be mellow not much more chargeable 3. That it would imploy many thousand of people that a third part of the seed might be saved As I have found by experience that all the weeds and grasses might be more easily destroyed thereby and the ground better accommodated for other crops and to conclude the crop considerably greater Yet thus much I must further say concerning setting of Grain That great Beans are even of necessity to be set and that small Beans in Surrey and other places are likewise set with profit for the reasons above mentioned that to set Pease unless Hastevers and Roncivals Oats Barley is a thing even ridiculous that Wheat although in divers grounds it may be set with profit yet to how it in as the Hardiners speak as they do Pease though not at the same distance but about a foot the ranges one from another is better then setting for these Reasons 1. Because to set Corn is an infinite trouble and charge and if it be not very exactly done which children neither can nor will do and these must be the chief setters will be very prejudicious 2. If worms frost ill weather or fowls destroy any part of your seed which they will do your crop is much impared 3. The ground cannot be so well weeded and the mould raised about the roots by the how Which 3 inconveniences are remedied by the other way Further I dare affirm that after the ground is digged or ploughed and harrowed even it 's better to howe Wheat in then to sowe it after the common way because that the weeds may be easily destroyed by running the howe through it in the Spring and the mould raised about the roots of the Corn as the Gardiners do with Pease it would save much Corn in dear years and for other Reasons before mentioned Yea it is not more chargeable for a Gardiner will howe in an Acre for 5 s. and after in the Spring for less money run it over with a howe and cut up all the weeds and raise the mould which charges are not great and you shall save above a bushel of seed which in dear years is more worth then all your charges Further 1 s. 6 d. or 2 s. an Acre for the sowing and harrowing of an Acre in Kent is accounted a reasonable price and may be saved but if any fear charges let him use a Dril-Plough with one horse which is commonly known at Fulham and about London I therefore cannot but commend the howing in of wheat as an excellent piece of good Husbandry whether the ground be digged or ploughed not only because it saveth much Corn imployeth much people and it is not chargeable but it also destroyeth all weeds fitteth grounds for after crops and causeth a greater increase and in my apprehension is a good Remedy against Smut and Mildew There is an Ingenious Italian who wondreth how it cometh to pass that if one setteth a Grain of Corn as Wheat Barley c. it usually produceth 300 or 400. yea 1000 2000 as I have tryed yet if you sow Wheat after the ordinary way 6 or 8 for one is accounted a good crop what becometh of all the Corn that is sown when as the 50th part if it do grow would be sufficient For answer to this 1. I say much Corn is sown which nature hath destinated for the Hens and Chickens being without any considerable vegetative faculty 2. Worms Frosts Floods Crows and Larks which every one doth not consider do devour not a little 3. Weeds as Poppy May-weed and the grasses growing with the Corn do destroy much Lastly When Corn is so sown after the ordinary manner much is buried in the furrows especially if the ground be grazy much is thrown on heaps in holes and consequently starve and choak one another Most of these Inconveniencies are to be remedyed by this way of setting and howing in of Corn. Gardening though it be a wonderfull improver of lands as it plainly appears by this that they give extraordinary rates for land viz. from 40 s per Acre to 9 pound and dig and howe and dung their lands which costeth very much Yet I know divers which by 2 or 3 Acres of land maintain themselves and family and imploy other about their ground and therefore their ground must yeild a wonderfull increase or else it could not pay charges yet I suppose there are many Deficiencies in this calling 1. Because it is but of few years standing in England therefore not deeply rooted nor well understood About 50 years ago about which time Ingenuities first began to flourish in England This Art of Gardening began to creep into England into Sandwich and Surrey Fulham and other places Some old men in Surrey where it flourisheth very much at present report That they knew the first Gardiners that came into those parts to plant Cabages Colleflowers and to sow Turneps Carrets and Parsnips to sow Raith or early ripe Pease Rape all which at that time were great rarities we having few or none in England but what came from Holland and Flanders These Gardiners with much ado procured a plot of good ground and gave no less then 8 pound per Acre yet the Gentleman was not content fearing they would spoile his ground because they did use to dig it So ignorant were we of Gardening in those days 2. Many parts of England are as yet wholly ignorant Within these 20 years a famous Town within less then 20 miles off London had not so much as a Mess of Pease but what came from London where at present Gardening flourisheth much I could instance divers other places both in the North and West of England where the name of Gardening and Howing is scarcely known in which places a few Gardiners might have saved the lives of many poor people who have starved these dear years 3. We have not Gardening-ware in that plenty and cheapness unlesse perhaps about London as in Holland and other places where they not onely feed themselves with Gardiner's ware but also fat their Hogs and Cows 4. We have as yet divers things from beyond Seas which the Gardiners may easily raise at home though nothing nigh so much as formerly for in Queen Elizabeths time we had not onely our Gardiners ware from Holland but also Cherries from Flaunders Apples from France Saffron Licorish from Spain Hops from the Low-Countreys And the Frenchman who writes the Treasure Politick saith That it 's one of the great Deficiencies of England that Hops will not grow whereas now it is known that Licorish Saffron Cherries Apples Pears Hops Cabages of England are the best in the world Notwithstanding we as yet want many things as for example We want Onnions very many coming to England from Flaunders Spain c. Madder for dying cometh from Zurick-Sea by Zealand we have Red Roses from France Annice-seeds Fennel-seeds Cumine Caraway Rice from Italy which without question would grow very well in divers
moist lands in England yea Sweet-Marjoram Barley and further Gromwell-seed and Virga Aurea and Would from the Western Isles though they grow in our hedges in England Lastly Gardening is deficient in this particular that we have not Nurceries sufficient in this land of Apples Pears Cherries Vines Chestnuts Almonds c. but Gentlemen are necessitated to send to London some hundred miles for them Briefly for the advancement of this ingenuous calling I onely desire that Industrious Gentlemen would be pleased to encourage some expert workmen into the places where they live and to let them land at a reasonable rate and if they be poor and honest to lend a little stock they will soon see the benefit that will redound not only to themselves but also to all their Neighbours especially the poor who are not a little sustained by the Gardiners labours and ingenuities 4. Our Husbandry is deficient in this that we know not how to remedy the infirmities of our growing Corn especially Smut and Mildew to instance in these two onely which oftentimes bring great calamities to these Nations Smut in wet years Mildews in dry These distempers in Corn are not onely in our Countrey but also in other places A learned Authour saith that Smuttiness of Corn which maketh it smell like a Red Herring was not known in France till about 1530. at which time the great foul disease began to break forth in those parts very hotly which he conceiveth from hence to have some original as also the camp-disease Mildews are very great in the Kingdom of Naples which oft stick to the sithes of those that mow grass and corn and God be thanked we are not troubled with Locusts which is a great flying Grass-hopper nor Palmer-worms which is a kind of great black Cater-piller which I have seen destroying much in new-New-England nor with great hail in Summer nor with great drought which stifleth the ear in the stalk which Calamities in hot Countreys do very oft totally destroy the honest and patient Husbandman's labours neither are we troubled with extream colds which in New-England and other cold Countreys doe oft destroy the Corn. But to return to our purpose And first briefly to shew you my opinion concerning the Causes of Smuttinesse I desire not to fetch Causes afar off and to tell you of the sad Conjunctions of Mars and Saturn for I think Quae suprae nos belong not to us when as we have enough at home This is certain that there are many evident causes of this corruption of Corn. 1. A moist season about Kerning-time which moisture either corrupteth the roots of the Plant or the nourishment of it or the seed in its Embrio or perhaps in some measure all these 2. Low moist foggy ground for the reasons above mentioned 3. Dung'd land In Vineyards it 's observed that dung causeth more increase in quantity but less in goodness so that the ill-taste of the dung may easily be discerned because wine hath an high taste without question the same happeneth to other Plants although it be not so easily discerned for the ferment or ill odour of the dung cannot be over-mastered by the Plants as we see also in Animals that corrupt diet causeth unsavory tasts in the flesh so hogs in New-found-land where they are nourished by fish may by their tasts be called rather Sea-porpusses then Land-swine 4. The sowing of Smutty Corn oft produceth Smuttyness the son like unto the father I account Smutty Corn an imperfect or sick Grain and suppose that by a Microscope the imperfection may be discerned Lastly The sowing of the same seed oft on the same field causeth Smuttyness because that nitrous juice which is convenient for the nourishment of the Grain hath been exhausted in the precedent years and therefore it is excellent Husbandry every year to change the species of Grain and also to buy your Seed-Corn from places far distant I am informed of a Gentleman who did sowe some Wheat which came from Spain where the Grain is usually very hard and flinty and as it were transparent and far weightier then ours as it appeareth by a measure at Amsterdam which holdeth about 3 bushels and in our Wheat of the Northern parts weigheth 160 whereas the Southern Corn weigheth somtimes 180 200 220. and had a crop beyond expectation The usual Cures of Smuttyness besides those mentioned before are these 1. To lime your ground which warmeth and dryeth the Land 2. To lime your Corne which is done thus First Slack your lime and then moisten your Corn or lime and stir them together till your Grain be as big as a small Pease This liming preserveth Corn likewise from birds and worms and is found a very good Remedy against this disease others make a strong lye with common salt and steep their Corn in it all night and then draw away their lye for further use which seldom faileth of its desired effect Whether this strong lye doth by its corrosiveness mortifie the weak and imperfect Corn so that it will not grow Or whether it be a Remedy to cure the imperfections thereof is worth the enquiry I suppose this lye doth exsicoate the superfluous humidity which is the cause of this corruption If Corn be brought into the Barn very Smutty in Kent they usually thresh it on dry floors planked with boards by which means the Smuttyness is beaten away and sticketh not to the Grain onely a little blackness appeareth about the eye but if it be threshed on a moist floor the blackness sticketh to the Grain which therefore appeareth dark and is sold at a lower rate to the Bakers Mildew is without question an unctuous dew which descendeth from above about Midsomer it aboundeth in dry years as Smuttynesse in moist I cannot think that there is ordinarily any Malgnity in this dew but it produceth its effect by manifest causes viz. from an oily viscuous quality which stoppeth the pores of the husk wherein the Wheat lyeth and depriveth it from the Ayre and consequently from nourishment for the Ayre is the life of all things I have heard and do believe that if you streak any ear of Wheat with oyl it will produce the same effect I am sorry that I never tryed that I might better understand the nature of this sad calamity which often undoeth the Industrious Husbandman and causeth great scarcity in this Isle It is to be observed further that Wheat onely suffereth considerable damage by Mildew because it lyeth in a chaffy husk which other Grains do not The Grounds most subject to Mildew are these 1. Those that are enclosed with Trees and high Hedges And truly this is the onely great Inconveniency I find by enclosures 2. Low Valleys I have seen very oft in the same field the banks fine bright Corn and all the lower parts though greater in straw yet little worth by reason of the Mildew 3. Dung made of straw I have observed to dispose much to Mildew
which he tyeth the Vines by this means his Vines having the reflection of the yard sides of the houses and tiles do ripen very well and bear much so that one old Vine hath produced nigh a Hogshead of wine in one year and I wish all to take this course which is neither chargeable nor troublesom but very pleasant and if all in this Island would do thus it 's incredible what abundance of wine might be made even by this petty way 2. If that any Gentleman will be at the charge of making a Vineyard let him choose a fine sandy warm hill open to the South-East rather then to the South-West for though the South-West seemeth to be hotter yet the South-East ripeneth better as I have seen in Oxford Garden because the South-East is sooner warm'd by the Sun in the morning and the South-West winds are the winds which blow most frequently and bring raine which refrigerate the plants and such a place is very requisite for in other places Vines do not thrive even in France for if you travel betwixt Paris and Orleans which is above 30 leagues yet you shall scarcely see a Vineyard because it is a plain Champion-Countrey So likewise betwixt Fontarabia to Burdeaux in the Southern parts of France for an hundred miles together because the Land is generally a barren sandy Plain where only Heath abounds and Pine-trees out of which they make Turpentine and Rozen by wounding of them and Tar and Pitch by the burning of them and if any find such a fine warm hill and do dung and fence it well he hath a greater advantage of most of the Vineyards of France by this conveniency than they have of our Isle by being an hundred miles more South for most of their Vineyards are in large fields not enclosed on land that is stony and but indifferently warm But some will say that wet weather destroyes us It 's true that the wet will destroy all things Sheep Corn c. yet no man will say that therefore England will not produce and nourish these Creatures and if extraordinary wet years come they spoil even the Vines in France but take ordinary years and our moisture is not so great though some abuse us and call England Matula Coeli but the Vines especially those I have mentioned before will come to such perfection as to make good wine and if extraordinary rains fall yet we may help the immaturity by Ingenuity as I shall tell you anon or at worst make vineger or verjuice which will pay costs Further these advantages we have of France 1. This Isle is not subject to nipping frosts in May as France is because we are in an Isle where the Aire is more gross then in the Continent and therefore not so piercing and sharp as it plainly appeareth by our winters which are not so sharp as in Padua in Italy neither are we subject to such storms of hail in Summer which are very frequent in hot Countreys and for many miles together do spoil their Vines so that they cannot make wine of the Grapes for those Grapes which are touched by the hail have a Sulphureous and a very unpleasant taste and onely fit to make Aqua-vitae Further Sometimes in France cask for their wines is so dear that a tun of wine may be had for a tun of cask and the custome and excize which is laid on wines here is as much again as the poor Vigueron in France expects for his wine Not to speak of the ill managing of their Vines especially about Paris where poor men usually hire an Acre or 2 of Vines which they manage at their spare hours and most commonly pack in so many plants of Vines on their ground for to have the greater increase that the ground and Vines are so shaded by one another that I have wondered that the Sun could dart in his beams to mature them and therefore I cannot but affirm again that we may make abundance of wine here with profit the charges of an Acre of Vineyard not being so great as of Hops an hundred sets well rooted at Paris cost usually but 4 or 6 Sous or pence where I have bought many 2000 will plant an Acre very well 50 s. a year is the ordinary rate for the three diggings with their crooked Instrument called Hoyau and the increase usually four tuns for an Acre which will be profit enough and though I refer all to Bonovil and others who have written of the managing of Vines yet I counsel to get a Vigneron from France where there are plenty and at cheaper rates than ordinary servants here and who will be serviceable also for Gardening 2. I will briefly tell what I have seen In Italy through all Lombardy which is for the most part plain and Champian their Vines grow in their Hedges on Walnut-trees for the most part in which fields they speak of three Harvests yearly viz. 1. Winter-Corn which is reaped in June c. 2. Vines and Walnuts which are gathered in September 3. Their Summer-Grains as Millet Panicle Chiches Vetches c. Buck-wheat Frumentone or that which we call Virginia-Wheat Turneps which they sowe in July when their Winter-Corn is cut and reaped they reap in October In France their Vines grow three manner of wayes In Proveâ—â—e they cut the Vine about two foot high and make it strong and stubbed like as we do our Osiers which stock beareth up the branches without a prop. 2. About Orleans and where they are more curious they make frames for them to run along 3. About Paris they tye them to short poles as we do hops to long ones In France they usually make trenches or small ditches about three or four foot from one another and therein plant their Vines about one foot and an half deep which is a good way and very much to be commended but if we here in England plant Vines as we do hops 4 or 5 foot distant it will do very well but let them not be packt together too thick as they do in France in many places lest they too much shade the ground and one another In Italy when they tread their grapes with their feet in a Cart they pour the juice into a great Vessel or Fat and put to it all their husks and stones which they call Graspe and let them ferment or as we say work together 12 or 14 days and usually they put one third of water to it this maketh a wine less furious Garbo or rough and therefore a good stomack wine but it spoileth the colour and taketh away the pleasant brisk taste In France so soon as they have pressed out their liquour with their feet they put it in hogsheads and after in their Presse squeeze out what they can out of the Graspe which seemeth to fill up their Hogsheads while they work which is usually three or four dayes and then stop them close this is also the way used in Germany and is the best
venture to give some hints that some more able Pen may engage in this difficult Question which strikes at the Root of Nature and may unlock some of her choycest treasures The Lord Bacon hath gathered stubble as he ingeniously and truly affirms for the bricks of this foundation but as yet I have not seen so much as a solid foundation plainly laid by any on which an ingenious man might venture to raise a noble Fabrick I acknowledge the burthen too heavy for my shoulders I will not deny but that we have good Husbands who dung and Marle their Meadows and Pasture-land and throw down all Mole and Ant-hills and with their Spud-staffe cut up all thistles and weeds and that they likewise straw ashes on their Grounds to kill the Mosse and salt for the Wormes and they doe very well but yet there are many who are negligent in these particulars for the which they are blame-worthy but the Deficiencies of which I intend to speak of are these following Cato one of the wisest of the Romans saith that Pratum est quasi paratum alwayes ready and prepared and preferreth Meadows before the Olive-Gardens although the Spaniards bequeath Olive-trees to their children as we do cottages or Vines or Corn because Meadows bring in a certain profit without labour and pains But the other requireth much cost and paines and are subject to Frosts Mildew Haile Locusts to the which for the honour of Meadows I may adde that the stock of Meadows is of greater value and the Commodities which arise from them are divers and of greater value then Corn as Butter Cheese Tollow Hides Beef Wool and therefore I may conclude that England abounding in Pastures more then other Countreys is therefore richer and I know what others think I care not that France Acre for Acre is not comparable to it Fortescue Chancelour of England saith that we get more in England by standing still then the French by working but to speak of the Deficiencies amongst us 1. We are to blame that we have neglected the great Clover-grass Saint Foine Lucerne 2. That we do not float our lands as they do in Lumbard where they mowe their Lands three or four times yearly which consist of the great Clover-grass Here are the excellent Parmisane Cheeses made and indeed these Pastures far exceed any other places in Italy yea in Europe We here in England have great opportunities by Brooks and Rivers in all places to do so but we are negligent yet we might hereby double if not treble our profits kill all rushes c. But he that desireth to know the manner how to do this and that profit that will arise thereby let him read Mr. Blithes Book of Husbandry lately printed 3. That when we lay downe Land for Meadow or Pasture we doe not sowe them with the Seeds of fine sweet grasse Trefoils and other excellent herbs Concerning this you may read a large Treatise of the Countrey-Farmer for if the Land be rich it will put forth weeds and trumpery and perhaps a kind of soure grasse little worth if it be poor ye shall have thistles May-weed and little or no grasse for a year or two I know a Gentleman who at my entreaty sowed with his Oats the bottome of his Hay-mow and though his Land were worne out of heart and naturally poor yet he had that year not onely a Crop of Oats but he might if it had pleased him have mowen his grasse also but he spared it which was well done till the next year that it might make a Turffe and grow stronger By this Husbandry Lands might be well improved especially if men did consider the diversity of grasses which are ninety sorts and three and twenty of Trefoil I know a place in Kent which is a white Chalky Down which ground is sometimes sown with Corn a year or two and then it resteth as long or longer when it is laid down it maintaineth many great Sheep and very lusty so that they are even fit for the Butcher and yet there doth scarce appear any thing that they can eat which hath caused divers to wonder as if they had lived on Chalk-stones but I more seriously considering the matter throughly viewed the ground and perceived that the ground naturally produceth a small Trefoil which it seemeth is very sweet and pleasant it 's commonly called Trifolium luteum or Lupilinum that is yellow or Hop-Trefoil and I am perswaded if that the Seed of this Trefoil were preserved and sowne with Oates when they intend to lay it down it would very much advance the Pasture of that place therefore I desire all Ingenious men seriously to consider the nature of the Trefoils which are the sweetest of grasses and to observe on what grounds they naturally grow and also the nature of other grasses which as I have said before are no less then ninety sorts naturally growing in this Isle some on watry places some on dry some on clay others on sand chalk c. Some on fruitful places others in barren by the which means I suppose a solid foundation might be laid for the advancing of Pasture-lands of all sorts through this Island for I know some plants as the Orchis call'd Bee-flower c. which will thrive better on the Chalky barren banks then in any Garden though the Mould be never so rich and delicate and the Gardiner very diligent in cherishing of it and why may not the same propriety be in grasses for we see diverse beuty grasses to thrive espcially on barren places where scarce any thing else will grow I must again and again desire all men to take notice of the wonderfull grass which groweth near Salisbury and desire them to try it on their rich Meadows It 's a common saying that there are more waste lands in England in many particulars then in all Europe besides considering the quantity of land I dare not say this is true but hope if it be so that it will be mended For of late much hath been done for the advancement of these kinds of land yet there are as yer great Deficiencies In the times of Papistry all in this Island were either Souldiers or Scholars Scholars by reason of the great honours priviledges and profits the third part of the Kingdom belonging to them and Souldiers because of the many and great Wars with France Scotland Ireland Wales And in those times Gentlemen thought it an honour to be carelesse and to have Houses Furniture Diet Exercises Apparel c. yea all things at home and abroad Souldier-like Musick Pictures Perfumes Sawces unlesse good stomacks were counted perhaps unjustly too effeminate In Queen Elizabeth's dayes Ingenuities Curiosities and Good Husbandry began to take place and then Salt-Marshes began to be fenced from the Seas and yet many were neglected even to our dayes as Holhaven in Essex Axtel-holme Isle nigh York-shire many 1000 of Acres have lately been gained from the Sea in Lincolne-shire and as
it causeth barrenness but the like we may say of Lime Soot Ashes c. yea of Niter it self for I know by experience that under great Pigeon-houses Walnut-trees as Vines Peaches c. will not prosper and I know no other cause then this That too great a quantity of Pigeons dung doth fall down from the Roofe of the house and so the Trees are destroyed Animadversor They in Holland preserve their Dung and Vrine no otherwise then else-where c. They are far more careful then we are in England so that the Sun may not exhaust the vertue nor the rain wash away the strength thereof which I note as a good kind of Husbandry both to be commended and imitated Animadversor Italy sendeth forth little paper as also Holland c. The finest paper we have in England comes from Genoa and Venice yet not so much from the latter place as formerly since the plague there 1630. Much of this paper is gilded with Gold on the edges Holland ships not onely furnish us with a thick strong white paper which is commonly called Dutch paper but also abundantly with a strong brown paper much desired by the Grocers Although at present lesse is imported because we have many Paper-mils lately erected but whither this be made in Holland Friezland in Germany or elsewhere I dispute not The fifth Letter of the Animadversor The Abel Tree is a Popular not a Salix I Thank the Animadversor for reforming my errour for I was informed that it was a kind of Sallow but it seemeth it is a kind of Popular or Aspe and so at length by enquiry I have found it named by Parkinson in his Herbal Animadversor The profit of Silk is not so great as of Corn and Wine to France I do not positively affirm it but onely report it upon the credit of a late French Writer whose name I at present remember not and I am also far from my Library that I cannot turn to him It indeed seemeth to me likewise very probable for I know that Corn and Wine are heavy bulky commodities of low rate Wine sometimes being not much more worth then the Barrel and Corn scarce a Merchandable commodity in any place yea France it selfe sometimes wants it so that a little Silk will ballance these two and France as it is well known hath not onely sufficient for it selfe but many Plushes Velvets and other Manufactures of Silk were in a considerable quantity exported for England till the late prohibition and why may not Silk do that in France it doth in Italy Yea that which all will grant Flax doth for Linnen Canvases c. and are of greater value Animadversor Silk is a stranger to the parts that are nigh Englands Temper King James and his learned Councel in their Letter to the Deputy Lieutenants affirm the contrary and bring this as an Argument to encourage the people to set upon this work Secondly Much Silk is made at Tours yea I am informed that that populous Town doth even totally subsist by it which place is not very much different from Englands temper being not much above two degrees from the South of England and I say again if Silk-worms are come even out of Persia China and those very hot Countreys as far as the heart of France which is very temperate and yet these Worms thrive very well there why may they not come a little farther and why do we not strive to advance them here as well as France yea we find by experience that some few Gentlewomen have bred divers up for their pleasure even as far North as Duckenfield in Cheshire where some quantity of Silk hath been made yet this place is nigh as far North of some places of England As they of Tours Moreover a Lady Virginia F. as I have lately seen in print hath hatched worms in England and then turned them forth to the Mulberry-trees exposed to the cold and moysture of the Air and yet they have done well yea better then those within doors These and other reasons do so far convince me that I cannot but again and again desire ingenious men to proceed in this rich and pleasant work Animadversor Moysture is no way nourishing to these Worms First I say in general that heat and moisture are the two great Causes of Insects where these abound Insects abound where one of these are wanting there are but few engendered And why should we exempt these from the common generation of Insects and consequently if ingendered by these nourished by these according to the old Axiome Ex iis nutrimur ex quibus constamus And 2. We know that the damp moist Woods of Virginia do breed Silk-worms of an incredible bignesse surpassing the Spanish and Italian And likewise that a Lady in England as I have it from a friend whom I dare believe turning the Silk-worms not long after they were hatched into the Mulberry-trees by experience found that they prospered better then those that were kept dry within dore yea in Ireland in the County of Cavan in Vlster the moistest of all places a Gentleman kept divers Silk-worms which prospered very well and therefore I cannot think moisture as moisture any considerable enemy to them for of it self it hath little activity and if these worms shall not thrive in any place I will rather attribute it to cold which is known to be an active quality and the great destroyer of all Insects for we see in England that moist Summers do increase Flies Gnats Butter-flies c. and it is the cold winds and frosts that destroy them yet I will grant that moisture accidentally hurts viz. as it introduceth too much frigidity or if it be too much in their meat it may cause fluxes rottings c. as it doth to Conies Guiny-pigs c. As for Bonveil who hath writ of Silk-worms I have both read him and commend him Libavius also I have and even all his many Volums but in my opinion he hath written Multa sed non Multum Animadversor Sassafras Sarsaparilla and Snake-weed I am sure will not grow to purpose First why not I am sure that Sassafras groweth in the Northern Plantations of New-England even as far North as Sacho where the Snow usually lyeth five moneths and the Winter extream bitter in respect of England and further this Sassafras is not a small plant or shrub easily nipt with the frost but a great Tree so that boards of ten inches Diameter have been made thereof and further where it once groweth hardly to be destroyed so that it much annoyeth the Corn by its young shoots and the Mower in Harvest more then any other Tree that I heard of in that Countrey I was informed that the Native Indians of the place when they lose themselves in the Woods presently run to these small shoots and thereby know which is North and South Indeed I have observed that one side is more speckled then another and perhaps other small shoots
probable they have been such I hear further by divers people of credit that by Records it appeareth that the Tythes of wine in Glocestershire was in divers Parishes considerably great and remaining about 300 years in their possession Mr. Cambden writes so much as also William of Malmesbury who lived 600 years since But at length Gascony coming into the hands of the English from whence cometh the most of the strong French Wine call'd Highc-Country-wine and customs being small wine was imported into England from thence better and cheaper then we could make it and it was thought convenient to discourage Vineyards here that the greater trade might be driven with Gascoine and many ships might find imployment thereby Some Astrologers have conceited that the Earth being grown older and therefore colder hath caused the Sun to descend many thousand miles lower to warm and cherish it and one Argument which they bring for this opinion is that Vines and Silkworms are found in those Countreys wherein former times they were unknown But if these fond men had considered the good Husbandry in these times with the blessing of God on it they had not run into such foolish imaginations This is true indeed that the Roman Souldiers who had Alsatia given them to live in which is one of the best and most Southern places of Germany mutined because they thought it so cold that Vines would not grow there that therefore they should be deprived of that delectable liquour whereas we find at this present day Vines flourishing many hundred miles more toward the North both in France Lorain c. and Germany and that they are crept down even to the Latitude of England for the Rhenish-wines grew within a degree of the West-Southern places of this Isle and Paris is not two degrees South of us yet Vines grow threescore miles on this side Paris as by Beaumont Beauvats c. by the way of Picardy near 20 leagues as also by the way of Pontoyse through Normandy at Artes 35 leagues from Paris and 5 from Diep yea the Vines of these places are the most delicate for what wine is preferred before the Neat Rhenish for Ladies and at Table and truely in my opinion though I have travelled twice through France yet no wine pleased me like Vin D'ache and of Paris especially about Rueill which is a very fine brisk wine and not fuming up to the head and Inebriating as other wines I say therefore that it is very probable that if Vines have stept out of Italy into Alsatia from them to these places which are even as far North as England and yet the Wines there are the most delicate that they are not limited and bound there For an hundred miles more or lesse causeth little alteration in heat or cold and some advantages which we have will supply that defect But not to insist too long on probabilities I say that here in England some Ingenious Gentlemen usually make wine very good long lasting without extraordinary labour and costs To instance in one who in Great Chart in the Wilde of Kent a place very moist and cold yearly maketh 6 or 8 Hogsheads which is very much commended by divers who have tasted it and he hath kept some of it two years as he himselfe told me and hath been very good Others likewise in Kent doe the same and lately in Surrey a Gentlewoman told me that they having many Grapes which they could not well tell how to dispose of she to play the good House-wife stampt them to make verjuice but two months after drawing it forth they found it very fine brisk-wine clear like Rock-water and in many other places such experiments have been made I therefore desire Ingenious men to endeavour the raising of so necessary and pleasant a commodity especially when French-Wine is so dear here and I suppose is likely to be dearer I question not but they shall find good profit and pleasure in so doing and that the State will give all encouragements to them and if the French Wine pay Excize and Customs and the Wines here be toll-free they will be able to afford them far cheaper then the French can theirs and supply the whole Isle if they proceed according to these Rules 1. To choose the best sorts of Grapes which are most proper for this Isle and though there are many sorts of Grapes amongst Gardiners yet I commend four sorts especially to them and I desire that they be very carefull in this particular for it is the foundation of the work if you fail in this you fail in all for I know that Burdeaux-Vines which bear very great Grapes make verjuice onely at Paris and that the tender Orleans-Vine doth not thrive there The first sort is the Parsely Vine or Canada-grape because it first came from those parts where it grows naturally and though the Countrey be intolerably cold yet even in the woods without manuring it so far ripeneth his fruits that the Jesuits make wine of it for their Mass and Racineè which is the Juice of the Grape newly exprest and boiled to a Syrupe and is very sweet and pleasant for their Lent-provision as you may read in their Relations and this Vine seemeth to be made for these Northern Countreys because it hath its leaves very small and jagged as if it were on purpose to let in the Sun and it ripeneth sooner then other Grapes as I have observed in Oxford-Graden 2. Sort of Vine is the Rhenish-Grape for it groweth in a temperate Countrey not much hotter in the Summer then England and the wine is excellent as all know 3. Sort is the Paris-grape which is much like the temper of England onely a little hotter in Summer this Grape beareth a small bunch close set together very hardly to endure frosts and other inconveniences and is soon ripe so that the Vintage of Paris is sooner ended then that of Orleans or Burdeaux and though it be not so delicate to the taste as some other Grapes yet it maketh an excellent brisk wine 4. Sort is the small Muskadell which is a very fine pleasant Grape both to eat and to make wine In Italy it usually groweth against their houses walls and of this they make a small pleasant wine a Month or two before the ordinary Vintage It is a tender plant in respect of the other Vines in the fields these Vines I know are the most convenient for this Isle because they bear small bunches and Grapes soon ripen and are hardy to endure frosts and ill weather 2. To choose convenient places For this end I counsel them First to plant Vines on the South-side of their dwelling Houses Barns Stables and Out-houses The Gentleman of Kent whom I mentioned before useth this course and to keep the Vines from hurting his tiles and that the wind may not wrong his Vines he hath a frame made of poles or any kind of wood about a foot from the tiles to the
do not only make Honey for I suppose that they have a peculiar propriety of making Honey as the Silk-worms Silk out of Mildews or Honey but also out of all sweet things as Sugar Molossoes c. 3. That many sweet things may be had far cheaper then Honey which I suppose the Bees will transmute into perfect Honey This way I conceive would be very advantageous to us in England for the preserving of late swarms and also for the enriching of old stocks so that we need not destroy them but might drive them from hive to hive and set them to work again and truly I think there is no place in the World so convenient for this purpose as England because that though our Winters be long yet they are not very cold but Bees would be stirring in them and further our Summers are so subject to winds and rains that many times there is scarce a fine day in a whole Week and further Molossoes Refuse-Sugar Sweet-Woort Milk c. may be had at reasonable rates I hope ere long to give an exact account of this experiment and desire those who have any Ingenuities in this kind freely to communicate them I have not observed many things more of importance concerning Bees in my travels onely in Italy they make their Hives of thin boards square in two ar three partitions standing either above one another or very close side to side by the which means they can the better borrow part of their honey when they please In Germany their hives are made of straw to the which they have a summer-door as they call it which is nigh the top of the Hive that the Bees when they are laden may the more easily enter and discharge themselves of their burthens 3. We are to blame that we do not imploy our Honeys in making Metheglin It 's true that in Herefordshire and Wales there is some quantity of this liquor made but for want of good cookery it 's of little worth but usually of a browne colour of an unpleasant taste and as I suppose commonly made of the refuse honey wax dead Bees and such stuffe as they ordinarily make it else-where for the good house-wife thinks any thing good enough for this purpose and that it is pity to spoyl good Honey by making Mead but I know that if one take pure neat Honey and ingeniously clarifie and scum and boyl it a liquour may be made not inferiour to the best Sack Muskadine c. in colour like to Rock-water without ill odour or savour so that some curious Pallats have called it Vin-Greco rich and racy Canary not knowing what name to give it for it's excellency This would bring very great Profit not onely to the Publique by saving many a thousand pound disbursed for Wines through all the world but would be very advantageous to private families who use to entertain their friends very nobly Wines being at present intolerably dear and naught I hope therefore ere long to see it put in execution An excellent drink not much unlike this may be made of Sugar Molossoes Raisins c. of the which I have already spoken yet think it fit to put you in mind of it again It 's a great Deficiency here in England that we do not keep Silk-wormes which in Italy are called Cavalieri for to make Silke I know that is a great Paradox to many but I hope by this short discourse to make this truth to appear plainly The first original of Silk-wormes by what I read in Histories is from Persia where in infinite numbers they are still maintained and the greatest profits of that great Monarch do arise from hence China also aboundeth very much with Silke In Virginia also the Silk-worms are found wilde amongst the Mulberry-woods and perhaps might be managed with great profit in those Plantations if hands were not so scarce and dear I suppose this Silk-worme of Virginia is produced by the corruption of the Mulberry-tree as Cochinneal from Ficus Indica or Indian-figtree for some ingenious curious men who have strictly observed the generation of Insects do find that every Plant hath an Insect which groweth out of its corruption as divers sorts of lice from Animals and that these Insects do usually feed on that Plant out of which they were made as Lice on the same Animals from whence they were engendred I know a Gentleman here in London who hath three or four hundred Insects and can give a very good account of their original feedings And also Mr. Moriney in Paris hath a large Book of the same subject But to return to our purpose I say that we had Silkworms first from Persia In Justinian's time about 1000 or 1100 years ago some Monks presented a few to him at Constantinople where in his time they began to plant Mulberies from thence it came to Italy about three or four hundred years since for the Auncient Writers of Husbandry as Cato Pallad Columell do not so much as mention these creatures and at length these have passed over the Mountains into France within an hundred years where they flourish so much that if we will believe our own Authours they bring greater profit then the Wine and Corn of that large Countrey But be it so or no I know that France hath Silk enough to maintain their excesse of apparel and to export Plushes Velvets c. Now then if that these worms can thrive not onely in the parched Persia but also in Greece Italy yea in France which differeth not much from the temper of England why should we think that they are confined to that place and must move no further Northward for they have come many an hundred miles towards the North why not one hundred or two more And further we see that Mulberries which is their food thrive here as well as in any place But some will object that our Air is too cold and moist To which I answer 1. That those who write of Silkworms say that you must take heed that you make not the place too hot for too much heat may destroy and therefore that you must set the windows open to let in the cold Aire 2. We know that Moistnesse of Aire rather increaseth Insects and nourisheth them Indeed if Moisture hurteth it 's because that it too much corrupteth their food and causeth a flux amongst them but this is easily prevented as I shall shew you anon But to be short it is not onely my opinion that Silkworms will thrive here but the solid judgement of King James and his Council confirmeth the same as you may see by his letter to the Deputy-Lievtenants of every County wherein also many weighty reasons are contained to convince men of the same which Letter followeth anon with the Instructions for the increase and planting of Mulberry-Trees Printed by Eliaz. Edgar in the year 1609. Lastly We find by experience that Silk-worms will thrive here and therefore the matter is out of
there any considerable trouble about the worms unlesse it be the 12 or 15 last days I hope if that particular men will not endeavour to advance this work for their private profit yet the States will for the Publique Good it being the best way I know to set all the poor Children Widows old and same people on work and likewise will save this Nation many an hundred thousand pounds per annum And further the way to accomplish this work may be done without grievance to the Subiect viz. to command every one to plant or sow so many Mulberry-seeds which may easily he procured from beyond Seas c. But I leave States-matters to States-men I am none A Copy of King James's Letter to the Lords Lieutetenants of the several Shires of England for the increasing of Mulberry-Trees and the breeding of Silk-Worms for the making of Silk in England JAMES REX Right-Trusty and Wel-beloved we greet you well IT is a principal part of that Christian care which appertaineth to Soveraignty to endeavour by all means possible as well to beget as to increase among their people the knowledge and practise of all Arts and Trades whereby they may be both weaned from idlenesse and the enormities thereof which are infinite and exercised in such industries and labours as are accompanied with evident hopes not onely of preserving people from the shame and grief of penury but also raising and increasing them in wealth and abundance the Scope which every free-born spirit aimeth at not in regard of himself onely and the ease which a plentiful estate bringeth to every one in his particular but also in regard of the honour of their Native Countrey whose commendations is no way more set forth then in the peoples Activenesse and Industry The consideration whereof having of late occupied our mind who alwayes esteem our peoples good our necessary contemplations We have conceived as well by the discourse of our own reason as by information gathered from others that the making of Silk might as well be effected here as it is in the Kingdom of France where the same hath of late years been put in practise For neither is the climate of this Isle so far distinct or different in condition from that Countrey especially from the hither parts thereto but that it is to be hoped that those things which by industry prosper there may by like industry used here have like successe and many private persons who for their pleasure have bred of those worms have found no experience to the contrary but that they may be nourished and maintained here if provision were made for planting of Mulberry-trees whose leaves are the food of the worms And therefore we have thought good thereby to let you understand that although in suffering this invention to take place we do shew our selves somewhat an adversary to our profit which is the matter of our customs for silk brought from beyond the Seas will receive some dimunition Neverthelesse when there is question of so great and publick utility to come to our Kingdom and Subjects in general and whereby besides multitudes of people of both Sexes and all Ages such as in regard of impotency are unfit for other labour may be set on work comforted and relieved we are content that our private benefit shall give way to the publick and therefore being perswaded that no well-affected Subject will refuse to put his helping hand to such a work as can have no other private end in us but the desire of the welfare of our people we have thought good in this Form onely to require you as a Person of greatest Authority in that County and from whom the generality may receive notice of our pleasure with more conveniency then otherwise to take occasion either at the Quarter-Sessions or at some other publick place of meeting to perswade and require such as are of ability without descending to trouble the poor for whom we seek to provide to buy and distribute in that County the number of ten thousand Mulberry-plants which shall be delivered unto them at our City of c. at the rate of three farthings the plant or at 6 s. the hundred containing five score plants And because the buying of the said plants at this rate may at the first seem chargeable to our said Subjects whom we would be loth to burthen we have taken order that in March or April next there shall be delivered at the said place a good quantity of Mulberry-seeds there to be sold to such as will buy them by means whereof the said plants will be delivered at a smaller rate then they can be afforded being carried from hence having resolved also in the mean time that there shall be published in print a plain Instruction and Direction both for the increasing of the said Mulberry-trees the breeding of the Silk-worms and all other things needfull to be understood for the perfecting of a work every way so commendable and profitable as well to the planter as to those that shall use the trade Having now made known unto you the Motives as they stand with the publick good wherein every man is interested because we know how much the example of our own Deputy Lieutenants and Justices will further this cause if you and other your neighbours will be content to take some good quantities hereof to distribute upon your own lands we are content to acknowledge thus much more in this direction of ours that all things of this nature tending to Plantation increase of science and works of industry are things so naturally pleasing to our own disposition as we shall take it for an argument of extraordinary affection towards our person besides the judgement we shall make of the good dispositions in all those that shall expresse in any kind their ready minds to further the same and shall esteem that in furthering the same they seek to further our honour and contentment having seen in few years past that our Brother the French King hath since his coming to the Crown both begun and brought to perfection the making of Silks in his Countrey where he hath won to himself honour and to his Subjects a marvellous increase of wealth would account it no little happinesse to us if the same work which we begun among our people with no lesse zeal to their good then any Prince can have to the good of theirs might in our time produce the fruits which there it hath done whereof we nothing doubt if ours will be found as tractable and apt to further their own good now the way is shewed them by us their Soveraign as those of France have been to conform themselves to the direction of their King Given under our Signet at our Pallace of Westminster the sixteenth of November in the sixth year of England France and Ireland and of Scotland the two and fortieth Instructions for the increase and planting of Mulberry-trees What ground is fit for the Mulberry-seeds how the
also their Cedars Pines Plumtrees Cherries great Strawberries and their Locusts which is a prickly plant a swift grower and therefore excellent for hedges be useful to us So for New-England why should we think that the Indian corn the March wheat that excellent Rie the Pease which never are eaten with magots the French or Kidney-Beans the Pumpions Squashnes Water-mellons Musk-mellons Hurtleberries wild Hemp Fir c. of those parts are altogether useless for us as also the CraÌ„berries which are so called by the Indians but by the English Bearberries because it is thought the Bears eat them in winter or Barberries by reason of their fine acid tast like Barberries which is a fruit as big as red as a Cherry ripe only in the Winter and growing close to the ground in bogs where nothing else will grow They are accounted very good against the Scurvy and very pleasant in Tarts I know not a more excellent and healthfuller fruit But some will object that they will not grow here with us our fore-fathers never used them To these I reply and ask them how they know have they tryed Idlenesse never wants an excuse and why might not our fore-fathers upon the same ground have held their hands in their pockets and have said that Wheat and Barley would not have grown amongst us and why should not they have been discouraged from planting Cherries Hops Liquorice Potatoes Apricocks Peaches Melicotones and from sowing Rape-seeds Colliflowers Great Clover Canary-seeds c. and many more of this kind and yet we know that most of these have been brought to perfection even in our days for there is a vicissitude in all things and as many things are lost which were known to our fore-fathers as the Purple colour c. as you may read in Pancirol so many things are found out by us altogether unknown to them and some things will be left for our posterities For example not to speak of Gun-powder and Printing nor of the New-world and the wonders there which notwithstanding are but of a few hundred years standing I say twenty Ingenuities have been found even in our days as Watches Clocks Way-wisers Chains for Fleas divers Mathematical Instruments Short-writing Microscopes by the which even the smallest things may be discerned as the eggs eyes legs and hair of a Mite in a Cheese Likewise the Selenoscope which discovereth mountains in the Moon divers Stars and new Planets never seen till our days But to return to our purpose I say that in Husbandry it is even so for the Ancients used divers plants which we know not as the Cytisus-tree so much commended for Cattel as also their Medick-fodder which Colum saith endureth ten years and may be mowen the four first years seven times in a year and one Acre he esteemeth enough for three horses This fodder likewise is accounted very sweet and healthful whereas the plants which are usually called Medicats with us are annual plants and have no such rare proprieties So we are ignorant what their Far or fine Bread Corn was what their Lupine Spury and an hundred of this kind as you may read in Mathiol on Dioscorides so on the contrary infinite are the Plants which we have and they knew not as well appeareth by their small and our large Herbals and daily new Plants are discovered useful for Husbandry Mechanicks and Physick and therefore let no man be discouraged from prosecuting new and laudable ingenuities And I desire Ingenious Gentlemen and Merchants who travel beyond Sea to take notice of the Husbandry of those parts viz what grains they sow at what times and seasons on what lands how they plough their lands how they dung and improve them what Cattel they use and the commodities thereby also what books are written of Husbandry and such like and I intreat them earnestly not to think these things too low for them and out of their callings nay I desire them to count nothing trivial in this kind which may be profitable to their Countrey and advance knowledge And truely I should thank any Merchant that could inform me in some trivial and ordinary things done beyond Sea viz. how they make Caviare out of Sturgeons Rows in Muscovia how they boyl and pickle their Sturgeon which we English in New-England cannot as yet do handsomly how the Bologâ—ia Sausages are made how they ferment their Bread without Yest of what materials divers sorts of Baskets Brooms Frails are made what seed Grout or Grutze is made of and also how to make the Parmisane Cheeses of Italy which are usually sold here for 2 s. or 2 s. 6 d. per pound or the Angelots of France which are accounted better Cheeses then any made in England as also the Holland Cheeses which are far better then our ordinary Cheeses and yet these sorts of Cheeses are made not of Mares milk as some think but from the Cows and our Pastures are not inferiour to theirs c. 2. I desire ingenious men to send home whatsoever they have rare of all sorts as first Animals the fine-woolled sheep of Spain Barbary Horses Spanish Jennets c. and so likewise all sorts of Vegetables not growing with us as Pannick Millet Rice which groweth in the Fenny places of Millan and France and why may it not grow in our Fens and the best sorts of Grains or Fruits in use amongst them perhaps there is Wheat that is not subject to Smut or Mildew perhaps other seeds will give double increase as Flax Oats Pease and divers other things of importance there are beyond Sea which may be useful to us as the Askeys the Cork Acorns the Scarlet-Oak sweet-Annise which groweth abundantly in Millan Fennel c. Tilia or Linder-tree for bast Ropes c. Spruce Pines for Masts and Boards seeing that they are swift growers and many will stand in a small piece of ground they have formerly grown here and some few do flourish in our Gardens and in Scotland I suppose that this ought seriously to be considered for although we have plenty of Oaks yet what will it profit for Shipping without Masts and how difficult it is to get great Masts above 22 inches diameter is very well known Many things I might add of this kind but for brevities sake I refer you to Master John Tredescan who hath taken great pains herein and daily raiseth new and curious things 3. Consider that these new Ingenuities may be profitable no onely to the Publick but also to Private men as we see by those who first planted Cherries Hops Liquorice Saffron and first sowed Rape-seeds Colliflowers Woad Would Early Pease Assparagus Melons Tulips Gilliflowers c. and why may we not find some things beneficial to us also 16. Deficiency is the ignorance of those things which are taken from the Earth and Waters of this Island Although it may seem to many that these things do little concern the Husbandman who usually is not a Naturalist but onely endeavoureth to know
somewhat dangerous therefore Gardiners do use very much Nux vomica which may be had every where with a little butter but take heed of the Dogs Moals likewise do much hurt both to Corn and Pasture and are too much neglected though they may easily be destroyed either with a Moal-spade or by finding their Nests in March which usually are in some extraordinary hills or else by putting a deep pot 〈◊〉 the earth where they run a clicketting in the Spring or by a Moal-trap which the Gardiners frequently use about London c. Also it were good to destroy the Birds called Tom-tits which are great enemies to Bees and fruit Sparrows Finches Snayl Warms c. 7. I cannot but adde to this place the failings in divers particulars in respect of some particular places viz. the planting of Saffron which is very well performed in some parts of Essex Cambridge c. yet altogether unknown in Kent though there are Lands both white and red as they call them with plenty of dung very proper for that purpose and yet this commodity is excellent and further I can adde as a Deficiency that I have never seen nor heard of any thing written on this Subject to any purpose 2. The planting of Hops concerning which Scot in Queen Elizabeths days wrote an excellent Treatise to the which little or nothing hath been added though the best part of an hundred years are since past and much experienced in this kind amongst us for though many fine Gardens have been planted in the Southern parts yet the Northern are deficient so that often-times we are necessitated to have great quantities from Flaunders 3. Liquorice is much planted about Pomfract in York-shire and about London but little that I hear of else-where so that we are sometimes beholding to Spain for it 4. Would is sown in divers parts of Kent not much in other places therefore we are oft beholding to the Western Isles for it 5. Wade which is abundantly sown about Coventry and yet in Kent thought to be a forraign Commodity this is of excellent use and deserveth to be sown every where I might here also adde Madder which is very necessary and scarcely sown any where as also Canary-seeds Carnways which are abundantly sown about Sandwich and Deal in Kent also Rape Cole-seeds c. whose oyl is of great use also of Fruit-trees Gardening Hemp Flax but of these I have largely discoursed before 21. Deficiency is by reason of our sins we have not the blessing of the Lord upon our labours And this the reason that although the Husbandman hath been laborious and diligent in his calling these last years yet our Crops have been thin his Cattel swept away and scarcity and famine hath siezed on all parts of this Land and if we had not been supplyed from abroad we had quite devoured all the creatures of this Island for our sustenance and yet we could not be satisfied but must have devoured one another And therefore to conclude though I desire the Husbandman to be diligent and laborious in his calling yet I counsel him to break off his sins by Repentance to have his eye towards him who is the Giver of every good thing and to pray daily to him for his blessings who giveth freely to them that ask and upbraideth not And although all callings ought to look up to him that is on high yet the Countrey-man especially for he hath a more immediate dependance on him then any other for if the Lord with-hold his fat dew from Heaven or the former or latter Rain it is in vain that the Husbandman rise up early and go to bed late and eat the bread of carefulness for we know that it is the Lord that maketh barren places fruitful and he likewise that turneth fruitful Lands into barrenness as the Land of Canaan which was very fruâ—tful even in the time of the Canaanites but now a barren desart and therefore I again desire the Countrey-man to walk as it becometh a Christian in all Sobriety Righteousness and Godliness not to trust or put his confidence in his own labours and good Husbandry but on the Lord that hath made all things for though even Paul himself doth plant and Apollo doth water yet it is only the Lord that giveth increase and plenty which he will not deny to those that fear him for they shall want nothing that is good Lastly for a Corollary I will adde though it doth not so much concern the Husbandman as those of greater Power and Authority That it is a great Deficiency in England that we do not magazine or store up Corn when the Lord sendeth us plenty and therefore at cheap rates as Joseph did in Egypt against dear years for then the Grain is purest the perfectest without Smut Mildew Shrankness or other imperfections and is the best for long preservation this is much used in Poland Dantrigk Italy Holland c. and is found of wonderful importance By this means Holland which soweth little or no Corn seldome or never feeleth a famine though it be incredibly populous and for want of this good policy England which many years aboundeth with Corn is sore bitten therewith as is manifest in these last years in which had not our Neighbours wisely and politickly provided for us we should have famished and devoured one another Further This storing of Corn will save vast Sums of money which in dear years are exported for bread and also well ballance the price of Corn so that the honest Husbandman needs not murmure and be discouraged because that the price is low and Markets scant in plentiful years because then the Magazins are to be restored nor the Artizans be famished by the excessive rate of bread in dear years for then the Magazines are to be exhausted The best way for the wise carrying on of this businesse the Politicians must lay forth but that belongs not to our calling Yet I shall here as I have done in former things gâ— some general hints and leave the rest to those who are wiser And first The City of London which is the mouth of the Island and as I am credibly informed by Meal-men spendeth about 5000 Quarters of Wheat weekly and I suppose it cannot do lesse considering there cannot be lesse then 600000 people therein and about viz. at least an hundred thousand in the 97 Parishes within the Walls and four times as many without the Walls as appeareth by the Bills of Mortality and at least an hundred thousand strangers of all sorts which proportion is lesse then four l. of bread the week for one this place ought I say to have a considerable Magazine for three or six months something hath been done in this kind by our fore-fathers as appeareth by the particular store-houses of the private Companies which store-houses ought to be augmented in number as the Companies yearly are and also the Quantity of Grain because the City daily grows more populous 2. I
is what I have observed till page 30. further then which I am not yet come And forasmuch as I have never an English Dictionary here I would be glad of the Exposition of some English words not so well understood by me as howing so oft spoke of and the How Wheats-lodging page 18. Canker-berries page 27. and the difference betwixt Haws and Hips page eadem I having ever taken them to signifie the same thing I do not know neither what are the piles on Marshes sides page 25. and am ignorant of the History of Glassenburies Hauthorne mentioned page 4. about which I would willingly receive some light Paris the 19 of August AN English Gentleman who many years hath lived and been a House-keeper in Devonshire as he was yesterdy reading your Legacy at my house having lighted on that passage page 26. about the making of Cyder told me that the second way there mentioned is not a making of Cyder but a certain preparation of it already made usuall also in wines and other liquors especially those that are to be transferred a great way by Sea and as for the first that he never saw it practised in Devonshire where Cyder is very common and where himself usually made forty Hogsheads every year but that the way of making Cyder in that Countrey used by all men is this Having reduced their Apples into Mash by turning upon them a kind of a Milstone set edge-wayes in a wooden trough they presently carry them to a wooden presse of that bignesse as in one hour they will presse out two Hogsheads of Juice the which having let stand a day or two and having taken off the black scum that ariseth in that time they tun it and in the Barrels it continueth to work some dayes longer just as Beer useth to do He told me divers other particulars about Cyder partly of his own and partly of that Countreys common observations the which I forbear to relate because I believe that Markham hath spoke of them Paris the 16 of September 1651. SEing by your last you desire the continuation of my Annotations upon your Legacy I must tell you that I believe your friend hath not been well informed page 23. about the Countreys there named by him for the sending of Walnuts Quinces and Chestnuts into England and that it will be found upon better enquiry that these commodities do come into England if not solely yet abundantly the first from Holland the second from Zealand and the third from France and as for small nuts except he speak of some exquisite kind of them I know not why one should run so far as Spain for them seeing that Ireland aboundeth in them above all Countreys in the world page 27. I know an ingenious man who can without malting c. If you and your friend will be ruled by me you shall not take this upon Glaubers bare word nor any of those other magnificent promises which he maketh in that boasting Catalogue till he have made them good by the effect lest the similitude of the Prophet Esay 29.8 be verified in us page 28. Grafting Inoculating c. a Gentleman will learn in two hâ—urs to learn it to some purpose will require more then so many dayes if not weeks expertus loquor page 30. We find Vines flourishing many hundred milâ—s more towards the North than Alsace both in France Loram and Germany If for many hundreds he had said one hundred miles he might perhaps have made that good and yet not that neither in all the three Countreys here named I am sure not near it in Lorain and very hardly in France page 31. Vines grow sixty miles on this side Paris at Beaumont Beaumont is but eight leagues or sixteen English miles North from Paris and Beauvais which and Beaumont is the most Northern part of France where any Vines grow is but twice as far being distant sixteen leagues from Paris Ibid. These places which are even as far North as England nothing near none of them page 36. linea 3. pack in so many plants c. I have seen most of the Vineyards about Paris for many miles round and never saw any such thing very few having any thing in them but Vines and where any thing else was I saw onely a few Peach-trees here and there too far asunder to do any great harm to the Vines or Ground 37. To short poles as we do hops out of one Hop-pole you may make three Vine-poles As for length wherefore they should not be so yoked together ibid. In France so soon as they have pressed out their liquor with their feet pressing with feet is not used in all parts of France and utterly unknown in these Northern parts of it they put it into Hogsheads not at all till it have wrought first in Keeves 39. from these who would destroy c. I could wish that bitter and exasperating expression in the behalf of my Countrey-men might be spared If I would make Observations upon those passages which have something of good and excellent in them as well as upon them where I conceive something is to be mended I should never have done the Book being full of them from one end to another yet I cannot let passe with silence those words page 44. The Sun and Dew ingender a nitrons fatnesse they pointing at the unfolding of one of the greatest Mysteries in Nature unknown to most of them if not to all who professedly do deal in the inquiries of that noble Science but to speak of this to the full were not the work of a Scholion but of a whole Treatise concerning the Improvement of Land by Sea sand of which page 45. you will find a confirmation of that in Irelands Natural History and it is very much used in Devonshire with admirable successe not onely equal to but even beyond Lime it selfe as I have been told by that Gentleman whose Observations concerning Cyder I gave you formerly page 46. All fertility proceedeth from salt addendum Made unctuous or oily and spirituous id est uno verbo nitrous nam sale mero nihil magis inimicum faecuudirati 47. In Holland they are carefully preserve the Cows urine as their Dung to enrich their land they preserve it no otherwise then is done in al other Countreys viz. mixed with the Dung and joyntly with it carried out to the Dunghill ibid. we must have it paper from Italy France and Holland I believe Italy sendeth out little paper either to England or to any other Countrey and as for Holland it hath none to send but what it selfe getteth from abroad there being none at all made there viz. In Holland properly so called nor in any of the other Provinces that I know of but onely some in the Velaw a part of Gelderlant and in England there is good store made both towards Oxford and in some other places though not enough for to serve the Nation Paris the 2â— of October 1651. HAving
continued to read on in your Legacy from page 48. where I left with my last Annotations I find nothing that needeth any Animadversions but these few following things page 60. a kind of Salix called by them Abel-tree the Tree called an Abel in Dutch is no way a kind of Salix but is I'opulus alba Ibidem If we believe their own Authours c. I know not who those Authours are but I am sure that who ever hath said so hath said most untrue for the profit that ariseth to France by Silk cannot in the least part come in competition with that of Corne and Wine Ibid. In France which differeth not much from the temper of England Silk is a stranger to those parts of France that agree with Englands temper 69. I could wish those words linea 3 4. we know nourisheth them to be left out as devoid of all truth if applyed to the â—nsect in question page 70. linea 2. Let him read Boneil adde Andream Libavium qui peculiari Tractatu inserto parti secundae Singularium fusè ac diligenter admodum omnia ad Bombyces spectantia pertractavit militerque Olivier de Serres libro 50 Theatri Agriculturae Among the things which page 70. he thinketh might be transplanted profitably into England I could wish the omission of the three first viz. Sassafras Sarsaparilla and Snake-weed the which I greatly doubt would hardly be made to grow there at all with any industry but sure I am never to any purpose and the same I believe about their Cedars and Pines Medica veterum is without all peradventure the Plant now known under the name of Lucerna wherefore it ought not to be ranked as it is page 80. amongst the Plants now unknown Quid esset lupinus veterum nemo unquam Herbariorum quod sciam dubitavit quare omittenda ejus mentio inter herbas controversas page 80. Page 81. What seed grout or grutz is made of the same seed and in the same manner as that which in English is called Groats viz. of Oats and of Barley of those three sorts of Cheeses which he reckons up page 81. onely the second and third are made of Cows milk and therefore his expression is too general and what he sayes there which are far better then our ordinary Cheeses is true indeed but as true it is that they are far better then their ordinary Cheeses and as true likewise that the best of those Cheeses are no better nor so good by far as some English Cheeses Verbi gratia Chedder-Cheeses He is much mistaken if he believeth that all those things reckoned up page 82. will grow in England at least to any purpose especially Rice Cork Scarlet-Oak and that Sentence of Virgil Vt quid quaque ferat regio quid quaeque recuset Justly termed an Oracle by Pliny doth not depend wholly as our Authour seemeth to take for granted on the Climate and the latitude of Regions for were it so Dictamnus Laser Cinamonum Balsamum Myrrha Camphora Stirax Mastick Beujovin Caryophylli Nux-Muschata and an infinite number of other Plants would not be and from all time have been confined to such Territories as they are all the Industry of man and the power and wealth of greatest Princes never having been able to make them grow at least not to make them fructifie out of their native Soils wonder also to find Linder-trees named in the Catalogue of Plants which he would have denizon'd in England seeing thaâ— great store of them and very good by ones have been growing in several parts of the Land many years since even in about London as at Exeter-house Wimbleton-house c. and there besides Sherewood-Forrest in Nottinghamshire aboundeth in them naturally Paris the 18. of November 1651. I Come now to your Legacy whereon these words page 84. It casteth up Jet and Amber I must tell you that as it is most certain that of Jet good store is found on some part of the shore of York-shire so I dare say that upon inquiry it will appear that never any Amber or Succinum was cast up there by the Sea that being a commodity so peculiar to Spruce or Prussia as the Sea was never known to render it in any other Countrey of the world whatsoever page 85. At Dover they make brick of Sea-owse a thing very incredible to me In Cumberland out of a certain kind of sand they extract salt It were worth the while to tell in a few words at least how they proceed in the doing thereof Not onely notice should be taken by the Husbandman or Countrey-Gentleman of the different colour odour and tast of waters as our Authour wisheth them to do â—adem page 85. but also and much more as a thing of a much greater and more particular concernment to them of the wonderful and vast difference of waters in which none of those three qualities is notably to be discerned for the several uses of ordinary house-keeping of Husbandry and of several Manufactures page 86. If we may believe Glauber there is scarce any sand without gold I am very sure that whosoever believeth him herein as in many other things will find himself very fouly deceived Ibidem save what is taken out of their Ditches For the word Ditches no wayes proper here should be substituted Bogs Fens or Moors It is indifferent good fuel yea many sorts of them are most excellent fuel An English-man speaking of turffe should not name Holland only but Scotland and Ireland in which two Countreys turffâ— is of very great and general use page 87. There is a stone in Durham out of which they make salt I would we were told the manner hereof Ibidem Lead is found in Durham-wall I would fain know what Durham-wall is whether a Town or Countrey and in what part of England and why Derbâ—shiâ—e where those famous Lead Mines are is not at all named here page 94. Opium is always an ingredient this is too generally spoken page 95. I am not well satisfied with what he sayes of transplanting Elephants into England and making them of common use there for many reasons and I believe it would prove as hard a task to people in England with any considerable store of Black Foxes Musk-Cats and some other of those Animals named page 96. in these words Paris the second of December 1651. THe conceit I find in your Legacy page 99. Of the medicinal virtues of the plants being sublimed into the Insects bred out of them is altogether destitute of truth as very easily and practically may be demonstrated page 101. That in Ireland rottennesse of sheep is not known It is too well known there and even in my time I have seen great mortalities of sheep caused thereby Page 103. In Holland they keep their Cattel housed winter and summer I never knew any Cattle housed in Summer in my Countrey but all about Paris that is very ordinary Ibidem they bury the grains in the ground they keep them
Royal Garden at Paris as difficulty preserved in Mompelier Garden as Oranges Olives c. are preserved in the cold Countries As for occult proprieties of the earth for Sympathyes and Antipathies secret influences of Planets benigne aspect c. I understand them not but dare boldly affirm if I have a convenient Clime and a Soil correspondent to the nature of the Plant to cause any plant to thrive and prosper and this we see by experience that if Rye c. be sown in a dry sandy ground whether in Poland England New-England which are many thousand miles distant yet it will thrive and prosper sic de ceteris As for Astrology to the which all in these dayes are too prone even Gardiners and Husbandmen will be talking of the dark of the Moon and of the increase and decrease of the Solar and Lunar Ecclipses and accordingly dispose of their seasons of times to their great damage for I my self even by experience have found folly in these things for things sown in the great Ecclipses both of the Sun and Moon have thriven as well as other things in the decrease as well as in the increase and therefore wish all men to sow their seeds when the season appointed is come without such vain observations For this Art for what I can perceive is no way demonstrable à priori for who can prove 12 Signes Fiery Watery Domus Planetarum Dignitates c. which are the main pillars of this Art and à posteriori by calculations it is made more uncertain for though much is undertaken by divers yet little is effected many untruths for one truth and little prognosticated but what a prudent man without advising with the Stars may foresee In brief I will declare my rude thoughts which perhaps will at length be found truths for light breaketh forth a pace In the beginning the wise Creator made two great Lights for the use of this Sphere of the World the Sun and Moon the Sun to enlighten and to warm and refresh all things and to rule the day the Moon to rule the night and to be for the distinguishing of times and seasons the Sun being the Center imparts his light to the Earth and Moon also to Venus and Mercury for they are found by the Selnescope to increase and decrease as the Moon doth and also it is probable to Mars and Jupiter and Saturn and scarce further for the power of all created things are finite as the Moon being nighest reflects its light on us so its probable that the Earth illuminates the Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn have their Lunars or small Stars moving about them which have lately been discovered the Ancient knew not thereof which its probable are for the distinguishing of times and seasons for the Inhabitants of those parts Those which we call the fixt Stars are very great many of which because of their great distance cannot be discovered but by the Glass called the Telescope and therefore surely have little operation upon us who are in another Sphere so far distant from them and amongst these its probable some are Solar bodies because of their twinckling others terrestrial which are replenished with creatures endued with life by the fountain of life which creatures do as the creatures in this earth continually set forth the infinite Greatnesse Glory Mercy and Goodnesse of the Creator and these words are even infinite for the infinite Creator hath made an infinite Work worthy of so great a Workman transcending the narrow capacity of frail mans intellect and if things be thus Astrology is vain c. but I wonder some will say toto Coelo but it s no matter ad propositum Animadversor He is much mistaken if he think that those things reckoned up page 82. will prosper in England especially Ryce Cork Scarlet Oak I answer Perhaps not much mistaken things far improbable have succeeded and again I aver that I believe they will and shall believe so till experience prove the contrary And first for Rice which first came from Babylon and the East-Indyes and is in those places their usual bread where they have usually two or three Crops every year yet we see it can condiscend now to grow in the North parts of Italy in Lombardy yea it hath stept over the Mountains and is come even as far as Tours which is in the midst of France where it growth and especially delighteth in moist morish grounds also if may believe Parkinson a good and painfull Botanick either Rice or some thing so like Rice that he puts it in the same Chapter with it grows in Germany and therefore I question not but we in England might have one good Crop of this Grain in our Morish Land yearly for the reasons that this will thrive with us to me are more strong then that Coriander Sweet-fennel Caraway Canary-grass the Great-Cane c. will thrive and yet these of late begin to flourish with us very well Cork-tree I very little question the growth of this For first these trees grow abundantly in Biscay a Countrey far colder then England where the Summers also scarcely mature the grapes Likewise they grow in the North of New-England at Parcato-way Further that Tree is a great hardy bearing Acorns and leaves like to an Oak that one may easily be deceived by it and mistake it for the common Oak Scarlet Oak I hope I shall make it very probable that even this also may flourish in our Isle In Latine it is called Ilex of which there are divers sorts Some greater some less some more some less beautiful the greater sort which indeed beareth little of the Chermes groweth very well in England to a great Tree and beareth Acorns one of which I have seen at Whitehall-Gate 2. Master Parkinson reporteth that in New-England and Virginia c. The smaller Ilex which is fruitful of Chermes if it be cultivated groweth naturally 3. This Scarlet Oak groweth not onely in Languedock and the hotter parts of France but I have seen it also in Paris royal Garden grow without much art or industry 4. Divers Plants though at first they difficultly thrive yet when they are habituated to the Countrey and to cast their seed there thrive well Thus I have observed that Virginia Wheat at first difficultly thrived in New-England but the seed that matured there the next year flourished very well the same I observed of Wheat brought from England of water Melon seed brought from the Western Islands the like I observe in Ireland of Oats and Barley sown before December the Winter kills much but what endureth and ripeneth is hardened for the next Winter and flourisheth c. 5. There may perhaps other Species be found of this Scarlet Oak more proper for our Climate and I remember that on the barren plains in New-England I have seen growing even every where a small Oak seldom above two foot high yet laden with small Acorns which are indifferent good to
not multiply Musk-Cats likewise divers have kept in London and with good profit c. 7 Letter All Plants sublimed into Insects are not medicinable c. J Do not positively affirm it yet I know it is the opinion of sonie not to be despised further that some have very considerable medicinable vertues it is well known and I have instanced in divers and I suppose that as yet it is altogether unknown whether others have or not Animadversor Rottenness of Sheep known in Ireland c. Rottennesse of Sheep is some times in Spain but not so much known as in England though the Countrey be moister the reasons now I well know for they have not so many base wet Commons as in England and the great Sheep-Masters usually chuse their Sheeps-Walks or Pastures on high dry Lands c. Animadv In Holland Cattle not housed in Summer c. Holland with us is usually taken for the 17 Provinces or at least for the united ones and that Cattel are housed there as well as at Paris you may read at large in Flanders husbandry as also how they give their Cattel Turnips and that they mow their Medows twice or thrice yearly which the Animadversor denyeth How the Hollanders do hoard up or bury grains for that word is proper enough for any thing that is covered in the ground the Animadversor largely describeth and I hope it will be practised about London where in the Summer time they are little worth Animadversor Hogs are not cleanly but love dort c. If Hogs love dirt then why do they not wallow it in Winter as well as in Summer but it is well known that in Winter hogs must lye warm and dry in clean straw or they will not thrive and why is it a greater disparagement to hogs in the Summer to lye in mire that thereby they may cool themselves take away their sweat and destroy their lice by rubbing when the dirt is dry then for other cattel to stand and wallow in muddy waters or for Poultry to dust themselves And further an Hog much abominateth his own dung and therefore will never dung nor pisse in his Sty if the door be open in which particular he excels even all creatures and therefore the Paradox of the Hogs cleanlinesse may be found true As concerning the extraordinary bignesse of Goose livers it is in Italy amongst the Jews where I have eaten of them highly esteemed but at present not much in credit amongst the Italians and to my Palate it is not so excellent a dainty 8. Letter Animad Purchase in his second Tome sets down the making of Caveare c. I Am certain that Purchase himselfe never saw the making of Caveare nor the Merchant perhaps that wrote it and therefore I must question the Process and know that in New-England where there are abundance of Sturgeon whose rows are ordinarily accounted the Material of it yet never any ever so much as attempted to make it though divers Fishmongers were there and attempted to pickle Sturgeon though with ill success for in the ship in which I returned from New-England many Scores of Cags of Sturgeon were sent to London which were all naught and cried about the Strees under the notion of Holy Sturgeon perhaps if Purchases way were known it might encourage some to attempt the making of it If I had Purchase by me I would write it forth and publish it at present his Works are rare and dear The Animadversor doth very well describe the manner of feeding Cows with Turnips p. 113. I hope our Gardiners will take notice of it and practise it for it may be much for their profit and for the advantage of many poor people 9. Letter J Wish also that the breeding of Pheasants as the Animadversor sets down were better known for many poor might get good living thereby as divers do in Bark-shire and about London I know also other Noble men who keep many of these fowls as also a poor man in Ireland who hath a Pheasant Cock and Hen which run amongst his Poultry his Cocks tail of a very great length which live very well and lay eggs as other fowls without further trouble and I question not but others might be made tame also in England 10. Letter COncerning Cheese I have already declared my mind viz. that Parmisans and Angelots which are commonly made in France and Italy are far beyond our Chester or what we commonly make in England 2. Our Cheddar Cheeses are seldom seen unlesse at some Nobles mans table c. and yet I doe not think they excel Parmisans but whither my Palate be a true judge or not I am sure it may be noted as a great deficiency that so little excellent Cheese is made with us seeing so much is made elwhere The cause of this deficiency the Animadversor referreth to the Water as appeareth by his examples But I and I suppose more truely to the good skill and clean handling of the Dairy Maid and also to the difference of pastures for that good or bad Houswifery maketh or marreth Cheese is very well known as also that difference of pastures in respect of sweetnesse and sowrnesse much or little fresh or stale c. causeth also great difference not onely in the quantity but also in the quality of Butter and Cheese But that the difference of water doth cause those alterations I very much question for I know that in Kent whether the Cows drink puddle or pond-water or clean spring or fresh or brackish which in some place they oft do yet the butter and Cheese are the same if the Pastures be alike But if Pastures vary these vary and so likewise I may say of the Housewife I know a Farm within a mile of Gravesend where the Cattel alwayes drink at one common pond in the Yard if they graze on one side of the house the Butter is yellow sweet and good and Cheese also but if on the other the Butter is white sowrish and Cheese naught and yet there is little difference in the pastures to a vulgar eye which hath caused the good Wife to report it as a wounderful strange thing whereas the cause is manifest for the one side hath much Trefoil and lyes on the Chalk the other side is a gravel and produceth usually Gramen Caninum or Couch-grass so we find in sheep which drink not yet both their wool and flesh vary very much in respect of pastures And I suppose that if the pastures mentioned in Holland by the Animadversor were wel viewd by a judicious man the like difference might be found for as I suppose the Waters in Holland differ little the Countrey lying for the most part in one even flatness without Minerals or Metals the Country in Winter over-flown with rain-water in the Summer time most of their waters brackish But if it be otherwise I should be very glad to have some further light and desire ingenious men not to build upon vulgar