Barderates Industria Pollentia Carrea which also is named Polentia Foro Fuluij the same that Valentinum Augusta of the Vagienni Alba Pompei Asta and Aquae Statyellorum And this is the ninth Canton after the Geographie of Augustus This coast or tract of Liguria containeth betweene the riuers Varus and Macra 211 miles To it is adioined the 7 wherin is Hetruria from the riuer Macra and it oftentimes changed the name In old time the Pelasgians chased the Vmbrians from thence and by them the Lydians did the like of whose king named they were Tyrrheni but soon after of their ceremonies in sacrificing in the Greeks language Thusci The first towne of Hetruria is Luna famous for the hauen then the Colonie Luca lying from the sea and neerer vnto it is Pisae between the riuer Auser and Arnus which took the beginning from Pelops and the Pisians or Atintanians a Greeke nation Vada Volateranea the riuer Cecinna Populonium of the Tuscanes in times past scituate only vpon this coast After these the riuer Prille and anon after Vmbro nauigable and of it tooke name so forward the tract of Vmbria and the port towne Telamon Cossa Volscientium a Colonie planted there by the people of Rome Grauiscae Castrum Novum Pyrgi the riuer Caeretanus and Caere it self standing foure miles within called Agylla by the Pelasgians who built it Alsium and Frugenae The riuer Tiberis distant from Macra 284 miles Within-forth are these Colonies Falisca descended from Argi as Cato saith and for distinction is called Hetruscorum Lucus Feroniae Russellana Senensis and Sutrina As for the rest these they be Aretini the old Aretini Fidentes Aretini Iulienses Amitinenses Aquenses surnamed Taurini Vlerani Cortonenses Capenates Clusines the old Clusines the new Fluentini fast vpon the riuer Arnus that runs before them Fesulae Ferentinum Fescennia Hortanum Herbanum Nepet Nouempagi i. the nine villages the Shire-wiek called Prefecture Claudia or Foro Clodij Pistorucin Perusia Suanenses Saturnini who beforetime were called Aurinini Sudertani Statones Tarquinienses Tuscanienses Vetulonienses Veientani Vesentini Volaterrani surnamed Hetrusci and Volsinienses In the same part lie the territories Crustuminus and Caeletranus bearing the names of the old townes Tiberis beforenamed Tybris and before that Albula from the middest well neere of Apennine as it lies in length runs along the marches of the Aretines small and shallow at the first and not able to beare a vessell without being gathered together as it were by fish-pooles into a head and so let goe at sluces as Tinia and Glanis which run into him the which are at the same passe and require 9 daies for collection of waters and so are kept in for running out in case they haue no helpe of rain at al. But Tiberis by reason of the rough stony and rugged channell for all that deuise hold on no long course together but only for troughes to speake more truly than boats thus it doth for a hundred and fifty miles not far from Tifernum Perusia and Otriculum diuiding as it passeth Hetruria from the Vmbrians and Sabines and so forth vntill anon within thirteen miles of the citie Rome it parts the Veientian countrey from the Crustumine and soone after the Fidenate and Latine territories from the Labicane But besides Tinia and Glanis he is augmented with two and forty riuers and especially with Nar and Anio which riuer being also it selfe nauigable encloses Latium behind and neuerthelesse so many waters and fountaines are brought thereby into the citie whereby it is able to receiue any ships be they neuer so great from the Italian sea and is the kindest marchant to conueigh all commodities growing and arising in any place of the whole world it is the onely riuer of all others to speake of and more villages stand vpon it and see it than al other riuers in what land soeuer No riuer hath lesse liberty than it as hauing the sides therof enclosed on both hands yet he is no quarreller nor much harm doth he albeit he hath many and those suddain swellings and in no place more than in the very citie of Rome do his waters ouerflow yet is he taken to be a prophet rather and a Counsellor to giue warning yea and in smelling more religious and breeding scruple to speake a truth than otherwise cruell and doing any great harme Old Latium from Tiberis to Circeios was obserued to be in length 50 miles So small roots at the first took this Empire The inhabitants thereof changed often and held it some one time some another to wit the Aborigenes Pelasgi Arcadians Sicilians Auruncanes and Rutilians And beyond Circeios the Volscians Ossians Ausonians from whence the name of Latium did reach soone after as farre as to the riuer Liris In the beginning of it stands Ostia a Colonie brought thither and planted by a Roman king the towne Laurentum the groue of Iupiter Indiges The riuer Numicius and Ardea built by Danae the mother of Perseus Then the Colonie Antium sometimes Aphrodisium Astura the riuer and the Island The riuer Nymphaeus Clastra Romana Circeij in times past an Island yea and that verily enuironed with a mighty sea if we beleeue Homer but now with a plain A wonder it is what we are able to deliuer concerning this thing to the knowledge of men Theophrastas who of strangers was the first that writ any thing diligently somewhat of the Romans for Theopompus before whom no man made mention at all said only That the citie was woon by the Gaules and Clitarchus next after him spake of nothing else but an embassage sent vnto Alexander this Theophrastus I say vpon a better ground and more certaintie now than bare hearesay hath set downe the measure of the Island Circeij to be eightie Stadia in that booke which he wrot to Nicodorus the chiefe Magistrate of the Athenians who liued in the 460 yeere after the foundation of Rome citie Whatsoeuer land therefore aboue tenne miles compasse lies neere about it hath beene annexed to the Island But after that a yeere another strange and wonderfull thing fell out in Italy for not far from Circeij there is a meere called Pomptina which Mutianus a man who had beene thrice Consull reporteth to haue been a place wherein stood 23 cities Then there is the riuer Vfens vpon which standeth the towne Tarracina called in the Volscian tongue Anxur where sometime was the citie Amycle destroied by serpents After it is there the place of a caue or peak the lake Fundanus the hauen Cajeta The town Formiae named also Hormiae the ancient seat as men thought of the Laestrigones Beyond it was the towne Pyrae the Colonie Minturne diuided asunder by the riuer Liris called Clanius The vtmost frontier towne in this part of Latium laid to the other is Sinuessa which as some haue said was wont to be called Sinope Thence comes to shew it selfe that pleasant and plentifull countrey Campania From this vale begin the hills full of
Spythamaei are reported to be called they are so for that they are but a cubit or three shaftments or spannes high that is to say three times nine inches The clime wherein they dwel is very wholsome the aire healthy and euer like to the temperature of the Spring by reason that the mountains are on the North side of them beare off all cold blasts And these prety people Homer also hath reported to be much troubled anoied by cranes The speech goeth that in the Spring time they set out all of them in battell aray mounted vpon the backe of rammes and goats armed with bowes and arrowes and so downe to the sea side they march where they make foule worke among the egges yong cranelings newly hatched which they destroy without all pitty Thus for three months this their journy and expedition continueth and then they make an end of their valiant seruice for otherwise if they should continue any longer they were neuer able to withstand the new flights of this foule grown to some strength and bignesse As for their houses and cottages made they are of clay or mud fouls feathers and birds egge shels Howbeit Aristotle writes That these Pygmaeans liue in hollow caues holes vnder the ground For all other matters he reports the same that all the rest Isogonus saith that certain Indians named Cyrni liue a hundred and fortie yeares The like he thinketh of the Aethyopian Macrobij and the Seres as also of them that dwell on the mount A thos and of these last rehearsed the reason verily is rendred to be thus because they feed of vipers flesh therefore is it that neither lice breed in their heads nor other vermine in their cloths for to hurt annoy their bodies Onesicritus affirmeth That in those parts of India where there are no shadowes to be seene the men are fiue cubits of stature and two hand breadths ouer that they liue 130 yeares and neuerage for all that and seem old but die then as if they were in their middle and settled age Crates of Pergamus nameth those Indians who liue aboue an hundred yeare Gymnetes but others there be and those not a few that call them Macrobij Ctesias saith there is a race or kinred of the Indians named Pandore inhabiting certaine vallies who liue two hundred years in their youthfull time the haire of their head is white but as they grow to age waxeth black Contrariwise others there be neer neighbours to the Macrobij who exceed not fortie years and their women beare but once in their life time And this also is auouched by Agatharcides who affirmeth moreouer that all their feeding is vpon locusts and that they are very quicke and swift of foot Clitarchus and Megasthenes both name them Mandri and thinke they haue 300 villages in their countrey Moreouer that the women bring forth children at seuen yeares of age and wax old at forty Artemidorus affirmes that in the Island Taprobana the people liue exceeding long without any malady or infirmitie of the body Duris maketh report That certaine Indians ingender with beasts of which generation are bred certaine monstrous mungrels halfe beasts and halfe men Also that the Calingian women of India conceiue with childe at fiue yeares of age and liue not aboue eight In another tract of that countrey there be certaine men with long shagged tailes most swift and light of foot and some againe that with their eares couer their whole body The Orites are neighbours to the Indians diuided onely from them by the riuer Arbis who are acquainted with no other meate but fish which they split and slice into pieces with their nailes and rost them against the Sun and then make bread thereof as Clitarchus reporteth Crates of Pergamus saith likewise that the Troglodites aboue Ethyopia be swifter than horses and that some Aethiopians are aboue eight cubites high and these are a kinde of Ethiopian Nomades called Syrbotae as he saith dwelling along the riuer Astapus toward the North pole As for the nation called Menismini they dwel from the Ocean sea twenty dayes iourney who liue of the milke of certain beasts that we cal Cynocephales hauing heads and snouts like dogs And whole heards and flocks of the females they keepe and feed killing the male of them all saue onely to serue for maintenance of the breed In the desarts of Africke ye shall meet oftentimes with Fairies appearing in the shape of men and women but they vanish soone away like fantasticall delusions See how Nature is disposed for the nones to deuise full wittily in this and such like pastimes to play with mankinde thereby not only to make her self merry but to set vs a wondring at such strange miracles And I assure you thus dayly and hourely in a manner playeth she her part that to recount euery one of her sports by themselues no man is able with all his wit and memory Let it suffice therfore to testifie and declare her power that we haue set downe those prodigious and strange workes of hers shewed in whole nations and then go forward to discourse of some particulars approued and knowne in man CHAP. III. ¶ Of prodigious and monstrous births THat women may bring forth three at one birth appeares euidently by the example of the three twins Horatij and Curiatij But to go aboue that number is reputed and commonly spoken to be monstrous and to portend some mishap but only in Egypt where women are more than ordinary fruitfull by drinking of Nilus water which is supposed to help generation Of late yeres and no longer since than in the later end of the reigne of Aug. Caesar at Ostia there was a woman a Commoners wife deliuered at one birth of two boies as many girles but this was a most prodigious token and portended no doubt the famine that ensued soone after In Peloponnesus there is sound one woman that brought forth at foure births 20 Children and the greater part of them all did well and liued Tregus saith that in Egypt it is an ordinarie thing for a woman to haue seuen at a birth It falleth out moreouer that there come into the world children of both sexes whom wee call Hermophrodites In old time they were knowne by the name of Androgyni and reputed then for prodigious wonders how soeuer now men take delight and pleasure in them Pompey the great in his Theatre which hee adorned and beautified with singular ornaments and rare deuices of antique worke as wel for the admirable subiect and argument thereof as the most curious and exquisit hand of cunning and skilfull artificers among other images and pourtracts there set vp represented one Eutiche a Woman of Tralleis who after she had in her life time borne thirty births her corps was caried out by twenty of her children to the funerall fire to be burnt according to the maner of that countrey As for Alcippe she was deliuered of an Elephant
was P. Seruilius Rullus father of that Rullus who in the time that Cicero was Consull published the law Agraria as touching the diuision of lands See how little while ago it is since these superfluities began which now are taken vp so ordinarily euerie day And yet the thing was noted and recorded in the Annals as strange and rare no doubt for this intent To represse these inordinate enormities One supper then or feast was taxed and reprooued therein at the beginning but now two and three bores at a time are serued vp whole and eaten together CHAP. LII ¶ Of Parks for wild beasts THe first man of the long robe that deuised parks as well for these bores as for other deere and sauage beasts was Fulvius Lippinus who in the territorie of Tarquinij began to keepe and feed wild beasts for his game And long it was not but others followed his steps to wit L. Lucullus and Q. Hortensius Sowes of the wild kind bring forth pigs but once a yere and the bores in briming time are exceeding fierce and fel then they fight one with another they harden their sides rubbing them against the bodies of trees and all to wallow themselues in the mire coating their backs with dirt But they are not so raging then but the sowes in their farrowing are much worse and lightly it is so in all other kind of beasts Wild bores are not fit for generation before they be a yeare old The wild bores of India haue two bowing fangs or tusks of a cubit length growing out of their mouth and as many out of their foreheads like to calues horns The bristly haire of the wild sort is like to brasse but of other black In Arabia swine will not liue CHAP. LIII ¶ Of Beasts halfe savage THere is no creature ingenders so soon with wild of the kind as doth swine verily such hogs in old time they called Hybrides as a man would say halfe wild insomuch as this terme by a translation hath bin attributed to mankind For so was C. Antonius collegue with Cicero in the Consulship nicknamed And not in swine onely but also in all other liuing creatures looke where there be any tame and domestical you may find also wild and sauage of the same kind seeing that euen of wild men there be also many sorts in diuers places as wee haue before said As for the goats kind how many how sundry resemblances are to be found in them of other beasts for among them you shall haue the roe bucke the shamois the wilde goat called the Eveck wonderfull swift albeit his head be loden with huge hornes like sword scabberds by these they hang and poise themselues from rockes namely when they minde to leap from one to another for by swinging to and fro they skip and jump the more nimbly and fetch a jerk out to what place they list as it were forth of an engin Of this kind be the Origes the only beasts as some thinke of all others that are said to haue their haire growing contrariwise and turning toward the head To these belong the Does and a kinde of fallow Deere called Pygargi as also those that are named Strepsicerotes and many other not far vnlike As for the former sort they come out of the Alps. These last rehearsed are sent from other parts beyond-sea CHAP. LIV. ¶ Of Apes and Monkies ALl the kinde of these Apes approch neerest of all beasts to the resemblance of a mans shape but they differ one from another in the taile Maruellous crafty and subtill they be to beguile themselues for by report as they see hunters doe before them they will imitate them in euery point euen to besmeare themselues with glew birdlime shoo their feet within grins and snares and by that means are caught Mutianus saith that he hath seene Apes play at chesse and table and that at first sight they could know nuts made of waxe from others He affirmes also that when the moon is in the wain the monkies Marmosets which in this kinde haue tailes are sad and heauy but the new moone they adore and ioy at which they testifie by hopping and dancing As for the eclipse of Sun or Moone all other foure footed beasts also do greatly dread and feare The she Apes of all sorts are wondrous fond of their little ones and such as are made tame within house will carry them in their armes all about so soone as they haue brought them into the world keepe a shewing of them to euery bodie and they take pleasure to haue them dandled by others as if thereby they tooke knowledge that folke ioyed for their safe deliuerance but such a culling and hugging of them they keep that in the end with very clasping and clipping they kill them many times Apes that be headed and long snouted like dogs and thereof called Cynocephali are of all other most curst shrewd and vnhappy like as the Marmozets and Monkies called Sphinges Satyri are gentlest and most familiar as for those called Callitriches they be clean of another form shape all ouer in a maner they haue a beard on their visage the forepart of their taile spredeth broad But this creature is said to liue in no other climat but Aethiopia where it breedeth CHAP. LV. ¶ Of Hares and Connies OF Hares also there be many sorts vpon the Alps such high mountains they be whiââ¦e of colour so long as the snow lieth and it is verily thought that all Winter long they liue with eating of snow for surely when it is thawed and melted all the yere after they be brown and reddish as before and a creature it is otherwise bred in extreme and intolerable cold Of the Hares kind are they also which in Spain they call Connies which are exceeding fruitfull and of wonderfull increase insomuch as hauing deuoured all the corn in the field before haruest in the Baleare Islands they brought thereby a famine vpon the people There is a most daintie dish serued vp at the table made of Leuerets or rabbets either cut out of the dams bellies or taken from them when they are suckers without clensing them at all of the garbage and such the Latines call Laurices It is know for certain that the Islanders of Majorca Minorca made means to the Emperor Augustus Caesar for a power of soldiers to destroy the infinit increase of Connies among them Ferrets are in great account for chasing and hunting these Connies the manner is to put them into their earths which within the ground haue many waies and holes like mines and thereupon these creatures are called Cuniculi and when they are within they so course the poore Connies out of their earth that they are soon taken aboue ground at the mouth of their holes Archelaus writes that looke how many receptacles waies of passage the Hare hath for his dung and excrements so many yeares old he is iust And verily some
from the red wheat Far it ought to be sowne very thicke with Vetches otherwhiles mingled among In Africke the same mixture is made of Barley All these are good onely for prouender and beasts forage as also a bastard kind of Vetches called Cracca which pigeons loue so well that if they be fed once therewith they will neuer leaue the place where they tasted it nor flie far from thence In time past our ancestors had a kind of fodder or prouender which Cate called Ocymum wherewith they vsed to stay the gurrie in kine and oxen This forrage was made of beane stalks cut downe greene as it stood before it was iointed and codded But Sura Manlius taketh this dredge to be another thing saying that in old time they vsed to put vnto ten Modij of beanes two of Vetches and as many of Eruile and so were wont to blend al together and sow them in an acre of ground at the fall of the leafe and saith he it would be the better balimong if there were some Greek Otes mingled withall such as neuer shed the seed out of the haw this manner of dredge was called vsually Ocymum and was woont to be sowne for a kind of forrage to serue kine and Oxen. Varro saith that it tooke that name because it commeth vp so speedily as being deriued from the Greeke word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifieth Quicke or Swift As for the grasse or herbe Medica a kind of Clauer or Trefoile the Greekes held it in old time for a meere stranger as being brought into Greece from Media during the Persian warres which king Darius leuied against Greece howbeit an excellent Simple it is and worthie to be written of in the first place And to begin withal this singular property it hath That with once sowing it continueth aboue thirty yeares without any need of renewing Like it is to Clauer or three leaued grasse both in lease and stalke but that the stemme is parted by knots and ioints Moreouer as it riseth higher and runneth vp in the stalke the leaues grow narrower of this herb alone and of Cytisus Amphilochus compiled one whole book howbeit he wrote of them both confusedly The ground wherein it is to be sowed after it is well rid of stones and clensed must be broken vp and well tilled in the fall of the leafe Soone after it needeth to haue another fallow and be harrowed withall and then couered with hardles this would be done two or three times fiue daies between and therewith it ought to be throughly dunged This herb requireth a sound dry ground and yet such as is full of succulent moisture within or else where water is neere at hand to command The ground being thus prepared ought to be sowed in the moneth of May following for otherwise the frost would take it and marre all Moreouer requisite it is that it be sowed very thick so as euery place be taken vp therewith thereby to exclude all other weeds and giue them no roome there to grow To this effect therefore euery acre will take 20 Modij or pecks of seed But take heed withall that it be not burnt so soon as it is put into the ground therfore immediatly it must be couered with mould If the soile be moist and giuen to bear other grasse the seed is soon ouergrown and choked and then al wil run to grasse turn to be a medow which grasse or coich when you see begin to ouerrun the ground it must be all weeded out presently an inch deepe within the ground and by hand rather than any weeding-hooke or thistle spade Now when this hearbe Medica or Clauer grasse begins once to floure cut it down and so oftenas it floureth againe downe with it Thus you may haue six mathes in one yere or four at the least You must neuer let it spindle and beare seed for better is it to take it thus in the growth while it is but young and greene grasse for three yeares together and the forrage or fodder is most profitable Sowne I say it must be in the Spring and weeded for the first three yeares The green sourd afterwards ought to be pared away with hookes and spades close to the ground for by this meanes you shall be sure that all other weeds will die and this hearbe take no harme by it for that by this time it is deepely rooted If the weeds do get head and ouercome it the onely remedie is by the plough to turne vp the ground ouer and ouer so many times vntill all other roots be killed Moreouer heed must be taken that of this herbage or fodder beasts do not eat their fil for feare you be driuen of necessitie to let them bloud and take downe their rankenesse The greener that it is the more profit commeth thereof for it drieth branch after branch vntil at length it will crumble like dust or powder and then is it good for nothing As touching Cytisus i. the Shrub Trifolie which is a singular kind of pasturage passes al the rest I haue written at ful in my discourse of shrubs For now at this present I am to prosecure and goe through the treatise of other sorts of corne and their nature if I had once written somewhat in one part thereof as touching the accidents and imperfections that happen among them CHAP. XVII ¶ The faults incident to corne and their remedies Also what corne is respectiue to this or that soile for to be sowne therein THe first and principall defect obserued in bread-corne and Wheat especially is when it doth degenerate and turne into Otes and not only it but Barley also doth the like Semblably Otes otherwhiles serue the turne in stead of bread corne as wee may see in some countries of Almaine where they do vsually sow it and commonly they haue no other pottage there than Oatmeale gruell which they call Abremouz The foresaid defect and imperfection is occasioned chiefely by the moist soile or ouerwet weather Another cause there followeth also thereupon proceeding from the feeblenesse and weaknesse of the seed namely when it lieth long sobbing in the ground before it come vp and hereto may be referred the faultines of the seed otherwise namely if it were worm-eaten or otherwise rotten at the time of sowing and verily no sooner appeareth it aboue ground but the foresaid change or bastardie may be seene whereby it doth appeare that the cause is in the root A second defect or imperfection there is also incident to corn which hath some neer resemblance to the Otes aforesaid namely when the graine being formed and newly come to the iust proportion of bignesse howbeit not yet full and ripe before that it is firm and hard is smitten with a noisome blast and so like an abortiue fruit decaieth and windereth away within the eare in such sort as there is no substance left therein but appeareth void and emptie Now these aduerse and malignant
night are sufficient to refresh and nourish the corne Virgil is of opinion That fallowes would be made euery yeare and that our corn field should rest betweene whiles and beare but each other yere And surely I doe find this rule of his most true and doubtlesse right profitable in case a man haue land enough for to let his grounds play them and rest euery second yere But how if a man is streighted that way and hath no such reach and circuit lying to his liuing Let him help himselfe this way let him I say sow his good red wheat Far against the next yere vpon that ground from whence he gathered this yeare a crop of Lupines Vetches or Beans or some such grain as doth inrich and muck the ground For this also is principally to be noted that some corne is sowne for no other purpose but by the way as it were to aduance and help others to fructifie howbeit small fruit and increase to speak of ariseth thereby as I haue obserued once for all in the booke immediatly going before because I would not willingly reiterate and inculcate one thing often For herein regard especially ought to be had vnto the nature and property of euery soile CHAP. XXII ¶ Of certaine countries exceeding fertile and fruitfull Of a vine bearing grapes twise in one yeare Of the difference and diuersitie obserued in waters THere is in Africke or Barbary a city called Tacape scituate in the midst of the sands as men go to the Syrts and Leptis the great the territory lying about which city by reason that it is so well watered is maruellous fruitfull and indeed passeth a wonder and is incredible Within this tract there is a fountain which serueth abundantly for three miles well neer euery way the head therof verily is large enough otherwise howbeit the inhabitants about it are serued with water from thence by turns and dispensed it is among them at certain set hours and not otherwise There standeth there a mighty great date-tree hauing vnder it growing an oliue vnder which there is a fig-tree and that ouerspreadeth a Pomegranat tree vnder the shade whereof there is a Vine and vnder the compasse thereof first they sow Frument or eared corne after that Pulse and then worts and herbs for the pot all in one and the same yere Euery one of these rehearsed liue joy and thriue vnder the shade of others Euery foure cubits square of this soile taking the measure of a cubit from the elbow not to the fingers ends stretched out in length but clasped together into the fist is sold for 4 deniers Roman but this one surpasseth all the rest The vines in the said territory beare twice a yeare and yeeld their grapes ripe for a double Vintage So exceeding fruitfull is the soile that vnlesse the ranknesse thereof were abated and taken downe by bearing sundry fruits one vnder and after another so that it were imploied to one thing alone the inhabitants should neuer haue any good thereof for by reason of the ouer-ranknesse each seuerall fruit would perish and come to nought but now by meanes of plying and following it still with seed a man shall gather one fruit or other ripe all the yeare long And for certaine it is knowne that men cannot ouercharge the ground no nor feed the fertilitie of it sufficiently Moreouer all kinds of water are not of like nature nor of equall goodnesse for to drench and refresh the ground In the prouince of Narbon now Languedoc there is a famous wel or fountain named Orge within the very head wherof there grow certaine herbes so much desired and sought for by kine and oxen that to seeke and get a mouthfull of them they will thrust in their whole heads ouer their eares vntill they meet therewith but howsoeuer these herbs seeme to spring grow within the water certain it is that nourished they are not but by rain from aboue And therefore to conclude knit vp all in one word Let euery man be wel acquainted with the nature both of his own land which he hath and also of the water wherewith he is serued CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of the diuers qualities of the soile Also the manner of dunging or manuring grounds IF you meet with a ground of your owne which we called heretofore by the name of Tenera the floure indeed and principall of all others after you haue taken off a crop of Barley you may very wel sow Millet thereupon and when that is inned and laid vp in the barne proceed to Raddish Last of all after they be drawne there may be barly or common wheat sowed in the place like as they do in Campaine for surely such a piece of ground needs no other tillage but often sowing Another order there is besides this in sowing of such soile namely that where there grew the red wheat Adoreum or Far there the ground should rest all the four winter moneths and in the Spring be sowed again with Beans so that it alwaies be imploied and kept occupied vntill Winter without any intermission And say that the ground be not altogether so fat yet it may be ordered so that it be euer bearing by turns in this sort that after the Frumenty or Spike corne be taken off there be pulse sowne three times one after another But in case the ground be ouer poore and lean it must be suffered to rest and take repose two yeares in three Moreouer many husbandmen do hold that it is not good to sow white corne or Frument vpon any land but such as lay fallow and rested the yeare before Howeuer it be the principall thing in this part of Agriculture consisteth in dunging wherof I haue written already in the former book next to this This one point only is resolued vpon by all men that none of our grounds ought to be sowed vnlesse they be manured and mucked before And yet herein must we be directed by certain rules peculiar and proper thereunto as follow Millet Panick Rapes Turneps or Navews ought neuer to be sowed but in a ground that is dunged If there be no compost laid vpon a ground sow vpon it Frument or bread-corne rather than Barley Likewise in grounds that rest and lie fallow euery other yere albeit in all mens opinion they are thought good for to beare Beans yet notwithstanding beans loue better wheresoeuer they come to be sowed in a ground but newly mucked He that mindeth to sow at the fal of the leafe must in the month of September before spread his dung turn it in with the plough and so incorporat it with the soile presently after a shower of rain euen so also if a man purpose to sow in the spring let him in the winter time dispose of his mucke vpon the lands and spread it The ordinary proportion is to lay 18 tumbrels or loads therof vpon euery acre Throwne abroad it must be also before it be dried and ere you sow or els
may easily take them with his hand yea and if one stay a little he shall see them fall asleep therewith Finally there is another kind of sauage or wild Garlick called Vrsinum i. Beare Garlicke the head whereof is very small the blade or leaues great and large and the sauor or sent mild and gentle in comparison of the rest CHAP. VII ¶ In how many daies euery herbe that is sowed will come vp and appeare aboue ground The nature of seedes The manner of sowing any of them Which they be whereof there is but one single kind and which haue many sorts AMong all the herbes sowne in a garden these come vp soonest to wit Basill Beets Navews or Turneps and Rocket for by the third day the seed will breake and spurt Dill seed will chit within foure daies Lectuce in fiue Radish in sixe Cucumbers and gourds in a seuen-night but the Cucumber first Cresses and Mustard seed in fiue daies Beets in six by Summer time and by winter in ten Orach in eight daies Onions in 19 or 20 at the farthest Chibols in ten or twelue at the most Coriander seed is more stubborne and will not shew so soone Sauerie and Origan seed lieth thirty daies ere it come but of all others Parsley seed is latest ere it spring for when it commeth vp soonest it is forty daies first but for the most part it lieth fifty daies before it appeare Something there is also in the age of the seed for the newer that the seed is either of Leeks or Chibols Cucumbers gourds the more hast it maketh to be aboue ground contrariwise Parsely Beets garden Cresses Sauery Origan and Coriander grow sooner of old seed But the Beet seed hath a strange and wonderful quality aboue the rest for it wil not come vp all in one and the same yeare But some in the first others in the second and the rest in the third And therfore sow as much seed as you will yet shall you haue it grow but indifferently There be herbs which wil grow and beare but one yere and no more and there be other again which will continue many yeares together as for example Parsely Porret Chibbols For sow these but once in a garden they will beare from yere to yere from the same root or els sow themselues The most part of herbs do beare round seed in some the seeds are long in few broad and flat in manner of a leafe as in Orach You shall haue seed also narrow chamfered like a gutter tile as that of Cumin Moreouer there is a difference in colour for some seeds be white others black in hardnesse also and softnesse for some be harder or softer than others Some seeds at euery branch of the plant are contained within cods or bladders as we may see in Raddish Senuie and Turneps or Rapes The seeds of Parsely Coriander Dill Fenell Cumen grow naked bare But that of the Bleet the Beet Orach and Basil is inclosed in a huske or hull Lectuce seed lieth within a downe As touching Basill aforesaid nothing fructifieth more than it to the end that it may come vp in more plenty abundance they say it should be sowed with maledictions and ill words for the more that it is cursed the better it wil speed and prosper yea and when it is sowed the mould of the bed must be parted and rammed down in manner of a pauement And more particularly they that sow Cumin pray to God that it may neuer come vp Such seeds as lie within an husk hardly come to be dry and ripe therin but Basil seed especially and Gith or Nigella Romana But they must be all throughly dried before they be seedow and fruitfull This is generall in all herbs throughout that they wil thriue and grow the better if their seede bee sowed by heapes one vpon another than scattering And certainly both Leeks seed is sown Garlick cloues set in that wise namely bound vp tied together in some clouts or ragges wherein they be lapped As for Parsely seed against it should be sown there would be an hole made with a little wooden dibil or pin therin it must be put with some dung after it Furthermore all garden herbs come vp either of seed and cloues set or els of slips pulsed from the mother-plant Some grow of seeds and sprigs both as Rue Origan Basil for euen this herb also last named will abide cutting when it is come to be one handbreadth or a span high and those cuttings will grow if they be planted There be that are maintained by root and seed both as Onions garlick and those which haue bulbous roots likewise all such as when they haue born yerely leaue a root behind them stil in strength vertue Of such as grow of roots replanted their roots continue long branch much as we may see in the bulbs in Chibbols sea onions Others put out branches sufficient but not from the head or root as Parsely and Beets All herbs for the most part do spring shute again if their stalke be cut off vnlesse it be those that haue a smooth stem And this is most seen in Basil Raddish Lectuce the stems wherof are cut for many purposes And as for Lectuce men hold that the later spring thereof when the first is gon is the sweeter Certainly Raddishes eat the more pleasantly if their leaues be cropt off before the master stem or spire be growne big And this also we obserue in Rapes or Turneps for if you strip them also from their leaues couer them ouer head with earth yet will they grow all winter and continue till Summer following Touching Basill Sorrel red Porret or Bleets garden Cresses Rocket Orach Coriander they are all of one sort singular in their kind for sow them where you wil they be the same stil neither are they better in one place than in another It is a common receiued opinion that Rue wil grow the better if it be filched out of another mans garden and it is as ordinary a saying that stollen Bees wil thriue worst Some hearbes there be which come without sowing or setting as wild Mint Nep Endiue and Peniroial But howsoeuer there be but one single kind of those before rehearsed yet on the contrary side there be many sorts of others which wee haue already spoken of and will write more hereafter and principally of Ach or Parsely CHAP. VIII ¶ Of Garden herbes which serue for to season our meats their diuers natures their sundry kinds and seuer all histories related to the number of 36. FOr that kind of Ach which groweth of it selfe in moist grounds with one leafe and is not rough but smooth and plaine is called in Greeke Heleoselinon i. Smallach Again there is another sort with more leaues resembling Smallach aforesaid but that it commeth vp in drie places and this the Greeks named Hipposelinon i. Alisanders A third there
so defended against the frost and cold weather also during the spring insuing to be opened at the root sarcled and well weeded In the third yeare by his rule they ought to be burned in the spring time and the sooner that the ground is thus burned the better wil they come vp again and in greater plenty which is the cause that they like and prosper best in plots set with Canes and Reeds for such desire to be burnt betimes in the yere Moreouer he giueth another precept that they must not be sarcled nor haue the earth opened laid hollow about them before their buds or tops be aboue ground to be seen for feare least in the sarcling the roots take harm thereby either by rasing or shaking them vntill they be loose From which time forward if a man would gather any of the said buds or yong springs for salad or other vse they ought to be plucked and slipped from the root for otherwise if they be broken and knapt off in the mids the root wil presently put forth many vnprofitable sprouts which wil suck away all the heart and kill it in the end Sliue and pluck it you may in manner aforesaid vntil it spindle and run to seed which commonly beginneth to be ripe in the Spring then it must be set on fire as is before said and then once again so soon as new buds and tendrons appeare aboue ground from the root they must be sarcled bared and dunged afresh Now after it hath grown in this manner nine yeres so as by this time it is waxen old the roots must be taken vp and then replanted again in a piece of ground well digged and as throughly dunged Then I say ought the smal roots called Spongiae in Latine to be set again a foot distant one from another Furthermore Cato ordaineth expressely by name That sheeps dung should be vsed for that purpose because any other would breed store of weeds And verily there was neuer knowne any other thing practised or assaied afterwards to more gain and benefit about this Garden-herb vnlesse it were this That about the Ides or mids of February some haue let the seeds of Sperage lie well soked in dung and then sowed the same by heaps in little trenches or holes made for the purpose after which when the roots are wouen and knit one within another into a knot the spurns shooting from them they plant after the Aequinox in Autumne following a foot asunder by which means they wil continue bearing plenteously for ten yeres together For to breed and maintaine these garden Sperages there is no better soile than the gardens of Rauenna from whence we haue the fairest of all other As for the herb named in Latine Corruda I haue written heretofore of it and I vnderstand thereby the wild Sperage which the Greekes call Orminum and Myacanthon howbeit there be who giue it other names Finally I reade of certaine Sperages which will engender and grow of Rams hornes beaten or stamped and then put into the ground A man would thinke that I had discoursed already of all such Garden herbes as were of any price and regard but that there remaineth one thing yet behind whereof the greatest gaine of all other is raised and yet me thinks I cannot write thereof but be abashed to range it amongst the good herbs of the garden and that forsooth is our Thistle howbeit this is certaine to the shame be it spoken of our wanton and wasting gluttons that the Thistles about Carthage the great Corduba especially cost vs ordinarily six thousand thousand Sesterces to speak within compasse See how vaine and prodigal we be to bring into our kitchin and serue vp at our table the monstruosities of other nations and cannot forbeare so much as these Thistles which the very asses and other fourfooted beasts haue wit enough to auoid refuse for pricking their lips and muzzles Well since they be grown into so great request I must not ouer-passe the gardinage to them belonging and namely how they be ordered two maner of waies to wit replanted of yong sets or roots in Autumn and sowed of seed before the nones of March. As for the plants beforesaid they ought to be slipped from it and set before the Ides or mids of Nouember in any hand orels if the ground be cold we must stay vntil February and then be doing with them about the rising of the Western wind Fauonius Manured ywis it ought to be dunged I would not els so faire and goodly an herbe it is and so forsooth and it please you they prosper the better and come on trimly They are condite also and preserued in vineger or else all were mard in delicate liââ¦e honey seasoned also and bespiced I may say to you with the costly root of the plant Laser-woort yea and with Cumin because wee would not be a day without Thistles but haue them as an ordinary dish all the yeare long As for the rest of Garden-herbs behind they need no long discourse but a light running ouer them may serue well enough First and foremost men say That the best sowing of Basil is at the feast Palilia but some are of mind that Autumne is as good and they that would haue it done in winter giue order to infuse and soke the seed first in vineger Rocket also and garden Cresses are not dainty to grow but be it winter or Summer they will soon come vp prosper at al times But Rocket of the twain stands more at defiance with winter and scorns al his frowning looks and cold weather as being of a contrary nature to Lecture for it stirreth vp fleshly lust and therfore commonly it is ioined with Lecture in sallads both are eaten together that the exceeding heat of the one mixt with the extreme coldnes of the other might make a good mariage and temperature Cresses tooke the name in Latine Nasturtium a narium tormento as a man would say Nose-wring because it will make one writh and shrink vp his nosthrils which is the reason that the word is grown into a prouerb when we would signifie a thing which will put life into one that is dull and vnlusty In Arabia the Cresses by report proue to a wonderful bignesse Rue also is sowed vsually in February when the Western wind Fauonius bloweth and soon after the Aequinox in Autumne It cannot away with winter for it brooketh not cold or rain nor moist ground neither will it abide muck it liketh well to grow in dry places and such as lie faire vpon the Sun-shine but a clay ground which is good for bricke and tile that is alone for it and best of all other it delighteth in ashes and therewith is it fed and nourished insomuch as they vse to blend ashes the seed together for to keep away the canker worm and such like Certes we find that in old time Rue was in some great account and
in the Sea-onion Squilla first sheweth the stalk and then afterwards the floure breaketh out of it The same Squilla floureth thrice in the yeare as I haue said heretofore shewing thereby the three seasons of seednes In the range of these bulbous and onion-rooted plants some place the root of Cyperus that is to say of Gladiolus i. Petie-gladen Flags or Sword-wort this is a sweet root and being sodden or baked with bread it giueth it a more pleasant tast besides it mendeth the weight of bread wel if it be wrought kneaded with it in dough Not vnlike to it is that herbe which they call Thesion but that the root is harsh and vnpleasant Al others of the same kind differ in leafe the Asphodell hath long and narrow leaues Squilla is broad leafed and may be handled without offence wheras the Gladen leafe is like a sword blade indeed and keen-edged according to the name both in Greek and Latine The Asphodell seed is good to be eaten if it be parched or fried so is the bulbous root of it also but this should be rosted vnder the embers then eaten with salt and oile Ouer and besides if it be stamped with figs it is an excellent dish and this indeed according to Hesiodus is the only way to dresse it Moreouer it is said that Asphodels planted before the gates of any ferme house in the countrey preserue the place from all charms and sorceries Homer also the Poet hath made mention of the Asphodell The root resembleth Navews of a mean bignesse and there is not another root with more heads for oftentimes a man shal see 80 bulbs clustred in a bunch together Theophrastus and all Greeke writers almost and namely Pythagoras the chiefe prince of Philosophers describe this plant to haue a stem of of one cubit in length yea and oftentimes of two with leaues like to wild Porret and the sayd stem they called Anthericon but the root i. those bulbs resembling onions Asphodelas but our countrymen haue named in Latin the stem Albucus but the root Hastula Regia This is the name also of the stalk full of grains or berries and thereof they would make two kinds the male and the female Well the stem of the Asphodell then is commonly a cubit long large and big clean and smooth Of this herb Mago hath written and ordained that it should be cut down in the going out of March and entrance of Aprill namely after it hath don flouring and before that the seed be swelled and grown to any bignesse then vpon the fourth day after when the said stems are slit and clouen they must be laid abroad to drie in the Sunne when they be dried they ought to be made vp into knitchets or handfuls He saith moreouer that the Greeks name that herb Pistana which we cal in Latin Sagitta growing in marishes and moores among other fenny weeds This also would he haue to be cut downe and gathered betweene the Ides of May and the end of the month of October then to be pilled and so to be dried by little and little with the moderat heat of the Sun The same author giueth order likewise that the other kind of Gladiolus which they call Cypiros which also is an herbe growing about lakes and meeres any time within Iuly should be cut downe to the very root and the third day after to be dried in the Sun vntill it looke white but euery day that it lieth abroad it must be brought into the house before the Sun go downe because all herbs growing vpon marish grounds take harm by dewes in the night CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of Rushes six kinds and of Cyperus their medicinable vertues Of Cypirus and the sweet Rush Scoenanth MAgo writing of the Rush commonly called Mariscon saith That for to twist and weaue into mats it ought to be gathered out of the marish ground where it groweth in Iune vntill mid-Iuly As for the drying of it the same order must be obserued in all points as we haue set downe before in the discourse of other marais weeds Hee maketh a second kinde of water Rushes which I find to be called the sea Rusn and of the Greekes Oxyschoenon i. the sharp Rush which also is subdiuided into three other sorts for there is the barren rush called also the male in Greek Oxys the female Rush bearing a black seed which they call Melancranis This is thicker than the other fuller also of branches and tufts And the third more than it which is named Holoschoenus Of all these Melancranis commeth vp of the own seed without any other kinds intermingled with it but Oxys and Holoschoenus grow both together out of one turfe Of all others the great Rush Holoschoenus is best for to be wrought in mats and such like implements about an house because it is soft and fleshy it beareth a fruit hanging clustering together in maner of fish spawn As for that rush which we called the male it groweth of it selfe by reason that his top fasteneth in the ground and so taketh root by way of propagation but Melancranis soweth her owne selfe and commeth vp of feed for otherwise their race would perish considering the roots of them all euery yere do die These Rushes are vsed to make leaps and weels for fishers at sea fine dainty wicker vessels also candle-wick matches especially the marow or pith within which is so great especially about the foot of the Alps reaching to the sea-side that when a Rush is slit there is found in the belly a pith almost an inch broad by the rule And in Egypt there be found Rushes so big that they will serue to make sieues rangers and vans In such sort that the Egyptians can finde no matter for that purpose better Some there be that would haue the triangled or three square rush Cyperus to be a seuerall kind by it selfe This Cyperus many there be that cannot distinguish from Cypirus by reason of the great affinity of their two names but I mean to put a difference betweene them both for Cypirus is the Petie-glader or Sword-grasse as I haue before shewed with a bulbous or onion root the best of which kind groweth in the Island of Crete next to it in goodnesse is that of the Isle Naxos and in a third degree is to placed that of Phoenice and indeed that of Crete or Candy in whitenesse and odor commeth neere to Nard The Naxian Cypirus hath a quicker sent the Phoenician Cypirus smelleth but a little as for that in Egypt it hath no sauor at all for there also groweth Cypirus But now to come vnto the properties thereof it hath vertue to discusse and resolue hard swellings in the body For now my purpose is to speake of their medicinable vertues forasmuch as there is great vse in Physicke as well of such aromaticall simples as odoriferous floures As touching Cypirus therefore I professe verily that I will follow
ordinary Swallow the riuer Swallow Argatilis the bird Cinnamologie that steale Cinnamon and of Partridges 34. Of House-doues 35. Of Stock-doues 36. Of Sparrowes 37. Of the Kestrell or Stannell 38. Of the flight and gate of birds 39. Of certaine footlesse Martinets called Apodes 40. Of certain Guls that milk and suck Goats vdders and be named Caprimulgi also of Pelicanes named Plateae 41. The perceiuance and naturall wit of birds 42. Of the Linnet Popinjay or Parret and such birds that will learne to speake 43. The intelligence and vnderstanding that Rauens haue 44. Of Diomedes his birds 45. Of dull witted birds that will be taught nothing 46. The manner how birds drinke 47. Of foules called Himantipodes and Onacrotali and of other such strange birds 48. The names of many birds their natures 49. Of strange and new birds such also as bee holden for fabulous 50. Who devised first to cram hens capons of bartons mewes and coupes to keepe and feed foules and the first inuentor thereof 51. Of Aesopes platter 52. The generation of birds and what four footed beasts do lay eggs as well as birds 53. The knitting of eggs within the body the laying couving and sitting of them the maner and time of birds engendring 54. The accidents that befall to broodie birds whiles they sit and the remedies thereof 55. Auguries and presages by egges 56. What Hens be of the best kind 57. The diseases incident to Hens the cure 58. The maner how birds conceiue what number of egs they lay how many they hatch 59. Of Peacockes and Geese 60. Of Herons and Bitters The way to preserue and keepe egges 61. The only bird that bringeth forth her yong aliue feeds the same at the pap with milk 62. The conception of the Viper and how she is deliuered of her young also what land creatures lay egges 63. The ordinary generation of land creatures 64. The diversitie of liuing creatures in the maner of their engendring 65. The yong ones that mice and rats do breed 66. Whether of the marrow of a mans backe bone a serpent will engender 67. Of the Salamander 68. What things bee engendred of those that were never engendred and contrariwise what creatures they be which being engendered themselues breed not 69. The sences of living creatures 70. That fishes doe both heare and smell 71. That the sence of feeling is common to all liuing creatures 72. What creatures liue of poysons and eat earth 73. Of the meat and drink of diuers creatures 74. What creatures evermore disagree and which they be that agree well together 75. Of the sleepe of liuing creatures This booke hath in it of notable matters histories and obseruations 904 gathered out of Latine Authors and records Manilius Cornelius Valerianus the publike records and registers Vmbritius surnamed Melior Massurius Sabinus Antistius Labeo Trogus Cremutius M. Varro Macer Aemilius Melisses Mutianus Nepos Fabius Pictor T. Lucretius Cornelius Celsus Horatius Desulo Hysginus Sarsennae both father and sonne Nigidius and Manlius Sura Forreine Writers Homer Phoemonoes Philemon Boethius who wrote a treatise called Ornithagonia Hylas who made a discourse of Auguries Aristotle Theophrastus Callimachus Aeschylus Hiero Philometor Archytas Amphilochus the Athenian Anaxipolis the Thasian Apollodorus of Lemnos Aristophanes the Milesian Antigonus the Cymaean Agathocles of Chios Apollonius of Pergamus Aristander the Athenian Bacchius the Milesian Bion of Soli Chaereas the Athenian Diodorus of Pryaene Dion the Colophonian Democritus Diophanes of Nicaea Epigenes of Rhodes Evagoras of Thasos Euphonius of Athens king Iuba Androcion who wrote of Husbandrie and Aescrion likewise who wrote thereof Dionysius who translated Mago and Diophanes who reduced his worke into an Epitome Nicander Onesicritus Philarchus and Hesiodus ¶ IN THE ELEVENTH BOOKE ARE CONTAIned the stories and natures of small creatures and such as creepe on the ground Chap. 1. Of Insects in generall 2. The naturall industrie of those Insects 3. Whether Insects doe breath and whether they haue bloudor no. 4. The matter substance of the Insects body 5. Of Bees 6. The government and order which Bees keep by instinct of Nature 7. Diuers operations of the Bees the tearms thereto belonging 8. Of what floures Bees do make their cellars combes and other workes 9. What persons tooke a great loue to Bees and delighted to nourish them 10. The manner of Bees when they be at their businesse 11. Of Drones 12. The nature of Honey 13. Which is the best Honey 14. The seuerall and particular kinds of Hony in diuerse places 15. The markes and tokens of good Honey 16. Of a third kind of Honey and how a man should know good Bees 17. The regiment and policie that Bees obserue 18. Diuerse sorts of Bees and what things be hurtfull to Bees 19. The diseases incident to Bees 20. How to keepe the cast of Bees when they swarme that they flie not away also how to recover Bees in case their breed and race be lost 21. Of Wespes and Hornets 22. Of silke flies their wormes and Iackes called Bombylis and Necydalus and who first deuised silke-cloth 23. Of the silke-worme in the Island Choos 24. Of the Spiders and their generation 25. Of Scorpions 26. Of Stellions and Grashoppers 27. In what countries there bee no Grashoppers and where they sing not 28. The wings of Insects of Beetles and their kinds 29. Of Locusts 30. Of Ants or Pismires in Italie 31. Of Indian Ants or Emmets 32. The diuerse sorts of Insects 33. Of certaine creatures breeding of wood and liuing of wood 34. Of a certain creature that hath no passage to void excrements 35. Of Moths and Gnats 36. Of flies liuing in the fire named Pyrales or Pyraustae 37. A discourse Anatomicall of all parts and members of the bodie 38. Of Bloud also in what creatures bloud wil soonest clutter and congeale and whose wil not at all What creatures haue the grossest and heauiest bloud and which the finest and thinnest and lastly who haue no bloud at all 39. Whether the soveraignetie and excellencie of sence consisteth in bloud Of the skin and hide of the haires and dugs of liuing creatures 40. What creatures haue notable dugs or teats aboue the rest 41. Of Milke and what milke will make no cheese 42. Diuerse kinds of Cheese 43. How the lims and members of mans body differeth from other creatures 44. The resemblance that Apes haue to vs. 45. Of Nailes 46. Of Houfes 47. Of birds feet and their clawes 48. Of Insects feet from two to an hundred 49 Of Dwarfes in each kind and the genitall parts 50. Of Tailes 51. Of Voices 52. Of superfluous members of the bodie The sayings of Aristotle as touching long life 53. Of the wind breath that living creatures take What things if they be tasted be venomous and deadly The food of man as well for meat as drinke What causes they be that hinder digestion 54. How to encrease or diminish the corpulencie of
leaven also of making past bread and when Bakers were first knowne at Rome Of sieves serces and bulters and of sodden wheat or frumentie 12. Of pulse 13. Of Rapes and Navewes in the Amiternine tract 14. Of Lupines 15. Of Vetches and Ervile 16. Of Fenigreeke of Messelline or dredgecorne of Mung-corne or Bollimong for provander of Clauer or three-leafed grasse called Medica and of another Trefoile named Cytisus 17. The faults and diseases in corne graine and pulse and their remedies what corne or pulse ought to be sowne with respect to the ground 18. Of prodigious tokens obserued in corne The skill of ploughing the ground the divers sorts of culters shares in the plough 19. The seasons of the yere fit to till plough the ground The manner of putting oxen in the yoke for the plough 20. Of breaking clods or harrowing of another kinde of tilling the earing or second tilth or stirring the ground And cutting the corne 21. The manner of tilling and husbanding land 22. Examples of diuers grounds of such as are wondrous fertile of a vine that beareth grapes twice in the yeare The difference of waters 23. The qualitie of the ground or soile of compost or dunging lands 24. The goodnesse of choise seeds the manner of good sowing how much seed of any corn an acre will take to be well sowne The seasons of seednesse 25. The obseruation of the stars for their apparition or occultation their rising and setting as well for day as night 26. A recapitulation and briefe summarie of all things belonging to husbandrie What is to bee done in the field euery moneth of the yeere 27. That husbandmen should not so much regard the signe or the stars as the fit season of the time for seednes The rising or fall the apparition or occultation of planets obserued in some hearbes Of the rising and setting of stars 28. Of medows how they are to be repaired and brought into hart of sith-stones hooks sickles and sithes the time of sowing corne and what fixed starres are of power about that time 29. Of the seasons and times to be marked as well in summer as winter what remedy for barraine and leane ground 30. Of the haruest of wheat of chaffe how to keepe corne 31. Of vintage and autumne and the constitution thereof 32. What regard is to be had in the moon and her age in husbandrie ture 33. The consideration of the winds for agricul 34. The bounds limits bawks and waies to be obserued in cornefields 35. Signes whereby a man may prognosticat the disposition of the weather In summe there be contained in this book of notable matters stories and obseruations two thousand and six hundred Latine Authors alledged in this booke Massurius Sabinus Cassius Hemina Verrius Flaccus L. Piso Cornelius Celsus Turannius Graccula D. Syllanus M. Varro Cato Censorius Scrofa Sarsennae both father and sonne Domitius Calvinus Hyginus Virgill Trogus Ouid Graecinus Columella Tubero L. Aruntius who wrote in Greeke of Astronomie and Caesar Dictator who likewise wrote of the same argument Sergius Paulus Sabinus Fabianus M. Cicero Calphurnius Bassus Atteius Capito Manlius Sura and Actius who compiled a booke called Praxidica Forreine Authours Hesiodus Theophrastus Aristotle Democritus K. Hiero K. Philometor K. Attalus K. Archelaus Archytas Xenophon Amphilochus of Athens Anaxipolis of Thasus Aristophanes the Milesian Apollodorus the Lemnian Antigonus the Cymaean Agathocles of Chios Apollonius of Pergamus Aristander the Athenian Bacchius the Milesian Bion of Soli Chaerea of Athens Chaeristus likewise the Athenian Diodorus of Priene Dion of Colophon Epigenes of Rhodes Evagoras the Thasian Euphronius the Athenian Andration Aeschrio and Lysimachus who wrote all three of Husbandrie Dionysius that translated the works of Mago and Diophanes who drew the same into an Epitome Thales Eudoxus Philippus Callippus Dositheus Permeniscus Meliton Criton Oenopides Zeno Euctemon Harpalus Hecataeus Anaximander Sosigenes Hipparchus Aratus Zoroastres and Archibius ¶ THE NINETEENTH BOOKE CONTAINETH a discourse of the nature of Flax and other wonderfull matters Chap. 1. The sowing of Line seed diuers kinds of flax how it is dressed of naperie napkins of linnen that will not burne nor consume with fire and when curtains were deuised at Rome about the theatres 2. The nature of a kind of broom called Spart when it came to be vsed first how it is to be ordered dressed what plants both spring and also liue without roots 3. Of Mysy and of Mushroms of Tadstoles or Mushromes that bee broad and without a taile called Pezici of Laserpitium and Magydaris of Maddir and the Fullers root Radicula i. Sopeweed 4. The manner of dressing and trimming gardens also the ordering and due placing of other plants good for to be eaten ouer and besides corn and the fruit of trees shrubs 5. The nature the sundry sorts and the stories of many plants that grow in gardens 6. Of the roots leaues floures and colours of garden hearbes 7. How many daies it will be after the seeds of herbes be sowne or their slips set ere they come vp the nature of seeds how herbes are to be sown or set and in what course and ranke which herbes are but one of a kinde and which they be that haue many kinds 8. The nature of such garden herbes as are good for the pot or to make sallads and to season meat withal their kinds to the number of 46 with their stories descriptions 9. Of Fennell and Hempe 10. The diseases and maladies that annoy gardens the remedies against the same as also how to kill ants caterpillers and gnats 21. What seeds be more or lesse able to endure any hardnesse or injurie and which they be that salt waters are good for 22. The manner of watering gardens what herbes they be which beeing transplanted and removed prooue the better and finally the juice the sweet sauours and relishnes of garden-herbes In summe here are comprised memorable things stories and obseruations a thousand one hundred fortie and three Latine Authours cited M. Actius Plautus M. Varro D. Syllanus Cato Censorius Hyginus Virgil Mutianus Celsus Columella Calphurnius Bassus Manlius Sura Sabinus Tyro Licinius Macer Q. Hirtius Vibius Rufus Cesennius who wrote Sepurica i. a treatise of Gardening Castritius likewise and Firmius who both twaine made a worke of the same matter and last of all Petreius Forreine Writers Herodotus Theophrastus Democritus Aristomachus Menander who wrote a booke intituled Brochresta i. of things profitable for our life and diet and Anaxilaus ¶ THE TWENTIETH BOOKE COMPRISETH medicines out of those Simples which are set and sowed in Gardens Chap. 1. Of the wild Cucumber and the juice therof Elaterium 2. Of the Cucumber as wel that which wande reth groweth abroad called Anguinum as that of the garden also of the Pompion 3. Of the wild gourds and the Rape or Naves 4. Diuers sorts of Navewes of the wild Radish of the garden Radish and the Parsnep or Carot 5. Of Staphylinum
Apollonia 188 miles and a halfe to Calatis as much Then to the mouth of Ister 125 to Boristhenes 250 to Cherrhonesus a towne of the Heracleates 375 miles To Panticapaeus which some call Bosphorus the vtmost coast of Europe 222 miles and a halfe which which in all makes 1336 miles and a halfe Agrippa measureth thus From Byzantium to the riuer Ister 560 miles then to Panticapaeum 630 from thence the very lake Moeotis taking into it the riuer Tanais running out of the Rhiphaean hills is supposed to beare the compasse of 1306 miles being the farthest bound betweene Europe and Asia Others again make 11025 miles But surely from his mouth to the mouth of Tanais and take a streight course it is 375 miles without question The inhabitants of that coast haue beene named in the description and mention of Thrace as farre as to Istropolis now from thence the mouthes of Ister This riuer arising among the hills of Abnoba a mountaine of Germanie ouer against Rauricum a towne in Gaule passing many a mile beyond the Alpes and through innumerable Nations vnder the name of Danubius with a mightie encrease of waters and where hee first beginneth to wash Illyricum taking the name of Ister after he hath receiued three score riuers and the one halfe of them well neere nauigable rolleth into Pontus with six huge streames The first mouth of it is Peuces soone after the Island it selfe Peuce of which the next Channell tooke name and is swallowed vp of a great miere of 19 miles Out of the same channell and aboue Astropolis a poole is bred of 63 miles compasse which they cal Halmyris The second mouth is called Naracustoma the third Calostoma neere the Island Sarmatica the fourth Pseudostoma and the Island Conopon Diabasis After that Boreostoma and Spireostoma Each of these are so great that by report the sea for 40 miles length within it is ouer-matched with the same and the fresh water may so far be euidently tasted From it into the inland parts of the country the people verily be all Scythians but diuers other nations there be that inhabit the coasts next to the sea in some places the Gete called of the Romanes Daci in others Sarmatae of the Greekes Sauromate and among them the Hamaxobij or Aorsi Else-where the bastard and degenerate Scythians who are come from base slaues or else the Troglodites and anon the Alani and Rhoxalani But the higher parts betweene Danubius and the sorrest Hercynius as farre as to the Pannonian wintering harbours of Carnuntum and the confines there of the Germans the fielden countrie also plains of Iazege the Sarmatians possesse But the hills and forrests the Dakes who were expelled by them do inhabite as farre as to the riuer Pythyslus from Marus or peraduenture it is Duria diuiding them from the Sueuians kingdome of Vannians The parts against these the Bastarnae doe keepe and from thence other Germans Agrippa hath set downe that whole tract from Ister to the Ocean to mount vnto 2000 miles and 400 lesse in bredth to wit from the desarts of Sarmatia to the riuer Vistula The name of Scythians euery where continually runs into Sarmatians and Germans Neither hath that old denomination remained in any others but those who as I haue said liue farthest off and in the edge of these nations vnknowne in manner to all men besides But the townes next to Ister are Cremniscos and Aepolium the mountaines Macrocrenij the noble riuer Tyra giuing name to the towne whereas before-time it was called Ophiusa Within the same there is a spatious Island inhabited by the Tyragetae And it is from Pseudostomum a mouth of Ister 130 miles Soone after be the Axiacae bearing the name after the riuer beyond whom are the Crobyzi the riuer Rhode the creeke Sagaricus and the hauen Ordesus And 120 miles from Tyra is the great riuer Borysthenes also a lake and people of that name yea and a towne 15 miles within from the sea called by ancient names Olbropolis and Miletopolis Againe in the sea side the hauen or harbour of the Achaeans the Island of Achilles famous for the tombe of that worthy wight And from it 135 miles there is a demy Island lying out acrosse in fashion of a sword called Dromos Achilleos vpon occasion of his exercise there of running the length whereof Agrippa hath declared to be 80 miles All that tract throughout the Taurisci Scythians and Sarmatians do inhabite Then the wilde woodland countrie gaue the name vnto the sea Hylaeum which beates hard vpon it the inhabitants are called Enaecadloae Beyond is the riuer Panticapes which diuideth the Nomades and Georgians asunder and soone after Acesinus Some writers doe shew that Panticape together with Borysthenes runne together in one confluent beneath Olbia but they that write more exactly doe name Hypanis See how much they erred who haue described it in a part of Asia It entreth into the sea with a mighty great eb be and returne of the water vntill it be within fiue miles of Moeotis compassing as it goeth a mighty deale of ground and many nations Then there is a gulfe or arme of the sea called Corcinites and a riuer Pacyris Towns Naubarum and Carcine Behind is the lake Buges let out into the sea by a great ditch And Buges is self from Coretus an arme or branch of the lake Moeotis is disioyned with a backe part full of crags and rocks Riuers it receiueth Buges Gerrhus Hypanis comming all from diuers querters for Gerrhus parteth the Basilides and Nomades Hypanis through the Nomades and the Hyleans falleth into Buges by a channell made by mans hand but in his owne naturall channell into Coretus The region of Scythia is named Sendica But in Carcinites Taurica beginneth which also in times past was enuironed all about with the sea wheresoeuer now there lie plains and flat fields But afterwards it mounteth vp with huge hills Thirtie nations there be in it and of them 24 be Inlanders Six townes Orgocyni Caraseni Assyrani Tractari Archilachirae and Caliordi The very pitch and crest of the hill the Scytotauri do hold Bounded they are Westward with Cherronesus East-ward with the Scythian Satarchi In the coast next to Carcinites are these towns Taphrae in the very streights of the demy Island then Heraclea Cherronesus endowed with franchises by the Romans A foretime it was called Megarice and is the most ciuel fairest of all the rest of that tract as retaining still the names and fashions of the Greekes and is besides compassed with a wall of fiue miles about Then the promontory Parthenium A citie of the Tauri Placia The hauen Symbolon the promontory Criu-metopon ouer against Charambes a promontorie of Asia running through the middle of Euxinus for the space of 170 miles which is the cause especially that maketh the forme abouesaid of a Scythian bow Neere to it are many hauens and lakes of the Tauri The towne Theodosia distant from Criu-Metopon
put Catiline to flight and banished him the city thou and none but thou didst out-law M. Antonius and put him out of the protection of the State All haile therefore O M. Tullius faire chieue thee thou that first was saluted by the name of Parens patriae i. Father of thy countrey first that deserued triumpth in thy long robe the laurel garland for thy language the only father indeed of eloquence of the Latin tongue and as Caesar Dictator somtime thine enemy hath written of thee hast deserued a crown aboue all other triumphs by how much more praise-worthy it is to haue amplified and set out the bounds and limits of Roman wit and learning than of Roman ground and dominion CHAP. XXXI ¶ Of a certaine Maiestie in behauiour and cariage THose who among other gifts of the minde haue surpassed other men in sage aduise and wisdome were thereupon at Rome surnamed Cati and Corculi In Greece Socrates carried the name away from all the rest being deemed by the Oracle of Apollo Pythius the wisest man of all others CHAP. XXXII ¶ Of Authoritie AGaine Chilo the Lacedemonian was of so great reputation among men that his sayings were held for Oracles and three precepts of his were written in letters of gold consecrated in the temple of Apollo at Delphi where the first was this Know thy selfe the second Set thy minde too much on nothing The third Debt and Law are alwaies accompanied with misery His hap was to die for ioy vpon tidings that his son wan the best prize and was crowned victour at the solemne game Olympia and when he should be interred all Greece did him honour and solemnized his Funerals CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Persons of a diuine spirit and heauenly nature AMong women Sybilla was excellent at diuination and for a certaine fellowship and societie with coelestiall wights of great name As for men among the Greeks Melampus and with vs Romans Martius carried as great an opinion CHAP. XXXIV ¶ Scipio Nasica SCipio Nasica was iudged once by the Senat sworne to speak without passion and affection to be the best honestest man that euer was from the beginning of the world howbeit the same man as vpright as he was suffered a repulse and disgrace at the peoples hands in his white Robe when he sued for a dignity and to conclude in the end his hap was not to depart this life in his owne countrey no more than it was the will of God that Socrates the wisest man so deemed by the Oracle of Apollo should die out of prison CHAP. XXXV ¶ Of Chastitie SVlpitia daughter of Paterculus and wife to Fulvius Flaccus by al the voices in general of Roman dames carried away the prize for continencie and was elected out of the hundred principall matrons of Rome to dedicate and consecrate the image of Venus according to and ordinance out of Sybils bookes Claudia likewise was by a religious and deuout experiment proued to be such another at what time as she brought the mother of the gods Cybele to Rome CHAP. XXXVI ¶ Of Pietie or kindnesse IN all parts verily of the world there haue been found infinite examples of naturall loue and affection but one example thereof at Rome hath been knowne singular aboue all others and incomparable There was a poore young woman of the common sort and therefore base and of no account who lately had been in childbed whose mother was condemned to perpetuall prison and there lay for some great offence that she had committed this daughter of hers and young nource aforesaid obtained leaue to haue accesse vnto her mother and euermore by the gaoler was narrowly searched for bringing to her any victuall because her iudgment was to be famished to death thus she went and came so long vntill at last she was found suckling of her mother with the milke of her breasts This was reputed for such a strange and wondrous example that the mother was released and giuen to the daughter for her rare piety and kindnes both of them had a pension out of the city allowed them for their amintenance for euer and the place where this hapned was consecrated to Pietie in so much as when C. Quintius and M. Acilius were Consuls there was a temple to her built in the very place where this prison stood iust whereas now standeth the Theatre of Marcellus The father of the Gracchi happened to light vpon and take two serpents within his house whereupon he sent out to the Sooth-sayers for to know what this thing might presage who made this answer That if he would himselfe liue the female snake should be killed Nay marry qd he not so but rather kill the male for my wife Cornelia is yong enough and may haue more children This said he meaning to spare his wiues life in consideration of the good she might do to the common-weale And in truth like as the wizards prophesied so it fell out soone after and their words tooke effect M. Lepidus so entirely loued his wife Apuleia that he died for very thought and griefe of heart after shee was diuorced from him and turned away P. Rutilius chanced to be somewhat ill at ease and sickish but hearing of his brothers repulse and that hee was put by his Consulship for which he stood in suit died suddenly for sorrow P. Catienus Philotimus so loued his Lord and master that notwithstanding he was by him made his sole heire of all that euer he had yet for kind heart cast himselfe into the funerall fire to be burnt with him CHAP. XXXVII ¶ Of diuers excellent men in many Arts and Sciences and namely in Astrologie Grammer and Geometrie IN the skill and knowledge of sundry Sciences an infinit number of men haue excelled howbeit we wil but take the very floure of them all and touch those only whom meet it is to be named for their speciall desert In Astrologie Berosus was most cunning in so much as the Atheniens for his diuine predictions and prognostications caused his statue with a golden tongue to be erected in the publicke schoole of their Vniuersitie For Grammer Apollodorus was singular and therefore was highly honored of the States of Greece called Amphictyones In Physicke Hippocrates excelled so far forth as by his skill hee foretold of a pestilence that should come out of Sclauonia and for to cure and remedie the same sent forth his disciples and schollers to all the cities about In recompence of which good desert of his all Greece by a publick decree ordained for him the like honors as vnto Hercules For the very same cunning and science king Ptolomae gaue vnto Cleombrotus of Cea at the solemne feast holden in the honour of the great mother of the gods a hundred talents and namely for curing the king Antiochus Critobulus likewise acquired and got himselfe a great name for drawing an arrow forth of king Philips eie and curing the wound when he had don so as the sight
this that they could mount vp and clime against a rope but more wonderfull that they should slide downe again with their heads downward Mutianus a man who had in his time bin thrice Consull reporteth thus much of one of them that he had learned to make the Greeke characters and was wont to write in that language thus much Thus haue I written and made an offering of the Celticke spoiles Likewise hee saith that himselfe saw at Puteoli a certain ship discharged of Elephants embarked therein and when they should be set ashore and forced to go forth of the vessel to which purpose there was a bridge made for them to passe ouer they were affrighted at the length thereof bearing out so far from the land into the water and therefore to deceiue themselues that the way might not seeme so long went backward with their tails to the banke and their heads toward the sea They are ware know full well that their only riches for loue of which men lay wait for them lieth in their armes and weapons that Nature hath giuen them king Iuba calleth them their hornes but Herodotus who wrote long before him and the custome of speech hath tearmed them much better teeth And therefore when they are shed and fallen off either for age or by some casualtie the Elephants themselues hide them with in the ground And this in truth is the only yuory for all the rest yea and these teeth also so far as lay couered within the flesh is of no price and taken for no better than bone And yet of late daies for great scarcitie want of the right teeth men haue bin glad to cut and saw their bones into plates and make yvorie therof For hardly can we now come by teeth of any bignes vnlesse we haue them out of India For all the rest that might be gotten in this part of the world between vs and them hath bin imploied in superfluities only and serued for wanton toies You may know yong Elephants by the whitenes of these teeth and a speciall care and regard haue these beasts of them aboue all They looke to one of them alwaies that the point be sharp and therefore they forbeare to occupie it least it should bee blunt against they come to fight the other they vse ordinarily either to get vp roots out of the earth or to cast down any banks or mures that stand in their way When they chance to be enuironed and compassed round about with hunters they set formost in the rank to be seen those ââ¦f the heard that haue the least teeth to the end that their price might not be thought worth the hazard and venture in chase for them But afterwards when they see the hunters eager and themselues ouermatched and weary they breake them with running against the hard trees and leauing them behind escape by this ransome as it were out of their hands CHAP. IIII. ¶ The elemencie of Elephants their foresight and knowledge of their owne dangers also the fell fiercenesse of the Tygre A Wonder it is in many of these creatures that they should thus know wherefore they are hunted and withall take heed beware of all their dangers It is said that if an elephant chance to meet with a man wandering simply out of his way in the wildernesse hee will mildly and gently set him in the right way again But if he perceiue a mans fresh footing before he espie the man he will quake and tremble for feare of being forelaid surprised he wil stay from farther following the sent look about him euery way snuffe and puffe for very anger Neither will he tread vpon the tract of a mans foot but dig it out of the earth and giue it the next Elephant vnto him and he againe to him that followeth and so from one to another passeth this intelligence and message as it were to the vtmost rank behind Then the whole heard makes a stand and cast round about to returne backward and withall put themselues in battel array so long continueth that strong virulent smel of mens feet and runneth through them all notwithstanding for the most part they be not bare but shod Semblably the Tigresse also how fierce and cruell she be to other wilde beasts careth not a whit for a very Elephant if shee happen to haue a sight of a mans footing presently by report carieth away her young whelpes and is gon But how commeth she to this knowledge of a man where saw she him euer before whom thus she feareth for surely such wild woods forests are not much trauelled frequented by men Set case that they may wel wonder at the strange sight and nouelty of their tracts which are so seldome seen how know they that they are to be feared Nay what should be the reason that they dread to see a man indeed being as they are far bigger much stronger and swifter by many degrees than a man Certes herein is to be seen the wonderfull worke of Nature and her mightie power that the greatest the most fell anâ⦠sauage beasts that be hauing neuer seen that which they ought to feare should incontinently haue the sence and conceit why the same is to be feared CHAP. V. ¶ The vnderstanding and memorie of Elephants THe Elephants march alwaies in troups The eldest of them leadeth the vaward like a captaine and the next to him in age commeth behind with the conduct of the arrereguard When they are to passe ouer any riuer they put for most the least of al their company for feare that if the bigger should enter first they would as they trod in the channell make the water to swell and rise and so cause the fourd to be more deepe Antipater writeth that K. Antiochus had two Elephants which he vsed in his wars aboue all the rest and famous they were for their surnames which they knew well enough and wist when any man called them thereby and verily Cato reciting in his Annals the names of the principall captaine Elephants hath left in writing That the Elephant which fought most lustily in the point of the Punick war had to name Surus by the same token that the one of his teeth was gone When Antiochus on a time would haue sounded the fourd of a certaine riuer by putting the Elephants before Ajax refused to take the water who otherwise at all times was wont to lead the way Wherupon the king pronounced with a loud voice That look which Elephant passed to the other side he should be the captain and chiefe Then Patroclus gaue the venture for his labor had a rich harnish and caparison giuen him was all trapped in siluer a thing wherin they take most delight and made besides the soueraigne of all the rest But the other that was disgraced thus and had lost his place would neuer eat any meat after but died for very shame of such a reprochfull ignominy For among other
Pontus and the Alps also of Vrchins and Hedge-hogs THe Rats of Pontus which be onely white come not abroad all winter they haue a most fine and exquisit taste in their feeding but I wonder how the authours that haue written this should come to the knowledge of so much Those of the Alpes likewise i. Marmottanes which are as bigge as Brocks or Badgers keepe in during winter but they are prouided of victuals before hand which they gather together and carry into their holes And some say when the male or female is loden with grasse and herbs as much as it can comprehend within all the foure legges it lieth vpon the backe with the said prouision vpon their bellies and then commeth the other and taketh hold by the taile with the mouth and draweth the fellow into the earth thus doe they one by the other in turnes and hereupon it is that all that time their backes are bare and the haire worne off Such like Marmotaines there be in Aegypt and in the same manner thay sit ordinarily vpon their buttocks and vpon their two hinder feet they goe vsing their fore-feet in stead of hands Hedgehogs also make their prouision before-hand of meat for winter in this wise They wallow and roll themselues vpon apples and such fruit lying vnder foot and so catch them vp with their prickles one more besides they take in their mouth so carry them into hollow trees By stopping one or other of their holes men know when the wind turneth and is changed from North to South When they perceiue one hunting of them they draw their mouth and feet close together with all their belly part where the skin hath a thin downe and no pricks at all to do harme and so roll themselues as round as a foot-ball that neither dog not man can come by any thing but their sharpe-pointed prickles So soon as they see themselues past all hope to escape they let their water go pisse vpon themselues Now this vrine of theirs hath a poisonous qualitie to rot their skin and prickles for which they know well enough that they be chased and taken And therefore it is a secret and speciall policie not to hunt them before they haue let their vrine go and then their skin is very good for which chiefly they are hunted otherwise it is nought euer after and so rotten that it will not hang together but fall in pieces al the pricks shed off as being putrified yea although they should escape away from the dogs and liue still and this is the cause that they neuer bepisse and drench themselues with this pestilent excrement but in extremitie vtter despaire for they cannot abide themselues their owne vrine of so venomous a qualitie it is so hurtfull to their own body and do what they can to spare themselues attending the vtmost time of extremitie insomuch as they are ready to be taken before they do it When the Vrchen is caught aliue the deuise to make him open again in length is to be sprinkle him with hot water and then by hanging at one of their hin-feet without meat they die with famine otherwise it it not possible to kill them and saue their case or skin There be writers who bash not to say That this kinde of beast where not those pricks is good for nothing and may well be missed of men and that the soft fleece of wooll that sheepe bear but for these prickes were superfluous to no purpose bestowed vpon mankind for which the rough skin of these Vrchins are brushes rubbers made to brush make cleane our garments And in very truth many haue gotten great gain profit by this commoditie merchandise and namely with their crafty deuise of monopolies that all might passe through their hands only notwithstanding there hath not bin any one disorder more repressed and reformation sought by sundry edicts and acts of the Senate in that behalfe euery prince hath been continually troubled hereabout with grieuous complaints out of all prouinces CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ Of the Leontophone the Once Badgers and Squirrils TWo other kinds there be of beasts whose vrine worketh strange and wonderfull effects The one is called Leontophonos and he breedes in no country but where there be lions a little creature it is but so venomous that the lion king of beasts before whom al others tremble for all his might and puissance dieth presently if he taste neuer so little thereof And therfore they that chase the lion get all the Leontophones that they can come by burne their bodies and with the powder of them bestrew season as it were the pieces of other flesh that they lay for a bait in the forrest and thus with the very ashes I say of his enemie kill him and deadly and pernicious is it to the lion No marueile therefore if the lion abhor hate him for so soon as he espieth him he crushes him with his pawes and so killeth him without setting tooth to his body The Leontophone for his part againe is as ready to bedrench him with his vrine knowing right well that his pisse is a very poison to the Lion In those countries were the Onces breed their urine after it is made congealeth into a certain yââ¦ie substance waxes drie so it comes to be a certain pretious stone like a carbuncle glittering and shining as red as fire and called it is Lyncurium And vpon this occasion many haue written that Amber is ingendred after the same maner The Onces knowing thus much for very spight and enuie couer their vrine with mold or earth and this maketh it so much the sooner to harden and congeale The Grayes Polcats or Brocks haue a cast by themselues when they be affraid of hunters for they will draw in their breath so hard that their skin being stretched and puffed vp withall they will auoid the biting of the hounds tooth and checke the wounding of the hunter so as neither the one nor the other can take hold of them The Squirrils also foresee a tempest comming and where the wind will blow for looke in what corner the wind is like to stand on that side they stop vp the mouth of their holes and make an ouerture on the other side against it Moreouer a goodly broad bush taile they haue wherewith they couer their whole body Thus you see how some creatures prouide victuals against winter others battle and feed with sleepe onely CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Of the Viper Land-winkles or Snailes and Lizards OF all other serpents it is said that the Viper alone lies hidden in the ground during winter whereas the rest keepe within cranies and cââ¦ifts of trees or else in the hollow chinkes of stones and otherwise they are able to endure hunger a whole yeere so they be kept from extreame cold All the while during their retreat and lying close within they sleepe as if they were dead and depriued of their
and tie them together and so leaue them in the woods for the male tygres howbeit they rere neither the first nor second litter of them supposing that the dogs thus bred will be too fierce and eger but the third they nourish and bring vp Semblably thus doe the Gaules by their dogges that are ingendred of wolues and in euerie chace and forrest there be whole flockes of them thus ingendred that haue for their guide leader and captain one dogge or other him they accompanie when they hunt him they obey and are directed by for surely they keepe an order among themselues of gouernment and mastership This is knowne for certaine that the dogges which be neere vnto Nilus lap of the riuer running still and neuer stay while they are drinking because they will giue no vantage at all to be a prey vnto the greedie Crocodiles In the voiage that Alexander the Great made into India the king of Albania gaue him a dogge of an huge and extraordinarie bignesse And Alexander taking great delight and contentment to see so goodly and so faire a dogge let loose vnto him first Beares afterwards wild Bores and last of all fallow Deere But this dog making no reckoning of all this game lay still couchant and neuer stirred nor made at them This great Commander Alexander a man of mighty spirit and high mind offended at the lazinesse and cowardise of so great a bodie commanded that he should be killed and so he was Newes hereof went presently to the king of Albanie Wherupon he sent vnto him a second dog with this message That he should not make triall of this too against such little beasts but either set a Lion or an Elephant at him saying moreouer that hee had in all but those two of his kinde and if hee were killed likewise hee were like to haue no more of that race and breed Alexander made no stay but presently put out a Lion and immediately he saw his backe broken and all to rent and torne by the dog Afterwards he commanded to bring forth an Elephant and in no sight tooke he greater pleasure than in this For the dog at the first with his long rough shagged haire that ouerspread his whole bodie came with ful mouth thundering as it were and barking terribly against the Elephant Soon after he leapeth and flieth vpon him rising and mounting against the great beast now of one side then of another maintaining combate right artificially one while assailing another while auoiding his enemie and so nimbly he bestirreth him from side to side that with continuall turning about to and fro the Elephant grew giddie in the head insomuch as he came tumbling downe and made the ground to shake vnder him with his fal Bitches breed and beare young euery yeere lightly once and the due time for them to be with whelpes is when they are full a yeere old They goe with young threescore daies Their puppies come blinde into the world and the more milke they sucke the later it is ere they receiue their sight but as it is neuer aboue twenty daies ere they see so they open not their eies vnder seuen daies old Some say that if a bitch bring but one at a litter it will see by nine daies if twaine it will be ten daies first and the more puppies she hath the more daies it will be in that proportion ere they see Moreouer that the bitch-whelpe that commeth of the first litter see strange bugs and goblins The best of the whole litter is that whelpe that is last ere it begin to see or else that which the bitch carries first into her kennell The biting of mad dogs are most dangerous to a man as we haue said before especially during the dog-daies while the dog star Syrius is so hot for they that are so bitten lightly are affraid of water which is a deadly signe To preuent therefore that dogs fall not mad it is good for thirtie or fortie daies space to mingle hens or pullins dung especially with their meat againe if they be growing into that rage or tainted already to giue them Ellebor with their meat CHAP. XLI ¶ Against the biting of a mad Dog THe sure and soueraigne remedy for them that are bitten with a mad dog was reuealed lately by way of Oracle to wit the root of a wild rose called the sweet brier or Eglantine Columella writeth That when a whelpe is iust fortie daies old if his taile be bitten off at the nethermost joint and the sinew or string that commeth after be likewise taken away neither the taile will grow any more nor the dog fall euer to be mad I haue my selfe obserued that among the prodigies it is reported how a dog sometime spake as also that a serpent barked that yeere when Tarquine the prowd was deposed and driuen out of Rome CHAP. XLII ¶ Of Horses and their nature THe same Alexander the Great of whom ere-while we spake had a very strange and rare horse whom men called Bucephalus either for his crabbed and grim looke or else of the marke or brand of a buls head which was imprinted vpon his shoulder It is reported that Alexander being but a child seeing this faire horse was in loue with him and bought out of the breed and race of Philonicus the Pharsalian and for him paied sixteene talents He would suffer no man to sit him nor come vpon his backe but Alexander and namely when he had the kings saddle on and was also trapped with roiall furniture for otherwise he would admit any whomsoeuer The same horse was of a passing good and memorable seruice in the warres and namely being wounded vpon a time at the assault of Thebes he would not suffer Alexander to alight from his back and mount vpon another Many other strange and wonderfull things hee did in regard whereof when he was dead the king solemnized his funerals most sumptuously erected a tombe for him and about it built a city that bare his name Bucephalia Caesar Dictator likwise had another horse that would suffer no man to ride him but his maister the same horse had his forefeet resembling those of a man and in that manner he stands pourtraied before the temple of Venus Mother Moreouer Augustus Caesar late Emperour of famous memory made a sumptuous tombe for an horse that he had wherof Germanicus Caesar compiled a poeme At Agrigentum there be seen Pyramides ouer many places were horses were entombed Iuba reporteth That queene Semiramis loued a great horse that she had so far forth that she was content he should doe his kind with her The Scythians verily take a great pride and glorie much in the goodnes of their horses and Cauallerie A king of theirs happened in combat and single fight vpon a challenge to be slain by his enemie and when he came to despoile him of his armes and roiall habit the kings horse came vpon him with such furie flinging and laying about him with
take a great delight to inueagle others and to steale away some pigeons from ãâã owne flocks and euermore to come home better accompanied than they went forth Moreouer Doues haue serued for posts and courriers between and bin imploied in great affairs and namely at the siege of Modenna Decimus Brutus sent out of the town letters tyed ââ¦o their feet as far as to the camp where the Consuls lay and thereby acquainted them with newes and in what estate they were within What good then did the rampier and trench which Antonius cast before the towne To what purpose serued the streight siege the narrow watch and ward that he kept wherefore serued the riuer Po betweene where all passages are stopped vp as it were with net and toile so long as Brutus had his posts to flie in the aire ouer all their heads To be short many men are growne now to cast a speciall affection and loue to these birds they build Turrets aboue the tops of their houses for doue-coats Nay they are come to this passe that they can reckon vp their pedigree and race yea they can tel the very places from whence this or that pigeon first came And indeed one old example they follow of L. Axius a Gentleman somtiââ¦e of Rome who before the ciuill war with Pompey sold euery paire of pigeons for 400 deniââ¦s as M. Varro doth report True it is that there goeth a great name of certaine countries where some of these pigeons are bred for Campanie is voiced to yeeld the greatest and fairest bodied of all other places To conclude their manner of flying induceth and traineth me to thinke and write of the flight of other soules CHAP. XXXVIII ¶ Of the gate and flight of birds ALl other liuing creatures haue one certaine manner of marching and going according to their seuerall kind vnto which they keep and alter not Birds only vary their course whether they go vpon the ground or flie in the aire Some walke their stations as Crowes and Choughs others hop and skip as Sparrows and Ousels some run as Partridges Woodcocks and Snites others again cast out their feet before them staulk and jet as they go as Storks and cranes now for flying some spread their wings abroad stirring or shaking them but now then hanging and houering with them all the while as Kites others again ply them as fast but the ends only of their wings or the vtmost feathers are seen to moue as the Chaffinch Yee shall haue some birds to stretch out their whole wings sides mouing them as they flie as Rauens and others a man shal see in their flight to keep them in for the most part close as the Woodpeckers Some of them are known to giue one or two claps with their wings at first and then glide smoothly away as if they were carried and born vp with the aire as Linnets and others are seen as if they kept stil the aire within their wings to shoot vp aloft mount on high to flie streight forward to fal down again flat as Swallows Ye would think and say that some were hurled out of a mans hand with violence as the Partridge and others again to fal down plumbe from on high as Larks or els to leap jump as the Quailes Ducks Mallards and such like spring presently from the ground vp aloft and suddenly mount vp into the skie euen out of the very water which is the cause that if any chance to fall into those pits wherein wee take wild beasts they alone wil make good shift to get forth and escape The Geirs or Vulturs and for the most part all weightie and heauy foules cannot take their flight flie vnlesse they fetch their run and biere before or els rise from some steepe place with the vantage And such are directed in the aire by their tails Some looke about them euery way others bend and turne their necks in flying and some fly with their prey within their talons eat it as they fly Most birds cry and sing as they flie yet some there be contrariwise that in their flight are euer silent In one word some flying carry their brests and bellies halfe vpright others again beare them as much downward Some flie side-long and bias others directly forward and follow their bills and last of all there be that bend backward as they flie or els bolt vpright In such sort that if a man saw them all together he would take them not to be one kind of creature so diuers different are they in their motions CHAP. XXXIX ¶ Of Martinets MArtinets which the Greeks call Apodes because they haue little or no vse of their feet and others Cypseli are very good of wing and flie most of all others without rest And in very truth a kind of Swallows they be They build in rocks stony cliffes And these be they and no other that are seen euermore in the sea for be the ships neuer so remote from the land saile they neuer so fast and far off ye shall haue these Martinets alwaies flying about them All kinds els of Swallowes and other birds do somtime light settle and perch these neuer rest but when they be in their nest For either they seem to hang or els lie along and a number of shifts and deuises by themselues they haue besides and namely when they feed CHAP. XL. ¶ Of the bird Caprimulgus and the Shouelar THe Caprimulgi so called of milking goats are like the bigger kind of Owsels They bee night-theeues for all the day long they see not Their manner is to come into the sheepheards coats and goat-pens and to the goats vdders presently they go and suck the milke at their teats And looke what vdder is so milked it giueth no more milke but misliketh and falleth away afterwards and the goats become blind withall There be other birds named Plateae i. Shouelars Their manner is to flie at those foule that vse to diue vnder the water for fish and so long will they peck and bite them by the heads vntil they let go their hold of the fish they haue gotten and so they wring it perforce from them This bird when his belly is ââ¦ull of shell fishes that he hath greedily deuou red and hath by the naturall heat of his craw and gorge in some sort concocted them casteth vp all vp again and at leasure picketh out the meat and eateth it again leauing the shels behind CHAP. XLI ¶ The uaturall wit of some birds THe Hens of country houses haue a certaine ceremonious religion When they haue laied an egge they fall a trembling quaking and all to shake themselues They turne about also as in procession to be purified with some festue or such like thing they keep a ceremonie of hallowing as well themselues as their egs CHAP. XLII ¶ Of the Linnet Poppinjay or Parrat and other birds that can speake THe Linnets be in manner the
that keepe in medowes yea and Creckets that haunt the earth and stocke of chimnies where they make many holes and lie cricking aloud in the night The Glo-wormes are named by the Greeks Lampyrides because they shine in the night like a sparke of fire and it is no more but the brightnes of their sides and taile for one while as they hold open their wings they glitter another while when they keep them close together they be shadowed and make no shew These Glowbards neuer appeare before hay is ripe vpon the ground ne yet after it is cut downe Contrariwise the flies called Blattae liue and be nourished in darknesse light is an enemie vnto them and from it they flie They breed commonly in baines and stouves of the moist vapors that be there Of the same kind there be other great Beetles red in color which work themselues holes in the drie earth where they frame certaine receptacles like vnto Bees combs little and small ful of pipes resembling hollow spunges and all for a kind of bastard honey whereof yet there is some vse in Physicke In Thrace neare to Olynthus there is a little territorie or plot of ground where this one creature among all other cannot liue whereupon the place is called Cantharolethus The wings generally of all Insects be whole without any slit and none of them hath a taile but the Scorpion Hee alone hath not only armes but also a sting in the taile As for the rest some of them haue a sharp pricked weapon in their muzzle as namely the Breese or great Horse-flie called in Latine Asilus or Tabanus whether you will Likewise Gnats also and some kind of flies And these prickes serue them in good stead both for mouth and tongue Some of these are but blunt not good for to pricke but only handsome to sucke withall as flies which haue all of them a tongue beeing euidently fistulous and like a pipe And none of all these haue any teeth There bee Insects with little hornes proaking out before their eyes but weake and tender they bee and good for nothing as the Butterflies And there be againe that are not winged and such be the Scolopendres All Insects that haue legges and feet goe not directly but bias and crooked Of which some haue the hinder legges longer than the former and such bend hooked outward as the Locusts CHAP. XXIX ¶ Of Locusts THe Locusts lay egges in Autumne by thrusting downe into the ground the fistule or end of their chine and those come forth in great abundance These eggs lie all winter long in the earth and at the end of the spring the yere following they put out little Locusts black of coloââ¦r without legs and creeping vpon their wings Hereupon it commeth that if it be a wet spring and rainie those egs perish and come to no good but in a drie season there will be greater increase and store of Locusts the Summer ensuing Some writers hold opinion that they lay and breed twice a yeare likewise that they perish and die as often For they say that when the star Vergiliae doth arise they breed and those afterwards about the beginning of the Dogdaies die and others come in their place Others say that they engender and breed againe their second litter at the full or setting of Arcturus True it is indeed that the mothers die so soone as they haue brought forth their little ones by reason of a small worme that presently breedes about their throat which chokes them And at the same time the males likewise miscarrie See what a little matter to speake of bringes them to their death and yet a wonder it is to consider how one of them when it list will kill a serpent for it will take him fast by the chaws and neuer lin biting till she hath dispatched him These little beasts breed no where but in plain and champion countries namely such as be full of chinks and creuises in the ground It is reported that there be of them in India three foot long where the people of the country vse their legs and thighes for sawes when they be thoroughly dried These Locusts come by their death another way besides that aboue-named for when the wind takes them vp by whole troupes together they fall down either into the sea or some great standing pooles And this many a time happens by meer chance and fortune and not as many haue supposed in old time because their wings are wet with the night dew For euen the same Authors haue written that they flie not in the night for cold But little know they that it is ordinarie with them to passe ouer wide and broad seas and to continue their flight many daies together without rest And the greater wonder is this that they know also when a famine is toward in regard wherof they seek for food into far countries in such sort as their comming is euer held for a plague of the gods procââ¦eding from their heauie wrath and displeasure For then commonly they are bigger to be seen than at other times and in their flight they keepe such a noise with their wings that men take them for some strange fowles They shade and darken the very Sunne as they flie like vnto a great cloud insomuch as the people of euery country behold them with much feare least they should light in their territorie and ouer-spread the whole countrey And verily their strength is such that they hold out still in their flight and as if they had not enough of it to haue flowne ouer seas they giue not ouer to trauerse mightie great countries in the continent And lookâ⦠in what place soeuer they settle they couer whole fields of corne with a fearefull and terrible cloud much they burne with their very blast and no part is free but they eat and gnaw euen the very dores of mens dwelling housâ⦠Many a time they haue been known to take their flight out of Affrick and with whole armies to infest Italie many a time haue the people of Rome fearing a great famine and scarsitie toward been forced to haue recourse vnto Sybils books for remedie and to auert the ire of the gods In the Cyrenaicke region within Barbarie ordained it is by law euery three yeares to wage war against them and so to conquer them that is to say first to seeke out their neasts and to squash their eggs secondly to kill all their yong and last of all to proceed euen to the greater ones and vtterly to destroy them yea and a greeuous punishment lieth vpon him that is negligent in this behalfe as if he were a traitor to his prince and countrey Moreouer within the Island Lemnos there is a certaine proportion and measure set down how many and what quantitie euery man shall kill and they are to exhibit vnto the magistrate a just and true account thereof and namely to shew that measure full of dead Locusts And for this
besides but because they be found elsewhere and knowne to be better in other places than in Arabia I will treat of them in their course and ranke when it commeth And yet Arabia it selfe as fruitfull and happy as it is in this behalfe is wondrous eager in seeking after forreine spices and sendeth for them into strange countries So soone are men glutted and haue their fill of their owne and so greedy and desirous be they of other countries commodities They send therfore as far as the Helymaeans for a tree named Bruta like to a spreding cypres hauing boughes couered with a whitish bark casting a pleasant smelling perfume when it burneth and highly commended in the chronicles and historie of Claudius Caesar for strange vertues and wonderfull properties For he writeth That the Parthians vse to put the leaues therof in their drinke for to giue it a good tast and odoriferous smell The odour thereof resembleth the Caedar very much and the perfume is a singular remedie against the stinking and noisome fumes of other wood It groweth beyond the great channell of the riuer Tigris called Pasitigris vpon the mount Zagrus neare vnto the citie Citaca They send moreouer to the Carmanians for another tree called Strobos and all to make sweet perfumes but first they infuse the wood thereof in Date-wine and then burn it This is an excellent perfume for it wil fill the whole house rising vp to the chambers aloft to the arched seelings of the roufe and returning downe againe to the very floore and ground beneath most pleasantly But it stuffes a mans head howbeit without any paine or ach at all With this perfume they procure sleep to sick persons And for the traffick of this commodity the merchants meet at the citie Carras where they keep an ordinarie faire or mart and from thence they went customably to Gabba twentie daies journey off where they were wont to haue a vent for their merchandise and to make returne and so forward into Palestine of Syria But afterwards as K. Iuba saith they began to go to Charace and to the kingdom of the Parthians for the same purpose For mine owne part I thinke rather with Herodotus That the Arabians transported these odours and spices to the Persians first before that they went therewith either into Syria or Aegypt and I ground vpon the testimonie of Herodotus who affirmeth That the Arabians paid euery yeare vnto the KK of Persia the weight of a talent in Frank incense for tribute Out of Syria they bring back Storax with the acrimonie and hot smell wherof being burnt vpon their herths they put by and driue away the loathsomnesse of their own odors wherewith they are cloyed for the Arabians vse no other fuell at all for their fires but sweet wood As for the Sabaeans they seeth their meats in the kitchin some with the wood of the Incense tree and others with that of Myrrhe insomuch as both in citie and country their houses be full of thesmoke and smell thereof as if it came from the sacrifice vpon the altars For to qualifie therfore this ordinarie sent of Myrrhe and Frank incense wherewith they are stuffed they perfume their houses with Storax which they burne in Goats skins Loe how there is no pleasure whatsoeuer but breedes lothsomnesse if a man continue long to it The same Storax they vse to burn for the chasing away of Serpents which in those forests of sweet trees are most rife common CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of the felicitie of Arabia NEither Cinamon nor Casia do grow in Arabia and yet is it named Happie vnworthie countrey as it is for that surname in that it taketh it selfe beholden to the gods aboue therefore whereas indeed they haue greater cause to thanke the infernal spirits beneath For what hath made Arabia blessed rich and happie but the superfluous expense thnt men be at in funerals employing those sweet odors to burne the bodies of the dead which they knew by good right were due vnto the gods And verily it is constantly affirmed by them who are acquainted well with the world and know what belongeth to these matters That there commeth not so much Incense of one whole yeares increase in Saba as the Emperor Nero spent in one day when he burnt the corps of his wife Poppea Cast then how many funerals euery yeare after were made throughout the world what heaps of odors haue been bestowed in the honor of dead bodies wheras they offer vnto the gods by crums and graines only And yet when as men made supplication to them with the oblation of a little cake made with salt and meale and no more they were no lesse propitious and merciful nay they were more gratious and fauourable a great deale as may appeare by histories But to returne againe to Arabia the sea enricheth it more than the land by occasion of the orient pearles that it yeeldeth and sendeth vnto vs. And surely our pleasures our delights and our women together are so costly vnto vs that there is not a yeare goeth ouer our heads but what in pearles perfumes and silkes India the Seres and that demy-Island of Arabia stands vs at the least in an hundred millions of Sesterces and so much fetch they from vs in good money within the compasse of our Empire But of al this masse of Spice and Odors how much I pray you commeth to the seruice of the coelestiall gods in comparison of that which is burnt at funerals to the spirits infernall CHAP. XIX ¶ Of Cinamon and the wood thereof called Xylocinnamomum Also of Canell or Casia FAbulous antiquitie and the prince of lyers Herodotus haue reported That in that tract where Bacchus was nourished Cinamon and Canell either fell from the nests of certaine fowles and principally of the Phoenix thorough the weight of the venison and flesh which they had preyed vpon and brought thither whereas they builded in high rockes and trees or else was driuen and beaten downe by arrowes headed with lead Also that Canell or Casia was gotten from about certaine marishes guarded and kept with a kind of cruell Bats armed with terrible and dreadfull tallons and with certain flying Pen-dragons And all these deuises were inuented only to enhaunce the price of these drugs And this tale is told another way namely That in those parts where Canell and Cinamon grow which is a country in manner of demy-Island much enuironed with the sea by the reflection of the beames of the Noon-sun a world of odoriferous smells is cast from thence in such sort that a man may feele the sent at one time of all the aromaticall drugs as it were met together and sending a most fragrant and pleasant sauour far and neare and that Alexander the Great sailing with his fleet by the very smell alone discouered Arabia a great way into the maine sea Lies all both the one and the other for Cinamone or Cinamon call it whether you will groweth in Aethiopia a
posterity But thus it is no doubt and it cannot otherwise be Our Aegles and standerds bribed hired and corrupted with this so good a reward haue therefore in recompense conquered the whole world Vnder such colors and pretences indeed we deceiue our selues and cloak the vice and ryot of our times and thus hauing so good a reason as this to induce and draw vs on we may not sticke to haue precious baulmes vpon our heads so it be vnder our sallats and mourrons To say for certainty and precisely when this enormity entered first into Rome and began there to raigne I am not able Sure it is as appeareth vpon record That after the subduing of K. Antiocus and the conquest of Asia which was about the 565 yeare from the foundation of Rome P. Licinius Crassus and L. Iulius Caesar the Censors published an edict prohibiting and forbidding to sell any forreine or strange ointments within Rome for so they termed these sweet mixtures and compositions But beleeue me now adaies some there be so wanton and delicat that there is no wine or other drinke good with them nor will go downe their throat vnlesse it be spiced and aromatized with these baulms and so little passe they for the bitternesse of these odours and smels that they are well content to wast and spend a deale therof without and within behind and before aboue and beneath to enioy the perfume thereof in all parts of the body Well knowne it is that L. Plotius brother to L. Plancus a man of great credit and authority as hauing bin twice Consul and Censor besides being outlawed and proclaimed a banished person by the decree of the * Trium virs was discouered within a certaine caue at Salernum where he lay close hidden and sure enough otherwise by the very smel onely of a precious ointment that he had about him and so by that meanes besides the shame and disgrace that he receiued thus to detect himselfe and be found of his enemies the rigor of the act and arrest that passed against him was executed and performed vpon his body And who would euer pitty such persons not iudge them worthy to come to so bad an end but to conclude all this discourse there is not a country in the world that yeelds such plenty and varietie of drugges fit for these compositions as Egypt and next to it Campaine in Italy may carry the name for the store of roses there growing CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Dates and Date trees their nature and seuerall kinds THe land of Iury is as much renowned or rather more for the abundance of Palms or Date trees which it affourdeth the discourse whereof we will now enter into True it is and it cannot be denied verily that there be of them found in Europe and namely euery where in Italy but such be all of them barren Also in the maritime parts and sea-coasts of Spaine ye shall meet with Palmes that beare Dates but they are buttart and vnpleasant and indeed neuer come to their maturity and ripenesse Those of Africk I must needs say bring forth a sweet and pleasant fruit but it will not last and soon is gone whereas contrariwise in the East parts the people make wine thereof and in some countries they vse it for bread yea the very bruit and four-footed beasts do ordinarily feed of Dates and therefore we hold and conclude that Dates may be truly called forrein fruits and their Trees meere strangers in this part of the world For in Italy a man shal not find so much as one Palm tree that comes vp of it selfe without it be set or planted by mans hand neither in any other region whatsoeuer vnlesse it lie vnder some hot climat but to beare fruit ye shal neuer know it in any country if the same be not extreme ardent and scortching Date trees loue a light and sandy ground and specially for the most part if it stand much vpon a veine of Nitre besides And yet contented will they be to grow by sââ¦e riuer side where they may haue as it were one foot in the water and be euer drinking ãâã the yere long especially in a drie season Some thinke that dung is as contrary and hurtfull vnto them as to some kind of Citron trees in Assyria vnlesse it be mingled tempered with water or the trees planted neere to some running riuer Moreouer many kinds there be of Date trees and the first are smal and exceed not the bignesse of shrubs these in some parts are barren and in others fruitful they shute out little short branches round about but very full of leaues the which in most places serue in stead of parget rough-cast to defend wals of houses against the weather and drifts of rain Howbeit a second sort there be that are much taller and whole forrests stand only vpon those trees they put forth leaues sharp pointed and they grow round about disposed one close vnto another in manner of comb-teeth and these must of necessitie be taken for wild and no better and they loue here and there as it falleth out to be intermingled among those of the tamer kind as if they tooke I wot not what pleasure in their company The rest growing in the East parts be streight round and tall enuironed about the body with circles or houps made of the very barke it selfe and they are of the thickenesse of a mans thumbe set in order one aboue another like steps greeces neere together in such sort that the people of the East may easily climbe them by the means of the said barke which serueth not onely for a vestiment to the tree but also for staires to him that would mount vp so that it is a wonder to see how nimbly a man will run vp to the top These Date trees beare all their branches toward the head and their fruit comes not forth among the leaues as in other trees but hangeth to certaine branches and twigs of the owne between the boughes like clusters of grapes insomuch as it resembleth partly the nature of a grape and partly of an apple The leaues made in forme of a knife blade sharp toward the point slit as it were and clouen in the edge along both sides make shew at the first of certain faire and beautifull gems and now they serue in stead of cords and to bind vines together also being diuided and sliued into flakes they are good to plait for hats and light bongraces for the head against the heat of the Sunne Moreouer all learned men who are deeply studied in the secrets of Nature be of opinion do teach vs That in all trees and plants nay rather in all things that proceed out of the earth euen in the very herbs there are both sexes Let it suffice therefore to haue spoken thus much once for all in this place But there is no tree whatsoeuer in which this distinction of male and female appeareth more than in Palme-trees
for the male putteth forth his bloome in the branch but the female sheweth no floure at all but sprouteth and shooteth out buds in manner of a thorne howbeit both in the one and the other the pulp or flesh of the Date commeth first and after it the wooddy stone within which stands in stead of the grain and seed of the Date And this appeares euidently by a good token for that in the same branch there be found little yong Dates without any such stone at al. Now is the said stone or kernell of the Date in forme long not so round and turned like a ball as that of the Oliue Besides along the back it hath a cut or deep slit chamfered in as it were between two pillowes but in the mids of the belly on the other side for the most part it hath a round specke formed like a nauill whereat the root or chit beginneth first to put forth Moreouer for the better planting of Dates they set two together of their stones in a ranke with the bellies downward to the earth and as many ouer their heads for if one alone should come vp it were not able to stand of it selfe the root and young plant would be so feeble but foure together so ioine clasp and grow one to another that they do well enough and are sufficient to beare themselues vpright the kernel or wooddy substance within the Date is diuided from the fleshy pulp and meat thereof by many white pellicles or thin skins between neither lieth it close thereto but hollow a good distance from it saue that in the head it is fastened thereunto by a thred or string and yet there be other pellicles that cleaue fast and sticke to the substance of the Date within The Date is a yeare in ripening Howbeit in certaine places as namely in Cyprus the meat or fleshie pulp thereof is sweet and pleasant in taste although it be not come to the full ripenesse where also the leafe of the tree is broader and the fruit rounder than the rest mary then you must take heed not to eat and swallow down the very bodily substance of it but spit it forth after you haue wel chewed sucked out the iuice therof Also they say that in Arabia the dates haue but a faint weak sweetnes with them yet K. Iuba makes greatest account of those which the region of the Scenites in Arabia doth yeeld where they be called Dabula and he commends them for their delicate and pleasant tast before all others Moreouer it is constantly affirmed That the females be naturally barten and will not beare fruit without the company of the males among them to make them for to conceiue yet grow they wil neuerthelesse and come vp of themselues yea and become tall woods and verily a man shall see many of the females stand about one male bending and leaning in the head full kindly toward him yeelding their branches that way as if they courted him for to win his loue But contrariwise he a grim sir and a coy carries his head aloft bears his bristled rough arms vpright on high and yet what with his very lookes what with his breathing and exhalations vpon them or else with a certain dust that passes from him he doth the part of an husband insomuch as all the females about him conceiue and are fruitfull with his only presence It is said moreouer that if this male tree be cut downe his wiues wil afterwards become barren and beare no more Dates as if they were widows Finally so euident is the copulation of these sexes in the Date trees knowne to be so effectuall that men haue deuised also to make the females fruitful by casting vpon them the blooms and down that the male bears yea and otherwhiles by strewing the pouder which he yeelds vpon them Besides the maner abouesaid of setting date stones for increase the trees may be replanted of the very truncheons of two cubits long sliued and diuided from the very brain as it were of the green tree in the top and so couched and interred leauing only the head without the ground Moreouer Date trees wil take again and liue if either their slips be pluckt from the root or their tendrils small branches be set in the earth As for the Assyrians they make no more adoe but if it be a moist soile plash the very tree it selfe whole as it stands and draw it along and so trench it within the ground and thus it will take root and propagate but such will neuer proue faire trees but skrubs only And therefore they deuise certain Seminaries or Nource gardens of them and no sooner be they of one yeares growth but they transplant them and so againe a second time when they be two yeares old for these trees loue alone to be remoued from one place to another But whereas in other countries this transplantation is practised in the spring the Assyrians attend the very mids and heat of Summer and in the beginning of the Dog-daies vse to replant them Moreouer in that countrie they neither cut off the heads ne yet shred the branches of the yong plants with their hooks and bils but rather bind vp their boughes that they may shoot vp in height the better Howbeit when they are strong they cut their branches for to make the bodies burnish and waxe thicker but yet in the lopping they leaue stumps of boughes halfe a foot long to the very tree which if they were cut off in other places would be the death of the mother stocke And forasmuch as Date trees delight in a salt and nitrous soile according as hath bin before said the Assyrians therefore when they meet not with a ground of that nature strew salt not close about the roots but somwhat farther off In Syria and Egypt there be some Date trees that diuide themselues and are forked in twaine rising vp in two trunkes or bodies In Crete they haue three and some also fiue The nature of the Palme or Date tree is to beare ordinarily when they be three yeares old howbeit in Cyprus Syria and Egypt it is soure yeares first ere some bring fruit yea and fiue yeares before others begin and such neuer exceed a mans height neither haue they any stone or wooddy kernel within the Date so long as they be young and tender during which time they haue a pretty name for them and call them Gelded Dates and many kindes there be of these trees As for those that be barren and fruitlesse all Assyria and Persia throughout vse them for timber to make quarters and pamels for seeling wainescot and their fine ioyned workes There be also of Date trees coppey woods which they vse to fell and cut at certaine times and euermore they put forth a yong spring from the old root and stock These haue in the very head and top a certain pleasant and sweet marow which they terme The braine and
hands long agoe the which I saw in the house of Pomponius Secundus a noble citizen of Rome and a renowmed Poet almost two hundred yeares after their death As for the writings of Cicero of Augustus late Emperour of famous memorie and of Virgill we daily see and handle them by the meanes of Paper so good and durable CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the bookes of Numa WE find many examples in stories which very directly and mightily do testifie against M. Varro as touching Papers For Cassius Hemina a most faithfull and ancient writer in the fourth booke of his Annales hath reported That one Cn. Terentius a scribe or publicke Notarie as he digged and delued in a ground which he had neare to Ianiculum light vpon a chist where in lay the bodie of Numa sometime king of Rome In the same also were found the bookes of the said king And as he affirmeth this happened in that yeare when Pub. Cornelius the sonne of Lucius surnamed Cethegus and M. Boebius sonne of Quintus surnamed Pamphilus were Consuls of Rome betweene which time and the raigne of Numa by just computation are reckoned 535 yeres He saith moreouer That those books were made of the Paper abouenamed The greater wonder it was how such kind of books should last sâ⦠long especially within the earth and not putrifie The thing therefore being so strange and in manner miraculous that Paper should continue all that time I think it not amisse to set down the very words of Hemina likew I se as he deliuers them The world made a wonder quoth he how these books could possibly endure so many yeres but the party who found them yeelded this reason That within the said coffer about the mids of it there was a stone foure-square lapped all about and bound euery way with waxe candles in manner of a serecloth vpon which stone the foresaid books were laid and therefore it was as he supposed that they did not rot Moreouer the books also were embaulmed with the rosin or oile of Cedar which might be a good reason in his conceit that the moths came not to them Now these bookes contained the Philosophie and doctrine of Pythagoras and for that they treated of that Philosophical argument burnt they were by order from Q. Petilius the Pretor for that time being The same storie in effect doth C. Piso Censorinus a man who had been Censor report in the first book of his commentaries howbeit he setteth downe their number withall and saith they were fourteene in all whereof seuen treated of the Pontificall law and matters of religion and as many discoursed of Pythagoras his Philosophie But Tuditanus in the thirteeneth booke of the Annales affirmeth That they were the decretals only of Numa and contained his ordinances As for Varro himselfe he writeth in the fift booke of Humane Antiquities that they were in all but twelue And Antias in his second booke reporteth That two of them were written in Latine and contained the Pontificial diuinitie and church-matters and other twaine penned in Greeke were full of precepts in Philosophie He also affirmes in his third booke for what cause the said books by vertue of a publick decree were consumed with fire But all Historiographers agree in this That one of the Sibyls brought vnto Tarquinius the proud three books of which two were burnt by her owne selfe and the third likewise perished with fire together with the Capitol during the troubles of Sylla Ouer and besides Mutianus a man who had been thrice Consul of Rome hath left on record that of late while he was lord gouernor or Lycia he read in a certain temple an Epistle written by prince Sarpedon in Paper and bearing date from Troy And I wonder the rather at this if so be that when Homer liued and wrate his Poeme there was no land of Aegypt as now there is or why in case there was such vse of Paper then himself should write that in the very same Lycia Bellerophon had writing tables giuen him to deliuer as touching his owne death and not rather letters missiue wrot in Paper Wel howeuer that be this is certaine that there is a scarsitie otherwhiles of Paper also as well as of other commodities and this cane or reed Papyrus doth many times faile For not long since euen in the daies of Tiberius the Emperor in a dearth and want of Paper there were commissioners deputed and appointed by the Senat of Rome for the dispensing and distribution of it among the people otherwise there had been a great mutinie and tumult at Rome about Paper CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the trees in Aethiopia AS touching Aethiopia and namely that quarter which confineth vpon Aegypt it hath in manner no trees at all of any name saue those that beare wooll or cotton concerning the nature of which trees we haue sufficiently spoken in the description of the Indians and of Arabia and yet in very truth the cotton that is brought from these trees in Aethiopia comes neerer to wool than any thing els howeuer the trees be otherwise like to the rest of that kinde and the burse or cod wherin this woollie substance lyes is greater and as big as a Pomegranat Besides these there be Date trees also like to such as we haue before described As touching other trees and especially the odoriferous woods within the Isles that lie vpon Aethiopia round about we haue said enough in the treatise of those Islands CHAP. XV. ¶ Of the trees growing in mount Atlas of Citron tables of the commendable perfections and contrariwise of the defaults thereof THe mountaine Atlas by report hath a wood in it of peculiar trees that elsewhere grow not wherof we haue already written The Mores that border vpon it are stored with abundance of Citron trees from whence commeth that excessiue expense and superfluitie about Citron tables made thereof And our dames and wiues at home by way of reuenge vse to twit vs their husbands therwith when we would seem to find fault with the costly pearls that they do weare There is at this day to be seen a board of Citron wood belonging sometimes to M. Tullius Cicero which cost him ten thousand Sesterces a strange matter considering hee was no rich man but more wonderfull if we call to mind the seueritie of that age wherein hee liued Much speech there is besides of Gallus Asinius his table sold for eleuen thousand Sesterces Moreouer there are two other which K. Iuba sold the one was prised at 15000 Sesterces and the other held little vnder Not long since there was one of them chanced to be burnt and it came with other houshold stuff but from the cottages in Mauritania which cost 140000 Sesterces a good round summe of money and the price of a faire lordship if a man would be at the cost to purchase lands so deer But the fairest and largest table of Citron wood that to this day hath beene seene came from Ptolomaee king of Mauritania
such colourable excuses for their handling of poisons and so impudent and shamelesse are some besides that they bash not to auow the vse of them bearing vs in hand that Physick canot stand without poison The Thapsia in Affricke is the strongest of all others Some vse to slit or cut the stem about haruest and in the very root make an hollow trough to receiue the juice that runs downe and when it is dried they take it away Others againe do bruise and stamp in a mortar both leafe stalke and root and when the juice that is pressed there-from is thoroughly dried in the Sun they reduce the same into certain Trochisques Nero Caesar the Emperor in the beginning of his Empire gaue great credit to Thapsia for vsing as he did to be a night-walker and to make many ryots and much misrule in the darke he met otherwhiles with those that would so beat him as that he carried away the marks black and blew in his face but as he was subtil desirous to auoid the speech of the people an ointment he had made of Thapsia Frankincense and Waxe wherewith hee would anoint his face and by the next morning come abroad with a cleare skin and no such marks to be seene to the great astonishment of all that saw him To conclude the Ferula maketh the best matches to keep fire by all mens confession and those in Aegypt excell the rest for that purpose CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Capparis or Cynosbatos or Opheostaphyle and of Sari LIkewise in Aegypt growes Capparis a shrub of a harder and more wooddy substance well knowne for the seed and fruit that it carries commonly eaten with meats and for the most part the Capres and the stalke are plucked and gathered together The outlandish Capres not growing in Aegypt we must take good heed of and beware for those of Arabia be pestilentiall and venomous they of Affricke be hurtfull to the gumbs and principally the Marmarike are enemies to the matrice and breed ventosities The Apulian Capres cause vomit and make lubricitie both of stomack and belly Some call the shrub Cynosbatos others Opheostaphyle Moreouer there is a plant of shrubs kind called Sari it growes along Nilus almost two cubits high it beareth an inch in thicknesse and hath leaues like to Papyr-reed and men do chew and eat it after the same manner As touching the root it is singular good for Smiths cole to burne in their forges so hard it is and durable CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of the Royall thorn of Babylon and of Cytisus I May not ouer-passe that plant which about Babylon is sowed vpon Thornes only for otherwise it knowes not how to liue no more than Misselto but on trees howbeit this plant that I speake of is sowed vpon that Thorne alone called the Royall Thorne And a strange thing it is of this plant That it springs and grows the very same day that it is set or sowed Now the seasonable time of sowing it is at the very rising of the Dog-star and notwithstanding the Suns heat right quickly ouerspreads it the tree or shrub on which it is cast The Babylonians vse to aromatize their wine therwith and for that purpose are they so carefull to sow it But the foresaid Thorne tree groweth also about the long walls of Athens reaching from the tower to the hauen Pyraeeum Noreouer a shrub there is called Cytisus highly commended and wondrous much praised by Aristomachus the Athenian for feeding of sheep as also for fatting of swine when it is drie and he promiseth and assureth That an acre of land sowed therwith although it be none of the best soile but of a meane and ordinarie rent will yeeld yearely communibus annis 2000 Sesterces to the master As great profit commeth therby as of the pulse like Vetches called Ervum but sooner will a beast be satisfied therewith and a very little therof will serue to fat the same insomuch as if horses or any such labouring cattell may meet with that prouender they will not care for barley neither is there any other grasse or fodders that yeeldeth more or better milk than it but that which passeth all the pasturage of Cytisus preserueth sheep goats and such like cattell sound and safe from all diseases whatsoeuer Ouer and besides if a nourse want milke Aristomachus prescribes her to take Cytisus dry and seeth it in water and so to drink it in wine whereby not onely her milke will come againe in great plenty but the babe that sucketh thereof will be the stronger and taller He giueth it also to hens and pullein whiles it is green or steeped and wet if it chance to be dry Democritus and Aristomachus both do promise and assure vs that Bees will neuer miscarry nor faile if they may meet with Cytisus to seed vpon And yet there is not a thing of lesse charge to maintaine than it Sowne it is commonly in the spring with barley I mean the seed thereof as they mean to sow Leekes or Porret seed or els they set plants and slips thereof from the stalke in Autumne before mid-winter If the seed be sowne it ought to be steeped and moistned before yea and if there fall no store of raine after it is in the ground it had need to be watered As for the plants when they be a cubit long are replanted in a trench a foot deepe Otherwhiles the tender quicke-sets are planted about the Equinoxes to wit in mid-March and mid-September In three yeares they come to their full growth They vse to cut it downe in the Spring-Equinox when it hath done flouring a worke that a very lad or old woman may do euen such as can skill of nothing besides This Cytisus is in outward hew white and in one word if a man would pourtray the likenes thereof it resembleth for all the world a shrub of Trifolie or Clauer-grasse with narrower leaues Being thus gathered it is euer giuen to beasts once in three daies And in Winter that which is dried ought to be wet before they haue it Ten pound of it is a sufficient foddering for an horse and for other small cattell according to the proportion But by the way this is not to be omitted that it is good to set garlicke and sow onions seed betweene the rewes and rankes of Cytisus where it groweth and they will thriue more plenteously This shrub was first discouered and known in the Island Cythnus and from thence translated into all the other Cyclades and soon after brought to all the cities of Greece whereupon followed great increase of milke plentie of cheese I maruel therefore very much that it is so geason and rare in Italy and a plant it is that feareth neither heate nor cold no iniury of haile nor offence by snow and as Hyginus saith it is not afraid so much as of the enemie the reason is because the wood thereof is nothing beautifull to the eye CHAP. XXV ¶ Of shrubs and trees
drying confiture Some grapes there be that are condite in Must or new wine and so they drinke their owne liquor wherein they lie soking without any other seething Others againe are boiled in Must abouesaid vntill they lose their owne verdure and become sweet and pleasant Moreouer yee shall see old grapes hang still vpon the Vine their mother vntill new come but within glasses that a man may see them easily through howbeit to make them to last and continue in their full strength as well those which be preserued in barrels tuns and such like vessels aforesaid they vse the helpe of pitch or tarre which they poure vpon the stalks that the cluster hangs to and wherewith they stop close the mouth of the said glasse It it not long since that there was a deuise found that wine of it selfe as it came naturally from the grape growing vpon the vine should haue a smack and sent of pitch And surely this kind of Pitch wine brought the territory about Vienna into great name reputation before that this vine was known those of Auern Burgundy and the Heluij were in no request at all But these deuises as touching vines wines were not in the daies of the Poet Virgil who died about 90 yeres past But behold what I haue to say more of the Vine tree the vine wand is now entred into the camp and by it our armies are ranged into battalions nay vpon the direction thereof depends the main estate of our soueraigne Empire for the Centurion hath the honour to carry in his hand a Vine-rod the good guidance and ordering whereof aduanceth after long time the centeniers for a good reward of their valorous and faithfull seruice from the leading of inferior bands to the captainship of that regiment and chiefe place in the army vnto which the maine standard of the Aegle is committed yea and more than that the Vine wand chastiseth the trespasses and lighter offences of the souldiers who take it for no dishonor nor disgrace to be thus punished at their Centurions hand Ouer and besides the planting of Vineyards hath taught martiall men how to approach the wals of their enemies to giue an assault vnder a frame deuised for the purpose which therupon took the name of Vinea Lastly for medicinable vertues in phisick the Vine is so profitable to mans health that the vse of it alone is a sufficient remedy for the distemperature of mans body caused by wine it selfe CHAP. II. ¶ Of the diuers kindes of vines DEmocritus was the onely Philosopher euer known who made profession to reduce all the sorts and kinds of vines to a certaine number and indeed he vaunted and made his boast that he had the knowledge of all things that were in Greece All others besides himselfe and those comming neerer to the truth as shal appeare more euidently by the variety of wines resolutely haue set downe that there be infinit sorts of Vine-trees Looke not therefore at my hands that I should write of them all but onely of the principall for that in truth there bee in manner as many and as sundry kinds of them as are of grounds Wherefore I will content my selfe and thinke it sufficient to shew those that be singular and most renowned among them or such as haue some secret propriety wortlradmiration And first to begin with the Aminean Vines all the world giueth them the chiefe praise and greatest name as wel for their grapes of so lasting and durable a nature as for the wine made thereof which in all places continues long invigor is euer the better for the age And hereof there be fiue sundry sorts Of which the kindly Vines named Germanae haue both lesse grapes and grains within but they burgen and bloom better than others and after the floure is gon they can abide both rain and tempest but the second kind which is the greater is not so hardy howbeit lesse subiect to wind and weather when they be planted to run vp a tree rather than to creepe vpon a frame A third sort are called Gemellae for that their grapes grow double like twins they be very harsh and in taste vntoothsome howbeit their vertue and strength is singular The smaller sort of these take harm by the South wind but all other winds nourish them as we may see in the mount Vesuvius and the little hils of Surrentum for in all other parts of Italy ye shal neuer finde them but wedded to trees and growing vpon them As for the fift kind of these Amminean vines they be called Lanatae so freezed they are with a kind of down or cotton insomuch as we need not wonder any more at the Seres or Indians for their cotton and silken trees The first kind of these Amminean grapes come soonest to their ripenesse and perfection and most quickly do they rot putrifie Next to these Amminean vines those of Nomentum are in most account and for that their wood is red some haue called them Rubellae These grapes yeeld no great plenty of wine but in stead thereof their stones and kernels and other refuse remaining grow to an exceeding big cake howbeit this property they haue The frost they will indure passing well lesse harme they take also by raine than drought and thriue better in cold than heat and therefore in cold and moist grounds they excell and haue no fellow Of these vines they are more plentifull which beare grapes with smaller stones and leaues with lesse cuts and iags indented As touching the Muscadell vines Apianae they tooke that name of bees which are so much delighted in them and desirous to settle and feed of them Of two sorts they are and both carry cotton down Howbeit this difference is between them that the grapes of the one wil be sooner ripe than the other and yet there is neither of them both but be hasty enough These Muscadell grapes like wel and loue cold countries and yet none sooner rot than they if showers take them The muscadell wines are at the first sweet but with age become harsh and hard yea and red withal And to conclude there is not a grape that ioies more to hang vpon the vine than it doth Thus much of the very floure of Vines and the principall grapes that be familiar and proper vnto our countrey of Italy as their natiue soile The rest be strangers come out of Chios or Thasos As for the Greeke grapes of Corinth they be not in goodnes inferior to the Aminean aforesaid They haue a very tender stone within and the grape it selfe is so small that vnlesse the soile be exceeding faâ⦠and battle there is no profit in planting and tending such vines The quick-sets of the vine Eugenia were sent vnto vs from the Taurominitane hils in Sicily together with their syrname pretending a noble gentle race Howbeit they are neuer in their kind with vs but only in the Alban country for if
city side but amongst the rest this of Palaemons in that place was esteemed most cheap and lowest prised in this regard especially That he had purchased those lands which through the carelesnesse bad husbandry of the former owners lay neglected and fore-let were not of themselues thought to be of the best soile chosen and piked from among the worst But being entred once vpon those grounds as his owne liuelode and possession he set in hand to husband and manure them not so much of any good mind and affection that he had to improue and better any thing that he held but vpon a vaine glory of his own at the first whereunto he was wonderously giuen for he makes fallows of his vine-plots anew and delueth them all ouer again as he had seen Sthenelus to do with his before but what with digging stirring and medling therewith following the good example and husbandry of Sthenelus hee brought his vineyards to so good a passe within one eight yeares that the fruit of one yeares vintage was held at 400000 Sesterces and yeelded so much rent to the lord a wonderfull and miraculous thing that a ground should be so much improoued in so small a time And in very truth it was strange to see what numbers of people would run thither onely to see the huge and mighty heaps of grapes gathered in those vineyards of his and ill idle neighbors about him whose grounds yeelded no such increase attributed all to his deepe learning and that he went to it by his book had some hidden speculation aboue other men obiecting against him that he practised Art Magicke and the blacke Science But last of all Annaeas Seneca esteemed in those daies a singular clerke and a mighty great man whose ouermuch Learning and exceeding power cost him his ouerthrowing in the end one who had good skill and judgement in the world and vsed least of all others to esteeme toies and vanities brought this ferm into a greater name and credit for so far in loue was he of this possession that hee bought out Palaemon and was not ashamed to let him go away with the pricke and praise for good husbandry and to remoue him into other parts where he might shew the like cunning and in one word paid for these foresaid vineyards of his fourfold as much as they cost not aboue ten yeres before this good husbandry was bestowed vpon them Certes great pity it is that the like industry was not shewed and imploied in the territories about the hils Cecubus Setinus where no doubt it would haue well quit all the cost considering that many a time afterwards euery acre of vineyard there yeelded seuen Culei that is to say 140 Amphores of new wine one yere with another But lest any man should thinke that wee in these daies haue surpassed our ancestors in diligence as touching good husbandrie know he that the aboue named Cato hath left in writing How of an acre of vineyard there hath arisen ordinarily ten Culei of wine by the yeare Certainly these be effectuall examples and pregnant proofes that the hardy and aduenturous voiages by sea are not more aduantageous ne yet the commodities and merchandise and namely Pearls which be fet as far as the red sea and the Indian Ocean are more gainefull to the merchant than a good ferm and homestall in the countrey well tilled and carefully husbanded As touching the wines in old time Homer writes that the Maronean wine made of the grapes growing vpon the sea coasts of Africk was the best most excellent in his daies But my meaning is not to ground vpon fabulous tales variable reports as touching the excellency or antiquitie of wine True it is that Aristaeus was the first who in that very nation mingled honey with wine which must needs be a passing sweet and pleasant liquor made of two natures so singular as they be of themselues And yet to come againe to the foresaid Maronean wine the same Homer saith That to one part therof there would be but 20 parts of water and euen at this day that kind of wine continues in the said land of the same force and the strength thereof will not be conquered nor allaied For Mutianus who had bin thrice consul of Rome one of those that latest wrote of this matter found by experience being himselfe personally in that tract that euery sextar or quart of that wine would beare 8 of water who reports moreouer that the wine is of colour blacke of a fragrant sweet smell and by age comes to be fat and vnctious Moreouer the Pramnian wine which the same Homer hath so highly commended continueth yet in credit and holds the name still it comes from a vineyard in the countrey about Smyrna neere to the temple of Cybele the mother of the gods As for other wines no one kind apart excelled other One yere there was when all wines proued passing good to wit when L. Opimius was Consul at what time as C. Gracchus a Tribune of the Commons practising to sow sedition within the city among the common people was slaine for then such seasonable weather happened and so fauorable for ill fruit that they called it Coctura as a man would say the ripening time so beneficiall was the Sun to the earth and this fell out in the yere after the natiuity and foundation of the city of Rome 634. Moreouer there be some wines so durable that they haue beene knowne to last two hundred yeares and are come now by this time to the qualitie and consistence of a rough sharpe and austere kind of hony and this is the nature of all when they bee old neither are they potable alone by themselues vnlesse the water be predominant so tart they are of the lees and so musty withall that they are bitter againe Howbeit a certaine mixture there is of them in a very small quantity with other wines that giues a prety commendable tast vnto them Suppose now that according to the price of wine in those daies of Opimius euery Amphore were set but at an hundred Sesterces yet after the vsurie of six in the hundred yearly which is the ordinary proportion and a reasonable interest among citizens for the principall that lieth dead and dormant in stock by the hundred and sixtieth yere after the said Amphor was bought which fell out in the time that C. Caligula Caesar the son of Germanicus was Emperor no maruell if an ounce in measure of the same wine to wit the twelfth part of a Sextarius cost so many Sesterces for as we haue shewed by a notable example when we did set downe the life of Pomponius Secundus the Poet and the feast that he made to the sayd Prince Caligula there was not a Cyathus of that wine drawne but so much was paied for it Loe what a deale of mony lieth in these wine-cellars for keeping of wine And in very truth there is nothing
so late of growth were those trees in his time and so slowly came they forward But now adaies they come vp of kernels and stones set in plots of ground for the purpose and being transplanted againe they beare Oliues the second yeare after Fabianus saith That Oliues loue not to grow either in the coldest or the hottest grounds Virgill hath set downe 3 kind of Oliues to wit Orchitae i. the great round Oliues Radij i. the long Oliues and those which are called Pausiae He saith moreouer That the Oliue trees require no tending or dressing at all and need neither the hooke to be pruned nor the rake and harrow to be moulded ne yet the spade to be digged about Doubtlesse the goodnesse of the soile and the temperature of the climat especially are very requisit and much materiall alone without farther helpe howbeit they vse to be cut and pruned yea they loue also to be scraped polished and clensed between where the branches grow ouer-thicke euen as well as vines and at the same season The time of gathering Oliues ensueth presently vpon the vintage of grapes but greater industry and skil is required to the making and tempering of good oile than about new wine for ye shall haue one and the self same kind of oliue to yeeld a different juice and diuers oiles first and formost of the greene oliue and altogether vnripe there is drawne the Oile oliue which hath of all other the best verdure and in tast excelleth the rest and of this oile the first running that commeth from the presse is most commended and so by degrees better or worse as the oile is drawn before or after out of the presse or according to a late inuention by treading them with mens feet in little panniers and vpon hardles made of small and fine oziers This is a rule The riper that the oliue is the fatter will the oile be and more plentifull but nothing so pleasant in tast And therefore the best season to gather Oliues both for goodnesse and abundance of oile is when they begin to shew black And such halfe-ripe Oliues we in Latine call Drupae and the Greekes Drypetae To conclude it skilleth very much whether the berries be ripe vpon the tree or mellow within their presse also whether the tree be watered that is to say the oliues hanging thereupon be drenched and refreshed with sprinkling water or haue no other moisture than their owne and that which they receiue by dews and raine from heauen CHAP. II. ¶ Of Oyle OIle-Oliue commeth to haue a rank and vnpleasant tast if it be old kept and stale contrary to the nature of wine which is the better for age And the longest time that oile will continue good is but one yere Wherein surely if a man would well consider he may obserue the great prouidence of Nature For seeing that wines are made to seruefor intemperance and drunkennesse there is not that necessitie to drinke much thereof and to spend them out of hand and more than so the daintie tast that they haue when they be stale induceth men to lay them vp and keep them long But contrariwise she would not haue vs make such spare of oile and therefore by reason of the generall vse and need thereof she hath made it vulgar and common to all As touching this benefit and gift of Nature bestowed vpon mankind Italy of all other nations in the world carrieth the name for the goodnesse thereof but principally the territory or county of Venafrum and namely that quarter lying toward Licinia which yeelds the oile called Licinianum wherupon there be no oliues comparable to them of Licinia both for to serue the perfumers in regard of the pleasant smel which that oile doth giue so appropriat vnto their ointments as also to furnish the kitchin and the table as they say that be fine-toothed haue a delicate taste which is the cause I say that this oile carrieth the only name And yet these oliues of Licinia haue this priuiledge besides that birds loue not to come neere them Next to these Licinian oliues the question is between them of Istria Baetica whether of them should go away with the price for their goodnesse and hard it is to say which is the better of the two A third degree there is vnder these twoaboue named namely of the Oliues that come from all other prouinces setting aside the fertile soile of that tract in Africke which yeeldeth so great increase of corn For it should seeme that Nature hath set it apart for graine onely seeing it so fruitfull that way and hath not so much enuied it the benefit of wine and oile which she hath denied those parts as thought it sufficient that they might glory and haue the name for their haruests As for other points belonging to oliues men haue erred and bin deceiued very much neither is there in any part concerning our life to be found more confusion than is therein as we will shew and declare hereafter CHAP. III. ¶ The nature of the Oliue berries also of yong Oliue Plants THis fruit called the Oliue consists of a stone or kernell of oile a fleshy substance and the lees or dregs now by these lees called in Latine Amurca I mean the bitter liquor of the grounds that the oile yeelds It comes of abundance of water and therefore as in time of drought there is least thereof so in a rainy and watery constitution you shall haue store and plenty As for the proper juice of the oliue it is their oile and the chiefe is that which comes of those that are vnripe like as we haue shewed before when we treated of Ompharium or the Oliue verjuice This oilie substance doth increase and augment within the Oliue vntill the rising of the star Arcturus to wit 16 daies before the Calends of October after which time their stones and carnous matter about them do rather thriue But marke when there followes a glut of raine and wet weather presently vpon a dry season the oile in them doth corrupt and turn all well neare into the lees aboue said which may easily be perceiued by the colour for it causeth the Oliue berrie to looke blacke And therefore when this blacknesse begins to appeare it is a sign that they haue somwhat although very little of the lees but before that they had non at all And herein men are foulely dceiued taking this marke for the beginning of their ripenesse which blacke hew indeed is a signe of their corruption and betokens that then they are in the way to be stark naught They erre also in this that they suppose an Oliue the more grown it is in carnositie to be the fuller of oile whereas in very truth all the good juice ââ¦n them is converted then into the grosse and corpulent substance thereof and thereby also the stone and kernell come to be big and massie which is the cause that they had need of watering at that
or tuns Nay ye shal haue some to lap them with flocks and wooll and so put them in cases and them they see wel luted with morter made of clay and chaffe tempered together Some order them in the same sort but they put them in earthen pans and others make no more adoe but dig a hole in the ground floore the bottom with a course of sand put the Apples or fruit within then anon when they are thus buried couer all with mould These be that vse Quinces in this wise they take them anoint them with wax comming out of Pontus and let them afterwards to ly couered in hony Columella mine Author reporteth That fruits will keep well in earthen pots thoroughly pitched and afterwards set in pits and drenched in cesternes of water In the maritime coasts of Liguria next to the Alpes they vse to take Grapes after they be dried in the Sun wrap them within bands of rushes and reeds put them vp in little barrels and stop them close with plaster The Greeks haue the same fashion but they take for that purpose the leaues of the Plane-tree of the vine it selfe or else the fig-tree after they be dried one day in the shade and when they be in the barrell betweene euery bed of grape clusters they couch a course of grape kernels and such refuse remaining after the presse And in this manner are the grapes of Coos and Berytus preserued and for sweetnesse and pleasant tast there are no better to be found And some there be that for to counterfeit these excellent Grapes besmeare them with lie ashes so soon as euer they be pulled from the Vine and presently drie them in the Sunne which done they enwrap them within leaues as hath been said before and so couch them close within the cake of pressed grapes Neuerthelesse there be diuers that chuse rather to keepe Grapes in the saw dust or shauings of Firre-wood Poplar or Ash. Some are afraid to let grapes hang neer to Apples Pomegranates and such like fruit and therefore giue in charge to let them presently after they be gathared for to be hung vp in garners or bourded lofts supposing that the dust which they gather from aboue is the best couer to defend and preserue them The remedie to keepe Wespes from them is to spurt or squirt oile out of a mans mouth vpon them And thus much concerning the way to preserue Grapes and other fruits aforesaid As for Dates we haue spoken sufficiently before of them CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of Figs 29 sorts of them OF all other fruits that haue tender pils or skins and are called in Latine Poma Figges are the biggest for some of them are found to be as great as Peares As touching the Sycomores of Aegypt and Cypres and of their admirable fruit we haue written ynough in the treatise of forraine Trees The Idaean Figs that come from the mountaine Ida are of color red of the bignesse of Oliues only rounder they be in tast resemble Medlars In the region about Troas neare to the said hill Ida they call that fig-tree Alexandrina It is as thicke as a mans arme about at the cubite or elbow and full of branches the wood thereof is tough and strong howbeit pliable to wind and bend which way a man would haue it Void of milky substance it is clad with a green barke bearing leaues like the Tillet or Linden tree but that they be sost Onesicritus writes that the Fig-trees in Hyrcania beare more pleasant fruit than ours in Italie without all comparison also that they carrie a greater burden and be farre more plentifull insomuch as one of them ordinarily yeelds 270 Modij of Figs. We haue here also in Italie many Fig-trees brought out of other forrain countries to wit from Chalcis and Chios wherof there be many sorts For both our Lydian Figs which are of a reddish purple color and also the Mamillane or teat-Figs haue a resemblance of the said Chalcidian and Chian Figs yea and the Calistruthion Figs beyond others not a little in goodnes of tast and these of all the rest are the coldest As touching the Affricane Figs which many men preferre before all others they hold the name of Affricke as if it were their natiue countrey and yet there is a great question thereabout and I wot not well what to say thereof considering that it is not long agoe that Affrick begun first to haue Fig-trees For the Alexandrine Figs are of the blacke kind hauing a white rift or chamfre and are surnamed Delicate The Rhodian Fig is likewise blacke of hue and so is the Tiburtine which also is of the hastie kind and ripe before others Moreouer there be certaine Figs which beare the names of those that brought them first into Italy namely the Liuian and Pompeian and such are fittest to be dried in the Sun and so to be kept all the yeare long for a mans vse like as the illfauoured foolish and gaping Figs Mariscae as also those that are speckled with spots like the leaues of Laconian reeds There are besides the Herculanean Albicerate and Aratian white Figges which of all other are most flat and broadest and withal haue the least taile or steele wherby they hang. The Porphyrite Figs first shew vpon the tree and ordinarily be longest tailed The smallest Figs called the popular Figs which also are of al others the basest of least account come next after and beare the Porphyrites companie Contrariwise the Chelidonian Figges be the last and ripen against Winter Moreouer certain Figs there be which are both early also lateward namely such as bear twice a yeare and be both blacke and white for they are ripe first in haruest and afterwards in time of vintage Late also it is before the Duracinae be ripe so called of the hard skin which they haue Also some there be of the Chalcidian kind which beare thrice a yeare At Tarentum there grow none but such as are exceeding sweet and those they call Omas or rather Oenadas tasting of wine Cato in his treatise of Figs writes thus The vnsauorie Fig dotes Mariscae would be sowne in an open light and chalkie ground But the Affricane Hirculane and the Winter Saguntine Figges as also the Telliane which are blacke and long tailed loue a fatter soile or else well dunged After this Figges haue changed into so many kinds and altered their names very often in such sort that by this point it is euident how the world is altered and to what varietie this life is subject In some prouinces as namely in Moesia there be winter Figs that hang all Winter long but they come to be such more by art and cunning than naturally of themselues For so soone as Autumne is passed and Winter approches they vse to couer with dung certaine little Fig-trees which they haue and together with them the green yong Figs that they find on them in Winter and when they haue continued so the
of them apart according to their nature Now are we to treat of the rest which are of a carnous substance and those are diuided into fruits that be soft and pulpous and into berries The carnosity in Grapes and Raisons in Mulberries and the fruit of the Arbut tree differs one from the other Againe the fleshy substance in Grapes between the skin and the liquid juice is one and that in Sebesten is another Berries haue a carnosity by themselues as namely Oliues Mulberies yeeld a juice or liquor within the pulpe thereof resembling wine They be ordinarily of three colours at the beginning white soone after red and when they be ripe blacke The Mulberrie tree bloometh with the last but the fruit ripeneth with the first Mulberries when they be sull ripe staine a mans hand with the juice thereof and make them blacke but contrariwise being vnripe they scoure them cleane There is not a tree againe wherein the wit of man hath bin so little inuentiue either to deuise names for them or to graff them or otherwise saue only to make the fruit fair and great There is a difference which we at Rome doe make betweene the Mulberries of Ostia and Tusculum There is a kind of Mulberries growing vpon the bramble but their skin is much harder than the other Like as the ground-strawberries differ in carnositie from the fruit of the Arbut tree and yet it is held for a kind of Strawberrie euen as the tree it selfe is tearmed the Strawberrie tree And there is not a fruit of any other tree that resembleth the fruit of an hearb growing by the ground but it The Arbut tree it selfe spreadeth full of branches the fruit is a whole yeare in ripening by which means a man shall find alwaies vpon the tree yong and old fruit together one vnder another and the new euermore thrusts out the old Whether it be the male or female that is barren writers are not agreed Surely the fruit is of base and no reckoning at all no maruell therefore if the Latines gaue it the name Vnedo for that one of them is enough to be eaten at once And yet the Greeks haue two names for it to wit Comarum Memecylon whereby it appeareth that there be as many kinds among the Latines also although it be tearmed by another name Arbutus K. Iuba saith that these trees in Arabia grow to the heigth of fiftie cubites As touching Graines and liquid Kernels there is great difference betweene them for first and formost among very grapes there is no small diuersitie in the skin either for tendernes or thicknesse in the inner stones or pepins which in some grapes are but single or one alone in others double and those commonly yeeld not so much wine as the others do Secondly those of Iuie and Elder differ very much yea and the graines within a Pomegranat are not like to others in their forme for they alone be made cornered and angle-wise and seuerall as they bee they haue not a particular skin of their own but they are altogether clad within on which is white and yet they stand all wholly of a liquor and pulpous carnositie especially those which haue within them but a small stone or woodie kernell Semblably there is as much varietie in berries for oliues differ much from Bay berries likewise those of a Lote tree are diuers from them which the Corneil tree beares The Myrtle also differeth from the Lentisk in the verie berrie As for the huluer or hollie berries and the hawes of the white-thorn they are without any juice or liquor wheras Cherries be of a middle kind betweene berries and graines This fruit is white at the first as lightly all berries be whatsoeuer but afterwards some waxe greene as Oliues and Baies others turn red as Mulberies Cherries and Cornoiles but in the end they all become blacke as Mulberries Cherries and Oliues CHAP. XXV ¶ Of Cherries eight kinds BEfore the time that L. Lucullus defeated K. Mithridates there were no cherrie-trees in Italy but after that victorie which was about the 680 yeare from the foundation of the citie of Rome he was the man that brought them first out of Pontus and furnished Italie so well with them that within sixe and twentie yeres other lands had part therof even as far as Britain beyond the ocean Howbeit as we haue before said they could neuer be brought to grow in Aegypt for all the care and industrie employed about them Of Cherries the reddest sort bee called Apronia the blackest Actia the Caecilian be round withall The Iulian Cherries haue a pleasant tast but they must be taken new from the tree and presently eaten for so tender they be otherwise that they will not abide the carriage Of all other the Duracine Cherries be the soueraign which in Campaine are called Pliniana But in Picardie and those low countries of Belgica they make most account of the Portugall Cherries as they do also who inhabite vpon the riuer Rhene They haue a hew with them composed of three colors between red black and green and alwaies look as if they were in ripening still It is not yet full 5 yeres since the Cherries which they call Laurea were known so called they be because they were graffed on a Bay-tree stocke and thereof thy take a kind of bitternes but yet not vnpleasant to the tast There be moreouer Macedonian Cherries growing vpon a small tree seldome aboue three cubits high and yet there be certain dwarfe Cherries not full so tall called Chamecerasti i. ground cherry-shrubs The Cherry-tree is one of the first that yeelds fruit to his master in token of thankfulnesse recognisance of his paines all the yeare long It delights to grow in cold places and exposed to the North. The Cherrie wil drie in the sun and may be kept in barrels like Oliues CHAP. XXVI ¶ Of the Corneile and Lentiske tree THe same care is had in conditing the berries of the Corneil and the Lentiske as in preseruing Oliues so curious are men to content their tooth as if all things were made to serue the belly Thus we see how things of diuers relishes are mingled together and one giues a tast vnto another and causeth to be pleasant at the tongues end Nay we entermingle all climats and coasts of heauen and earth to satisfie our appetite for to one kind of meat wee must haue drugs spices fetcht as far as from India to another out of Aegypt Candie and Cyrene and in one word for euery dish we haue a seuerall land to find vs sawce To conclude wee are growne to this passe that we cease not to sophisticate our viands euen with hurtfull things so they tast well yea and to make dishes of very poisons because we would deuoure and send all downe the throat But more plainely hereof in our professed discourse of the nature and vertue of Hearbs CHAP. XXVII ¶ The diuersitie of tasts and sauours IN the meane time
odoriferous any wood is the more durable also it is and euerlasting Next to these trees aboue rehearsed the wood of the Mulberrie tree is most commended which in tract of time as it growes to be old waxes also blacke Moreouer some kinds of wood as they be more lasting than other so they continue better being emploied in one kind of work than they do in another The Elme timber will well abide the aire and the wind The wild Oke Robur loueth to stand within the ground and the common Oke is good in the water let it bee vsed aboue ground to take the aire and the weather it will cast warpe and cleaue too bad The Larch wood agreeth passing wel with water works and so doth the black Alder. As for the Oke Robur it will corrupt and rot in the sea The Beech will doe well in water and the Walnut tree likewise but to stand within the earth they are principall good and haue no fellow And for the Iuniper it will hold the owne being laid vnder ground but for building aboue in the open aire it is excellent good The Beech and the Cerus wood rot quickly The smal Oke called Esculus canot abide the water The Cherrie tree wood is firme and fast the Elme and the Ash are tough how beit they will soone settle downward and sag being charged with any weight but bend they will before they break and in case before they were fallen they stood a while in the wood after they had a kerfe round about for their superfluous moisture to run out vntill they were well dried they would be the better and sure in building It is commonly said that the Larch wood if it be put into ships at sea is subject to wormes like as al other kinds of wood vnlesse it be the wild and tame Oliue For to conclude some timber is more readie to corrupt and be marred in the sea and others againe vpon the land CHAP. XLI ¶ Of wormes that breed in wood OF vermine that eat into wood there be 4 kinds The first are called in Latine Teredines a very great head they haue for the proportion of the body and with their teeth they gnaw These are found only in ships at sea and indeed properly none other be Teredines A second sort there be and those are land wormes or mothes named Tineae But a third kind resembling gnats the Greeks tearme by the name of Thripes In the fourth place bee the little wormes whereof some are bred of the putrified humor and corruption in the very timber like as others againe engender in trees of a worme called Cerastes for hauing gnawne and eaten so much that he hath roume enough to turne him about within the hole which he first made hee engendreth this other worm Now some wood there is so bitter that none of these wermin will breed in it as the Cypresse others likewise so hard that they cannot eat into it as the Box. It is a generall opinion that if the Firre be barked about the budding times at such an age of the Moon as hath been before said it will neuer putrifie in the water Reported it is by those that accompanied Alexander the great in his voiage into the East that in the Isle Tylos lying within the red sea there be certain trees that serue for timber to build ships the which were known to continue two hundred yeares and being drowned in the sea were found with the wood nothing at all perished They affirmed moreouer that in the same Island there grew little plants or shrubs no thicker than would wel serue for walking staues to cary in a mans hand the wood whereof was massie and ponderous striped also and spotted in manner of a Tygres skin but so brittle withall that if it chanced to fall vpon a thing harder than it selfe it would breake into fitters like glasse CHAP. XLII ¶ Of timber good for Architecture and Carpentrie what wood will serue for this or that worke and which is the strongest and surest timber for roufes of building WEe haue here in Italie wood and timber that will cleaue of it selfe For which cause our Maister Carpenters giue order to besmeare them with beasts dung and so to lie a drying that the wind and piercing aire should not hurt them The joists and plankes made of Firre and Larch are very strong to beare a great weight although they bee laid in length ouerthwart Contrariwise the Rafters made of the wild Oke Robur and Oliue wood wil bend yeeld vnder their load whereas the other named before do resist mainly withstand neither will they easily break vnlesse they haue much wrong nay sooner do they rot than faile otherwise in strength The Date-tree wood also is tough and strong for it yeeldeth not but curbeth the contrarie way The Poplar setteth and bendeth downeward whereas the Date-tree contrariwise rises vpward archwise The Pine and the Cypres are not subject either to rottennesse or worme-eating The Walnut tree wood soone bendeth and is saddle-backt as it lieth for thereof also they often vse to make beames and rafters but before that it breaketh it will giue wââ¦ing by a cracke which saued many a mans life in the Island Antandros at what time as being within the common baines they were skared with the crack that the floore gaue and ran forth speedily before all fell Pines Pitch trees and Allar are very good for to make pumps and conduit-pipes to conuey water and for this purpose their wood is boared hollow lying buried vnder the ground they will continue many a yeare sound and good let them bee vncouered without any mould and lie aboue ground they will quickly decay But if water also stand aboue the wood a wonder it is to see how they will harden therewith and endure Firre or Deale wood is of all other surest and strongest for roufes aboue head the same also is passing good for dore leaues for bolts and barres also in all seelings and wainscot or whatsoeuer it bee whether Greekish Campaine or Sicilian it is best and maketh very faire worke A man shall see the fine shauings thereof run alwaies round and winding like the tendrills of a vine as the Ioyner runneth ouer the painels and quarters with his plainer Moreouer the timber of it is commendable for coaches and chariots and there is not a wood that makes a better and stronger joynt with glew than it doth insomuch as the sound plank will sooner cleaue in any other place than in the joynt where it was glewed CHAP. XLIII ¶ Of glewing timber of rent clouen and sawen painell GReat cunning there is in making strong glew and in the feat of joyning with it as well in regard of seelings and wainscot made of thin bourd and painell as of marquetry other inlaid workes and for this purpose Ioyners doe chuse the mistresse threadie grain that is most streight which some call the Fertill veine because ordinarily it breedeth others
by the testimonie of ancient records and those faithfully deliuered vnto vs there are to be seen standing or growing at this day about Linternum a towne in Campaine certain Oliue trees that Scipio Africanus the first of that name planted long since with his owne hand In the same place also there is a Myrtle tree of a rare and admirable greatnesse and vnder it a caue or hole in the ground wherein by report there lyeth a dragon that keepes the ghost and soule of the said Scipio And at Rome in the court-yard belonging to the chappell of goddesse Diana Lucina there is yet to be seen a Lote tree standing before the said chappell built in the yeare of the Anarchie what time as Rome stood desolate of all magistrates and that was 369 yeares after the foundation of the citie but how much more auncient this tree is than the said temple God knoweth for elder it is without all question considering that of the groue or tuft of trees there growing which the Latines call Lucus the said goddesse Diana tooke her name Lucina Now it is 450 yeares or thereabout since that time and so old it is doubtlesse Another Lote tree there is and elder than that but the age thereof is likewise vncertain known it is by the name Capillata i. hairie so called because the haire of the vestall Nuns heads is vsually thither brought there consecrated and yet is there a third Lotus at Rome in the court-yard and cloister about the temple of Vulcan which Romulus built for a perpetuall monument and memoriall of a victorie and defraied the charges out of the tenths of the pillage and spoile that he woone from his enimies and this tree is at least full as old as the citie of Rome if it bee true that Massurius writeth The roots thereof passing along the street where the Burgeoises vse to keep their residence doe reach as farre as the stately market-place or Hall of Caesar. There grew by it a Cypresse tree also of the same age the which by an ouersight and carlesse neglect fell downe no longer since then the last yeare of Nero the Emperour But why stand wee long hereupon there is an Holme growing in the Vatican elder than Rome it selfe with a plate of brasse vpon it engrauen in Tuscan letters containing an inscription or title wherby it appeareth that euen in those daies the said tree for antiquity was worthy of peoples deuotion Moreouer it is well knowne that the Tyburtines are more antient than the Romans and their citie Tybur founded many a yeare before Rome and yet certain it is that there be yet three Holmes there remaining aliue elder than Tyburtus himselfe their first founder vpon which trees as the voice goeth he obserued the flight of birds and thereby tooke his auspices and warrant from the gods to build the said citie And by report the sonne he was of Amphiaraus who died at Thebes an hundred yeares before the Trojane warre Writers therebe who affirme that both that Plane tree which groweth before the temple of Apollo at Delphos was set by king Agamemnons owne hand as also another in the second groue of Caphys in Arcadie Furthermore at this day there be trees neere vnto the streight of Callipolis sometime called Hellespontus ouer-against the citie of the Ilians where old Troy stood growing close vnto the tombe or sepulââ¦re of Protesilaus which euery fourteene yeres so soon as they are shot vp so tall only as they may seeme to discouer and see the citie Ilium immediatly begin to wither and fade and afterwards spring againe and grow anew vnto that age and height aforesaid Hard by the citie of Ilium there be certain Okes also as folke say neer vnto the tomb of Ilus which were then planted or set of acornes when Troy began to be called Ilium It is reported moreouer that the Oliue tree remaines yet aliue at Argos vnto which Argus tied lady Io after she was transformed or turned into an Heifer About Heraclea in Pontus there be certaine altars erected to the honor of Iupiter surnamed Stratius ouer which there stand two Okes both set by the hands of Hercules In the very same tract there is an hauen ennobled and renowmed by the name of Amycus the K. of the Bebrycians there slaine His tombe from the very day of his sepulture hath been ouershadowed with a Bay tree planted there and then for that purpose which the people of that countrey do call The raging or mad Lawrell for pluck but a branch or twig thereof be it neuer so small and carie it into a ship all the marriners and passengers within will fall a brawling and neuer agree vntill it be cast out and throwne away out of the vessell that was brought thither from the tree aforesaid Of a certain region we haue before written called Aulocrene lying in the way between Apamia and Phrygia there the paisants of that countrey can shew you that very Plane tree on which Marsyas the musitian hung himselfe in a melancholly mood for that he was ouermatched in his owne cunning and professed skill by Apollo and surely like it is that euen then he made choise of that tree for the bignes ouer and besides in the Isle Delos there is a Date tree to be seen which hath remained there euer since that the said god Apollo was borne and reared there The wild Oliue tree at Olympia wherof Hercules ware the first coronet or guirland is kept and tended still with great deuotion The very same Oliue tree also by folks saying continueth this day at Athens which sprung vp at the very time that Minerua and Neptune stroue together about giuing the name to the citie Athens And thus much of long-liued trees Contrariwise Pomgranat trees Fig trees and Apple trees liue a very short time of these the hastie kind or Ienitings continue nothing so large as those that bear and ripen later neither yet those that carie sweet fruit last so wel as they that bring ' forth sower The Pomgranat tree also with the more pleasant fruit is shorter liued than the other The like is to be said of Vines and namely such as bear greater burden of grapes veeld most wine Howbeit Graecinus saith That there haue been vine trees known to liue threescore yeres It seems also that trees which come vp in waterish and moist places are not of any long continuance but soone die In deed Bay trees Apple trees and Pomgranat trees do age looke old quickly howbeit they spring fresh again from the root Well then the Oliue trees hold out life and liue very long for after the common opinion and agreement of all writers they continue ordinarily 200 yeares There is a little hil named Carne within the territory of Tusculum not far from Rome city side clad and beautified with a goodly groue and tuft of Beech trees so euen and round in the head as if they were curiously kept cut and
thirsty Now doth this ground shine againe after the plough-share resembling that veine of earth which Homer the very fountaine and spring of all good wits reported to haue bin engrauen by a god in the armour of Achilles adding moreouer that the said earth looked black withall wherein hee obserued a wonderfull piece of workemanship notwithstanding it was wrought in gold This is that ground I say which beeing new broken and turned vp with the plough the shrewd and busie birds seeke after and goe vnder the plough-share for it this is it that the very Rauens follow the plough man hard at heeles for yea and are readie for greedinesse to pecke and job vnder his very feet And here in this place I cannot chuse but relate the opinion that is currant among our roiotous and delicate gallants which some other thing also making for our purpose in the discourse of this argument which wee haue in hand Certes Cicero a man reputed as he was no lesse indeed for a second light of all good learning and literature Better are esteemed quoth hee the sweet compositions and ointments which tast of earth than of saffron where note by the way that this great Clearke chose to vse the word of tast rather than of smell in such odoriferous perfumes and mixtures Well to speake at a word surely that ground is best of all other which hath an aromaticall smell and tast with it Now if we list moreouer to be better instructed what kind of sauour and odour that should be which we would so gladly find in the earth we may oftentimes meet with that sent euen when she is not stirred with the plough but lieth stil and quiet namely a little before the sun-setting especially where a rainbow seemeth to settle pitch her tips in the Horizon also when after some long and continuall drought it beginneth to rain for then being wet and drenched therwith the earth will send vp a vapor and exhalation conceiued from the Sun so heauenly and diuine as no perfume how pleasant soeuer it be is comparable vnto it This smell there must be in it when you ere it vp with the plough which if a man find once he may be assured it is a right good ground for this rule neuer faileth so as to say a truth it is the very smel and nothing els that will iudge best of the earth and such commonly are new broken grounds where old woods were lately stocked vp for all men by a generall consent do commend such for excellent Moreouer the same ground for bearing is held to be far better whensoeuer it hath rested between and either lien ley or fallow whereas for vineyards it is clean contrary and therefore the more care and diligence is to be emploied in chusing such ground least wee approoue and verifie their opinion who say That the soile of all Italie is alreadie out of heart and weary with bearing fruit This is certaine that both there and elsewhere the constitution of the aire and weather both giueth and taketh away the opportunitie of good husbandrie that a man cannot otherwhiles do what he would for some kind of grounds there is so fat and ready to resolue into mire and dirt that it is impossible to plough them and make good worke after a shower of raine Contrariwise in Byzacium a territory of Africke it is far otherwise for there is not a better and more fruitfull piece of ground lieth without dore than it is yeelding ordinarily 150 fold let the season be dry the strongest teeme of oxen that is cannot plough it fall there once a good ground shower one poore asse with the help of a silly old woman drawing the plough-share at another side will be able to go round away with it as I my selfe haue seen many a time and often And whereas some great husbands there be that teach vs to inrich and mend one ground with another to wit by spreading fat earth vpon a lean and hungry soile likewise by casting drie light and thirstie mould vpon that which is moist and ouer-fat it is a meere follie and wastfull expence both of time and trauaile for what fruit can he euer looke to reape from such a mingle mangle of ground CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the earth which Britaine and France loue so well THe Britaines and Frenchmen haue deuised another meanes to manure their ground by a kind of lime-stone or clay which they call Marga i. Marle And verily they haue a great opinion of the same that it mightily inricheth it maketh it more plentiful This marle is a certaine fat of the ground much like vnto the glandulous kernels growing in the bodies of beasts and it is thickned in manner of marrow or the kernell of fat about it CHAP. VII ¶ The discourse of these matters continued according to the Greekes THe Greekes also haue not ouerpassed this in silence for what is it that they haue not medled withall The white clay or earth wherewith they vse to marle their grounds in the territorie of Megara those onely I meane which are moist and cold they call Leucargillae These marles all the kind of them do greatly inrich France and Britaine both and therefore it would not be amisse to speak of them more exactly In old time there were two sorts therof and no more but of late daies as mens wits are inuentiue euery day of one thing or other they haue begun to find out more kindes and to vse the same for there are now diuers marles the white the red the Columbine the clay soile the stony and the sandy and all these are but two in nature to wit either hard and churlish or else gentle and fat The triall of both is knowne by the handling and a twofold vse they yeeld either to beare corne onely or els for grasse and pasture also The stonie or grauelly soile is good only for to nourish corne which if it be white withall and the pit thereof found among springs or fountains it wil cause the ground to be infinite fruitfull but it is rough in handling and if it be laid too thick vpon the lands or leyes it wil burn the very ground The next to it is the red marle called also Capnumargos which hath intermingled in it a certaine small stony grit full of sand This stony marle the manner is to break and bruise vpon the very lands and for the first yeares hardly can the straw be mowne or cut downe for the said stones Lighter is this marle than the rest by the one halfe and therefore the cariage thereof into the field is least chargeable It ought to be spred and laid thin some thinke that it standeth somewhat vpon salt But both the one and the other will serue well for fifty yeares and the ground inriched thereby will during that time yeeld plenty as well of corne as grasse CHAP. VIII ¶ Sundry sorts of Earth and Marle OF those marles which are
found to be fat the white is chiefe and thereof be many sorts The most mordant and sharpest of them all is that whereof wee spake before A second kind there is of chalkish clay which our gold-smiths vse called Tripela this lieth a great depth within the earth insomuch as many times men are driuen to sinke pits 100 foot deep for it and those haue a small and narrow mouth aboue but within-forth and vnder the ground they be digged wider by reason that the veine thereof runneth many waies in manner of other mettall mines This is the marle so much vsed in Britain the strength therof being cast vpon a land will last 80 yeres and neuer yet was the man known that herewith marled the same ground twice in all his life time The third kind of white marle is that which the Greekes call Glischromargon it is no other than the Fullers chalkie clay mixed with a viscous and fatty earth The nature of it is to breed grasse better than to beare corne for after one crop of corne is taken off the ground in haruest before seed time is come for winter grain the grasse wil be so high growne that a man may cut it down and haue a plentiful after-math for hay and yet al the while that it hath corn vpon it you shall not see it to beare any grasse besides This marle continueth good 30 yeres if it be laid ouer-thick vpon a land it choketh the ground in manner of Cumine The Columbine marle the Gauls call in their language by a name borrowed of the Greeks Pelias i. Doue or Pigeon marle it is fetched out of the ground in clots and lumpes like as stones be hewed out of quarries with Sunne and the frost together it will resolue and cleaue into most thin slates or flakes This marle is as good for corne as for herbage As for sandy marle it will serue the turn for want of other yea and if the ground be cold moist and weely the husbandman will make choice thereof before other The Vbians vpon my knowledge vse to inrich their ground and make itmore battle though their territory otherwise be most fertile with any earth whatsoeuer prouided alwaies that it be digged vp three foot deep at least and laid a foot thick a deuise that no other country doth practise howbeit this soile and manner of manuring continueth good not aboue ten yeres the Heduans and Pictones haue forced their grounds and made them most plentifull with lime-stone which is found also by experience to be passing profitable for vines and oliues To come now to the ordering of this piece of husbandry the ground ought to be ploughed first before marle of any sort be cast vpon it to the end that the medicinable vertue substance thereof might the sooner and more greedily be receiued into it Now forasmuch as marle is at the first ouer-rough and hard not so free in the beginning as to resolue and turne into blade or grasse it had need of some compost or dung to be mingled with it for otherwise be it neuer so rich it will rather do harm than good to the ground by reason that it is yet strange and not acquainted therewith and yet help it this way as wel as you can it will not bring forth any plenty the first yere after it is laid on Last of all it skilleth much to consider the nature of the ground which you mean to marle for the dry marle sorteth well with a moist soile and the fatty hitteth that which is dry and lean But when the ground is of a middle temperature between both it mattereth not whether you vse the white gold-smiths chalke or the Columbine marle for either of them will serue well enough CHAP. IX ¶ The vse of ashes vpon lands of Dung what graine or pulse sowne doth make the ground more plentifull and what burneth it THe people dwelling beyond the Po make such account of ashes for to inrich the grounds withall that they prefer it before hors-muck and such like which dung because they take it to be very light they burne also into ashes for that purpose Howbeit as we haue said before in one and the same corn-land they vse not asheâ⦠and mucke both at once no more doe they cast ashes in hortyards for to nourish yong trees nor in fields for some kind of corn Some are of iudgement that grapes are fed with dust who also do cast dust vpon them when they begin to bloome yea and bestrew dust vpon the roots as well of Vines as other trees Certain it is that in the prouince of Narbon they vse so to do and they are assuredly persuaded that grapes ripen better and the vintage commeth the sooner thereby because in those parts dust doth more good than the Sun As for mucke there be diuers sorts thereof and in old time much vse there was of it for in Homer we read that long ago the good old king ãâã was found laying soile and dung vpon his land with his own hands The first that deuised mucking of grounds was by report Augeaâ⦠a king in Greece but Hercules divulged the practise thereof among the Italians who in regard of that inuention immortalized their K. Stercutius the son of Faunus M. Varro esteemeth the dung of Blackbirds gathered out of their bartons where they be kept in mew aboue al others He highly magnifieth and extolleth it also for that it bringeth forth so good forage to feed kine oxen and swine withall auouching for certaine that they will become fat beefe and pork with no meat sooner We must thinke well therfore and hope the best of the world now adaies since that our ancestors and forefathers so long ago had so great bartons and pens that the dung of fouls there kept was sufficient to help their hard and hungry grounds In the second degree of goodnesse Columella rangeth Pigeons dung gathered out of Doue-cotes the third place hee giueth to that of Hens and other land pullen reiecting altogether the dung of water-foule Howbeit all other Authors setting these two aside attribute with one voice and consent vnto the excrements of mans body the greatest praise for this purpose Some of them prefer mans vrine and namely when the haires of beast-hides haue bin soked therewith and quicke-lime together in the Tanners pits Others vse vrine alone by it selfe only they mingle water with it againe but in greater quantitie a good deale than they whose vrine it was did put to the wine when they drank it and good reason too for more need there is now to correct and represse the malice thereof considering that besides the natiue malignitie of the wine it selfe mans bodie hath giuen and imprinted into it a strong and vnsauorie quality Thus you may see how men labour striue and try conclusions to seed and inrich the very ground the best way they can deuise Next vnto the ordure and vrine of mans ââ¦ody the filthy dung of
backward vnder the ground And hereupon it is that folke forbeare either to go at all vpon it or else they tread very lightly Being thus sowed it must be gently watered for three daies following after the Suns setting that the earth may drinke equally in all places vntill the sprouts appeare aboue ground Now after they haue had a yeares growth they be translated and re-planted againe in rewes for by that time they are come to a span or nine inches in height but great care must be had that the time be temperat that is to say that the weather be fresh and faire without any wind Certes a wonderfull thing it is to be spoken that all the danger or security of this tree standeth vpon the choice of that only day wherein it is replanted for let there fall neuer so smal a rain or dew nay let the wind blow neuer so little it is a great hasard whether it will die For euer after it is warished and safe enough howbeit it cannot abide a glut of rain at any time following Moreouer as touching Iujubes they are likewise set of their graines in the moneth of Aprill But that kinde of Peaches or Abricots which be called Tuberes loue better to be graffed either vpon a skeg or wilde Plum-stocke or Quince or else vpon the wild Hart-Rhamme called Calabricum or Spina Cervina To knit vp this discourse the fruit Sebesten and the Servises may be graffed and planted both vpon the same kind of stocke and looke what will beare the one is apt to receiue the other CHAP. XI ¶ The manner of translating or replanting out of one seminarie or nource-garden vnto another How Elmes are to be planted Also as touching trenches SOme would haue vs to remoue plants out of one seminarie into another before they be set indeed where they should be for to continue which me-thinkes is a matter of more toile and curiositie than necessitie howsoeuer they make promise that by such transplanting the leaues will proue larger and broader Now for Elms their seed or grain is to be gathered about the Calends of March when it beginneth to turn yellow and before the leaues break forth After it hath bin dried in the shadow for two daies it is to be sown thick in a plot of ground well broken vp and laid hollow beforehand and then must there be mould searced ouer through a fine riddle to the same thickenesse as we haue appointed for the Cypres In case no raine do fall in due time it ought to be watered by hand After one yere the plants that come herof must be taken vp out of the trenches and ranges wherein they came vp and translated directly into the Elme plots where they are to grow with this care good regard that they stand a foot at least euery way distant one from another As for the male Elmes vnto which Vines are wedded because they are without seed it is better they were planted in the Autumne and for that they want seed they would be set of plants Here with vs about Rome ââ¦de they vse to replant them again in their groue-plots when they be fiue yeares old or as some would haue it so soon as they be come to 20 foot in height The maner whereof is this in a trench or ditch called Novenarius 3 foot deep in the ground and as many broad or rather more they are set which done for three foot in height euery way about the foot of each tree from the ground as it stands there must be banks raised of some earth after the maner of those seats which they cal Arulae in Campanie As for the spaces between tree and tree they ought to be set out and disposed according to the nature and scituation of the place and as the ground wil giue leaue In the champion and plain country those would be planted that are of a drier nature and likewise in a thinner course As for Ashes and Poplars because they make hast to spring leafe and bud out betimes it is meet that their plants likewise were set and ranged with the first that is to say about the Ideas of Februarie for they also grow of plants and may well be replanted Now for the order of setting trees either in groues hort-yards or vine-yards wee ought to follow the vsuall maner of checquer row called Quincuntial which is not so common but it is also as necessarie not only good to admit all kindes of winde to passe betweene but also faire and pleasant to the eye considering that which way soeuer a man looks there offer to his sight both the allies and rewes directly ranged in order The Opiets or Wich-Hazels are sown of seed after the same maner as Elme in like sort also are they to be remoued transplanted out of their nource-plots as if they were wild drawn from the very forrests Moreouer aboue all things this would be considered that a tree to be remoued ought to be translated either into the like ground from whence it came or else into a better For we must take heed how we remoue plants out of warme grounds where the fruit is early ripe into others that be colder or late in ripening Semblably out of cold hard places they would not be translated into warm mellow and forward Item if it be possible let the trenches be cast and digged so long before that a good thicke green sourd be ouergrowne against the time that you mean to plant Mago is of opinion That the said trenches should stand made a yeare before at the least that they might be fully seasoned with the Sun and receiue all rain winde weather throughly But in case it fall out otherwise that the opportunitie thereof be ouerslipt oâ⦠our leisure wil not serue he would haue fires to be made in the midst of them two moneths before and in no case any trees to be set but after showres of rain And if the ground be tough or hard and standing vpon the cley the ditches ought according to Mago for to be three cubits deepe euery way and if they be toplant plum trees he would haue them be a hand-bredth more or spanne in deapth and digged on euery side hollow and vaulted in manner of a fournace with a narrower mouth in the top In a blacke veine of ground by his direction it is sufficient that they be two cubites and a hand-breadth or spanne deepe and made foure-square in manner of a quadrangle In the measure and proportion of these ditches the Greeke writers doe accord in one saying that they ought not to be more than two foot and a halfe deepe nor wider than two foot bare also that in no place it must be vnder a foot and a halfe deepe for that in a moist soile we shal come ordinarily neer to water about that skantlin and not before But Cato is of another judgment If quoth he the place be waterish let the trenches be
three foot broad in the mouth but in the bottome not aboue a foot and a hand-breadth but see they bee foure foot deep prouided alwaies that they be paued beneath with stone and for want thereof laid with green willow bastons and for default of them with vine cuttings or such trousse so that they lie halfe a foot thicke But considering the nature of trees wherof we haue before written I think it not amisse to adde somewhat of mine owne namely The more ebbe that any roots of trees creepe vnder the ground the deeper they must be set into the earth as for example the Ash and the Oliue tree for they and such other like ought to stand foure foot deepe As for all the rest it skils not if they goe no deeper than 3 foot for that is thought sufficient Stocke me vp this root here quoth Papyrius Cursor a Roman in General in a brauery when he meant to terrifie the Pretor of the Praenestines Whereby it is plain that the more secure safe way in his judgment was rather to cut the stocke and maister Root indeed than slightly to pare away those bare roots that appeare naked aboue ground for that mought be done and the tree neuer the worse for it Some there be that would haue round peble stones laid in the bottom of such ditches which might as well contain and keep water as let it forth and giue issue therto whereas broad flat stones would not so doe but besides hinder the root that it should not goe downe and take hold of the earth For to keep therefore a meane betweene it were good in mine opinion to lay grauell vnder the root Moreouer there be diuers men of this mind that a tree should not be remoued either vnder two yeares old or aboue three wheras others make no question to transplant them after the first yeare without more adoe Cato alloweth not of translating a tree vnlesse it beare in thicknesse more than 5 fingers And verily so exactly hath he written hereof that he would not haue forgotten to marke in the barke of trees the South side before they were taken vp in case hee had thought that it was material to the replanting of them that they should stand just in the same position and accustomed coast of the heauen as they did before for feare least that side which regarded the North if now it should be opposed against the South might cleaue and rift with the heat of the Sunne not vsed thereto and contrariwise the parts which looked Southward might now by the Northern winds be clunged and congealed withall Now there be some that affect a cleane contrarie course and namely in the Fig tree and the Vine exchaunging the one side for the other being fully persuaded that by that means they will beare leaues thicker preserue and defend their fruit better and in the end shed fewer more particularly that the fig tree therby wil be the more easie to climb Most men take great heed of this only that when they prune trees and cut off the top ends of boughes the cut may be toward the South without any regard or consideration that in so doing they expose the boughs to the danger of cleauing by reason of the hote Southern wind which lieth vncessantly beating vpon them Yet hold I rather with them that would haue branches cut Southeast or Southwest namely toward the points where the Sun is at the fift and eight houres of the day Another secret there is besides wherof they are as ignorant howbeit not to be neglected namely to beware that the roots of such trees as are to be replanted stay not long aboue ground and thereby wax drie also that trees bee not digged vp either standing into the North or in any quarter between that point and the Southeast where the Sunne riseth in midwinter in case the wind sit in those corners or at leastwise that the roots be not exposed bare against any of those winds for surely many a tree dies hereby and husbandmen neuer know the cause thereof Cato vtterly condemneth al maner of winds whatsoeuer yea and raine too all the while that trees be in remoouing Moreouer in this case it is singular good that there hang to the roots of these trees when they be translated as much of the old earth wherein they liued and grew before as may bee yea and if it were possible to bring them away with the turfes whole and entire lapped fast about the roots And therefore Cato prouided wel that such yong plants should be caried in baskets earth and altogether with the roots Doubtlesse not without very great reason there is one Author saith That it is suffiââ¦nt that the vppermost course of the old mouth that lay at the foot of the tree should be put ãâã the root thereof now when it is replanted Some write that if the bottom of the hole or graue be paued with stone where Pomegranate trees should stand the Apple or fruit that they bear wil neuer burst nor cleaue vpon the trees Also that the roots of trees when they are to be set should be laid bending a tone side and not stand direct and streight Moreouer that the tree in any case be set just in the mids of the ditch or hole made for it It is said moreouer that if a man plant a fig-tree together with the sea-onion Scilla that is a kind of the Bulbi it wil make hast to bear Figs and those wil not be subject to the worme and yet other fruits will be worm-eaten neuerthelesse set them with the said Scilla as well as you can As for the roots of a tree who makes any doubt that great care should be had in the taking of them vp so as they might seeme rather drawn forth gently and not plucked vp violently But my purpose is not to dwell in these matters nor to stand much vpon such points which haue a manifest reason and wherof no man is ignorant or doubtfull to wit that the earth is to be well driuen and beaten downe close with a rammer that it may lie fast about the roots which Cato judgeth to bee a principall point for to be obserued in this businesse who also giueth a rule that the place where a tree is cut in the body should be plastred ouer with dung couered ouer also and fast tied with leaues CHAP. XII ¶ Of the spaces and distances that ought to bee betweene trees planted of their shaddowes and droppings of the place where they should be planted IT belongeth to this place properly for to speak of the distances between tree and tree in the setting Some writers are of opinion That Pomgranat trees Myrtle trees Lawrels should be planted thicker than ordinarie howbeit with this regard that they be set 9 foot a sunder one from another As for Apple trees they may stand a little more at large Peare trees somewhat wider than they Almond trees and Fig trees yet a
blossome and fruit This is a generall thing obserued That al trees will thriue and prosper better yea and grow sooner to perfection if the shoots and suckers that put out at the root as also other water twigs be rid away so that al the nourishment may be turned to the principall stocke only The work of Nature in sending out these sprigs taught vs the feat to couch and lay sets in the ground by way of propagation and euen after the same manner briers and brambles doe of themselues put forth a new off-spring for growing as they do smal and slender and withal running vp to be very tall they cannot chuse but bend and lean to the ground where they lay their heads againe and take fresh root of their owne accord without mans hands and no doubt ouergrow they would and couer the whole face of the earth were they not repressed and withstood by good husbandrie The consideration whereof maketh me to enter into this conceit That men were made by Nature for no other end but to tend and look vnto the earth See yet what a commodious deuice we haue learned by so wicked and detestable a thing as this bramble is namely to lay slips in the ground and quick-sets with the root Of the same nature is the Yuie also euen to grow and get new root as it creepeth and climbeth And by Catoes saying not onely the Vine but Fig trees Oliues also wil grow increase of cuttings couched in the ground likewise Pomegranate trees all kinds of Apple-trees Baies Plum-trees Myrtles Filberds Hazels of Praeneste yea Plane-trees Now be there two waies to increase trees by way of propagation or enterring their twigs The first is to force a branch of a tree as it grows downe to the ground so to couch it within a trench foure foot square euery way after two yeares to cut it atow where it bent from the tree and after three yeares end to transplant it But if a man list to haue such plants or young trees to beare longer the best way were to burie the said branches at the first within would either in paniers or earthen vessels that when they are once rooted they might be remoued all whole and entire in them and so replanted The second is a more curious and wanton deuise than this namely to procure roots to grow on the very tree by carrying and conveighing branches either through earthen pots or oisier baskets full of earth thrust close to the said branches and by this means the branches feeling comfort of the warme earth enclosing them on euery side are easily intreated to take root euen among Apples and other fruits in the head of the tree for surely by this meanes we desire to haue roots to chuse growing vpon the very top So audacious are men and of such monstrous spirits to make one tree grow vpon another far from the ground beneath Thus in like manner as before at 2 yeares end the said impes or branches that haue taken root be cut off and carried away in the foresaid pots or paniers thither where they shall grow As for the Sauine an hearb or plant it is that wil take if it bee in this sort couched in the ground also a sprig if it be slipped off cleane from the stocke will come again and root Folke say that if a man take wine lees or an old bricke out of the wal broken small and either pour the one or lay the other about the root it wil prosper and come forward wonderfully In like manner may Rosemarie be set as the Sauine either by couching it or slipping off a branch from it for neither of them both hath any seed To conclude the hearb or shrub Oleander may be set of any impe and so grow or else come of seed CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of encreasing trees by seed the manner of graffing one in another how the fine deuise of inoculation by way of scutcheon and emplaister was deuised NAture not willing to conceal any thing from man hath also taught him to engraffe trees with their seed and graine For oftentimes it happeneth that birds being hungrie haue greedily gobled vp seed and fruit whole and sound which after they haue moistened in their gorge and tempered it also with the warmth and natural heat of their stomack they send forth and squirt out again when they meute together with their dung that giueth vnto it a vertue of fecunditie and so lay it vpon the soft beds of tree leaues which many a time the winds catch and driue into some clifts and cranies of the barke by meanes whereof wee haue seene a Cherrie tree vpon a Willow a Plane tree vpon a Lawrell a Lawrell vpon a Cherrie trre and at one time Berries and fruits of diuerse sorts and sundry colors hanging at one and the same tree It is said moreouer that the Chough or Daw hath giuen occasion herof by laying vp for store seeds and other fruit in creuises and holes of trees which afterwards sprouted and grew From hence came the manner of inoculation or graffing in the scutcheon namely to cut out a parcel of the barke of that tree which is to be graffed with a sharp knife made in manner of a shomakers nall blade and then to enclose within the said concauity the eie or seed taken out of another tree with the said instrument And in old time verily this was the only maner of inoculation vsed in fig-trees and apple trees Virgil teaches vs to open a concauity in the knot or joint of a bud that driueth out the barke and within it to enclose the gem or bud taken out of another tree And thus much for the graffing that Nature hath shewed But there is another way of graffing which casualtie and chance hath taught And to say a truth this Maister hath shewed well neer more experiments now daily practised than Nature her selfe Now the manner of it came by this occasion A certain diligent painfull husbandman minding to mound and empale his cottage round about with a fence of an hedge to the end that the stakes should nor rot laid a sill vnder them of Iuie wood but such was the vitall force of the said Iuie that it took hold fast of the stakes and clasped them hard insomuch as by the life therof they also came to liue and euident it was to the eye that the log of Iuie vnderneath was as good as the earth to giue life and nourishment vnto the stakes afore-said To come then vnto our graffing which we haue learned by this occasion first the head or vpper part of the stock must be sawed off very euen and then pared smooth with a sharp gardenhook or cutting-knife which don there offers vnto vs a two-fold way to perform the rest of the worke The first is to set the graffe or Sion between the barke and the wood for in old time truly men were afraid at first to cleaue the stocke but
of branches but the hole first ought to be made easie and large with a strong stake or crow of iron In sum all these boughs ought to be 3 foot long smaller in compasse than a mans arme sharpned at the one end and with the barke saued whole and sound with great care As for the Myrtle tree it wil come also of a cutting the Mulberry will not otherwise grow for to couch and plant them with their branches we are forbidden for feare of the lightnings And forasmuch as we are fallen into the mention of such cuttings I must now shew the manner of planting them also aboue all things therefore regard would be had that they be taken from such trees as be fruitfull that they be not crooked rough and rugged nor yet sorked ne yet slenderer than such as would fil a mans hand or shorter than a foot in length Item That the barke be not broken or rased that the nether end of the cut be set into the ground and namely that part alwaies which grew next the root and last of al that they be banked wel with earth about the place where they spring and bud forth vntil such time as the plant haue gotten strength CHAP. XVIII ¶ The manner of planting ordering and dââ¦essing Olive trees Also which be the conuenient times for graffing WHat rules by the iudgment of Cato are to be obserued in the dressing and husbanding of Oliues I think it best to set down here word for word as he hath deliuered them Thus he saith therefore The trunches or sets of Oliue trees which thou meanest to lay in trenches make them 3 foot long handle them gently and with great care that in cutting sharpning or squaring them the bark take no harm nor pill from the wood As for such as thou dost purpose to plant in a nourse-garden for to remoue again see they be a foot in length and in this manner set them Let the place be first digged throughly with a spade vntill it be well wrought lie light and brought into temper when thou puttest the said truncheon into the ground beare it downe with thy foot if it goe not willingly deepe enough by that means driue it lower with a little beetle or mallet but take heed withall that thou riue not the barke in so doing A better way there is To make a hole first with a stake or crow before thou set it into the ground and therein maist thou put it at ease and so will it liue also and take root the sooner when they be three yeares old haue then a carefull eye to them in any case and marke where and when the bark turneth If thou plant either in ditches or furrowes lay three plants together in the earth but so as their heads may stand a good way asunder aboue the ground also that there be no more seen of them than the bredth of foure fingers or els if thou thinke good set the buds or eyes only of the Oliue Moreouer when thou art about to take vp an oliue plant for to set again be wary and carefull that thou break not the root get as many spurres or strings called the beard as thou canst earth and all about them and when thou hast sufficiently couered those roots with mould in the replanting be sure thou tread it down close with thy foot that nothing hurt the same Now if a man demand and would gladly know what is the fittest time for planting oliues in one word I will tell him Let him chuse a dry ground in seed time i. in Autumne and a fat or battle ground in the spring furthermore begin to prune thy Oliue tree 15 daies before the Aequinox in the spring and from that time forward for the space of sorty daies thou canst not do amisse The maner of pruning or disbranching them shall be thus Looke where thou seest a place fertile if thou spy any dry or withered twigs or broken boughs that the wind hath met withall be sure thou cut them away euerie one but if the plot of ground be barren eare it vp better with the plough take pains I say to till it well to breake all clots and make it euen to clense the trees likewise of knurs and knots and to discharge them of all superfluous wood also about Autumne bate the earth from about the roots of Oliues and lay them bare but in stead thereof put good mucke thereto Howbeit if a man do very often labor the ground of an olive plot and take a deep stitch he shall now and then plough vp the smallest roots thereof so ebbe they will run within the ground which is not good for the trees for in case they spread aloft they will wax the thicker and so by that means the strength and vertue of the Oliue will turne all into the root As touching all the kinds of Olive trees how may they be also in what ground they ought to be set and wherein they will like liue best likewise what coast of the heauen they should regard we haue shewed sufficiently in our discourse and treatise of Oile Mago hath giuen order in his books of husbandry that in planting them vpon high grounds in dry places and in a vein of clay the season should be between Autumne and mid-Winter but in case you haue a fat moist or waterish soile he sets down a longer time namely from haruest to mid-winter But this rule of his you must take to be respectiue to the clymat of Africk only for in Italy at this day verily men vse to plant most in the Spring howbeit if a man hath a mind to be doing also in Autumne he may be bold to begin after the Equinox for during the space of 40 dayes together euen to the setting of the Brood-hen star there are no more but 14 days ill for planting In Barbarie the people haue this practise peculiar to themselues For to graffe in a wilde Oliue stock whereby they continue a certain perpetuity for euer as the boughs that were graffed and as I may say adopted first wax old and grow to decay a second quickly putteth forth afresh taken new from another tree and in the same old stock sneweth yong and liuely and after it a third successiuely and as many as need so as by this meanes they take order to eternise their Oliues insomuch as one Oliue plant hath bin known to haue prospered in good estate a world of yeares This wilde Oliue aforesaid may be graffed either with sions set in a cliffe or els by way of inoculation with the scutcheon aforesaid But in planting of Oliues this heed must be taken that they be not set in a hole where an Oke hath been stocked vp by the root for there be certain canker-wormes called Erucae in Latine or Raucae breeding in the root of an Oke which eat the same and no doubt will do as much by the Oliue tree Moreouer it is found by experience
Figge tree hath gotten some strength and is growne to sufficient bignesse for to beare a graffe which ordinarily is at three yeares end or at the vtmost when it is fiue yeares old the head thereof must be cut or sawed off and then the branch or bough of the Oliue beforesaid being well clensed and made neat and the head end thereof as is beforesaid thwited and scraped sharpe howbeit not yet cut from the mother stocke must bee set fast in the shanke of the Figge-tree where it must bee kept well and surely tied with bands for feare that thus beeing forced and graffed arch-wise it start and flurt not out againe and returne vnto the owne Thus beeing of a mixt and meane nature betweene a branch or bough growing still vnto the Tree and yet laied in the ground to take new root and an Impe or Sion graffed for the space of three yeares it is suffered to feed and grow indifferently betweene two mothers or rather by the meanes thereof two motherstocks are growne and vnited together But in the fourth yeare it is cut wholly from the owne mother and is become altogether an adopted child to the Fig-tree wherein it is incorporat A pretty deuise I assure you to make a Fig tree beare Oliues the secret whereof is not knowne to euery man but I my selfe do conceiue and see the reason of it well enough Moreouer the same regard and consideration aboue rehearsed as touching the nature of grounds whether they be hot cold moist or dry hath shewed vs also the manner of digging furrows and ditches For in watery places it will not be good to make them either deep or large whereas contrariwise in a hot and dry soile they would be of great capacity both to receiue and also to hold store of water And verily this is a good point of husbandry for to preserue not only yong plants but old trees also for in hot countries men vse in Summer time to raise hillocks and banks about their roots and couer them all therewith for feare lest the extreme heat of the Sun should scoreh and burne them But in other parts the manner is to dig away the earth and to lay the roots bare and let in the wind to blow vpon them The same men also in winter doe banke the roots about and thereby preserue them from the frost Contrariwise others in the winter open the ground for to admit moisture to quench their thirst But in what ground soeuer it be where such husbandry is requisit the way of clensing tree roots and ridding the earth from them is to dig a trench three foot round about And yet this must not be don in medows forasmuch as for the loue of the Sun and of moisture the roots of trees run ebbe vnder the face of the earth And thus much verily may suffice in generall for the planting and graffing of all those trees that are to beare fruit CHAP. XX. ¶ Of Willow and Osier plots of places where reeds and Canes are nourished also of other trees that be vsually cut for poles props and stakes IT remaineth now to speake of those trees which are planted and nourished for others and for Vines especially to which purpose their wood is vsually lopped to serue the turne Among which Willowes and Oisiers are the chiefe and to be placed in the formost rank and ordinarily they loue to grow in moist and watery grounds Now for the better ordering of the Oisier the place would be well digged before and laid soft two foot and a halfe deep and then planted with little twigs or cuttings of a foot and a halfe in length and those prickt in or else stored with good big sets which the fuller and rounder they be in hand so much better they are for to grow and sooner will they proue to be trees Betweene the one and the other there ought to be a space of six foot When they are come to three yeares growth the manner is to keepe them downe with cutting that they stand not aboue ground more than two foot to the end that they might spread the better in bredth when time serues be lopped shred more easily without the help of ladder for the Withie or Osier is of this nature that the nearer it groweth to the ground the better head it beareth These trees also as wel as others require as men say to haue the ground digged laid light about them euery yere in the month of April And thus much for the planting and ordering of Oisier willowes which must be emploied in binding and winding As for the other willow which affoordeth big boughs for poles perches and props those may be set likewise of twigs and cuttings and trenched in the ground after the same manner These lightly euery fourth yere will yeeld good poles or staues for that purpose would they then be ordinarily cut and lopped If these trees become old their boughs by propagation may still maintain and replenish the place to wit by couching them within the ground after they haue lien soone yeare and taken root by cutting them clean from the stocke-father An Oisier plat of one acre stored thus will yeeld twigs sufficient for windings and bindings to serue a vineyard of fiue and twenty acres To the same purpose men are wont to plant the white poplar or Aspe in manner following First a piece of ground or a quarter must be digged and made hollow two foot deep and therin ought to be laid cuttings of a foot and a half in length after they haue had two daies drying but so as they stand one from another a foot and a handbreadth be couered ouer with mould two cubits thick As touching canes and reeds they loue to grow in places more wet and waterish than either the Willows and Oisiers aboue said oâ⦠the Poplars Men vse to plant their bulbous roots which some call their oilets or eies in a trench of a span depth and those two foot and an halfe asunder These reeds do multiplie and increase of themselues if a plot be once planted with them after the old plants be extirped destroied And surely this is found now adaies to be the better and the more profitable way euen to commit all to Nature rather than to gueld and weed them out where they seem to grow ouer thick as the practise was in old time for the maner of their roots is to creepe one within another and to be so interlaced continually as if they were twisted together The fit and proper time to plant and set these canes or reeds is a little before the calends of March to wit before the oilets or eies aboue said begin to swell They grow vntill mid-winter at which time they wax hard which is a signe that they haue done growing and this is the only season also for to cut them Likewise the ground would be digged about them as often as vines The order of planting them is two
manner of waies for either the roots be laid ouertwhart or acrosse and but shallow within the ground and look how many eies there be in the root so many plants wil spring aboue the earth or els they be pitched down right within a graue or trench of a foot depth so as there be two eies or buds vnder the ground the third aboue but close and meet with it but this caueat is to be giuen that the head thereof may bend forward toward the earth for feare that it drinke in any dew which might stand and settle vpon it This also is obserued that they be cut euer in the wane of the Moone as also before that they are imploied about Vineyards for to beare vp vines they would haue a whole yeares drying for such are more profitable than the greene The best staies to beare vp Vines are made of the Chestnut tree for why the wood is gentle and tractable tough withall and induring long besides it hath this property that cut it when you list it will spring againe more plentifully than any willowes It loueth to grow in a gentle and sandy ground but principally if the same stand vpon a moist grauell or a hot earth full of little pebbles and namely where there is good store of such soft stones as will soone crumble into grit neither makes it any matter how much the place be shadowed nor how cold and exposed to the Northern winds for such it liketh well enough yea although it be the side or hanging of an hill as bleake and cold as may be But contrariwise it may not abide the red French earth the chalkie or marle ground nor in one word any that is battle or fruitfull Set it is of a Nut as we haue before said but it commeth not vp vnlesse there be fiue in a heape piled together and those of the fairest biggest sort Moreouer the plot wherin you mean to haue Chestnuts grow must be ouvertly broken vp aloft from between Nouember and Februarie in which time the Nuts vse to be loose and to fall of themselues from the tree and spring vnderneath finding the ground light and hollow vnder them Betwixt each heape set in manner aforesaid there ought to be a foot space euery way and the trench wherein they be set of a span depth out of this plot as out of a seminary and nource-garden these yong plants are to be translated into another and then they must be set two foot asunder Howbeit they ought to be aboue two yeres old first before they be remoued and replanted Moreouer a man may increase Chestnut-trees by propagation to wit by couching and trenching the branches therof as they grow to the mother and there is not another tree againe that sooner taketh that way than it doth for the root thereof being laid bare the whole branch must bee interred along in the trench made for the purpose leauing out the end only aboue ground Thus shall you haue one tree spring from it and another from the root Howbeit planted in this wise it loueth not to be transplanted it cannot lodge elsewhere but dreadeth and hateth all change of soile and therefore such plots of ground as do affoord coppises of Chest-nut trees are stored with plants comming of marrons or nut-kernels rather than quicke-sets or plants set with the root For the ordering and dressing of them there is no other labour required than the others before rehearsed namely for the two first yeares inseing to dig the ground loose about their roots and to proine or cut away the superfluous twigs for euer after they will shift well enough manure themselues by reason that their owne shade will kill those superfluous water-shoots that spring out either from the root or the sides of the tree A coppise of these trees is cut ordinarily within euery seuenth yere and one acre of them will yeeld props enough for to serue a vineyard of twenty acres for besides that one pole of them will abide to be clouen and make two props apeece they will last very well vntill the next fall of the wood or coppis be past Moreouer the Mast-tree called Esculus is planted and commeth vp in like sort howbeit passing vntoward and vnwilling they are to grow and therefore they stand ten yeres at least before they be cut and lopped Set Acorns of this tree Esculus whersoeuer you please they wil surely take and come vp but the trench must be a span deep and the Acornes two foot asunder And foure times a yeare are they to be lightly * raked and clensed from weeds A forke or prop made of this wood lasteth very well and rotteth not and in very truth the more that the tree it selfe is cut and mangled the better it springeth and putteth forth new shoots Ouer and besides these trees abouenamed there be others that vse to be cut and lopped for Vine props and staies to wit the Ash the Bay tree the Peach and Hazell tree yea and the Apple tree but these are all of them lateward and slow of growth neither will they indure so well without rotting if they stand any time in the ground and much lesse will they abide any weâ⦠But on the othe side the Elder tree of all others is most firme for to make poles and stakes of It wil grow of sions and imps euen as the Poplar As for the Cypresse tree we haue of it spoken sufficiently already CHAP. XXI ¶ The manner and skill of husbanding and dressing Vineyards NOw that we haue treated sufficiently of the instruments furniture and tackling as it were belonging to Vineyards it remaineth to speake of the nature of vines and to deliuer with especiall regard the manuring and dressing them According therefore as wee may see in Vines and some other trees which haue within them a spungeous matter and light substance their twigs and branches do containe a kind of marrow or pith inclosed between certain knots or ioints wherewith their stalkes are diuided and parted As for the fistulous concauities they are but short all of them and toward the top shorter and shorter but euermore betweene two knots they inclose the ioints aforesaid Now this marow this vegetatiue and vitall substance I say call it whether you wil runneth forward stil on end al the length of the hollow kex or pipe so long as it findeth no resistance by the way but meeting once with a ioint or hard knot which maketh head vpon it not suffering the same to passe forward it beeing driuen backe returneth downward howbeit in that reuerberation breaketh out vnder those knots and putteth foorth certaine wings or pinnions like arme-pits whereas the buds or leaues doe come but alwaies in alternatiue course one of this side another of that after the maner of reeds canes and fennellgeant as hath bin shewed before in such wise that if one wing ââ¦ise forth at the bottome of the lower knot on the right hand another
springeth for it on the left hand in that next aboue it and thus they keep order the whole length of the branch These sprouts when they are come once to some bignesse and do branch there be called of the Latines by a prety name Gemmae as it were precious stones but so long as they are no other than buds sprouting forth vnder the concauity or pit-hole of the foresaid ioints they term them Oculos i. Oilets or Eies marie in the very top they be named by them Germina i. Sprigs or Burgeons After this order are ingendered the maine branches the smaller sprigs yearly cut away the grapes leaues and yong tendrils of Vines But hereat I wonder most that the burgeons comming forth on the right side be alwaies more tough and firm than those of the left To come now vnto the planting of these vines the shoots or branches must be cut iust in the midst between the foresaid knots or ioints so as the marrow in no wise run out And if you would plant fig-sets or sions they ought verily to be a span long and then to be prickt into the ground but first there should bee a hole made with a little stake with the greater end that grew next to the body of the tree downward prouided alwaies that two oilets or buds stand aboue ground Now these oilets are properly in twigs or sets of trees those buds called where the new spring first shooteth forth And herupon it is that these sions or cuttings being set in nource-gardens beare the same yere that very fruit which they would haue borne vpon the tree if they had not been cut off and namely if they be set in the right season whiles they be plump and full for hauing conceiued on the Tree they do consummat the sad conception so begun and are deliuered thereof elswhere And look what Fig-sets be in this manner planted may be easily and without danger remoued and translated the third yere after For certes as this tree of all others soon ageth and indureth not long so in recompence of short life this one gift it hath of Nature That it comes forward apace quickly groweth to the full bignesse and beareth fruit As for the Vine there is not a tree that is planted more sundrie waies nor affourdeth greater store of sions or sets than it For first and formost nothing thereof is planted but that which is vnprofitable hurtfull superfluous and of necessitie to be pruned and cut away But in the pruning this rule must be obserued that those branches bee cut off which were portoirs and bare grapes the yere before The manner in old time was to plant or set a sion headed as it were and taking hold on both sides of the old wood and hard stock whereupon because it was fashioned like a little mallet or hammer head it was and is at this day called in Latine Malleolus But afterwards they began to slip off a twig with a heele only of the old wood as they vse to doe in a Fig-tree there is not a better way to make a Vine surely to take and liue than this A third sort there is besides of sions or sets which are more readily gotten without any such heele of the hard wood and therefore they be wreathed and twined when they be set into the ground whereupon they be called in Latine Sagittae i. Shafts for the same sions only cut off and not wreathed are named Trigemmes as a man would say twigs with 3 buds or spurts therefore of one and the same vine-branch a man may in this sort make many kinds of sions or sets Howbeit that is to be noted that if you set any yong sprigs that neuer bare fruit but leafe onely the Vines comming thereof will be euer barren and therefore none ought to be planted but such as are fruitfull A vine-set or cutting that hath ioints standing thin but here there is thought to be fruitlesse but contrariwise if it be set thick with buds by all likelihood it will beare plentifully Some are of opinion that no sions should be put into the ground but those that haue floured already also that to set such cuttings as be called shafts which haue no part of the old wood is not so fit for that in remouing they are in danger to break whereas they were writhen Now when you haue gotten such sets as be meet for planting let them be a foot long at the least and carry fiue or six knots and at this length they cannot possibly haue fewer than three buds Moreouer the best way is presently to set them the very same day that they be gathered But in case a man be driuen to keep them long before they be put into the ground great heed would be taken according to the rule before said that they be not laid aboue ground that they dry not in the Sun that they take no wind nor loose their fresh vigor by cold And if it chance that they lie out any while in the dry aire they would be laied to soke in water many daies together vntill they be refreshed and look green again before they be set into the earth The plot or quarter within the nource-garden or vineyard ought to be wel exposed to the Sun of a good largenesse and sufficiently moulded also it must be well digged for 3 foot broad with a grubbing double toothed forke then must you goe deeper and cast vp the earth with a broad spade or shouell after that the same hath bin broken vp with a mattocke or yron toole carying foure foot in the head so as the ditch may go two foot directly deep into the ground Which done the ditch is to be clensed the mould to be spread abroad not left lying raw in that maner but to take a kind concoction in the weather And herein must the labourer proceed and be ruled by measure and trie his worke thereby for iâ⦠the earth be not well delued it will be soone found out by the vneuen balks or beds There would be a iust measure taken also of the allies that lie between the beds All things being thus prepared let vs come now to the planting of the sets a foresaid which would be couched either in trenches made of purpose or in long furrowes and then the finest and most delicate mould that can be found is to be cast aloft But all this preuaileth not in a leane and hungry ground vnlesse fatter earth be laied as a pallet vnderneath Moreouer this is tobe looked vnto that two sets at the least be moulded and laid within the earth together in one range also they must be so couched that they leane with their heads close vpon the earth next about them yea and with one and the same stake the said earth ought to be driuen close and fast about them Ouer ane besides throughout the whole plot or quarter of this nource-garden regard is to be had that between
those raised vp well with earth and bedded from the brims and edges on the lower ground As for such which shall be made longer and able to receiue two vine-plants growing contrary one to the other they shall be called in Latine Alvei Aboue al the root of the vine ought to stand just in the midst of the hole or ditch but the head and wood thereof which resteth vpon the sound and firme ground as neere as possible is must beare directly into the point of the Aequinoctiall Sun-rising and withall the first props that it leaneth vpon would be of Reeds and Canes As touching the bounding and limitation of a vineyard the principall way which runneth streight East and West ought to carry 18 foot in breadth to the end that two carts may passe easily one by another when they meet the other crosse allies diuiding euery acre just into the mids must be ten foot broad but if the plot or modell of the vineyard wil beare it these allies also which lie North and South would be as largeful as the foresaid principal high way Moreouer this would be alwaies considered That vines bee planted by fiues i. that at euery fifth perch or pole that shoreth them vp there be a path diuiding euery range and course and one bed or quarter from another If the ground be stiffe and hard it must of necessitie bee twice digged ouer and therein quick-sets only that haue taken root must be replanted marie in case it be a loose mould light and gentle you may set very cuttings and sions from the stock either in furrow or in trench chuse you whether But say it be a high ground and vpon the hill better is it to cast it into furrowes ouerthwart than to dig it that by this meanes the perches or props may keep vp the ground better which by occasion of raine water would settle downeward When the weather is disposed to raine or the ground by nature drie it is good planting vine-sets or sions at the fall of the leafe vnlesse the constitution of the tract and qualitie of a country require the contrary for a dry and hot soile would be planted in Autumne or the fal of the leafe wheras a moist and cold coast may tarry euen vntill the end of Spring Let the soile be dry and hard bootlesse it will be to plant yea though it were a very quick-set root and all Neither will it do well to venter the setting of imps cut from the tree in a drie place vnlesse it be immediatly vpon a good ground shower but in low grounds where a man may haue water at will there is no danger at all to set vine branches euen with leaues on the head for they will take well enough at any time before the Mid-summer Sun-stead as we may see by experience in Spaine When you will plant a vine chuse a faire day and if possibly you can let it be when there is no wind stirring abroad for such a calme season is best and yet many are of opinion that Southern winds be good and they wish for them which is cleane contrarie vnto Cato his mind who expressely excepteth and reiecteth them If the ground be of a middle temperature there ought to be a space of fiue foot distance between euery vine and in case it be a rich and fertile soile there would bee foure foot at least from one to another but in a leane hungrie piece of light ground there should be eight foot at the most for whereas the Vmbrians and Marsians leaue twenty foot void betweene euery range of vines they doe it for to plough and sow in the place and therein they haue quarters beds and ridges called Porculeta If the place where you plant a vineyard be subiect to thicke and darke mists or to a rainie disposition of the weather vines ought to bee set the thinner but in a drie quarter it is meet they should bee planted thicke Moreouer the wit and industrie of man hath found out meanes to saue charges and in setting a nource-garden with vine-sions to goe a nearer way with small expence and no losse of ground for in replanting a vineyard with quicke-sets vpon a leuell plot onely digged and laied euen they haue with one and the same labour as it were by the way replenished the ground between euery such rooted plants with vine cuttings for store so as the quicksets may grow in his owne place appointed and the sion or cutting which another day is to be transplanted in the mean time take root between euery course and range of the said vine quick-sets before they be ready to take vp much ground Thus within the compasse of one acre by iust proportion a man may haue about 16000 quick-sets This is the difference only that such beare not fruit so soon by two yere so much later are they that be set of sions than those that were transplanted and remain stil on foot When a quick-set of a vine is planted in a vineyard and hath grown one yere it is vsually cut downe close to the earth so as but one eie or button be left aboue ground and one shore or stake must be stickt close to it for to rest vpon and dung laid well about the root In like manner ought it to be cut the second yeare By this means it gathereth strength inwardly and maintaineth the same in such wise as it may be sufficient another day to beare and sustain the burden both of branch and bunch when it shall be charged with them for otherwise if it be let alone and suffered to make hast for to beare it would prooue to be slender vinewed leane and poore for surely this is the nature of a vine That she groweth most willingly in such sort that vnlesse she be kept vnder chastised and bridled in this manner her inordinat appetite is such she will run her selfe out of heart and go all to branch and leafe As touching props and shores to support vines the best as we haue said are those of the Oke or Oliue tree for default whereof ye may take good stakes and forks of Iuniper Cypresse Laburnium and the Elder As for those perches that be of other kinds they ought to be cut and renewed euery yeare Howbeit to lay ouer a frame for vines to ââ¦un vpon the best poles are of Reeds and Canes for they will continue good fiue yeares being bound many of them together When the shorter branches of a vine are twisted one within another in manner of cording or ropes and strengthened with the wood of vine cuttings amongst thereof arch-worke is made which in Latine they call Funeta Now by the time that a vine hath growne three yeares in the vineyard it putteth forth apace strong branches which in time may make vines themselues these mount quickly vp to the frame and then some good husbands there be who put out their eies that is to say with a cutting hook turning the
spend it selfe by carrying too great a burden Also another burgen there is close to him bearing out like a knob of the bignesse of a wart called he is Furunculus who must serue the turne and make supply if peraduenture the foresaid Watch or Keeper faile Moreouer a vine if it be suffered to beare before the seuenth yeare after it was first set of a cutting or sion decaieth sensibly and soon dieth neither is it thought good to let the old wood run on still in length vpon the frame as far as to the fourth forke that vnderproppeth it such old crooked branches some call Dracones others Iuniculos to make thereof huge and great trailes of vines termed Masculeta But worst of all it is to seeme for to propagate or draw in a long traile within the ground vines in a vineyard when they be growne hard with age When the vine is fiue yeares old a man may boldly wind and twine the very branches so as out of euerie one there be a twig let to grow at liberty thus he may proceed forward to the next cutting away the wood as he goeth that bare before The surer way euermore is supposed to leaue the Watch or Keeper behinâ⦠marie he must be next vnto the vines maine bodie and nearest the root and no longer than is before set downe Now in case the branches prooue ouer ranke they must be writhed and twisted in maner aforesaid so as the vine stock may put forth no more than foure boughs at the most or twaine if so be it rest vpon one chanter or range of perches If you would order a vine so as it may stand alone without any props at the beginning it would desire and haue some supporter or other it makes no matter what to rest vpon vntill it haue learned to stand of it selfe rise vpright afterwards it is to be vsed in manner of all other vines when this training is past This regard would be had in pruning and cutting the twigs of these vines called Pollices That a man well guide and ballance his hand and go euen withall in euery part indifferently for feare lest one side be charged with fruit or branch more than the other where by the way he must also remember to keepe downe the head and not suffer it in any wise to run vp in height for if this kind of vine be aboue three foot high it wil hang the head downward As for others they may well grow to fiue foot and vpward so that they passe not in any case the full height of a man To come now vnto the other vines that creepe along and spread ouer the ground they be inuironed all the way as they run with pretty short hollow cages as it were to rest and repose their branches in They haue need moreouer of certaine trenches or ditches round about to run in to the end that as the said branches wander too and fro they should not incounter one another and striue together And verily in most parts of the world they vse to gather their vintage of vines thus growing low by the ground as we may see the manner is in Africke Aegypt Syria throughout all Asia and in many places of Europe For the good vsage and dressing of these vines a speciall care would be had to keepe them downe close to the earth and to fortifie the root so long and in the same manner as hath beene shewed before in those that are shored or beare vpon frames with this charge and regard besides to leaue alwaies the short twigs only called Pollices with three buds a piece in case the ground be fruitfull or fiue if it be light and lean And in one word better it is without all question that they be left many than long As for those points which we haue deliuered heretofore as touching the nature of the soile they will be more effectually seen to proue either the goodnesse or the contrary in the grapes of this vine by how much nearer they lie to the ground than others Wherein consideration is to be had of the sundry sorts of vines namely that they be seuered apart and nothing is better than to sort euery one with the tract or region that agreeth best with it and therein to plant them accordingly for these mixtures of diuers kindes are neuer good but alwaies discordant naught in old wines that come to our table much worse then you may bee sure in those that be new and not yet tunned vp But if a man will intermingle plants of sundry vines together yet in any case those would be ioined together and none els which ripen their fruit at one and the same time For frames and trailes wherein vines are to run the better and more battle that the ground of the vineyard is the plainer and euener that it lieth the higher they would be from the ground likewise if the place be subiect to dews fogs and mists and nothing exposed to the winds contrariwise if the ground be leane and dry hot and open to the winds they must be the lower and nearer the earth As concerning the rafters that lie ouer reach from prop to prop they ought to be tied and fastened thereto with as streight and sure a knot as is possible whereas the Vine would be bound vnto them but slacke Of the sundry sorts of Vines as also which were to be planted in this or that soile and what coasts climats each one of them loueth we haue shewed sufficiently in the particular treatise of their nature and of the wines that come of them Touching all other points of husbandry that remaine behind much doubt and diuers questions are made for many there be that feare not all Summer long to bee digging in the vineyard about vine-roots after euery little raine Others again forbid to meddle be lusty therin in the budding time for it cannot be auoided but that the yong oilets will either bee smitten off clean or els galled or bruised one time or other with their gate that go in and out between which is the cause that they would haue all kind of cattell to bee kept out that they come not neare and especially such as beare wooll on their backs for sheep of all others soonest rub off the buds as they passe by with their shag coats Moreouer they are of opinion that all manner of raking and harrowing is an enemy to vines when they bee in their floure and putting foorth young grapes and sufficient it is say they if a vineyard be delued thrice in one yere to wit first from the spring Aequinox to the apparition of the Brood-hen star secondly at the rising of the great Dog star and thirdly when the grape beginneth to change colour and turne blacke Others set out these times after this maner if the vineyard be old they would haue it once digged betweene vintage and mid-winter howsoeuer some be of this mind That it sufficeth them to
vines geld them as little as you can keep them with a good head rather if need require lay them along on the ground and two yeares after cut them hard to the root If it be a yong vine attend vntill it be of strength sufficient then will it be time and not afore to prune it If haply the vineyard be bare and naked of vines and that they grow but thin here and there make furrowes and trenches between and therein plant new quicksets but rid the weeds well from about those Trencheâ⦠for ouershadowing them be euer also digging and delving Then if it be an old vineyard so drage and pulse for prouender if it be a lean and light ground sow nothing that bears grain or corn Be sure that ye lay about the heads of the said quickesets dung chaffe refuse of grapes pressed and such like mullock When the vine beginneth to put out leaues and look green fall to disburgeoning So long as the Vines be yong and tender tie them surely in many places for feare lest the wood or stalk therof do break asunder But when a vine hath gotten head to perch aloft vpon a single traile gently binde the tender burgeons and branches thereof extend and stretch them out and lay them streit Now when they stand once vpright and are able to beare themselues mark when the grapes begin to change colour bind them wel and sure below As for graffing of vines there are two seasons of the yeare meet therefore the one in the spring the other when the vine doth floure and this is held for the best If you purpose to translate an old stock of a vine into another place and there to replant it cut off the first thick arm only leauing behind two buds and no more In taking of it vp be carefull that you do it with such dexteritie as that you race not nor wound the root This done look how it grew before so set it now either in trench or furrow couch it wel and close and couer it throughly with good mould After the same manner as is beforesaid vnderset and prop it vp bind it turn and winde it but aboue all be euery while digging about it As touching the drage called Ocymum the which Cato wills to be sowed in a vineyard it is a kind of forage or prouender for horses which the Latines in old time named Pabulum it commeth vp very speedily and groweth fast and besides can well away with shadowie places CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Trees ranged in rewes for to support Vines IT remaineth now in this discourse and treatise of Vines to write of the manner of trees planted of purpose for to serue their turn And here I canot chuse but cal to mind first how this point of husbandry hath bin iudged naught and altogether condemned by the two Sarsennae both father and sonne but contrariwise held for good and highly commended by Scrofa whereas all three were reputed the most antient writers and skilfullest in this kind next to Cato And yet Scrofa as great a patron as he is thereof alloweth not this deuice in any clymate else but only in Italy Howbeit gon this hath for currant many yeares past and time out of mind That the best and most dainty Wines came of those grapes onely which grew vpon such Hautââ¦ins or trees beforesaid Yea and it was thought generally that the higher a Vine climbed vpon these trees the better grapes it bare and yeelded more commendable wine and againe the lower that those trees were the greater plenty followed both of the one the other By which a man may see how materiall it is to raise Vines on high and haue grapes growing in the top of trees In which regard choise also is to bee made of trees for this purpose And here first and formost is presented vnto vs the Elme and yet I must except that kind of it which is called Atinia by reason that it is ouermuch charged with boughes and leaues and therewith too full of shade Next vnto it may be ranged the blacke Poplar euen for the same cause because it is noâ⦠leaued nor branched so thick Many men there be that refuse not the Ash the Fig tree yea and the Oliue so that it stand not ouer thicke with boughs and make too much shade As for the setting planting and ordering of these trees in general we haue sufficiently and to the full treated heretofore But now for this speciall and peculiar vse that they be put vnto this would bee considered That Vines which are to be wedded to these trees must in no wise feele the edge of the cutting hooke before they be three yeares old full After which time this regard ought to be had that euery second branch or arme thereof is to be spared and likewise each other yeare and no oftener they are in this wise to bee pruned and by that they are six yeres old it is good time to joine them in marriage vnto their husbands aforesaid In Piemont Lombardie and those parts of Italy beyond the riuer Po they vse for this purpose to plant their grounds with these trees ouer and besides those aforenamed to wit the Cornell the Opiet or Wich-hazell the Teil or Linden the wild Ash Ornus the Carpin Carme or Horn-beame and the Oke About Venice and all that tract the Willowes serue the turne and none else by reason that the whole soken standeth so much vpon water As touching the Elme named in the first place it must be kept plaine and bare and the great water-boughs vnderneath shread vntill you come to the middest of the tree or thereabout and then the rest ought to bee arraunged and digested into good order whereupon the Vine may climb as it were vpon staires or ladder rounds and lightly none of these trees vpward be aboue twentie foot high Now in case it be a high ground vpon an hil and drie they are permitted to branch and shut out their armes within eight foot of the ground But in plaines and low moist grounds they begin not to fork before they bear twelue foot Howbeit let the place be what it wil the flat of the tree from whence the boughs begin to diuide ought to regard the south sun And the said branches immediatly from their project must rise somewhat vpright in maner of fingers standing forth from the palm of ones hand among which the smal sprigs must eââ¦tsoons be barbed as it were shauen clean off for feare they do not ouershadow the Vine branches As touching the space or distance between one tree another the ordinarie proportion is that afront and behind in case the ground be erable it beare fortie foot but aflanke or on the side twentie Marie if it be not well tilled and husbanded so much wil serue euery way to wit twentie foot and no more Commonly euery one of these trees maintaineth tenne Vines at the foot therof and a bad husband he is who hath
fewer reared about it than three But by the way it is no good husbandrie to suffer a tree thus to be coupled as it were in marriage to so many Vines before that it be of sufficient strength to entertain them for there is nothing so hurtfull by reason that the Vines will choke and kill them so quick they be of their growth and so readie to ouercharge them As for planting of Vine-sets to the root of trees needful it is to make therfore a ditch three foot deep and they ought to be distant one from another a ful foot and so much likewise from the tree This don there is no question thereof the smal twigs or shoots what to do with them neither is there any charge or expence required for digging and deluing for this is the manner of it and this peculiar gift haue these tree-rows That in the same ground where they grow the sowing of corne is nothing hurtfull nay it is profitable and good for the Vines Moreouer this commoditie and easement commeth of their height that they be able to saue themselues neither is there any such need as in other Vineyards to be at the coast of walls of mounds pales or hedges ne yet of deep ditches or other fences to keep off the violence or injuries of beasts Of all other toiles before rehearsed there is no more required but to looke vnto onely the getting of quick-sets or couching sions all the matter I say lieth herein and there is no more to do But of couching sions and that kind of propagation there be two deuises First within paniers or baskets vpon the boughs of the tree and that is the be best way because it is safest from the danger of cattel The second is to bend the Vine or a branch therof close to the foot of her owne tree or else about the next vnto it if it stand single and haue no Vine joined vnto it As much of this branch or Vine thus couched as is aboue the ground must be kept with scraping that is to say the buds ought euer and anone to be knapt off that it spring not forth Within the earth there should be no fewer than foure joints or budding knots buried and enterred for to take root in the head without two onely are left for to grow Where note by the way that the Vine which groweth to the foot of a tree must be trenched in a ditch foure foot long in al three in breadth two and an halfe in deapth Now when the sion thus couched hath lien one yere the order is to cut it toward the stock to the very pith or marrow that so by little and little it may be inured to fortifie it selfe vpon the own roots and not to hang and cling alwaies to the mother as for the other end or head thereof it would be cut off also so neere the ground as that there be but two only buds left By the third yeare it must be quite cut in two where before it was but guelded to the pith and that which remaines of it laid deeper into the ground for feare it should sprout foorth and beare leaues toward that side where it was cut in twaine This done no sooner is Vintage past but this new quicke-set root and al must be taken vp and replanted Of late daies deuised was the manner of couching or planting by a trees side a Vine Dragon for so we vse to call the old branch of a Vine past all seruice which hath done bearing many a yeare and is now grown to be hard And verily they vse to make choise of the biggest they can find which when they haue cut from the stocke they scrape and pil the bark three foure parts in length so farre forth as it is to lie within the ground wherupon they name it in Latine Rasilis when it is thus couched low within a furrow the rest that is aboue the earth they rear vp against the tree And it is thought that there is not so good nor so ready a mean to make a Vine grow and beare than this If it fall out so that either the Vine be smal and weak or the ground it selfe but lean and hungrie it is an vsuall and ordinarie practise to cut and prune it as neer the ground as possibly may bee vntill such time as it bee well strengthened in the root as also great regard is had that it be not planted when the deaw standeth vpon it ne yet when the wind sits ful in the North. The old Vine stock it self ought to look into the Northeast prouided alwaies that the yong branches turne Southward Moreouer new and tender Vines would not be proined and cut in hast but better it is to expect and tary vntil such time as they be strong ynough and able to beare the cutting bill meane while to gather the yong branches together round in maner of on houp or circle Where note by the way That Vines which are erected vpon trees for the most part beare later by one yeare than those in Vineyards that be pearched or run on frames Some would not haue them to be cut at all before they haue raught vp to the top of the tree At the first time when you come with the pruning hooke the head must be cut off at six foot from the ground leauing vnderneath one little top twig which must be forced to beare by bending it downward in the head and in the same when it is thus pruned there must be left behind three buds and no more The branches which burgen out from thence ought the next yeare to bee brought vp to the lowest armes of the tree and there seated and so from yeare to yeare let them climb vp higher to the vpper boughs leauing alwaies vpon euery loft or scaffold as it were where they rested one branch of the old hard wood and another young imp or twig for to grow vp and climbe as high as it will Furthermore as often as a Vine is pruned afterwards those branches or boughs thereof in any wise must bee cut away which were bearers the yeare before and in stead of them the new after they be first cleansed from all the hairy curled tendrils on euery side shred off The ordinarie manner of pruning and dressing of vines here about Rome is to let the tender branches and sprigs enterlace the boughes insomuch as the whole tree is ouerspread clad therwith like as the very same tendrils be also couered all ouer with grapes But the French fashion is to draw them in a traile along from bough to bough whereas in Lumbardie and along the causey Aemilia from Plaisance to Rimino they vse to train them vpon forkes and poles for albeit ââ¦he Atinian Elmes be planted round about yet the Vine commeth not neere their greene boughes Some there be who for want of sill and good knowledge about vines hang them by a strong bond vnder the boughs but this is to
wrong yea to stifle and strangle them outright whereas indeed a vine as it ought to be kept down with oisier twigs so it must not bee tied ouer streight For which cause euen they also who othewise haue store plenty ynough euen to spare of willows oisiers yet chuse rather to bind vines with some more soft and gentle matter to wit with a certain hearb which the Sicilians in their language called Ampelodesmos i. Vine-bind But throughout all Greece they tie their vines with Rushes Cyperus or Gladon Reeke and sea grasse Ouer and besides the maner is otherwhiles to vntie the Vine and for certain daies together to giue it liberty for to wander loosely and to spred it selfe out of order yea and to lie at ease along the ground which all the yere besides it onely beheld from on high in which repose it seemeth to take no small contentment and refreshing for like as draught horses when they be out of their geeres and haknies vnsadled like as Oxen when they haue drawn in the yoke yea and greyhounds after they haue run in chase loue to tumble themselues and wallow vpon the earth euen so the Vine also hauing bin long tied vp and restrained liketh wel now to stretch out her ââ¦ims and loins and such easement and relaxation doth her much good Nay the tree it selfe findes some comfort and ioy therby in being discharged of that burden which it carried continually as it were vpon the shoulders and seemeth now to take breath and heart again And certes go through the whole course and worke of Nature there is nothing but by imitation of day and night desireth to haue some alternatiue ease and play dayes between And it is by experience found very hurtfull and therefore not allowed of to prune and cut Vines presently vpon the Vintage and grape-gathering whiles they be still wearie and ouertrauelled with bearing their fruit so lately ne yet to binde them thus pruned in the same place again where they were tied before for surely vines do feel the very prints and marks which the bonds made and no doubt are vexed and put to pain therewith and the worse for them The maner of the Gaules in Lumbardy in training of Vines from tree to tree is to take two boughs or branches of both sides and draw them ouer in case the stock Vines that beare them be sorty foot asunder but foure if they are but twenty foot ââ¦istant And these meet one with another in the space between and are interlaced twisted and tied together But where they are somwhat weake and feeble they be strengthened with Oisier twigs or such like rods here and there by the way vntill they beare out stiffe and look where they be so short that they wil not reach out they are with an hook stretched and brought to the next tree that standeth without a Vine coupled thereto A Vine branch drawn thus along in a traile they were wont to cut when it had growne two yeares for in such Vine stocks as by reason of age are charged with wood it is the better way to giue time leisure for to grow and fortifie the said branch that is to passe from tree to tree so as the thicknes thereof will giue leaue yea and otherwise it is good for the old main bough to feed still and thriue in pulp and carnositie if we purpose that it should remaine and carrie a length with it Yet is there one maner besides of planting and maintaining Vines of a mean or middle nature between couching or interring a branch by way of propagation and drawing them thus in a traile from one to another namely to supplant that is lay along vpon the ground the whole stock or main body of a Vine which done to cleaue it with wedges and so to couch in many furrowes or raies as many parcels thereof comming all together from one Now in case each one of these branches or armes proceeding from one body be of it selfe small weake and tender they must be strengthned with long rods like staues bound vnto them round about neither ought the small sprigs and twigs that spring out of the side be cut away The husbandmen of Novaria rest not contented with a number of these trailed branches nor with store of boughs and trees to sustaine and beare them vnlesse they be shored and supported also with posts and ouerthwart railes about which the yong tendrils may creep wind No maruell therefore if their wines be after a sort rough hard and vnpleasant for besides the baduesse of their soile the maner of their husbandry is so crooked and vntoward Our husbandmen moreouer here about vs neer vnto the city of Rome commit the like fault and find the same defect thereupon in the Varracine Vines that be pruned but once in two yeres a piece of husbandry by them practised not for any good that it doth vnto the vine but because the wine thereof is so cheap that oftner pruning would not quit cost neither doth the reuenue answer the labor and the charges In the territorie of Carseoli a champion and plain countrey about Rome the peasants take a better order and hold a middle and temperat course For their maner is to proin and cut away from the Vine those parts onely that are faulty and rotten when they begin once to drie and to wither leauing all the rest for to beare Grapes and thus discharging it of the superfluous burden that it caried they hold opinion that it is not good to wound it in diuers places for by this means say they it will be nourished and come on very well But by their leaue vnlesse the ground be passing rich and fat Vines thus ouercharged with wood will for want of pruning degenerate into the bastard wild wines called Labruscae But to returne againe vnto our plots planted with Trees and Vines coupled together such grounds when they be plowed require a good deep stitch although the corn therein sown need it not Also it is not the manner to disburgen or deffoile altogether such trees and thereby a great deale of toile and labor is saued but when the Vines are a pruning they would be disbranched at once with them where the boughs grow thickest and to make a glade onely thorow the superfluous branches would be cut away which otherwise might consume the nutriment of the grape As for the cuts and wounds remaining after such pruning and debranching we haue already forbidden that they should stand either against the North or the South And I think moreouer it were very well that they did not regard the West where the Sunne setteth for such wounds will smart and be long sore yea and hardly heale again if either extreme cold pinch or extreme heate parch them Furthermore a Vine hath not the same liberty in a vineyard that it hath vpon a tree for better means there are and easier it is to hide the said wounds from the
commeth out of the Balear Islands for a Modius of that wheat yeeldeth in bread 30 pound weigâ⦠yet otherwhiles it falleth out in some kinds of wheat being blended two sorts together ãâã namely that of Cyprus and Alexandria whereof neither exceed little or nothing more than 20 pound weight to the Modius that the bread made thereof will arise to the ordinary proportion for the Cyprian wheat is not bright but brown and duskish and therefore makes a blacke kind of bread in which regard the Alexandrian wheat which is faire and white is mixed with it and so both together do yeeld in bread 25 pound weight The wheat of Thebes addeth a surplusage thereto of one pound As for the maner of working and kneading dough I like not their fashions who take sea water for that purpose as most do that inhabit the sea coasts thinking thereby to saue the charge of salt for I hold this very hurtfull and dangerous Neither doe I thinke that vpon any other cause mens bodies are made more subiect to maladies than by this means In France Spain when the Bruers haue steeped their wheat or frument in water and masht it for their drink of diuers sorts as heretofore hath bin shewed they take the skum or froth that gathereth aloft by the working of the wort and vse the same in stead of leuen for to make their bread which is the reason that their bread is lighter and more houved vp than any other Moreouer there is great difference in wheat by reason of the straw or stalk that bears it for the thicker that it is and more full the better is the corne taken to be The Thracian wheat is inclosed and well clad as it were with many tunicles and coats throughly prouided by that means and good cause why to resist the excessiue cold of that climat which gaue the Thracians iust occasion also to cast about and deuise to haue a kind of wheat that remaineth vpon the ground not aboue three moneths by reason that the snow ouerspreadeth the face of the earth all the year ââ¦esides and verily this kinde of corne is come into other parts of the world and lightly within three moneths after it is sowed you shall haue it readie to bee reaped A practise well knowne all the Alpes ouer and in other cold and winterly regions where by report of the inhabitants this kind of corne doth wondrous well and none prospereth better or groweth more ranke than it Ouer and besides there is another kind of wheat that putteth vp from euery root one stalk and no more in any place whatsoeuer the manner is to sow it in no ground but that which is light and it neuer misseth Also about the Thracian gulfe there is wheat that within 40 daies after the sowing will be ripe and therupon it is called the Two-month wheat And would you heare a wonder there is no wheat more weighty than it and besides it yeelds no branne at all In Sicilie and Achaia both there is great vse thereof and namely among the mountainers of those two countries Much seeking also there is after that corne in the Isle Euboea about Carystus See how much Columella was deceiued who thought that there was not to be found so much as any kind of three months wheat whereas it is plaine that such hath beene of old and time out of mind The Greeks also haue a proper name for it and call it Trimenon Furthermore it is reported that in the countrey Bactriana there is some corne of that bignes that euery graine is full as much as one of the eares of ours But to returne againe to our husbandry of all spiked corne Barley is sowed first but I purpose to set down the very just time and season apropriat to each kind according to the seueral nature of euery sort which may meaning also is to declare Mean while I canot omit that there is among the Indians barley both sowne and also wild whereof they make the best bread that they haue As for vs Italians to say a truth we set most store by rice wherof being husked and cleansed we make grotes like for all the world to those which other men besides doe make of barley husked The leaues verily that this graine Rice doth beare be pulpous and fleshy resembling Porret or Leeks but that they be broader the stem groweth a cubit high the floure is of purple colour and the root round like a jem or pearle Barley husked was the most ancient meat in old time as may appeare by the ordinarie custome of the Athenians according to the testimonie of Menander as also by the addition or sirname giuen to sword-fencers who vpon their allowance or pension giuen them in barly were called Hordearij i. Barley-men The ordinarie drie grout or meale also Polenta which the Greeks so highly commend was made of nothing els but of barley and the preparing thereof was after sundrie waies The manner that the Greeks vsed was first to steepe the barly in water and giue it one nights drying the morrow after they parched or fried it and then ground it in a mill Others there be who when it is well fried and parched hard besprinckle it once againe with a little water and then dry it before it be ground There are some again who take the ears of barley when they are green beat driue the corn out and while it is fresh and new cleanse it pure which don they infuse it in water and while it is wet bray it in a mortar then they wash it well in osier paniers and so let the water run from it and beeing dried in the sun they pound or stamp it againe and beeing throughly husked and cleansed grind it into meale as is aforesaid Now when it is thus prepared one way or other to twenty pound of this barley they put of Line seed three pound of Corââ¦ander seed halfe a pound of salt about two ounces and two drams and after they haue pearched them all well they blend them together and grind them in a quem They that would haue this meale to keep long put vp into new earthen vessels al together both floure and bran But in Italy they neuer vse to steep or soke it in water but presently parch it and grind it smal into a fine meale putting thereto the former ingredients and the graine of Millet besides As for bread of Barley so much vsed of our forefathers in old time the posterity that liued after found to be naught and condemned it in such sort as they allowed it for prouender only to feed their beasts and cattel with But in stead therof came vp the vse of husked barly to be sodden for grewell so highly commended as a most nutritiue and strong meat and withal passing wholesome for mans bodie insomuch as Hippocrates who for skill and knowledge was the prince of all Physicians hath written one whole booke in the praises
mowed els will the Millet proue bitter in tast The like experiment they say is of a Moldwarps shoulder for if any corn be sowed or touched therewith before it will come vp the better and bring more increase Democritus had a deuise by himselfe for all seed corn whatsoeuer namely to temper soke the same corn in the iuice of the herb housleeke or Sen-greene growing vpon houses either tiled or shindled which in Greeke is called Aizoon and in Latine Sedum or Digitellum for this medicine will serue for all maladies The common practise of our husbandmen is this in case through the ouersweet sap or juice in greene corne wormes take to the roots for to sprinkle them with simple oile lees pure and clean without any salt afterwards to rake it in Also when the corn begins to ioint and gathet into knots then to clense the ground and put off no longer for feare least the weeds do get head ouergrow This I am sure vpon mine owne knowledge that there is an herbe but what proper name it hath I wote not which if it be interred in the foure corners of a field that is sown with Millet it wil driue away Stares and Sparrows which otherwise would by whole flights and flocks lie thereupon and do much harme nay I will speake a greater word and which may seeme wonderfull There is not a bird of the aire one or other that dare enter or approch such a field Field-mice and Rats are skared away and will not touch corne which before the sowing was either bestrewed with the ashes of weasels or cats or els drenched with the liquor and decoction of water wherein they were boiled howbeit this inconuenience insueth hereupon That bread made of such corn will haue a smach and sent strongly of such cats and Weasels and therefore it is supposed a more expedient and safer way to medicine our seed corne with oxe gall for to preserue it from the said Mice and Rats But what remedy against the blast and mildew the greatest plague that can befall vpon corn Mary prick downe certaine Lawrell boughes here and there among the standing corne all the said mists and mildewes will leaue the corne and passe to the Bay leaues and there settle What shall we do then to corne when it is ouer-rank Eat it me downe with sheep and spare not whiles it is young and in the blade onely before I say it be knotted and neuer feare harm by the sheeps teeth as neere as they go to the ground for let it be thus eaten many times the corn will be the better yea and the head will take no harme thereby but prooue the fairer If such rank corne be once cut down with the syth no more certain it is that the grain in the eare will be the longer to see to howbeit void and without any floure within it for sow such seed again it wil neuer grow nor come vp And yet about Babylon the maner is to mow it twise first and the third time to put in sheep to it for to eat it down otherwise the corn would neuer spindle but blade still and run all to leafe But being thus cut and cut again and eaten in the end ye shall haue it to increase and multiply 50 for one so fertile is the soile and if the owner be a good husband besides and vse the ground accordingly he shall reap thrice as much euen a 150 sold. And what carefull diligence is that which is here required Surely neither much nor difficult only he must be sure to keep the ground well with watering for a long time together to the end that it may be discharged of the ouermuch fat within it which by this means will be washed all away and the ranknesse delaied Yet as rich and fertile as this soile is the two riuers Euphrates and Tigris which vse to ouerflow and water the country bring no slimy mud with them as Nilus doth in Egypt wherby the ground is made so fat as it is neither is the nature of the earth there giuen to breed herbs that it should need any weeding and yet so plenteous and fruitfull it is that it soweth it selfe against the next yere for the corne that sheddeth in the reaping and mowing being troden vnder foot into the ground is as good as a sowing and riseth of it selfe without any further labor Seeing then there is so great difference in the soile I am put in minde thereby to fit euery ground with seed respectiuely according to the nature and goodnesse thereof This therfore is the opinion of Cato that in a grosse and fat soile there would be wheat and such like hard corne sown and if the same be subiect also to mists and dews there may be sown therein raddish millet and Panick must be sowne first in a cold and waterish ground and afterwards for change in a hot soile Item the red bearded wheat Far or Adoreum requireth a chalkie and sandy ground and namely if it be well watered Item the common wheat loueth a drie soile exposed to the Sun and not giuen much to breed superfluous weeds Item Beanes will doe well in a sound and fast soile As for Vetches they care not how little they be sowed in a moist piece of ground and such as is apt to run to grasse Moreouer for the fine winter wheat Siligo whereof the best manchet is made and also for the common frumenty wheat there would be chosen an open high ground lying pleasantly vpon the Sunne that it might haue the heat thereof to parch it as long and as much as is possible As for Lentils they doe like a good rough and shrubbie soile full of red earth so as it be not apt quickly to gather a green-sord Barly would gladly grow vpon a restie ground new broken vp or else such as be in heart to beare euery yeare And as for Summer barley of three moneths it would be sowne in a ground where it could not haue an earely or timely Seednes which is so fat and rich as it may affoord to beare crop yere by yere finally to speak to the purpose indeed this also is Catoes witty resolution in one word for all if the soile be light and lean seed it with such grain or forage seed as require no great nourishment as for example with Cytisus and excepting the Cich-pease with all pulse that are vsed to be plucked out of the earth and not mowed downe and thereupon indeed are these pulse called in Latine Legumina because they are plucked and gathered in that sort but in case the ground be good and fat sow such things as require fuller food and nutriment and namely all garden worts and pot-herbes wheat both the common and the fine and Linseed Then according to this rule a leane and hungry soile will well agree with barly for the root is contented with lesse nutriture wheras contrariwise we allow
throw in their seed and mould or couer it afterwards with yron-toothed harrows drawn aloft Lands in this manner sown need no other raking or weeding for commonly they make not past two or three bouts in a land and as many ridges Finally it is thought that in this manner there may be sown in one yere by the help of one yoke of oxen 40 arpens or acres of land ordinarily if the ground be gentle and easie to be eared but if it be stiffe and stubborne they shall haue worke enough to go through thirty CHAP. XIX ¶ The seasons that be proper for tilling the ground also the manner of coupling oxen in yoke IN this operation of ploughing ground I am of mind to follow that Oracle or Aphorisme of Cato who being asked which was the first and principall point of Agriculture answered thus Euen to husband order and tend ground well being demanded againe what was the second hee made answer To plough well And when the question was propounded concerning the third point of husbandry he said That it consisted in manuring and dunging it well There be other necessarie rules besides set downe by him as touching this matter namely Make no vnequall furrowes in ploughing but lay them alike with one and the same plough Passe not the kindly season but care the ground in due time In the warmer countries lands would be broken vp and fallowes made immediatly after the Winter Solstice or Sun-stead In colder regions touch them not before the spring Aequinox or Mid-march In a drie quarter plough more early than in a moist sooner also in a fast and compact soile than in a loose and light ground in a fat and rich field than in a leane and poore land Looke in what climat the Summer is ordinarily drie and hot it is thought more profitable to eare vp a chalky or a light and leane ground between the Summer Sunstead and the Aequinoctiall in the fall of the leafe If the climat be such as yeeldeth but little heat in Summer and therewith many showers of raine where the soile also is fat and beareth a thick green-sourd it were better to break vp ground and fallow in the hotest season where the soile is heauie grosse and fat and wherein a man may tread deepe I like well that it should be tilled and stirred in winter but in case it be very light and drie withall it would not be medled with but a little before seednes Here also be other proper rules set down by Cato pertinent to Agriculture Touch not qd he in any hand a piece of ground that soon will turne to dust and mire When thou doest plough indeed for to sow imploy thy whole strength thereto but before thou take a deep stitch for all giue it a pin-fallow before this commodity commeth therof that by turning vp the turfe with the bottom vpward the roots of weeds are killed Some are of this opinion that howsoeuer we do els a ground should haue the first brââ¦aking vp about the springe ââ¦inox a land that thus haââ¦h bin once plowed in the spring is called in Latin Vervactum hath that name of the foresaid time Ver i. spring Indeed ley grounds such as rest each other yere must be in this wise followed Now if you would know what the Latines mean by Nouale they take it for a field sowed euerysecond yere And thus much of the land To come now vnto our draught oxen that must labour at the plough they ought to be coupled in yoke as close together as streight as is possible to the end that whilst they be at work and ploughing they may beare vp their heads for by that meanes they least doe gall or bruise their necks If they chance to goe to plough among trees and vines they must be muzled with some frailes or deuises made of twigs to the end they should not brouse and crop off the yong springs and soft tendrils Moreouer there ought a little hatchet to hang euermore fast to the plough beame before therewith to cut through roots within the ground that might breake or stay the plough for better is it so to do than to put the plough to it to keep a plucking at them or to force the poore oxen to lie tugging wrestling with them Also in ploughing this order is to be kept That when the oxen are gone down with one furrow to the lands end they turne and goe vp againe with another so that in ploughing of a land they rest betweene whiles as little as may be but euermore go forward in their labour vntill they haue made an end of their halfe acre or halfe daies worke and verily it is thought sufficient for a teem of oxen to breake vp at the first tilth in one day of restie or ley ground one acre taking a furrow or stitch of nine inches but at the second tilth or stirring an acre and a halfe which is to be vnderstood of an easie and mellow soile to be wrought for if it be tough and churlish it is wel if they eare vp at the first halfe an acre and at the next time they may go through with one whole acre how hard soeuer the ground be for thus haue poore beasts their taske set and their labour limited by Natures lore and appointment Euery field to be sown must be eared at first with streight direct furrows but those that follow after ought to go byas and winding If a ground vpon the pendant or hanging of the hil be to be broken vp the furrowes must go crosse and ouerthwart howbeit the point and beak of the plough-share must be so guided that one while it beare hard aboue on the one side and another while beneath on the other side and verily in this mountaine worke the ploughman that holdeth the plough hath toile enough and laboreth at it as hard as the oxen do Certes there be some mountaines that haue no vse at all of this beast but they eare their ground with raking and scraping hooks only The ploughman vnlesse he bend and stoope forward with his body must needs make sleight worke and leaue much vndon as it ought to be a fault which in Latine we call Preuarication and this terme appropriate vnto husbandrie is borrowed from thence by Lawyers and translated by them into their courts and halls of pleas if it be then a reprochfull crime for Lawyers to abuse their clients by way of collusion wee ought to take heed how we deceiue and mocke the ground where this fault was first found and discouered To proceed the plough-man euer and anone had need to cleanse the culter and the share with his staffe tipped and pointed at the end like a thistle-spade he must beware that between two furrowes he leaue no naked balks raw and vntilled also that the clots ride not one vpon anothers back Badly is that land ploughed which after the corn is
sowed needs the great harrows and clotting Contrariwise a man may know where there is good worke namely if the turfe be so close couched that there be no seams to be seen where the plough-share went finally it is a profitable point of husbandry and much practised where the ground doth both beare and require it For to draw here and there broad gutters or furrows to drain away the water into ditches and trenches cast for the nones betweene the lands that otherwise would stand within and drowne the corne CHAP. XX. ¶ Of harrowing and breaking clods Of a certaine kind of ploughing vsed in old time Of the second tilth or fallow called Stirring and of cutting AFter the second fallow called Stirring done with crosse and ouerthwart furrow to the first then followeth clodding if need be either with rakes or great harrowes vpon which insueth sowing and when the seed is in the ground harrowing a second time with the smal harrow In some places where the manner of the country doth so require this is performed with a tined or toothed harrow or els with a broad planke fastened vnto the plough taile which doth hide and couer the seed newly sown and in this maner to rake or harrow is called in Latine Lirare from whence came first the word Delirare which is to leaue bare balks vncouered and by a Metaphore and borrowed speech to raue and speake idlely It should seem that Virgil prescribed that the ground should haue foure tilthes in all by these words when he said That the corne was best which had two Summers and two Winters But if the ground be strong and tough as in most parts of Italy there needs a fift tilth before sowing and in Tuscan verily they giue their ground otherwhiles no fewer than nine fallowes before it be brought into tillage As for Beans and Vetches they may be sowed vnder furrow without breaking vp the ground before for this is a ready way gaining time sauing charges sparing labour And here I cannot ouerpasse one inuention more as touching earing and ploughing the ground deuised in Piemont and those parts beyond the Po by occasion of some hard measure and wrong offered to the people and peisants of that country during the wars And thus stood the case The Salassians making rodes into the vale lying vnder the Alpes as they forraied and harried the country all ouer assaied also to ouerrun their fields of Panick and Millet being now come vp and wel growne meaning thereby to destroy it but seeing the nature of that graine to be such as to rise againe and to check this iniury they set ploughs into it and turned all vnder furrow imagining by that means to spoil it for euer But see what insued therupon those fields thus misused in their conceit bare a twofold crop in proportion to other yeres yeelded so plentifull an haruest as that thereby the peisants aforesaid learned the deuise of turning corn in the blade into the ground which I suppose in those days when it new came vp they called Aratrare And this point of husbandry they put in practise when the corne beginnes to gather and shew the stem or straw to wit so soone as it hath put forth two or three leaues and no more Neither will I conceale from you another new deuise practised and inuented first not aboue three yeres past in the territory of Treuiers neer to Ferrara For at what time as their corn fields by reason of an extreme cold winter seemed to be frost-bitten and spoiled they sowed the same again in the month of March raking and scraping the vpper coat of the ground onely without more ado and neuer in their liues had they the like increase when haruest came Now as touching all other tillage and husbandry meet for the ground I will write thereof respectiuely to the seuerall kinds of corne CHAP. XXI ¶ Of the tillage and ordering of the ground THe fine Wheat Siligo the red bearded Wheat Far and the common Wheat Triticum Spelt or Zea generally called Seed and Barly when they be new sown would be wel clotted and couered first harrowed afterwards weeded at the last to the very root al at such seasons as shall be shewed hereafter And to say a truth euery one of these is a sufficient worke for one man to do in a day throughout an acre As for the Sarcling or second harrowing it doth much good to corn for by loosening the ground about it which by the winter cold was hardened clunged and as it were hide bound it is somwhat inlarged and at libertie against the Spring tide and full gladly admitteth and receiueth the benefit of the fresh and new come Sun-shine daies let him take heed who thus sarcles or rakes the ground that he neither vndermine the roots of the corn nor yet race or disquiet loosen them The common wheat Barley the Seed Zea i. Spelt and Beans would do the better if they were thus sarcled and the earth laied loose about them twice the grubbing vp of weeds by the root at what time as the corne is iointed namely when the vnprofitable and hurtful hearbs are plucked forth and rid out of the way much helpeth the root of the corn discharging it from noisom weeds procuring it more nutriment and seuering it apart from the other green sourd of common grasse Of all Pulse the cich pease asketh the same dressing and ordering as the red wheat Far. As for beans they passe not at all for weeding and why they ouergrow all the weeds about and choke them The Lupines require nought els to be done to them but only weeding Millet and Panick must be clotted and once harrowed vntill they be couered they call not for a second raking scraping about them for to loosen the earth and to lay fresh mould vnto them much lesse to be weeded As for Silicia or Siliqua i. Fenigreeke and Fasels i. Kidney-beans they care onely for clodding there an end Moreouer there be certain grounds so fertile that the corn comming vp so thick ranke in the blade ought then to be kembed as it were raked with a kind of harrow set with teeth or spikes of yron and yet for all this they must be grased or eaten down besides neuerthelesse with sheep Now we must remember that after such cattel hath gon ouer it with their teeth the same corne thus eaten downe must of necessity be sarcled and the earth lightly raked and raised vp fresh againe Howbeit in Bactriana Africke and Cyrene there needs no such hand at all for the climate is so good so kinde and beneficiall that none of all this paines is required for after the seed is once sowne they neuer visit it but once for all at nine months end at what time they returne to cut it down and lay it vpon their thrashing floores the reason is because the drought keepeth downe all weeds and the dewes that fall by
so soone as the seede is in the ground that it may be harrowed in with the corne But in case this manner of dunging be neglected it followeth then before that you do harrow to strew the short small dung in manner of dust gathered out of Coupes Mues and Bartons where foule are fed or els to cast Goats treddles vpon the land as if you would sow seed and then with rakes and harrowes to mingle it with the soile To the end now that we may determine fully as touching this care also belonging to dung euery sheep or goat and such small cattell should by right yeeld ordinarily in dung one load in ten daies and euery head of bigger beasts ten load for vnlesse this proportion and quantity of muck be gathered plain it is that the granger or master of husbandry hath not don his part but failed in litering of his cattell Some hold opinion that the best way of mucking a land is to fold sheep and such like small cattell thereupon euen in the broad open field and to this purpose they inclose or impark them within hurdles In a word a ground not dunged at al groweth to be cold and again if it be ouermuch dunged the heart thereof is burned away And therefore the better and safer way is to muck by little at once and often rather than to ouerdo it at once The hotter that a soile is it stands by good reason that the lesse compost it requireth CHAP. XXIIII ¶ Of good seed-corne The manner of sowing ground well How much seed of euery kind of graine an acre will take The due seasons of Seednesse THe best corne or Zea for seede is of one yeares age two yeares old is not so good that of three is worst of all for beyond that time the heart is dead and such corne wil neuer spurt And verily this that is said of one sort may be verified of all kindes The corne that setleth to the bottome of the mowgh in a barn toward the floore is euer to be reserued for seed And that must needs be best because it is weightiest for therein lieth the goodnesse neither is there a better way to discern and distinguish good corn from other If you see an eare of corn hauing grains in it here and there staring distant asunder be sure the corn is not good for this purpose and therefore it must be cast aside The best graine looketh reddish and being broken between ones teeth retaineth stil the same colour within the worse corn for seed is that which sheweth more of the white flower within Furthermore this is certain that some grounds take more seed and some lesse And hereby verily do husband men gather their first presage religiously of a good or bad haruest for when they see the ground swallow more seed than ordinary they haue a ceremonie to say beleeue that it is hungry and hath greedily eaten the seed When a man is to sow a moist ground good reason there is to make the quicker dispatch and to do it betimes for fear lest rain come to rot it But contrariwise in dry places it is not amisse to stay the later and attend till raine follow lest by lying long in the earth and not conceiuing for want of moisture it lose the heart turn to nothing Semblably when a man soweth early he must bestow the more seed and sow thick because it is long ere it swel and be ready to chit But if he be late in his seednes he should cast it thin into the ground for thick sowing will choke and kill the seed Moreouer in this feat of sowing there is a pretty skil and cunning namely to cary an euen hand and cast the seed equally thorowout the whole field The hand in any case of the seeds-man must agree with his gate and march it ought alwaies to go iust with his right foot Herein also this would not be forgotten that one is more fortunate and hath a more lucky hand than another and the seed will prosper better and yeeld more encrease that such a one soweth an hidden secret surely in Nature and whereof we can yeeld no sound reason Ouer and besides this is to be considered that corn comming from a cold soile must not be sowne in a hot ground nor that which grew in a forward and hasty field ought to be transferred into lateward lands Howsoeuer some there be that haue giuen rule clean contrary howbeit they haue deceiued themselues with al their foolish curiositie Now as touching the quantitie of seed that must be giuen according to the varietie both of ground and grain these principles following are to be obserued in a reasonable good ground of a mean temperature an acre in ordinarie proportion wil ask of common wheat Triticum or of the fine wheat Siligo 5 modij of the red wheat Far or of seed for so we cal a kind of bread corn ten Modij of Barly six of Beans as much as of common wheat and a fift part or one Modius ouer of Vetches 12 of Cich pease the greater Cichlings the lesse and of pease three of Lupines ten of Lentils 3 as for these folk would haue them sowed together with dry dung of Ervile six of Silicia or Feni-greek six of Phaseols or Kidny beans foure of Dradge or Balimong for horse prouender 20 but of Millet and Panick 4 Sextars Howbeit herein can be set down no iust proportion for the soile may alter all And in one word a fat ground will receiue more and a lean lesse Besides there ariseth a difference another way in this manner if it be a massie fast chalky and moist ground you may bestow in one acre thereof six Modij either of common wheat or of fine Siligo but in case it be loose and light naked dry and yet in good heart and free it will aske but foure For the leaner that a ground is vnlesse it be sown scant and the straw come vp also thinne the shorter eare will the corne haue and the same light in the head and nothing therein Be the ground rich and fat ye shall see out of one root a number of stems to spring so that although the grain be thin sown yet will it come vp thick and beare a faire and full eare And therefore in an acre of ground you shall not do amisse to keep a meane between foure and six Modij hauing respect to the nature of the soile And yet some there be who would haue of wheat fiue Modij sown at all aduenture and neither more not lesse whatsoeuer the ground be To conclude if the ground be set with trees or lying on the side of an ãâã all is one as if it were lean hungry and out of heart And hereto may be reduced that notable Aphorisme worthy to be kept and obserued as a diuine Oracle Take not too much of a land weare not out all the fatnesse but leaue it in some heart Ouer and
18 day before the Calends of Ianuary The Spring Aequinox when nights and daies be of a length in the eight degree of Aries Semblably the summer Sunstead or longest day of the yeare is alwaies when the Sun is entred eight degrees into Cancer Last of all the other Aequinox in Autumne when day and night is equall lighteth vpon the eight degree of Libra And certes seldom or neuer shall you see any of these foure daies without euident shew of some notable change in the weather Again these cardinall seasons or quarters of the yeare admit also their sub-diuisions still into some notable and special times obserued in the very middle space from the one and the other For betweene the summer Sunstead and the Aequinox in Autumne iust vpon the fiue and forty day after the same Sunstead the retrait or setting of the star called in Latine Fidicula i. the Harp beginneth the Autumne Likewise betweene that Aequinox and the winter Sunstead or shortest day of the yeare the Matutine or morning fall of the star Virgiliae vpon the three and fortieth day after the said Aequinox setteth the beginning of the winter So likewise vpon the fiue and fortieth day between mid-winter or the shortest day of the yeare and the spring Aequinox the blowing of the Western wind Favonius beginneth the Spring And last of all vpon the three and fortieth day from the sayd Aequinox toward the Summer Sunstead at what time as the star Virgiliae doth rise Matutine begins the Summer But to returne again to our Agriculture begin I will at the Seednes of Frument corne that is to say at the rising or apparition of the starre Vergiliae in the morning without making any mention at all of other pety stars for to interrupt the train and course of our treatise to heap difficulties one vpon another considering that the fierce and vehement star Orion is departed a great way off from vs by that time I am not ignorant that many fall to sowing corne long before and preuent this time beginning their Seednes within 11 daies after the Aequinox in Autumne namely at the approch and rising of the star Corona i. the Crowne promising themselues assuredly to haue rain vpon it for certain daies together Xenophon would not haue vs begin to sow before that God giue vs some good signe and token so to do And Cicero our countryman expounding this saying of Xenophon taketh the raines in Nouember to be that signe which God giueth whereas in very deed the true and vndoubted rule to goe by is to make no great hast into the field for to sow before the leaues begin to fall and this euery man holdeth to be at the very occultation or retrait of the star Vergiliae Some as we haue before said haue obserued it about 3 daies before the Ides of Nouember And for that the said star is so euident in the heauen and easiest to be known of all others called it is by the name of a garment hanging out at a Brokers shop And therefore by the fall or retrait thereof as many men as haue a care and forecast to preuent the couetous dealing of the merchant-Tailor as commonly such occupiers lie in the wind for gain guesse aforehand what winter will follow for if it be a cloudie season when the star retireth it threatens a rainy winter and then these merchants presently raise the price of the clokes which they sel but if the weather be faire and cleare at the setting or occultation thereof it sheweth a pinching and hard winter toward and then they hold other garments also very deare But this Husbandman of ours who cannot skill at all to looke vp and to learn the order and position of the heauens must spy this signe of winter amongst his briers and brambles he must find I say the time of Seednes as he looketh downe vpon the ground namely when he sees the leaues fallen and lying vnder his feet Thus may a man know the temperature of the climat and the yeare according as he perceiues the leaues be fallen more at one time than another sooner also in some places and later elsewhere For as the season is forward or late as the climate also is affected so are the trees knowne to shed their leaues accordingly And in very truth this is the truest signe of all others And the best thing therein is this that being generall throughout the whole world and yet peculiar to each place it neuer faileth A man might make a wonder hereat if he did not see and remember that vpon the very shortest day in the yere euen in midwinter when the Sun is entred Capricorn the herb Penyroyal vseth of it selfe to floure either set in chaplets or otherwise hanging and sticking in the shambles so willing is Nature to shew vs all her secrets and to keepe nothing hidden from vs. For loe what signes and marks she hath giuen vs wherby we might know the time of sowing corn and verily this is the only true and infallible direction grounded vpon approoued experience and the same shewed first by dame Nature for by this dropping fall of leaues what doth she els teach and counsell vs but to haue our eye vpon the ground and to cast seed into it assuring vs of a certain supply of dung and compost by ouerspreading the ground and cast seed into it that soon will turne into muck what doth she else I say but by couering the earth in this manner with leaues shew how carefull she is to defend it against hard frosts and pinching winds and in one word thereby putteth vs in mind to make the more hast and get our seed vnder mould As for Varro he is of the same opinion for beans also and willeth vs to obserue the said rule in sowing them at the fall of the leafe Others are of this mind that the best sowing thereof is in the full Moone But for Lentils we should attend the last quarter toward the change to wit from the 25 day to the thirtieth Also that Vetches must be sowed at the said age of the Moon for in so doing we shall preserue such pulse from the naked snaile Howbeit some others there be that indeed would haue these kindes of Pulse to be sowed at this time of the yeare and age of the Moon for prouender and forrage to be spent out of hand mary if we would keepe the same for seed then we should take the season of the Spring Besides those rules and tokens aboue specified there is one more which Nature vpon an extraordinarie prouidence ouer vs hath presented vnto our eies after a wonderfull manner which Cicero expresseth in these termes Iam vero semper viridis semperque gravata Lentiscus triplici solit a est grandescere foetu Ter fruges fundens tria tempora monstrat arandi The Mastick tree All times you see Is clad and richly dight With green in cold With fruit three-fold A faire and goodly
and sharpned that their steles helues or handles be fitted and set to their heads that shaken tubs barrels and such like vessels be new cowped bound with hoops and calfretted that their staues ââ¦e well scraped and cleansed or else new set into them And thus much of this Winter Quarter as farre as to the comming of the Westerne winde Favonius Now as touching the entrance of the new Spring which is from the rising of the said winde to the Equinox in March Caesar sets downe for it the time which for three daies together is variable and inconstant weather to wit seuenteen daies before the calends of March which is the thirteenth of Februarie Also 8 daies before the said Calends which is the 22 of Februarie vpon the sight of the first Swallow and the morrow after vpon which day the star Arcturus riseth Vespertine i. appeareth in the ââ¦ning In like manner Caesar hath obserued that the said wind hath begun to blow three daies before the Nones of March to wit the fift of March just with the rising or apparition of the Crab-star Cancer Howbeit most writers of Astrologie do assigne the first entry of the Spring and the comming of this wind to the 8 day before the Ides of March which is the eight of that moneth when as the star Vinââ¦emiator id est the Grape-gatherer beginneth to appeare at what time also the Northerly starre called the Fish ariseth vpon the morrow whereof to wit the ninth day the great starre Orion sheweth himselfe in his likenesse In the region Atââ¦ica where Athens standeth it is obserued that the star Milvus i the Kite or Glede appeareth then in that climat Caesar moreouer noted that the star Scorpio rises vpon the Ides of March those fatall Ides I say that were so vnfortunate vnto himselfe also that vpon the 15 Calends of Aprill which is the 18 of March the foresaid Milvus i the Kitestar appeareth to them in Italie and three daies after the Horse-star is hidden toward the morning This is the freshest the most busie or stirring interual or time between that husbandmen haue and yet therin they be oftenest deceiued for commonly called they are not to their work the very same day that the wind Fauonius should by course blow but when it begins to be aloft which is a point to be considered and obserued with right great regard for if a man would take heede and marke well this is that moneth wherein God giueth vs that sure and infallible sign which neuer faileth Now from what quarter or coast this wind doth blow and which way it commeth albeit I haue shewed alreadie in the second booke of this storie yet will I speake thereof more distinctly and exactly anon mean while from that day whensoeuer it hapneth on which that wind beginneth to blow come it sooner as namely when it is a timely and forward spring or come it later if it be a long winter for it is not alwaies the sixth day just before the Ides of February from that time I say must the rustical paisants settle to their work then are they to goe about a world of toilesome labour then must they plie their businesse and make speed to dispatch those things first that may not be defer'd put off then or neuer would their summer three month corne be sowne their vines be pruned in manner abouesaid their Oliue trees dressed and trimmed accordinglâ⦠Apple-tree stocks and such like fruits are then to to be set and graffed then is the time to be digging and deluing in vineyards to remoue some yong plants out of their seminaries and digest them in order as they must grow and to supply their plots with new seed and impes Canes and Reeds Willows and Osiers Broom also would then some be set and others cut downe Elmes Poplars and Plane trees ought then to be planted as hath been said before then is the meetest season to cleanse the corne fields to sarcle and rid the winter corn from weeds and especially the bearded red wheat Far in doing wherof this must be the certain rule to direct the husbandmen namely when the root of the said Far begins to haue foure strings or threads to it As for Beans they must not be medled withall in that order before they haue put out three leaues and then verily they must be lightly gone ouer and cleansed rather with a light hooke than otherwise When Beanes be bloumed for 15 daies together they ought not to be touched As touching Barley it would not be sarcled or raked but in a drie ground and when the weather holds vp Order the matter so that by the Aequinox in March all your pruning and binding of Vines be done and finished If it be a vineyard foure men are enough to cut and tie an acre of vines and if they grow to trees one good workeman will be able to ouercome fifteen trees in one day This is the very time moreouer of gardening and dressing rose-plots or rosiers whereof I mean to treat apart and seuerally in the booke next following of drawing vinets also knots and fine storie works in gardens this is the only season to make trenches and ditches the ground also would now be broken vp for a fallow against the next yeare according to the mind and counsell of Virgil especially to the end that the Sunne might throughly parch and concoct the clots and thereby make it more mellow for the Seednes Howbeit I doe like better of their opinion as the more thristie and profitable of the two who aduise to plough no ground in the mids of the Spring but that which is of a mean temperature for if it be rich and fat presently the weeds will ouergrow and take vp the seams and furrowes againe say it be poore and leane the hot weather comming so soon vpon the fallow will dry it too fast spend all the moisture and kill the heart therof which should maintain the seed When thou hast found out in this maner the North-east wind Aquilo be sure that the wind which bloweth ful against it from the point where the Sun setteth in midwinter when daies be shortest is the Southwest called in Latin Africus and in Greek Lybs Obserue this wind wel for if a beast after she be couered turn about directly into this wind she will for certaine conceiue a female And thus much of the Line in the Quadrant next to the North point on the East side The third line from the North point which we drew first through the latitude of the shadow before said and which we called Decumana pointeth out the Equinoctial Sun-rising in March and September directeth thee also to the East wind vnder it called in Latine Subsolanus and in Greek Apeliotes Where the climat is healthful and temperat let vineyards be planted and arranged into this wind let ferm-houses also in the country be so built as the dores and windowes open into it This wind
548. m E O Eone a tree 399. b E P Ephemerides who first deuised 188. g Epirus description 72. k Epimenides his sleepe 184. i Ephesus a famous citie of Asia 109. b Epilepsââ¦e whence it is 335. a Epiglossis a little tongue at the root of the other 339. b it is in no creature that layeth egs ibid. vse of it ibid. it is two fold ibid. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã what it is 585. d Epipactis 398. i. the leaues medicinable ibid. Ephesus sometime it was so neere the sea that it did beat vpon the temple of Diana 39. e Epopos hill 40. h Epidaurus Island 40. k E R Eratosthenes measured the globe of the earth by what light and direstion 44. g Eratosthenes a most cunning clearke 49. b. 36. h Eratosthenes a writer his great praise 49. b Erithace Sandaracha Cerinthus food of bees 313. b Erithace effected of spring dew ibid. Erithace See Robin-redbrest Ericaeum a kinde of wild hony 317. d Eruile not chargeable in sowing 572. i Eruile medicinable by the testimony of Augustus Caesar. 572. k. when to be sowne ibid. Errour in numbring of yeares 181. a Erysinum what kinde of corne 565. b Erythini fishes altogether female 244. m Erythraea myrrhe 369. d Erysisceptron See Aspalathus Erythrocoma Pomegraââ¦ats 398. g. h E S Esculetum a groue neere Rome 462. g Esculus the mast thereof 458. m Esculus runneth as deep into the ground as it riseth aboue the ground 477. c Esseni people throughout the world most wonderfull 101. d carnall lust they know not ibid. keepe company onely with date trees ibid. continued many thousand yeares without generation ibid. E T Etesiae the name of winds 23. d Etesiae winds 97. f. 473. b E V Eumecos 376. l Euonimus a tree 399. b Eurotas riuer flowing ouer Peneus riuer like oile not mingled therewith 76. l Europe the measure thereof 89. d Euphorbia hearbe the wonderfull ââ¦rtue thereof 92. i Euphrates a famous riuer the description thereof 103. d Eupetalon 453. a Europe not the third part of the earth 51. a. but the one halfe ibid. Eutheristos 376. l Eutyche a woman of Tralleis deliuered in her life time of thirtie births 157. c. carried to her funerall by twentie of her children ibid. Euthiminââ¦s hiâ⦠sonnes growth 165. c Euthemus a wrestler honored as a god 180. k E X Exacetus what ââ¦sh 247. b. 488. i Experience best proofe 502. k Excrââ¦ments of mans body best dung for ground 507. c ãâã pearles of commendation 255. f E Y Eyebrowes of man like the eaues of a house 333. d Eyebrowes the seats of pride ibid. e what liuing creatures haue no Eies 333. f one Eye in some Herons 334. g Eyes of sundry colours 334. g. h. i ball or apple of the Eye different from the other parts ibid. k Eyes shew the affection and disposition of the mind 334. k. l membranes of the Eye 335. a. b opticke nerues of the Eyes whether they reach to the braine or stomacke ibid. d Eyes why they be closed ceremoniously in the dead ibid. Eyes yeeld forth teares 334. k Eyes sometime why they see not and be well 335. a Eye sight how it is placed ibid. b Eyelids their vse 336. g. why they shed their haire ibid. h Eytooth of a wolfe on the right side worketh wonders 337. f of Eye-sight quicke wonderfull examples 167. b F A FAbaria 569. a Fabariae certaine Islands 596. d Face proper onely to mankinde 333. d Factus what it is 433. d Fall of leafe a good rule for husbandmen to direct them to seednesse 588. l Falcon helpeth the owle in fight 277. f Fallowing each other yeare 581. b Fagutalis Iupiter at Rome 461. f Farrago 572. b Farrage corne or dredge 573. a Farina whereof it is deriued 564. g Fabius a Senatour of Rome strangled with a haire 159. ãâã Fauonius the Westerne wind why so called 471. d. why called Chelidonius 23. c. why named Orinthius ibid. highly commended 569. a Fairies seen oftentimes in the desarts of Affricke 157. c they vanish away like illusions ibid. F E Feast Fornacalia instituted by Numa 549. c Faecatum what it is 417 f L. Sylla called Faelix yet vnhappy 177. c Felicitie diuersly vnderstood 276. h Feeling a sense common to all creatures 306. ãâã Femals may certainly turne to be males 158. b Femals haue smaller voices than males except kine 353. e Female sirrs taller than the male 563. h. i Fenigreeke to be sowne negligently 552. b Ferrets naturally hunt conies 232. b Ferula two kindes 399. d. root of Ferula dangerous 399. f Ferula maketh excellent finâ⦠matches 400. h a Ferme house how to be purchased and chosen 553. b. c. d Ferne or brake how to be killed 556. m Fesant bastards 288. c Fesants of Colchis daintie birds 296. g Fesant will die of lyee 329. d Feuer a chappell dedicated to her 3. c F I Figtree beare fruit contrary to other trees and why 474. k Figtrees beare twice a yeare wild fig trees beare thrice a yeare ibid. l Figtree milke or sap serueth for rendles 486. g Figs Liuian 442. i. Pompeian ibid. Figs mariscae ibid. speckled figs. ibid. Herculanian 442. i. Albicerate ibid. Aratian ibid. Porphyrite 442. k. Popular ibid. Chelidonian ibid. Figs both early and lateward 442. k. Figs Duracinae ibid. Chalcidian figs beare three times in one yeare ibid. Tarentine figs called Oinae or Oenades ibid. Figs as big as peares 442. g Figs of Ida described ibid. Figtree Alexandrina ib. Figtrees of Hyrcania 442. h Figs Chalcidian 442. h. Chian ib. Lydian ib. Mamillane or teat figs. ib. Callistruthian ib. African 442. i. Alexandrine or delicat ib. Rhodian ib. Tyburtine ibid. Figdates when to be planted 442. l Figs African Saguntine Tellian ibid. winter figs. ibid. Figs fall from the tree if it thunder at the feast Uulcanalia 546. k Figs of Moesia ripen when other blossome by what deuise 442. m. a Fig the occasion of Carthage ouerthrow 443. b. c Figtree Nauia in Rome 443. d Figtrees Ruminalis ibid. Figtree in the Forum at Rome ibid. Figtree before the temple of Saturne in Rome 443. l Figs ripen altogether on the tree 444. h wild Figtrees ibid. Figs ripen the sooner by the meanes of wild figtrees ib. h. i. k Figs of the Isle Ebusus the best 444. l Figs how they be put vp and kept ibid. Figs good victuals ibid. m Figs Coctanae Caricae Cauniae ibid. Figtree made fruitfull by the sea onion Squilla 514. g. it is drier in the mids than at the head 517. c Figtree how it is made to beare oliues 524. g Figtree of all other ageth the soonest 526. m Figtree groweth best by the water side 544. i Figs how they are ripened by caprification 545. e Figs how they are made smooth and pleasant 547. b a Figtree of India 360. k. the description thereof ibid. it setteth it selfe ibid. Aegiptian figtree See Sycamore Syrian figtree 389. e. f Fields in Aethiopia about the hill Hesperis
especially I say if it thunder much Secondly they wil not last aboue one yere Item The tenderest daintiest be those that breed in the Sprinâ⦠and that indeed is the best time for them Item In some countries the ouerflow of riuers engender Mushromes and namely at Mitylene where by report they will not otherwise grow but vpon floten grounds and namely in such places whither the water hath brought from Tiara a certain vegetatiue seed to breed them And verily That Tiara is wonderfully stored replenished with such As touching the Truffles or Mushroms of Asia the most excellent of all others be neer vnto Lampsacum and Alopeconnesus but the best that Greece yeeldeth are in the territorie about the citie Elis. In this Toad-stoole or Mushrome kind are those flat Fusses and Puffes to be reckoned which the Greekes name Pezitae as they haue no root at all so they be altogether without either stele or taile In the next place to these I must needs speake of the most noble and famous plant Laserpitium which the Greeks name Silphium discouered and found first in the abouesaid prouince of Barbarie Cyrenaica The juice or liquor drawne out of this hearb they cal Laser a drug so magnified of such singularitie and vse in Physicke especially that it was sold by weight and a dram thereof cost commonly Romane denier For these many yeares of late there is none of this plant to be found in that country of Cyrenaica beforesaid for that the Publicans and Farmers of the pastures and grounds there vnder the people of Rome doe put in their cattell among these plants and eat al downe by that means finding thereby a greater gaine or commodity than by letting them stand for the juice or liquor aforesaid One only stalk or stem thereof hath bin found in our days which was sent vnto Emperor Nero as a present for a great nouelty If it chance at any time that either sheepe or goat which commonly bite neer to the ground do light vpon a yong plant thereof newly peeping forth and not euident to be seene you shall know it by these signes The sheepe presently so soone as she hath tasted it will drop asleep and the goat fal a neesing For these many yeres the merchants haue brought vs into Italy no other Laser than that which grows abundantly in Persis or Media and in Armenia but it is far inferior to this of Cyrenaica and commeth short of it for goodnes And this that we haue is no better than it should be for they sophisticate and corrupt it with gum with Sagapeum or else with bruised Beans In regard of which scarsity I canot chuse but remember that which befell at Rome in that yere wherin C. Valerius and M. Herennius were consuls when by great good fortune there was brought from Cyrenae thirtie pound weight of the best Laser and set abroad to be seene in open place of all commers As also I may not let passe another occurrent namely how Caesar Dictatour at the beginning of the ciuile war tooke forth openly out of the chamber of the citie with other treasure both of gold and siluer an hundred and eleuen pounds of the best Laser Moreouer this one thing more I canot forget the best and most renowned Greeke Authors haue left in writing That 7 years before the foundation of the citie Cyrenae which was built 143 yeres after our citie of Rome this plant Laserpitium that beareth the said Laser was engendered at one instant by occasion of a certain thicke grosse and black shewer of raine in manner of pitch which sodainely fell and drenched the ground about the hortyards or gardens of the Hesperides the greater Syrtis The which rain was effectual and left the strength thereof for the compasse of foure thousand stadia within Affricke or Barbarie They affirme moreouer That the herb Laserpitium there growing is of so sauage and churlish a nature that it canot abide any culture or good ordering by mans hand but if one should goe about to tend and cherish it it would rather chuse to be gon into the desart and vnpeopled parts of the countrey or else winder away and die Moreouer they set downe this description of it That it hath many roots and those bigge and thicke a stemme or stalke resembling the hearb Sagapeum or Fennell-geant howbeit not altogether so great the leaues of this plant which they termed by the name of Maspetum come very near in all respects to those of Smallach or Persely As touching the seed that it beareth flat and thin it is in maner of leaues but the leafe it selfe therof sheddeth in the Spring time The cattell that vse to feed thereupon and whereof they be very greedy first fall a scouring but afterwards when they be clensed and rid of il humors begin to wax fat and their flesh by this means becommeth wonderfull sweet and pleasant They report moreouer that after the leaues be fallen men also were wont in old time to eat the stem or stalk thereof either rosted and baked vnder the cindres or else boiled and sodden in water and their bodies likewise for the first 40 daies ensuing did nothing but purge til they were cleared of al diseases breeding by occasion of any Cacochymie or collection of ill humours within them Now concerning the juice or soueraigne liquor before said the manner was to draw it after two sorts to wit by scarification either out of the root or forth of the stem and maister stalke And hereof it came to haue two names Rhizias and Caulias But the later of these two to wit that which came of the stem was counted the worst fubiect to putrifaction and sold cheaper than the other To come now to the root of Laserpitium it hath a blacke rind or barke vpon it wherewith the merchants vse to sophisticat many of their drugs As for the manner of dressing and ordering the juice thereof it was no sooner drawne but they put it into certaine vessels together with brans among then euer and anone they plied it with stirring and shogging vntil it had lost the cruditie and verdure thereof and by that working came to the maturity and perfection for if it were not thus well followed soon would it catch a vinew begin to putrifie and so continue but a while In this worke of theirs they had an eye vnto the color how it changed for when they perceiued it to be high that they saw it once drie and haue don sweating breathing out the raw humidity and vapor within then they knew therby that it was wrought sufficiently and come to the full ripenesse Others there be who say that the root of Laserpitium beareth more than a cubit in bignesse and that out of it there swelleth an excresence aboue the ground out of which there was wont by way of incision to issue forth a certaine white juice in manner of milke vpon which grew the stalke
or stem which they called Magydaris And they affirme besides that it beareth leafy flat graines for the seed in color like gold which shed presently vpon the rising of the Dog-star especially if the wind be south Of which grains or seeds fallen to the ground young plants of Laserpitium vse to grow vp vnderneath that within the compasse of one yere wil thriue both in root and stem to the just and full perfection they haue writen moreouer that the vse was to dig about their roots and to lay them bare at certain times of the yeare Also that they serued not to purge cattell as is aforesaid but to cure them if they were diseased for vpon the eating thereof either they mended presently or else ended and died out of hand but few they were that miscaried in this sort As touching the former opinion of purging and scouring true it is that it agreeth well to the other Silphium or Laserpitium of Persia aforesaid Another kind there is of it named Magydaris more tender and lesse forcible and strong in operation than the former and affourdeth no such juice or liquor at all it grows about Syria and commeth not vp in all the region about Cyrenae Moreouer vpon the mount Pernassus there is great plentie found of a certaine hearbe which the inhabitants would needs haue to be Laserpitium and so they cal it wherewith indeed they are wont to abuse and sophisticat that singular and diuine plant the true Laserpitium so highly commended and of so great account and regard The principall and best triall of the true and sincere Laser is taken from the colour somewhat enclining to rednesse without breake it you shall haue it appeare white within and anone transparent If you drop water vpon it or otherwise thin spittle it will resolue and melt Much vse there is of it in many medicines for to cure mens maladies Two plants more therebe well knowne to the common sort and base multitude and to say a truth few els are acquainted with them notwithstanding they be commodities of much gaine and many a peny is gotten thereby The first is Madder in great request among diers and curriers and for to set a color vpon their wooll and leather right necessarie The best of all and most commended is our Madder of Italie principally that which groweth about villages neere vnto our citie of Rome And yet there is no country or prouince lightly but is full of it It commeth vp of the owne accord and is sowed besides of seed and set of slips in manner of Eruile Howbeit a prickie stalke it hath of the owne the same is also full of joints and knots and commonly about euery one of them it hath fiue leaues growing round in a circle The seed is red What medicinable vertues it hath and to what purpose it serueth in Physicke I will declare in place conuenient The second is that which is called in Latin Radicula i Sope-wort an hearb the juice wherof Fullers vse so much to scoure their wooll withall and wonderfull it is to see how white how pure how neat and soft it will make it Beeing set it will come vp and grow in any place but of it selfe without mans hand it groweth most in Asia and Syria among rough craggie and stony grounds The best is that which is found beyond the riuer Euphrates and that bears a stem like tall Fennell howbeit small and slender and whereof the inhabitants of the countrey there doe make a delicate dish for besides that it hath a commendable tast and much desired it giueth a pleasant colour to what meat soeuer is sodden in the pot with it It beareth a leafe like the Oliue the Greeks cal it Strution it floureth in Summer louely it is to the eie but no smel at all it hath to content the nose prickie moreouer it is like a thorne and the stalke notwithstanding couered with a soft down seed hath it none but a big root which they vse to cut shred mince small for the purposes aforesaid CHAP. IV. ¶ The manner of trimming and ordering Gardens the sorting of all those things that grow out of the Earth into their due places besides corne and plants bearing fruit IT remaineth now to treat of Gardens and the carefull diligence thereto belonging a commendable thing in it selfe and recommended vnto vs besides by our fore-fathers and auncient writers who had nothing to speake of in more account and admiration in old time than the gardens of the Hesperides of Adonis and Alcioniis as also those pendant gardens vpon tarraces and leads of houses whether they were those that Semyramis Queene of Babylon or Cyrus K. of Assyria deuised and caused to be made Of which and of their workmanship my intent is to make a discourse in some other booke Now for this present to goe no farther than Rome the Romane KK verily themselues made great store of gardens and set their minds vpon them for so we read that Tarquin surnamed the Proud the last king of Rome was in his garden when he gaue dispatch vnto that messenger that was sent from his sonne about a cruell and bloudie errand for to know his fathers aduise and pleasure as touching the citizens of Gabij In all the twelue tables throughout which contain our ancient lawes of Rome there is no mention made so much as once of a Grange or Ferm-house but euermore a garden is taken in that signification and vnder the name of Hortus i. a Garden is comprised Haeredium that is to say an Heritage or Domain and herupon grew by consequence a certain religious or rediculous superstition rather of some whom we ceremoniously to sacre and blesse their garden and hortyard dores only for to preserue them against the witchcraft and sorcerie of spightful and enuious persons And therefore they vse to set vp in gardens ridiculous and foolish images of Satyres Antiques and such like as good keepers and remedies against enuy and witchcraft howsoeuer Plautus assigneth the custodie of gardens to the protection of the goddesse Venus And euen in these our daies vnder the name of Gardens and Hortyards there goe many daintie places of pleasure within the very citie vnder the color also and title of them men are possessed of faire closes and pleasant fields yea and of proper houses with a good circuit of ground lying to them like pretie farmes and graunges in the countrey all which they tearme by the name of Gardens The inuention to haue gardens within a citie came vp first by Epicurus the doctor and master of all voluptuous idlenesse who deuised such gardens of pleasance in Athens for before his time the manner was not in any citie to dwell as it were in the countrey and so to make citie and countrey al one but all their gardens were in the villages without Certes at Rome a good garden and no more was thought a poore mans cheiuance it went I say for land and liuing The
hearbs be not all commendable in one and the same respect For of some the goodnesse lieth only in their bulbous and round root of others contrariwise in their head aloft There be of them that haue no part good but their stem or maister stalk and there are for them againe the leaues wherof be only eaten Now a man shall haue amongst them those that are wholesome meat both leafe and stalke In some the seed or graine in other the outward pil or rind alone of the root is in request And as there be that tast well in the skin or cartilage and gristly substance without-forth so there are that haue either their pulpous carnosity within or else their fleshy coat aboue as daintie All the goodnes of many of them lieth hidden within the earth and of as many again aboue the ground and yet some there be that are al one as good within as without Some traine along and run by the ground growing on end stil as they creep as Gourds and Cucumbers And yet the same as well as they loue to be neere the earth yet are led lpon trailes and hang thereon yea and be knowne for to rampevpon trees How beit much weightier and better nourished be they that keepe beneath As for the Cucumber it is the cartilage substance of the fruit thereof that delighteth and pleaseth our tast for of all fruits this propertie it alone hath that the vtmost rind which it beareth groweth to a very wood when it is once ripe Within the earth lie hidden and are kept all Winter Raddishes Nauews Turneps or Rapes Elecampane also after another sort so doe Skirworts and Parseneps or Wypes Moreouer this I would aduertise the Reader that when I tearme some hearbes Ferulacea I meane such as resemble in stalke Dil or the great Mallowes For some writers doe report That in Arabia there be a kind of Mallowes which after they haue grown six or seuen months come to be in the nature of pretie trees insomuch as their stalks streightwaies serue in stead of walking staues But what should I stand vpon this In Mauritania by report of trauellers neer the frith or arme of the sea adjoining to Lixos the head citie of Fez where somtimes as folke say were the hort-yards and gardens of the Hesperides not aboue halfe a quarter of a mile from the maine ocean hard vnto the chappell of Hercules farre more ancient than that temple of his which is in the Island Calis there groweth a Mallow that is a very tree indeed in height it is twentie foot and in bodie bigger and thicker than any man can fadome In this kind I meane for the raunge the Hempe likewise And as I purpose to tearme such Ferulacea so there bee some others that I will call Carnosa such as resemble the riuer or fresh-water Spunges which commonly are seene vpon ouer-floten medowes where the water standeth For as touching the fungous substance or calliositie of some plants I haue alreadie spoken thereof in the Treatise of Wood and Trees and of their nature Likewise in our late discourse of another sort of Mushroomes and Toad-stooles CHAP. V. ¶ Garden plants their natures kinds and seuerall histories OF the cartilage and pulpous kind such I meane onely wherof there is nothing good but that which is aboue the ground I reckon the Cucumber a fruit that Tiberius the Emperor much loued and affected for he tooke such a wondrous delight and pleasure therein that there was not a day went ouer his head but he had them serued vp to his table The beds and gardens wherein they grew were such as went vpon frames to be remooued euery way with wheeles and in winter during the cold and frosty daies they could draw them backe into certaine high couert buildings exposed to the Sun and there house them vnder roufe Moreouer I find in some ancient Greek writers that their seed ought to lie 2 daies in steepe or infused in honied milke before they be prickt or set into the ground for by that meanes the Cucumbers will be the sweeter and more pleasant The nature of them is to grow in what forme and fashion soeuer that a man would haue them Throughout all Italy green they be of colour and least of any others in the out-prouinces they be as fair and great and those either of a yellow color like wax and citrons or els blacke In Affrick or Barbary men take delight to haue the greatest plenty of them wheras in Moesia they lay for to haue them passing big and huge Now when they exceed in greatnes they be called Pepones is Melons or Pompons Let a man eat them alone they will lie raw and greene in the stomacke a whole day and neuer be digested howbeit with meats they are not vnwholsom and yet for the most part swim they will aloft and ride vpon a mans stomacke A wonderfull thing in their nature they cannot abide oile in any wise but water they loue well insomuch as if they be cut off or fallen from the place where they grew they wind and creep therinto if it be but a little way off contrariwise flie they will as fast from oile if a man set it by them and in case any thing be in their way to let them or that they hang still vpon their plant a man shall perceiue how they wil turn vp and crook to shun auoid it This amitie to the one and enmity to the other may be seene euen in one nights space for if a man set vnder them 4 fingers off where they grow a vessel with water ouer-night he shal see by the morning that they wil come downe to it contrariwise let oile stand the like distance from them shrink they wil from it and hook vpward Marke another experiment in the cucumber If when it hath don flouring you enter the knot of the fruit into a long cane or trunk it will grow vo a wonderfull length But behold a very straunge and new fashion of them in Campaine for there you shall haue abundance of them come vp in forme of a Quince And as I heare say one of them chanced so to grow first at a very venture but after from the seed of it came a whol race and progeny of the like which therupon they cal Melopepones as a man would say the quince pompions or Cucumbers These neuer hang on high but go low by the ground and gather round in form of a globe A strange case it is of this kind for ouer and besides their shape their color and sauor different from the rest they are no sooner ripe but presently they fall from the stele or taile wherto they grew notwithstanding they hang not hollow from the ground where their owne poise might weigh them downe Columella tells of a pretie deuise that he hath of his own how to keep of them fresh all the yere long chuse quoth he the biggest bramble you can meet with among a thousand
on it bestow his seed with muck and mould heaped thereupon the roots will grow so big as to fill vp the said hole full Howbeit in briefe Radishes are best nourished and maintained in salt grounds and therfore with such kind of brakish waters they vse to be watered which is the reason that in Aegypt there are the sweetest and daintiest Radishes in the world for that they are bedewed and sprinckled with Nitre And verily it is thought that they will lose all their bitternes whatsoeuer if they be corned or seasoned with salt yea and become as if they were sodden and condite for be they boiled once they proue sweet and serue to be eaten in stead of Nauewes And yet Phisicians giue counsell and prescribe That they should be eaten raw in a morning with salt when a man is fasting for to gather into the stomack the sharp humors and excrements that charge the belly entrails and thus taken they are of opinion that it is a good preparatiue to vomit and to open the passages well for to auoid those superfluities They giue out also That the juice of Radish roots is singular good and necessarie for the midriffe and the praecordiall parts about the heart and namely that nothing else but it was able to cure a Phtisicke or vlcer of the lungs wich had setled deep and taken to the heart The experiment and proofe whereof was found and seen in Aegypt by occasion that KK there caused dead bodies to be cut vp and anotomies to be made for to search out the maladies whereof men died It is reported that the Greeks as they be otherwise vaine in al their actions so highly preferred the Radishes before other meats in regard of theigo od nourishment that wheras in an oblation out of the garden-fruits to be offered vnto Apollo in his temple at Delphos they dedicated the Beet in siluer and the Rape or Turnep in lead they presented a Radish in beaten gold A man may know hereby that Manius Curius the great General of the Romane armie was not that countreyman borne whom the Samnite Embassadors when they brought to him a great present of gold vpon condition to surcease arms which he meant to refuse and not accept at their hands found rosting of a Rape or Turnep root at the chimney fire according as we find in the Annals and Chronicles of the Roman history To come again vnto our Radishes Moschian the Greek writer so highly esteemed this root that he compiled one whole booke of the Radish and nothing els Indeed Radishes are thought excellent good with meats in Winter time howbeit they alwaies wear and marre their teeth who eat of them and yet I assure you they wil polish Iuorie which is nothing els but the Elephants tooth Between a Vine and a Radish there is by nature a secret enmitie and exceeding great hatred in somuch as if Radishes be sowed neere vnto her she will writh and turne away sensibly from them Touching other sorts of cartilage or pulpous plants in the garden wherof I haue before spoken they be all giuen to run much to pith and to be of a more woodie substance A man would maruell therefore that they should all tast so strong and sharpe as they doe Of which there is one kind of wild Parsnep growing of it selfe which in Greek is called Staphylinas A second sort is set of a plant with the root and sowed of seed either in the prime of spring or els in Autumne howsoeuer Hyginus would haue them to be put into the ground in Februarie August September and October and that the plot where they are to grow should be digged and delued very deep This root beginneth to be good at the first yeres end but better it is if it be two yeres old howbeit both the one and the other is counted wholsommer in Autumn than at any other season of the yeare especially boiled and serued vp betweene two platters and yet dresse them so well as you can they will not be rid of that strong ranke and churlish smacke which it hath As for Hibiscum it differeth from the Parsnip aforesaid onely in this That it is more slender and smaller rejected altogether from the table and condemned for no good meat howbeit medicinable and vsed much by the Physitian A fourth kind there is beside resembling also the Parsnip which our countreymen the Latines name the French Parsnip but the Greekes Daucus i. the yellow Douke or Carot which they haue subdiuided into foure speciall sorts The Skirwirt root or white Parsnip which indeed would be written among other Physicke plants was likewise in great name and credit by the meane of the foresaid Emperour Tyberius who was very earnest to haue them yearely brought out of Germanie and euer he would cal for them at his own table And indeed about Gelduba a castle situat vpon the riuer Rhene in Germanie there was an excellent kind of them that grew to be passing faire from whence he was serued whereby it appeareth that this plant loueth cold regions well These roots haue a string in manner of a pith or sinew running all the length thereof which the cooke vseth to take forth after they be sodden yet for all that there remaineth still in them a great deale of bitternesse howbeit being wel tempered delaied with a sauce of mead or honyed wine and so eaten with it euen the same bitternesse turneth to a good and pleasant tast The greater Parsnip Pastinaca hath the like nerue or string aforesaid such only I mean as are a yere old The right season to sow the Skirwirt or Parsnip Siser is in these moneths to wit Februarie March Aprill Aegust September and October The Elecampane hath a root shorter than the Skirwirts or Parsnips aforesaid but more musculous and fuller as it were of brawn bitterer also in which regards if it be taken simply alone it is aduerse and contrarie to the stomack but joined confected with some sweet things among it is very holsom And many deuises haue bin practised with it to take away that harsh and vntoward bitternesse which it hath wherby it is become toothsome and pleasant enough for some there be who stamp it drie and so reduce it into a pouder then they mix it with some sweet liquid syrrup and being thus tempered serue it vp Others seeth it in water and vinegre mingled together and so keepe it condite Infused also it is many waies and afterwards either preserued in cuit or incorporat with hony in manner of a conserue or els with dried Raisons of the Sun or last of all with faire and fat Dates Moreouer diuers there be who after another sort make a confection therof namely with Quinces with Soruises or Plums mixing therwith one while Pepper another while Thym. And I assure you this root thus confected as is aforesaid is singular good for faintings and especially quickneth the dulnes and defect
the way I cannot ouerpasse the foolish superstition of the Aegyptians who vse to sweare by Garlicke and Onions calling them to witnesse in taking their othes as if they were no lesse than some gods Of Onions the Greeks haue deuised sundry kinds to wit the Sardian Samothracian Alsiden Setanian Schista i. the clouen Onion and Ascalonia i. little onions or Scalions taking that name of Ascalon a city in Iury. They haue all of them this propertie besides to make ones eyes water and to fetch out teares being smelled to especially they of Cypros but the Gnidian onions least of all others cause one to weep In all kinds of them the body of the root consisteth of a certaine fatty pulp or cartilage For quantity the Setanian be least except the Tusculane howbeit such are sweet The clouen onions the scalions aforesaid are proper for to make sauce of As touching that kind of them called Schista gardners leaue them aâ⦠winter in the ground with their leaues or head standing in the spring they pluck off the said leaues and then shal you see spring forth others vnderneath according to the same clifts and diuisions whereupon they tooke the name Schista After which example the like practise in all other kindes is prescribed namely to pull the leaues off that they should grow rather big in root than run vp to seed The Ascalonian onions haue a proper nature qualitie by themselues for they be barren as it were from the root and therefore the Greeks would haue them to be sowed of seed and not otherwise to be set of heads Besides that they should be translated replanted again late about the spring at what time as they put forth blade for by this vsage say they you shall haue them burnish and grow thicke yea and then make hast for amends of the former time foreslipt These must be gathered betimes for after they be once ripe quickly will they rot in the earth if you make not the better hast to pluck them vp If you set or plant their heads a stalke they wil put forth and seed vpon it but the onion it selfe will consume and come to nothing Moreouer there is a difference obserued in the colour of onions for they that grow in Samos and Sardis be most white those also of Candy be much esteemed and some there be who doubt whether they be the same that the Ascalonian or no for that if they be sowed of seed their heads or roots will grow big set them they will be all stem and seed and no head at all As for the rellish or taste that onions haue there is no great diuersitie but that some are sweeter than other Our onions here in Italy be all of two sorts principally the one which serue for sauce to season our meats which the Greeks call Gethyon Chibbols but our countrymen the Latines Pallacana these are sowne commonly in March April and May the other is the great headed onion and these be put into the ground either after the Aequinox in Autumne or els after mid-February when the West wind Favonius is aloft Moreouer onions are diuided into sundry sorts according to the degrees of their pleasant or vnpleasant and harsh tast to wit the African French Tusculan and Amiternium But euermore the best are the roundest Item the red onion is more keen and angry than the white the dry and that which hath lien is more eagre and sharp than the green newly drawn the raw also more than the sodden and finally the dry by it selfe more than that which is condite and preserued in some liquor for sauce The Amiternium onion is planted in cold moist grounds and this alone would be set of a head in maner of garlick cloues whereas the rest will come of seed Onions the next summer following after they be sowne put forth no seed but head only which groweth and the leafe or stem drieth and dieth But the next yere after by way of interchange it bringeth forth seed and then the head rotteth And therefore euery yeare they vse to sow onion seed apart in one bed by it selfe for to haue onions set onions for seed in other by themselues The best way to keep onions is in corn chaf and such like pugs As for the Chibbol it hath in maner no distinct head at all but only a long neck therfore it runs in maner all to a green blade the order is to cut and sheare it often in manner of porret or leeks which is the cause that they sow it also of seed and do not set it Ouer and besides before we sow onion seed the plot by mens saying ought to haue three diggings for to kil and rid out of the ground the roots of hurtful weeds and ten pound of seed ordinarily wil sow an acre Here and there amongst would be Saverie sowne for the better will the Onions like and prosper with the companie of that hearbe Also after the ground is sowne it requireth weeding sarcling or raking foure times at the least if not oftner Our neighbours in Italie sow the Ascalonian Onion in the moneth of Februarie whose manner is also to gather Onion seed when it beginneth once to wax black before it fall to wither Seeing now that I am entred thus far into a discourse of Onions I shal not do amisse to treat of Leeks also in regard of the neare affinitie betweene them and the rather for that it is not long since that the Porret kind which is often kept downe with clipping and cutting came into great name and credit by occasion of the Emperor Nero who vsed for certaine daies in euery moneth for to scoure his throat and cleare his voice and to take it with oile on which daies he did eat nothing els not so much as bread Wee vse to sow them of seed after the Aequinox in September and if we meane to make cut Leeks thereof the seed would be sowed the thicker These Leeks are kept downe with clipping and shearing still vntill the root faile without remouing them out of the same bed where they were sown and alwaies they must be plied with dung But before they be cut nourished they ought to be vntill they haue gotten a good head When they are wel grown they are to be translated into another bed or quarter there replanted hauing their vppermost leaues lightly shriged off without comming to the heart or marow which is their body next to their roots and their heads set deeper downward yea and their vtmost pellicles and skins sliued from them In old time they vsed to put vnder their root a broad flint-stone or els a tile which did dilate their heads within the ground and make them spread the better This they practised also in other bulbous plants as Onions c. thereby to haue the fairer heads But now in these daies the maner is lightly to barbe pluck off with a sarcling hook the beards or strings
is besides found in mountains named by them thereupon Orââ¦oselinum i. Mountain Ach or Parsely of the hils it beareth leaues like Hemlocke and a little slender root the seed resembleth Dill seed verie much but only that it is smaller And as for the garden Ach commonly called Parsely there be many kinds thereof differing one from another first in leafe whereby you shall haue some leafed thick and ful and the same jagged and curled others thinner and those also more plain smooth and broad Item in stalk which in some is more grosse or thin than in other in one kind white in another purple and in a third of sundry colours Of Lectuce the Greeks haue set downe three kinds whereof the first riseth vp with so large and broad a stalke that by their report little garden wickets were commonly made thereof in partitions between quarter and quarter And yet the leafe of this Lectuce is not much bigger than others that be common and serue for pot-herbes the same also passing narrow by reason that all the nutriment is otherwise spent in the maine stem The second hath a round stalk the third is the broad flat Lectuce which settles neer the ground called Laconicon or the Lectuce of Lacedaemon But other writers haue described the distinct kinds therof by their colour and the sundry seasons wherein they be set for say they there be black Lectuces the seed whereof ought to be sowed in Ianuary there be white also and such would be sowed in March there are a third sort which be red and the fit time of their seednesse is the moneth of April and according to those authors all the sort of them are to be remoued in yong plants when they haue growne two moneths Howbeit those Herbarists who haue looked farther into the knowledge of Simples adde more kinds yet vnto the other to wit the purple the crisp or curled the Cappadocian the Greekish Lectuce As for these of Greece they are taller in stem than the rest and broader withall besides their leaues be long and narrow like to those of Endiue or Cichorie The worst kind of all is that which the Greeks by way of reproofe and reproch for their bitternesse terme Picris Yet is there another distinct kind of the black Lectuce which for the plenty that it yeeldeth of a milky white iuice procuring drowsinesse is termed Meconis although all of them are thought to cause sleep In old time our ancestors knew no other Lectuce in Italy but this alone and thereupon it tooke the name in Latine of Lactuca The purple Lectuce which hath the biggest root they name Caeciliana but the round kinde with smallest root and broad leaues is called Astylis i. the chaste Lectuce or the ciuil Lectuce howbeit some giue it the name of Eunuchij because of all others it cooleth lust most and is ââ¦n enemy to the sports of Venus And to say a truth all Lectuces are by nature refrigeratiue and do coole the body and therfore be they eaten ordinarily in Summer for they please the stomacke when it is inclined to loath meat and procureth good appetite Certes reported it is of Augustus Caesar late Emperour of famous memorie that he escaped a dangerous disease and was recouered by the meanes of Lectuce whereunto he was directed by the discreet counsell of Musa his Physician And whereas in times past folke precisely forbare to eat Lectuce now there is no doubt or scruple at all made thereof nay they are so far from abstinence that way that it is a meat generally receiued and commended insomuch as they haue deuised to keepe it in the syrrup of Oxymel all winter long for to haue it ready and euer at hand yea and more than so men are verily persuaded that Lectuce will increase good bloud Ouer and besides all the sorts of Lettuce before specified there is yet another kind named in Latine Caprina as one would say the Goats Lectuce whereof I purpose to speake more at large among other medicinable herbs As touching the wild Lectuce called Cilician see how it is crept apace into the garden after it came once to be knowne and is commended as exceeding good among other herbs there sown and planted the leafe resembleth the Cappadocian Lectuce but that it is jagged broader than it As for Endiues and Cichories I cannot tell what to make of them for neither can they be truly said a kind of Lectuce nor yet ranged well amongst other herbs More vnpatient they are and fearfull of winter than Lectuces and withall carry vnpleasant strong tast howbeit their stalks are no lesse acceptable than they Their yong plants vse to be set in the beginning of the spring but translated afterwards and replanted in the later end thereof There is a certain wild and wandring Endiue which the Aegyptians call Cichorie whereof I meane to discourse more amply in another place There hath bin a deuise lately come vp to condite and preserue as well the stems as the leaues of all Lectuces for the winter time in pitchers pots within some appropriate liquor as also to dresse and seeth them yong fresh and greene in a kinde of broth or browesse and so serue them vp between two platters And yet where the ground is rich good well watered and holpen with doung Lectuce may be sowed at all times of the yere for within two months they will grow to be good big plants and in as little space come to their ful maturity and perfection Howbeit the true time and ordinary season is to sow their seeds about the mids of December when the daies begin to lengthen and then to remooue their plants at the comming of the Western wind Fauonius in February or els to sow in that wind and to replant in March about the Spring Aequinox White Lectuce of all other can best away with the winter All Garden-herbs loue moisture and muck they loue as well Lectuce especially yet I must needs say that Endiue more than it Some gardiners there be that thinke it a great point of cunning to besmere the roots of Lectuce plants and other such herbs with dung when they are set or after they be bared at the root within the ground to cast in the mould againe and fill vp the place so soon as they be greased as it were with muck at the root Others there be who practise another feat with them to make them cabbage the better and grow faire big by cutting them vp close to the ground when they are come once to be halfe a foot high and then bedaubing them with green swines dung It is thought that white Lectuce come onely of white seed and yet that is not sufficient vnlesse there be some sea sand taken fresh from the shore and laid about the heart of the plant where the leaues put forth first and so reared and heaped vp to the mids and then to take order that the leaues growing ouer them
stem from the root howbeit among the leaues it groweth to more thicknesse These leaues branch out but here and there and are in comparison of others narrower howbeit much set by for their speciall tendernesse wherby they are soon sodden and dressed and yet cold weather they cannot indure whereas on the other side the Coleworts of Bruzze or Calabria like the best in winter and be nourished with the hard season leaues they haue exceeding great and large but their stalks are but small and as for tast they be sharp and sower The Sabellian Coles what curled and ruffed leaues they carry it is a wonder to see so thick they are besides that they rob the very stem of their nutriment which therby is the smaller howbeit of al others they be reputed the sweetest Long it is not since there came from out of the vale of Aricia where somtimes there was a lake and a tower standing vpon it remaining yet at this day to be seene a kind of Cabbage-cole with a mightie great head and an infinite number of leaues which gather and close round together and these Coles we in Latin call Lacuturres of the place from whence they come Some Coleworts there be which stretch out into a roundle others againe extend in breadth and be very full of fleshy brawns None cabbage more than these settting aside the Tritian Coleworts beforenamed that are known otherwiles to bear a head a foot thick and yet none put sorth their Cymes or tender buds more than they Moreouer this would be noted That howsoeuer all kinds of Coleworts eat much sweeter for being bitten with the frost yet if there be not good heed taken in cutting off their head or tender crops and buds so that the wound come not neere the heart and pith and namely by cutting them aslope and byas in manner of a Goats foot they will take much harme thereby Such as be reserued to beare seed ought not to be cut at all They also are not without their grace and commendation which neuer passe the bignesse of a green and ordinary plant such small coles are called Halmyridia for that they grow not elsewhere but vpon the sea coasts and because they wil keep greene prouision is made of such for to serue in long voiages at sea for so soon as they be cut vp before they touch the ground they be put vp into barrels where lately oile hath been and those newly dried against the time and stopped vp close that no aire at all may enter in and therein be they preserued Some there be who in remouing the young plants lay vnder their roots Riek and Sea-weeds or els bruised and powdred nitre as much as a man may take vp with three fingers imagining thereby that they will the sooner come to maturity Others againe take the seed of Trifolie and Nitre stamped together which they strew vpon the leaues for the same purpose And as for Nitre it is of this nature to make them look green still although they were sodden or els they vse to boile them after Apicius his fashion namely to steep them wel in oile and salt mingled together before they be set vpon the fire for to be sodden Moreouer there is a way tograffe herbs also as well as trees namely by cutting off the yong sions that spring out of the stalk and therein to inoculate as it were the seed of another plant within the pith or marow thereof This also may be practised vpon wild Cucumbers Ouer and besides there is a kind of wild Woorts growing in the fields called Lapsana much named and renowned by occasion of the sonets carols chanted in the solemnitie of Iulius Caesar the Emperors triumph and especially of the merry times and licentious broad jeasts tossed by his soldiers who at euery second verse cast in his teeth ââ¦hat in Dyrrhachium they liued of nothing els but of those Woorts noting indeed by way of cauill and reproch his niggardise in rewarding them so sleightly for their good seruice now was this Lapsana a kind of wild Colewort which they did eat of instead of the fine and dainty tendrils and buds of the garden Coles As touching Sperages there is not an herb in the garden whereof there is so great regard and care taken as of them Concerning their first original beginning I haue spoken at large in the treatise Of the maner how to order the wild of that kind and to entertain them in our gardens as also how Cato willed vs to sow and plant them in plots of Reeds and Canes Now there is a middle sort of these Sperages not so ciuill and gentle as the Asparagi of the garden and yet more kind and mild than the Corrudae of the field these grow euery where abroad euen vpon the mountains and the champion countrey of high Aââ¦ain is ouerspred and full of them wherof there goes a pleasant speech and merry conceit of Tyberius Caesar the Emperour namely that there grew an herb in Almain very like to the garden Sperage for as touching that which commeth vp of it selfe in Nesis an Island of Campaine it is thought the best simply of all others without comparison The garden Sperages be planted from the knots bunching together within the ground named Spongiae which easily may be replanted for surely an hearb it is that carrieth a mighty head or cluster as it were of roots and the same putteth forth spurns euery way from it of a great depth into the ground They send out at first certaine greene spurts or buds peeping forth of the ground which growing to a stem in processe of time rise sharpe in the top and then are they chamfered diuided into certaine musculous branches that spread abroad This hearbe may be sowne also of seed Cato tooke not more paines about any other hearbe nor imploied greater diligence in the description thereof than he did in it It is the very last thing that he treateth of in his booke whereby it may appeare that the man came all vpon a sudden and newly to the knowledge of that hearbe and the ordering of it He giueth order Imprimis That the plot wherein they are to sowne be moist fat and well digged Item That they be set half a foot euery way asunder one from another in no wise the place troden down with ones foot moreouer that two or three seeds be put together in a hole made before with a dibble directly by a line for in those daies they set them onely of seed Item That this would be done about mid-March which is the proper season therefore Item That they haue their fill of dung That they be kept cleane with often weeding but in any case That great heed be taken in plucking vp the weeds that the tender buds or croppes new knit and appearing aboue ground be not knapt off For the first yeare hee would haue them in winter time to be couered with straw and litter and
especiall reckoning aboue other herbs for I reade in antient Histories That Cornelius Cethegus at what time as he was chosen Consul with Quintius Flaminius presently vpon the said election gaue a largesse to the people of new wine aromatized with Rue The fig-tree and Rue are in a great league amitie insomuch as this herbe sow and set it when and where you will in no place prospereth better than vnder that tree for planted it may be of a slip or sprig Now if the same be put into a bean which hath a hole pierced or bored through it will do far better by reason that the bean clasping the set close and vniting thereunto her own sap and moisture cherisheth it therewith and makes it come apace moreouer it will propagat and set it owne selfe for let the top of any of her branches be bent downeward so as it may but touch the ground it will presently take root Of the same nature it is that Basill but that Rue is somwhat later ere it come vp groweth not so fast When Rue is come to be of any strength there is vntoward sarcling and weeding of it for if it be handled it will raise blisters vpon a mans fingers vnlesse the hands be well gloued or defensed with oile The leaues also of Rue are kept and preserued beeing made vp into little knitches or bunches Now as touching Ach or Parsley the manner is to sow it immediatly after the spring Equinox in March but the seed would be first brused beaten a little in a mortar for some are persuaded that by this means it groweth thicker and more crispe or curled which it will doe likewise in case after a bed be sowed therewith it be troden vpon with mens feet or beaten downe with a roller or cylinder This peculiar property hath Parsley that it will change the colour It was an antient custome in Achaia to do honour vnto this hearbe by crowning those that went away with victory and wan the prize in the solemne tourneys and sacred games Nemei with a chaplet of Parsly As for Mint men vse to set it at the same time of a young plant so soone as they see it is spurt and come vp but if it haue not sprung yet they let not to plant the spurns of the root knotted into an head within the ground in manner of the Spongiae in Sperage before said This herb taketh no great ioy in moist grounds All Summer it looketh greene and fresh but in winter it hath a hempen hew A wild kind there is of Mint named in Latin Mentastrum which will increase by propagation or couching in the ground as well as vine branches and so willing it is to take that it makes no matter which end of a slip be set downeward for at the wrong end it wil come as well as at the other Mint in the Greeke tongue hath changed the old name by occasion of the sweet smel that it carieth whereas before time it was called Mintha whereof we in Latine deriued our name Mentha A pleasant herb this is and delectable to smel vnto insomuch as you shal not see a husbandmans bourd in the country but all the meats from one end to the other be seasoned with mints If it be once set or sown haue taken to a ground it will continue there a long time It resembleth much the herb Peny-roiall the nature wherof as I haue often shewed is to blow her floures again vpon the shortest day of the yere euen as it hangeth prickt vpon flesh in the butchery Much after one sort are kept and preserued for sauce as if they were of the same kind Mint Peni-roiall and Nep but aboue all to a weake and peeuish stomack Cumin agreeth most and is the best to get an appetite It hath a qualitie to grow with root very eb and scarsely taketh any hold of the earth coueting to be aloft In hot grounds and such especially as be rotten mellow it would be sown in the mids of the spring There is a second sort therof growing wild which some call Cumin Rustick others Thebaick which being bruised or beaten into pouder and drunk in water is singular good for the pain of the stomack The best Cumin in our part of the world which is Europe commeth from Carpetania for otherwise the greatest name goeth of that in Aethyopia and Africk And yet some here be who prefer the Cumin of Egypt before all But Alisanders which some Greekes call Hipposelium others Smyrneum is of a strange and wonderfull nature aboue all other herbes for it wil grow of the very liquor or juice issuing forth of the stalk It may be set also of a root and indeed they that gather the foresaid juice vse to say that it hath the very tast and rellish of Myrrhe by Theophrastus his saying it came first of Myrrh set into the ground The old writers ordained that Alisanders should be set or sowed in stony grounds without tending or looking to neer to some mud wall But now in our daies it is planted in places digged delued ouer once or twice yea and at any time from the blowing of the western wind Fauonius in Februarie vntill the later Aequinox in September be past Capers likewise are set sowed in dry places specially but the bed must be digged in some low ground and laid hollow inuironed round about with banks and those raised with a groundsell of stone worke otherwise it would be ranging abroad and ouerspread whole fields make the ground barren and vnfruitfull It flourisheth in Summer and continueth green vntil the occultation or setting of the Brood-hen star Virgiliae and sandy ground is most familiar and agreeable to it Touching the defects and imperfections of that kinde which groweth beyond sea I haue said enough among the shrubs and plants that be strangers The Caraway also is a stranger as may appeare by the name of Caria the natiue countrey therof it beareth one of the principal seeds that commeth into the kitchen It careth not much where it is sown or planted for it will grow in any ground as well as the Alisanders beforenamed howbeit the best commeth out of Caria the next to it in goodnes we haue from Phrygia As for Loueach or Liuish it is by nature wild and sauage and loueth alone to grow of it self among the mountains of Liguria whereof it commeth to haue the name Ligusticum as being the naturall place best agreeing to the nature of it Set or sowed it may be in any place wheresoeuer howbeit this that is thus ordred by mans hand hath not the like vertue as the other although it be in tast more pleasant some call it Panax or Panace howbeit Creteuas a Greeke writer calleth the wild Origan or Cunila Bubula by that name But all others in manner attribute the name of Conyza or Conyzoides to Cunilago i. Fleabane Mullet and of Thymbra i.
winter Sauory to Cunila i. garden Sauory which among vs hath another name in Latin to wit Satureia much vsed in sauces and seasoning of our meats This Sauory is commonly sown in the month of February and hath no smal resemblance of Origan insomuch as they are neuer both vsed at once in sauce or sallads their vertues operations be so like Andy et the Egyptian Origanum is preferred before the said Sauory To come now to Lepidium i. Dittander or Pepperwort it was somtime a stranger also with vs here in Italy It is vsually sown after mid-February when the Western wind Fauonius hath plaied his part afterwards when it hath put forth branches it is cut downe close to the ground and then it is laid bare and sarcled the superfluous roots cut away so in the end cherished with muck Thus must it be serued the two first yeres For afterwards they vse the same in branches at all times if the cruell and bitter winter kill them not for surely this herb is most impatient of cold It groweth a good cubit in heigth bearing leaues like to Lawrel the same soft and tender But neuer is it vsed in meat without milke Now for Gith or Nigella Romana as it is an herb that groweth for the pastrie to fit the Bakers hand so Annise and Dil are as appropriat to the kitchen for Cooks as the Apothecaries shop for the Physician Sacopenium likewise is an herb growing verily in gardens but is vsed in Physicke onely Certain herbs there be that accompany others for good fellowship and grow with them as namely Poppy for commonly sowne it is with Coleworts Purcellane Rocket and Lectuce Of garden Poppies there be three kinds first the white wherof the seeds in old time being made into Biskets or Comfits with hony were serued vp as a banketting dish The rustical peisants of the countrey were wont to guild or glaze as it were the vppermost crust of their loaues of bread with yolks of egs and then to bestrew it with Poppy seed which would cleaue fast to it hauing first vnderlaied the bottome crust with Ammi or Annise seed and Gith then they put them into the ouen beeing thus seasoned which gaue a commendable taste to their bread when it was baked There is a second kinde of Poppie called Blacke out of the heads or bolls wherof a white juice or liquor issueth by way of incision like milk and many receiue reserue it carefully The third kind which the Greekes name Rhoeas our countreymen in Latin call the wandring or wild Poppie It commeth vp verily of the owne accord but in corne fields among Barly especially like vnto Rocket a cubite high with a red floure that soon wil shed and fall off whereupon it tooke that name of Rhoeas in Greeke Touching other kinds of Poppie growing of themselues I purpose to speake in the treatise of physicke and medicinable hearbs Mean while this cannot be forgotten that Poppies haue alwaies time out of mind been highly regarded and honoured among the Romanes witnesse Tarquine the Proud the last king of Rome who when his sonnes Embassadors were come to him for to vnderstand his aduise how to compasse the seignorie ouer the Gabians drew them into his garden and there by circumstance of topping the heads of the highest Poppies there growing without any answere parole dispatched them away sufficiently furnished by this demonstration with a double design euen to fetch off the greatest mens heads of the citie the readiest meanes to effect his purpose Againe there is another sort of hearbs that loue for companie to be set or sowne together about the Aequinox in Autumne namely Coriander Dill Orach Mallowes Garden dockes or Patience Cheruill which the Greeks call Paederos and Senuie which is of a most biting and stinging tast of a fierie effect but nathelesse very good and wholsom for mans bodie this hearb will come of it selfe without the hand of man howbeit proue it will the better if the plant be remoued and set elswhere And yet sow a ground once withall you shall hardly rid the place of it cleane for the seed no sooner sheddeth vpon the ground but a man shall see it greene aboue ground It serues also to make a prety dish of meat to be eaten being boiled or stewed between two little dishes in some conuenient liquor in such sort as a man shal not feele it to bite at the tongues end nor complaine of any eagernesse that it hath The leaues besides vse to be sodden like as other pot-hearbes Now there be of this Senuie three kinds the first beareth small and slender leaues the second is leaued like Rapes or Turneps the third resembleth Rocket The best Mustard seed commeth out of Aegypt The Athenians were wont to call it Napy some Thlaspi and others Saurion To conclude as touching the running wild Thyme and Sisymbrium i. Horse-mint or Water-mint most hils are replenished and tapissed as it were therewith and especially in Thracia where a man shall see a mighty quantity of wild Thyme branches which the mountain waters or land flouds carrie away and bring it downe with their streame to riuers sides and then folke plant them Semblably at Sicyon there grows great store conueighed thither from the mountaines neere adjoining and lastly at Athens brought thither out of the hill Hymettus In like manner also the foresaid water-mint commeth from the hils with a sudden dash of rain and is replanted accordingly It groweth rankest and prospereth best in the brinks and sides of pits or wells also about fish-ponds and standing pooles CHAP. IX ¶ Of Finkle or Fennell and Hempe IT remaineth now among garden hearbes to speake of those that be of the Ferule kind and namely of Fenell in particular a hearb wherin Snakes and such serpents take exceeding great delight as heretofore I haue declared and which being dried is singular good to commend many meats out of the kitchin into the hall There is a plant resembleth it much named Thapsia wherof because I haue alreadie written among other forraine herbes I will proceed forward to Hemp which is so profitable and good for to make cordage This plant must be sowed of seed after the western wind Fauonius bloweth in Februarie The thicker that it groweth the slenderer and finer it is When the seed therof is ripe namely after the Aequinox in Autumn folk vse to rub it out and then drie it either in the Sunne the wind or smoke But the stalke or stem of the Hemp it selfe they pluck out of the ground after Vintage and it is the husbandmans night work by candle lightto pill and cleanse it The best Hempe commeth from Alabanda especially for to make nets and toile where bee three kinds thereof That part of the Hempe which is next to the rind or pilling as also to the inner part within is worst the principal of it lieth in the middest and called it is Mesa Next to the Alabandian
they be transplanted but principally Leeks and Nauews nay this remouing and replanting of them is the proper cure of many sorances for from that time forward subiect they will not be to those iniuries that vse to infest them and namely Chibbols Porret or Leeks Radish Parsly Lectuce Rapes or Turneps and Cucumbers All herbs which by nature grow wild lightly haue smaller leaues and slenderer stalks in tast also they be more biting and eagre than such of that kinde as grow in gardens as wee may see in Saverie Origan and Rue Howbeit of all others the wild Dock is better than the garden Sorrell which the Latines call Rumex This garden Sorrell or soure docke is the stoutest and hardiest of all that grow for if the seed haue once taken in a place it wil by folks saying continue euer there neither can it be killed do what you will to the earth especially if it grow neere the water side If it be vsed with meats vnlesse it be taken with Ptisane or husked Barly alone it giueth a more pleasant commendable tast thereto and besides maketh it lighter of digestion The wild Dock or Sorrell is good in many medicines But that you may know how diligent and curious men haue been to search into the secrets of euerie thing I will tell you what I haue found contriued in certaine verses of a Poet namely That if a man take the round treddles of a goat and make in euery one of them a little hole putting therein the seed either of Leeks Rocket Lectuce Parsly Endiue or garden Cresses and close them vp and so put them into the ground it is wonderfull how they will prosper and what faire plants will come thereof Ouer and besides this would be noted that all herbs wild be drier and more keen than the tame of the same kind For this place requireth that I should set downe the difference also of their iuice and tasts which they yeeld and rather indeed than of Apples and such like fruits of trees The tast or smack of Saverâ⦠Origan Cresses and Senvie is hot and biting of Wormwood and Centaurie bitter of Cucumber Gourds and Lectuce waterish Of Maââ¦oram it is sharp only but of Parsly Dill and Fennell sharpe and yet odorant withall Of all smacks the salt tast only is not naturall And yet otherwhiles a kinde of salt setleth like dust or in manner of roundles or circles of water vpon herbs howbeit soon it passeth away and continueth no longer than many such vanities and foolish opinions in this world As for Panax it tasteth much like pepper but Siliquastrum or Indish Pepper more than it and therfore no maruel if it were called Piperitis Libanotis smelleth like Frankincense Myrrhis of Myrrh As touching Panace sufficient hath been spoken already Libanotis commeth naturally of seed in rotten grounds lean subiect to dews it hath a root like to Alisanders differing little or nothing in smell from Frankincense The vse of it after it be one yeare old is most wholsome for the stomacke Some terme it by another name Rosemary Also Alisanders named in Greeke Smyrneum loueth to grow in the same places that Rosemary doth and the root resembleth Myrrh in tast Indish Pepper likewise delighteth to be sowed in the same maner The rest differ from others both in smell and tast as Dil. Finally so great is the diuersitie and force in things that not only one changeth the naturall taste of another but also drowneth it altogether With Parsly the Cooks know how to take away the sourenesse and bitternesse in many meats with the same also our Vintners haue a cast for to rid wine of the strong smell that is offenfiue but they let it hang in certain bags within the vessels Thus much may serue concerning garden herbs such I mean onely as be vsed in the kitchen about meats It remaineth now to speake of the chiefe work of Nature contained in them for all this while we haue discoursed of their increase and the gain that may come thereof and indeed treated we haue summarily of some plants and in generall termes But forasmuch as the true vertues and properties of each herb cannot throughly and perfectly be known but by their operations in physick I must needs conclude that therein lieth a mighty piece of work to find out that secret and diuine power lying hidden and inclosed within and such a piece of worke as I wot not whether there can be found any greater For mine own part good reason I had not to set down and anex these medicinable vertues to euery herb which were to mingle Agriculture with Physick and Physicke with Cookerie and so to make a mish-mash and confusion of all things For this I wist ful well that some men were desirous only to know what effects they had in curing maladies as a study pertinent to their profession who no doubt should haue lost a great deale of time before they had come to that which they looked for in running thorough the discourses of both the other in case wee had handled altogether But now seeing euery thing is digested ranged in their seueral ranks as well pertaining to the fields as the kitchen and the Apothecaries shop an easie matter it will be for them that are willing and so disposed to sort out each thing and fit himselfe to his owne purpose yea and ioine them all at his pleasure THE TVVENTIETH BOOKE OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS The Proeme SInce we are come thus far as to treat of the greatest and principall work of Nature we will begin from hence-forward at the very meats which men put into their mouthes and conuey into their stomacks and vrge them to confesse a truth That hitherto they haue not well knowne those ordinarie means whereby they liue And let no man in the mean time thinke this to be a simple or small piece of knowledge and learning going by the base title bare name that it caries for so he may be soon deceiued For in the pursute and discourse of this argument we shall take occasion to enter into a large field as touching the peace and war in Nature we shall handle I say a deep secret euen the naturall hatred and enmitie of dumbe deafe and senselesse creatures And verily the main point of this theame and which may rauish vs to agreater wonder admiration of the thing lieth herin That this mutual affection which the Greeks call sympathie wherupon the frame of this world dependeth and whereby the course of all things doth stand tendeth to the vse and benefit of man alone For to what end else is it that the element of Water quincheth fire For what purpose doth the Sun suck and drink vp the water as it were to coole his heat and allay his thirst and the Moon contrariwise breed humors and engender moist vapors and both Planets eclipse and abridge the light one of the other But
it odoriferous and senting well but the root Of which root as Aristophanes an auncient Comicall Poet testifieth in one of his Comoedies they were woont in old time to make sweet perfumes and odoriferous compositions for their ointments whereupon some there be who call the root Barbarica but falsly for deceiued they are The sauour that this root doth cast draweth very neere to the sent of Cinamon It loueth a leane and light soile and in no wise commeth vp in a moist ground As touching the hearb named Combretum it resembleth the same very much howbeit the leaues be passing small and as slender as threds but the plant it selfe is taller than Bacchar well rest we must not in the description of these hearbes and floures only but also we are to reforme and correct their error who haue giuen to Bacchar the name of Nard-rustick For there is anotheir hearbe properly so called to wit that which the Greeks name Asaron i. Asara-bacca or Fole-foot a plant far different from Bacchar as may appear by the description therof which I haue set down among the sundrie kinds of Nardus And verily I do find that this plant is named Asarum because it is neuer vsed in making of guirlands and chaplets Concerning Saffron the wild is the best To plant it within any garden in Italic is held no good husbandry for it will not quit cost considering there is neuer a quarter set therewith but it asketh a scruple more in expence than the fruit or increase commeth to when all the cards be told For to haue Saffron grow you must set the cloues or bulbous heads of the root and being thus planted it prooueth larger bigger and fairer than the other howbeit sooner far it doth degenerate and become a bastard kind neither is it fruitfull and beareth chiues in euerie place no not about Cyrene where the goodliest floures of Saffron in the world are to be seen at all times The principal Saffron groweth in Cilicia and especially vpon the mountain Corycus there next to it is that of Lycia and namely vpon the hill Olympus and then in a third degree of goodnesse is reckoned the Saffron Centuripinum in Sicily although some there bee who attribute the second place vnto the saffron of the mount Phlegra Nothing is so subject to sophistication as Saffron and therfore the only triall of true Saffron indeed is this If a man lay his hands vpon it he shall heare it to cracke as if it were brittle and readie to burst for that which is moist a qualitie comming by some indirect means and cunning cast yeeldeth to the hand and makes no words Yet is there another proofe of good Saffron If a man after hee haue handled it reach his hand vp presently to his mouth perceiue that the aire and breath therof smiteth to his face and eyes and therewith fretteth and stingeth them a little for then he may be sure that the saffron is right there is a kind of garden saffron by it self and this commonly is thought best and pleaseth most when there appeareth some white in the mids of the floure and thereupon they name it Dialeucon whereas contrariwise this is thought to be a fault and imperfection in the Corysian Saffron which is chiefe and indeed the floure of it is blacker than any other soonest fadeth But the best simply in any place whersoeuer is that which is thickest and seemes to like best hauing besides short chiues like hairs the worst is that which smelleth of mustines Mutianus writeth that in Lycia the practise is to take it vp euery 7 or 8 yere and remoue it to a plot of ground wel digged and delued to a fine mould where if it be replanted it will become fresh again and youg whereas it was ready before to decay and degenerate No vse thereis in any place of Saffron floures in garlands for the leaues are small and narrow in manner almost of threads Howbeit with wine it accordeth passing well especially if it be of any sweet kind and being reduced into powder and tempered therewith it is commonly sprinkled ouer all the theatres and filleth the place with a persume It bloometh at the setting or occultation of the star Vergiliae and continueth in floure but few daies and the leaf driueth out the floure In the mids of winter it is in the verdure and al green and then would it be taken vp and gathered which done it ought to be dried in the shadow and the colder that the shade is so much the better For the root of Saffron is pulpous and full of carnositie and no root liueth so long aboue ground as it doth Saffron loueth a-life to be trampled and trod vpon vnder foot and in truth the more injurie is done vnto it for to mar it the better it thriueth and therefore neare to beaten paths and wells much frequented it commeth forward and prospereth most CHAP. VII ¶ Of the floures vsed in old time about coronets and guirlands the great diuersitie in aromaticall and sweet smelling simples Of Saliunca and Polium SAffron was no doubt in great credit and estimation during the flowring estate of Troy for certes the Poet Homer highly commendeth these three floures to wit Melilot Saffron and Hyacinth Of all odoriferous and sweet senting simples nay of all hearbes and floures whatsoeuer the difference consisteth in the colour the smel and the juice And note this to begin withall that seldome or neuer you shal meet with any thing sweet in sent but it is bitter in tast and contrariwise sweet things in the mouth be few or none odoriferous to the nose And this is the reason that wine refined smelleth better than new in the lees and simples growing wild haue a better sauor far than those of the garden Some floures the further they be off the more pleasant is their smell come nearer vnto them their sent is more dull and weaker than it was as namely Violets A fresh and new gathered rose casteth a better smel afar off than neere at hand let it be somwhat withered and dry you shal sent it better at the nose than farther off Generally all floures be more odoriferous and pleasant in the Spring than at any other season of the yeare and in the morning they haue a quicker and more piercing sent than at any houre of the day besides the neerer to noon the weaker is the smell of any herb or floure Moreouer the floures of new plants are nothing so sweet as those of an old stock and yet I must needs say that floures smell strongest in the mids of Summer As for Roses and Saffron floures they cast the pleasanter smell if they be gathered in cleare weather when it is faire and dry aboue head and in one word such as grow in hot countries be euer sweeter to smell vnto than in cold Climats Howbeit in Aegypt the floures haue no good sent at all by reason that the aire
make them cups of diuers forms and fashions out of which they take no small pleasure to drink And now adaies this herb is planted here in Italy Next to Colocasia the Aegyptians make most account of that Cichory which I named before the wild and wandring Endiue which herb commeth vp in that country after the rising of the Brood hen star it floureth not all at once but bloweth by branches one after another a supple and pliable root it hath and therefore the Aegyptians vse it in stead of cords to binde withall As for Anthalium it groweth not in Nilus but not far from the riuer it beareth a fruit in bignesse and roundnesse resembling a Medlar hauing neither kernell within nor husk without and the leafe of this plant is like to Cyperus or English Galangale This herbe they vse to eat being first dressed and prepared in the kitchin They feed likewise vpon Oetum a plant that hath few leaues and chose very small howbeit a great root Touching Aracidna and Aracos they haue many roots verily branching and spreading from them but neither leafe nor herbage ne yet any thing els appearing aboue ground And thus much of the chiefest and greatest herbs of Egypt serued vp to the table the rest are common or vulgar and euery mans meat by name Condrylla Hypochoeris Caucalis Authriscum Scandix called by some Tragopogon which beareth leaues like to Saffron Parthenium Strychnum Corchorus and A pace which sheweth his head about the Aequinox also Acinos and that which they name Epipetron and it neuer beareth floure whereas Aphace contrariwise neuer giueth ouer flouring but when one floure is faded and shed another commeth vp and this course it holdeth all Winter long throughout the Spring also euen to the heat of Summer Many other hearbs they haue of base reckoning but aboue all they make greatest account of Cnicus an herbe not knowne in Italy not for any good meat they find in it but for the oyle drawne out of the seed thereof Of this herb there be two principall kinds to wit the Wild and the Tame the Wild is subdiuided into two speciall sorts the one of a more mild and gentle nature than the other although the stalks of both be alike that is to say stiffe and streight vpright and therefore women in old time vsed the stems thereof for rocks and distaffes whereupon some do call the herb Atractylis the seed is white big and bitter The second is more rough and hairy creeping long on the ground with stalks more musculous and fleshy and carrieth a small seed The herb may be ranged among those that be prickly for so must herbs be diuided into such general heads namely that some be full of pricks others cleane without and smooth As for those which stand vpon pricks they be subdiuided into many members and branches And to begin with a kind of Sperage called also Scorpio it hath no leafe at all but instead therof pricks and nothing els some there be leafed indeed but those are beset with prickes as the Thistle Sea-holly Liquorice and Nettle for the leaues of all these herbs be pricky stinging withall Others besides their leaues haue prickles also as the bramble Rest harrow or whin Some be provided of pricks both in lease and stalk as Phleos which others haue called Stoebe As for Hippophacet it hath a prick or thorne in euery joint but the bramble Tribulus aforesaid hath this property by it selfe That the fruit also which it beareth is set with pricks Of all these sorts the Nettle is best knowne which carrieth certain goblets and concauities and the same yeelding a purple kind of downe in the floure and it riseth vp sometimes aboue two cubits high Many kinds there be of these Nettles namely the wild Nettle which some would haue to be the female and this is more milde than the rest In this wilde kinde is to be reckoned also that which they cal Cania and is of the twain more aegre for the very stalke will sting and the leaues be purfled as it were and jagged But that Nettle which carrieth a stinking sauor with it called is Herculanea All the sort of them are full of seed and the same blacke A strange quality in these Nettles that the very hairy downe of them hauing no euident prickes sticking out should be so shrewd as it is that if one touch it neuer so little presently there followeth a smarting kind of itch and anon the skin riseth vp in pimples and blisters as if it had been skalt or burnt but well knowne is the remedie of this smart namely to annoint the place with oyle Howbeit this biting property that it hath commeth not to it at the beginning when it is new comevp but it is the heat of the Sun that fortifieth this mordacitie And verily in the Spring when the Nettle is young and peepeth first out of the ground they vse to eat the crops therof for a pleasant kind of meat and many be persuaded besides that it is medicinable therefore precisely religiously feed thereupon as a preservatiue to put by all diseases for that present yeare Also the root of the wild Nettle if it be sodden with any flesh maketh it to eat more tender The dead nettle which stingeth not at all is called Lamium As touching the herb Scorpio I will write in the treatise of herbs medicinable CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Carduus and Ixine of Tribulus and Anchusa THe common Thistle is ful of pricky hairs both in leafe stalk likewise Acorna Leucacanthos Chalceos Cnicos Polyacanthos Onopyxos Ixine Scolymos As touching the Thistle Chamaeleon it hath no pricks in the leafe Moreouer these pricky hearbes are distinguished different one from another in this that some of them be furnished with many stems and spred into diuers branches as the Thistle others againe rise vp with one maine stalk and branch not as Cnecos Also there be of them that be prickly only in the head as the Eryngium or Sea-holly Some floure in Summer as Tetralix and Ixine As for Scolymus late it is also ere it blow but it continueth long in the floure Acorna differeth from it onely in the red colour and fattier juice that commeth from it Atractylis also might go for Scolymus but that it is whiter and yeeldeth a liquor like bloud wherupon there be some who cal it Phonos i. Murderer this quality it hath besides that it senteth strong the seed also ripeneth late not before Autumne and yet this is a property common to all plants of this pricky and thistly kind But all these herbs wil come of seed and root both As for Scolymus it differeth from the rest of these Thistles herein that the root if it be sodden is good to be eaten besides it hath a strange nature for all the sort of them during the Summer throughout neuer rest and giue ouer but
either they floure or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit and look when the leaues begin to wither their prickes lose their force and will not pierce Ixine is a rare herb and geason to be seen and not found growing in al countries alike Immediatly from the root it putteth forth leaus plenty out of the mids of which root there swelleth out a bunch like an apple but the same is couered with the foresaid leaues in the very ââ¦p of which fruit there is contained a gum of a pleasant tast called the thistle Mastick Touching the herb Cactos which groweth also in Sicily and no where els it hath a property by it self the stalks whereof shooting from the root creep along the ground and it carrieth a broad leafe full of pricks and thorns and indeed these stalks thus running vpon the earth the Sicilians cal Cactos which they vse to keep and preserue and being thus condited also they commonly eat as very good meat One stem it hath growing vpright which they terme Pternix as sweet pleasant as the other but it will not abide to be kept long The seed thereof is couered with a certain soft down which they call Pappos which being taken off with the husk there remaineth a tender kernell within which they eat find it as delicat as the very heart of the Date tree top which is called the Brain and this pith aforesaid the Sicilians name Ascalia The Caltrop thistle Tribulus groweth not but in moory grounds and standing dead waters Surely in other places folke curse it as they passe by the prickes and spurs stick out so dangerously but about the riuers Nilus and Strymon the inhabitants do gather it for their meat the nature of this plant is to lean and bend downward in the head to the water The leafe resembles in form those of the Elme and they hang by a long stele or taile But in other parts of the world there be two other kinds of Tribulus the one is leafed like vnto the Cichling pease the other hath leaues sharp pointed this second kind is later ere it floure and commonly groweth about the mounds of closes lying by villages and town sides the seed lieth in a cod rounder than the other and black withall whereas the former hath a sandy seed Of these thorny and pricky plants there is yet one kind more namely Ononis i. Rest. harrow for it carrieth pricks close to the very branches the leafe is like to Rue the whole stalk throughout is set with leaues disposed in manner of a garland This plant commonly groweth after corn it plagueth the plough and yet there is much adoto rid it out of a ground so loth it is to die Of plants that be prickie some haue their stalkes and branches trailing by the ground as namely that hearbe which they call Coronopus i. Harts horn or Buck-horne Plantaine contrariwise there stand vpright Orchanet the root whereof is so good to colour wax and wood red And of such as be more gentle in handling Camomile Phyllanthus Anemone and Aphace As for Crepis Apate their stalks be all leafe Moreouer this would be noted that the leaues of herbs differ one from another as well as in trees some in the length or shortnesse of the stele whereto they hang others in the breadth or narrownesse of the leafe it selfe in form also whereby you shal haue some cornered others cut and indented likewise in sent and floure for some there be that continue longer in flouring than others and blow not all at once but one part after another as Basill Tornsall Aphaca and Onocheile CHAP. XVII ¶ The difference of herbs in their leafe what hearbes they be that floure all the yeare long of the Asphodell Pistana and Petie-Gladen or Sword-grasse MAny hearbes there be as well as some trees which continue greene and hold their leaues from one end of the yeare to the other as Tornsol and Adianthum or Capillus Veneris Another sort there is of herbs that floure spike-wise of which kind are Cynops Alopecurus i. Foxtaile Stelephuros which some call Ortyx others Plantaine of which I will write more at large among Physick herbs and Thryollis Of these Alopecurus carrieth a soft spike and a thick mossie down not vnlike to Fox-tails whereupon it tooke that name in Greeke and Stelephurus resembleth it very much but that the Foxtaile bloweth not all together but beareth floures some at one time some at another Cichory and such like haue their leaues spreading vpon the ground and those put forth directly from the root beginning to spring immediatly after the apparition of the star Vergiliae As touching Parietary there be other nations as wel as the Aegyptians who feed vpon it it took the name Perdicium in Latine of the bird Perdix i. the Partridge that seeketh after it so much and plucketh it out of the wals where it groweth it hath many roots and the same thick In like maner the herb Ornithogale i. Dogs onion hath a small stem and a white but a root halfe a foot long the same is full of bulbs like onions soft also and accompanied with three or foure other spurs growing out of it This hearbe they vse to seeth among other pot-herbs for potage I will tell you a strange quality of the herb Lotos and of Aegilops if their seed be cast into the ground it wil not come vp in a yeare As wonderfull is the nature also of the Camomile for it beginneth to floure in the head whereas all other herbes which blow not all at once floure at the foot first Notable is the Bur likewise and worthy to be obserued I mean that which sticketh to our clothes as we passe by the floure lieth close and groweth within the said Bur and neuer appeareth without-forth it is I say as it were hatched within much like vnto those liuing creatures that couve and quicken their egges within their belly Semblably about the city Opus there is an herb called Opuntia which men delight to eat this admirable gift the leafe hath That if it be laied in the ground it will take root and there is no other way to plant this herb maintain the kind As for Iasione one leafe it hath and no more but so lapped and infolded that it seemeth as if they were many Touching Condrylla the herb it selfe is bitter but the juice of the root is hot and biting Bitter also is Aphaca or Dent de Lion as also that which is called Picris which name it took of the exceeding bitternesse that it hath the same floureth all the yere long As for Squilla and Safron they be both of a maruellous nature for whereas all other hearbes put out leafe first and then knit round into a stem in those two a man may euidently see the stalk before the leafe And in Saffron verily the said stalk thrusteth out the floure before it but
that sacred and blessed mother of all things willing and desirous that man whom she loueth so well should find euery place stored with proper and conuenient remedies for all maladies incident vnto him hath so disposed of her workes and taken that order that the rough woods and forrests euen the most hideous parts of the earth and fearfull to see vnto bee not without their plants medicinable Nay the very wilds and desarts are enriched and furnished therewith insomuch as in euerie coast and corner of the world there may be obserued both sympathies and antipathies I meane those naturall combinations and contrarieties in those her creatures From whence proceed the greatest miracles which are to bee seene in this round Fabricke and admirable frame For first and formost the Oke and the oliue tree beare such mutual rancor and malice as it were and are so stiffely bent to war one with another that if a man replant one of these trees in the trench or hole from whence the other was taken vp it wil surely die Also if an Oke be set neare vnto a walnut-tree it wil not liue The Colewort and the Vine hate one another to the very death in such sort that if a Vine stand neare vnto it a man shall sensibly perceiue the same to shrinke away and recule backward from it and yet this wort which maketh the Vine thus to retire and flie if it chance to grow ouer-against Origan or Cyclamine will soone wither and die Moreouer it is commonly said That trees in the forrest fully grown which haue stood many a yeare and namely such as are ready to be fallen and laid along for timber proue harder to be hewed and sooner wax dry if a man touch them with his hand before hee set the edge of the axe to their butt And some say that pack-horses asses and other labouring beasts which haue Apples and such like fruit aload wil quickly shrinke and complaine vnder their burden yea presently run all to sweat carry they but a very few to speak of vnlesse the said fruit wherewith they are to be charged be first shewed vnto them Asses finde great contentment and good by feeding vpon Fenel-geant or Ferula plants and yet to horses garrons other beasts of cariage and draught they are present poison if they eat them which is the cause that the Asse is a beast consecrated vnto the god Bacchus as well as the foresaid plant Ferula Ouer and besides see the admirable operation in Nature the very insensible and liuelesse creatures yea the least that be meet euery one of them with some contrary thing or other which is their bane and poison for as our cooks know well enough the inner bark of the Linden tree sliued thin into broad flakes and fine boulted floure together doe drink and suck vp the salt of viands ouermuch poudered and make it fresh again Likewise salt giueth a good rellish to any meat that is ouer sweet and tempereth those that haue a lushious and wallowish tast If water be nitrous brackish bitter put some fried barly meale into it within two houres and lesse it will be so well amended and sweet that a man may drink thereof and this is the reason that the said Barly meale is put ordinarily in those strainers and bags through which wines do passe that thereby they may be refined and drawn the sooner Of the same operation also and effect there is a kind of chalke in the Island of Rhodes and our clay here in Italy will do as much Thus you see what enmity discord there is in some things Contrariwise we may obserue in others how wonderfully they accord and agree together for pitch will dissolue spread and be drawne out with oile being both as they are of a fatty nature oile alone will incorporat and mingle well with lime they hate water the one as well as the other Gums are sooner dissolued and more easily tempered with vineger than with any thing els ink with water besides an infinit number of other such that I shall haue occasion to write of continually in their due places And indeed this is the very ground and foundation of all our Physick For to say a truth Nature ordained at the first such things and none but such for to be the remedies of our diseases which we feed liue daily vpon euen those which are soon found and as soon prepared which be ready at hand common euery where and cost vs little or nothing at all But afterwards the world grew to be so full of deceit and cousenage that some fine wits and nimble heads deuised to set vp Apothecary shops promising and bearing vs in hand that euery man might buy his life and health there for mony Then anon a sort of compositions mixtures and confections were set on foot then there was no talk but of strange and intricat receits and these were bruited abroad for the only medicines of wonderfull and vnspeakable operations So that now adaies wee vse no other drugs but those that come from Arabia and India And if a man aile neuer so little or haue the least push or wheale about him he must haue some costly Physick forsooth for it a plaster that came from as far as the red sea whereas in truth the right remedies appropriat for euery maladie be no other than such as the poorest man that is feedeth vpon euerie night ordinarily at his supper But if we went no farther than to the garden for medicines and sought after herbs shrubs and plants only for to cure our sicknesse or maintain our health certes there were not a baser occupation in the world than the profession of Physick and Physitians would be nought set by but will you haue the truth To this passe are we come the old world we haue bidden farewell vnto the antient manners and rites of Rome citie are dead and gone our state is growne so much in greatnesse as there is no goodnesse left Our victories and conquests be these and nothing else which haue vanquished subdued vs for subiect we must acknowledge our selues to strangers and forraine Nations solong as Physicke one of their Arts is able to command our commanders and ouerrule our Emperors But the discourse of this matter in more ample manner I will reserue to some other time and place CHAP. II. ¶ Of Lotos AS touching the herbe Lotos the Aegyptian plant likewise of that name as also of another tree about the Syrtes so called I haue written sufficiently in their due places as for this Lotos which our countrymen call in Latine the Greekish Bean hath a property for to bind and knit the flux of the belly with the fruit or berries which it beareth The shauings or scrapings of the wood therof boiled in wine and so taken inwardly cure the bloudy flix and exulceration of the guts represse the immoderat flowing of womens moneths help the dizzinesse and swimming of
still and beareth vs in hand that in the realme Ariana there is found the herbe Arianis of the colour of fire The inhabitants of that country vse to gather it when the Sun is in the signe Leo and they affirme that if it do but touch any wood besmeared and rubbed ouer with oile it will set the same a burning on a light fire What should I write of the plant Therionarca which whensoeuer it beginneth to come vp and rise out of the ground all the wilde beasts will lie benummed and as it were dead neither can they be raised or recouered again vntill they be sprinkled with the vrine of Hyaena The herb Aethiopis by his report groweth in Meroe for which cause it is called also Merois In leafe it resembleth Lectuce and being drunk in mead or honied water there is not such a remedy againe for the dropsie Ouer and besides he speaketh of the plant Ophiusa found in a country of the same Aethyopia named Elephantine of a leaden hue it is and hideous to see to whosoeuer drinke thereof shal be so frighted with the terrors and menaces of serpents represented vnto their eies that for very feare they shall lay violent hands on themselues and therefore church robbers are inforced to drink it How beit if a man take after it a draught of Date wine he shall not be troubled with any such fearfull visions and illusions Moreouer there is found saith Democritus the herbe Thalassegle about the riuer Indus and thereupon is knowne by another name Potamantis which if men or women take in drink transporteth their sences so far out of the way that they shall imagine they see strange sights As for Theangelis which by his saying groweth vpon mount Libanon in Syria and vpon Dicte a mountain in Candy also about Babylon and Susis in Persia if the wise Phylosophers whom they term Magi drinke of that herb they shal incontinently haue the spirit of prophesie and foretell things to come There is besides in the region called Bactriana about the riuer Borysthenes another strange plant named Gelotophyllis which by his report if one do drink with Myrrh and wine it will cause many fantasticall apparitions and the party shal therupon fal into a fit of laughter without ceasing and intermission and neuer giue ouer vnlesse it be with a draught of Date wine wherein were tempered the kernels of Pine nuts together with pepper and honey Touching the herb of good fellowship Syssitieteris found in Persis it tooke that name because it maketh them exceeding mery who are met together at a feast They call the same herb likewise Protomedia for that it is so highly esteemed among kings and princes And another name it hath besides to wit Acasignete because it commeth vp alone no other herbs neere vnto it yea and one more yet namely Dionysonymphas because wine and it sort so well together and make as it were a good mariage The same Democritus talketh also of Helianthe an herb leaued like to the Myrtle growing in the country Themiscyra and the mountains of Cilicia coasting a long the sea And he giues out that if it be boiled with Lions grease and then together with Safron and Date wine reduced into an ointment the forefaid Magi and the Persian kings therewith annoint themselues to seem thereby more pleasant and amiable to the people which is the reason that the same herb is called Heliocallis Ouer and besides he maketh mention of Hermesias for so he termeth not an herb but a certain composition singular for the getting of children which shall proue faire and of good nature besides Made it is of Pine nut kernels stamped and incorporat with hony Myrrh Safron and Date wine with an addition afterwards of the hearbe Theombrotium and milke and this confection he prescribeth to be drunk by the man a little before the very act of generation but by women vpon their conception yea and after their deliuery all the while they be nources and giue suck and in so doing they may be assured those children of theirs thus gotten bred and reared shall be passing faire and well fauoured of an excellent spirit and courage and in one word euery way good Of all these herbes before specified he setteth down also the very names which the said Magi call them by Thus much for the Magicke herbes found in Democritus his booke Apollodorus one of his disciples and followers comes in with his two herbs to the other before named The one he calleth Aeschynomaene because it draweth in the leaues if one come neare vnto it with the hand the other Crocis which if the venomous spiders Phalangia do but touch they will die vpon it Cratevas writeth of an herb called Oenotheris which being put in wine if any sauage beasts be sprinckled therewith they will become tame gentle and tractable A famous Grammarian of late daies made mention of another herb Anacampseros of this vertue That if a man touched a woman therewith were she departed from him in all the hatred that might be she should come again and loue him entirely The same benefit also should the woman find therby in winning the loue of a man This may suffice for the present to haue written of these wonderfull Magick herbes considering that I meane to discourse more at large of them and their superstition in a more conuenient place CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of Eriphia Lanaria and Stratiotis with the medicines which they yeeld MAny writers haue made mention of Eriphia This herb hath within the straw of the stem a certain flie like a beetle running vp and down and by that meanes making a noise like vnto a yong kid whereupon it took the foresaid name There is not a better thing in the world for the voice than this herb as folk say The herb Lanaria giuen to ewes in a morning when they are fasting causeth their vdders to strout with milk Lactoris likewise is a common herb and as well known by reason that it is so full of milk which causeth vomit if one tast thereof neuer so little Some there be who say that the herb which they cal Militaris is all one with this Lactoris others would haue it to be very like vnto it and that it should haue that name because there is not a wound made with sword or edged weapon but it healeth it within fiue daies in case it be applied thereto with oile Semblably the Greek writers make great reckoning of their Stratiotes but this hearl ãâã groweth onely in Egypt and namely in floten grounds where the riuer Nilus hath ouerflowed and like it is vnto Sengreen or Housleek but that it hath bigger leaues It is exceeding refrigeratiue and a great healer of green wounds being made into a liniment with vineger moreouer it cureth S. Anthonies fire and all apostumes which are broken and run matter if it be taken in drinke with the male Frankincense it is wonderfull to see
the pleurisie Touching that Plant which the French cal Halum the Venetians Cotonea it is holden excellent for the griefe of the sides for the reines those that be plucked with the cramp and bursten by any inward rupture this herb somwhat resembleth wild Origan or Marjeram saue that in the ââ¦ead it is like rather vnto Thyme sweet it is in tast and quencheth thirst a spungeous and ââ¦ht root it hath in one place white in another black Of the same operation for the paires of the ââ¦de is Chamaerops an herbe which hath leaues growing double about the stalk and those like vnto the Myrtle leaues and bearing certain buttons or heads much after the manner of the Greekish Rose and the way to take it is in wine Agarick drunk in that order as it was prescribed for the cough doth assuage the paine of the Sciatica and the back bone Semblably doth the pouder of dried Stoechas or Betony if it be taken in mead or honied water CHAP. VIII ¶ Of all the infirmities and remedies of the belly and those parts that either be adioining to it or within contained The means how to loosen and bind the belly TOuching the panch or belly much ado there is with it and although most men care for nothing els in this life but to content and please the belly yet of all other parts it putteth them to most trouble for one while it is so costiue as that it will giue no passage to the meat another while so slippery as it will keep none of it one time you shal haue it so peeuish as that it can receiue no food and another time so weake and feeble that it is able to make no good concoction of it And verily now adaies the world is growne to that passe that the mouth and panch together are the chiefe meanes to worke our death The wombe I say the wickedest vessell belonging to our bodies is euermore vrgent like an importunat creditour demanding debt and oftentimes in a day calleth vnto vs for victuals for the bellies sake especially we are so couetous to gather good for the belly we lay vp so many dainties and superfluities to content the belly we stick not to saile as far as the riuer Phasis and to please the belly we seek sound the bottome of the deep seas and when all is done no man euer thinketh how base and abject this part of the body is considering that filthy ordure and excrement which passeth from it in the end No maruell then if Physitians be much troubled about it and be forced to deuise the greatest number of medicines for the help and cure thereof And to begin with the staying and binding of it a dram of Scordotis the herbe stamped greene and taken in wine doth the feat so doth the decoction thereof if it be drunke Also Polemonia is a soueraigne herb to be giuen in wine for the bloudy flix The root of Mullen or Lungwort taken to the quantity of two fingers in water worketh the same effect The seed of Nymphaea Heraclea drunk in wine is of the like operation so is the vpper part of the double root of Glader or the Flagge ministred to the weight of two drams in vineger To this purpose also serueth Plantaine seed done into pouder and put into a cup of wine or the herb it selfe boiled with vineger or els frumenty pottage taken with the juice thereof Plantaine sodden with Lentils or the pouder of the dry herb strewed like spice into drinke together with the pouder of starched Poppie The iuice also of Plantain or of Betony put into wine that hath bin heat with a red hot gad of steele either ministred by clystre or drunk in the said case is very commendable Moreouer the same Plantain or Betony is singular to be giuen in some green or austere wine for those who are troubled with the lask proceeding from a weake stomack and for that purpose Iberis may be applied vnto the region of their belly as I haue before said In the disease Tinesmus which is an inordinat quarrell to the stool and a straining vpon it without doing any thing the root of Nemphar or Nymphaea Heraclia is singular good to bee drunk in wine likewise Fleawort taken in water the decoction of Galangale root the juice of Housleeke or Sengreene stoppeth the flux of the womb staieth the bloudy flix and chaseth out of the body the round worms The root of Comfrey and of the Carot stoppeth likewise the bloudy flix The leaues of Housleeke stamped and taken in wine are singular good against the wringing torments of the belly The pouder of dried Alcaea drunk cureth the said wrings Astragalus i. Pease Earth-nut an herb bearing long leaues indented with many cuts or jags and those which be about the root made bias riseth vp with three or foure stems full of leaues carieth a floure like to the Hyacinth or Crow toes the roots are bearded and full of strings enfolded one within another red of colour and exceeding hard in substance it groweth in rockes and stonie grounds exposed to the Sun and yet charged or couered with snow the most part of the yeare such as is the mountain Pheneus in Arcadia This herb hath an astringent power the root if it be drunk in wine bindeth the belly by which means it prouoketh vrine namely by driving backe the serous and watery humors to the reines like as most of those simples that be astringent that way are diureticall The same root stamped and taken in red wine healeth the exulceration of the guts thereby staieth the bloudy flix but suââ¦ely hard it is to bruise or stamp it the same is singular for the apostumation of the gums if they be fomented therwith the right season to draw and gather those roots is in the end of Autumne when the herb hath lost the leaues and then they ought to be dried in the shade Both sorts of Ladanum growing among corne be excellent for to knit the belly if they be stamped and searced The manner is to drink them in mead likewise in wine to represse choler Now the herb whereof Ladanum is made is called Lada groweth in the Island Cypros the liquor wherof sticketh commonly to goats beards The excellent Ladanum commeth out of Arabia There is a kind of it made now adaies in Syria and Africke which they call Toxicon for that in those countries the people vse to take their bow strings lapped about with wooll trail the same after them among those plants which beare Ladanum and so the fattie dew cleaueth therto Of this Ladanum I haue written more at large in my treatise of ointments redolent compositions but this later kind is strongest in sauor hardest in hande and no maruell for it gathereth much grosse and earthy substance whereas indeed the best Ladanum is commended and chosen when it is pure clear odoriferous soft green and full of rosin The
Aloe a certain liquid gum issuing out of it self and sticking fast to the stem thereof and therefore they hold it good to paue or ram the ground hard all about the place where Aloe groweth that the earth should not drink vp the liquor which distilleth from it Some haue written that in Iury aboue Ierusalem higher into the country there is a certain minerall Aloe to be found growing in manner of a mettal within the ground but there is none worse than it neither is there any blacker or moister If you would know the best chuse that which is fat and cleare of a red colour brittle and apt to crumble close compact in manner of a liuer easie also to melt and resolue If you see any that is black hard sandy or grittie a thing which may soone be knowne betweene the teeth in tasting of it the same is to be rejected for naught Many there be who do sophisticat it with other gums and the juice Acacia Aloe is of an astringent nature seruing to make thick to close fast and gently to heat any part of the body Much vse there is of it in many cases but principally to loosen the belly being the onely purgatiue medicine that is comfortable to the stomack and strengtheneth it so farre is it from offending the same by that laxatiue vertue or any contrary qualitie that it hath for this purpose the ordinary dose to be giuen in drinke is one dram But when the stomacke is feeble and wil keep nothing the manner is to take the quantity of one spoonfull thereof in two cyaths of water either warm or cold twice or thrice in a day by turns pausing some space between as need requireth and as the patient shall find expedient Moreouer if occasion be to purge the bodie throughly Physitians vse to giue three drams thereof and not aboue And the better wil it work if it be taken presently before meat If the head be rubbed or annointed therewith and some austere and astringent wine against the haire and in the Sunne it retaineth the haire that is ready to fail A liniment made of it together with vineger and oile Rosat applied vnto the forehead and temples in maner of a frontall easeth the head ach so doth it also if by way of embrochation it be distilled from aloft vpon the head in a more thin and liquid substance A very conuenient and singular medicine it is to heale all the diseases incident to the eies but especially for the itch and scab rising in the eie-lids Also when the skin looketh blacke and blew vnder the eies or otherwise be marked by occasion of some bruise it taketh them all away if it be applied thereto with hony and namely that which commeth out of Pontus It is a proper remedy for the amygdals the gums and all the vlcers of the mouth Taken to the weight of a dram in water it staieth the spitting and voiding of bloud vpward if it be not excessiue but in case it bee violent immoderat it ought to be drunk in vineger The flux of bloud in wounds or the bleein any part whatsoeuer it stancheth either applied by it self alone or els with vineger In other respects also it is right soueraign for wounds a great healer and that which vniteth skinneth quickly A singular remedy it is to be either cast vpon the vlcers of a mans yard the swelling piles the rifts chaps of the seat in plain dry pouder by it self alone or els to be applied therto with wine or with cuit according as the griefe requireth to be mitigated or repressed Moreouer it gently staieth the immoderat flux of bloud by the haemorrhoids And in a clyster it is excellent to heale the exulceration of the guts in the bloudy flix Also it is very good wholsom for those who hardly digest their meat to drink it a pretty while after supper And for the Iaundise it is singular to take the weight of 3 oboli thereof in water It is good to swallow pils of Aloe either with boiled hony or Turpenttne for to purge the guts and inward bowels and a salue made therewith taketh away the whitflaws and impostumations about the naile roots for eie-salues and other ocularie medicines it ought to be washed that the most sandy and grosse parts therof may settle to the bottom and be separated from the purer substance or els it ought to be torrified in an earthen vessell and plied continually with stirring with a quill or feather that it may be burnt and calcined equally Touching Alcaea it is an herb bearing leaues like vnto Veruain which also is called Peristereon rising vp with three or foure stems well garnished with leaues and carrying floures in maner of Roses it putteth forth for the most part six white roots and those a cubit long not directly but crooked and bending bias It groweth ordinarily in battle grounds and such as stand somwhat vpon water The roots chiefely do serue in Physick which being taken with wine or water do cure the dysentery or bloudy flix stop a lask and knit those that are burst inwardly vpon some violent strain or convulsion As for Alypon a pretty herbe it is shooting vp with a slender stem adorned with little soft and tender heads not vnlike to the Beet quick and sharp in taste biting exceedingly and burning howbeit clammy to the tongue Taken in mead with a little salt it maketh the body soluble The least dose that is giuen thereof is two drams from which they arise to foure which is counted a reasonable indifferent potion but neuer exceed the weight of six And ordinarily this purgation is taken by them that haue occasion to vse it in broth of a cock capon or pullet Alsine which some call Myosoton is an herbe growing among groues whereupon it tooke that name Alsine It begins to put forth and appeare aboue ground about midwinter and by midsummer it is dried away when it traileth and creepeth vpon the ground the leaues doe represent the ears of little mice But another herb there is as I will shew hereafter which more fitly and properly in that regard may be called Myosotis Surely this might be taken well enough for Hexine but that the leaues be smaller and those lesse hairy It groweth vsually in gardens and most of all vpon walls when it is stamped or bruised it senteth of a Cucumber Commonly vsed it is in cataplasmes for to be applied vnto impostumes and inflammations and emploied it may be in all those cases whereunto Parietary serueth For the same effect they haue both but that Chickweed is weaker in operation And this particular property it hath by it selfe besides to stay the flux of waterie humors into the eies also to heale all vlcers and those especially which are in the priuy parts being applied thereto in a pultesse with Barly meale the juice thereof is good to be dropped or poured into
their breath stopped For the gnawing in the stomack the same being either eaten or applied in a liniment are singular good impostumations likewise growing to suppuration if they be taken betimes may be resolued with a plaster made of the black berries and say they were of long continuance the red will do the deed But as well the black as the red are soueraigne for those who be stung with serpents as also for young children who haue the stone and be entring into the strangury and pisse drop-meale Cudwort or Cottonweed some there be who call Gnaphalion others Chamaezelon The white soft and delicat down of the leaues many vse in stead of flocks and surely it is not much vnlike This herb is good to be giuen in some austere and styptick wine for the bloudy flixe It staieth lasks and restraineth the immoderat flux of womens sleurs Being clysterized it is singular for the Tinesme that is to say the continual prouocations to the seege without any voidance of excrements Last of all in a liniment it serueth well to be applied in vlcers tending to putrifaction As touching Galedragon an herb so called by Xenocrates it resembleth the Thistle named Leucacanthe i. S. Mary thystle and groweth full of sharp pricks in moory grounds The stem riseth vp tall in maner of Ferula or Fennell geant in the very head and top whereof it beaââ¦eth a thing resembling an egge in which there breed they say in processe of time certain grubs or litle worms which are excellent for to ease the tooth-ach if they be kept in a box with bread and as need requireth tied fast vnto the arm of the patient on that side where they ake for it is wonderfull how soon the paine wil by this means cease Mary they ought to be changed euery yere for after one yeare they be of no vertue in this case and in any wise they must at no time touch the ground As for Holcus it groweth vpon stony grounds and those that be dry It riseth vp with a stem like vnto the straw of that Barly which springeth euery yere without sowing in the top whereof it beareth slender spikes or eares This herb bound about the head or the arme draweth forth of the body any spils what soeuer whereupon some name it Aristida Hyoseris resembleth Cichory or Endive but that it is lesse and in handling more rough a soueraigne vulnerary herb so it be stamped and laid to a wound Holosteon which the Greeks so call by the contrary is an herbe without any hardnesse at all as if we should terme Gall by the name of Sweet So small and slender it groweth that a man would take it to be all hairs soure fingers long in manner of quich-grasse or stitchwort The leaues be narrow and haue an a stringent tast It commeth vp ordinarily vpon banks hillocks which be all earth and nothing stony Being drunke in wine there is great vse thereof for convulsions spreins and ruptures It is a great healer besides and skinneth greene wounds and experience hereof may be soone seene for if it be put among pieces of flesh in the pot whilest they boile it will cause them to grow together and vnite Hippophae ston is a certain pricky bush growing by the sea-side wherewith Fullers and Diers fil their leads coppers without stem without floure it bringeth forth certain little knobs or buttons only those hollow leaues also it hath smal and many in number of a grasse green colour the roots be white and tender out of which there is a juice drawne by way of expression in Summer time which is singular good for to purge the belly if it be taken to the weight of three oboli and principally helpeth those that be subject to the falling sicknesse trembling of the members and the dropsie it cureth also those that be giuen to the swimming and dizzines of the braine to straitnesse of winde and who cannot breath but vpright and last of all to such as be entering into a palsie CHAP. XI ¶ Of Hypoglossa and Hypecoon Idaea Isopyron Lathyris Leontopetalon Lycopsis Lithospermon The vulgar stone Of Limeum Leuce and Leucographis HYpoglossa hath leaues fashioned like vnto Butchers broome and those turning hollow and pricky within which concauities there come forth certaine little leaues resembling tongues A garland or chaplet made of these leaues and set vpon the head easeth the pain thereof Hypecoon groweth amongst corne and is leafed like vnto Rue It hath the same nature and properties that Opium or the juice of Poppie As for the herb Idaea the leaues therof resemble those of ground-Myrtle or Butchers broom vnto which there grow close certaine tendrils and those carry floures It stoppeth a lask staieth the immoderat flux of womens moneths and stancheth all vnmeasurable bleeding for by nature a stringent it is and repercussiue Isopyron some there be who call it Phasiolum because the leaf otherwise like vnto Annise doth turne and writh like vnto the tendrils of Phasils In the top of the stemme it beareth small heads or buttons full of seed resembling Nigella Romana A soueraigne hearbe taken either in hony or mead against the cough and other infirmities of the breast likewise for the accidents of the liuer Spurge hath many leaues resembling Lectuce besides which it putteth forth as many other slender and small branches containing in little tunicles or husks certain seeds in manner of capers which being dried and taken forth resemble for bignesse corns of Pepper white in colour sweet in tast easie to be clensed from their husk Twenty of these seeds drunk either in cleare water or mead do cure the dropsie besides watersh humors they euacuat choler They that desire to be throughly purged would haue them to work strongly vse to take them husk and all but certainly so taken they hurt the stomack and therfore there is a deuise of late found out to giue them either with fish or els in some broth of a cock or capon Leontopetalon which some cal Rhapeion carieth leaues like to Coleworts and a stalk halfe a foot high garnished with many branches resembling wings and seed it beareth in the head contained within cods after the maner of ciches The root is made much after the fashion of a rape or turnep big and black withall This herb groweth in corne grounds The root is a singular counterpoison to be giuen in wine against the sting or venome of any serpents and verily there is not in the world a more speedy remedy Very good it is for the Sciatica Lycopsis hath leaues like to Lectuce but that they be longer and thicker it riseth vp with a long stem and the same hairv with many branches growing thereto of a cubit in length and beareth little Purple floures It loueth to grow vpon champion plaines A liniment made with it and barly meale is good for the shingles and S.
Anthonies fire In agues it procureth sweat so that the patient drink the juice thereof mingled with hot water But of all herbes that be there is none more wonderful then Greimile some call it in Greek Lithospermon others Aegonychon some Diospyron and other Heracleos It groweth ordinarily fiue inches high and the leaues be twice as big as those of Rue The foresaid stalks or stems be no thicker than bents or rushes and the same garnished with small and slender branches It bringeth forth close ioining to the leaues certain little beards one by one in the top of them little stones white and round in manner of pearls as big as cich pease but as hard as very stones Toward that side where they hang to their steles or tailes they haue certain holes or concauities containing seed within This herb groweth in Italy but the best in the Island Candy And verily of all the plants that euer I saw I neuer wondred at any more so sightly it groweth as if some artificiall goldsmith had set in an alternatiue course and order these prety beads like orient pearls among the leaues so rare a thing it is difficult to be conceiued that a very hard stone should grow out of an herb The Herbarists who haue written thereof do say that it lieth along and creepeth by the ground for mine owne patt I neuer saw it growing in the plant but shewed it was vnto me plucked out of the ground This is for certaine knowne that these little stones called Greimile seed drunke to the weight of one dram in white wine breake the stone expell the same by grauell and dispatch those causes that be occasions of strangurie Certes a man no sooner seth this hearb but he may presently know the vertues thereof and for what it serueth in Physicke a thing that he shall not obserue again in any other whatsoeuer for at the very first sight of these little stones his eie will tell him what it is good for without information from any person at all There be common stones found about riuers bearing a certain drie hoary mosse vpon them Rub one of these stones against another hauing spit first therupon and then therewith touch the tettar or ringworme in any part of the body it will kill the same but the party must as he toucheth it vtter this charme following ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That is to say Cantharides flie apace for a wilde Wolfe followeth in chase The French-men haue a certaine herbe which they call Limeum out of which they draw a venomous juice named by them Stags-poison wherewith they vse to envenome their Arrow heads when they go to hunt their red Deere Take of this as much as goeth to the poysoning of one arrow and put it in three measures or Modij of a mash wherewith they vse to drench cattel and make sops thereof and conuey them down the throat of sick oxen or kine it will recouer them But presently after the receit of this medicine they must be tied vp sure vnto their bousies vntill the medicine haue done purging for the beasts commonly fare all the while that it is in working as if they were wood In case they fall a sweating vpon it they must be washed all ouer with cold water Leuce is an herbe like vnto Mercury but it tooke that name by reason of a certaine white strake or line that runneth crosse through the mids of the leafe for which cause some cal it Mesoleucas The iuice of this herbe healeth fistuloes and the substance of the herbe it selfe stamped cureth cancerous sores It may be peraduenture the same herb which is named Leucas that is so effectuall against all venomous stings proceeding from any sea-fishes The herbarists haue not described this herb otherwise than thus That the wild kind thereof with the broader leafe is more effectual in the leaues and that the seed of the garden kind hath more acrimony than the other Touching Leucographis what manner of herbe it should be I haue not found in any writer and I wonder thereat the rather because it is reported to be so good for them that void reach bloud vpward namely if it be taken to the weight of three oboli with Safron likewise stamped with water and so applied it is singular good against those fluxes that proceed from the imbecility of the stomacke soueraigne also for to stav the immoderat flux of womens termes And it entereth into those medicines which are appropriate for the eies yea and into incarnatiues such especially as be fit to incarnat those vlcers which are in the most tender and delicat parts of the body CHAP. XII ¶ Of Medium Myosota Myagros Nigina Natrix Odontitis Othonne Omosma Onopordos Osyris Oxys Batrachion Polygonon Pancration Peplos Periclymenos Laucanthemon Phyteuma Phyllon Phellandrion Phalaris Polyrrhizon and Proserpinaca of Rhacoma Reseda and Stoechas MEdion hath leaues like vnto garden Floure-de-lis A stem three foot high garnished with faire large floures of purple colour and round in forme the seed is small and the root halfe a foot long it groweth willingly vpon stony grounds lying in the shade The root taken in a liquid electuary or lohoch made with hony to the quantity of 2 drams for cerdaies together staieth the immoderat flux of womens monethly termes The seed also reduced into pouder and drunke in wine represseth their extraordinary shifts Myosota otherwise called Myosotis is a smooth herbe shooting forth many stems from one single root and those in some sort of a reddish colour and hollow garnished with leaues which toward the root be narrow long and blackish hauing their backe part sharpe and edged which leaues grow along the stems two by two together and out of the concauities or armpits between the stalk and them there put forth other small branches with a blew floure The root is of the thicknesse of a mans finger bearded with many small strings resembling hairs This root is of a corrosiue nature fretting and exulcerating any place wherunto it is applied in which regard it healeth vp the fistulous vlcers called Aegilops growing between the nose and angles of the eies The Aegyptians are of opinion that if vpon the 27 day of that moneth which they call Thiatis and which answereth very neare to our moneth August a man or woman do annoint themselues with the juice of this herb in a morning before they haue spoken one word he or she shall not be troubled with bleared eies all that yeare long Myagros is an herb growing vp with stems in manner of Fenell geant in leaues resembling Madder and riseth to the height of 3 foot The seed which it beareth is oleous out of it there is an oile drawne which is good for the sores in the mouth if they be annointed therewith The herbe called Nigina hath three long leaues like vnto those of Succorie wherewith if scars remaining after vlcers and wounds be rubbed it will
liuing creature whatsoeuer will touch the roots vnlesse it be Spondylis and that is a kind of serpent which indeed spareth none As for this one point namely that the roots of herbs be lesse in force and of weaker operation in case the seed bee suffered to ripen vpon the plant no man maketh any doubt as also that their seeds be nothing so effectuall if incision were made in the roots for to draw juice out of them before the said seed is fully ripe Furthermore this is known found by experience that the ordinary vse of all simples doth alter their properties and diminish their strength insomuch as whosoeuer is daily accustomed vnto them shall not find when need requires their vertue powerfull at all either to do good or to work harme as others shall who seldome or neuer were acquainted with them Ouer and besides all herbs be more forcible in their operations which grow in cold parts exposed to the Northeast winds likewise in dry places than in the contrary Also there is no small difference to be considered betweene nation and nation for as I haue heard them say who are of good credit as touching worms and such like vermin the people of Egypt Arabia Syria and Cilicia be troubled infested with them wheras contrariwise some Graecians Phrygians haue none at all breeding among them But lesse maruel there is of that considering how among the Thebans and Boeotians who confine vpon Attica such vermine is rife and common and yet the Athenians are not giuen at all to ingender and breed them the speculation whereof carrieth me away again vnto a new discourse of liuing creatures and their natures and namely to fetch from thence the medicins which Nature hath imprinted in them of greater proofe and certainty than any other for the remedy of all diseases Certes this great Mother of all things entended not that any liuing creature should serue either to feed it selfe only or to be food for to satisfie others but her will was and she thought it good to insert and ingraffe in their inward bowels wholsom medicines for mans health to counterpoise those medicinable vertues which she had ingrauen and bestowed vpon those surd and sencelesse herbes nay her prouidence was such that the soueraigne and excellent means for maintenance of our life should be had from those creatures which are indued with life the contemplation of which divine mysterie surpasseth all others and is most admirable THE TVVENTY EIGHTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIE OF NATVRE WRITTEN BY C. PLINIVS SECVNDVS CHAP. I. ¶ The medicinable vertues of liuing creatures HAuing discouered as well all those things which are ingendred between Heauen and Earth as also their natures there remained nothing for me to discourse of saue only the Minerals digged out of the ground but that this late Treatise of mine as touching the medicinable properties of Herbs Trees and other plants draweth me quite a side from my purpose and haleth me back againe to consider the foresaid liuing creatures themselues euen the subject matter of Physicke in regard of greater meanes found out euen in them to aduance Physicke and cure diseases For to say a truth since I haue described and pourtraied both Herbes and Floures since I haue discouered many other things rare and difficult to be found out should I conceale such meanes for the health of man as are to be found in man himselfe or should I suppresse other kind of remedies which are to be had from creatures liuing amongst vs as wee doe if they may benefit vs especially seeing that our very life is no better than torment and miserie vnlesse we be free from paine and sicknesse No verily and far be it from me that I should so do But on the contrary side I will do my best indeuor to performe and finish this task also how long and tedious soeuer it may seem to be for my full intent and resolution is so I may benefit posteritie and doe good to the common life of man the lesse to respect the pleasing of fine eares or to expect thanks from any person And to bring this my purpose about I mean to search into the customes of forre in countries yea and to lay abroad the rites and fashions of barbarous nations referring the readers who shal make scruple to beleeue my words vnto those Authors whom I alledge for my warrant And yet herein this care I haue euer had To make choice in my reports of such things as haue bin held and in manner adjudged true by a generall consent approbation of all writers as coueting to stand more vpon the choice of substance than the variety and plenty of matter But before I enter into this argument I thinke it very necessary to aduertise the Reader thus much That whatsoeuer I haue heretofore written of liuing creatures concerneth the instinct of Nature wherewith they be indued and certain simples whereof they haue giuen vs the knowledge for surely as much good haue they done vnto vs by the medicinable herbs by them found out as possibly they can by the remedies which themselues do affoord from their own bodies But now it remaineth to shew simply the medicinable helpful properties in themselues which notwithstanding in the former treatise were not altogether left out and passed ouer And therefore this my present discourse of those creatures howsoeuer it is in nature different yet it dependeth of the other Begin then I will at Man himselfe to see what Physick there may be found in him to help his neighbor In which first entrance of mine there presenteth it selfe vnto mine eie one object that troubleth and offendeth my mind exceeding much for now adaies you shal see them that are subiect to the falling euil for to drink the very bloud of fencers and sword-plaiers as out of liuing cups a thing that when we behold within the same shew-place euen the tygres lyons and other wild beasts to do we haue it in horrour as a most fearfull and odious spectacle And these monstrous minded persons are of opinion That the said bloud forsooth is most effectuall for the cure of that disease if they may sucke it breathing warme out of the man himselfe if they may set their mouth I say close to the veine to draw thereby the very heart bloud life and all how vnnaturall soeuer otherwise it be holden for a man to put his lips so much as to the wounds of wild beasts for to drinke their bloud nay there be others that lay for the marow bones the very braine also of young infants and neuer make strange to find some good meat and medicine therein Ye shall find moreouer among the Greeke writers not a few who haue deciphered distinctly the seuerall tastes as well of euery inward part as outward member of mans body and so neare they haue gone that they left not out the paring of the very nailes but they could pick out of them some fine Physicke as
them shels and all into a plaister or liniment but especially such as be found sticking to the roots of shrubs and bushes The ashes of the serpent Aspis calcined are likewise very good for this disease if they be incorporat with buls tallow so applied Some vse snakes grease and oil together also a liniment made with the ashes of snakes burnt tempered either with oil or wax Moreouer it is thought that the middle part of a snake after the head and taile both be cut away is very wholsome meat for those who haue the kings euill or to drink their ashes being in the same manner prepared and burnt in a new earthen pot neuer occupied mary if the said snakes chanced to be killed between two cart-tracts where the wheeles went the medicine will look much more effectually Some giue counsell to apply vnto the affected place Crickets digged out of the earth with the mould and al that commeth vp Also to apply Pigeons dung only without any thing els or at the most to temper it with Barley meale or Oatmeale in vinegre Likewise to make a liniment of a Moldwarps ashes incorporat with hony Some there be who take the liuer of a Moule crush and bruise it between their hands working it into a liniment and lay the same to the sore and there let it drie on the place and wash it not off in three daies And they affirme That the right foot af a Moule is a singular remedie for this disease Others catch some of them cut off their heads stampe them with the mould that they haue wrought and cast vp aboue ground reduce them into certain trochisks which they keep in a box or pot of tinne and vse them by way of application to all tumors and impostumes which the Greeks call Apostemata and especially those that rise in the necke but then they forbid the patient to eat porke or any swines flesh during the cure Moreouer there is a kind of earth-beetles called tauri i. Buls which name they took of the little hornes that they carry for otherwise in colour they resemble tickes some tearme them Pedunculos terrae earth lice These also worke vnder the ground like wants and cast vp mould which serueth in a liniment for the Kings euil such like swelling as also for the gout in the feet but it must not be washed off in three daies space Howbeit this is to be noted that this medicine must be renued euery year for the said mould wil continue no longer in vertue than one year In sum there be attributed to these beetles all those medicinable properties which I haue assigned vnto the crickets called Grylli Moreouer some there be who vse in manner and cases aforesaid the mould which ants do cast vp Others for the Kings euil take iust as many mads or earthworms in number as there be wens gathered and knotted together and bind the same fast vnto them letting them to drie vpon the place and they are persuaded that the said wens will drie away and consume together with them There be again who get a Viper about the rising of the Dog star cut off the head and taile as I said before of snakes and the middle part betweene they burne the ashes that come thereof they giue afterwards to be drunke for three weeks together euery day as much as may be comprehended and taken vp at three fingers ends and thus they cure and heale the kings euill Moreouer there be some that hang a Viper by a linnen thread fast tied somewhat vnder the head so long till she be strangled and dead and with that thread bind the soresaid wens or Kings euill promising vnto their patients assured remedie by this meanes They vse also the Sowes called Multipedae and incorporat the same with a fourth part in proportion to them of true Turpentine and they be of opinion That this ointment or salue is sufficient to cure any impostumes whatsoeuer As touching the paines that lie in the shoulders there is a proper medicine made in forme a liniment with the ashes of a Weazill tempered with wax which easeth the same To keepe young boies from hauing any haire growing on their face that they may seem alwaies young it is good to annoint their cheekes and chin with Ants egges Also the marchants or hucksters that buy yong slaues to sell them againe for gaine vse to hinder the growth of hair as well of the visage as in the armeholes and vpon the share that they may be taken for young youths still by annointing those parts with the bloud that commeth from lambs when they be libbed which ointment doth good also to the armpits for to take away the ranke and rammish smell thereof but first the haire there growing ought to be pulled vp by the roots Now that I am come to speake of the precordiall region of the body know this That by this one word Praecordia I meane the inwards or entrailes in man or woman called in Latine Exta whensoeuer then there shall be pain felt in these parts or any of them apply thereto a yong sucking whelpe and keepe it hard huggled to the place doubtlesse the said griefe will passe away from the part to the puppie it selfe as men say and this hath been found true by experience in one of those whelpes ripped and opened aliue and the said bowels taken forth for looke what part in man or woman was grieued the very same was seene infected thereupon in the puppie And such whelpes thus vsed for the curing and taking vpon them our maladies were wont to be enterred with great reuerence and ceremoniall deuotion As touching the pretty little dogs that our daintie dames make so much of called Melitaei in Latine if they be euer and anon kept close vnto the stomacke they ease the paine therof And in very truth a man shall perceiue such little ones to be sicke yea and many times to die thereupon whereby it is euident that our maladies passe from vs to them CHAP. VI. ¶ Of the diseases incident to the lights and liuer Of those that vse to cast and reach vp bloud at the mouth MIce are very good for the infirmities of the lungs especially those of Barbarie if they be first flaied then sodden in oile and salt and so giuen to the patient for to eat Thus prepared and vsed they cure them that either spit purulent and filthy matter or else reach vp shere bloud But a dish of meat made of snailes with shels is most excellent for the stomacke But for the better ordering and dressing of them first they ought to siver ouer the fire and take a few waulmes till they be parboiled without touching or medling one jot with their body afterwards they must be broiled vpon the coales without putting any thing in the world vnto them and then to be serued vp in wine and fish pickle or brine called Garum and so eaten But the best
make account you shall meet with no spring there sink as deep as you will and therfore workmen when they come to it giue ouer presently For a great regard they haue to obserue the change of euery coat as I may so say of the earth as they dig to wit from the black delfe vntil they meet by degrees with the veins aforesaid Furthermore it is to be noted that the water which is found in cley grounds is alwaies sweet and potable like as that which a stony and gritty soile doth yeeld is commonly colder than any other and such a kinde of ground also is allowable for the proofe of good waters for it ingendreth sweet and wholsome water light also of digestion and pure withal by reason that as it passeth by a soft grit as it were through a strainer all the grossenesse thereof it leaueth behind sticking thereto As for thicke sand grauell it affordeth small and slender springs and those not durable besides the water wil quickly gather mud Ground giuen to beare pibbles or the grosser sort of grauell giue vs no security that the springs therein wil hold all the yeare long howbeit the water is very good pleasant The hard and compact grauell called the male grauel and the land which seemeth ful of black and burnt carbuncle stones bringeth forth wholsome waters and the sources be sure and perdurable But red stones yeeld the best simply and those that we may be sure will neuer giue ouer and faile And therefore when wee shall perceiue the foot of a mountaine standing vpon such stone or vpon flint wee may boldly reckon of wholesome and euerlasting springs and this gift they haue beside to be passing cold Moreouer in digging and sinking pits marke this for an assured and infallible signe that you approch vnto water namely if the earth appeare and shew moist more and more still as you go lower and lower also if the spade enter more willingly and goe downe with ease and facilitie When pioners haue wrought deepe vnder the ground and then chance to meet with a veine of brimstone or alume the dampe will stop their breath and kill them presently if they take not the better heed and therefore to foresee and preuent this danger they vse to let downe into the pit a candle or lampe burning for if it goe out they may be sure it hath met with the dampe Therefore if pits be subiect to the rising of such vapours cunning and expert workemen make on either side of such pits both on the right hand and the left certaine out-casts tunnels or venting holes to receiue those hurtfull and dangerous vapours whereby they may evaporat and breathe forth another way Otherwhiles it falls out that the aire which they meet with in digging very low doth offend the pioners albeit there be no brimstone nor alume neere but the ready meanes to amend the some and auoid the danger is to make winde and fresh aire with continuall agitation of some linnen cloathes Now when the pit is sunke and digged as far as to the water the bottome must be layd and the lowest sides of the wall reared of stone simply without any mortar made of lime and sand for feare lest the veines of the source be stopped Some waters there are which in the verie prime and beginning of the spring are of this nature That they grow to be exceeding cold namely such as haue their source or spring lying but ebb for they are maintained only of winter rain Others againe begin to be cold at the rising of the Dog-starre And verily we may see the experience both of the one and the other about Pella the capitall city of Macedonie for the water of the meere or marrish there before the towne in the beginning of Summer is cold and afterward when the weather is at the hotest the spring water in the higher parts of the Citie is so extreame cold that it is readie to bee frozen The semblable happeneth in Chios where there is the same reason of the hauen and towne it selfe At Athens the great and famous fountain named Enneacrunos in a rainy or stormy summer is colder than the pit water or wel in Iupiters garden within that city and yet the said Well water if it be a dry season will stand with an ice at Midsummer CHAP. IV. ¶ The reason of certaine Waters that appeare and be hid againe suddenly BVt aboue all others the waters of pits or wels be ordinarily most cold about the retreat or occultation of Arcturus yea and many times they faile in the mids of summer and all of them in maner grow very low for the space of foure daies at the time of the setting of the foresaid star Many there be which haue little or no water in them all winter long and namely about the hil Olympus where it is spring first ere the waters return and find the way into their pits And verily in Sicilia about the cities Messana and Mylae during winter the springs are altogether dry but in summer time they run ouer the brinks of their Wels and pits maintaining pretty riuers At Apollonia a city in Pontus there is a fen neere the sea side which in Summer only ouerfloweth and especially about the rising of the great Dog-star mary if the summer be colder than ordinarie it is not so free and plentifull of water Some Springs haue this qualitie with them to be drier for shoures and raine water as for example in the territorie of Narnia a city in the duchy of Spoleto which M. Cicero hath not forgot to insert among other admirable things in his treatise of Wonders for of this territorie hee writeth in these tearmes That in a drought it was durty and in rainy weather dusty Moreouer this is to be noted That all waters are ordinarily more sweet in winter than in summer but in autumn least of all and in a dry season lesse than at other times Neither are the riuer waters most times of like taste by reason of the great difference that is in their chanels for commonly the water is such as the earth soil through which it passeth and doth participat the qualitie and tast of those herbs always which it passeth and runneth by No maruell therefore if the water of one and the selfe-same riuer be found in one place more vnwholsome and dangerous than in another It falls out many times that the brooks and rills which enter into great riuers do alter their water in the very taste as we may see by experience in the famous riuer Borysthenes insomuch as such great riuers be ouercome with the influence of such riuerets and either their owne taste is delaied by them or clean drowned and lost And some riuers there be which change by occasion of rain the proofe wherof was thrice seen in Bosphorus when by reason of the fall of some salt shoures the flouds that ouerflowed the fields destroyed
Minium by the name of Miltos and yet some terme it Cinnabari and hereof arose the error occasioned by the Indian name Cinnabari For so the Indians call the bloudy substance of a dragon crushed and squeesed with the weight of the Elephants lying vpon them ready to die to wit when the said dragons are full with sucking out the Elephants bloud before and now their owne and it are mingled together according as I haue shewed before in the story of those beasts And verily there is not a color besides which expresseth the liuely colour of bloud in pictures so properly as Minium As for that other Cinnabaris of India it is most wholsom to be put into antidots preseruatiues and countrepoisons yea and other souerain medicines to be taken inwardly But our physitians beleeue me for that by an error Minium or vermilion is called Cinnabaris vse in stead of Sanguis draconis the said Minium which in very truth is no better than a meere poison as I will shew anon Wel in old time they vsed to draw those pictures and pourtraits which consist of one single colour and bee called Monochromata with this colour Cinnabaââ¦s They painted also with the Minium of Ephesus but they gaue it ouer in processe of time because such colors were so costly required such pains ere they were prepared and made perfect Besides both the one and the other were thought to be ouer-quick and stinging in hand and therfore they betook themselues to the red earth Rubrica and Sinopis of which colours I will speak more in their proper places But to returne again to Cinnabaris or Sangdragon it is sophisticated and corrupted either with Goats bloud or else with the fruit of Seruoises punned But the true Cinnabaris or Sangdragon is worth fifty Sesterces by the pound As for Minium or Vermilion aforesaid K. Iuba saith that it groweth plentifully also in Carmania And Hermogenes affirmeth that Aethiopia likewise is not without good store of it But from neither of those two countries is it brought vnto vs nor to say a truth out of any other place but Spain The best and most excellent is that which comes out of the territory of Sisapone in the Realm of Granada or Boetica a part of Spain euen from a Mine of Vermilion there which payeth a great custome and yeelds much reuenue to the people of Rome and there is nothing looked to more streightly for feare of fraud and imposture for lawfull it is not there to dresse and refine it but vncocted and crude is it brought to Rome in the masse as it lay within the vein sealed by the sworn masters of the mine which yeelds one yeare with another 10000 pound weight or much thereabout At Rome it is washed and a price there is set vpon it by an expresse Act namely That it should not be sold aboue seuentie deniers the pound But many wayes is it sophisticated whereby the societie and fellowship of the Publicanes who had the ordering of it at Rome robbed the Commonweale and gained themselues For a second kind there is of Minium found almost in euerie mine of siluer lead the which is made of a certain stone intermingled in the veins of those mettals after the same is burnt and not of that red stone which yeeldeth forth the humor that I named before Quicke-siluer for this stone may it selfe by boiling be brought to siluer but of other red pieces of earth found together with the said true Vermilion which are knowne to be barraine and void of the right Vermilion onely by the leaden hue which they haue for vnlesse it be in the furnace they neuer wax red and then being fully burnt and calcined they are beaten to pouder This is that Minium of a second sort and much inferiour vnto those naturall pouders and sands of the true Minium notwithstanding very few there bee that know it Well this is that Minium wherewith the true Vermilion is sophisticated in the Worke-houses and shops of those Publicanes whose Companie and Fellowship had the ordering of it like as it is corrupted also with Scyricum But how this colour Scyricum is made I will in due place write hereafter Certes our painters to giue the better lustre vnto Minium yea and to saue charges haue deuised to lay the first ground vnder it of this Scyricum Besides this they haue another cast to gain or steale rather by Minium for by reason that it sticketh to their pensils euer and anon they wash it off when they be full this setleth down to the bottom of the water where it remaines and the painters take it for their auailes but they were as good pick their masters purse who setteth them aworke But if a man would know the true and sincere Vermilion indeed it ought to haue the rich and fresh colour of skarlet As for the brightnesse that is in the second sort if a wall bee painted therewith the naturall moisture and dankenesse that commeth from thence will abate the lustre soon And yet this Minium is taken to be but a kind of rust in mettals either siluer or lead as they lie in the mines Moreouer the minerall Vermilion found naturally in the foresaid Minium mines of Sisapona haue no siluer mixed therwith boyle and trie it in the fire as much as you will Also the way to find true Minium from false is by the means of gold for touch the sophisticat Minium with a piece of gold red hot it will wax blacke whereas the true Minium keepeth colour still Where by the way note That I read it may be falsified with Quicklime And after the same maner if there be no gold at hand to trie it by you shal soon see the proofe and find the falsehood by a plate of yron red hot and vsed accordingly Furthermore this hath beene obserued That the shining beams either of Sun or Moone do much hurt to the lustre of Vermillion or any thing painted therewith But what meanes to preuent this inconuenience Euen to vernish the wall after the colour is dried vpon it in this manner Take white Punicke wax melt it with oyle and while it is hot wash the said painting all ouer with pensils or fine brushes of bristles wet in the said vernish But when this vermish is laid on it must be well chafed heat again with red hot coales made of Gall-nuts held close to it that the wall may sweat and frie again which done it ought afterwards to be rubbed ouer well with cerecloths and last of all with cleane linnen cloths that it may shine again and be slicke as statues of marble be Moreouer the workemen that are emploied in their shops about the making of Vermillion doe bind vnto their faces in manner of Maskes large bladders that they may take and deliuer their wind at libertie and yet not be in danger of drawing in with their breath that pernicious and deadly pouder which is no better than poyson yet so as
say Suffetia a Votary or Vestall Nun should haue her image made of brasse and this speciall prerogatiue besides that she might set it vp in what place she would her self which addition or branch of the decree implieth no lesse honor than the grant it selfe of a Statue to a woman What her desert might be in consideration whereof she was thus honoured I will set downe word for word as I finde it written in the Chronicles namely For that she had conferred frankely vpon the people of Rome a piece of medow ground lying vnder the Riuer Tybre which was her owne Free-land I finde moreouer vpon record That the Statues of Pythagoras and Alcibiades were set vp in the cornered nouke of the Comitium at Rome that by direction from the Oracle of Apollo Pythius vnto which the Senate sent of purpose to know the issue of the Samnites warre which was then in hand from whence they had this answere that if they looked to speed well in their affaires they should take order to erect two statues of brasse in the most frequented place of the city of Rome the one in the honour of the most valiant man and the other in the honour of the wisest person of all the Greekish Nation which Images remained there vntill such time as Sylla the Dictatour built his stately hall or pallace in the same place But I maruell very much that those sage fathers the Senatours of Rome at that time being preferred either for wisedome Pythagoras before Socrates considering that the said Socrates by the very same Oracle of Apollo was judged the wisest man not of Greeks onely but of all others in the world or in regard of valour Alcibiades before so many hardie Captaines in Greece but most of all I muse that in both respects as well of wisedome as vertue they set any one before Themistocles Now if a man be desirous to know the reason of these Columnes and Pillars which supported those Statues aforesaid it was to signifie That such persons were now aduanced and lifted vp aboue all other mortall men which also is meant by the triumphant Arches a new inuention and deuised but of late daies yet both it and all other such honourable testimonies began first with the Greekes But amongst many and sundry statues which they granted and allowed vnto such as they affected and liked of I suppose there was neuer man had more than Phalerius Demetrius at Athens for the Athenians honoured him with three hundred and threescore and yet soone after they brake them all to peeces euen before one ful yeare went ouer their heads that is to say a few daies more than there were Images Moreouer all the tribes or wards of Rome set vp a statue in euery street of the city as I haue said before in the honor of Marius Gratidianus and those they ouerthrew euery one against the comming in of Scylla As touching statues and Images on foot I doubt not but they haue beene for a long time greatly esteemed at Rome Howbeit those on horse-backe were very antient and that which more is this honour they did communicat also vnto women as well as men as may appeare yet at this day by the statue of Claelia sitting on horse-backe as if shee could not haue beene honored sufficiently by making her statue in the habit of a Damosell or Ladie of Rome in a side gowne And yet neither the Chaste dame Lucretia nor the valiant Brutus who chased the kings and all their race out of Rome and for whose sake and in whose quarrell the said Cloelia was deliuered as an Hostage among others neuer attayned vnto that honour And I doe verily beleeue that this Statue of hers and that of Horatius Cocles were the first that publique authoritie ordayned for before time King Tarquinius Priscus caused both his owne Statue and also Sibyllats to be made like as the other kings before him and after as may be presumed by all likelihood and probabilitie And yet Piso saith that the other damosels and young gentlewomen her fellow hostages after they were set free and sent home safe againe by king Porsena for the honour that he meant vnto Cloelia in consideration onely of her rare and singular vertue caused the said statue or image of hers to be cast in brasse and erected But Annius Faecialis another antiquarie or heralt at armes of Rome reporteth this storie otherwise for he writeth That the statue of a woman sitting on horsebacke which standeth ouer-against the temple of Iupiter Stator and hard at the gate or entry of king Tarquinius the Proud his Pallace was of ladie Valeria daughter vnto Valerius the Consull surnamed Publicola who saith moreouer that shee it was alone who escaped from her fellowes and swam ouer the riuer Tiberis whereas the rest of the virgins which had been sent as pledges vnto king Porsena were murdred all by the secret traines and indirect meanes of Tarquin the Proud L. Piso moreouer hath left in writing that in the yeare when M. Aemilius and C. Popilius the second time were Consuls the Censors for the time being P. Cornelius Scipio and M. Popilias caused all the images and statues of those who had been head magistrates that stood about the Forum of Rome to be taken downe permitting those onely to stand which had beene erected and set vp either by grant from the people or warrant and decree of the Senat. As for that statue which Sp. Cassius him I meane who ambitiously sought to be a king caused to be erected for his owne selfe before the church of the goddesse Tellus the Censors not only pulled it down but also took order that it should be melted And this no doubt did those wise and prouident fathers to cut off all means euen in such things as these that might feed the ambitious spirit of men There be yet extant certaine declamations of Cato who being Censor cried out against the vain-glorie and pride of certaine Romane Ladies who suffered their own images to be set vp in the prouinces abroad yet with all his exclamations he could not represse their ambition but that their statues must be erected euen in Rome also as for example Cornelia the daughter of the former Scipio Africanus and mother to the two Gracchi whose statue was made sitting and this singularitie it had besides from all others That her shooes were pourtraied open and loose without any strings or latchets at all This image of hers was set vp in the great gallery or publick walking-place of Metellus but now it is to be seen among the stately workes and buildings of Octavia Moreouer by allowance and permission of the state there haue been statues set vp in Rome in publicke place by strangers as namely for C. Aelius a Tribune or Prouost of the commons for that he published and enacted a law That Stennius Statillius a Lucan who twice had invaded and ouer-run in hostile manner the Territory of Thurium should be
but also by the strange manner of charge laid vpon them that had the keeping and custodie thereof for no reall caution of mony was thought sufficient to be pledged and pawned for the warrantise or to counteruaile the worth thereof Order therefore was giuen by the state and the same obserued from time to time that the sextons or wardens of the said chappell should performe the safety and forth-comming of it vnder paine of death As touching the bold and venturous pieces of worke that haue been performed and finished by this art we haue an infinite number of such examples for we see what huge and gyant-like images they haue deuised to make in brasse resembling high towers more like that personages and such they called Colossi Of this kind is the image of Apollo within the Capitoll transported by M. Lucullus out of Apollonia a city within the kingdome of Pontus which in height was thirtie cubits and cost a hundred and fifty talents the making Such another is that of Iupiter within Mars field dedicated by Claudius Caesar the Emperour which because it standeth so neere vnto Pompeys theatre men commonly call Iupiter Pompeianus and full as big he is as Apollo abouenamed Like vnto these is the colosse or stately image of Hercules at Tarentum the handiwork of the said Lysippus but he is forty cubits high and miraculous is the deuise of this colosse if it be true which is commonly reported thereof namely that a man may mooue and stirre it easily with his hand so truly ballanced it stands and equally counterpoised by Geometry and yet no wind no storme or tempest is able to shake it Certes it is said that the workeman himselfe Lysippus prouided well for this danger in that a pretty way off he reared a columne or pillar or stone full opposit to the winds mouth for to breake the force and rage thereof from that side where it was like to blow and beat most vpon the colosse and verily so huge it was to weld and so hard to bee remoued that Fabius surnamed Verrucosus durst not meddle withall but was forced to let it alone leaue it behind him notwithstanding be brought with him from thence another Hercules which now standeth within the Capitoll But the Colosse of the Sun which stood at Rhodes and was wrought by Chares of Lyndus apprentice to the abouenamed Lysippus was aboue all others most admirable for it carried seuenty cubits in height well as mighty an image as it was it stood not on end aboue threescore yeares and six for in an earth quake that then happened it was ouerthrowne but lying as it doth along a wonderfull and prodigious thing it is to view and behold for first and foremost the thumbs of the hand and great toes of the foot are so big as few men are able to fadome one of them about the fingers and toes are bigger than the most part of other whole statues and images and looke where any of the members or lims were broken with the fall a man that saw them would say they were broad holes and huge caues in the ground for within these fractures and breaches you shall see monstrous big stones which the workemen at the first rearing and setting of it had couched artificially within for to strengthen the colosse that standing firme and vpright so ballaised it might checke the violence of wind and weather Twelue yeares they say Chares was in making of it before he could fully finish it the bare workemanship cost three hundred talents This mony was raised out of K. Demetrius his prouision which he had set by for that purpose paid from time to time by his officers for that he would not himselfe endure to stay so long for the workemanship thereof Other images there are besides of the nature of colosses in the same citie of Rhodes to the number of one hundred lesser indeed than the foresaid colosse of the Sun yet there is not one of them but for the bignesse were sufficient to giue a name to the place and ennoble it wheresoeuer it should stand Ouer and aboue there be in the said citie fiue other gyant-like images or colosses representing some gods and those of an huge bignesse which were of Bryaxes his making Thus much of workemen strangers And to come somewhat nearer home we Italians also haue practised to make such colosses forsurely we may see and go no further than to the librarie belonging to the temple of Augustus Caesar here in Rome a Tuscan colosse made for Apollo and the same is fiftie foot high from the great toe vpward but the bignesse thereof is not so much as the matter and workemanship for hard it is to say whether is more admirable the beautifull feature of the body or the exquisit temperature of the mettall Moreouer Sp. Carvilius long agoe made the great image of Iupiter which standeth in the Capitoll hill after the Samnites were vanquished in that dangerous war wherein they bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man vnder paine of death to as many as seemed to turne backe or once recule to the making whereof he tooke the brasen cuiraces grieues and morions of the enemies that lay dead and slaine vpon the ground which is so exceeding bigg and large that hee may very plainely and euidently bee discouered and seene from the other Iupiter in Latium called therefore Latiarius The pouder dust which the filme made in the workmanship polishing of this colosse Carvilius himselfe cast again and thereof made his own image and pourtraiture and the same standeth as you may see at the foot of the other Within the said Capitoll there be two brasen heads worthy of admiration which P. Lentulus when he was Consull thought good to dedicat to that place The one was made by Chares the foresaid founder the other wrought by Decius but this of Decius his making compared with the other commeth so farre short that one would not take it to be the doing of an artificer that was his crafts-master but rather of some bungler prentice or learner But to speake indeed of a great image and that which surpasseth in bignes all the rest of that kinde looke but vpon the huge and prodigious colosse of Mercurie which Zenodorus in our age and within our remembrance made in France at Auvergne ten yeares he was about it and the workmanship came to foure hundred thousand sesterces Now when hee had made sufficient proofe of his Art there Nero the Emperour sent for him to come to Rome where he cast indeed and finished a colosse a hundred and ten foot long to the similitude and likenesse of the said Emperor according as it was first appointed and as he began it but the said prince being dead and his head laid dedicated is was to the honour and worship of the Sun in detestation of that most wicked monster whose vngratious acts the city condemned and
forth from it certain huls or chaffe if I may so say of brasse Now the ground or floore to receiue this refuse as it falleth ought to be well paued There is another stuffe found in the said forges or bloom-smithies easily discerned from this Psegma which the Greeks for that it is as it were twise burnt or concocted call Diphryges And this is made three maner of waies For first they say it comes of the Marquesit stone burnt in a furnace vntill it be calcined and reduced in the red chalke Rubrica It is engendred also of the earth or cley within a certain caue in Cyprus first dried and soon after gently burnt in a fire round about it maintained with small sticks put therto by little little There is a third way of making it to wit of the grosse dregs or drosse of brasse settling downe to the battome of the furnace in which furnace a man shall perceiue these different matters to wit the brasse it selfe which being melted runneth into pans and vessels ready for to receiue it the refuse called Scoria which flies out of the furnace the florey that floteth aloft the Diphryges or drosse which remaineth behind Some yeeld another reason and making of Diphryges in this manner namely That there be certain round bals or pellets as it were of hard stones found within the mines of brasse which together with the Marquesit or brasse ore doth not melt in the furnace a man shall see the brasse it selfe boile about the same which round hard stones are vnited and soudered only one to another by this means but themselues resolue not nor melt perfitly vnlesse they be translated into other furnaces for they be the very heart as it were of the whole matter But in the second triall and boiling that which remaineth behind is called Diphryges Well be it what it will the same reason there is of it in Physicke as of the rest of this kind found in furnaces for by nature it is desiccatiue it consumeth besides all excrescences doth clense mightily The triall of it is by the tongue for if it bee good Diphryges no sooner toucheth it the tongue but it drieth it and withall tasteth of brasse But before I depart from these brasse mines and furnaces I cannot conceale from you one miraculous thing as touching this mettall There is you know a noble family in Rome of the Servilij well renowned as may appeare by the Roman Kalender and acts of record and these haue among them a certaine piece of brasse coine ealled a Triens i. The third part of a Roman Asse which they do keep and feed with siluer and gold For eat and consume it doth both the one and the other from whence it came first and what the reason in nature of this property is I know not yet But for my warrant I will set downe as touching this matter the very words of old Messala The house quoth he of the Seruilij hath a certain sacred Trient in the honor of which piece they do sacrifice yerely with great deuotion and solemnity omitting no magnificence nor ceremonies thereto belonging And this Trient the common speech is of them all that it seemeth one while to grow bigger and another while to diminish and be smaller according to which increase or decrease the said Servilij take presage That their family shall either rise to more honour or decay in credit and reputation CHAP. XIV ¶ Of Yron and Yron mines and the different kindes of Yron IT remaineth now in the next place to discourse of the mines of yron a mettal which we may well say is both the best and the worst implement vsed now in the world for with the helpe of yron we break vp and ear the ground we plant and plot our groues we set our hortyards and range our fruitful trees in rewes we prune our vines and by cutting off the superfluous branches and dead wood we make them euery yere to look fresh and yong againe by meanes of yron and steele we build houses hew quarries and cut in stone yea and in one word wee vse it to all other necessary vses of this life Contrariwise the same yron serueth for wars murders and robberies not onely to offend and strike therewith in hand but also to reach and kill afarre off with diuers sorts of darts and shot one while discharged and sent out of engines another while lanced and flung by force of the arme yea and sometime let flie with wings and this I take to be the wickedest inuention that euer was deuised by the head of man for to the end that death may speed away the faster to a man and surprise him more suddenly we make it to flie as a bird in the aire and to the arrow headed at one end with deadly yron we set feathers at the other whereby it is euident that the mischiefe proceeding from yron is not to be imputed to the nature of it but to the vnhappy wit of man For good proofe wee had already by many experiments otherwise that yron might be imploied and occupied without any hurt or harme at all to mankinde And verily in those capitulations of peace which after the expulsion of the kings Porsena king of the Tuscans tendred to the people of Rome I find this expresse article imposition that they should not vse yron but only about tillage of the ground And as our Chronicles of greatest antiquity haue left recorded it was not thought safe to permit writing and ingrauing letters with a style of yron Certes in the third Consulship of Pompey the great by occasion of a tumult and commotion raised within the city of Rome for the murder committed vpon the person of P. Clodius there was an edict come forth which now is extant vpon record after the manner of an inhibition in this form Ne vllum telum in vrbe esset i. That no man throughout all Rome should be seene to weare a weapon Neuerthelesse men did not forbeare and giue ouer to doe some honour vnto yron also in some other occasions of this life tending to the entertaining of civility and humanity for Aristonidas the cunning artificer minding to represent in an image the furious rage of Athamas beginning now to coole and be allaied together with his repentance for the cruell murdering of his owne sonne Learchus whom he flung headlong against the hard stones and thereby dasht out his braines made a temperature of brasse and yron together to the end that the rustie yron appearing through the bright lustre of the Brasse might liuely expresse a blushing red in the countenance beseeming a man confused and dismayed for so vnnaturall a fact This Statue is at this day to bee seene at Thebes Within the same Citie there is another image of Hercules all of hard yron or steele which Alcon the famous workman made of purpose to signifie the vndaunted heart of that deified Hercules who vnderwent
the shapes and portraits of so worthy personages against the injury of time which weareth and consumeth all things indeuoring by this means as it were in a kind of emulation striuing to do as much for them in this behalf as the gods could do not only in giuing them immortality but also by dispersing those pourtraits into all parts of the world to shew them personally in euery place to the eies of men as if they were present CHAP. III. ¶ At what time scutchions and shields with images ingrauen in them were first erected in publique place Where they beg an to be set vp in priuat houses The originall of pictures The first pourtrait that was of one single colour Of the first Painters How antient the Art of Painting was in Italy ANd this verily which Varro did namely to insert the names counterfeits of famous men in his books was to gratifie strangers only But of those who were desirous in this kinde to honour Romans I find in the Chronicles that Appius Claudius was the first him I meane who in the 259 yeare after the foundation of the city of Rome bare the Consulship with Seruilius and namely by dedicating in temples and publicke places of the city the shelds of his predecessours by themselues alone For within the chappell of Bellona hee caused to bee set vp the scutchions and shields of his ancestors taking great contentment to haue the armes of his predecessors seen on high and the same accompanied with the titles of their honorable dignities to be read A goodly shew no doubt and a magnificent in case there should be shewed withall a long descent of petty images representing a numââ¦er of children as it were the nest of a faire brood and off-spring for who would not take great joy and pleasure to see such a sight who would not fauorably behold the arms of such a race and linage After that Appius Claudius had giuen this precedent at Rome there followed M. Aemilius companion in the same Consulship with Q. Luctatius who not contented to haue the Armoires and coats of his Progenitors to be aduanced aloft in the stately hall and pallace Aemilia only tooke order that they should stand also at home in his owne house and this also was a matter of right great consequence beeing done according to the pattern and example of the martiall worthies in Homer for within these shields scutchions resembling those which were vsed in old time in the battels before Troy were represented the images of such as serued with them ingrauen therein for thereupon such shields took the name Clypei i. chased and ingrauen not of the old word in Latine Cluere which signifieth to fight or to be well reputed as our thwarting Grammarians would with their subtile sophistrie seeme to etymologize and deriue it Certes this originall of shields and coats of armours implied abraue mind and noble spirit ful of vertue and valour when euery mans shield shewed the liuely pourtrait of him that bare it in the warres The Carthaginians were wont to make their targuets of beaten gold and those likewise they caused to bee ingrauen with their own portraits carried the same with them to the wars And verily Q. Martius that worthy warriour and reuenger of the 2 Scipio's in Spain hauing defeated the Carthaginians taken many of them prisoners found among other spoils and pillage the shield of Asdrubal made in maner aforesaid Which shield was erected hung vp ouer the porch of Iupiters temple vpon Capitoll hill and remained there vnto the first fire that consumed the temple And seeing I am fallen vpon this poynt namely of erecting the armours woon from enemies in publicke place I may not passe ouer in silence the securitie and carelesse regard that our forefathers had in this behalfe which was so great that M. Aufidius who farmed and vndertook the custody or keeping of the Capitoll the temple and all therein the same yeare wherein L. Manlius and Q. Fulvius were Consuls and which was from the foundation of the city of Rome 575 yeares aduertised the Senat That those shields there which for so long together were appointed assigned thither by the Censors were not of brasse as they had been taken for but of siluer Concerning pictures and the first originall of painters art I am not able to resolue and set downe any thing for certain neither is it a question pertinent to my designe and purpose I am not ignorant that the Aegyptians do vaunt thereof auouching that it was deuised among them and practised 6000 yeres before there was any talk or knowledge therof in Greece avain brag and ostentation of theirs as all the world may see As for the Greeke writers some ascribe the inuention of painting to the Sicyonians others to the Corinthians But they do all jointly agree in this That the first pourtrait was nothing els but the bare pourââ¦ing and drawing onely the shadow of a person to his just proportion and liniments This first draught or ground they began afterwards to lay with one simple colour and no more which kind of picture after that they fell once to more curious workmanship they called Monochromaton i. a pourtrait of one colour for distinction sake from other pictures of sundry colours which notwithstanding yet this plaine manner of painting continueth at this day and is much vsed As for the linearie portraying or drawing shapes and proportions by lines alone it is said that either Philocles the Aegyptian or els Cleanthes the Corinthian was the inuentor thereof But whosoeuer deuised it certes Ardices the Corinthian and Telephanes the Sicyonian were the first that practised it howbeit colours they vsed none yet they proceeded thus far as to disperse their lines within as well as to draw the pourfle and all with a coale and nothing els And therefore their manner and order was to write also the names of such as they thus painted and alwaies to set them close to the pictures But the first that tooke vpon him to paint with colour was Cleophantus the Corinthian who as they say took no more but a piece of a red potsherd which he ground into pouder and this was all the colour that he vsed This Cleophantus or some other of that name was he who by the testimony of Cornelius Nepos as I will anon shew more at large accompanied Demaratus the father of Tarquinius Priscus king of Rome when he fled from Corinth to auoid the wrongs of Cypsellus the tyrant who persecuted and oppressed him But it cannot be so for surely before this Tarquines time the art of painting was grown to some perfection euen in Italy for proofe wherof extant there be at this day to be seen at Ardea within the temples there antique pictures and indeed more antient than the city of Rome and I assure you no pictures came euer to my sight which I wonder so much at namely that they should continue so long
aboue the Pyramides abouesaid a great name there is of a tower built by one of the kings of Egypt within the Island Pharos and it keepeth commands the hauen of Alexandria which tower they say cost 800 talents the building And here because I would omit nothing worth the writing I cannot but note the singular magnanimity of K. Ptolome who permitted Sostratus of Gnidos the master workeman and architect to graue his owne name in this building The vse of this watch-tower is to shew light as a lanthorne and giue direction in the night season to ships for to enter the hauen where they shall auoid bars and shelues like to which there be many beacons burning to the same purpose and namely at Puteoli and Rauenna This is the danger onely lest when many lights in this lanterne meet together they should be taken for a star in the skie for that a far off such lights appeare to sailers in manner of a star This enginer or master workman beforesaid was the first man that is reported to haue made the pendant gallery and walking place at Gnidos CHAP. XIII ¶ Of the Labyrinths in Aegypt Lemnos and Italy SInce wee haue finished our Obelisks and Pyramides let vs enter also into the Labyrinths which we may truly say are the most monstrous workes that euer were deuised by the head of man neither are they incredible fabulous as peraduenture it may be supposed for one of them remaineth to be seen at this day within the jurisdiction of Heracleopolis the first that euer was made to wit three thousand and six hundred yeares ago by a king named Petesuccas or as some thinke Tithoes and yet Herodotus saith it was the whole worke of many KK one after another and that Psammerichus was the last that put his hand to it and made an end thereof the reason that moued these princes to make this Labyrinth is not resolued by writers but diuerse causes are by them alledged Demoteles saith that this Labyrinth was the roiall pallace and seat of king Motherudes Lycias affirmeth it to be the sepulchre of K. Moeris the greater part are of opinion that it was an aedifice dedicated expressely and consecrated vnto the Sun which in my conceit commeth nearest to the truth Certes there is no doubt made that Daedalus tooke from hence the pattern and platforme of his Labyrinth which he made in Crete but surely he expressed not aboue the hundreth part thereof chusing onely that corner of the Labyrinth which containeth a number of waies and passages meeting and incountring one another winding and turning in and out euery way after so intricat manner and so inexplicable that when a man is once in he cannot possibly get out againe neither must wee thinke that these turnings and returnings were after the manner of mazes which are drawne vpon the pauement and plain floore of a field such as we commonly see serue to make sport and pastime among boies that is to say which within a little compasse and round border comprehend many miles but here were many dores contriued which might trouble and confound the memorie for seeing such variety of entries allies and waies some crossed encountred others flanked on either hand a man wandred still and knew not whether he went forward or backward nor in truth where he was And this Labyrinth in Crete is counted the second to that of Aegypt the third is in the Isle Lemnos the fourth in Italy made they were all of polished stone and besides vaulted ouer head with arches As for the Labyrinth in Aegypt the entrie thereof whereat I much maruell was made with columns of stone and all the rest stuffed so substantially and after such a wonderfull maner couched and laid by art of Masonrie that impossible it was they should in many hundred yeres be disjointed and dissolued notwithstanding that the inhabitants of Heracleopolis did what they could to the contrary who for a spight that they bare vnto the whole worke annoied and impeached it wonderfully To describe the site and plot therof to vnfold the architecture of the whole and to rehearse euery particular therof it is not possible for diuided the building is into sixteene regions or quarters according to the sixteene seuerall gouernments in Aegypt which they call Nomos and within the same are contained certain vast stately pallaces which bear the names of the said jurisdictions and be answerable to them besides within the same precinct are the temples of all the Aegiptian gods ouer and aboue fifteen little chappels or shrines euerie one enclosing a Nemesis to which goddesse they be all dedicated to say nothing of many Pyramides forty ells in height apiece and euery of them hauing six walls at the foot in such sort that before a man can come to the Labyrinth indeed which is so intricat inexplicable wherein as I said before he shall be sure ro lose himselfe he may make account to be weary tyred out for yet he is to passe ouer certain lofts galleries garrets all of them so high that he must clime staires of ninety steps apiece ere he can land at them within the which a number of columns and statues there be all of porphyrit or red marble a world of images and statues representing as well gods as men besides an infinit sort of other pieces pourtraied in monstrous and ougly ââ¦hapes and there erected What should I speake of other roums and lodgings which are framed and situat in such manner that no sooner are the dores and gates opened which lead vnto them but a man shall heare fearfull cracks of terrible thunder furthermore the passages from place to place are for the most part so conueighed that they be as dark as pitch so as there is no going through them without fire light and still be we short of the Labyrinth for without the main wall therof there be two other mighty vpright wals or wings such as in building they call Ptera when you are passed them you meet with more shrouds vnder the ground in manner of caues and countermines vaulted ouer head and as dark as dungeons Moreouer it is said that about 600 yeares before the time of K. Alexander the Great one Circamnos an eunuch or groome of K. Nectabis chamber made some small reparations here about this Labyrinth neuer any but hee would go about such a piece of work It is reported also that while the main arches and vaults were in rearing and those were made all of foure square ashler stone the place shone all about and gaue light with the beams and plancher made of the Aegyptian Acacia sodden in oile And thus much may serue sufficiently for the Labyrinths of Aegipt and Candy The Labyrinth in Lemnos was much like to them only in this respect more admirable for that it had a hundred and forty columns of marble more than the other all wrought round by turners craft but with such dexterity that a
asswage their paine The Amiant stone is like Alume being put into the fire loseth nothing of the substance a singular propertie it hath to resist all inchantments and sorceries such especially as Magitians do practise As for Gaeodes the Greeks haue giuen it this significant name because it containeth inclosed within the belly a certaine earth a medicine soueraigne for the eies as also for the infirmities incident as well to womens paps as mens genitoirs The stone Melitites hath that name because if it be bruised or braied it yeeldeth from it a certaine sweet juice in manner of honey the same being incorporat in wax is good to cure the flegmatick wheales and other pushes or specks of the body it healeth likewise the exulceration of the throat applied with wool it takes away the chilblanes or angry bloudifalls called Epinyctides also the griefe of the matrice it easeth in the same manner The Gete which otherwise we call Gagates carrieth the name of a towne and riuer both in Lycia called Gages it is said also that the sea casteth it vp at a full tide or high water into the Island of Leucola where it is gathered within the space of twelue stadia and no where els black it is plaine and euen of an hollow substance in manner of a pumish stone not much differing from the nature of wood light brittle and if it be rubbed or bruised of a strong sauor Looke what letters are imprinted in it into any vessel of earth they will neuer be got out again whiles it burneth it yeelds a smel of brimstone but a wonderful thing it is of this jeat stone that water will soone make it to flame and oile will quench it againe in burning the perfume thereof chaseth away serpents and recouers women lying in a trance by the suffocation or rising of the mother the said smoke discouereth the falling sicknesse and bewraieth whether a yong damsell be a maid or no being boiled in wine it helpeth the tooth-ache and tempered with wax it cures the swelling glandules called the Kings euil They say that Physitians vse this ââ¦et stone much in their sorceries practised by the means of red hot axes which they call Axinomantia for they affirme that being cast thereupon it will burn and consume if what we desire and wish shall happen accordingly As for Spunges I mean by them in this place certain stones found in Spunges and the same also do ingender naturally within them Some there be who cal them Tecolithos because they are good for the bladder in this respect that they breake the stone being drunk in wine As concerning the Phrygian stone it beareth the name of the country where it is ordinarily found and it groweth in hollow lumps in manner of a pumish stone the order is to steep it well in wine before it be calcined and in the burning to maintain the fire with blast of bellows vntil it wax red then to quench it again in red wine continuing this course three times being thus prepared it is good only to scoure cloth and make it ready for the Dier to take a colour CHAP. XX. ¶ Of the red Bloud-stone Hoematites and the fiue sorts thereof also of the blacke sanguine stone called Schistos THe bloud-stone Schistos and Hoematites both haue great affinitie one with another As for the bloud-stone Hoematites a meere mineral it is and found in mines of mettal being burnt it comes to the colour of Vermilion the manner of calcining it is much after that of the Phrygian stone but wine serueth not to quench it Many sophisticate it with Schistos and obtrude the one for the other but the difference is soon known for that the right Hoematites hath red veins in it and besides is by nature fraile and easie to crumble of wonderful operation it is to help bloud-shotten eies the same giuen to women to drink staieth the immoderat flux that followes them they also that vse to cast vp bloud at the mouth find helpe by drinking it with the juice of a pomgranat in the diseases likewise of the blader it is very effectual and being taken in wine it is souerain against the sting of serpents In all these cases the bloud-stone Schistos is effectual but weaker only it is in operation and yet among these sanguine or bloud-stones those are taken for the best and most helpfull which in colour resemble saffron such haue a peculiar resplendant lustre by themselues This stone being applied to weeping and watery eies with womans milk doth them much good and is soueraign also to restrain and keep them in if they be ready to start out of the head And this I write according to the mind and opinion of our modern writers But Sotacus a very antient writer hath deliuered vnto vs fiue kinds of bloud-stones besides that Hoematites called Magnes or the Load-stone among which he giues the chiefe prize and principall praise to the Aethiopian for that it is so souerain to be put into medicines appropriat to the eies as also into those which for their excellent operation be called Panchresta A second sort he saith is called Androdamas black of colour and for weight and hardnesse surpassing all the rest whereupon it took that name and of this kind there are found great store in Barbary He affirmeth moreouer That it hath a qualitie to draw vnto it siluer brasse and iron and for triall whether it be good or no it ought to be ground vpon the touch called Basanitis for it will yeeld a bloudy juice the which is a right soueraign remedie for the diseases of the liuer The third kind of bloud-stone he maketh Arabick for that it is brought out of Arabia as hard it is as the other for hardly will there any juice come from it though it be put to the grindstone and the same otherwhile is of a Saffron colour The fourth sort he saith is called Elatites so long as it is crude but being once calcined it is named Miltites a very excellent thing for burns and scaldings and in all cases much better than any ruddle whatsoeuer In the fift place he reckons that which is called Schistos this is held to be singular for repressing the flux of bloud from the hemorrhoid veins But generally of all these bloud stones he concludes thus That if they be puluerised and taken in oile vpon a fasting stomack to the weight of 3 drams they be right soueraign for all fluxes of bloud The same author writes of another Schistos which is none of these Hoematites and this they call Anthracites and by his saying found there is of it in Africk black of colour which if it be ground vpon a whetstone or grindstone with water yeelds toward the nether end or side thereof that lay next the ground a certaine blacke juice but on the other side of a saffron colour and he is of opinion that the said juice is singular for those medicines appropriat to the
countries they haue none other to build withall as namely at Carthage in Affrick notwithstanding the wals of the houses there are subject to the waters of the sea are pinched and pierced with winds yea and beaten with rain and weather against which inconueniences the inhabitants are forced to keep their wals with pitching for otherwise the stones are so tender and soft the ordinary parget of lime would fret and eat them wherupon there goeth a pretty speech of the Carthaginians that they do contrary to all others in that they vse pitch to their houses and lime to their wines for in truth they tun vp their new wines with lime There be found moreouer about Rome other soft stones to wit in the territories belonging to Fidena and Alba in Liguria likewise Vmbria and Venice they haue a white free stone which may be easily cut with a toothed saw these are very tractable and easie to be wrought and wil last reasonable well but within house only for if the weather lie vpon them if the rain beat and the pinching frost come they will pill and skale yea and break into pieces neither be they durable against the breath and vapor of the sea The Tyburtine stones they will indure all other things well enough only they may not abide hot vapors for if the heat of summer take them they will gape and be ready to cleaue in sunder As for flints the black and in some places the red also are much commended in certaine countries the white be very good as namely those in the quaries about Anicia within the territory of Tarquinij about the lake neere vnto Volsinij also along the tract of Statona there be good building stones that wil take no harm by fire these are commonly vsed for those monuments and memorials wherin ought is to be ingraued for they continue a long time and are not the worse for age Of this kind of stone the founders make their moulds for to melt brasse in Moreouer there is a kind of greene stone which wonderfully checketh and scorneth all fire but in no place is there plenty thereof to be had and wheresoeuer it is found it groweth not in manner of a rock or quarrie but lieth scattered here and there Of the rest that hitherto are not named the pale stone is not good for building and seldome will it serue to make mortar of The round pebbles are lasting enough and will indure any hardnesse but surely in building nothing trusty vnlesse they be knit and bound with strong mortar and couched well together Those that are gathered out of riuers make no sure building for they seeme alwaies to relent and be moist but for such stones as these and generally for all those that we doubt the only remedy is to dig them out of the ground in Summer to let them haue two yeres seasoning in lying abroad and taking all kinds of weather before they be imployed in building and look how much thereof hath caught harme by this means the same will serue very well in ground works and foundations and that which continueth still sound you may bee bold to put it in building yea in open workes without dore The Greekes haue a kinde of wall which they make of hard pebbles or flint couched euen and laid in order by line and leuell like as we do in bricke wals and this kind of building they call in Masonrie Isodomon but in case they be not euen laid nor ranged streight but that some part of the wall is thicker than others they terme it Pseudisodomon A third manner they haue which they name Emplecton namely when the front onely of the wall is smooth and euen for otherwise within they huddle fill one with another Moreouer to lay a wal artificially and to bind the stones wel they ought in alternatiue course to ride and reach one ouer another halfe so that the joint may fall out in the mids of a stone both aboue and vnder a necessarie point to be considered in the very mids of a wal if it be possible if not so yet in any case toward the sides ends therof as for the middle of the wall within it would be well stuffed and filled with any rubbish rammel and broken stones There is a kind of net-work building in Masonry called Dictyotheton ordinarily vsed in Rome but subject it is to cracke and chinke In sum a wall would be built by rule and square by line and leuell and answerable to the plumb CHAP. XXIII ¶ Of Cisterns and Lime of sundry sorts of Sand of the tempering of Sand and Lime together for mortar of faults in Masonrie of Pargetting and other Rough-casting of the proportion of Columnes and Pillars FOr to make good cisterns which might hold water the mortar that goeth thereto ought to be made of fiue parts of fine pure sand and grauelly together to two parts of the most strong and binding lime that may be gotten prouided alwais that the fragments of flint which are to be imploied herein be small and exceed not the weight of one pound a piece this done not only the bottome or pauing but the side-walls and the ends ought to be rammed downe hard with yron beetles howbeit for to keep good and cleare water it were the better way to haue alwaies two cisterns together that in the former the water may settle and cast down al the grounds to the bottome and so the cleare water only passe into the other as if it were strained through a fine colonder As touching lime Cato Censorius disalloweth that which is made of diuers stones or of sundry colours and to speake a truth white stones are better to make lime than the hard and such is more meet to lay stone withall in Masonrie howbeit the lime which commeth of hollow and fistulous stones is thought to serue better for to couer and parget walls The lime which commeth of flint is rejected both for the one and the other also the lime made of stones digged out of the ground is farre better than of pebbles gathered from riuer sides that which commeth of milstones is most profitable for it is more fatty and glutinous than others A strange and wonderfull matter it is that any thing after it hath bin once burnt and calcined should be set on fire againe with water And thus much of Lime As touching Sand there be three kinds thereof the one is digged out of pits in the ground and this requireth a fourth part of lime to be put vnto it in making mortar a second commeth out of riuer sides or the sea shore and this would haue a third part and if there be besides another third part of potsherds beaten to pouder and put thereto the stuffe or mortar will be the better Between the Apennine hill and the riuer Po there is no sand digged out of the ground ne yet any sea sand at all And verily the greatest reason that cities fal to decay and
and Vines cannot agree together 176. g. Couleworts may not abide either Origan or Cyclamine ib. Countercharmes or preseruatiues against sorcerie witchcraft enchantment and Magicke 149 c. 195 e. 229 d 300 k. 306 m. 310 h. 313 b. f. 320 k. 322 m. 357 a 364 g. 387 a b. 430 g. 431 e. 433 f. 370 i. 515 e f 589 a. 609 a. 619 e. Counterpoisons 38 k. 39 a c. 45 e. 56 l. 59 b. 71 e. 107 c 144 i. 160 k. 164 i. 169 c. 172 h k. 174 m. 186 i 190 m. 192 g. 193 c. 200 l. 202 l. 215 c. 227 b 233 b. 246 g. 270 i. k 288 i. 306 m. 314 g. 316 l. 321 c 323 a b c d. 356 g. 364. g. 631 a c e. 433 e. 434 g i l 435 b. 437 d. 529 b. 610 m. poisons how they become Counterpoisons and the manner of their working 270. h C R Crabfishes 435 d. their vertues medicinable ibid. enemies they be to serpents 435 e. 436 i Crambe the best kinde of Couleworts 48 k for Crampe in feet or legs a remedie 305 b for Cramps in generall conuenient medicines 40 k. 41. d. e 44 k. 46 i. 48 g. 49 e. 50 h k. 52 k. 50 e. 60 l. 61 a 63 a. 64 k. 67 d. 72 l. 74 i. 75 b. 77 ãâã 102 g. 104 h 108 k. 119 d. 123 a. 128 i m. 129 b c f. 134 l. 150 g 154 g. 191 c. 162 h. 167 f. 168 g. 179 f. 180 g. 182 l 183 e. 186 k. 191 c. 193 c. 194 k. 198 i. 199 c. 219 d 226 l. 248 h. 259 c. 262 l. 264 g. 275 e. 283 a e 289 c e. 290 i. 312 i. 313 c. 320 g. 354 l. 422 m. 431 a 432 i. 442 g. 599 c. Crapula a mixture in headie wine 153. f. why so called ibid. M. Crassus the richest Romane that euer was but onely Sylla Dictatour 479 d. his apothââ¦gme ibid. his lands what they were ibid. surnamed Optimus for his wealth 479 e. his couetousnesse ibid. Crataegon an hearbe 279. e Crataeogonum what hearbe 257. d Crataeogonos an hearbe 279. b. the description and vertues ibid. e second kinde caelled Thelygonos ibid. Craterites a pretious stone 625. d Craterus a cunning painter and Comaedian both 549. e Crateuas a renowmed Physician 129 b. hee wrot of hearbs and set them forth in colours 210. g Crathis a riuer 403 c. the water of strange operation ibid. Creifishes of the riuer how medicinable they be 435. c Creifish head drieth vermine out of a garden 32. l Cresses an hearbe 29. a. why called Nasturtium ibid. it helpeth the wit and vnderstanding ibid. 56. g. two kindes of it and their properties ibid. which be best ibid. k Crestmarine an hearbe See Sampier Crickets much esteemed by Magicians 370 h. the reason wherefore ibid. the manner of hunting and catching them ibid. Cricke in the nape or pole of the necke how to be eased 70. g See more in Crampe Criers publicke at Rome warerich coats embrodered and studded with purple like as Senatours 459. d Crinas of Marsiles a famous Physician 345. a. by what meanes he woon credit 345. a. b. a great Mathematician and Astrologer ibid. a ceremonious obseruer of daies and houres 345 b. a man of exceeding wealth ibid. Crista Galli what hearbe 275. c Crocallis a pretious stone 625. d Crocias a pretious stone 630. m Crocinum a sweet ointment 105. b Crocis a magicall hearbe 204. k. the strange qualities thereof ibid. Crocodiles skared away by the voice onely of the Tentyrians 299. a against the Crocodiles bitt what remedies 158 h. 315. a 418 k. 419 e. 434 h. Crocodiles affourd medicines from sundry parts of their bodie ibid. two kindes of them ibid. one kinde liuing both in land and water ibid. a second liueth onely vpon the land ibid. i. his dung is sweet and medicinable ibid. the reason why ibid. Crocodile good meat all saue head and feet ibid. m Crocodilea what it is ibid. k how to be chosen ibid. how it is sopââ¦isticated ibid. l. the vertues thereof ibid. k. l Crocodilian an hearbe 279 c. the description and vertue ibid. Crocomagma what it is and the vse thereof 105 b Crââ¦sus rich in gold 464. h Cronius a cutter in pretious stones 501. d Crow-foot what hearbe 239. c. the sundry kindes ib. their description ibid. d. why it is called Sââ¦rumea ibid. e Crudana what veine it is of siluer 472. m Crudities in the stomack how to be digested 64 h. 66 i. 67 e See Indigistion and Digestion Crushes how to be cured 350. i. See Bruses Chrystall 454. i. how it is engendred 604 i. why so called ibid. whereupon found ibid. how to be vsed ibid. l. it groweth naturally six cornered ibid. one peece of Crystall weighing fiftie pound 604. l Crystall vessels of what capacitie ibid m the imperfââ¦ctions and blemishes in Crystall 605. a a Crystall glasse once broken cannot be reunited ibid. c Crystalls without fault and blemish be called ãâã ib. b Crystallion See ãâã C T Ctesias a writer 404. i. his opinion as touching Amber 906. l Ctesidamus a painter 549. d Ctesilas a fine Imageur 501. c. his curious workemanship ibid. Ctesilaus a famous Imageur 501. e. his workes ibid. Ctesilochus a painter 549. d. his picture of Iupiter in trauell with Bacchus c. ibid. C V Cuckowes meat an hearbe See Oxys Cucubalum an hearbe 280. g. sundry names that it hath ibid. the vertues ibid. Cucumbers of the garden a commendable meat 13. d much affected by Tiberius the Emperour 14. g. how preserued growing vpon the ground all Winter ibid. Cucumbers without seed 14. l. how to be preserued 15. f Cucumber seed how to be prepared and set in the ground 14. h. when to be sowne or set 15. a Cucumbers how they grow and in what forme 14. h. they loue water and hate oyle ibid. h. i how Cucumber plants may be kept fresh all the yeare long 14. l. Cucumbers a delicate sallad 37. d of Cucumbers three kindes 14 l. how they bloume or floure 15. c Cucumbers wild 35. e. f. the fruit ibid. where they best do grow 36. k root of wild Cucumber for what it is good ibid. g Cucumber Serpentine or wandring Cucumber 36 m. the decoction thereof and the vertue ibid. Cudwort an hearbe 258. l. 283. b Cuit what medicinable properties it hath 148. k Cuit called Sapa the nature thereof 157. c Cumfrie of the rooke an hearbe 275. d Cumin an hearbe 61. c. the description and vertues ibid. where it loueth to grow and when to be sowne 29. f. good to procure appetite ibid. Cumin seed how to be sowne 23. d what Cumin is best 30. g Cumin causeth palenesse of colour 61. d Cumin Ethiopicke ibid. f. the properties of it ibid. Cumin of Affricke 62. g. the vertues thereof ibid. Cumin wild and the vertues 248. h Cunila what hearbe 30. i Cunila Bubula 63. b. why called Panax ibid. c vsed by Tortoises as a defensitiue against
haue more than others The same writer is of opinion that euery hare is both male and female and that any of them can breed without the bucke Certes herein Nature hath shewed her bounty and goodnesse in that she hath giuen this creature so good to eat and so harmlesse otherwise the gift of fertilitie and fruitfull wombe The Hare naturally exposed to be a prey and game for all men is the only creature vnles it be the Connie again called Dasipus which after it be once with yong conceiueth again vpon it insomuch as at one time shee hath some Leuerets sucking of her others in her belly and those not of the same forwardnesse for some of them are couered with haire others are naked without any downe and there be againe of them that as yet are not shapen at all but without all forme Moreouer men haue assaied to make cloath of Hares and Connies haire but in the hand they are not so soft as is the fur vpon the skin or case neither will they last by reason that the haire is short and will soon shed CHAP. LVI ¶ Of Beasts halfe tame AS for Hares seldome be they made tame and to come to hand and yet iustly they cannot be simply called wild for many other such creatures there be besides that neither are sauage nor tame and gentle but of a middle nature betwixt both as namely among flying fowles in the aire the Swallow likewise the Bee and among fishes the Dolphin in the sea CHAP. LVII ¶ Of Mice and Rats Dormice Reer-mice and Bats IN the rank of those that be neither tame nor wild many haue ranged the Mice and rats that haunt our houses A creature this is of no smal reckoning for presaging somwhat to a state by some strange and prodigious tokens By gnawing the siluer shields bucklers at Lavinium they portended and foreshewed the Marsian war Vnto Carbo the L. Generall by eating of his hose garters and shooe-strings at Clusium they prognosticated his death Many sorts there be of them in the country of Cyrene some with a broad flat forehead others with a sharp pointed and there be of them seen to haue sharp prickles like to vrchins or hedge-hogs Theophrastus reporteth That these vermin hauing dispeopled the Isle Gyaros and driuen away the inhabitants gnawed and deuoured euery thing they could meet withal euen to their very iron And surely it seemes that is their nature so to doe for euen amongst the Chalybes they serue them so in eating their iron and steele within their very forges yea in gold mines they play the like part therefore being caught their bellies be ript by the pioners in the mine where they euermore find their stollen gold again See what delight this creature takes in theeuing We reade in the Chronicles that whiles Annibal lay in siege before the towne Casilinum a rat was sold within the town for 200 Sesterces the man who bought it at that price liued but the party who sold it through greedines of mony died for hunger By the learning of Soothsayers obserued it is that if there be store of white ones bred it is a good signe and presageth prosperitie And in truth our stories are full of the like examples and namely that if rats be heard to cry or squeak in the time of ceremoniall taking the Auspices and signes of birds all is marred and that businesse clean dasht Nigidius saith that rats lie close hidden all winter like as Dormice By the Edicts of the Censors and principally by an Act of M. Scaurus in his Consulship prouided it was streight order taken that no Rats Mice or Dormice should be serued vp to the table at their great suppers and feasts like as all shell fish or fowle fet out of forrein countries far remote Counted are Dormice betweene tame and wilde and verily he that first deuised to keepe wilde bores in parkes found means also to nourish and feed these creatures in great tuns pipes and drifats In the experiment and triall whereof this hath bin found obserued That willingly these little creatures will not sort together vnlesse they were countrimen as it were and bred in one the same forrest and if it chance that there be intermingled among them any strangers to wit such as had either some riuer or mountain between the places where they were bred they kil one another with fighting The yong Dormice are exceeding kind and louing to their sires that begat them for when they be old and feeble full tenderly will they feed and nourish them They renew their age euery yere by sleeping all winter for they lie by it close snug all the while and are not to be seen but come the sommer once they be yong and fresh againe And thus the field mice likewise take their rest and do the same CHAP. LVIII ¶ What Creatures liue not but in certaine places A Wonderfull thing it is to see that Nature hath not only brought forth diuers creatures in sundrie Countries but also in one region vnder the same climate hath denied some of them to liue in euery corner thereof And namely in the forrest of Moesia in Italie these Dormice are found but only in one part thereof And in Lycia the wild goats roe-buckes and Does neuer passe the mountaines that confine vpon the Syrians no more than the wilde Asses transmount that hil which diuides Cappadocia from Cilicia Within Hellespont the Stags and Hinds neuer go forth and enter into the marches of other countries and those about Arginussa passe not the mountaine Elatus which may be knowne by this that all vpon that hill haue their eares marked and slit In the Island Poroselenum the weezels will not crosse ouer the highway And about Lebadia in Boeotia those moldwarpes or wants that are brought thither from other parts will not abide the very soile but flie from it which neere-by in Orchomenus vndermine and hollow all their corn fields and such store there is of them that I haue seen all the hangings carpets counterpoints and couerlets of chambers made of their skinnes See how men for no religion and feare of the gods wil be kept from taking their pleasures and making their delights of these creatures otherwise prodigious portending things to come The strange Hares that be brought into Ithaca will not liue there but seeking to escape are found dead vpon the very banks of the sea side In the Island Ebusus be no Connies at all and yet in Spain and the Baleare Isles there are so many that they pester the whole country Frogs were euer in Cyrenae naturally mute and would not cry but brought there were thither out of the continent such as would crie in the water and that whole kind still remaineth vocal In the Island Seriphos you shall not yet heare a Frogge to cry let the same be carried forth to other places they will keep a singing as well as the resâ⦠And by report the
bare the roots only of the vines and lay dung thereto The second deluing they would haue to be from the Ides of Aprill and six daies before the Ides of May that is before they begin to conceiue and bud and thirdly before they fall to blossome also when they haue done flouring and also at the time when the grapes alter their hew But the more skilfull and expert husbands affirme constantly That if the ground be ouermuch laboured and digged too often the grapes will be so tender skinned that they will burst againe Moreouer these rules following are to bee obserued That when any vines do require such deluing and digging the laborers ought to goe to worke betimes before the heat of the day mary if the vineyard stand vpon a mirie clay it is not good then either to eare or dig it but rather to wait for the hot season for the dust that riseth by digging is very good by their saying both to preserue the vine and grapes from the partching Sun and also to defend them against the dropping mists As for disburgening of vines and clensing them of their superfluous leaues all men accord that it should be done once in the Spring to wit after the Ides of May for the space of eleuen daies following and in any hand before they begin to put forth floure And how much thereof must be thus diffoiled for the first time euen all that is vnder the traile or frame no more As for the second men be not all of one minde some would haue the leaues to be disbranched when the vine hath done flouring others expect vntill the grapes begin to be ripe But as touching these points the rules that Cato giueth wil resolue vs for we are now also to shew the maner of cutting and pruning vines Many men begin this worke immediatly after vintage when the weather is warm and temperat but indeed by course of Nature this should neuer be done before the rising of the Aegle star as we will more at large declare in the next booke where we are to treat of the rising and fall of the fixed stars and of their influences or rather in truth when the Westerne wind Fauonius beginneth to blow forasmuch as there might be danger in going ouer soon to work considering that hast commonly maketh wast For this is certain that if there come an after-winter and chance to bite the vines newly medicined as it were or rather fore with this pruning if it happen I say that when euery man makes reckoning that winter is gon it come vpon them againe and whiske with his taile their buds pinched with cold will lose their vigor their wounds will cleaue and make rifts in such sort that when the humidity is distilled and dropped forth the oilets wil be nipt and burnt away with the bitternesse of the vnseasonable weather for who knoweth not that in frost it is ticklish medling with vines and that they be in danger soon to breake and knap asunder To say therefore a truth by order of Nature there would not be such hast made But here is the matter they that haue a large domaine and much lands to look vnto they that must go through a great deale of work cannot wil nor chuse but begin betimes and make this computation and reckoning aforesaid And in one word the sooner that vines be pruned if the time wil serue commodiously the more they run into wood and leaues and contrariwise the later you go to work the more plenty of grapes they wil yeeld and therefore it is meet and expedient to prune vines that be poore and feeble very timely but such as be strong and hardy last of all As for the manner and fashion of the cut it ought alwaies to be aslant like a goats foot that no drops of raine may settle and rest thereupon but that euery shower may soon shoot off also that it turn downeward to the ground that it be euen and smooth made with a keen and sharpe edged bill or cutting hook Furthermore this heed would be taken that the cut be iust between two buds for feare of wounding any of the oylets neere vnto that part which is cut off and commonly this is supposed to be blacke and duskish and so long as it is so seen it ought to be cut and cut again vntill you come to that which is sound and cleare indeed for neuer shall yee haue out of a faulty and corrupt wood any thing come forth that will bee worth ought If the vine be so poore and lean that it affordeth no branches meet and sufficient to beare cut it down to the verie ground for best it is then to fetch new from the root and to see whether they will be more liuely Ouer and beside in disburgening and desoiling a vine you must beware how you pluck off those burgeons that are like to beare the grape or to go with it for that were the next way to supplant as it were the grapes ââ¦ea and kill the vine vnlesse it were a new and yong plant Will you then know which are vnprofitable and may be spared euen all those are deemed superfluous which are come not directly from the knot or neere oilet but grow out of the side and no maruell since that the verie branches of grapes which hang in this manner out of the hard wood are so stiffe and tough also that vnneth a man may plucke them off with his fingers but had need of a knife or hook to cut them away As for the pitching of props into the ground some are of opinion that the best way is to set them between two vines and indeed that were the easier way to come about the vines for to lay their roots bare when time serueth Also better it is far so to doe in a vineyard where the vines run vpon one single traile in case the said traile be strong enough and the vineyard not subiect to the danger of winds but where a vine runneth foure waies it must be relieued with prop and stayes as neer as may be to support the burden yet so as they be no hinderance when as men should come about the foot to lay the root bare and therefore they would be a cubit off and no more Moreouer this is a general rule that a vine be clensed about the root beneath before that it be pruned aboue Cato treating generally of all maters concerning vines writeth thus by way of rule and precept Let your vine quoth he be as high as possibly you can fasten it to the frame decently but take heed you bind it not too hard Dresse and order it after this manner After you haue cut away the tips and tops therof dig round about the roots and be in then to eare vp plow the vineyard draw furrowes and ridges too and fro throughout Whiles vines be yong tender couch the branches within the ground for propagation with al speed as for old