or three days without any imbibition that it may the better attract from all heavenly influence continuing then also a Philosophical Contrition every day this grinding must also be used in the vegetable works where the Mercury of Herbs is used instead of Aqua Coelestis during all the time of preparation Then plant what rare Flowers Fruits or Seeds you please therein the same Philosopher then tells you That if his Theory of Nature deceive him not that Saturn so enriched from the Heavens without the help of any manner of Soil Marl or Compost after one years revolution will make the same to flourish and fructifie in a strange and admirable manner By his Vegetable Saturn may be understood such Earth that is most prone to send forth Plants by its standing so long within its own Sphere is only that it hath been covered either naturally by Turf or artificially by Building or such like that it hath been prevented from wasting its soecund Nature by sending forth or bearing Vegetables The best of such rested fruitful Earth is to be put in what quantity you please into your Brick or Stone Cistern being made proportionable but not too deep lest it hinder you from stirring the Earth to the bottom and will not permit it to dry so easily this must be reduced to a fineness therefore it would not be amiss to let it pass the Sieve or Screen before you put it in your Cistern The imbibition of this Earth with Aqua Coelestis can be no other than with rain-Rain-water which is exhaled by the influence of the Sun and in the Air attracteth a volatile Nitre which descending with the Rain on the dry Earth is soon imbibed again this volatile Spirit or Nitre that thus ariseth in so great a quantity is that Spiritus Mundi that causeth all Vegetation and wherewith the Air it self is filled and by several ways coagulated and by the often irrigating the Earth with it the Earth is the more fertilized But this way of continuing the Contrition or stirring it every day to dry it makes the Earth much easier to attract the Water which being added in a true or so little a proportion that it may not wet but moisten only the Earth will leave its nitrous or vegetating Vertue behind it when the Phlegmatick part fumes away again by the stirring of the Earth which if it were added in too great a quantity would exhaust the nitrous Spirit that was before in the Earth For it is a general Observation amongst Philosophers that as the greater overpowereth the lesser so if the matter you add be volatile and greater in proportion than that which is fixt it is apt to volatilize that which before was fixt being added unto it And on the contrary that if the volatile matter be less in proportion than the fixt to which you add it then is that which is fixt apt to fix the volatile Therefore did our Author wisely add that the imbibition should be made in a true proportion which is that the rain-Rain-water should be only for an easie Humectation and not too great a wetting then he tells you that it should stand two or three days without any imbibition that is between every humectation the Earth should be throughly dryed as the Air or Wind can dry it which will take up such a space of time notwithstanding your daily stirring it for the drier any open terrestrial Matter is it doth not only the more easily attract but more perfectly fixeth that which otherwise would be more volatile although our Author hath not given caution of it yet it is presumed that the square Plot or Cistern he prescribes should be covered or defended from the Sun which by his Rays is apt to attract much of the Spiritus Mundi or Matter of Vegetables where there is plenty unfixt as is evident from the various Smells that are exhaled by it and Colours also much sooner faded by the Sun-beams than by the heat of Fire and also from the Rain which in great Showers is apt to over-moisten it and in continued Rains to prevent its drying therefore your Rain-water should be kept in a Cistern made for that purpose where the longer it remains the better it will prove such Vertue always encreaseth whilst it is in its proper Matrix as appeareth by Urine kept long which yieldeth much more Spirit than whilst it is new By the Author's saying that this grinding is to be used in the Vegetable-work where the Mercury of Herbs is used instead of Aqua Coelestis it 's probable here he means the express'd Juice of green Vegetables which virtually hath in it the matter of Vegetables and may have the same effect on the Earth in a small quantity and little time as the rain-Rain-water hath in a greater quantity by the long continuation of the Operation This way of contrition imbibition and coagulation enricheth the Earth after the same manner by covering it many years with Building by which means Salt-petre is increased only by this Operation you may effect your Design in one year with labour and diligence which there you must wait many years for And by this may you heighten the Vertue of your Soil to a far higher degree it being manual than the other which is nutural and will not exceed the ordinary Bounds limited in this Climate That our Author 's Saturn is our natural and common Earth and his Aqua Coelestis Rain-water may be concluded from his own Expressions used in the same Description of his Philosophical Garden which are That if the Earth it self after it hath thus conceived from the Clouds were then left to bring forth her own Fruits and Flowers in her own time and no Seeds or Plants placed therein by the hand of Man it is held very probable that this heavenly Earth so manured with the Stars would bring forth strange and glorious Fruits and Flowers c. Which is not improbable if we consider the fertility of the Waters of Nile which are first exhausted in those hotter African Regions by the power of the Sun's influence when in a due Latitude and condensed by the Air far more fruitful as well as the Earth in Nitre there than in these colder Regions yielding that great and fertile Flood whose precipitate or setling Slime so far inricheth the dried and thirsty Earth that it not only spontaneously produceth abundance of Vegetables but Animals also I know no reason but by observing our Author's Direction in this Climate a diligent Operator may advance the Vertue of our Earth to the same degree or greater than the Egyptian Soil and then may it answer his Expectations in producing such Rarities that by no other ways are here attainable for if any Man would advance or improve Nature he must tread in Nature's Steps and trace her to the Foundation Next unto this extraordinary improvement of Earth by labour without any other mixture than Earth and Rain-water which many will not experiment because of
from a Pipe standing upright in the midst of it There must also be wast Pipes or Cavities to convey away the Water from such Fountains which must be so made that at your pleasure you may drain your Fountains and cleanse them and must be of capacity to carry off all the Water as it comes left it annoy your Garden for the greater quantity of Water you have the more pleasant will it appear Plenty in Fountains always graceful shows And greatest Beauty from abundance flows But where neither Springs nor Rivers can be obtained to compleat your pleasures yet for use and a little for delight may Water be procured from the Heavens by preserving the drips of the House and conveying it to some Cistern made for that purpose in your Garden which may resemble a Fountain or make a fair Receptacle in your Garden for the Water that may be gained from the declining Walks of your Garden or from adjacent Hills as Rapinus directs But 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 The assembled Floods which from the Hills descend F. H. Van. Houe fec pg. 45 Here follows a DESCRIPTION Of several sorts of FOUNTAINS I. THE Ball raised by a Spout of Water II. The Water representing a double Glass the one over the other III. A Dragon or such like casting Water out of its Mouth as it runs round on the Spindle IV. A Crown casting Water out of several Pipes as it runs round V. A Statue of a Woman that at the turning of a private Cock shall cast Water out of her Nipples into the Spectators Faces VI. The Royal Oak with Leaves Acorns and Crowns dropping and several small Spouts round the top VII The Cistern into which the Water flows by the Pipe A. the Air issueth out at the Pipes b b b. the ends whereof make the Musical sounds in the Trough of Water at C. which is supplied with Water by the Pipe D. which in time dreins the Cistern which wast Water precipitates into E. and from E. into the common Drein These Waters are to be preferr'd for the irrigation of your Plants to any other and in case you make your Cisterns well and Cement the Joynts of your Stone with Parisian Cement or with our own Lime compounded with Lin-seed Oyl they will retain the Water for a long time SECT IV. Of Water-works BEsides those natural Courses that are proposed for the leading the Water from the one place of your Garden to the other after it is entred into its limits there are several ways of ordering it where it is either Naturally or Artificially advanced above the level of your Garden The docile Streams will any shape put on A thousand different Courses they will run Rapinus Therefore the Water must be conveyed from some Cistern or Conduit standing above your Garden at some distance by Pipes or else it must by some Artifice be raised into a Cistern of Lead over some Lodge or Grot in your Garden that from thence it may by smaller Pipes be secretly conveyed to your several Works As to the Fountains where it may be cast through various Figures as before was hinted in the last Section Or it may be made to rise in the midst of a Fountain or your Grotto through the Branches of an Artificial Tree each Sprig being hollow that it may continually drop with Spouts on the top for the erecting of greater quantities of Water Or it may rise in one small upright Stream carrying a Ball of Wood on it which being exactly round and placed on the mouth of the Pipe and the Water by the opening of a stop cock made for that purpose admitted by degrees the Ball will rise and be supported by the Spout of Water to five six or seven foot high after the same manner as a single Pease may be elevated by your Breath on a Straw but in case your Ball be apt to fall then may you perforate it through the Centre smoothly and exactly in the middle and place this small hole directly on the middle of the mouth of the Pipe and so raise the Ball by degrees and the small spout of water that passes through the Centre of the Ball will preserve it in its due posture By a Copper Cylinder made to fit on the top of the Pipe out of which the water violently flows to take off and on at pleasure may you sometimes make the water resemble a large Glass inverted by placing a flat piece of Copper on the top of the Cylinder and leaving only a narrow circular passage under it for the water freely to flow out of it on every side Another Pipe or Cylinder of a lesser size made to rise off the middle of the said flat piece of Copper or Cap with a like Cap on the top of it and a passage left as before will cause the water issuing out of both the Cylinders the one over the other to present a Glass within a Glass both inverted Also Crowns Birds Beasts made of light Brass or Copper hollow and easie to turn on a Cylinder the one end of the Cylinder is to be set on the top of the Water-pipe the other end to force the water with certain thin Vanes in the inside of your hollow Figure which will make it to move swiftly about ejecting the water out of the sides or mouth of the Figures in its motion which is very pleasant to behold Secret Pipes may be under the Ground the ends not appearing above it that when any Ladies unawares or casually walk or stand over them by the turning of a stop cock you may force the water upright under their Coats to their sudden surprize You may also place on Pedestals of about three foot high several Figures at about three foot distance ten or twenty of a side The interval between these Figures may be 8 or 10 foot over Through these Pedestals and Figures small Pipes must be brought that the Water may out of the mouth of the Figures be ejected into the Air the one Figure directing it towards its opposite Figure beyond it and a little sideways so that at the turning of a stop-cock each Figure shall cast out a stream of Water over like a Rain-bow that you may walk under these Spouts as under so many Arches without any drop falling on you But that which is very delightful is the singing of the Nightingal exactly imitated by the motion of the Water and is thus performed In some Cavity of your Grott or other Edifice where you desire at any time to hear this Musick you must place a large Cistern of Lead containing ten twenty or thirty Gallons as you please This Cistern must be well clothed on every part except the useful passages for Pipes into it near the top must the Water be let in
tho' the Seed were naught which if sown in the Dust and a Shower happen in three or four days after those Seeds tho' never so meanly covered rarely fail only here you may take notice that such Seeds that are apt to be devoured by Birds as those of Cabbages Turneps Radishes c. if they lie long before a Shower come or be watred by hand have need of some defence from their Devourers Many sorts of Trees and Flowers naturally Of making and taking off of Off-sets or Suckers afford Off-sets or Suckers from their Roots by which their kinds are propagated some there are that afford them very plentifully even to excess as the Dwarf Almond Hypericum Frutex and several others and some there are that rarely yield any as the Mezerion Althea Fruticosa c. It is therefore worthy of knowledge to understand how to cause Trees that will not naturally afford such Off-sets to emit them from their Roots the way prescribed is thus Make bare the Roots of the Plant of woody substance and then make an Incision on the upper-side of the naked Root as you do on the under side of a Branch which you intend to lay make the Incision from the Tree downwards and put a small Stone or Stick under the Lip to keep the Cleft open then cover the Root over about three Inches with good Mould and as the Lip in a Branch that is laid will send forth Fibrous Roots so will this as ingenious Planters affirm send forth Branches which with the Root out of which it springs may be transplanted securely Some Plants there are which are propagated Of propagating of Plants by Cuttings or encreased by Cuttings as most sorts of Garden-Herbs and some Trees as Evergreen Privett Jassamines Laurel Woodbine c. and some Flowers as Wall-Flowers Periwinkles c. The best time for encreasing Herbs and tender Plants by this way is in the Spring and from that time till the Autumn only observe that if you set any Slips or Cuttings in hot or dry Weather you must be careful to water and shade them but woody Plants that bear Leaves should be slipt or cut and planted some time before they begin to shoot as the Woodbine in the Autumn and Jassamines Laurels c. In the Spring Plants propagated this way emit their Fibrous Roots at a Joint therefore it is best to cut them off just at or below a Joynt and they will take root the sooner for so much Wood beyond the place of rooting is apt to rot and hinder the young Fibres If your Tree be so high and stubborn that Of Propagation by Circumposition its Branches will not stoop to the Ground then it is convenient to raise the Earth to the Branch you intend to propagate but first take off the Bark of the Sprigs or Branch as near as you can to the Stem of the Tree for the better supporting the weight of the Earth If you cannot conveniently place it so near the Trunk of the Tree you may support it with some Stake or the like then take a Box Basket old Hat Boot or the like and place it so that the Branch may go through the middle of it and that the disbarked or cut place may be also in the middle then prick the Bark on the upper side of the Cut with an Awl or such like Tool to cause the Branch more easily to emit its fibrous Roots then fill the Vessel with good Mould and in dry Weather water it sometimes This Application is most proper to be done before the Sap begins to rise and the end of the Bark of the Branch you intend to take off will before the Autumn be furnished with Roots enough to feed it without the assistance of the old Tree then saw or cut it off and plant it as you desire Those that delight in blanched Lettuce may To blanch Lettuce blanch them with expedition by covering every Plant with a small Earthen Pot and laying hot Soil upon them It is thus prescribed Sow it in the Spring upon To blanch Succary the Borders and when it hath six Leaves replant it in rich Ground about eighteen Inches distance each Plant from the other paring them at the tops When they are grown so large as to cover the Ground tie them up in several places with long Straw or raw Hemp at several times as they grow fair leaving the other to grow larger Or you may gently bind them and take away the Earth on one side of each Plant and couch it down gently without bruising the Leaves and so cover it with Earth and it will become white in a little time without running to Seed Couch them all one way and then they will not hinder one another To blanch them for the Winter it is thus prescribed At the first Frosts tie them after the former way about eight Days after make a Trench about the height of your Plant then pluck up your Plants and place them in this Trench range them side by side a little shelving as they may gently touch Cover them with rotten Dung of the same Bed they were sown in you may make Trench after Trench till you have finished Then cover the whole Bed four Fingers thick with hot Dung from the Stable and in a short time they will be blanched To preserve them from rotting you may cover them with Mats placed aslant to cast off the great Rains Or you may take them into the House and cover them with Sand in some Cellar observing to place them with the tops downwards that the Sand may not run in between the Leaves Let the Sand cover them four Fingers thick when you take them up shake them well with the Root upmost that all the Sand may fall out from the Leaves Cover the Plants with reasonable warm Dung To blanch Endive draw them out at the first appearance of Frost then keep them in Sand in your Cellar Or when they are grown to some reasonable greatness before they shoot out any Stalks for Seed take them up and the Roots being cut away lay them to wither for three or four Hours and then bury them in Sand so as none of them may lie one upon another or touch one another they will by this means change whitish and thereby become very tender THE GARDENER'S Monthly Directions Shewing what is NECESSARY to be DONE Throughout the YEAR IN Sowing Planting and Propagating the most Valuable of the Shrubs Flowers Esculents and other Hortensian Plants before treated of And what Ornamental Trees and Flowers Are in their PRIME in each MONTH LONDON Printed for William Freeman at the Bible over against the Middle Temple-gate in Fleet-street 1700. THE PREFACE AT the first publishing this small Treatise it was not my Intention to have added a Kalendar by reason that I had composed a large one for Husbandry in general which was printed at the end of my Systema Agriculturae which contained many
become dull by too long acquaintance with them But the pleasures of a Garden are every day renewed with the approaching Aurora While with succeeding Flow'rs the year is crown'd Whose painted Leaves enamel all the ground Admire not them but with more grateful Eyes To Heaven look and their great Maker prize In a calm Night the Earth and Heaven agree There radiant Stars here brighter Flow'rs we see Gardens as if immortal ne'er decay And fading Flow'rs to fresher still give way Rapinus Such is its pre-excellency that there is scarce a Cottage in most of the Southern parts of England but hath its proportionable Garden so great a delight do most of men take in it that they may not only please themselves with the view of the Flowers Herbs and Trees as they grow but furnish themselves and their Neighbors upon extraordinary occasions as Nuptials Feasts and Funerals with the proper products of their Gardens Flowers in many things convenient are Our Tables and our Cupboards we prepare With them and better to diffuse their scent We place them in our Rooms for Ornament By others into Garlands they are wrought And so for Off'rings to the Altars brought Sometimes to Princes Banquets they ascend And to their Tables fragrant Odours lend Rapinus It furnishes our Kitchin and Tables with various Esculents as well satisfying Nature as pleasing our Appetites it yields us various Spirits Essences Perfumes Waters Unguents Conserves Perserves and many other necessary useful and pleasant dietical and medicinal Curiosities which the same Rapinus hath elegantly expressed in his Poems on the same Subject and at last concludes I should too tedious be of I should sing The mighty aids which Herbs and Flowers bring To the Diseases Men are subject to For these the Gods with Vertue did endue CHAP. I. Of the Scituation and Soyls of a Garden and their Improvement SECT I. Of the Scituation of a Garden IT may seem needless to say any thing of the Scituation of a Garden it being so absolute a Concomitant to your Habitation that a Garden remote or by it self is neither pleasant nor useful Therefore where-ever your House is near it must be your Garden But in case you have not yet laid the Foundation of your intended Residence then may you consider what Ground or Soyl is best for your Plantation and Partirre without which you can never make the other compleat Therefore as near as you can let the Soyl be good deep and light that Trees and Tillage may prosper in it and then you need not question but Flowers will thrive there Let it have the free and open Air to the East and South but the South-East is to be preferred and the North defended by tall Trees which are better than Hills which give too great a reflection of Heat in the Summer and impede the cool Breezes that frequently come out from that Coast If the whole Garden be at some distance defended by tall Trees it will very much break the fierce Winds and ferene Airs that in the Winter and Spring usually annoy the most delicate Plants and Flowers and will also yield a cooling refreshing sweet and healthy Air and Shade in the hottest Seasons If the Soyl be dry and warm a plain Level is best for a Garden but if it be cold or moist then declining or shelving towards the Sun is the best position because by Fosses or by the Walks only the Water naturally glides from it And in such a Garden Trees Plants and Flowers will thrive exceedingly These Rules are good where you are to make your election what sort of ground and wheâ—e you design your Seat I might have also added the springs of Water in or near your Garden are great additions to the Improvement Beauty and Glory of it but that it 's hoped few will seat themselves where that Element is wanting unless it be for the sake of some pleasant Grove Prospect or delicate Air Woods and Water being two of the best Ornaments of the Seat which may be had in most places together with a good Air but seldom Water and a good Prospect If you are fixed or limited to a place or scituation that puts an end to Election and then you are to consider the Nature of the Soyl you are on what it is apt to produce how to be corrected and improved SECT II. Of the different and most natural Soyls for Gardens LAnds are usually inclinable to Loam Clay Chalk Marle or Sand. A Loamy Land is usually free and apt to Vegetation warm and easie to Till the sadder the Colour the better if it be free from Stones and Gravel with a sandy mixture and mellow withal it is esteemed the best for Gardens for the most sorts of Fruits and Flowers There is much Land that is mixed with Clay in too great a proportion which maketh it apt to bind and is cold and moist in the Winter season retaining wet too much and apt to chap in the Summer it is injurious to most Fruits and Flowers and therefore hath most need of help of any other Chalky Land is generally very sweet and kind to many Plants that are not very tender it being cold in the Winter and suffers not its Plants to put forth early in the Spring it is not difficult to be corrected and made more natural to the choicest Fruits and Flowers Marle is a very good mixture in Land so that it be not in too great a quantity it being much of the nature of Chalk but easier to be tilled and improved Sandy Land is very warm and free very apt for Vegetation and amicable to most of our choicest Fruits and Flowers but if the Sand predominate it will require a constant supply of proper Soyls to enrich it SECT III. Of the Improvement of such Soyls THere are many parcels of Land lying near Towns Villages and Houses that are of that excellent mixture of Loam and other Earths that they are capable to entertain most of the delicate Fruits Flowers and other Curiosities that are fit to be planted or propagated in your best Partirs without any other mixture or composition other than convenient dung of Oxen Cows Sheep Pullen Pidgeons and sometimes old and rotten Horse-dung to preserve it in its due and wonted fertility it being by continual weeding and the attraction of the Plants you furnish it withal apt to sterilize So that where your ground is thus naturally fertile and prone to vegitate you need take no other care than to apply proper Soyls or Compositions according as the nature of your Plant requires or to maintain it in its full vigour Claiy-Land being cold moist and stiff is to be converted by labour and mixtures of a contrary nature if you dig it often the Sun Rain and Frost will make it more friable and fertile For take Clay and lay it on any other Land it will in time dissolve and unite in minute parts with it that you shall hardly discern it so
Lassitude or the Heat Rain or scorching beams of the Sun render the open Walks unpleasant to repose your self under some pleasant Tree or in some Covert or Shade until you are willing to try the Air again SECT I. Of Walks and Meterials for them WHerefore to accommodate you for all 1. Stone-Walks Seasons wet or dry hot or cold it is convenient to have Walks and Places of Repose in your Garden As for Walks the best for the Winter and wet Seasons are those paved with Stone about the breadth of five foot in the midst of a Gravel-walk of about five or six foot Gravel on each side the Stone or of Grass which you please for on these flat Stones may you walk securely under-foot in all Weathers without prejudice to your self or Walks Next unto the paved Stone are the Gravel-walks 2. Gravel Walks walks to be preferred which if made with a fine skreened red Gravel do very much adorn your Garden and being laid round and kept rolled with a Stone-roler cast off the Water and are very useful in moist Weather to walk on The Gravel-walks are best under your Fruit-walks because the beams or rays of the Sun reflect from them against the Walls much better than from Grass and very much advantage your Fruit. The great inconveniences these Walks are subject unto are Weeds and Moisture To prevent the Weeds you must be sure to remove all manner of earth clean from the place before you bring in your Gravel and in case the Earth be not stiff enough of it self it would not be amiss to support the sides with two or three courses of Brick or at least a Brick set on end edge by edge to prevent the falling in or mixture of the said Earth with your Gravel yet so that the upper part of your Brick may be an inch beneath the surface of your Walk that it may not be discerned If your Ground be good and apt to run to Weeds seven or eight inches deep ought your Gravel to lie lest the Weeds find their way through you ought also to cleanse the Ground under from the Roots of Grass Weeds as Nettles Docks c. least they find their way through the Gravel You may fill your Walk with ordinary coarse unskreened Gravel five or six inches and after that is levelled then lay on your last Course of fine Gravel and roll it well if your upper Course of Gravel be two or three inches thick and at any time your Walk grow discoloured or mossy you may stir it with a Spade as far as the fine Gravel lyes and finely rake it then roll it again and it will appear to be as fresh as at the first The other inconvenience these Walks are subject unto is Moisture especially after a Frost which very much loosens the Gravel and long soaking Rains make it apt to stick to your Feet For the best red Gravel hath a mixture of Clay or Loam in it which makes it in dry weather bind the better to prevent which several Expedients are lately made use of Some do grind or beat small the shels of Fish gathered on the Sea-shore and therewith add a thin coat on the Gravel which by constant rolling incorporates with it and is not apt to adhere to your Shooes as is the Gravel it self Others that live near to Brick-kilns make use of the refuse parts of Bricks that are under burnt which will easily pulverize and lay that on the Gravel-Walks which prevents the same inconvenience and adds much to the beauty of your Walk and is easily renewed as there is occasion On the edge of your Gravel-Walks you may lay on each side a narrow Walk of Turf for your use in hot weather or when you are willing to favour your Feet or your Gravel which being kept out strait on the edges beautifies your Gravel But if you will have your Walk only Gravel then will it be necessary to edge it with Brick three or four inches above the surface to prevent Earth or Rubbish from intermixing with it Bricks set on one end side by side is the securest and most lasting way for this purpose Walks of Grass are very pleasant and much 3. Green Walks to be preferred in the Summer to any of the other being cold and easie to the Feet They are either made by laying them with Turf or by raking them fine and sowing them with Hay-dust or Seed which may be had at the bottom of a Hay-mow or Rick and well rolled and weeded from all gross Weeds will soon become a fine Grass-walk if these Walks also be laid a little rounding they will cast off the water the better and be more commodious for your use than if flat A Water-table on each side of two or three inches deep cut every year anew not only receives the waste water but preserves the Grass or Weeds from mixing with your Borders and presents your Walk much more pleasant to your eye than if it were otherwise To destroy Weeds in the Gravel-walks or paved Walks where you cannot conveniently eradicate them you must water it with very salt Water or with the Liquor they have at the Salters which they call Bittern which absolutely destroys all Vegetation where it is cast in an indifferent good quantity It is none of the least oblectations a Garden 4. Of Terrace-walks affords to have Terrace-walks on which you have the benefit of the Air and prospect on your Garden These in former Ages and now also in more hot Countries were much celebrated the Hortipensiles or Pendant-gardens were after this manner made above the ordinary level for the advantage of the Air and pleasure of the Eye and somewhat to add to the magnificence of the Place being very beautiful as well as commodious They are usually made where much Earth or Rubbish is to spare which would cost time and labour to remove and here is disposed of to advantage with the only expence of a Wall on the out-side to support it or if you please on both but the inner-side to your Garden may be made declining and cloathed with Turf The Wall on the out-side surmounting the Top of the Walk about three foot and on the Edge towards your Garden may be set a Rail or Rail and Ballisters or a Pallisade or a quick tonsile Hedge of about the same height the Wall is of that neither side prevent the Air nor impede your Prospect In some Gardens where water is at your command the sinking of an Aquaeduct or Piscary will afford you Materials for your Terrace-walk both of which are best and most proper to be made at the farthest distance from your House SECT II. Of Arbors and Places of Repose TO make your Garden pleasant at all times and in all seasons either in respect of the great variety of weather or your own disposition or indisposition it will be very necessary to accommodate it with places of Shade to skreen you from the
scorching Sun-beams Canopies to preserve you from the Rain and Boxes to seclude you from the too cold Breezes That although you are not willing to expose your self too much in the intemperate Air or your present inability or unaptness for a Walk be such that you cannot with delight enjoy it yet that you may not lose those exhile rating Pleasures your Garden most times affords For cool Recessss in the hottest times it 1. Of Arbours hath been usual to erect or frame Arbors with Poles or Rods and plant them about with shady Trees which are an Ornament to some Gardens but to be rejected 1. Because they require much repair and care to preserve them for in your Garden of Pleasure you ought to be frugal of cost and pains left your Delights become occasions of Prodigality and your Recreations burthensome to you 2. Because the Seats are apt to be moist and foul it being apt to impair your health to sit on a cold Seat Salubrity being one of the advantages expected from a Garden 3. After a shower in the Summer is the pleasantest time to recreate your Senses amongst your odorous Plants and then this place of recess is wholly useless the dripping continuing long after the shower 4. The usual cool breezes that you will sensibly feel in those Arbors to your prejudice balance all the conveniences you can expect from them But if the Weather and time of the day invite you to sit in the Air without inconvenience a Seat under the shade of some Platanus Lin-Tree or the like is much more pleasant than to be Hood-winked in an Arbor You may have a Seat made of thin and light 2. Of Seats Materials and painted with a white colour in Oyl or as best pleases your fancy which may be moveable with a little help and placed sometimes in one place and sometimes in another as the weather happens This Seat may be made close behind and covered that being set with the back to the Wind will be both warm and dry In the Nieches of your Wall may you place Seats covered over that you may rest your self in at your pleasure At the ends of your Walks are the most proper places for such Seats that whilst you sit in either of them you have the view of your Garden The best Form for these Seats is round the one semicircle within the Wall the other without with a Cupulo the outward part to be supported by three or four or more columns of Timber or Stone the other part resting on the Wall the top covered with Lead Slate or Shingle with its due Cornish about that part that is off from the Wall Or you may make them of a long square Form about two Foot in the Niech of the Wall and as much without covered as the round but casting the drip side-ways or backward Having several of these Seats facing to each Coast be the Wind or Sun either way you have a place to defend your self from it You may also cover your Benches or Stools with Mat and lay the Floors with Board which will much conduce to your own ease and health Arbors Benches and Seats are very necessary 3 Of Pleasure-houses being present expedients for them that are weary but that which crowns the pleasure of a Garden is a place of repose where neither Wind Rain Heat nor Cold can annoy you This small Edifice usually term'd a Pleasure-house or Banquetting-house may be made at some remote Angle of your Garden For the more remote it is from your House the more private will you be from the frequent disturbances of your Family or Acquaintance and being made at an Angle part within your Garden and part without you will have the priveledges and advantages of Air and View which otherwise you will want and which render it much more pleasant than to be without them The Windows and Doors the one or other respecting every Coast may be glazed with the best and most transparent Glass to represent every Object through it the more splendid with skreens of painted and printed Sarcenet to prevent in the day and shutters of thin Wainscot in the night others from disturbing your solitary Repose Also you may reap the pleasure and advantage of the Air from either Coast by opening that side of your small Edifice from whence you would receive it excluding on the other side that which might otherwise annoy you In the other corner of your Garden or some 4. Of Repositeries for tender Plants opposite place to such Pleasure-houses may you erect another of the same Form to answer it as to your view which may serve as a place to preserve your tender Plants in during the extremity of the Winter and is usually term'd a Green-house because several Winter-Greens are therein preserved that will not endure the severity of that Season in it also may you dispose on shelves your dry Roots of Flowers and Seeds until the time of the year mind you of interring them On these small Edifices may you bestow what cost you can afford and make them as they deserve to be the principal Ornaments of your Ville It is not unusual to raise a Mount with the 5. Of Mount waste Earth or Rubbish you may otherwise happen to be troubled withal at some convenient distance from your House on which as on your Terrace-walks you have the advantage of the Air and prospect and whereon you may erect a Pleasure or Banqueting-house or such like place of Repose The most famous of this kind is that near Marlborough whether first raised by Art or Nature is not yet determined however it hath a most pleasant and easie ascent and from the Summit whereof you have a good Air and a fair prospect CHAP. IV. Of Springs Rivers Fountains Water-works and Grotto's necessary for a Garden IT is not to be denied that a kind and fruitful Soil may produce all sorts of Plants proper for a Garden of Pleasure Use or Advantage which may render such a Place delightful yet cannot such a Garden ever be said to be complete nor in its full splendour and beauty without this Element of Water Wherefore Rapinus adviseth thus You then who would your Villa's Grace augment And on its Honour always are intent You who imploy your time to cultivate Your Gardens and to make their Glory great Among your Groves and Flowers let Water flow Water 's the Soul of Groves and Flowers too Besides the particular uses you may put it to in watering your several Gardens it is very pleasant to have your Piscaries Rivulets Fountains c. about your Ville SECT I. Of Springs MAny pleasant Seats Vills and Gardens there are that are very well scituate for Air and Prospect that are of themselves dry which defect may be supplied from Springs of Water rising at some distance and may be conveyed by Pipes to such places in your Ville or Garden as you desire In places where Wood is plenty the
to prevent some have affirmed that if you take Soot of Chimnies and lay it in Water till the Water be strongly tinged therewith and with that imbibe your Seed and then sow it neither the Birds nor Flies will meddle with it You may sow them in April to have Turnips in the Summer but sowing them after for the Winter is most seasonable In the Winter before the great Frosts prevent you may take them up and cutting off the Greens dispose of them in some cool place on heaps and they will keep long and much better and longer in case they be laid in Sand and covered with it They will root the better and larger if the Leaves spread and grow flat than if they stand upright or grow upwards which to prevent sow them not too thick or if they come up too thick in any place reduce them to a convenient number or distance of about ten or twelve inches and supply the defects by transplantation and you will find that the increase of your Root shall ballance the lessening your number for the near standing of any Vegetables cause them to aspire upwards as is evident in most Trees planted in Copses which otherwise are apt to spread But if the over fatness of your Ground which is a great fault for Turnips or overmuch wet cause them to run out in leaf more than in root then treading down the leafs will make them root the better The Greens or Leaves of Turnips that have been sown late and lived over the Winter are usually boyled and eaten with salt Meats and prove an excellent Condiment Thus ordered will a small spot of Ground yield you a second Crop after Pease Beans or Sallee-Herbs of excellent Food which the most curious plates disdain not and much more in value then any of Corn or Grain whatever Carrots have been anciently used for Meat Of Carrots but not so much as Turnips have been yet are they the sweeter Meat and more easily eaten without Bread or rather better serve to supply that cefect than Turnips for Turnips are much the better Condiment but Carrots the pleasanter Food There are two sorts of them the yellow and the Orange or more red the last of which is by much the better They delight in light Ground with a mixture of Sand if it be rich or heavy you must take the more pains in digging it to make it as light as you can If you dung your Land the same year you sowe your Carrots you must be sure to bury your Dung so low that the roots may not extend to it for as soon as they touch the Dung they grow forked The Season for sowing them is in February or March in dry Weather To make them large you must do with them as with the Turnips only they will admit of a greater number on the same quantity of ground than the other If sown between Beans set in wide rows after the Beans are taken up your Carrots will thrive and you may have a second Crop but these not so fair nor early as those that are sown in Beds by themselves To improve this and other Roots gather your Seeds from the highest aspring Branches and sow them as before is directed then when you take them up select the fairest and preserve for Seed the next year then Plant them and take the Seeds from the highest tops as before Carrots are preserved as Turnips over the Winter but if you will have Carrots early in the Spring you must sow them in August and preserve them from the Frost in the Winter by covering them with Pease-haum But these are not so good as those that are sown in the Spring Next unto Carrots are Parsnips in great Parsnips use for a delicate sweet Food and were so esteem'd in Plinys time and by him reputed to be excitatives unto Venus an argument that they are very nutrimental They delight in a richer Soyl than the Carrots but as light and well stirr'd as may be else in every respect to be ordered as the Carrots but are not to stand so thick The Skirret or Skirwort-Root was also a very ancient Dish amongst the Romans and is the sweetest whitest and most pleasant of Roots and by Physicians esteemed a great restorative and good for weak Stomachs and an effectual Friend to Dame Venus Skirrets delight in a very Rich Light and Of Skirrets not too dry Soyl for in moist Summers they are fairest They are increased by Plants divided in February or March and set in single Buds at six or eight inches distance and in a dripping year or otherwise if they be watered in dry Seasons you will have a very plentiful increase the succeeding Winter you may also Plant them here and there on the edges of your other Beds They endure the Winter very well and you may take them up at any time before the Spring be too forward if the Frosts prevent you not when you take the Roots cover the tops in Earth for your farther encrease The Root Scorsonera is as yet not common Of Scorsonera but very much commended by some to be good Meat after the outer Rind is scraped off and the Root steep'd a while in Water to take away that little bitterness it hath They are said to lie in the ground all the Winter and from year to year without any prejudice but will still grow bigger and bigger although they yearly run up to Seed They are increased either by Seed or by Slips as the Skirrets or by cutting the Roots in several pieces which planted in good ground at about eight or nine inches distance in March will yield a considerable increase or may be planted at any other time they being hardy They are esteem'd to be very cordial and excellent in Feavers Potato's are much used in Ireland and in America Of Potato's as Bread and are of themselves also an usual Food They grow in any good mellow ground and are increased by cutting the Roots in pieces and planting them as the Scorsonera These and the Jerusalem Artichoaks which Of Jerusalem Artichoaks are by much the meaner Food although somewhat like them may be propagated with advantage to poor People a little ground yielding a very great quantity as the many small Welsh Territories adjoyning to the High-ways in those parts planted with them plainly demonstrate The Red Beet or Roman Parsnip and the Of Beets White Beet were amongst the ancient Romans and by several are now used as well in Root as in Leaf at the Table Beets delight in a rich and deep Soil as doth the Parsnip and must be sown about the same time or rather set about fifteen inches asunder because their Leaves are large Or you may sow them in a Bed promiscuously and when they are grown a little then transplant them and they will yield fairer Roots the other being apt to be forked There are Chards of Beets as well as of Artichoaks and after the
February or March because the Cold and Mice will destroy a part Ground laid in deep Furrows from East to West and Pease sown or set on the South declining side of each Furrow will defend your Pease better in the Winter than if they were sown or set on a Level For on the Wiltshire Plains the Husbandmen leave their Land after it is sown with Wheat as rough and clotty as they can to shelter their Corn in Grass from the severity of the cold Winds in the Winter Pease on Sticks will bear more but on the ground will ripen sooner CHAP. IV. Of Cabbages and Caulyflowers THere is not a more ancient nor nor common Cabbage Esculent Plant than a Cabbage or Caulwort nor any Garden Aliment so wholesom if Cato that lived near two thousand years since and Chrysippus and Dieuches two famous Physitians more ancient that wrote each of them a Volume of the excellent Vertues of this Plant may be credited or the Country wherein they wrote considered Pythagoras himself long before Cato had not so mean an opinion of Beans but he had as high of this Ever since those Times we have had the consent and approbation of all our European Territories except the more severe Northern that Cabbages and Caulworts are a good and wholesom Food as their constant and vulgar use of them in every place sufficiently manifest Here in England not a Village without them and if there be a House without a Garden or a Garden without a Caulwort yet the Inhabitants or Owners of them will furnish themselves from the Market yet are they not so addicted to the use of them here as in France Holland Germany c. where in Germany that famous City of Wurtsburgh is said to derive its Name from the great plenty of Wurts as they call them that grow about it We have here many sorts of them besides the common which are known to every one as the Dutch Cabbage the large sided Cabbage the white-headed Cabbage the red Cabbage perfum'd Cabbage Savoy Cabbage and Russia Cabbage The first that heads is a small white Cabbage The Dutch Cabbage called the Dutch-Cabbage and comes in Season before the common English Cabbage and is very sweet notwithstanding it hath not felt the Frost which is a great improver of the tast of most Cabbage The Cabbage that is now much in request is the large-sided Cabbage it 's a very tender plant The largefided Cabbag sown not till May planted out in July and in the Autumn is eaten as the best Cabbage in the World The large white-headed Cabbage which is The white-headed Cabbage the biggest of all Cabbages is worthy your care for its greatness sake There is a sort of red Cabbage and another The red Cabbage inclining to purple they are small and grow near the ground and are planted only for varietysake and to garnish Dishes c. There are some sort that have a Musky Scent Perfum'd Cabbage and are therefore called perfum'd Cabbages which are not unworthy your Care But one of the best sorts of all is the Savoy The Savoy Cabbage Cabbage almost as hardy as our common English Cabbage the Winter Plants head very well being Planted out in the Spring as the ordinary Cabbage are the heads when the Frosts have touched them turn yellow and then are delicate Meat These that are raised of Seeds in the Spring will have but snall heads which as also those without heads in the succeeding Winter are exceeding any ordinary Caul or Cabbage The Russia Cabbage is the least and most The Russia Cabbage humble of all the Cabbages growing very near the ground is very pleasant Food hardy and quick of growth So that you need not be without all the Summer The Winter Plants heading early and the Spring Plants arriving to maturity in seven weeks after they are sown Sow all your Cabbage Seeds that you intend for Winter Plants in Argust or beginning of September and when they are grown with Leaves about three Fingers broad then draw them and plant them out in fresh and rich Land where they may remain all the Winter and at Spring replant them where they are to stand for Cabbages These are those they call Leger Plants that produce the fairest Cabbages You may sow your Seeds in the Spring in March and April for Cauls for the whole Summer and some of them if the Year prove dripping or they sometimes watered will head At the transplanting your young Plants water them with water that is enriched with dung Before the great Frosts surprise you you may take up your hardest Cabbages and after they have hung up by their Roots about a fortnight to drain the water from them you may either lay them in some Cellar where they will keep a long time or Plant them deep in the ground close one to another and cover them with Hawm or Straw until you have occasion to use them Those you intend for Seed you may plant in rich Soil indifferent deep and cover them from the Frosts and in the Spring they will quickly aspire Beside these variety of Cabbages Caul and Sprouts springing from the old decapitated Stumps there is a perennial Caul being usually called Sheer-Wurt or Sheer-Caul that will continually yield you a green Mess whenever you have occasion and deserves a place in your Kitchin Garden and is raised of Seed as the other There is also a sort of Caul that is very much curled and is very good and by some much esteem'd But the German Colewort exceeds all other for its delicate Taste and its hardiness against the greatest severity of the Winter although not yet commonly propagated There is a Species of Cauls much more excellent Of Cauly-flowers than any of the former which are Cauliflowers which merit a far greater esteem at the Table than the Cabbage for a time their prime Season lasts not above two Months But afterwards the Cabbage becomes a better Dish which is welcome to any Man's Table six Months together and the Sprouts and green Caul all the residue of the year Their Seeds are sown in August or September on Beds where they may be defended all the Winter by Mats or other close Shelter to preserve them from Frosts In the Spring about the end of March it is a good time to plant them out in Plants where they should stand which in a dripping Spring or by diligent watering will yield you fair Flowers but if they are not watered they will bring forth ragged and divided Flowers You may Sow their Seed in February on a hot Bed and have Flowers within a Month after those that were Sown before Winter Those that are of one growth usually Flower about a time which to prevent you may remove some of your Plants once every Fortnight for two three or four times as you think good which will keep them back from Flowring and so you may have them one after
be rotten and hath its Acidity abated or digested Straw or any dry Vegetables become rotten Straw and mix'd with Earth maketh it light and fit for your choicest Anemonies and all fibrous rooted Flowers Tobacco dried or cur'd and afterwards Tobacco mix'd with your Garden-mould will doubtless exceedingly enrich it For it is of a very high and strong nature and containeth much of a Volatile Nitrous Salt in it and is reported to be equally as effectual in the tanning of Leather as the Bark of the Oak which if it be true as I have no reason to doubt it it may prove a considerable Improvement of many Country Farms and of great benefit and advantage to the Nation in general either of which Uses is better than that to which it is now usually put unto SECT I. Of Watering Gardens BEsides the Mixture of several Materials Fat Waters and Composts with Land to make it fruitful you may add enriched Waters which serve where you cannot conveniently change your Ground or remove your Plant as in several Flower-trees and Artichoaks Asparagus c. That Water is very good that is taken out of standing Pools where Cattel usually resort to shade or cool themselves in hot Weather and leave their Dung in it which by the stirring of their Feet enricheth the Water Ducks and Geese also much improve standing Pools where they frequent Several Waters may be prepared in which you may steep or macerate your Seeds or Pulse to make them sprout the sooner or come the fairer and with the same Water may you irrigate your Ground Many Receipts there are to that end I shall only mention some of them Take Sheeps Dung well dissolved in warm Water and after it hath stood twelve Hours strain it through a course Cloth with compression for it is so slimy that it comes through with difficulty therefore I suppose a Decantation may serve To two or three Gallons of this Liquor add a handful of Bay-salt and somewhat a lesser proportion of Salt-petre and let them both be dissolved in the former Water which to expedite let it be made luke-warm and stirred often in which Liquor let your Seeds lie for twenty four hours or more till they are throughly swelled Pulse need not lie so long Then take out your Seeds or Pulse and expose them thinly on some Floor to the Air not the Sun until they be half dry then sow them It is also prescribed that the remainder of the Sheeps Dung that was not made liquid should be dried and calcined and the fix'd Salt extracted out of it and added to the former Composition but it 's more probable that another parcel of Sheeps Dung calcined would yield more and better Salt than the remaining part of the dissolved Dung. This latter part makes the process too difficult and troublesom and adds but little to the vertue of it any other fixed Salt having the same effect as that so hard to be obtained This Liquor is more effectual for the watering of Plants than it is for the maceration of Seeds and so are any other salt Waters Some add a greater quantity of Salt-petre and Bay-salt some only Salt-petre others use Pigeons Dung in stead of Sheeps Dung also Lime-water after that manner enrich'd with Sheeps Dung Pigeons Dung or Neats Dung is equal in vertue if not exceeding that to which Salt-petre or Bay-salt is added Every Husbandman hath experimented the Effect of Lime the Salt only extracted by the Rains enriching the Earth occasioning so plentiful a Crop the other remaining part like a Caput Mortuum only tempereth the Land for the future and maketh it more sad where before it was too light which if the Land did not require it then doth Lime after its Salt is wasted much injury to the Land whereon it is laid Nitre or Salt-petre only dissolv'd in Water a Pound to four or five Gallons is held to be very effectual to enrich barren Mould This agrees with our Observations about Earth covered with Building or otherwise defended from Sun and Rain for the generation of Nitre Some commend the sprinkling of Milk and Rain-water on the Beds first sifted over with Lime pulverized whether by pounding or slacking with Water it mattereth not neither of which can improve or abate the vertue or quantity of its Salt the thing we desire and after every Watering sifting more Lime This way may not be amiss for such Lands that the Caput Mortuum of the Lime remaining after the Salt is extracted will not prejudice and for such Plants that the Lime lying on the Ground will not injure The Milk may be left out not signifying so much as the value of it amounts unto the Liquor wherein Flesh Meats whether Fresh or Salt have been boyled is much better and easier obtained The Salt of Lime extracted with Water in some large wooden Vessel containeth in it the same improving Vertue and is less troublesom to make use of and free from the Inconveniences that attend the other way Much more might be said concerning these improving Liquids as well as Solids but that the most learned and experienc'd of Rural or Mr Evelyn Hortulane Authors hath lately been very copious on the same Subject Only I may here advise the unexperienced not to water his Plants in either Garden with a cold Spring or Well-water if he can obtain any other which if he cannot then to expose this to the Sun or Air some time before he useth it or enrich it by some pinguid Mixtures as Lime Ashes Dung or such like which will quickly qualifie it for his purpose by abating the sudden Coldness of it to the Plant For it is a very great Injury to most tender Plants to be diluted with cold Water from the Well or Spring and checks their Growth exceedingly as may be observed in a bleeding Vine to the naked Roots of which if you pour store of cold Spring or Well-water it suddenly checks the ascension of the Sap by means whereof the Bleeding ceaseth and the Wound consolidates again before the more liberal ascent of the Sap much more then will it check the Growth of a weak Herb or Flower Also as it is observed to sow in the Dust whereby the Seeds gradually swell from the cold Dews of the Night and Air and are made ready to sprout with the next Rains so it is not good to water new-sown Seeds until the long defect of Showers invite you to it lest you wash off the Earth from them before they have sprouted whereby they fasten themselves the better to endure a Watering Some Seeds as Radish Lettuce Gilliflower-seed c. remain not long in the Earth and therefore may in two or three Days for want of Rain be watered by hand but Tulip Auricula Parsley Carrot-seed c. lie longer in the Ground and require not so speedy an Irrigation All Seed ought to be watered by the smallest or Rain-like Drops as you can and not too much