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
not ruine of the Plant. The same time and Method is to be observed in the transplantation Of such Trees that come of Slips Suckers c. removal or propagation of the Suckers Cions Slips or Layers of the Elm Birch Lime-tree Horse-chesnut and such other Trees that are usually produced of Suckers Layers Slips c. as you do in the removal of the young Seedlings of the other Trees Only that for the slipping or laying of such Branches of Trees Time to slip or lay that had not before taken any Root the most proper time is in the top of the Spring about the time that the Sap is newly risen and the Tree ready to bud All Trees that are raised of Pitchers or Sets as the Poplar Aspen The time for Aquaticks Abel Alder Withy Salley Osier Willow Elder and Privet are to be planted in February or March before they are too forward Let your young Plants be removed rather into a better mould Manner of transplanting though there is but a little about the Roots than a worse let as much Earth adhere to the Roots as you may and leave as much of the Root on as you can abating only the top-root or downright Roots and spread the other every way in the pits or holes made for that purpose which ought to be made larger and deeper than the Plant at present requires and filled up with loose mould that young Roots may the better spread to seek nourishment for the Tree In Transplanting be sure to preserve the smallest Roots which gather the Sap and in filling the Earth about the Tree endeavour to keep them to a level with Earth between them that they may not be irregularly placed for the well settling these Roots will conduce very much to the prosperity of the Tree It is good to plant it as shallow as might be and not below the Plant shallow better part of the Earth into the Gravel Clay Sand nor Water c. but rather advance the Earth about the Tree than set the Tree too deep be sure also not to set it deeper than it stood before In the removal of such Trees that have arrived to any considerable Observe the coast bigness it is very expedient to observe the coast and side of the stock which way it stood before its removal and not to be esteemed such a trifle as Lawson and many other trifling Authors pretend For it is most evident that the Sap doth naturally flow most on that side of the Tree that 's next the Sun and on that side doth the Tree more encrease than on the other as is evident in observing the Pith to be nearer the North than South-side of the Tree But in such Trees that stand thick in a Nursery or have long stood in the shade where the Sun hath wrought little or nothing upon them you may be less critical The Oak Pine and Walnut-trees bear spreading large branches The distance and require greater distances than any other therefore the nearest should stand forty foot The Beech Ash Eugh Fir Chesnut c. may stand somewhat nearer than the other The Elm and the Horn-beam will grow the nearest of any Trees For the other you may plant them at what distance the magnitude of the Tree your occasions or the nature of it requires The Watering of your Trees immediately upon their transplantation Watering of Trees very much conduceth to their prosperity and settling the Earth about the Roots unless in weather extreme cold and where the Plant is of a tender kinde Also the young Plants for the first year will require your aid in watering of them in a dry Spring Also if Trees have been carried far the setting of the Roots in Water some certain time before you inter them conduces much to their revival If the Trees be of any considerable height they ought to be Staking of Trees carefully defended as well from the injurious Winds as the frications of Beasts by staking them and with a wisp of Hay or other soft Ligament to binde them to such stake not omitting to interpose a little Moss or Hay c. between the Tree and stake to preserve it from galling If your Trees be in danger of Cattles injuries then you ought to bind or set bushes about them to prevent rubbing Planters in most places do strictly observe to cut the foot or Planting of Aquaticks ground-end of Poplar Withy or other Aquatick Pitchers or Sets only one way like a Hindes foot pretending that to be a principal observation If either your impatient fancie or your urgent occasions oblige Removing Trees in Summer you to the removal or Transplantation of Trees in the Summer you may tread in the steps of a certain Prince Elector that at Hidelbergh in the midst of Summer removed very great Lime-trees out of one of his Forrests to a steep hill exceedingly exposed to the heat of the Sun the Heads being cut off and the Pits into which they were transplanted filled with a Composition of earth and Cow-dung which was exceedingly beaten and so diluted with Water as it became almost a Liquid Pap wherein he plunged the Roots covering the Surface with the Turf It is presumed that if the Trees were smaller be they of what Wood soever there needeth not so absolute a decapitation Several relations there are of Trees that have been planted or Transplanting of great Trees removed of eighty years growth and fifty foot high to the nearest bough wafted upon Floats and Engines four long miles with admirable success and of Oaks planted as big as twelve Oxen could draw to which effect these are prescribed as the ways to accomplish the like designes Chuse a Tree as big as your Thigh remove the Earth from about him cut through all the Collateral Roots till with a competent strength you can inforce him upon one side so as to come with your Axe at the Tap-Root cut that off redress your Tree and so let it stand covered about with the mould you loosened from it till the next year or longer if you think good then take it up at a fit season Or a little before the hardest Frost surprise you make a square Trench about your Tree at such distance from the stem as you judge sufficient for the Root dig this of competent depth so as almost quite to undermine it by placing blocks and quarters of Wood to sustain the Earth this done cast on it as much Water as may sufficiently wet it unless the ground were moist before thus let it stand till some very hard Frost do bind it firmly to the Roots and then convey it to the pit prepared for its new station But if it be over-ponderous you may raise it with a Pully between a Triangle placing the Cords under the Roots of the Tree set it on a Trundle or Sled to be conveyed and replanted where you please by these means you may transplant Trees
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
not to another for I observe the Propinquity of the Sea is to be considered every place lying nearer to some one part of the Sea than another and on which Coast the Sea is nearest that Winde more frequently brings Rain to that place than to another where the Sea is more remote Therefore I desire all such that expect any success to their Observations that they quadrate the Rules to the places where they live and not trust to the Observations of other places Windes also are of different qualities according to the several places they either proceed from or pass over as the East-winde is counted propitious neither to Man nor Beast which I judge partly to be from the Fens or moist Countries as Holland the Fens in Yorkshire Lincolnshire Cambridgeshire c. from whence Windes usually proceed and must of necessity prove unwholesome both to Man and Beast except to those that inhabit on the Western Coast for the Winde hath sufficiently purged it self by passing over so much Land as to leave its noxious quality behinde it Also the Northern Windes are more serene with us than the other one cause I suppose is from the quantity of Land in Scotland and England it comes over unto us as is observed in other Countries that from the Continent the coldest and most serene Windes proceed If the Winde turn to the South from any other Coast or remove from the South having been long there it usually brings alteration of weather Windes do produce several and various alterations and effects in the Air in the Water and in the Bodies of Men and Beasts as the South and West-windes are usually more hot and moist and not so clear as the other the North and East are more clear dry and cold When the South-winde blows the Sea is blew and clear but Bacon deventis when the North-winde it is then black and obscure The Eastern-windes usually make our fresh waters much clearer than the West The North-winde is best for sowing of Seed the South for Grafting or Inoculations The South-winde is the worst for the bodies of men it dejecteth the appetite it bringeth Pestilential Diseases increaseth Rheums men are more dull and slow then than at other times Beasts also are not to be exempted from these influences The North-winde makes men more chearful and begets a better appetite to meat yet is injurious to the Cough Ptisick and Gout and any acute Flux The Eastern-winde is drier more biting and deadly The West-winde is moist milde and calm and friendly to all Vegetables The East-winde blowing much in the Spring injureth Fruits by breeding Worms All Windes blowing much cleanse the Air still and quiet Summers being the most unwholesome and subject to Pestilential and Epidemical Diseases If in great Rains the Windes rise or fall it signifies that the Rain will forthwith cease If the Winde vary much in few hours and then be constant to one place it signifies the Winde to continue long in that place If at the beginning of the Winter the South-winde blow and then the North it is like to be a cold Winter but if the North-winde first blow and then the South it will be a warm and milde Winter The blowing of the Windes from several Coasts other concomitant causes concurring are the truest Presignificators of Thunder The blowing of the Windes aloft with a murmuring or hollow noise more than below commonly presageth Rain The blowing or compression of the Windes downwards causing smoak to descend c. more than usual signifies Rain to follow If the Windes blow directly downward and cause a motion Of Whirl-windes on the water several ways or force the dust to arise with the Winde which is repercussed by the Earth if they also inforce the Hay Corn or other things in the Fields up aloft into the Air which denote unto us the crassitude of the Vapours in the Air which by the heat of the Sun do emit such casual blasts for they rarely happen but in the Summer and the day-time yet sometimes when no Cloud is near they signifie Winde and sometimes Rain to succeed other causes concurring or otherwise extream heat But if these Whirl-windes are very great they presage Tempests to be very nigh as Virgil. Omnia Ventorum concurrere praelia vidi Quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus imis Sublime expulsam eruerunt Immensum Coelo venit agmen aquarum c. This watry Meteor and the greatest Miracle in Nature besides Of the Rainbow its Divine signification being produced of natural causes hath also its natural effects In some Countries more Southward it 's an ordinary Presage of great Tempests at hand but here various weather succeeds according to it 's various appearances and colours It is the lowest of Meteors saith Bacon and when it appears in parts and not whole or conjoyned it produceth Windes and Rain If it appear double or triple it usually presageth Rain If the colours thereof tend more to red than any other colour Winde follows if green or blew predominate then Rain The Audibility of Sounds are certain Prognosticks of the Of noise and stilness in the Air. temper of the Air in a still Evening For if the Air be repleat with moisture over us it depresseth Sounds that they become Audible at a far greater distance than when the Air is free from such moisture or vapours as you may observe in Building the lower and more ponderous the Roof or Floor next you is the farther and plainer may you hear any thing therein which is the true cause of the quick hearing at the whispering-place in Gloucester-Catherdral which is not only from the closeness of the passage as is generally conceived but from the weight and Massiness of the building over it The like I have observed in Rooms covered with Lead Stone c. and in places under large Cisterns of water From whence you may conclude that in such nights or other times that you hear sounds of Bells noises of Water Beasts Birds or any other sounds or noises more plainly than at other times the Air is inclinable to Rain which commonly succeeds The same may be said of Ecchoes as of other noises and Of Ecchoes sounds When it Thunders more than it Lightens it signifies great Of Thunder and Lightning Windes but if it Lighten oftner than it Thunders it signifies great and hasty showres Morning-Thunders signifie Winde Noon-Thunders Rain roaring or distant Thunders signifie Winde but cracking or acute Thunders Windes and Rain According to the Opinion and Rules of others and our own Of the rarity and density of the Air. Observations we have given you the best and most probable indications of the future changes of the Winde Weather c. from the several and usual appearances above either certain or uncertain or accidental Now it remains that we say somewhat in relation to the temper or qualification of the Air it self deducted from its own being more rare
proved so well and Trees having Stones laid on the Ground about the Roots of them have prospered wonderfully from the same cause As the Learned Virgil hinted on the same occasion Jamque reperti Qui Saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae Vrgerent In the watering of Meadows you may observe that the superficial gliding watering thereof doth infinitely advance its fertility and accelerates its growth or vegetation not so much from the fruitfulness of the water although that be a very great help and some waters abound very much with that Vniversal Subject but by its condensation and preservation of that Subject as appears by the warmth and early springing of such Meadows where the water thinly and superficially moves over it where on the contrary water standing and submerging such Meadows and lying and soaking long under the superficies of the Earth impedes the motion of that Subject and makes the ground more sterile and backward in its growth or springing That this Spiritus Mundi hath in it a sensible heat as well as fertility we may perceive by Springs in great Frosts when the Pores of the Earth are shut the Body from whence the Springs flow is warm on the contrary when the Pores are open and this Spirit wasted and transformed into Vegetables Animals c. and exhausted by the heat of the Sun then is the Body internally cold as we sensibly perceive by the waters in Wells in Summer-time This Spiritus Mundi whereof we treat is that which in some places perspires more freely than in other and causes that different verdant colour of the Grass in certain rings or circles where the Country-people fancie the Fairies dance The more the Aqueous humour or part is concocted or exhausted by the heat of the Sun in the Summer-time the thicker and more viscous is this subject as appears by its condensation in the Air into Mildews which after a more glutinous manner than other Rains or Dews is by the cool Air condensed into a fat and fruitful matter part thereof resting on the close and glazie leaves of the Oak and such-like Trees is collected and with very little Art transformed by the industrious Bee into that noble substance Honey other part thereof falls on the young Ears of Wheat and the Buds of springing Hops where suffering a further degree of congelation impedes their growth unless a timely shower wash it off It also by its heat tinges the straw of corn and the leaves of some Trees in spots At that season of the year also it usually coagulates in some places into Mushrooms which are meerly formed and made up of this subject undigested and perspire forth in such places in great plenty so that I have seen a Mushroom near an Ell in compass of less than two days growth the Owner in whose Garden it grew affirmed it to be of one night only You may also perceive it in a clear and cool morning condensed into small lines like unto Spiders-webs near the surface of the earth especially on the lower and richer Lands This is that Viscous Vapour that being concocted and digested long in the Air by the heat of the Sun or otherwise is condensed at length into that Sulpherous and Saline Matter and which by its combat in the Air occasions those Igneal Flames and Claps of Thunder which more frequently happen at such seasons of the year and in such Climates when and where this more concocted Vapour abounds and less in the colder Climates and Seasons where it is more aqueous This is that inexhaustible Treasure the Country-man is to preserve much more than the Soils and Dungs and such-like matters washed away with waters into the Sea which are inconsiderable in comparison of this for although Land be never so much impoverished through over-tilling thereof yet duly order'd and defended by this only Subject may it be recruited and fertilized as is evident in the poorest Land where Trees are grown after the removal of them the Land is much inriched by their shelter Also the return of the Soil or Dung that is made of the Product of any Land either by Pasturing or Tilling the same is a principal part of a good Husband and not to feed Cattle cut Hay and sowe corn on some Lands and spend their Soil and Manure on other which is a grand neglect and a main cause of so much barren and unfruitful Land in England Another thing worthy our consideration concerning this Vniversal Subject is the abating or removing the Impediments of its Fertility which do as it were suffocate or conceal that fertile or vegetating quality that is in many things As in Chalk and several other Stones Minerals and Earths the Acid or sterile Juice doth prevent that Fertility which otherwise might be raised from it Therefore do our Husband-men usually burn Stones into Lime which gradually evaporateth the Acid quality and coagulateth and fixeth the more Saline and Fertile which causeth it to yield so plentiful a nourishment unto Vegetables more than before it was burnt into Lime For the same cause is the Superficies or Turf of the Earth burnt in many places which Country-men usually call denshiring or burn-beating only they suppose that the Ashes of the Vegetable contained in the Turf occasions the Fertility But although that doth yield a part yet it is the heat of the fire evaporating and consuming the Acidity of the Earth which makes the Earth it self so prepared to be the more fertile As you may observe by the very places where those hills of fire were made that although you take the Ashes wholly away yet the Earth under those hills being so calcined yields a greater nourishment to such Vegetables growing thereon than on any other part of the ground where the Ashes themselves are spread For the same reason are the Summer-Fallowings advantageous to the Husbandman not only for the destroying of the weeds but for the evaporation of the Acid barren Juyce and digesting and fixing the fertile by which way of Calcination may several Stones Minerals and Earths be made fertile which unprepared are not so this may also prove of great use for the advancement of the growth of many excellent Plants and Flowers as I have been credibly informed hath been secretly practised to that purpose The last and none of the least considerable means for the re-reviving and improving this Subject is not only the planting sowing and propagating of Vegetables in every place but to plant sowe or propagate such that delight in the Soyl or Place under your improvement be the nature of the Soyl or Earth what it will there is some Plant or other delights in it from the highest cold hot dry or barren hill to the lowest valley although in the water it self you will finde either Trees Pulses Grasses Grains or some other Vegetable may be found that will thrive in it Hic segetes illic veniunt faelicius uvae Arborei foetus alibi atque myrissa virescunt gramina
directions as you will hereafter finde Disperse the Poles among the hills before you begin to Pole laying of them between the hills Begin not to Pole until your Hops appear above the ground that you discern where the biggest Poles are required and so may you continue Poling till they are a Yard in height or more but stay not too long lest you hinder the growth of the Hop which will grow large unless it hath a Pole or such like to climb unto Set the Pole near to the hill and in depth according to the height of the Pole nature of the ground and obviousness to winds that the Pole may rather break than rise out of the ground by any fierce winds Let the Poles lean outward the one from the other that they may seem to stand equi-distant at the top to prevent Housling as they term it which they are subject unto if they grow too near the one from the other that is they will grow one amongst another and cause so great a shade that you will have more Hawm than Hops Also it is esteemed an excellent piece of Husbandry to set all the Poles inclining towards the South that the Sun may the better compass them This is most evident that a leaning or bending Pole bears more Hops than an upright Be sure to reserve a parcel of the worst Poles that you may have for your need in case when the Poles are laden a Pole may break or be over-burthened to support it for if they lie on the ground they soon perish With a Rammer you may ram the Earth at the out-side of the Pole for its further security against winds If after some time of growing you finde a Hop under or over-poled you may unwinde the Hop and place another Pole in its place having a Companion with you to hold the Hop whilest you pitch in the Pole or else you may place another Pole near it and bring the Hop from one Pole to the other The next work is after the Hops are gotten two or three foot Of tying of Hops to the Poles out of the ground to conduct them to such Poles as you think fit that are either nearest or have fewest Hops and winde them or place them to the Pole that they may winde with the course of the Sun and binde them gently thereto with some withered Rush or woollen Yarn two or three strings are enough to a Pole I have known more Hops on a Pole from one string than from four or five though there hath been more of Hawm Be cautious of breaking the tender Shoots which in the morning is most dangerous but when the warmth of the day hath toughned them may it much better be done You must be daily amongst the Hops during April and May especially guiding and directing them else will they be apt to break their own Necks by going amiss It will sufficiently requite your labour and care at Harvest It is convenient with a forked Wand to direct the Hops to the Poles that are otherwise out of reach or to have a stool to stand on or a small Ladder made with a stay on the back of it that you may reach them with your hands About Midsummer or a little after the Hop begins to leave running at length and then begins to branch that such Hops that are not yet at the tops of the Poles 't were not amiss to nip off the top or divert it from the Pole that it may branch the better which is much more for the encrease of the Hop than to extend it self only in length Sometimes in May after a Rain pare off the Surface of the Of the making up the Hills ground with a Spade How it off with a How or run it over with a Plough with one horse if you have room enough or with a Breast-plough and with these parings raise your hills in height and breadth burying and suppressing all superfluous Shoots of Hops and weeds By this means you will destroy the weeds that otherwise would beggar your Land and you suppress such Suckers and weeds that would impoverish your Hops and you also preserve the hills moist by covering them that the drought of the Summer injureth them not Also the Hop so far as it is covered with Earth issues forth its roots to the very surface of the Earth which proves a very great succour to the Hop This work may be continued throughout the Summer but more especially after a Rain to apply the moist Earth about the roots of the Hop Therefore it behoveth you to keep the ground in good heart for this purpose that your Hops may be the better and in case it should prove a very dry Spring it would not be amiss to water the Hops before you raise your hills A dry Spring such that happened in the Years 1672. and Manner of watering Hops 1674. proves a great check to the hop in its first springing especially in hot and dry grounds In such Years it is very advantagious to water them if it can with conveniency be obtained either from some Rivulet or Stream running through or near your Hop-garden or from some Well digged there or out of some Pond made with Clay in the lower part of your ground to receive hasty showres by small Aqueducts leading unto it which is the best water of all for this purpose In the midst of every hill make a hollow place and thrust some pointed Stick or Iron down in the middle thereof and pour in your water by degrees till you think the hill is well soaked then cover the hill with the parings of your Garden as before we directed which will set the Hop mainly forward as I have known which otherwise would be small and weak and hardly ever recover to attain its usual height Also a very hot and dry Summer will make the Hop blow but small and thin therefore would it not be labour lost to bestow a pail of water on every hill prepared before-hand to receive it For in such dry Springs or Summers such Hops that either stand moist or have been watred do very much out-strip their Neighbours and in such years they will far better requite your labour and industry yielding a greater price by reason of their scarcity than in other seasonable years when every ground almost produceth Hops Industry and Ingenuity in these Affairs being most incouraged and best rewarded at such times when Ignorance and Sloth come off with loss and shame After every watering which need not be above twice or thrice in the driest Summers so that they be throughly wet be sure to make up the hills with the parings and with the weeds and coolest and moistest materials you can get for the more the Hop is shaded at the root from the Sun the better it thrives as is evident by such that grow under shelter that are never drest yet may compare with those you bestow most pains and skill on The dressing
much break the Winds and these shelving sides will much expedite the ripening of Pease or other Fruits by receiving more directly the Beams of the Sun and in case the ground be over-moist you may plant the higher and if over-dry then the lower so that it seems to remedy all Extreams except Heat which rarely injures To make a hot Bed in February or earlier if you please for The making of hot Beds the raising of Melons Cucumbers Radishes Coleflowers or any other tender Plants or Flowers you must provide a warm place defended from all Winds by being inclosed with a Pale or Hedge made of Reed or Straw about six or seven foot high of such distance or capacity your occasions require within which you must raise a Bed of about two or three foot high and three foot over of new Horse-dung of about six eight or ten days old treading it very hard down on the top being made level and if you will edged round with boards lay of fine rich Mould about three or four inches thick and when the extream heat of the Bed is over which you may perceive by thrusting in your finger then plant your seeds as you think fit then erect some Forks four or five inches above the Bed to support a Frame made of sticks and covered with Straw to defend the Seed and Plants from cold and wet only you may open your Covering in a warm day for an hour before Noon and an hour after Remember to Earth them up as they shoot in height when they are able to bear the cold you may transplant them Many curious and necessary Plants would suffer were they Of Watering of Plants not carefully watered at their first removal or in extream dry seasons therefore this is not to be neglected Early in the Spring whilest the Weather is cold be cautious of watering the leaves of the young and tender Plant only wet the Earth about it When your Plants or Seeds are more hardy and the Nights yet cold water in the Fore-noons but when the Nights are warm or the days very hot then the Evening is the best time If you draw your water out of Wells or deep Pits it ought to stand a day in the Sun in some Tub or suchlike for your tender Plants in the Spring But Pond or River or Rain-water needs it not and is to be preferred before Well-water or Spring-water If you infuse Pigeons-dung Sheeps-dung Hen-dung Ashes Lime or any fat soil or matter in your water either in Pits Cisterns or other Vessels for that purpose and therewith cautiously water your Plants it will much add to their encrease and multiplication For Cole-flowers Artichoaks and such like let the ground sink a little round the Plant in form of a shallow Dish the water will the better and more evenly go to the Roots Water not any Plant over-much lest the water carry with it away the Vegetative or fertil Salt and so impoverish the ground and also chill the Plant. It is also better to water a Plant seldom and throughly than often and slenderly for a shallow watering is but a delusion to the Plant and provokes it to root shallower than otherwise it would and so makes it more obvious to the extremity of the Weather If you are willing to have the ground always moist about any Plant place near it a Vessel of water putting therein a piece of Woollen Cloth or List and let the one end thereof hang out of the Vessel to the ground the other end in the water in manner of a Crane Let the List or Cloth be first wet and by this means will the water continually drop till all be dropped out of the Vessel which may then be renewed The end that hangs without the Vessel must be always lower than the water within the Vessel else it will not succeed If it drop not fast enough encrease your List or Cloth if too fast diminish it If the Weather be never so dry when you sow any sort of Seeds water them not till they have been in the ground several days and the ground a little setled about them CHAP. IX Of several sorts of Beasts Fowls and Insects usually kept for the Advantage and Vse of the Husbandman OUR Country-Farm is of little use and benefit to us notwithstanding all our care pains and cost in Fencing Planting or otherwise ordering the same unless it be well stocked and provided with Beasts and other Animals as well for labour and strength in Tilling and Manuring the Ground and facilitating other Labours and Exercises as for the furnishing the Market and Kitchin SECT I. Of Beasts The Horse hath the Preheminence above all others being the Of the Horse Noblest Strongest Swiftest and most necessary of all the Beasts used in this Country for the Saddle for the Plough and Cart and for the Pack Where you have good store of Pasture either in Several or in Common or in Woods or Groves it is no small advantage to keep a Team of Mares for the Breed but where there is most of Arable and little of Pasture-Land Horses or Geldings are more necessary which difference we may observe between the great Breeding-places for Horses in the Pastures and Wood-lands and the naked Corn-Countries the one full of gallant lusty Mares the other of Horses and Geldings As to the Shape and Proportion Colours Age Ordering Breeding Feeding and Curing the several Diseases of Horses I shall here be silent and refer you to the several Authors who have copiously treated of that Subject it being too large for this place Asses are commonly kept yet not to be little set by because of Of the Ass their sundry Commodities and the hardness of their Feeding for this poor Beast contents himself with whatsoever you give him Thistles Bryars Stalks Chaff whereof every Country hath store is good Meat with him Besides he may best abide the ill looking to of a negligent Keeper and be able to sustain blows labour hunger and thirst being seldom or never sick and therefore of all other Cattle longest endureth for being a Beast nothing chargeable he serveth for a number of necessary uses in carrying of Burdens he is comparable to the Horse he draweth the Cart so the Load be not great for grinding in the Mill he passeth all others Thus far Haresbatch The Milk also of the Ass is esteemed an excellent Restorative by most Learned Physitians in a Consumption But I presume one main impediment of their not being so frequently kept is their destructive Nature to Trees which they will bark with their mouths where they can come at them This is no ways pleasing to a good Husband The Mule or Moil is bred of a Mare covered with an Ass Of the Male. It 's a hardy Beast much better than an Ass and very tractable and capable of much service These worthy sort of Beasts are in great request with the Husbandman Of Cows and Oxin the Oxe
being useful at his Cart and Plough the Cow yielding great store of Provision both for the Family and the Market and both a very great advantage to the support of the Trade of the Kingdom Concerning their form nature and choice I need say little every Countryman almost understanding how to deal for them The best sort is the large Dutch Cow that brings two Calves at one Birth and gives ordinarily two Gallons of Milk at one Meal As for their breeding rearing breaking curing of their Diseases and other ordering of them and of Milk Butter and Cheese c. I refer you to such Authors that do more largely handle that Subject than this place will admit of Next unto these the Sheep deserves the chiefest place and is Of Sheep by some preferred before any other for the great profit and advantage they bring to Mankinde both for Food and Apparel Whereof there are divers sorts some bearing much finer Wooll than others as the Herefordshire-Sheep about Leicester bear the fairest Fleeces of any in England Also they are of several kinds as to their proportion some are very small others larger But the Dutch-sheep are the largest of all being much bigger than any I have seen in England and Yearly bear two or three Lambs at a time It is also reported that they sometimes bear Lambs twice in the Year It may doubtless be of very good advantage to obtain of those kindes and also of Spanish-sheep that bear such fine Fleeces As for their breeding curing and ordering I refer you as before to such Authors that have largely treated of them This Beast is also of a very considerable advantage to the Of Swine Husbandman the Flesh being a principal support to his Family yielding more dainty Dishes and variety of Meat than any other Beast whatsoever considering them as Pig Pork Bacon Brawn with the different sorts of Offal belonging to them Also they are of the coursest Feed of any Creature whatsoever being content with any thing that 's Edible so they have their fill for they are impatient of hunger It is a great neglect that they are no more bred and kept than they are their Food being obtained at so easie a rate Besides the Offal of Corn Whey and other Culinary Provision it cannot but prove a very considerable advantage to sow or plant Land on purpose with Coleworts Kidney-beans and several other gross thriving Pulses Plants and Roots whereby you may not only raise a considerable stock of them to your great gain and profit if old Tusser said true And yet by the Yeat have I proved e'te now As good to the Purse is a Sow as a Cow but also by their Treading and Batling in case they be kept in a Court made several for that purpose they will convert all such Vegetables they eat not into excellent Soil If they are suffered to run abroad they waste their flesh much therefore it is esteemed the most frugal and beneficial-way to keep them always penned into some Court both for their flesh and soil These are kept in some places for advantage being a very Of Goats course Feeder The Kids are esteemed good Meat their Hair also is of use to make Ropes and other things it never rots in the water The best sort of them breeds twice in the Year they are usually kept in Stables where many Horses are to preserve them from several Epidemical Diseases The Milk of Goats is esteemed the greatest Nourisher of all liquid things whereon we feed except Womans Milk and the most comfortable to the stomack from whence the Poets feign that their God Jupiter himself was nourished with Goats-milk They crop and are injurious to young Trees therefore are to be kept with much caution Although they are not esteemed amongst the number of profitable Of Dogs Cattle yet are they very necessary servants and the most observant and affectionate of all Beasts whatever to Mankinde Their love even to the loss of their lives in defence of their Master his Cattle Goods c. their officiousness in Hunting and seeking after all sorts of Prey or Game are so commonly known and so frequently made use of that it 's needless to tell you so Only that they are of different sorts and natures some as a Guard to defend your House and Goods others as Shepherds to defend your Sheep and Cattle others as Jaccals or Watchmen always wakeful to rouze up the heavy Mastiffs whereof some are for the Bear others for the Bull. Some Dogs also are for the Game as for the Stag Buck Fox Hare Coney Pollcat Otter Weesel Mole c. Also for the Duck Pheasant Partridge Quayl Moor-hens and several other sorts of Land and Water-fowl Others also are kept for their Beauty Shape and Proportion and for their docible Nature being apt to Dance and perform several other Acts of Activity c. Besides the wilde which are very profitable in Warrens tame Coneys Coneys may be kept to a very great advantage either in Hutches or in Pits which is much to be preferred These Pits are sunk about six or seven foot deep in a good light Mould or in Chalk or Sand they delight most These are to be made round or square and walled with Stone or Brick to preserve the Earth from foundring in leaving places on the sides for the Coneys to draw and make their Stops or Buries At the one end or side make a hollow place for the Buck to rest in chaining him to a small stump that he may have liberty to go to the Rack to feed and to his Den to rest On the other side or end let the places be left for the Does to make their stops in About the middle of the Pit may you place the Rack to feed them in the Buck on the one side and the Does on the other In a Pit of about ten foot square may be kept two or three Does besides the Buck which will bring each of them about fifty or more Young ones in a year sometimes seventy or eighty When they are about a Moneth old you may take them out of the Pit and either spend them or feed them in another Pit or place made for that purpose Their Food is for the most part Greens growing in and about your Gardens as Carrots and their Greens Coleworts Sowthistles Malloes Dandilion Saxifrage Parsley Grass and many other Also Hay Bran Grains Oats c. They ought to be constantly fed and cleansed and great care taken to keep them from Cats Pollcats c. If you have much Garden-ground and a good soil free from Water Clay or Stone for them to breed in they will thrive exceedingly and doubly repay your care and trouble By feeding them with dry Meat between whiles in the Winter-season it preserves them from the Rot which in moist weather they are subject unto but if you feed them much with dry Meat you must set them water otherwise not The
Water from the Earth into it Much Land there is in England that is capable of a very great Stones Shrubs c. improvement by removing those common and stubborn Obstacles as Stones Shrubs Goss Broom c. which are naturally produced in many places and the faint-hearted lazy and sometimes beggerly Husbandman had rather let them grow and suck out the Marrow and Fat of his Land than bestow any cost or pains to remove them and is contented with now and then a bundle of Bushes c. when the removal of them would not only be an improvement of his Land by their absence but the materials themselves by a right and judicious way of ordering them might become also an additional improvement As first of Stones which being picked up and laid on heaps about the roots of either Fruit or Timber-trees planted on the Bounds and in Rows on the Land is a very great help and advantage to the growth of such Trees and saves the labour of carrying them off the ground which charge usually exceeds the charge of picking them up This only where Stones offend or are injurious Shrubs Goss Broom c. prove a very great annoyance to Husbandry and the difficulty and charge in plucking them up is the principal impediment to their removal to such that are ignorant of the most dextrous ways used to that purpose the best whereof I finde to be this described by Mr. Plat Viz. A very strong Instrument of Iron like unto a Dung-fork with three Grains or Tines only much bigger according to the bigness of the Shrubs you use it about the upper part thereof is a very strong and long Stail or handle like a Leaver Now set this Instrument at a convenient distance from the Root slopewise and with a Hedging-beetle drive it in a good depth then lift up the Stail and place under it across an Iron-bar or such-like Fulciment to keep it streight and that it sink not into the ground Then take hold of the Cord that before ought to have been fastened to the top of the Stail and by this means may you Eradicate any Shrubs c. If it will not do at once place it on the other side c. These Bushes Brakes and suchlike though they are of little worth or use for any other thing yet are they very necessary and beneficial to improve the Land by burning them being dry either by themselves or under heaps of Turf Earth c. as before Chap. 5. was observed Some Lands are more prone and subject to Weeds and that in Weeds some years than other which is often occasioned by water standing on it destroying the Corn and such Seeds that are usually sown in it and nourishing such Weeds that most delight in moisture the only remedy whereof is to lay it dry and add some convenient drying and lightning materials or composts thereon as Sand Ashes c. Also some sorts of Dungs or Manures cause Weeds as Dung made of Straw Hawm Fern or suchlike laid on Lands in any great quantity without any other mixture of Horse-dung Sheeps-dung Lime Ashes or suchlike hot Compost which do in some measure correct the cold and sluggish quality of it but in some years and on some Lands any ordinary cold Dung begets Weeds which injure the Corn more than the fatness of the Dung advantages therefore Lime Marle Chalk Ashes c. are to be preferred in most Lands Weeds in Pasture-lands are best destroyed by burning of it in Turfs as before we discovered or by Plowing of it without Chap. 5. burning Rushes Flages and suchlike Aquaticks are best destroyed by Rushes Flags c. draining so that you cut your Drains below the roots thereof that it may take away the matter that feeds them The Sowthistle proves a great annoyance to some Lands by Sowthistle killing the Grass Corn c. although it be a sure Token of the strength of the Land The way to destroy them is to cut them up by the roots before feeding-time the advantage you will receive will answer your expence and more The way to destroy this so common and known an annoyance Fern. is to Mow it off in the Spring whether with an Iron or Wooden Sythe it matters not for it will easily break which work reiterate the same year as fast as it grows and it is confidently affirmed that it will kill and destroy the Fern for ever after Improvement and bettering the Land by Soyling Marling or Liming c. is also a principal remedy against all manner of Broom Furze Heath and other suchlike trumpery that delight only in barren Lands Very much differing from Mildews is the blighting of Corn Blights and Smut the Mildews proceeding from a different cause and happening only in dry Summers when on the contrary Blighting happens in wet and is also occasioned through the too much fatness and rankness in Land as is observed that strong Lands are usually sown with Barley Pease or suchlike to abate the fertility thereof before it be sown with Wheat which would otherwise be subject to Blights or Blasting Also Wheat sown on level or low Land in moist years is subject to the same inconveniencies for you may observe that the Wheat that grows on the tops of the ridges in moist years to be better and freer than what grows in the Furrows which is usually blighted by means of water and fatness lying more about it than the other for Wheat naturally affects to be kept dry on moist and strong ground Therefore as moisture and the richness of the ground together occasions this disease by knowing thereof you may easily remedy it by laying your Land on high Ridges which if it be never so rich the Wheat growing thereon will hardly be blighted if not overcome with moisture Smut seems to proceed from the same cause therefore need we Smut to say the less Only that sometimes smuttiness proceeds from other causes as by sowing of Smutty-corn by soiling the Land with rotten Vegetables as Straw Hawm Fern c. It is confidently affirmed that the smutty Grains of Wheat being sown will grow and produce Ears of Smut but I confess I have not yet tryed and shall therefore suspend the belief thereof till I have The sowing 〈◊〉 Wheat that is mixed with Smut doth generally produce a Smutty Crop whether the Smut it self grow or not unless it be first prepared by liming of it which is thus done first slake your Lime and then moisten your Corn and stir them well together c. and sow it Or by steeping of it in Brine either of which are good preventions against the Smut You may also prepare the ground by Liming or other ways of inriching it with sharp or saline Dungs or Soils and it will produce Corn free from Smut for it is most evident that Land often sown with the same Grain or much out of heart produces a smutty Crop as may be
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
Defence against Bees 182 To cure the sting of a Bee id Of the Bees work id The numbers of Bees 183 Of the Bees Enemies id Removing of Bees 184 Feeding of Bees id An Experiment for improving of Bees 185 A singular observation concerning the food of Bees id Of the fruit and profit of Bees id Driving of Bees 186 Exsection or gelding of Combs id Of the generation of Bees 188 The making of Metheglin id 2. Of Silk worms 190 Their Food id Time and manner of Hatching Silk-worms Eggs id Their sicknesses id Their time and manner of feeding 191 Their spinning id Their breeding id The winding of the Silk 192 CHAP. X. Of common and known external Injuries Inconveniencies Enemies and Diseases incident to and usually afflicting the Husbandman in most of the Ways and Methods of Agriculture before treated of And the several Natural and Artificial Remedies proposed and made use of for the prevention and removal of them 193 Sect. 1. From the Heavens or Air id Great heat or drought id Remedies for want of water 195 To make Cisterns to hold water 196 Great Cold and Frost 197 Much Rain 200 High Winds id Thunder and Tempest Hail c. 201 Mildews id Sect. 2. From the Water and Earth 203 Much water offending id Overflowing of the Sea id Land-floods id Standing-waters 204 Stones Shrubs c. 205 Weeds 206 Blights and Smut 207 Sect. 3. From several Beasts 208 Foxes id Otters id Coneys Hares 209 Poll-cats Weasels and Stotes id Moles or Wants id Mice or Rats 210 Sect. 4. From Fowls 211 Kites Hawks c. id Crows Ravens c. id Pigeons 212 Jays 213 Bullfinches id Goldfinches 214 Sparrows c. id Sect. 5. Of Insects and creeping things offending id Frogs and Toads id Snails and Worms id Gnats and Flies 215 Wasps and Hornets id Caterpillars 216 Earwigs id Lice id Ants id To destroy Ant-hills id Snakes and Adders 217 To cure the stinging of Adders or biting of Snakes id Sect. 6. Of some certain Diseases in Animals and Vegetables 217 Of Beasts and Fowl id Of the Murrain 218 Of the Rot in Sheep id An approved Experiment for the cure of the Fashions in Horses and Rot in Sheep 219 Another for the Measles in Swine and also to make them fat id Sect. 7. Of Thieves and ill Neighbours 220 CHAP. XI Of the several sorts of Instruments Tools and Engines incident to this Profession of Agriculture and of some Amendments and profitable Experiments in Building either by Timber Stone Brick or any other way 223 Sect. 1. Of the several sorts of Ploughs id Double-wheeled-Plough 224 Turn-wrest Plough id Single-wheeled-plough id Plain Plough id Double Plough id Another sort of Double Plough id Other sorts of Ploughs 225 Good properties of the Plough id Errors of the Plough id A Turfing Plough id Sect. 2. Of Carts and Waggons 226 New sort of Cart id Waggon with sails 227 Sect. 3. Of several other Instruments used in digging id Of the Trenching-plough id Of Spades id Turfing-spade id Trenching-spade id Common Spades id The How 228 Other Instruments used in digging c. id Sect. 4. Other various Instruments id Sect. 5. Of Amendments and profitable Experiments in Building 229 The scituation of a House 230 Securest and cheapest way of building a House 231 Best Covering for a House 232 Of Tiles Bricks c. id Of building of Stone or Brick-walls 233 Of Mortar id Of Timber 234 Of Mills id CHAP. XII Of Fowling and Fishing 236 Sect. 1. Of Fowling in general id Of Fowling the nature of water-fowl id The haunts of Water-fowl id Sect. 2. Of taking the greater sort of fowl with Nets 237 The form of a Draw-net id Sect. 3. Of the taking small Water-fowl with Nets 238 Sect. 4. Of taking great Fowl with Lime-twigs id Of the divers ways of making Birdlime id Of the several uses of it 139 Of the taking small Fowl with Lime-twigs 240 Sect. 5. Of taking Fowl with Springes id Sect. 6. Of killing Fowl with the Fowling-piece 241 Of the choice of Gunpowder id The way to make shot id Of the Stalking-horse 242 Of the artificial Stalking-horse 243 Artificial Trees id A digression concerning decoy-ponds id Of the taking Wilde-Ducks Eggs 244 Sect. 7. Of taking Land-fowl id The greater sorts of them id Of taking Fowl by day-nets id Of taking Larks by day-nets id Of Stales 245 Another way to take Larks by a Day-net called daring of Larks id To take Birds with the Low-bell id To take Birds with the Trammel only 246 To take Birds by Batt-fowling id To take small Birds with Lime-twigs id To take Fieldfares or Bow-thrushes 247 Sect. 8. Of taking Fowl with Baits id To take Land-fowl with Baits id To take Water-fowl with Baits id Sect. 9. Of taking some sorts of Fowl id To take the Pheasant with Nets id To drive young Pheasants 248 To take Pheasants with Lime-twigs id To perch Pheasants id To take Partridge id To take them with a Trammel-net 249 To take them with a Setting-dog id To drive Partridges id To take them with Bird-lime id To take Woodcocks id To take them in a Cock-road id Of Fishing 250 Sect. 1. Of taking Fish by Nets Pots or Engines id To Fish with Nets id With the Trammel or Sieve id With the Casting-net 251 With the shore-net or pot-net id With Fish-pots id With Wears id With Hawks 252 The way of making a Piscary id A Hawk-net id Sect. 2. Of Angling 253 Observations in Angling id Seasons for Angling 254 Seasons not to Angle in id Sect. 3. Of Angling for Salmon Trout 255 Sect. 4. Of Angling for Pike and Perch id Sect. 5. Of Angling for standing-Water or Pond-fish 256 For the Carp id For the Tench id For the Dace 257 For the Roach id For the Bream id Taking of Eels id By Angle id With Bank-hooks id By Sniggling id By Bobbing 258 Sect. 6. Of Angling for the Barbel Grailing Umber Chevin and Chub id Of Cormorant Fishing 259 CHAP. XIII Kalendarium Rusticum or Monthly Directions for the Husbandman 261 In January 265 February 267 March 269 April 271 May 273 June 275 July 277 August 279 September 281 October 283 November 285 December 287 CHAP. XIV Of the Prognosticks of Dearth or Scarcity Plenty Sickness Heat Cold Frost Snow Winds Rain Hail Thunder c. 289 Sect. 1. Of the different appearances of the Sun Moon Stars Meteors or any other thing in the Air or above us 290 Of the motions colours and appearances of the seven Planets id Of the Sun id Of the Moon 292 Of the other Erraticks or Planets id Of Comets or Blazing-stars 293 Of the shooting of Stars 294 Of the fixed Stars id Of Fire or other casual appearances id Of the Clouds 295 Of Mists and Fogs id Of Winds 296
Obstruction and hath been frequently complained of For the remedy whereof a Statute to compel the Minor party to submit to the Judgment and Vote of the Major and equally to capacitate all persons concerned for such an Enterprise would be very welcome to the Country-man wherein all particular Interests might be sufficiently provided for as well the Lord of the Soil as the Tenant and the poor It is a common thing to have very many great and large High-ways High-ways an Impediment ways over most of the Common Fields and Waste Grounds in England which prove a very great Check to the Designe of Enclosure and may most easily be reduced if a Statute may be obtained for that purpose which was not long since in agitation though not compleated than which as well for the Compulsion and Enabling of opposite and uncapacitated persons and providing for several Interests as for the Regulating and right Disposition of common and necessary Ways no Act or Statute can be of greater or more publique Advantage to the Kingdom in the more vulgar way or method of Husbandry There are several Common-fields Downs Heaths and Waste Trees not thriving an Impediment Lands that should they be enclosed it would be very difficult and in some places seem impossible to advance or propagate any quick Fences or considerable quantity of Trees as before is hinted at by reason of the great drought such Land is subject unto in the Summer and destructive cold Winds in the Winter and Spring To which we reply That after or according to the usual manner of Planting such Trees or Hedge-rows come to little because the young Cions they remove are commonly brought from a fertile warm or moist Soil into a cold barren or dry which must needs produce such an inconvenience Also they oftentimes plant Trees not naturally agreeing with the Soil they remove them into or else plant them deep into the barrenest part of the Earth or at least take little or no care to defend them when planted from the external Injuries of Drought Cold c. But if any are willing or intend to raise a Quick-fence or propagate Trees on such open Land subject to such Inconveniences the only way is to raise a sufficient quantity before-hand in a Nursery for that purpose of such Trees or Plants that naturally delight in that Land where you intend to plant them and then to place them in such order as you will finde hereafter described in the Chapter of Woods that the Roots be not below the best Soil and that they have a sufficient Bank to shelter them on the one side and an artificial dry Hedge on the other which may be continued till the quick Plants are advanced above common Injuries Or you may sowe the Seeds of such Trees you intend to propagate in Furrows made and filled with a good Earth and secured from Cattle either by a double Hedge or by ploughing the Land for several years and not feeding the same with Cattle till such time as the Trees are grown up which will soon repay the imaginary loss of the Herbage or Grasing especially if the young Cions be the first and second years of their growth a little sheltered from the sharp Winds by shattering a little Straw Brake or Hawm lightly over them which will also rot and prove a good Manure and qualifie the heat and drought of the Summer And when once you have advanced an indifferent Bank Hedge c. about your new Enclosures you may much more easily plant and multiply Rows and Walks of Timber Fruit and other necessary Trees the destructive edge of the cold Winds being abated by the Hedges c. We frequently have observed on several high and supposed barren Hills and Plains Woods and Trees flourish and in open Fields or Gardens within the shelter of those Woods Trees and other Plants prove as well as in the lower Valleys that it is enough to convince any rational person that by Enclosure only may most if not all the Open Champion Plam Waste and supposed barren Lands in England be highly improved and advanced to an equal degree of Fertility to the Enclosures next adjacent using the same good Husbandry to the one as to the other which can never be whilest it is in Common It is observed that of most sorts of Land by how much the Dividing Land into small parcels an Improvement smaller the Enclosure or Crofts are the greater yearly value they bear and the better burthen of Corn or Grass and more flourishing Trees they yield and the larger the Fields or Enclosures are the more they resemble the Common Fields or Plains and are most subject to the like inconveniencies We generally finde that a Farm divided into many Severals or Enclosures yields a greater Rent than if the same were in but few Too many Hedges and Banks in rich or watered Meadows waste Enclosing of watred Meadows not an Improvement much Land and injure the Grass by their shadow by dripping for that needs no shelter Grass abides any weather and in case the cold Spring keeps it back it fears not drought but hath water and heart sufficient to bring it forwards unless you plant such proving Aquatick Trees whose shrowds shall exceed in value the Grass they injure which may well be done in Rows and on the edges of the Banks c. and will amount unto a considerable Improvement if you select the right kinds That Wheat sown in Enclosures or any Land under the Winds Wheae in Enclosures subject to Mildew is subject to Mildew is a general opinion amongst Husbandmen And the only great Inconveniencie Enclosure is subject unto Mr. Hartlib saith is Mildew But this is only an injury to one sort Legacie of Grain Neither is it yet certain that Enclosure is the cause for we finde and observe that Wheat in the Fielden Country is subject to Mildews though not so frequent as in the Enclosure by reason that the Land is not so rich generally nor so moist as Enclosures are which in Summer-time emit a greater quantity of that Moist Spirit or Vniversal Matter of Vegetables whereof we discoursed before than the dry hungry open Field-Land doth which being coagulated in the Air falls in form of a Dew sometimes on the Oak and is then food for Bees sometimes on Hops and on Wheat whether high or low enclosed or open Nay sometimes on the one half of a Hop-garden or a Wheat-field and not on the other But Blasting hath commonly been mistaken for Mildew Wheat being subject also to it in the best and richest Lands in moist years whereof more in another place so that we cannot finde Enclosure only to be the cause of either Blasting or Mildew other than that it is the richest and best Land Also we may observe that in the Wood-lands or Countries where most Enclosure is there the Land yields the greatest burthen of Wheat as well as other Grain and more rarely
suffice which are common Inconveniences and usually happening to the vulgar way of sowing Corn the greater half by far is lost which in all probability may be saved by the use of this very Instrument which will doubly requite the extraordinary charge and trouble thereof for here is no Corn sowed under Clots but in Rows as the Earth is stirred and moved it is all at one certain depth and at one certain distance and equally covered below the injury of Frost and Heat and Rapine of Birds Also by this way the Corn may be sown in the very middle or convenient depth of the mould that it may have the strength of the Land both below and above the Root which in the other more usual way the Corn falls to the bottom of the Furrow on the Gravel Clay or such-like hard Ground that it seldom thrives so well as what happens to be in the midst This way also exceeds the way of Setting Corn where the Pins thrust into the Ground hardens and fastens the mould that unless the Land be very light it confines the Roots to too narrow a place which in this way is prevented as I have lately observed in Garden-beans that those howed in prove better than those set with a stick By the use of this Instrument also may you cover your Grain or Pulse with any rich Compost you shall prepare for that purpose either with Pigeon-dung dry or granulated or any other Saline or Lixivial Substance made disperseable which may drop after the Corn and prove an excellent Improvement for we finde experimentally that Pigeons-dung sown by the hand on Wheat or Barley mightily advantageth it by the common way of Husbandry much more then might we expect this way where the dung or such-like substance is all in the same Furrow with the Corn where the other vulgar way a great part thereof comes not near it It may either be done by having another Hopper on the same Frame behind that for the Corn wherein the Compost may be put and made to drop successively after the Corn or it may be sown by another Instrument to follow the former which is the better way and may both disperse the Soil and cover both Soil and Seed The Corn also thus sown in Ranges you may with much more conveniencie go between and either weed it or howe it and earth it up as you think good and at Harvest will easily repay the Charges Also the Fore-wheels being made to lock to and fro on either side you may have an upright Iron-pin fixed to the middle of the Axis extended to the top of the Frame and from thence a small Rod of Iron to come to your hand with a crooked neck just against the neck of the Hopper by means of which Iron-rod you may lock or turn the Wheels either way and guide your Instrument and rectifie it if it deviate out of its right course The Hopper must be broad and shallow that the Seed press not much harder when it is full than when it is near empty lest it sowe not proportionably This Instrument although it may at the first seem mysterious and intricate to the ignorant yet I am very confident it will answer to every particular of what I have written of it and any ingenious Wheel-wright Joyner or Carpenter may easily make the same with very little Instruction and any ordinary Plough-man may use it If your Land be either near the Water or Clay or Sand Rock Another excellent Advantage of this Instrument Gravel c. it is not then convenient to sowe the Corn within the Land because it may not have depth for rooting By this Instrument may you then by placing the Share near the top of the Land only to remove as it were the Clots c. drop your Seed in rows and by certain Phins or pieces of Wood or Iron made flat at the end and a little sloping set on each side such Rows of Corn or Grain the Earth may be cast over it and laid in Ridges above the ordinary level of the Land which way I have proved to be very advantageous to Beans laid on a shallow Ground and covered over c. SECT VII Of the General Vses of Corn Grain Pulse and other Seeds propagated by the Plough This is the most general Grain used here in England for Bread Use of Wheat although it be not unfit for most of the uses the other Grains are fit for As for Beer the best Beer to keep hath usually a proportion of Wheat added to the Malt and the Bran also of Wheat a little thereof boyled in our ordinary Beer maketh it mantle or flower in the Cup when it is poured out which sheweth with what a rich spirit Wheat is endowed withal that so much remains in the very Bran. Also Starch is made of musty and unwholesome Wheat and of the Bran thereof than which there are few things whiter It s principal Use is for the making of Beer being the sweetest Of Barley and most pleasant Grain for that purpose it is also one of the best Grains for fatting of Swine especially being either boyled till it be ready to break with no more water than it drinks up or ground in a Mill and wet into a Paste or made into a Mesh either way it produces most excellent sweet Bacon It s general Use is for Bread either of it self or mixed with Of Rye Wheat it makes Bread moist and gives it a very pleasant taste to most Appetites I know no other particular use thereof it being not universally propagated only it 's reported that it yields great store of Spirit or Aqua vitae This is the only Grain for a Horse and best agrees with that Of Oats Beast of any other and in which the Horse most delighteth and is a constant food either for Bread Cakes or Oatmeal to the Scots and several Northern places in England and in some part of Wales Oats also will make indifferent good Malt and a little thereof in strong Beer to be kept is usual They are a Grain that Poultrey also love to feed on and it makes them lay store of Eggs above what other Grain doth The common Use of Pulses are generally known as well for Of Pulses Men as Beasts but there are several that pretend to extract from them excellent Liquors and distil very good Spirits or Aqua Vitae without maulting as one in a certain Tract published by Mr. Hartlib pretends that Rye Oats Pease and the like inferior sort of Grains handled as Barley until it sprout needing not for this work to be dried but beaten and moistened with its own Liquor and soundly fermented will yield a monstrous increase He also affirms that out of one Bushel of good Pease will come of Spirit at the least two Gallons or more which will be as strong as the strongest Anniseed-Water usually sold in London this he affirms to be of the least He
it and prefer it before any other Every Country-man also hath the experience of it by feeding of Cattle on the fallen Hedges where the Ashen-boughs are first chewed even to admiration before any other by the tender-mouth'd Heifer For Firing there 's no Wood comparable to it for a light sweet burning it will also burn better newly cut than any other Wood. The only season for setting the Ash for use is from November till the end of January for if the sap be never so little in the Tree the Worm takes it and spoils the Wood in a short time There is no Timber of so speedy a growth as the Ash that it is related that an Ash at forty years growth from the Key hath been sold for thirty pounds Mr. Blith also inserts a President of a Nursery of young Ash that were casually sown by the Wind that speedily returned to the owner a very great advantage Because this Tree is more generally planted for the sake of the Of the Walnut-tree Fruit than the Timber we shall refer it to the Chapter of Fruit-trees only let you know that the Timber of the Walnut-tree is of so great use and benefit that it's encouragement sufficient for the propagation thereof the fruit then added makes the encouragement the greater This Timber is of universal use unless for outward Edifices none better for the Joyner Upholsterer Gunsmith Cabinet-maker and other Occupations of a more curious brown colour than the Beech or other Woods and not so obnoxious to the Worm They delight in a light ground or moist gravel and will grow Of the Chesnut-tree in Clay Sand and all mixed Soils upon exposed and bleak places as more patient of cold than heat They are raised from the Nuts thus First spread them to Propagation sweat then cover them in Sand a month being past plunge them in Water and reject those that swim being dried for thirty days more Sand them again and plunge them as before keep them in Sand till the beginning of the Spring and set them in your Nursery but they thrive best unremoved you may also set them in Winter or Autumn in or without their husks and sowe them with other Mast for the raising of Coppices The Chesnut-tree growing in Coppices yields incomparable Use Poles for the Garden or Hop-yard If it like the Ground it will in ten or twelve years time grow to a kinde of Timber and bear plentiful Fruit. The Timber whereof is next the Oak one of the most-sought after by the Carpenter and Joyner and is of very long lasting as appears by many Antient Houses and Barns built thereof about Gravesend in Kent Being planted in Hedge-rows or for Avenues to our Country-houses they are a magnificent and royal Ornament and although our Englishmen delight not so much in the Fruit of the Chesnut-tree as other Nations yet will they yield no small advantage to supply our other occasions This Tree delights in reasonable good ground rather inclining The Service-tree to cold than over-hot for in places that are too dry they never bear kindly They are raised from the Berries which being ripe may be Propagation sown as other Mast these will come soon to be Trees and being planted young thrive exceedingly the best and speediest way is to encrease them from Suckers or Sets The Timber is useful for the Joyner and being of a very delicate Use Grain is fit for divers Curiosities It also yieldeth beams of a considerable bigness for Building The shade is beautiful for Walks and the Fruit not unpleasant SECT III. Of several other Trees not so generally made use of for Timber as for Fewel Coppice-woods Hedge-rows c. The Birch will grow on any Land and cannot well be too barren The Birch it will thrive on the hot burning Sand in the cold wet Clay Marshes Bogs and Stony places no place comes amiss to it The Birch is altogether produced of Suckers which being Propagation planted at four or five feet interval will suddenly rise to Trees after the first year you may cut them within an inch of the ground and they will shoot out very strongly It is useful for the Turner and for some Rustick Utensils It Use makes good Fewel and Charcoal both great and small This tree yields the best Sap of any Tree in England and the most in quantity prepared either with Honey or Sugar into a Wine which being now frequently made hath obtained the name of Birch-wine being a very pleasant and innocent Liquor and retaineth a very fine flavour of the Tree it came from Where this Tree plentifully grows great quantities of this Liquor may be extracted by cutting off some small branches and hanging of Bottles with the ends of the Branches in the mouths of the Bottles into which the Chrystalline Liquor will distil several Bottles may thus hang on one Tree or by boring or cutting any part of the stem of the Tree and by a Chip or the like to guide the Sap into the neck of the Bottle By either of which ways great quantities of this Liquor may be extracted in the month of February or beginning of March when the Sap ascends and before the Spring of the Leaf it will run freely when the Wind is South or West or the Sun shine warm but not so if the weather be very cold or in the night-time Some have reported that a Birch-tree will yield in 12 or 14 days its own weight in this Liquor I shall not perswade any man to believe it although it be most evident that a few Trees will yield you a great quantity of it This Liquor thus extracted and duly prepared makes a very delicate repast The Maple affects a sound and dry Mould growing both in The Maple Woods and Hedge-rows It is propagated of the Keys as the Ash Propagation The Timber is excellent for the Turner and Joyner for its whiteness its lightness and fine diapred knots c. This Tree chiefly desires to grow in cold hills and in the barren The Horn-beam and most exposed parts of Woods The most expeditious way of raising it is by Sets of about an Propagation inch Diameter and cut within half a foot of the Earth it may also be raised of the Seeds sown in October which are ripe in August It is a very hard Wood for the Mill-wright for Domestique or Use Rural Utensils where hardness is required Being planted at half a yard interval in a single row it makes a stately Hedge or Walk in a Garden or Park growing tall and speedy leaved to the very foot of the stem It delights in Mountains and Woods and to fix it self in good The Quick-beam light ground The Sets may be planted as the Ash or the Berries ripe in October Propagation and use may be sown It is a quick-growing Coppice-wood is good for some ordinary uses and for Fewel This Tree above all affects cold
of the ways of Graffing before treated of It differs from the other ways in this that it 's performed when the Sap is at the fullest in the Summer and the other sorts of Grafting are before the Sap ascends or at least in any great quantity Also by this way of Inoculation may several sorts of delicate Fruits and Trees be propagated and meliorated which by Grafting cannot be done unless in the last way before-mentioned As the Aprecock Peach or Nectorine rarely thrives any other way than this because few Stocks can feed the Graff with Sap so early in the Spring as the Graff requires it which makes it frustrate your expectation but being rightly Inoculated in the fulness of the Sap rarely fails The Stocks on which you are to Inoculate are to be of the same kinde as before was directed to Graff on The Peach takes best on its own kinde but the Nectorine thrives not well unless upon a Peach-stock The time for this work is usually from Midsummer to the 1 The time for Inoculation middle of July when the sap is most in the stock Some Trees and in some places and in some years you may Inoculate from mid May to mid-August As to the time of the day it is best in the Evening of a fair day in a dry season for Rain falling on the Buds before they have taken will destroy most of them The Buds you intend to Inoculate must not be too young nor 2 The choice of Buds tender but sufficiently grown The Aprecock Buds are ready soonest they must be taken from strong and well-grown shoots of the same Year and from the strongest and biggest end of the same shoots If Buds be not at hand the stalks containing them may be carried many miles and kept two or three days being wrapt in fresh and moist Leaves and Grass to keep them cool If you think they are a little withered lay the stalks in cold water two or three hours and that if any thing will revive them and make them come clean off the stocks Having your Buds and Instruments ready for your work viz. 3 Instruments for Inoculation a sharp-pointed Knife or Pen-knife a Quill cut half away and made sharp and smooth at the end to divide the Bud and Rinde from the Stalk and Woollen Yarn or dry Rushes Flags or such like to binde them withal Then On some smooth part of the stock either near or farther from 4 The manner of Inoculation the ground according as you intend it either for a Dwarf-tree or for the Wall or a tall Standard cut the Rinde of the stock overthwart and from the middle thereof gently slit the Bark or Rinde about an inch long in form of a T not wounding the stock then himbly prepare the Bud by cutting of the leaf and leave only the Tail about half an inch from the Bud then slit the Bark on each side the Bud a little distance from the Bud and take away the Bark above and below leaving the Bark half an inch above and below the Bud and sharpen that end of the Bark below the Bud like a Shield or Escutcheon that it may the more easily go down and unite between the bark and the stock Then with your Quill take off the bark and bud dexterously that you leave not the root behinde for if you see a hole under the bud on the inside the root is gone cast it away and prepare another When your bud is ready raise the bark of the stock on each side in the slit preserving as carefully as you can the inner thin rinde of the stock put in with care the shield or bud between the bark and stock thrusting it down until the top joyn to the cross cut then binde it close with your Yarn c. but not on the Bud it self There is another way of Inoculation more ready than this Another way to Inoculate and more successful and differs from the former only that the bark is slit upwards from the cross cut and the shield or bud put upwards leaving the lower end longer than may serve and when it is in its place cut off that which is superfluous and joyn the bark of the bud to the bark of the stock and binde it as before which sooner and more successfully takes than the other as I my self have experienced I have also cut the edges of the bark about the bud square Another way and have cut the bark of the stock fit to receive the same and bound it fast which succeeded well and is the readier way and more facile About three weeks or a moneths time after your Inoculation you may unbinde the buds lest the binding injure the bud and stock When you unbinde them you may discern which are good and have taken and which not the good appear Verdant and well coloured the other appear dead and withered In March following cut off the stock three fingers above the bud and the next year cut it close that the bud may cover the stock as Graffs usually do SECT VII Of raising Fruit-trees by the Seeds Stones Nuts or Kernels We have given you a short Survey of such Fruits as are propagated by Grafting and Inoculation and the way or method of promoting the same Now we are to touch upon some few Trees or Fruits that are raised from their own Seed or Kernel as Almonds Services Wall-nuts and Filberds Some others there are as Oranges Lemons and such like not necessary for our Rural Theatre therefore I shall say little to them But the only known and beneficial way to propagate the Wall-nut-tree Wall-nuts is from the Nut which from the time of gathering of them you may keep and preserve in Beds of Sand or Earth till March and then plant them if you can in the places where they are to abide for so will they prosper exceedingly and much more than any removed but if you remove any be cautious of cutting the branches or roots lest you endanger the Tree Be careful to preserve the Nuts from Mice for if they can come at them you will have but few left Although I planted some hundreds in their Husks and a great number of them wrapped in Clay yet were all to a very few transplanted by the Mice Filberds also may be raised from the Nut and are easier obtained Filberds and carried farther than the Suckers or Plants of the same Tree and are raised and ordered as Wall-nuts are It 's the best and most usual way also to raise Almond-trees from Almonds the stone which must be set in the place they are to abide not easily growing after a remove Chesnuts and Services are also raised from the Fruit of them Chesnuts and Services by being sown in your Seminary and thence removed SECT VIII Of raising and propagating Fruit-trees by Layers Slips and Suckers There are also several sorts of Fruits that are to be raised with more advantage and
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
we have here in England a more easie and effectual way of preparing it with the Bark of that common and so well known Tree the Holly which Preparation is thus Take the Bark of that Tree about the end of June at which To make Bird-time time it is full of Sap and fitter for your purpose fill your Vessel with it that you intend to boil it in then add thereto of clear water as much as the Vessel will conveniently hold and boil it so long until the grey and white Bark rise from the green which will be about twelve or sixteen hours Then take it off the fire and gently decant or pour the water from the Barks and separate the grey and white Barks from the green which lay on a Stone or Stone-floor in some Cellar or moist or cool place and cover it over with Fern or other green weeds to a good thickness the better to accelerate its putrifaction which will be accomplished in twelve or fourteen days time and sometimes less and it reduced to a perfect Mucilage then pound it well in a large Morter with an wooden Pestle until it be so tempered that no part of the Bark be discerned unbruised After which wash it exceeding well in clear water by renewing the water and your pains so often that no foulness or Motes remain in it and put it into a deep Earthen Vessel where it will purge it self for four or five days together Then scum it clean as its filth arises and when it hath done purging put it into a clean Vessel and keep it close for use The Bark of the Birch-tree is by some affirmed to make as good Lime as that of the Holly being the same way to be prepared so that you may try or use which is most easie to come by Also you need not boil either of the Barks if you give it longer time to putrifie for the boiling is only to accelerate putrifaction When you intend to use it take as much of it as you think fit and put it into an Earthen-pot with a third part of Capons-grease or Goose-grease well clarified and set it over the fire and let them melt together Stir them until they are throughly incorporated and so continue stirring off the Fire till it be cold If you fear the freezing of your Bird-lime add in your last mixture a quarter as much of the Oyl Petrolium as you do of the Goose or Capons-grease and no cold will congeal it When your Lime is cold take your Rods and warm them then a little besmear the Rods with your Line and draw the Rods the one from the other and close them again Work them thus continually together until they are all over equally besmeared If you lime Straws or Strings you must do it when the Lime is hot and at the thinnest by folding and doubling them together before the fire and fold and work them till it be all over throughly limed Put these in Cases of Leather until you use them When you intend to use your Bird-lime for great Fowl take of Rods long small and streight being light and yielding every way Lime the upper parts of them before the Fire that it may the better besmear them Then go where these Fowl usually haunt whether it be their Morning or Evening haunt an hour or two before they come and plant your Twigs or Rods about a foot distance one from the other that they cannot pass them without being intangled and so plant over the place where their haunt is leaving a place in the middle wide enough for your Stale to flutter in without falling foul of the Twigs which Stale you do well to provide and place there the better to attract those of its own kinde to your snares from which Stale you must have a small string to some convenient place at a distance where you may lie concealed and by plucking the string cause it to flutter which will allure down the Fowl in view Prick the Rods sloap-wise against the winde about a foot above the ground or water and if you see any taken surprize them not suddenly if any more are in view for by their fluttering others will be induced to fall in amongst them A Spaniel that is at command will be necessary to re-take them that might otherwise escape out of your reach these Fowl being very strong If you place your Twigs for the lesser Water-fowl as Duck For smaller Water-fowl Mallard Widgeon Teal c. you must fit your Rods according to the depth of the water and your Lime must be such as no wet nor Frost can prejudice the limed part must be above the water Here also it will be necessary to have a Stale of the same Fowl you intend to insnare SECT V. Of taking Fowl with Springes Most of the Cloven-footed Water-fowl delight in Plashes Water Furrows small Rivolets and suchlike places seeking for Worms Flat-grass Roots and the like in the Winter-time especially in frosty weather when many other places are frozen up and these warm Springly Water-tracts are open where you must place Springes made of Horse-hair of bigness and length according to the greatness of the Fowl you designe to take for the Heron or Bittern it must be of near a hundred Horse-hairs and above two foot in length for the Woodcock Snipe Plover c. not above eight or ten Horse-hairs and one foot in length the Main Plant or Sweeper must be also proportionable to the strength of the Fowl For the manner of the making and setting them I question not but every place will furnish you with Directors if you know it not already which is much easier and better than any written Instructions Observe also that you prick small sticks in manner of a Hedge cross-wise athwart all the other by-passages about half an inch apart and somewhat above a handful above the water or ground sloaping towards the place where your Springe is placed the better to guide which is easily done the Fowl into the Snare for such is their nature that they will not press over where they have liberty to pass through any gap If the places where these Fowl usually haunt be frozen you must make Plashes and the harder the Frost is in other places the greater will the resort of Fowl be here SECT VI. Killing of Fowl with the Fowling-piece There are many places where Fowl settle and feed at sometimes yet so uncertain that the former ways are useless and there are also many places wherein you may not have the conveniency or liberty to make use of the said ways of taking Fowl yet there may you at opportune times meet with a good shot with your Fowling-piece the length and bore of which ought to be proportionable the one to the other and both to your strength and the place you use it in Let your Powder be of the best sort as new as you can for with bad keeping it looseth its strength exceedingly
therefore let it be kept as dry as may be Let it be well dried when you use it and clean from dust it hath the more strength and less fouleth your Piece Let your Shot be well sized not too great for then it flies but thin and scattering nor too small the Bird being apt to fly away within it having not weight nor strength to enter far Shot being usually above the value of ordinary Lead and in many places not to be had of the sizes you have most occasion for I shall therefore here set down the true Process of making of it of what size you please under Mould-shot Take Lead of what quantity you please melt it down in an Iron To make Shot Vessel stir and clear it with an Iron Ladle taking off all its impurities that swim at the top When it is so hot as that the colour of the Lead begin to be greenish and not before strew upon it Auripigmentum powdered fine as much as will lie on a Shilling to twelve or fifteen pound of Lead some will require more then stir the Lead well and the Auripigmentum will flame Let your Iron Ladle have a Lip or Notch in the brim for the more convenient pouring out of the Lead and let the Ladle remain in the melted Lead for the most part that it may be of a heat agreeable to the Lead to prevent inconveniencies that may otherwise happen through its being over-hot or too cold Then take out a little of the Lead in your Ladle for an Essay and cause it to drop out of it into a Glass of Water which if the drops prove to be round and without Tails there is Auripigmentum enough in it and the temper of the heat is as it ought to be but if the congealed drops or shot prove not round but with Tails then add more of the Auripigmentum and augment the heat until you finde it right Then take a Copper-plate about the size of an ordinary Trencher-plate with a Concavity in the middle about three inches Diameter perforated with about thirty or forty small holes greater or lesser according as you would have your shot to be This Concave bottom should be thin but the thicker the brim is the better will it retain the heat Place this Plate on two Bars or other Iron-frame over a Tub or Pail of water about four inches from the water and lay on the Plate burning Coals to keep the Lead melted upon it Then with your Ladle take off your Lead and pour it gently on the Coals on the middle of the Plate and it will make its way through the holes in the bottom of the Plate into the water and fall into round drops Thus continue your Operation till all the Lead be passed through the Plate blowing the Coals to keep them alive that the Lead may not cool on the Plate and stop the holes Whilest you are thus pouring on your Lead another Stander-by may take another Ladle and put it four or five inches in the water under the bottom of the Plate and catch some of the Shot as it drops down and see what faults are in it that you may stop your hand until they are rectified The greatest care is to keep the Lead on the Plate in so moderate a degree of heat that it be not too cool to stop the holes nor too hot which will make the drops crack and fly if it be too cool blow the Coals a little if too hot stay your hand until it be a little cooler the cooler it is the larger will be your shot the hotter the smaller As near as you can observe the right temper of the heat and you will have very round shot without any tails Then take your shot and dry them over the fire with a gentle heat always stirring them that they melt not and when they are dry you may separate the small from the great in Sieves made for that purpose according to the several sizes they are of But if you would have them very large you may with a stick make the Lead trickle out of the Ladle into the water without the Plate If the Lead stop on the Plate and yet not too cool give the Plate a little knock and it will drop again Be sure let there be none of your Instruments Greasie Oyly or the like When you have separated your shot if any of it proves too great or too small or not round preserve them for the next Operation Thus having your Fowling-piece your Powder and Shot ready with your Spaniel well instructed and at command not daring to stir till you bid him then are you fit for a walk towards your Game If you are directly between the Winde and the Fowl they will be apt to scent you therefore it 's best to go against the winde or aside it it 's better to shoot at one side of them than before or behinde them for if you break a Wing you are sure of that Fowl It 's best to get as much shelter as you can by Hedges Banks or Trees for the sight or smell of a man raises them whatever danger of Hawks or any thing else be near But if they are so shie and the place so free from shelter that Stalking-horse there be no way to come at them fairly then you must lead forth your Stalking-horse being some Old Jade trained up for that purpose and that will be led in your hand as you please and not startle much at the report of a Gun behinde whose shoulders you must shelter your self and take your aim before his shoulders and under his neck which is better than under his belly If you have not such a Beast ready you may make an Artificial Artificial Stalking horse one of any old Canvas in shape like a Horse feeding on the ground You may make it double and stuff it or single and painted of a brown colour like a Horse Let it be made on a sharp stick that you may fix it into the ground as you have occasion when you take your Level It must be so light that you may carry it in one hand and high enough to conceal your body from the Fowl You may also make an Artificial Oxe or Cow which you may use for a change that when your Horse is discovered through much use you may change for the other and so make your Sport dure the longer Or you may make Artificial Stags or Bucks with their real horns on them which will be best in such grounds where those Creatures frequent and with whom the Fowl are more familiar You may either make the representation of a Tree in Canvas Artificial Trees and painted like one and so spread with small sticks that it may somewhat resemble a Tree or you may with many Boughs so form a Tree that it may shelter you from the view of the Fowl making it with a Spike at the bottom that it may stick into
Recreation by day you may more easily do it in the night several ways If in Champion and level Countries then by a Low-bell from the end of October until the Birds begin to couple towards the Spring And in the darkest nights or at least the dark time of the night your Bell must have a hollow deep and doleful sound Your Net must be about twenty yards deep and so broad as you can conveniently manage it Then go into the stubble-Fields where the Birds usually take up their Night-quarters the Wheat-Edish is the best He that carries the Bell must go foremost tolling the Bell very mournfully and not too hard then let the Net follow being supported at each corner and on the sides and when you come where you think the Game lies pitch your Net no noise being hitherto heard but that of the Bell then light your Straw or Torches at the Coals or Candle carried in a Dark-Lanthorn by one to that purpose and beat the ground and make a noise and the sight of the Fire or light will make them instantly rise and be intangled in the Net Then put out your lights and keep your usual silence and proceed as before Thus may you take Partridge Rails Quails Larks c. You may also take the same sorts of Fowl by night with a To take Birds with the Trammel only Trammel being a Net longer than that you use with the Low-bell the lower part of it plumbed with Lead loose on the ground the upper part supported at each end about three foot high and so trailed along those grounds you expect your Game on At each side of the Net carry Wisps of Straw burning or Links and let some beat the ground with long Poles which will cause the Birds to rise against the Net There is also a way to take Birds in the Night-time that Bat-fowling roost or perch in Trees and Hedg-rows which is called Bat-fowling The manner is thus When you come to the place where you expect your Sport light your Straw or Torches and beat the Bushes or Hedg-rows and the Birds will instantly fly towards the flames where you may take them either with Nets at the end of Poles or beat them down with Brushes made with Boughs at the end of Poles or by carrying large boughs limed with Bird-lime to intangle them This Sport is to be used when the weather is extreme dark and with great silence till the lights are burning for they are amazed at the light being every way else very dark and fly to the very flames so that you may take them as you please The manner of using Bird-lime you have before in this Chapter To take small Birds with Lime-twigs but for the taking of small Birds the best way is to take a large bough of Birch Willow or suchlike Tree prick and trim it clean from all superfluity that the Twigs may be smooth lime the branches very well but not too thick with the Lime then place this Bough in such place where those Birds usually resort that you designe to take standing like a Tree and place your self at some convenient distance undiscovered imitating either with your mouth or some Bird-call the Notes of the Birds you aim at which you must by practise learn which will invite the Birds to the Tree you have prepared for them Thus from Sun-rising to ten of the Clock and from one till near Sun-set may you use this Sport Or you may lay small Twigs limed and about three or four inches long in places where the Birds haunt or stick them on the tops of Hemp-cocks or Wheat-sheaves or stick small Boughs among Pease which the small Birds will suddenly pitch upon which will be a means to lessen the number of those destroyers of Corn Grain Seed c. But if you use a Stale of one or two living Night-bats placing them aloft that the Birds may gaze at them or an Owl which is the better of the two most sorts of Birds will draw towards her and so fall into your Snare A dried Owl will serve for want of a living one Also in the Winter-time the Field-fares and Bow-thrushes To take Field-fares or Bow-Thrushes which usually fly in great Flocks are easily taken by liming two or three large boughs and fixing them on the top of some tall Tree and placing in them two or three dried Stales of that kinde and beat the Fields adjacent where those Birds feed and they will in great Flights take to that Tree where your Stales are to your great pleasure and profit SECT VIII Of taking Fowl with Baits Land-fowl as Doves Pigeons Rooks Choughs and suchlike To take Land-Fowl with Baits may be taken with Baits as by boiling Wheat Barley Pease or other Grain in water with good store of Nux Vomica and when they are boiled almost ready to burst take them out and let them cool and scatter this Grain where these Birds haunt and it is said that by eating of it they will fall as dead that you may take them with your hand if you boil smaller Seeds you may take smaller Birds by the same way They also say that the said Grains or Seeds steeped in the Lees of Wine will work the same effect which if it doth it is much the cleanlier way and doth not infect the Bird with that poysonous quality as doth the Nux Vomica It is also said that Bellenge Leaves Roots and all cleansed very To take Water-Fowl with Baits well and steeped in clear running water for twenty four hours and boiled in the same water till the water be almost consumed Then when it is cold this Plant being taken and laid in the haunts where Wilde-geese Duck Mallard Bustard or any other Fowl affecting the water usually frequent that these Fowl will feed on it and be stupified or drunk therewith and the more in case you add a little Brimstone in the Concoction But this is left to the experience of those that know the Plant it's Vertues and the inticing quality it has to invite the Fowl to taste it SECT IX Of taking some sorts of Fowl Thus have I given you a hint of the divers ways of taking Fowl in general but something more may be said as to the particular ways used in taking some sorts of Fowl that are not proper for any other As in taking the Pheasant much skill is To take the Pheasant with Nets used and imployed in taking him being the best of all Land-fowl that are wilde The one way is after you have found their haunts which are usually in young Copses where you must carefully view the several places and by that means may finde them Young and Old together Provide your self with a Pheasant-call and learn all their distinct Notes and having a Net made of blew or green thred about sixteen or eighteen foot long and seven foot broad verged with small Cord go into the Woods where these Fowl are
renew his necessary intentions and take Time by the Fore-lock as Pliny observed Frontem Domini plus prodesse quam occipitum for Time is a thing so precious and Occasion so precipitous and where many things are to be done Time let pass prevents the success of our endeavours and loss and confusion succeeds Semper autem dilator operum vir cum damnis luctatur It is a very great neglect in Agriculture to be too late it brings a considerable damage like a backward year that produces a bad Crop so doth a backward Husbandman meet with small gains You very rarely finde a thriving Husband behinde with his Affairs or a declining Husband so forward as his Neighbour Nudus serito nudusque arato Nudus quoque metito si quidem tempestiva omnia voles Opera ferre cereris ut tibi singula Tempestiva crescant ne quando interim egens Mendices ad alienas domos nihilque efficias It was Hesiod's advice to Plough Sow and Reap in good time if you expect a compleat reward of your Labours But if it be not in every ones power though he knew the seasons for all things to observe them by reason of the multitude and variousness of business that flows upon the laborious Husbandman at some certain times of the year more than at other many casualties also intervening to such it is advised that they make use of the next opportunity convenient to do what before they have omitted Yet Cato tells you Res Rustica sic est si unum sero feceris omnia opera sero facies neglect one neglect all There are two sorts of Times and Seasons prescribed by the Ancients to be observed in Agriculture viz. of the Year being only of the motion of the Sun through the Twelve Signs of the Zodiaque which begets the different Seasons and Temperatures of the Spring Summer Autumn and Winter and of the Aspects and state of the Moon and Stars whereof and also of several Prognosticks of the mutability state and condition of the several Seasons and their Natural Inclinations I shall give you at the end of this Kalendar a Breviat and of such Observations as I have found in several Ancient and Modern Authors treating of that Subject As for the Times and Seasons of the Year from the beginning to the end thereof every day something is to be done by the Husbandman as was said of a Gardiner that his work is never at an end it begins with the Year and continues to the next Annus in opere Rustico absolutus est yet is it not every year alike neither is every place alike some years or at least some seasons of the year prove more forward by two or three weeks or more at one time than at another Also the scituation of places either better defended from or more obvious to the intemperature of the Air begets some alterations In these and suchlike cases the subsequent Rules are to be seasonably applied by the Judicious Husbandman according as the season happens to be earlier or later or the different scituation of places requires This Method in general is the same that hath been used by the most Ancient that I have understood to have written of Agriculture and also our Moderns as you may observe in Hesiod Columella Palladius de Serres Augustino Gallo Tusser Markham Stevenson and others and last of all Mr. Evelin his excellent Kalendarium Hortense at the end of his Sylva I shall endeavour herein to be as brief as I can I shall add nothing more than what is necessary and shall leave out such things that are but little to our purpose and shall begin with the major part of our Presidents in the like case although the year in respect of the Suns entrance into Aries and the Commencement of the date of the year begins in March yet Tusser declines both and begins at Michaelmas it being the usual time for the Farmer to enter on his Farm the ground being then more easily cleared of its former stook than at any other time But seeing that it is no very material thing when we begin our labour having no end we will tread the most usual Path decline both Extreams and begin when our days do sensibly lengthen our hopes revive of an approaching Summer and our Almanacks give us a New-years-day JANVARY Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1 New-years day   2    3   Castor and Pollux rise in the evening 4 8 00 4 00  5    6 Twelf-tide   7    8   Lucida Corona or the Crown is with the Sun 9    10 Sun in Aqua  The Dog-star riseth in the evening 11    12    13    14    15    16 7 45 4 15  17    18    19    20    21    22 Vincent   23    24 7 30 4 30  25 Pauls day   26    27    28    29    30 K. Charles his Martyrdom  31 7 15 4 45  Mensis difficillimus hic Hybernus difficilis ovibus difficilisque hominibus THis Moneth is the rich mans charge and the poor mans misery the cold like the days increase yet qualified with the hopes and expectations of the approaching Spring The Trees Meadows and Fields are now naked unless cloathed in white whilest the Countryman sits at home and enjoys the fruit of his past labours and contemplates on his intended Enterprises Now is welcom a cup of good Cider or other excellent Liquors such that you prepared the Autumn before moderately taken it proves the best Physick A cold January is seasonable Plough up or fallow the ground you intend for Pease water Meadows and Pastures drain Arable grounds where you intend to sow Pease Oats or Barley rear Calves Pigs c. lay Dung on heaps carry it on the Land in frosty weather on Pasture-land hedge and ditch Plant Timber-trees or any Coppice-wood or Hedge-wood and also Quick-sets cut Coppices and Hedge-rows lop and prune greater Trees Feed Doves and repair Dove-houses cut away Ant-hills and fill up the holes in Meadow and Pasture-grounds gather stones c. have special care to Ews and Lambs house Calves Geld young Cattle soon after they are fallen sow Oats if you will have of the best says old Tusser In Janivere Husband that poucheth the Grotes Otes Will break up his Lay or be sowing of Otes Otes sown in Janivere lay by the Wheat In May by the Hay for Cattle to eat PLant Vines and other Fruit-trees if the weather be open Garden and Orchard and milde dig and trench Gardens or other ground for Pease Beans c. against the Spring dig Borders uncover roots of Trees where need is and add such
Rot surprize them Plant all sorts of Winter-greens Garden and Orchard Sow the more tender Garden-seeds as Sweet-Marjerom Basil Thime and hot Aromatick Herbs and Plants set Sage and Rosemary Cover no longer your Cucumbers Melons c. excepting with Glasses sow Purslain Lettice c. At the end of this Month take up such Tulips which are dried in the stalk Binde Hops to their Poles and make up the Hills after Rain Hop-garden Watch the Bees now ready to swarm Apiary JVNE Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1    2    3    4 3 45 8 15  5    6    7    8   The Head of Castor riseth in the morning before the Sun 10 3 43 8 17  11 Barnabas  Sun in Cancer Solstice 12    13   Arcturus sets in the morning 14    15    16   Hydra's Heart sets in the evening 17    18    19    20 3 45 8 15  21    22    23    24 John Baptist.   25    26   The Right Foot of Gemini sets in the morning 27    28    29 Peter Apostle   30 3 50 8 10  Humida Solstitia atque Hyemes Orate Serenas Agricolae A Showre at this time of the year is generally welcome now Phoebus ascends the utmost limits of the Zodiaque towards the Pole-arctick and illuminates our most Northern Climes and makes those Countries that within a few Months seemed to be wholly bereft of pleasure now to resemble a Terrestrial Paradise and gives unto them the full proportion of his Presence which in the Winter-past was withdrawn that they partake equally of his light with the more Southern Countries The glorious Sun glads the Spirit of Nature and the sweet showres now refresh the thirsty Earth the Grain and Fruits now shew themselves to the joy of the Husbandman the Trees are all in their rich array and the Earth it self laden with the Countrymans wealth if the weather be calm it makes the Farmer smile on his hopeful Crop This Month is the prime season for the washing and shearing of Sheep in forward Meadows Mow Grass for Hay Cast Mud out of Ditches Pools or Rivers this is the best time to raise Swine for Breeders Fallow your Wheat-land in hot weather it kills the Weeds Arrationes eo fructuosiores sunt quo calidiore terra aratur itaque inter solstitium caniculum absolvendae saith Varro Carry Marl Lime and Manure of what kinde soever to your Land bring home your Coals and other necessary Fewel fetcht far off before the Teams are busied at the Hay-harvest Weed Corn sow Rape and Cole-seed and also Turnep-seed Now Mildews or Honey-dews begin to fall Minde your Sheep as we advised you in May. NOw begin to Inoculate beware of cutting Trees other Garden and Orchard than the young Shoots of this year pluck off Buds where you are not willing they should branch forth Water the latter-planted Trees and lay moist weeds c. at the roots of them It is a seasonable time to distil Aromatick and Medicinal Herbs Flowers c. and to dry them in the shade for the Winter Also to make Syrrups c. Gather Snails Worms c. and destroy Ants and other Vermine Set Saffron plant Rosemary and Gilliflowers sow Lettice and other Sallets for latter Salleting Gather seeds that are ripe and preserve them that are cool and dry water the dry Beds take up your bulbous roots of Tulips Anemonies c. Inoculate Jasumines Roses c. Also transplant any sort of bulbous roots that keep not well out of the ground Now plant slips of Myrtle sow latter Pease Dig ground where you intend a Hop-garden and binde such Hop-garden Hops to the Poles the winde hath shaken off Bees now swarm plentifully therefore be very vigilant over Apiary them they will requite your care JVLY Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1   First Star of Orions Belt rises with the Sun 2 Visit of Mary   3    4    5    6    7    8 4 00 8 00  9    10    11    12   Lucida Corona riseth in the evening 13 Sun in Leo.   14    15 Swithin   16    17    18 4 15 7 45  19 Dog-days beg  Lesser Dog-star riseth with the Sun 20 Margaret   21    22 Mary Magd.   23    24    25 James Apost   26    27    28 4 30 7 30  29    30   Greater Dog-star riseth with the Sun 31   Syrius riseth in the morning Tempore Messis quando Sol corpus exsiccat Tunc festina domum fruges Congrega Diluculo surgens IN thirsty July would the parched Earth be glad of a moistening showre to refresh and revive the scorched Vegetable Now is there an equal care taken to avoid Phoebus his bright and burning Beams as in the Winter the furious blasts of cold Boreas Tempests now injure much the laden Fruit-trees and standing Corn to the great detriment of the Husbandman Now is the Universal time for Hay-making loose not a good opportunity especially if fair weather be scarce Mow your Head-lands they fallow where the Land requires it gather the Fimble or earliest Hemp and Flax. At the latter end of this Month Corn-harvest begins in most places in a forward year Still carry forth Marl Lime and other Manure bring home Timber and Fewel and other heavy materials Wheat and Hops are now subject to much damage by Mildews Sow Turnep-seed in this Month. IT is a principal time for the Inoculation of choice Fruits Roses c. Garden and Orchard And for the Summer-pruning of your Wall-trees for the making of Cherry-wine Rasberry-wine c. Cut off the stocks of such Flowers that have done blossoming and cover their roots with new fat Earth Sow Sallet-herbs for latter Salleting and also Pease Take away the Snails from your Mural Trees Slip Stocks and other lignous Plants and Flowers and lay Gilliflowers and Carnations for encrease watering them and shadowing them from the fervent Sun-beams Lay also Myrtles and other curious Greens clip Box and other Tonsile Plants Graff by approach and Inoculate Jasimines Oranges c. Transplant or remove Tulips and other bulbous roots some may be kept out of the ground others immediately planted If the Season prove very dry the watering of the Hops will Hop-garden very much advantage them and make
was after the Comet in 584. that it was then believed a second Deluge or Universal Floud to have been prepared for the drowning of the whole World Sometimes also great heat and drought as did the next Summer after the Comet in 1472 in January which was of such strength and vehemency that in some places the fire burst out c. Also there followed mortal Maladies loathsome Sicknesses most noysom and infectious c. in Germany of which nature that Comet seemed to be that appeared to us in England in December 1664. after which succeeded great drought heat and want of Rain and that great and terrible Plague in 1665. and great heat and drought and Pestilential Diseases in 1666 and 1667. and that never-to-be-forgotten Fire or burning of London At si contigerit plures Ardere Cometas Avien Invalidas segetes torrebit siccior Aer More might be said both as to their Causes Motions and Effects but as it belongs to higher Capacities than our Country-Reader to apprehend so it requires the able Pens of more Sublime Philosophers to treat of There are certain lesser Meteors that never attain to the magnitude Of the Shooting of Stars of Comets yet seem to be composed of the same matter and to produce like effects though in a far less degree they are visible only in their motion and seem as though streams of fire issued from them As the Poet saith Saepe etiam stellas Vento impendente Videbis Praecipites Coelo labi noctisque per umbras Flammarum longos à tergo albescere tractus Which are no otherwise fire than the dashing of salt-Salt-water in a dark night or the moist light of several Marine Creatures or of shining wood or of the scraping of Loaf-sugar in the dark The light proceeding from these Meteors is meerly from the expence of their matter by the swiftness of their motion which matter being dissipated descends nearer unto this Globe and afterwards becomes the cause from whence Winds Rain Mists or Fogs proceed according as the matter is more or less in quantity or more or less gross or subtil in substance as is evident from every Countrymans Observation and Experience The Ancients relied much on the rising setting and appearing Of the Fixed Stars of the Fixed Stars Virgil. Praeterea tam sunt Arcturi sidera nobis Haedorumque dies servandi Lucidus anguis c. On which days depended their most principal Rules of Agriculture but it was in those parts or Climates as we said before where times and seasons were not subject to so great a variation as in these We therefore need observe no more than their appearances as they are visible unto us that is whether they be clear or dim or whether they seem to be more or fewer in number than they usually do c. If any of the greater Stars seem to have a Circle about them or twinkle or appear greater than usual or appear dim or their Rays blunt or appear fewer in number you may expect Rain the Air being inclinable thereunto Also if they appear very thick and more in number than usual it indicates the Air to be rare and thin and the more capable of Rain and also Prognosticates tempestuous weather to follow From the same cause as Comets or Shooting-stars may also Of Fire or other casual appearances flashes of fire in several forms be produced which may also presage or signifie the same things to come But they are usually more terrible and from more strong causes and do usually produce more violent effects as fierce Tempests c. Quod si diversis se passim partibus ignes Avien Excutiant Verret pelagus sine fine modoque Turba procellarum If these flashes appear in the form of Lightning without either Clouds or Thunder Winds and Rain usually succeeds from that Coast the light is observed if from several Coasts great Tempests follow If the Air seem to be lighter than at other times the Sun and Moon being remote it denoteth Winds and Rain to follow Before Great Sicknesses or Pestilential Diseases lights in the Air c. have been observed Also the Clouds themselves as they vary in form and colour Of the Clouds or motion do indicate unto us the weather we are to expect In a clear evening certain small black Clouds appearing are undoubted signs of Rain to follow or if black blew or greenish Clouds appear near the Sun at any time of the day or Moon by night Rain usually follows In a fair day if the Sky seem to be dapled with white Clouds which they usually term a Mackarel-Sky it usually predicts Rain If great black Clouds come out of the North and appear whitish when nearer to you and the season be cold and dry it signifies Snow or Hail If Clouds be very high and move another way than the winde blows or than the other Clouds move that are lower the winde either riseth or turneth If they appear like Flocks of Sheep or of a red colour winde also follows If small watrish Clouds appear on the tops of hills Rain follows as they observe in Cornwal When Hengsten is wrapped with a Cloud a showre follows soon after The like they observe of Roseberry-topping in Yorkshire and many other places in England If Clouds move towards the Sun it denotes Winde and Tempest If Clouds rest over the Sun at Sun-rising and make as it were an Eclipse it portendeth Windes if from the South Windes and Rain If in a clear day single Clouds fly apace Windes are expected from that place whence they come If Clouds grow or appear suddenly the Air otherwise free from Clouds it signifies Tempests at hand especially if they appear towards the South or West Mists and Fogs are of divers natures some are the effects of Of Mists and Fogs Shooting-stars and other Meteors and these are more general sometimes they are very gross and stinking they are then to be avoided as much as you can their significations as to the change of Air are various if they vanish or fall without a Winde fair weather usually succeeds The white Mists that usually ascend in a morning from the low grounds in a clear Air if they vanish or settle again in the Valleys fair weather succeeds but if they take to the Hills or Mount aloft it demonstrates the watry inclination of the Air therefore expect Rain In the more Southerly Regions the Windes are much more Of Windes certain than in these and the effects of them also more certain For notwithstanding the Rules and Observations of our English Philosophers as to the strict place of the Winde expecting thence a certain effect you will finde such Fancies to deceive you For although the Winde being exactly in the South South-East Point it Rains to day yet another day the Winde may be in the same place and it be fair weather Also that Winde that brings Rain to the one part of this Island may
or expanded or more dense or contracted We shall not take any further notice of the nature of the Air in this place than it serves to our present intention which is only to demonstrate unto you that the Air is an absolute Body fluid and transparent and in several particulars like unto the water both being penetrable alike by their several Inhabitants the Fish with an equal facility piercing the waters as Fowls do the Air they are both Nutriments to their several Animals residing in them they both obstruct the Visual Faculty alike as they are more or less dense they are both subject to Expansion or Contraction but the Air more they are both subject to Undulation as they are fluid The Air is also capable to support great burdens as the vast quantities of water that flow over our heads in stormy or rainy weather which according to the rarity and density of the Air do gradatim diffuse themselves upon the Earth as is most evident in the more hot and Southerly Countries where the Air is more hot and thin there Rain falls with that violence as though it were water poured forth when in the more Northerly where the Air is more dense or gross it distils in minute drops as it were cribrated through the thick Air. We also may discern a manifest difference for in the warmer seasons of the year the Air being then most thin the Rain falls in greatest drops and in the colder seasons when the Air is more dense the Rain distils in smaller So that when the waters are above us or that Clouds or Floods of water are in being in the Air we have only to judge whether they incline towards us or that they are for some other place This rarity or density of the Air cannot be judged by the sight for it is usual when the Air it self is most rare then is it most repleat with vapours c. as water the more it is heated the less transparent it becomes Neither can it be judged by its weight as many do imagine and affirm from Fallacious Experiments for the Air is not ponderous in its own proper place no otherwise than water is in the Sea in its proper place although it be asserted by High-flown Philosophers and Learned Pens with whom it is besides our Primary intentions to contend in this place it being enough here to discover to our Country-Reader these mysterious Intricacies of Nature as they would have them esteemed by familiar Examples and Demonstrations For the true discovery of the nature and temper of the Air Of Thermometry or the Weather-glass as to its density or rarity we have not met with a more certain or compleat Invention than the Weather-glass the various and intricate Descriptions whereof we will not insist upon but take our Observations from the most plain and ordinary single Perpendicular-Glass being only as follows Procure at the Glass-house or elsewhere a Globular-glass with a Tube or Pipe thereto proportionable whereof there are many sizes but be sure let not the Head be too big nor the Pipe too long lest there be not rise enough in the Winter or fall enough in the Summer You must also have a small Glass or Vessel at the bottom that may contain water enough to fill the Tube or more Then having fixed them in some Frame made for that purpose heat the Globe of the Glass with a warm Cloth to rarifie the Air within it and then put the end of the Tube into the lower Vessel and it will attract the water more or less as you warmed the Head You may also add numbers on the Glass to shew you the degrees The water you may make blew with Roman-Vitriol boiled or red with Rose-leaves dry and imbibed in fair water wherein a little Oyl of Vitriol or Spirit of Salt is dropt With this water fill the under-Vessel which being rightly placed on the North-side of your house where the Sun rarely or never shineth against it and in a Room where you seldom make fire lest the sudden access of heat or accidental alteration of the Air might impede your Observations The Air included within the Globe or Ball of this Glass doth admit of Dilatation and Contraction equally with the Ambient Air that whensoever the Ambient Air is dilated or expanded either through the heat of the season or before the fall of Rain c. the Air in the Glass is the same and as by its Expansion it requires more room so doth it let the water in the Tube descend gradually and as it is more dense or contracted either through the coldness of the season or the serenity or inclinability to drought of the Ambient Air so also doth the Air within the Glass contract it self into a less compass and sucketh up the water in the Tube gradually as it condenseth or contracteth whence you may at any time exactly know the very degree of Rarity or Density of the Air Ambient by that which is included in the Glass and thereby inform your self what weather is most likely to succeed at any time Be sure to Quadrate or Contemporize your Observations or Numbers of Degrees with the season of the year for that Degree of Rarity that signifies Rain in the Winter may be such a Degree of Density that may signifie fair weather in the Summer The differences betwixt the highest rise and lowest fall in one day in the Summer is much more than in the Winter for you shall have a cold night and very serene Air which contracteth the Air in the Glass into a little Room after which usually succeeds a very hot day which dilateth it very much when in the Winter no such great difference happens in one day Yet in the Winter in several days will the difference be as great as in several Summer-days Although the Air appear serene and cold to your Senses yet trust not to that if the Glass signifie otherwise We shall not give you any sure Rule by which you may judge of the weather but leave it to your own observations that is draw on a paper a certain number of lines as many as you think fit as Musitians draw lines to prick their Tunes on at the end whereof as they place their Key so number your lines according to those numbers that are next unto the top of the water in the Tube of the Glass whether seven eight nine ten eleven twelve c. Over this Scale mark the day of the Month and point of the winde in the Scale make a dot or prick at what line or number the water in the Glass is at and by it the hour of the day and under it the inclination of the weather At night draw a line downright like the Musitians full time or note the next day mark as before until you know and understand the nature of your Glass and the place it stands in and the season of the year so that then you shall be able
certain fore-sight of the change of Of Water-fowl weather and alteration of the seasons and especially Water-fowl which if they fly or gather together in great flights and from the Sea or great waters hasten to the banks or shore and there sport themselves it denotes windes more especially if in the morning If the Breast-bone of a Duck be red it signifies a long Winter if white the contrary Ducks and Geese c. picking their wings washing themselves much or Cackling much signifies Rain Also Sea-fowl seeking after fresh waters signifie an open or wet season Jam varias Pelagi volucres quae Virgil. Dulcibus in stagnis rimantur c. If they betake themselves to great waters it presageth cold if Water-fowl forsake the water it signifies that Winter is at hand If Land-fowl gather towards the water and shake their wings Of Land-fowl making noises and washing themselves it portendeth Tempests at hand If small Birds gather together in Flocks it signifies cold and hard weather at hand If Birds seek shelter in Barns or houses more than usual it presages cold and hard weather If Birds fly hastily to their Nests and forsake their meat it foresheweth Tempests If in frosty weather Birds seek obscure places and seem dull and heavy it signifieth a sudden Thaw The early appearance of Field-fares or other forreign Winter-fowl presageth a hard Winter Rooks Owls Jays or suchlike wilde Fowl frequenting a Town more than usual presage Mortality or Sickness to that place If the Heron soar high seemingly even to the Clouds it signifies Of the Heron. winde If the Heron stand melancholy on the Banks it signifies Rain If the Heron cry in the night as she flies it presageth Winde If the Kite soar high it signifies fair weather Of the Kite If they make more than ordinary noise or crying for Prey it presageth Rain If the Crow hath any interruption in her Note like the Hiccough Of the Crow or Croak with a kinde of swallowing it signifieth Winds and Rain Rooks or Crows gathering together in Flocks and forsaking their Meat signifie Rain The Raven or Crow Creeking clear and reiterating her Note signifies fair weather If Sparrows chirp earlier or more than usual it signifies Of Sparrows Winde and Rain If Jays gather together in Flocks it signifies Rain and tempestuous Of the Jay weather If Bats fly abroad after Sun-set it signifies fair weather Of Bats If Owls whoop at night it signifies fair weather Of the Owl The early singing of the Wood-lark signifies Rain Of the Wood-lark Of the Swallow If the Swallow fly low and near the waters it presageth Rain The coming of the Swallow is a true presage of the Spring If Cocks crow more than ordinary especially in the Evening Of the Cock. or if Poultry go early to Roost it signifies Rain SECT V. Of Observations and Prognosticks from Fishes and Insects If Porpises or other Sea-fish leap in a calm it signifies Winde Of Sea-Fish and Rain If great numbers of the Fry of Fish are generated in Lakes Of Fresh-water Fish or Ditches where Fish rarely come it presageth great scarcity of Corn or death of Cattle If Fish leap more than ordinary in Ponds or Rivers it presageth Windes and Rain Great quantities of Frogs small or great appearing at unusual Of Frogs times and in unusual places presage great Dearth of Corn or great Sicknesses to follow in that place where they appear The Croaking of Frogs more than usual in the Evening signifies Rain The early appearing of Snakes signifies a dry Spring and a Of Snakes hot Summer If they play much in the water it signifies Rain If the Ant brings forth her Eggs it presageth Rain Of Ants. If Bees fly not far but hover about home it presageth Rain Of Bees or if they make more haste home than ordinary a Storm is at hand If Gnats Flies or Fleas bite more keenly than at other times Of Gnats Flies and Fleas it signifies Rain If Gnats or Flies swarm or gather together in multitudes before Sun-set it presageth fair weather Swarms of Gnats or Flies in the morning signifie Rain If greater numbers of them appear more than ordinary it signifieth Sickness or Mortality to Man or Beast and also scarcity of Corn and Fruits The early appearance of these or any other Insects in the Spring presageth a hot and sickly Summer If the Spiders undo their Webs Tempests follow Of Spiders Si solvit Aranea casses Avien Mox tempestates nubila tetra cientur If Spiders fall from their Webs or from the walls it signifies Rain If strings like Spiders Webs appear in the Air it signifieth Winde If Spiders spin and weave their Nets much it presageth Winde The great appearances of Chaffers or other Insects although Chaffers c. they denote a present time of Plenty yet are they Omens of a future time of Scarcity and if in very great numbers of Mortality and Sickness to Man and Beast SECT VI. Promiscuous Observations and Prognosticks Leaves of Trees and Chaff playing or moving without any Of Trees and Vegetables sensible Gale or Breath of Winde and the Down or Wooll of Thistles and other Plants flying in the Air and Feathers dancing on the water presage Winde and sometimes Rain If the Herb Trefoyl close its leaves it foreshews Rain If the Oak bear much Mast it foreshews a long and hard Winter If Oak-apples ingender or breed Flies it is said to presage Plenty but if Spiders Scarcity If Trees bear but little Fruit it usually presageth Plenty and if much Scarcity But this Rule is not always certain If the Broom be full of Flowers it usually signifies Plenty The sudden growth of Mushrooms presageth Rain Et si nocturnis ardentibus undique testis Avienus Concrescunt fungi protinus Imbres If Coals of Fire shine very clear it presageth Winde Of Fire If the Fire in Chimneys burn whiter than usual and with a murmuring noise it denoteth Tempests If the Flame wave to and fro it signifieth Winde The same doth the Flame of a Candle Si flammis emicet ignis Avienus Effluus aut lucis substantia langueat ultro Protinus Imbres If Bunches like Mushrooms grow on the wick of the Candle or Lamp it presageth Rain If fire shine much or scald or burn more than ordinary it presageth cold the contrary denoteth the contrary If Wood crackle or breath more than usual in the fire it signifieth winde If Flame cast forth many sparkles it signifies the same If the Oyl in the Lamps sparkle it signifies Rain If Ashes coagulate or grow in lumps it signifies the same If the Fire in cold weather burn violently and make a noise like the treading of Snow it usually presageth Snow If Salt become moist it signifies Rain The same if the Rain Signs of Rain raise bubbles as it falls or if the