when you come to your place of residence then you must néeds vnpacke them and spread them thinner or else they will rot and consume in a sodaine There be sundry wayes of gathering Peares or other fruit as namely to climbe into the trée and to haue a basket with a line fastned thereto and so when it is filled to let it downe and cause it to be emptied which labour though some of your southerne Fruiterers doe not much commend yet for mine owne part I doe not sée much errour therein but that it is both allowable and conuenient both because it neither bruiseth the fruit nor putteth the gatherer to any extraordinary labour onely the imaginary euill is that by climbing vp into the trée hée that gathereth the fruit may indanger the breaking slipping and disbranching of many of the young cyons which bréedeth much hurt and damage to the trée but iudgement and care which ought to be apropriate to men of this quallitie is a certaine preuenter of all such mischeifes Now for such as in gathering of their fruit doe euery time that the basket is full bring it downe themselues from the trée and empty it by powring the fruit rudely and boystrously forth or for beating of fruit downe with long poales loggets or such like they are both most vilde and preposterous courses the first being full of too much foolish and carelesse trouble the latter of too much disorder cruelty ruyning in a moment what hath béene many yéeres in building as for the climbing the trée with a ladder albeit it be a very good way for the gathering of fruit yet if it be neuer so little indiscréetly handled it as much hazardeth the breaking and bruising both of the fruit and the small cyons as either climbing the trée or any other way whatsoeuer Now for the gathering of your Apples you shall vnderstand that your summer fruit as your Ieniting Wibourne and such like are first to be gathered whose ripenesse you may partly know by the change of colour partly by the pecking of Birds but cheifely by the course formerly discribed for your knowledge of the ripenesse of the Peare which is the hollownesse of coare and liberty of the kirnell onely and when you doe perceiue they are ripe you shall gather them in such wise as hath béene declared for the gathering of your Peares without respecting the state of the Moone or any such like obseruation but when you come to gather your Winter-fruit which is the Pippin Peare-maine Russetting Blacke-annat and such like you shall in any wise gather them in the wane of the Moone and as before I said in the dryest season that may be and if it be so that your store be so great that you cannot gather all in that season yet you shall get so much of your principall fruit the youngest and fairest as is possible to be gotten and preserue it for the last which you intend either to spend or vtter Now for the manner of gathering your Apples I doe not thinke you can amend or approue a better way then that which hath béene discribed for the gathering of Peares yet some of our late practitioners who thinke themselues not cunning if they be not curious dislike that way and will onely haue a gathering apron into which hauing gathered their fruit they doe empty it into larger vessells this gathering apron is a strong péece of Canuas at least an ell euery way which hauing the vpper end made fast about a mans necke the neather end with thrée loopes that is one at each corner one in the midst through which you shall put a string and binde it about your waste in so much that both the sides of your apron being open you may put your fruit therein with which hand you please this manner of gathering Apples is not amisse yet in my conceit the apron is so small a defence for the Apples that if it doe but knocke against the boughes as you doe moue your selfe it cannot chuse but bruise the fruit very much which ought euer to be auoyded therefore still I am of this opinion there is no better way safer nor more easie then gathering them into a small basket with a long line thereat as hath béene before declared in the gathering of Peares Now you shall carefully obserue in empting one basket into another that you doe it so gently as may be least in powring them out too rudely the stalkes of the fruit doe pricke one another which although it doe appeare little or nothing at the first yet it is the first ground cause and beginning of rottennesse and therefore you shall to your vttermost power gather your Apples with as small stalkes as may be so they haue any at all which they must néedes haue because that as too bigge stalkes doth pricke and bruise the fruit so to haue none at all makes the fruit rot first in the place where the stalke should be you shall also kéepe your fruit cleane from leaues for they being gréene and full of moisture when by reason of their lying close together they beginne to wither they strike such an heate into the Apples that they mil-dew and rot instantly As touching your Fallings which are those Apples which fall from your trées either through too much ripenesse or else through the violence of winde or tempests you shall by no meanes match them or mixe them with your gathered fruit for they can by no meanes last or indure so long for the latter which falleth by force of winde wanting the true nourishment of the earth and the kindly ripening vpon the trée must necessarily shrinke wither and growriuelled so that your best course is to spend them presently with all spéede possible for the other which hath too much ripenesse from the earth and the trée though it be much better then the other yet it cannot be long lasting both because it is in the falling bruised and also hath too much ripenesse which is the first steppe to rottennesse so that they must likewise be spent with all expedition For the carriage of your Apples if the place be not farre whether you should carry them you shall then in those large baskets into which you last emptied them carry them vpon cole-staues or stangs betwixt two men and hauing brought them carefully into your Apple-loft power them downe gently vpon bedds of ferne or straw and lay them in reasonable large heapes euery sort of Apples seuerall by themselues without mixture or any confusion and for such Apples as you would haue to ripen soone you shall couer them all ouer with ferne also but for such as you would haue take all possible leasure in ripening those you shall say neither vpon ferne nor straw but vpon the bare boards nay if you lay them vpon a plaster floare which is of all floares the coldest till Saint Andrewes tide it is not amisse but very profitable and the thinner you
pullen-houses for Hennes Capons Duckes and Géese your french Kilne and Malting flowres with such like necessaries and ouer crosse betwixt both these sides you shall build your bound houels to cary your Pease of good and sufficient timber vnder which you shall place when they are out of vse your Cartes Waynes Tumbrels Ploughs Harrowes and such like together with Plough timber and axletrées all which would very carefully be kept from wet which of all things doth soonest rot and consume them And thus much of the Husbandmans house and the necessaries there to belonging CHAP. III. Of the seuerall parts and members of an ordinarie Plough and of the ioyning of them together IF a workeman of any trade or mistery cannot giue directions how and in what manner the tooles where with he worketh should be made or fashioned doubtlesse hée shall neuer worke well with them nor know when they are in temper and when out And so it fareth with the Husbandman for if hée know not how his Plough should be made nor the seuerall members of which it consisteth with the vertue and vse of euery member it is impossible that euer hée should make a good furrow or turne ouer his ground in Husbandly manner Therefore that euery Husbandman may know how a well shaped Plough is made he shall vnderstand that the first member thereof as being the strongest and most principallest péece of timber belonging to the same is called the Plough-beame being a large long péece of timber much bending according to the forme of this figure This beame hath no certaine length nor thicknesse but is proportioned according to the ground for if it be for a clay ground the length is almost seauen foote if for any other mixt or lighter earth then fiue or sixe foote is long inough The second member or part of the Plough is called the skeath and is a péece of woode of two foote and a halfe in length and of eight inches in breadth and two inches in thicknesse it is driuen extreamly hard into the Plough-beame slopewise so that ioyned they present this figure The third part is called the Ploughes principall hale and doth belong to the left hand being a long bent péece of woode some what strong in the midst and so slender at the vpper end that a man may easily gripe it which being fixed with the rest presenteth this figure The fourth part is the Plough head which must be fixed with the skeath the head all at one instant in two seuerall mortisse holes it is a flat péece of timber almost thrée foote in length if it be for clay ground otherwise shorter of breadth seauen inches and of thicknesse too inches and a halfe which being ioyned to the rest presenteth this figure The fift part is the Plough spindels which are two small round péeces of woode which coupleth together the hales as in this figure The sixt part is the right hand hale through which the other end of the spindels runne and is much slenderer then the left hand hale for it is put to no force but is onely a stay and aide to the Plough houlder when hee cometh in heauy stiffe and strong worke and being ioyned with the rest presenteth this figure The seauenth part is the Plough-rest which is a small péece of woode which is fixt at one end in the further nicke of the Plough head and the other end to the Ploughs right-hand hale as you may sée by this figure The eight part is called the shelboard and is a broad board of more then an inche thicknesse which couereth all the right side of the Plough and is fastned with two strong pinnes of woode through the skeath and the right-hand hale according to this figure The ninth part is the coulture which is a long péece of Iron made sharpe at the neather end and also sharpe on one side and being for a stiffe clay it must be straight without bending which passeth by a mortisse-hole through the beame and to this coulture belongeth an Iron ring which windeth about the beame and kéepeth it in strength from breaking as may appeare by this figure The tenth part of a compleate Plough is the share which is fixed to the Plough head and is that which cutteth and turneth vp the earth if it be for a mixt earth then it is made without a wing or with a very small one but if it be for a déepe or stiffe clay then it is made with a large wing or an outward point like the figure following The eleauenth part of a perfect Plough is called the Plough foote and is through a mortisse-hole fastned at the farre end of all the beame with a wedge or two so as the Husbandman may at his discretion set it higher or lower at his pleasure the vse of it is to giue the Plough earth or put it from the earth as you please for the more you driue it downeward the more it raiseth the beame from the ground and maketh the Irons forsake the earth and the more you driue it vpward the more it letteth downe the beame and so maketh the Irons bite the sorer the figure whereof is this Thus haue you all the parts and members of a Plough and how they be knit and ioyned together wherein I would wish you to obserue to make your Plough-wright euer rather giue your Plough land then put her from the land that is rather leaning towards the earth and biting sore then euer slipping out of the ground for if it haue two much earth the Husbandman may help it in the houlding but if it haue too little then of necessitie it must make foule worke but for as much as the error and amends lye both in the office of the Plough-wright I will not trouble the Husbandman with the reformation thereof This Akerstaffe the Husbandman is euer to carry within his Plough and when at any time the Irons shelboard or Plough are choaked with durt clay or filth which will cling about the ould stubble then with this Akerstaffe you shall put the same off your Plough still going and so kéepe her cleane and smooth that your worke may lye the handsomer and this you must euer doe with your right hand for the Plough choaketh euer on the shelboard side and betwéene the Irons And thus much tonching the perfect Plough and the members thereof CHAP. IIII. How the Husbandman shall temper his Plough and make her fit for his worke A Plough is to a Husbandman like an Instrument in the hand of a Musition which if it be out of tune can neuer make good Musicke and so if the Plough being out of order if the Husbandman haue not the cunning to temper it and set it in the right way it is impossible that euer his labour should come to good end It is very necessary then that euery good Husbandman know that a Plough being perfectly well made the good order or disorder thereof consisteth in the placing of
Pease doe manure barraine ground well your Lentles better and your Lupines the best of all Now for the nature and vse of these graines the Pease as all Husbandmen know are both good for the vse of man in his bread as are vsed in Leicester shire Lincolne-shire Nottingham-shire and many other Countries and also for Horses in their Prouender as is vsed generally ouer all England for Lentles or white Ftches or the Lupines which are redde Fitches they are both indifferent good in bread for man especially if the meale be well scalded before it be knodden for otherwise the sauour is excéeding rancke or else they are a very good foode being sodden in the manner of Leapâ—-Pease especially at Sea in long iourneyes where fresh meate is most exceeding scarce so that rather then your land should lye idle and bring forth no profit I conclude it best to sow these Pulses which both bring forth commoditie and also out of their owne natures doe manure and inrich your ground making it more apt and fit to receiue much better Séede For the manner of sowing these thrée sorts of Pulse you shall sow them euer vnder furrow in such sort as is described for the sowing of Pease and Beanes vpon the white or gray clay which is of indifferent drinesse and apt to breake Now the limitation for this Ardor or â—éede time is from the middest of March till the middest of Aprill then from the middest of Aprill till the middest of May you shall make your especiall worke to be onely the leading forth of your Manure to that field which you did fallow or lay tilth that present yéere immediatelie after Christmas and of which I first spake in this Chapter And herein is to be vnderstood that the best and principallest Manure for this redde-sand is the ouldest Manure of beasts which can begotten which you shall know by the excéeding blacknesse and rottennesse thereof being in the cutting both soft and smooth all of one substance as if it were well compact morter without any shew of straw or other stuffe which is vnrotted for this dung is of all the fattest and coolest and doth best agrée with the nature of this hot sand Next to the dung of beasts is the dung of Horses if it be old also otherwise it is somewhat of the hottest the rubbish of old houses or the swéepings of flowres or the scowrings of old Fish-ponds or other standing waters where beasts and horses are vsed to drinke or be washt or wherevnto the water and moisture of dunghills haue recourse are all good Manures for this redde-sand as for the Manure of Shéepe vpon this redde-sand it is the best of all in such places as you meane to sow Rie but not fully so good where you doe intend to sow your Barley if it be a cold moist redde-sand which is seldome found but in some particular low countries then it doth not amisse to Manure it most with Shéepe or else with Chaulke Lime or Ashes of which you can get the greatest plentie if this soile be subiect to much wéede and quickes as generally it is then after you haue torne vp the wéedes and quickes with Harrowes you shall with rakes rake them together and laying them in heapes vpon the land you shall burne them and then spreading the ashes they will be a very good Manure and in short space destroy the wéedes also likewise if your land be much ouergrowne with wéedes if when you sheare your Rie you leaue a good long stubble and then mowing the stubble burne it vpon the land it is both a good Manure and also a good meanes to destroy the wéedes After your Manure is lead forth and either spread vpon the lands or set in great heapes so as the land may be couered ouer with Manure for it is to be obserued that this soile must be throughly Manured then about the middest of May which is the time when this worke should be finished you shall repaire with your Plough into the other fallow field which was prepared the yéere before for this yéeres Barley there you shall sow it all ouer with Barley aboue furrow that is to say you shall first Plough it then sow it and after Harrow it making the mould as fine and smooth as may be which is done with easie labour because this sand of it owne nature is as fine as ashes Now the limitation for this séede time is from the middest of May till the middest of Iune wherein if any man demaund why it should not be sowne in March and Aprill according as it is sowne in the former soiles I answere that first this redde-sand cannot be prepared or receiue his full season in weather and earings before this time of the yéere and next that these redde-sands by how much they are hotter and drier then the other claies by so much they may wel stay the longer before they receiue their séede because that so much the sooner the seede doth sprout in them also the sooner ripen being kept warmer at the roote then in any could soile whatsoeuer As soone as the middest of Iune approacheth you shall then beginne to Summer-stirre your fallow field and to turne your Manure into your land in such sort as you did vpon your clay soiles for this Ardor of Summer-stirring altereth in no soile and this must be done from the middest of Iune till the middest of Iuly for as touching sleighting clotting or smoothing of this Barley field it is seldome in vse because the finenesse of the sand will lay the land smooth inough without sleighting yet if you finde that any particular land lieth more rough then the rest it shall not be amisse if with your backe Harrowes you smooth it a little within a day or two after it is sowne From the middest of Iuly vntill the middest of August you shall foile and throw downe your fallow field againe if your lands lie well and in good order but if any of your lands doe lie in the danger of water or by vse of Plowing are growne too flat both which are hinderances to the growth of Corne then when you foile your lands you shall Plow them vpward and so by that meanes raise the ridges one furrow higher After you haue foiled your land which must be about the middest of August then will your Barley be ready to mowe for these hot soiles haue euer an earely haruest which as soone as it is mowne and carried into the Barne forthwith you shall with all expedition carry forth such Manure as you may conueniently spare and lay it vpon that land from whence you receiued your Barley which is most barraine and if you want cart Manure you shall then lay your fould of Séepe thereupon and as soone as it is Manured you shall immediately Plow both it the rest which Ardor should be finished by the middest of September and so suffered to rest vntill
touching other mixtures of grounds they are for the most part so barraine that they will but hardly bring forth Wheate vpon their fallow field and then much worse vpon a fourth field Now for any other particular choise of these two séedes they are the same which I shewed in the whole straw and great Pollard As for the flaxen Wheate and chilter Wheate the first is a very white Wheate both inward and outward the other a pale red or déepe yellow they are the least of all sorts of Wheate yet of much more hardnes and toughnesse in sprouting then either the Organe or white Pollard and therefore desire somewhat a more richer soyle and to that end they are for the most part sowne vpon fallow fields in mixt earths of what natures or barrainenesse soeuer as is to be séene most generally ouer all the South parts of this Realme and although vncompounded sands out of their owne natures doe hardly bring forth any Wheate yet vpon some of the best sands and vpon the flintie grauels I haue séene these two Wheates grow in good abundance but being seldome it is not so much to be respected After your Wheate you shall make choise of your Rie of which there is not diuers kindes although it carrie diuers complections as some blackish browne great full and long as that which for the most part growes vpon the red sand or red clay which is thrée parts red sand mixt with blacke clay and is the best Rie the other a pale gray Rie short small and hungry as that which growes vpon the white sand or white clay and white sand and is the worst Rie Now you shall vnderstand that your sand grounds are your onely naturall grounds for Rie as being indéede not principally apt for any other graine therefore when you chuse your Rie for séede you shall chuse that which is brownest full bould and longest you shall haue great care that it be frée from wéedes or filth sith your sand grounds out of their owne naturall heat doth put forth such store of naughtie wéeds that except a man be extraordinarily carefull both in the choise and dressing of his Rie he may easily be deceiued and poyson his ground with those wéedes which with great difficultie are after rooted out againe Now for your séedes to each soyle it is euer best to â—ow your best sand-Rie vpon your best clay ground and your best clay-Rie vpon your best sand ground obseruing euer this generall principle not onely in Rie but euen in Wheat Barly Pease and other graine of account that is euer once in thrée yéeres to change all your séede which you shall finde both to augment your encrease and to returne you double profit Now for the choise of your séede-Barly you shall vnderstand that for as much as it is a graine of the greatest vse most tendernesse therefore there is the greatest diligence to be vsed in the election thereof Know then that of Barly there be diuers sorts as namely that which wée call our common Barly being long eares with two rankes of Corne narrow close and vpright another called spike or batteldore-Barly being a large eare with two rankes of Corne broad flat and in fashion of a batteldore and the third called beane-Barly or Barly big being a large foure-square eare like vnto an eare of Wheate Of these thrée Barlyes the â—irst is most in vse as being most apt and proper to euery soyle whether it be fruitfull or barraine in this our kingdome but they haue all one shape colour and forme except the soyle alter them onely the spike-Barly is most large and plentifull the common Barly hardest and aptest to grow and the beane-Barly least palest tenderest so that with vs it is more commonly séene in gardens then in fields although in other Countries as in Fraunce Ireland and such like they sowe no other Barly at all but with vs it is of no such generall estimation and therefore I will neither giue it precedencie nor speake of it otherwise then to referre it to the discreation of him who takes delight in many practises but for the common Barly or spike-Barly which our experience findes to be excellent and of great vse I will knit them in one and write my full opinion of them for their choise in our séede You shall know then that when you goe into the market to chuse Barly for your séede you shall to your best power elect that which is whitest â—ullest and roundest being as the ploughman calles it a full hunting Corne like the nebbe or beake of a Bunting you shall obserue that it be all of one Corne and not mingled that is clay Barly and sand Barly together which you shall distinguish by these differences the clay Barly is of a palish white yellow colour smoth full large and round and the sand Barly is of a déepe yellow browne at the neather end long slender and as it were withered and in generall no sand Barly is principall good for séede but if the Barly be somewhat of a high colour and browne at the neather end yet notwithstanding is very full bould and bigge then it is a signe that such Barly comes not from the sand but rather from an ouer fat soyle sith the fatnesse of the earth doth euer alter the complection of the Barly for the whiter Barly euer the leaner soyle and better séede you shall also obserue that there be not in it any light Corne which is a kinde of hungry graine without substance which although it filleth the séeds-mans hand yet it deceiueth the ground and this light Corne will commonly be amongst the best Barly for where the ground is so rich that it bringeth forth the Barly too rankely there the Corne wanting power to stand vpon roote falleth to the ground and so robde of kindly ripening bringeth forth much light and insufficient graine Next this you shall take care that in your séede-Barly there be not any Oates for although they be in this case amongst Husbandmen accounted the best of wéede yet are they such a disgrace that euery good Husband will most diligently eschew them and for that cause onely will our most industrious Husbands bestow the tedious labour of gleaning their Barly eare by eare by which gleanings in a yéere or two they will compasse their whole séede which must infallibly be without either Oates or any wéede whatsoeuer and although some grounds especially your richest blacke clayes will out of the abundance of their fruitfulnesse as not induring to be Idle bring forth naturally a certaine kinde of wilde Oates which makes some ignorant Husbands lesse carefull of their séede as supposing that those wilde ones are a poisoning to their graine but they are infinetly deceiued for such wilde Oates wheresoeuer they be doe shake and fall away long before the Barly be ready so that the Husbandman doth carry of them nothing into the Barne but the straw onely Next Oates you
set it vp in Shockes each Shocke containing at least seauen Sheafes in this manner first you shall place foure Sheafes vpright close together and the eares vpwards then you shall take other thrée Sheafes and opening them and turning the eares downeward couer the other foure Sheafes that stoode vpwards and so let them stand vntill you may with good conueniencie lead them home which would be done without any protraction Next after your cleane Rye you shall in the selfe-same sort reape your blend-Corne or Masline and albeit your Wheate will not be fully so ripe as your Rye yet you shall not stay your labour being well assured that your Rye is ready because Wheate will harden of it selfe after it is shorne with lying onely After you haue got in your Rye and blend-Corne you shall then looke vnto your cleane Wheate and taking heare and there an eare thereof rubbe them in your hand and if you finde that the Corne hath all perfection saue a little hardning onely you shall then forthwith set your Reapers vnto it who shall sheare it in all things as they did sheare your Rye onely they shall not put it in Shockes for a day or more but let the Sheafes lye single that the winde and Sunne may both wither the gréenes and harden the Corne which done you shall put the Sheafes into great Shockes that is to say at least twelue or fouretéene Sheafes in a Shocke the one halfe standing close together with the eares vpward the other halfe lying crosse ouerthwart those eares and their eares downeward and in this sort you shall let your Wheate stand for at least two dayes before you lead it Now it is a custome in many Countries of this kingdome not to sheare their Wheate but to mow it but in my conceit and in generall experience it is not so good for it both maketh the Wheate foule and full of wéede and filleth vp a great place with little commoditie as for the vse of thacking which is the onely reason of such disorderly cutting there is neither the straw that is shorne nor the stubble which is left behinde but are both of sufficiencie inough for such an imployment if it passe through the hands of a workman as we sée in dayly experience Next to your Wheate you shall haue regard to your Barly for it sodainely ripeneth and must be cut downe assoone as you perceiue the straw is turned white to the bottome and the eares bended downe to the ground-ward Your Barly you shall not sheare although it is a fashion in some Country both because it is painefull and profitlesse but you shall Mowe it close to the ground and although in generall it be the custome of our kingdome after your Barly is mowen and hath lyne a day or two in swathe then with rackes to racke it together and make it into great cockes and so to leade it to the Barne yet I am of this opinion that if your Barly be good and cleane without thistles or wéedes that if then to euery sitheman or Mower you alot two followers that is to say a gatherer who with a little short rake and a small hooke shall gather the Corne together and a binder who shall make bands and binde vp the Barly in smale Sheafes that questionlesse you shall finde much more profit thereby and although some thinke the labour troublesome and great yet for mine owne part I haue séene very great croppes inned in this manner and haue séene two women that with great ease haue followed and bound after a most principall Mower which made me vnderstand that the toyle was not so great as mine imagination and the profit ten-fold greater then the labour but if your Corne be ill Husbanded and full of thistles wéedes and all filthinesse then this practise is to be spared and the loose cocking vp of your Corne is much better Assoone as you haue cleansed any Land of Barly you shall then immediatly cause one with a great long rake of at least thirtie téeth being in a sling bound bauticke-wise crosse his body to draw it from one end of the Land to the other all ouer the Land that he may thereby gather vp all the loose Corne which is scattered and carry it where your other Corne standeth obseruing euer as your cheifest rule that by no meanes you neither leade Barly nor any other graine whatsoeuer when it is wet no although it be but moistned with the dew onely for the least dankishnesse more then the sweate which it naturally taketh will soone cause it to putrific Now for the gathering in of your Oates they be a graine of such incertaintie ripening euer according to the weather not after any setled or naturall course that you are to looke to no constant season but to take them vpon the first show of ripenesse and that with such diligence that you must rather take them before then after they be ripe because if they tarry but halfe a day too long they will shed vpon the ground you shal loose your whole profit The time then fittest to cut your Oates is assoone as they be somewhat more then halfe changed but not altogether changed that is when they are more then two parts white and yet the gréene not vtterly extinguished the best cutting of them is to mow them albeit I haue séene them shorne in some place being mowen to let them dry and ripen in the swathe as naturally they will doe and then if you bind them vp in Sheafes as you should binde your Barly it is best for to carry them in the loose cocke as many doe is great losse and hindrance of profit After you haue got in your white Corne you shall then looke vnto your Pulse as Beanes Pease Fitches and such like which you shall know to be ready by the blacknesse of the straw for it is a rule whensoeuer the straw turnes the Pulse is ripe If then it be cleane Beanes or Beanes and Pease mixt you shall mowe them and being cleane Beanes rake them into heapes and so make them vp into cockes but if they be mixt you shall with hookes fould the Beanes into the Pease and make little round reapes thereof which after they haue béene turned and dryed you may put twenty reapes together and thereof make a cocke and so lead them and stacke them but if they be cleane Pease or Pease and Fitches then you shall not mowe them but with long hookes cut them from the ground which is called Reaping and so foulding them together into small reapes as you did your Pease and Beanes let them be turned and dryed and so cocked and carried either to the Barne stacke or houell Now hauing thus brought in and finished your Haruest you shall then immediately mowe vp the stubble both of your Wheate Rye and Masline and with all expedition there-with thacke and couer from Raine and weather all such graine as for want of
and then taking a cleane broome that hath not formerly béene swept withall you shall brush all vncleanenesse from the grasse and then you shall behold your knot as compleat and as comely as if it had béene set with hearbes many yéeres before Now for the portrayture of any liuing thing you shall cut it forth ioyning sod vnto sod and then afterward place it into the earth Now if within this plot of ground which you make your garden piece there be either naturall or arteficiall mounts or bankes vpon them you may in this selfe-same manner with gréene sods set forth a flight either at field or riuer or the manner of hunting of any chase or any story or other deuise that you please to the infinit admiration of all them which shall behold it onely in working against mounts or bankes you must obserue to haue many small pinnes to stay your worke and kéepe your sods from slipping one from another till such time as you haue made euery thing fast with earth which you must rame very close and hard as for Flowers or such like adorments you may the morning before remoue them with their earth from some other garden and plant them at your best pleasure And thus much for a garden to be made in the time of hasty necessity CHAP. XIX How to preserue Abricots or any kinde of curious outlandish-stone-fruit and make them beare plentifully be the Spring or beginning of Summer neuer so bitter I Haue knowne diuers Noblemen Gentlemen men of vnder quallitie that haue béene most laborious how to preserue these tender stone-fruits from the violence of stormes frost and windes and to that end haue béene at great cost and charges yet many times haue found much losse in their labours wherefore in the end through the practise of many experiments this hath béene found which I will here set downe the most approuedst way to make them beare without all kinde of danger After you haue planted your Abricot or other delicate fruit and plasht him vp against a wall in manner as hath béene before declared you shall ouer the tops of the trées all along the wall build a large pentisse of at least sixe or seauen foote in length which pentisse ouer-shaddowing the trées will as experience hath found out so defend them that they will euer beare in as plentifull manner as they haue done any particular yéere before There be many that will scoffe or at least giue no credit to this experiment because it carrieth with it no more curiositie but I can assure thée that art the honest English Husbandman that there is nothing more certaine and vnfallible for I haue séene in one of the greatest Noblemens gardens in the kingdome where such a pentisse was made that so farre as the pentisse went so farre the trées did prosper with all fruitfulnesse and where the pentisse ended not one trée bare the spring-time being most bitter and wonderfull vnseasonable Now I haue séene some great Personages whose pursses may buy their pleasures at any rate which haue in those pentisses fixed diuers strong hookes of Iron and then made a canuasse of the best Poldauie with most strong loopes of small corde which being hung vpon the Iron hookes hath reacht from the pentisse to the ground and so laced with corde and small pulleys that like the saile of a ship it might be trust vp and let downe at pleasure this canuasse thus prepared is all the Spring and latter end of Winter to be let downe at the setting of the Sunne and to be drawne vp at the rising of the Sunne againe The practise of this I referre to such as haue abillitie to buy their delight without losse assuring them that all reason and experience doth finde it most probable to be most excellent yet to the pliane English Husbandman I giue certaine assurance that the pentisse onely is sufficient enough and will defend all stormes whatsoeuer And thus much for the preseruation and increase of all tender Stone-fruit of what nature or climbe bred soeuer CHAP. XX. How to make Grapes grow as bigge sull and as naturally and to ripen in as due season and be as long lasting as either in Fraunce or Spaine DIuers of our English Gardiners and those of the best and most approued'st iudgements haue béene very industrious to bring Grapes in our kingdome to their true nature and perfection and some great persons I know that with infinit cost and I hope prosperous successe hath planted a Uineyard of many Acres in which the hands of the best experienced â—rench-men hath béene imploied but for those great workes they are onely for great men and not for the plaine English Husbandman neither will such workes by any meanes prosper in many parts of our kingdome especially in the North parts and I that write for the generall vse must treate of vniuersall Maximes therefore if you desire to haue Grapes in their true and best kinde most earely and longest lasting you shall in the most conuenient part of your garden which is euer the center or middle point thereof build a round house in the fashion of a round Doue-coate but many degrées lower the ground worke whereof shal be aboue the ground two or thrée brickes thickenesse vpon this ground-plot you shall place a groundsell and thereon fine yet strong studs whiâ—h may reach to the roofe these studs shal be placed better then foure foote one from another with little square bars of woode such as you vse in glasse windowes two betwixt euery two studs the roofe you may make in what proportion you will for this house may serue for a delicate banqueting house and you may either couer it with Leade Slate or Tile which you please Now from the ground to the top betwéene the studs you shall glase it with very strong glasse made in an excéeding large square pane well leaded and cimented This house thus made you shall obserue that through the bricke worke there be made betwéene euery two studs square holes cleane through into the house then on the out-side opposite against those holes you shall plant the roote of your Uine hauing béene very carefull in the election and choise thereof which done as your Uine groweth you shall draw it through those holes and as you vse to plash a Uine against a wall so you shall plash this against the glasse window on the in-side and so soone as it shall beginne to beare Grapes you shall be sure to turne euery bunch so that it may lye close to the glasse that the reflection of the Sunne heating the glasse that heate may hasten on the ripening increase the groath of your Grapes as also the house defending off all manner of euill weather these Grapes will hang ripe vnrotted or withered euen till Christmas Thus haue I giuen you a tast of some of the first parts of English Husbandry which if I shall finde thankefully accepted if it please God to grant mée life