Selected quad for the lemma: land_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
land_n	penny_n	pound_n	shilling_n	5,001	5	11.2551	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67755	The improvement improved by a second edition, or, The great improvement of lands by clover, or, The wonderful advantage by, and right management of clover by Andrew Yarranton ...	Yarranton, Andrew, 1616-1684.	1663 (1663)	Wing Y16; ESTC R9553	21,827	63

reason why Clover doth so extreamly thrive upon limed Land rather then upon the same Land when it hath not been limed which experience doth fully convince us is true and for which many reasons are assigned That it is so none deny and why it is so I have given you some account in my other book There are two other sorts of Land that bear Clover 1. Land that is of a mixt nature and that hath somewhat more of clay in it then the third sort of Land before mentioned whose clods are apt to fall in pieces in a wet time and is not subject to clinging 2. Secondly Clay-land that is not subject to retain the wet and that lieth upon a shut so that the rain and other water runneth speedily off it which Land is much the better if it face to the South We may be so much the more confident of success upon these two sorts of Land if they have been well limed and we have a drie seeding time and you must be sure to make this Land as fine light and mellow as you can and when you have got Clover upon it it will by its root and broad leaf make and keep your Land much more lighter and mellow or moustree which will be a great advantage when you come to sow corn again I have observed upon this sort of mixed and Clay-land excellent good Clover and I know some that have a very great advantage upon it yet I think the unseasonableness or extreamness of the weather hath a greater influence upon Clover to its detriment in this Land then they have in the other sorts of Land upon my own knowledge I say this Land will bear it and that with very much advantage yet I advise the unexperienced rather to make their first trial upon one of the four sorts of Land before mentioned I have heard of some who falling upon this sort of Land in their essays and either though their unskilfulness or some other miscarriage it hath failed them they have then made it their business to cry out against Clovering of Land in the general or at least to perswade men that that sort of Land will not bear it I do believe that there are many secrets about the Nature of Clover yet to be discovered and about the fittest Lands for it and I do not doubt but in a short time we shall attain to much more kowledge about the management of Clay Lands so as to raise good Clover upon them I have heard from good Authors that in some Clay Lands where it is not extream binding Clay they have much success and have made good progress in the discovery I could heartily wish some ingenious person would so far befriend the publick as to give more full directions about Clay Land then I can upon my own knowledge not having the opportunity of so many trials upon that Land as upon other Lands first mentioned The profit of Clover AS for the profit that may and usually is made by Clover I am at a great stand whether I had not better wholly omit i● and say nothing of it for if I tell you what I have read and heard from others I shall forfeit my credit with some and what I affirme will be taken to be impossible if I tell you what I have seen and the whole Country will subscribe to the truth of yet it will be taken to be very impossible with many especially those which have not seen it and if report the advantages to be less it is a detraction and though I should then speak the truth yet it is not all the truth I am resolved to speak within compass and if I erre it shall be on the safer hand and herein I shall be the sooner pardoned The first sort of Land it is dry gravelly and limed supposing it to be in heart it yeilds to Graze or Mow at least Three pounds each Acre per annum The second sort was broomy or fearny Land limed this Land in Clover is at least worth Four mark each Acre per annum The third and fourth sorts of Land is mixt Land naturally dry and Rye Land which Clovered is at least worth Forty shillings per Acre Many persons have offered to give me a particular account of the money they have raised out of several pieces of Clever which amounts to more then I have mentioned and I know the benefit in some parts will be very great where Grass is much wanting especially in the midst of Summer when all other Grass is burned up So far as I can understand the nature of this Plant it seems to be designed on purpose for those Countries where natural Grass is wanting and for a supply where the Sun hath burnt up their grass in the midst of Summer for as the Land in those parts is fittest for Clover bearing little natural grass so Clover is fittest for those Lands which indeed is the best improvement can be made of them There is a Gentleman * Sir John Winford late high Sheriff my neighbour that hath about sixty Acres and I know of several parcels sowed with Clover-seed being very barren gravelly Land which Land if laid down to bear natural Grass is not worth above four shillings six pence the Acre at most here with us and I know there hath been made of it at least forty five shillings per annum upon each Acre by Clover As also Mr. Thomas Hill a Grazier can give you an account of the profit of it whom you may see in most of the Fairs in Worcester-shire Stafford-shire or Shrop-shire I sowed about sixteen Acres with Barley and after my Barley I had about Michaelmas a great After-math into which I turned by way of Tack about forty Hoggs at six pence per the week and for that time I had about four pound ten shillings for Tack of Swine which I thought was pretty well for an After-math and take my Land to be much bettered by the dung of so many Piggs Had I let this Land lie to bear natural Grass it would not have brought me five pounds in the two first years and as to bear Corn it would not any longer to any advantage being worn out with liming and long tillage This I mentioned in my Book last year to which I could adde this years experience but to give you the particulars of it were too long in a word it was answerable to my expectations and such as you will scarce believe except you saw it or had had some experience of this Husbandry your self If the After-math in the first quarter after the Barley is cut yeild such advantage you may guess what the next years profit may be I would not have spent so many words about the advantage of Clover but that it 's more then possible my Book may fall into the hands of some that either have not seen it growing or have not had that opportunity of knowing the profit of it as all men have

censure It doth not impoverish but improve the Land for if you graze it altogether as some do the ground maintains so many more Cattle then what it did before that puts the question out of doubt if you mow it once a year and graze the rest so many Cattle as it will require to keep it down will sufficiently manure your Land if you mow twice a year it helps you to keep so many the more Cattle in the house whose dung if it were laid upon the same Land would add more heart and vertue to it they your two crops of Clover took from it In my former Book I mentioned some other reasons and I am now more fully convinced that the leaves which will unavoydably fall from it do very much inrich the Land you may many times see the ground black over with them and it is very observable how the ground in the absence of these leaves is covered over with some lower branches of the Clover which spread themselves and rot upon the ground whilst the top or upper branches flourish and the Clover is much inriched by this connatural food viz. a corruption of a superfluous part of the plant for I perceive the Land doth receive wonderful advantage by these leaves and branches and as the leaves and branches so the root doth very much contribute towards the inriching of the Land and the truth is since our Country by experience hath been convinced that the Land by Clover is much bettered they have for the most part ascribed it to the long and large root which this plant leaves in the Land But it is Experience that must resolve us in this case and indeed so it hath though there is reason enough against this objection he that hath sowed Clover and had the profit of it three or four years and then hath sowed Corn till be come to lay down his Land with Clover again is most like to give the truest answer to this question I confess I had a great desire to be resolved in this point and to that end I have made all the trials I could for this 5 years and have observed others Clover Husbandry and Co●n after it and have put some upon the tryal of it by sowing Corn just after it and truly though at first I was of the objectors opinion yet by my experience and observation I am convinced of the contrary and I cannot upon inquiry finde any one judicious person that hath for any competent time used this Husbandry but he is fully satisfied that Clover leaves the Land better then it found it It were too long to tell you what many men with whom I have discoursed have told me who were once discouraged by this objection but are now upon trial fully satisfied If you peruse any writings about Clover you will finde that in the first trials of it in England those Gentlemen that then wrote found that it did improve the Land Mr. Walter Blith tells us that Clover hath this property after 3 or 4 years it doth so frame the earth that it is much the fitter for Corn in his Improver improved pag. 104. Sir Richard Weston saith the Land being ploughed after Clover it will yeeld 3 or 4 years together rich crops of Wheat and after that a crop of Oats with which you may lay it down again with Clover These are his own words I could give you many more answers and experiments that may fully satisfie any that yet doubt but that I perceive there is no need with us and therefore I leave you to experience which hath convinced many that otherwise would not be satisfied And though I think no reasonable man can object yet if any should imagine that it would abate our tillage of Corn it were easie to make it out that it will much increase it for a third part of that ground you are forced to lay down for grass to maintain your Cattle wherewith to Till your Land will maintain them so that you may Till much more of your Land then before you could I can make it appear six Acres of Land in Clover will keep as many Cattle as thirty Acres of natural grass and besides your Land need not now lie out of tillage so long as it was wont to do but once in four or five years you may break it up and it shall be as sit for tillage as though it had lain 20 years with natural grass The case indeed is so plain that I need not trouble you with an answer to this conceit What are the fittest Lands to sow Clover upon IN my former Book you have an account of the fittest Lands for this Husbandry and as they are the Lands most fit so it is Land that may be best spared especially at the time when it is to be Clovered viz. when you are to lay it down for grass for the two first years it yeelds very little profit I finde upon my observation in general all garvelly dry Land is good for this purpose especially if it be limed well before and be Land that is not very poor nor extreamly out of heart but if it be in good heart and be worth nine or ten shillings the Acre the profit of it will be the greater and more certain It is a conceit directly against reason and experience that the barrenest and poorest Lands are fittest for Clover for though it will grow upon very poor Land that hath been limed and will raise very great profit yea and poor Land without lime with a little good Husbandry by Clover will yeeld good advantage yet we must not think the poorer the Land is the fitter it is for Glover though Clover is the best improvement of barren Land yet poor and barren Land is not best for Clover But as for the particular Lands that are fit for this Husbandry I say 1. First it is beyond all doubt that the best and fittest Land is that which hath been in tillage about six or eight years that hath been well limed and is dry and gravelly and not apt to bear its natural grass the first and second year 2. A second sort is a broomy and fearny dry Land that hath been well limed and hath been in tillage six or eight years 3. A third sort is mixt Land that is naturally dry that hath been limed and that lieth dry in the Winter 4. A fourth sort is Rie-land which is drie and sandy which also hath been limed I take these four sorts of Land to be fittest for Clover and though I mention them all as limed yet in those parts where no lime can be had at reasonable rates and they have any of these four sorts of Land Clover will yeeld them a very great advantage for these Lands are in their own nature very fit for Clover and it groweth very well upon it where there hath been no lime yet I advise you to use lime where it is to be had I have endeavoured to finde out the