safely answer for my self and the main of my Discourse that it is wholly New and such as never before appeared in Print both as to the Manner Charges and Advantage of Planting either one or a thousand Acres in the way and at the Distances propounded I confess I am but a bad Writer and have been all my time more experienc'd in the Practice then the Theory of this kind of Husbandry yet having more consulted the Publick then my self I hope the Learned will indulge me and so I deliver things as they ought pardon the Rudeness of my words and expression A farther Advertisement to the Reader THough this Book came out tâ—us late yet it was finished at least the first and biggest part about three years since but I was not able to publish it by reason of my own great want and former Losses till I had obtained the Subscriptions of several Gentlemen in the Countrey who Reading it and approving both my Design and Method freely contributed to the Charges of this Publication ERRATA PAge 2 l. 25 r. within these few years p. 7 l. 4 for which in r. within ib. l. 29 r. dy-square p. 19 l. 32 after but 1. of p. 20 l. 9 r. that time ib. l. 18 for Masts 1. Mast. p. 22 l. 14 15 r. Incroachment p. 26 l. 12 for chalk r. shank p. 32 l. 33 so every r. very p. 33 l. 32 r. they will l. 34 r. of Trees p. 39 l. 14 for their r. the. p. 41 l. 22 after whole r. ground p. 49 l. 23 for parted r. planted p. 51. l. 5 for that r. after p. 63 l. 1. for de r. side p. 65 l. 20 after preserved r. in every Acre p. 66 l. 33 after small r. houses after p. 160 as far as 1691. for 141 142 c. 161 162 c. p. 161 l 32 dele the breadth cf. p. 177 l. 33 for whereby r. where p. 181 l. 13 for as r. when p. 182 l. 8 Anniseed r. Anniseseed p. 236 l. 19. for as in r. alike in p. 251. l. 17. for Rona r. Rova p. 253 l. 23 for Stars r. Scars Other Faultâ—less considerable and onely literal the Readers judgment will easily supply THE CONTENTS The First Book IN this Book is set down the great benefit that does apise from Trading which is the Strength and Riches of a People as also that the Kings of England are the Soveraign Lords of the British Seas and that the said Seas have by force of Arms been kept and protected from the Power of all other Nations or Kings in memory by undoubted Records ever since Edgar Etheldred Canutus the Dane Edward the Confessor William the Conqueror and all the Kings of England successively to this day You have in it also a Collection of certain Breviats of several Records now in the Tower of London proving the Soveraignty of the British Seas wholly to belong to the Kings of England demonstratedly the Examples of several other Kings and Princes how they keep by force of Arms all Seas within their Territories You have also here in passage shown the great use of Ships how they are the strength of a Kingdom or People and the chief Instruments of Trade And this part lastly is concluded with a short Declaration of the woful Wasts and Decay of all Woods and Timber in England especially in His Majesties Forests not only during the Troubles but to this very day together with some short Proposals for ppeserving these Trees that are now standing and growing planting wast Lands for a future supply and several wayes of improving Barren Lands The Second Book IS treated the Planting Forrest-Lands and other wast-Lands with Plants for Timber-trees also of all kinds of Earth Simple or Compound Rich or Barren and the manner and way of improving the same either by planting Seed or sets for Timber trees or Vnderwoods Likewise by draining or watering such Lands that require the same and Devonshiring or Burning thâ—se Lands grown over with Bushes Heath Furres Goss or such like Also the way of Improving all the said several sorts of Earths by Lime Marl Dung and many other such like Improvements likewise by Plowing Delving Trenching or Plow-trenching the said Land and sowing seed for Corn or Grass and of several Observations and Directions therein The Third Book YOu have set down the manner and way of planting one Acre of Land Statute-measure that is 16 foot and a half to the Pearch with seed or sets for Timber trees and Vnderwoods at several distances as from 1 foot to 4 Pearch Also the converting the said Woods to several uses with the Charges and Profit of performing the same and several Observations in planting the said Woods Also a Conjecture at the growth and Age of Timber-trees as Oaks that are now standing and grow which said Trees may be probably concluded to be the Production of the Earth at the Creation of the World together with Preparatory Directions by plowing and sowing with choice of Seed and Plants in order to the planting a thousand Acres The Fourth Book YOu have Directions to plant a thousand Acres of Land Woodland-measure 18 foot to the Pearch with Seed and Sets for Timber trees and Vnderwoods at the several distances before mentioned and that is from one foot to four Pearch Also here is set down the particular and total accounts of the Charges and Profit of planting of the said Land by Plowing or delving and sowing or setting the same with seed or sets As also converting the said Woods to several uses The Fifth Book IN this Book are Directions set down how to plant 200 Acres of Land as well for Pleasure as for Profit wherein there shall be pleasant Walks with Timber-trees and Groves of Vnderwoods and several Orchards and Gardens with Fruit Flowers and Herbs both for food and Physick variety of Fowl Bees Silk-worms Bucks Does Hares and other Creatures of several kinds And a short account of the Charges and Profit of keeping a thousand Doe-Cenies in Hutches the Profit amounting to 4500 l. per Annum Also Fish-ponds and Streams of Water stored with many kind of Fish and stocked with Decoy Ducks And the use and vertues of all the Plants growing in this Garden of Pleasure The Sixth Book YOu have a Description of the Islands of Orkney and Shotland with the manner and way of the Hollanders Fishing and Trading in those Seas and Islands Also a Diurnal or short account of Coasting from London to those Islands with a discovery of several Rocks and Harbours on that Coast Here is likewise set down that the Original of the Hollanders Trade which is now much increased and spread through a great part of the World was and is from the Fish they every year take on the Coast of England and Scotland And in this Book lastly is set down the great benefit that does arise from Trade with a short discourse that the Traffick of Europe hath been engrossed into the hands and carried
on all along by the Venetians Genoese Portugals Easterlings Hollanders and English and that the falure and decay of the one was the original rise to another Also a Composition which the Hollanders made with King Charles the First to pay unto his Majesty one hundred thousand pounds yearly and a hundred thousand pounds ready down The TABLE PAge 1 2 Discourse of Trade Page 3 4 5 6 Several records to prove that the Soveraignty of the British Seas do wholly belong to the Kings of England P. 7 8 Several proposals for the preserving timber-trees P. 9 10 Hammers and Furnaces for Iron great wasters of woods From p. 11 to p. 17 Several wayes of Improving Land From p. 18 to 22 Great Wasts committed by Keepers others Page 23 to 29 Observations and Directions to make a good serviceable and profitable Fence Page 30 31 The Charges of making the said Fence Page 32 The Original of Ground and Plants Page 33 to 40 Several kind of grounds not good to plant trees in Page 41 to 44 The choice of Seed and Plants P. 45 to 51 Directions to plant one acre of Land several wayes and at several distances Page 52 The Number of Seed and Plants given to Plant a thousand acres of Land at several distances Page 53 54 The best season of the yeat and the manner and way of plowing Ground in which to sow or set Seed or Plants P. 55 All kind of seed plants will not thrive in one kind of earth P. 56 to 59 Several observations in plowing sowing and setting seed and plants for Trees Page 60 to 63 Several observations in transplanting Trees P. 64 to 66 Several observations in planting for Under-Woods P. 67 to 71 Transplanting Trees of great bulk or growth P. 72 to 75 Observations in dressing or proyning Trees P. 76 to 80 The growth and age of Timber-Trees P. 81 Two several Chains to plant seed or sets by P. 82 to P. 103 is set down the profit of Planting a thousand acres of Land with seed or sets for Timber-trees and under-Woods Page 104 An account given of 29548000 acres of Land in England besides that which is allowed for the High-wayes P. 105 Loss of ground by reason of the Fence P. 106 to p. 125 you have an account of the charges by plowing and planting seed and sets for Timber-trees and under-Woods P. 126 to p. 159 you have an account of the Charges by delving the Land and planting seed and sets for Timber-trees and under-Woods P. 160 to 163 Planting pleasant walks with Timber-trees and Groves P. 164 to 169 The Charges and Profit keeping 1000 tame Conies P. 170 171 Several observations about sheep P. 172 175 Several directions to make an Aviary also a Fish-pond and several observations about Pigeons P. 176 The choice of Cows for a Dairy P. 177 to p. 183 A particular view of every part of the pleasant Land P. 183 184 An Alphabet of all Herbs growing in the Kitchin and Physick Gardens P. 185 186 187 Several Observations about planting Herbs P. 188 189 Directions to Plant Hops P. 190 191 192 A View of the Pleasant-Land P. 193 to p. 243 The Vertues and use of Trees and Herbs P. 244 to p. 248 Several Physical Directions P. 249 to p. 270 A Discourse of the Fishing-Trade of Great-Britain ENGLAND'S IMPROVEMENT REVIVED THE FIRST BOOK The Argument In this Book is set down the great benefit that doâ— arise from Trading which is the Strength and Riches of a People as also that the Kings of England are the Soveraign Lords of the British Seas and that the said Seas have by force of Armes been kept and protected from the Power of all Nations and Kings in memory by undoubted Records ever since Edgar Etheldred Canutus the Dane Edward the Confessor William the Conqueror and all the Kings of England to this day You have in it also a Collection of certain Breviats of several Records now in the Tower of London proving the Soveraignty of the British Seas wholly to belong to the Kings of England demonstrated by the Examples of several other Kings and Princes how they keep by force of Armes all Seas within their Territories You have also here in Passage shewn the great use of Ships how they are the Strength of a Kingdom or People and the chief Instruments of Trade And this part lastly is concluded with a short Declaration of the wofull wasts and decay of all Woods and Timber in England especially in his Majesties Forrests not only during the Troubles but to this very day Together with some short Proposals for preserving those Trees that are now standing and growing planting wast Lands for a future supply and several ways of improving Barren Lands HAving not long since in obedience unto his Majesties Gracious Declaration for the Fishing-Trade of Great Britain discoursed something of Trade in general and how it hath flourished together with its Decay throughout Europe as well as here in England and particularly of the Fishing-Trade and the great advantage that might accrue to this Nation thereby I think it needless to repeat here what I have other where more largely set down It is well known that Trade is the Life of all the habitable World and that by the extent thereof the Venetians and Genoese did engross the greatest part of the Wealth of Europe and by their Shipping which continually supplyed them with Men became a Terror unto all about them But when their Trading decayed their Strength and Glory did with it fall as if those two Twins who were happily born together were unwilling to survive each other After the Venetians and Genoese the Easterlings or Haunse Towns being Masters of the Trade were very powerfull at Sea and Land and in their own Bottoms transported our Staple Commodities all over Europe when we for want of Ships could only look on and see them grow rich by our encrease I need not tell how also by their Shipping the Saxons Danes and Normans invaded England being the more powerfull because Masters of a great Trade but when that began to fail their Strength and Shipping sensibly decayed After the Easterlings the Portugals discovering the way to the Indies by the Cape of good hope quickly became Ingrossers of the whole Trade thither and at once undermined the Venetians and all the Haunse Towns and encreasing with the strength of Spain became as formidable at home by Land as they were abroad at Sea But now in these years those great Trades are fallen betwixt Us and the Hollander only the Hollander by art and industry hath better improved his Interest and made himself rich by our Staple Commodities For the Original of all their Trade and Merchandise together with the great support of it was and is from the Fish they take in the Seas belonging unto England and Scotlandm with the Product whereof they are grown to that greatness that now they are and may be as ill Neighbours to England as the
Easterlings were Now although there have been many that by way of Argument and for discourse sake would goe about to prove that the Seas are free and Common and ought not to be bounded by any other Laws than their own Shoars and Sands yet the necessity of Order in Mutual Commerce and the safety of Mens Goods and Lives may teach us by the very light of Nature that Laws are as necessary for the government and preservation of such as frequent the Seas as of those that trade on the firm Land And though there be such Persons that dare presume thus to dispose of and at their pleasure dispossess his Majesty of this his undoubted Birthright the Royalties of the Seas which his Ancestors have held beyond all memory yet I hope he will never be unprovided of others to vindicate as much as in them lies by their Lives as well as their Pens that Right of his Crown and maintain those ancient Laws and Customs of his Kingdoms unto which all foreign Princes and Nations have freely submitted as by several Records yet to be seen in the Tower of London will evidently appear And because it is the general disposition of Men to choose rather to i emain in ignorance than to be at charges or by labour and industry to search and find out the truth of things to inform such as are willing at least at anothers cost not to be ignorant and strengthen the knowing they being many and very copious I shall here only give you a Breviat of so many of them as may suffice for this occasion 1. There is to be seen a Record therefore in the Rolls there Concerning Taxes and Tributes imposed upon Ships passing and Fishing upon our Coasts the Ordinance was made in the second yeare of Richard the second by the assent of Parliament 2. And to like purpose is that of Edward the fourth where it is manifestly exprest that the King appointed Wafters to guard the Fishers not only of his own Realm but Forrainers and Strangers that Fish upon his Coasts and that the Wafters tooke a Ratable proportion of Every Ship towards their Cost and Expences securing their Fishing and that these Wafters were to Prohibit all other Wafters whatsoever that presumed to take the Office upon them and to Commit them to Prison 3. Cambden in his description of the North Riding of Yorkshire sayth that the Hollanders in their Fishing for Herrings upon the North Coast of England did first obtain Licence from Scarbrough Castle 4. And all Neighbour Princes upon any such occasion have obteined Licence for their Subjects to Fish in our Seas as in a Truce of War agreed between Henry the 4th and the French King 5. Also during a Treaty between Henry the 6th and the Duchess of Burgundy those of Brabant and Flanders had Liberty of free Fishing granted them 6. And so it was in a another Truce between the said King and the Duchess of Burgundy 7. The like we find in a Truce between Edward the 4th and Francis Duke of Britain 8. Phillip the 2 d King of Spaine in the first year of Queen Mary Obtained Licence for his subjects to Fish upon the North Coasts of Ireland for the terme of 21 Years paying for the same yearly 1000 pounds which was accordingly brought into the Exchequer of Ireland and received by Sir Henry Fitton the then Treasurer there 9. And the King of France as others of his Predecessors by speciall Licence only of the King of England Fisheth upon our Coasts near Rye with a sett and Limited Number of small Boats and that only for Provision for his own Houshould 10. All States and Princes doe generally give Laws to pass and fish in the Seas Coasting upon their own Territories and also Impose Taxes and Tributes for their own Profit and Commodity 11. The Emperour of Russia compelleth all Fishermen within his Seas though it be many Leagues from the Maine to pay him Tribute 12. In the Seas and Islands under the King of Sweden they pay Taxes to him 13. The King of Denmark at his Wardhouse in the sound hath for every Licence a Doller and for the Seale and Rose a Noble of every Ship and for every Last of Herrings being 12. Barrels a Doller 14. The Duke of Medina Sidonia in Spain hath his greatest Revenues out of the Taxes lay'd on Fishermen 15. All Princes of Italy bordering upon the Seas Receive a proportion of like benifit 16. And the Hollanders themselves Impose Taxes on the Fish taken by their Fishermen in our Seas But I shall keep my self neare home and within the Soveraignty of our own Seas which our Antient Monarchs of Britain even from the first Memory that we can have of them were always most carefull to preserve for First the Antient Britains admitted very few or no strangers at all into their Service at Sea least turning Renegadoes they might upon occasion lay them open to the Incursions of their Neighbours the Gaules by discovering to them the manner of their Shipping which they kept as a very great secret and therefore when Julius Caesar came with an intention first of all to invade this Island Gaul though very near and in sight of it could not supply him with any that could give him a certaine Intelligence of the Place or which way unless in Vessels of his own or a few passage Boats used by Traders to get thether But these were Countermanded by a great Strength at Sea which the Britains were Masters of Shipps of a good Bulk and serviceable in that Age for fight which they continually employed to Round the Island and scoure the seas which course the Romans after they once came to be setled in the Isle put in practice and after something a better method finding here such Timber as they could not be provided with for that use in any other part of their Empire After the Romans Edgar King of the Saxons continually kept in readiness a Navy of 400 Ships which being divided into 4 severall fleets did every year after Easter take their Course to the 4 quarters of England where they remained to Guard and scower the Seas until the Winter following After Edgar then Etheldred for defence of the British Seas and Kingdom caused of every 310 hides of Land a Ship to be built which all meeting at Sandwich made the greatest Navy that ever this Kingdom set forth to Sea After him Canutus the Dane Maintained a mighty Fleet of Ships for the safety of the Seas and Kingdome and so the succeeding Kings to William the Conqueror I might instance in severall of our Kings of later Ages who to maintain the Rights and Priviledges of the Seas have set forth Mighty Fleets and by force kept off the Hollanders and other Nations till they by the increase of their Shipping have grown to that greatness both in Riches and strength that they think they may doe any thing and for some time have usurpt that right which undoubtedly