seene notwithstanding many times it hath deuoured cities and drawne into it a whole tract of ground and fields Sea coasts and maritime regions most of all other feele earthquakes Neither are the hilly countries without this calamitie for I my selfe haue known for certain that the Alps and Apenine haue often trembled In the Autumne also and Spring there happen more earthquakes than at other times like as lightnings And hereof it is that France and Egypt least of all other are shaken for that in Egypt the continuall Sommer and in France the hard Winter is against it In like manner earthquakes are more rife in the night than in the day time but the greatest vse to be in the morning and euening Toward day light there be many and if by day it is vsually about noon They fortune also to be when the Sun and Moone are eclipsed because then all tempests are asleepe and laid to rest But especially when after much raine there followes a great time of heate or after heate store of raine CHAP. LXXXj ¶ Signes of Earthquake comming SAilers also haue a certaine foreknowledge thereof and guesse not doubtfully at it namely when the waues swel suddenly without any gale of wind or when in the ship they are shocked with billowes shaking vnder them then are the things seen to quake which stand in the ship as well as those in houses and with a rustling noise giue warning before-hand The foules likewise of the aire sit not quietly without feare In the sky also there is signe thereof for there goeth before an earthquake either in day time or soon after the Sun is gon downe a thin streake or line as it were of a cloud lying out in a great length Moreouer the water in wels and pits is more thicke and troubled than ordinary casting out a stinking sent CHAP. LXXXij ¶ Remedies or helps against Earthquakes toward BVt a remedie there is for the same such as vaults and holes in many places do yeeld for they vent and breathe out the wind that was conceiued there before a thing noted in certain townes which by reason they stand hollow and haue many sinks and vaults digged to conuey away their filth are lesse shaken yea and in the same towns those parts which be pendant be the safer as is well seen in Naples where that quarter thereof which is sollid and not hollow is subiect to such casualties And in houses the arches are most safe the angles also of walls yea and those posts which in shaking will jog to and fro euery way Moreouer walls made of brick or earth take lesse harme when they be shaken in an earthquake And great difference there is in the very kinde and manner of earthquakes for the motion is diuers the safest is when houses as they rocke keep a trembling and warbling noise also when the earth seemeth to swell vp in rising and again to settle down and sink with an alternatiue motion Harmlesse it is also when houses run on end together by a contrary stroke and butt or jur one against another for the one mouing withstandeth the other The bending downward in maner of wauing and a certain rolling like to surging billowes is it that is so dangerous and doth all the mischiefe or when the whole motion beareth and forceth it selfe to one side These quakings or tremblings of the earth giue ouer when the winde is once vented out but if they continue still then they cease not vntill forty daies end yea and many times it is longer ere they stay for some of them haue lasted the space of a yeare or two CHAP. LXXXIII ¶ Monstrous Earthquakes seene neuer but once THere hapned once which I found in the books of the Tuscanes learning within the teritorie of Modena whiles L. Martius and S. Iulius were Consuls a great strange wonder of the earth for two hils encountred together charging as it were and with violence assaulting one another yea and retyring againe with a most mighty noise It fell out in the day time and between them there issued flaming fire and smoke mounting vp into the sky while a great number of Roman Gentlemen from the highway Aemylia and a multitude of seruants and passengers stood and beheld it With this conflict and running of them together all the villages vpon them were dashed and broken to pieces very much cattell that was within died therewith And this hapned the yeare before the war of our Associates which I doubt whether it were not more pernicious to the whole land of Italy than the ciuil wars It was no lesse monstrous a wonder that was knowne also in our age in the very last yeare of Nero the Emperour as we haue shewed in his acts when medows and oliue rowes notwithstanding the great publique port way lay betweene passed ouerthwart one into anothers place in the Marrucine territorie within the lands of Vectius Marcellus a gentleman of Rome Procurator vnder Nero in his affaires CHAP. LXXXIV ¶ Wonders of Earthquakes THere happen together with earthquakes deluges also and inundations of the sea being infused and entring into the earth with the same aire and wind or else receiued into the hollow receptacle as it setleth down The greatest earthquake in mans memory was that which chanced during the empire of Tiberius Caesar when twelue cities of Asia were laid leuell in one night But the earthquakes came thickest in the Punick war when in one yeare were reported to be in Rome 57. In which yeare verily when the Carthaginians and Romans fought a battell at Thrasymenus lake neither of both armies tooke notice of a great earthquake Neither is this a simple euill thing nor the danger consisteth only in the very earthquake and no more but that which it portendeth is as bad or worse Neuer abode the city of Rome any earthquake but it gaue warning thereof before hand of some strange accident and vnhappie euent following CHAP. LXXXV ¶ In what places the seas haue gone backe THe same cause is to be rendred of some new hill or piece of ground not seen before when as the said winde within the earth able to huffe vp the ground was not powerful enough to breake forth and make issue For firme land groweth not only by that which Riuers bring in as the Isles Echinades which were heaped and raised vp by the riuer Achelous and by Nilus the greater part of Egypt into which if wee beleeue Homer from the Island Pharus there was a cut by sea of a day and a nights sailing but also by the retiring and going backe of the sea as the same poet hath written of the Circeiae The like by report hapned both in the bay of Ambracia for ten miles space and also in that of the Athenians for fiue miles neere Pireaeum also at Ephesus where somtime the sea beate vpon the temple of Diana And verily if we giue eare to Herodotus it was all a sea from aboue Memphis to the Ethyopian hills
of it Now the best Ptisana or husked barley is that which commeth from Vtica As for that which wee haue from Aegypt it is made of the flat barley which groweth vpon the eare in two ranks or sides only Turannius saith That in the realms of Granade Andalusia and Africk the barley wherof the said Ptisane is made is smooth and naked in the eare without eiles or beard at all He also is of opinion that Rice and the graine Olyra are all one The manner of preparing husked barley and making Ptisana is so commonly knowne that I need not to say a word thereof As for Tragum it is a kind of Ptisane made of Wheat after the same order that the former of Barley Howbeit there is none of it to be found but in Aegypt and Campaine Touching Starch-floure called Amylum it may be made of all kinds of wheat and of the fine corne Siligo i. Winter wheat but the principall is that which they make of the three-month or summer wheat We are beholden to the Island Chios for the inuention of Starch and euen at this day the very best is that which commeth from thence called it is in Greek Amylum because it neuer came into the mill nor was ground vpon stones The next to it in goodnesse is made of a certaine Summer Wheat that is nothing ponderous and weightie The way to make it is to steep the wheat winhin certaine cooperie vessels made of wood in fresh water so much as will couer it wel But it would not be forgotten that the water must be changed fiue times in a day and if it were so serued also in the night it would be the better to that end that beeing thus soaked and softened it might be well mixed and incorporated yea and resolued as it were into a kind of past before that it become soure and bitter This beeing done it must be laid to drie either vpon linnen cloths or else in twiggen paniers that the liquor which is therein may draine away afterwards vpon tiles besmeared ouer with some leauen it is poured forth to take the Sunne to drie and harden against it After the Chian Starch that of Candie is most esteemed and liked of and lastly that which commeth out of Aegypt The good Starch outht to be light smooth and euen and withall fresh made for those properties hath Cato set downe alreadie To returne againe vnto our Barley the meale thereof is of great vse here with vs in Physick And that which more is a straunge effect it worketh in Horses Asses and such like labouring beasts for take Barley when it is dried and hardened at the fire grind it to meale reduce it into a paste and make thereof gobbets let these be put downe by a mans hand into their bellie after the manner of cramming Pullen and you shall soone see that this food and manner of feeding shall make the beasts more strong and lustie and their flesh more fast and compact As for Barley eares some there be which haue but two rankes or rewes others againe haue more euen to the number of sixe In the very graine also there is much difference for there be many of them longer than other lighter shorter rounder whiter blacker and last of all enclining to a reddish or purple color This is the worst of all others for to make drie Grout or Polenta and as for the white it is best for that purpose but wll not abide any tempestuous or hard weather And to say a truth of all corne Barley is the softest and tenderest and will least endure any hardnesse It would not be sowed but in a drie and fine ground laid light and brought into temper howbeit good it must be and well in heart The chaffe and pugs that come of Barly is supposed to be as good as the best but for straw it hath no fellow especially to make litter of Moreouer in this regard Barley of all other graine is least subject vnto blasting for lightly it is cut downe before Wheat is mieldeawed And therefore it is That the wiser sort of husbandmen in the countrey sow no more Wheat than will serue for the prouision of their house only Furthermore they say that Barley is sowed with the rake namely when the mould lightly couereth it and therefore it commeth vp soonest and bringeth most encrease and plentie That which is gathered at Carthage in Spaine within the moneth of Aprill is sowed the very same moneth in Celtiberia so as in one yeare it yeeldeth two crops It is no sooner ripe but they make greater hast to cut it downe and to inne it than any other corne for the straw is very brittle and the huske which contains the grain is as thin and small To conclude it is thought to yeeld the better groats if it be taken whiles it is somwhat green rather than if it should haue the full ripenesse CHAP. VIII ¶ That all kinds of Wheat or Fourmenty cornegrow not indifferently in euerie place Also of other sorts of corne in the Leuant or East countries YOu shall not find in all places the same kinds of Wheat and where you meet with the very same yet they bear not one name but haue sundry appellations The red bearded wheat named in Latin Far and which in old time they called Adoreum the winter wheat Siligo and the ordinarie white Fourmentie wheat Triticum are the commonest of all others And indeed these grow all in most countries As for Arinca it loueth Gaule best and that is the natiue and proper country for it Howbeit there is plenty thereof in Italy also As for Zea Olyra and Typhe there be sundry sorts of wheat and Rie peculiar and appropriate to Aegypt Syria Silicia Asia and Greece The Egyptians make of their wheat a kind of floure or sifted meale but nothing comparable to the Italian They that vse Zea or Spelt haue not the fine red Wheat Far. And yet we are stored therewith in Italy and most of all in Campain where it is called by the generall name of Seed which name no doubt was giuen vnto it for excellencie and singularitie as shall be shewed anon more at large This is the very grain for which Homer the poet called the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. yeelding the corn Zea and not because she giueth life to all liuing creatures as some would haue to be meant by that Epithete Thereof is made also a kinde of starch but grosser than the former whereof we spake before for no difference is there els Of all kinds of wheat Far which is taken for the red bearded wheat is most hardy and best resisteth winter cold it will wel abide the coldest soile that is and that which is least labored and tilled it may endure also hot and dry places it yeelded the first food and meat to our antient forefathers in Latium as may aâ—…peare by this good argument that publique presents and rewards by way of
made of Zea than of Wheat and called it is Granum or Granatum although in Alica that be counted a fault To conclude they that wil not vse chalk do blanch and make their Frumentie white by seething milke with it and mingling all together CHAP. XII ¶ Of Pulse IT followeth now to write of the nature of Pulse among which Beanes do challenge the first ranke and principall place for thereof men haue assaied to make bread The meale of Beans is called in Latine Lomentum There is not a Pulse weigheth more than it and Beane meale makes euery thing heauier wherin it is Now adaies they vse to sel it for prouender to feed horses And indeed Beanes are dressed and vsed many waies not only to serue all kind of four-footed beasts but also for man especially For in most countries it is mingled with Frumentiâ—… corn and namely with Pannicke most of all whole and entire as it is but the more delicat and daintie way is to break and bruise it first Moreouer by ancient rites and religious ceremonies at the solemn sacrifice called Fabraria the maner was to offer vnto certain gods and goddesses Beane cakes This was taken for a strong food being eaten with a thick grewel or pottage howbeit men thought that it dulled a mans sences and vnderstanding yea and caused troublesome dreames in the night In regard of which inconueniences Pythagoras expressely forbad to eat Beanes but as some haue thought and taught it was because folke imagined that the soules of such as were departed had residence therein which is the reason also that they be ordinarily vsed and eaten at the funerals and obsequies of the dead Varro also affirmeth That the great Priest or Sacrificer called the Flamine abstains from Beanes both in those respects aforesaid as also for that there are to be seen in the floure thereof certain letters or characters that shewheauines and signs of death Further there was obserued in old time a religious ceremonie in Beanes for when they had sown their grounds their maner was of all other corne to bring back with them out of the fieldes some Beanes for good luck sake presaging thereby that their corne would returne home again vnto them and these Beanes thereupon were called in Latine Refriuae or Referiuae Likewise in all port-sales it was thought that if Beanes were entermingled with the goods offered to be sold they would be luckie and gainefull to the seller This is cerataine that of all the fruits of the earth this only will be full and sound when the Moone is croisant notwithstanding it were gnawne and halfe eaten with some thing before Set them ouer the fire in a pan with sea water or any other that is saltish they will neuerbe thoroughly sodden They are set or sowne before the retrait of the Starre Vergiliae i. the Brood-hen the first of al other Pulse because they might take root betimes and preuent the Winter And yet Virgill would haue them to be put into the ground in the Spring like as the manner is in Piemont and Lombardie all about the riuer Po. But the greater part of good Husbandmen are of this opinion That the stalke or straw of Beanes sowne early or set betimes are better than the very fruit it selfe which hath had but three months being in the ground For the cods and stalks only of Beans are passing good fodder and forage for cattell Beanes when they are blouming and in their floure desire most of al to be refreshed with good store of rain but after they haue don flouring they care for little the sowing of this Pulse in any ground is as good as a mucking vnto it for it enriches it mightily And therefore towards Macedonie and about Thessalie the manner is when Beanes begin to blossom for to turne them into the ground with the plough Beans come vp and grow in most places of their owne accord without sowing and namely in certaine Islands lying within the Northern ocean which our countrymen therupon haue named Fabariae Semblably they grow wild commonly thoroughout Mauritania but exceeding hard and tough they be and such as possibly canot be sodden tender There are likewise in Aegypt to be found Beanes with a stalk beset full of prickles or thornes which is the cause that Crocodiles wil not come neer them for feare of hurting their eyes The stemme of these Beanes is foure cubites in height but exceeding thicke and big withall tender it is notwithstanding and soft running vp euen and smooth without any knots or joints at al it caries a head in the top like Chesboule or Poppy of a rose red color wherin are contained not aboue 30 Beanes at the most The leaues be large the fruit it selfe or the Bean is bitter in tast and the smel not pleasant howbeit the root is a most dainty meat which the inhabitants do eat as wel raw as sodden and like it is to reed cane roots These grow in Syria and Cylicia as also about the lake Torone within Chalcis As touching other Pulse Lentils be sown in Nouember and so are Pease but in Greece only Lentils loue a light ground better than a fat heauie they like also drie and faire weather Two kinds thereof be found in Aegypt the one more round and blacke than the other the rest be fashioned as common Lentils According to the manifold vse and diuers effects of Lentils there haue sundrie names and denominations beene borrowed from them for I find in writers that the eating of Lentils maketh men to be mild and patient whereupon they be called Lenti and Lenes As for Pease it ought to be sowed in warm places lying well vpon the Sunne for of all things it cannot abide the cold Which is the cause that in Italie and in other countries where the clime is tough and hard they are not sowne vsually but in the Spring and folke chuse a gentle light and loose ground To come now to the Ciâ—…h pease the nature of it is to be nitrous and saltish and therefore it burneth the ground where it grows Neither must it be sowne vnlesse it were well steeped and soked in water the day before many sorts there be of these cich-pease different in bignes form colour and tast for there are both blacke and white and those in fashion shaped like to a Rams head and therupon they are so called There is a second kind named Columbinum or by others Venerium These are white round light lesse than the former Rams-head ciches which men do eat ceremoniously with great religion when they meane to watch thoroughly all night long There is a little cich pease also called Cicercula made cornered and otherwise vneuen like vnto a Pease But the best ciches and most pleasant are those that come neerest in resemblance to the Eruile and generally the red kind and the black are more firm and fast than the white cich pease grow within round cods whereas other Pulse
Husbandmen of the countrey go by no other clocke to know how the day passeth in close and cloudie weather than this obseruation Moreouer it hath three seasons of blowming it loueth the earth well but yet willingly it would not be couered ouer with mould for this is the onely seed that is sowne vpon ground without any ploughing or digging it would grow to chuse in a most grauelly drie and sandy soile and in no case can it abide any tending or husbandry about it so affected is it to the earth that cast it vpon any rough ground among bushes leaues briers and brambles it will chit and spurt neuerthelesse neuer lin til it take root within the earth If Lupines be sowed either in vineyards or vpon corne lands they inrich the same and make the ground better as we haue before written and so little need haue they of dung that they stand in stead of the very best To say a truth there is no graine lesse chargeable to be sowne than it nay there is none costeth nought at all but it for it needeth not so much as to be brought into the field and why it soweth it selfe presently in the same field where it grew and sâ—…edding as it doth of the own accord a man neuer needs to cast and throw it vpon the land as other corne It is first sowne and last gathered and lightly both these seasons fall out in the moneth of September for if the Seed-nes preuent not the winter so as it may haue good root before it commeth it will be in danger of the cold Ouer and besides if it chance to lie bare and vncouered aboue-ground left carelessely without any keeping and that no raine come vpon it presently for to driue it into the ground it is safe enough and catcheth no harme for so bitter it is that no liuing creature will touch it and yet for the most part the husbandmen bestow a light furrow vpon it and so couer it verie shallow If the ground be fast and heauie it loueth that â—…est which standeth vpon a red clay And for the maintaining and inriching of this kind of soile it must be turned vp or eared after the third flouring but in case it be grauelly or sandy it wil serue to do it after the second Chalkie grounds onely and myrie it hateth and therein it wil not grow As bitter as otherwise it is yet if it be steeped and soked in hot water it is mans meat also Moreouer one Modius or pecke of Lupines is sufficient for to satisfie and feed an Oxe or a cow at a time and this kind of prouender will make beasts strong and healthfull Moreouer the meale of Lupines applied to the bellies of yong children that haue the wormes is a singular remedy For the good keeping of Lupines all men agree that they should be laid vp in some chimney or smokie place especially for if they lie in a moist roome there be certain little worms that wil nibble off and eat the tip or nauill that it hath and by that meanes marre it for euer sprouting againe Finally if Lupines be eaten downe by beasts while they be greene in the leafe the ground where they grew must presently be ploughed vp CHAP. XV. ¶ Of Vetches and Eruile VEtches also do manure and fat the ground where they be sowed neither be they chargeable or stand the husbandman in much they be sown with one tilth otherwise there needs no harrowing nor weeding there is required no mucking onely they would be couered with mould and the clods broken for sowing of vetches there be three sundry times first about the setting of the star Arcturus that by the moneth of December it may get a good head for to be eaten with beasts and it is generally holden that being sowne in this season it will bring the best seed for say it be eaten downe then it will carry the burden neuerthelesse the second Seednesse is in Ianuarie the last in March and being then put into the ground it will run vp most to blade and yeeld the best forrage for cattell Of all seeds that are cast into the earth it loueth drought most it can brooke also shadie places well enough The chaffe that commeth of the seed thereof is excellent good and better than any other in case it were ripe when it was gathered It robbeth vines of their nourishment if it be sowed neere those trees wherto vines are wedded in somuch as a man may see euidently how they languish As touching Eruile it asketh no great hand or trauell about it yet thus much more attendance it requireth than Vetches for that it must be weeded and grubbed about the roots Besides this kind of Pulse is of great vse in Physick for Augustus Caesar was cured of a disease that he had and recouered his health by the means of Eruile as himselfe reporteth in some of his letters now extant Moreouer fiue Modij or pecks of Eruile sown is sufficient to maintain and find a yoke of oxen As for that which is sowne in March it is hurtfull forage men say for kine and oxen as also that which is sowne in Autumne maketh beasts heauie and stuffed in the head but that which is put into the ground in the beginning of the Spring is harmlesse CHAP. XVI ¶ Of Foenigreeke of Rie of Dredge of the prouender corne or Bolimong Ocymum of Spanish Trefoile or horned Clauer-grasse called in Latine Medica of the shrub Trifoile named Cytisus FOr the sowing of Silicia or Siliqua otherwise called Foenigreeke there needs no more but to scarrifie or scrape it lightly vp with a furrow not aboue foure fingers breadth deepe for the lesse cost and husbandry that is bestowed about it and the worse that it is vsed the better it prospereth and yeeldeth greater increase a strange thing to be spoken and seldom verified That Negligence should be any waies profitable and yet herein it prooueth true That which is called Secale and Farrago in Latine i. Rie needeth no more adoe but to be harrowed the clods well broken There is a kinde of Secale or Rie which the people called Taurines dwelling vnder the Alpes doe call Asia it is simply worst of all other and good for nothing but onely to driue away hunger plentifull enough this corne is and yeeldeth good increase but the straw is slender blacke it is and of an vnpleasant colour howbeit exceeding weightie and ponderous they vse to mingle the red wheat Far therewith and make thereof a Mascelline to allay the bitternesse thereof and yet for all that the bread which it maketh is most vnsauorie to the mouth and ill for the stomack It wil come vp in any ground whatsoeuer and bring forth a hundred fold ordinarily neither doth it eat the ground out of heart but rather maketh it more battle and serueth in stead of compost or mucke As for that kind of dredge of farrage which commeth of the refuse and light corne purged from
are supposed vnhappie which they bee that soone lose their fruit and last of all what trees shew fruit before they be put forth 27. Of trees that beare fruit twice and thrice in one yeere what trees sodainely wax old the age of trees 28. Of the Mulbertie tree 29. Of trees growing wild 30. Of the Box tree and the great Beane tree or Lotus 31. Of the boughs branches barke tinde and root of trees 32. Of prodigious trees that presage somewhat to come of trees that spring and grow of themselues Also a discourse that all trees grow not in euery place and what trees will not liue but in this or that one place 33. Of the Cyprus tree Also that the ground will bring forth some new plants that neuer were set sowne or growing there before 34. Of Yvie 35. Of the Ivie called Smilax 36. Of Reeds Canes and shrubs growing in water 37. Of the osier or willow eight sorts thereof also what twigs besides osiers and willowes are good for winding and to bind withall of bushes and grieues 38. The juice and liquor of trees the nature of their wood and timber also of hewing downe and falling trees 39. Of the Larch tree the Fir and the Sapine the time of cutting them downe and such like 40. Sundry sorts of wood the extraordinarie bignesse of trees what wood is not subject to be worme-eaten nor to decay other trees that be euerlasting 41. Of Woodwormes 42. Of timber fit for carpentrie and building what timber is good for this or that vse and namely which is best and more firme and durable for rouses of houses 43. The maner of glewing bourds and planks also of rent and clouen stuffe 44. The age of trees which be they that last not long of Misselto and of the Priests Druydae In summe this booke comprehendeth of notable things histories and obseruations an hundred and fiue and thirtie Latine Authors alledged M. Varro Faecialis Nigidius Cornelius Nepos Hyginus Massurius Cato Mutianus Lucius Piso Trogus Calphurnius Bassus Cremutius Sextius Niger Cornelius Bocchus Vitruvius and Graecinus Forreine Writers Alexander Polyhistor Hesiodus Theophrastus Democritus Homer Timaeus the Mathematician ¶ THE SEVENTEENTH BOOKE CONTAIneth the nature of trees planted set and well kept in Hort-yards Chap. 1. Trees of wonderfull price 2. Of the nature of heauen and the skie respectiue vnto trees and what part of the skie they ought to regard 3. The societie and accord of the clymat and the soile requisit for trees 4. The qualities of the grounds in diuers regions 5. Sundry kinds of ground and earth 6. Of a kind of earth or marle that they in Britaine and France set much store by 7. What the Greekes haue taught and what rules they haue giuen as touching this point 8. Of more kinds of earth 9. The vse of ashes and of dung what plants will enrich the ground and make it more battell contrariwise which they bee that burne out the heart thereof 10. The planting or setting of trees how to make a sion or slip to take and grow againe that is plucked from the root of the stocke 11. Of transplanting out of Seminaries yong trees that came of pepins and seeds 12. The spaces betweene and distance to bee regarded in planting trees the shadow and droppings either from house eaues or other trees 13. What trees grow apace and which thriue but slowly also of the Savine 14. The setting and graffing imps and sions of trees in the stocke or cliffe 15. Of the manner how to graffe a vine 16. Of inoculation or graffing in the leafe or scutcheon with a plaster 17. An example or experiment of this kinde of graffing 18. The order of planting and husbanding oliues and which is the proper time for graffing 19. What trees loue the companie and societie of others the skill of baring the roots about trees cutting off their superfluous spurns and raising hils about the roots 20. Of willow banks and rows of osiers of places where reeds and canes are nourished of other plants vsed to be cut for poles pearches stakes and forkes 21. The manner of planting vines the skill of trimming them 22. The furrow about vines and the pruning of them 23. The manner of planting trees to serue for vines to run vpon 24. How to keepe and preserue grapes the diseases incident to trees 25. Of sundrie prodigious and monstrous sights shewed in trees also of an olive yard which in old time remooued and was transplanted from one side of a great high way to the other 26. Remedies against the diseases and imperfections or faults in trees 27. Of scarification and paring of trees and the manner of dunging them 28. Divers medicines against venomous beasts and pismires and other creatures noisome and hurtfull to trees In summe here bee contained notable matters stories and obseruations to the number of fiue hundred eightie and one Latine Authors alledged Cornelius Nepos Cato Censorius M. Varro Celsus Virgil Hyginus Sarsennae both father and sonne Scrophas Calphurnius Bassus Trogus Aemilius Macer Graecinus Columella Atticus Iulius Fabianus Sura Manlius Dorsenus Mundus Caius Epidicus and L Piso. Forreine Writers Isidorus Theophrastus Aristotle Democritus Theopompus king Hiero K. Attalus K. Philometor Archytas Xenophon Amphilochus the Arhenian Anaxipolis the Thasian Apollodorus of Lemnos Aristophanes the Milesian Antigonus the Cymaean Agathocles the Chian Apollonius of Pergamus Bacchius the Milesian Bion Chaerea the Athenian also Chaeristus of Athens Diodorus of Priene Dion the Colophonian Epigenes the Rhodian Evagon the Thasian Euphron the Athenian Androcion Aeschrion Lysimachus who all three wrote of Agriculture Dionysius who translated the bookes of Mago and Diophanes who out of Dionysius collected a Breviarie and Aristander who made a treatise of Wonders and portenteous tokens ¶ THE EIGHTEENTH BOORE IS A TREATISE of Agriculture or Husbandrie Chap. 1. That our ancestors in old time were exceeding much giuen to husbandrie Also the singular care that men had to looke vnto hortyards and gardens 2. Of the first chaplets and guirlands vsed at Rome 3. Of the acre of ground and halfe acre called at Rome Iugeris Actus The antient ordinances concerning cattell in what time the market for victuals was exceeding cheap at Rome and who were famous renowmed for husbandrie and tilling the ground 4. The ancient manner of tilling the earth 5. Where a ferme house is to bee seated and built conueniently certain rules in old time concerning tillage 6. A discourse as touching the praise of husbandmen what rules are to be obserued to come by a good peece of land 7. Diuers kinds of corne and their nature 8. That all sorts of graine will not grow euery where Of other kindes of corne in the Levant or East countries 9. Of baking and pastrie of grinding and of meale 10. Of the fine cocked flour of the white flour of wheat and of other sorts of floure the manner of moulding and making dough and baking 11. The manner of making and laying
we are vnthankfull as though shee serued not mans turne for all dainties not for contumely and reproch to be misused Cast she is into the sea or else to let in peeres and frithes eaten away with water With yron tooles with wood fire stone burdens of corne tormented she is euery houre and all this much more to content our pleasures and wanton delights than to serue vs with naturall food and necessary nourishment And yet these misusages which she abideth aboue and in her outward skin may seeme in some sort tolerable But we not satisfied therewith pierce deeper and enter into her very bowels we search into the veines of gold and siluer we mine and dig for copper and lead mettals And for to seek out gemmes and some little stones we sinke pits deep within the ground Thus we plucke the very heart-strings out of her and all to weare on our finger one gemme or precious stone to fulfill our pleasure and desire How many hands are worne with digging and deluing that one ioynt of our finger might shine again Surely if there were any diuels or infernall spirits beneath ere this time verily these mines for to feed couetousnes and riot would haue brought them vp aboue ground Maruell we then if she hath brought forth some things hurtfull and noisome But sauage beasts I well thinke ward and saue her they keepe sacrilegious hands from doing her iniurie Nay ywis it is nothing so Dig we not amongst dragons and serpents and togethet with veines of gold handle we not the roots of poisoned and venomous herbes howbeit this goddesse we finde the better appaied and lesse discontented for all this misusage for that the end and issue of all this wealth tends to wickednesse to murder and wars and her whom we drench with our bloud we couer also with vnburied bones Which neuerthelesse as if she did reprooue and reproch vs for this rage and furie of ours she her selfe couereth in the end and hideth close euen the wicked parts of mortall men Among other imputions of an vnthankfull minde I may well count this also That we be ignorant of her nature CHAP. LXIIII. ¶ Of the forme of the earth THe first and principall thing that offereth it selfe to be considered is her figure in which by a generall consent we doe all agree For surely we speake and say nothing more commonly than the round ball of the earth and confesse that it is a globe enclosed within 2 poles But yet the forme is not of a perfect and absolute roundle considering so great heigth of hills and such plaines of downs howbeit if the compasse therof might be taken by lines the ends of those lines would meet iust in circuit and proue the figure of a iust circle And this the very consideration of naturall reason doth force and conuince although there were not those causes which we alledged about the heauen For in it the hollow bending conuexitie boweth and beareth vpon it selfe and euery way resteth vpon the centre thereof which is that of the earth But this being solid and close compact ariseth still like as if it swelled stretching and growing forth The heauen bendeth and inclineth toward the centre but the earth goeth from the centre whiles the world with continnall volubilitie and turning about it driueth the huge and excessiue globe thereof into the forme of a round ball CHAP. LXV ¶ Of the Antipodes whether there be any such Also of the roundnesse of water MVch adoe there is here and great debate betweene learned men and contrariwise those of the leaud and ignorant multitude for they hold that men are ouerspread on all parts vpon the earth and stand one against another foot to foot also that the Zenith or point of the heauen is euen and alike vnto all and in what part soeuer men be they go still and tread after the same manner in the middest But the common sort aske the question and demand How it happeneth that they opposite iust against vs fall not into Heauen as if there were not a reason also ready That the Antipodes againe shall maruell why we fell not downe Now there is reason that commeth betweene carrying a probabilitie with it euen to the multitude were it neuer so blockish and vnapt to learne That in an vneuen and vnequall Globe of the Earth with many ascents and degrees as if the figure thereof resembled a Pine-apple yet neuerthelesse it may be well enough inhabited all ouer in euery place But what good doth all this when another wonder as great as it ariseth namely That it selfe hangeth and yet falleth not together with vs as if the power of that Spirit especially which is enclosed in the World were doubted or that any thing could fall especially when nature is repugnant thereto and affordeth no place whither to fall for like as there is no seat of Fire but in fire of Water but in water of Aire and Spirit but in aire euen so there is no roome for Earth but in earth seeing all the Elements besides are ready to put it backe from them Howbeit wonderfull it remaineth still How it should become a Globe considering so great flatnesse of Plaines and Seas Of which doubtfull opinion Dicaearchus a right learned man as any other is a fauourer who to satisfie the curious endeauours of Kings and Princes had a charge and commission to leuell and take measure of mountaines of which he said that Pelion the highest was a mile and a halfe high by the plumbe rule and collected thereby that it was nothing at all to speake of in comparison of the vniuersall rotunditie of the whole But surely in my conceit this was but an vncertaine guesse of his since that I am not ignorant that certaine tops of the Alpes for a long tract together arise not vnder fiftie miles in heigth But this is it that troubles the vulgar sort most of all if they should be forced to beleeue that the forme of water also gathers round in the top And yet there is nothing in the whole world more euident to the sight for the drops euery where not onely as they hang appeare like little round bals but also if the light vpon dust or rest vpon the hairy downe of leaues we see they keep a perfect and exquisite roundnes Also in cups that are filled brim full the middle part in the top swell most Which thing considering the thinnes of the humour and the softnes thereof setling flat vpon it selfe are sooner found out by reason than by the eie Nay this is a thing more wonderfull that when cups are filled to the ful put neuer so little more liquor thereto the ouerplus will run ouer all about but contrariwise it falleth out if you put in any solid weights yea and it were to the weight of twenty deniers or French crowns in a cup. Forsooth the reason is this for that these things receiued within lift vp the liquor aloft to the top but poured
life As for diseases they are so innumerable that Pherecydes of the Island Syros died of a great quantity of Lice that came crawling out of his body Some are knowne to be neuer free from the Ague as C. Mecoenas The same man for three yeares before hee died neuer laid his eies together for sleepe a minute of an houre Antipater Sidonius the Poet once a yeare during his life had an ague fit vpon his birth day he liued for all that to be an old man and vpon the day of his natiuitie died in such a fit CHAP. LII ¶ Of such as were carried forth vpon the Biers to be buried and reuiued againe AViola one that had bin Consull came again to himselfe when he was cast or put into the funerall fire to be burnt but because the flame was so strong that no man could come neere to recouer him he was burnt quicke The like accident befell to Lu. Lamia Pretor lately before As for C. Aelius Tubero that he was brought aliue again from the like fire after he had bin Pretor of Rome both Messala Rufus and many besides constantly affirme See how it goeth with mortall men see I say our vncertaine state and condition and how we are born exposed and subiect to these and such like occasions of fortune insomueh as in the case of man there is no assurance at all no not in his death We reade in Chronicles that the ghost of Hermotimus Clazomenius was woont vsually to abandon his body for a time and wandering vp and downe into far countries vsed to bring him newes from remote places of such things as could not possibly be knowne vnlesse it had bin present there and all the while his body lay as halfe dead in a trance This manner it continued so long vntill the Cantharidae who were his mortall enemies tooke his body vpon a time in that extasie and burnt it to ashes and by that means disappointed his poore soule when it came backe againe of that sheath as it were or â—…ase where she meant to bestow her selfe Moreouer we finde in records that the spirit or ghost of Aristaeas in the Island Proconnesus was seen euidently to fly out of his mouth in forme of a Rauen and many a like tale followeth thereupon For surely I take it to be no better than a fable which is in like manner reported of Epimenides the Gnosian namely that when he was a boy he being for heate and trauell in his iourney all wearie laid him downe in a certain caue where he slept 57 yeares At length he wakened as it were vpon the next morning and wondred at such a sudden change of euery thing he saw in the world as if hee had taken but one nights sleepe Hereupon forsooth in as many daies after as he slept yeares he waxed old Howbeit he liued in all 175 yeares But to returne to our former discourse women of all others by reason of their sex are most subiect to this danger to be reputed for dead when there is life in them and namely because of the disease of the matrice called the rising of the Mother which if it be brought againe and setled streight in the place they soone recouer and take breath againe Not impertinent to this treatise is that notable and elegant booke among the Greeks compiled by Heraclides where he writeth of a woman that for a seuen-night lay for dead and fetched not her breath sensibly who in the end was raised againe to life Moreouer Varro reporteth that vpon a time when the twenty deputy Commissioners were diuiding lands in the territory of Capua there was one there carried forth vpon his bier to be burnt and came home again vpon his feet Also that the like hapned at Aquinum Likewise that in Rome one Corfidius who had maried his owne Aunt by the mothers side after he had taken order for his funeralls and set out a certaine allowance therefore seemed to yeeld vp his ghost and die howbeit hee reuiued againe and it was his chance to carry him forth indeed vnto buriall who had prouided the furniture before for his funerall This Varro writeth besides of other miraculous matters which verily are worth the rehearsall at large One of them is this Two brethren there were by birth and calling gentlemen of Rome whereof the elder named Corfidius hapned in all appearance to die and when his last will and testament was once opened and published the yonger brother who was his heire was very busie and ready to set forward his funerall In the mean time the man who seemed dead fell to clap one hand against another and therewith raised the seruants in the house when they were come about him he recounted vnto them that he was come from his yonger brother who had recommended his daughter to his tuition and guardenage and moreouer had shewed and declared vnto him in what place he had secretly hidden certain gold vnder the ground without the priuity of any man requesting him withal to imploy that funerall prouision which he had prepared for him about his own buriall and sepulture As he was relating this matter his brothers seruitors came in great hast to this elder brothers house and brought word their master was departed this life and the treasure before-said was found in the place accordingly And verily there is nothing more common in our daily speech than of these diuinations but they are not to be weighed in equall ballance with these nor to be reported or credited all so confidently forsomuch as for the most part they are meere lies as we will proue by one notable example In the Sicilian voiage it fortuned that Gabienus one of the brauest seruitors that Caesar had at sea was taken prisoner by Sex Pompeius and by commandement from him his head was stricken off in a maner and scarce hung to the neck by the skin and so lay he all day long vpon the sands in the shore When it grew toward euening and that a great companie were flocked about him he fetched a great groane and requested that Pompetus would come vnto him or at leastwise send some one of his deare familiars that were neere vnto him And why Come I am quoth he from the infernal spirits beneath and haue a message to deliuer vnto him Then Pompey sent diuers of his friends to the man vnto whom Gabienus related in this maner That the infernall gods were well pleased with the iust quarrell and cause of Pompey and therefore he should haue as good issue therof as he could wish This quoth he was I charged and commanded to deliuer And for a better proofe of the truth in effect so soon as I haue done mine errand I shall forthwith yeeld vp the ghost And so it hapned indeed Histories also make mention of them that haue appeared after they were committed to earth But our purpose is to write of Natures works and not to prosecute such miraculous end prodigious matters CHAP.
the first towne that euer was and called it after his owne name Cecropia which at this day is the castle or citadell in Athens Some will haue that Argos was built before it by king Phoroneus And others againe that Syciâ—…ne was before them both And the Aegyptians affirme That long before that their city Diospolis was founded Cinyra the sonne of Agriopa deuised tiling and slating of houses first as also found out the brasse mines both within the Isle Cyprus He inuented also pinsers hammers yron crows and the Anuil or Stithe Danaus sunk the first pits for wels in Greece which then was called Argos Dipsion sailed out of Egypt thither for that purpose Cadmus at Thebes or as Theophrast saith in Phoenice found out stone quarries first Thrason was the first builder of towne wals of towers fortresses the Cyclops as Aristotle thinketh but the Tyrinthians according to Theophrast Weauing was the inuention of the Egyptians and dying wool of the Lydians in Sardis Closter the son of Arachne taught the first making of the spindle for woollen yearne and Arachne her selfe was the first spinner of flax thred the weauer of linnen and of nets Niceas the Megarean deuised the fullers craft Boethius shewed the art of sowing as wel for tailors as Corviners and shoomakers The Egyptians would haue the skill of physicke to haue bin first among them but others affirme That Arabus the son of Babylon Apollo was the author thereof The first Herbarist and Apothecarie renowned for the knowledge of simples composition of medicines was Chiron son of Saturne Phyllira Aristotle thinketh that Lydus the Scythian taught the feat of casting and melting brasse with the tempering also of the same howbeit Theophrastus saith it was Delas the Phrygian As for the forges furnaces of brasse some think the Chalypes deuised others attribute that to the Cyclopes The discouery of the yron and steel mines as also the working in them was the inuention as Hesiodus saith of those in Creet who were called Dactyli Idaei Likewise of siluer Erichthonius the Athenian beareth the name or after some Aeacus The gold mines together with the melting and trying therof Cadmus the Phoenician first found out neere the mountain Pangaeus but there be that giue the praise hereof to Thoas Aeaclis in Panchaia or els to Sâ—…l the son of Oceanus to whom Gellius attributeth the inuention of Physick and making hony Midacritus was the first man that brought lead out of the Island Cassiteris And the Cyclopes inuented first the yron-smiths forge Coraebus the Athenian deuised the potters craft shewing how to cast earthen vessels in moulds bake them in furnaces And therein Anacharsis the Scythian or after some Hyperbios the Corinthian inuented the cast of turning the roundel or globe Carpenters art was the inuention of Daedalus as also the tools thereto belonging to wit the saw the chip-axe and hatchet the plumb line the augoer and wimble the strong glew as also fish-glew and stone-Saudre As for the rule square the leuell the turners instrument and the key Theodorus Samius deuised them Phidon the Argiue or Palamedes as Gellius rather thinketh found out measures and weights Pyrodes the son of Cilix deuised the way to strike fire first out of the flint and Prometheus the means to preserue keep it in a stalke of Ferula or Fennell gyant The Phrygians inuented first the wagon chariot with foure wheeles As for trafficke and merchandise the Carthaginians had the first honour thereof Eumolpus the Athenian was of name for planting pruning and cutting vines also for setting and graffing trees Staphylus the sonne of Silenus taught men how to delay wine with water Aristaeus the Athenian inuented the making of oyle oliue as also the presse mill thereto belonging The same man taught the cast of drawing hony out of the combs Buzyges the Athenian or as others would haue it Triptolemus yoked oxen first for tillage of the ground and deuised the plough The Egyptians were the first of al men that were gouerned by the monarchy and the Athenians by a popular state After the reigne of Theseus the first king or tyrant was Phalaris at Agrigentum in Sicily The Lacedaemonians brought in bondage and slauery first The first judgement that passed for life and death was in the court Ariopagus at Athens The first battell that euer was fought was between the Africanes and Egyptians the same performed by bastons clubs coulstaues which they call Phalangae Shields bucklers and targets were deuised by Praetus and Anisius when they warred one against the other or els by Calchus the son of Athamas Midias of Messene made the first cuirace And the Lacedaemonians the mourian the sword and the speare The Carians deuised the grieues the crests and pennaches vpon helmets Scythes the son of Iupiter deuised bow arrowes although some say that Perses the son of Perseus inuented arrows The Aetolians inuented the launce and the pike the dart with a loup Aetolus the son of Mars deuised As for the light iauelins and the Partuisanes Tyrrhenus brought them first intovse Penthesilea the Amazon-queene the gleiue bill battell-axe and halbard Piseus found out the bore-speare and chasing staffe Among engines of artillery the Cretes inuented the Scorpion or crosse-bow the Syrians the Catapult the Phoenicians the balist or brake and the sling Pyseus the Tyrrhenian brought vp the vse of the brasen trumpet and Artenon Clozomenius of the pauois mantilets targuet-roofs for the assault of cities The engine to batter wals called sometime the horse and now is named the ram was the deuise of Epeus at Troy Bellerophon shewed first how to ride on horseback Pelethronius inuented saddle bridle and other furniture for the horse The Thessalians called Centaures inhabiting neere to the mountain Pelius were the first that fought on horseback The Phrygians deuised first to driue and draw a chariot with two horses Erichthonius with foure Palamedes inuented during the Troian war the manner of setting an army in battell array also the giuing of signall the priuie watch-word the Corps de guard the watch and ward In the time of the said war Sinon deuised the sentinels and watch-towers as also the espiall Lycanor was the first maker of truce Theseus of leagues and alliances Car of whom Caria tooke the name obserued first the flight and cry of birds and thereby gaue presages and fore-tokens Orpheus went farther in this skil and tooke marks from other beasts Delphus pried into beasts inwards and therby foretold things to come Amphiaraus was the first that had knowledge in Pyromancie gathered signs by speculation of fire like as Tyresias the Thebane by the feeding and gesture of birds Amphictyon gaue the interpretation of strange and prodigious sights as also of dreames Atlas the son of Libya or as some say the Egyptians as others the Assyrians inuented Astrology in that science Anaximander deuised the Sphere As for the knowledge
drag behind or stray aside and wander out of the way it will yet endeauour to follow the armie only by the smell and sent Where the king once settles and takes vp his resting place there they all pitch downe their tents and encampe And I assure you herein lieth a matter of great weight and importance as touching the Auguries and presages gathered by the manner of their setling prognosticating both to publicke states and also to priuat persons somthing to ensue of much moment either for good or otherwise according as they haue been obserued to hang together in clusters like bunches of grapes either at mens houses or on the temples of the gods By occasion whereof folke had recourse to their deuotions and sacrifice for to appease the heauenly powers and yet oftentimes such foretokens haue not beene expiat without some strange euents in the end There was a swarme of Bees rested vpon the very lips and mouth of Plato when he was but a very babe infant foreshewing no doubt that singular eloquence of his and sweet vtterance that afterwards he had Another cast of Bees setled within the very camp of General Drusus the very same day when he obtained that notable victorie at Arbalo By which examples we may see that this conjecturall skill and learning of these Soothsayers holds not alwaies nor prooues euer true for they forsooth suppose this to be euermore a portenteous signe of some fearfull euent and misfortune To returne again to our captaine Bee if he chance to be entrapped and surprized by the enimie the whole armie is sure withall to bee taken with him If he be defeited slain the field is lost all the rest be scattered and seek their fortune to serue some other prince for without one king or other liue they cannot Sometime they are driuen to kill those of the kings race and namely when there be many kings together but this they doe perforce and full against their wills and before they will so do they chuse rather to ruinate and pul down the houses wherein they were bred especially when there is some feare of scarsitie by reason of the vnkind season and at such a time also they chase and driue away the drone bees And yet I see some doubt made of them for diuers be of opinion that they be a kind of Bees by themselues and that the rest do set against them as very theeues The biggest they are of all others but blacke and broad bellied good reason therefore that they should be called Theeues because they come stealing and eat vp their honey Certaine it is that these drones be killed by the other Bees and surely king of their owne they haue none But how they should be naturally without a sting there is some question the same as yet not determined This is well known that in a moist and rainie spring Bees multiply better but if it be drie weather there will be more increase of hony Now if it happen that the meat in one hiue be spent the Bees belonging thereto will assaile their next neighbors with intent to rob spoile them of their prouision But they on the contrarie side put themselues in battel aray with full intent to take them againe And if there chance to be a keeper by to see the combat that part which perceiues him to fauor their side wil not once make at him for to sting him Other causes there are besides which make them often to go together by the ears then shall ye haue 2 seuerall captaines to araunge their battalions one against another But most of all they brawle and jar vpon occasion of gathering and carrying floures whiles they call each one to his owne companie for to come forth and take part But all this great fray is soon parted and dispatched either by casting vp some dust among them or by making a little smoak perfume vnder them And reconciled soone they be againe with setting before them a messe of milke or honied-water CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of the sundrie sorts of Bees in generall and what things be contrarie and hurtfull vnto them THere is a kind of rusticall and wild Bee and such are more rough and hideous to see to much angrier also and curst than the rest howbeit more laborious and painfull by farre Of domestical and tame house-Bees there are two sorts The best be those that are short well trust vp and round and withall painted with sundrie colours The long ones be the worse and such as resemble waspes and â—…et the worst of all others be those that are hairie all ouer Within the kingdome of Pontus there be white Bees and those make honey twice in euerie moneth Moreouer along the riuer Thermodoon there be two sorts more The one gathers honey in trees others within the ground and bring great encrease thereof for they frame their combes with a threefold course and ranke The sting that Nature hath giuen vnto Bees sticketh within their bellies Some are of opinion that with the first pricke they giue with it they die presently Others hold that they die not withall vnlesse they thrust it forth so far that some of the gut follows after mary howsoeuer it be they become afterwards no better than drones neither gather they any more honey as if they were guelded of their vigor and strength so as they cease to doe good and harme both at once We find it written in Chronicles that horses haue been stung to death by them Filthie stinking sauors they cannot abide and namely such as be contagious and from them will they flie farre enough Nay more than that sure they will be to haunt sting them that smell as they go of sweet pomanders and odoriferous ointments notwithstanding they be otherwise themselues subject to the injuries of most liuing creatures For first and foremost they are molested and assailed by those of their owne nature but yet degenerate and of bastard breed to wit Waspes and Hornets also by a kind of Gnats called Muliones Swallowes Martins and some other birds make foule worke among them and are their mortall enemies The Frogs lie in wait for them as they come to drink which is the principall worke they haue to doe when they be about to multiply and breed yong And not those Frogs only which keep in standing pooles and running riuers but those land-Frogs of a Todes kind will come of their owne accord from out of the brambles and briers where they keep and leap vp to the very dore and entrance of the hiue were they wil blow and breath in vnto them and when the Bees come flying forth thither to see what the matter is soone are they snapt vp and deuoured And as for Frogs all the sort of them are supposed not to feele the pricke of their sting Sheep also are no friends of theirs for if they be once intangled within their wool hardly can they get out again Seeth but Crab-fish
but because they be found elsewhere and knowne to be better in other places than in Arabia I will treat of them in their course and ranke when it commeth And yet Arabia it selfe as fruitfull and happy as it is in this behalfe is wondrous eager in seeking after forreine spices and sendeth for them into strange countries So soone are men glutted and haue their fill of their owne and so greedy and desirous be they of other countries commodities They send therfore as far as the Helymaeans for a tree named Bruta like to a spreding cypres hauing boughes couered with a whitish bark casting a pleasant smelling perfume when it burneth and highly commended in the chronicles and historie of Claudius Caesar for strange vertues and wonderfull properties For he writeth That the Parthians vse to put the leaues therof in their drinke for to giue it a good tast and odoriferous smell The odour thereof resembleth the Caedar very much and the perfume is a singular remedie against the stinking and noisome fumes of other wood It groweth beyond the great channell of the riuer Tigris called Pasitigris vpon the mount Zagrus neare vnto the citie Citaca They send moreouer to the Carmanians for another tree called Strobos and all to make sweet perfumes but first they infuse the wood thereof in Date-wine and then burn it This is an excellent perfume for it wil fill the whole house rising vp to the chambers aloft to the arched seelings of the roufe and returning downe againe to the very floore and ground beneath most pleasantly But it stuffes a mans head howbeit without any paine or ach at all With this perfume they procure sleep to sick persons And for the traffick of this commodity the merchants meet at the citie Carras where they keep an ordinarie faire or mart and from thence they went customably to Gabba twentie daies journey off where they were wont to haue a vent for their merchandise and to make returne and so forward into Palestine of Syria But afterwards as K. Iuba saith they began to go to Charace and to the kingdom of the Parthians for the same purpose For mine owne part I thinke rather with Herodotus That the Arabians transported these odours and spices to the Persians first before that they went therewith either into Syria or Aegypt and I ground vpon the testimonie of Herodotus who affirmeth That the Arabians paid euery yeare vnto the KK of Persia the weight of a talent in Frank incense for tribute Out of Syria they bring back Storax with the acrimonie and hot smell wherof being burnt vpon their herths they put by and driue away the loathsomnesse of their own odors wherewith they are cloyed for the Arabians vse no other fuell at all for their fires but sweet wood As for the Sabaeans they seeth their meats in the kitchin some with the wood of the Incense tree and others with that of Myrrhe insomuch as both in citie and country their houses be full of thesmoke and smell thereof as if it came from the sacrifice vpon the altars For to qualifie therfore this ordinarie sent of Myrrhe and Frank incense wherewith they are stuffed they perfume their houses with Storax which they burne in Goats skins Loe how there is no pleasure whatsoeuer but breedes lothsomnesse if a man continue long to it The same Storax they vse to burn for the chasing away of Serpents which in those forests of sweet trees are most rife common CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of the felicitie of Arabia NEither Cinamon nor Casia do grow in Arabia and yet is it named Happie vnworthie countrey as it is for that surname in that it taketh it selfe beholden to the gods aboue therefore whereas indeed they haue greater cause to thanke the infernal spirits beneath For what hath made Arabia blessed rich and happie but the superfluous expense thnt men be at in funerals employing those sweet odors to burne the bodies of the dead which they knew by good right were due vnto the gods And verily it is constantly affirmed by them who are acquainted well with the world and know what belongeth to these matters That there commeth not so much Incense of one whole yeares increase in Saba as the Emperor Nero spent in one day when he burnt the corps of his wife Poppea Cast then how many funerals euery yeare after were made throughout the world what heaps of odors haue been bestowed in the honor of dead bodies wheras they offer vnto the gods by crums and graines only And yet when as men made supplication to them with the oblation of a little cake made with salt and meale and no more they were no lesse propitious and merciful nay they were more gratious and fauourable a great deale as may appeare by histories But to returne againe to Arabia the sea enricheth it more than the land by occasion of the orient pearles that it yeeldeth and sendeth vnto vs. And surely our pleasures our delights and our women together are so costly vnto vs that there is not a yeare goeth ouer our heads but what in pearles perfumes and silkes India the Seres and that demy-Island of Arabia stands vs at the least in an hundred millions of Sesterces and so much fetch they from vs in good money within the compasse of our Empire But of al this masse of Spice and Odors how much I pray you commeth to the seruice of the coelestiall gods in comparison of that which is burnt at funerals to the spirits infernall CHAP. XIX ¶ Of Cinamon and the wood thereof called Xylocinnamomum Also of Canell or Casia FAbulous antiquitie and the prince of lyers Herodotus haue reported That in that tract where Bacchus was nourished Cinamon and Canell either fell from the nests of certaine fowles and principally of the Phoenix thorough the weight of the venison and flesh which they had preyed vpon and brought thither whereas they builded in high rockes and trees or else was driuen and beaten downe by arrowes headed with lead Also that Canell or Casia was gotten from about certaine marishes guarded and kept with a kind of cruell Bats armed with terrible and dreadfull tallons and with certain flying Pen-dragons And all these deuises were inuented only to enhaunce the price of these drugs And this tale is told another way namely That in those parts where Canell and Cinamon grow which is a country in manner of demy-Island much enuironed with the sea by the reflection of the beames of the Noon-sun a world of odoriferous smells is cast from thence in such sort that a man may feele the sent at one time of all the aromaticall drugs as it were met together and sending a most fragrant and pleasant sauour far and neare and that Alexander the Great sailing with his fleet by the very smell alone discouered Arabia a great way into the maine sea Lies all both the one and the other for Cinamone or Cinamon call it whether you will groweth in Aethiopia a countrey
transplant them they proue very bastards and changelings presently And in faith some vines there be that take such an affection and loue to a place that all their goodnesse and excellency they wil leaue there behind them and neuer passe into another quarter whole and entire as they be in their own nature Which euidently is to be seen in the Rhetian vine that of Savoy and Daulphnie of which in the chapter before wee said that it gaue the taste of pitch to the wine made thereof for these Vines at home in those countries are much renowned for the said tast but elswhere if they be transplanted they loose it whole and no such thing may a man acknowledge in them Howbeit plentifull such are and for default of goodnesse they make amends recompence in abundance of wine that they yeeld As for the vine Eugenia it takes well in hot grounds The Rhetian likes better in a temperat soile The Allobrogian Vine of Sauoy and Daulphine delights most in cold quarters the frost it is that ripens her grapes and commonly they are of colour black Of all the grapes aboue rehearsed the wines that be made the longer they be kept the more they change colour and in the end become white yea though they came of blacke grapes and were of a deep colour at first Now for all other grapes whatsoeuer they are reckoned but base in comparison of the former And yet this is to be noted and obserued that the temperature of the aire may be such and the soile so good that both the grapes wil indure long and the wine beare the age very wâ—…ll As for example the Vine Fecenia and likewise Biturica that bloometh with it which beare grapes with few stones within their floures neuer miscarry for they euer preuent and come so timely that they be able to withstand both winde and weather Howbeit they do better in cold places than in hot in moist also than in dry And to say a truth there is not a vine more fruitful yeelding such store of grapes growing so thick together in clusters but of all things it may not away with variable and inconstant weather let the season be staied and setled it matters not then whether it be hot or cold for wel it wil abide the one the other alone hold it neuer so long The lesser of this kind is held for the better Howbeit in chusing of a fit soile for this vine it is much ado to please and content it in a fat ground it soone rots in a light and lean it will not grow at all very choise it is therefore dainty and nice in seeking a middle temper betweene and therefore it taketh a great liking to the Sabine hils and there it loues to be The grapes that it bears be not so beautiful to the eie but pleasant to the tooth if you make not the more hast to take them presently when they be ripe they will fall off although they be not rotten This vine puts forth large and hard leaues which defend the grapes well against haile-stones Now there are besides certain notable grapes of a middle colour between black and purple and they alter their hue oftentimes whereupon some haue named them Varianae and yet the blacker they be the more they are set by they beare grapes but each other yeare that is to say this yere in great plenty the next yere very little howbeit their wine is the better when they yeeld fewer grapes Also there be 2 kinds of vines called Pretiae differing one from the other in the bignesse of the stones within the grape full of wood and branches they are both their grapes are very good to be preserued in earthen pots and leafed they be like to Smallach they of Dyrrhachium do highly praise the Roial vine Basilica which the Spaniards cal Cocolobis The grapes grow but thin vpon this plant they can well abide all South winds and hot weather they trouble and hurt the head if a man eat much of them In Spaine they make 2 kindes of them the one hauing a long stone or grain within the other a round these be the last grapes that are gathered in time of vintage The sweeter grape that the Cocolobis bears the better is it thought howbeit that which was hard and tart at the first will turne to be pleasant with keeping and that which was sweet will become harsh with age and then they resemble in tast the Albane wine and men say there is an excellent drinke made thereof to help diseases and infirmities of the bladder As touching the wine Albuelis it bears most grapes in the tops of trees but Visula is more fruitfull beneath toward the root and therfore if they be set both vnder one and the same tree a man shall see the diuersitie of their nature and how they will furnish and inrich that tree from the head to the foot There is a kind of blacke grape named Inerticula as a man would say dull and harmlesse but they that so called it might more iustly haue named it The sober grape the wine made therof is very commendable when it is old howbeit nothing hurtfull for neuer makes it any man drunke and this property hath it alone by it selfe As for other vines their fruitfulnesse doth commend them and namely aboue all that which is called Heluenaca whereof be two kinds the greater which some name The long and the smaller called Arca not so plentifull it is as the former bat surely the wine thereof goes downe the throat more merily It differs from the other in the perfect and exquisit roundnesse of the leafe as it were drawn by compasse but both the one and the other is very slender and therefore of necessitie they must be vnderpropped with forkes for otherwise they will not beare their owne burden so fruitfull they be They delight greatly to grow neare the sea side where they may haue the vapors of the sea to breath vpon them and indeed their very grapes haue a sent and smell of a brackish dew There is not a vine can worse brooke Italy Her grapes are small they hang thin and rot euen vpon her and the wine made thereof will not last aboue one Summer and yet on the other side there is not a vine that liketh better in an hungry and lean ground Graecinus who otherwise compiled his worke out of Cornelius Celsus in manner word for word is of this opinion That this Vine could loue Italy well enough and that of the owne Nature it mislikes not the Countrey but the cause why it thriueth no better there is the want of skil and knowledge to order and husband it as it ought to be for that men striue to ouercharge it with wood and load it with too many branches and were it not that the goodnesse of a fat and rich soile maintained it still beginning to faint and decay the fruitfulnesse thereof were enough to kill it
sodden in wine and water they serue in stead of a broth or grewell so do no fruit els but Pome and Peare-Quinces CHAP. XVI ¶ The manner how to preserue Apples THe generall rules to keep and preserue Apples are these Imprimis That the solars be wel planked and boorded in a cold and drie place prouided alwaies that the windows to the North do stand open especially euery faire day Item to keep the windows into the South shut against the winds out of that corner and yet the North winds also where they blow doe cause Apples to shrink and riuell ill fauouredly Item That Apples be gathered after the Aequinox in the Autumne and neither before the full of the Moone nor the first houre of the day Moreouer that all the Apples which fell be seuered from the other by themselues and laid apart also that they be bedded vpon straw mats or chaffe vnder them that they be so couchedas that they touch not one another but haue spaces between to receiue equall aire for to bee vented To conclude this is well knowne that the Amerine Apples doe last and keepe good long whereas the honie Apples will abide no time CHAP. XVII ¶ How to keep Quinces Pome-granats Peares Sorvises and Grapes FOr the good keeping and preseruing of Quinces there must be no aire let into them where they are enclosed or else they ought to be confected in sodden honey or boiled therein Pomegranats should be plunged into sea-water boiling and so hardened therein and after that they be dried in the Sun three daies so as they be not left abroad in the night to take dew they would be hanged vp in a solar and when a man list to vse them then they must be wel washed in fresh water M. Varro sets downe the manner to keep them within great earthen vessels in sand And if they be not ripe he would haue the earthen pots bottomes broke off and so the Pomegranates to be put in and couered all ouer with mould but the mouth therof must be well stopped for letting any aire in prouided alwaies that the steele and the branch wherto the fruit groweth be pitched For so quoth he they will not giue ouer to grow still yea and proue bigger than if they had remained vpon the tree As for other Pomegranats i. that are ripe they may be wrapped and lapped one by one in fig-leaues such as are not fallen but plucked from off the tree greene and then to be put into twigge paniers of oisiers or else daubed ouer with potters blay He that would keep Peares long must put them in earthen vessels turned with the bottomes vpward well varnished or annealed within couered also with saw dust or fine shauings and so enterred As for the Tarentine Peares they abide longest on the tree ere they be gathered The Anitian Peares be well preserued in cuit-wine As for Soruisses they are kept also in trenches within the ground but the couer of the vessel whereinto they are put ought to be well plastered all ouer and so stand two foot couered with earth also they may be set in a place exposed open to the Sun with the bottome of the vessells vpward yea and within great barrels they may be hung vp with their branches and all after the manner of grape-clusters Some of our moderne writers handle this argument more deepely than others and fetch the matter farre off giung out rules in this manner saying That for to haue Apples or Grapes de garde that is to say fit to be preserued and to last long the trees that beare the one and the other ought to be pruned and cut betimes in the waine of the Moone in faire weather and when the winds blow drie Likewise they affirme That fruits to be preserued would be chosen from drie grounds gathered before they be full ripe and this would be looked vnto in any hand that the Moon at the gathering time be vnder the earth and not appearing in our hemisphaere And more particularly for Grape bunches they would be gathered with a foot or heele from the old hard wood and the Grapes that are corrupt and rotten among the rest be clipped off with a paire of sheers or plucked out with pincers then to be hung vp within a great new earthen vessell well pitched with the head or lid thereof thoroughly stopped and plastered vp close to exclude all aire After which manner they say Soruisses and Peares may be kept but so as in any case the twigs ond steeles whereby they hang be well besmeared with pitch Moreouer order would be giuen that the barrels and vessells wherein they are kept be far ynough from water Some there be again who keep Grapes together with their branch after the same maner in plaster but so as both ends of the said branch sticke in the head of the sea-Onion Squilla and others let Grape-clusters hang within hogsheads and pipes hauing wine in them but so as the Grapes touch not the wine in any case There be also that put Apples and such fruits in shallow pans or pancheons of earth and let them swim and flote aloft vpon the wine within their vessels for besides that this is a way to preserue them the wine also as they think will thereby get a pleasant odoriferous tast Others ye haue besides that chuse rather to preserue al these fruits as well Apples Pears c. as Grapes couered in Millet seed Howbeit the most part dig a trench or ditch two foot deep in the ground they floore it with sand in the bottome and lay their fruits thereupon then they stop the top with an earthen lid and afterwards couer al with earth Some there are which smeare their bunches of Grapes all ouer with potters clay and when they are dried in the Sun hang them vp in solars for their vse and against the time that they should occupie them steep them in the water and so wash off the foresaid clay But for to keep Apples that are of any worth they temper the same clay with wine and make a morter thereof wherein they lap the said Apples Now if those Apples be of the best kind and right soueraigne after the same sort they couer them with a crust of the like past or morter or else clad them within a coat of wax and if they were not fully ripe afore they grow by that means and break their crust or couer what euer it be But this would not be forgotten that they vse alwaies to set the Apple or fruit vpright vpon the taile howsoeuer they be kept Some there are who gather Apples and such like fruit with their slips and sprigs hide them within the pith of an Elder tree and then couer them in earth as is before written And others there are who for euery Peare or Apple haue a seuerall earthen pot and after that their lids be well closed and stopped with pitch then they enclose them again with great vessels or
time of dead Winter so soone as the weather beginnes to be more warme and temperate they discharge both fruit and tree of their dung which being thus let out again as it were where they seemed buried and now comming to light they no sooner find the fresh aire another kind of nourishment differing from that whereby they liued but doe embrace and receine the comfort of the new Sun most greedily as if they were new born and reuiued in such sort as that in Moesia notwithstanding it be a most cold region ye shall haue the figs of these trees to ripen when others begin to blossom and by this means become early and hasty figs in another yeare Now forasmuch as we are fallen to mention the figs in Africk which were in so great request in the time of Cato I am put in mind to speake somewhat of that notable opportunity and occasion which by the means of that fruit he took for to root out the Carthaginians rase their very city For as he was a man who hated deadly that city and was otherwise carefull to prouide for the quiet and securitie of his posteritie he gaue not ouer at euery sitting of the Senat to importune the Senators of Rome and to cry out in their eares That they would resolue and take order to destroy Carthage and in very truth one day aboue the rest he brought with him into the Senat house an early or hasty fig which came out of that country and shewing it before all the lords of the Senat I would demand of you quoth he how long ago it is as you think since this fig was gathered from the tree And when none of them could deny but that it was fresh and new gotten Lo quoth he my masters all this I do you to wit It is not yet ful three daies past since this fig was gathered at Carthage see how neere to the walls of our citie we haue a mortall enemie Vpon which remonstrance of his presently they concluded to begin the third and last Punick war wherein Carthage was vtterly subuerted and ouerthrown Howbeit Cato suruiued not the rasing and saccage of Carthage for he died the yeare immediately following this resolution But what shall we say of this man whether was more admirable in this act his prouident care and promptnesse of spirit or the occasion presented by the sudden obiect of the fig was the present resolution and forward expedition of the Senat or the vehement earnestnesse of Cato more effectuall to this enterprise Certes somewhat there is aboue all nothing in mine opinion more wonderful that so great a signiory and state as Carthage which had contended for the Empire of the world for the space of 120 yeres and that with the great conquerours the Romanes should thus be ruined and brought vtterly to nought by occasion of one fig. A designe that neither the fields lost at Trebia and Thrasymenus nor the disgrace receiued at the battell of Canna wherein so many braue Romans lost their liues and left their dead bodies on the ground to be interred could effect nay not the disdain that they took to see the Carthaginians incamped and fortified with in 3 miles of Rome ne yet the brauadoes of Annibal in person riding before the gate Collina euen to dare them could euer bring to passe See how Cato by the means of one poore fig preuailed to bring and present the forces of Rome to the very walls of Carthage There is a fig tree called Navia honoured with great reuerence in the common Forum and publique place of justice at Rome euen where the solemne assemblies are held for election of Magistrats neere to the Curia vnder the old shops called Veteres as if the gods had consecrated it for that purpose neere I say it is to the Tribunal named Puteal Libonis there planted by Actius Navius the Augur where the sacred reliques of his miracle to wit the Rasor and the Whetstone were solemnely interred as if it came of the owne accord from the said Curia into the Comitium and had not bin set by Navius This tree if it begin at any time to wither there is another replanted by the priests who that way are very carefull and ceremonious But a greater respect is had of another in remembrance of the first fig tree named Ruminalis as it were the nurse of Romulus and Remus the two yong princes fondlings and founders also of the city of Rome for that vnder it was found a she wolfe giuing to those little babes the teat in Latine called Rumen and for a memoriall hereof there is a monument of brasse erected neere vnto it representing that strange and wonderfull story There grew also a third fig tree before the temple of Saturne which in the yeare 260 after the foundation of the city of Rome was taken away at what time as a chappell was builded there by the Vestal nuns and an expiatory sacrifice offered for that it ouerthrew the image of Sylvanus There is a tree of the same kind yet liuing which came to grow of it self no man knows how in the midst of the Forum Romanum and in that very place where was the deepe chinke and gaping of the ground that menaced the ruine of the Roman empire which fatall and portentuous gulfe the renowned knight Curtius filled vp with the best things that were to be found in the city to wit his Vertue and Piety incompatable testified by a most braue glorious death In the very same place likewise there is an Oliue and a Vine which came thither by as meere a chance but afterwards well looked and trimmed by the whole people for to inioy the pleasure and shade thereof And there also stood an altar which afterward was taken away by occasion of the solemne shew of sword-fencers which Iulius Caesar late Emperor exhibited to do the people pleasure which were the last that plaied their prizes and fought at the sharp in the said Forum To conclude wonderfull it is to see how the fruit of this tree maketh hast to ripe a man would say that Nature therein sheweth all her skill and force to ripen figs altogether at once CHAP. XIX ¶ Of the wilde Fig trees and of caprification THere is a kind of wild Fig trees which the Latines call Caprificus that neuer brings any fruit to maturitie but that which it selfe hath not it procureth to others and causeth them to ripen For such is the interchangeable course passage of causes in nature that as this thing putrifieth that ingendreth and the corruption of one is the generation of another By this it comes to passe that the wild fig tree breedeth certaine flies or gnats within the fruit thereof which wanting nourishment and not hauing to feed vpon in those figs because they become rotten and putrified as they hang vpon the tree they flie vnto the other kinde of gentle and tame fig-trees where they settle vpon the figs and
the same haue risen againe of themselues without mans helpe This happened during the wars against the Cymbrians to the great astonishment of the people of Rome who thereupon gathered a fore-tokening of great consequence for at Nuceria in the groue of Iuno there was an old Elme fell and after the head was lopped off because it light vpon the very altar of Iuno it arose of it own accord and that which more is immediatly vpon it put forth blossoms and flourished And this was obserued That from that very instant the majesty of the people of Rome began to take heart reuiue and rise again which had bin decaied and infeebled by so many and so great losses that the Romans hed receiued The like chanced by report neer the city Philippi vnto a Willow tree which was fallen downe and the head of it cut off clean semblably to an Aspen tree at Stagyrae neere vnto the colledge or publik place of Exercise there And all these were fortunate presages of good luck But the greatest wonder of all other was this of a Plane tree in the Isle Antandros which was not only fallen but also hewed and squared on all sides by the Carpenter and yet it rose againe by it selfe and recouered the former greennesse and liued notwithstanding it bare 15 cubits in length foure elnes in thicknesse and compasse All trees that we are beholden vnto the goodnesse of Nature for we haue by 3 means for either they grow of their owne accord or come of seed or else by some shoot springing from the root As for such as we inioy by the art and industry of men there be a great number more of deuises to that effect whereof we will speake apart in a seuerall booke for that purpose For the present our treatise is of trees that grow in Natures garden onely wherein she hath shewed her selfe many waies after a wonderfull manner right memorable First and formost as we haue shewed and declared before euery thing will not grow in euery place indifferently neither if they be transplanted will they liue This happeneth sometimes vpon a disdaine otherwhiles vpon a peeuish forwardnesse and contumacie but oftner by occasion of imbecility and feeblenesse of the very things that are remoued and translated nay one while the climate is against it enuious otherwhiles the soile is contrary therunto The balm tree can abide no other place but Iury. The Assyrian Pome-citron tree will not beare elswhere than in Syria As for the Date-tree it scornes to grow vnder all climats or if it be brought to that passe by transplanting it refuseth to beare fruit But say that it fortune by some meanes that she giueth some shew and apparance of fruit she is not so kind as to nourish and reare vp to perfection that which she brought forth forced against her will The Cinnamon shrub hath no power and strength to indure either the aire or earth of Syria notwithstanding it be a neere neighbor to the naturall region of her natiuity The daintie plants of Amomum or Spikenard may not away with Arabia howbeit they be brought out of India thither by sea for king Seleucus made triall therof so strange they are to liue in any other country but their own Certainly this is a most wonderful thing to be noted That many times the trees for their part may be intreated to remoue into a forrain country and there to liue yea and otherwhiles the ground and soile may be persuaded and brought to accord so wel with plants be they neuer such strangers that it will feed and nourish them but vnpossible it is to bring the temperature of the aire and the climat to condiscend thereto and be fauourable vnto them The Pepper-trees liue in Italy the shrub of Casia or the Canell likewise in the Northerly regions the Frankincense tree also hath been knowne to liue in Lydia but where were the hot gleames of the Sunne to bee found in those regions either to dry vp the waterish humor of the one or to concoct and thicken the gumme and Rosine of the other Moreouer there is another maruell in Nature welneare as great as that namely that shee should so change and alter in those same places and yet exercise her vertues and operations otherwhiles againe as if there were no change nor alteration in her She hath assigned the Cedar tree vnto hot countries and yet wee set it to grow in the mountaines of Lycia and Phrygia both She hath so appointed and ordained that cold places should be hurtfull and contrary to Bay-trees howbeit there is not a tree prospereth better nor groweth in more plenty vpon the cold hill Olympus than it About the streights of the Cimmerian Bosphorus and namely in the city Panticapaeum both K. Mithridates and also the inhabitants of those quarters vsed all meanes possible to haue the Lawrel and the Myrtle there to grow only to serue their turns when they should sacrifice to the gods it would neuer be did they what they could and yet euen then there were good store of trees there growing of a warm temperature there were Pomegranates and Fig-trees plenty and now adaies there be Apple-trees and Pyrries in those parts of the best and daintiest sort Contrariwise ye shall not find in all that tract any trees of a cold nature as Pines Pitch-trees and Firres But what need I to goe as farre as to Pontus for to auerre and make good my word Goe no farther than Rome hardly and with much adoe will any Chestnut or Cherrie trees grow neere vnto it no more than Peach-trees about the territory of Thusculum And worke enough there is to make hazels and filbards to like there turne but to Tarracina thereby ye shall meet with whole woods full of Nut-trees CHAP. XXXIII ¶ Of the Cypresse tree That oftentimes some new plants do grow out of the ground which were neuer knowne to be there beforetime THe Cypresse hath bin counted a meere stranger in Italy most vnwilling there to grow as we may see in the works of Cato who hath spent more words and made oftner mention of the Cypresse alone than of all other trees whatsoeuer Much ado there is with it before it come vp and as hard it is to grow and when all is done the fruit is good for nothing The berries that it beareth be wrinckled and nothing louely to the eie the leaues wherewith it is clad bitter in tast a strong and violent smell it hath with it not so much as the very shade therof is delectable and pleasant and the wood but small not solide but of an hollow substance insomuch as a man may range it among the kinds of shrubs Consecrated is this tree to Pluto therefore men vse to set a bough thereof as a signe before those houses wherein a dead corpes lieth vnder bourd As touching the female Cypresse it is long ere shee beareth The Cypresse tree for all this in the end growing
odoriferous any wood is the more durable also it is and euerlasting Next to these trees aboue rehearsed the wood of the Mulberrie tree is most commended which in tract of time as it growes to be old waxes also blacke Moreouer some kinds of wood as they be more lasting than other so they continue better being emploied in one kind of work than they do in another The Elme timber will well abide the aire and the wind The wild Oke Robur loueth to stand within the ground and the common Oke is good in the water let it bee vsed aboue ground to take the aire and the weather it will cast warpe and cleaue too bad The Larch wood agreeth passing wel with water works and so doth the black Alder. As for the Oke Robur it will corrupt and rot in the sea The Beech will doe well in water and the Walnut tree likewise but to stand within the earth they are principall good and haue no fellow And for the Iuniper it will hold the owne being laid vnder ground but for building aboue in the open aire it is excellent good The Beech and the Cerus wood rot quickly The smal Oke called Esculus canot abide the water The Cherrie tree wood is firme and fast the Elme and the Ash are tough how beit they will soone settle downward and sag being charged with any weight but bend they will before they break and in case before they were fallen they stood a while in the wood after they had a kerfe round about for their superfluous moisture to run out vntill they were well dried they would be the better and sure in building It is commonly said that the Larch wood if it be put into ships at sea is subject to wormes like as al other kinds of wood vnlesse it be the wild and tame Oliue For to conclude some timber is more readie to corrupt and be marred in the sea and others againe vpon the land CHAP. XLI ¶ Of wormes that breed in wood OF vermine that eat into wood there be 4 kinds The first are called in Latine Teredines a very great head they haue for the proportion of the body and with their teeth they gnaw These are found only in ships at sea and indeed properly none other be Teredines A second sort there be and those are land wormes or mothes named Tineae But a third kind resembling gnats the Greeks tearme by the name of Thripes In the fourth place bee the little wormes whereof some are bred of the putrified humor and corruption in the very timber like as others againe engender in trees of a worme called Cerastes for hauing gnawne and eaten so much that he hath roume enough to turne him about within the hole which he first made hee engendreth this other worm Now some wood there is so bitter that none of these wermin will breed in it as the Cypresse others likewise so hard that they cannot eat into it as the Box. It is a generall opinion that if the Firre be barked about the budding times at such an age of the Moon as hath been before said it will neuer putrifie in the water Reported it is by those that accompanied Alexander the great in his voiage into the East that in the Isle Tylos lying within the red sea there be certain trees that serue for timber to build ships the which were known to continue two hundred yeares and being drowned in the sea were found with the wood nothing at all perished They affirmed moreouer that in the same Island there grew little plants or shrubs no thicker than would wel serue for walking staues to cary in a mans hand the wood whereof was massie and ponderous striped also and spotted in manner of a Tygres skin but so brittle withall that if it chanced to fall vpon a thing harder than it selfe it would breake into fitters like glasse CHAP. XLII ¶ Of timber good for Architecture and Carpentrie what wood will serue for this or that worke and which is the strongest and surest timber for roufes of building WEe haue here in Italie wood and timber that will cleaue of it selfe For which cause our Maister Carpenters giue order to besmeare them with beasts dung and so to lie a drying that the wind and piercing aire should not hurt them The joists and plankes made of Firre and Larch are very strong to beare a great weight although they bee laid in length ouerthwart Contrariwise the Rafters made of the wild Oke Robur and Oliue wood wil bend yeeld vnder their load whereas the other named before do resist mainly withstand neither will they easily break vnlesse they haue much wrong nay sooner do they rot than faile otherwise in strength The Date-tree wood also is tough and strong for it yeeldeth not but curbeth the contrarie way The Poplar setteth and bendeth downeward whereas the Date-tree contrariwise rises vpward archwise The Pine and the Cypres are not subject either to rottennesse or worme-eating The Walnut tree wood soone bendeth and is saddle-backt as it lieth for thereof also they often vse to make beames and rafters but before that it breaketh it will giue wâ—…ing by a cracke which saued many a mans life in the Island Antandros at what time as being within the common baines they were skared with the crack that the floore gaue and ran forth speedily before all fell Pines Pitch trees and Allar are very good for to make pumps and conduit-pipes to conuey water and for this purpose their wood is boared hollow lying buried vnder the ground they will continue many a yeare sound and good let them bee vncouered without any mould and lie aboue ground they will quickly decay But if water also stand aboue the wood a wonder it is to see how they will harden therewith and endure Firre or Deale wood is of all other surest and strongest for roufes aboue head the same also is passing good for dore leaues for bolts and barres also in all seelings and wainscot or whatsoeuer it bee whether Greekish Campaine or Sicilian it is best and maketh very faire worke A man shall see the fine shauings thereof run alwaies round and winding like the tendrills of a vine as the Ioyner runneth ouer the painels and quarters with his plainer Moreouer the timber of it is commendable for coaches and chariots and there is not a wood that makes a better and stronger joynt with glew than it doth insomuch as the sound plank will sooner cleaue in any other place than in the joynt where it was glewed CHAP. XLIII ¶ Of glewing timber of rent clouen and sawen painell GReat cunning there is in making strong glew and in the feat of joyning with it as well in regard of seelings and wainscot made of thin bourd and painell as of marquetry other inlaid workes and for this purpose Ioyners doe chuse the mistresse threadie grain that is most streight which some call the Fertill veine because ordinarily it breedeth others and
is that hee beareth downe before him the roofe of many a house and carrieth it cleane away CHAP. III. ¶ The societie of the skie and aire with the earth respectiue to trees SOme men do force the skie for to be obedient conformable to the earth as namely when planting in dry grounds they haue regard to the East and North and contariwise when in moist places they respect the South Moreouer it falleth out that they be driuen otherwhiles to follow the nature of the very Vines and thereby to be ruled wherupon in cold ground they plant such as be of the hastie kind and soone ripen their grapes to the end that they may come to their maturity and perfection before cold weather comes As for such Vines and trees bearing fruit as canot abide dews those they set in to the East that the Sun may soon dispatch and consume the said dew but looke what trees do loue dewes and like well therewith those they will be sure to plant against the West or at leastwise toward the North to the end they may inioy the full benefit thereof All others againe grounding in manner vpon natural reason only haue giuen counsell to set as well Vines as Trees into the Northeast And Democritus verily is of this mind that such fruits will bee more pleasant and odoriferous CHAP. IIII. ¶ The quality of sundrie regions AS touching the proper seat of the Northeast wind and of all other winds we haue spoken already in the second booke and our purpose is in the next following to treat of the rising and falling of signes and notable stars of other Astronomical points also concerning heauen Now in the mean time for this present it is sufficient that in the former rule of the North wind we seem to rest and resolue vpon the apparent and euident argument of the wholesome and healthfull climate of the heauen forasmuch as we see that euermore all such trees as stand into the South soonest shed their leaues the same reason also is to be giuen of those that grow vpon the sea coasts and albeit in some places the winds blowing from thence and the very aire of the sea be hurtfull yet in most parts the same are good and profitable Certaine plants and trees there are which take pleasure to be remot from the sea and ioy to haue the sight of it only a farre off set them neerer to the vapors and exhalations ascending from thence they will take harm and mislike therewith The like is to be said of great riuers lakes and standing pooles As for those which we haue spoken of they either burn their fruit with such mists or refresh and coole such as be hot with their shade yea take joy and prosper in the frost and cold And therfore to conclude this point the surest way is to beleeue trust vpon experience thus much for this present concerning the heauen our next discourse will be of the Earth and Soile the consideration whereof is no lesse difficult to be handled than the other First and formost all grounds are not alike good for trees and most kinds of corne For neither the black mould such as Campain standeth vpon much as in all places best for Vines or that which â—…umeth and sendeth vp small and thin mists neither is the red veine of earth any better how soeuer there be many that commend it The white earth or chalkie marle the clay also within the territory of Alba and Pompeij for a vineyard are generally preferred before all other countries although they be exceeding fat which in that case is otherwise vsually reiected On the other side the white sand about * Ticinum likewise the blacke mould or grit in many places as also the red sandy ground although it be wel mingled tempred with fat earth are all of them nothing to the purpose for increase fruitfulnesse And herein must men take heed because oftentimes their judgement may faile when it goeth but by the eie for wee must not streight waies conclude that the ground is rich battle wheron we see goodly faire tall trees to grow vnlesse it be for those trees only for where shal we meet with any higher than the Fir is there a tree again that possibly can liue where it doth No more is rank grasse plentifull forrage a true token alwaies of a good ground for there is no better pasture nor grasing to be found than in Almaine and yet dig but vp the greene sourd and the thinnest coat of turfe that may be ye shal presently come to barren sand vnder it ne yet is it by by a moist ground that hath vpon it deepe grasse and hearbes shooting vp in height no more verily than a fat and rich soile is knowne by sticking to one fingers as appeareth plainly in all sorts of clay And verily no earth doth fill vp the trenches euen againe out of which it was cast that therby a man might find out whether the ground be sad or hollow and generally all sorts thereof will cause yron to rust that shal be put into it Moreouer there is no weighing of earth in ballance to know by that means which is lighter or heauier for who could possibly euer set down the iust weight that earth should haue Againe the ground that is cast vp into banks by the ouerflow of great riuers is not alwaies commendable seeing that some plants there be that decay if they be set in water And say that some such bank were ground good enough yet it continueth not so long vnlesse it be for Willowes and oisiers onely But if you would know a rich ground indeed one of the best arguments and signes therof is this when you see it to bring forth a thick strong haulme or straw such as vsually groweth in that noble territorie Laborine within Campaine which is of that bignesse that the people of the country vse it for fewell in stead of wood Now this ground so good as it is where whensoeuer we haue found it is hard enough to be tilled and requireth great labour and husbandry putting the poore husbandman to more paines in manner with that goodnesse of it than possibly he could haue with any defects and imperfections thereof For euen the hot earth called by the name of Carbunculus which vseth to burn the corne sown therupon may be helped remedied as it is thought by setting it with plants of poore hungry vines The rough grauell stone which naturally will crumble as grit many writers there bee that allow and commend for vines As for Virgil he findeth no fault with the ground that beareth fern and brake for a Vineyard The earth that is brackish and standeth much vpon salt pâ—…tre is thought to be more found for many plants than others and in regard of vermine that vse to breed therein much safer also Neither do high banks and hils remaine vntilled and naked for want of
good husbandry if so be a man haue the cast of it to eare breake them vp skilfully As for the plaines they are not all of them exposed to the Sun or subiect to the wind more than need requireth And to speake of frosts mists and fogs there be Vines as we haue said already which are nourished and fed with them And to conclude hereby we may see that in euery thing there is some one deep secret or other wherein it behoueth each man to employ his spirit and set his mind for to search them throughly and find them out what shall we say then to this That oftentimes those things which haue bin approoued by long experience and many obseruations become otherwise and change their vsuall manner In Thessalie about Larissa the whole region by reason of a lake that was let out and drained drie prooued much colder and the Oliues which there grew before left bearing and died all vpon it In like sort neer vnto Aenos the Vines were all scorched and burnt by occasion that the course of the riuer Ebrus was brought neere vnto them an accident that beforetime neuer befell vnto them Semblably about the citie Philippi the whole country being made drie by sluces and trenches artificiall altered withall the whole disposition of the aire and weather and changed the very habite of the heauen aboue their heads But in the territory of Syracusa the forraine Coloners that thither came to inhabit and practise husbandry by ridding the ground from all the stones marred all the corn in the country so mirie and durtie it was by that meanes vntil such time as they were driuen to lay the stones againe where they had them In Syria the husbandmen goe lightly ouer with their plough take no deep stitch in making their furrowes for feare of the stony rocke lying ebbe vnder the good ground which in Summer season will burne all their graine and seed sowne there Now there be certain parts of the world where a man shall see one and the same effect to proceed both of extreame heat and also of excessiue cold Thracia is exceeding cold and thereby plentifull in corne Africke and Aegypt be as hot and yet come not after it for fertilitie in that kind In Chalcia an Island belonging to the Rhodians there is one place aboue the rest so fruitful that the Barly which was sowed in the due time season of the yere they mow once and presently put it into the ground againe which will be ready to be cut downe the second time with other corne in haruest In the Venafrane tract within the realme of Naples the grauellie ground is thought meetest for Oliue trees therin they bear most plentifully contrariwise about Boetica in Spaine the fattest soile is best for that purpose The excellent grape that makes the good Punicke wine ripeneth soon vpon the very rockes but the Caecube Vines stand soaked drenched as it were in the marish low grounds of Pomptinum See what a difference and diuersitie there is in causes to make this variety in sundry plots of ground Caesar 〈◊〉 being conuented before the Censors and there pleading his cause affirmed openly that the plaines of Rosea were the very fat of Italy and resembled the kell or leafe of a fed and franked swine wherein quoth he if a man left forks or props to day they will bee ouergrowne and couered with grasse by to morrow But surely this ground is good for nothing but pasture Yet notwithstanding Nature would haue vs still to learne and grow skilfull euery day more than other and for that intent she hath laid open the defects and imperfections of the ground euen there whereas the commodities thereof be neither so certain nor so well knowne And therefore let vs in the first place speake of those faults for which the earth is blamed CHAP. V. ¶ Sundry sorts of earth IF a man would know which is a lean hungry bitter ground there is no better experiment and proofe thereof than by the blackish misliking and vnkind herbs growing thereupon like as when they come vp scortched and burnt they shew a cold soile also when they seem il fauored and vnpleasant to the eie the earth no doubt is soked and drowned in wet As for red sandy ground and clay you need go no farther than to your owne eie-sight And such soiles as these be is of all other hardest to be wrought and tilled they so clog and load both the harrow teeth and the plow-shares with huge and heauie clods Howbeit the ground that is thus churlish to be eared and husbanded is not alwaies bad and naught for increase But it fareth cleane contrary with the pale and wan ashie earth as also with the white sandy soile for the barren ground is soon found by a thicke and callous crust that it hath euen at the first dent of culter or stroke of mattocke Cato setteth down briefely as his maner is all the defects and faults of ground in these words Take heed quoth hâ—… of a rotten ground and see that you stir it neither with cart nor touch it with beast What should we think was his meaning by this term of his that he should feare rotten ground so much as to forbid in a manner to tread and goe thereupon Let vs call to mind the rottennesse that is in wood and thereby shall we find those faults that he abhorreth and detesteth so much in the earth In good faith by rotten earth hee vnderstandeth dry spungeous and full of holes rugged hoary eaten old and hollow So as in that one significant word Cariosa hee said more than could be expressed possibly by any multip icity of language whatsoeuer for if a man would rip vp to the quicke the imperfections that are in grounds he should find that some pieces there be of it that may be termed truly old and ouerworne not for any age for who can say properly that earth is subiect to old age but by reason of their naturall defects in regard wherof a ground may be weake feeble barren and no longer good for to bring forth any thing The same Cato iudgeth That ground to be principall which lieth at the foot of an hill and runneth forth in manner of a plaine into the South which is the very scituation of all Italy and by a blackish and swart earth which he calleth Pulla he meaneth a gentle tender and mellow soile And this we will determine to be the best simply both for worke or tillage and also for gaine and increase now let vs if ye please stand a little vpon this word Tenera i. Tender which he vseth in this sence you shall find a maruellous signification thereof and that he implieth thereby as much as your heart can wish to be in a ground That is it which is so temperat in fertility that is it which to be wrought is so gentle soft pliable and mellow neither wet nor yet dry and thirsty
to be fat the white is chiefe and thereof be many sorts The most mordant and sharpest of them all is that whereof wee spake before A second kind there is of chalkish clay which our gold-smiths vse called Tripela this lieth a great depth within the earth insomuch as many times men are driuen to sinke pits 100 foot deep for it and those haue a small and narrow mouth aboue but within-forth and vnder the ground they be digged wider by reason that the veine thereof runneth many waies in manner of other mettall mines This is the marle so much vsed in Britain the strength therof being cast vpon a land will last 80 yeres and neuer yet was the man known that herewith marled the same ground twice in all his life time The third kind of white marle is that which the Greekes call Glischromargon it is no other than the Fullers chalkie clay mixed with a viscous and fatty earth The nature of it is to breed grasse better than to beare corne for after one crop of corne is taken off the ground in haruest before seed time is come for winter grain the grasse wil be so high growne that a man may cut it down and haue a plentiful after-math for hay and yet al the while that it hath corn vpon it you shall not see it to beare any grasse besides This marle continueth good 30 yeres if it be laid ouer-thick vpon a land it choketh the ground in manner of Cumine The Columbine marle the Gauls call in their language by a name borrowed of the Greeks Pelias i. Doue or Pigeon marle it is fetched out of the ground in clots and lumpes like as stones be hewed out of quarries with Sunne and the frost together it will resolue and cleaue into most thin slates or flakes This marle is as good for corne as for herbage As for sandy marle it will serue the turn for want of other yea and if the ground be cold moist and weely the husbandman will make choice thereof before other The Vbians vpon my knowledge vse to inrich their ground and make itmore battle though their territory otherwise be most fertile with any earth whatsoeuer prouided alwaies that it be digged vp three foot deep at least and laid a foot thick a deuise that no other country doth practise howbeit this soile and manner of manuring continueth good not aboue ten yeres the Heduans and Pictones haue forced their grounds and made them most plentifull with lime-stone which is found also by experience to be passing profitable for vines and oliues To come now to the ordering of this piece of husbandry the ground ought to be ploughed first before marle of any sort be cast vpon it to the end that the medicinable vertue substance thereof might the sooner and more greedily be receiued into it Now forasmuch as marle is at the first ouer-rough and hard not so free in the beginning as to resolue and turne into blade or grasse it had need of some compost or dung to be mingled with it for otherwise be it neuer so rich it will rather do harm than good to the ground by reason that it is yet strange and not acquainted therewith and yet help it this way as wel as you can it will not bring forth any plenty the first yere after it is laid on Last of all it skilleth much to consider the nature of the ground which you mean to marle for the dry marle sorteth well with a moist soile and the fatty hitteth that which is dry and lean But when the ground is of a middle temperature between both it mattereth not whether you vse the white gold-smiths chalke or the Columbine marle for either of them will serue well enough CHAP. IX ¶ The vse of ashes vpon lands of Dung what graine or pulse sowne doth make the ground more plentifull and what burneth it THe people dwelling beyond the Po make such account of ashes for to inrich the grounds withall that they prefer it before hors-muck and such like which dung because they take it to be very light they burne also into ashes for that purpose Howbeit as we haue said before in one and the same corn-land they vse not asheâ—… and mucke both at once no more doe they cast ashes in hortyards for to nourish yong trees nor in fields for some kind of corn Some are of iudgement that grapes are fed with dust who also do cast dust vpon them when they begin to bloome yea and bestrew dust vpon the roots as well of Vines as other trees Certain it is that in the prouince of Narbon they vse so to do and they are assuredly persuaded that grapes ripen better and the vintage commeth the sooner thereby because in those parts dust doth more good than the Sun As for mucke there be diuers sorts thereof and in old time much vse there was of it for in Homer we read that long ago the good old king 〈◊〉 was found laying soile and dung vpon his land with his own hands The first that deuised mucking of grounds was by report Augeaâ—… a king in Greece but Hercules divulged the practise thereof among the Italians who in regard of that inuention immortalized their K. Stercutius the son of Faunus M. Varro esteemeth the dung of Blackbirds gathered out of their bartons where they be kept in mew aboue al others He highly magnifieth and extolleth it also for that it bringeth forth so good forage to feed kine oxen and swine withall auouching for certaine that they will become fat beefe and pork with no meat sooner We must thinke well therfore and hope the best of the world now adaies since that our ancestors and forefathers so long ago had so great bartons and pens that the dung of fouls there kept was sufficient to help their hard and hungry grounds In the second degree of goodnesse Columella rangeth Pigeons dung gathered out of Doue-cotes the third place hee giueth to that of Hens and other land pullen reiecting altogether the dung of water-foule Howbeit all other Authors setting these two aside attribute with one voice and consent vnto the excrements of mans body the greatest praise for this purpose Some of them prefer mans vrine and namely when the haires of beast-hides haue bin soked therewith and quicke-lime together in the Tanners pits Others vse vrine alone by it selfe only they mingle water with it againe but in greater quantitie a good deale than they whose vrine it was did put to the wine when they drank it and good reason too for more need there is now to correct and represse the malice thereof considering that besides the natiue malignitie of the wine it selfe mans bodie hath giuen and imprinted into it a strong and vnsauorie quality Thus you may see how men labour striue and try conclusions to seed and inrich the very ground the best way they can deuise Next vnto the ordure and vrine of mans â—…ody the filthy dung of swine
is most commended only Columella condemneth it Some praise the mucke of any foure-footed beasts whatsoeuer so they were fed with Tree-trifolie called Cytisus Others prefer the doung of Pigeons before any other in the second place that of Goats thirdly of sheepe then of kine and oxen and lastly of cart-jades mules asses and such like Thus you see as well what difference there was in times past between this dung and that as also what were the rules so farre as I can guesse and learne whereby they went in the vse and ordering thereof for to say a truth the old way is best euen herein as well as in other matters Ouer and besides the practise hath bin already seen in some of our prouinces where there is so great store of cattell bred to riddle and sift their dung ouer their ground through sieues in manner of meale and so in processe of time it loseth not only the stinking sent and ill-fauored sight that it had but also turneth into a pleasant smel and looketh louely withall Of late found it hath been by experience that Oliue trees doe like and prosper very well if the ashes of lime-kills especially be laid to their roots Varro among many other precepts addeth and saith That corne grounds would be manured with hors-dung because it is the lightest but medowes require compost that is heauier and namely made by beasts that haue barley for their prouender for that such soile bringeth plentie of grasse Some there bee aâ—…so that preferre the dung made by horses before the mucke of kine and Oxen likewise sheeps treddles before Goats dung but Asses mucke before all other because they eat and chew their meat most leisurely But daily experience teacheth the contrary and testifieth against the one and the other And thus much as touching compost of mucke Furthermore all men are of opinion that nothing is better for the ground than to sow Lupines therupon prouided alwaies that before it cod it be turned into the ground by the plough spade or two-piked yron forke also when it is cut down to make it into wads or bottles and so to bury them at the roots of trees and vines especially In countries where there are no cattell to better the lands it is thought good to manure the same in stead of beasts dung with very hawme straw and ferne Cato hath a deuise to make an artificiall mucke or compost of litter lupine straw chaffe beane stalks leaues and branches both of Mast-holm and oke He saith moreouer to the same purpose Weed out of the standing corn Walwort otherwise called Danewort and Hemlock also from about oâ—…er-plots plucke vp ranke weeds or ground Elder also Reeke or Sea-grasse and dead leaues or branches lying rotten vnder trees when thou haste so done strew and lay a course of them vnder sheep where they be folded Item If the Vine begin to decay and wax leane burne the shreads and cuttings of the owne and turne the ashes vnder ground hard to the roots thereof Item where thou meanest to sow any wheat or such like bread-corn draw thy sheep thither and there fold them He saith moreouer that the sowing of some graine is as good as a dunging to the ground for these be his very words The fruit it selfe of the earth is a batling to the earth and namely Lupines Beans and Vetches for they muck the lands like as on the contrary side Chiches do burn the ground both because they are plucked and also for that they stand vpon salt Semblably doth Barley Foenigreeke Eruile and generally all kind of pulse which are pulled and not mowne downe Item Take heed quoth Cato that you set no pepins or kernels where you meane to sow corne As for Virgil he is of opinion that the sowing of Line-seed for flax likewise of Otes and Poppies do burne corne-ground and pill it out of heart He also giueth rules as touching mucke-hills That they should be made in the open aire within some hollow place where it may gather water that they be couered ouer with straw and litter for feare they should dry in the Sun and last of all that they haue a good strong stake of Oke pitched and driuen in about the mids thereof for so there will no snakes nor such like serpents breed and ingender therein Moreouer as touching the spreading of mucke and mingling it with the mould of a land it is exceeding good to do it when the winde setteth full West so that the Moon then be past the full and in the Waine But this rule many haue mistaken and not construed aright supposing that they should so do when the Western wind Fauonius beginneth to rise and namely in the moneth of Februarie only whereas indeed most cornlands require this point of husbandry in other moneths as wel But looke what time soeuer you list to do it be sure in any hand that the wind do then blow from the Equinoctiall point of the West and that the moone then be in the waine and drie withall Haue regard to these rules and obseruations you will wonder to see the effects thereof and what increase the earth thereby will yeeld CHAP. X. ¶ The planting and setting of trees the manner how trees do grow by a Sion sliued and plucked from the root NOw that we haue already sufficiently treated of the considerations as well of the aire and skie as of the earth belonging vnto plants and trees me thinks it were to good purpose to discourse of the industry and artificiall meanes that men haue vsed to make trees grow and verily we shall find no fewer kinds of them that come by mans hand than of such as nature it selfe hath brought forth so kind and thankfull we haue bin to her as to make recompence in this behalfe First and formost therefore this is to be noted That all trees do grow either of seed sowne or of branches growing to the tree and couched in the ground or of an old stocke from whence new imps may sprout also either of a slip or sprig plucked from another tree and so laid in the ground or of a young shoot twig impe or Sion engraffed in the very trunk of a tree slit and clouen for that purpose For I cannot chuse but maruell much at Trogus who was verily persuaded That about Babylon the leaues onely of Date trees beeing set or sowne would prooue trees Now whereas there be so many deuises abouesaid for to nourish trees this you must vnderstand that some trees there be which will grow by many of these waies before specified and others by them all And verily the most part of this knowledge hath beene taught by Nature her selfe for first of all we haue learned by her for to sow seed by occasion that we haue seen some to fall from trees which being receiued by the ground haue chitted taken root and liued And in very truth some trees there be that grow no otherwise as Chestnut and Walnut-trees excepting
for the nones vntil they are grown to a good stature and then they are to be remoued a second time to their due place And a wonder it is to see how this transplanting doth mitigate euen the sauage nature of the wildest trees that are whether it be that trees as well as men are desirous of nouelties and loue to be trauelling for change or that as they go from a place they leaue behind them their malicious qualitie and being vsed to the land become tame and gentle like the wild beasts especially when such yong plants are plucked and taken vp with the quicke root Wee haue learned of Nature also another kinde of planting like to this for we see that not only water shoots springing out of the root but other sprigs slipped from the stocke liue and doe full well but in the practise of this feat they ought to be pulled away with a colts foot of their owne so as they take a quicke parcell also of their mothers bodie with them in manner of a fringe or border hanging thereto After this manner they vse to set Pomegranate Filberd Hazell Apple and Servise trees Medlars also Ashes and Figge trees but Vines especially marie a quince ordered and planted in that sort will degenerate and grow to a bastard kinde From hence came the inuention to set into the ground yong sprigs or twigs cut off from the tree This was at first practised with foot-sets for a prick-hedge namely by pitching down into the earth Elder Quince-cuttings brambles but afterwards men began to do the like by those trees that are more set by and nourished for other purposes as namely Poplars Alders and the Willow which of all others may be pricked into the ground with any end of the cutting or sprig downward it makes no matter whether for the smaller end will take as wel as the bigger Now al the sort of these are bestowed and ranged in order at the first hand euen as a man would haue them and where he list to see them grow neither need they any remouing or transplantation at all But before we proceed any further to other sorts of planting trees it were good to declare the manner how to order seminaries seed-plots or nource-gardens For to make a good pepinnier or nource-garden there would be chosen a principal and special peece of ground for oftentimes it falleth out yea and meet it is that the nource which giueth sucke should be more tender ouer the infant than the owne naturall mother that bare it In the first place therefore let it be sound and drie ground how be it furnished with a good and succulent elemental moisture and the same broken vp and afterwel digged ouer and ouer with mattock and spade and brought to temper and order so as it be nothing coy but readie to receiue al manner of plants that shall come and to entertain them as welcome guests withall as like as may be to that ground vnto which they must be remoued at last But before al things this would be looked to that it be rid clean of all stones surely fenced also and paled about for to keep out cockes and hens and all pullen it must not be full of chinkes and cranies for feare that the heat of the sunne enter in and burne vp the small filaments or strings and beard of the new roots and last of all these pepins or kernels ought to stand a foot and a halfe asunder for in case they meet together and touch one another besides other faults inconueniences they will be subiect to wormes and therefore I say there would be some distance between that the ground about them may be often harrowed and raked to kill the vermin and the weeds pluckt vp by the heeles that do breed them Moreouer it would not be forgotten to proin these yong plants when they are but new come vp to cut away I say the superfluous springs vnderneath and vse them betimes to the hooke Cato giueth counsel to sticke forks about their beds a mans height and lay hurdles ouer them so as the Sun may be let in vnderneath and those hurdles to couer and thatch ouer with straw or holme for to keepe out the cold in winter Thus are yong plants of Peare trees and Apple trees nourished thus Pine nut trees thus Cypresses which do likewise come vp of â—…eed are cherished As for the grains or seeds of the Cypres tree they be exceeding small and so small indeed that some of them can scarce be discerned well by the eye Wherein the admirable worke of Nature would be considered to wit that of so little seeds should grow so great and mightie trees considering how far bigger are the cornes of Wheat and Barley to make no reckoning nor speech of Beans in comparison of them What should we say to Peare trees and Apple trees what proportion or likenesse is there between them and the pretty little pepins whereof they take their beginning Maruell we not that of so slender and small things at the first they should grow so hard as to checke and turne again the very edge of ax and hatchet that frames and stocks of presses should be made thereof so strong and tough as will not shrinke vnder the heauiest poise and weights that be that Mast-poles comming thereof should be able to beare saile in wind and weather and finally that they should afford those huge and mightie Rams and such like engins of batterie sufficient to command towers and bastils yea and beat downe strong walls of stone before them Lo what the force of Nature is see how powerfull shee is in her works But it passeth and exceedeth all the rest that the very gum and liquour distilling out of a tree should bring forth new plants of the same kind as we will more at large declare in time and place conuenient To returne then againe to the female Cypres for the male as hath bin said already bringeth forth no fruit after that the little balls or pills which be the fruit thereof be gathered they are laid in the Sun to dry during those moneths which we haue before shewed and being thus dried they will breake and cleaue in sunder Now when they are thus opened they yeeld forth a seed which Pismires are very greedy of Where another wonder of Nature offereth it selfe vnto vs That so small a creature as it should eat and consume the seed which giueth life and being to so great and tall trees as the Cypres Well when the said seed is gotten and the plot of ground â—…aid euen and smooth with cilinders or rollers it must be sowne of a good thicknesse in the moneth of Aprill and fresh mould sifted and strewed ouer with riddles an inch thicke and no more for if this grain be buried ouer-deep and surcharged it is not able to break through against the weight of the earth but in stead of rising vp the new chit turneth and bendeth backward
manner of waies for either the roots be laid ouertwhart or acrosse and but shallow within the ground and look how many eies there be in the root so many plants wil spring aboue the earth or els they be pitched down right within a graue or trench of a foot depth so as there be two eies or buds vnder the ground the third aboue but close and meet with it but this caueat is to be giuen that the head thereof may bend forward toward the earth for feare that it drinke in any dew which might stand and settle vpon it This also is obserued that they be cut euer in the wane of the Moone as also before that they are imploied about Vineyards for to beare vp vines they would haue a whole yeares drying for such are more profitable than the greene The best staies to beare vp Vines are made of the Chestnut tree for why the wood is gentle and tractable tough withall and induring long besides it hath this property that cut it when you list it will spring againe more plentifully than any willowes It loueth to grow in a gentle and sandy ground but principally if the same stand vpon a moist grauell or a hot earth full of little pebbles and namely where there is good store of such soft stones as will soone crumble into grit neither makes it any matter how much the place be shadowed nor how cold and exposed to the Northern winds for such it liketh well enough yea although it be the side or hanging of an hill as bleake and cold as may be But contrariwise it may not abide the red French earth the chalkie or marle ground nor in one word any that is battle or fruitfull Set it is of a Nut as we haue before said but it commeth not vp vnlesse there be fiue in a heape piled together and those of the fairest biggest sort Moreouer the plot wherin you mean to haue Chestnuts grow must be ouvertly broken vp aloft from between Nouember and Februarie in which time the Nuts vse to be loose and to fall of themselues from the tree and spring vnderneath finding the ground light and hollow vnder them Betwixt each heape set in manner aforesaid there ought to be a foot space euery way and the trench wherein they be set of a span depth out of this plot as out of a seminary and nource-garden these yong plants are to be translated into another and then they must be set two foot asunder Howbeit they ought to be aboue two yeres old first before they be remoued and replanted Moreouer a man may increase Chestnut-trees by propagation to wit by couching and trenching the branches therof as they grow to the mother and there is not another tree againe that sooner taketh that way than it doth for the root thereof being laid bare the whole branch must bee interred along in the trench made for the purpose leauing out the end only aboue ground Thus shall you haue one tree spring from it and another from the root Howbeit planted in this wise it loueth not to be transplanted it cannot lodge elsewhere but dreadeth and hateth all change of soile and therefore such plots of ground as do affoord coppises of Chest-nut trees are stored with plants comming of marrons or nut-kernels rather than quicke-sets or plants set with the root For the ordering and dressing of them there is no other labour required than the others before rehearsed namely for the two first yeares inseing to dig the ground loose about their roots and to proine or cut away the superfluous twigs for euer after they will shift well enough manure themselues by reason that their owne shade will kill those superfluous water-shoots that spring out either from the root or the sides of the tree A coppise of these trees is cut ordinarily within euery seuenth yere and one acre of them will yeeld props enough for to serue a vineyard of twenty acres for besides that one pole of them will abide to be clouen and make two props apeece they will last very well vntill the next fall of the wood or coppis be past Moreouer the Mast-tree called Esculus is planted and commeth vp in like sort howbeit passing vntoward and vnwilling they are to grow and therefore they stand ten yeres at least before they be cut and lopped Set Acorns of this tree Esculus whersoeuer you please they wil surely take and come vp but the trench must be a span deep and the Acornes two foot asunder And foure times a yeare are they to be lightly * raked and clensed from weeds A forke or prop made of this wood lasteth very well and rotteth not and in very truth the more that the tree it selfe is cut and mangled the better it springeth and putteth forth new shoots Ouer and besides these trees abouenamed there be others that vse to be cut and lopped for Vine props and staies to wit the Ash the Bay tree the Peach and Hazell tree yea and the Apple tree but these are all of them lateward and slow of growth neither will they indure so well without rotting if they stand any time in the ground and much lesse will they abide any weâ—… But on the othe side the Elder tree of all others is most firme for to make poles and stakes of It wil grow of sions and imps euen as the Poplar As for the Cypresse tree we haue of it spoken sufficiently already CHAP. XXI ¶ The manner and skill of husbanding and dressing Vineyards NOw that we haue treated sufficiently of the instruments furniture and tackling as it were belonging to Vineyards it remaineth to speake of the nature of vines and to deliuer with especiall regard the manuring and dressing them According therefore as wee may see in Vines and some other trees which haue within them a spungeous matter and light substance their twigs and branches do containe a kind of marrow or pith inclosed between certain knots or ioints wherewith their stalkes are diuided and parted As for the fistulous concauities they are but short all of them and toward the top shorter and shorter but euermore betweene two knots they inclose the ioints aforesaid Now this marow this vegetatiue and vitall substance I say call it whether you wil runneth forward stil on end al the length of the hollow kex or pipe so long as it findeth no resistance by the way but meeting once with a ioint or hard knot which maketh head vpon it not suffering the same to passe forward it beeing driuen backe returneth downward howbeit in that reuerberation breaketh out vnder those knots and putteth foorth certaine wings or pinnions like arme-pits whereas the buds or leaues doe come but alwaies in alternatiue course one of this side another of that after the maner of reeds canes and fennellgeant as hath bin shewed before in such wise that if one wing â—…ise forth at the bottome of the lower knot on the right hand another springeth
fewer reared about it than three But by the way it is no good husbandrie to suffer a tree thus to be coupled as it were in marriage to so many Vines before that it be of sufficient strength to entertain them for there is nothing so hurtfull by reason that the Vines will choke and kill them so quick they be of their growth and so readie to ouercharge them As for planting of Vine-sets to the root of trees needful it is to make therfore a ditch three foot deep and they ought to be distant one from another a ful foot and so much likewise from the tree This don there is no question thereof the smal twigs or shoots what to do with them neither is there any charge or expence required for digging and deluing for this is the manner of it and this peculiar gift haue these tree-rows That in the same ground where they grow the sowing of corne is nothing hurtfull nay it is profitable and good for the Vines Moreouer this commoditie and easement commeth of their height that they be able to saue themselues neither is there any such need as in other Vineyards to be at the coast of walls of mounds pales or hedges ne yet of deep ditches or other fences to keep off the violence or injuries of beasts Of all other toiles before rehearsed there is no more required but to looke vnto onely the getting of quick-sets or couching sions all the matter I say lieth herein and there is no more to do But of couching sions and that kind of propagation there be two deuises First within paniers or baskets vpon the boughs of the tree and that is the be best way because it is safest from the danger of cattel The second is to bend the Vine or a branch therof close to the foot of her owne tree or else about the next vnto it if it stand single and haue no Vine joined vnto it As much of this branch or Vine thus couched as is aboue the ground must be kept with scraping that is to say the buds ought euer and anone to be knapt off that it spring not forth Within the earth there should be no fewer than foure joints or budding knots buried and enterred for to take root in the head without two onely are left for to grow Where note by the way that the Vine which groweth to the foot of a tree must be trenched in a ditch foure foot long in al three in breadth two and an halfe in deapth Now when the sion thus couched hath lien one yere the order is to cut it toward the stock to the very pith or marrow that so by little and little it may be inured to fortifie it selfe vpon the own roots and not to hang and cling alwaies to the mother as for the other end or head thereof it would be cut off also so neere the ground as that there be but two only buds left By the third yeare it must be quite cut in two where before it was but guelded to the pith and that which remaines of it laid deeper into the ground for feare it should sprout foorth and beare leaues toward that side where it was cut in twaine This done no sooner is Vintage past but this new quicke-set root and al must be taken vp and replanted Of late daies deuised was the manner of couching or planting by a trees side a Vine Dragon for so we vse to call the old branch of a Vine past all seruice which hath done bearing many a yeare and is now grown to be hard And verily they vse to make choise of the biggest they can find which when they haue cut from the stocke they scrape and pil the bark three foure parts in length so farre forth as it is to lie within the ground wherupon they name it in Latine Rasilis when it is thus couched low within a furrow the rest that is aboue the earth they rear vp against the tree And it is thought that there is not so good nor so ready a mean to make a Vine grow and beare than this If it fall out so that either the Vine be smal and weak or the ground it selfe but lean and hungrie it is an vsuall and ordinarie practise to cut and prune it as neer the ground as possibly may bee vntill such time as it bee well strengthened in the root as also great regard is had that it be not planted when the deaw standeth vpon it ne yet when the wind sits ful in the North. The old Vine stock it self ought to look into the Northeast prouided alwaies that the yong branches turne Southward Moreouer new and tender Vines would not be proined and cut in hast but better it is to expect and tary vntil such time as they be strong ynough and able to beare the cutting bill meane while to gather the yong branches together round in maner of on houp or circle Where note by the way That Vines which are erected vpon trees for the most part beare later by one yeare than those in Vineyards that be pearched or run on frames Some would not haue them to be cut at all before they haue raught vp to the top of the tree At the first time when you come with the pruning hooke the head must be cut off at six foot from the ground leauing vnderneath one little top twig which must be forced to beare by bending it downward in the head and in the same when it is thus pruned there must be left behind three buds and no more The branches which burgen out from thence ought the next yeare to bee brought vp to the lowest armes of the tree and there seated and so from yeare to yeare let them climb vp higher to the vpper boughs leauing alwaies vpon euery loft or scaffold as it were where they rested one branch of the old hard wood and another young imp or twig for to grow vp and climbe as high as it will Furthermore as often as a Vine is pruned afterwards those branches or boughs thereof in any wise must bee cut away which were bearers the yeare before and in stead of them the new after they be first cleansed from all the hairy curled tendrils on euery side shred off The ordinarie manner of pruning and dressing of vines here about Rome is to let the tender branches and sprigs enterlace the boughes insomuch as the whole tree is ouerspread clad therwith like as the very same tendrils be also couered all ouer with grapes But the French fashion is to draw them in a traile along from bough to bough whereas in Lumbardie and along the causey Aemilia from Plaisance to Rimino they vse to train them vpon forkes and poles for albeit â—…he Atinian Elmes be planted round about yet the Vine commeth not neere their greene boughes Some there be who for want of sill and good knowledge about vines hang them by a strong bond vnder the boughs but this is to
lighter and also more massie and richer ground for our ordinary wheat In a low and wet piece of ground it is good to sow the red wheat Adoreum rather than the common wheat Triticum but both it and barley will sort well with a soile of a middle temperature The hills yeeld a firm fast and strong kind of wheat but the grain is but smal And to conclude the best kinds of wheat to wit Far and Siligo challenge for their lot to bee seated in a chalky soile and therwith alwaies wet and soked in water CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of strange prodigies and wonders obserued in corne the knowledge and skill of earing and tilling the ground also diuers sorts of plough-shares ALbeit I haue in the title of this chapter purposed to write of prodigies seen in corne yet to my knowledge there neuer happened but once the like wonder and portenteous sight to this which I shall tell and which befell in the time that P. Aelius and Cn. Cornelius were Consuls of Rome that very yeare wherein Annibal with his whole armie was defeated and vanquished for then by report there was corne grew vpon trees But forasmuch as I haue discoursed at large of the sundry kinds as well of corn as of ground I will proceed now forward and come to the manner of ploughing the earth after I haue first set downe before all things els how easie the husbandrie is in Egypt for there the riuer Nilus seruing in stead of a good plough man beginneth to swel and ouerflow as we haue before rehearsed at the first new Moone after the Summer Sunstead Hee beginneth faire and softly and so increaseth more and more by little and little but all the while that the Sun passeth vnder the signe Leo he higheth apace vntill he be risen to his ful heigth being entered once into Virgo his fury slaketh then decreaseth he as fast vntill hee be fallen againe into his wonted channell which ordinarily happeneth by the time that the Sun is in Libra Now this is obserued That if he rise not plumb aboue 12 cubits high the people are sure to haue a famine of corn that yere the like also do they make account of in case he passe the gage of sixteen cubits for the higher that he is risen the longer it is again ere he be fully fallen by which time the Seednesse is past and men cannot sow the ground in due season It hath bin generally receiued for a truth That presently vpon the departure of this deluge and ouerflowing of Nilus they were woont to cast their seed-corne vpon the floten ground and presently let in their swine after for to trample it with their feet into the earth whiles it was soft and drenched And verily for mine owne part I beleeue wel they vsed so to do in old time for euen now adaies also much more ado they make not about it Howbeit this is certaine that first they cast their seed vpon the slime and mud so soone as the riuer is downe which commonly falleth out in the very beginning of Nouember which done they go ouer it with the plough and giue it a light tilth so as it may be couered only and lie vnder a small furrow Some few there be that afterwards fall aweeding which point of husbandry they call Botanismos but the most part after they haue once sowed and turned their seed into the ground neuer after make a step into field to see how their corne groweth vntil they go once for all with syth on neck or sickle in hand namely at the end of March for then they fall to reaping and cutting it downe so as by the moneth of May they sing in Egypt Haruest in and all is done for that yeare As touching this corne gathered in Base Egypt the straw is neuer a cubit long the reason is because the seed lieth very ebbe and hath no other nutriment than from the mud and slime aforesaid for vnder it is nothing but sand and grauell But those that inhabit higher vp into the countrey namely about Thebais they be far better prouided for corne because Egypt indeed for the most part lyeth low vpon marais ground Toward Babylon likewise and Seleucia where the riuers Euphrates and Tigris doe swell ouer their banks and water the country the same husbandry is practised but to better effect and greater profit by reason that the people may let in the water at sluces and floud-gates more or lesse with their owne hands according as they list themselues Also in Syria they haue their small ploughs for the nones to take a shallow stitch and make light worke whereas in many places here with vs in Italy eight oxen are little enough to euery plough and to go away withall they must laborat it till they blow and pant again It is an old said Saw and may goe for an Oracle to be practised in all parts of husbandry but in this point of ploughing especially Bee ruled by the nature of euery countrey and see what each ground will abide To come now vnto our ploughes Of Shares there be many sorts first there is that instrument called a culter which serueth to make way before cutting and cleauing the hard and thick ground as it goeth before it be broken vp and turned atoneside this sheweth by the slits and incisions that it maketh as it were by a true line drawn how the furrows shal go after which commeth the broad bit of the ploughshare indeed lying flat-wise and in earing casteth vp all before it and cleareth the furrow A second sort there is commonly vsed in many places and it is no more but a bar of yron pointed sharpe in manner of a beak-head or stem of a ship and it may be called a Rostle And when the ground is not stubborn but gentle to be wrought there is a third kind vsed which is nothing but a piece of yron not reaching all ouer the plough head and shooing it to the full but turning vp like a snout with a small point sharp at the end This neb is somewhat broader in a fourth kinde of shares but as it is broader in blade and trenchant withall so it is sharper also at the end insomuch that both with the point forward the edges of the sides it not only pierces the ground before it poinctant like a sword but also cutteth the roots of weeds which it incountreth a deuise inuented not long since in Rhoetia As for the Gaules they set too besides certain smal roundles or wheels a plough thus shod harnaised they call in their language Planarati the head of their share is broad fashioned like vnto the bit of a spade and thus they sow their grounds for the most part new broken vp and not tilled nor eared before And for that their plough-shares be large and broad so much the easier turn they vp good turfs of earth and make broad furrows Presently after the plough they throw
needs the great harrows and clotting Contrariwise a man may know where there is good worke namely if the turfe be so close couched that there be no seams to be seen where the plough-share went finally it is a profitable point of husbandry and much practised where the ground doth both beare and require it For to draw here and there broad gutters or furrows to drain away the water into ditches and trenches cast for the nones betweene the lands that otherwise would stand within and drowne the corne CHAP. XX. ¶ Of harrowing and breaking clods Of a certaine kind of ploughing vsed in old time Of the second tilth or fallow called Stirring and of cutting AFter the second fallow called Stirring done with crosse and ouerthwart furrow to the first then followeth clodding if need be either with rakes or great harrowes vpon which insueth sowing and when the seed is in the ground harrowing a second time with the smal harrow In some places where the manner of the country doth so require this is performed with a tined or toothed harrow or els with a broad planke fastened vnto the plough taile which doth hide and couer the seed newly sown and in this maner to rake or harrow is called in Latine Lirare from whence came first the word Delirare which is to leaue bare balks vncouered and by a Metaphore and borrowed speech to raue and speake idlely It should seem that Virgil prescribed that the ground should haue foure tilthes in all by these words when he said That the corne was best which had two Summers and two Winters But if the ground be strong and tough as in most parts of Italy there needs a fift tilth before sowing and in Tuscan verily they giue their ground otherwhiles no fewer than nine fallowes before it be brought into tillage As for Beans and Vetches they may be sowed vnder furrow without breaking vp the ground before for this is a ready way gaining time sauing charges sparing labour And here I cannot ouerpasse one inuention more as touching earing and ploughing the ground deuised in Piemont and those parts beyond the Po by occasion of some hard measure and wrong offered to the people and peisants of that country during the wars And thus stood the case The Salassians making rodes into the vale lying vnder the Alpes as they forraied and harried the country all ouer assaied also to ouerrun their fields of Panick and Millet being now come vp and wel growne meaning thereby to destroy it but seeing the nature of that graine to be such as to rise againe and to check this iniury they set ploughs into it and turned all vnder furrow imagining by that means to spoil it for euer But see what insued therupon those fields thus misused in their conceit bare a twofold crop in proportion to other yeres yeelded so plentifull an haruest as that thereby the peisants aforesaid learned the deuise of turning corn in the blade into the ground which I suppose in those days when it new came vp they called Aratrare And this point of husbandry they put in practise when the corne beginnes to gather and shew the stem or straw to wit so soone as it hath put forth two or three leaues and no more Neither will I conceale from you another new deuise practised and inuented first not aboue three yeres past in the territory of Treuiers neer to Ferrara For at what time as their corn fields by reason of an extreme cold winter seemed to be frost-bitten and spoiled they sowed the same again in the month of March raking and scraping the vpper coat of the ground onely without more ado and neuer in their liues had they the like increase when haruest came Now as touching all other tillage and husbandry meet for the ground I will write thereof respectiuely to the seuerall kinds of corne CHAP. XXI ¶ Of the tillage and ordering of the ground THe fine Wheat Siligo the red bearded Wheat Far and the common Wheat Triticum Spelt or Zea generally called Seed and Barly when they be new sown would be wel clotted and couered first harrowed afterwards weeded at the last to the very root al at such seasons as shall be shewed hereafter And to say a truth euery one of these is a sufficient worke for one man to do in a day throughout an acre As for the Sarcling or second harrowing it doth much good to corn for by loosening the ground about it which by the winter cold was hardened clunged and as it were hide bound it is somwhat inlarged and at libertie against the Spring tide and full gladly admitteth and receiueth the benefit of the fresh and new come Sun-shine daies let him take heed who thus sarcles or rakes the ground that he neither vndermine the roots of the corn nor yet race or disquiet loosen them The common wheat Barley the Seed Zea i. Spelt and Beans would do the better if they were thus sarcled and the earth laied loose about them twice the grubbing vp of weeds by the root at what time as the corne is iointed namely when the vnprofitable and hurtful hearbs are plucked forth and rid out of the way much helpeth the root of the corn discharging it from noisom weeds procuring it more nutriment and seuering it apart from the other green sourd of common grasse Of all Pulse the cich pease asketh the same dressing and ordering as the red wheat Far. As for beans they passe not at all for weeding and why they ouergrow all the weeds about and choke them The Lupines require nought els to be done to them but only weeding Millet and Panick must be clotted and once harrowed vntill they be couered they call not for a second raking scraping about them for to loosen the earth and to lay fresh mould vnto them much lesse to be weeded As for Silicia or Siliqua i. Fenigreeke and Fasels i. Kidney-beans they care onely for clodding there an end Moreouer there be certain grounds so fertile that the corn comming vp so thick ranke in the blade ought then to be kembed as it were raked with a kind of harrow set with teeth or spikes of yron and yet for all this they must be grased or eaten down besides neuerthelesse with sheep Now we must remember that after such cattel hath gon ouer it with their teeth the same corne thus eaten downe must of necessity be sarcled and the earth lightly raked and raised vp fresh againe Howbeit in Bactriana Africke and Cyrene there needs no such hand at all for the climate is so good so kinde and beneficiall that none of all this paines is required for after the seed is once sowne they neuer visit it but once for all at nine months end at what time they returne to cut it down and lay it vpon their thrashing floores the reason is because the drought keepeth downe all weeds and the dewes that fall by night
grapes good for courriours 420. k Vine props and railes which be best 525. b Vine tendrils and burgens how to be ordered for the table 423. c. Vines afford most plants of all other trees 527. a Vine tree how to be graffed 520. h Vines draw into them the tast of herbes and plants growing neere vnto them 422. g Vineyard how to be bounded 529. b. how to be ordred with smallest expense ibid. f. ought to be exposed to the Sun 527. c. Vineyards Statanae 414. h Vinegre how it is made and the vses thereof 424 k Vinegre of Cypresse figs. 412. a Vinegre of Alexandrine figs. ibid. L. Vitellius stores his ferme with fig trees 445. a Vis maior what it is 599. a V L Vlysses ship turned into a rocke 79. d V N Vnedo the fruit of the Arbute tree 447. e V O Voluox a worme hurtfull to Vines 547. c Volta the name of a monster 26. k Vopisci who be so called 160. h Vortex the name of a stormie blast 25. b V R Vrchins of the sea 253. a Vrinum what kinde of addle egge 300. k V T Vtorus or loci in a woman what part 344. h V V Vulcans temple built by Romulus 495. a Vulturnus what wind 22. l Of Voices a discourse 353. a. b. c W A VVAgons and chariots who first made 188 l Walwort a weed naught for ground 508. g Walnuts emploied at weddings 445. e. and why ibid. Walnut trees brought out of Persia by commandement of kings 445. f. Walnut why called Persicon and Basilicon ibid. Walnut named in Greeke Caryon and why ibid. Walnut huskes and the young nuts how to be vsed 446. g Walnuts differ onely in the shell ibid. Walnut shels diuided in twaine ibid. Walnuts called Inglandes and why ibid. i Walnuts brought first into Italy by L. Vitellius ibid. k Walnut tree wood cracketh before it breaketh 492. m Water an element 2. l. the roundnesse thereof 31. e. the benefit it hath by the earth and the earth by it 32. h Water of what tast 449. a Waters fresh run aloft the sea and why 44. m Watering cherisheth corne and killeth grasse about Sulmo in Italy 544. m Water bringeth forth greater liuing creatures and more plentie than the earth 134. m Water verie materiall for corne fields 581. f ouerflowing corne fields as good as a weeding in some place 545. a Warden peares 439. d Wax made of all hearbs saue Dockes and Goosefoot 313. d W E Weauing whose deuise 188. i Weeding of corne 580. l Weeds choking corne and pulse 545. a Weights and measures whose deuise 188. l Weapons and armour whose inuention 189. a. b Wesps how to be kept from preserued fruits 441. f Wesps feed greedily vpon serpents 355. e Westerne wind Fauonius a husband to all plants and to certaine mares 471. d Wezando what it is 339. c W H Whales and Whirlepoles 235. b. c. as long as foure acres of land 235. c Wheat sold at Rome for one As by the Modius 551. b. c Wheat how it is spiked eared and ioynted 558. k Wheat of Italie best 559. e. other countries compared with ibid. Wheat of Bâ—…otia commended 559. e Wheat of Italie praised by Sophocles the Poet. 560. h Wheat esteemed by weight and so compared 560. h. i Wheat different in the straw or stalke 560. i Wheat of Thrace a three moneths corne ibid. m Wheat of Thrace a two moneths corne 561. a Wheat subiect to the mieldew 562. k Wheat of sundry kindes different in name 562. k Wheat what proportion it should yeeld in meale and floure 563. e. f. common Wheat Triticum exceeding fruitfull 564. m. the wonderfull and incredible encrease of wheat in Africke 565. a. Wheeles a kinde of fishes 236. g W I Wilding apples 438. m a wedded Wife turned to he a man and a husband and contrariwise 158. h Willowes of many sorts 484. l. their manifold vses in pearches trailes props and bindings ibid. red-Willowes good both to wind and bind 484. m Willowes fit for wicker workes ibid. as gainefull to the master as corne fields medowes and oliue rows 485. b. See more in Withies Wings of Bâ—…ts diuided into ioints 347. a Winds raigne in the region of the aire 19 c. how they arise and whence 21. c. their natures and obseruations 22. 23. c. Windpipe what it is 339. c the obseruation of winds good in husbandrie 608. i Winds who first distinguished 189. d Winds how they may be knowne distinctly one from another 608. g Wine a most pleasant liquor to be vsed inwardly 428. i of Wines 195 sorts 428. i Wine who first delaied with water 189. m Wine congealed into yee 425. d Wine lees maintaineth fire ibid. e Wine how it is knowne to decay ibid. b Wines how to be seasoned and medicined 425. a. b. how to be ordered prepared and seasoned 425. d Wines allowable for sacrifice and the seruice of the gods 423. c. Greeke wines reiected in sacrifice ibid. Wines when they grew in request at Rome 418. h Wines turne sower and recouer of themselues 423. b Wines reduced into 80 kindes 418. g of Wines foure principall colours 416. l Wine how to be tunned and kept 425. c. d Wine-cellers how to be ordered ibid. e Wine vessels how to be placed in the cellar ibid. Wine vessels how to be made and chosen 427. d drinking Wine fasting ibid. Wine of strange and wonderfull effects 422. l Wine causing women to be fruitfull ibid. procuring madnesse ibid. driuing women to slip their birth 422. m disabling for the act of generation ibid. Wines spiced and compound forbidden by Themison 422. k Wines of trees and shrubs ibid. h Wines of sundry hearbes and roots ibid. g Wine Phorinean 416. k Wine Cicibeliâ—…es ibid. l Wine Halyntium ibid. Wines sweet of diuerse sorts 417. a. b. c. d Wine Aigleuces 417. b Wine Dulce ibid. Wine Diachyton ibid. Wine Melitites 417. d. how it is made ibid. Wines alter according to the climat and soile where the Vines grow 415. b Wine spared among the Romanes 418. k. l. Forbidden in sacrifice ibid. h Women in Rome not allowed to drinke wine 418. k Women punished for drinking wine 418. k. l Wines aromatized 419. a Wines Greeke 419. f Greeke wine giuen in a congiarie by L. Lucullus at Rome 420. g. Wine of Chios prescribed for the Cardiaca passio 420. g left by Hortensius to the quantitie of 10000 barrels when he died ibid. Wines giuen in a congiarie by Iul. Caesar Dictatour 420. h Wines artificiall 420. i Wine Omphacium ibid. Wine Oenanthinum ibid. Wine Adynamon 420. l. how it is made ibid. the vse thereof ibid. Wine of Millet 420. l Date wine 420. m. how it is made ibid. Fig wine Sycites 421. a. wine of Lotus ibid. Wine of Carobs ibid. Wine Rhoites of Pomegranats ibid. of Gorneil or wild cherries ibid. of Medlers ibid. of Cervoises ibâ—…d of Mulberies ibid. of Pen-nuts ibid. Wine of Myrtles how it is made 421. b
foure deniers Roman The lint or nappie downe which linnen cloth beareth in manner of a soft cotton especially such as commeth of ship sailes that haue lien at sea is of great vse in Physicke The ashes also made thereof be counted a good Succedane of Spodium and for their efficacie may go for it Moreouer there is a kind of Poppies much sought after for blanching and bleaching of linnen clothes for being skoured therewith it is wonderfull how white and pure they will look yet for all the beautie that consisteth in that colour people are grown to this disorder vain enormity that they haue assaied to stain and die their linnen and naperie into other colours as well as their woollen cloth Which practise was first seen in the Armada or fleet of K. Alexander the Great vpon the great riuer Indus at what time as his captaines and Admiralls in a certaine skirmish that they made with the Indians changed the armes and ensignes of their ships wherat the inhabitants being vpon the shore and strond were astonied to see their sailes and streamers painted with diuers colours wauing in the wind Semblably the sailes of that ship were died purple wherein M. Antonius together with Cleopatra came to Actium and in which they fled both from thence and escaped And indeed heretofore a red purple banner erected on the top of the mast was the badge or ensigne of the royall Admirall ship but afterwards they began at Rome to incourtaine their Theatre with such vailes dyed in colours onely for shade an inuention deuised by Q. Catulus at what time as he dedicated the temple of the Capitoll In processe of time Lentulus Spinter by report was the first man that in the solemnity of the games and plaies Appollinate drew fine curtaines ouer the great Amphitheatre at Rome howbeit not long after Caesar Dictator caused the grand Forum or Common place at Rome to be couered all ouer with such rich Courtains yea and the high faire street called Sacra to bee hanged on both sides from his owne dwelling house to the very Capitoll cliffe which magnificent and sumptuous sight was more wondered at and seene with greater admiration than the braue shew and Tourney that he set out at the same time of Sword-plaiers at sharpe and to the vtterance Then followed Marcellus also the son of Octauia sister to the Emperour Augustus who in his own Aedileship and in the tenth Consulship of his vncle Augustus beforesaid vpon the Calends or first day of August that yeare caused the Romane Forum to be drawne all ouer and shadowed with the like courtains although he represented at that time no solemnitie at all of games and plaies and this he did only that they who came to plead at the barre might stand vnder shade more wholesomely Lord what a change was here at Rome since the daies of Cato the Censor who thought it meet and requisit yea and gaue aduise that the said Forum or great Hal of common Pleas should be paued and laid all ouer with caltraps vnder foot To keep our Lawyers and busie pleaders from thence Of late daies there were seene in the Amphitheatres of Emperour Nero trauerses drawne vpon cords and ropes with fine courtains of blew azure colour like the skie and those beset with stars where the very floore of the ground vnder mens feet was coloured red And wherefore serue these in cloister courts and walks now but to keepe the mosse forsooth vpon the ground or rather the fine fret-worke in pauements from sun-burning But for all these paintings and rich dyes yet when all is done the white linnen held the own still was highly esteemed aboue al colors And no doubt in great price such cloth was in the time of the Trojan war and in good faith I see no reason why it should not be as well in bloudy battails as at broken shipwracks howbeit Homer testifies that few there were who went to the wars with linnen habergeons or curets but it should seem that the Poet as the better learned expositors doe terpret meant That ship-tackling sailes cords and ropes were made of this Line speaking as he doth of Sparta whereby he vnderstandeth indeed Sata i. cordage of sowne Line or garden Flaxe CHAP. II. ¶ The nature of Spart or Spanish broome the manner of handling and dressing it when it was first vsed in cordage what Plants there be that liue and grow without root SPart verily was not in vse and request for many hundred yeares after neither was it knowne before the first voiage and expedition that the Carthaginians made in warlike manner into Spaine An herb this is also growing of it selfe without setting or sowing which indeed it cannot abide Full well and properly it might be called the rush of a dry and leane ground and a very defect or imperfection appropriate to that countrey alone of Spaine for to say a truth it is the fault and badnesse of the soile in the highest degree that breedeth it and where it commeth vp nothing else can be sowed and set or will grow at all That in Affricke or Barbary is very small and good for nothing In the territory of new Carthage or Cartagena which is in the higher part of Spaine it groweth much howbeit all that tract is not giuen to breed it but look where it commeth vp you shall see whole mountaines all ouer-spread and couered with it Hereof the rusticall peasants make their mattraces and beds this is their fewel wherewith they keep fires of it they make their torches and links to giue them light with it they are commonmonly shod and the poore sheepheards cloath themselues therewith Howbeit hurtfull is this plant to cattell vnlesse it be the tender tops and crops of the branches which they may brouse and eat without harme For other vses when the Spaniards would plucke it vp they haue much adoe withall and a great toile about it for their legs must be wel booted as it were with griues their hands couered with thick hedging-gloues as gantlets and being thus armed at all points yet they lie tugging at it pulling writhing and wresting the same with hooks and crooks either of bone or wood vntill they haue their will of it Come they about this work in winter time it is in manner vnpossible to get it vp but from the Ides i. the mids of May vnto mid-Iune it is very tractable for this is the time and season when it is ripe and then commonly they gather it for their ordinary vses before named Being once pulled and sorted the good from the bad it is made vp into bundles and faggots with the life still in it and so piled on a heap for the first two daies the third day they vnbind it lay it loose and scattering in the Sun for to be dried which done they make it vp againe into fagots and so bring it in and lay it vp within house After all this they steep it
especially I say if it thunder much Secondly they wil not last aboue one yere Item The tenderest daintiest be those that breed in the Sprinâ—… and that indeed is the best time for them Item In some countries the ouerflow of riuers engender Mushromes and namely at Mitylene where by report they will not otherwise grow but vpon floten grounds and namely in such places whither the water hath brought from Tiara a certain vegetatiue seed to breed them And verily That Tiara is wonderfully stored replenished with such As touching the Truffles or Mushroms of Asia the most excellent of all others be neer vnto Lampsacum and Alopeconnesus but the best that Greece yeeldeth are in the territorie about the citie Elis. In this Toad-stoole or Mushrome kind are those flat Fusses and Puffes to be reckoned which the Greekes name Pezitae as they haue no root at all so they be altogether without either stele or taile In the next place to these I must needs speake of the most noble and famous plant Laserpitium which the Greeks name Silphium discouered and found first in the abouesaid prouince of Barbarie Cyrenaica The juice or liquor drawne out of this hearb they cal Laser a drug so magnified of such singularitie and vse in Physicke especially that it was sold by weight and a dram thereof cost commonly Romane denier For these many yeares of late there is none of this plant to be found in that country of Cyrenaica beforesaid for that the Publicans and Farmers of the pastures and grounds there vnder the people of Rome doe put in their cattell among these plants and eat al downe by that means finding thereby a greater gaine or commodity than by letting them stand for the juice or liquor aforesaid One only stalk or stem thereof hath bin found in our days which was sent vnto Emperor Nero as a present for a great nouelty If it chance at any time that either sheepe or goat which commonly bite neer to the ground do light vpon a yong plant thereof newly peeping forth and not euident to be seene you shall know it by these signes The sheepe presently so soone as she hath tasted it will drop asleep and the goat fal a neesing For these many yeres the merchants haue brought vs into Italy no other Laser than that which grows abundantly in Persis or Media and in Armenia but it is far inferior to this of Cyrenaica and commeth short of it for goodnes And this that we haue is no better than it should be for they sophisticate and corrupt it with gum with Sagapeum or else with bruised Beans In regard of which scarsity I canot chuse but remember that which befell at Rome in that yere wherin C. Valerius and M. Herennius were consuls when by great good fortune there was brought from Cyrenae thirtie pound weight of the best Laser and set abroad to be seene in open place of all commers As also I may not let passe another occurrent namely how Caesar Dictatour at the beginning of the ciuile war tooke forth openly out of the chamber of the citie with other treasure both of gold and siluer an hundred and eleuen pounds of the best Laser Moreouer this one thing more I canot forget the best and most renowned Greeke Authors haue left in writing That 7 years before the foundation of the citie Cyrenae which was built 143 yeres after our citie of Rome this plant Laserpitium that beareth the said Laser was engendered at one instant by occasion of a certain thicke grosse and black shewer of raine in manner of pitch which sodainely fell and drenched the ground about the hortyards or gardens of the Hesperides the greater Syrtis The which rain was effectual and left the strength thereof for the compasse of foure thousand stadia within Affricke or Barbarie They affirme moreouer That the herb Laserpitium there growing is of so sauage and churlish a nature that it canot abide any culture or good ordering by mans hand but if one should goe about to tend and cherish it it would rather chuse to be gon into the desart and vnpeopled parts of the countrey or else winder away and die Moreouer they set downe this description of it That it hath many roots and those bigge and thicke a stemme or stalke resembling the hearb Sagapeum or Fennell-geant howbeit not altogether so great the leaues of this plant which they termed by the name of Maspetum come very near in all respects to those of Smallach or Persely As touching the seed that it beareth flat and thin it is in maner of leaues but the leafe it selfe therof sheddeth in the Spring time The cattell that vse to feed thereupon and whereof they be very greedy first fall a scouring but afterwards when they be clensed and rid of il humors begin to wax fat and their flesh by this means becommeth wonderfull sweet and pleasant They report moreouer that after the leaues be fallen men also were wont in old time to eat the stem or stalk thereof either rosted and baked vnder the cindres or else boiled and sodden in water and their bodies likewise for the first 40 daies ensuing did nothing but purge til they were cleared of al diseases breeding by occasion of any Cacochymie or collection of ill humours within them Now concerning the juice or soueraigne liquor before said the manner was to draw it after two sorts to wit by scarification either out of the root or forth of the stem and maister stalke And hereof it came to haue two names Rhizias and Caulias But the later of these two to wit that which came of the stem was counted the worst fubiect to putrifaction and sold cheaper than the other To come now to the root of Laserpitium it hath a blacke rind or barke vpon it wherewith the merchants vse to sophisticat many of their drugs As for the manner of dressing and ordering the juice thereof it was no sooner drawne but they put it into certaine vessels together with brans among then euer and anone they plied it with stirring and shogging vntil it had lost the cruditie and verdure thereof and by that working came to the maturity and perfection for if it were not thus well followed soon would it catch a vinew begin to putrifie and so continue but a while In this worke of theirs they had an eye vnto the color how it changed for when they perceiued it to be high that they saw it once drie and haue don sweating breathing out the raw humidity and vapor within then they knew therby that it was wrought sufficiently and come to the full ripenesse Others there be who say that the root of Laserpitium beareth more than a cubit in bignesse and that out of it there swelleth an excresence aboue the ground out of which there was wont by way of incision to issue forth a certaine white juice in manner of milke vpon which grew the stalke or
the root that being thus nipped and lipped as it were they might nourish the body of the plant not distract and suck away the humor which is the nutriment of the whole This is notable and wonderfull in the Porret that ioying liking as it doth in muck and fat ground yet it cannot abide watery places Howbeit in these we must be ruled by the property of the ground which is al in all the principal leeks be in Egypt the next are those of Ortia Aricia Of the cut Porret or vnset Leeks be two kinds the one runneth mightily into a green blade and the leafe thereof hath very conspicuous euident cuts this is that the Apothecaries vse so much the other hath a more pleasant and yellowish leafe and the same rounder the gashes or cuts wherof are smaller not so apparent to the eie The voice goeth generally it is reported That Mâ—…la a knight or gentleman of Rome by his place Procuratour vnder Tiberius the Emperor being for some misgouernment in that office brought into question and accused thereupon sent for peremptorily to make his personal apparance dispairing vtterly of life tooke the weight of three Roman siluer deniers in the iuice of Leeks and dranke it off whereupon he died incontinently without any paine or torment at all It is commonly said That if a man take a greater dose or receit thereof it will do no harm nor any danger will insue thereupon As touching Garlick it is held for certain That it is a soueraigne medicine for many griefs and maladies especially such as are incident to the country peasants and rusticall people who hold it to be as good as a Treacle The Garlike head is couered and clad all ouer with certaine very fine and thin pellicles or membranes which may be parted and diuided one from another vnder which you shall see it compact and ioined as it were together of many cloues in maner of kernels and those also inclosed each one apart within their seuerall skins Of a sharp and biting tast it is The more keen and eager also you shall find it as it hath more of those cloues afore said in one head The aire that comes from it is as offensiue as that of the onion maketh their breath as strong who eat it howbeit sodden if it be it is euery way harmles the difference and diuersity of Garlick ariseth first from the circumstance of the time whereby you shall see a kind of hasty Garlick that in 60 daies will be ripe and come to perfection then in quantity for some grow bigger in the head than other And of this sort is that which wee call in Latine Vlpicum and the Greeks some the Cyprian Garlick others Aphroscorodon so much commended in Africke that it is held for the most principall dish of meat that a Husbandman of the countrey can eat and bigger it is than our common Garlick Being brused and braied in a morter together with oile and vineger it is wonderfull to see what a fome and froth will arise therof and to what an height it wil swell thereby Some gardeners there are who forbid to set either this Vlpicum or the common Garlick in any euen flat and leuell bed but to put them in little hillocks in maner of hop hils raised in forme of castles or turrets three foot distant one fromanother Now wheresoeuer these cloues be set in hill or plain they ought to lie foure finâ—…rsbreadth a sunder And this would not be forgotten That so soon as they shew three leaues once they would be sarcled and the mould raised from about them for the oftner they be thus serued and laid bare the fairer heads they will bring When they begin to grow big and come to their full maturity the stalks that they run vp vnto must be troden downe and moulded ouer and this is to preuent that they should not be ouer-rank in blade In cold countries it is thought better and more profitable to set them during the spring than at the fall of the leafe Moreouer if you would haue Garlicke Onions and such like not to smel strong and stink so as they do the common opinion rule is that they should not be set or sown but when the moon is vnder the earth nor yet be gathered and taken vp but in her coniunction with the Sun which is the change But Menander a Greeke writer saith That there needs none of all these ceremonies for the matter for if a man would not haue his breath stink with eating of Garlick let him do no more quoth he but take a Beet root rosted in the embers and eat it after it shall extinguish that hot and strong sauor and cause the breath to continue sweet There be who thinke that the fittest time of setting both the common Garlick also the greater kind named Vlpicum is between the two set and ordinary feasts Compitalia Saturnalia As for the vulgar Garlick it commeth vp also of seed but slowly and late it will be first ere it attaine to the full proofe for the first yere it getteth a head no thicker than Leeks the next yeare after it begins to diuide into cloues and in the third it is consummate and grown to perfection and such vnset Garlick some are of opinion to be fairer and better than the rest Howbeit Garlicke indeed should not be suffered to bol and run vp to seed and therfore the blade therof ought to be wreathed that it may gather more and stronger in the head and that the cloues afterwards might be set in stead of seed for increase Now if a man haue a desire that both Garlick and Onions may be kept long for his prouision their heads must be dipped and wel plunged in salt water warm by this means indeed last they will longer without spurting and be better for any vse wee shall put them to saue only to be set and replanted in the ground for barren will they be and neuer prosper And yet diuers there are who thinke it sufficient at the first to hang them in the smoke ouer quick and burning coles as being persuaded that this will serue wel enough to keep them from growing for certaine it is that both Garlicke and Onions will put foorth blade aboue ground and when they haue so done come to nought themselues as hauing spent all their substance and vertue Some are of this mind that the best preseruing of Garlick as well as of Onions is within chaffe There is a kind of Garlicke growing wild in the fields of the own accord which they call in Latine Alum i. Crow Garlicke which being boiled that it should not grow they commonly throw forth in corn fields for the shrewd and vnhappy foules which lie vpon the lands and eat vp the seed new sown for presently as any of those birds tast thereof they wil be so drunke and astonied therewith that a man may
defended against the frost and cold weather also during the spring insuing to be opened at the root sarcled and well weeded In the third yeare by his rule they ought to be burned in the spring time and the sooner that the ground is thus burned the better wil they come vp again and in greater plenty which is the cause that they like and prosper best in plots set with Canes and Reeds for such desire to be burnt betimes in the yere Moreouer he giueth another precept that they must not be sarcled nor haue the earth opened laid hollow about them before their buds or tops be aboue ground to be seen for feare least in the sarcling the roots take harm thereby either by rasing or shaking them vntill they be loose From which time forward if a man would gather any of the said buds or yong springs for salad or other vse they ought to be plucked and slipped from the root for otherwise if they be broken and knapt off in the mids the root wil presently put forth many vnprofitable sprouts which wil suck away all the heart and kill it in the end Sliue and pluck it you may in manner aforesaid vntil it spindle and run to seed which commonly beginneth to be ripe in the Spring then it must be set on fire as is before said and then once again so soon as new buds and tendrons appeare aboue ground from the root they must be sarcled bared and dunged afresh Now after it hath grown in this manner nine yeres so as by this time it is waxen old the roots must be taken vp and then replanted again in a piece of ground well digged and as throughly dunged Then I say ought the smal roots called Spongiae in Latine to be set again a foot distant one from another Furthermore Cato ordaineth expressely by name That sheeps dung should be vsed for that purpose because any other would breed store of weeds And verily there was neuer knowne any other thing practised or assaied afterwards to more gain and benefit about this Garden-herb vnlesse it were this That about the Ides or mids of February some haue let the seeds of Sperage lie well soked in dung and then sowed the same by heaps in little trenches or holes made for the purpose after which when the roots are wouen and knit one within another into a knot the spurns shooting from them they plant after the Aequinox in Autumne following a foot asunder by which means they wil continue bearing plenteously for ten yeres together For to breed and maintaine these garden Sperages there is no better soile than the gardens of Rauenna from whence we haue the fairest of all other As for the herb named in Latine Corruda I haue written heretofore of it and I vnderstand thereby the wild Sperage which the Greekes call Orminum and Myacanthon howbeit there be who giue it other names Finally I reade of certaine Sperages which will engender and grow of Rams hornes beaten or stamped and then put into the ground A man would thinke that I had discoursed already of all such Garden herbes as were of any price and regard but that there remaineth one thing yet behind whereof the greatest gaine of all other is raised and yet me thinks I cannot write thereof but be abashed to range it amongst the good herbs of the garden and that forsooth is our Thistle howbeit this is certaine to the shame be it spoken of our wanton and wasting gluttons that the Thistles about Carthage the great Corduba especially cost vs ordinarily six thousand thousand Sesterces to speak within compasse See how vaine and prodigal we be to bring into our kitchin and serue vp at our table the monstruosities of other nations and cannot forbeare so much as these Thistles which the very asses and other fourfooted beasts haue wit enough to auoid refuse for pricking their lips and muzzles Well since they be grown into so great request I must not ouer-passe the gardinage to them belonging and namely how they be ordered two maner of waies to wit replanted of yong sets or roots in Autumn and sowed of seed before the nones of March. As for the plants beforesaid they ought to be slipped from it and set before the Ides or mids of Nouember in any hand orels if the ground be cold we must stay vntil February and then be doing with them about the rising of the Western wind Fauonius Manured ywis it ought to be dunged I would not els so faire and goodly an herbe it is and so forsooth and it please you they prosper the better and come on trimly They are condite also and preserued in vineger or else all were mard in delicate liâ—…e honey seasoned also and bespiced I may say to you with the costly root of the plant Laser-woort yea and with Cumin because wee would not be a day without Thistles but haue them as an ordinary dish all the yeare long As for the rest of Garden-herbs behind they need no long discourse but a light running ouer them may serue well enough First and foremost men say That the best sowing of Basil is at the feast Palilia but some are of mind that Autumne is as good and they that would haue it done in winter giue order to infuse and soke the seed first in vineger Rocket also and garden Cresses are not dainty to grow but be it winter or Summer they will soon come vp prosper at al times But Rocket of the twain stands more at defiance with winter and scorns al his frowning looks and cold weather as being of a contrary nature to Lecture for it stirreth vp fleshly lust and therfore commonly it is ioined with Lecture in sallads both are eaten together that the exceeding heat of the one mixt with the extreme coldnes of the other might make a good mariage and temperature Cresses tooke the name in Latine Nasturtium a narium tormento as a man would say Nose-wring because it will make one writh and shrink vp his nosthrils which is the reason that the word is grown into a prouerb when we would signifie a thing which will put life into one that is dull and vnlusty In Arabia the Cresses by report proue to a wonderful bignesse Rue also is sowed vsually in February when the Western wind Fauonius bloweth and soon after the Aequinox in Autumne It cannot away with winter for it brooketh not cold or rain nor moist ground neither will it abide muck it liketh well to grow in dry places and such as lie faire vpon the Sun-shine but a clay ground which is good for bricke and tile that is alone for it and best of all other it delighteth in ashes and therewith is it fed and nourished insomuch as they vse to blend ashes the seed together for to keep away the canker worm and such like Certes we find that in old time Rue was in some great account and especiall
rind thereof incorporat with wax and rosin healeth all maner of scales within â—…o daies The same boiled and applied accordingly cureth the accidents befalling to the cods and genetoirs The very perfume thereof coloreth the haire of the head black and the suffumigation fetcheth downe the dead infant out of the mothers belly It is giuen inwardly in drinke for the infirmitie of the kidnies bladder precordial parts how beit an enemy it is vnto the head and sinews A decoction or bathe thereof if a woman sit in it staieth the immoderat fluxe both of Matrice and belly Likewise the ashes taken in white wine are singular for the pains and torments of the collick as also a collution therewith is as effectuall to cure the fal of the Vvula and other defects incident to that part CHAP. VI. ¶ The medicin able vertues considered in the floures leaues fruit boughes branches bark wood iuice root and ashes of many trees of seuerall kinds IT remaineth now to decipher the manifold medicines which apples such like fruits tender skinned do affoord according to the variety of trees which bring them forth Of which thus much in generall is to be noted That all fruits which ripen in the Spring while they be soure and harsh be enemies to the stomack they trouble the belly disquiet the guts and bladder and withall be offen siue to the sinews but if they be ful ripe or sodden they are the better But to grow vnto particulars Quinces if they be boiled baked or rosted are sweeter and more pleasant to the tast than raw Yet being throughly ripe vpon the tree although they be eaten raw they are good for those that spit and reach bloud and are diseased with the bloudy flix such also as vpon the violent motion of vnbridled cholerick humors void vpward and downward as also for them who be subiect to continual loosnesse of the belly occasioned by the feeblenes of the stomack Being once boiled or baked they are not of the same operation for they lose therby that astringent vertue which their iuice had In hot and sharp feuers they serue for to be applied to the brest And yet if they be sodden in rain water they will do well in those cases aboue recited but for the pain of the stomack it matters not whether they be raw sodden or baked so they be reduced into the form of a cerot laid too Their down or mossinesse which they beare if it be boiled in wine and reduced into a liniment with wax healeth carbuncles And the same maketh the haire to grow again in bald places occasioned by some disease Raw Quinces condited and preserued in hony do stir the belly moue to siege They impart vnto the hony a pleasant tast whereby it is more familiar and agreeable to the stomack But such as being parboiled before are then kept and confited in honey be thought good for the stomacke in the opinion of some who ordaine and prescribe to stamp them first and then to take them in manner of a meat or consâ—…ue beeing incorporaâ—… with Rose leaues boyled for the infirmities of the Stomacke The juice of raw Quinces is a soueraigne remedy for the swoln spleen the dropsie and difficulty of taking breath when the patient cannot draw his wind but vpright The same is good for the accidents of the breasts or paps for the piles and swelling veines The floure or blossom of the Quince as well green and fresh gathered as drie is held to be good for the inflammation of the eies the reaching and spitting of bloud and the immoderat flux of womens monthly terms There is a mild juice drawn also from these floures stamped with sweet wine which is singular for the flux proceeding from the stomack and for the infirmities of the liuer Moreouer the decoction of them is excellent to soment either the matrice when it beareth down out of the body or the gut Longaon in case it hang forth Of Quinces also there is made a soueraigne oile which is commonly called Melinum but such Quinces must not grow in any moist tract but come from a sound and dry ground which is the reason that the best Quinces for this purpose be those that are brought out of Sicily The smaller Pear Quinces called Struthia are not so good although they be of the race of Pome Quinces The root of the Quince tree tied fast vnto the Scrophules or Kings-euill cureth the said disease but this ceremony must be first obserued That in the taking vp of the said root there be a circle made round about it vpon the earth with the left hand and the party who gathereth it is to say What root he is about to gather and to name the Patient for whom he gathereth it and then as I said it doth the deed surely The Pome-Paradise or hony Apples called Melimela and other fruits of like sweetnesse do open the stomacke and loosen the belly they set the body in a heat and cause thirstinesse but offensiue they be not to the sinews The round Apples bind the belly stay vomits and prouoke vrine Wildings or Crabs are like in operation to the fruits that be eaten soure in the Spring and they procure costiuenesse And verily for this purpose serue all fruits that be vnripe As touching Citrons either their substance or their graines and seed within taken in wine are a counterpoison A collution made either with the water of their decoction or their juice pressed from them is singular to wash the mouth for a sweet breath Physitians giue counsell to women with child for to eat the seed of Citrons namely when their stomackes stand to coles chalk and such like stuffe but for the infirmity of the stomack they prescribe to take Citrons in substance howbeit hardly are they to be chewed but with vineger As for Pomgranats needlesse altogether it were now to iterate and rehearse the nine kinds thereof Sweet Pomgranats all the sort of them which by another name we called Apyrena are counted hurtfull to the stomack they ingender ventosities and be offensiue to the teeth and gums But such as in pleasant tast are next vnto them which we called Vinosa hauing smal kernels within are taken and found by experience to be somwhat more wholsom they do stay the belly comfort and fortifie the stomack so they be eaten moderatly and neuer to satisfie the appetite to the full yet some there be who forbid sick persons once to tast of these last named yea and in no hand wil allow any Pomgranats at all to be eaten in a feuer forasmuch as neither their juice and liquor nor the carnous pulp of their grains is good for the patient In like maner they giue a charge and caueat not to vse them in vomits nor in the rising of choler Certes Nature hath shewed her admirable worke in this fruit for at the very first opening of the rind she presently maketh shew of
muskles and sinews that he became paralyticke in that part and euer after vnto his dying day was rid as well of all sence as of the paine of the gout But say that in these cases it might be tollerable to set down in their books some poisons what reason nay what leaue had those Greeks to shew the means how the brains and vnderstanding of men should be intoxicat and troubled what colour and pretence had they to set downe medicines and receits to cause women to slip the vntimely fruit of their womb and a thousand such like casts deuises that may be practised by herbs of their penning for mine owne part I am not for them that would send the conception out of the body vnnaturally before the due time they shall learne no such receits of me neither will I teach any how to temper spice an amatorious cup to draw either man or woman into loue it is no part of my profession For wel I remember that Lucullus a most braue Generall and a captain of great execution lost his life by such a loue potion Much lesse then shall ye haue me to write of Magick witch-craft charmes inchantments and sorceries vnlesse it be to giue warning that folk should not meddle with them or to disproue those courses for their vanities and principally to giue an Item how little trust and assurance there is to be had in such trumpery It sufficeth me and contenteth my mind yea and I think that I haue done wel for mankind in recording those herbs which be good and wholsome found out by men of wit and learning for the benefit of posterity CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Moly and Dodecatheos of Poeony otherwise called Pentorobus or Glycyside Of Panaces Asclepium Heraclium and Chironium Of Panaces Centarium or Pharnaceum Of Heraclium Siderium Of Henbane called Hyoscyamus Apollinaris or Altercangenus HOmer is of opinion That the principall and soueraigne hearb of all others is Moly so called as he thinketh by the gods themselues The inuention or finding of this hearbe hee ascribeth vnto Mercury and sheweth that it is singular against the mightiest witcheraft inchantments that be Some say that this herb Moly euen according to Homers description with a round and black bulbous root to the bignesse of an onion and with a leafe or blade like that of Squilla groweth at this day about the riuer or lake Peneus and vpon the mountain Cylleum in Arcadia also that it is hard to be digged out of the ground The Grecian Simplists describe this Moly with a yellow floure wheras Homer hath written that it is white I met with one physitian a skilful Herbarist who affirmed vnto me That this Moly grew in Italy also and in verie truth he brought and shewed me a plant which came out of Campaine about the digging vp whereof among hard and stony rocks he had bin certain daies but get he could not the entire root whole and sound but was forced to break it off and yet the root which he shewed mee was thirtie foot long Next vnto Moly in account and reputation is that plant which they call Dodecatheos for that it doth represent comprehend the maiesty of all the chiefe gods They say if it be drunk in water it is a soueraign medicine for al maladies Seuen leaues it hath resembling very much those of Lectuce and the same spring from a yellow root As touching Paeony it is one of the first herbs that were euer known and brought to light as may appeare by the author or inuentor thereof whose name it beareth still Some call it Pentorobos others Glycyside where by the way I am to aduertise the Reader of the difficulty in the knowledge of herbs by their names considering that the same herbe hath in sundry places diuers appellations But to proceed forward with our Paeony it groweth among bleake and shady mountains rising vp with a stem between the leaues 4 fingers high and bearing in the top 4 or 5 heads fashioned somwhat like to Filberds within which there is plenty of seed both red and black This herb is good against the fantasticall illusions of the Fauni which appeare in sleep It is said that this herb must be gathered in the night season for if the Rainbird woodpeck or Hickway called Picus Martius should chance to spie it gathered he would flie in the face and be ready to peck out the eies of him or her that had it The herb Panace promiseth by the very name a remedy of all diseases A number there be of herbs so called and all ascribed to some god or other for the inuention of them for one of them hath the addition of Asclepion for that Aesculapius had a daughter named also Panacea As touching the concret juice named Opopanax it is drawn from the root of this plant beeing of the Ferula or Fennell kind such as I haue heretofore shewed by way of incision the which root hath a thick rind and of a saltish sauor When the root is pulled out of the ground there is a religious ceremony obserued to fil vp the hole again with all sorts of corn as it were in satisfaction to the earth for the violence offered in tearing it vp As for the said juice Opopanax where and how it should be made and which is the best kind therof and not sophisticat I haue declared already in my Treatise of forrain and strange plants That which is brought out of Macedony they cal Bucosicum because the Neat-heards of the country mark when the liquor breakes forth and runneth out of it selfe and so receiue and gather it from the plant this wil not last but of all the rest soonest loseth the force Moreouer in all sorts of it that is rejected principally which is black and soft for these be markes to know that it is corrupted and sophisticate with wax A second kind there is of Panaces which they cal Heraclium the inuention of the vertues and properties whereof is attributed vnto Hercules Some there be who call it Origanum Heracleaticum the wild because it is like to Origan wherof I haue heretofore written but the root of this Panaces is good for nothing A third kind of Panaces took the name of Chiron the Centaur who was the first that gaue intelligence of the herbe and the vertues thereof The leafe is like vnto the Dock but that it is bigger and more hairy the floure is of a golden yellow color the root but small it loueth to grow in rich fat and battle grounds The floure of this Panaces is most effectual in Physick in which regard there is more vse and profit thereof than of all the former kindes A fourth Panaces there is besides found out also by the same Chiron whereupon it hath the denomination of Centaureum called also it is Pharnaceum the occasion of this two fold name is this because there is some controuersie in the first inuention thereof
drink the same with salt and hony mixed therwith but the said decoction if it be made with an hogs foot with a hen capon or cock boiled withal is the wholsomer Some Physitians were of opinion That for to purge the body both Mercuries as wel the male as the female are to be giuen either boiled alone by themselues or els with Mallows they clense the brest parts and euacuat choler but they hurt the stomacke Touching all the other properties of Mercury I will write in place conuenient As Chiron the Centaure found out the medicinable vertues of certaine herbes so we are beholden to his scholler Achilles for one which is singular to heale wounds and of his name is called Achilleos This is that wound-herb wherewith by report he cured prince Telephus Some haue thought that hee deuised first the rust of brasse or verdegreece which is so excellent for salues and plasters therfore you shall see Achilles commonly painted scraping off the rust of his speare head with his sword into the wound of the said Telephus Others say that he tooke both the said rust or verdegreece and also the herb Achilleos to worke his cure Some would haue this Achillea to be Panaces Heracleon and others Sideritis we in Latine call it Millefolia An herb it is growing with a stalk or stem to the height of a cubit spreading into many branches clad from the very root vp to the top with leaues smaller than those of Fenell Others confesse indeed that this herb is singular good for wounds but the true Achilleos say they hath a blewish stalk a foot high no more bare and naked without any branches at all howbeit finely deckt and garnished on euery side with round leaues standing one by one in excellent order and making a faire sight There be again who describe it with a foursquare stem bearing heads in the top in manner of Horehound and leaued like vnto an Oke And this they say is of that efficacy that it wil conglutinat vnite sinews again if they were cut quite a sunder Moreouer you shall haue some who take it for Achillea that kinde of Sideritis growing vpon mud walls which if it be brused or stamped yeeldeth a stinking sent Moreouer there is another going vnder the name Achilleos like to this last described but that the leaues be whiter and fattier the little stalks or sprigs more tender it groweth in vineyards Last of al there is one more called Achilleos which riseth vp to the height of 2 cubits bearing pretty fine slender branches and those three square leaues resembling Fearn hanging by a long stele the seed is much like to that of the Beet In one word they be al of them most excellent for healing wounds And as for that especially which hath the largest leaues our countrimen in Latine haue called it Scopa Regia And the same is holden to be good for to heale the Squinancy or Gargle in swine In the same age wherin Achilles liued prince Teucer also gaue the first name and credit to one speciall herb called after him Teucrion which some nominat Hemionium this plant putteth forth little stalks in maner of rushes or bents and spreadeth low the leaues be small it loueth to grow in rough and vntoiled places a hard and vnpleasant sauor it hath in tast it neuer floureth and seed it hath none Soueraigne it is for the swolne and hard spleene the knowledge of which property came by this occasion as it is credibly and constantly reported It fortuned on a time when the inwards of a beast killed for sacrifice were cast vpon the ground where this herb grew it took hold of the spleen or milt and claue fast vnto it so as in the end it was seen to haue consumed and wasted it clean hereupon some there be that call it Splenion i. Spleenwort and there goeth a common speech of it That if swine doe eat the root of this herbe they shall be found without a milt when they are opened Some there be who take for Teucrium and by that name do call another herb full of branches in manner of hyssop leafed like vnto beans and they giue order that it should be gathered whiles it is in floure as if they made no doubt but that it would floure The best kind of this herb they hold to be that which commeth from the mountains of Cilicia and Pisidia Who hath not heard of Melampus that famous diuinor and prophet he it was of whom one of the Ellebores tooke the name and was called Melampodion and yet some therebe who attribute the finding of that herb vnto a shepheard or heardman of that name who obseruing wel that his she goats feeding therupon fell a scouring gaue their milk vnto the daughters of king Proetus whereby they were cured of their furious melancholy and brought again to their right wits This herb then being of so excellent operation it shall not be amisse to discourse at once of all the kinds of Ellebore whereof this maketh one And to begin withal two principal sorts there be of it namely the white and the black which distinction of colour most writers would haue to be meant and vnderstood of the roots only and no part else others there be who would haue the root of the blacke Ellebore to be fashioned like vnto those of the Plane-tree but that they be smaller and of a more darke duskish green diuided also into more jags and cuts but those of the white Ellebore to resemble the yong Beet new appearing aboue the ground saue onely that they be of a more blackish colour and along the back part of their concauitie inclining to red Both the one and the other bringeth forth a stalke in fashion like the Ferula or Fenel-geant a span or good hand-breadth high and the same consisteth of certain tunicles or skins folded one within another in manner of bulbous plants rising from the like root and the said root is full of strings or fringes as is the head of an onion The blacke Ellebore is a very poison to horses kine oxen and swine for it killeth them and therefore naturally these beasts beware how they eat of it whereas confidently they feed vpon the white The right season of gathering the Ellebores is in haruest time Great store thereof groweth vpon the hill Oeta but the best is that which is found in one only place therof neere about Pyra The black Ellebore commeth vp euery where but the best is in Helicon a mountaine much renowned and praised for other herbs beside it wherewith it is well furnished As touching the white that of the mount Oeta is counted the principall in a second degree is the white Ellebore of Pontus in the third place is to be ranged that which commeth from Elaea which they say groweth among vines in the fourth and last place for goodnesse is that of the mount Pernassus which is sophisticated with the Ellebore of
weight of three oboli in one cyath of old wine make a pessarie of Veruain incorporat with fresh hogs lard and applie Calues snout otherwise called Snap-dragon with oile rosat and hony she shall haue ease and be cured speedily Semblably the root of Nenuphar especially that which groweth in Phessalie applied vnto the naturall parts of women easeth the paines thereof and if it be drunke in grosse red wine it staieth their shifts or immoderat flux of the moneths Contrariwise the Sow-bread root both taken in drinke and also outwardly vsed prouoketh the same if they do stay vpon a woman Also a decoction thereof if a women do sit therein helpeth the accidents of the bladder Cissanthemos taken in drinke sendeth out the after birth and healeth the maladies of the matrice The vpper root of the Flag or Glader drunke in vineger to the weight of one dramme bringeth women to the ordinary course of their fleures The fume of Harstrang burnt fetcheth women againe when they lie as it were strangled and dead in a fit of the mother Flea-wort taken to the weight of a dram in three cyaths of honied water prouoketh their monthly terms but especially it maketh them soluble if they were costiue The seed of Mandragoras cleanseth the matrice if a woman take it in her drinke the juice whereof applied to the naturall parts prouoketh her moneths and fetcheth away the dead child within her body Againe the seed taken with wine and brimstone staieth the immoderat flux of the monethly terms Crowfoot either drunk or eaten with meat knitteth the belly and stoppeth a lask an herb otherwise as I haue said of a causticke and burning nature if it be vsed raw but certainly beeing boyled with salt oyle and cumine a commendable meat Yellow Carots taken in drinke doe exclude the after birth and prouoke womens fleurs with exceeding great facilitie A perfume of Ladanum setteth streight the matrice when it is out of the right place and turned to a side and for the paine and exulceration thereof it is of great force either applied outwardly or iniected inwardly Scammonie either in drink or cataplasm sendeth forth of the body the dead fruit of the wombe Both kinds of S. Iohns woort stirreth the issue of womens fleurs onely by an outward application But aboue all in the judgement of Hippocrates Crithmos passeth for that if either the seed or the root be taken in wine As for the pill or rind thereof it fetcheth away the after birth also and drunk in water it helpeth the suffocation occasioned by the rising of the mother The root of Geranium likewise more particularly is a very conuenient remedy for to bring away the after-birth and to cure the inflammation of the matrice Horsetaile hath a secret vertue to mundifie the naturall parts of women either drunke or applied outwardly Knot-grasse giuen in drinke staieth the inordinate and excessiue voidance of the fleurs so doth the root of Marsh Mallow The leaues of Plantain driue downe the same so likewise Agaricke in honied water Mugwort stamped and incorporat with oile of Ireos Figges and Myrhe hath the same effect if it be applied accordingly The rooâ—… of which hearbe if a woman take in drinke is so purgatiue and will bring her to such a laske that shee shall withall exclude the dead infant within her bodie A decoction made with the branches of Mugwoort bringeth downe womens monethly sickenesse and fetcheth away the after-birth if they sit therein a dramme weight of the leaues taken in drinke is of the like vertue and operation if they be but laied vnto the belly in manner of a cataplasme especially with barley meale they will doe as much Moreouer Acoron both the kindes of Conyza as also Sampier are singular good for all the inward griefes and maladies whatsoeuer of women Also both kinds of Anthyllis drunke in wine are soueraigne for the accidents of the matrice namely to asswage the throws and wrings thereof and to bring away the after-birth when it staieth behind A fomentation made with Maidenhaire is comfortable to the naturall parts of women like as it hath vertue to clense the scurfe and dandruffe to rid away the white patches appearing in the skin or haire and to color the same black if it be brought into pouder with oile made into a liniment Herb Robert drunk in white wine and Hyocisthis in red do stay the flux of reds or whites Hyssop is a soueraign herb to open and relax the obstructions of the matrice causing suffocation The root of Veruaine taken inwardly with water is the best thing in the world for all the maladies incident to women either in their trauell or after their deliuerance To which effect some there be who together with Harstrang mix the grains of the Cypresse tree beaten to pouder and giue it to drink in grosse red wine For the seed of Fleawort boiled in water and laid too warme doth moderate and qualifie all the violent fluxes of the matrice Camfrey stamped and giuen in grosse wine or allegant bringeth down the sicknesse of women when it staieth vpon them The juice of Scordotis taken to the quantity of one dram in foure cyaths of honied water giueth women speedy deliuerance in childbirth and for that purpose the leaues of Dictamnus are excellent if they be taken in water and knowne it is for certain that the weight of one obolus of those leaues giuen to a woman in hard trauell wil presently cause her to be deliuered with ease yea though the infant were dead in the belly The like operation hath the bastard Dictamnum but that it worketh more slowly and in this case they vse to tie the root of Cyclamin about the woman in labour to cause her also to drinke Cissanthemos yea and the pouder of Betony in honied water As for Arsenogonon and Thelygonon they be two herbes bearing certain grapes or berries like to oliue blossomes but that they be more pale and white seeds or kernels within resembling those of white Poppy If a woman drink Thelygonum some say she will therupon conceiue a maid child Arsenogonon differeth from the other in nothing but in the seed which commeth neare vnto that of the oliue and forsooth if she take this herb in drink she shall haue a man-child beleeue it who that list Others there be who say that both the one and the other be like vnto Basill and that Arsenogonon carrieth a double seed knit together like as they were two genitors That kind of Housleek which I called Digitellus is singular for the diseases incident to womens Brests Ground swell bringeth abundance of milke into womens paps if they drinke it in wine cuit so doth Sowthistle sodden in frumenty The grape called Bumastos taketh away the haires about the nipples of nources brests which spring sometime after they haue once born children which also otherwise is very good to cleanse the skales and scurfe in
Aconite also giueth the bucklers to enemies twaine pernicious poisons both the one to it selfe and the other to all the world Now if happely any man should say That the wit and head alone of man could possibly compasse the knowledge of these things surely he should shew therein his ingratitude and impiety vnto the gods in not acknowledging their beneficence The people about Heraclea to kil the Panthers which breed in those parts vse to rub with Aconite certain gobbets of flesh which they doe lay about the mountains as a bait and bane for them and vnlesse by this meanes they did destroy them no doubt they would fill the whole countrie which is the cause that some call it Pardalianches i. libard-bane but they again on the other side presently haue recourse to the excrements of a man as I haue before declared the only counterpoison whereby they saue themselues who doubteth now but the knowledge of this secret came first to them by meere chance and considering that it is not possible to render a reason of the nature and vsage of such wild beasts and whensoeuer we see the like to fall out we count it still a new strange accident we must needs attribute the finding thereof to Fortune CHAP. III. ¶ That of all Creatures and Inuentions in this life the author is a god THis Chance and Fortune then by means wherof we attaine to so many inuentions that we haue is a diuine power and no lesse indeed than a God by which name also we vnderstand and call that great mother and mistresse of all things dame Nature and surely considering that conjecturall it is and doubtfull Whether these wild beasts come by this knowledge day by day at a venture or were indued naturally at the first with that perceiuance we haue as great reason to attribute a diuinity and godhead to the one as the other Well be it Chance or be it Nature that hath thus ordered the matter certes a great shame it had bin that all other creatures should haue knowne thus as they do what is good and profitable for them and man only remain ignorant But such was the industrie and goodnesse of those ancestours of ours in times past that they not only deuised means but also deliuered to posterity how this venomous herbe Aconitum might be most safely and commodiously mingled in those collyries and medicines which be ordained for the eies an euident argument and plaine proofe I assure you that there is nothing so bad but it hath some goodnesse in it and may be vsed wel And therfore dispensed withall I looke to be if I who hitherto haue written of no poisons put downe the description thereof to the end that a man may know it and by knowing take heed and beware This herb hath leaues resembling Cyclamin or the Cucumber in number no more than foure and those toward the root in some sort rough and hairy The root but small and the same like vnto a sea crab fish and therfore some haue named it Cammaron whereas others for the reason before shewed call it Theliphonon And for that the root doth turn and crook inward in maner of a scorpions taile there be that giue it the name Scorpion There wanted not others who chose rather to call it Myoctonon because with the very sent it is able to kill mice and rats a great way off It groweth naturally vpon bare and naked rocks which the Greeks cal Aconas which is the reason as some haue said why it was named Aconitum And for that in the place where it groweth or neare vnto it there is no mould nor so much as any dust found for to giue it nourishment some haue thought it took the name therupon Yet there be others who assigne another cause of that denomination to wit for that it is as forcible and as speedy in working the death of those whom it toucheth as the hard stone or rag in turning or wearing the edge of any yron toole for no sooner commeth it neere vnto the body and is applied vnto it but the quicke operation is sensibly found CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of Aethiopis Ageraton Aloe Alcea Alypon Alsina Androsace Androsaemon Ambrosia Anonis Anagyron and Anonymon THe leaues of Aethiopis are great and many in number hairy also neere vnto the root and otherwise correspondent to those of Mullen It riseth vp with a four cornered stem rough in handling and after the maner of the main stem of the Clot-bur hauing many concauities or holes like arm-pits in the grafting of the branches to the said stem It beareth seeds like vnto Eruile which ordinarily grow double two by two and are white The roots be many and those long ful and well nourished soft and clammy in tast being dried they wax black grow hard withal in such sort as a man would take them for horns They grow ordinarily in Aethyopia also vpon the mountain Ida in the region of Troas and in Messenia The right season to gather these roots is in Autumne and then they ought to be laid a drying in the Sun for certain daies together to keep them from moulding Being taken in white wine they help the infirmities of the matrice and the decoction therof drunk is good for the Sciatica the pleurisie the hoarsnesse in the throat But that which commeth out of Aethyopia is counted best and hath no fellow for it worketh presently As for Ageraton it is an herb of the Ferula kind growing vp to the height of 2 spans like to Origanum but that the floures resemble buttons or brooches of gold The fume of this herbe when it burneth prouoketh vrin and mundifieth the matrice especially if a woman sit in a bath thereof and do foment the natural parts therewith The reason of the name Ageraton is this because the floures continue very long before they seem to fade and wither Aloe is an herbe which hath the resemblance of the sea-onion but that it is bigger and the leaues be more grosse and fat chamfered or channelled biais all along the stem that it beareth is tender red in the middest not vnlike to Anthericon one root it hath and no more which runneth directly deep into the ground in manner of a big stake strong it is to smell vnto and biter in tast The best Aloe is brought out of India but there groweth good store thereof in Asia howbeit of no vse but that they lay the leaues fresh vnto green wounds for they do incarnat and heale wonderfully like as their juice also And for that it is such an excellent wound-herbe folk vse to set and sow it in barels or pipes pointed beneath and broad aboue like as they do the greater Housleek Some there be who for to draw a juice or liquor out of it stay not vntill the seed be ripe but cut the stem for that purpose others make incision also in the leaues moreouer there is otherwhile found in Aloe a
the chest spleene reines and bladder The root hath a particular property to heale ruptures and convulâ—…ons the same giues speedie deliuerance to women in trauell of child and expelleth the after-birth also for the sciatica it is giuen in wine together with Crestmarine otherwise called Sampier it prouoketh sweat breaketh wind vpward and causeth rifting whereby it riddeth the stomack of the ventosities that trouble it it healeth wounds and bringeth them to cicatrice or skin again Out of the root there is a juice also pressed good in womens infirmities and in the maladies incident to the chest and precordiall parts for it clenseth increaseth naturall heat and helpeth digestion The seed hath a speciall operation to cure them that haue a dropsie giuen in drink like as the juice also applied in a liniment and the rind of the foresaid root dry incorporate in an emollitiue cataplasme Moreouer it is much vsed in meats together with honied wine oile fish sauce named Garum but principally if flesh meats be boiled together therewith It helpes concoction in the stomack as hauing a sauor and tast much like vnto pepper The same is right effectuall to allay the paine of the said stomacke As touching Telephium it is an herb in leaf and stem resembling Purcellane immediatly from the root there spring seuen or eight small shoots or branches and those garnished with grosse fleshy leaues It loueth to grow in toiled grounds but principally among vines whiles it is green it serueth in a liniment to fetch out spots and freckles in the visage for which purpose also it is good dry being brought into pouder it mundifieth the skin also from the morphew so that the place be annointed therewith euery day or night six houres together for the space of three moneths and afterwards well rubbed with barly meale It healeth all wounds besides and cureth fistuloes The Maidenhaire called in Greek Trichomanes is like vnto Adiantum only it is more slender and blacker the leaues grow thicke in manner of Lentils one ouer-against another and the same be bitter in tast The decoction of this hearbe sodden in white wine and so drunke with wine or rusticke cumin cureth the strangurie the juice keepeth the haire on the head which is ready to fall off or if it be shed already causeth new to come vp againe in the place The same beeing beaten to powder and incorporate with oile into a liniment maketh the haire to grow thicke where it is thin by occasion of the infirmity Alopecia If it be tasted at the tongues end it prouoketh sneezing Thalietrum otherwise named Thalictrum hath leaues made like vnto Coriander saue that they be somwhat fattier and in the stem resembleth Poppy it liketh any ground but loueth especially to grow vpon plains the leaues incorporat with hony heale any vlcers Thlaspi or Thlaspe is of two kinds the one with narrow leaues a finger long and as broad as a finger breadth the same grow inclining toward the ground and in the head diuided or slit the stem is but slender and halfe a foot high howbeit not altogether naked and without branches In form the fruit or cod resembleth a buckler inclosing seed within not vnlike in shape to Lentils but that it seemeth crusht and broken whereupon the plant took the name Thlaspi the floure which it beareth is whitish This herb groweth ordinarily about common foot-paths in hedges The seed in tast is hot and vnpleasant working vpon choler and fleam which humors it doth euacuat vpward and downward the right dose wherof is the measure of one acetable for a potion Good it is also for the Sciatica being ministred in a clystre vntil it bring away bloud Moreouer it procureth women their desired sicknesse but if they be with child it killeth that which they go withal The second Thlaspi which some cal the Persian Napi hath broad leaues and great roots this herb also is good to be clysterized for the Sciatica and as well the one as the other is soueraigne for the tumors or risings in the share but the party who gathereth it must haue in charge to pluck it vp with one hand and say withall That he taketh it for the botches in the share for all impostumes and wounds As for Trachinia I find not in any writer what manner of herb it should be and verily I cannot beleeue that Democritus reporteth truly of it as he doth for monstrous it is and incredible which he promiseth of it namely That in three daies it will wast the spleene if the patient doe but weare it tied to any part of the body Tragonus or Tragion groweth vpon the sea-coasts of the Island Candy only an herb in seed leafe and branch very like vnto the Iuniper a iuice or liquor it yeeldeth resembling milk which gathering thick to the consistence of a gum with once laying too draweth forth arrow heads thorns or whatsoeuer sticking within the flesh for which purpose it ought to be stamped green and so made into a liniment with wine or else the pouder of it drie must be incorporat with hony The same causeth nources to haue good store of milk in their brests and is besides an excellent medicine for the sores and diseases incident to that part There is another hearbe called Tragos which some name also Scorpion it groweth halfe a foot high putting forth many shoots and branches but without leaues in stead whereof you shall see pretty little berries or grapes as it were of a ruddy colour of the bignesse of wheat-corns and pointed sharp in the head This herb likewise groweth by the sea-side Of these berries ten or twelue kernels dried and beaten into pouder and so taken in wine do helpe the fluxe proceeding from a weak and feeble stomack in like manner those also that haue a bloudy flix and that reach vp bloud They cure likewise women of the extraordinary shifts of their monthly fleurs Moreouer there is an herb called Tragopogon which others name Come the stem thereof is small the leaues like vnto those of Safron the root long and sweet bearing aloft vpon the top of the stem a certain cup which is broad and large with black seed within it In rough places it groweth commonly amongst greeues and bushes but goodnesse there is little or none at all in it Thus much verily as touching herbs I thought memorable and worth the writing which either I haue seen my selfe or learned from others howbeit for a farewell to this treatise I think it not amisse to aduertise the reader thus much more concerning herbs that some of them keep their strength and vertue longer than others for as I haue before noted Elaterium continueth a world of yeres the black Chamaeleon lasteth 40 yeares good but Ceutaury will not indure aboue twelue Harstrang Aristolochia and the wilde Vine may be preserued sound one yere in the shade Moreouer this would be obserued That of the herbs aboue named there is not a liuing
of this nature that they be able to cure and ease such as are stung already either by touching only or else by a medicinable sucking of the place of which kind are the Psylli and Marsi those also in the Island Cyprus whom they call Ophugenes and of this race and house there came an Embassador out of the said Island whose name was Exagon who by the commandement of the Consuls was put into a great tun or pipe wherein were many serpents for to make an experiment and trial of the truth and in very deed the said serpents licked his body in all parts gently with their tongues as if they had bin little dogs to the great wonder of them who beheld the manner of it A man shall know those of this family if any of them remain at this day by this signe that they breath a strong and stinking sent from them especially in the Spring season Now these people beforenamed had not only a gift to cure folk with their spittle but their very sweat also had a medicinable vertue against the sting of serpents For as touching those men who are born and bred in Tentyrus an Island lying within the riuer Nilus so terrible they be vnto the Crocodiles that they wil not abide so much as their voice but flie from them so soon as they heare it Moreouer it is knowne for certaine that all the sort of these people who haue their bodies thus priuiledged by that secret antipathie in nature between them serpents are able to ease those who are stung if they do but come in place where they be like as a wound will be more angry and sore if they come neare who at any time before haue been hurt by sting of serpent or tooth of mad dog such also carry about with them in their bodies so venomous a quality that their onely presence is enough to marre the egs that a brood-hen sits vpon and make them all addle yea and to driue ewes and other cattell to cast their yong before the time such a virulent property remaineth still behind in their bodies who haue bin once stung and bitten that notwithstanding they be cured thereof yet venomous they are now and hurtfull to others who beforetime were poisoned themselues But the only way to remedy this inconuenience is to cause them to wash their hands before they enter into the roome where the patients lie and with the same water to besprinckle and wash them who are to be cured Againe this is to be obserued that whosoeuer at any time haue bin pricked with a scorpion shal neuer afterwards be stung by hornets waspes or bees A strange thing this is no doubt howbeit no great wonder vnto them who know that a garment or cloth which had bin vsed at funerals wil neuer be afterwards moth eaten and how that serpents hardly can be plucked out of their holes vnlesse it be by the left hand CHAP. IIII. ¶ Of certaine Sorceries and the properties of a mans spittle Also against Magitians THe inuentions of Pithagoras as touching numbers beare a great stroke in these matters and lightly misse not but principally in this That the said Philosopher would giue judgment by the vowels contained in the proper name of any person concerning their fortunes for in case the vowels were in number odde he pronounced that if the party euer proued lame of a lim lost an eie or met with any such like accidents the same should happen vpon the right side of the body but contrariwise if the number of vowels were euen then these infirmities should befall the left side Furthermore it is commonly said that if one take a stone dart or instrument of shot wherewith a man hath killed these three liuing creatures a man a wilde Bore and a Bear one after another that with one single stroke to euery one of them and fling the same clean ouer an house where there is a woman in hard trauell of child-birth so as it light on the other side without touching any part thereof the woman shal presently be deliueed More reason there is that a light jauelin or Pertuisan should do this feat which had bin drawn forth of a mans body so as it neuer touched the ground after for do but bring this murdering jauelin into the place where a woman is in labor it wil forthwith procure her deliuerance Orpheus and Archelaus do write much after the same maner of arrows pulled out of men bodies namely that if care be had that they touch not the earth then be laid vnder the bed where man or woman lieth they wil cause the parties to be enamored vpon them that bestowed the said arrows there and these authors report moreouer that the venison of any wild beast killed with the same weapon which was the death of a man before is singular to cure the falling sicknesse As some men there be whose bodies all throughout be medicinable so there be others who haue certain parts onely of the same vertue according as I haue written already concerning the thumbe of king Pyrrhus In the citie Elis also the inhabitants were wont to shew as a wonderfull monument the rib of Pelops which they auouched to be all of Iuory And euen at this day many there are who make great scruple to shaue or clip the haire growing in any molle or wert vpon the face As touching the fasting spittle specially of man or woman I haue shewed already how it is a soueraigne preseruatiue against the poison of serpents But that is not all for in many other cases it is found by daily experience to be of great operation and to worke effectually For first and formost if we see any surprised with the falling sicknesse we spit vpon them and by that means we are persuaded that we our selues auoid the contagion of the said disease Item an ordinary thing it is with vs to put by the danger of witch-craft by spitting in the eies of a witch so do we also when we meet with one that limpeth and is lame of the right leg Likewise when we craue pardon of the gods for some audacious and presumptuous praiers that wee make we vse to spit euen into our bosoms Semblably for to fortifie the operation of any medicines the manner is to pronounce withal a charm or exorcisme three times ouer and to spit vpon the ground as often and so we doubt not but it will do the cure and not faile Also when we perceiue a fellon or such like vncom sore a breeding the first thing that we doe is to marke it three times with our fasting spittle I will tell you of a strange effect and whereof it is no hard matter yw is to make the triall If one man hath hurt another either by reaching him a blow neare at hand or by letting flie somwhat at him farther off repent him when he hath so done let him presently spit just in the
helpeth them when they breed teeth or haue their gums sore or mouth exulcerat If there be hung about the neck of a little infant the tooth of a wolfe it keepeth them from starting or skriching in their sleep for feare and allaieth the pain which they feele in toothing the same doth also a wolues skin And verily the great master teeth and grinders of a wolfe beeing hanged about an horse necke cause him that he shall neuer tire and be weary be he put to neuer so much running in any race whatsoeuer Let a nurce anoint her brest with the rennet of an hare the babe that she giueth sucke vnto shall by that means be knit in the belly and not be troubled with the laske The liuer of an Asse with a little of the herb Panax mingled withal dropped into the mouth of an infant preserueth it from the falling sicknes and other dangerous diseases but this they say must be don for forty daies together If a child be lapped in a mantle or bearing-cloth made of an asse skin it shall not be affrighted at any thing The colts teeth that first fall from an horse-fole if they be hung about yong childrens necks ease them much of the pain that they haue in breeding teeth but more effectuall they be in case they neuer touched the ground The milt of a boeufe eaten with honey and the same reduced to a liniment and applied accordingly is good for the pain of the spleen put hony thereto it healeth the running skals that trouble children The milt of a calfe sodden in wine stamped and brought into a liniment healeth the cankers or little sores in the mouth that yong infants be subiect vnto The Magitians haue a deuise to take the brains of a female goat let it passe through a gold ring to drop the same into the mouth of infants new born before the teat be giuen vnto them which they say is singular good against the falling sicknes and other infirmities that to such babes are incident Goats dung wrapt within a piece of cloth and so hanged about a yong child stilleth it being neuer so froward or vnquiet and a girl especially The gums of yong babes washed with goats milk or annointed with hares braines cause them to haue great ease in toothing Cato is of opinion that whosoeuer vseth to eat hares flesh shall sleep well And the common sort of people are persuaded that the meat of this kind of venison causeth them that feed vpon it to look fair louely gracious for a week together afterwards For mine own part I think verily it is but a toy and meere mockery howbeit there must needs be some cause reason of this setled opinion which hath thus generally caried the world away to think so the magitians affirm for certain that if the eies be anointed with the gal of a female goat such only as had bin offred in sacrifice or laid vnder the pillow in bed it wil procure them to take their repose who were far out of sleep the ashes of a goats horn incorporat into an vnguent with oile of myrtles keeps those from diaphoretical sweats who are anointed therwith A liniment made of bores gall prouoketh vnto carnal lust the same effect there is of that virulent slime which Virgil the Poet describeth to drop from a mares shap against the time that she is to be couered also the stones of an horse so dried that they may be reduced into pouder for to be put in drink moreouer the right genetoir of an asse drunk in wine as need requireth or tied in a bracelet fast to the arme inciteth to venerie furthermore the frothie sperme that an asse sheddeth after he hath couered the female gathered vp in a peece of red cloth and inclosed within siluer so caried about one is of great power in this case as Osthanes mine author saith But Salpe a famous courtizan giueth direction to plunge the genitall member of this beast seuen times together in hot oile and with the said oile to anoint the share and parts therabout Bialcon aduiseth to drink the ashes of the said member or the stale of a bull presently after hee hath done his kind to a cow and with the earth that is moistened and made mire with the said stale to anoint the priuy parts Contrariwise there is not a thing that cooleth the lust of a man more than to annoint the said parts with the dung of myce and rats To conclude for to auoid drunkennesse take the lungs of an hog be it bore or sow it matters not in like manner of a kid and rost it whosoeuer eateth thereof fasting shall not be drunke that day how liberally soeuer he take his drinke CHAP. XX. ¶ Strange and wonderfull things obserued in beasts THere be other admirable properties and vertues reported of the same beast ouer besides those before rehearsed for it is said that whosoeuer do find and take vp an horse shoe shaken from the houfe an ordinary thing that happeneth vpon the way when a horse casteth his shooe and lay the same vp they shall find a remedy for the yox if they do but call to mind and thinke vpon the place where they bestowed the same Also that the liuer of an Hare is in this regard for curing of the hicket like to an horse shooe Moreouer if an horse doe follow in chase after a wolfe and chance to tread vpon the tracts where the wolfe hath run he will be broken winded and burst euen vnder the man vpon his backe It is thought moreouer that the ankle-bones of swine haue a property to make debate and quarrels Also when any sheep-pens or oxe-stals be on a fire if some of the dung be cast forth the sheepe and oxen that be within will sooner be gotten and drawne forth and neuer come thither again Furthermore that goats flesh will haue no ranke smell or taste if so be the same day that they were killed they did eat barley bread or drinke water wherein Laser was infused Besides that no flesh which is powdred well with salt in the wane of the moone shall euer corrupt and be subiect to worme or maggot But see how diligent and curious our ancestors haue bin in searching out the secrets of euery thing insomuch as we find obserued by them That a deafe Hare will sooner feed and grow fat than another that heareth And to come vnto leechcraft belonging to beasts it is said that if an horse void bloud excessiuely it is good to poure or iniect into the body hogs dung with wine As for the maladies of kine and oxen tallow sulphur-vif crow garlick a sodden hens egge are singular good medicines to be giuen euery one of them beaten together in wine the fat also of a fox is good in that case If swine be diseased the broth made of horse-flesh sodden is very good to be giuen them in their wash to drinke And in what disease soeuer it
is to seeth it wel vntil the one halfe be consumed Now if a man desire to know the vertue and commoditie of cold water first it ordinarily stancheth any flux of bloud if it be cast vpon the place Also if one be not able to endure the heate in a bain or hot-house the best way to auoid this inconuenience is to hold in his mouth cold Water all the while Moreouer many a man hath found by a verie familiar experience that the coldest water in the mouth is not alwaies the coldest in the hand And contrariwise when it is exceeding cold without to be felt it is not so sensibly cold within to be drunk Of all Waters in the world that which wee call here in Rome Martia carrieth the greatest name by the generall voice of the whole City in regard both of coldnesse and wholesomnesse And verily we may esteeme this water for one of the greatest gifts that the gods haue bestowed vpon our city In times past it was called Auffeia and the very fountaine from whence it commeth Piconia The head or source thereof ariseth at the foot of the vtmost mountains of the Pelignians it runneth through the Marsians country and passing through the lake Fucinus it tendeth no doubt euen then directly toward Rome but anon it is swallowed vp within a hole vnder the ground so as it is no more seen vntill it shew it selfe again in the territorie of the Tiburtines from which place it is conueyed vnder vaults and so carried through to Rome by arch-worke for the space of nine miles The first that began to bring this water to the city was Ancus Martius one of the Roman Kings Afterwards Qu. * Martius Rex in his Pretorship finished the said worke and when in processe of time it was fallen to decay M. Agrippa repaired it againe who also brought the water named Virgo to the city which hath her head eight miles from Rome in a certaine nouke or by-corner about two miles turning from the great port way leading to Praeneste Neere vnto it runneth the riuer Herculaneus but this water keepeth stil behinde as though it fled from it whereupon it tooke the name Virgo Compare these two riuers together which are conueyed to Rome you shall see the difference beforesaid as touching the coldnesse of waters for looke how cold Virgo is to the hand so much is Martia in the mouth But long ago haue wee of Rome lost the pleasure and commoditie of these two Rills through the ambition and auarice of some great men who haue turned away these waters from the City where they yeelded a publique benefit to the Commonwealth and deriued them for their priuat delight and profit into their owne mannors and houses in the country for to water their gcrdens and serue to other vses And here in this place I thinke it not impertinent to adioine to this present treatise the maner and skill of searching and finding out waters And first to speake in general terms springs ordinarily be found in Vallies in the pitch or crest of some little hill where it hath a fall and descent or else at the foot of great mountaines Many are of opinion That in any tract whatsoeuer that side or coast which regardeth the North is giuen to haue water in it And verily it were not amisse to shew how Nature disporteth her selfe and worketh variably in this behalfe First a man shall neuer see it raine on the South side of the mountaines in Hyrcania which is the reason that on that part onely which lieth to the North they are giuen to beare wood and be full of forrests But Olympus Ossa Pernassus Apenninus and the Alpes be replenished with Woods on all sides and are furnished with their Springs and Riuers euerie where In some countries the hills be greene and watered on the South side onely As for example in Candy the mountaines called Albi so that there is no heed to be taken by this for the rule holdeth not alwayes But to come now vnto particulars Looke where you see growing Rushes Reeds or the Herbe whereof I made relation before be sure you shall find water vnderneath Item Wheresoeuer you finde Froggs lying in any place vpon their breasts make account of good store of water there As for the wilde and wandering Sallow the Aller tree Agnus-Castus or Yvie they come vp many times of their owne accords in some low grounds where there is a setling or stay of raine water fallen from higher places insomuch as they that goe by these signes to finde some Spring may soone be deceiued A surer aime yet by farre is a mist or exhalation which a man may discouer a farre off a little before the Sunne rising And for to espie it the better some there be who get vp into an high place and lay themselues grouelong with their chinnes touching the ground and by that meanes discerneth where any such smoke or vapor doth arise There is also another speciall means besides to find out Waters but knowne it is vnto those onely who be skilfull and expert in this feat For they that are guided by this direction to Water goe forth in the hottest season of the yeare and about the noone-tide of the day to marke the reuerberation of the Sunne beames in any place for if this repercussion and rebounding appeare moist and namely when the face of the earth looketh dry and thirstie they then make nodoubt but to finde Water there But they had need to looke so intentiuely and earnestly that oftentimes their eyes ake and be pained withall For auoiding which trouble and inconuenience some betake themselues to other experiments and namely they dig a trench or ditch fiue foot deep within the ground the mouth wherof they couer all ouer with earthen vessels of potters worke vnbaked or els with a barbars brasen bason well enhuiled and withall a lamp burning ouer all which they make a little arch-work of leaues and boughs and mould thereupon Now if they come within a while after to this place and either see the earthen pots broken or wet or perceiue a dew or sweat standing vpon the brasse or finde the lamp aforesaid gon out and yet no want of oile to maintaine light or if they feele a lock of wool which they hung within the trench to be moist they assure themselues they shall find water if they sink the pit deeper Some there be who for better assurance hereof make a fire in the place and burne it throughly for then the vessels aforesaid if they proue to be wet giue a more infallible hope of a spring Moreouer the very leire it selfe of the soile if it be spotted with white specks or be altogether of a reddish bright colour promiseth spring water to be vnderneath for if the ground look black lightly the water wil soon fail if there be any spring there found If you chance to light vpon a vein of potters clay or chalk make
which as it is lightest so none is so white as it There is that also which is called the Floure of salt altogether different from salt as being a kind of dew of a moister nature resembling safron in yellow colour or els inclining rather to a sad red or russet colour and is as a man would say the rust of falt the strong vnpleasant smell likewise which commeth neere vnto that of the pickle Garum bewraieth that it is a distinct thing from salt as well as from the froth thereof This Floure of salt came first from Aegypt and it seemeth as though it floted vpon the riuer Nilus were carried down the stream thereof And yet there be some fountains which doe beare and put vp the same vpon which it swimmeth aloft Of this kind the best is that which yeeldeth a certain fatty and vncteous oyle for this you are to think that salt is not without a kinde of fattinesse wonderfull though it be This floure of salt is sophisticated commonly coloured with red ocre or els many times with potshards reduced into pouder but this deceit may be quickly known and found by water for if it be a false and artificiall colour water will wash it off wheras the true floure of salt indeed will resolue by nothing but by oile and verily the Apothecaries confectioners of sweet oiles and ointments vse it most of all for the colour sake when they would giue a fresh liuely hue to their compositions Being put vp in any vessell it seemeth white hoarie aloft but the middle part within is as I haue said more moist ordinarily As touching the properties of this flour of salt by nature it is biting hot and hurtfull to the stomack it moueth sweat and looseth the belly taken in wine water good also it is for to enter into those ointments which are deuised for lassitude and wearinesse and by reason of the abstersiue faculty that it hath fit for sope and scouring bals Nothing so effectuall to cause the haire to fall from the eie-lids As for the residence or grounds therof setling in the bottom of the pot where this floure is kept they vse to shog and shake the same together to bring it again to the colour of Safron Ouer and besides there is in salt-houses another substance like brine which in Latine is called Salsugo or Salsilago altogether liquid salter in tast than sea-water but in strength far short of it and different and yet is there one kind more of an exquisit and dainty liquor in manner of a dripping called Garum proceeding from the garbage of fishes and such other offall as commonly the cooke vseth to cast away as it lieth soking in salt so as if a man would speak properly it is no other but the humor that commeth from them as they do lie and putrifie In old time this sauce was made of that fish which the Greeks called Garon Where by the way this commeth to my mind that if a woman sit ouer the perfume or suffumigation of the head of this fish whiles it burneth it is of power to fetch away the afterbirth that staieth behind when the child is borne CHAP. VIII ¶ Of the fishes called Scombri Of fish pickle and the fish sauce namedin old time Alex. NOw adaies the most dainty and exquisit Garum is made of the fish called Scomber and that in new Carthage where there groweth such store of Spart or Spanish broome and namely in the stews and ponds by the sea side where fishes are kept salted In times past and yet it beareth the name of the Allies sauce as their Garum so costly and so much in request that every 2 gallons thereof might not be bought much vnder the price of a thousand sesterces Certes setting aside sweet perfumes odoriferous ointments there was not a liquor almost in the world that began to grow vnto a higher rate reckoning insomuch as some places and people carried the name thereof and were innobled thereby And verily in all Mauritania Granade in Spaine and Carteia the inhabitants lie in wait to fish for these Scombri and to take them as they enter out of the Ocean into the straits of Gilbretar and all for this Garum being indeed good for nothing els The city Clazomenae in Asia the townes Pompeij Leptis are much renowned for this sauce like as Antipolis Thurij and of late daies Dalmatia for their pickle The grosse grounds or dregs of this sauce before it be strained purified and fully finished is called Alex euen the very defect imperfection therof Howbeit of late time men haue gone in hand to make the said Alex or Garum of one kind of fishes apart by themselues which otherwise are good for little or nothing of all others be smallest this fish we in Latin call Apua the Greeks Aphye for that it is engendered of raine and showers In the the territory of Forojulium the fish whereof they make this sauce they call Lupus But in processe of time Garum arose to excesse both in price varietie of vse insomuch as there grew an infinit number of diuers kinds for one sort there was of Garum that in colour resembled old honied wine and became so cleare and sweet withall that it might wel enough haue bin drunk for wine another kind there was which our superstitious votaries vse for to keep themselues chaste continent the Iews also in their holy sacrifices imployed the same especially that which is made of skaly fishes In like manner the other sauce Alex is come to be made of Oisters sea Vrchins sea Nettles Crab fishes Lobstars and the liuers of sea Barbles In sum thus wee haue deuised a thousand waies to dissolue salt with the consumption of the substance of fish and all to procure appetite to meat and to content the belly Thus much I thought good to note cursarily as touching those sauces which are so greatly longed after in the world the rather for that in some sort they serue in the practise of Physick for the grosse liquor or sauce Alex healeth the scab in sheep if the skin be scarified or skiced and the same Alex poured therupon Also it is singular against the biting of a mad dog or the prick of the sea dragon the same likewise serues to soke linnen wreaths to be laid in wounds or tents made of lint to bee put into sores As for Garum it healeth any fresh burne if a man drop it vpon the place without naming it or saying that it is Garum good it is besides for the biting of mad dogs but especially for the Crocodiles tooth as also for running vlcers which be either corrosiue or filthy Of wonderful operation effect besides for the sores of the mouth and ears as also for their pains The pickle Muria likewise or that salt liquor that commeth from salt-fish called in Latin Salsugo is astringent biting discussiue and drying
they haue a good guesse and aim that directeth them to gold whether it lie deep or shallow And by this conjecture otherwhiles their hap is so good as to find that which they desire aloft euen ebbe vnder the vpmost coat of the earth but I must needs say a rare felicity is this yet of late daies during the Empire of Nero there was found in Dalmatia a vaine of gold ore within one spades griffe in the first turfe of the ground which yeelded euery day the weight of fifty pound This manner of earth if it be found also vnder a vaine of gold they call Alutatio Moreouer this is to be noted That ordinarily the dry and barren mountains in Spaine which beare and bring forth nothing else are forced as it were by Nature to furnish the world with this treasure and doe yeeld mines of gold As for that gold ore which is digged forth of pits some call it in Latine Canalitium others Canaliense And verily this is found sticking to the grit and vtmost crust of hard rocks of marble not after the manner of drops or sparkes glittering in orient Saphire or The Thebaick marble and in many other pretious stones which are marked here and there with specks of gold but this ore or mettall doth clasp and embrace whole pieces of marble such like found in rocks And commonly these canales as I may so say of gold ore follow the veins of such marble and stone in the quarry diuiding and spreading as they do here and there wherupon the gold tooke the foresaid name of Canalitium they wander also along the sides of the pits as they are digged so that the earth had need to be borne vp and supported with posts and pillars for the getting of it lest by hollow vndermining it fall vpon the pioners This mine or vein of gold ore when it is once digged vp and landed aboue ground the manner is to bray and stamp to wash burn and melt yea and otherwhiles to grind into pouder As for that which as they pun thus and beat in mortars is knocked from it they call Apilascus but the mettall which sweateth out and commeth forth by the violent heate of the furnace where the foresayd ore is melted they name Argentum i. Siluer The grosse substance cast vp from the pot or vessel and swimming aloft whether it be the drosse comming of gold thus tried or any other mettal is named Scoria Howbeit this drosse that gold doth yeeld from it in the trying is set ouer the fire again to take a new melting is stamped in maner aforesaid As for the pans or vessels wherin gold is thus tried and refined they be made of a certain earth named Tasconium and the same is white like vnto a kinde of potters clay For surely there is no other earth or matter whatsoeuer will abide either the heate of the fire vnderneath plied continually with the bellows or the matter with in it when it is melted And thus much of the two first waies of finding out gold The third manner of searching for this mettal is so painfull and toilesome that it surpasseth the wonderfull works of the Geants in old time For necessary it is in this enterprise busines to vndermine a great way by candlelight to make hollow vaults vnder the mountains In which labor the pioners work by turns successiuely after the maner of the reliefe in a set watch keeping euery man his houres in iust measure and in many a moneths space they neuer see the Sun or day light This kind of work and mines thus made they call Arrugiae wherin it falleth out many times that the earth aboue head chinketh and all at once without giuing any warning setleth and falleth so as the poore pioners are ouerwhelmed buried quick insomuch as considering these perils it seemes that those who diue vnder the water into the bottom of the Leuant seas for to get pearls hasard themselues nothing so much as these pioners a strange thing that by our rashnesse and folly wee should make the earth so much more hurtfull to vs than the water Wel then to preuent as much as possibly may be these mischiefes and dangerous accidents they vnderprop the hils and leaue pillars and arches as they go set thick one by another to support the same And yet say they worke safe enough and be not in jeopardy of their liues by the fall of the earth yet there be other difficulties that impeach their work for otherwhiles they meet with rocks of flint and rags as wel in vndermining forward as in sinking pits downe-right which they are driuen to pierce and cleaue through with fire and vineger But for that the vapor and smoke that ariseth from thence by the means may stifle and choke them within those narrow pits and mines they are forced to giue ouer such fire-work and betake themselues to great mattocks and pickaxes yea and to other engines of iron weighing 150 pounds apiece wherewith they hew such rocks in pieces and so sinke deeper or make way before them The earth and stones which with so much ado they haue thus loosed they are fain to cary from vnder their feet in scuttles and baskets vpon their shoulders which passe from hand to hand euermore to the next fellow Thus they moile in the dark both day and night in these infernal dungeons and none of them see the light of the day but those that are last and next vnto the pits mouth or entry of the caue If the flint or rock that they work into seem to run in a long grain it will cleaue in length and come away by the sides in broad flakes and therefore the pioners with ease make way trenching and cutting round about it Howbeit be the rock as ragged as it will they count not that their hardest work for there is a certaine earth resembling a kinde of tough clay which they call white Lome and the same intermingled with gritty sand so hard baked together that there is no dealing with it it so scorneth and checketh all their ordinary tooles and labour about it that it seemeth impenetrable What doe the poore labourers then They set vpon it lustily with iron wedges they lay on lode vncessantly with mighty beetles and verily they thinke that there is nothing in the world harder than this labour vnlesse it bee this vnsatiable hunger after gold which surpasseth all the hardnesse and difficulty that is Wel when the work is brought to an end within the ground that they haue vndermined hollowed the ground as far as they think good down they go with their arch-work abouesaid which they builded as they went they begin first at those props which are farthest off cutting the heads of the stancheons still as they return backward to the entrance of the work Which don the sentinel only which of purpose keeps good watch without vpon the top of the same mountain
of salnitre it healeth corrupt and putrified vlcers such as stink again the same being boiled in hony with Nigella Romana doth gently loose the belly if the naual be anointed therwith To conclude M. Varro saith that gold wil cause werts to fal off CHAP. V. ¶ Of Borras and the six medicinable properties that it hath the wonderfull Nature thereof in sodring one mettall with another and in bringing all mettals to their perfection CHrysocolla called otherwise Borax or green earth is found in those pits and mines that are digged for gold and a humor it is at the first running along the veine of gold which as it thickneth and groweth muddy congealeth at length by the extreame cold of winter to the hardnesse of a pumish stone Howbeit the best kind of Borax we haue known by experience to be ingendred in mines of brasse and the next to it for goodnes in those of siluer otherwhiles also men meet withal in leaden mines but the same is not so good as that which the gold mines doe yeeld Moreouer there may be an artificiall Borras made in all the said mettall mines but far inferior to that which is naturall namely by letting water gently to run among their veines all winter long vntill the month of Iune the which water in Iune Iuly wil grow to be dry and prooue Borras whereby a man may perceiue plainely that Borras is nothing els but a putrified vein of mettall But this Minerall if it be of the own kind differeth from this other which is made by art of man especially in hardnesse for much harder it is and called the yellow Borax or in Latine Lutea and yet it may be brought to that colour by artificiall means namely by dying with an herb called likewise Lutea for of this nature it is that it will take color drink it in as well as linnen or woollen But for to dresse and prepare it for the purpose first they pun it in a morter then they let it passe through a fine serce afterwards it is ground or beaten againe so it is serced a second time through a finer serce whatsoeuer passeth not through but remaineth behind must be punned once more in a mortar so ground into a small pouder and euer as they haue reduced any into pouder they put it into sundry pots or cruses then they let the same to lie enfused and soked in vinegre till the hardnes therin be wholly resolued which done to the mortar it goeth againe where it must be throughly stamped for altogether and so when it is well washed out of one trey or boll into another they let it dry after it is thus prepared they giue it a colour with the herb Lutea beforesaid and alume de plume and thus you see it must be painted and died first before it selfe serue to paint or die withall And herein it skilleth much how pliable apt it is to receiue the said color for vnlesse it haue willingly taken a deep tincture they vse to put therto Schytanum and Turbystum for so they call two drugs which serue to make it take a color the better This Borax thus died our painters vse to call Orobitis and two kinds they make therof to wit Lutea i. the yellow which they keep for the pouder or colour Lomuntum the other liquid namely when the said grains or pellets be resolued into a kind of moisture like drops of sweat This Borax of both sorts is made in the Isle Cypros The principall and best of all other comes from Armenia in a second degree from Macedonia but the greatest quantity therof is in Spain The excellent Borax is known by this mark especially If it resemble perfectly in colour the deep and full green that is in the blade of corn wel liking In our time namely in the daies of the Emperor Nero the floore of the grand cirque or shew-place at Rome was seen paued all ouer with greene Boras at what time as he exhibited goodly sights and pastimes to the people and namely when he meant himselfe to run a race with charriots and took pleasure to driue his horses vpon a ground sutable to the colour of the cloth or liuerie that he wore himself at that time and in truth a world of workemen he brought thither to lay the said pauing Al the sorts of Boras may be reduced into three distinct kinds to wit the rough valued at seuen denarij a pound the meane which is worth fiue and the poudred Boras called also the grasse-green Borax which costeth not aboue three deniers the pound As for the sandie or poudred Boras the painters before they vse it lay the first ground vnderneath it of vitrioll and Paraetonium and then the Borax aloft for these things take it passing well besides giue a pleasant lustre to the color This Paraetonium for that it is most fattie vnctious by nature for the smoothnes besides most apt to sticke too and take hold ought to be laid first vpon which must follow a course of the vitrioll ouer it for feare least the whitenes of the foresaid Paraetonium do pall the greenesse of the Borax which is to make the third coat As for the Borax called Lutea some thinke it tooke that name of the herbe Lutea which also if it be mixed and tempered with azure or blew maketh a greene which many do lay and paint withall in stead of Borax which as it is the cheapest greene of all other so is it a most deceitfull colour Borax doth not onely serue painters but is much vsed also by Physicians and namely to mundifie wounds and vlcers if it be made into a salue with wax and oile and dry as it is of it selfe in pouder it hath a desiccatiue qualitie and doth conglutinat and sodder very well being mixed with hony into an electuarie they giue it inwardly vnto those that haue the squinancie and cannot draw their wind but sitting vpright and so it prouoketh vomit Moreouer it entreth into many collyries or eie-salues especially to consume and discusse the cicatrices and filmes growing with in the eie it goeth also to the making of green plasters such as be applied either to mitigat paine or to heale the skin And verily this Borax not artificially died thus emploied in Physick the Physicians call Acesin and is not that which men name Orobitis and which receiueth a tincture from mans hand Furthermore there is a Borax or Chrysocolla that goldsmiths occupie especially about sodring their gold of this kind al the rest take the name also of Chrysocolla This is altogether artificiall and is made of Cyprian Verdegris or rust of brasse the vrin of a yong lad and salnitre tempered all together incorporat in a brasen morter stamped with a pestill of the same mettall Our countrymen in Latin call this Borax Santerna with it they vse to sodder that gold especially which standeth much vpon
in clokes or mantles were his handiwork which Catulus set vp in the same temple likewise another after the maner of a colossus or gyant all naked In sum he was deemed and that iustly to haue bin the first that deuised and taught the skil of chasing embossing As for Polycletus the Sicyonian who learned his cunning vnder Agclades hee it was that made in brasse Diadumenus an effoeminat yong man looking want only with a diadem or wreath about his head a piece of work of great account much spoke of for that it cost 100 talents and of his making was Doryphorus a yong boy with a manly countenance hauing a speare in his hand Moreouer he made that which workmen call Canon that is to say one absolute piece of worke from whence artificers do fetch their draughts simetries and proportions as from a perfect patterne or rule which guideth and directeth them in their worke so as wee may well and truly iudge That Polycletus alone reduced the skill of Founderie and imagerie into an Art and method as may appeare both by that Canon and by other workes which passed through his hands Of his workmanship was the brasen image representing one scraping and rubbing himselfe in the bath or hot-house as also another all naked and challenging to the dice. Item two boyes both naked playing at dice which thereupon be called Astragalizontes And these remain to be seen in the court or portall belonging to the house of Titus the Emperor which is so exquisit a piece of worke that many doe iudge there cannot be set another to it more absolute and perfect also he it was which wrought the image of Mercury which is at Lysimachia of Hercules at Rome and namely how hee heaued and held vp Anteus from the ground between heauen and earth and the counterfeit of Artemon that effeminate and wanton person who because hee was ordinarily carried in a Litter men called Poryphoretos This Polycletus was iudged to haue brought this art of Imagery to a consummat perfection the feat also of ingrauing imbossing he was thought to practise and promote like as Phidias before him opened the way to it gaue instructions This proper and special gift he had besides aboue all other to deuise how Images might stand vpon one leg and yet Varro saith that all the images of his making be four square and all in manner after one pattern To come vnto Myro born he was at Eleutherae and an apprentice likewise to Agelades the piece of worke that brought him into name and made him famous was an heifer of brasse by reason that diuers Poets haue in their verses highly praised it and spread the singularity of it abroad for so it falls out otherwhiles that many men are commended by the wit of others more than by their own Other pieces of work there were of his besides to wit a dog a coit caster or one hurting a stone or weight of lead Perseus killing Medusa sawyers called Pristae a Satyre wondring at a pipe or flute and the goddesse Minerva moreouer the Delphick Pentathli the Pancratiastae furthermore that image of Hercules which standeth in the temple that Pompey erected neere the greatest cirque or shew-place is the handiwork of Myro Besides as it appeares by the poësie of Brinna the Poëtresse hee it was that made the tombe or monument in brasse of a poore grashopper and a locust the image likewise of Apollo which after that Antonius the Triumvir had wrongfully taken from the Ephesians Augustus Caesar restored againe vnto them being warned so to do by a vision appearing vnto him in his sleep was of Myro his making This workman seems to haue bin the first that wrought not his images after one sort but altered his work after many fashions as being fuller of inuention and giuen more to deuise in his art more curious also and precise in his symentries and proportions than Polycletus and yet as exquisite as he was he went no farther than to the outward linements of the body and members thereof as for the inward affections of the mind he did not expresse in any of his work the haire also as well of head beard as share he left after a grosse maner wrought them no finer than the rude and vnexpert workmen in old time had either done or taught No maruel therefore if Pythagoras the Imageur of Rhegium in Italy went beyond him in this feat and namely in that piece of worke of his which resembled a wrestler or Pancratiastes which was dedicated in the temple of Apollo at Delphos He came short also of Leontius who expressed liuely in brasse Astylos the famous runner in a race which image is shewed for a rare piece of work in Olympia also the boy Libys which is to be seen in the same place holding in his hand a little table and withall carrying apples stark naked He made also the pourtraiture of one that seemed lame and to halt vpon an vlcer but the same is so liuely and naturally done that as many as behold the same seeme to haue a compassion and fellow-feeling with him of some pain and grieuance of his sore and this piece of work a man may see at Syracusa Furthermore the said Leontius cast in brasse one Apollo playing vpon his harpe as also another Apollo and the serpent killed with his arrowes which image he sirnamed Dicaeus i. Iust for that when the city of Thebes was won by Alexander the Great the gold which he hid in the bosome thereof when hee fled was found there safe and not diminished when the enemy was gon and he returned Hee was the first that in his images expressed the sinues and veines lying vnder the skinne hee it was also that couched and layd the haire of the forehead more handsomely yea and wrought the same farre more finely than any before him Now besides Pythagoras before mentioned there was another a Samian both who by occupation was at the beginning a painter of his handiwork are those 7 images halfe naked which are to be seen in the Temple of This daies Fortune at Rome and one resembling an old man all highly commended for singular art This Pythagoras was so like vnto the other aboue named especially in face and countenance that hardly by report one of them could be knowne from the other As touching Sostratus it is said he was apprentice to Pythagoras of Rhegium and his sisters son besides As for Lysippus of Sicyone Durus saith That he learned the art by himselfe and neuer was taught by other But Tullius affirmeth That hee was an Apprentice vnto it and hauing bin at first by occupation a poore tinker or a plain brasier and coppersmith at the most he began to take heart vnto him and to proceed further by a speech or answer that Eupompus the painter gaue him for when he seemed to ask this painters counsel what pattern and whom be were best to follow of
said all that we can the follie of the blind bold people of Rome went beyond al who trusted such a ticklish frame durst sit there in a seat so moueable Loe where a man might haue seen the body of that people which is commander and ruler of the whole earth the conquerour of the world the disposer of kingdomes and realmesat their pleasure the deuiser of countries and nations at their wil the giuer of lawes to forreinstates the vicegerent of the immortall gods vnder heauen and representing their image vnto all mankind hanging in the air within a frame at the mercy of one only hook rejoicing and ready to clap hands at their owne danger What a cheape market of mens liues was here toward What was the losse at Cannae to this hâ—…ard that they should complaine so much as they do of Cannae How neere vnto a mischiefe were they which might haue happened hereby in the turning of a hand Certes when there is newes come of a city swallowed vp by a wide chinke and opening of the earth all men generally in a publicke commiseration doe grieue thereat and there is not one but his heart doth earne and yet behold the vniuersall state and people of Rome as if they were put into a couple of barkes supported between heauen and earth and sitting at the deuotion only of two pins or hookes And what spectacle do they behold a number of fencers trying it out with vnrebated swords nay ywis but euen themselues rather entered into a most desperat fight and at the point to break their necks euery mothers son if the scaffold failed neuer so little the frame went out of joint Now surely by this proofe Curio had gotten a good hand ouer the people of Rome no Tribunes of the Commons with all their Orations could do more from that time forward he might make account to be so gracious as to lead all the tribes after him in any suits and haue them hanging in the air at his pleafure What a mighty man with them might he be thinke you preaching vnto them from the Rostra What would not he dare to propose hauing audience in that publick place before them who could persuade them thus as he did to sit vpon such turning and ticklish Theatres And in truth if we wil consider this pageant vpright we must needs confesse may be bold to say that Curio had all the people of Rome to perform a braue skirmish and combat indeed to honor and solemnize the funerals of his father before his tombe And yet here is not all for he was at his change and variety of magnificent shewes and when he perceiued once that the hookes of his frames were stretched ynough and began to be out of order hee kept them still close together round in forme of a perfect Amphitheatre and the very last day of his funeral solemnities vpon two stages just in the middest he represented wrestlers and other champions to performe their devoire and then all on a suddaine causing the said stages to be disjointed and hailed one from another a contrary way he brought forth the same day the fencers and sword players who had woon the prize and with that shew made an end of all See what Curio was able to do And yet was he neither king nor Kesar he was not so much as a generall or commander of an army nay he was not named for any great rich man as whose principall state depended vpon this That when the great men of the city Caesar and Pompey were skuffling together by the eares he knew well how to fish in a troubled water But to leaue Curio such as he was with their foolish and idle expences let vs come to the miraculous workes that Q. Marcius Rex performed and that to some good purpose which if we consider esteeme aright passe all the other before rehearsed This gentleman when he was Pretor hauing commandement commission both from the Senat to repaire the conduits to the waters of Appia Anio and Tepula which serued Rome did not that only but also conueighed a new water into the city which of his owne name he called Martia and notwithstanding that he was to pierce certaine mountains make trenches quite through them vnder the ground for to bring the water thither from the Spring yet he perfourmed all within the time of his Pretourship As for Agrippa whiles he was Aedile besides the conduits from all other fountaines which he scoured repaired and caused to keep their currant he brought another of his own to the city which is known by the name of Virgo he made seuen hundred pooles for receit of waters a hundred and siue conduits yeelding water at rockes and spoutes besides a hundred and thirtie conduit heads in the fields and the most of them built strongly with vaults and adorned right stately Moreouer vpon these workes of his he erected statues images to the number of three hundred partly of brasse and partly of marble besides foure hundred pillars of marble and all within the compasse of one yeare And if wee may beleeue his owne speech discoursing of the acts done by him during his Aedileship hee addeth moreouer and saith That the plaies and games which he exhibited that yeare for to doe the people pleasure continued threescore daies together wanting one that he caused a hundred threescore and ten baines or stouves to be made within the city wherein people of all sorts and degrees might bathe and sweat of free cost and not pay a denier the which remain at this day and haue brought with them an infinit number of others But of all the conduits that euer were before this time that which was last begun by C. Caligula Caesar and finished by Claudius Caesar his successour passeth for sumptuousnesse for they commanded the waters from the two fountains Curtius Caeruleus whose heads were 40 miles off and these they carried before them with such a force and to such an height that they mounted vp to the top of the highest hils of Rome and serued them that dwelt therupon This work cost three hundred millions of sesterces Certes if a man would well and truly consider the abundance of water that is brought therby and how many places it serues as well publicke as priuat in baines stewes and fishpooles for kitchins and other houses of office for pipes and little riuerets to water gardens as well about the citie as in manors and houses of pleasure in the fields neere the city ouer and besides what a mighty way these waters be brought the number of arches that of necessitie must be built of purpose for to conueigh them the mountaines that be pierced and mined through to giue way together with the vallies that are raised and made euen and leuell with other ground he will confesse that there was neuer any desseine in the whole world enterprised and effected more admirable than this
their paine The Amiant stone is like Alume being put into the fire loseth nothing of the substance a singular propertie it hath to resist all inchantments and sorceries such especially as Magitians do practise As for Gaeodes the Greeks haue giuen it this significant name because it containeth inclosed within the belly a certaine earth a medicine soueraigne for the eies as also for the infirmities incident as well to womens paps as mens genitoirs The stone Melitites hath that name because if it be bruised or braied it yeeldeth from it a certaine sweet juice in manner of honey the same being incorporat in wax is good to cure the flegmatick wheales and other pushes or specks of the body it healeth likewise the exulceration of the throat applied with wool it takes away the chilblanes or angry bloudifalls called Epinyctides also the griefe of the matrice it easeth in the same manner The Gete which otherwise we call Gagates carrieth the name of a towne and riuer both in Lycia called Gages it is said also that the sea casteth it vp at a full tide or high water into the Island of Leucola where it is gathered within the space of twelue stadia and no where els black it is plaine and euen of an hollow substance in manner of a pumish stone not much differing from the nature of wood light brittle and if it be rubbed or bruised of a strong sauor Looke what letters are imprinted in it into any vessel of earth they will neuer be got out again whiles it burneth it yeelds a smel of brimstone but a wonderful thing it is of this jeat stone that water will soone make it to flame and oile will quench it againe in burning the perfume thereof chaseth away serpents and recouers women lying in a trance by the suffocation or rising of the mother the said smoke discouereth the falling sicknesse and bewraieth whether a yong damsell be a maid or no being boiled in wine it helpeth the tooth-ache and tempered with wax it cures the swelling glandules called the Kings euil They say that Physitians vse this â—…et stone much in their sorceries practised by the means of red hot axes which they call Axinomantia for they affirme that being cast thereupon it will burn and consume if what we desire and wish shall happen accordingly As for Spunges I mean by them in this place certain stones found in Spunges and the same also do ingender naturally within them Some there be who cal them Tecolithos because they are good for the bladder in this respect that they breake the stone being drunk in wine As concerning the Phrygian stone it beareth the name of the country where it is ordinarily found and it groweth in hollow lumps in manner of a pumish stone the order is to steep it well in wine before it be calcined and in the burning to maintain the fire with blast of bellows vntil it wax red then to quench it again in red wine continuing this course three times being thus prepared it is good only to scoure cloth and make it ready for the Dier to take a colour CHAP. XX. ¶ Of the red Bloud-stone Hoematites and the fiue sorts thereof also of the blacke sanguine stone called Schistos THe bloud-stone Schistos and Hoematites both haue great affinitie one with another As for the bloud-stone Hoematites a meere mineral it is and found in mines of mettal being burnt it comes to the colour of Vermilion the manner of calcining it is much after that of the Phrygian stone but wine serueth not to quench it Many sophisticate it with Schistos and obtrude the one for the other but the difference is soon known for that the right Hoematites hath red veins in it and besides is by nature fraile and easie to crumble of wonderful operation it is to help bloud-shotten eies the same giuen to women to drink staieth the immoderat flux that followes them they also that vse to cast vp bloud at the mouth find helpe by drinking it with the juice of a pomgranat in the diseases likewise of the blader it is very effectual and being taken in wine it is souerain against the sting of serpents In all these cases the bloud-stone Schistos is effectual but weaker only it is in operation and yet among these sanguine or bloud-stones those are taken for the best and most helpfull which in colour resemble saffron such haue a peculiar resplendant lustre by themselues This stone being applied to weeping and watery eies with womans milk doth them much good and is soueraign also to restrain and keep them in if they be ready to start out of the head And this I write according to the mind and opinion of our modern writers But Sotacus a very antient writer hath deliuered vnto vs fiue kinds of bloud-stones besides that Hoematites called Magnes or the Load-stone among which he giues the chiefe prize and principall praise to the Aethiopian for that it is so souerain to be put into medicines appropriat to the eies as also into those which for their excellent operation be called Panchresta A second sort he saith is called Androdamas black of colour and for weight and hardnesse surpassing all the rest whereupon it took that name and of this kind there are found great store in Barbary He affirmeth moreouer That it hath a qualitie to draw vnto it siluer brasse and iron and for triall whether it be good or no it ought to be ground vpon the touch called Basanitis for it will yeeld a bloudy juice the which is a right soueraign remedie for the diseases of the liuer The third kind of bloud-stone he maketh Arabick for that it is brought out of Arabia as hard it is as the other for hardly will there any juice come from it though it be put to the grindstone and the same otherwhile is of a Saffron colour The fourth sort he saith is called Elatites so long as it is crude but being once calcined it is named Miltites a very excellent thing for burns and scaldings and in all cases much better than any ruddle whatsoeuer In the fift place he reckons that which is called Schistos this is held to be singular for repressing the flux of bloud from the hemorrhoid veins But generally of all these bloud stones he concludes thus That if they be puluerised and taken in oile vpon a fasting stomack to the weight of 3 drams they be right soueraign for all fluxes of bloud The same author writes of another Schistos which is none of these Hoematites and this they call Anthracites and by his saying found there is of it in Africk black of colour which if it be ground vpon a whetstone or grindstone with water yeelds toward the nether end or side thereof that lay next the ground a certaine blacke juice but on the other side of a saffron colour and he is of opinion that the said juice is singular for those medicines appropriat to the eies
winds hurt all spiked corne as well Wheat as Barly at three seueral times to wit in their floure presently vpon their blooming and last of all when they begin to ripen for then namely when they are vpon the point of maturitie those blasts consume the grain and bring it to nothing which before was full whereas at the two former seasons they hinder it altogether from knitting and growing The hot gleames moreouer of the Sun betweene often clouding do much harme to corne Furthermore there be certaine little wormes breeding in the root that do eat it which happeneth by occasion of much raine falling immediatly after the seednesse especially when some sudden heat and drowth ensueth therupon which bindeth the earth aboue and so encloseth the moisture conceiued within the very cause nourice of putrifaction Ye shall haue other such like vermin engender likewise in the very grain of the corn namely when the ear doth glow within and is chafed with sultry hot rains Ouer and besides there be certain green flies like small Beetles called Cantharides which do gnaw and eat the corne But al these and such like worms or flies die presently when the corn which was their food is gone Moreouer Oile Pitch and Tarre all manner of greace also be contrarie to seed-corne especially and therefore take heed that you sow none such as hath caught oile pitch or grease As for showers of raine good they are for corne so long only as it is in the green blade when corne is blooming be it either wheat or barley or such like raine is hurtfull Mary Pulse takes no harme thereby vnlesse it be the Cich-pease All kinds of wheat and other bread corne when they be toward ripenesse catch hurt by showers but Barley more than any Besides all this there is a certaine white hearbe or weed resembling Panicke growing among corne and ouerspreading whole fields which not onely hindereth corne but also killeth all the cattell that feedeth thereupon For as touching ray or darnel burs thistles and brambles I may hold and reckon them not so much for faults and imperfections of corn as rather the plagues and infections proceeding from the very earth And for blasting which commeth of some distemperature of the aire a mischiefe common as well to corn as vines it is as hurtful as any other malady whatsoeuer This vnhappie blast falleth most often in places subject to mists and dewes and namely hollow vallies and low grounds lying vnder the winde for contrariwise windie quarters and such as are mounted high are not subiect to this inconuenience Also we may number among the faults incident to corne their rankenesse namely when the blade is so ouergrowne and the stalke so charged and loden with a heauie head that the corn standeth not vpright but is lodged lieth along Moreouer when there fals a great glut of rain insomuch as the ground stands with water there befalleth vnto all corn and pulse yea and whatsoeuer is sowne a certaine disease called in Latine Vrica insomuch as the very Cich-pease taketh hurt therby for by reason that the rain washed from them that salt quality which was naturall thereunto it becommeth sweeter than it should be and loseth the kind tast There is a weed that claspeth and tieth about Ciches and Eruiles wherby it choketh and killeth them both and thereupon it is called Orobanctum i. Choke Eruile After the same maner dealeth Ray or Darnel by wheat wild Otes likewise named by some Aegilops with barly as also the weed Securidaca i. Ax-fitch which the Greeks also for the resemblance that it hath to an axe head call Pelicinon with Lentils These weeds I say kill corne by winding about it Another herb there is growing neere to the city Philippi which killeth Beans if the ground be fat and good they name the said weed Ateramnon but if it be found in a hungry and leane soile and namely when being wet some vnhappy wind bloweth vpon it they call it Teramnon As for the graine of Raie or Darnell it is very small and lieth inclosed with a sharpe-pointed husk The bread which hath any of this seed in it soone causeth dizinesse and swimming of the head And by report in Asia and Greece the masters of the common Bains and Stuphes when they would keep away the great resort of multitude thither haue a deuise to cast Darnell seeds vpon burning coles for this perfume will quickly set them farther off Moreouer if the Winter proue to be wet and waterish ye shall haue in the Pulse called Eruile a little vermin ingendred there called Phalangion and it is of the kind of these spiders Likewise vpon Vetches there wil breed naked dew-snails yea otherwhile those little ones with shels or houses on their backs which creeping from the ground wil gnaw eat them that it is a wonder to see what foul work they will make Thus much concerning all the maladies and inconueniences to speak of incident to corne It remaineth now to treat of the remedies As touching the cure of those harms that come by hurtful weeds to the corn in blade it consisteth principally in two things namely either in the vse of the weeding knife or hooke when they be newly come vp or els in strewing ashes when the corn is a sowing But as for those dangers that touch the seed or grain in the eare and cod as also that settle about the root they must be preuented by good forecast euen before it be thrown into the ground It is generaly thought that if seed-corn lie steeped beforehand in Wine it will be better able afterwards to resist all diseases whatsoeuer Virgil giueth order to infuse or soke the Beanes that must be sown in nitre and oile lees or dregs and he assureth vs that they will prosper mightily besides and become exceeding great But others are of opinion that if for 3 daies before they be cast into the earth they lie in vrine shere water mingled together they wil being thus prepared come on apace and thriue passing well It is said moreouer That if Beans be thrice raked and rid from weedes one Modius of them being whole and solid wil yeeld a Modius again after it is husked broken As for other seed-corn it wil escape the danger of the worme if either it lie before among Cypresse leaues bruised or be sowed in and about the change of the Moon namely when she is not to be seen aboue the earth in our hemisphaere Many there be who practise other remedies namely for the Millet they would haue a toad to be caried round about the field before that it be harrowed which done to be put close within an earthen pot and so buried in the middest of the said field and by this meanes for sooth neither Sparrows will lie vpon the corn nor any worm hurt it Mary in any case this same toad must be digged out of the ground againe before the field be mowed
els will the Millet proue bitter in tast The like experiment they say is of a Moldwarps shoulder for if any corn be sowed or touched therewith before it will come vp the better and bring more increase Democritus had a deuise by himselfe for all seed corn whatsoeuer namely to temper soke the same corn in the iuice of the herb housleeke or Sen-greene growing vpon houses either tiled or shindled which in Greeke is called Aizoon and in Latine Sedum or Digitellum for this medicine will serue for all maladies The common practise of our husbandmen is this in case through the ouersweet sap or juice in greene corne wormes take to the roots for to sprinkle them with simple oile lees pure and clean without any salt afterwards to rake it in Also when the corn begins to ioint and gathet into knots then to clense the ground and put off no longer for feare least the weeds do get head ouergrow This I am sure vpon mine owne knowledge that there is an herbe but what proper name it hath I wote not which if it be interred in the foure corners of a field that is sown with Millet it wil driue away Stares and Sparrows which otherwise would by whole flights and flocks lie thereupon and do much harme nay I will speake a greater word and which may seeme wonderfull There is not a bird of the aire one or other that dare enter or approch such a field Field-mice and Rats are skared away and will not touch corne which before the sowing was either bestrewed with the ashes of weasels or cats or els drenched with the liquor and decoction of water wherein they were boiled howbeit this inconuenience insueth hereupon That bread made of such corn will haue a smach and sent strongly of such cats and Weasels and therefore it is supposed a more expedient and safer way to medicine our seed corne with oxe gall for to preserue it from the said Mice and Rats But what remedy against the blast and mildew the greatest plague that can befall vpon corn Mary prick downe certaine Lawrell boughes here and there among the standing corne all the said mists and mildewes will leaue the corne and passe to the Bay leaues and there settle What shall we do then to corne when it is ouer-rank Eat it me downe with sheep and spare not whiles it is young and in the blade onely before I say it be knotted and neuer feare harm by the sheeps teeth as neere as they go to the ground for let it be thus eaten many times the corn will be the better yea and the head will take no harme thereby but prooue the fairer If such rank corne be once cut down with the syth no more certain it is that the grain in the eare will be the longer to see to howbeit void and without any floure within it for sow such seed again it wil neuer grow nor come vp And yet about Babylon the maner is to mow it twise first and the third time to put in sheep to it for to eat it down otherwise the corn would neuer spindle but blade still and run all to leafe But being thus cut and cut again and eaten in the end ye shall haue it to increase and multiply 50 for one so fertile is the soile and if the owner be a good husband besides and vse the ground accordingly he shall reap thrice as much euen a 150 sold. And what carefull diligence is that which is here required Surely neither much nor difficult only he must be sure to keep the ground well with watering for a long time together to the end that it may be discharged of the ouermuch fat within it which by this means will be washed all away and the ranknesse delaied Yet as rich and fertile as this soile is the two riuers Euphrates and Tigris which vse to ouerflow and water the country bring no slimy mud with them as Nilus doth in Egypt wherby the ground is made so fat as it is neither is the nature of the earth there giuen to breed herbs that it should need any weeding and yet so plenteous and fruitfull it is that it soweth it selfe against the next yere for the corne that sheddeth in the reaping and mowing being troden vnder foot into the ground is as good as a sowing and riseth of it selfe without any further labor Seeing then there is so great difference in the soile I am put in minde thereby to fit euery ground with seed respectiuely according to the nature and goodnesse thereof This therfore is the opinion of Cato that in a grosse and fat soile there would be wheat and such like hard corne sown and if the same be subiect also to mists and dews there may be sown therein raddish millet and Panick must be sowne first in a cold and waterish ground and afterwards for change in a hot soile Item the red bearded wheat Far or Adoreum requireth a chalkie and sandy ground and namely if it be well watered Item the common wheat loueth a drie soile exposed to the Sun and not giuen much to breed superfluous weeds Item Beanes will doe well in a sound and fast soile As for Vetches they care not how little they be sowed in a moist piece of ground and such as is apt to run to grasse Moreouer for the fine winter wheat Siligo whereof the best manchet is made and also for the common frumenty wheat there would be chosen an open high ground lying pleasantly vpon the Sunne that it might haue the heat thereof to parch it as long and as much as is possible As for Lentils they doe like a good rough and shrubbie soile full of red earth so as it be not apt quickly to gather a green-sord Barly would gladly grow vpon a restie ground new broken vp or else such as be in heart to beare euery yeare And as for Summer barley of three moneths it would be sowne in a ground where it could not haue an earely or timely Seednes which is so fat and rich as it may affoord to beare crop yere by yere finally to speak to the purpose indeed this also is Catoes witty resolution in one word for all if the soile be light and lean seed it with such grain or forage seed as require no great nourishment as for example with Cytisus and excepting the Cich-pease with all pulse that are vsed to be plucked out of the earth and not mowed downe and thereupon indeed are these pulse called in Latine Legumina because they are plucked and gathered in that sort but in case the ground be good and fat sow such things as require fuller food and nutriment and namely all garden worts and pot-herbes wheat both the common and the fine and Linseed Then according to this rule a leane and hungry soile will well agree with barly for the root is contented with lesse nutriture wheras contrariwise we allow both