Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	good_a	lord_n	manor_n	1,411	5	10.3370	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B12021	An olde thrift nevvly reuiued VVherein is declared the manner of planting, preserving, and husbanding yong trees of diuers kindes for timber and fuell. And of sowing acornes, chesnuts, beech-mast, the seedes of elmes, ashen-keyes, &c. With the commodities and discommodities of inclosing decayed forrests, commons, and waste grounds. And also the vse of a small portable instrument for measuring of board, and the solid content and height of any tree standing. Discoursed in a dialogue betweene a surueyour, woodward, gentleman, and a farmer. Diuided into foure parts, by R.C.	Churche, Rooke.; R. C. (Robert Chambers), fl. 1612, attributed name. aut; Churton, R., attributed name.	1612 (1612)	STC 4923; ESTC S107648	77,929	121

we must not iustifie our owne errors by other mens misdemeanours but those Surueyours would I haue giue ouer Surueying and séeke to bee entertained into the societie of those idl● Catchpoles you spake off euen now and if I saw cause I could instance such a one but I will be sparing therein and onely tell you that the manner of his Surueyes were alwayes vpon Tenants reports and taking some notes out of their Leases and Coppies and giuing of the Iurie certaine Articles in charge to be enquired of Pe. But did he not also by Instrument and Cheine as commonly you doe Suruey and measure the ground Sur. No for indéede hee knew not the vse of any Surueying Instrument Pe. But doe you thinke the Tenants would or could truely deliuer their knowledge herein concerning the qualitie quantitie and value of their Land with the rest of the particulars Sur. Truely I thinke no though euery man in honestie is bound vpon Oath to tell the truth of any thing when he is lawfully demaunded thereof as néere as he can yet for that they conceiued these questions néerely concerued their estates and for that also they law the Surueyour to bee vnexperienced in that kind of measuring and duely Surueying of lands it is to be imagined that they would somewhat dissemble with him therein and acquainte him with no more then ordinarie and so altogether vpon the tenants reports aswell for the quantitie and qualitie as value of their land he would conclude and at his good leisure make vp his bookes Per. This is the strangest kinde of Surueying that euer I heard of but would he then vpon his credit giue vp this Suruey to the Lord of the Manor Sur. Yes that he would according to the Tenants reports by oath and diuers hath he done in this kinde Per. But I pray if the Lord sell or let this Manor do you not thinke according to that Suruey but that he should be a great looser thereby Sur. Yes there is no doubt but that he must loose much thereby but I trow there is no man so vnaduised that will sell or let land in th●se daies after such a fashion but will make a more precise course by admeasurement performed by a skilfull man in that facultie Ien. And I pray why may not one buy or sell land as certainly by knowing what Cattle a Ferme or Demaines will kéepe as also how many load of hay such a Meadow will yéeld vpon euery acre as by all your nice tricks of measuring Sur. You say well it is a good meanes in generall to know the value of any land but yet how shall the Lord or buyer thereof who dwel farre remote from it know certainly how many cattle it will kéepe If you say by his Baylife commonly he being his Tenant and dwelling in the same Lordship will for his owne good imbrace the true value of these demeasne because the goodnesse of his owne farme shall the lesse be discerued if you say by the report of the countrey they commonly faile in their estimation as well in the quantitie and qualitie of the ground as also in the number of cattle what it will kéepe and neither shall the Lord if he be a stranger to this Demeanes receiue any better satisfaction although he take paines to enquire thereof Who are most fitt●est likely to aduertise any Lord the true estate of his land himselfe So that there is no better way for this Lord or purchaser to know the true value of this land then onely to employ an honest and iudicious Surueyor therein who besides his art of platting the ground and fairely setting forth in a Mappe and knowing the quantitie of acres will also vse his best iudgement and experience to discerne the qualitie as well for goodnesse as badnesse of the soyle as whether it be fittest for arable pasture meadow or woodland together with buts and bounds and euery thing else as it lieth in due proportion all which compared together with the reports and aduertisements that he may learne in the time of his being there I thinke he may then giue more full satisfaction as well to the eye as iudgement of him who is owner thereof or shall buy it Per. You say true For my selfe being of some small ●euenew in land I haue two or three of my Manors surueyed and the plots of them fairely set forth in colours vpon Vellem distinctly sp●●ifying which is meadow pasture arable and woodland with the quantitie qualitie and value thereof with euerie other thing there fitting to be noted which I finde to be a great satisfaction pleasure and ●ase to me especially when I am to let any of those Farmes or Tenements in any the said M●●or● because they are farre remote from the place I dwell But whether now do we range You promised to speake somewhat of the difference of trées and what grounds were most apt for them to prosper in therefore I pray leaue off these discourses vntill some other time and begin now your promise Sur. Sir most willingly you remember then what I haue spoken concerning the manner and time to be obserued as well in planting of Trees for Timber and husbanding the ground as also in making special choice of the Plant and the care of weeding and trimming them afterwards vntill they are growne to the age of thrée or foure yeares which remembred I will now discharge my promise in declaring briefly to you the nature and sorts of certaine trees for fuell and building which ordinarily do grow in England and what ground soyle euerie one delighteth most in for their better and larger prospering to the end that those who take pleasure in this practise may not altogether be deluded and frustrate of their paines and expectation but may in the end reape some profit thereby I told you then that before you resolue to plant two things are to be considered of namely the soyle where you intend to plant and the soile where the plant hath formerly grown for that trée which groweth vpon a drie ground and hot soyle must not be planted in a moyst or cold go●ud so contrariwise that tree which groweth in a watry soile be not planted vpon hils or drie barren groundes least by planting them in a soyle contrarie to the nature and condition of the plant all cost profit be lost therby First therefore Two sorts of Trees you shal vnderstand that there may be said to be in general two sortes of trees that is waterie trées or trées delighting Watery trees ●and in moist waterie soyles and land trees or trées which grow vpon drie and firme land Wood. Indéed it is probable that trées will hardly prosper but in a ground well corresponding with their nature and propertie but I pray what experience is there hereof Sur. I will first satisfie you by the experience of trees which commonly are called water trées as namely Aller Withi● Aspe Birch c. which

newly reuiued But what saith goodman Ienings to this conference it séemeth nothing pleasing to him because he hath béene so long silent Ienings It may be you hit the nayle vpon the head for these are matters beyond my capacitie or profit and therefore I intend not to trouble my selfe with them Sur. And why so is it not better for you to haue your Copies and Hedgrowes well set and growne with trées wherby you may at ease with little cost haue Houseboote Fireboote c. more then sufficient to supply your wants rather than that for want of them you perhaps doe send two or thrée myles yea it may be tenne or twelue myles or more to furnish your selfe therewith Ien. I Sir I graunt all that to be true but if wee poore Farmers take paines to plant young trées and sow Acornes these great Landlords will be sure to haue the crop thereof so that we haue nothing but our labours for our hire which indéed doth greatly discourage all honest men in that kind Sur. Herein you say but iust and reason for if by your good meanes industrie you enrich your Landlords ground with any commoditie there is also iust cause why the Lord should by déed shew himselfe thankfull to you for it But to procéede the nature of the plant and qualitie of the ground considered you are then to enclose this circuit of ground which you intend to plant or sow with a good ditch quick-set Ditch and quickset of White thorne Crabtrée or Hollin mixed together or else any one of them and by no meanes if you can chuse set any Blacke thorne amongst it for that it will grow into the fields ward and spoyle pasture and teare the wooll of the Shéepes backe though otherwise the Sloes of that bush are excellent for many diseases as also it will make a reasonable good kind of drinke for poore people by depressing the iuice out of them which done let no cattell come thereinto and when you begin to set your plants set them six or eight foot distant the one from the other and that also by a liue which distance is sufficient for them to prosper well and also they being set in that regular manner it will be much pleasing to the eye especially when they grow begin to beare leaues and then to plant them well you must haue the ground well digged or ploughed and cast vp like vnto the ridges of a corne Ground digged for ridges field about six or seuen foot wide and about one foot high and make furrowes betwéene euerie row of plants of two yards wide which so done the ayre raine and snow will much battell and mellow it to the great comfort and prospering of the plant especially if at the first you cast into the place where the plant shall be set good earth whereby the root may nourish and féed it selfe therein without raunging to fasten it selfe vpon other bad mould which may cause the trée to prosper ill Pereg. This séemeth an infinite labour and charge the gaines had néed be great Sur. It is true that vpon the first view or apprehension thereof the labour and charge séemeth somewhat great but with patience and vpon some few yeares expectancie the gaines will greatly ouertop the charge as hereafter shall be further declared Wood. But I pray Sir at what time of the yeare is it best to plant in Sur. It is a good time for planting from about the fiftéenth of Februarie to the beginning of Aprill or generally as some rather thinke it best about the later end of September The best time of planting vntill the beginning of Ianuarie following for then the chiefest nourishment is in the root of the trée and towards the spring it ascendeth to the vpper part of the plant and at such time must you plant it when the wind is neither in the East or North and fréeseth not but calme and warme and in the encrease of the Moone when the is in Taurus Virgo or Capricorne Pereg. And I pray in what sort should we make choice of our plants to be planted Sur. You shall vnderstand there is no man who either intendeth or maintaineth a bréed of Horses but desireth to furnish himselfe with faire proportionable Stallions and answerable Mares by which he expecteth like foales And so in planting I would wish euery man that planteth trées to The choice and vsing of the plant haue a speciall care that the plant be taken vp with as many roots as may be and if any be broken let them be cut off and those not broken cut the ends also of some little quantitie as you thinke good whereby they wit be the better refreshed and also make choise of your plant to haue a smooth cleane barke not rough or mossie and that the stemme be strai●ht and long without galles or frets and then set it in the earth as plum as you can and couer the rootes with good mould and presse it downe easily with your hand and foot that the root may not lie hollow from the mould and haue no ayre at all whereby it will be the better nourished to take root in this good earth which otherwise the earth lying hollow from the root it would bee in danger to die or else like to search the firme and bad ground which it should not do and if it wanteth good nourishment it would proue but a runtish or shrubbie trée After all this is done make vp your ridge sloping that the raine and wet weather may not too much ann●y it yet so that you make a little gutter at the foot of the plant for receiuing of the water in drie weather to nourish the root thereof You must also cut off the top of the stemme and leaue it to be about fiue or six foot long out of the earth and care must be taken that they be planted the same day or the next day after they are taken vp i● it may be And before The ground twice tille● you begin to make these digged ridges or plant your trées the ground must be twice tilled once in Aprill and then againe in the later end of Iuly after some great raine and also you must bee carefull to cleare them from Caterpillers if any fall vpon them when they are planted and begin to spring Ien. Though I hate your profession because you pry into our liuings yet I begin to conceiue well of your spéeches but you Surueyors are shroade and terrible men to deale withall when you come among vs poore Farmers and therefore I dare not approue your conceit herein too much Sur. I pray my friend wherein are we shroade and terrible men to deale withall for if we be employed in a Suruey of land and doe according to truth and equitie make an exact and iust certificat to the Lord of the Manor of all the particulars incident in the said Suruey what shroade or terrible dealing is this

and procéed in all which I hope to giue them good satisfaction and so farre to encourage them herein as where now euerie one séemeth to draw by the plough tayle they will I doubt not after more diuulging of this subiect and duly considering hereof vniformely apply their minds and labours to this generall and profitable businesse Omitting then all circumstances and to satisfie your desires you shall vnderstand that to plant wood or sow their séedes you must consider the fatnesse or The qualitie of the ground must be considered for the planting of trees or sowing of their seedes leannesse of the soyle as whether it be of a good depth of earth grauelly sandie or of a watrie soyle and so according to the nature of the ground you must plant trées or sow their séedes as the Oake commonly will prosper well in all kind of grounds but in a watrie and moorish place the Aller Aspe and Willow trées doe best like of a low and watrie ground and so of euery sort of trées you must according to their nature and qualitie of the soyle applie your selfe to fit it with such plants and séed as shall be most profit and pleasure to you Wood. You begin well I perceiue then that all manner of trées are not to be planted in all sorts of grounds but the nature of the trée considered it must so be suited with such a ground that the plant and séed may the better come vp and prosper be it Timber Fruit trées or any other kind of wood Sur. It is so for if you plant an Oake in a wet moorish ground a Willow vpon a grauellie drie and barren hill or an Appletrée in an open cold and bleake field they may well grow but so poorely as neither their fruit or trées themselues in manie yeares will counteruaile the first yeares charge of planting them therefore the nature of the plant and seed must wel be considered of to correspond with the qualitie and condition of the ground And now Foure sorts of Timber trees growing in England Oake tree Elme Ash Beech to procéed concerning Timber trées it is well knowne that there grow in England foure sorts of speciall Timber trées and they also excéeding one another in goodnesse and these are the Oake the Elme the Ash and Béech trée and they are all excellent in their kinds but the chiefest of them for durable building of houses and shipping is the Oake next to that is the Elms which serueth to like good vses the third is the Ash which sometime also is vsed for building but most commonly for Coupers Whéele-wrights and Ploughwrights and the fourth which is the Beech trée is the worst yet often employed for Timber and much vsed among Ioyners and also for manie other good purposes There is also a fift kind of Timber trée of which few grow in England and which is little inferiour to any the rest and that is the Chesnut trée which beareth Chesnut tree good fruit that poore people in time of dearth may with a small quantitie of Oa●s or Barley make bread of and the bole thereof is large and excellent good Timber and this trée when you begin first to plant it wil grow more in one yeare if you husband it well at the first than an Oake will doe in two as those of some part of Fraunce who haue great store of wooddie grounds of this kind doe find it t●●e by experience There may also a sixt trée be equalized with any the best formerly ●amed and that is a Firre Firre tree trée and though they are rarely found to grow in England yet I haue séene them grow and prosper well here in diuers places as namely at Sion within seuen myles of London but now they are cut downe and at Newhall in Essex and in diuers other places How necessarie these kinds of trées are I report me to all Seamen and now of late for want of other Timber we begin to vse them for building of houses and I sée no reason to the contrarie but that in time we might haue as goodly trées and whole Woods of this kind growing in our owne countrey if men would endeuour to get them as easily they may as is in that famous Wood of Hyrcania Silua which enuironeth that fertile kingdome of Bohemia where the pesants of that countrey in their trauaile there doe often chop fliues or chips of those trées with their hatchets which vsually they do walke withall as we do here with staues and bring them home and vse them in stead of candles to do their businesse about the house in the night time which by reason of the abundance of gumme that is in them they will burne excéeding well and cléere and these kinds of trées might well be had and made to grow and prosper here in England if men would with a frée desire apply themselues to be ingenious and carefull herein And the rather am I confirmed in this opinion because as I haue credibly heard the Marquesse of Huntley and many other haue diuers Woods of this kind growing in the Countie of Aberdéene in Scotland And also one Master Thomas Bowen of Trefloine in the County of Pembroke a Gentleman of good worth had about fiftéene or sixtéene yeares past manie young and small plants of this kind brought him home by Saylers from the Newfound land with some of the earth wherein they did formerly grow and planted them together with the said earth in conuenient places about his house where they haue since so well prospered that many of them at this present are about foure foot in circuit and also very high and tapering And they will grow vpon mountaines grauellie soyles or in good earth either by planting the young trée or sowing of the séed Pereg. These Firre trées as I haue heard trauaylers report will also grow verie well in a heath or lingie soyle which if they would what a benefit might we haue thereby in planting the young trées or sowing of the séedes in such grounds from whence ensueth as it is scarce a thought of any profit Sur. It is true and I haue séene them grow vpon such land as you speake of and that excéeding large and tall and if some industrious man would apply himself to make triall thereof in Windsor Forest or some such like heathie barren ground his endeauour were worthily to be respected and no doubt would proue very acceptable to the Commonwealth Pereg. I like your discourse so well that if you would here make an end I thinke you haue said ynough to make me an excellent husband in my owne Woods for I now perceiue that better skill and husbandrie is vsed about woods and wooddie grounds than vsually is knowne Sur. I am glad you conceiue so well of my spéeches I trust before we end our discourse to make it plainely appeare to you the excellencie and great commoditie of this new kind of industrie or rather an old thrift

let him then couer those holes with a little loose earth and you must set them euen and straight by a long line and which must be done in Nouember in the decreasing of the Moone in moist grounds and encreasing of the Moone in drie grounds shee being then in Aries Taurus Cancer Libra Capricorne Aquarius or Pisces and the best time to gather your Acornes for kéeping and sowing of them is in October And after they are thus set in the ground let them then be watered ●uening and 〈◊〉 it conueniently you can and that there be 〈◊〉 thereof And also be carefull that the Birds and Crowes be kept away from eating the seed or yong sprigges which grow vp and these séedes when they are come vp and growne to be trées will bee more high and tall by reason they haue alwaies the full height of their tops than your Plant that is thus set as aforesaid because his top at the setting or planting thereof is cut ●●f Some men also doe vse to sow Acornes Chesnuts c. as they ca● it vnder ●urrough with the hand as you do ca●e and which also is good both which sorts of setting and s●wing the Acorne I will leaue to your practise Wood. But I ma●uaile why you would haue such good ground charge paines bestowed thereon for the planting of your Oake considering that it is not vnknowne to you that a●●●ll in this as many other Counties of England Trees growing vpon rockie grounds great and ●●ll Timber trées doe grow and prosper excellent well vpon Rockie grounds and where such Rockes are I would rather haue them employed for those purposes than our good land Sur. The reason why trées grow vpon Rockie grounds as I conceiue is this Your Rockes or Mountaines that bring forth great trées it is to be intended that they are not firme or solide but haue many veines in them where the verie heart and mother of the soyle lyeth and where happily such trées doe chaunce to grow by being either planted or ●owne of Acornes there with●●t all doubt they will as well encrease and fructifie as vpon any other ●oyle whatsoeuer because in th●se veines the whole nourishment of the soyle doth more abundantly ascend vp and féede the trée th●n it doth in any open fertile grounds And I can giue you an instance thereof by Vines growing along the Riuer of Rhine vpon the sides of Rockes where those countrey people doe more estéeme such a Vine garden both for quantitie goodnesse of the grape than they doe a garden planted in a large and battable ground yet though we sée s●me rock●e grounds to beare large trées I would not aduise any to bestow much cost in planting them vpon such hard and desperate aduentures though yet not amisse to trie conclusions how or whether they will there prosper or no. Pereg. Sir I commend your reasons why trées doe grow vpon Rockie grounds but your opinion concerning the distance of setting Acornes I cannot approue because you allow but one foot distance betwéene euerie Acorne thus set which I thinke too little by much for considering that when they are growne vp to bee trées the longer they grow the greater they will be so that in the end there will bee no legges to beare these bodies I meane all the ground will be trées Sur. You say well for if there were no larger distance allowed for the setting of them than one square foot the ground indéed would not bee able to beare them therefore as you leaue longstwayes but one foot distance so also sidewayes you shall leaue fiue or six féet which will be distance sufficient and yet notwithstanding that distance if all of them doe not prosper well and grow straight and séemely when they are come vp as perhaps many of them will not doe you may then make a culling of the most vnhandsomest of them from the other of finer and ●eater growth and then those remaining the greater they grow the better they will prosper And this Garden or Nurcerie thus made you may when they are growne to thrée foot high remoue of them how many you please and to what other conuenient place about your ground you thinke fit and begin to remoue them from the change to the full or in the last quarter of the Moone she The best time to remoue young plants being in Taurus or Capricorne and let it be done in September October or Nouember before the rootes grow to be too strong and then being planted they will prosper much the better And when you doe remoue and set these young plants anew if you cut off the toppes and prune them they will prosper the better to beare Maste but if you intend to reserue them for Timber trées then meddle not at all with the toppes of them because they will be more straight séemely and higher for that purpose Ien. This is spoken to great reason for there is no question but if you remoue your young plants to a firtler soyle they will in short time ●reatly aduance themselues in their growth and if we did not in liue sort trium●e and dresse our Hoppes by pulling away sprigges and rootes which superfluously grow out of them and also put shéepe into our wheat grounds which grow too ranke to eat it downe wee should haue as bad Hoppes as Corne and little profit should wee haue by either so that this course of husbanding yong plants must néedes be very good Sur. You are likewise to consider to set wéeders on worke that the séedes be not smothered by wéedes nor that the ayre Weeding Sunne or heart of the earth be taken away by them which especially in wet weather will grow apace among the séedes and plants for if these nourishments and comforts doe not fréely come to the séed and tender plants newly set or come vp as I haue alreadie said there is no doubt but that it will endanger the whole Croppe which otherwise by this good meanes and labor of wéeding the● wist cause th●m to grow and prosper so well as that within short time they will haue the greater power of the wéedes and if there were no such labour in this kind the wéedes would assuredly ouer grow and spoile them and cause them to come vp a●● grow so abortiue and ill fauoured as you would neither find pleasure or profit therein Ien. You say true for as I said before of Hoppes and Corne if they be not in their kinds well pruned husbanded and wéeded in faith we were like to haue poore Croppes and therefore wéeding of these séedes and young sprigges newly come vp must needes be most excellent for their better prospering Sur. These trees and seedes thus let you must be carefull that the ground be well fenced that no manner of cattell The ground fenced may come in for spoyling the Speing and passengers would be kept out because they should not touch or handle th●se tender sprigges And this manner of

my poore neighbors so much and generally most Commoners I then thought it fitting to put you to your greatest plunge by this my last refuge and greatest difficultie which if you can deuise to solue or make any probable or satisfactorie answer I will then say you haue brought the matter to an excellent conclusion Sur. Well Sir although this your in●ricate point which you haue now moued be of most difficultie yet you shall now perceiue I will easily resolue you of it For it was my An answer to the former obiection chance of late to conferre with a Councellor at law of good vnderstanding and iudgement about this very subiect of graunting Communage by Lease amongst other landes whose opinion was That Tenants who haue such graunts either from the King or any priuat Lord that they must not so farre extend their chalenge of Common sans number in putting on so many Cattell that they must eat vp the whole profit thereof whereby the poorer sort of Commoners should liue in penurie and want But the Law said he doth intend that his Farme considered that is what Cattell is necessarie for Tillage what for manuring his land what for a conuenient number of bréeders of all sorts of Cattell to supply his stocke and what for him to spend in his owne house and other necessaries he shall not be debarred or limited And so you sée that although he shall not be stinted in putting on of Cattell in that order and as aforesaid yet if hee doe excéede that proportion of a reasonable number the rest of the Commoners who haue also Common there sans number as well as he may very iustly endeuour to depresse his oppressions and draw him to a kind of meane and orderly proportion which yet shall liberally serue with respectiue regard as well of his Farme as Rent Wood. Sir I must confesse you haue giyen me very good satis●action and most effectually haue you deliuered your opinion herein And truly if euery Tenant might the inferies or contents of his Farme considered with an indifferent or rather liberall allowance beset out Inclosures of decayed Forests Commons and Wast grounds as wee haue spoken of that as well for his Milc● Kine young Cattell Oxen and Shéepe as with any pr 〈…〉 ion or reason the rest of his fellow Communers considered might suffice and agrée with the quantitie of his Farme and Rent there were then great probabilitie and hope of effecting what you speake of But alas the sinne of Couetousnesse doth so much possesse these kind of people as they thinke the libertie of their whole Common sans number too little for them and therefore can hardly endure to heare of any abridgement or withdrawing any part thereof when yet vpon proportions cast allowed and ratified at a very easie rate and that for many yeares with a dayly and more encrease of profit together with a liberall proportion allotted them for all the sorts of their Cattell which their Farmes are able to maintaine and beare or that they can any way desire of the Lord and that they also sée a resulting Surplage remaining then happily they may séeme more tractable and willing that any who haue right to such Wast grounds should dispose of them as they please to which I thinke our honest Farmer will agrée Ien. Most willingly for you haue spoken to good purpose And if the Law doe intend that men shall be stinted as I could wish it might be so to put on no more Cattell into a Common than what conueniently their Farmes or Fréehold can beare and maintaine all the yeare many rich Fréeholders in our parish will giue you little thankes for this Item because indéed they greatly ouerlay the Common to the preiudice of the rest of their poore neighbours and they will most assuredly spurne although it be against the pricke Sur. The more are they in danger to offend and hurt themselues for if the Commoners doe combine in an honest and lawfull manner against such abuses they may easily force these rich Fréeholders to a more neighbourly course of Commoning Wood. You say true but leauing this matter of inclosing Wast grounds to men more eminent in the State let vs make an end hereof and proceede in our Discourse of Timber trées Sur. Most willingly and doe submit my opinion herein to all honest and discréet Husbandmen THE THIRD PART Shewing the difference of diuers kinds of Trees for Timber and Fuell and such as are most apt to grow and prosper in our Climate And also a discourse concerning some new law to be made for the encrease and preseruation of Wood. Woodward MAster Surueyor wee lest as I remember about the differences of some seuerall Trées for Timber and what ground is most apt for them to prosper in and also some Rules concerning how to take the content of any Timber trée standing or growing vpon the ground which is a thing that will be much pleasing and helping to vs Woodwards who are none of the ingeniousest men in that facultie but we are onely content to obserue the ordinarie custome of looking to the Wood by presenting at the next Court day or Swanimote Court those who offend by purloyning of Trées hacking of Boughes and Standils and carrying them away But when wee are demaunded how many Tunne Load or square féet of Timber is contained in such a Timber trée which I thinke fit that euerie Woodward should know we must then answere with silence or make some sléeuelesse reply and so passe it ouer to other talke Sur. In déeds I thinke many of you are so skilfull therein as many be who are Surueyours of Counties by Patent for which they haue more fée then knowledge to discharge that Office But it is fit that Woodwards should haue some skill and vnderstanding in the measuring of these Sollid bodies or else how can they sufficiently discharge that trust and credit which is reposed in them when a Warrant is directed to them for the felling and deliuerie of a hundred Tunnes or Loades more or lesse of Timber for repaire of Bridges Parke-pales Houses c. And when perhaps they neuer know how many square féete make a Tunne or Load of Timber nor yet how many Trées they must cause to bee felled to haue as néere as may be the number of Tunnes or Loades specified in their Warrant but cuts downe at an aduenture perhaps ten or twelue Tunne or Load more or lesse then they had Warrant for which is a grosse errour Wood. In déede most of vs haue little or no skill in measuring of Timber trées but as you say we must take them at all aduentures as néere the number specified in our Warrant as we can But I pray Sir are there not men of your profession who passe ouer as grosse and witting errours in Surueying which iustly a man may terme abuses partly as I conceiue out of ignorance and partly out of dishonestie Sur. No doubt there are some such indéede yet

former but only his bad condition in growing neere vnto other trées and commonly it killeth any thing The Pine tree which groweth vnder it which yet the Pine tree doth not but is of a contrarie and more pleasing nature and euery thing doth prosper very well which groweth vnder the shadow thereof which is neither so combersome or thicke but that the Sunne Raine Ayre may sufficiently come to any thing which so groweth Wood. But doe you thinke that Pine trees will grow and prosper in our climate Sur. I must néedes thinke so because I haue seene some grow in England though yet but rarely and the reason perhaps may be of the not well husbanding them at the first in which great care must be vsed yet when they are growne to be trées they are then sufficiently able to endure all hardnesse but being set either of the plant or séed they are then most choice and tender Wood. But I pray what course doe you vse in planting them and in what kind of ground Sur. The soile that chiefly these trées delight in is a sandie light and stonie ground and will thriue very well vpon mountaines and in open ayrie places and they will grow sooner better of the kernell then of a young plant And you must lay the kernels in stéepe thrée or foure daies before you set or sow them and let the ground where you intend to sow them be as carefully husbanded tilled as you would doe if you would sow wheat thereon then put 6 or 7 of them into the earth in one hole together 4 or 5 fingers déep couer thē lightly with loose earth And the best time to sow them is in October or Nouember in warm hot or drie places in cold and wet grounds in February or March and when they are growne vp to be young trees you must be very carefull in remouing any of them because it is long before they will settle and take roote and they will hardly endure to be transplanted without hurt and hinderance to their grouth but yet when you doe remoue of them beware you do not bruze or breake any of the roots espcially the master-roote And it is thought this tree will continue the longer if the barke be now and then taken from it because that vnder the barke wormes doe breed which doe fret and destroy the tree And though you may thinke this disdourse of mine to be more curious then necessarie because there be excellent good lawes alreadie inacted for preseruing the wood yet in respect there do want peculiar officers that should carefully looke thereunto those lawes as many other be are little respected therefore if you please before we end our conference Some new law fit to be thoght of for preseruing of wood let vs a little consider of some points fit to be thought of by our graue and discreete Parliament meant to that ende Per. M. Surueyor you haue made a good motion I pray let vs heare your conceit concerning this point Sur. Sir with all willingnesse I will discouer to you my poore opinion therein which is that euerie Fréeholder or Copiholder of Inheritance holding twentie Acres or vpward of land should be enioyned by a speciall act to be made in that behalfe to plant or sow one Acre of those twentie with Oake Elme Ash Béech or Chesnut c. in Counties that are not wooddie or where little or no wood is growing and to ditch and hedge the same defensably from Cattle and Swine or other destruction Per. You say well but that law would as little be respected as any the rest except it might also be enacted that there should be officers appointed for the due surueying and yearely view of euerie mans performance thereof Sur. That is my meaning for after this little nurcery thus Officers appointed to looke to the preseruation of these little groues made and planted according to the proportion abouesaid that is from twenty Acres to one thousand c. I would then haue the high Constable of euerie Hundred Wapentake or Libertie appointed an officer to looke to the preseruation of these little groues and that twice in the yeare which should be about the Spring and Fall viz. Our Ladie day and Martinmas that the fences be wel maintained the grounds clensed from wéeds all manner of cattle be kept out from annoying and spoiling the tender sprigs for which he should yearely haue fiue pounds to be with equall proportion leuied A yearely allowance to this new Officer through his whole Diuision or Hundred according to their vsuall course and proportion of rates and cessements there vsed in other seruices for the Countie Pereg. But what then should these high Constables do when they find offenders in any point of this planting or preseruing law Sur. I would haue them to kéepe note bookes of al their doings therein and that once in the yeare and at the next Quarter Sessions extract these defaults to the Iustices of The defaults extracted to the Iustices of Peace A fine and penaltie Peace and if they find any offence to impose a fine for that default past and a penaltie for the amendment thereof before a certain day as to their discretions should séem méete and that the same chiefe Constable may haue the leuying of their fines or amercements the profit whereof to be thus diuided into foure equall parts viz. to the Iustices of the Peace one part to the Clerke of the Peace for entring distreating the same another part to the chiefe Constables for collecting them one other part and to the poore of the parish respectiuely the fourth part And that also Articles to be giuē in charge to the Iurie by the same act the Iustices at euery their Sessions may haue power to giue in their charge to the Iurie these following Cautions as parcell of their charge First such who haue not planted or sowed such grounds according to the proportion of Acre or Acres aforesaid with such plants and séeds as the nature and condition of the soile will best agrée withall Secondly such who haue not after their planting or sowing comming vp carefully looked vnto them for their better prospering Thirdly that where such Plants and Trées haue bin set and sowne that vpon their planting or new comming vp of them many or most of them haue miscarried and not prospered and that such haue not againe made a reparation in due season to be about or a little after Michaelmas with other yong Plants of like kind c. And where that many fences bee weake and bad Cattell and Swine breake in and croppe the yong sprigges and roote vp the ground bee strengthened and carefully mended That by these and such like Inquiries presentments may at our Lady day and Martinmas be made by the Iurie of the defaults that they may bee compared with the presentments of the said chiefe Constables who are the Surueyors of these