in Herefordshire that it will thrive much better the first year and turn to more profit alone then a Crop of Oats and it sow'd together will do The charges of an Acre is first ploughing and harrowing about 00 05 00 Ten pound of seed as it cost mee at Antwerp 1645 at sixpence a pound 00 05 00 Cutting the Grass twice making the Haie and threshing out the seed 01 10 00 So the whole charge is 02 00 00 The second years profit Which beeing deducted there remain's clear for one Acre according to the Brabant and Flanders Account 10 l. Which for twentie five Acres cometh to two hundred and fiftie pound for fiftie Acres to five hundred pound and for an hundred Acres to 1000 l. Then an hundred Acres must bee Devonshired and sow'd with Flax and Turneps as is before expressed which with Gods blessing may yield the like profit of three thousand eight hundred pound when to the thousand pound above mention'd for Clover-grass beeing added the whole profit of the second year from two hundred Acres amounteth to four thousand eight hundred pound 4800 l. The third years profit Then the last hundred Acres sowed with flax and Turneps must bee sowed as before with Clover-grass seed which according to the former accompt coming to one thousand pound and a hundred Acres more devonshired as formerly and sowed with flax and Turneps yielding the like profit of three thousand eight hundred pound as is before specified adding thereunto the two hundred Acres of Clovergrass the whole profit of the third year is 5800 l. The fourth years profit Then the hundred Acres sowed before with flax and Turneps must bee sowed as formerly with Clover-grass seeds which yielding a thousand pound according to the former Accompts and another hundred Acres devonshired as formerly and sowed with flax and Turneps and yielding like profit of three thousand eight hundred pound and adding thereunto the three hundred Acres formerly sowed with Clover-grass seed mak's the whole profit of the fourth year 6800 l. The fifth years profit Then the last hundred Acres sowed with flax and Turneps must bee sowed as before with Clover-grass-seed which yielding like profit of a thousand pound and another hundred Acres devonshired as formerly and sowed with flax and Turneps yielding the like profit of three thousand eight hundred pounds thereto adding the four hundred Acres formerly sowed with Clovergrass seed make 's the whole profit of the fifth year 7800 l. Thus have I plainly shewed what I promised in my Preface that was how an industrious man in Brabant and Flanders would convert five hundred Acres of barren and heathie Land from little value in five years to bee worth above seven thousand pounds a year You see you have better means to mend your Land then they have your Land lieth in a manner under the same Climate for Chichester and Mecklin are in one degree the Soil is much alike as I have shewed you may have as good a vent for your Commodities as they have for theirs if you pleas and therefore I do not know what Reason can hinder you from putting those things into practice You may continue this yearlie profit of seven thousand eight hundred a year upon this five hundred Acres If you will by Liming dunging or marling and devonshiring again the first hundred Acres laid down with Clover-grass and sowing it with flax and Turneps as before and so go round with everie hundred acres as formerly in its cours but having great store of barren and heathie ground you were better improve that and let the Clover-grass continue as long as it will And if after five years continuance it turneth to a mingled Grass yet that will bee as good as most Meadows and Pastures that I know in England for it turn's commonly from a red honie suckle to a white which wee repute the sweetest Grass although it doth not carrie the greatest burthen And I am perswaded it will continue longer if it bee kept for Seed and cut but twice whereas they commonly cut it thrice a year in Flanders alwaies in the Sap which will kill Fern Now I will shew you how they vent these Commodities that you may learn the better how to vent yours First they make great store of Linnen themselvs and send it most for London what they make not in Cloth they have a Market every Thursdaie at a place call'd St Nicolas almost midwaie between Antwerp and Gaunt whither Merchants com on purpose to buy it and send it into Holland and there sell it at dear rates I met with a Linnen Draper of London when I was at Gaunt and questioning him what vent there was for Flax at London hee told mee that before these troublesom times if I had had a verie great quantitie hee could have helped mee to Chapmen to have bought it off at dearer rates at London then usually they sold it at in Flanders for hee said hee did believ there was not less then a hundred thousand pounds worth of Flax brought yearly into England from forreign parts a great part whereof to his knowledg was sent from London into Lancashier there made into Cloth and afterwards brought back in Cloth and sold in London and if times grew peaceable again in England hee told mee I need not doubt the venting of more Flax at London then ever I would have to sell and two honest English Merchants of my Acquaintance did assure mee that if I could not sell my Flax at London to my content they would transport it for mee into Holland where I might fell it dearer then they sold their Flax in Flanders for Merchants usually sent for Flax out of Flanders and sold it again in Holland at dearer rates then they paied for it there But if you finde that these Commodities thrive with you and you grow rich by them I would advise you to send for som workmen out of Flanders that understand the Manufacture of Linnen Cloath and make your Flax into Linnen Cloath you cannot choos but gain by it exceedingly when you are aforehand with the World if they live by it who fetch it first from London into Lancashire by Land beeing made in Cloth recarrie it up and besides you shall do a charitable deed by bringing in that Manufacture into the Kingdom For it keep's a very great number of poor Women and Children at Work in Flanders and Holland that otherwise would not have means to live So by this waie you should bee sure to vent your Flax and withall procure a publick benefit to the Kingdom The Husbandrie of Turneps is as Common between Gaunt and Antwerp as that of Flax for as there is more Flax sowed there then of anie other Grain or Corn so Commonly after the Flax is pull'd immediately they sow Turneps and presently after their Rie what they do not eat themselvs they give unto their Cattel they will feed Oxen and Kine as fat as Hay or Oats the Roots beeing clean Washed
of a verie good pasture before Michaëlmas and this third year hee had mowed the Clover-grass thrice as I had seen and it would com to a verie good pasture quickly to feed till Christmas and the same hee thought hee should do for three years more but afterwards the ground would turn to an ordinarie grass Hee said hee used his ground where his flax grew as his other but first again about half the quantitie of dung hee did at first and then sowed it with flax and upon the flax Clovergrass-seed as hee had don before upon the Oats his Roman-beans his Hops and Orchard thrived verie well and all with the same quantitie of dung proportionably used for there they know no other Manure I askt him how hee could make 12 l an acre of this Clover-grass hee said either dy feeding Cattle or keeping Kine or laying it for seed after the first cutt For an Acre of it beeing made part into haie and the rest fed green would keep four Kine winter and summer and an Acre laid for seed might carrrie five bushels which valued at 6 d. a pound come's to 8 l. Sterling besides the first and second cuts of grass and hay and the after-pasture Hee said the best time for sowing flax and Clovergrass-seeds was about the beginning of April presently after a shour of rain Som continue sowing of flax untill the end of Maie and som sow after though I know no caus to commend their slowness in sowing of it so late I was not verie inquisitive after his other Commodities I saw by his Turneps which hee had sowed upon his heathie land at his first breaking up that hee differed in that point from all other husband-men in those Countries who sowed them immediately after Rye or flax but those things are left to everie ones experience to proceed therein as hee think's best according to his own Observation Now what I had observed here and between Gaunt and Antwerp my Reason told mee grounded upon som former experience that there was no land that naturally bore heath beeing either of a sandie or loamie mould but might by devonshiring first which I prefer before their Husbandrie in Flanders whereunto adding som Dung or Lime or Marle in fit proportion as shall bee hereafter expressed may bee made better then the best land that Flanders or England doth afford For no man with reason can denie but that Land is best which will bring forth such Commodities as will yield most monie to make one wealthie and rich for though wealth and Riches may consist either in Cattle Corn housholdstuff Plate Jewels yet when those things are valued wee commonly say they are worth so much monie So Regina Pecunia Monie is the Queen that commands all Now if the same quantitie of Acres of poor heathie Land by producing Flax Turneps and Clovergrass will yield more monie then the rich Land which beareth wheat barlie meadow and good pasture then by consequence it followeth that the poor Land is better then the Rich. And I suppose that they finde by experience in Flanders that their rich land will naturally bear those Commodities otherwise they could not bee ignorant that they do so far exceed their best Corn and Meadows in matter of profit which appeareth clearly by their own valuations for they value an Acre of flax may bee worth fortie or fiftie pound An Acre of Turneps worth eight pound or ten pound an Acre of Clovergrass worth ten or twelv pound whereas they value their best barlie may bee worth ten or twelv pound their best wheat may bee worth five or six pound an Acre and their best meadow worth four or five pound an Acre Now if yee compare the value of these Commodities together supposing the rich Land will not bear the other which are the richer Commodities so well as the poor you must needs conclude the poorer Land to bee the better And it is a strong Argument to mee that their rich land will not bear those rich Commodities so naturally as the heathie and sandie Land doth for though I went often between Bridges and Dunkirk which is thirtie nine miles beeing the richest Land in Flanders and where there is goodlie wheat barlie and meadows as ever my eyes beheld yet I never saw in all that ground to my remembrance one Acre of Flax or Clover-grass whereas on the contrarie between Gaunt and Antwerp which is thirtie miles and the poorest Land in all the Countrie much like Sandie-Chappel in Surreie or som part of the Heathie Land in Windsor Forrest I have seen manie hundreds of Acres of goodly Flax Turneps and Clover-grass close by the Highwaie side and their Corn there not anie thing but Rie French Wheat and Oats It is not onelie dung which causeth the fertilitie in those Barren Heathie and sandie Lands for to bring forth those rich Commodities but partly the nature of those seeds which do delight to grow rather in a light and gentle Land then in one too stiff and heavie Though it is true that dung is of that virtue that it heat's fatten's sweeten's and reclaim's all Barren grounds and unslakt Lime and Marl are of as great an Efficacie beeing proportionably tempered with Earth and Ashes and of longer continuance to enrich Land as I will shew hereafter But becaus som will say that the burning of the Turff which wee call Devonshiring will make the ground the wors after three years I do most confidently affirm upon my own experience that with the addition of Dung or Lime or Marl in fit proportions there is no such Husbandrie in the World perfectly to prepare anie Heathie Land and make it nourish receiv and ripen seeds For the Earth is as it were renued by the Fire having no other Roots in the entrails of it produceth nothing for manie years but what one sow's upon it and shall remain vigorous enough to serv as long as one of knowledg and understanding will desire it And therefore I shall advize you to prefer this Husbandrie upon your Heathie Land before anie other Though they have no other manure to mend their Land but Dung in the Barren and Heathie Land in Flanders and Brabant yet they have a verie fine way in Brabant to rais a great quantitie of Dung the practice whereof may much advance the Improvement of St Leonard's Forrest They that keep sheep there upon the Heaths hous them everie night and in the Summer at noon first having lai'd three or four Inches of Sand at the bottom of the Floor wherein they lodg their sheep for a night or two which tread their Dung and Piss into the Sand and so they daily use more Sand to bee used in the same manner until the quantitie bee grown so great that the sheep cannot conveniently go in or out Then they cast that out of the Hous and put in more Sand and so proceed throughout the year and by that means three or four hundred sheep will rais one
lasting Peace where not onely outward Plentie and Prosperitie but the treasures of a better life in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ may bee enjoied to the prais of God the Father These are and shall bee the dailie praiâ—rs of Your Honor 's truly faithful and most humble servant SAMUEL HARTLIB A Discours of Husbandrie used in Brabant and Flanders Shewing the wonderfull improvement of Land there and serving as a pattern for our practice in this Common-wealth IT is a certain thing that the chiefest and fundamentallest point in Husbandrie is to understand the nature and condition of the Lands that one would Till to Sow it with such Seeds as it will produce either Naturally or by Art that which may turn to a man's greatest profit and advantage I did think I had understood that point when I went out of England after thirtie years experience in Husbandrie and having improved my Land as much as anie man in this Kingdom hath don both by Water and Fire But after I had been a while in Brabant and Flanders I found I was to learn a new Lesson in point of Husbandrie for that the barrennest Heathie and Sandie Lands in those Countries did produce richer Commodities by an ordinarie waie of Husbandrie there in practice then the strongest and richest grounds that were in both those Countries When I first arrived at Dunkirk and went to Bridges which was near fortie miles I saw as rich a Countrie as ever my Eies beheld stockt with goodlie Wheat and Barlie and excellent Meadows and Pastures The soil began to alter into wors midwaie between Bridges and Gaunt which were twentie four English miles asunder and so soon as I was past Gaunt in my journie towards Antwerp I did see such Land for about twentie miles together that I cannot compare anie ground more like then the Land by Sandie Chappel three miles distance from Kingston upon Thames A great part of the Highwaies out of the Road and Track of Horses and Carts did bear Heath and such Inclosures on the inside of the Waies which were not kept in Tillage did either produce Heath or Broom of their own natures The soil did not much amend until I came within two miles of Antwerpe which was thirtie English miles from Gaunt There I saw a goodlie Marsh or feeding ground for Cattel which was kept with a strong Banck for beeing overflowed by the River of Sceld under which notwithstanding there lay Sluces to let in the Water when they pleased and Ditches were made in the Marsh to convey it back into the River at low Tides when they thought fit On the other side of Antwerp was Contribution-land lying in Brabant which naturally was as barren and apt to Heath as anie land betwixt that Citie and Gaunt I staied not long at Antwerp before I returned to Gaunt and diligently reviewing the Countrie as I went back I could finde no other Corn to grow there then Rie Oats and French Wheat which seemed a sufficient Testimonie to mee of the barrenness of the soil which would neither bear Wheat Barlie or Peas and for that the former Grains did usually grow in England upon the edg of Forrests and Heathie grounds A few daies after my return I fell into discours with a Dutch Merchant then living at Gaunt but had lived som years in England and told him that I did not think that all Flanders had yielded so much barren ground as I had seen between Gaunt and Antwerp Hee answered mee that that Land was the richest part of all Flanders I smiled to hear him say so thinking at first hee had jested and I replied that I believed that one Acre of Land between Bridges and Dunkirk was worth ten Acres of anie Land I saw there between Gaunt and Antwerp excepting the Marsh-land and som little straps of Meadow by the River side for one did bear goodlie Wheat Barlie and Peas and was in manie places naturally excellent Meadow and Pasture and the other would carrie no other Corn but Rie French Wheat and Oats and would never bear anie considerable grass but turn'd presently after it was laid down to Heath or Broom The Merchant told mee again that their best Commodities were pul'd and cut before I went that waie but hee would prove that the Land did yield more profit yearly then the best Land in Flanders and that the Bores for so they term their Farmers were richer then in anie part of the Countrie I must confess at first I thought his discours to bee som kind of Riddle but seeing him earnest in affirming that which seem'd strange to mee I desired him to explain himself how it was possible that that Land should yield more profit then the other I will tell you said hee the reason why it yeildeth more profit is becaus that Land is natural to bear Flax which is called the Wealth of Flanders and one Acre of good Flax is worth four or five Acres of the best Corn which groweth between Dunkirk and Bridges and after the Flax is pull'd it will bear a Crop of Turneps which may bee better worth Acre for Acre then the best Corn in the Countrie After that Crop is off about April following you may sow the same Land with Oats and upon them Clover-grass seed onelie harrowing it with bushes which will com up after the Oats are mowed and that year yield you a verie great Pasture till Christmas and the next year following you may cut that grass three times and it will everie time bear such a burden and so good to feed all sorts of Cattel as the best Meadows in the Countrie do not yield the like and will continue good four or five years together without sowing it After this wee parted At first I wondered much at his discours but much more at the ignorance and sloathfulness of our Countrie which beeing near to Flanders and manie Merchants and Gentlemen travelling thither daily none should understand or at least put in practice these Husbandries there beeing so much Barren and Heathie Land in England of verie little value which might by following their Example in these Husbandries bee made more profitable then the best Land in this Kingdom I after pondered what the Merchant said all that daie and the next and then began to imagine with my self what an huge Improvement I might make of my own Estate if these things were true which hee had told mee and if God Almightie pleased to permit mee quietly to enjoie it And to bee further satisfied I sent another Dutchman in the Town that had been in England with whom I was grown acquainted and desired him to inform himself from som of the Bores in the Countrie whether those things the Merchant had affirmed to mee were true Hee returned mee an Answer from three or four whom hee said hee knew to bee honest men and understanding those Husbandries that a Gammet of Flax which was their Acre but somwhat more in quantitie then ours might
well produce fourtie or fiftie pounds worth of Flax if the Land were well dung'd and Husbanded and sowed with good East-Countrie seed and that it pleas'd God to send convenient rain after it was sowed and a seasonable time till Harvest These were no other conditions then I conceived all other seeds and grain to bee subject to either to prove good or bad And for the other questions wherein I desired to bee satisfied concerning the Turneps and Clover-grass hee told mee they did concur in all with the Merchant without anie other condition or limitation The Winter after I did examine divers persons upon the like questions who I thought did understand that business and found very little difference in their relations And in April following which was the chiefest time for sowing of Flax and Clover-grass I did often walk into the Fields a mile or more out of the Town and expostulated the business with the Bores when they were sowing of Flax and Clover-grass-seed and afterwards observ'd that these things did prosper verie well on such ground as I conceiv'd to bee extreme barren of its own Nature But further to inform my self more fully what an Acre of Flax might bee worth I bought an English rod of Flax when it was grown up neither the best nor worst and caused it to bee pull'd water'd and dress'd by it self then valued it as Flax was sold the week following in the market at Gaunt and the seed likewise afterwards I cast up what eightie rod which was an Acre would rise unto according to that valuation and I found that it came to thirtie six pound fourteen shillings six pence and though by that rate an Acre did not com to fortie pound yet it made mee believ that an Acre of good Flax might bee worth fortie pound and more for that which I tried was but indifferent Flax. I went presently afterwards to Antwerp and saw almost everie third or fourth field by the highwaie side for twentie five miles together stocked with goodlie Flax far beyond that which I bought to make my Trial off Whereof som was pull'd and the rest was ready to pull The similitude of a great quantitie of Land I had in England unto theirs in Flanders and Brabant which I saw did bear their richest Commodities and my Loss in England both of personal and real Estate made mee enquire after all Husbandries of those Countries of such as I conceiv'd could anie way instruct mee that I might learn somthing or other whereby to repair my fortunes if hereafter it pleas'd Almightie God to give mee leav to enjoie my own Estate in Peace again And beeing one daie in companie of som Merchants It happen'd that discours fell out about Improvement of their barren ground I said that I had a great quantitie of Barren and Heathie Land in England that I thought might bee easily brought to bear Flax Turneps and Clover-grass as well as their barren Lands did in Flanders and Brabant To which a Merchant answered that hee would carrie mee to a man within three miles of Antwerp who had taken a Farm upon Improvement which was just such Heathie Land as I describ'd mine to bee For hee was about five years since to have bought it and when hee saw it all Heath hee would not meddle with it but the Farmer had so improv'd it alreadie that hee had now growing upon it a Nurserie of twelv Acres of all sorts of Trees as Pear-Trees Apple-Trees Cherrie-Trees Chesnut and Walnut-Trees Oaks Ashes Elms and the like hee had there also growing both Flax Turneps Clover-grass Roman Beans and most sorts of Corn and hee had planted a Hop-ground and an Orchard hee said hee would tell mee what Husbandrie hee used to make such a strange Conversion and that I could not pleas him better then to com to see it and hee did assure mee that it was worth my Journie to bee inform'd from him for never a man in that Countrie could better instruct mee then hee and I will said hee go thither with you when you pleas I thanked him verie kindly for his offer and told him I would wait upon him thither to morrow morning It was agreed between us both to see this wonder But I asked him before wee parted what that taking of a Farm upon Improvement was which hee before did speak of Hee answered that when another had bought the Land this man offered more Rent then hee could make of it at that time to have a Leas for one twentie years upon condition that whatsoever four indifferent persons whereof two to bee chosen by the one and two by the other should judg the Farm to bee improved above the Rent at the end of his Leas the Owner was to pay so much in value to the Tenant for his improving it I told him it was a waie of letting land I never knew of before Hee answered it was an ordinarie waie with them of letting such barren Land as men could not tell how to manage themselvs The next daie wee went thither and the first thing wee saw was his Nurserie of trees which did grow and prosper verie well and hee made accompt they would yield him ten thousand pounds before his Leas was exspired and as I remember hee valued them one with another but at two shillings a tree Then I saw a little Close of flax which I esteemed to bee about three english acres of which flax hee told mee the Merchant that brought mee thither before I came from Antwerp that hee had made a hundred and fiftie pounds which was by computation fiftie pounds an Acre I also saw growing there verie good Turneps and excellent Clover-grass which hee valued to bee then worth twelv pound an acre I after saw it cutting the first daie of June 1644 beeing then two foot long and very thick and went thither again the nine and twentieth daie of the same moneth and saw the same grass grown up and then cutting again beeing twentie Inches long I saw it cutting again in August following beeing then eighteen inches long I viewed the grounds round about and found the skirts of the Closes left unploughed to bee heath and both hee and the Merchant affirmed all the rest where his flax and Clover-grass grew was heath but three years before I was verie inquisitive of him to know what husbandrie hee used to the land for to convert it from heath to bear such rich Commodities Hee told mee first hee broke it up with a strong Team of horses then ploughed it cross afterwards tore off the heath with a great harrow then gathered it up and burnt it and laid about twentie loads of dung upon an acre and spread it upon the Land then ploughed it again and sowed the first crop with Rye the next with Oats and when hee had harrowed his oats hee sowed Clovergrass seed upon them which hee harrowed with a bundle of bushes under his harrow and that came after the Oats was off to bee
thousand Loads of Dung in a year and eight hundred sheep two thousand Loads which allowing twentie Loads to an Acre will Dung an hundred Acres yearly and this Dung by experience doth mightily improve such Heathie Land as St Leonard's is Besides there is Marl in most part of the Forrests I account anie mine that is free from stones and lieth so thick as it is worth the digging and near and convenient to carrie to your Land and of clammie substance when it is wet though it seem onely Clay or Loam yet to bee Marl and verie good Manure for Sandie and Heathie Land bee it of what Color it will as either Graie Yellow or Blue and fortie Loads of it laid upon an Acre in Summer and presently spread and so let lie all Winter to incorporate with the earth then Devonshired the next March and spread upon the Land and Sow'd will mightily improve it I did use six Acres thus that was nothing but Heath and had two Crops of Corn from it and the third year it came of it self to bee as good Grass as ever I saw grow in anie Meadow in England I saw another great Improvement in Clement Stoke's Farm adjoyning to the Forrest hee had Land that hee let out two years together for twelv pence an Acre at last hee Devonshired it and caused his hills before they were burnt to bee set a just rod square one from another and when they were burnt hee put a peck of unslackt Lime which was fortie Bushels this Lime beeing slackt in the hills with the first Rain was mingled together with the Ashes and then spread upon the Land and after Sow'd with Wheat and brought as good as anie was in the Countrie brought next year a verie good Crop of Oats and the year following com to as good Grass as anie hee had to his Farm This I hold to bee the cheapest Husbandrie becaus four or five Load of Fern of which there is store in the Forrest beeing cut from the beginning of July to the middle of August will burn off twelv Loads of Chalk Lime and though your Chalk cost dear the bringing thither yet the Lime will not stand you in twelv shillings a Load and by this waie you save much carriage and so by consequence may compass to manure yearly much more Land As for Example you carrie but one Load of Lime to your Land whereas by the other waies you must carrie twentie Loads of Dung and fortie Loads of Marl. So as by the Lime if that will do as well you may Lime twentie Acres as soon as you can Dung one Acre and fortie Acres for one with Marl But I advize you to make Trial your selv's of all these several Husbandries and then to follow that which you finde cheapest and best I have set down at large how I came first to know the Husbandries and how I was satisfied in the particulars I have also set down three several waies to improve your Land now I will lay down the charge in severaltie then cast up the profit from one Acre to five and twentie Acres then to fiftie and so to an hundred Acres by which it shall appear that by an ordinarie waie of Husbandrie according to the valew which they make of like Commodities in Flanders how that by improving a hundred Acres of Heathie Land everie year as namely of St Leonard's Forrest and Sowing the Seeds of Flax Turneps and Clover-grass you may in five years improve five hundred Acres to bee worth abov seven thousand pounds a year The particular charge of an Acre of Flax is as followeth First the devonshiring of an Acre 01 00 00 A load of Lime to put into the Hills 00 12 00 The ploughing and harrowing of an Acre 00 06 00 The bushel of flax-seed at thirteen shillings four pence the bushel 02 00 00 The weeding of an Acre 00 10 00 Pulling and binding an Acre 00 10 00 Graffing the seed from the flax 00 06 00 Watering drying swinging and beating the flax of nine hundred weight upon an Acre 04 10 00 This is the uttermost charge that I could learn so the whole cometh to L S D 09 5 00 Nine hundred pound weight of Flax upon an Acre at eight Stivers the pound which was an ordinarie price in Gaunt when I was there together with the Seed valued to bee worth 40 00 00 Now if you deduct fifteen shillings an Acre more towards Charges or Losses the Account beeing alreadie ten pound an Acre short of the value of their best Flax yet remain's abov all Charges clear for an Acre 750 00 00 By the same Account you will bee at five hundred pound charge for fiftie Acres and then receiv at fortie pound an Acre two thousand pound but clear abov all Charges but 1500 l. The like Account of a thousand pound charge for an hundred Acres you receiv upon the Account of fortie pound an Acre four thousand pound but clear abov all Charges 3000 l. This thousand pound Charge for an hundred Acres is onely supposed in case you lay out all the Charge before you receiv anie Money for part of your Flax but before you are out seven hundred pound som Money will com in for Flax continually so as indeed you shall not go out abov seven hundred pound at all in stock and after the first years profit is com in you cannot Account that you are out anie thing from your purs becaus you have your full stock again and three thousand pound more But this is not all the profit you are to exspect from your hundred Acres the first year for after the Flax is pull'd which will bee either in Julie or August the same Land may bee sowed with Turneps and prove according to the Flanders Account worth eight pound an Acre over and abov all charges so twentie five Acres cometh to two hundred pound fiftie Acres to four hundred pound and an hundred Acres to eight hundred pound They sow in Flanders but two Bushels and a half of Turnep seed upon an Acre which was worth when I was there but twelv pound and plough it once after the Flax is pull'd they harrow it and weed it if there bee caus and that is all their charge concerning that business Both these Crops are sow'd ripe and readie to bee pull'd within eight moneths that is between the beginning of April and the end of November so the profit of an hundred Acres the first year cometh to besides all charges on this Account unto three thousand eight hundred pound And the hundred pound allow'd for charges may very well com into your purs again within the other four Months When the Turneps are pull'd I would have the same hundred Acres made readie again to bee sow'd with Clover-grass seed alone about the beginning of April then next following therein altering the custom of Brabant and Flanders which is to sow it immediately either with or after the Corn For I found by Experience
and then Roots and Leavs beeing put into a Trough and there stampt together with a Spitter and after boil'd in Water and given to Kine will make them abound in Milk yet grow so fat withall that you would wonder at it The onely difficultie is to make you Cattel eat them at first but breed them up by hand as they do there Others do the same alreadie in manie parts of England they will take Turneps and eat or anie other thing you will give them To encourage you the more to sow Turneps I will demonstrate unto you what an Acre of them transplanted may bee worth by Calculation as they are sold in London They commonly there sell four or five Turneps in a bunch for a pennie A rod square beeing sixteen foot and a half may bear a thousand eight hundred and nine Turneps beeing set at half a foot distance the one from the other Now suppose that a thousand cometh to good and five sold for a pennie then a Rod of them amount's to sixteen shillings eight pence and an Acre of them beeing eightscore Rod by the same Account com's to abov thirtie pound and therefore certainly an hundred Acres sow'd may bee very well valu'd at eight pound an Acre one with another when you have brought your Cattel to eat them as theirs do I told you before how in Brabant and Flanders they made twelv pound an Acre of their Clover-grass either by feeding Cattle keeping Kine or by the seed which commonly encreasing to five Bushels upon an Acre was worth eight pound when it was sold but at sixpence a pound but beeing sold for two shillings a pound which price I my self now paid for it the value of the Seed quadruple's from eight pound to thirtie two pound an Acre and the man that sold mee seed this year for two shillings a pound desir's all that I can spare the next year at the same price if you get but into the best kind of those they use in Flanders For when your Neighbors see your Labors thrive and prosper so far as to convert your Land which bore nothing but Heath for manie Ages First into excellent Flax then into such delicate Turneps as they never saw before or tasted and to end with such Clover-grass as they will admire when they once see your Crops and somwhat understand that you do reap som benefit by them they will com to you as to an Oracle to ask your Counsel and bee instructed and desire it from you as a favor at first to buy your Seed at anie reasonable price But if you finde that you have more Seed of Flax and Turneps if you will let them grow to Seed then you can vent you must then set up either a Water-Mill or Wind-Mill as they do in Flanders and make them into Oil both which Seeds mak's good Oil which you may bee sure to sell in London at good Rates And for your Clover-grass-seed if you finde you cannot sell it to your content you may choos whether you will let it grow to Seed or not and if you do not let it grow to Seed you may cut it once more in a year then otherwise you could do You must change your Flax Seed though never so good at first after four years the other Seeds do not so much require it I doubt not but these things will seem as strange to you at first as they did to mee and therefore I desire you but to try what I propose upon such profitable Terms as no man that is well in his wits but will venture at them beeing laid down so plainly to you as a childe may understand them You may observ that Flax Turneps and Clover-grass alreadie grow in England but there is as much difference between what groweth there and here as is between the same thing which groweth in a Garden and that which groweth wilde in the Fields To prevent what may bee strange or troublesom to you at First for want of knowledg I would advise you to send to Tom or Robin to Gaunt where by means of som of their old Acquaintance there they may provide you a servant who understand's these several Husbandries as well as anie of ours do the Husbandrie in getting Corn and by observing of his practice you your selv's or whom you will appoint may bee sufficiently instructed in a year or two so far as to Command such things to bee don by others as are not fit and necessarie to bee don by your selv's Besides the excessive profit you will reap by Sowing these Commodities imagine what a pleasure it will bee to your Eies and Sent to see the Russet Heath turn'd into greenest Grass which doth produce most sweet and pleasing Honie-Suckles and what Prais and Reputation you will gain by your Examples first introducing that into your Countrie which beeing followed by others must need 's redound to the general benefit of the whole Common-wealth I do by my Will Command you for to execute no more then what I would my self to morrow put in practice if I had Libertie you should learn these things I have set down by Examples which I am enforc'd to leav you as a Father's Precepts and with a Father's blessing to you all desiring God Almightie to guide you and direct you in all your Actions I will leav you to his divine protection and providence FINIS