Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	cold_a	hot_a	moist_a	5,424	5	10.2024	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67083	Systema agriculturæ, the mystery of husbandry discovered treating of the several new and most advantagious ways of tilling, planting, sowing, manuring, ordering, improving of all sorts of gardens, orchards, meadows, pastures, corn-lands, woods & coppices, as also of fruits, corn, grain, pulse, new-hays, cattle, fowl, beasts, bees, silk-worms, &c. : with an account of the several instruments and engines used in this profession : to which is added Kalendarium rusticum, or, The husbandmans monthly directions, also the prognosticks of dearth, scarcity, plenty, sickness, heat, cold, frost, snow, winds, rain, hail, thunder, &c. and Dictionarium rusticum, or, The interpretation of rustick terms, the whole work being of great use and advantage to all that delight in that most noble practice.	Worlidge, John, fl. 1660-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing W3599; ESTC R225414	330,040	361

of Animals yielding a very rich Compost though of themselves through over-much heat and pinguidity sterile The Saline or more fixed Principle which is esteemed by most Where Salt abounds Authors the only thing conducing to Fertility yet is of its self or in an over-bounding quantity the most barren and unfruitful It is prescribed as a sure way to destroy Weeds Vegetables by watering the place with Brine or Salt-water yet what more fruitful being moderately commixed with other Materials of another nature than Salt But observe that Salts extracted out of the Earth or from Vegetables or Animals are much more Fertile than those of the Sea containing in them more of the Vegetative Power or Principles and are therefore much to be preferred Glauber makes it the highest improvement for the Land and for Continuatio Miraculi Mundi Trees also affirming that by it you may enrich the most barren Sands beyond what can be performed by any other Soils or Manures in case it be deprived of its Corrosive Qualities for then will it naturally attract the other Principles continually breathing out of the Earth and in the Air and immediately qualifie it self for Vegetation as I observed in a parcel of Field-Land of about three Acres denshired or burn-beaten in a very hot and dry Spring of it self naturally barren and after the burning and spreading the ashes wherein was the Fertile Salt deprived of its Corrosive sterile quality the Land was plowed very shallow and Barly sown therein about the beginning of May in the very ashes as it were no Rain falling from the very beginning of cutting the Turf yet in thirty and six hours was the Barley shot forth and the Ground coloured green therewith this Salt attracting and condensing the ever-breathing Spirit The like you may observe in Walls and Buildings where several sorts of Vegetables yea trees of a great bigness will thrive and prosper remote from the Earth and without any other nourishment than what that Fertile Salt attracts and condenses as before which it could not have done had it not been purged of its Corrosive and Sterile Nature by Fire when it was made into Lime For all Chymists know that no Salts more easily dissolve per deliquum than those that are most calcined The Salt also of the Sea is not without its Fertile Nature being ordered with Judgment and Discretion as we see evidently that the Salt Marshes out of which the Sea is drain'd excel in Fertility and many places being irrigated with the Sea-Water yield a notable increase Corn also therewith imbibed hath been much advanced as appeared in the President of the Country-man that casually let his Seed-Corn fall into the Salt-Water And in the Isle of Wight it is observed that Corn flourisheth on the very Rocks that are bedewed with the Salt-water by the Blasts of the Southern Winds The shells of fish being as it were only Salt coagulated have proved an excellent Manure for barren Lands after they have lain a competent time to dissolve From what hath been before observed we may conclude that Equal commixture of Principles the highest Fertility and Improvements are to be advanced and made from the most equal Commixture of the aforesaid several Principles or of such Waters Soils Dungs Salts Manures or Composts that more or less abound with either of them having regard unto the nature of such Vegetable whose propagation or advancement you intend Some delighting in a more Hot or Cold Moist or Dry Fat or Barren than others And next unto that from due Preservation Reception and right disposing and ordering of that Spiritus Mundi every where found and to be attained without Cost and as well by the poor as rich It continually breaths from the Earth as we noted before and is diffused in the Air and lost unless we place convenient Receptacles to receive it as by Planting of Trees and sowing of Pulses Grain or Seed Out of what think you should these things be formed or made Out of Rain-water is the common Answer or Opinion But we experimentally finde that this Vniversal Subject gives to every Plant its Essence or Substance although assisted by Rain or Water both in its nourishment and condensation We see how great a Tree is raised out of a small Plat of Ground by its sending forth of its Roots to receive its nourishment penetrating into the smallest Crannies and Joynts between the Stones and Rocks where it finds the greatest plenty of its proper food We constantly perceive and finde that Vegetables having once emitted their fibrous Roots vegetate and increase only from the assistance of this our Vniversal Subject when the Earth wherein it stands is of it self dry and not capable to yield that constant supply of Moisture the Plant daily requires Although we must confess that Rain or other Water accelerates its Growth having in it a Portion of that Spiritus Mundi also better qualifies the Earth for its perspiration That this Subject is the very Essence of Vegetables and that from it they receive their Substance and not from water only is evident in such places where Vegetables are not permitted to grow and where it cannot vapor away nor is exhaled by the Sun nor Air as Underbuildings Barns Stables Pigeon-houses c. where it condenses into Nitre or Salt-Petre the only fruitful Salt though improperly so called containing so equal and proportionable a quantity of the Principles of Nature wholly Volatile only condensed in defect of a due recipient not generated as some fondly conceive from any casual Moisture as Urine in Stables c. though augmented thereby but meerly from the Spiritus Mundi Lands resting from the Plough or Spade are much enriched only by the encrease of this Subject and ordinary way of Improvement Lands defended from the violent heat of the Sun and from the sweeping cleansing and exsiccating Air or Winds grow more Fertile not so much from the warmth it receives as from the preservation of that Fertile Subject from being wasted as we evidently see it to be in all open Champion Lands when part of the very same Species of Land being inclosed with tall and defensive Hedges or Planted with Woods are much more Fertile than the other yea we plainly perceive that under the Covert of a Bush Bough or such like any Vegetable will thrive and prosper better than on the naked Plain Where is there more barren dry and hungry Land than on the Plains and Waste Lands and yet but on the other side of the hedges Fertile either by Inclosure or Planted with Woods an evident and sufficient demonstration of the high Improvements that may be made by Inclosure only Also Land hath been found to be extraordinary Fertile under Stones Logs of Wood c. only by the condensation and preservation of that Vniversal Subject as appears by the flourishing Corn in the most stony Grounds where it hath been observed that the Stones taken away Corn hath not

time for the Soiling of Meadows and Pasture-lands Time for Soyling is in the Winter-season about January or February that the rains may wash to the Roots of the Grass the fatness of the Soil before the Sun drieth it away and dissolve the clots that may be spread with a Bush drawn over it like a Harrow before the Grass be too high Ashes of Wood Peat Turf Sea-coal or any other Fewel is Soyl for Rushy and cold Land very proper to be laid on Cold Spewey Rushey and Mossie Land not sandy or hot and suits best therewith and agrees with the Husbandry of burning the Turf as is before advised the dung of Pigeons or any other Fowl works a better effect on that than other Lands also all hot and sandy Soils are fittest for that sort of Lands Lime Chalk Marle or any cold fossile Soils are an extraordinary For sandy or hot Land Improvement to dry sandy hot Lands of a contrary nature or temperature as well for Meadow and Pasture as for Corn-Land I have seen much of the blew Clay which they call Vrry that 's digged out of the Coal-mines and lies near the Coal laid on Meadow and Pasture-lands to a very considerable advantage Many instances of wonderful Improvements made by mixing of Soils of contrary natures you may finde in several of our modern Rural Authors Between these two extremes your ordinary dung or Soil is best For other Meadows bestowed on your Meadows and Pastures not so much inclining either way for it is a very principal part of good Husbandry to apply the Soil or Compost properly as the nature of the ground requireth whereof you may finde more hereafter in the Chapter of Soils Dungs c. SECT IV. Of several new Species of Hay or Grass It is found by daily experience not only in forein parts but in our own Country that a very great Improvement may be made on the greater part of our Lands by altering the species of such Vegetables that are naturally produced totally suppressing the one and propagating another in its place which may rejoyce and thrive better there than that before as we evidently see by Corn sowen on Land where hardly Grass would have grown what a Crop you reap but these are but Annuals that which raises the greatest advantage to the Husbandman is what annually yields its increase without a renovation of expence in Ploughing and sowing as we finde in the Clover-grass or great Trefoyl St. Foyn or Holy-Hay La Lucern Spurrey-seed Trefoyl None-such c. whereof apart This Grass hath born the name and is esteemed the most principal Of the Clover-grass of Grass both for the great Improvement it brings by its prodigious Burthen and by the excellencie of the Grass or Hay for Food for Cattle and is much sowen and used in Flanders and in Holland Presidents to the whole world for good Husbandry In Brabant they speak of keeping four Cows Winter and Summer on an Acre some cut and laid up for Fodder others cut and eaten green here in England they say an Acre hath kept four Coach-horses and more all Summer long but if it kept but two Cows it is advantage enough upon such Lands as never kept one You may mow the first Crop in the midst or end of May and lay that up for Hay if it grow not too strong it will be exceeding good and rich and feed any thing then reserve the next for Seed which may yield four Bushels upon an Acre each Bushel being worth three or four pound a Bushel which will amount to the reputed value of ten or twelve pounds per Acre and after that Crop also it may be fed It hath also this Property that after the growing of the Clover-grass three or four years it will so frame the Earth that it will be very fit for Corn again which will prove a very great Advantage and then again for Clover Thus far Mr. English Improver Blith Others say it will last five years and then also yield three or four years together rich Crops of Wheat and after that a Crop of Oats In the Annotations upon Mr. Hartlibs Legacie we finde several Computations of the great Advantage hath been made by sowing Clover-grass as that a parcel of Ground a little above two Acres the second year did yield in May two Load of Hay worth five pounds the next Crop for Seed was ripe in August and yielded three very great Loads worth nine pounds that year the Seed was 300 l. which with the Hay was valued at thirty pounds besides the after-Pasture Another President is that on four Acres there grew twelve Loads of Hay at twice mowing and twenty Bushels of Seed one Load of the Hay mown in May being worth two Load of the best of other Hay and the After-pasture three times better than any other the four Acres yielded in one year fourscore pound Another that six Acres of Clover did maintain for half a year thirteen Cows ten Oxen three Horses and twenty six Hogs which was valued at forty pound besides the Winter-Herbage The aforesaid Presidents and Valuations seem prodigious unless The best Land for Clover-grass a rich light Land warm and dry be sown therewith in which it principally delighteth and then it may probably answer the said Valuations and must needs be a very high Improvement although the Ground were good and profitable before It will also prosper and thrive on any Corn-land well manured or soiled and brought into perfect Tillage Old Land be it course or rich long untilled is best for Corn and best and most certain for Clover-Grass and when you have Corned your Land as much as you intend then to sowe it with Clover is the properest season Land too rich for Corn cannot be too rich for Clover Poor Lands are not fit for Clover unless burnt or denshired as we shall hereafter direct or limed marled or otherwise manured and then will it bring forth good Clover An Acre of Ground will take about ten pounds of your Clover-Grass Quantity of Seed for an Acre Seed which is in measure somewhat above half a peck according to Sir Richard Weston The quantity of Seed for an Acre Mr. Blith conceives will be a Gallon or nine or ten pounds which agrees with the other But if it be husky which saves labour in cleansing of it and also sowes better by filling the hand than mixed with any other thing you must endeavor to finde out a true proportion according to the cleanness or foulness you make it but be sure to sowe enough rather too much than too little for the more there is the better it shadows the Ground Some have sowen fifteen pound on an Acre with good success ten pound some judge to be of the least however let the Seed be new and of the best which the English is esteemed to be The usual way is thus advised when you have fitted your Land The

the next felling at seven years growth it is like to be of the same value it coming much thicker and being better preserved than at the first which is a very considerable advance of the value or profits besides it is not subject to those casualties and hazards that Corn Cattle c. are subject unto It will also bring in an Annual profit if you divide your Coppice into so many parts as you intend it shall stand years before it be felled then may you every year fell a part as if you have ten Acres you may every year fell one Acre at ten years growth The better and lighter your Land is the greater will your encrease be which may in some sort if the Land be very good make good the Improvement Mr. Blyth instances in his Improver Improved of a new Plantation that at eleven years growth a fall was made and so much Wood cut upon the same as was worth or sold for sixty pounds per Acre or more it was much Pole-wood yea a good part of it made Spars and some part of it small Building Timber c. the Land was worth about ten shillings per Acre digged and planted with Quicksets The same Author also gives very great encouragement for the planting of Poplar Willow and Alder on wet morish or boggy Land to the advancement of Land not worth two shillings an Acre unto five pounds an Acre at seven years growth which is the least I am confident if it be carefully ordered Thirdly The Benefit and Advantage is very great that is raised from Timber and other Trees standing singly and in Hedge-rows Avenues or any other way disposed or ordered about your Houses Lands Commons c. that a man may plant and in a few years himself or his successors may reap the benefit Mr. Blith gives you an instance of one that planted one hundred Ashes and at the end of fifty years sold them for five hundred pounds And of another that planted so much Wood in his own life that he would not take 50000 l. for For Ash Elm Poplar Willow and such Trees that are quick of growth it is a very great profit that is made of them where Fewel is scarce by planting them in Hedge-rows and other spare places and shrouding them at five six eight or ten years growth they constantly bear a good head and every time whilest the Tree is in proof the shrowds encrease They are out of the danger of the bite of Cattle and require no Fence Fourthly Another main Benefit accrews to the industrious Husbandman from the Propagation of Trees in Hedge-rows and Out-bounds of his Lands it gives a check to the fierce cold Winter-blasts which nip the Winter-Corn and finely refrigerates the Air in the Summer-parching Heats and qualifies the dry and injurious Winds both in Spring and Summer Let the Champion-Farmers object what they please there 's no Field Champion-Land of that yearly value for either Corn or Pasture as is the Woodland I know no other reason for it than the natural warmth and defence thereof by the Fences and Trees else why should an Enclosed and well-planted piece of Several yield so much more certain Rent than the Land of the like nature in Common and Open lying but on the other side of the Hedge obvious to the injurious Airs although both converted to the same use Fifthly Trees planted sparsim here and there in the Hedge-rows and other places of your Land prove an excellent shelter for Cattle in the Winter to preserve them from cold Storms and Winds and also in the Summer from the scorching Sun-beams else would the Cattle destroy more with their Feet than they eat with their mouths and lose more fatness in one hot day than they gain in three cool days These universal Advantages also accrew to those Places or More universal Advantatages Countries well planted with Woods and Timber First There is a constant supply of Timber for the Building of Ships the Bulwarks and Defence of this Nation and for the reedifying of Towns or Houses destroyed by Fire or other Casualties and for the Building Maintaining of and Repairing of all Houses Barns and other Edifices And also it yieldeth us a continual Recruit of necessary Boots Instruments and Materials for all our Rural and Mechanick uses as for our Mills Carts Ploughs c. and for Turners Joyners and other Wooden Trades also for the maintenance of the Grooves or Pits of Lead Coal and other Mines under the Earth that where plenty of Woods and Trees are they need not be enforced to fetch these Materials afar off at a great expence and labor In some places they fetch most of the Necessaries aforesaid near twenty miles on Horsback when the Land at the same place where they need it as is capable of bearing it as the place from whence they bring it Secondly Where Woods are raised and maintained there is a constant Supply of Fewel The difference may be very easily discerned between the Woodlands and the Champion in the one you have Fewel in every house as well poor as rich of good Wood in the other the Rich have but little and that at extraordinary Rates and the poor none but what they filch and steal from the Rich or if their honesty exceed their necessity they either sit and starve with cold or burn Stubble of Corn or Cow-dung dried or the Parings of the Earth or such-like that the other make use of for the Improvement and Manuring their Land Thirdly The Tanners Trade depends upon the Oaken-Trees therefore where they are scarce there must of necessity be a defect of that Occupation which must in fine prove prejudicial to the whole Nation Fourthly Where Beech Oak Hasel and such-like Mast-bearing Trees are in any considerable quantity standing they yield a very good Food for Swine of no small value to the Husbandman in such years they take I shall therefore give you a brief Catalogue of such Trees as usually flourish in our English Soil the places they most delight in the most natural and likely way of Propagation and their uses and what other Observations we have met withal concern-them And first SECT II. Of Timber-trees in particular There is no Timber natural to our English Soil exceeds the The Oak Oak for its Plenty Strength and Durableness Where are better or stronger Ships for the War than those built of Oak And what Timber more lasting or stronger than Oak in our Rural Edifices It is a Tree universally known and will grow and prosper in any Land good or bad Clay Gravel Sand or mixed warm cold dry or moist as experimentally appears by its growth in several Place places of contrary natures or tempers but they do most affect the sound black deep and fast Mould rather warm than over-wet and cold and a little rising for this produces the firmest Timber although I have known them thrive very well in extraordinary cold moist and

unto the other soft and Aquatick Woods This most excellent Tree delights in a rich Garden-mould or The Horse Chesnut-tree other light mould not too dry and is easily propagated by Layers It 's a quick-growing Tree most pleasant to the eye at the Spring It s propagation and use when its clammy Turpentine buds break forth into curious divided hanging Leaves it bears a cluster of beautiful Flowers and prospers well in our cold Country and therefore worthy to be taken into our most pleasant Gardens Avenues Parks and other places of delight and pleasure They delight in cold high and rocky Mountains where they The Fir Pine Pinaster and Pitch-tree naturally grow in great abundance yet will they grow in better and warmer but not in over-rich and pinguid if you plant them you must be careful at first to preserve them moist therefore Land over-hot Sandy or Gravelly is not so good They are all raised of the Kernels taken out of the Clogs which Propagation being laid in Water some days and then exposed to some gentle warmth of the fire will open that you get the Seeds out with much facility which may be sown in your Nursery or rather where you intend they should grow especially the Pine which will hardly bear a remove unless very young the Firs will very easily and may also be propagared of slips as I have been credibly informed The Fir grows tall streight and neatly tapering therefore more Use uniform for Walks c. but the Pinaster bears the proudest and stateliest branches with a fairer and more beautiful Leaf these two excel the rest for any Ornamental use and are sooner mounted growing in a few years to a very great height Mr. Evelin gives you the relation of one that shot no less than sixty foot in height in little more than twenty years I have seen Presidents of the like nature For the first half dozen years they make no considerable advance but afterwards they come away miraculously The use of this Timber is so well known to our Ship-wrights Carpenters and other Mechanicks inhabiting near the Maritime Coasts that nothing here need be said Out of these Trees are made Turpentine Rosin Tar and Pitch These Trees are not much in use yet deserve to be propagated The Larch Platanus and Lotus for their rarity excellent shade and durable Timber This curious Tree delights in a warm and dry Land not so The Cypress much desiring a rich as a warm place It is propagated from the seed sown in March and easily abides Propagation and use transplantation It is one of the most Ornamental Plants nature affords and may either stand single Pyramid-like or set in Hedges and clipped to any form you please we have so little of its Timber here that we only refer you to the joyner and Cabinet-maker for its use This Tree grows in all extremes in the moist Barbado's the hot Cedar Bermudas the cold New-England in the Bogs of America in the Mountains of Asia It is propagated of the Seeds is a beautiful Tree its Timber incomparable and almost perpetual The Alaternus thrives very well in England as if it were natural The Alaternus is raised from Seeds is swift of growth and one of the most beautiful and useful of Hedges and Verdure in the world and yields an early honey-breathing Blossom This Tree delights in a warm fertile Soil and is propagated of The Phillyrea the Berries or Seeds sown in the Spring and also of the slips set like the slips of Box. It is a most beautiful Plant and one of the quickest growth of any for the raising of Espalier Hedges and covering of Arbors being always of incomparable Verdure This Tree greatly loves the shade yet thrives well in our hottest The Bay-tree Gravel They are raised of their Suckers and their Seeds gathered when they are through ripe in the midst of Winter and sown in March The beauty and use of this Tree is commonly known This Tree preserves its Verdure best in the shade but grows any The Laurel where is propagated like the Bay and is one of the most proper and Ornamental Trees for Walks and Avenues of any growing It grows generally in the barrennest grounds and coldest of our The Eugh-tree Mountains is easily produced of the Seeds washed and cleansed from their Mucilage and buried in the ground like Haws it will be the second year ere they peep and then they rise with their caps on their heads at three years old you may transplant them they are also propagated by Plants or Suckers but they are difficult of growth The Timber is a very hard wood and very useful to most Mechanicks that work in Wood they are also a beautiful Ornament and a sure defence against impetuous Winds and nipping Cold. Privet is a Plant that hath been in great request for adorning Privet Walks and Arbors till of late other new and more acceptable Plants by degrees begin to extirpate it out of the most modish Plantations nevertheless it may yet claim a corner in ours SECT VI. Of Shrubs and other Trees less useful yet planted for Ornament and Delight This Tree requires a Winter-shelter is raised usually by slips Myrtle and layers but may be raised of Seeds it is a very sweet and pleasant Plant. The Box is a Plant that hath been much more in use than now Box. it is in the Garden from whence most banish it by reason of its injurious scent it deserves to be planted in the more remote parts it will grow in any indifferent Land and is encreased by slips the Tree is a very curious Ornament and may be reduced to diversity of shapes and forms and yields a most excellent Wood than which none is more desired by our Mechanicks This Tree is highly commended by Mr. Evelin in his Sylva for Juniper a Tree that may be formed into most beautiful and useful Hedges and that one only Tree covered an Arbor capable for three to sit in seven foot square and eleven in height yet continually kept shorn having been planted there hardly ten years They are raised of their Berries which come up in two months This Tree groweth tall and great is increased by Suckers and Tamarisk Layers and is usually planted by those who respect variety and pleasure the Wood also is medicinal Is usually propagated for its pleasant green leaf though the Arbor Vitae cold Winter makes it dark and brown it is usually planted by slips and layers There are several Trees that are planted on the edges of Walks Some flower-trees and other trees of delight and in spare places in Rural Gardens and Orchards only for their Ornamental habits they usually wear in the Spring and Summer as Arbor Judae Laburnum the Sena-tree Spanish-broom the Bladder-nut the Gelder-rose the Pipe-tree Paliurus Jesamies Wood-binds Virgins-bower the Stawberry-tree Mezereon Laurus-tinus

security to the Winder the Method being usual needs no description here 2. By bringing water in Pipes or Gutters which is easily done the Spring or Stream from whence you bring it being somewhat higher than the place where you desire it 3. By raising water by Forcers Pumps or Water-wheels many and several are the Inventions whereby to effect it but none more easie plain and durable than the Persian-wheel before-mentioned in the Chapter concerning the watering of Meadows 4. By making of Cisterns or Receptacles for water either for the Rain or some Winter-springs to fill them whereby the water may be kept throughout the Summer In this are we very deficient for on the Mountainous dry and upland parts of Spain they have no other water than what they so preserve from the Rain It being the Custom in France where in many places water is scarce to preserve their waters in Cisterns as the French Rural Poet advises That if the place you live in be so dry That neither Springs nor Rivers they are nigh Then at some distance from your Garden make Within the Gaping Earth a spacious Lake That like a Magazine may comprehend Th' assembled Flouds that from the Hills descend And all the bottom pave with Chalkie Lome c. Also in Amsterdam and Venice they keep their Rain-water in Cellars made on purpose for Cisterns capacious enough to contain water for the whole year it being renewed as oft as the Rain falls Why therefore may we not here in England on our driest hills make places Pools or Cisterns sufficient to contain water enough for our Cattle for our Domestick uses and also for our Garden-occasions if we were but diligent few years there are but yield us plenty of showres to supply them though not enough to supply the defect of them much more Rain falling here than on the Continent where those Pools and Cisterns are more used for which cause this Island is by them termed Matula Coeli and yet have we so many thousands of Acres of dry Lands uninhabited untilled and almost useless unto us from this only cause and have so easie means to remedy it If you designe to make your Cisterns under your house as a How to make Cisterns to hold Water Cellar which is the best way to preserve it for your Culinary uses then may you lay your Brick or Stone with Tarris and it will keep water very well or you may make a Cement to joynt your Stone or Brick withal with a Composition made of slacked and sifted Lime and Linseed-Oyl tempered together with Tow or Cotten-Wooll Or you may lay a Bed of good Clay and on that lay your Bricks for the Floor then raise the wall round about leaving a convenient space behinde the wall to ram in Clay which may be done as fast as you raise the wall So that when it is finished it will be a Cistern of Clay walled within with Brick and being in a Cellar the Brick will keep the Clay moist although empty of water that it will never crack This I have known to hold water perfectly well in a shadowy place though not in a Cellar Thus in any Gardens or other places may such Cisterns be made in the Earth and covered over the Rain-water being conveyed thereto by declining Channels running unto it into which also the Alleys and Walks may be made to cast their water in hasty showres Also in or near houses may the water that falls from them be conducted thereunto But the usual way to make Pools of water on Hills and Downs for Cattle is to lay a good Bed of Clay near half a foot thick and after a long and laborious ramming thereof then lay another course of Clay about the same thickness and ram that also very well then pave it very well with Flints or other Stones which not only preserves the Clay from the tread of Cattle c. but from chapping of the Winde or Sun at such times as the Pool is empty Note also that if there be the least hole or chap in the bottom it will never hold water unless you renew the whole labour Some have prescribed ways for the making of Artificial Springs others for the making of Salt-water fresh but those things being not yet fully experienced we leave being not willing to trouble our Husbandman with so great Philosophical intricacies tending rather to lead him from the more plain and advantagious Method to imaginary and fruitless attempts Heat and Drought do not always attend us nor do they so Great Cold and Frost frequently afflict us especially in the greatest part or proportion of this Country but that we have also a share of a superabundant Cold and Moisture but seeing that they do not so frequently happen together as Heat and Drought usually do we will divide them The cold that most afflicts the Husbandman is the bitter Frosts that sometimes happen in the Winter or Spring and are beyond our power either to foresee or prevent yet that they may not injure us so far as otherwise they might we propose these remedies or preventions Some Lands are more inclinable and capacitated by their nature or scituation to suffer by bitter Frosts than others are as those that lie on a cold Clay or Chalk more than those that lie on a warm Sand or Gravel those that lie moist than those that lie dry those that lie on the North or East-sides of Hills than those that lie on the South or West therefore it is good to plant or sow such Trees Grains or Plants that can least abide the cold in such grounds that are most warmly seated And although that it is not an easie thing to alter the nature of the ground yet is it feasible to take away the offensive moisture that doth so much cool the Land whereof more hereafter in this Chapter and also to place such Artificial defensives against the cold that may very much remedy this inconvenience as we see it is most evident that the Frosts have a greater influence where the Air hath its free passage than where it is obstructed To which end we cannot but propose Inclosures and planting of Trees as a remedy also for this Disease for any manner of shelter preserves the Corn young Trees c. from the injury that otherwise would happen to them as we see in Snows and drowning of Meadows that the Snow and water prove defensive against the cold In Gardens and other nearer Plantations the Spring-frosts prove most pernicious the general remedies whereof where the site and position of the place is not naturally warm are Walls Pales or other Edifices or tall hedges or rows of Trees whereof the Whitethorn but chiefly Holly have the preheminence but these seem remote and rather preventions against the winde the more nearer are the application of new Horse-dung or Litter that hath lain under Horses which applied to the roots of any tender Trees or Plants preserves them from the

destructive Frosts and also by covering whole Beds therewith preserves the Plants or Roots therein Also Straw Hawm Fern or suchlike dry Vagetable will defend any thing from the Frosts although the Litter be to be preferred But such things that are not to be touched or suppressed as Coleflower-plants Gilliflower-slips c. the placing of Sticks like some Booth or suchlike over them and covering them with a Mat or Canvas or suchlike doth very much defend them giving them Sun and Air in temperate days makes them the more hardy and preserves their colour Furze where it may conveniently be had is a very excellent shelter and defence against Cold being laid about Trees or over Plants of what kinde soever It breaks the violence of Winde and Frost beyond any thing else lying hollow of it self doth not that injury to Plants that other things do without support and proves many times better than a supported shelter Preserving them also from Rain unless as much as is sufficient to nourish them is a good prevention of Frosts for the Frost injureth no Plant so much as that which stands wet as I have often observed that Cyprus-trees and Rosemary standing on very dry ground have endured the greatest Frosts when others have perished by the same Frosts standing in moist ground although more in the shelter Also the most pernicious Frosts to Fruits succeed Rainy days a dry Frost rarely hurts Fruit. Gilliflowers and several other Flowers and Plants receive their greatest injury from wet which if kept dry endure severe colds the better Hot-Beds are much in use for the propagating of Seeds in the Spring c. which when they are covered prove secure remedies Conservatories wherein to remove your tender Plants in the Winter are a usual prevention of cold some whereof are made by some degrees warmer than others are suitable to the several natures of the Plants to be preserved But the compleatest Conservatories are large leaves of boards to open and shut at pleasure over your Orange or other Fruit-trees closely pruned against a Wall or Pale and planted either against your Chimney where you always keep a good fire or against some Stove made on purpose Aprecocks so planted against an ordinary wall with such doors must needs avail much in the Spring-time to defend the young and tender Fruit from the sharp Frosts and is a much more practicable and surer way than the bowing the branches into Tubs as some advise Others hang Cloaths or Mats over the Trees in frosty nights but these are troublesome It is evident that part of the same Tree being under some shelter from the Rain will bear plenty of Fruit when other part of the same Tree being open to the Rain bears but little in cold and destructive Springs though alike obvious to the cold and winde Therefore endeavour to preserve your tender Wall-fruits from the wet and you may the less fear the winde and cold To lay open the roots of Trees in the Spring to keep them backwards from springing is a very proper prevention against the Frosts in Apples Pears c. for we finde a forward Spring that excites the early Fruit too soon proves very injurious to it in case any Frosts succeed The freezing of water also proves sometime an injury to the Husbandman either by hindering his Cattle from drink or by destroying Fish that are confined in a small Pond so frozen To prevent the latter if you can let there be some constant fall of water into it though never so small which will always keep a vent open sufficient to preserve the Fish who can as ill live without Air as Terrestrial Creatures can without water Any constant motion prevents a total Congelation If you lay a good quantity of Pease-hawm in the water that part may lie above and part under the water it is observed that the water freezes not within the Hawm by reason of its close and warm lying together which will prevent the death of Fish as well as breaking of the Ice Fruit when it is gathered into the house is subject to be spoiled by Frosts therefore be careful to lay it in dry Rooms either seeled thatched or boarded for in frosty weather the condensed Air which is most in such Rooms adhering to the Fruit freezeth and destroyeth it which is usually prevented covering them with Straw c. but best of all by placing a Vessel of water near them which being of a colder nature than the Fruit attracts the moist Air to its self to the preservation of the Fruit even to admiration Great Rains prove injurious to such Lands that are of themselves Much Rain moist enough for the remedy whereof and to prevent such injuries see more in the next Section In such Lands that lie at the bottoms or foot of Hills where the great falls of Rain do annoy the Corn or Grass care is to be taken for the conveying away of the water by Channels or Passages made for that purpose In the time of Harvest the greatest Enemy the Husbandman usually finds is Rain against which the best remedy is Expedition To make Hay whilest the Sun shines It is a grand neglect that there are not some kinde of Artificial shelters made in Lands remote from our dwellings for the speedy conveyance of Corn into shelter in dripping Harvests and there to remain till fair Weather and leisure will admit of a more safe carriage Worthy of commendation is the practise used in Sommersetshire c. where they lay their Wheat-sheaves in very large shocks or heaps in the Fields and so place them that they will abide any wet for a long time when on the contrary in Wiltshire and other more Southernly Counties they leave all to the good or bad weather though far remote from Barns sometimes to their very great detriment so naturally slothful and ignorant are some people and naturally ingenious and industrious are other Where their Lands lie two or three miles from their Barns as in some places in Champion Countries they do the covered Reek-staval much in use Westward must needs prove of great advantage in wet or dry Harvests to save long draughts at so busie a time Where Lands lie at a far distance the one from the other several Barns built as the Land requireth are very convenient for the more speedy housing of the Corn for the better preserving of it the more easie thrashing it out the more convenient fothering of the Cattle with the Straw and for the cheaper disposing of the soil for the improvement of the Land where on the contrary one great Barn cannot lie near to every part of a large Farm nor can Corn be so well preserved in it nor with so much advantage disposed into Mows nor thrashed nor the fother nor soil so easily dispersed High-winds prove very pernicious and injurious to the Husbandman High Winds in several respects to his Buildings Fruits Trees Hops Corn c. as many in the

Tillage and of the several Grains Pulses c. usually propagated by the Plough IN greatest esteem and most worthy of our Care is the Arable Land yielding unto the Laborious Husbandman the most necessary Sustentation this Life requires but not without industry and toil The Plough being the most happy Instrument that ever was discovered the Inventor of the use whereof was by the Heathens celebrated as a Goddess Prima Ceres ferro mortales vertere terram Virgil. Instituit But the Plough it self Triptolemus is said to have invented Pliny This Art was always in esteem as before in the Preface we have shewn and from this part thereof being the most principal doth it take its Name of Agriculture from the Tilling of the Land with the Plough or with the Spade the more ancient Instrument though not more necessary and beneficial And since its first Invention hath there been many several Improvements made of it for the more facile and commodious use thereof and every day almost and in every place doth the ingenious Husbandman endeavour to excel the slothful in this most necessary Art that from a burthensom and toilsom labour it is in some places become but a pleasing and profitable Exercise and it 's hoped that by those Presidents and Examples the more Vulgar will be provoked to a more universal use of that which is best and most advantageous to themselves as well as the publike More of this Instrument see hereafter in this Treatise SECT I. What Lands are improved by Tillage Non omnis fert omnia tellus Every sort of Land almost requires a different Husbandry some Grounds producing plenty of that which on another will not grow This is none of the meanest part of the Husbandmans skill to understand what is most proper to be propagated on each sort of Land the strong and stiff ground receiving the greatest Improvement from the Plough and the mellow warm and light from other Plantations of Fruits c. Densa magis Cereri rarissima quaeque Lyaeo Virgil. Although the best warmest and lightest Land yields most excellent Corn yet the other sorts of Lands yield not so good Fruits Plants Grass Hay c. also necessary for the Husbandman therefore our principal designe must be to appropriate each sort to that Method of Husbandry most natural unto it that where the nature of the Land differs which it usually doth in the same Parish and many times in one and the same Farm and sometimes in the same Field that there may be used a different way We have before discoursed of what Lands are fittest for Meadows and Pastures and now shall give you those Directions I finde to know what is most proper for the Plough The strong and stiff as we said before and also the cold and moist and that which lies obvious to the extremities of cold or heat as is most of the Champion or Field-land for there may be sown such Seeds that naturally affect such places until they are reduced and better qualified by Enclosure the first and main principle of Improvement Also mossie and rusty Grounds are much improved by ploughing and Grounds subject to pernicious Weeds may be much advantaged by destroying the Weeds and propagating good Corn or other Tillage in the room thereof All clay stiff cold and moist Grounds are generally thrice The manner of ploughing or husbanding each sort Clay stiff cold and moist ploughed in the Spring Summer and at Seed-time for Wheat and four times for Barley if it be the first Grain sown after long resting which in most places is not usual These several Ploughings or Fallowings are very advantageous to Ground in several respects 1. It layeth the Ground by degrees in Ridges in such order as the nature thereof requireth for the more in number and the higher the Ridges the better they are for Wheat which naturally delighteth in a moist Ground so that it be laid dry that is not subject to be drowned or over-glutted with water in moists years And this Method of laying the Ridges much prevents the blasting of Wheat for Wheat is easily overcharged with Water either in Winter or Summer 2. This often stirring the Land makes it light and fitter for the Seed to take root therein the Clods being apt to dissolve by being exposed to the weather and often broken by the Plough 3. It kills the weeds which in strong Lands are apt to over-run the Corn. 4. It fertilizeth Land The Sun and the Sull are some Husbandmens Soil Virgil also seems to hint as much where he saith Pingue solum primis exemplo à mensibus Anni Fortes invertant Tauri glebasque jacentes Pulverulenta coquat maturis solibus aestas 5. It defends the Corn much from the extremities of Weather especially cold Winds for the more uneven any Piece of Land is the better it bears the extremities of the Winter for which reason in the open Champion where the Land is dry and they do not lay up their Ridges as in other places yet they harrow it but little and leave it as rough as they can for no other cause but to break the fleeting Winds The Gardiners near London now seem to imitate this practise by laying their Gardens in Ridges not only the better to shelter their Seeds from the cold Winds but also to give it an advantage of the Sun as I my self proved it many years since that Pease sown on the South-side of small Beds so raised that they seemed to respond the Elevation of the Pole prospered well and passed the Winter better and were much earlier in the Spring than those otherwise planted But in case you intend to sowe Barley first therein after the third Fallowing it must lie over the Winter that the Frosts may the better temper it for the Seed-time when it is to be ploughed again If for Pease or Beans once Fallowing before Winter serves the turn If it hath a good Sward or Turf on it I rather advise you to denshire or burn it the Summer before you sowe it this is the more expeditious and advantageous way it spends the Acid moisture an enemy to Vegetation it kills the weeds and brings the Land quickly to a fine light temper Other sorts of Land improveable by the Plough are very good Rich and mellow Land rich mixed Land and of a black mould Nigra fere pinguis Virgil. Optima frumentis Or of any other colour that hath lain long for Pasture till it be over-grown with Moss Weeds or such-like which will as soon grow on rich Lands as poor To these Lands Ploughing is not only a Medicine or Cure but raiseth an immediate Advantage and much benefiteth the Land for the future in case you take but a Crop or two at a time and lay it down for Pasture again well soyled or else sown with some of the New Grasses or Hays before named but if not yet only by soyling it the year before you lay

Subject Non tantum in agris praestat sed Page 21. etiam arboribus vit ibus adeo ut una eodem plena tonna tantum ad agrorum stercorationem conferre valeat quantum decem simo equino aut vaccine replet a plaustra solent This kinde of Manure either by Burning as before or with the fixed Salts of any thing whatsoever doth also much more enrich your Crop than any other Dung or Soil for this tendeth principally unto fertility ordinary Dung of Beasts more unto the gross substance of the Straw or Hawme than unto Fruit or Seed and also breeds more of Weeds than this our Vniversal Subject There are also several other sorts of Materials to be used as Other Soyls and Manures Soils and Manures for the fertilizing and enriching of Lands Some whereof are taken from the Earth as Chalk Marle Clay c. Others from the Waters as Sands Weeds c. Others also are the Dungs and Excrements of living Creatures and others that are several sorts of Vegetables themselves and other casual things as Soot Raggs c. Of all which we finde these whereof we shall now treat to have been found out and commended to be useful and beneficial to the Husbandman for the purposes before mentioned SECT II. Soyls and Manures taken from the Earth Whereof there are several sorts some of so hard and undissoluble Of Chalk a nature that it is not fit to lay on Lands simply as it is but after it is burned into Lime becomes a very excellent Improver of Lands there are also other sorts of Chalk more unctuous and soluble which being laid on Lands crude as they are and let lie till the Frosts and Rain shatter and dissolve the same prove a very considerable advantage to barren Lands now where any of these Chalks are found it is good to prove their natures by laying them on some small portion of Land crude as they are or by burning them into Lime if Fewel be plenty or to half burn them by which you may experimentally know the true effects and benefits that Subject will yield And although Chalk simply of it self either burnt or unburnt may not prove so advantageous as many have reported yet is it of very great use to be mixed with Earth and the Dungs of Animals by which may be made an admirable sure and natural fruitful Composition for almost any sorts of Lands and raiseth Corn in abaundance Liming of Land is of most excellent use many barren parts of Of Lime this Nation being thereby reduced into so fertile a condition for bearing most sorts of Grain that upon Land not worth above one or two shillings an Acre well husbanded with Lime hath been raised as good Wheat Barly white and gray Pease as England yields English Improver Also that by the same means from a Ling Heath or Common naturally barren and little worth hath been raised most gallant Corn worth five or six pound an Acre By the same Author He also affirms that some men have had and received so much profit upon their Lands by once liming as hath paid the purchase of their Lands and that himself had great advance thereby yet lived twenty miles from Lime and fetched the same by Waggon so far to lay it on his Lands One Author saith twelve or fourteen quarters will Lime an Acre another saith 160 Bushels the difference of the Land may require a different proportion The most natural Land for Lime is the light and sandy the next mixt and gravelly wet and cold gravel not good cold clay the worst of all Also a mixture of Lime Earth and Dung together is a very excellent Compost for Land Marle is a very excellent thing commended of all that either Of Marle Differences of Marle write or practise any thing in Husbandry There are several kinds of it some stony some soft white gray russet yellow blew black and some red It is of a cold nature and saddens Land exceedingly and very heavy it is and will go downwards though not so much as Lime doth The goodness or badness thereof is not Signes of good or bad Marle known so much by the colour as by the Purity and Uncompoundedness of it for if it will break into bits like a Dye or smooth like Lead-Oar without any composition of Sand or Gravel or if it will slake like Slate-stones and slake or shatter after a shower of Rain or being exposed to the Sun or Air and shortly after turn to dust when it 's throughly dry again and not congeal like tough Clay question not the fruitfulness of it notwithstanding the difference of colours which are no certain signes of the goodness of the Marle As for the Slipperiness Viscousness Fattiness or Oyliness thereof although it be commonly esteemed a signe of good Marle yet the best Authors affirm the contrary viz. That there is very good Marle which is not so but lieth in the Mine pure dry and short yet nevertheless if you water it you shall finde it slippery But the best and truest Rule to know the richness and Best way to know Marle profit of your Marle is to try a Load or two on your Lands in several places and in different proportions They usually lay the same on small heaps and disperse it over Use and Benefit of Marle the whole Field as they do their Dung and this Marle will keep the Land whereon it is laid in some places ten or fifteen and in some places thirty years in heart it is most profitable in dry light and barren Lands such as is most kinde and natural for Rye as is evident by Mr. Blithes Experiment in his Chapter of Marle It also affordeth not its vertue or strength the first year so much as in the subsequent years It yields a very great Increase and Advantage on high sandy gravelly or mixed Lands though never so barren strong Clay-ground is unsutable to it yet if it can be laid dry Marle may be profitable on that also It is very necessary in marling Lands to finde out the true proportion how much on every Acre that you add not too much nor too little in medio virtus It 's better to erre by laying on too little than too much because you may add more at pleasure but you cannot take away the surest way is to try some small quantities first and proceed as your Experiments encourage It hath been also experimentally observed that you are to lay your Marle in the beginning of Winter on hard and binding Grounds And on the contrary you are to lay it in the Spring on light sandy dry and gravelly lands but it 's good to try both it 's held to be best to lay it abroad in the beginning of Winter that the Frosts may first make the same moulder into small pieces and so to become apt for Solution which is done by the Rains that more plentifully fall in the Winter You shall

This challengeth the Priority not only of the Dung of Fowl Of Pigeons-dung but of all other Creatures whatsoever Pigeons or Hens-dung is incomparable one Load is worth ten Load of other Dung and therefore it 's usually sown on Wheat or Barly that lieth afar off and not easily to be helped it 's extraordinary likewise on a Hop-garden A Load of Pigeons-dung is more worth than twenty shillings in many parts a very excellent Soil for a cold moist-natured Land I have caused it to be sown by hand after the Grain is sown and in the same manner and then harrowed in with the Grain and received a very great increase on poor Land I have known saith Platt a Load of Pigeons-dung fetched sixteen miles and a Load of Coals given for it which in the Soil where it was fetched would have done more hurt than good for the Manuring of Land yet where it was carried it did as much good for the fertilizing of Land as double the charges In the one Soil it cured the barrenness and in the other it poysoned the fertility This Dung is of less esteem because it is not obtained at so easie Hen-dung a rate and where it is it 's generally little set by because our Fore-fathers did not make any great matter of it and because they understand not the strength and power of it for when they take it out of the houses it 's of a very hot nature and must needs injure some things if laid thereon but if it be mixed well with common Earth Sand or such-like and let lie till it rot well together you will finde it a very rich Manure and of value to answer a great part of your Poultreys expence I have known a Quince-tree whereon Poultrey always pearched that by reason of the Rain washing to its Roots the salt and fatness of the Dung did bear yearly an incredible number of very excellent Quinces This hath been held by the Antients to be most hurtful and unprofitable Of Goose-dung Markham to any Grounds They say that to good Grass they are a great enemy for their Dung and treading will putrifie it and make it worse than barren I have it from a credible hand that Goose-dung is very advantageous to Corn it being discovered by a flock of Geese daily passing over-thwart a Field of Wheat making as it were a Lane over the same in the Winter-time and had nibbled the Wheat clean from the Ground and dunged it where they went in which passage the next year proved to be very gallant Wheat far exceeding any other part of the Field Like unto that I have heard that a Flock of Wild-geese had pitched upon a parcel of green Wheat and had eaten it up clean and sat thereon and dung'd it several nights that the Owner despaired of having any Crop that year but the contrary happened for he had a far richer Stock of Wheat there than any of his Neighbours had in the Land adjoyning to the admiration of all Which demonstrateth that this Dung is of a very hot and fiery nature which occasioneth that barrenness falsly suggested to be in it and being laid abroad thin in the Winter-time proves a very rich Manure and therefore to be esteemed of and being mixed with cooling Earths and let putrifie some time may prove very much for your benefit therefore neglect it not but make several trials the Advantage will be your own The same may be said of the Dung of any other Water-fowl Although that Urines are esteemed to be of a destructive and Of Urines Explicatio Miraculi Mundi p. 50. mortifying nature to Vegetables as Glauber affirms by reason of its Salarmoniacal and burning Spirit that is therein as is evident to our Senses upon the casting of new Urine on Nettles or other Vegetables it soon destroyeth them But it is with this as with many other moist things subject to putrefaction time will digest it and alter the nature and property thereof as it doth Wine or Beer into Vineger so it will of this fiery matter produce an excellent Soil as many have had the experience of Mr. Hartlib testifieth that in Holland they as carefully preserve the Cows Urine as the Dung to enrich their Land Columella in his Book of Husbandry saith That old Vrine is excellent for the Roots of Trees I know a woman saith Mr. Hartlib who lived five miles South of Canterbury who saved in a Pail all the Urine and when the Pail was full sprinkled it on her Meadow which caused the Grass at first to look yellow but after a little time it grew wonderfully Another also saith That Mans Urine is of great worth and will English Improver fatten Land more than you are aware of and it were not ill Husbandry to take all opportunities to preserve it for Land and so of all other Urines after the Dutch manner Humane Ordure ought not here to be omitted as a rich Soil if the Husbandman would be so careful as to place his House of Office that he may once in two or three days add some mixture of Earth Straw Stubble or such-like to reduce it into a necessary Substance portable into his Lands or Grounds remote from his Dwelling where after it hath lain some convenient time in a heap to putrifie together and then thinly dispersed proves an unexpected Advantage SECT V. Of several other Soyls or Manures Ashes contain in them very much of a rich and fertile Salt as Ashes before we noted and therefore not so much to be slighted and neglected as they are be they of what kinde or nature soever Virgil. Ne pudet Effoetos Cinerem immundum jactare per agros The Wood-ashes are the best and very useful yet after they have been used in the Bucking of Clothes they are worth little unless it be in cold and moist Land where I have known them also to avail much Sea-coal ashes with Horse-dung make an excellent Compost for divers uses Turf and Peat-ashes must needs be very rich being much after the same manner as the Burning of Land which most know to be a very great Improvement and whereof we have already treated Ashes are a great Curer of Moss and Rushes in most Grounds The Ashes of any sort of Vegetables are very profitable as divers places in England can testifie by experience who consume their Fearn Stubble Straw Heath Furs Sedge Bean-stalks and the very Sward and Swarth of their Ground to ashes and these according to the store of Salt which their Ashes do contain do either for a longer or shorter time enrich their barren Grounds Mr. Platt highly commends Soap-ashes after the Soap-boylers have made what use of them they please to be a very great enriching to Land and gives you an instance of a Stalk and Ear of Barley of an Ell and three Inches in length that grew on barren Land enriched with Soap-ashes he also saith he found the like success in Pasture-ground In

of a large stature and many times without topping or diminution of the head which is of great importance to supply a defect or remove a Curiosity After you have transplanted your Trees if you lay about the Helps to Trees Roots or Stems Fern Straw Stubble Hawm or any other Vegetable whatsoever either green or half rotten is best which will preserve the Roots moist in the Summer and yield a good Manure or Soil which the Rain will carry to the Roots Also stones laid about the Roots of Trees preserves them moist in the Summer and warm in the Winter and keeps them fast against the shaking Winds Copses may also be planted about Autumn with the young Planting of Copses Sets or Plants the best way is in rows about ten or fifteen foot distance for then may you reap the benefit of the Intervals by Ploughing or Digging and Sowing till the Trees are well advanced Carts also may the better pass between at the time of felling without injury to the Stems or danger of the Cattle There will also be many pleasant Walks and yet an equal burthen of Wood at the full growth of the Copse as though they were thick and confusedly planted There is a compendious way for thickning of Copses that are Thickning of Copses too thin by laying of some of the Branches of the Trees that stand nearest unto the bare places on the ground or a little in the ground giving it a chop near the foot the better to make it yield this detained with a hook or two and covered with some fresh mould at a competent depth will produce a world of Suckers and thicken and furnish a Copse speedily SECT X. Of the Pruning Shrowding Cutting and Felling of Trees and Copses In the discreet performance of this work the Improvement of Pruning of Trees our Timber and Woods doth much consist and renders our Avenues Walks Parks c. much more pleasant and commodious to have the Trees stand in order their Branches at a convenient height and kept clean from all superfluities Such Trees that are for Timber it 's best to prune whilest they are young and the Branches not too big of these and other Trees it 's good to cut off the Branches that are superfluous about January with a very sharp Bill or other Tool making the stroke upward by reason of the grain of the Wood and to prevent the slitting of the Tree at the fall of the Branch and cut it clean smooth and close for by cutting of the Branches at a distance from the Tree the stumps rot and leave hollow holes which decay the Tree and spoil the Timber Such Trees that are not fit for Timber or that you desire should Shrowding or lopping of Trees yield you a present advantage or serve for Fewel you may shrowd or lop them which will return you a considerable advantage and is much to be preferred before a Copse in these several respects 1. These Pollard or Shrowded Trees need no Fence to be maintained about them standing in no danger of the browsings or Frications of Cattle Conies c. 2. You have the benefit of Grazing under these Trees which is very considerable whilest the tops are young 3. The stocks taken in time before they decay or grow hollow yield a good Timber fit for many uses or at least good cleft for the Fire 4. And lastly you may raise these Pollards in Hedge-rows and spare places and borders of your grounds where they prove a good shelter as before we noted and little injure the ground Notwithstanding the Copse is quicker of growth and raises a more considerable advantage for the present than this way in some places therefore where you have conveniences for a Copse I leave you to your election Trees are not to be shrowded till they have taken fast rooting Times for shrowding and so stood for three or four years at what height you think convenient so it be out of the reach of Cattle either at the beginning of the Spring or the end of the Fall For the harder sorts of Woods it is very indifferent observing that they be not lopped above once in ten or twelve years and at any time in the Winter The Elm and the Ash and such-like pithy and softer Woods are fittest to be shrowded at the Spring lest the Winter injure the Tree Always observe to cut the remaining stumps aslope and Observations in shrowding smooth that they cast the Water off that the Tree perish not Take not off the head of the Poplar nor of any of the soft Woods before unshrowded growing upright and smooth after they have attained the bigness of ones Leg unless you leave some Collateral shoots to attract the Sap for it will endanger the Tree All Perennial Greens or Resinous Plants are not to be pruned Pruning of Winter-Greens or cut until the greater Frosts and bitter Winds are past and then not in any wise decapitate the Fir Pine nor such pithy Plants and be very sparing of their Collateral Branches You may cut Aquatick Trees every third or fourth year and Cutting of Aquaticks some more frequently according as the Tree is in proof or the shrowds or tops fit for your occasions cut them not too near the main stock because of perishing the Tree and besides it gives leave for the new sprouts The best time for cutting Aquaticks either to dress or plant The time them is about the beginning of March or the first open weather at the Spring but if for the Fire in the Winter before the Sap begins to rise or you may cut them at any time between Leaf and Leaf Such Copses or Copse-trees that you have lately planted at one Cutting of young Copses two or rather three years growth may be cut within two or three inches of the ground in the Spring-time the less prosperous especially which the new Cions will suddenly repair in clusters and tufts of fair Poles Copses being of a competent growth as of twelve or fifteen Felling of Copses years are esteemed fit for the Axe but those of twenty years standing are better and far advance the price seventeen years growth affords a tolerable Fell you are to spare as many likely Trees for Timber as with discretion you can The growth of Copses is so various according to the nature of the Ground some being dry and barren some moist and fruitful that no time can be set but as the Copses are quick or slow in growth and the bigness of the Wood suits with the Market or your occasions so may your discretion be guided Copses may be felled or cut from mid-September to mid-March Time and to be avoided by mid May at the farthest else much injury may be done by Teams in bruising the young Cions and injuring them with their feet also the removing of the Rough or Brush breaks off many a tender Sprig Cut not above half a foot from

ground is yearly digged ploughed or otherwise preserved from Grass or Weeds as we noted before If the cold moist or barren nature of the ground be the cause then rectifie the same as before After Rain you may scrape off the Moss with a knife or rub it off with a Hair-cloth If the Tree be Bark-bound and thrive not well with a knife Bark-bound you may slit the Bark down the body of the Tree in April or May and it will cure it If the Cleft where the Tree was grafted or any other wounded Canker place be neglected the Rain is apt to ingender the Canker the cure is difficult if too far gone There are many prescriptions for the cure of it but if the cutting off of the Canker or cankered-branches will not cure it and the Tree be much infected with it the best way is to place a better in the room Some Trees are hurt with small Worms that breed between Worms in the Bark the bark and wood which makes the bark swell cut away part of the bark and wash with Urine and Cow-dung Strong or hot dung is not good for Fruit-trees but after it is Soyl for Trees throughly rotten and cold it may be mixed in cold grounds with success but in rich or warm Land Any dirt or soyl that lies in streets or high-ways where it may be had is best especially for the Apple-tree Commonly Husbandmen apply Soyl Fern c. to the stems of How to apply Soyl to Trees their Trees and if they dig to apply it it is usually near the body of the Tree which will not answer the trouble for the Roots that feed the Tree spread far from the Trunk or Stem therefore the soyl that is to be applied should be laid at a convenient distance proportionable to the spreading of the Roots wherein the long standing of the Tree is to be considered digging about the roots of Trees should also be used accordingly In planting of Trees it 's usual to apply good Mould or other additional soyl to fill up the Foss after the placing the Tree which conduceth not so much to the prosperity of the Plant as to place the better Mould or soyl in the bottom of the Foss and then plant your Tree on it spreading its roots over the good soyl for all roots of Plants as naturally tend downwards and side-ways as the branches spread and advance upwards So that the soyl that lies above the roots only yields some fatness which the Rain washeth down unto them but the soyl that is under the roots flourish in it The difference in this case may at any time be sensibly perceived by the experienced SECT XII Of the use and benefit of Fruits Not any of the afore-mentioned Fruits but are very pleasant necessary and profitable to many of our English Palats and Purses the most of them being a familiar food to the Noble and Ignoble These extend their vertue also to the cure of many infirmities or diseases being judiciously applied But over and above their use for food for pleasure and for Physick to be converted into so many several sorts of curious pleasant palatable and lasting Liquors is not the least of the benefits accrewing unto the Husbandman from the diversity of Fruits by him propagated Next unto Wine whereof we treat not in this place Cider is esteemed the most pleasant natural Liquor our English Fruits afford Several are the ways used in making this excellent Liquor and 1 By Cider that according to the skill of the Operator and divers kinds of the Fruit whereof it is made Cider-fruits may be reduced into two sorts or kinds either the wilde harsh and common Apple growing in great plenty in Hereford Worcester and Gloucestershire and in several other adjacent places in the fields and hedg-rows and planted in several other places of England for Cider only not at all tempting the Palate of the Thief nor requiring the charge and trouble of the more reserved inclosures Or the more curious Table-fruits as the Pippin Pearmain c. which are by many preferred to make the best Cider as having in them a more Cordial and pleasant Juice than other Apples For the former the best sorts for Cider are found to be the Cider-fruits Red-streak the White-Must and the Green-Must the Gennet-Moyl Eliots Stocken-Apple Summer-Fillet Winter-Fillet c. The greater part of them being meerly savage and so harsh that hardly Swine will eat them yet yielding a most plentiful smart and winy Liquor comparable or rather exceeding the best French-Wines And for the advantage of planting them they claim a preference before Pippins or any other of our pleasant Garden-fruits especially the Red-streak which Mr. Evelin so highly commends as at three years grafting to give you fair hopes and last almost an hundred years and will bear as much Fruit at ten years as Pippins or Pearmains at thirty The best sorts of Cider-fruit are far more succulent and the Liquor more easily divides from the Pulp of the Apple than in the best Table-fruit Some observe the more of red any Apple hath in his rinde the better for Cider the paler the worse No sweet Apple that hath a tough rinde is bad for Cider Cider-Apples require full maturity e're they be taken from Making of Cider the Trees And after they are gathered which is to be done with as much caution as may be to preserve them from bruises it very much conduces to the goodness and lasting of the Cider to let them lye a week or two on heaps out of the Rain and Dew the harsher and more solid the Fruit is the longer may they lye the more mellow and pulpy the less time This makes them sweat forth their Aqueous Humidity injurious to the Cider and matureth the Juice remaining and digesteth it more than if on the Tree or in the Vessel But it 's probable they will yield more from the Tree than so kept but not so good Such that are Wind-falls bruised or any ways injured or unripe fruit divide from the sound and mature It 's better to make two sorts of Cider the one good the other bad than only bad Take away all stalks leaves and rotten Apples the stalks and leaves give an ill taste to the Cider the rotten Apples makes it deadish Let such that are through casualty or otherwise fallen from the Trees before their full time of maturity be kept to the full time else will not the Cider be worth the drinking About twenty or twenty two bushels of good Cider-Apples from the Tree will make a Hogshead of Cider after they have lain a while in heaps to mellow about twenty five bushels will make a Hogshead Then either grinde them in a Horse-mill like as Tanners grinde their Bark or beat them with Beaters in a Trough of Wood rather than of Stone the more they are ground or beaten the better After the grinding it should be prest either being

of it If set in rich ground it encreases to admiration and may be Annually multiplied without hazard of Weather keeping down the Leaves makes the Root large They are sown as the Onions and afterwards it is best to Of Leeks transplant them deep that they may have a great deal of White-stalk one such Leek being worth two others The fairest and biggest of Leeks and Onions are to be reserved and planted for Seed the stalks whereof are to be propped up with sticks by reason of their weight When the Seed is ripe reserve the Heads on some Cloth and let them be through dry e're you rub them out There are several sorts of Kitchin-herbs and Plants very necessary and useful and also profitable to be propagated and advanced in our Country-gardens as Thime Hyssop Sage Rosemary Marjerom Violets and several others Their ways and manner of Planting being so Universally known and not altogether pertinent to our discourse I shall pass them by and refer you to others that treat of them I thought to have omitted this Plant by reason the Statute-Laws Tobacco are so severe against the Planters of it but that it is a Plant so much improving Land and imploying so many hands that in time it may gain footing in the good Opinion of the Landlord as well as of the Tenant which may prove a means to obtain some liberty for its growth here and not to be totally excluded out of the Husbandmans Farm The great Objection is the prejudice it would bring to Navigation the fewer Ships being imployed and the lessening his Majesties Revenue To which may be answered that there are but few Ships imployed to Virginia and if many yet there would be but few the less for it 's not to be imagined that we should Plant enough to furnish our whole Nation and maintain a Trade abroad also And in case it should lessen the number of Ships for the present they would soon encrease again as the Trade of Virginia would alter into other Commodities as Silk Wine and Oyl which would be a much better Trade for them and us And as to the lessening his Majesties Revenue the like Imposition may be laid on the same Commodity growing at home as if imported from abroad or some other of like value in lieu of it Certain it is that the Planting of it would imploy abundance of people in Tilling Planting Weeding Dressing and Curing of it And the improvement of Land is very great from ten shillings per Acre to thirty or forty pound per Acre all Charges paid before the last severe Laws many Plantations were in Gloucestershire Devonshire Somersetshire and Oxfordshire to the quantity of many hundreds of Acres Some object that our English-Tobacco is not so good as the Forreign but if it be as well respected by the Vulgar let the more Curious take the other that 's dearer Although many are of Opinion that it 's better than Forreign having a more Hautgust which pleaseth some if others like it not they may in the curing of it make it milder and by that means alter or change it as they please It hath been often sold in London for Spanish Tobacco The best way and manner of Planting and Curing it would be easily obtained by experience many attempting it some would be sure to discover the right way of ordering of it and what ground or places it best affects But that which hath been observed is that it affects a rich deep and warm soil well dressed in the Spring before Planting time The Young Plants raised from seed in February or March on a hot Bed and then planted abroad in your prepared ground from whence you may expect a very good Crop and sometimes two Crops in a year The leaves when gathered are first laid together on heaps for some time and then hang'd up by Threads run through them in the shade until they are through dry and then put up and kept the longer the better In this Experience is the best Master SECT V. Of the manner of ordering and preparing of Garden-Ground making of hot Beds and Watering of the Gardens c. There are many Garden-plats in England which either for their cold scituation or the cold or unnatural temper of the soil or suchlike impediments and by reason of the ignorance of the Gardiner or Owner thereof produce little or no Fruit or Tillage answerable to the costs trouble or expectation of the Owners thereof Wherefore we shall give you here the best Rules Directions and Instructions we either know or have read of in any of our Rustick Authors If the Land be of a light and warm Nature of its self whereof The several ways of tempering mould your Garden is made there needs only common Horse-dung or Cow-dung to be mixed therewith in the digging or trenching to inrich it but if the Ground or Mould incline to a cold Clay or stiff ground then procure some good light and fertil Sand or Mould of that nature and mix with your Dung in some corner of your ground equally together and suffer it so to lie and rot over the Winter which in the Spring will prove an excellent warm Manure to lay to the roots of your Plants or to make whole Beds thereof by mixing it in good quantities with the natural soil and if you can procure it with conveniency the more of Pigeons-dung Poultry-dung or Sheeps-dung you mix with it the lighter and warmer it will be Also an equal composition or mixture of Dung and Earth is necessary to be laid by that it may be throughly rotten and turned to Earth by the Spring that it may then be fit to renew the Earth about your Hops Artichoaks and suchlike and also for the planting and sowing therein Coleflowers Cabbages Onions c. The best and surest way of sowing seeds to have the most advantage The best way of sowing Garden-seeds of such Dung or soil and that they may come up most even and be all buried at one certain depth is thus First rake your Bed even then throw on a part of your mixture of Earth and Dung which also rake very even and level on which sow your seeds whether Onions Leeks Lettice or suchlike then with a wide Sieve sift on the Earth mixed with Dung that it may cover the Seeds about a quarter of an inch deep or little more and you shall not fail of a fruitful Crop If your Garden be obvious to the cold winds which are very To lay ground warm and dry injurious to most sorts of Plants next unto Trees Pales Walls Hedges c. lay your ground after this following manner that is let it be laid up in Ridges a foot or two in height somewhat upright on the back or North-side thereof and more shelving or sloping to the Southward for about three or four foot broad on which side you may sow any of your Garden-Tillage and these Banks lying one behinde the other will

say any thing of common Diseases of Beasts or Fowl because that Subject is so compleatly handled by several others and is not absolutely necessary for our Husbandman to know there being almost in every place Professors and Practisers of that Art and that have Materials and Instruments for that purpose yet for that I meet with some general and easily-practicable Instructions perhaps not familiar with Country Farriers or Horse-Doctors I shall a little digress This Disease is principally caused from a hot and dry season Of the Murrain of the Year or rather from some general putrefaction of the Air and begetteth an inflammation of the blood and causeth a swelling in the throat which in little time suffocateth the Cattle Also the letting dead Cattle lie unburied which Putrifying may cause a general Infection to that sort of Cattle as the Learned Van-Helmont observes that these Infectious Distempers go no farther than their own kinde Therefore to prevent this Disease let them stand cool in Summer and to have abundance of good water and speedily to bury all Carrion And if any of your Cattle be already infected speedily let them blood and give them a good Drench c. By which means divers have preserved their Cattle when their Neighbours have perished In moist Years Sheep are subject to the Rot in the same Of the Rot in Sheep grounds where in drier Years they are not and that not only from the moisture for then would Sheep Rot in all moist grounds in dry Years as well as in wet but from a certain Putrefaction both in the Air and in the Grass or Herbs that usually attends them in such moist years which together with their moist Food doth corrupt their Livers and bring this Disease The cure whereof is difficult unless it be done betime before the Liver be too much wasted The removal of them to the Salt Marshes where they may be had is a good remedy If May and June prove wet Moneths it causes a Frimmand frothy Grass which together with the bad Air that must necessarily follow causes the Rot in Sheep therefore in such Summers keep your Sheep on the dry and barren Lands and fodder them in Winter with the hardest Hay or most Astringent Fodder Some grounds yield a soft Grass more than other subject to breed the Rot in the Sheep therefore feed other Cattle there and your Sheep in the driest hardest and healthiest Pastures If your Sheep be infected with the Rot which you may discern by the colour of their Eyes some prescribe to Pen them up in a Barn or large Sheep-coat set about with wooden Troughs and therein feed them with Oats a day or two then put amongst them some Bay-salt well stamped and after that a greater quantity till such time as they begin to distaste it then give them clean Oats another day or two and afterward serve them with Salt as before This course being followed until their Eyes have recovered their Natural colour they will then be perfectly cured Where you have not a House convenient it may be done open the saving of their Dung as before we directed will answer the greatest part of your expences Chap. 5. Folding of Sheep in May or June if they prove wet makes them Rot the sooner because they more greedily devour the hurtful Grass in the Morning than those not folded therefore liberty from the Fold at that time is a good prevention An Approved Experiment for the Cure of the Fashions in Horses and the Rot in Sheep Steep the Regulus of Antimony in Ale with a little of the Spice called Grains and a little Sugar which give to a Horse about half a Pint at a time two or three times with a day or two's intermission between each time to a Sheep about two or three ounces after the same manner The same or the following Receipt may be also given to Swine for the Measles c. and to make them fat Give him half a dram of crude Antimony in his Meat it will For Swine make him have a good stomack and it will likewise cure him of all foulness of his Liver and of the Measles The same is also Soveraign for any other Beasts Trees and Plants and other Inanimate things are subject unto Of Trees and Plants Diseases that deprive them of and abate their excellency worth and duration as well as living Creatures and it doth as well require the care and industry and skill of the Husbandman to inspect into their Nature and make use of such means as are requisite as well to prevent as cure such Diseases The Canker Moss Bark-bound and Worms in Trees prove very pernicious Their Cures we have already discoursed of Chap. 7. The Jaundies or Langor of Trees makes them seem to repine and their Leaves to fall off or wither and proceeds from some hurt done to their Roots either by Moles or Mice or by the stroak of some Spade or by the Tree standing too moist or low according as you finde the Disease so must you make use of a remedy either by searching the Root and if you finde any wound or gall to cut it off a little above such wound and lay some Soot there to keep Vermine off if the injury came from them or if water offends either divert the water or remove the Tree If it be planted too deep it is better to raise it than let it stand where you may be confident it will never thrive The general Diseases of Trees and impediments to their thriving are either they stand too deep too dry too cold too moist too much in the winde c. according to the divers Nature and disposition of the Tree Therefore if you expect that a Tree should thrive observe his Nature and in what place it most delights which the sixth and seventh Chapters of this Book treating of Woods and Fruit-trees will sufficiently direct SECT VII Of Thieves and Ill Neighbours There is no more constant certain and pernicious Enemy to the Husbandmans Thrift than Man himself Homo homini Daemon they rob and steal from oppress maligne injure persecute and devour one another to the decay of Arts and Sciences and even to the ruine of whole Families of Ingenious and Industrious men every one striving to build up his house and raise his Family by the ruines and decay of his Neighbours But our only Complaint is against the common and ordinary sort of vile persons that live after a most sordid manner and seek not Wealth nor Greatness but only to maintain themselves in a most despicable lazy kinde of life by filching and stealing from their honest and laborious Neighbours and against such that though they steal not yet oppress oppugne and injure those that are more Industrious than themselves The severe penalty of death being the punishment for Theft Against Thieves is the principal cause of the infinite encrease of Thieves First because many there are who if they

at any time to give a probable conjecture of whatsoever is to be known or signified by that Instrument which otherwise you shall hardly do This new-invented Instrument which is termed the Baroscope Of the Baroscope by which the Authors thereof pretend to discover the temper and inclination of the Air from its weight in brief is thus described Seal a Glass-tube Hermettically at the one end fill it almost with Quick silver and invert it resting the open end in a Vessel of Quicksilver then the Quicksilver in the Tube by its weight presseth downwards into the Vessel and so distendeth or streineth the Air which is but little remaining in the Glass that the summity of the Tube is for a small space void of Quicksilver so far as that small portion or remainder of Air is capable of distention which is much more by Quicksilver the most ponderous of Fluid Bodies than by water in the Weather-glass But they pretend that this Column of Quicksilver in the Tube is supported by the weight of the Air Ambient pressing on the stagnant Quicksilver in the Vessel and that as the Air becomes more or less ponderous so doth the Quicksilver in the Tube rise or fall more or less accordingly which if it were true then in case the stagnant Quicksilver were broader in a broader Vessel would the greater quantity of Air press harder upon it and the Quicksilver in the Tube rise higher but it doth not Also if the Quicksilver in the Tube were supported by the pressure or weight of the Air on the stagnant Quicksilver in the Vessel then would not the Quicksilver descend by the making of some small hole on the top of the Tube which we evidently perceive to do Also when the Air is most rare and by consequence less ponderous if any weight thereof should be supposed then will the Column of Quicksilver in the Tube be higher and when the Air is more dense or burdened with moisture then will it be lower The contrary whereof would happen if their Hypothesis were true But most evident it is that as the Ambient Air becomes more or less rare or dense so doth the Air in the Tube contract or dilate it self which is the sole cause of the rise or fall of the Quicksilver Much more might be said herein and also of the Weather-glass or Thermoscope but I hope this may suffice to induct inquisitive and not exact or perfect Artists The full discourse and discovery of the various effects observations and conclusions of these Instruments requiring rather a Tract peculiar and proper for them only There is also another Instrument that may be made more exact for any of the aforesaid observations or intentions and fit for further discoveries but my occasions will not at present give me leave to perfect it SECT II. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from the Earth and Water If the Earth appear more dry than ordinary or if it greedily Of the Earth drink in Rains lately fallen or Floods suddenly abate it signifies more Rain to follow If the Earth or any moist or Fenny places yield any extraordinary scents or smells it presageth Rain If the Water being formerly very clear change to be dim or Of the Water thick it signifies Rain If Dews lie long in a morning on the Grass c. it signifies fair weather the Air then being more serene and not of an attractive or spungy nature If Dews rise or vanish suddenly and early in the morning it presages Rain If Marble-stones Metals c. appear moist it indicates the inclination of the Air to be moist and subject to Rain But if in a morning a Dew be on the Glass in the window and on the inside it signifies a serene and cool Air and inclinable to drought If the Sea appear very calm with a murmuring noise it signifies Of the Sea winde If on the surface of the Sea you discern white Froth like unto Crowns or Bracelets it signifies winde and the more plainly they appear the greater will the Winde and Tempests be If the waves swell without winds or the Tide rise higher or come ashore more swift than usual it presageth windes SECT III. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Beasts It is a thing worthy of admiration and consideration how the Beasts of the Field Fowls of the Air c. should be capable of so great a degree of knowledge and understanding as to foresee the different changes and varieties of seasons and not from common observations as man doth but from a certain instinct of Nature as is most evident Several significations of the change of weather are taken Of Beeves or Kine c. from the different postures of these Beasts as if they lie on their right side or look towards the South or look upwards as though they would snuff up the Air according to the Poet Mollipedesque Boves spectantes lumina Coeli Cicero Naribus humiferum duxere ex Aere Succum Or if they eat more than ordinary or lick their Hoofs all about Convenit instantes praenoscere protinus Imbres Avien Rain follows forthwith If they run to and fro more than ordinary flinging and kicking and extending their Tails Tempests usually follow If the Bull leadeth the Herd and will not suffer any of them to go before him it presageth Winde and Rain If Sheep feed more than ordinary it signifies Rain or if the Of Sheep Rams skip up and down and eat greedily If Kids leap or stand upright or gather together in Flocks or Of Kids Herds and feed near together it presageth Rain If the Ass bray more than ordinary or without any other Of Asses apparent cause it presageth Rain or windes If Dogs howl or dig holes in the earth or scrape at the walls Of Dogs of the house c. more than usual they thereby presage death to some person in that house if sick or at least tempestuous weather to succeed If the hair of dogs smell stronger than usual or their guts tumble and make a noise it presageth Rain or Snow or they tumble up and down The Cat by washing her face and putting her foot over her Of Cats Ear foreshews Rain It hath been anciently observed that before the fall of a house Of Mice and Rats the Mice and Rats have forsaken it The squeeking and skipping up and down of Mice and Rats portend Rain Parvi cum stridunt denique Mures Avien Cum gestire solo cum ludere forte videntur Portendunt crasso consurgere Nubila Coelo Of all Creatures the Swine is most troubled against winde or Of Swine Tempests which makes Countrymen think that only they see the winde They usually shake Straw in their mouths against Rain As Virgil Ore solutus Immundi meminere sues jactare Maniplos If they play much it signifies the same SECT IV. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Fowl As Beasts so have Birds a