby but prooue the fairer If such rank corne be once cut down with the syth no more certain it is that the grain in the eare will be the longer to see to howbeit void and without any floure within it for sow such seed again it wil neuer grow nor come vp And yet about Babylon the maner is to mow it twise first and the third time to put in sheep to it for to eat it down otherwise the corn would neuer spindle but blade still and run all to leafe But being thus cut and cut again and eaten in the end ye shall haue it to increase and multiply 50 for one so fertile is the soile and if the owner be a good husband besides and vse the ground accordingly he shall reap thrice as much euen a 150 sold. And what carefull diligence is that which is here required Surely neither much nor difficult only he must be sure to keep the ground well with watering for a long time together to the end that it may be discharged of the ouermuch fat within it which by this means will be washed all away and the ranknesse delaied Yet as rich and fertile as this soile is the two riuers Euphrates and Tigris which vse to ouerflow and water the country bring no slimy mud with them as Nilus doth in Egypt wherby the ground is made so fat as it is neither is the nature of the earth there giuen to breed herbs that it should need any weeding and yet so plenteous and fruitfull it is that it soweth it selfe against the next yere for the corne that sheddeth in the reaping and mowing being troden vnder foot into the ground is as good as a sowing and riseth of it selfe without any further labor Seeing then there is so great difference in the soile I am put in minde thereby to fit euery ground with seed respectiuely according to the nature and goodnesse thereof This therfore is the opinion of Cato that in a grosse and fat soile there would be wheat and such like hard corne sown and if the same be subiect also to mists and dews there may be sown therein raddish millet and Panick must be sowne first in a cold and waterish ground and afterwards for change in a hot soile Item the red bearded wheat Far or Adoreum requireth a chalkie and sandy ground and namely if it be well watered Item the common wheat loueth a drie soile exposed to the Sun and not giuen much to breed superfluous weeds Item Beanes will doe well in a sound and fast soile As for Vetches they care not how little they be sowed in a moist piece of ground and such as is apt to run to grasse Moreouer for the fine winter wheat Siligo whereof the best manchet is made and also for the common frumenty wheat there would be chosen an open high ground lying pleasantly vpon the Sunne that it might haue the heat thereof to parch it as long and as much as is possible As for Lentils they doe like a good rough and shrubbie soile full of red earth so as it be not apt quickly to gather a green-sord Barly would gladly grow vpon a restie ground new broken vp or else such as be in heart to beare euery yeare And as for Summer barley of three moneths it would be sowne in a ground where it could not haue an earely or timely Seednes which is so fat and rich as it may affoord to beare crop yere by yere finally to speak to the purpose indeed this also is Catoes witty resolution in one word for all if the soile be light and lean seed it with such grain or forage seed as require no great nourishment as for example with Cytisus and excepting the Cich-pease with all pulse that are vsed to be plucked out of the earth and not mowed downe and thereupon indeed are these pulse called in Latine Legumina because they are plucked and gathered in that sort but in case the ground be good and fat sow such things as require fuller food and nutriment and namely all garden worts and pot-herbes wheat both the common and the fine and Linseed Then according to this rule a leane and hungry soile will well agree with barly for the root is contented with lesse nutriture wheras contrariwise we allow
especially I say if it thunder much Secondly they wil not last aboue one yere Item The tenderest daintiest be those that breed in the Sprinâ—… and that indeed is the best time for them Item In some countries the ouerflow of riuers engender Mushromes and namely at Mitylene where by report they will not otherwise grow but vpon floten grounds and namely in such places whither the water hath brought from Tiara a certain vegetatiue seed to breed them And verily That Tiara is wonderfully stored replenished with such As touching the Truffles or Mushroms of Asia the most excellent of all others be neer vnto Lampsacum and Alopeconnesus but the best that Greece yeeldeth are in the territorie about the citie Elis. In this Toad-stoole or Mushrome kind are those flat Fusses and Puffes to be reckoned which the Greekes name Pezitae as they haue no root at all so they be altogether without either stele or taile In the next place to these I must needs speake of the most noble and famous plant Laserpitium which the Greeks name Silphium discouered and found first in the abouesaid prouince of Barbarie Cyrenaica The juice or liquor drawne out of this hearb they cal Laser a drug so magnified of such singularitie and vse in Physicke especially that it was sold by weight and a dram thereof cost commonly Romane denier For these many yeares of late there is none of this plant to be found in that country of Cyrenaica beforesaid for that the Publicans and Farmers of the pastures and grounds there vnder the people of Rome doe put in their cattell among these plants and eat al downe by that means finding thereby a greater gaine or commodity than by letting them stand for the juice or liquor aforesaid One only stalk or stem thereof hath bin found in our days which was sent vnto Emperor Nero as a present for a great nouelty If it chance at any time that either sheepe or goat which commonly bite neer to the ground do light vpon a yong plant thereof newly peeping forth and not euident to be seene you shall know it by these signes The sheepe presently so soone as she hath tasted it will drop asleep and the goat fal a neesing For these many yeres the merchants haue brought vs into Italy no other Laser than that which grows abundantly in Persis or Media and in Armenia but it is far inferior to this of Cyrenaica and commeth short of it for goodnes And this that we haue is no better than it should be for they sophisticate and corrupt it with gum with Sagapeum or else with bruised Beans In regard of which scarsity I canot chuse but remember that which befell at Rome in that yere wherin C. Valerius and M. Herennius were consuls when by great good fortune there was brought from Cyrenae thirtie pound weight of the best Laser and set abroad to be seene in open place of all commers As also I may not let passe another occurrent namely how Caesar Dictatour at the beginning of the ciuile war tooke forth openly out of the chamber of the citie with other treasure both of gold and siluer an hundred and eleuen pounds of the best Laser Moreouer this one thing more I canot forget the best and most renowned Greeke Authors haue left in writing That 7 years before the foundation of the citie Cyrenae which was built 143 yeres after our citie of Rome this plant Laserpitium that beareth the said Laser was engendered at one instant by occasion of a certain thicke grosse and black shewer of raine in manner of pitch which sodainely fell and drenched the ground about the hortyards or gardens of the Hesperides the greater Syrtis The which rain was effectual and left the strength thereof for the compasse of foure thousand stadia within Affricke or Barbarie They affirme moreouer That the herb Laserpitium there growing is of so sauage and churlish a nature that it canot abide any culture or good ordering by mans hand but if one should goe about to tend and cherish it it would rather chuse to be gon into the desart and vnpeopled parts of the countrey or else winder away and die Moreouer they set downe this description of it That it hath many roots and those bigge and thicke a stemme or stalke resembling the hearb Sagapeum or Fennell-geant howbeit not altogether so great the leaues of this plant which they termed by the name of Maspetum come very near in all respects to those of Smallach or Persely As touching the seed that it beareth flat and thin it is in maner of leaues but the leafe it selfe therof sheddeth in the Spring time The cattell that vse to feed thereupon and whereof they be very greedy first fall a scouring but afterwards when they be clensed and rid of il humors begin to wax fat and their flesh by this means becommeth wonderfull sweet and pleasant They report moreouer that after the leaues be fallen men also were wont in old time to eat the stem or stalk thereof either rosted and baked vnder the cindres or else boiled and sodden in water and their bodies likewise for the first 40 daies ensuing did nothing but purge til they were cleared of al diseases breeding by occasion of any Cacochymie or collection of ill humours within them Now concerning the juice or soueraigne liquor before said the manner was to draw it after two sorts to wit by scarification either out of the root or forth of the stem and maister stalke And hereof it came to haue two names Rhizias and Caulias But the later of these two to wit that which came of the stem was counted the worst fubiect to putrifaction and sold cheaper than the other To come now to the root of Laserpitium it hath a blacke rind or barke vpon it wherewith the merchants vse to sophisticat many of their drugs As for the manner of dressing and ordering the juice thereof it was no sooner drawne but they put it into certaine vessels together with brans among then euer and anone they plied it with stirring and shogging vntil it had lost the cruditie and verdure thereof and by that working came to the maturity and perfection for if it were not thus well followed soon would it catch a vinew begin to putrifie and so continue but a while In this worke of theirs they had an eye vnto the color how it changed for when they perceiued it to be high that they saw it once drie and haue don sweating breathing out the raw humidity and vapor within then they knew therby that it was wrought sufficiently and come to the full ripenesse Others there be who say that the root of Laserpitium beareth more than a cubit in bignesse and that out of it there swelleth an excresence aboue the ground out of which there was wont by way of incision to issue forth a certaine white juice in manner of milke vpon which grew the stalke
kinde Such are not for the kitchen but for the Apothecaries shop and good only in Physick and therefore I will put off for this present the discourse of them their nature reseruing them for their seueral treatises in other books concerning such medicinable simples As touching the rest of garden plants which are of the like cartilage and pulpous substance they be all the sort of them roots growing hidden within the ground amongst which I might seem to haue written already fully and sufficiently of Rapes and Turneps but that the Physitians haue obserued in them both sexes to wit masculine foeminin for the rounder kind they wil haue to be the male but the broader and flatter sort which also are somewhat hollow they account the female and these last they hold to be the better far and more pleasant as being easier to be kept and condite which also if they be often remoued and replanted will turn to be males Physitians likewise haue set down fiue kinds of Nauewes namely the Corinthian the Cleonaean the Liothasian the Boeotian and that which simply by it self they called the green Nauew Of all these the Corinthian Nauews grow to a great bignes and in maner all the root is seen naked aboue ground for this is the only kind that coueteth to be aloft and groweth not downward into the earth as the rest do As for the Liothasian some call it also the Thracian of all others it will abide and endure frost and cold weather best Next to it is the Boeotian nauew sweet in tast differing from the rest in the notable shortnesse and roundnesse withall that the root carieth nothing at all like to the Cleonaean which is passing long Generally this is obserued as a rule that all Nauews the slenderer smaller and smoother leaues that they beare the more pleasant is their root to the tast and contrariwise the rougher that they be the more cornered also and pricky the bitterer they are There is a wild kind of them besides the leaues wherof resemble Rocket The best Nauews that are sold at Rome be those that come from Amiternum in Bruzze The next to them in goodnes are those of Nursium In the third place are they to be ranged which our country about Verona yeelds As concerning all things els and namely the maner of sowing them I haue said enough in the treatise of Rapes or Turneps As for Radishes their roots do consist of a rind without a cartilage or pulpous substance within and verily many of them are known to haue a thicker skin or rinde than the barke is of some trees bitter such are more or lesse according to the thicknes of the said rind otherwhile also the rest is all pitch and as hard as wood All Radishes breed wind wonderfull much prouoke a man that eateth of them to belch A base and homely meat therefore it is and not for a gentlemans table especially if it be eaten with other worts as Beets mary if a man take them with vnripe oliues condite he shall neither belch or rift wind so much ne yet so soure and stinking will his breath be afterwards The Egyptians make maruellous great account of radishes for the plenty of oile that they draw out of the seed and therefore a great desire they haue to sow them if they may for as they find it more gainful than corn so they pay lesse tribute custom in regard of that commoditie and yet there is nothing yeeldeth more abundance of oile The Greeks haue made three sorts of Radishes differing all in leafe the first crisped and curled like a ruffe the second smooth and plain the third wild and sauage and these wild ones verily haue smooth leaues but short and round plentiful also they be and otherwise ful of branches a rough and harsh tast they haue howbeit medicinable they be and as good as a purgation to loosen the belly and make it laxatiue As for the other two former kindes a difference there is in the seed for in some it is very fair good in others as small and bad howbeit these imperfections light vpon none but such as haue the crisped and frizled leaues Our countrymen here in Italy haue made other kinds therof to wit Algiclense so called of the place long they be transparent and cleare that a man may see through them A second sort there be fashioned in maner of a Rape root and those they call Syriaca the sweetest for the most part of all others and tenderest such also as will hold out best against frost and winter weather Yet the principal and very best indeed are those which as it should seem were but lately brought out of Syria at leastwise the seed of them for that in no writers there is found any mention made of them and they wil continue all winter long Ouer and besides all these there is one sauage kind of them more which the Greeks name Agrion the inhabitants of Pontus Armon others Leuce and our countrymen giue it the name of Armoracia more shew it maketh in leafe than in the root or all the body besides Moreouer the best token to know good Radishes by is their stem or stalk for such as bite at the tongues end haue rounder and longer stems than the other that be mild they haue long and hollow gutters also the leaues besides are more bitter and vnsauorie cornered more rough and vntoward to be handled Radish seed would willingly be sowne in a loose or light ground and nathelesse moist enough it cannot abide rank mucke but contenteth it selfe with rotten chaffe or pugs and such like plain mullock It likes and thriues so well in cold countries that in Germanie a man shall haue their roots as big as prety babes To haue Radish roots in the spring the seed would be sowed presently after the Ides or 13 day of Februarie and a second time again about the feast of Vulcan which is indeed the better season for Seednes Mary there be that put the seeds into the ground in March Aprill and September When they are come vp and begin to grow to some bignesse it is very good to enterre and couer with mould round about the leaues now one and then another but in any case to banke the roots well with earth for looke how much appeareth bare aboue ground prooues either to be hard or els fungous and hollow like a Kex and nothing good to be eaten Aristomachus would haue them to be stript from their leaues in winter in any hand to be banked well about that the water stand not there in any hollow furrow or hole lower than the other ground promising vs by this meanes that they will proue faire and big against Summer Some haue reported that if a man make a hole in the ground with as big a stake as he wil and strew or lay it in the bottom with a bed of chaffe six fingers deepe and
the way I cannot ouerpasse the foolish superstition of the Aegyptians who vse to sweare by Garlicke and Onions calling them to witnesse in taking their othes as if they were no lesse than some gods Of Onions the Greeks haue deuised sundry kinds to wit the Sardian Samothracian Alsiden Setanian Schista i. the clouen Onion and Ascalonia i. little onions or Scalions taking that name of Ascalon a city in Iury. They haue all of them this propertie besides to make ones eyes water and to fetch out teares being smelled to especially they of Cypros but the Gnidian onions least of all others cause one to weep In all kinds of them the body of the root consisteth of a certaine fatty pulp or cartilage For quantity the Setanian be least except the Tusculane howbeit such are sweet The clouen onions the scalions aforesaid are proper for to make sauce of As touching that kind of them called Schista gardners leaue them aâ—… winter in the ground with their leaues or head standing in the spring they pluck off the said leaues and then shal you see spring forth others vnderneath according to the same clifts and diuisions whereupon they tooke the name Schista After which example the like practise in all other kindes is prescribed namely to pull the leaues off that they should grow rather big in root than run vp to seed The Ascalonian onions haue a proper nature qualitie by themselues for they be barren as it were from the root and therefore the Greeks would haue them to be sowed of seed and not otherwise to be set of heads Besides that they should be translated replanted again late about the spring at what time as they put forth blade for by this vsage say they you shall haue them burnish and grow thicke yea and then make hast for amends of the former time foreslipt These must be gathered betimes for after they be once ripe quickly will they rot in the earth if you make not the better hast to pluck them vp If you set or plant their heads a stalke they wil put forth and seed vpon it but the onion it selfe will consume and come to nothing Moreouer there is a difference obserued in the colour of onions for they that grow in Samos and Sardis be most white those also of Candy be much esteemed and some there be who doubt whether they be the same that the Ascalonian or no for that if they be sowed of seed their heads or roots will grow big set them they will be all stem and seed and no head at all As for the rellish or taste that onions haue there is no great diuersitie but that some are sweeter than other Our onions here in Italy be all of two sorts principally the one which serue for sauce to season our meats which the Greeks call Gethyon Chibbols but our countrymen the Latines Pallacana these are sowne commonly in March April and May the other is the great headed onion and these be put into the ground either after the Aequinox in Autumne or els after mid-February when the West wind Favonius is aloft Moreouer onions are diuided into sundry sorts according to the degrees of their pleasant or vnpleasant and harsh tast to wit the African French Tusculan and Amiternium But euermore the best are the roundest Item the red onion is more keen and angry than the white the dry and that which hath lien is more eagre and sharp than the green newly drawn the raw also more than the sodden and finally the dry by it selfe more than that which is condite and preserued in some liquor for sauce The Amiternium onion is planted in cold moist grounds and this alone would be set of a head in maner of garlick cloues whereas the rest will come of seed Onions the next summer following after they be sowne put forth no seed but head only which groweth and the leafe or stem drieth and dieth But the next yere after by way of interchange it bringeth forth seed and then the head rotteth And therefore euery yeare they vse to sow onion seed apart in one bed by it selfe for to haue onions set onions for seed in other by themselues The best way to keep onions is in corn chaf and such like pugs As for the Chibbol it hath in maner no distinct head at all but only a long neck therfore it runs in maner all to a green blade the order is to cut and sheare it often in manner of porret or leeks which is the cause that they sow it also of seed and do not set it Ouer and besides before we sow onion seed the plot by mens saying ought to haue three diggings for to kil and rid out of the ground the roots of hurtful weeds and ten pound of seed ordinarily wil sow an acre Here and there amongst would be Saverie sowne for the better will the Onions like and prosper with the companie of that hearbe Also after the ground is sowne it requireth weeding sarcling or raking foure times at the least if not oftner Our neighbours in Italie sow the Ascalonian Onion in the moneth of Februarie whose manner is also to gather Onion seed when it beginneth once to wax black before it fall to wither Seeing now that I am entred thus far into a discourse of Onions I shal not do amisse to treat of Leeks also in regard of the neare affinitie betweene them and the rather for that it is not long since that the Porret kind which is often kept downe with clipping and cutting came into great name and credit by occasion of the Emperor Nero who vsed for certaine daies in euery moneth for to scoure his throat and cleare his voice and to take it with oile on which daies he did eat nothing els not so much as bread Wee vse to sow them of seed after the Aequinox in September and if we meane to make cut Leeks thereof the seed would be sowed the thicker These Leeks are kept downe with clipping and shearing still vntill the root faile without remouing them out of the same bed where they were sown and alwaies they must be plied with dung But before they be cut nourished they ought to be vntill they haue gotten a good head When they are wel grown they are to be translated into another bed or quarter there replanted hauing their vppermost leaues lightly shriged off without comming to the heart or marow which is their body next to their roots and their heads set deeper downward yea and their vtmost pellicles and skins sliued from them In old time they vsed to put vnder their root a broad flint-stone or els a tile which did dilate their heads within the ground and make them spread the better This they practised also in other bulbous plants as Onions c. thereby to haue the fairer heads But now in these daies the maner is lightly to barbe pluck off with a sarcling hook the beards or strings
afterwards be tied fast vnto them Of all Garden-hearbs Beets are the lightest The Greeke writers make two kinds thereof in regard of the colour to wit the black Beets and the whiter which they prefer before the other although it be very scant and sparie of seed these also they cal the Sicilian Beets and for their beautiful white hew and nothing else they esteeme them aboue Lectuce But our countreymen here in Italy put no other difference between Beets but in respect of the two seasons when they be sowed namely in the Spring and Autumne whereof we haue these two sorts the spring Beets and the Autumnall and yet they be vsually sowne in Iune also This herbe likewise is ordinarily remooued in the plant and so replanted or set againe it loueth besides to haue the roots medicined with muck as well as the other abouesaid yea and it is very wel content with a moist and waterish ground The roots as well as the leaues or herbage thereof vse to be eaten with Lentils Beans but the best way to eat them is with Senuie or Mustard for to giue a tast and edge as it were to that dull and wallowish flatnesse that it hath Physitians haue set downe their iudgement of this herb That the roots be more hurtfull than the leafe and therefore being set vpon the bourd before all persons indifferently as well the sound as the sick and crasie yet many a one maketh it nice and scrupulous once to tast therof and if they do it is but slightly for fashion only leauing the hearty feeding thereupon to those rather that be in health and of strong constitutions The Beet is of two diuers natures and qualities for the herbage or leafe hath one and the bulbs comming from the head of the stem another but their principall grace and beautie lieth in their spreading and breadth that they beare as they cabbage And this they come vnto as the manner is of Lectuces also by laying some light weight vpon the leaues when they begin once to gather into a stalke and shew their colour And there is not an hearbe throughout the Garden that taketh vp greater compasse with fuellage than doth the Beet for otherwhiles you shal see it to spread it selfe two foot euery way whereunto the goodnesse and nature of the soile is a great help The largest that be knowne of these Beets are those which grow in the territory about Circij Some hold opinion that the only time to sow Beets is when the Pomegranat doth blossome and to transplant them so soon as they haue 5 leaues A wonderfull thing to see the diuersitie in Nature of these Beets if it be true namely that the white should gently loosen the belly and make one soluble whereas contrariwise the black doe stay a flux and knit the body It is as strange also to obserue another effect thereof for when the Colewort hath marred the taste of wine within the tun or such like vessell the only sauour and smell of Beet leaues steeped therein will restore and fetch it againe As touching the Beets as also Colewoorts which now beare all the sway and none but they in Gardens I do not find that the Greeks made any great account of them yet Cato highly extolleth Coules and reporteth great wonders of their vertues and properties which I meane to relate in my treatise of Physick For this present you shall vnderstand that he putteth downe three kinds of them the first that stretcheth out broad leaues at ful and carieth a big stem the second with a crisped and frizled leafe the which he calleth Apiana the third is smooth plain and tender in leafe and hath but a little stalke and these are of no reckoning at all with Cato Moreouer like as Coleworts may be cut at all times of the yeare for our vse so may they be sown set al the yere long yet the most appropriat season is after the Aequinox in Autumn Transplanted they be when they haue once gotten fiue leaues The tender crops called Cymae after the first cutting they yeeld the Spring next following now are these Cymae nothing else but the yong delicat tops or daintier tendrils of the maine stem And as pleasant and sweet as these crops were thought to other men yet Apicius that notable glutton tooke a loathing of them and by his example Drusus Caesar also careth not for them but thought them a base and homely meat for which nice and dainty tooth of his he was well checked and shent by his father Tiberius the Emperor after this first crop or head is gone there grow out of the same colewort other fine colliflories if I may so say or tendrils in Summer in the fall of the leafe and after them in winter and then a second spring of the foresaid Cymae or tops against the spring following as the yeare before so as there is no hearb in that regard so fruitfull vntill in the end her owne fertility is her death for in this manner of bearing she spends her heart her selfe and all There is a third top-spring also at mid-summer about the Sunstead which if the place bee any thing moist affoordeth yong plants to be set in summer time but in case it be ouer-drie against Autumne If there be want of moisture and skant of muck the better taste Colewoorts haue if there be plenty and to spare of both the more fruitfull and ranke they are The onely muck that which agreeth best with Coleworts or Cabbages is Asses dung I am content to stand the longer vpon this Garden-wort because it is in so great request in the kitchin and among our riotous gluttons Would you haue speciall and principal Coleworts both for sweet tast and also for great and faire cabbage first and foremost let the seed be sowne in a ground throughly digged more than once or twice and wel manured secondly see you cut off the tender springs and yong stalkes that seem to put out far from the ground or such as you perceiue mounting too ranke and ouer-high from the earth thirdly be sure to raise other mould in maner of a bank vp to them so as there peep no more without the ground than the very top these kind of Coleworts be fitly called Tritiana for the threefold hand and trauell about them but surely the gaine will pay double for all the cost and toile both Many more kindes there be of them to wit that of Cumes which beareth leaues spreading flat along the ground and opening in the head Those of Aricia be for heigth no taller than they but rather more in number than for substance thinner and smaller this kind is taken for the best and most gainfull because vnder euery main leafe in maner it putâ—… forth other yong tendrils or buds by themselues which are good to be eaten The Colewort Pompeianum so called of the towne Pompeij is taller than the rest rising vp with a smal
stem from the root howbeit among the leaues it groweth to more thicknesse These leaues branch out but here and there and are in comparison of others narrower howbeit much set by for their speciall tendernesse wherby they are soon sodden and dressed and yet cold weather they cannot indure whereas on the other side the Coleworts of Bruzze or Calabria like the best in winter and be nourished with the hard season leaues they haue exceeding great and large but their stalks are but small and as for tast they be sharp and sower The Sabellian Coles what curled and ruffed leaues they carry it is a wonder to see so thick they are besides that they rob the very stem of their nutriment which therby is the smaller howbeit of al others they be reputed the sweetest Long it is not since there came from out of the vale of Aricia where somtimes there was a lake and a tower standing vpon it remaining yet at this day to be seene a kind of Cabbage-cole with a mightie great head and an infinite number of leaues which gather and close round together and these Coles we in Latin call Lacuturres of the place from whence they come Some Coleworts there be which stretch out into a roundle others againe extend in breadth and be very full of fleshy brawns None cabbage more than these settting aside the Tritian Coleworts beforenamed that are known otherwiles to bear a head a foot thick and yet none put sorth their Cymes or tender buds more than they Moreouer this would be noted That howsoeuer all kinds of Coleworts eat much sweeter for being bitten with the frost yet if there be not good heed taken in cutting off their head or tender crops and buds so that the wound come not neere the heart and pith and namely by cutting them aslope and byas in manner of a Goats foot they will take much harme thereby Such as be reserued to beare seed ought not to be cut at all They also are not without their grace and commendation which neuer passe the bignesse of a green and ordinary plant such small coles are called Halmyridia for that they grow not elsewhere but vpon the sea coasts and because they wil keep greene prouision is made of such for to serue in long voiages at sea for so soon as they be cut vp before they touch the ground they be put vp into barrels where lately oile hath been and those newly dried against the time and stopped vp close that no aire at all may enter in and therein be they preserued Some there be who in remouing the young plants lay vnder their roots Riek and Sea-weeds or els bruised and powdred nitre as much as a man may take vp with three fingers imagining thereby that they will the sooner come to maturity Others againe take the seed of Trifolie and Nitre stamped together which they strew vpon the leaues for the same purpose And as for Nitre it is of this nature to make them look green still although they were sodden or els they vse to boile them after Apicius his fashion namely to steep them wel in oile and salt mingled together before they be set vpon the fire for to be sodden Moreouer there is a way tograffe herbs also as well as trees namely by cutting off the yong sions that spring out of the stalk and therein to inoculate as it were the seed of another plant within the pith or marow thereof This also may be practised vpon wild Cucumbers Ouer and besides there is a kind of wild Woorts growing in the fields called Lapsana much named and renowned by occasion of the sonets carols chanted in the solemnitie of Iulius Caesar the Emperors triumph and especially of the merry times and licentious broad jeasts tossed by his soldiers who at euery second verse cast in his teeth â—…hat in Dyrrhachium they liued of nothing els but of those Woorts noting indeed by way of cauill and reproch his niggardise in rewarding them so sleightly for their good seruice now was this Lapsana a kind of wild Colewort which they did eat of instead of the fine and dainty tendrils and buds of the garden Coles As touching Sperages there is not an herb in the garden whereof there is so great regard and care taken as of them Concerning their first original beginning I haue spoken at large in the treatise Of the maner how to order the wild of that kind and to entertain them in our gardens as also how Cato willed vs to sow and plant them in plots of Reeds and Canes Now there is a middle sort of these Sperages not so ciuill and gentle as the Asparagi of the garden and yet more kind and mild than the Corrudae of the field these grow euery where abroad euen vpon the mountains and the champion countrey of high Aâ—…ain is ouerspred and full of them wherof there goes a pleasant speech and merry conceit of Tyberius Caesar the Emperour namely that there grew an herb in Almain very like to the garden Sperage for as touching that which commeth vp of it selfe in Nesis an Island of Campaine it is thought the best simply of all others without comparison The garden Sperages be planted from the knots bunching together within the ground named Spongiae which easily may be replanted for surely an hearb it is that carrieth a mighty head or cluster as it were of roots and the same putteth forth spurns euery way from it of a great depth into the ground They send out at first certaine greene spurts or buds peeping forth of the ground which growing to a stem in processe of time rise sharpe in the top and then are they chamfered diuided into certaine musculous branches that spread abroad This hearbe may be sowne also of seed Cato tooke not more paines about any other hearbe nor imploied greater diligence in the description thereof than he did in it It is the very last thing that he treateth of in his booke whereby it may appeare that the man came all vpon a sudden and newly to the knowledge of that hearbe and the ordering of it He giueth order Imprimis That the plot wherein they are to sowne be moist fat and well digged Item That they be set half a foot euery way asunder one from another in no wise the place troden down with ones foot moreouer that two or three seeds be put together in a hole made before with a dibble directly by a line for in those daies they set them onely of seed Item That this would be done about mid-March which is the proper season therefore Item That they haue their fill of dung That they be kept cleane with often weeding but in any case That great heed be taken in plucking vp the weeds that the tender buds or croppes new knit and appearing aboue ground be not knapt off For the first yeare hee would haue them in winter time to be couered with straw and litter and
especiall reckoning aboue other herbs for I reade in antient Histories That Cornelius Cethegus at what time as he was chosen Consul with Quintius Flaminius presently vpon the said election gaue a largesse to the people of new wine aromatized with Rue The fig-tree and Rue are in a great league amitie insomuch as this herbe sow and set it when and where you will in no place prospereth better than vnder that tree for planted it may be of a slip or sprig Now if the same be put into a bean which hath a hole pierced or bored through it will do far better by reason that the bean clasping the set close and vniting thereunto her own sap and moisture cherisheth it therewith and makes it come apace moreouer it will propagat and set it owne selfe for let the top of any of her branches be bent downeward so as it may but touch the ground it will presently take root Of the same nature it is that Basill but that Rue is somwhat later ere it come vp groweth not so fast When Rue is come to be of any strength there is vntoward sarcling and weeding of it for if it be handled it will raise blisters vpon a mans fingers vnlesse the hands be well gloued or defensed with oile The leaues also of Rue are kept and preserued beeing made vp into little knitches or bunches Now as touching Ach or Parsley the manner is to sow it immediatly after the spring Equinox in March but the seed would be first brused beaten a little in a mortar for some are persuaded that by this means it groweth thicker and more crispe or curled which it will doe likewise in case after a bed be sowed therewith it be troden vpon with mens feet or beaten downe with a roller or cylinder This peculiar property hath Parsley that it will change the colour It was an antient custome in Achaia to do honour vnto this hearbe by crowning those that went away with victory and wan the prize in the solemne tourneys and sacred games Nemei with a chaplet of Parsly As for Mint men vse to set it at the same time of a young plant so soone as they see it is spurt and come vp but if it haue not sprung yet they let not to plant the spurns of the root knotted into an head within the ground in manner of the Spongiae in Sperage before said This herb taketh no great ioy in moist grounds All Summer it looketh greene and fresh but in winter it hath a hempen hew A wild kind there is of Mint named in Latin Mentastrum which will increase by propagation or couching in the ground as well as vine branches and so willing it is to take that it makes no matter which end of a slip be set downeward for at the wrong end it wil come as well as at the other Mint in the Greeke tongue hath changed the old name by occasion of the sweet smel that it carieth whereas before time it was called Mintha whereof we in Latine deriued our name Mentha A pleasant herb this is and delectable to smel vnto insomuch as you shal not see a husbandmans bourd in the country but all the meats from one end to the other be seasoned with mints If it be once set or sown haue taken to a ground it will continue there a long time It resembleth much the herb Peny-roiall the nature wherof as I haue often shewed is to blow her floures again vpon the shortest day of the yere euen as it hangeth prickt vpon flesh in the butchery Much after one sort are kept and preserued for sauce as if they were of the same kind Mint Peni-roiall and Nep but aboue all to a weake and peeuish stomack Cumin agreeth most and is the best to get an appetite It hath a qualitie to grow with root very eb and scarsely taketh any hold of the earth coueting to be aloft In hot grounds and such especially as be rotten mellow it would be sown in the mids of the spring There is a second sort therof growing wild which some call Cumin Rustick others Thebaick which being bruised or beaten into pouder and drunk in water is singular good for the pain of the stomack The best Cumin in our part of the world which is Europe commeth from Carpetania for otherwise the greatest name goeth of that in Aethyopia and Africk And yet some here be who prefer the Cumin of Egypt before all But Alisanders which some Greekes call Hipposelium others Smyrneum is of a strange and wonderfull nature aboue all other herbes for it wil grow of the very liquor or juice issuing forth of the stalk It may be set also of a root and indeed they that gather the foresaid juice vse to say that it hath the very tast and rellish of Myrrhe by Theophrastus his saying it came first of Myrrh set into the ground The old writers ordained that Alisanders should be set or sowed in stony grounds without tending or looking to neer to some mud wall But now in our daies it is planted in places digged delued ouer once or twice yea and at any time from the blowing of the western wind Fauonius in Februarie vntill the later Aequinox in September be past Capers likewise are set sowed in dry places specially but the bed must be digged in some low ground and laid hollow inuironed round about with banks and those raised with a groundsell of stone worke otherwise it would be ranging abroad and ouerspread whole fields make the ground barren and vnfruitfull It flourisheth in Summer and continueth green vntil the occultation or setting of the Brood-hen star Virgiliae and sandy ground is most familiar and agreeable to it Touching the defects and imperfections of that kinde which groweth beyond sea I haue said enough among the shrubs and plants that be strangers The Caraway also is a stranger as may appeare by the name of Caria the natiue countrey therof it beareth one of the principal seeds that commeth into the kitchen It careth not much where it is sown or planted for it will grow in any ground as well as the Alisanders beforenamed howbeit the best commeth out of Caria the next to it in goodnes we haue from Phrygia As for Loueach or Liuish it is by nature wild and sauage and loueth alone to grow of it self among the mountains of Liguria whereof it commeth to haue the name Ligusticum as being the naturall place best agreeing to the nature of it Set or sowed it may be in any place wheresoeuer howbeit this that is thus ordred by mans hand hath not the like vertue as the other although it be in tast more pleasant some call it Panax or Panace howbeit Creteuas a Greeke writer calleth the wild Origan or Cunila Bubula by that name But all others in manner attribute the name of Conyza or Conyzoides to Cunilago i. Fleabane Mullet and of Thymbra i.
winter Sauory to Cunila i. garden Sauory which among vs hath another name in Latin to wit Satureia much vsed in sauces and seasoning of our meats This Sauory is commonly sown in the month of February and hath no smal resemblance of Origan insomuch as they are neuer both vsed at once in sauce or sallads their vertues operations be so like Andy et the Egyptian Origanum is preferred before the said Sauory To come now to Lepidium i. Dittander or Pepperwort it was somtime a stranger also with vs here in Italy It is vsually sown after mid-February when the Western wind Fauonius hath plaied his part afterwards when it hath put forth branches it is cut downe close to the ground and then it is laid bare and sarcled the superfluous roots cut away so in the end cherished with muck Thus must it be serued the two first yeres For afterwards they vse the same in branches at all times if the cruell and bitter winter kill them not for surely this herb is most impatient of cold It groweth a good cubit in heigth bearing leaues like to Lawrel the same soft and tender But neuer is it vsed in meat without milke Now for Gith or Nigella Romana as it is an herb that groweth for the pastrie to fit the Bakers hand so Annise and Dil are as appropriat to the kitchen for Cooks as the Apothecaries shop for the Physician Sacopenium likewise is an herb growing verily in gardens but is vsed in Physicke onely Certain herbs there be that accompany others for good fellowship and grow with them as namely Poppy for commonly sowne it is with Coleworts Purcellane Rocket and Lectuce Of garden Poppies there be three kinds first the white wherof the seeds in old time being made into Biskets or Comfits with hony were serued vp as a banketting dish The rustical peisants of the countrey were wont to guild or glaze as it were the vppermost crust of their loaues of bread with yolks of egs and then to bestrew it with Poppy seed which would cleaue fast to it hauing first vnderlaied the bottome crust with Ammi or Annise seed and Gith then they put them into the ouen beeing thus seasoned which gaue a commendable taste to their bread when it was baked There is a second kinde of Poppie called Blacke out of the heads or bolls wherof a white juice or liquor issueth by way of incision like milk and many receiue reserue it carefully The third kind which the Greekes name Rhoeas our countreymen in Latin call the wandring or wild Poppie It commeth vp verily of the owne accord but in corne fields among Barly especially like vnto Rocket a cubite high with a red floure that soon wil shed and fall off whereupon it tooke that name of Rhoeas in Greeke Touching other kinds of Poppie growing of themselues I purpose to speake in the treatise of physicke and medicinable hearbs Mean while this cannot be forgotten that Poppies haue alwaies time out of mind been highly regarded and honoured among the Romanes witnesse Tarquine the Proud the last king of Rome who when his sonnes Embassadors were come to him for to vnderstand his aduise how to compasse the seignorie ouer the Gabians drew them into his garden and there by circumstance of topping the heads of the highest Poppies there growing without any answere parole dispatched them away sufficiently furnished by this demonstration with a double design euen to fetch off the greatest mens heads of the citie the readiest meanes to effect his purpose Againe there is another sort of hearbs that loue for companie to be set or sowne together about the Aequinox in Autumne namely Coriander Dill Orach Mallowes Garden dockes or Patience Cheruill which the Greeks call Paederos and Senuie which is of a most biting and stinging tast of a fierie effect but nathelesse very good and wholsom for mans bodie this hearb will come of it selfe without the hand of man howbeit proue it will the better if the plant be remoued and set elswhere And yet sow a ground once withall you shall hardly rid the place of it cleane for the seed no sooner sheddeth vpon the ground but a man shall see it greene aboue ground It serues also to make a prety dish of meat to be eaten being boiled or stewed between two little dishes in some conuenient liquor in such sort as a man shal not feele it to bite at the tongues end nor complaine of any eagernesse that it hath The leaues besides vse to be sodden like as other pot-hearbes Now there be of this Senuie three kinds the first beareth small and slender leaues the second is leaued like Rapes or Turneps the third resembleth Rocket The best Mustard seed commeth out of Aegypt The Athenians were wont to call it Napy some Thlaspi and others Saurion To conclude as touching the running wild Thyme and Sisymbrium i. Horse-mint or Water-mint most hils are replenished and tapissed as it were therewith and especially in Thracia where a man shall see a mighty quantity of wild Thyme branches which the mountain waters or land flouds carrie away and bring it downe with their streame to riuers sides and then folke plant them Semblably at Sicyon there grows great store conueighed thither from the mountaines neere adjoining and lastly at Athens brought thither out of the hill Hymettus In like manner also the foresaid water-mint commeth from the hils with a sudden dash of rain and is replanted accordingly It groweth rankest and prospereth best in the brinks and sides of pits or wells also about fish-ponds and standing pooles CHAP. IX ¶ Of Finkle or Fennell and Hempe IT remaineth now among garden hearbes to speake of those that be of the Ferule kind and namely of Fenell in particular a hearb wherin Snakes and such serpents take exceeding great delight as heretofore I haue declared and which being dried is singular good to commend many meats out of the kitchin into the hall There is a plant resembleth it much named Thapsia wherof because I haue alreadie written among other forraine herbes I will proceed forward to Hemp which is so profitable and good for to make cordage This plant must be sowed of seed after the western wind Fauonius bloweth in Februarie The thicker that it groweth the slenderer and finer it is When the seed therof is ripe namely after the Aequinox in Autumn folk vse to rub it out and then drie it either in the Sunne the wind or smoke But the stalke or stem of the Hemp it selfe they pluck out of the ground after Vintage and it is the husbandmans night work by candle lightto pill and cleanse it The best Hempe commeth from Alabanda especially for to make nets and toile where bee three kinds thereof That part of the Hempe which is next to the rind or pilling as also to the inner part within is worst the principal of it lieth in the middest and called it is Mesa Next to the Alabandian
dull vnsauorie and foolish Woorts hauing no tast nor quicknesse at all whereupon Menander the comicall Poet bringeth in a husband vpon the stage who to reproch his wife for her sottishnesse and want of sense giueth her the terme of Bleet And in very truth good it is for little or nothing and altogether hurtfull vnto the stomacke It troubleth and disquieteth the belly insomuch as it driueth some that vse to eat it into the dangerous disease Cholera working both vpward and downward without any stay And yet some say that if it be drunk in wine it is good against Scorpions and serueth for a prety liniment to be applied vnto the agnels or corners of the feet yea and maketh a reasonable good cataplasm with oile for the spleen and pain of the temples Finally Hippocrates is of opinion that much feeding of Bleets staieth the monethly course of womens tearmes CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Meu and Fenell as well Gentle named Foeniculum as Wild which is called Hippomar at hrum or Myrsineum of Hempe and Fenell-geant and of Thistles and Artichoux MEu or Spicknell is not found in Italy vnlesse it be in some Physitians garden and those are very few that sow or set it Howbeit there be two kinds thereof the one which is the better is commonly called Athamanticum of Prince Athamas the first inventer of this herbe as some thinke but according to other because the best Meu is found vpon Athamas a mountaine in Thessaly Leafed it is like to Annise rising vp with a stem otherwhile two cubits high putting forth many roots and those blackish whereof some run very deepe into the ground neither is this Meu so red altogether as the other If the root therofbe beaten into pouder or otherwise sodden and so drunk in water it causeth vrine to passe abundantly in that order also it doth resolue wonderfully the ventosities gathered in the stomack It assuageth mightily the wrings and torments of the guts it openeth the obstructions and cureth other infirmities of the bladder and the matrice Applied with honey it is very good for the joints Beeing laid as a cataplasme with Parsley to the bottome of the belly of little children it causeth them to make water As for Fenell the Serpents haue woon it much credit and brought it into name in this regard That by tasting thereof as I haue already noted they cast their old skin and by the juice that it yeeldeth do cleare their eies whereby we also are come to know that this herbe hath a singular property to mundifie our sight and take away the filme or web that ouercasteth and dimmeth our eyes Now the only time to gather and draw the said juice out of Fennel is when the stalke beginneth to swell and wax big which after it is receiued they vse to dry in the Sun and as need requireth make an iniunction with it and honey together There is of this juice to be had in all places howbeit the best is made in Iberia partly of the gum that issueth or frieth rather out of the stalk being brought neere to the fire or els drawn from the seed whiles it is fresh and green There is another making thereof out of the roots by way of incision presently after that Fennell beginneth to spring and put forth out of the ground when Winter is done There is another kind of wild Fenell named by some Hippomarathrum by others Myrsineum Larger leaues this hath than that other of the Garden and those more sharpe and biting at the tongues end it groweth taller also and ariseth with a maine stem as big as a mans arm hath a white root It groweth in hot grounds and those that be stony Diocles maketh mention of another kind yet of wild Fennell with a long narrow leafe bearing seed resembling Coriander As touching the garden Fenell and the medicinable vertues that it hath it is holden That the seed if it be taken inwardly in wine is a soueragne drinke for the prick of Scorpions or sting of other Serpents The juice thereof if it be instilled by drops into the eares killeth the wormes there The herb it selfe carrieth such sway in the kitchin that lightly there is no meat seasoned nor any vineger sauce serued vp without it Moreouer for to giue a commendable and pleasant tast vnto bread it is ordinarily put vnder the bottome crust of our loues when they be set into the ouen The seed doth bind and corroborat a weake and feeble stomack yea if it be taken in a very ague Being beaten into pouder drunk in cold water it staieth the inordinat heauing of the stomack and the vain proffers to vomit for the lights and the liuer it is the most soueraign medicine of all other Being taken moderatly it staieth the loosenesse of the belly and yet prouoketh vrine The decoction thereof appeaseth the wrings of the guts and taken in drink it silleth womens brests and maketh them to strout again with milk when it is gone vpon some occasion The root taken in a Ptisane of husked barly purgeth the reins so doth the syrrup made with the juice or decoction therof yea and the seed The root sodden in wine is singular good for the dropsie and the cramp A liniment made with the leaues and vineger and so applied assuageth hot swellings and inflammations and the said leaues haue vertue to expel the stone of the bladder Fennell taken inwardly any way increaseth sperme or natural seed A most friendly and comfortable herb it is to the priuie parts whether it be by somenting them with a decoction of the roots boyled in wine or by applying a liniment to them made with the said roots stamped incorporate with oile Many do make a cerote thereofwith wax for ta lay vnto tumours to places bruised made black and blew with stripes Also they vse the root either prepared with the juice of the herb or otherwise incorporat with hony against the biting of dogs and taken in wine against the worm called Milleped But for all these purposes beforesaid the wild Fennell is of greater operation than the garden Fennell but this principal vertue it hath mightily to expell the stone and grauell If it be taken with any mild and small wine it is very good for the bladder and namely the Strangury also it prouoketh womens tearmes that be either suppressed or come not kindly away to which purpose the seed is more effectuall than the root But whether it be root or seed it would be vsed in a mean measure for it is thought sufficient to put into drink at once as much as two fingers wil take vp Petridius who wrote the booke intituled Ophiaca and Myction likewise in his Treatise named Rhizotomumena were of opinion That there is not a better counterpoyson against the venome of Serpents than wild Fennell And certes Nicander himselfe hath raunged it not in the lowest place of such medicines Concerning Hemp at
it odoriferous and senting well but the root Of which root as Aristophanes an auncient Comicall Poet testifieth in one of his Comoedies they were woont in old time to make sweet perfumes and odoriferous compositions for their ointments whereupon some there be who call the root Barbarica but falsly for deceiued they are The sauour that this root doth cast draweth very neere to the sent of Cinamon It loueth a leane and light soile and in no wise commeth vp in a moist ground As touching the hearb named Combretum it resembleth the same very much howbeit the leaues be passing small and as slender as threds but the plant it selfe is taller than Bacchar well rest we must not in the description of these hearbes and floures only but also we are to reforme and correct their error who haue giuen to Bacchar the name of Nard-rustick For there is anotheir hearbe properly so called to wit that which the Greeks name Asaron i. Asara-bacca or Fole-foot a plant far different from Bacchar as may appear by the description therof which I haue set down among the sundrie kinds of Nardus And verily I do find that this plant is named Asarum because it is neuer vsed in making of guirlands and chaplets Concerning Saffron the wild is the best To plant it within any garden in Italic is held no good husbandry for it will not quit cost considering there is neuer a quarter set therewith but it asketh a scruple more in expence than the fruit or increase commeth to when all the cards be told For to haue Saffron grow you must set the cloues or bulbous heads of the root and being thus planted it prooueth larger bigger and fairer than the other howbeit sooner far it doth degenerate and become a bastard kind neither is it fruitfull and beareth chiues in euerie place no not about Cyrene where the goodliest floures of Saffron in the world are to be seen at all times The principal Saffron groweth in Cilicia and especially vpon the mountain Corycus there next to it is that of Lycia and namely vpon the hill Olympus and then in a third degree of goodnesse is reckoned the Saffron Centuripinum in Sicily although some there bee who attribute the second place vnto the saffron of the mount Phlegra Nothing is so subject to sophistication as Saffron and therfore the only triall of true Saffron indeed is this If a man lay his hands vpon it he shall heare it to cracke as if it were brittle and readie to burst for that which is moist a qualitie comming by some indirect means and cunning cast yeeldeth to the hand and makes no words Yet is there another proofe of good Saffron If a man after hee haue handled it reach his hand vp presently to his mouth perceiue that the aire and breath therof smiteth to his face and eyes and therewith fretteth and stingeth them a little for then he may be sure that the saffron is right there is a kind of garden saffron by it self and this commonly is thought best and pleaseth most when there appeareth some white in the mids of the floure and thereupon they name it Dialeucon whereas contrariwise this is thought to be a fault and imperfection in the Corysian Saffron which is chiefe and indeed the floure of it is blacker than any other soonest fadeth But the best simply in any place whersoeuer is that which is thickest and seemes to like best hauing besides short chiues like hairs the worst is that which smelleth of mustines Mutianus writeth that in Lycia the practise is to take it vp euery 7 or 8 yere and remoue it to a plot of ground wel digged and delued to a fine mould where if it be replanted it will become fresh again and youg whereas it was ready before to decay and degenerate No vse thereis in any place of Saffron floures in garlands for the leaues are small and narrow in manner almost of threads Howbeit with wine it accordeth passing well especially if it be of any sweet kind and being reduced into powder and tempered therewith it is commonly sprinkled ouer all the theatres and filleth the place with a persume It bloometh at the setting or occultation of the star Vergiliae and continueth in floure but few daies and the leaf driueth out the floure In the mids of winter it is in the verdure and al green and then would it be taken vp and gathered which done it ought to be dried in the shadow and the colder that the shade is so much the better For the root of Saffron is pulpous and full of carnositie and no root liueth so long aboue ground as it doth Saffron loueth a-life to be trampled and trod vpon vnder foot and in truth the more injurie is done vnto it for to mar it the better it thriueth and therefore neare to beaten paths and wells much frequented it commeth forward and prospereth most CHAP. VII ¶ Of the floures vsed in old time about coronets and guirlands the great diuersitie in aromaticall and sweet smelling simples Of Saliunca and Polium SAffron was no doubt in great credit and estimation during the flowring estate of Troy for certes the Poet Homer highly commendeth these three floures to wit Melilot Saffron and Hyacinth Of all odoriferous and sweet senting simples nay of all hearbes and floures whatsoeuer the difference consisteth in the colour the smel and the juice And note this to begin withall that seldome or neuer you shal meet with any thing sweet in sent but it is bitter in tast and contrariwise sweet things in the mouth be few or none odoriferous to the nose And this is the reason that wine refined smelleth better than new in the lees and simples growing wild haue a better sauor far than those of the garden Some floures the further they be off the more pleasant is their smell come nearer vnto them their sent is more dull and weaker than it was as namely Violets A fresh and new gathered rose casteth a better smel afar off than neere at hand let it be somwhat withered and dry you shal sent it better at the nose than farther off Generally all floures be more odoriferous and pleasant in the Spring than at any other season of the yeare and in the morning they haue a quicker and more piercing sent than at any houre of the day besides the neerer to noon the weaker is the smell of any herb or floure Moreouer the floures of new plants are nothing so sweet as those of an old stock and yet I must needs say that floures smell strongest in the mids of Summer As for Roses and Saffron floures they cast the pleasanter smell if they be gathered in cleare weather when it is faire and dry aboue head and in one word such as grow in hot countries be euer sweeter to smell vnto than in cold Climats Howbeit in Aegypt the floures haue no good sent at all by reason that the aire
make them cups of diuers forms and fashions out of which they take no small pleasure to drink And now adaies this herb is planted here in Italy Next to Colocasia the Aegyptians make most account of that Cichory which I named before the wild and wandring Endiue which herb commeth vp in that country after the rising of the Brood hen star it floureth not all at once but bloweth by branches one after another a supple and pliable root it hath and therefore the Aegyptians vse it in stead of cords to binde withall As for Anthalium it groweth not in Nilus but not far from the riuer it beareth a fruit in bignesse and roundnesse resembling a Medlar hauing neither kernell within nor husk without and the leafe of this plant is like to Cyperus or English Galangale This herbe they vse to eat being first dressed and prepared in the kitchin They feed likewise vpon Oetum a plant that hath few leaues and chose very small howbeit a great root Touching Aracidna and Aracos they haue many roots verily branching and spreading from them but neither leafe nor herbage ne yet any thing els appearing aboue ground And thus much of the chiefest and greatest herbs of Egypt serued vp to the table the rest are common or vulgar and euery mans meat by name Condrylla Hypochoeris Caucalis Authriscum Scandix called by some Tragopogon which beareth leaues like to Saffron Parthenium Strychnum Corchorus and A pace which sheweth his head about the Aequinox also Acinos and that which they name Epipetron and it neuer beareth floure whereas Aphace contrariwise neuer giueth ouer flouring but when one floure is faded and shed another commeth vp and this course it holdeth all Winter long throughout the Spring also euen to the heat of Summer Many other hearbs they haue of base reckoning but aboue all they make greatest account of Cnicus an herbe not knowne in Italy not for any good meat they find in it but for the oyle drawne out of the seed thereof Of this herb there be two principall kinds to wit the Wild and the Tame the Wild is subdiuided into two speciall sorts the one of a more mild and gentle nature than the other although the stalks of both be alike that is to say stiffe and streight vpright and therefore women in old time vsed the stems thereof for rocks and distaffes whereupon some do call the herb Atractylis the seed is white big and bitter The second is more rough and hairy creeping long on the ground with stalks more musculous and fleshy and carrieth a small seed The herb may be ranged among those that be prickly for so must herbs be diuided into such general heads namely that some be full of pricks others cleane without and smooth As for those which stand vpon pricks they be subdiuided into many members and branches And to begin with a kind of Sperage called also Scorpio it hath no leafe at all but instead therof pricks and nothing els some there be leafed indeed but those are beset with prickes as the Thistle Sea-holly Liquorice and Nettle for the leaues of all these herbs be pricky stinging withall Others besides their leaues haue prickles also as the bramble Rest harrow or whin Some be provided of pricks both in lease and stalk as Phleos which others haue called Stoebe As for Hippophacet it hath a prick or thorne in euery joint but the bramble Tribulus aforesaid hath this property by it selfe That the fruit also which it beareth is set with pricks Of all these sorts the Nettle is best knowne which carrieth certain goblets and concauities and the same yeelding a purple kind of downe in the floure and it riseth vp sometimes aboue two cubits high Many kinds there be of these Nettles namely the wild Nettle which some would haue to be the female and this is more milde than the rest In this wilde kinde is to be reckoned also that which they cal Cania and is of the twain more aegre for the very stalke will sting and the leaues be purfled as it were and jagged But that Nettle which carrieth a stinking sauor with it called is Herculanea All the sort of them are full of seed and the same blacke A strange quality in these Nettles that the very hairy downe of them hauing no euident prickes sticking out should be so shrewd as it is that if one touch it neuer so little presently there followeth a smarting kind of itch and anon the skin riseth vp in pimples and blisters as if it had been skalt or burnt but well knowne is the remedie of this smart namely to annoint the place with oyle Howbeit this biting property that it hath commeth not to it at the beginning when it is new comevp but it is the heat of the Sun that fortifieth this mordacitie And verily in the Spring when the Nettle is young and peepeth first out of the ground they vse to eat the crops therof for a pleasant kind of meat and many be persuaded besides that it is medicinable therefore precisely religiously feed thereupon as a preservatiue to put by all diseases for that present yeare Also the root of the wild Nettle if it be sodden with any flesh maketh it to eat more tender The dead nettle which stingeth not at all is called Lamium As touching the herb Scorpio I will write in the treatise of herbs medicinable CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Carduus and Ixine of Tribulus and Anchusa THe common Thistle is ful of pricky hairs both in leafe stalk likewise Acorna Leucacanthos Chalceos Cnicos Polyacanthos Onopyxos Ixine Scolymos As touching the Thistle Chamaeleon it hath no pricks in the leafe Moreouer these pricky hearbes are distinguished different one from another in this that some of them be furnished with many stems and spred into diuers branches as the Thistle others againe rise vp with one maine stalk and branch not as Cnecos Also there be of them that be prickly only in the head as the Eryngium or Sea-holly Some floure in Summer as Tetralix and Ixine As for Scolymus late it is also ere it blow but it continueth long in the floure Acorna differeth from it onely in the red colour and fattier juice that commeth from it Atractylis also might go for Scolymus but that it is whiter and yeeldeth a liquor like bloud wherupon there be some who cal it Phonos i. Murderer this quality it hath besides that it senteth strong the seed also ripeneth late not before Autumne and yet this is a property common to all plants of this pricky and thistly kind But all these herbs wil come of seed and root both As for Scolymus it differeth from the rest of these Thistles herein that the root if it be sodden is good to be eaten besides it hath a strange nature for all the sort of them during the Summer throughout neuer rest and giue ouer but
was much forked diuided into branches wherwith folk vsed to kil fishes But among al other herbs of name Peucedanum is much talked of and commended principally that which groweth in Arcadie next to it most account is made of that in Samothrace a slender stalk it carrieth and a long resembling the stem of Fennell neere vnto the ground it is replenished well with leaues the root is black thick full of sap and of a strong and vnpleasant smell it delighteth to come vp and grow among shady mountains The proper time to dig it out of the ground is in the later end of Autumne the tenderest roots and those that run deepest downe into the earth are most commendable The manner is to cut these roots ouerthwart into certaine cantels or pieces of foure fingers in length with kniues made of bone whereout there issueth a juice which ought to be dried kept in the shade but the party who hath the cutting of them had need first to annoint his head all ouer and his nosthrils with oile rosat for feare of the gid and least he should fall into a dizzinesse or swimming of the braine There is another juice or liquor found in this plant lying fast within the stems therof which they yeeld forth after incision made in them The best juice is knowne by these marks It carieth the consistence of honey the colour is red the smell strong and yet pleasant and in the mouth it is very hot and stinging Much vse there is of it in many medicines as also of the root and decoction thereof but the juice is of most operation which being dissolued with bitter almonds or rue people vse to drink against the poison of serpents in case the body be annointed all ouer with oile it preserueth them safe against their stings CHAP. X. ¶ Of ground Elder or Wallwoort Of Mullen or Taper wort Of the Aconit called Thelyphonos Of remedies against the pricke of Scorpions the venome of Hedge-toads the biting of mad Dogs and generally against all poysons THe smoke or perfume also of VValwort a common herb and knowne to euery man chaseth and putteth to flight any serpents The juice of Polemonia is a proper defensatiue especially against scorpions if one haue it tied about him or hanging at his neck likewise it resisteth the prick of the spiders Phalangia and any other of these venomous vermins of the smaller sort Aristolochia hath a singular vertue contrary vnto serpents so hath Agaricke if foure oboli thereof be drunke in as many cyaths of some artificiall or compound aromatized wine Vervaine is a soueraigne herb also against the venomous spider Phalangium being taken in wine or oxycrat i. vineger and water so is Cinquefoile and the yellow Carrot That herb which the Latines call Verbascum i. Lungwort or Hightaper is named in Greek Phlomos Two special kinds there be of it the one is whiter which you must take for the male the other black that may go for the female There is a third sort also but it is found no where but in the wild woods The leaues of all the former be broader than those of the Colewort and hairy withal they beare a main vpright stem a cubit in height with the vantage the seed is black and of no vse in Physicke a single root they haue of a finger thicknes These grow also vpon plains and champian grounds The wild kinde beareth leaues resembling sauge the branches be of a wooddy substance the same grow high There be moreouer of this kind two other herbs named Phlomides both of them hairy their leaues be round and they grow but low A third sort there is be sides named by some Lychnitis and by others Thryallis it sheweth 3 leaues or foure at the most and those be thick fat good to make wyks or matches for lights It is said that if figs be kept in the leaues of that which I named the female they will not rot To distinguish these herbs into seuerall kinds is a needlesse peece of work considering they agree all in the same effects their root together with rue is to be drunk in water against the poyson of scorpions true it is that the drinke is very bitter but the effect that it worketh maketh amends There is an herbe called by some Thelyphonon by others Scorpion for the resemblance that the root hath to the Scorpion and yet if Scorpions be but touched therwith they will die thereupon no maruell therefore if there be an ordinary drinke made of it against their poison and here commeth to my mind that which I haue heard namely that if a dead scorpion be rubbed with the white Ellebore root it wil reuiue and quicken again The said Thelyphonon hath such a spightful nature against the four-footed beasts of the female sex that if the root be laid to their shap or naturall place it killeth them and if the leafe which is like vnto the Cyclamin or Sowbread leafe aboue named be applied in that maner they will not liue one day to an end This herb is parted and diuided into knots or joints taking pleasure to grow in coole and shady places To conclude and knit vp these remedies against scorpions the juice of Betonie and of Plantaine likewise is a singular remedie for their poison Moreouer Frogs such especially as keep in bushes and hedges and be called in Latine Rubetae i. toads are not without their venom I my self haue seen these vaunting Montebanks calling themselues Psylli as comming from the race of those people Psylli who feared no kind of poison I haue seen them I say in a brauery because they would seem to surpasse all others of that profession to eat those toads baked red hot between 2 platters but what became of them they caught their bane by it and died more suddenly than if they had bin stung by the Aspis but what is the help for this rank poison surely the herb Phrynion drunk in wine Some cal it Neuras others Poterion pretty flours it beareth the roots be many in number full of strings like vnto sinews and the same of a sweet pleasant sent Likewise Alisura is counted another remedy in this case an herb it is called by some Damosorium by others Liron the leaues might be taken for Planta in but that they be narrower more iagged and plaited bending also toward the ground for otherwise ribbed they be and full of veins as like as may be to Plantain As for the stalk it is likewise one and no more plain and slender of a cub it in heigth in the head wherof it hath knobs roots growing many and thick together and those but small like vnto those of the blacke Ellebore but they be hot and biting of a sweet and odoriferous smell and of a fatty substance withall it groweth ordinarily in watery and moist places And yet there is a second kind of it which commeth vp in woods of a more
blacke and blew vnder the eies with hony it reduceth the place to the natiue colour againe The vapour or fume of the decoction of wormwood receiued into the eares assuageth their paine or if they run with corrupt matter it is good to apply the same reduced into pouder and incorporat in hony Take three or foure sprigs of wormwood one root of Nardus Gallicus boile them in six cyaths of water it is a soueraigne medicine to drinke for to prouoke vrine and bring downe the desired sicknesse of women or beeing taken simply alone with hony and withall put vp in a pessarie made with a locke of wooll it is of speciall operation to procure their monthly terms with honey and sal-nitre it is singular for the Squinancie it healeth chill-blanes if they be bathed with the decoction thereof in water applied vnto fresh or green wounds in a cataplasme before any cold water come vnto them it healeth them and besides in that manner it cureth the scals in the head being incorporat with Cyprian wax or figges and so applied to the flankes or hypochondrial parts it hath a particular vertue by it selfe to helpe their griefes Moreouer it killeth any itch Howbeit this would be noted that wormewood in no case must be giuen to those that haue an ague Let a man or woman vse to drinke wormewood they shall not be sea-sicke nor giuen to heauing as commonly they be that are at sea If wormewood be worne in a trusse to the bottome of the bellie it allayeth the swelling in the share The smell of wormewood procureth sleepe or if it be laid vnder the pillow or bolster prouided alwaies that the patient be not ware of it Either basted within cloaths or strewed vpon them it keepeth away the moth If one rub his body therewith and oile together it driueth gnats away so doth the smoke therof also when it burneth If writing inke be tempered with the infusion of wormewood it preserueth letters and bookes written therewith from being gnawne by mice The ashes of wormewood burnt and incorporate with oile Rosat to an ointment coloureth the haire of the head black There is yet another kinde of Sea-wormewood which some call Seriphium and excellent good is that which groweth about the city Taphositis in Aegypt Of this wormewood it is that the priests of Isis in their solemne marches and processions vse to beare branches before them The leaues be somewhat narrower than those of the former and the bitternesse not altogether so much An enemy it is to the stomacke howbeit the belly it loosneth and chaseth worms out of the guts for which purpose it is good to drink it with oile and salt or else the infusion therof in a supping or grewell made with the floure of the three moneth corne To make the decoction of wormwood well there would be taken a good handfull of wormwood and sodden in a sextar of water to the consumption of the one halfe CHAP. VIII ¶ Of stinking Horehound of Mille-graine or Oke of Ierusalem of Brabyla Bryon Bupleuros Catanance of Calla Circaea and Cersium of Crataeogonon and Thelygonum of Crocodilium and Cynosorchis of Chrysolachanon Cucubalon and Conserua STinking Horehound which some Greeks call Ballote others Melamprasion i. Black Horehound is an herbe tufted full of branches the stems be black and cornered the leaues wherwith they be clad and garnished are somewhat hairy resembling those of sweet or white Horehound but that they be bigger blacker and of a stinking sauor but the leaues stamped and applied with salt be very effectuall against the biting of a mad dog also if they be wrapped in a Colewort or Beet leafe and so rosted vnder the embers they are commended for the swelling piles in the fundament This Horehound made into a salue with honey clenseth filthie vlcers Botrys is an herb ful of branches and those of a yellowish colour and beset round with seed the leaues resemble Cichorie Found it is commonly growing about the banks of brookes and riuerets Good it is for them that be streight winded and cannot draw their breath but sitting vpright The Cappadocians call it Ambrosia others Artemisia As for Brabyla they be astringent in manner of Quinces More than so I find not any Author to write thereof Bryon no doubt is a Sea-herbe like in leaues to Lettuce but that they be riuelled and wrinkled as if they were drawne together in a purse no stem it hath and the leaues come forth at the bottom from the root it groweth ordinarily vpon rockes bearing out of the sea and ye shall find it also sticking to the shels of certaine fishes especially such as haue gathered any mud or earth about them The herbe is exceeding astringent and desiccatiue by vertue whereof it is a singular repercussiue in all impostumes and inflammations of the gout especially such as require to be repressed or cooled Touching Bupleuros I read that the seed thereof is giuen against the sting of serpents and that the wounds inflicted by them are to bee washed or somented with the decoction of the herb putting thereto the leaues of the Mulberrie tree or Origan Catanance is a meere Thessalian herb and growing no where els but in Thessalie and forasmuch as it is vsed only in amatorious matters and for to spice loue drinks withall I meane not to busie my selfe in the description therof howbeit thus much it would not be amisse to note for to detect and lay open the folly and vanities of Magitians namely that they went by this conjecture onely that it should be of power to win the loue of women because forsooth when it is withered it draweth it selfe inward like a dead Kites foot For the same reason also I will hold my tongue and say neuer a word of the herb Cemos Cala is of two sorts the one like to Aron which loueth to grow in toiled and ploughed grounds the time to gather this herb is before it begin to wither the same operation it hath that Aron and is vsed to the like purposes the root thereof is commended to be giuen in drink for a purgation of the belly and to prouoke the monethly termes of women the stalkes boyled leafe and all together with some pulse or other into a pottage and so taken cure the inordinate prouocations to the stoole and streinings therupon without doing any thing The second kind some call Anchusa others Rhinochisia the leaues resemble Lettuce but that they be longer ful of plume or down the root red which being applied with the floure of barly groats healeth shingles or any other kind of S. Anthonies fire but drunke in white wine cureth the infirmities of the liuer Circaeum is an herb like to winter Cherry or Alkakengi but for the flours which are black the seed small as the graine of Millet and the same groweth in huskes or bladders resembling little hornes the root is halfe a foot long forked
be vntoward for to be healed but a peculiar property it hath by it selfe to cure any vlcer occasioned by the snow Our Herbarists vse this kind much for the squinancy and to ease the head-ach make a garland thereof appointing it to be set vpon the head but to represse any violent catarrhs they prescribe to weare it about the neck In Tertian agues some giue direction to pluck it out of the ground with the left hand and then to tie it to the arm or other part of the patient And there is not an herb or plant that they be more careful to keep dry and to haue alwaies ready at hand than Polygonon for to stanch any issue or flix of bloud whatsoeuer Pancration which some chuse rather to cal the little Squilla or sea-onion beareth leaues resembling the white Lilly but that they be longer and thicker with a great bulbous root the same in color red The juice of it taken with the floure of Eruile maketh the belly laxatiue and outwardly applied mundifieth vlcers For the dropsie and hardnesse of the spleene it is giuen with hony in maner of a syrrup Some take the root and boile it in water vntill the liquour be sweet which they poure forth and then stamp the said root and reduce it into bals or trosches which they lay to dry in the Sun and vse them afterwards as occasion serueth for the skals or vlcers of the head and all other sores that require mundification Semblably they giue thereof as much as one may take vp with three fingers in wine for the cough and in a liquid electuarie or lohoch for the pleurisie and peripnewmonie They prescribe it likewise to be drunke in wine for the Sciatica to allay also the gripes and wrings of the belly and to procure the monethly termes of women Peplos called by some Syce by others Meconion Aphrodes from one smal root busheth into many branches the leaues be like vnto Rue but that they be somewhat broader the seed appeareth vnder the leaues round but that they be smaller not vnlike to the white Poppie Ordinarily it is found among Vines and they gather it in haruest time They hang it forth seed and all together a drying setting water vnderneath that the said seed or fruit may fall down into it If it be taken in drinke it purgeth the belly and doth euacuat both choler and fleagme The measure of one acetable is counted an ordinary and indifferent potion to be drunk in three hemines of mead or honied water With this seed they vse to pouder meats and viands thereby to keep the body soluble Periclymenos is also a bushie plant and loueth to branch much it beareth whitish soft leaues disposed two by two at certain spaces distances very orderly In the top of the branches it beareth hard seeds between the leaues which hardly may be plucked off It groweth in tilled corn fields hedges winding about euery thing that it can catch hold of for to support and beare it vp The seed after it is dried in the shade folk vse to pun in a morter and so to make it vp into trochisks In case that the spleen be swollen or hard they take of these trosches and after they be dissolued giue thereof a sufficient quantity in 3 cyaths of white wine for 30 daies together which drink is of such operation that it will wast and spend the spleen partly by vrine which wil appeare bloudy and partly also by seege and this will be perceiued sensibly by the tenth day of the cure The leaues also be diureticall and a decoction made with them prouokes vrine The same likewise are good for those that cannot draw their wind but sitting with their body vpright Being drunk in like manner they help women who are in sore trauell to speedie deliuerance and fetch away the after-birth As touching Pelecinum it groweth as I said before among corn branching thick and garnished with leaues like vnto the cich pease It beareth seed in certain cods which crook in manner of little horns and those be four or fiue in number together The said seed resembleth Gith so far as euer I could see and is bitter but good for the stomack one of the ingredients that goe into antidotes and preseruatiues against poison Polygala reacheth vp with a stem a span high in the top wherof it beareth leaues resembling the Lentils of an astringent tast which being drunk causeth nources to haue plenty of milk in their breasts Poterion or as some call it Phrynion or Neurada brancheth and spreadeth much armed it is with sharp pricks and besides full of a kind of thick down the leaues be small and round the branches slender long soft and pliable the floure in form long of a grasse green color The seed is of no vse in Physick but of a quick and sharp tast odoriferous also and pleasant to the smell It is found growing as well in watery places as also vpon little hils Two or three roots it hath which run down two cubits deep into the ground ful of cords or sinews white and of a firm and hard substance About Autumne they vse to dig round about it hauing before cut the plant it selfe aboue ground which yeeldeth thereby a juice like vnto a gum The root is by report of wonderfull operation in healing wounds and especially of sinews cut in sunder if it be applied thereto in a liniment Also the decoction thereof drunke with honey in manner of a syrrupe helpeth the feeblenesse and dissolution of the sinewes and namely when they bee wounded and cut Phalangites by some is called Phalangion by others Leucanthemon or as I find in some copies Leucacantha Little branches it putteth forth neuer fewer than twaine and those tending directly a contrary way The floures white fashioned like the red Lilly the seed blacke broad and flat shaped after the manner of halfe a Lentill but much lesse and the root is of a greenish colour The leafe floure and seed of this herbe is a singular remedie against the venomous sting of scorpions the spiders Phalangia and serpents also for the wringing torments of the belly As for Phyteuma somewhat els I haue to do rather than to describe it considering there is no vse of it but in amatorious medicines to procure womens loue There is an herbe called by the Greekes Phyllon growing vpon stony mountaines standing much vpon a rocke The female of this kinde is of a deepe greene colour the stem is slender the root small the seed round and like vnto that of Poppie This hearbe serueth for the getting and conceiuing either of boyes or girles according as the male or the female is vsed which differ only in seed or fruit which in the male resembleth an oliue that is new come forth and biginneth only to shew But both of them are for the said purpose to be drunke in wine Phellandrion groweth in moory grounds and in
or wine The bloud of the fouls abouenamed helpeth those that cannot see toward a night the liuer also of a sheep doth the same but if the said sheep be of a russet or browne colour the medicine will do the better for as I obserued before in Goats those that carry such a coat bee alwaies esteemed best Many giue counsell to foment and wash the eies with the decoction of the said liuer and if they be in pain and swollen withall they aduise to annoint them with the marrow of a Mutton They promise also That the ashes of scrich-owles eyes put into a collyrie wil clarifie the sight Indeed the dung of Turtles consumeth the white pearles in the eyes so doth the ashes of shell-snailes or hoddidods as also the meuting of the kestrell Cenchris which the Greeke writers wil haue to be a kind of Hawke As for the spot or pearle in the eie called Argema it may be cured by all those medicines aboue rehearsed so that they be applied thereto with hony But the best hony simply for the eies is that wherein a number of Bees were forced to die Whosoeuer hath eaten a young storke out of the nest he shall they say continue many yeares together and neuer be troubled with inflamed or bleared eies like as they that carrie about them a Dragons head It is said moreouer That the Dragons grease incorporat in honey and old oile dispatcheth and scattereth the filmes and webs that trouble the sight if they bee taken betimes before they be grown too thicke Some there be who at the full of a Moone put out the eies of yong swallowes marking the time when they haue recouered their sight againe for then they pluck off their heads and burne them to ashes which being tempered with hony they vse for to cleare their owne sight to ease the pains and discusse the blearednesse of eies yea and to heale them if they haue caught a blow or rush As for Lizards they vse to prepare them many and sundry waies for the infirmities incident to the eies Some take the green Lizard and put her close within a new earthen pot that neuer was occupied and therewith 9 of those little stones which the Greeks call Cinaedia and these are vsually applied vnto the share for the swelling glandules and tumors that many times rise there marking euery one of them respectively by themselues which being done they take forth of the pot euery day one when the ninth day is come they let out the Lizard and then they keepe the said stones thus ordered and prepared as soueraigne remedies to allay the pain and griefe of the eies Others get a green Lizard and put out her eies and bestow her in a glasse with a bed of earth vnder her in the bottome thereof and withall inclose within the said glasse certaine rings either of solid yron or massie gold and so soon as they perceiue through the glasse that the Lizard hath recouered her sight againe they let her forth but the said rings they keep with great care and regard as a speciall meanes for to helpe any bleared eies There be moreouer who vse the ashes of a Lizards head in stead of Stibium or Antimonium for to make smooth the roughnesse of the eye-lids Some hunt after green Lizards with long neckes which breed in sandy and gravelly grounds and when they be gotten burne them to ashes with which they vse to represse the flux of waterish humors which begin to fall into the eies yea and therewith consume the red pearls growing therein It is said moreouer That if a Weasels eies be pecked or plucked out of the head they will come againe and shee will recouer her sight and therefore they practise the like with rings and them together as I obserued before in Lizards Furthermore it is said That as many as carry about them the right eie of a serpent tied vnto any part it is very good for to stay the violent rheumes that haue taken to the eies but then in any wise the serpent must be let goe aliue after that she hath lost her eie As touching those eies which be euermore weeping and do stand ful of water continually the ashes of the star-lizards head called Stellio together with Antimonium helpeth them exceeding much The copweb which the common Spider maketh that vseth to catch flies but especially that which shee hath wouen for her nest or hole wherein she lieth her selfe is soueraigne good for the flux of humours into the eyes if the same be applied all ouer the forehead so as it meet with the temples on both sides but wot you what none must haue the doing hereof either to get the said copwebs or to lay it vnto the place but a young lad not as yet vndergrowne nor foureteene yeares of age neither must he be seene of the partie whom hee cureth in three daies after ne yet during the space of those three dayes must either hee or his Patient touch the ground with their bare feet Which circumstances and ceremonies being duely obserued it is wonderfull to see what a cure will follow thereupon Furthermore it is said That these white spiders with the long and slender legs being punned and incorporat in old oile be singular for to consume the white pearle in the eie if the same be dressed with that composition Also those spiders that worke ordinarily vnder roofes rafters and boorded floores of houses and weaue the thickest webs if any of them be inwrapped within a piece of cloth and kept bound to the eies or forehead do restraine for euer the said rheumes and catarrhes that haue found a way to the eies The greene Beetle hath a property naturally to quicken their sight who do but behold them and therefore these lapidaries and cutters or grauers in precious stones if they may haue an eie of them once looke vpon them take no more care for their eie-sight how it should serue their turnes when they are at their worke Thus much of eies As concerning the ears and the infirmities incident vn them there is not a better thing to mundifie and cleanse them than a sheepes gall with hony and a bitches milke if it be dropped into them easeth their paine Dogs grease tempered with Wormewood and old oile helpeth those that be hard of hearing so doth Goose grease howbeit some put thereto the juice of an Onion Garlick of each a like quantity In this case also there is much vse of Ants egs alone without any thing els for as little and silly a creature as it is yet she is not without some medicinable vertues insomuch as Beares when they feele themselues sickish or not well at ease cure themselues with eating Pismires As for the manner of preparing as well the grease of a goose as of all other fouls this it is first the fat ought to be clensed and rid from all the skins veines and strings that are among it and
prince of Romane Eloquence loe here thy Groue in place How greene it is where planted first it was to grow apace And Vetus now who holds thy house Faire Academie hight Spares for no cost but it maintains and keeps in better plight Of late also fresh fountains here brake forth out of the ground Most wholesome for to bath sore eies which earst were neuer found These helpfull springs the Soile no doubt presenting to our view To Cicero her ancient lord hath done this honour due That since his books throughout the world are read by many a wight More waters still may cleare their eyes and cure decaying sight In the same tract of Campaine and namely toward Sinuessa there be other fountains called Sinuessan waters which haue the name not only to cure men of lunacie and madnes but also to make barrain women fruitfull and apt to conceiue In the Island Aenaria there is a spring which helpeth those that be troubled with the stone and grauell like as another water which they call Acidula within 4 miles of Teanum in the Sidicins country and the same is actually cold also there is another of that kind about Stabij called by the name of Dimidia like as in the territory of Venafrum that which proceeded from the source Acidulus and gaue name to the foresaid water Acidula The same effect they find who drink of the lake Velinus for it breakes the stone Moreouer M. Varro maketh mention of such another fountain in Syria at the foot of the mountaine Taurus So doth Callimachus report the foresaid operation of the riuer Gallus in Phrygia howbeit they that take of this water must keep a measure for otherwise it distracts their vnderstanding driues them besides their right wits which accident hapneth to those saith Ctesias who drink of the red fountain for so it is called in Aethiopia as touching the waters neer Rome called Albulae they are known to heale wounds these waters are neither hot nor cold but those which go vnder the name of Cutiliae in the Sabins country are exceeding cold by a certain mordication that they haue seem to suck out the humors superfluous excrements of the body being otherwise most agreeable for the stomacke sinewes and generally for all parts There is a fountain at Thespiae a city in Boeotia which doth great pleasure to women that would fain haue children for no sooner drinke they of the water but they are ready to conceiue and of this propertie is the riuer Elatus in Arcadia In which region also the Spring Linus yeeldeth water which if a woman with child do drink she shall go out her full time not be in danger to slip an vnperfect birth Contrariwise the riuer Aphrodisium in Pyrrhaea causeth barrennesse The lake or meere Alphion is medicinable and cures the foule Morphew Varro mine author makes mention of one Titius a man of good worth and sometime lord Praetour who was so bewraied painted all ouer his face with spots of Morphew that he looked like an image made of spotted marble Cydnus a riuer of Cilicia hath a vertue to cure the gout as appeareth by a letter written from Cassius the Parmezan vnto M. Antonius Contrariwise the waters about Troezen are so bad that all the inhabitants are thereby subject to the gout and other diseases of the feet There is a citie in Gaule named Tungri much renowned for a noble fountaine which runneth at many pipes a smacke it hath resembling the rust of yron howbeit this tast is not perceiued but at the end loose only This water is purgatiue driues away tertian agues expels the stone and cureth the Symptomes attending thereupon Set this water ouer the fire or neare to it you shall see it thick and troubled but at the last it looketh red Between Puteoli and Naples there be certain wels called Leucogaei the water wherof cureth the infirmitie of the eies and healeth wounds Cicero in his booke entituled Admiranda i. Wonders among other admirable things hath ranged the moores or fens of Reate for that the water issuing from them hath naturally a propertie from all others to harden the houfes of horses feet Eudicus reporteth That in the territorie of Hestiaea a citie in Thessalie there be two springs the one named Ceron of which as many sheepe as drinke proue black the other Melas the water wherof maketh black sheep turn white let them drink of both waters mingled together they will proue flecked and of diues colours Theophrastus writeth That the riuer Crathis in the Thuriaus countrie causeth both kine and sheep as many as drink thereof to looke white whereas the water of Sybaris giueth them a black hew And by his saying this difference in operation is seene also vpon the people that vse to drink of them for as many as take to the riuer Sybaris become blacker harder and withall of a more curled hair than others contrariwise the drinking of Crathis causeth them to look white to be more soft skinned their bush of haire to grow at length Semblably in Macedony they that would haue any cattell to grow white bring them to drinke at Aliacmon the riuer but as many as desire they should be brown or black driue them to water at Axius The same Theophrastus hath left in writing That in some places there is no other thing bred or growing but brown and duskish insomuch as not only the cattel is all of that lere but also the corne on the ground other fruits of the earth as among the Messapians Also at Lusae a city of Arcadia there is a certain wel wherin there keep ordinarily land-mice As for the riuer Aleos which passes through Erythrae it makes them to grow hairie all their bodies ouer as many as drink therof In Boeotia likewise near to the temple of the god Trophonius hard by the riuer Orchomenas there be two fountains the one helps memory the other causeth obliuion wherupon they took their names In Cilicia hard at the town Crescum there runs a riuer called Nus by the saying of M. Varro whosoeuer drink therof shall find their wits more quicke and themselues of better conceit than before But in the Isle Chios there is a spring which causeth as many as vse the water to be dull and heauie of spirit At Zamae in Affrick the water of a certain fountain makes a cleare shrill voice Let a man drink of the lake Clitorius he shall take a misliking and loathing of wine saith M. Varro And yet Eudoxus Theopompus report That the water of the fountains beforesaid make them drunk that vse it Mutianus affirmes That out of the fountain vnder the temple of father Bacchus within the Isle Andros at certaine times of the yere for 7 daies together there runneth nothing but wine insomuch as they call it the wine of god Bacchus howbeit remoue the said water out of the prospect and view as it
purified againe is subiect no more vnto putrifaction And as for cesterne waters the Physicians also themselues confesse That they breed obstructions and schirrhosities in the bellie yea and otherwise be hurtfull to the throat As also that there is not any kinde of water whatsoeuer which gathereth more mud or engendreth more filthie and illfauoured vermine than it doth Neither followeth it by and by that all great riuer waters indifferently are the best no more than those of any brooke or the most part of ponds and pooles are to bee counted and esteemed most wholesome But of these kinds of water wee must conclude and resolue with making destinction namely That there be of euery sort thereof those which are singular and very conuenient howbeit more in one place than in another The kings and princes of Persia bee serued with no other water for their drinke but from the two riuers Choaspes and Eulaeus onely And looke how farre soeuer they make their progresse or voyage from them two riuers yet the water thereof they carry with them And what might the reason be therefore Certes it is not because they be riuers which yeeld this water that they like the drinke so well for neither out of the two famous riuers Tygris and Euphrates nor yet out of many other faire and commodious running streames doe they drinke Moreouer when you see or perceiue any riuer to gather abundance of mud and filth wote well that ordinarily the water therof is not good nor wholesome and yet if the same riuer or running streame bee giuen to breed great store of yeeles the water is counted thereby wholesome and good ynough And as this is a token of the goodnesse so the wormes called Tineae engendered about the head or spring of any riuer is as great a signe of coldnesse Bitter waters of all others bee most condemned like as those also which soone follow the spade in digging and by reason that they lie so ebbe quickly fill the pit And such be the waters commonly about Troezen As for the nitrous brackish and salt waters found among the desarts such as trauell through those parts toward the red sea haue a deuise to make them sweet and potable within two houres by putting parched barley meale into them and as they drinke the water so when they haue done they feed vpon the said barly grots as a good and wholsom gruel Those spring waters are principally condemned which gather much mud and settle grosse in the bottome those also which cause them to haue an il colour who vse to drink thereof It skilleth also very much to mark if a water staine any vessels with a kinde of greene rust if it be long before pulse will be sodden therein if being poured vpon the ground it be not quickly sucked in and drunk vp and lastly if it fur those vessels with a thicke rust wherein it vseth to be boiled for all these be signes of bad water Ouer and besides it is a fault in water not only to stink but also to haue any smack or tast at all yea though the same be pleasant and sweet enough and inclining much to the rellice of milk as many times it doth in diuers places In one word would you know a good and wholsome water indeed Chuse that which in all points resembleth the aire as neere as is possible At Cabura in Mesopotamia there is a fountaine of water which hath a sweet and redolent smel setting it aside I know not any one of that qualitie in the whole world againe but hereto there belongs a tale namely that this spring was priuiledged with this extraordinary gift because queen Iuno forsooth sometimes bathed and washed her selfe therein for otherwise good and wholesome water ought to haue neither tast nor odor at all Some there be who iudge of their wholsomnesse by their ballance and they keep a weighing and poising of waters one against another but for all their curiositie they misse of their purpose in the end for seldom or neuer can they find one water lighter than another Yet this deuise is better and more certain namely to take two waters that be of equal measure and weight for looke whether of them heateth and cooleth sooner the same is alwaies the better And for to make a trial herof lade vp some seething water in a pale or such like vessel set the same down vpon the ground out of your hand to ease your arm of holding it hanging long in the aire and if it be good water they say it will immediatly of scalding hot become warm and no more Well what waters then according to their sundry kindes in generalitie shall we take by all likelihood to be best If we go by the inhabitants of cities and great towns surely wel-water or pit water I see is simply the wholsomest But then such wels or pits must be much frequented that by the continual agitation and often drawing thereof the water may be more purified and the terren substance passe away the better by that means And thus much may suffice for the goodnesse of water respectiuely to the health of mans body But if we haue regard to the coldnesse of water necessarie it is that the Wel should stand in some coole and shadowie place not exposed to the Sun and nathelesse open to the broad aire that it may haue the full view and sight as it were of the sky And aboue all this one thing would be obserued and seen vnto that the source which feedeth it spring and boile vp directly from the bottom and not issue out of the sides which also is a main point that concerns the perpetuitie thereof and whereby we may collect that it will hold stil and be neuer drawn dry And this is to be vnderstood of water cold in the owne nature For to make it seem actually cold to the hand is a thing that may be done by art if either it be forced to mount aloft or fal from on high by which motion and reuerberation it gathers store of aire And verily the experiment hereof is seene in swimming for let a man hold his winde in he shall feele the water colder by that means Nero the Emperor deuised to boile water when it was taken from the fire to put it into a glasse bottle and so to set it in the snow a cooling and verily the water became therby exceeding cold to please and content his tast and yet did not participate the grossenesse of the snow nor draw any euill qualitie out of it Certes all men are of one opinion that any water which hath been once sodden is far better than that which is still raw Like as that after it hath been made hot it will become much colder than it was before which I assure you came first from a most subtil and witty inuention And therefore if we must needs occupy naughty water the only remedy that we haue to alter the badnesse
floure of salnitre it healeth corrupt and putrified vlcers such as stink again the same being boiled in hony with Nigella Romana doth gently loose the belly if the naual be anointed therwith To conclude M. Varro saith that gold wil cause werts to fal off CHAP. V. ¶ Of Borras and the six medicinable properties that it hath the wonderfull Nature thereof in sodring one mettall with another and in bringing all mettals to their perfection CHrysocolla called otherwise Borax or green earth is found in those pits and mines that are digged for gold and a humor it is at the first running along the veine of gold which as it thickneth and groweth muddy congealeth at length by the extreame cold of winter to the hardnesse of a pumish stone Howbeit the best kind of Borax we haue known by experience to be ingendred in mines of brasse and the next to it for goodnes in those of siluer otherwhiles also men meet withal in leaden mines but the same is not so good as that which the gold mines doe yeeld Moreouer there may be an artificiall Borras made in all the said mettall mines but far inferior to that which is naturall namely by letting water gently to run among their veines all winter long vntill the month of Iune the which water in Iune Iuly wil grow to be dry and prooue Borras whereby a man may perceiue plainely that Borras is nothing els but a putrified vein of mettall But this Minerall if it be of the own kind differeth from this other which is made by art of man especially in hardnesse for much harder it is and called the yellow Borax or in Latine Lutea and yet it may be brought to that colour by artificiall means namely by dying with an herb called likewise Lutea for of this nature it is that it will take color drink it in as well as linnen or woollen But for to dresse and prepare it for the purpose first they pun it in a morter then they let it passe through a fine serce afterwards it is ground or beaten againe so it is serced a second time through a finer serce whatsoeuer passeth not through but remaineth behind must be punned once more in a mortar so ground into a small pouder and euer as they haue reduced any into pouder they put it into sundry pots or cruses then they let the same to lie enfused and soked in vinegre till the hardnes therin be wholly resolued which done to the mortar it goeth againe where it must be throughly stamped for altogether and so when it is well washed out of one trey or boll into another they let it dry after it is thus prepared they giue it a colour with the herb Lutea beforesaid and alume de plume and thus you see it must be painted and died first before it selfe serue to paint or die withall And herein it skilleth much how pliable apt it is to receiue the said color for vnlesse it haue willingly taken a deep tincture they vse to put therto Schytanum and Turbystum for so they call two drugs which serue to make it take a color the better This Borax thus died our painters vse to call Orobitis and two kinds they make therof to wit Lutea i. the yellow which they keep for the pouder or colour Lomuntum the other liquid namely when the said grains or pellets be resolued into a kind of moisture like drops of sweat This Borax of both sorts is made in the Isle Cypros The principall and best of all other comes from Armenia in a second degree from Macedonia but the greatest quantity therof is in Spain The excellent Borax is known by this mark especially If it resemble perfectly in colour the deep and full green that is in the blade of corn wel liking In our time namely in the daies of the Emperor Nero the floore of the grand cirque or shew-place at Rome was seen paued all ouer with greene Boras at what time as he exhibited goodly sights and pastimes to the people and namely when he meant himselfe to run a race with charriots and took pleasure to driue his horses vpon a ground sutable to the colour of the cloth or liuerie that he wore himself at that time and in truth a world of workemen he brought thither to lay the said pauing Al the sorts of Boras may be reduced into three distinct kinds to wit the rough valued at seuen denarij a pound the meane which is worth fiue and the poudred Boras called also the grasse-grasse-green Borax which costeth not aboue three deniers the pound As for the sandie or poudred Boras the painters before they vse it lay the first ground vnderneath it of vitrioll and Paraetonium and then the Borax aloft for these things take it passing well besides giue a pleasant lustre to the color This Paraetonium for that it is most fattie vnctious by nature for the smoothnes besides most apt to sticke too and take hold ought to be laid first vpon which must follow a course of the vitrioll ouer it for feare least the whitenes of the foresaid Paraetonium do pall the greenesse of the Borax which is to make the third coat As for the Borax called Lutea some thinke it tooke that name of the herbe Lutea which also if it be mixed and tempered with azure or blew maketh a greene which many do lay and paint withall in stead of Borax which as it is the cheapest greene of all other so is it a most deceitfull colour Borax doth not onely serue painters but is much vsed also by Physicians and namely to mundifie wounds and vlcers if it be made into a salue with wax and oile and dry as it is of it selfe in pouder it hath a desiccatiue qualitie and doth conglutinat and sodder very well being mixed with hony into an electuarie they giue it inwardly vnto those that haue the squinancie and cannot draw their wind but sitting vpright and so it prouoketh vomit Moreouer it entreth into many collyries or eie-salues especially to consume and discusse the cicatrices and filmes growing with in the eie it goeth also to the making of green plasters such as be applied either to mitigat paine or to heale the skin And verily this Borax not artificially died thus emploied in Physick the Physicians call Acesin and is not that which men name Orobitis and which receiueth a tincture from mans hand Furthermore there is a Borax or Chrysocolla that goldsmiths occupie especially about sodring their gold of this kind al the rest take the name also of Chrysocolla This is altogether artificiall and is made of Cyprian Verdegris or rust of brasse the vrin of a yong lad and salnitre tempered all together incorporat in a brasen morter stamped with a pestill of the same mettall Our countrymen in Latin call this Borax Santerna with it they vse to sodder that gold especially which standeth much
Anthrax * i. Riding on hoâ—…sebacke carrying in coach litter barge c. * Hibisci some take it for the Hollyhoâ—…ke * Uisci some read Hibisci * Our coâ—…mon 〈◊〉 erwort * Whiâ—…h sâ—…me take to be wild Popâ—… callâ—…d Râ—…as * â—…lcea in some readings * i. Cough wort * Striato haply for stricto i. slender as Oribassus describeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Dioscorides describeth his Moly with such a head vpon the top of the stem * By these names he calleth also Horstaile * A kind of Turbit * Or Polemonium * Ceterach * â—…gle oâ—… Symâ—…m Petraeâ—… * AcoruÌ„ which some â—…ake for our Calamus Aramaticis * Ad bileÌ„ some read noâ—…ile * Pinguedine roscida * Myriophyllon aquaticum Dodonaei * Dodon Ophiegâ—… of Adders tongue * Our ladies Mantle * Dalechampius maruelleth how this may stand and yet we see it ordinarie in the cure of dysenteries and outragious Diarrhaes to purge choler with Rubarbe Myrabolanes c. and with them also to bind * Which some take for grouÌ„d Iuie * Here Pliny is deceiuÌ„d for it is a kind of lace winding about Thyme as Doder about Flax. * Cuius contrarium verâ—… est for it is a binder * how is it then called Pycnocomon * I see not how this should stand here * Yea in the head of old doddle Okes. * I beareth neâ—…her flourâ—… not seed * or Spurges * Ramis rather caulibus the stems out of Dioscor * Rugosis Diosâ—… hath succâ—…s i. full of sap * or rather the seed or milk is to be put into the â—…ulty and hoâ—…low teeth and the rest which be sound aâ—…e to be defended wâ—…th wax according to Dioscorides Ex Theophrast * If it be punned into ponder strewed on â—…he wateâ—… as saith Diose * Herbosis Theâ—…rastus hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thaâ—… is to say craggâ—…e oâ—… slâ—…ntie it see mâ—…n that Punâ—…â—…slated â—…slated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Aâ—… 〈◊〉 me saith Dioscor * Which some take for Ga langale oâ—…rs for our Calamus * 〈◊〉 With vinegre and oile Radices * To wit when they be hard or swolne * Or Crestmarine * To prince Theseus * Becabunga * S. Iohns wort * Surculacâ—… fiutice * Tamaricis but Dios. saith Ericae l. Hâ—…ath * Paâ—…umo non altius ex Diose * Acutum * Inflationem facit aliter ad inflationem facit * Potum * Water cresses * Olus acidum or rather Olus atrum i. Alisanders * Some take it for Aristolochia the round which in the 8 chap. of the 25 booke hee named venenâ—… terrae others for wildings or crabs Or Calamus Aromations * Some call it 〈◊〉 wort oâ—…â—…od wort otheâ—…s take it to be wild â—…ansie and some for Rhoeas * Some take it for Fistula pastoris Pestem haply 〈◊〉 â—…aneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a plague soâ—…c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Howsoeuer Dalecampius and others haue laboured to restore this place after this manner yet there remaineth some confusion by intermingling O chis and Satyrion together both in their descriptions and properties Vititis Diosc. hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Line or Flax not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…odagra vsed ordinarily in Latine for the gout is a Greeke name and signifieth the griefe or maladie of the feet * Glader or Flags * i. Fleawort * Anagallidi Diose 〈…〉 〈…〉 Rose of Iecho So called for that it representeth the maiesty of the twelue principall gods and goddesses callâ—…d Maiorum gentiÌ„u oâ—… Consentes whom the Painims imagined to sit in counsell together with Iupiter their President and those hath Ennius comprised in this Distichon Iuno Uesta Minerua Câ—…res Diana Venus Mars Mercurius Iovis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apollo * 〈◊〉 Robeâ—…t as some thinke or the first kind by 〈◊〉 * Doues foot or Momordica * The Carot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Centunculus * Bacca Some read fâ—…sces i. bunches but in mine opinion cymae i. tops or spikes agree best to the sence * He meaneth intermittent such as begin with cold fits more or lesse * Taken for Herba Iudaica * Horrore as Qâ—…artanes * â—…amely quintans sextanes Septimanes Nonanes c. Harstrang or rather with Euphorbium as some haue corrected the place i. Bread leafed Erisypelas i. A girdle and it is our shingles Terra Cimolia Some take it for the May Lillie or â—…lly convally * Nay rather before the 7 day for then it iâ—… Symptomaticall and signifieth irregular humours whereas vpon thâ—… 7 9 11 and such Decretorie daâ—…es it is criticall and giâ—…th hope of recouery As Hippocrates himseâ—…fe teacheth Aphoris 62 and 64 li. 4. Baccâ—… rather cymae i. the tops as before Hippuris Horstaile A kind of Housleeke Our Ladies Mantle * Or Coris Darnell as some thinke * i Sanchbloud a kind of Yarrow Or rather Ephydros And tâ—…at is just none * Dulci rather austero i. hard or green wine Which some take to â—…e Argentina i. white Tansey * He meaneth 〈◊〉 although he attribute vnto it this wrong name * Sauge de bois * Coliculi * Some take it for water Betony * Mollita Why not Molâ—…a i. ground to pouder against the fire since that he vseth farina so commonly for the pouder of drie hearbs * Fistulae pastoris or water Plantaine * Steatomatae * Harstrang * Orchis * Sanatis that is to say when the skar riseth above the flesh is not euen with the rest of the skiâ—…or if you reaâ—…e Praesanatis skinned too soon healed onely in shew and apparance outwardly * 〈◊〉 whiâ—…h is Trichomâ—…nes or Capillus Ueneris * Iâ—… their matrice as namely the rising of the mother c * To wit the stay of the after burden after-throwes suppression of their purgatioÌ„ or immoderat shifts c. * Swelled and hard * Purgat some read better in mine opinâ—…on corrigit i. redu ceth it into the right place being vnsetled and peruerted * Clematis * With 〈◊〉 yellow flâ—… * Sâ—… Crestâ—… * Hab R * Sistiâ—… * I maâ—… how thâ—… shoulâ—… considâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 geâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coâ—… pâ—… 〈◊〉 i to sâ—… cret vertue * Some think this is meant of hairs within the paps which should be swâ—…llowed downe by 〈◊〉 in a cup of dâ—…inke and so rankle in the brâ—…st c. a disease called by Aristotle Trichia And 〈◊〉 is or an opinion thâ—…t â—…ome uâ—…h thâ—…g resâ—…mbling an haire may brâ—…ed wâ—…thin the brest â—…f putrified humours oâ—… corrupt mâ—…ke Bâ—…t it seemeth by that whiâ—…h fol loweth that Plâ—…e meant no such matteâ—… out rather soâ—…e outward eye-sore * i. Femalbane * or Myâ—…phonon * Ab a. priuativapartâ—…ulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. dust whe upoÌ„ bare stones without any mould vpon them be also called in Grâ—…ek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so be whetstones likewise Yet Theophrastus is of opinion That it tooke the