course of things you will find that Husbandry is the End which Men of all estates in the world do point at For to what purpose do Souldiers Scholars Lawyers Merchants and men of all Occupations and Trades toyl and labour with great affection but to get Money and with that money when they have gotten it but to purchase Land and to what end doe they buy that land but to receive the fruits of it to live and how shall one receive the fruits of it but by his own Husbandry or a Farmers so that it appears by degrees that what course soever a man taketh in this world at last he commeth to Husbandry which is the most common Occupation amongst men the most naturall and Holy being commanded by the mouth of God to our First Fathers There is care diligence requisite in Husbandry as there is in all the Actions of the World and therefore as a Captain hath a Lieutenant to command his Souldiers in his absence or for his ease So must you provide some able honest man to whom you will commit the execution of such things as you your selves cannot do without too much labour whereof you must often take an account and confer with him as occasion shall require about your businesse that nothing may be left undone for want of providence To such a man you must give good wages with intent to advance your own gain and take the more ease by reason of his honesty and knowledge You will finde this Husbandry after you have once had experience of it to be very pleasing to you and so exceeding profitable that it will make you diligent For no man of any Art or Science except an Alchymist ever preteÌ„ded so much gain any other way as you shall see demonstrated in this ensuing Treatise The Usurer doubles but his principall with Interest upon Interest in 7 years but by this little Treatise you shall learn now to doe more then treble your principle in one years compass And you shall see how an Industrious man in Brabant Flaunders would bring 500 acres of barren heathy land that was not worth at the most above 5. l a year to be worth 700. l a year in lesse time then 7 years I know no reason why the like may not be done in England for we are under as good a Climate as they are Our heathy Land that is neither Sand nor Loam is as good a soile as their barren ground is We have not only Dung to enrich our Land but also Lime and Marle of which they know not the use where they sowe their gainfullest Commodities mentioned in this ensuing Treatise nor of any other Manure but only Dung. In fine I am certain there is none of their Commodities but grow in England as they doe in Brabant and Flaunders but ours are not of the same kinde as theirs nor put to the same use What cannot be vented at home may as well be vented from hence into Holland as the like commodities are from Flaunders thither I will say no more of this Subject in the Preface only it remains to tell you that you must not expect either Eloquence or Method in this ensuing Treatise but a true Story plainly set forth in the Last Will Testament of your Father which he would have you execute but before all things to be sure you lay the Foundation of your Husbandry upon the Blessing of Almighty God continually imploring his divine aid assistance in all your labours for it is God that gives the increase and believing this as the Quintessence and soul of Husbandry Primum quaerite Regnum Dei postea haec omnia adjicientur vobis These things being briefly promised I will leave the rest to this short ensuing Treatise and commit you all with a Fathers Blessing to the Protection and Providence of Almighty God Thus far Sir RICHARD VVESTONS Introduction to the discouâ—se of BRABANT HUSBANDRY which is shortly to be published in a Sâ—cond Edition corrected and enlarged A large Letter concerning the Defects and Remedies of English Husbandry written to Mr. Samuel Hartlib SIR ACcording to your desires I have sent you what I have observed in France about the sowing of a seed called commonly Saint-Foine which in English is as much to say as Holy-Hay by reason as I suppose of the excellency of it It 's called by Parkinson in his Herball where you may see a perfect description of it Onobrychis Vulgaris or Cocks head because of it's flower or Medick Fetchling By some it is called Polygala because it causeth cattel to give abundance of milke The plant most like unto it and commonly known being frequently sowne in gardens is that which is called French Honey-suckle and is a kind of it though not the same France although it be supposed to want the fewest things of any Province in Europe yet it hath no small want of Hay especially about Paris which hath necessitated them to sowe their dry and barren lands with this seed Their manner of sowing it is done most commonly thus When they intend to let their Corn-lands ly because they be out of heart and not situate in a place convenient for manuring then they sowe that land with Oats and these seeds together about equall parts the first year they onely mowe off their Oates leaving the Saint Foine to take root and strength that year Yet they may if they please when the year is seasonable mowe it the same year it is sowne but it 's not the best way to do so the year following they mowe it and so do seven years together the ordinary burthen is about a load or a load a halfe in good years upon an Arpent which is an 100 square Poles or Rods every Pole or Rod being 20 foot which quantity of ground being nigh a 4th part lesse than an English Acre within a league of Paris is usually Rented at 6 or 7 s After the land hath rested 7 years then they usually break it up and sowe it with corn till it be out of heart and then sowe it with Saint Foine as formerly for it doth not impoverish land as Annual Plants do but after seven years the roots of this plant being great and sweet as the roots of Licorish do rot being turned up by the Plough and enrich the land I have seen it sown in divers places here in England especially in Cobham-Park in Kent about 4 miles from Gravesend where it hath thriven extraordinary well upon dry Chalky banks where nothing else would grow and indeed such dry barren land is most proper for it as moist rich land for the great Trefoile or great Glover-Grasse although it will grow indifferently well on all lands and when the other grasses and plants are destroyed by the parching heat of the Sun because their roots are small and shallow this flourisheth very much having very great root and deep in the ground and therefore not easily to be exsiccated
admire and to esteem even as miraculous ordinary and trivial things as for example how it cometh to passe that in one Meddow an Horse thriveth very much and speedily and yet a Bullock will not in that place and contrariwise in a Medow close by the former the Bullock will thrive and the Horse not so also how it commeth to passe that Conies and Sheep will thrive well where there is scarcely any Pasture and yet come to nothing on Commons where there is a greater quantity of Pasture which proceedeth from this cause that some kind of Plants are more agreeing and sweeter to one sort of Cattel then to another and every Beast almost hath some Plant or other which they love exceedingly I suppose that the observances of this kind might be very usefull in Husbandry These Deficiencies I will draw to three Heads 1. I say that divers Plants not to speak of Fruits because we have already spoken of them that grow naturally in our Island may be very serviceable to the Husbandman both for his Pastures and Corn-lands To instance in some few we see that divers sorts of wild Vetches Chiches Tares c. grow wild in divers places which though they bear not so great and large crops as some others already used yet who knoweth what they would do if they were manured as other grains and in land proper for them for we see that the transplanting of Plants into gardens doth very much meliorate or better them and without doubt all those grains which are in use with us were at first picked out of the fields and woods and by ingenious men found useful for man or beast and of late divers have been found not known to our forefathers as Saint Foin Lucern and why may not we find divers Grasses Vetches Medicaes Wild Pease c. which as yet are scarce taken notice of 2. There grow divers sorts of wild Pease but to speak of two onely 1. Sort which groweth on the stony beaches of the sea where there is little or no earth the roots are many foot deep in the ground In Queen Maries days in a dearth the poor people gathered divers sacks full of them and they were no small relief to to them who hath tried whether they would thrive better on better land 2. Sort groweth on dry barren land and is commonly called the everlasting Pease which continually groweth out of the same root In Gardens I have seen it grow 10 years together and larger at the 10 years end then at the first I have also seen it flourish on barren grounds where Oats were burned away who knoweth but these and other Plants may be serviceable if not for man at least for beasts or Pigeons for in New-England the great flights of Pigeons are much maintained by these I am sure it were good to make experiments of these and divers others 2. Head is the Ignorance of the MechanicaI uses of Herbs and Trees for even for these uses most Plants have some peculiar propriety To instance in a few We know that Elm is for wheels and tbe best wood to make Herrings red Oak is for the Shipwright Joyner Tanner Horn-beams Beech for the Milwright Line-tree for bass-ropes old Elder without pith is very tough and fit for Cogs of Wheels Tooth-pickers Pear-tree for Mathematical instruments and ingravers c. Osiers for baskets Walnut for Gunstocks Asp for Hoops Box Ash for a 100 uses and much more might be spoken of this kind if time would permit So likewise divers Plants are for Painters as you may see in Battees experiments some for the Dyers but as yet we know but four viz. Woad Would Green-wood and Madder amongst 1200 Plants upward which grow wild with us I could wish some ingenious man would take the pains to search out the Mechanical uses of Plants surely it were a good way to advance Mechanicks who in their callings usually go round as horses in a mill and endeavour very little to advance or know the causes of their operations I know a Gentleman who promiseth some things in this kind and I hope will be as good as his word 3. Head is the ignorance of the very Physical uses of Plants for though many hundred Plants do grow amongst us yet but few of them are used Physically whereas there is scarce any one but may be usefull in this kind And truly in my opinion it is a great fault that we so much admire those things that are far fetched and dear bought when as oft-times they are gathered in unseasonable times and corrupted by long voyages by sea counterfeited by Merchants yea we have very oft quid pro quo and rank poysons and do neglect those medicines which God hath given us here at home I am credibly informed that in former times Virga aurea was in great use with us and usually sold for eight pence per ounce and brought from France but so soon as it was found growing plentifully in our hedges it was cast forth of the Apothecaries shops as of little vertue And though some will object that our Plants have little vertue I say its false for God hath tempered them for our complexions and we see very oft that one simple medicine doth more good then the great compositions of the ancients which are rather ad pompam then for health and seem to savour somewhat of the Mountebank because Opium is alwayes an ingredient And further we see that where any Endemicall or National disease reigneth their God hath also planted a specifique for it As the Cochleare or Scurvy-grasse for the Scurvy in the Baltick Sea where it is very frequent and also in Holland England So in the West-Indies from whence the great Pox first came and where it reigneth very much that not only man but other Creatures are infected with it so that even Dogs die of that disease in our Northern Plantations perhaps catching this infection by mingling with Indian Dogs there grow the specifiques for this Disease as Gujacum Salsaperilla Sassafras and the Salvages do easily cure these distempers Further we see that even the irrational Creatures can find not only meat but also Medicines for themselves as the Dog Couchgrass for a vomit the Dove Vervein the Weasel Kue the Swallow Celandine the Toad Plantine and where is our reason that we cannot I therefore desire all Countrey people to endeavour to know these Plants which grow at their doores for God hath not planted them there for no purpose for he doth nothing in vain and to collect together the plain simple Medicaments of their Grandâ—mâ— by this means they may save many a 40. pence I mean preserve themselves and Families and Neighbours in good health Some small Treatises have of late been written to shew the use of our Plants in Physick and I hope ingenious men will dayly more and more communicate the secrets of this kind which they have in their hands for the publique good They that write
parts of France about Paris another seed that did far excel that of Saint Foin and that the name of that more excellent seed was La Lucern I am desired by a friend of mine to whom N. N. related this passage of Doctour D. that by your kindnesse he may be spoken to of this La Lucern and his directions desired where the said seed is to be had for what price how much is usually sowed upon an English Acre what time of the year it s sowen whether it be sowen alone or with any other ordinary Corn and with what Corn and with what kind of land it best agrees and finally what other particulars he can direct more then is hete set down The Answer to the Queres from Paris I Have been with Doctour D. about Lucern who tells me that it groweth best in wettish grounds that the best time of sowing it in England will be in February at the same time that Oats are sown with the which also it may be sowen but best alone that to the sowing of an Arpent which is much-what the same with an English-Acre there will go 12 or 15 l of the seed the which useth to be sold here at 8 or 9 sols the pound More Quere's concerning Lucern I Desire further to know what kind of wet grounds are best for it whether Moorish or Clay whether poor or rich whether it will continue over a year in the ground and if more then a year then how many years it will continue without being new sowen whether it be only good for Meadowes or for Pasture and if for pasture then whether the sheep or Cattel be suffered to go upon it or whether it be carried off green as the Clover-grasse is in Flanders Lastly for what Cattel it is most proper Another Answer from Paris I Thought to have sent you 9 l of the seed of Lucern for the sowing of three Acres Doctor D. having told me as heretofore I told you that 3 l would sowe an Arpent or Acre But as I was going about it I met with a Gentleman an acquaintance of mine who some years since but unknown to me hitherto hath had some Acres of Meadow of Lucern upon his ground to whom having casually spoke of my business and told him all that Doctor D. had told me about the Lucern he answered me that Dr. D. was most grosly mistaken in the quantity of the seed required for the sowing of an Acre and that it would not take up 3 l but two whole Sacks each sack containing the full load of a strong Porter after which rate the quantity of seed for the sowing of 3. Acres would fill a great dry-fat the sending whereof by Land would come to excessive great charges and therefore necessarily to be sent by Sea in my opinion You will be pleased to impart these things to your friend and to let me know his final resolution upon them the which shall be faithfully accomplished by me and in the mean while I will get him a perfect and full answer upon all his Quere's not from Dr. D. whom I dare trust no more in this business having found him guilty of such grosse mistakes about it but from that other Gentleman who told me he could himself resolve most of those Questions but that for to be the surer he thought it best to confer first with his Farmer about it You make Apologies for putting me upon these Inqueries but I pray you to believe that at any time I shall most readily and chearfully perform any service that shall lie in my power for you or any of your friends for your sake And I were very unreasonable to think troublesome any thing that you require of me when as continually I put you to so much trouble my self The last Answer concerning Lucern THe information about the Lucern that I have got from my Friend being a very particular one and containing a very full answer to all the Questions propounded by your Friend is such as followeth It requireth a rich ground but somewhat loose and light so as a stiffe Clay and such other tough grounds are no-wayes fit for it The ground must not be over-dry nor over-moist but in a mean yet somewhat more inclining to moisture then to the contrary It must be ploughed three times the first time in October and the second and third towards the Spring Naturally it doth not love Dung and cometh much better in a ground that is sufficiently rich of it self then that which hath been inriched by dunging and where Dung is made use of it must be very stale and well rotten and long before the sowing-time It cannot endure the cold and therefore must not be sowen till rhe cold weather and all the danger of it be quite past viz. about the beginning or midst of April The Quantity of the seed is the sixth part of Corn that the same ground would require so as only one Bushel of Lucern is to be sown on that space of ground which would require 6. Bushels of Corn. It must be carefully weeded especially in the beginning And to the end that it may take the more firm root some Oats must be mixed with it but in a very small proportion It is to be cut as soon as it beginneth to flower which in the hot Countries Provence Languedock and Spain it doth 5. or 6. times and some years 7. or 8. times in a Summer but in this Climate it useth to be cut twice a year about the end of Iune and about the end of Septemb. Being cut it must be turned very oft that it may dry the sooner and be carried off the ground the soonest that may be and it must be kept in close Barns being too tender for to be kept in Reeks open to the Aire as other Hay It is good for all kind of Cattel as Kine Sheep Goats and as well for the young ones Calves Lambs Kids as for the others but above all it agreeth best with Horses It is much more feeding then any other Hay insomuch as any lean beasts will soon grow fat with it and to the Milch-beasts it procureth abundance of milk but it must never be given alone especially to beasts that have not been long used to it but must ever be mixed with straw or with some other Hay for otherwise it over-heateth them and filleth them too much with blood and that so suddenly as it greatly indangererh their health and their life too which it doth principally to Kine to whom it is more dangerous if too plentifully given then to any other Cattel After the last cutting you may let your Cattel graze on your Lucern-fields and that all Winter long until the beginning or middle of March. Of once sowing you will have your Meadow continue good for 10. or 12. years and until 15. and afterwards too it will still continue to bear but the Hearb will then notably decay in goodness Wherefore it is best to turn it
As we have observed Ononis or Rest-Harrow commonly to do on dry lands but if you sowe this on wet land the water soon corrupts the root of it This plant without question would much improve many of our barren lands so that they might be mowen every year once at least seven years together and yield excellent fodder for cattel if so be that it be rightly managed otherwise it cometh to nothing as I have seen by experience I therefore councel those who sowe this or the great Trefoile or Clover-Grasse or any other sort of grasses that they observe these Rules 1 That they do make there ground fine and kill all sorts of other grasses and plants otherwise they being native English will by no meanes give way to the French ones especially in this moist climate and therefore they are to be blamed who with one ploughing sowe this or other seeds for the grasse presently groweth up and choaketh them and so by their negligence and ill Husbandry discourageth themselves and others 2 Let them not be too sparing of their seeds for the more they sowe the closer and thicker they will grow and presently fully stock the ground that nothing else can grow And further the seeds which come from beyond the Seas are oftentimes old and much decayed and therefore the more seed is required 3 Not to expect above 7. years profit by it for in that time it will decay and the naturall grasse will prevaile over it for every plant hath his period some in one yeare some in 2. others in 3. as the common Thistle and therefore after 7. years let them either plough the land up and sowe it with that same seed again or with other Graine as they do in France 4 Let not sheepe or other cattel bite them the first year that they may be well rooted for these grasses are farre sweeter then the ordinary grasses and cattel will eat them down leaving the other and consequently discourage their growth 5 The best way if men will be at the charge is to make their ground very fine as they do when they are to sowe Barly and harow it even and then to howe these seeds in alone without any other grain as the Gardiners do Pease yet not at so great a distance but let them make the ranges about a foots breadth one from another and they shall see their grasses flourish as if they were green Pease especially if they draw the howe through them once or twice that summer to destroy all the weeds and grasses And if they do thus the great Clover and other seeds may be mowen even twice the first year as I have experimented in divers small plots of ground There is at Paris likewise another sort of fodder which they call La Lucern which is not inferior but rather preferred before this Saint Foine for dry barren grounds which hath bin lately brought thither and is managed as the former and truly every day produceth some new things not onely in other Countreys but also in our owne And though I cannot but very much commend these plants unto my Countrymen knowing that they may be beneficial to this Nation yet I especially recommend unto them a famous kind of grasse growing in Wiltshire 19 miles from Salisbury at Maddington which may better be called one of the wonders of this land then the Hawthorne-tree at Glassenbury which superstition made so famous for divers of the same kind are found elswhere You may find this grasse briefly described in a Book called Phytologia Britannica which lately came forth and set down even all the plants which have been found naturally growing in England Gramen Caninum Supinum Longissimum which groweth 9 miles from Salisbury Mr Tuckers at Madington where with they fat hogs and which is 24 foot long a thing almost incredible yet commonly known to all that shire Now without question if the seed of this grasse be sown in other rich Meadowes it will yeeld extraordinarily though perchance not so much as in its proper place I wonder that those that live thereabouts have not tryed to fertilize their other Meadowes vvith it for it is a peculiar species of grasse and though some ingenious men have found about 90 species of grasses in this Island yet there is none like to this that can by any meanes be brought to such an height and svveetnesse And truly I suppose that the through examination of this grasse is a thing of very great importance for the improvement of Meadows and Pastures and it may excel the great Trefoile Saint Foine La-Lucern or any exotick plant vvhatsoever And though I am very unvvilling to exceed the bounds of an Epistle yet I cannot but certifie you wherein the Husbandry of this Nation in other particulars as I suppose is greatly deficient which I will do as briefly as may be and likewise how ingenious men may finde Remedies for these deficiencies First he would do the honest and painful Husbandman a very great pleasure and bring great profit to this Nation who could facilitate the going of the plough and lighten our ordinary Carriages I wonder that so many excellent Mechanicks who have beaten their brains about the perpetual Motion and other curiosities that they might finde the best ways to ease all Motions should never so much as to honour the Plough which is the most necessary Instrument in the world by their labour and studies I suppose all know that it would be an extraordinary benefit to this Countrey if that 1 or 2 horses could plough and draw as much as 4 or 6 and further also that there is no small difference in ploughs and waggons when there is scarce any sâ—â—e rule for the making them and every Countrey yea almost every County differs not onely in the ploughs but even in every part Some with wheels others without some turning the Rest as they call it as in Kent Picardy and Normandy others not some having Coulters of one fashion others of another others as the Dutch having an Iron wheele or circle for that purpose some having their sheares broad at point some not some being round as in Kent others flat some tying their horses by the taile as in Ireland So likewise Waggons and Carts differ some using 4 wheeles others 2 onely some carrying timber on a wheels in a Cart others with 4 wheels a long pole onely between which is the best way some plough with 2 horses onely as in Norfolke and beyond seas in France Italy where I never saw above 3 horses in a plough and one onely to hold and drive But in Kent I have seen 4 6 yea 12 horses and oxen which variety sheweth that the Husband-man who is ordinarily ignorant in Mechanicks is even at his wits end in this Instrument which he must necessarily use continually Surely he should deserve very well of this Nation and be much honored by all that would set down exact Rules for the making of this
most necessary yet contemned Instrument and for every part thereof for without question there are as exact Rules to be laid down for this as for Shipping and other things And yet in Shipping how have vve vvithin these 6 yeers out-stripped our selves and gone beyond all Nations for vvhich Art some deserve eternal honour And vvhy may vve not in this I knovv a Gentleman vvho novv is beyond seas vvhere he excels even the Hollanders in their ovvn businesse of draining vvho promiseth much in this kinde and I think he is able to performe it I could vvish he vvere called on to make good his promise In China it is ordinary to have vvaggons to passe up and dovvn vvithout horses or oxen vvith sails as ships do and lately in Holland a vvaggon vvas framed vvhich vvith ordinary sails carryed 30 people 60 English miles in 4 houres I knovv some excellent Scholars vvho promise much by the means of Horizontall sails viz. to have 3 or 4 Ploughs to go together vvhich shal likevvise both sovve and harrovv I dare not being ignorant in these high speculations engage my self to do much thereby but wish these gentlemen whom I know to be extreamly ingenious would attempt something both for the satisfying of themselves and others There is an ingenious Yeoman of Kent who hath 2 ploughs fastened together very finely by the which he plougheth 2 furrowes at once one under another and so stirreth up the land 12 or 14 inches deep which in deep land is good Neer Greenwich there liveth an Honourable Gentleman who hath excellent Corn on barren land and yet plougheth his land with one horse when as usually through Kent they use 4 and 6. These things shevv that much may be done in this kinde and I hope some in these active times vvil undertake and accomplish this vvork of so great importance There is a Book long since Printed made by Sir Hugh Plattes the most curious man of his time called Adams Art revived vvherein is shevved the great benefit vvhich vvould accrue to this Nation if all land vvhich vvere fit to be digg'd vvere so ordered and their corn set Mr. Gab. Plattes likevvise hath vvritten much of this kinde and promiseth that men shal reap 100 for one all charges born vvhich are very great That this may be true he bringeth some probable Reasons supposing that lesse then a peck of Wheat vvil set an Acre I dare not promise so much as these Gentlemen do neither can I commend Mr. Gab. Plattes setting Instrument For I knovv their are many difficulties in it vvhich he himselfe could never vvade through but concerning digging and setting and hovving in of Corne these things I dare maintain 1 That it is a deficiency in Husbandry that it is used no more 2 That one good digging because it goeth deeper than the Plough and buryeth all vveeds killeth the grasses is as good as three Ploughings and if the Land be mellovv not much more chargeable 3 That it vvould imploy many 1000 of people that a third part of the seed might be saved As I have found by experience that all the vveeds and grasses might be more easily destroyed thereby and the ground better accommodated for other crops and to conclude the crop considerably greater Yet thus much I must further say concerning setting of Graine That great Beans are even of necessity to be set and that small Beans in Surrey and other places are likewise set with profit for the reasons above mentioned that to set Pease unlesse Hastevers Oates Barley is a thing even ridiculous that Wheat although in divers grounds it may be set with profit yet to howe it in as the Gardiners speak as they do Pease though not at the same distance but about a foot the ranges one from another is better then setting for these Reasons 1 Because to set Corn is an infinite trouble and charge and if it be not very exactly done which children neither can nor wil do and these must be the chief setters wil be very prejudicious 2 If worms frost ill weather or fowles destroy any part of your seed which they wil do your crop is much impared 3 The ground cannot be so well weeded and the mould raised about the roots by the howe Which 3 inconveniencies are remedied by the other way Further I dare affirme that after the ground is digged or ploughed and harrowed even it 's better to howe Wheat in then to sowe it after the common way because that the weeds may be easily destroyed by running the howe through it in the Spring and the mould raised about the roots of the Corne as the Gardiners do with Pease it would save much Corne in dear years and for other Reasons before mentioned Yea it is not more chargeable for a Gardiner wil howe in an Acre for 5 s and after in the spring for lesse money runne it over with a howe and cut up all the weeds and raise the mould vvhich charges are not great and you shal save above a bushel of seed vvhich in dear years is more vvorth then all your charges Further 1 s 6 d an Acre for the sovving and harrowing of an Acre in Kent is accounted a reasonable price but if any fear charges let him use a Drill-Plough I therefore cannot but commend the howing in of wheat as an excellent piece of good Husbandry whether the ground be digged or ploughed not onely because it saveth much Corne imployeth much people and it is not chargeable but it also destroyeth all weeds fitteth grounds for after-crops and causeth a greater increase and in my apprehension is a good Remedy against Smut and Mildew There is an Ingenious Italian who wondereth how it cometh to passe that if one setteth a Grain of Corne as Wheat Barley c. it usually produceth 300 or 400 as I have tryed yet if you sowe Wheat after the ordinary way 6. or 8. for one is accounted a good crop what beccometh of all the Corne that is sown when as the 50th part if it do grow would be sufficient For answer to this 1 I say much Corne is sown which nature hath destinated for the Hens and Chickens being without any considerable vegetative faculty 2 Womes Frosts Floods Crowes and Larkes which every one doth not consider to devour not a little 3 Weeds as Poppie May-weed and the grasses growing with the Corne do destroy much Lastly when Corne is so sowne after the ordinary manner much is buried in the furrowes especially if the ground be grazy much is thrown on heaps in holes and consequently starve and choak one another Most of these Inconveniencies are to be remedyed by this vvay of setting and hovving in of Corn. Gardening though it be a vvonderfull improver of lands as it plainly appears by this that they give extraordinary rates for land viz. from 40 s per Acre to 9 pound and dig and hovve and dung their land vvhich costeth very much Yet I knovv divers vvhich by
dunging take heed of steeping Pease too long for I have seen them sprout in three or four houres 23 Is the sowing of Course and cheap Graine and vvhen they are grovvne to plough them in For this purpose the Auncients did use LUPINES a plant vvel knovvne to our Gardiners and in Kent sometimes Tares are sovven vvhich vvhen the Cattel have eaten a little of the tops they turn them in vvith very good Improvement for their ground I wil not deny but that we have good Husbands who dung and Marle their Meadowes and Pasture-land and throw down all Mole and Ant-hils and with the their spud-staffe cut up all thistles and weeds and that they likewise straw ashes on their grounds to kil the Mosse and salt for the wormes and they do very well but yet there are many who are negligent in these particulars for the which they are blame-worthy but the Deficiencies of which I intend to speak of are these following Cato one of the wisest of the Romans saith that Pratum est quasi paratum alwayes ready and prepared and preferreth Meadowes before the Olive-Gardens although the Spaniards bequeath Olive-trees to their children as vve do cottages or Vines or Corn because Meadows bring in a certain profit without labour and paines but the other requireth much cost and paines and are subject to Frosts Mildew Haile Locusts to the which for the honour of Meadowes I may adde that the stock of Meadows is of greater value and the Commodities which arise from them are divers and of greater value than Corne as Butter Cheese Tallow Hides Beef Wool and therefore I may conclude that England abounding in Pastures more than other Countreys is therefore richer and I know what others think I care not that in France Acre for Acre is not comparable to it Fortescue Chancelor of England saith that we get more in England by standing still than the French by working but to speak of the Deficiencies amongst us 1 We are to blame that we have neglected the great Clover-grasse Saint Foine Lucerne 2 That we do not float our lands as they do in Lumbardy where they mowe their lands three or four times yearly which consist of the great Clover-grasse Here are the excellent Parmisane Cheeses made and indeed these Pastures farre exceed any other places in Italie yea in Europe We here in England have great opportunities by brooks and Rivers in all places to do so but we are negligent yet we might hereby double if not treble our profits kill all rushes c. But he that desireth to know the manner how to do this and that profit that wil arise thereby let him read Mr. Blithes Book of Husbandry lately printed 3 That when we lay down land for Meadow or Pasture we doe not sowe them with the seeds of fine sweet grasse Trefoiles and other excellent herbes Concerning this you may read a large Treatise of the Countrey-Farmer for if the land be rich it will put forth weeds and trumpery and perhaps a kind of soure grasse little worth if it be poor ye shal have thistles May-weed and little or no grasse for a year or two I know a Gentleman who at my entreaty sowed with his Oates the bottome of his Hay-mowe and though his land were worne out of heart and naturally poor yet he had that year not onely a crop of Oates but he might if it had pleased him have mowen his grasse also but he spared it which was wel done til the next year that it might make a turffe and grow stronger By this Husbandry lands might be wel improved especially if men did consider the diversity of grasses which are 90 sorts and 23 of Trefoile I know a place in Kent which is a white Chalky downe which ground is sometimes sowen with Corn a year or two and then it resteth as long or longer when it is laid down it maintaineth many great Sheep and very lusty so that they are even fit for the Butcher and yet there doth scarce appear any thing that they can eate which hath caused divers to wonder as if they had lived on Chalke-stones but I more seriously considering the matter throughly viewed the ground and perceived that the ground naturally produceth a small Trefoile which it seemeth is very sweet and pleasant it 's commonly called Trifolium luteum or Lupilinum that is yellow or Hop-Trefoile and I am perswaded if that the seed of this Trefoile were preserved and sowen with dates when they intend to lay it down it would very much advance the Pasture of that place therefore I desire all Ingenious men seriously to consider the nature of the Trefoiles which are the sweetest of grasses and to observe on vvhat grounds they naturally grovv and aso the nature of other grasses which as I have said before are no lesse than 90 sorts naturally growing in this Isle some on watry places some on dry some on clay others on sand chalk c some on fruitful places others in barren by the which meanes I suppose a solid foundation might be laid for the advancing the Paesture-lands of all sorts through this Island for I know some plants as the Orchis call'd Bee-flower c. which wil thrive better on the Chalky barren banks than in any garden though the mould be never so rich and delicate and the Gardiner very diligent in cherishing of it and why may not the same propriety be in grasses for we see diverse benty grasses to thrive especially on barren places where scarce any thing else wil grow I must againe and againe desire all men to take notice of the wonderful grasse which groweth near Salisbury and desire them to try it on their Rich Meadowes It 's a common saying that there are more waste lands in England in these particulars than in all Europe besides considering the quantity of land I dare not say this is true but hope if it be so that it it will be mended For of late much hath been done for the advancement of these kinds of land yet there are as yet great Deficiencies In the times of Papistry all in this Island were either Souldiers or Scholars Scholars by reason of the great honours privileges and profits the third part of the Kingdome belonging to them and Souldiers because of the many and great warres with France Scotland Ireland Wales And in those times Gentlemen thought it an honour to be carelesse and to have houses furniture diet exercises apparell c. yea all things at home and abroad Souldier-like Musick Pictures Perfumes Sawces unlesse good stomacks were counted perhaps unjustly too effeminate In Queen Elizabeth's dayes Ingenuities Curiosities and Good Husbandry began to take place and then Salt Marshes began to be fenced from the Seas and yet many were neglected even to our dayes as Hollhaven in Essex Axtel-holme Isle in York-shire many 1000 of Acres have lately been gained from the Sea in Lincolne-shire and as yet more are to be taken in there
then to some other use Kine must never eat of this Hearb green but only dryed and that moderately too as hath been said But Horses eating their fill of it green in the Spring are purged thereby and grow fat by it in 8. or 10. dayes time If one desire to have of the Grain one may let such a proportion of the Meadow as one will grow up to seed after the second cutting any year except the first only and when the seed is ripe the tops of the Hearb with the Codds wherein the seed is inclosed must be cut in a dewie morning and put into sheets for fear of loosing the seed and must be beat out with Flails upon the same when that it is well dryed and afterwards the remaining part of the Hearb must be mowen close to the ground after which it continueth to sprout out again after the usual manner The Hay thereof wil keep good 2. or 3. years and one Acre is sufficient to keep 3. Horses all the year long A Post-script to the last Answer concerning the Lucern SIR THe Gentleman who had given me the note about the Lucern hath told me since two particulars more which he had forgot to put into it The one that not onely to other Cattel but even to Horses with whom that Hay agreeth best of all other beasts it is not to be given but in winter because that in the Summer it would too much heat their bloud And the other that this hay must be perfectly well dried before it be carried off the ground and to that end turned very often because that being put up with any the least moisture it will quite spoil much more then any other Hay Now these and all the other particulars which I have had from the Gentleman have been confirmed to me by many others And yet within these 2. or 3. dayes I met with a Physition of Rochel who assuring me that the Lucerne was very common in his Countrey made me a relation of it agreeing with the former onely in these 3. points viz. That of once sowing it will continue 10. or 12 years That it is cut twice a year serving afterwards for Pasture all Winter And that it wonderfully fatteneth all kind of Cattel but very much different from it in all the others and in some of them point blank contrary to it For he saith that it is to be sowen in the beginning of March that it desireth a temperate ground but rather dry then wet and no wayes fat nor clayish but stony and gravily that it need not be mixed with any other Hay but may be given alone and all the year long in Summer as well as Winter not only to Horses but to Cowes and other Cattel He added that the proportion of the seed is the charge of a Porter for four Arpents or French Acres Which particulars I thought good to impart unto you that your friend comparing them with the others might make his best profit of them and this Rochellois or Rocheller who hath lived three or four years in England thinks that Lucern will come admirably well in that Country NOTE THe meaning of these words The quantity of the Seed is the sixth part of Corn that the same ground would require is this That whatever quantity of Wheat or Barley an Acre of ground would require of the seed of Lucern you must take but the sixth part of that quantity of the seed of Lucern so as that ground which for its sowing requireth six bushels of Corn doth require but one bushel of Lucern-seed An Arpent deterre which how much it is in English measure Cotgrave's Dictionary will perfectly tell you requireth 10. l. of that seed as several Grain-sellers of whom I went to inquire for it have unanimously told me the seed being exceeding small and to be sowen wonderfully thinl As for Saint Foin or Holy Hay I have seen it grow here about Paris in several places in rich fat grounds and those both high and dry and others low and Marshy It is cut but once a year much what about the same time of other Hay and a great deal of the seed of it is required for sowing the ground with it But being once sowen it lasteth 10 or 12 years as well as Medica or Lucern wherewith also it correspondeth altogether in its Vertues and Uses A Copy of a Letter relating a Proof or Experiment of an English Husbandry Honoured Sir I Desire your acceptance of this small present may be according to the real worth of the thing not as at first sight it may appear to be viz. straw or stubble This is I assure you no other then the true and real Experiment of what by the blessing of God the native fertility of our English ground rightly Husbanded will bring forth nay I can upon most probable grounds affirm that had I used all the Art and Care which I could and might have done had I not been otherwise taken off it could hardly have failed to have been double treble or quadruple to what it is And it is also most true that any good ground well managed may yeeld one ten a hundred c. Acres in which there shall be very many superior to the biggest root of these and hardly one inferiour to the best but one by which account it will easily appear how much beyond the old way this is the increase there being between two and five quarters on the Acre and the product of this way will be rarely under 10 quarters not rarely 16 or 20 and the same for most grains yet will this dull age as to goodnesse not believe it without some testimony and perhaps scarce suffer themselves to be convinc'd by this so eminent an experiment wherein it plainly appears That out of one single Barley Corn is sprung about 80 Ears of which near 60 had some 36 34 32 30. and hardly any lesse then 38. which in all is above 2000 for one And truly the charges to be bestowed on an acre of this sort is no ways double to the common way Accept it therefore and reserve it as a real rarity and a jewel onely fit for a Publick and Pious spirit as yours is till I shall by Gods assistance be able next year to produce you more abundant examples of Gods wonderfull power and bounty that offers and mans ingratitude that neglects or refuses such honest means of the truest and most justly gotten humane wealth honour and happinesse Your most faithful and obliged friend and servant September 26. 1650. An Extract of a Letter from Amsterdam dated the 28 of November 1650. in answer to the former communication with another experimennt of a French Husbandry SIR I Am much obliged unto you for sending me the Discourse of the Braband Husbandry which I have perused Not long ago I was told of certain men which would fain have morgaged some thousand Acres of Heathy grounds which lay here and there as Commons But the
it is too true that most men love money that they even worship it in their hearts as the onely Sammum Bonum I need not go far for proof since they have brought one to my hand That having so fair and just offers made in order to the Corn-businesse as I have presented to them by your hands will by no means though so very much to their own profit and the Publick Good part with their monies and yet stick not to demand in effect the discovery from me of that talent of knowledge which God hath made mine by his free gift as the reward of my industry and faithfull love to my native Countrey An estate if I mistake not better gotten then by any of the common means by which men grow rich dayly Surely the commodities cannot be lesse then equal The most wise and vertuous men that ever lived have preferred Art Industry and Ingenuity far before money· Money especially the abuse of it is become the very poyson of the world against which Art and Industry is an Antidote or Cordial Money is counted and enjoyed by a thousand thousands Art and Industry but by a few And things of excellent use are accounted Jewels especially when rare and scarce The Professors of Art and Industry besides their private aim also at a Publick good these prefer their private gain too often before the being and well being of the whole world nay of their own souls These are ever ready to part with invaluable treasures upon easie conditions Those will not upon any conditions whatsoever but such as please themselves or are full of oppression part with their monies no not to save a Brothers or hardly a Fathers or a Childs life And finally if they judge it improvidence to part with a little of their estates onely for a time to return again to them shortly like Noahs Dove with an Olive branch a double branch of Peace and Prosperity I desire to be excused if I upon better grounds hold it prophane to sell a better right then a birth-right for lesse then a messe of pottage even for just nothing and for ever I can never forget the exceeding great ingenuity to the world shewed and given by Mr. Gab. Platts as will more fully appear when you shall have printed those writings of his which he left to your trust and custody and the worlds base ingratitude that let such a man fall down dead in the street for want of food without a shirt to hih back none but your self that want not an inlarged heart but a fuller hand to supply the worlds defects being found with some few others to administer any relief to a man of so great merit In a word that God that hath forbid to muzzle the Ox that treads out the fodder hath appointed every man to use his blessings next to his glory for the providing for and preservation of his family which he that can do and doth not is worse then an Infidel I dare not give away this means of obtaining outward blessings to my self family till I have found away to make it instrumental to that end and that end once effectually attained to I dare not deny Gods mercy and bounty to me nor longer restrain the Publick use of this universall good I remain SIR Yours A Secret practised with very good success in England concerning sowing of Wheat to prevent it from being Smutty FIrst take your Wheat pour the same into a tub of water and stir it about take off all the Corn that swimmeth upon the water and pour the rest upon a floor letting the water run off Then make a strong brine of Bay-salt and pour some of the brine on the Corn upon the floor and take to half a quarter of Corn half a peck of Salt and strow it on the Corn and stir and mix it continually as you pour thereon the brine and strow the salt thereon untill the Corn be all wet and overstrowed with Salt Then take to a half quarter of Corn half a bushel of unslack'd lime and strow that likewise over the Corn mingling it well together which done you may sow the same the next day The brine must he cold when you pour it on the Corn and you must prepare no more Wheat then you intend to sow next day Another Secret practised in Germany for the enriching of Meadowes A Meadow yields 6 times more Hay vvhen it is turned up vvith a plough and sovven thick vvith ashes burn't out of the substance thereof but the rain must fall first Aftervvards sovve your Meadow vvith the seed of Trefoile and plough and harrovv them in The first grasse vvhich grovveth thereon let it be very ripe that the seed may fall off it selfe then let some go over it and vvith rakes stir it that it fall out Aftervvards let it be movven off and carried to a certain place vvhere it may be dryed so the Grasse vvill grovv presently againe and may be movven again in three vveeks How to make Rushy ground to beare Grasse BReake the Rushy ground and rake the roots and the rushes together and burne them or carry them avvay Then spread upon that ground Turffe-ashes or Pigeons-dung Chalke or Lime according to your ground Try of every one of these upon a little plot of your ground you may use other Ashes Marle or Dung for experiments and that which you finde doth kill the Rushes and other Weeds best use it You are to make gutters or draines to carry avvay the vvater from the ground you may destroy Rushes or Ferne if you vvill but cut or movve them dovvn in the beginning of June and so use to do it 2 or 3 years together at that time For planting or sowing Walnuts IN the season vvhen they are full ripe on the trees a fevv dayes before they vvould fall as near as can be guessed let them be gathered or beaten off and in the green huske or vvithout it put them into good ordinary earth in a barrel or basket So let them continue untill the beginning of March follovving as soon as that moneth begins get as much vvarme Milke from the Cowes as vvill steepe them 24 hours after they are steeped set them in ground vvell digged and judged naturall for such fruit vvith their little end or their prickled sharpe end upvvards about 3 or 4 inches deepe in the earth and not one of 28 vvill fail as hath appeared by experience This may make dry Walnuts also prove trees the Nuts used as above said as farre as may be set them near one foot a-sunder and in a right line to vveed them The Walnut breeds good Timber good shadow good smell good fruit At four years growth transplant them Mr. Lanyon's Description of the usuall manner of planting and transplanting according to that of Flaunders of those Trees called Abeales imparted for Publique Good THey are first planted from any even the least part of the Root of the same Tree you must divide the
root by slipping each part from the other and not by cutting it in sunder you may take those parts from those trees whilest they grow and without danger to them rob them of all the small sprigs of the root and leave only the Master-Roots but the most usuall way is to multiply them when they are transplanted which time is at their growth of 5 yeares their season is in March They are first planted in the way of a Nursery in loose earth moist and sandy or inclining to it their distance is 10 inches one from another the earth being first prepared as for a Garden you are to make holes with a stick the depth of the length of the part you have to set setting him so that you may onely see a part of it above ground the earth being closed about them they are to be kept weeded as any other plants The second yeare in February you are to prune off all from the Master or Middle-shoote and so to the 3 and 4 yeare the 5 you may transplant them so as they like the ground of their Nursery Their usuall distance one from another is 10 foot you may drive a stake with them when you transplant them to secure them stiffe against the winde for that they will grow very tall in those years and so be much exposed to the winds They may without much prejudice to Corne be planted in the furrowes where it growes so as the ground be moist and you keep them well pruned and leave onely a bush at the top of the tree No stiffe Clay grounds will admit them to thrive they wil grow in moist Clay ground but onely in height and will not burnish for want of roome to extend their roots This tree if he likes his ground will be at ful growth in 20 years He is valued in Flaunders after 7 years growth worth every year 12 d untill his time be up He growes very straight without boughes onely a bush on the top and so exceedingly well becomes a Walke This Timber is uncomparable for all sorts of vvooden vessels especially Traies Butchers-traies cannot vvel be made vvithout it it being so exceeding light and tough Some years ago there vvere ten thousand at once sent over into England and transplanted into many Counties M. Walker at S. James can give the best account of them to all such as desire further to be directed in this particular FINIS AN APPENDIX TO THE LEGACIE OF HUSBANDRY OR A Seed-plot of Annotations upon the LEGACIE aforesaid WITH AN INTERROGATORIE Relating more particularly to the Husbandry and Naturall History of IRELAND ⧠Printed for Richard Wodenothe MDCLII To his worthy and very much Honoured Friend the Author of the large Letter of Husbandry SIR YOu may perceive by these Additionals to your large Letter vvhich you vvrote to gratifie my desires that the Publique hath been benefited by your Communications vvhich vvas all that I intended by setting you upon that worke nor will you repent of the paines I hope which you have taken this way For you see that your Open-hartedness in this kind hath provoked another Friend of mine of very publique desert in the Common-wealth of Learning to impart unto me his Observations of the same nature And although his Annotations now and then are Animadversions rather then Enlargements yet it is not unprofitable to the Publique nor disadvantageous to us that our errours and mistakes for who can pretend to be without them be laid open and rectified I suppose you would be as loath as I that any by your meanes or mine should be led into a by-way and instead of gaining become a loser in making triall of what we offer for his advantage I could wish that my worthy Friend who hath imparted these his thoughts unto me in the following extemporary Letters had spared some expressions bin less censorious against the Persons of some of whom others have a high and honorable opinion as Helmont Glauber but he is to be born with all in this as we would be borne with all by him and others in the freedome which we might take of giving our opinions concerning his failings Also I am confident that that learned Gentleman is not interessed by any prejudice of passion or personall disaffection against any of them but that as a man of a free spirit he doth give his judgement through his zeal and love to every truth as it lies in his apprehension let every one have his freedome in things which are well meant for the Publike and the best way to rectifie one anothers mistakes will be to strive to set each other a Copy of better and more moderate expressions in the like Cases wherein there may be a mistake or failing If we were skilfull to provoke one another onely to the affections of love and of good workes and by our own usefull experiments discreetly dispensed towards the Publique could draw forth the profitable but buried skill of others unto common use to be imparted unto all what could not be done for ease of the poor and the relief of common calamities Truly although neither God by his directions how to make use of all his gifts nor Nature his handmaid by her supplies of things necessary and comfortable for our livelihood are wanting to us Yet we by the untowardnesse of our spirits and the shutting up of our bowels and the enviousnesse of our dispositions bring a scarcity upon our selves and upon others whil'st we are not faithfull and liberall stewards of our talents for the benefit of those for whose sake God hath bestowed them upon us therefore I shall desire you as you have begun to continue in well doing for you know the promise that in due time you shall reap the fruit of all your labours if you faint not And least you should imagine that you are at this distance forgotten by us give me leave to present you with another taske proper for your thoughts in the place where now you are that the advantages of Nature which God hath bestowed upon Ireland may not lie undiscovered and without improvement at this season vvherein the Replanting of the vvast and desolate places of that Countrey is seriously laid to heart by many I shall therefore desire you to look upon this Alphabet of Interrogatories and consider vvhat Ansvvers your Observations vvill afford unto them or vvhat you can learne from the Observations of others to clear them and as you have opportunity do as my Friend from Paris hath done furnish me vvith vvhat Gods providence shall send unto your hands that as I have begun I may put it out to use and requite you more plentifully as I hope I shall be able to do vvith the increase vvhich it shall yield by this vvay of Trading vvhich I have taken up freely to bestovv my paines and cost upon others that all may see the goodness of God in the vvorks of his hands and have cause to be thankfull unto him
usuall Cures of Smuttynesse besides those mentioned before are these 1 To lime your ground which warmeth and dryeth the land 2 To lime your Corne which is done thus First slack your lime add then moisten your Corne or lime and stir them together till your Graine be as big as a small Pease This liming preserveth Corn likewise from birds and worms and is found a very good Remedy against this disease others make a strong ly vvith common salt and steep their Corn in it all night and then draw away their ly for further use which seldome faileth of its desired effect Whether this strong ly doth by its corrosivenesse mortifie the weak and imperfect Corne so that it will not grow Or whether it be a Remedy to cure the imperfections thereof is worth the enquiry I suppose this ly doth exsiccate the superfluous humidity which is the cause of this corruption If Corne be brought into the barn very Smutty in Kent they usually thrash it on dry floors planked with boards by which means the Smuttynesse is beaten away and sticketh not to the Grain onely a little blacknesse appeareth about the eye but if it be thrashed on a moist floor the blacknesse sticketh to the grain which therefore appeareth dark and is sold at a lower rate to the Bakers Mildew is without question an unctuous dew which descendeth from above about Midsommer it aboundeth in dry years as Smuttynesse in moist I cannot think that there is ordinarily any Malignity in this dew but it produceth its effect by manifest causes viz. from an oily viscuous quality which stoppeth the pores of the husk wherein the Wheat lieth and depriveth it from the Ayre and consequently from nourishment for the Ayre is the life of all things I have heard and do believe that if you streak any eare of Wheat with oyl it wil produce the same effect I am sorry that I never tryed that I might better understand the nature of this sad calamity which often undoeth the Industrious Husbandman and causeth great scarcity in this Isle It is to be observed further that Wheat onely suffereth considerable damage by Mildew because it lyeth in a chaffy husk which other Grains do not The Grounds most subject to Mildew are these 1 Those that are inclosed vvith trees and high hedges And truly this is the onely great Inconveniency I find by enclosures 2 Low Valleys I have seen very oft in the same field the banks fine bright Corn and all the lower parts though greater in straw yet little vvorth by reason of the Mildew 3 Dung made of straw I have observed to dispose much to Mildew and Sheeps-dung to be a kind of Antidote against it as also Pigeons-dung because as I conceive these 2 last sorts abound much in Niter vvhich produceth a firme hard bright Corne not easily to be putrefied but the other being more oily and Sulphureous causeth a dark Spungy Corn soon corruptible And 2 because straw is a part in the same kind corrupted vvhich is alvvays in some measure hurtfull to the same species both in Animals and all Vegetables and therefore rotten sticks or the earth proceeding from them is found hurtfull to the roots of trees and trees vvill hardly grovv vvhere Roots of other trees have formerly been corrupted The Remedies for this Accident briefly are these Not to speak of Bees vvho questionlesse make most of their Honey from these Honeys or Mildews for they gather very little in comparison of that vvhich falleth 1 The best way is to cut dovvn the trees about your ground and your hedges lovv that the vvind may ventilate your Corn. 2 To sovve early that your Corn may be full Kerned before these Mildews fall I am informed that an Ingenious Knight in Kent did for curiosity sovve Wheat in all moneths of the year and that the Corn sovvn in July did produce such an increase that it is almost incredible and truly I think it a great fault in many places that they sow late for many reasons I am sure in France they usually sowe before Michaelmas 3 Some use and with good profit to draw a line over their Corn and to strike off the Mildew before it be inspissated by the Sun This ought especially to be done before sun-rising two men in an hour will easily run over an Acre the Mildews usually fall like a thick fog or a Mysty raine if you go to your Bees you will soon perceive it by their extraordinary labour very early in the morning 4 The use of a kind of bearded Wheat is an excellent Remedy for the beard shoveth off the dew that it doth not so easily insinuate it selfe into the eare and likewise causeth the eare to shake by the least wind There is a kind of Wheat in Buckingham-shire called Red-straw-Wheat which is much commended it 's a strong-stalked Wheat and doth not soon lodge and therefore excellent for Rank land where Corne is apt to lodge and consequently to Mildew but I question whether it hath any property against Mildew This I am very confident of that if this Wheat or any other were without the Chaffy huskes exposed bare to the Air as Barly and Rie are Wheat would not be afflicted with Mildew Perhaps such Grain may be found by diligent enquiry I have casually picked out of a Wheat-field some stalkes which had 2 ears on them and though Barly usually hath been 2 ranges yet I have seen some sorts wit 4 6 and there are many great varieties in graines not yet discovered Truly if any one knoweth better wayes then these how to cure this Malady of Mildew he is much to blame if he do not publish it for the good of his Countreymen I will not here set down the divers manners of Graftings and Inoculations which neverthelesse is an art absolutely necessary in Planting for every book of Husbandry doth shew it and every Gardiner can teach it those who are desirous to learn it Neither will I set down all the sorts of Apples Pears Cherries Plums c. for it would be too tedious a discourse and Mr. Parkinson hath already very excellently done it in his Book called Paradisus Terrestris where at leasure you may read it I will onely point briefly at the Deficiencies which I finde in this part of Husbandry and the best wayes to Remedy them 1 I say that it is a great Deficiency in England that we have not more Orchards planted It 's true that in Kent and about London and also in Glocestershire Hereford and Worcester there are many gallant Orchards but in other Countrys they are very rare and thinne but if there were as many more even in any Countrey they would be very profitable I know in Kent that some advance their ground even from 5 s per Acre to 5 pound by this means and if I should relate what I have heard by divers concerning the profit of a Cherry-Orchard about Sittenburne in Kent you would hardly believe
me yet I have heard it by so many that I believe it to be true Namely that an Orchard of 30 Acres of Cherries produced in one year above a 1000 pound but now the trees are almost all dead it was one of the first Orchards planted in Kent Mr. Cambden reporteth that the Earl of Leicester's Gardiner in Queen Elizabeths time first began to plant Flemish Cherries in those parts which in his time did spread into 16 other Parishes and vvere at that time sold at greater rates then novv yet I knovv that 10 or 15 pound an Acre hath been given for Cherries more for Pears and Apples 2 There is a great Deficiency in the ordering of Orchards in that they are not vvell pruned but full of Mosse Misletoe and Suckers and oftentimes the ground is packed too thick of trees for they should stand at least 20 foot asunder neither vvill ill husbands bestovv dunging digging or any other cost on Orchards vvhich if they did might pay half their rents in some places One told me for a secret a Composition for to make Trees bear much and excellent fruit vvhich vvas this First in an old tree to split his root then to apply a Compost made of Pigeons-dung lees of vvine or stale Urine and a little Brimstone to destroy the vvormes it hath some probability of truth for by experience I knovv that a bushell of Pigeons-dung hath caused a tree to grovv and bear vvhich for divers years before stood at a stand but concerning the splitting the roots I know not what to say Some old Authours affirm this ought to be done because that the roots may as well be hide-bound as other parts of the tree and not able to attract his nourishment and when the Root is split it will speedily send forth divers small fibrous roots which are the principall Attractors It were good that some vvould give us an account exact of this Experiment But some wil object against Orchards that they spoil much ground and therefore ought to be planted onely in hedges To this I answer 1 That Plumtrees and Damsins may very well be planted in hedges being ordinarily thorny plants this is used very much in Surrey and Kent where the Plums usually pay no small part of their Rent yet I never saw in these Southern parts of England any Apples or Pears thrive in an Hedge unlesse a Crab or a Wilden or some Sweeting of little worth How they thrive in Hereford-shire and those places I knovv not 2 The Inconveniencies of Orchards planted at 20 or 30 foot distance is not worth speaking of for this is the usuall course in Kent when they plant any ground they exactly place them in rank and file and then plough their lands many years and sowe them with Corn till the Orchard beginneth to bear fruit then they lay them down for pasture which pasture is not considerably soure but hath this advantage above other Pastures 1 That it is sooner grown by 14 dayes in the spring than the Medows and therefore very serviceable 2 In Parching Summers here is plenty when other places have scarcity 3 They are great shelters for Cattle especially sheep who will in those places in great snowes scrape up meat which in other places they cannot do and if the pasture were soure yet the losse is not great for it will be a convenient place for the Hogs to run in who must have a place for that purpose where there are no Commons 4 I say that the Benefits are so many by Orchards that you ought like an ungrateful man to thrust them up to the hedge for they afford curious walks for pleasure food for Cattle both in the Spring early and also in the parching Summer and nipping snowy Winter They afford fuel for the fire and also shades from the heat physick for the sick refreshment for the sound plenty of food for man and that not of the worst and drink also even of the best and all this without much labour care or cost who therefore can justly open his mouth against them 3 Deficiency is that we do not improve many excellent Fruits which grow amongst us very well and that we have as yet many fruits from beyond Seas which will grow very well with us I passe by the generall and great Ignorance that is amongst us of the variety of Apples of which there are many sorts which have some good and peculiar uses most men contenting themselves with the knowledg of half a score of the best thinking the vertues of all the rest are comprehended in them as also of the variety of Pears which are incredibly many A Friend of mine near Gravesend hath lately collected about 200 species I know another in Essex Mr. Ward who hath nigh the same number I hear of another in Worcester-shire not inferiour to these In Northamton-shire I know one who hath likewise collected very many So that I dare boldly say there are no lesse in this Island then 500 species some commended for their early ripenesse some for excellent tastes some for beauty others for greatnesse some for great bearers others for good Bakers some for long lasters others for to make Perry c. But to our purpose I say many rare fruits are neglected to Instance 1 In the Small-nut or Filbird which is not much inferiour to the best and sweetest Almonds 2 The great Damsin or Pruin-plum which groweth well and beareth full in England 3 Almonds which groweth well and beareth good fruit as I have seen divers bushels on one tree in my Brothers Orchard 4 Walnuts which is not a fruit to be despised 5 Vines and Mulberries but of these presently in another place I might likewise adde Currants Raspeses of which excellent drinks may be made 6 Quinces of the which I cannot but tel you that a Gentleman at Prichenel in Essex who had a tree from beyond Sea hath the best in England and hath made above 30 pound of a small piece of ground planted with them as I have heard from his own wifes mouth And therefore it is by reason of our ill Husbandry that we have Quinces from Flaunders Small-nuts from Spain Pruins from France and also Walnuts and Almonds from Italy and Chestnuts which I had almost forgot from Portugall And now I cannot but digresse a little to tell you a strange and true story with my opinion of it In divers places of Kent as at and about Gravesend in the Countrey and elsewhere very many of the prime Timbers of their old barnes and houses are of Chestnut-wood and yet there is scarce a Chestnut-tree within 20 miles of that place and the people altogether ignorant of such trees This sheweth that in former times those places did abound with such timber for people were not so foolish surely in former times to runne up and down the world to procure such huge massey timbers for barnes and such buildings when as there was plenty of Oakes and Elmes at their doors
And further it sheweth that these Trees will grow again with us to a great bignesse This putteth into my mind the story of the moore-logs which are found in divers places of the North of England in moores many foot deep which logs are long and black and appear to be a kinde of Firre or Pine and yet in those places people are altogether ignorant of these Trees the Countrey not producing any of these species The first story of Kent which I know to be true causeth me to wonder the lesse at the latter for I see that a species of wood may be destroyed even totally in a place And 2 I know that in Virginia and New-England that Pines and Firres and Cedars do grow wonderfully thick in such Moors or Swamps and being light wood and easily wrought they are continually used while they last for buildings Further I suppose these Moors are Commons to the which the poor have used to resort for firing how soon great woods will be consumed by them every one making what havock he pleaseth all men know As concerning their being so deep in the ground the blacknesse I suppose that when wood was abundant in those places every one did cut what they pleas'd and left what was not for their turnes which being in moist places was soon glutted with moisture and made ponderous by which means it soon buried it self as ships do on quicksand or perhaps the turf which hath a peculiar faculty vegetative for where it is exhausted it soon groweth again in time hath grown over them the people permitting it because that wood once sobb'd in wet is of little use as we see by Piles on the marshes-side scarce any man vouchsafing to carry them home The blacknesse of this wood proceedeth as I suppose from the sooty fume or evaporation of the black turffe which endeavoureth as all earths do to reduce all things into its own nature which though it be not able fully to accomplish yet it introduced divers dispositions and qualities as blacknesse in the wood Some suppose that these moore-logs have laine there ever since the flood with whom I will not contend seeing that any wood if it be kept from the Aire continually moist or dry will endure even thousands of years without putrefaction 6 Deficiency is the Not-improving of our Fruits for the best ends and purposes Normandy which produceth but little wine maketh abundance of Cider Perry which they estimate equally to wine if it be made of good fruit The ordinary Perry is made of Choaky Pears very juicy which grow along by the high-way-sides which are not to be eaten raw In Biscay in Spain where wine is scarce they make Cider of a certain sweet Apple which hath a little bitternesse in it and is like to our snouting and the Cider is very good And truly here in England if we would make Cider and Perry of the best sorts of Fruits which is rarely done for we think any fruit good enough for that purpose we might make drinks no wayes inferiour to the French wines which are usually spoiled before they come over the seas to you their spirits soon evaporating There are two wayes of making Cider and Perry one by bruising and beating them and then presently to put them into a vessel to ferment or work as it is usually called of themselves The other way is to boil the juice with some good spices by which the rawnesse is taken away and then to ferment it with some yest if it work not of it self this is the best way and I have tasted Cider thus made of an excellent delicate taste Neither let any complaine of the vvindinesse for it is onely vvant of use When I had for 2 or 3 years continually drunk wine beyond Sea the strongest beer for 2 or 3 vveeks vvas as vvindy to me as Cider vvill be to any and aftervvards vvhen I vvent to Paris the wine of that place vvas as troublesome as English beer for a little time hovv much vvine might be saved and also malt if English-men did take these good courses vvhich other Nations do and consequently how much advantage vvould this Island reap thereby If I were an house-keeper in the Country I would make excellent Beer Ale Cider Perry Metheglin Wine of our own grapes and if my Friends vvould not drink these they should drink water or go away a thirst I vvould scorn to honour France so much as men do usually and the Spaniard and Italian should not laugh at us and say that vve can as vvell be vvithout bread as their wines Currants c. Thus may many other excellent drinks be made out of our Fruits not to speak of those which are made of our Grain as Barly Wheat c. yet I must tell you that I knovv an Ingenious man vvho can vvithout malting Barly make a drink not inferiour to wine and a greater quantity of Aqua-vitae out of them and vvith lesse cost then by the ordinary vvay by a peculiar fermentation of his ovvn vvhich time vvill discover There is another Ingenious man vvho out of Damsins and other fat and svveet plums can make a drink not inferiour to the best wines and abundance of Aqua-vitae Many Ladies knovv hovv to make Cherry Raspes-vvines and Sir Hugh Plattes in his Closet for Ladies discloseth many secrets of this kind as also for Conserves Marmalades which are things both delightfull and profitable I have a kinsman who can even out of black-berries make a very pleasant drinke which curiosity he is unwilling to publish Glauber an excellent Chymist hath divers secrets of this kind even to the advancing of Hawes Hips Canker-berries Slowes to excellent Aqua-vitae's drinks vinegers which he himself first invented In Russia in the spring-time it 's an usuall custome to pierce the barke of the Birch-trees which at that time will weep much liquor and yet like children be little the worse this the poor ordinarily drink for necessity it 's a pleasant healthfull drink and also the rich men because it 's an excellent preservative against the stone The meanes to advance this profitable and pleasant work are these 1 To advance Nurceries of all sorts of Apples Pears Plums Cherries which Gentlemen may do for a smal matter and then plant out these trees when they are grown great enough The best and cheapest wayes to raise all Nurcery wares is done thus Plums may be raised either of stones which when you have eaten the plums may be presently pricked into the ground or by Slips which you wil finde about the old trees Apples may be raised for Kernels Crab-Kernels are the best vvhich ought to be preserved in dry sand til the spring least they grovv mouldy or Crab-stalke may be fetched out of the vvoods and grafted Some Trees as Sweetings Codlings Quinces vvil grovv very vvel of slips Cherries are very vvel raised by stones the Black-Cherries are the best vvhich so soon as you have eaten them are to
and in other places Rumsey-marsh in Kent consisting of 45000 Acres and upwards as Cambden relateth is of some antiquity where the land is usually let for 30 s per Acre and yet 1 d per week constantly is pay'd through the whole levil for the maintenance of the wall and now and then 2 d whereas ordinary salts are accounted dear at 5 s or 6 s per Acre so that the improvement is very considerable the same I may say of Fens especially that great Fen of Lincoln-shire Cambridge Huntingdon consisisting as I am informed of 380000 Acres which is now almost recovered and a friend of mine told me very lately that he had profered a marke per Acre for 900 Acres together to sowe Rape on which formerly was scarcely valued at 12 d per Acre very great therefore is the improvement af draining of lands and our negligence very great that they have been wast so long and as yet so continue in divers places for the improving of a Kingdome is better than the conquering of a new one 2 I see likewise no small faults in this land by having so many Chases and Forrests where brambles brakes furzes do grow when as these trumperies might be cut up and pot-ashes made of them and the ground imployed profitably for Corne or Pasture I know a Forrest by Brill in Buckingham-shire taken in and the land is usually let being now wel enclosed for 4 or 5 Nobles per Acre 3 Sort of waste-land is dry heathy Commons I know that poor people wil cry out against me because I call these waste lands but it 's no matter I desire Ingenious Gentlemen seriously to consider whether or no these lands might not be improved very much by the Husbandry of Flaunders viz. by sowing Flax Turneps great Clover-Grasse if that Manure be made by folding Sheep after the Flaunders way to keep it in heart 2 Whether the Rottennesse and Scabbinesse of Sheepe Murrein of Cattel Diseases of Horses and in general all diseases of Cattel do not especially proceed from Commons 3 If the rich men who are able to keep great stocks are not great gainers by them 4 Whether Commons do not rather make poore by causing idlenesse than maintain them and such poor who are trained up rather for the Gallowes or beggery than for the Common-wealths service 5 How it cometh to passe that there are fewest poor where there are fewest Commons as in Kent where there is scarce six Commons in the County of a considerable greatnesse 6 How many do they see enriched by the Commons and if their Cattel be not usually swept away by the Rot or starved in some hard winters 7 If that poor men might not imploy 2 Acres enclosed to more advantage than twice as much in a Common And Lastly if that all Commons were enclosed and part given to the Inhabitants and part rented out for a stock to set all the poor on work in every County I determine nothing in this kind but leave the determination for wiser heads 4 Parkes Although I cannot but reckon Parks amongst lands which are not improved to the full but perceive considerable waste by them by brakes bushes brambles c. growing in divers places and therefore wish there were fewer in this Island yet I am not so great an enemy to them as most are for there are very great Uses of them as 1 For the bringing up of young cattel 2 For the maintaining of Timber so that if any have occasion to use a good piece of Timber either for a Mil-post or a Keel of a Ship or other special uses whither can they go but to a Parke 3 The skins of the Deere are very useful and their flesh excellent Food Not to speak of the Medicinall Uses nor of Acorns for hogs c. But some wil object that the plough never goeth there To the which I answer It 's no matter for I cannot but say as Fortescue Chancellor to Henry 6 doth That God hath given us such a fruitful land that without labour we have plenty whereas France must digge and delve for vvhat they have And I suppose that I could maintaine two things vvhich are thought great Paradoxes viz. that it were no losse to this Island if that we should not plough at all if so be that we could certainly have Corne at a reasonable rate and likewise vent for all our Manufactures of Wool 1 Because that the Commodities from Cattel are farre more stable than Corne for Cloth Stuffes Stockins Butter Cheese Hides Shoes Tallow are certain even every where Corne scarcely in any place constantly in none 2 Pasture imployeth more hands which is the second Paradox and therefore Pasture doth not depopulate as it is commonly said for Normandy and Picardy in France where there are Pastures in a good measure are a populous as any part of France and I am certain that Holland Friezeland Zealand Flaunders and Lombardy which rely altogether on Pastures are the most populous places in Europe But some wil object and say that a shepheard and a dog formerly hath destroyed divers villages To this I answer that we wel knovv vvhat a shepheard and a dog can do viz. look to tvvo or three hundred sheep at the most and that tvvo or three hundred Acres vvil maintain them or the land is extreamly barren and that these tvvo or three hundred Acres being barren wil scarcely maintaine a Plough vvhich is but one man and tvvo boys vvith the horses and that the mowing reaping and threshing of this Corne and other vvorke about vvil scarcely maintaine three more vvith work through the vvhole yeare But hovv many people may be employed by the Wool of tvvo or three hundred Sheepe in Picking Sorting Carding Spinning Weaving Dying Fulling Knitting I leave to others to calculate And further if the Pastures be rich Meadowes and go on dairing I suppose all know that 100 Acres of such land imployeth more hands than 100 Acres of the best Corne-Land in England and produceth likewise better exportable Commodities And further if I should grant that formerly the shepherd and his dog did depopulate yet I wil deny that it doth so now for formerly we were so unwise as to send over our Wool to Antwerpe and other places where they were Manufactured by which meanes one pound oft brought 10 unwrought to them but we set now our own poor to work and so save the depopulation Yet I say it 's convenient to encourage the plough because that we cannot have a certainty of Corne and carriage is dear both by sea and land especially into the Inland-Countreys and our Commodities by Wool do cloy the Merchants 5 Rushy-lands Blith telleth us good Remedies for these Inconveniencies viz. making deep trenches oft mowings Chalking Liming Dunging and Ploughing I know where hungry guests Horses soone make an end of them 6 Furze broom heath these can hardly be so destroyed but at length they wil up againe for God hath given a
peculiar propriety to every kinde of earth to produce some peculiar kinds of Plants which it wil observe even to the worlds end unlesse by Dung Marle Chalke you alter even the very nature of the earth In Gallitia in Spaine where such barren lands do very much abound they do thus first they grub them up as clean as they can of the greater Roots and branches they make fire-wood the smaller sticks are either imployed in fencing or else are burnt on the ground afterwards the land being ploughed twice at least they sowe Wheate and usually the crop is great which the Landlord and Tenant divide according to a compact then the ground resteth and in 3 or 4 yeares the Furze or broom wil recover their former growth which the painful Husband-man grubbeth and doeth with it as formerly I set this down that you may see how laborious the Spaniard is in some places the poverty of the countrey compelling him to it 7 There are other Inconveniencies in land besides weeds and trumpery viz. Ill tenures as coppy-hold Knight-service c. so that the Possessor cannot cut any Timber downe without consent of the Lord and when he dyes must pay one or two yeares rent But these are not in the power of the poor Husbandman to remedy I therefore passe them by yet hope that in little time we shal see these Inconveniencies remedied because they much discourage Improvements and are as I suppose badges of our Norman slavery To conclude it seemeth to me very reasonable and it wil be a great encouragement to laborious men to improve their barren lands if that they should have recompence for what they have done according as indifferent men should judge when they leave it as is the custome in Flaunders I have likewise observed some Deficiencies in Woods which I shall briefly declare with the best way to Remedy the same 1 It 's a great fault that generally through the Island the Woods are destroyed so that we are in many places very much necessitated both for fuel also for timber for building and other uses so that if we had not Coales from New-castle and Boards from Norwey Plough-staves and Pipe-staves from Prussia we should be brought to great extremity and many Mechanickes would be necessitated to leave their callings 2 Deficiency is that our Woods are not ordered as they should be but though Woods are especially preserved for timber for building and Shipping yet at this time it 's very rare to see a good Timber-tree in a Wood. 3 That many of our Woods are very thinne and not replenished with such sorts of Wood as are convenient for the place 4 That we sell continually and never plant or take care for posterity These Deficiencies may be thus Remedyed 1 To put in execution the Statutes against grubbing of Woods which are sufficiently severe It s well known we have good lawes but it 's better knowne they are not executed In the Wilde of Kent and Sussex which lies far from the Rivers and Sea and formerly have been nothing but Woods liberty is granted for men to grub what they please for they cannot want firing for themselves and they are so seated that neither firewood nor timber can be transported elsewhere I know a Gentleman who proffered their good Oak-timber at 6 s 8 d per tun and the land in those parts in general is very good About Tunbridge there is land which formerly was Wood is now let for 30 s per Are so that to keep such lands for Wood would be both losse to the owner and to the Island But in other parts of the Island it is othervvise and men are much to be blamed for destroying both timber and fuel I have seen at Shooters-hill near London some Woods stubbed up vvhich vvere good ground for Wood but novv are nothing but furze vvhich is a great losse both to the owner and to the Countrey For the land is made vvorse then it vvas formerly I conceive there are Lands vvhich are as naturally ordained for Woods viz. Mountainous Craggy uneven land as small hils for the Vines and Olives plain lands for Corne and low moist lands for Pasture vvhich lands if they be stubbed do much prejudice the Common-wealth 2 That all Woods should have such a Number of Timber-trees per Acre according to the Statute There is a good lavv for that purpose but men delude both themselves and the lavv that they every felling cut dovvn the standers vvhich they left the folling before least perchance they should grovv to be Timber and leave 12 small standers that they might seem to fulfil in some measure the Statute but it 's a meer fallacie and causeth the Statute to fail of it's principal end vvhich is to preserve Timber 3 The best Remedy against thinnesse of woods is to plash them and spread them abroad and cover them partly in the ground as every Countreyman can direct by this meanes the wood vvil soone grovv rough and thick It 's good Husbandry likevvise to fil your woods vvith swift growers as Ashes Sallow Willow Aspe which are also good for Hop-poles Hoopes Sycamore is also a swift grower In Flaunders they have a kinde of Salix called by them Abell-tree which speedliy groweth to be timber 4 That some law be made that they which fel should also plant or sowe In Biscay there is a law if that any cut down a Timber-tree he must plant three for it which law is put into execution with severity otherwise they would soon be undone for the Countrey is very mountainous and barren and dependeth wholly on Iron Mines and on Shipping their Woods are not copsed there but onely Pollards which they lop when occasion serveth I know one who was bound by his Land-Lord to plant so many trees yearly which according he did but alwayes in such places that they might not grow In France near to the borders of Spaine they sowe Ashkey which when they grow to such a greatnesse that they may be slit into four quarters and big enough to make Pikes then they cut them down and I have seen divers Acres together thus planted hence come the excellent Pikss called Spanish-Pikes Some Gentlemen have sowen Acornes and it 's a good way to encrease Woods Though the time is long I doubt not but every one knoweth that it 's excellent to plant Willowes along the waters side and Ashes nigh their houses for firing for they are good pieces of Husbandry and it 's pitty that it 's not more put in practise There is a Gentleman in Essex who hath planted so many Willowes that he may lop 2000 every year if others were as Ingenious we should not want fire-wood Osiers planted in low morish grounds do advance land from 5 s per Acre to 40 s 50 s 3 l and upward it 's much used Westward of London these Osiers are of great use to Basket-makers There is a sort of small Osier or Willow at Saint Omars in
profit may arise from hence in this nation is manifested by that excellent Treatise which is published by you concerning the Husbandry of Flanders wherein are briefly set down divers particulars very usefull for us here in England and formerly unknown And without question France Spain Italy Holland Poland Germany c. have many excellent things both for Husbandry Physick Mechanicks worth the manifesting and very beneficial to us so likewise there are divers things in our Plantations worth the taking notice of in Husbandry To passe by the Southern Plantations as Barbadoes Antego Saint Croix Christopher Mevis Monferate where the commodities are onely Cotten-wools Sugars Gingers Indicoes which our cold climate will not produce and also Tobacco which groweth also with us about Norwich and elsewhere We will onely sail upon our Northern Plantations Verginia New-England and instance in a few things Why may not the Silk-grasse of Verginia the Salsaperilla Sassarfas Rattlssnake-weed which is an excellent cordial be beneficial to us as also their Cedars Pines Plum-trees Cherries great Strawberries and their Locusts which is a prickly plant a swift grower and therefore excellent for hedges be usefull to us So for New England why should we think that the Indian corn the Marsh-wheat that excellent Rie the Pease which never are eaten with magots the French or Kidney Beans the Pumpions Squashes Water mellons Musk-mellons Hurtleberries wild Hemp Fir c. of those parts are altogether uselesse for us as also the Cramberries which are so called by the Indians but by the English Bear-berries because it is thought the Bears eat them in Winter or Barberries by reason of their fine acid taste like Barberries which is a fruit as big and as red at a Cherry ripe onely in the winter and growing close to the ground in bogs where nothing else will grow They are accounted very good against the Scurvie and very pleasant in Tarts I know not a more excellent and healthfuller fruit But some will object that they will not grow here with us for your fore-fathers never used them To these I reply and ask them how they know have they tryed Idlenesse never wâ—â—ts 〈…〉 cuse and why might not our fore-fathers upon the 〈…〉 held their hands in their pockets and have said that Wheat and Barley would not have grown amongst us and why should not they have been discouraged from planting Cherries Hops Liquorice Potatoes Apricocks Peaches Melicotones and from sowing Rape-seeds Colliflowers great Clover Canary-seeds c. and many more of this kind and yet we know that most of these have been brought to perfection even in our days for there is a viciffitude in all things and as many things are lost which were knowne to our fore-fathers as well the Purple colour c. as you may read in Pancirol so many things are found out by us altogether unknown to them and some things will be left for our posterities For example not to speak of Gun-powder and Printing nor of the New-world and the wonders there which notwithstanding are but of a few 100. years standing I say twenty Ingenuities have been found even in our days as Watches Clocks Way-wisers Chains for Fleas divers Mathematical Instruments Short-writing Microscopes by the which even the smallest things may be discrned as the egs eys legs and hair of a Mite in a Cheese Likewise the Selenoscope which discovereth mountains in the Moon divers Stars and new Planets never seen till our days But to return to our pur purpose I say that in Husbandry it is even so for the Ancients used divers plants which we know not as the Cytisus-tree so much commended for Cattel as also their Medick fodder which Colum saith endureth 10. years and may be mowen 4 years 7. times in a year and one Acre he esteemeth enough for 3 horses This fodder likewise is accounted very sweet and healthfull whereas the plants which are usually called Medicaes with us are annual plants and have no such rare proprieties So we are ignorant what their Far or fine Bread Corn was what their Lupine Spury and an hndred of this kind as you may read in Mathiol or Dioscorides so on the contrary infinite are Plants which we have and they knew not as well appeareth by their small and our large Herbals and dayly new Plants are discovered usefull for Hushandry Mechanicks and Physick and therefore let no man be discouraged from prosecuting new and laudable ingenuities And I desire Ingenuous Gentlmen and Merchants who travel beyond Sea to take notice of the Husbandry of those parts viz. what grains they sow at what time and seasons on what lands how they plough their their lands how they dung and improve them what Cattel they use and the commodities thereby also what books are written of Husbandry and such like and I intreat them earnestly not to think these things too low for them and out of their callings nay I desire them to count nothing trivial in this kind which may be profitable to their Countrey and advance knowledge And truly I should thank any Merchant that could inform me in some trivial and ordinary things done beyond Sea viz. how they make Caviare out of Sturgeons Rows in Muscovia how they boil and pickle their Sturgeon which we English in New-England cannot as yet do handsomely how the Bolognia Sausages are made how they ferment their Bread without Yest of what materials divers sorts of Baskets Brooms Frails are made what seed Grout or Grutze is made of and also how to make the Parmisane Cheeses of Italy which are usually sold here for 2. s. or 2. s. 6. d per pound or the Angelots of France which are accounted better Cheeses then any made in England as also the Holland Cheeses which are far better then our ordinary Cheeses and yet these sorts of Cheeses are made not of Mares milk as some think but from the Cows and our Pastures are not inferiour to theirs c 2. I desire ingenious men to send home whatsoever they have rare of all sorts as first Animals the fine-woolled Sheep of Spain Barbary Horses Spanish Jennets c. and so likewise all sorts of Vegetables not growing with us as Pannick Millet Rice which groweth in the Fenny places of Millan and why may it not grow in our Fens and the best sorts of Grains or Fruits in use amongst us perhaps there is Wheat that is not subject to Smut or Mildew perhaps other seeds will give double increase as Flax Oats Pease and divers other things of importance there are beyond Sea which may be usefull to us as the Askeys the Cork Acorns the Scarlet-Oak sweet-Annise which groweth abundantly in Millan Fenel c. Tilia or Linder-tree for basâ—e Ropes c. Spruce Pines for Masts and Boards seeing that they are swift growers and many will stand in a small piece of ground they have formerly grown here and some few do flourish in our Gardens and in Scotland I suppose that this ought
then any other for if the Lord with-hold his fat dew from Heaven or the former or later Rain it is in vain that the Husbandman rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of earofulnesse for we know that it is the Lord that maketh barren places fruitfull and he likewise that turneth fruitfull Lands into barrennesse as the Land of Canaan which was very fruitfull even in the time of the Canaanites but now a barren desart and therefore I again desire the Countrey-man to walk as it becommeth a Christian in all Sobriety Righteousnesse and Godlinesse not to trust to his confidence in his own labours and good Husbandry but on the Lord that hath made all things for though even Paul himself doth plant and Apollo doth water yet it is onely the Lord that giveth increase and plenty which he will not deny to those that fear him for they shall want nothing that is good And thus Sir I have written to you very largely my thoughts concerning the Husbandry of this Island and partly what I have seen in many travels Good Sir be not offended at my long and impertinent stories my rude language and unmethodical discourse It was if not to satisfie yet somwhat to gratifie the universal goodnesse of your spirit and care of the publick which God hath inriched you withall And these are onely my first thoughts which in haste I have hudled up together I hope if the Lord send life and health my second thoughts shall be better But whatsoever I have done pray look on it as comming from one who is desirous to serve you and to advance the Publick good according to the talent the Lord hath given him Thus I commit you to the protection of the Almighty And rest SIR Your Anno 1651. Copies and Extracts of more letters written to Mr. Samuel Hartlib They all tending very much to the great improvement not onely of Agriculture but of true and real Learning and Naturall Philosophy SIR The several things observed and set down during my stay in the Country are these 1. I Learned the whole way and art of making and ordering of Woad viz. the time when they sow it when first they weed it and cut it I saw the manner of their gathering it grinding balling drying it and after sweating and curing it Informing my self of the whole charge and profit of it have made divers Annotations on it and taken order for some seed to be sent to me for other more compendious and profitable trials answerable to the Nature and Philosophy of it 2. This and some other things gave me occasion to make the best inquiry I could of Housewives and of Fowlers for all sorts of dying weeds and herbs used in the dying of wool or of nets which I have carefully collected to improve to a more then ordinary use some being very remarkable 3. Among other generall inquiries and adventures I heard of one at Ware that charr'd Sea-coal procured an errand and commendations thither went was civilly used and satisfied in the truth and manner of the thing and found the Gentleman who was the first Author of it to be one Airs now dead an ingenious man a great Malster made much profit of it it drying Malt as sweet as if the Sun it self did it it is cheaper then either wood or straw and may be many otherways applied 4. I went into the Isle of Ely to see one of the Holland-mills for dreyning though set up there and kept by certain Frenchmen The Invention seemed to me but mean and rude and Mr. Wheelers way much more ingenious 5. I saw at Wickleson the manner of your Holland Sluces The ruines also of a Cochlea for the emptying and dreining of water of which Vbaldus hath writ a whole Treatise Likewise a pretty kind of Pinnace with Ordnance somewhat like a close Liter but flat-bottommed which rowed with wheels instead of Oars imployed it seems formerly with admirable successe for the taking in of Crowland and which gave me a proof of what I for many years have thought possible and of very great use and service and still think it of unknown value if it were skilfully indeed framed and applyed as it might be 6. The Lord F. W. assured me of a Gentleman in Norfolk that made above 10000. l. sterl of a piece of ground not 40. yards square and yet there was neither Mineral nor Mettal in it He after told me it was onely a sort of fine Clay for the making a choise sort of earthen ware which some that knew it seeing him dig up discovered the value of it and sending it into Holland received so much money for it it is a story not to be despised 7. His Lordship told me the way of making of Spunk or Touch wood 8. Mr. H. his Lordship's Bailiff shewed me a small plat of ground scarce an Acre and half wherein he assured me he had in one year 21. hundred of Hops and falling out then to be scarce in other places he made of that small parcel of ground 4. score l. 9. At Milton I saw a Spring that might have been made big enough to serve a large Town which my friend Wheeler had newly discovered and broke up every man opposing him in it and deriding his confidence till he made it appear and shamed them Hereupon he gave me several marks of knowing and finding out Springs under ground 10. From Springs we converted our discourse to Pipes for the carrying along of Water under ground to any House or Town wherein he imparted some Secrets to me both of the fittest Wood and Trees for Pipes and preserving them whole Ages from corruption by ways extreamly rational and not hitherto observed or found out by any 11. This drew on some discourse of woods their differences and several applications in which he told me many singular observations 12. After this I saw at Melton an excellent Model of a Garden Orchard and Walks and being further curious my friend related a Witty invention he once put in practise to plant an Orchard in a Morish place where never grew a Tree 13. I casually met with one Boughton a most singular rare man in carving or cutting out Figures in small or in great Stone and for that reason Servant in ordinary to the late King who acquainted mee of many excellent ingenious men and promised to seek me at my lodging 14. Being in Cambridge-shire I examined more particularly the Husbandry planting ordering and curing of Saffron Some other things came in my way not without notice but these are the chief My own improvements and comments upon all which I shall more at large give you when we meet together being always SIR Yours Queres sent into France about the seed called La Lucern WHen one N. N. was last in France being in discourse with Doctour D. concerning Saint Foin he was then told by Doctour D. that for the improvement of barren grounds there was in those
them and afterwards of the cakes of Rapeseed or Linseed which cakes having a singular faculty of fatting Cattle they put much lesse of them into the Mesh for Milch-Cowes for fear of spoiling their Milke than for other kind of this they give them twice a day so as it maketh the greatest part of their feeding much more than the hay which they give them betwixt whiles and thus they feed them onely in Winter-time because that all the Summer long they keep them abroad at grasse Whether this be used in Holland as your friend saith I cannot tell of my own knowledge having never there seene it nor heard of it but in France it is of very old standing as appeareth by these words of Columella lib. 2. cap. 10. Rapa non homines solum verum etiam boves pascunt praecipuè in Gallia ubi Hyberna cibaria praedictis pecudibus id olus praebet De-serres doth also speak of it but very shortly and onely mentioning it in a word or two lib. 4. cap. 9. Paris the 6 of January 1652. IN the 104th page of your Legacie where I left with my last Annotations I finde these words In Barkeshire many keepe tame Pheasants and have gained well thereby The which having communicated to a brave English Lady here a great friend of mine who hath been a great House-keeper in England and is a most excellent vvife she tels me that at a Countrey-house of hers not farre from Chelsey she had alvvayes great store of them insomuch as she hath hatched to the number of 200 in one spring vvhereof though many dyed yet farre and farre the greatest part vvould come to perfection That of people of quality she never knevv any but her selfe vvho kept any but that there is abundance in the parts neer London vvho keep them for to make profit of them and sell them to the Poulterers that there is nothing more easie to bring up and to keep than Pheasants vvhen they are once past the first Moneth for til then they must be kept onely vvith Aunts eggs and feed on nothing else of vvhich one vvould think it a hard matter to get so many but there are fellovves in England vvho for a little money vvil get one as many as one can desire the first moneth being past they are kept aftervvards vvith Oates onely requiring nothing else but as they love to be kept in grassie fields so one must change them somevvhat oft to fresh grounds because they taint the grasse and the ground in the same manner as Geese do and for to keep them in my Lady used to have those parcels of ground vvhere they vvere kept inclosed vvith lats Paris the 3 13 of January 1652. YOu shall have now the conclusion of my Annotations upon your Legacy according to your desire In the bottome of page 104 your friends speaketh as if the excellency of Butter and Cheese depended wholly of the handling of it and that Cheese like to Parmesan and Holland Cheese might be made in England if the same industry were used there as in those Countreys which is nothing so For though Art and Industry can do very much in this particular as in most others whereof I have seen most remarkable examples both in England and Ireland yet there is some thing in the particular nature of different waters and different Soiles and of the food for Cattle thereon growing and consequently in that Cattles milke and in the Butter and Cheese made thereof which no Art nor humane skill can supply or imitate no more than the same kind of Beere can be brewed in all places or the same kind of Wine be made to grow on all grounds And this is most manifest hereby that in Holland it-self there are made severall sorts of Cheeses hugely different among themselves which difference is most remarkable in those two excellent sorts viz. the Edam-cheese being that kind which is so much transported into forreign Countreys and every where known by the generall Name of Holland-cheese and the Stolke-cheese And if it should be thought that that diversity proceedeth from the different makings of Cheese used in the severall parts of that Countrey I can assure you that if you make Edam and Stolke boors exchange their habitations and keep all their own fashions each of them shall make Cheeses not such as they were wont to make at home but as used to be made in the places to which they are come The like may be said of the green-Cheeses made in Holland of Sheepsmilke especially those of Gravesand Tessel and Grind all three most excellent ones and yet extreamly differing among themselves And not to go for examples of this further than England it selfe It were against all reason and experience to thinke that that notable difference betwixt Suffolk and Cheshire-cheeses cometh onely from the different way of making it Another thing which I find fault withall in the same Discourse is that the Author nameth the French Angelots among the excellent sorts of Cheese whereas they are nothing so neither in their qualities nor in their price they being sold for two Sols a piece whereas they use to weigh half a pound I do likewise mislike that he for to instance in the best kinds of Cheese he fetcheth Parmesans and Holland-cheese from abroad without taking notice that at home in severall parts of the Land and particularly in Mongomery-shire Cheese is made equall to the best of these kinds and at Chedder in Wiltshire that which in my judgement is farre to be preferred before them and to any other cheese in the world Page 105. I cannot brook that he complaineth England hath not a Systema or a Compleat Book of all the parts of Agriculture and reckoneth Markham among them who have writ onely divers small Treatises of it whereas Markham hath comprehended in his works whatever belongeth to any part of Husbandry and of Housewifery too with very few and small omissions such as in no wise can rob him of the name of a generall writings his workes also having that excellency that they are altogether squared for England and go on experience rather than on Probabilities and hear-says to the contrary of what our Authour seemed to taxe in him aswell as in other writers of that kind which maketh me suspect that either he hath not at all been conversant in Markham's writings or that in reading of him he hath been strangely fore-judged he being in my opinion one of the most excellent of his kind and in many particulars to be preferred before the most excellent of them all It is true what is said pag. 106. There were among the Ancient Romans some appointed to see that men did till their Land as they should but that which followes and if they did not to punish them as Enemies to the Publique is too hyperbolically spoken there being a vast difference betwixt punishing one as an enemy to the Publique and a simple fining of him which was all the
punishment inflicted for that fault as you may see in the twelvth Chapter of Aulus Gellius his fourth Book In these words pag. 107. he that turneth fruitfull Lands into barrennesse as the land of Canaan very fruitfull heretofore but now a barren Desart Our Author saies nothing but what is common in the mouth and pens of almost every body and yet the truth thereof is very questionable as an observant Reader will easily finde by the exactest and latest writers of that Countrey among whom Eug. Royer is to be placed in the very first ranke And thus I make an end having nothing to say to any thing conteined in the following pages of your Legacy the reprinting whereof with those alterations and amendments I have hinted to you I doe most earnestly wish for it being indeed a most excellent piece and from the beginning to the end fraught with most excellent observations and experiments FINIS Page 98. line 12. Mr. Vaughan's Golden Grove should not have been named at all as containing onely certain Georgica Animi matters of Morality and nothing at all concerning the ordering of Fish-ponds and the profit of them of which Dubravius de Piscinis hath written on purpose in the Latine Tongue AN INTERROGATORY Relating more particularly to the HVSBANDRY And Naturall History of IRELAND Prov. 14. Verse 22. Doe they not erre that devise evill but mercie and truth shall be to them that devise good ⧠Printed for Richard Wodenothe MDCLII THE ALPHABET of Interrogatories A. Apricocks WHether any thing common in gardens in whose gardens how long since they were brought in first and by whom Acorns Whether any store be in the Woods of Ireland as to feed any great Herds of Swine and whether they ripen as kindly as in England Acres Difference of Irish and English Acres how many feet and perches go to an Acre how many inches to a foot and how many Acres to a Plow-land Ale What the best manner of brewing it and wherein it dâ—ffers from the English Ale Alder. Whether any great store of them any where to what uses the timber of it is put Almonds Whether any trees in Ireland whether they bear any fruit at all and whether it come to any Perfection Allum Whether any found in Ireland where what quantity how refined Ambergreece Upon what parts of the coast any hath been found when by whom in what quantity what sorts wherein and how much differing from the best Ants Pismires Whether in any such quantities as to cause annoyance and waste of graines what means used to destroy them Apples Whether any great plenty any where what sorts Artichoaks How long known in Ireland by whom brought in since when come to be plentiful Ash tree Where most plentiful in how much time from the seed they will grow to perfect trees to what uses their timber is put Ashes Where used in stead of dung in what quantity what time of the year what good it doth Asses By whom any were brought over at any time what numbers how they thrived and whether they did procreate B. Badgers Where any are what store how they lodge themselves what they feed upon what hurt they do how hunted how they do to defend or save themselves how many they whelp what their skins are worth and to what use put whether any body do eat their flesh Bacon The whole ordering of it and the best ways Bay-trees Whether any store any where and of any great bignesse whether at any time they bear ripe berries Barley In which parts of the land most sown in what grounds how manured what proportion upon each Acre what increase what is the seed-time whether commonly bread be made of it any where Barnacles Where any are in what numbers how sold when they come in and go out whether any such thing be as Barnacles ingendred in shels out of rotten wood upon what coasts any such thing hath been observed when by whom where in what manner how long ere they come to any perfection whether they ingender at all what colour they are of what bignesse what they feed on Barred-harbours Where any are how spacious how many foot of water upon the barre at full sea how many at low water Barrel What different sorts of barrels usual in Ireland how they differ what inferiour measure they containe how many of them go to an hogshead and a tun what proportion they bear to the London-measures Barren-ground What sorts of ground absolutely barren not at all or hardly to be made profitable in what Counties and Baronies any be and of what extent Base Where any taken what store when in season Bats Whether and where any store of them what hurt at any time done by them to man or beast particulars of their breeding and feeding how taken and destroyed Beans In which parts most sowen on what grounds and how manured with what increase and for what uses how much seed put to each Acre when sowen Beare Wherein differing from barley where most sowen at what time a year on what ground and how manured what proportion for each Acre what increase for what uses whether any difference in goodnesse betwixt Beare and Beare and what difference Beefe What quantities of beefe were wont yearly to be made by the Merchants in Dublin and other Port-towns what it would cost them the barrel and what they would sell it beyond seas and in what places Beech-trees Where any grow what store whether they bear nuts and ripe ones what uses made of the wood Beere How brewed in Ireland what several ways which the best how to make it lasting Bees Where most kept where any store of wilde ones what grounds and herbs they most delight in how looked to what hives when they begin to make honey when they give over how much honey and wax ordinarily in one hive when they take out the honey whether they take all or leave some for them to feed on during winter what vermine they are obnoxious to and how preserved from them when the young swarmes are taken and how hived Beetles What particulars observed concerning their nature breeding feeding Birch-trees Where any are what store of them how sowen in what time they will grow to perfection what use made of them Birdlime Where any made in Ireland what quantity in what manner Birds What sorts of birds every where what plenty what goodnesse when in season how taken their natures breeding feeding what sorts of them are constantly in Ireland at all times and what sorts do come and go at scertain seasons Birds of Prey What sorts in any place what store what hurt they do how taken and destroyed how made tame Blackbirds Where any store when in season and how long when their breeding-time their feeding ways of taking them at what rates sold the dosen whether any different sorts of them and wherein they differ Bloomeries The fashion of them charges of making one how many people necessary to attend them what quantity
of iron they can melt in a day and with what quantity of charcoal whether the iron melted in them differ in any thing from the iron melted in furnaces and wherein where any are whose they are when and by whom erected Bogs What several sorts of them the nature and condition of each of them what use is or can be made of any of them where any very great ones are and of what length and breadth Bogs draining What bogs apt to be drained how it is done what the charges what the profits where when and by whom any great proportions have been drained and what it hath advantaged them whether any of them make good Arable and how long it must be first Box-tree Whether in any parts of Ireland it groweth up to an height and what store in what grounds Brawn The whole manner of the making on 't differences of goodnesse and from whence arising Breams In what parts what store what bignesse and goodnesse when in season and how long Bricks The whole manner of making them what manner of clay fittest for this use what may be the charges what errors usually committed in the making and what the effects thereof Since when begun to be used in Ireland Bridges How many good ones in every Countie and Baronie of how many Arches when built and by whom Brooks What brooks have any thing remarkable in their rising course over-flowings water-mills violence fish c Broom What grounds they be where it groweth plentifully and capable of what improvements Bulls Of their size strength ordering diet time of covering the Cows what particulars observed of their courage c Bull-finch Their nature feeding breeding plenty season ways of taking them Buntings Their shape colours nature dyet breeding seasons numbers Buzzards Where any be what store nature breeding shape bignesse c Butchers-broom In what places it groweth what use made on 't Butter The whole manner of making and ordering it both for goodnesse and lasting what proportion of it out of a proportion of milk and cream different sorts for colour taste goodnesse and the causes Butter-flies Their several sorts natures feeding breeding seasons changes C. Cabbage The several sorts of them Calves The manner of rearing them Calving-time whether at any time more then one calved at once Cane-Apples Where any grow what store Carp Where what store their season bignesse goodnesse Carrets Caterpillars Their sorts when and where most cumbersom what ways used to destroy them Caves Cats Where any be how deep how large the fashion of them what within them Champion What Counties and Baronies altogether or for the most part are champion land and wha oile Charcoale Of what sorts of wood usually made and the whole manner of making them Cheese The whole manner of making it the different sorts for goodnesse with the causes thereof Cherries Where any great store by whom planted what sorts Chesnuts Where any grow when and by whom planted whether they bear any ripe fruit or any at all Cider Whether any made in Ireland where when by whom what quantity what goodnesse how lasting Climate Clay What several sorts of it which good which barren how to be handled and mended of what depth which best for brick Coales Where any found when by whom what sorts of what goodnesse what charges the digging how deep they dig for them and in what manner what soil above them Cockles Where any Plenty of them when in season Cock of the Wood. Where any be what store their size colour nature breeding feeding season what meat they be manner of taking them Colliflowers In whose garden any when brought in by whom what store Cod. On what parts of the coast it most abounds seasons of fishing them what profit the whole manner of salting them what quantity one Fisherman may take in twenty foure houres in what depths and how farre from the land what weather and wind best for fishing what worth the tun and what the charges Conger Where any taken what store of what different bignesse and goodnesse when in season Cordage Where any made what store and size what charges what profit Cormorants Where any be what numbers their bignesse colour shape nature their manner of fishing and feeding where they breed how taken alive whether ever any body made them tame who when where what they would perform Corne. What sorts are most commonly sowen in each part of Ireland vvhat ground and how manured best for each kind how much of any sort commonly sovven upon one Acre and how much that useth to yield Cornelians Where any grovv since vvhen in vvhose Orchards Cowes The best vvays of ordering them for breeding and milk vvhen they take the Bull hovv long after they calve vvhat quantities of milk ordinarily an English Covv may give in the several times of the year and vvhat an Irish their diseases the nature and the cure of them hovv old they begin to calve and hovv long they continue Crabs Where they are in any plenty vvhat sorts what seasons hovv they are taken Cranes Where any be vvhat store their nature breeding feeding season vvhat meat they are Crayfish Where any is taken vvhat store in vvhat manner vvhat seasons Crickets Their several sorts nature ingendrings feedings seasons Crowes What sorts of them in Ireland vvhat hurt they do hovv hindred or destroyed vvhether any body eats them and vvhat meat they are Observations of their nature and properties Cuckows Their nature breeding feeding season bignesse shape colour vvhat meat they are Curlews Where any store of them is their shape bignesse colours nature breeding season ways of taking them D. Darnik Daws See Iackdaws Deare What store in any place what kinds their fawning-time how long they are with fawn how many they use to fawn what time a yeare they cast their hornes how long it is before they begin to bud out again and in what space they come to their perfect bignesse Observations of their nature long-livednesse Wherein Chiefly layeth the difference betwixt red deare and fallow deare Dew What time a yeare and in what weather most plentifull what good or harme it doth at any time Diamond False diamonds like Bristows found some where in what places upon or under the ground Diseases of men What diseases peculiar and reigning in some parts of the countrey the nature causes cures thereof Diseases of beasts What diseases amongst all sorts of tame beasts Common in Ireland the nature causes cures thereof Ditching Divers Where any are what store their nature shape bignesse colour taste season feeding breeding Dogfish Where taken what quantities what season their bignesse shape nature taste Dogs The several kinds of dogs in Ireland their several natures and properties Dotterels Whether any in Ireland and where their shape nature colour manner of taking them Doves See Pigeons Draining of Bogs See Bogs Ducks Ordering and profit of Ducks Wilde Ducks vvhere is any store in vvhat seasons hovv taken Dung Several sorts of dung usual in
Ireland for vvhat grounds and grains each sort hovv vvhen and in vvhat quantity to be laid on E. Eagles Where any are vvhat sorts observations of their nature and properties their manner of hunting c. Earth What several sorts of earth in Ireland hovv differing for fruitfulnesse and in the several vvays of manuring the defects of each sort hovv to be amended Earthquakes Whether any in Ireland at any time when hovv long continued vvhat harme done by them Earewigs Ebbe and Flood See Tides Eeles Where most abundant biggest best vvhere and vvhen taken in great numbers vvith vvhat nets in vvhat vveather and season the manner of salting them vvhat the charges and vvhat the profits of the Eelesishing vvhen they come in season and hovv long they continue vvhat hath been observed about their ingendring and breeding Elder Elecampane Where any grovveth of it self any vvhere vvhere and vvhat store Elmes Where any grovv in the countrey vvhat store by whom planted F Fallow deere See Deere Fals Salmon leaps In what rivers any are in what Counties and Baronies neere what Towns how farre from the sea how high how broade Faulcons Where any breed what store where destroyed how taken how taught how to be ordered and dyeted Observations of their nature properties engendring manner of preying Felfares Where any are what store in what seasons their shape bignesse Colour taste price feeding Ferrets Where any are wilde how taken how made tame how dyeted Fig-trees Where any grow in whose gardens whether at any time they beare any fruit or any at all Filberts Where any grow wilde or in gardens Finches Where any store of them what sorts how differing in shape and Colour when in season Fir-trees Where any grow what store what use made of them where any found in bogs how deep under ground whether the stems only or with rootes and branches Fish What rivers and loghs most abounding with fish what kinds what goodnesse What strange fishes now and them are taken or cast a shoare Fishing What weather in general most fit for fishing dark gloomy days and troubled waters or Sunshine and calmes The several sorts of nets used in the sea locks rivers with the fashion and bignesse of every one of them and which nets most used for which kinds of fishes the several baites What other ways used for the taking of fish besides nets and angling Flax. What store of flax sowed in each County and Barony of what goodnesse the whole ordering of flax to make it fit for spinning Flies The several sorts of them when they come in when they go out Fleas Flood and Ebbe See Tides Floods Land floods Which parts most obnoxious to them what harm they suffer therby and how to be remedied Flowers What variety of rare and choice flowers in gardens and in whose gardens Flownders The several sorts of them where greatest store of them when and how long in season Foards Description of all Foards in any County or Barony that have any thing peculiar or remarkable in them Foggs In which parts most frequent and when what harm they are found to do to man or beast Forelands Description of all the remarkable Forelands in each County upon the coast how far they run into the sea how high what land barren or fruitful low or high rockie or sandie or earthy with a strand or without Fowle What sorts of Fowle in every Province and County what store what seasons how taken what sorts are constant in the Nation and what sorts do come and go at certain seasons Fountains What fountains in any parts that have any thing remarkable in them for largenesse fashion properties of water manner of rising c. Foxes Where most abundant what harm done by them the several ways of taking and killing them what particulars have been observed concerning their breeding lodging preying cunning what profit made of their skins and how sold the dosen at first hand Freestone What sorts of it differing in colour hardnesse smoothnesse c. what kinds grow better by wind and rain and what sorts worse where any very deep quarries are and how deep French beanes How long since and by whom brought into Ireland first Fruits What several sorts of good fruit in any gardens and orchards and whose how it useth to ripen Furres What several sorts of Furres the countrey affords and at what rates the manner of dressing them Furze Several sorts of Furze what profit Furze affordeth in what time it cometh to Perfection what benefit bringeth to the ground G. Galls Whether any grow upon the Oaks in Ireland and where Gardens Where any choice gardens for rare plants flowers fruits when and by whom made Geese Where any great flocks were kept and what profits made of them Wilde Geese in what parts what store their seasons whether they breed in the Countrey or come from other Countreys and from whence Glasse Where any Glasse-houses by whom made what the profits of them yearly all charges abated where they have their materials if in the land in what parts what sorts of glasse they make and out of what proportions of land and ashes the whole manner of melting the glasse Glue What sorts of Glue made in Ireland in what places of what materials after what manner Goats Gnats Where any flocks kept what the profits that are made of them what the yearly increase what time a year they use to kid how many at once how long they are at once whether any use made of their haire and what Godwins Where any be what store their shape bignesse Colour feeding season goodnesse Goshawks Wherein they differ from other hawks their shape bignesse where they breed how they are taken how nurtured at what games they are best the manner of their flights Goldfinches Where any plenty of them their shape Colours how they are taken Grafting What kinds of grafting used in Ireland what time a yeare best for them what particulars to be observed about them Gray-hounds What kinds of them in Ireland their nature and properties Grains See Corne. Grapes Whether any come to ripenesse where what kinds in whose gardens Grashoppers Whether any in Ireland what kinds what time a year Grasse The causes of soure rank grasse where the sweetest grasse where the deepest and thickest what grasse fittest to be preserved for winter-feeding what grasse best for Sheep Cowes Oxen Goats Horses Growses Where any store of them their shape bignesse colour when in season what kind of meat they are Gudgeons Where any be taken what time of the year their shape and bignesse H. Haddock Where taken in great quantities how farre from the coast what time a year how salted when best of all to be eaten Haile Hay All the particulars to be observed about hay-making Hares Havens Descriptions of each haven in what Countie how far from the next havens how large hovv deep hovv far they run into the land hovv vvide at the mouth vvhether barred or noâ— vvhat rocks and
sands before or vvithin them the shape of them Hawks What sorts of Havvks in Ireland where they breed vvhat store hovv and vvherin they differ from each other the manner of the slights of each of them and at vvhat games each of them best and hovv to be nurtured Heads Capes Description of all the principal heads of the Coast their height spaciousnesse vvhether of bare rock heathie grassie vvhether steep or vvith a strand before them hovv far distant from the next places of note Herbs What gardens stored vvith rare and choice herbs and vvith vvhat store Heaths Where any grear Heaths vvhat extent vvhether in Champion or Mountain vvhether altogether barren or some vvays improvable vvho hath reduced Heaths into profitable lands vvhat scopes vvith vvhat helps and to vvhat advantages Heath-cocks See Growses Hedge-hogs Where they breed in any great numbers vvhat they feed on vvhat harm they do vvhat vvays used to take them hovv they ingender and hovv numerously vvhether their flesh eaten by any vvhat use made of their skins Hedging Hempe Where any great quantities sovvn upon vvhat ground and hovv manured vvhat hurt or good it doth to the ground the vvhole manner of ordering hempe Hernshaws Hens Where any be what store when in season what paticulars have been observed about their nature breeding feeding c. Herrings On what places of the Coast taken what time a year what quantities how sold the mease the whole manner of salting and re-salting them what are the signes of their being out of season what windes and weather best for taking them Hides What quantities yearly used to be sent forth at what rates Hills What Countreys all hillie Hoary-frosts What hurt done by them to fruit corne grasse c. Hobbies What their peculiar quality size what store of the race left and where Hogs Hollie Where any great store groweth and to a perfect bignesse what use made of the wood of the rind Honey What quantities made in such or such a Countie what sorts what goodnesse Hops Where any hop gardens when and by whom planted what yearly profit they yield Of what goodnesse the Irish hops Horses What good races in Ireland where and whose where any great steeds kept by whom upon what grounds how long Mares are with foale vvhether ever they foale more then one at once at vvhat years they use to give over Diseases ordinarily incident to horses the causes prevention and cures of them Horseleeches Hounds I. Iackdaws What store of them in Ireland where most vvhat harm they do their nature and breeding Ice Islands Description of the Islands upon the coast and in the Loghs their number bignesse vvhat kind of soile and vvhat they bear vvhat trees on them vvhat hills brooks rocks in them Iron Iron-mines Where any Iron-mines are of vvhat sorts rock-mâ—ne vvhite-mine or bog-mine hovv found out and hovv digg'd especially the bog-mine and rock-mine vvhich mines the richest and hovv much oare vvill yield a tun of iron vvhat kind of iron each sort of Mine giveth Iron-works Where any are and vvhose vvhen and by whom made the charges of making one and of maintaining one vvhat yearly profit they yield hovv much iron they melt in tvventy foure houres what proportion of charchoale is laid to the oare in vvhat order they are put into the furnace hovv far the furnace is filled vvhat store of men imployed about one work and in what several offices The manner of melting and hammering the iron at the forges and with how much waste Juniper-trees Whether any grow in Ireland and where K. Kine See Cows What the best grounds and grasse for Kine to feed on what dâ—seases incident to Kine and the ways to prevent and cure them Kites What store in Ireland what places they breed what ways used to destroy them Knives Where any good ones made where they have the steel how they temper them what waters best for to harden them c. L. Lambs The manner of rearing them Lampreys Where any be what store how taken when in season how they breed and ingender Lands Leeks Larks Observations concerning their nature and properties when in season Leather Lettice Leeches See Horse-leeches Licoris Leeks Where any groweth what quantity what goodnesse Lice Lime Limestone What several sorts of kilnes used for lime and what sorts of fiering the whole manner of burning lime and the charges of it whether any differences of limestone in colour brittlenesse c. where they use lime for the inriching of the ground what quantity to an Acre what time a yeare Lightning Lind-trees Whether any grow in Ireland where and by whom planted Ling. Where any taken what quantity what time a year the manner of salting it the shape of the fish Lisards Observations of their nature and properties Loghs What Loghs in every Province and County of what depth length breadth compasse what Islands in them and what sorts of fish Lobsters In what places they are plentiful when in season what time of the year they cast their coat and how long it is before they get a new one M. Maccamboy Whether there be such a thing at all that this herb should purge the body meerly by external touch or whether it be a fable what particular observations have been taken for or against it the shape of the herb and in what place it groweth Macarels On what parts of the coasts they are taken in any great plenty when they come to be in season and how long Madder Whether any be planted in Ireland where what quantities how manured and ordered Maggot apies See Pies Maggots Maids A kind of scate or thorn-back In what parts to be had what quantity what time a year their nature and properties Mallards See Ducks Malt. Manuring The several ways of manuring the ground with all the particulars of each kind and where used Marble What sorts are found in what places in what ground champion mountain or hill vvhat soile over head how deep they dig for it the charges of digging it Marle Where any is found in what County and Baronie of each Province how long since it was found and by whom what ground over head and how deep the depth of the Marle it self the nature and colour on 't upon what grounds they use it what time a year how many loads to an Acre and at what charges what grains marled land wilt bear and how many years together how to be used afterwards and whether it may be used more then once upon the same piece of ground and with what effect Marshmallows Whether any grow of themselves where what store Mastiffs What store of them in Ireland their several natures and properties Match Where any made in Ireland of the whole manner of making it Measures What several measures usuall in Ireland for the measuring of Land Corne Beere Wine Fish c. Meaws sea-meaws Where any store what use made of them their nature and properties whether there be any different kinds of
them and what Meadows The time and manner of laying meadows what grounds best for meadows and in which meadows the sweetest grasse Medlers Where any grow whether wilde or in Gardens only Merlin Where any ayries of them how and when to be taken and to be used to the hand their nature and properties the manner of their flights and on what game they are best how to be looked to and dieted Mice Whether field-mice any where what store what harme they do how destroyed Milke Mines See Iron-mines Silver-mines VVhat share the King had in mines that are found out and what share the Lord of the Mannor Minerals VVhat several sorts of minerals found in any parts of Ireland Mists See Fogs Moales VVhether any be in Ireland and where Moore-hens VVhere any found what store what time a yeare best for meat their shape bignesse Colours nature properties Mountaine What proportion of mountain in each Province and County the length and breadth of it how high where at the highest what soile and what it beareth Mud. Where used to inrich the grounds in what manner and proportion Mulberries Where any grow and in whose Gardens Mullet Where any taken what store when in season their nature properties Muskemillions Whether any grow in Ireland and come to any perfection Muskets Whether any made in Ireland where and how Mussels Where in greatest plenty what season Muttons General rules about the making and ordering of Muttons N. Nightingailes Whether any body ever brought any over and how long they lived in Ireland O. Oakes What Oaks of any extraordinary bignesse any where are or-have been lately Oase Sea-Oase What store in any plaee what kinds what use made thereof Oates Where most sowen on what grounds how manured their seed-time their kinds Oatmeale Where any made and the whole manner of making it Oysters Onions Where any store what sorts when in season Orchards Where the most where any choice ones when and by whom planted what good fruits in them Osprays Where any be their shape bignesse colour their manner of taking fish whether any be made tame and what sport they afford Otters In what parts any be what store how they are taken what use made of their flesh their nature and properties manner of their building at what rates their skins are sold at first hand Owles What sorts of them in Ireland and where their nature properties nests diet whether used for birding in any parts of Ireland Oxen. P. Paper Whether any be made in Ireland where the whole manner of it Parkes Where any were before these troubles when and by whome made what compasse what vert what sort and store of Deerein them Parrets Parsneps Partridges In what Counties and Baronies any be where they most abound when in season observations concerning their nature and properties Patricks-Purgatory Perfect description of the Logh Island Caves and the whole proceedings there during the Justiceship of the Earle of Corke and the Lord Chancellour Loftus Peaches Where any good ones and any store doth grow Peacocks Whether any in Ireland where with whom Peares Where any store and what sorts Pearmains Whether any grow in Ireland and where when planted and by whom Pearles Where any found what store what goodnesse Pease Where most sowen on what grounds and how manured their seed-time what uses made of them Perches Where any what store when in season Perrie Whether any made in Ireland where by whom Perwinkles Where taken what store when in season Phesants Where any be what store when in season their nature and properties manner of hunting and taking them Pigeons Where any great store of tame ones and where of wilde ones what ways used to take the wilde ones their nature and properties Pigeons-dung Where used to dung the ground in what manner to what purpose Pigs Pikes Where any what store what bignesse when in season what several wayes of taking them Pilchards Where any Pilchard-fishing what time a yeare what charges what profit how farre from the coast the whole manner of ordering and salting them whither they are transported Pintails Pintail is a bird in bignesse between a Duck and teale of colour like a wilde-duck in the taile it hath a spring of feathers in fashion like a buls pisell three or foure inches long of dainty various colours are no where in Ireland but in Connaught and there at no other time of the year than in February and then they are there in great abundance so as ordinarily they are sold at four and six pence a couple they are most dainty meat Pipe-staves Where any made what store what charges what profit whether transported Pismires See Ants. Pippins Whether any grow in Ireland where by whom planted and when what store Pistols Where any made what store what goodnesse Places Where taken what store what bignesse and goodnesse what time a yeare Plague When any in Ireland how farre it spread what numbers it killed how long it lasted Plants Plovers Gray Plovers and greene Plovers where what store when in season what particulars observed about their nature properties Plow-land What it is and of what extent Plums What sorts of Plums in Ireland what store where by whom brought into Ireland Poisons Particular observations of the Antipathy of the Irish earth and Aire against all poisonous creatures Poplars Where any grow what store what uses made of them Pork Goodnesse of Irish pork and the whole manner of ordering it Porpases Where any be what store what time a yeare their shape bignesse nature Potatoes Where any store sowen when brought over first and by whom what uses made of them what time to be taken up and how to be preserved Powder Gunpowder Where any made what quantity from whence they have the Materials Prawms See Shrimps Privet Puits Whether any in Ireland where what season their shape bignesse Colour nature Pumpions Whether they come to perfection in Ireland where they grow and what store Pumiestone Whether any found in Ireland and where Q. Quailes Where any what store what season their nature and properties Quicksets Where any very good ones the whole manner of ordering them Quinces Where any grow when and by whome planted R Radish Railes Where any what store what season their shape bignesse Colours what wayes they are taken Rapeseed Where sowen on what ground how manured the profits thereof Rasors VVhere taken what store what bignesse and goodnesse Rasps Whether any grow wilde in Ireland where what store what kinds Rats Where the most abound and since when what wayes used to destroy them what parts cleare from them Ravens What store in Ireland and where most what particular observations have been made concerning their nature properties long life Red Deeres Where any what store when in season particulars observed concerning their nature properties long life when they cast their hornes when they grow againe and when they come to their perfection In what space of time Red Deere commeth to its full perfection
their fawning-time and how long they are with fawne Red herrings Whether any made in Ireland where what store Reeds What sorts of them in Ireland and where what use made of them Rhubarb Where it groweth in what quantitie Rie In what parts of Ireland most sown on what grounds how much to an Acre and what increase Ring-doves Rivers Rinnet Particular description of all rivers in each Province and Countie where they rise where they fall into the sea or other rivers through what Locks they passe what sorts of fish is in them what fishing and at what times a year how far they ebb and flow Ships of what burden may come into them and how far how far they are portable at all what towns of note great hils woods great bogs they passe close by how long how deep and broad where at the broadest and deepest what time a year they use to swell most what weres and falls are in them and where-abouts Roads What roads of note upon any parts of the coasts how neer to the shore ships may come to an Anchor there in how much water and for what winds lay Landlockt Robin-red-brests Roches Where any are what store when in season Rooks. Where any are what store whether any eat them of their nature and properties wherein they differ from Crows Rot of sheep Roses Rushes The severall sorts of them and to what uses they are put Russetings Whether any grow in Ireland in whose gardens when brought in S Saffron Whether any groweth in Ireland where what store Salmons Salmon-fishing Where any are taken what quantities in what times of the year Salmon-salting The Manner of them what Salt best Sallows Salt Whether any made or refined in any part of Ireland and the whole manner of doing it Salt-peter Whether any made in Ireland where what store the whole manner on 't Sampier Where any groweth and what store Sand. Whether there be any sandy places in the land altogether barren where of what extent and what kinde of sand Savin Whether any groweth in Ireland where what store to what height Sea aire What hath been observed in the severall parts of the coasts Concerning the sea-aire what good or hurt it doth to men beasts trees Corne and grounds Sea-coales See coales Seales Where any are what store how taken of their nature and properties Service-trees Whether any grow in Ireland and bear ripe fruit and where Shad. Whether any be taken upon the coasts of Ireland what quantities where and what season their shape and nature Sheepe Sham-rocks What grounds best for them how to be ordered according to the several seasons of the yeare how to be provided for in Winter during frost and snow What diseases incident to them and the ways to prevent and cure them things to be observed in the rearing of flocks Names of all the great Sheepe-matters that were throughout the kingdome at the breaking out of the Rebellion what flocks they had and what profits they yielded them yearely Sheldrakes Where any be what numbers when in season their shape bignesse Colour nature dyet Shel-fish What several sorts of them the Irish sea affordeth and in what parts in most abundance When every sort in season and where best Shelves upon the coasts Where any lay and what observable things can be said about them Shrimps Where any are taken what bignesse what store what seasons Silk-wormes Where and by whom any have been kept what store what quantities of silk they made Silver Silver-mines Skirrets Where any store in whose Gardens since when who brought them first into Ireland Slate Where any quarries of them are how deep it lyeth what kinde of slate it is for colour brittlenesse c. what charges Black-slate Where digged what store the vertues of it how found out first when and by whom Smelts Whether any be taken in the Irish-sea where what store what seasons Snailes Whether ever any such abundance of them any where as to do any great harme to gardens or fields and what wayes are used to destroy them Snites Where any be what store what seasons their nature and properties Snow In which parts most snow useth to fall which is the longest that it continueth upon the Mountaines in any part of Ireland Soales Where any taken what store when in season Soape Whether any made in Ireland where what quantitie the whole manner of making it Sows See Swine Soile The different kinds of soiles in Ireland what use every kinde is best for the excellencies of every kinde as also the defects and how to be remedied Black sows a kind of vermin Spaes Where any in Ireland of what nature and propertie when and by whom found out Spanniels What different kinds of them in Ireland with the properties and excellencies of each kind Sparagus In whose Gardens any grow what store and since when Sparrows The different kinds of them in Ireland with the peculiar properties of each kind Sparrow-hawks Where any breed what store how to be taken and ordered their nature and properties Sponges Whether any grow upon the coasts of Ireland where what store of what goodnesse Springs Description of all springs in the severall parts of the Land that have any thing rare or observable in them Sprats Whether any taken in Ireland where what store what seasons Squirrels Where any be what store their nature properties diet breeding how a dozen of their skins useth to be sold at first hand Stags Starch Whether any be made in Ireland where what store Sares. Where any great numbers of them Their nature properties dyet Steele Where any made what store in what manner Storks Whether ever any have been seen in Ireland when and where Stronds The different kinds of them where high where flat where rockie where faire and sandy where none at all so as the sea is very deep close by the Land Sturgeon Whether ever any seen in the Irish-seas when and where Straw The different uses made of straw for dung thatch c Swallows Strawberries In what parts they grow of themselves in any plenty Swans Where any numbers of tame ones have been kept Where any store of wild ones their season nature and properties Swine The whole manner of ordering herds of swine and what profits to be made of them Diseases incident to swine the causes preventions and cures of them Swords Where any made and where the best Sycomores Whether any grow of themselves any where T. Talbots Where any are taken of what bignesse and goodnesse in what seasons Tallow What store every year useth to be made and transported at Dublin and other ports Tanneries Where any great ones when and by whom erected Teales Where any great store of them when in season Thunder Thornbacks Where any store taken when in season observations of their nature and properties Thrushes In what parts to be had in any store when in season their nature and properties Thrushels Where to be had what store when in season