Husband-men are perfectly skil'd in it 10. The Roots of an Old Thorne is excellent both for Boxes and Combs and is curiously and naturally wrought I have read that they made ribs to some small Boates or Vessels with the White-Thorn The Black-Crab rightly season'd and treated is famous for Walking-staves and if over-grown us'd in Mill-work Here we owe due Elogy to the Industry of that honourable Person my Lord Ashley who has taught us to make such Enclosures of Crab-stocks onely planted close to one another as there is nothing more impregnable and becoming or you may sowe Sider-kernels in a rill and fence it for a while with a double dry Hedge not onely for a suddain and beautiful but a very profitable Inclosure because amongst other benefits they will yield you Sider-fruit in abundance But in Devonshire they build two walls with their stones setting them edge-ways two and then one between and so as it rises fill the intervall or Cofer with Earth the breadth and height as you please and continuing the stone-work and filling and as you work beating in the stones flat to the sides which causes them to stick everlastingly This is absolutely the neatest most saving and profitable Fencing imaginable where slaty stones are in any abundance and it becomes not onely the most secure to the Lands but the best for Cattel to lye warme under the Walls when other Hedges be they never so thick admit of some cold winds in Winter time that the leaves are of Upon these Banks they plant not onely Quick sets but even Timber-Trees which exceedingly thrive being out of all danger 11. The Pyracanth Paliurus and like pretioser sorts of Thorne might easily be propagated into plenty sufficient to store even these vulgar Vses were Men industrious and then how beautiful and sweet would the environs of our Fields be for there are none of the spinous shrubs more hardy nor fitter for our defence Thus might Berberies now and then be also inserted among our hedges which with the Hips Haws and Cornel-berries do well in light lands and would rather be planted to the South than North or West as usually we observe them 13. Some as we noted mingle their very hedges with Oaklings Ash and Fruit trees sown or planted and 't is a laudable improvement though others do rather recommend to us Sets of all one sort and will not so much as admit of the Black-Thorne to be mingled with the White because of their unequal progress and indeed Timber-trees set in the Hedge though contemporaries with it do frequently wear it out and therefore I should rather incourage such Plantations to be at some Yards neer the Verges than perpendicularly in them 14. In Cornwall they secure their Lands and Woods with high Mounds and on them they plant Acorns whose roots bind in the looser mould and so form a double and most durable Fence incircling the Fields with a Coronet of Trees They do likewise and that with great commendation make hedges of our Genista Spinosa prickly Furzes of which they have a taller sort such as the French imploy for the same purpose in Bretaigne where they are incomparable husbands 15. It is to be sown which is best or planted of the roots in a furrow If sown weeded till it be strong both Tonsile and to be diligently clip'd which will render it very thick an excellent and beautiful hedge Otherwise permitted to grow at large 't will yield very good Fagot It is likewise admirable Covert for wilde-fowle and will be made to grow even in moyst as well as dry places The young and tender tops of Furzes being a little bruis'd and given to a lean sickly Horse will strangely recover and plump him Thus in some places they sow in barren grounds when they lay them down the last crop with this seed and so let them remain till they break them up again and during that interim reap considerable advantage Would you believe writes a worthy Correspondent of mine that in Herefordshire famous for plenty of wood their Thickets of Furzes viz. the vulgar should yield them more profit then a like quantity of the best Wheat land of England for such is theirs if this be question'd the Scene is within a mile of Hereford and proved by anniversary experience in the Lands as I take it of a Gentleman who is now one of the Burgesses for that City And in Devonshire the seat of the best Husbands in the World they sow on their worst Land well plow'd the seeds of the rankest Furzes which in four or five years becomes a rich Wood no provender as we say makes Horses so hardy as the young tops of these Furzes no other Wood so thick nor more excellent Fuel and for some purposes also yielding them a kind of Timber to their more humble buildings and a great refuge for Fowl and other Game I am assur'd in Bretaigne 't is sometimes sown no lesse then twelve yards thick for a speedy profitable and impenetrable Mound If we imitated this husbandry in the barren places of Surrey and other parts of this Nation we might exceedingly spare our woods and I have bought the best sort of French seed at the shops in London It seems that in the more Eastern parts of Germany and especially in Poland this vulgar trifle and even our common Broom is so rare that they have desired the seeds of them out of England and preserve them with extraordinary care in their best Gardens this I learn out of our Johnsons Herbal by which we may consider that what is reputed a curse and a cumber in some places is esteem'd the ornament and blessing of another But we shall not need go so far for this since both Beech and Birch are almost as great strangers in many parts of this Nation particularly Northampton and Oxfordshire 15. This puts me in mind of the Broom another improvement for Barren grounds and saver of more substantial Fuel It may be sown English or what is more sweet and beautiful the Spanish with equal success In the Western parts of France and Cornwall it grows with us to an incredible height however our Poet give it the epithete of humilis and so it seems they had it of old as appears by Gratius his Genistae Altinates with which as he affirms they us'd to make staves for their Spears and hunting Darts 16. Lastly a considerable Fence may be made of the Elder set of reasonable lusty trunchions much like the Willow and as I have seen them maintain'd laid with great curiosity and far excelling those extravagant plantations of them about London where the lops are permitted to grow without due and skilful laying There is a sort of Elder which has hardly any Pith this makes exceeding stout Fences and the Timber very useful for Cogs of Mills Butchers Skewers and such tough employments Old trees do in time become firm and close up the hollowness to an almost invisible pith
every way if you would design Walks or Groves of them if the environs of Fields Banks of Rivers High-wayes c. twelve or fourteen foot may suffice but the farther distant the better 5. Another Expedient to increase Mulberries is by Layers from the Suckers at the foot this done in Spring leaving not above two Buds out of the Earth which you must diligently water and the second year they will be rooted They will also take by passing any branch or Arm slit and kept a little open with a wedge or stone through a basket of Earth which is a very sure way Nay the very Cuttings will strike in Spring but let them be from Shoots of two years growth with some of the old Wood though of seven or eight years these set in Rills like Vines having two or three Buds at the top will root infallibly especially if you twist the old Wood a little or at least hack it though some slit the foot inserting a stone or grain of an Oate to suckle and entertain the Plant with moysture 6. They may also be propagated by Graffing them on the black Mulberry in Spring or inoculated in July taking the cyons from some old tree that has broad even and round leaves which causes it to produce very ample and tender leaves of great emolument to the Silk-master 7. Some experienc'd Husbandmen advise to poll our Mulberries every three or four years as we do our Willows others not till 8 years both erroneously The best way is yearly to prune them of their dry and superfluous branches and to form their heads round and natural The first year of removal where they are to abide cut off all the shoots to five or six of the most promising the next year leave not above three of these which dispose in triangle as near as may be and then disturb them no more unless it be to purge them as we taught of dead Scare-wood and extravagant parts which may impeach the rest and if afterward any prun'd branch shoot above three or four Cyons reduce them to that number One of the best ways of Pruning is what they practise in Sicily and Province to make the head hollow and like a bell by cleansing them of their inmost branches and this may be done either before they bud viz. in the New Moon of March or when they are full of leaves in June or July if the season prove any thing fresh Here I must not omit what I read of the Chinese culture and which they now also imitate in Virginia where they have found a way to raise these Plants of the Seeds which they mow and cut like a crop of grasse which sprout and bear leaves again in a few moneths 8. The Mulberry is much improv'd by stirring the Mould at root and Lestulion 9. We have already mentioned some of the Vses of this excellent tree especially of the white so called because the fruit is of a paler colour which is also of a more luscious taste and lesser than the black The rind likewise is whiter and the leaves of a mealy clear green colour and far tenderer and sooner produc'd by at least a fortnight which is a marvellous advantage to the newly disclos'd Silk-worm Also they arrive sooner to their maturity and the food produces a finer web Nor is this tree less beautiful to the eye then the fairest Elm very proper for Walks and Avenues The timber amongst other properties will last in the water as well as the most solid Oak and the bark makes good and tough Bast-ropes It suffers no kind of Vermin to breed on it whether standing or fell'd nor dares any Caterpillar attaque it save the Silk-worm only The Loppings are excellent fuel but that for which this tree is in greatest and most worthy esteem is for the Leaves which besides the Silk-worm nourishes Cows Sheep and other cattel especially young Porkers being boil'd with a little bran and the fruit excellent to feed Poultry In summe what ever eats of them will with difficulty be reduc'd to endure any thing else as long as they can come by them to say nothing of their other soveraign qualities as relaxing of the belly being eaten in the morning and curing Inflammations and Ulcers of the mouth and throat mix'd with Mel Rosarum in which Receipt they do best being taken before they are over-ripe 10. To proceed with the Leaf for which they are chiefly cherish'd the benefit of it is so great that they are frequently let to farm for vast summes so as some one sole tree has yielded the proprietor a rent of twenty Shillings per Annum for the Leaves onely and six or seven pounds of Silk worth as many pounds Sterling in five or six weeks to those who keep the worms We know that till after Italy had made Silk above a thousand years they receiv'd it not in France it being hardly yet an hundred since they betook themselves to this manufacture in Province â—anguedoc Dauphine Lionnois c. and not in Tourain and Orleans till Hen. the fourth's time but it is incredible what a Revenue it amounts to in that Kingdom About the same time or a little after it was that King James did with extraordinary care recommend it to this Nation by a Book of Directions Acts of Councel and all other Princely assistance But this did not take no more then that of Hen. the fourth's Proposal about the Invirons of Paris who filled the High-ways Parks and Gardens of France with the trees beginning in his own Gardens for encouragement Yet I say this would not be brought into example till this present great Monarch by the indefatigable diligence of Monsieur Colbert Superintendent of His Majesties manufactures who has so successfully reviv'd it that 't is prodigious to consider what an happy progress they have made in it to our shame be it spoken who have no other discouragements from any insuperable difficulty whatever but our sloth and want of industry since where ever these trees will grow and prosper the Silk-worms will do so also and they were alike averse and from the very same suggestions where now that manufacture flourishes in our neighbour Countries It is demonstrable that Mulberries in four or five years may be made to spread all over this Land and when the indigent and young daughters in proud Families are as willing to gain three or four Shillings a day for gathering Silk and busying themselves in this sweet and easie imployment as some do to get four pence a day for hard work at Hemp Flax and Wool the reputation of Mulberries would spread in England and other Plantations I might say something like this of Saffron which we yet too much neglect the culture of but which for all this I do not despair of seeing reassum'd when that good Genius returns In order to this hopeful Prognostick we will add a few Directions about the gathering of their Leaves to render this chapter one of
whilst the Owners were asleep commanded his Servants immediately to Plant in his Lands which were ample Oaks Ashes and other profitable and Marketable Trees to the number of an Hundred thousand as undoubtedly calculating that each of those Trees might be worth twenty pence before his Daughter became Marriageable which would amount to 100000 francs which is neer ten thousand pounds sterling intended to be given with his Daughter for a Portion This was good Philosophy and such as I am assur'd is frequently practis'd in Flanders upon the very same account Let us see it once take effect amongst our many slothful Gentry who have certainly as large Demesnes and yet are so deficient in that decent point of timely providing for their numerous Children And those who have none let them the rather Plant Trees and Vegetables have perpetuated some Names longer and better than a Pedigree of a numerous Off-spring and it were a pledge of a Noble Mind to oblige the future Age by our particular Industry and by a long lasting train with the living work of our own hands But I now proceed to more general Concerns in order to the Quaeries and first to the proportion 18. It were but just and infinitely befitting the miserable needs of the whole Nation that every twenty Acres of Pasture made an allowance for half an Acre of Timber the Ground dug about Christmas casting the Grassy-side downwards 'till June then dug again and about November stir'd afresh and sown with Mast or planted in a clump well preserv'd and fenc'd for 14 or 15 years unless that Sheep might haply Graze after 4 or 5 years And where the young Trees stand too thick there to draw and transplant them in the Hedge-rows which would also prove excellent shelter for the Cattel This Husbandry would more especially become Northhamptonshire Lincolnshire Cornwall and such other of our Countries as are the most naked of Timber Fuel c. and unprovided of covert For it is rightly observ'd that the most fruitfull places least abound in wood and do most stand in need of it 19. Such as are ready to tell ye their Lands are so wet that their Woods do not thrive in them let them be converted to Pasture or bestow the same industry on them which good husbands do in Meadows by draining It is a sloathfullnesse unpardonable as if the pains would not be as fully recompenc'd in the growth of their Timber as in that of their grass Where poor hungry Woods grow rich Corn and good Cattle would be more plentifully bred and it were beneficial to convert some Wood-land where the proper vertue is exhausted to Pasture and Tillage provided that fresh land were improved also to wood in recompence and to balance the other 20. Where we find uliginous and starv'd places which sometimes obey no Art or Industry to drain and of which our pale and fading Corn is a sure indication we are as it were courted to obey Nature and improve them for the propagation of Sallyes VVillows Alders Abele Sycomore Aspine Bircb and the like hasty and profitable growers by ranging them casting of Ditches Trenches c. as before has been taught 21. In the mean while 't is a thing to be deplor'd that some persons bestow more in grubbing and dressing a few Acres which has been excellent wood to convert it into wretched pasture not worth a quarter of what the Trees would have yielded well order'd and left standing since it is certain that barren land planted with wood will trebble the expence in a short time Of this the R. Honourable the L. Vicount Scudamor may give fair proof who having fell'd as I am credibly inform'd a decay'd Wood intended to be set to Tennants but upon second thoughts and for that his Lordship saw it apt to cast Wood enclos'd and preserv'd it yielded him before thirty years were expir'd neer 1000 pound upon Wood-Falls whereas the utmost Rent of the whole price of Land yearly was not above 8 pound 10 shillings The like I am able to confirm by instancing a noble Person who a little before our unhappy Wars having sown three or four Acres with Acorns the fourth year transplanted them which grew too thick all about his Lord-ship These Trees are now of that stature and so likely to prove excellent Timber that they are already judg'd to be almost as much worth as the whole Demesnes and yet they take off nothing from other profits having been discreetly dispos'd of at the first designment And supposing the Longuaevity of Trees should not extend to the Periods we have upon so good account produc'd Yet neither is their arrival to a very competent perfection so very discouraging since I am credibly inform'd that several Persons have built of Timber and that of Oak which were Acorns within this fourty years and I find it credibly reported that even our famous Forest of Dean hath been utterly wasted no lesse than three several times within the space of Nine-hundred years The Prince Elector Frederic IV in the year 1606. sow'd a part of that most barren Heath of Lambertheim with Acorns after plowing as I have been inform'd it is now likely to prove a most goodly Forest though all this while miserably neglected by reason of the Wars For the care of Planting Trees should indeed be recommended to Princes and great Persons who have the Fee of the Estate Tennants upon the Rack by reason of the tedious expectation and jealousie of having their Lands enhanc'd are for the most part averse from this Husbandry so that unless the Land-Lord will be at the whole Charge of Planting and Fencing without which as good no Planting little is to be expected and whatsoever is propos'd to them above their usual course is look'd upon as the whim and fancy of speculative Persons which they turn into ridicule when they are applied to Action and this says an ingenious and excellent Husband whose Observations have afforded me no little treasure might be the reason why the prime Writers of all Ages indeavour'd to involve their Discourses with Allegories and Aenigmatical termes to protect them from the contempt and pollution of the Vulgar which has been of some ill Consequence in Husbandry for that very few Writers of Worth have adventured upon so plain a Subject though doubtlesse to any Considering Person the most Delightful kind of Natural Philosophy and that which employs the most useful part of the Mathematics The Right Honourable my Lord Viscount Mountague has Planted many thousands of Oaks which I am told he draws out of Copses big enough to defend themselves and that with such success as has exceedingly improv'd his Possessions and it is a worthy Example To conclude I can shew an Avenue Planted to a House standing in a barren Park the Soil a cold Clay it consists totally of Oaks one hundred in number The person who first set them dying very lately lived to see them spread their branches 123 foot in compasse
treated of these sort of Trees that I could not suffer it to pass over without a particular remark so as the noble Poet with pardon for receding from so venerable Authority might be mistaken when he delivers this observation as universal to the prejudice of Sowing and raising Woods from their Rudiments Trees which from scattered Seeds to spring are made Come slowly on for our Grand-childrens shade Nam quae seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos Tarda venit seris factura nepotibus umbram Geor. l. 2. And indeed I know divers are of this opinion and possibly in some luckier Soils and where extraordinary care is had in Transplanting and removing cumbrances c. There may be reason for it But I affirm it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the most part and find I have the suffrage of another no inelegant Poet if not in a full assent to my Assertion yet in the choyce of my procedure for their perfection Though Suckers which the Stock repaire Will with thâ—ck Branches crowd the empty Aire Or the Ground-Oak transplanted boughs may shoot Yet no such Grov's do's with my fancy suit As what from Acorns set on even rows In open fields at their due distance grows What though your Ground long time must fallow ly And Seâ—dling-Oakes yield but a slow supply No walks else can be for like beauty prais'd For certain 't is that Plants from Acorns rais'd As to the Center deeper fivers spread So to the Zenith more advance their head Be it that Plants for natural moysture pine And as expos'd at Change of Soile decline Or that the Acorn with its native mould Do's thrive and spread and firme alliance hold Quamvis ipsa de stirpe parentis Pullulet tenues tollat se quercus in auras Aut mutata solo ramis exultet opacis Forma tamen nemoris non sit mihi gratior ulla Quam quod per campos posito de semine crevit Et quamquam sit agro praelongum tempus inerti Durcendum ac tardae surgant de semine quercus His tamen his longe veniunt felicius umbrae Nam certum est de glande satas radicibus imis Altius in terram per se descendere plantas Majoresque adeo in coelum profundere ramos Seu quod dediscant mutatam semina matrem Dgen remque ferant alieno ex ubere prolem Sive quod ipsa â—bi cognatae inolescere terrae Glans primo melius paulatim assuevit ab ortu Rapinus Hort. l. 2. CHAP. I. Of the Soile and of Seed 1. HEre for Methods sake something it were expedient to premise concerning the Soile and indeed I do acknowledge to have observ'd so vast a difference in the Improvement of Woods by that of the Ground that it is at no hand to be neglected But this being more than Transitorily touch'd in each Chapter of the ensuing Discourse I shall not need to assign it any apart when I have affirm'd in General that most Timber-Trees grow and prosper well in any tollerable Land which will produce Corn or Rye and which is not in excesse Stony in which neverthelesse there are some Trees delight or altogether Clay which few or none do naturally affect And yet the Oak is seen to prosper in it for its toughnesse preferr'd before any other by many Workmen though of all Soyls the Cow-pasture do certainly exceed be it for what purpose soever of planting Wood. Rather therefore we should take notice how many great Witts and ingenious Persons who have leasure and faculty are in pain for Improvements of their Heaths and barren Hills cold and starving places which causes them to be neglected and despair'd of whilest they flatter their hopes and vain expectations with fructifying liquors Chymical Menstrues and such vast conceptions in the mean time that one may shew them as Heathy and Hope-less grounds and barren Hills as any in England that do now bear or lately have born Woods Groves and Copses which yield the Owners more wealth than the richest and most opulent wheat-Wheat-Lands And if it be objected that 't is so long a day before these Plantations can afford that gain The Brabant Nurseries and divers home-plantations of Industrious Persons are sufficient to convince the gain-sayer And when by this Husbandry a few Acorns shall have peopl'd the Neighboring Regions with young Stocks and Trees the residue will become Groves and Copses of infinite delight and satisfaction to the Planters Besides we daily see what Course Lands will bear these Stocks suppose them Oaks Wall-nutts Chess-nutts Pines Firr Ash Wild-Pears Crabbs c. and some of them as for instance the Peare and the Firr or Pine strike their Roots through the roughest and most impenetrable Rocks and clefts of Stone it self and others require not any rich or pingued but very moderate Soile especially if committed to it in Seeds which allyes them to their Mother and Nurse without renitency or regrett And then considering what assistances a little Care in easing and stirring of the ground about them for a few years does afford them What cannot a strong Plow a Winter mellowing and summer heats incorporated with the pregnant Turfe or a slight assistance of Lime performe even in the most unnatural and obstinate Soile And in such places where anciently Woods have grown but are now unkind to them the fault is to be reformed by this Care and chiefly by a Sedulous extirpation of the old remainders of Roots and latent Stumps which by their mustiness and other pernicious qualities sowre the ground and poyson the Conception And herewith let me put in this note that even the Soile it self does frequently discover and point best to the particular Species though some are for all places alike but I shall say no more of these particulars at this time because the rest is sprinkl'd over this whole Work in their due places Wherefore we hasten to the following Title namely the choyce and ordering of the Seeds 2. Chuse your Seed of that which is perfectly mature ponderous and sound commonly that which is easily shaken from the boughs or gathered about November immediately upon its spontaneous fall or taken from the tops and summities of the fairest and soundest Trees is best and does for the most part direct to the proper season of interring c. According to Institution For Nature her self who all created first Invented sowing and the wild Plants nurs't When Mast and Berries from the Trees did drop Succeeded under by a numerous Crop Nam specimen sationis insitionis origo Ipsa fuit rerum primum natura creatrix Arboribus quoniam baccae glandesque caducae Tempestiva dabant pullorum examina subter c. Lucret. l. 5. Yet this is to be consider'd that if the place you sow in be too cold for an Autumnal semination your Acorns Mast and other Seeds may be prepared for the Vernal by being barrel'd or potted up in moist Sand or Earth stratum S.S. during
in this work that the main bank be well footed and not made with too suddain a declivity which is subject to fall-in after frosts and wet weather and this is good husbandry for moyst grounds but where the Land lyes high and is hot and gravelly I prefer the lower fencing which though even with the arëa it self may be protected with stakes and a dry hedge the distance competent and to very good purposes of educating more frequent Timber amongst the rowes 8. Your Hedge being yet Young should be constantly weeded of Brambles especially the great Dock and Thistle c. though some admit not of this work after Michaelmas for Reasons that I approve not It has been the practice of Herefordshire in the plantation of Quick-set-hedges to plant a Crab-stock at every twenty-foot distance and this they observe so Religiously as if they had been under some rigorous Statute requiring it But by this means they were provided in a short time with all advantages for the graffing of Fruit amongst them which does highly recompense their industry Some cut their Sets at three years growth even to the very ground and find that in a year or two it will have shot as much as in seven had it been let alone 9. When your Hedge is now neer six years stature plash it about February or October but this is the work of a very dextrous and skilful Husbandman and for which our honest Country-man M. Markam gives excellent directions only I approve not so well of his deep cutting if it be possible to bend it having suffered in some thing of that kind It is almost incredible to what perfection some have laid these Hedges by the rural way of plashing better than by clipping yet may both be used for ornament as where they are planted about our Garden-fences and fields neer the Mansion In Scotland by tying the young shoots with bands of hay they make the stems grow so very close together as that it encloseth Rabbets in Warrens instead of pales 10. And now since I did mention it and that most I find do greatly affect the vulgar way of Quicking that this our Discourse be in nothing deficient we will in brief give it you again after Geo. Markams description because it is the best and most accurate although much resembling our former direction of which it seems but a Repetition 'till he comes to the plashing In a Ground which is more dry then wet for watry places it abhors plant your Quick thus Let the first row of Sets be placed in a trench of about half a foot deep even with the top of your ditch in somewhat a sloping or inclining posture Then having rais'd your bank neer a foot upon them plant another row so as their tops may just peep out over the middle of the spaces of your first row These cover'd again to the height or thickness of the other place a third rank opposite to the first and then finish your bank to its intended height The distances of the plants would not be above one foot and the season to do the work in may be from the entry of February till the end of March or else in September to the beginning of December When this is finish'd you must guard both the top of your Bank and outmost verge of your Ditch with a sufficient dry-hedge interwoven from stake to stake into the earth which commonly they do on the bank to secure your Quick from the spoil of Cattle And then being careful to repair such as decay or do not spring by suppling the dead and trimming the rest you shall after three years growth sprinkle some Timber-trees amongst them such as Oak Beech Ash Maple Fruit or the like which being drawn young out of your Nurseries may be very easily inserted But that which we affirm'd to require the greatest dexterity in this work is the artificial plashing of our Hedge when it is now arriv'd to a six or seven years head though some stay till the tenth or longer In February therefore or October with a very sharp hand-bill cut away all superfluous sprays and straglers which may hinder your progress and are useless Then searching out the principal stems with a keen and light Hatchet cut them slant-wise close to the Ground about three quarters through or rather so far onely as till you can make them comply handsomely which is your best direction and so lay it from you sloping as you go folding in the lesser branches which spring from them and ever within a five or six foot distance where you find an upright set cutting off only the top to the height of your intended hedge let it stand as a stake to fortifie your work and to receive the twinings of those branches about it Lastly at the top which would be about five foot above ground take the longest most slender and flexible twigs which you reserved and being cut as the former where need requires bind in the extremities of all the rest and thus your work is finish'd This being done very close and thick makes an impregnable Hedge in few years for it may be repeated as you see occasion and what you so cut away will help to make your dry-hedges for your young Plantations or be profitable for the Oven and make good Bavin For stakes in this work Oake is to be preferr'd though some will use Elder or the Black-Thorn droven well in at every yard of interval and even your plash'd-hedges need some small thorns to be lay'd over to protect the Spring from Cattel and Sheep 'till they are somewhat fortified and the doubler the winding is lodg'd the better which should be beaten and forced down together with the stakes as equally as may be Note that in sloping your Windings if it be too low done as very usually it frequently mortifies the tops therefore it ought to be so bent as it may not impead the mounting of the Sap If the plash be of a great and extraordinary age wind it at the neather boughs all together and cutting the sets as directed permit it rather to hang downwards a little than rise too forwards and then twist the branches into the work leaving a set free and unconstrain'd at every yard space besides such as will serve for stakes abated to about five-foot-length which is a competent stature for an Hedge and so let it stand One shall often find in this work especially in Old neglected Hedges some great Trees or stubs that commonly make gaps for Cattel Such should be cut so neer the Earth as 'till you can lay them thwart that the top of one may rest on the root or stub of the other as far as they extend stopping the cavities with its boughs and branches and thus Hedges which seem to consist but onely of Scrubby-Trees and stumps may be reduc'd to a tollerable Fence We have been the longer on these descriptions because it is of main importance and that so few
which at distance of 24 foot mingling their shady tresses for above 1000 in length form themselves into one of the most venerable and stately Arbor Walks that in my life I ever beheld This is at Baynards in Surrey and belonging to my most honour'd Brother because a most industrious Planter of Wood Richard Evelyn Esq The Walk is broad 56 foot and one Tree with another containing by estimation three quarters of a load of Timber in each Tree and in their lops three Cord of fire-wood Their Bodies are not of the tallest having been topped when they were young to reduce them to an uniform height yet is the Timber most excellent for its scantling and for their heads few in England excelling them where some of their contemporaries were planted single in the Park without cumber they spread above fourscore foot in arms 22. I have produced these Examples because they are conspicuous full of encouragement worthy our imitation and that from these and sundry others which I might enumerate we have made this Observation that almost any Soil is proper for some profitable Timber-Trees or other which is good for very little else 23. The bottoms of Downs and like places well Plow'd and sown will bear lusty Timber being broken up and let lye till Mid-summer and then stirr'd again before sowing about November An old and judicious Planter of Woods prescribes us these Directions for improving of Sheep-walks Downs Heaths c. Suppose on every such Walk on which 500 Sheep might be kept there were Plow'd up twenty Acres Plow'd pretty deep that the Roots might take hold and be able to resist the Winds this should be sowed with Mast of Oak Beech Chats of Ash Maple-keys Sloes Service-berries Nuts Bullis c. bruis'd Crabs and Haws mingled and scatter'd about the sides and ends of the Ground near a yard in breadth On the rest sowe no Haws but some few Crabkernells Then begin at a side and sowe five yards broad Plowing under the Mast c. very shallow then leave six yards in breadth and sowe and Plow five yards more and so from side to side remembring to leave a yard and half at the last side let the rest of the head-lands lie till the Remainder of the Close be sown in March with Oates c. to preserve it from hurt of Cattel and potching the Ground when the Spring is of two years growth draw part of it for Quick-sets and when the rest of the Trees are of six years shoot exhaust it of more and leave not above forty of either side each row five yards distant and here and there a Crab stock to graff on and in the invironing Hedge to be left thick let each Tree stand four yards asunder which if forty four were spared will amount to about 4000 Trees At twenty years end stock up 2000 of them lop a thousand more every ten years and reserve the remaining thousand for Timber Judge what this may be worth in a short time besides the Grass c. which will grow the first six or seven years and the benefit of shelter for Sheep in ill Weather when they cannot be folded and the Pasture which will be had under the Trees now at eleven yards interval by reason of the stocking up those 2000 we mention'd excepting the Hedges and if in any of these Places any considerable waters fortune to lye in their bottoms Fowl would abundantly both breed and harbour there These are admirable Directions for Park-lands where shelter and Food is scarcy But even this Improvement yet does no way reach what I have met withal in the most accurate and no lesse laborious Calculation of Captain Smith upon this very Topic where he Demonstratively asserts that a thousand Acres of Land Planted at one foot interval in 7201 rowes taking up 51854401 Plants of Oak Ash Chessnut or to be sown taking up 17284800 of each sort and fit to be transplanted at three years period if set in good ground are worth eighteen pence the hundred and there being 345696 hundred it amounts to no lesse then 25927 l. 4 s. besides the Chessnuts of which there being 1728480 l. valued at and worth half a Crown the Hundred they come to 21606 l. and the total of all to 47533 l. 4 s. This being made out consider what an immense sum great Trees would amount to and in a large quantity of Land such as were worthy a Royal undertaking It is computed that at three foot distance the first Felling that is eight or nine years after their Planting would be worth in Hoops Poles Firing c. 55015 l. and the second Fell 28657 l. 19 s. 5 d. And the fourth which may be about thirty two years from their Semination 90104 l. 17 s. and so forward At four foot interval and Felling according to the same proportion you may likewise reckon and in 11 years with three years Crop of Wheat sow'd at first between it will amount to 34001 l. 9 s. 4 d. And the next very much more in regard the Wood will spring up thicker So as at the fifth Fell the accompt stands 126 992 l. 10 s. 2 d. c. and at the seventh whoever lives to it 200000 And if planted at wider distance viz. 18 foot according to the Captains method at 30 or 40 years growth you may compute them worth 19296â— l. 6 s. And in seventy years 201001 besides the three years crop of Wheat in all 410312 l. 16 s. which at 36 foot interval accounted the utmost for Timber takes up for 1000 Acres 40401 Trees for the first 100 years Then To make room as they grow larger grubbing up every middle Tree at 9 l. per Tree 19800 Trees amount to 99000 l. and the remaining 20601 at 220 years growth at but 8 l. per Tree comes to 164808 l. besides the inferiour Crop of Meadow or Corn in all this time sown in the distances reckoning for three years product 90000 Bushels at 5 s. per Bushel which will amount to 22500 l. besides the Straw Chaff c. which at 5 s. a Load and 3 d. a Bush Chaff comes to 2025 l. So as the total Improvement besides the 217 years emolument arising from the Corn Cattel c. amounts to 288333. And these Trees as well they may coming to be worth for Timber 20 l. an Oak the 20601 Trees amount to 412020 l. and the total Improvement of the 1000 Acres the Corn Profits not computed ascends to 675833 l. So as admit there were in all England and which his Majesty might easily compasse even for his own Proportion and for Posterity 20000 Acres thus Planted at two foot diameter and as may be presum'd thirty foot high which in 150 years they might well arrive to they would be worth 13516660 l. an immense and stupendious Summe and an everlasting supply for all the Vses both of Sea and Land But it is to Captain Smith's laborious Works to which I wish all encouragement that we
in Beer Juniper-berries agree well and friendly for Coughs weak Lungs and the aged but not at first for every Palate The most infallible and undiscerned improver is Mustard a Pint to each Hogshead bruised as for sauce with a mixture of the same Cider and applied as soon as the Vessel is to be closed after fermenting 25. Bottleing is the next improver and proper for Cider some put two or three Raisins into every Bottle which is to seek aid from the Vine Here in Somersetshire I have seen as much as a Wal nut of Sugar not without cause used for this Country Cider 26. Crabs do not hasten the decay of Perry but preserve it as Salt preserves flesh But Pears and Crabs being of a thousand kinds require more Aphorisms this only I would Note that Land which refuses Apples is generally civil to Pears and Crabs mingled with them make a rich and wholsome Cider and has sometimes challenged even the best Red-strake 27. Neither Wheat Leven Sulphur nor Mustard are used but by very few and therefore are not necessary to make Cider last well for two three or four years 28. The time of drawing Cider into Bottles is best in March it being then clarified by the Winter and free from the heat of the Sun 29. In drawing the best is neerest the heart or middle of the Vessel as the Yelk in the Egge 30. Red-strakes are of divers kinds but the name is in Herefordshire appropriated to one kind which is fair and large of a high purple colour the smell Aromatical the Tree a very shrub soon bearing a full burden and seldom or never failing till it decays which is much sooner than other Apple-trees 'T is lately spread all over Hereford-shire and he that computes speedy return and true Wine will think of no other Cider-Apple till a better be found 31. I said the Red strake is a small shrub 't is of small growth where the Cider proves richest for ought we have yet seen in Herefordshire viz. in light quick land and if the land be very dry jejune and shallow that and other Cider-fruit especially the Gennet-moyle will suspend the store of fruit alternatively every other year except some Blasts or surprising Frosts in the Spring alter that Method for two bad years seldom come together very hardly three 32. In good soil I mean of common field for fat land is not best for Cider-fruit but common arable I have seen the Trees of good growth almost equalling other Cider-trees the Apple larger and seldom failing of a good burthen thus in the Vales of Wheat-lands in strong Glebe or Clay where the Cider is not so much extolled but still Sack is Sack and Canary differs from Claret so does the Red-strake-Cider of the Vale excell any other Cider of the foresaid soil such as is already celebrated for its kindness to good Cider 33. Yet this distinction of Soil requires much experience and great heed if we insist upon accurate directions for as Lauremberg saith in pingni solo non seruntur omnia rectè neque in macro nihil And for Gardens Flowers and Orchards I would chuse many times such lands as do not please the Husbandman either for Wheat or sweet Pasture which are his chief aims and thus Lauremberg In Arida tenui terra faelicius proveniunt Ruta Allium Petroselinum Crocus Hyssopus Capparis Lupini Satureia Thymus Arbores quoque tenue macilentum solum amane itemque frutices plerique Hujusmodi arbores sunt Pomus Pyrus Cerasus Prunus Persica Cotonea Morus Juglans Corylus Staphylodendrum Mespilus Ornus Castanea c. Frutices scil Vitis Berberis Genista Juniperus Oxyacantha Periclymenum Rosa Ribesium Vva Spina Vaccinia c. 34. But here also we must distinguish that Pears will bear in a very stony hungry gravelly-land such as Apples will not bear in and I have seen Pears bear in a tough binding hungry Clay when Apples could not so well bear it as the smooth rinds of the Pear-trees and the Mossie and cankered rinds of the Apple trees did prove the root of a Pear-tree being it seems more able to pierce a stony and stiff ground And Cherries Mulberries and Plums can rejoyce in a richer soil though by the smalness of the Roots the shallower soil will suffice them And the Quinces require a deeper ground and will bear with some degrees of hungry land if they be supplied with a due measure of succulency and neighbouring moisture and the other shrubs according to the smalness of their roots do generally bear a thinner land I have seen a soil so much too rank for Apples and Plums that all their fruits from year to year were always worm-eaten till their lives were forfeited to the fire 35. To take up from these Curiosities the most useful result to our purpose we have always found these Orchards to grow best last longest and bear most which are frequently tilled for Barley Wheat or other Corn and kept by Culture and seasonable rest in due strength to bear a full crop And therefore whereas the Red-strake might otherwise without much injury be planted at fifteen or twenty foot distance and the best distance for other Cider-fruit hath heretofore been reputed thirty or two and thirty foot very good husbands do now allow in their largest Inclosures as of 20 40 or 100 Acres fifty or sixty foot distance that the Trees may not much hinder the Plow and yet receive the benefit of Compost and a Horse-teem well governed will without any damage of danger plow close to the Trees 36. In such soil as is here required namely of good Tillage an Orchard of graffed Red-strakes will be of good growth and good burthen within ten or twelve years and branch out with good store to begin an encouragement at three years graffing and except the land be very unkind will not yield to any decay within sixty or eighty years which is a mans age 37. In some sheets I rendred many Reasons against Mr. Austin of Oxford why we should prefer a peculiar Cider-fruit which in Herefordshire are generally called Musts so we name both the Apple and the Liquor and Pulpe as mingled together in the contusion as from the Latine Mustum White-Musts of divers kinds Red-cheek'd and Red-strak'd Musts of several kinds Green-Musts called also Green-fillet and Blew-spotted Why I say we should prefer them for Cider before Table-fruit as Pepins Pearmains c. And I do still insist on them 1. The Liquor of these Cider-fruits and of many kinds of austere fruit which are no better than a sort of full succulent Crabs is more sprightful brisk and winy For Essay I sent up many bottles to London that did me no discredit Secondly One bushel of the Cider-fruit yields twice or thrice as much liquor Thirdly The Tree grows more in three or four years than the other in ten years as I oft times remarked Fourthly The Tree bears far greater store and doth more generally escape