you haue no ground to plant your Orchard vpon but such as either through the neighbourhood of riuers descent of Mountaines or the earth 's owne naturall quallitie in casting and vomiting out water and moysture is subiect to some small ouerflowes of water by which you cannot attaine to the pleasure you séeke because fruit-trées can neuer indure the corruption of waters you shall then in the dryest season of the yéere after you haue marked out that square or quantitie of ground which you intend for your Orchard you shall then cast therein sundry ditches at least sixtéene foote broad and nine foote déepe and not aboue twelue foote betwixt ditch and ditch vpon which reserued earth casting the earth that you digged vp you shall raise the banckes at least seauen foote high of firme earth and kéepe in the top the full breadth of twelue foote with in a foote or little more and in the casting vp of these bankes you shall cause the earth to be beaten with maules and broad béetels that it may lye firme fast and leuell and after these bankes haue rested a yéere or more and are sufficiently setled you may then at the neather end of the banke neare to the verge of the water plant store of Osyers which will be a good defence to the banke and vpon the top and highest part of the banke you shall plant your Orchard and fruit-trées so that when any inundation of water shall happen the ditches shal be able inough to receiue it or else making a passage from your Orchard into some other sewer the water excéeding his limits may haue a frée current or passage besides these ditches being neatly kept and comforted with fresh water may make both pleasant and commodious fish-ponds Also you must be carefull in casting these bankes that you doe not place them in such sort that when you are vpon one you cannot come to the other but rather like a maze so that you may at pleasure passe from the one to the other round about the ground making of diuers bankes to the eye but one banke in substance and of diuers ponds in appearance but one in true iudgement And thus much for the plot or situation of an Orchard CHAP. II. Of the Nurserie where you shall set all manner of Kernels and Stones for the furnishing of the Orchard ALthough great persons out of their greatnesse and abilitie doe buy their fruit trées ready grafted and so in a moment may plant an Orchard of the greatest quantitie yet sith the Husbandman must raise euery thing from his owne indeauours and that I onely write for his profit I therefore hould it most conuenient to beginne with the nursery or store-house of fruits from whence the Orchard receiueth his beauty and â—iches This Nursery must be a péece of principall ground either through Art or Nature strongly fenced warme and full of good shelter for in it is onely the first infancy and tendernesse of fruit-trées because there they are first kernells or stones after sprigs and lastly trées Now for the manner of chusing sowing and planting them in this nursery I differ some thing from the french practise who would chuse the kernells from the cider presse sow them in large bedds of earth and within a yeere after replant them in a wilde Orchard now for mine owne part though this course be not much faulty yet I rather chuse this kinde of practise first to chuse your kernells either of Apples Peares or Wardens from the best and most principallest fruit you can tasté for although the kernell doe bring forth no other trée but the plaine stocke vpon which the fruit was grafted as thus if the graft were put into a Crab-stocke the kernell brings forth onely a Crab-trée yet when you taste a perfect and delicate Apple be assured both the stocke and graft were of the best choise and so such kernells of best reckoning When you haue then a competent quantitie of such kernells you shall take certaine large pots in the fashion of milkeboules all full of hoales in the bottome through which the raine and superfluous moysture may auoyde and either in the Months of March or Nouember for those are the best seasons fill the pots three parts full of the finest blackest and richest mould you can get then lay your kernells vpon the earth about foure fingars one from another so many as the vessell can conueniently containe and then with a siue sift vpon them other fine moulds almost three fingars thicke and so let â—hem rest filling so many pots or vessells as shall serue to receiue your quantitie of kernells of all sorts Now if any man desire to know my reason why I rather desire to set my kernells rather in vessells then in beds of earth my answere is that I haue often found it in mine experience that the kernell of Apples Peares Quinces and such like are such a tender and dainty séede that it is great odoâ—â— but the wormes will deuoure and consume them before they sprout who naturally delight in such séedes which these vessels onely doe preuent but to procéede After your kernells are sprouted vp and growne to be at least seauen or eight inches high you shall then within in your nursery digge vp a border about two foote and an halfe broad more then a foote déepe and of such conuenient length as may receiue all your young plants and hauing made the mould fine and rich with Manure you shall then with your whole hand gripe as much of the earth that is about the plant as you can conueniently hould and so take both the plant and the mould out of the vessell and replant it in the new drest border and you shall thus doe plant after plant till you haue set euery one and made them firme and fast in the new mould wherein you are to obserue these two principles first that you place them at least fiue foote one from another and secondly that such kernells as you set in your vessells in March that you replant them in borders of earth in Nouember following and such as you set in Nouember to replant in March following and being so replanted to suffer them to grow till they be able to beare grafts during which time you shall diligently obserue that if any of them chance to put forth any superfluous branches or cyons which may hinder the growth of the body of the plant that you carefully cut them away that thereby it may be the sooner inabled to beare a graft for it is euer to be intended that whatsoeuer procéedeth from kernells are onely to be preserued for stockes to graft on and for no other purpose Now for the stones of Plumbes other stone fruit you shall vnderstand that they be of two kindes one simple and of themselues as the Rye-plumbe Wheate-plumbe Damson Prune-plumbe Horse-clogge Cherry and such like so that from the kernells of them issueth trées of like nature and goodnesse the other
compounded or grafted plumbes as the Abricot Pescod Peach Damaske Uerdochyo Emperiall and such like from whose kernells issueth no other trées but such as the stockes were vpon which they were grafted Now for the manner of setting the first which are simple and vncompounded you shall digge vp a large bedde of rich and good earth a month or more before March or Nouember and hauing made the mould as fine as is possible you shall flat-wise thrust euery stone a foote one from another more then thrée fingars into the mould and then with a little small rake made for the purpose rake the bedde ouer and close vp the holes and so let them rest till they be of a yéeres groath at which time you shall replant them into seuerall borders as you did your Apple-trée plants and others Now for the kernells of your compounded or grafted Plumbes you shall both set them in beddes and replant them into seuerall borders in the same manner as you did the other kernells of Plumbes onely you shall for the space of eight and forty houres before you set them stéepe them in new milke forasmuch as the stones of them are more hard and with greater difficulty open and sprout in the earth then any other stone whatsoeuer and thus hauing furnished your Nursery of all sorts of fruits and stockes you shall when they come to full age and bignesse graft them in such order as shal be hereafter declared CHAP. III. Of the setting or planting of the Cyons or Branches of most sorts of Fruit-trees AS you are to furnish your nursery with all sorts of kernells and stones for the bréeding of stockes where on to graft the daintiest fruits you can compasse so shall you also plant therein the cyons and branches of the best fruit trées which cyons and branches doe bring forth the same fruit which the trées doe from whence they are taken and by that meanes your nursery shall euer afford you perfect trées wherewith either to furnish your owne grounds or to pleasure your neighbours And herein by the way you shall vnderstand that some trées are more fit to be set then to be sowne as namely the Seruice-trée the Medler the Filbert and such like Now for the Seruice-trée hée is not at all to be grafted but set in this wise take of the bastard cyons such as be somewhat bigger then a mans thumbe and cutting away the branches thereof set it in a fine loose mould at least a foote déepe and it will prosper exceedingly yet the true nature of this trée is not to be remoued and therefore it is conuenient that it be planted where it should euer continue in like manner to the Seruice-tree so you shall plant the bastard cyons of the Meblar-trée either in March or October and at the waine of the moone Now for the Filbert or large Hassell-nut you shall take the smallest cyons or wands such as are not aboue two yéeres groath being full of short heauie twigges and grow from the roote of the maine trée and set them in a loose mould a foote déepe without pruning or cutting away any of the branches and they will prosper to your contentment Now for all sorts of Plumbe-trées Apple-trées or other fruit-trées which are not grafted if you take the young cyons which grow from the rootes cleane from the rootes and plant them either in the spring or fall in a fresh and fine mould they will not onely prosper but bring forth fruit of like nature and qualitie to the trees from whence they were taken Now for your grafted fruit as namely Apples Plumbes Cherryes Mulberries Quinces and such like the cyons also and branches of them also will take roote and bring forth fruit of the same kinde that the trées did from whence they were taken◠but those cyons or branches must euer be chosen from the vpper parts of the trées betwixt the feast of all-Saints and Christmas they must be bigger then a mans finger smooth straight and without twigges you shall with a sharpe chissell cut them from the body or armes of the trée with such care that by no meanes you raise vp the barke and then with a little yealow waxe couer the place from whence you cut the cyon then hauing digged and dunged the earth well where you intend to plant them and made the mould easie you shall with an Iron as bigge as your plant make a hoale a foote déepe or better and then put in your cyon and with it a few Oates long stéept in water and so fixe it firme in the mould and if after it beginneth to put forth you perceiue any young cyons to put forth from the root thereof you shall immediatly cut them off either cast them away or plant them in other places for to suffer them to grow may bréede much hurt to the young trées Now where as these cyons thus planted are for the most part small and weake so that the smallest breath of winde doth shake and hurt their rootes it shal be good to pricke strong stakes by them to which fastning the young plant with a soft hay rope it may the better be defended from stormes and tempests Next to these fruit-trées you shall vnderstand that your bush-trées as Barberryes Gooseberryes or Feberryes Raspberryes and such like will also grow vpon cyons without rootes being cut from their maine rootes in Nouember so planted in a new fresh mould And here by the way I am to giue you this note or caueat that if at any time you finde any of these cyons which you haue planted not to grow and flourish according to your desire but that you finde a certaine mislike or consumption in the plant you shall then immediatly with a sharpe knife cut the plant off slope-wise vpward about three fingars from the ground and so let it rest till the next spring at which time you shall beholde new cyons issue from the roote which will be without sicknesse or imperfection and from the vertue of this experiment I imagine the gardners of antient time found out the meanes to get young cyons from olde Mulberry-trées which they doe in this manner first you must take some of the greatest armes of the Mulberry-trée about the midst of Nouember and with a sharpe sawe to sawe them into bigge truncheons about fiuetéene inches long and then digging a trench in principall good earth of such depth that you may couer the truncheons being set vp on end with Manure and fine mould each truncheon being a foote one from another and couerd more then foure fingars aboue the wood not fayling to water them whensoeuer néede shall require and to preserue them from wéeds and filthinesse within lesse then a yéeres space you shall behold those truncheons to put forth young cyons which as soone as they come to any groath and be twigged then you may cut them from the stockes and transplant them where you please onely the truncheons you shall
strange issues which doe procéede from many quaint motions and helpes in grafting as thus if you will haue Peaches Cherryes Apples Quinces Medlars Damsons or any Plumbe whatsoeuer to ripen earely as at the least two months before the ordinary time and to continâ—u at least a month longer then the accustomed course you shall then graft them vpon a Mulberry stocke and if you will haue the fruit to tast like spice with a certaine delicate perfume you shall boyle Honey the powder of Cloues and Soaxe together and being colâ— annoynt the grafts therewith before you put them into the cleft if you graft Apples Peares or any fruit vpon a Figge-tree stocke they will beare fruit without blooming if you take an Apple graft a Peare graâ—t of like bignesse and hauing clouen them ioyne them as one body in grafting the fruit they bring forth will be halfe Apple and halfe Peare and so likewise of all other fruits which are of contrary tastes and natures if you graft any fruit-tree or other trée vpon the Holly or vpon the Cypresse they will be greene and kéepe their leaues the whole yéere albeit the winter be neuer so bitter If you graft either Peach Plumbe or any stone-fruit vpon a Willow stocke the fruit which commeth of them will be without stones If you will change the colour of any fruit you shall boare a hole slope-wise with a large aâ—ger into the body of the trée euen vnto the pith and then if you will haue the fruit yealow you shal fill the hole with Safornâ— dâ—ssoluâ—d in water if you will haue it redde then with Saunders and of any other colour you please and then stoppe the hole vp close and couer it with red or yealow waxe also if you mixe the coulour with any spice or perfumâ— the fruit will take a rellish or tast of the same many other such like conceits and experiments are practised amongst men of this Art but sith they more concerne the curious then the wise I am not so carefull to bâ—stow my labour in giuing more substantiall satisfaction knowing curiosity loues that best which procéedes from their most paine and am content to referre their knowledge to the searching of those bookes which haue onely strangnesse for their subiect resolued that this I haue written is fully sufficiâ—nt for the plaine English husbandman CHAP. VI. Of the replanting of Trees and furnishing the Orchard AS soone as your séedes or sets haue brought forth plants those plants through time made able and haue receiued grafts and those grafts haue couered the heads of the stockes and put forth goodly branches you shall then take them vp and replant them because the sooner it is done the better it is done in those seuerall places of your Orchard which before is appointed and is intended to be prepared both by dungging digging and euery orderly labour to receiue euery seuerall fruit And herein you shall vnderstand that as the best times for grafting are euery month except October and Nouember and at the change of the moone so the best times for replanting are Nouember and March onely vnlesse the ground be cold and moist and then Ianuary or February must be the soonest all wayes excepted that you doe not replant in the time of frost for that is most vnholsome Now when you will take vp your trées which you intend to replant in your Orchard you shall first with a spade bare all the maine branches of the roote and so by degrées digge and loosen the earth from the roote in such sort that you may with your owne strength raise the young trée from the ground which done you shall not according to the fashion of Fraunce dismember or disroabe the trée of his beauties that is to say to cut off all his vpper branches and armes but you shall diligently preserue them for I haue séene a trée thus replanted after the fall of the leafe to bring forth fruit in the summer following but if the trée you replant be olde then it is good to cut off the maine branches with in a foote of the stocke least the sappe running vpward and so forsaking the roote too sodainely doe kill the whole trée When you haue taken your trée vp you shall obserue how and in what manner it stoode that is which side was vpon the South and receiued most comfort from the sunne and which side was from it and receiued most shadow and bleaknesse and in the same sort as it then stoode so shall you replant it againe this done you shall with a sharpe cutting-knife cut off all the maine rootes within halfe a foote of the trée onely the small thriddes or twist-rootes you shall not cut at all then bringing the plant into your Orchard you shall make a round hole in that place where you intend to set your trée the rankes manner distance and forme whereof hath béene all ready declared in the first Chapter and this hole shal be at least foure foote ouerthwart euery way and at least two foote déepe then shall you fill vp the hole againe fiftéene inches déepe with the finest blacke mould tempered with Oxe dunge that you can get so that then the hole shal be but nine inches déepe then you shall take your trée and place it vpon that earth hauing care to open euery seuerall branch and thrid of the roote so to place them that they may all looke downe into the earth and not any of them to looke backe and turne vpward then shall you take of the earth from whence your trée was taken and tempering it with a fourth part of Oxe dunge and slekt sope-asshes for the killing of wormes couer all the roote of your trée firmely and strongly then with gréene soddes cut and ioyned arteficially together so sodde the place that the hole may hardly be discerned Lastly take a strong stake and driuing it hard into the ground neare vnto the new planted trée with either a soft hay rope the broad barke of Willow or some such like vnfretting band tye the trée to the stake and it will defend it from the rage of winde and tempests which should they but shake or trouble the roote being new planted it were inough to confound and spoyle the trée for euer Now although I haue vnder the title and demonstration of replanting one trée giuen you a generall instruction for the replanting of all trées whatsoeuer yet for as much as some are not of that strength and hardnesse to indure so much as some others will therefore you shal take these considerations by the way to fortefie your knowledge with First you shall vnderstand that all your dainty and tender grafted Plumbes and fruits as Abricots Peaches Damaske-Plumbes Uerdochyos Pescods Emperialls and diuers such like together with Orrenges Cytrons Almonds Oliues and others which indéede are not familiar with our soytes as being nearer neighbours to the sunne doe delight in a warme fat earth being somewhat sandy or such
great birds There is another way of grafting which is called grafting in the scutchion whiâ—h howsoeuer it is estéemed yet is it troublesome incertaine and to small purpose the season for it is in summer from May till August at what time trées are fullest of sappe and fullest of leaues and the manner is thus take the highest and the principallest branches of the toppe of the trée you would haue grafted and without cutting it from the olde wooâ—e chuse the best eye and budding place of the cyon then take another such like eye or budde being great and full and first cut off the leafe hard by the budde then hollow it with your â—â—â—fe the length of a quarter of an inch beneath the budde round about the barke close to the sappe both aboue and below then slit it downe twice so much wide of the budde and then with a small sharpe chissell raise vp the scutchion with not onely the budde in the midst but euen all the sappe likewise wherein you shall first raise that side which is next you and then taking the scutchion betwéene your fingars raise it gently vp without breaking or brusing and in taking it off hould it hard vnto the woode to the end the sappe of the budde may abide in the sâ—utâ—hion for if it depart from the barke and cleaue to the woode your labour is lost this done you shall take another like cyon and hauing taken off the barke from it place it in the others place and in taking off this barke you must be caâ—full that you cut not the woode but the barke onely and this done you shall couer it all ouer with redde waxe or some such glutenous matter as for the binding of it with hempe and such trumpery it is vtterly dissalowed of all good grafters this manner of grafting may be put in practise vpon all manner of cyons from the bignesse of a mans little fingar to the bignesse of a slender arme Not much vnlike vnto this is the grafting with the Leafe and of like worth the art whereof is thus any time betwixt midst May vntill the midst of September you shall chuse from the toppe of the sunne-side of the trée the most principall young cyon you can sée whose barke is smoothest whose leaues are greatest and whose sappe is fullest then cutting it from the trée note the principall leafe thereof and cut away from it all the woode more then about an inch of each side of the leafe then cutting away the vndermost part of the barke with your knife take péece meale from the barke all the woode and sappe saue onely that little part of woode and sappe which féedeth the leafe which in any wise must be left behind so that the graft will carry this figure Then with your knife raise the barke gently from the trée without breaking cracking or brusing then take your graft and putting it vnder the barke lay it flat vnto the sappe of the trée so as that little sappe which is left in the leafe may without impediment cleaue to the sappe of the trée then lay downe the barke close againe and couer the graft and with a little vntwound hempe or a soft wollen list binde downe the barke close to the graft and then couer all the incisions you haue made with gréene waxe by this manner of grafting you may haue vpon one trée sundry fruits as from one Apple-tree both Pippins Peare-maines Russettings and such like nay you may haue vpon one tree ripe fruit all summer long as Ienettings from one braâ—â—h Cislings from another Wibourns from another Costarâ—s and Quéene Apples from others and Pippens and Russettings from others which bringeth both delight to the eye and admiration to the sâ—nâ—e and yet I would not haue you imagine that this kinde of grafting doth onely worke this effect for as before I shewed you if you graft in the cleft which is the safest way of all grafting sundry fruits vpon sundry armes or bowes you shall likewise haue procéeding from them sundry sorâ—s of fruits as either Apples Plumbes Peares or any other kind according to your composition and industry as at this day we may dayly sée in many great mens Orchards There is yet another manner of grafting and it is of all other especially vsed much in Italy and yet not any thing disagréeable with our climate and that is to graft on the small cyons which are on the toppes of fruit trées surely an experience that carryeth in it both dificulty and wonder yet being put to approbation is no lesse certaine then any of the other the manner whereof is thus you shall first after you haue chosen such and so many grafts as you doâ— intend to graft and trimd them in the same manner as you haue béene taught formerly for grafting within the cleft you shall then mount vp into the toppe of the trée vpon which you meane to graft and there make choise of the highest and most principallest cyons being cleane barkt and round that you can perceiue to grow from the trée then laying the graft and the cyon vpon which you are to graft together sée that they be both of one bignesse and roundnesse then with your grafting knife cut the cyon off betwéene the olde woode and the new and â—leaue it downe an inch and an halfe or two inches at the most then put in your graft which graft must not be cut thinner on one side then on the other but all of one thicknesse and when it is in sée that the barke of the graft both aboue and below that is vpon both sides doe ioyne close euen and firme with the barke of the branch or cyon and then by foulding a little soft towe about it kéepe them close together whilst with clay mosse and the in-most barke of Osyars you lappe them about to defend them from ayre winde and tempests And herein you shall obserue to make your graft as short as may be for the shortest are best as the graft which hath not aboue two or thrée knots or buddes and no more You may if you please with this manner of grafting graft vpon euery seuerall cyon a seuerall fruit and so haue from one trée many fruits as in case of grafting with the leafe and that with much more spéede by as much as a well-growne graft is more forward and able then a weake tender leafe And in these seuerall wayes already declared consisteth the whole Art and substance of Grafting from whence albeit many curious braines may from preuaricating trickes beget showes of other fashions yet when true iudgement shall looke vpon their workes he shall euer finde some one of these experiments the ground and substance of all their labours without which they are able to doe nothing that shall turne to an assured commoditie Now when you haue made your selfe perfect in the sowing setting planting and grafting of trées you shall then learne to know the effects wonders and
straitnesse that the sappe being denied passage the body growes into a consumption it is in nature like vnto that disease which in beasts is called hide-bound and the cure is thus at the beginning of March take a sharpe knife and from the toppe of the body of the trée to the very roote draw downe certaine slits or incissions cleane through the barke vnto the very sappe of the trée round about the trée then with the backe of your knife open those slits and annoint them all through with Tarre and in short space it will giue libertie vnto the trée to encrease grow this disease commeth by the rubbing of cattell against the trée especially Swine who are very poyson vnto all plants There is another disease in fruit-trées called the Gall and it eateth and consumeth the barke quit away and so in time kills the trée the cure is to cut and open the barke which you sée infected and with a chissell to take away all that is foule and putrefied and then to clappe Oxe dunge vpon the place and it will helpe it and this must be done euer in winter The Canker in fruit trées is the consumption both of the barke and the body it commeth either by the dropping of trées one vpon another or else when some hollow places of the trée retaineth raine water in them which fretting through the barke poysoneth the trée the cure is to cut away all such boughes as by dropping bréede the euill and if the hollow places cannot be smooth and made euen then to stoppe them with clay waxe and sope-ashes mixt together If the barkes of your trées be eaten with wormes which you shall perceiue by the swelling of the barke you shall then open the barke and lay there-vpon swines dunge sage and lime beaten together and bound with a cloath fast to the trée and it will cure it or wash the trée with cowes-pisse and vinegar and it will helpe it If your young trées be troubled with Pismiers or Snailes which are very noysome vnto them you shall take vnsleckt lime and sope-ashes and mingling them with wine-lées spread it all about the roote of the trées so infected and annoint the body of the trée likewise therewith and it will not onely destroy them but giue comfort to the trée the soote of a chimney or Oake sawe-dust spread about the roote will doe the same If Caterpillers doe annoy your young trées who are great deuourers of the leaues and young buddes and spoylers of the barke you shall if it be in the summer time make a very strong brine of water and salt and either with a garden pumpe placed in a tubbe or with squirts which haue many hoales you shall euery second day water and wash your trées and it will destroy them because the Caterpillar naturally cannot indure moisture but if neuerthelesse you sée they doe continue still vpon your trees in Winter then you shall when the leaues are falne away take dankish straw and setting it on fire smeare and burne them from the trée and you shall hardly euer be troubled with them againe vpon the same trées roules of hay layd on the trées will gather vp Earewigges and kill them If your trées be barraine and albeit they flourish and spread there leaues brauely yet bring forth no fruit at all it is a great sicknesse and the worst of all other therefore you shall vnderstand it procéedeth of two causes first of two much fertillitie and fatnesse of the ground which causeth the leafe to put forth and flourish in such vnnaturall abundance that all such sappe and nutriment as should knit and bring forth fruit turnes onely vnto leafe cyons and vnprofitable branches which you shall perceiue both by the abundance of the leaues and by the colour also which will be of a more blacker and déeper gréene and of much larger proportion then those which haue but their naturall and proper rights and the cure thereof is to take away the earth from the roote of such trées and fill vp the place againe with other earth which is of a much leaner substance but if your trée haue no such infirmitie of fatnesse but beareth his leaues and branches in good order and of right colour and yet notwithstanding is barraine and bringeth forth little or no fruit then that disease springeth from some naturall defect in the trée and the cure thereof is thus first you shall vnbare the roote of the trée and then noting which is the greatest and principallest branch of all the roote you shall with a great wimble boare a hole into that roote and then driue a pinne of olde dry Ashe into the same for Oake is not altogether so good and then cutting the pinne off close by the roote couer all the head of the pinne with yealow waxe and then lay the mould vpon the roote of the trée againe and treade it hard and firmely downe and there is no doubte but the trée will beare the yéere following in Fraunce they vse for this infirmitie to boare a hoale in the body of the trée slope-wise somewhat past the hart and to fill vp the hoale with life honey and Rose-water mixt together and incorporated for at least xxiiij howers and then to stoppe the hole with a pinne of the one woode also if you wash the rootes of your trées in the drane water which runneth from your Barley when you stéepe it M for alt it will cure this disease of barrainenesse If the fruit which is vpon your trées be of a bitter and sootie tast to make it more pleasant and swéet you shall wash your trée all ouer with Swines dunge and water mixt together to the rootes of the trées you shall lay earth and Swines dunge mixt together which must be done in the month of Ianuary and February onely and it will make the fruit tast pleasantly And thus much for the dressing and preseruing of trées CHAP. VIII Of the Vine and of his ordering FOR as much as the nature temperature and clymate of our soyle is not so truely proper and agréeing with the Uine as that of Fraunce Italy Spaine and such like and sith wée haue it more for delight pleasure and prospect then for any peculyar pofit I will not vndertake Monsiuer Lybaults painefull labour in discribing euery curious perfection or defect that belongs thereunto as if it were the onely iewell and commoditie of our kingdome but onely write so much as is fitting for our knowledge touching the maintaynance increase and preseruation thereof in our Orchards Gardens and other places of recreation And lay them in the earth slope-wise at least a foote déepe leauing out of the earth vncouered not aboue foure or fiue ioynts at the most and then couer them with good earth firmely closely and strongly hauing regard to raise those cyons which are without the earth directly vpward obseruing after they be set once in a month to
the Fruiterer who is in due season and time to gather those fruits which God hath sent him for as in the husbanding of our grayne if the Husbandman be neuer so carefull or skilfull in ploughing dungging sowing wéeding and preseruing his crop yet in the time of haruest be negligent neither regarding the strength or ripnesse thereof or in the leading and mowing respects not whether it be wet or dry doth in that moments space loose the wages of his whole yéeres trauell getting but durt from durt and losse from his negligence so in like case houlds it with all other fruits if a man with neuer so great care and cost procure yet if he be inrespectiue in the gathering all his former businesse is vaine and to no purpose and therefore I hould nothing more necessary then the relation of this office of the Fruiterer which is the consummation and onely hope of our cost and diligence teaching vs to gather wisely what wée haue planted wearily and to eate with contentment what we haue preserued with care Know then that of all fruits for the most part the Cherry is the soonest ripe as being one of the oldest children of the summer and therefore first of all to be spoken of in this place yet are not all Cherries ripe at one instant but some sooner then other some according to the benefit of the Sunne the warmth of the ayre and the strength of sappe in the branch on which the Cherry hangeth they are a fruit tender and pleasant and therefore much subiect to be deuoured and consumed with Byrds of the smallest kindes as Sparrowes Robins Starlings and such like especially the Iay and the Bull-finch who will deuoure them stones and all euen so fast as they rypen for preuention whereof if you haue great abundance of Cherry trées as maine holts that be either one or many akers in compasse you shall then in diuers places of your holts as well in the midst as out-corners cause to be errected vp certaine long poales of Fyrre or other woode which may mount somewhat aboue the toppes of the trées and one the toppes of those poales you shall place certaine clappe-milles made of broken trenchers ioyned together like sayles which being moued and carryed about with the smallest ayre may haue vnderneath the sayles a certaine loose little board against which euery sayle may clap and make a great noyse which will afright and scare the Byrds from your trées these milles you shall commonly sée in Husbandmens yards placed on their stackes or houells of Corne which doth preserue them from fowle and vermine but for want of these clap-milles you must haue some boy or young fellow that must euery morning from the dawning of the day till the Sunne be more then an houre high and euery euening from fiue of the clocke till nine runne vp and downe your ground whooping showtying and making of a great noyse or now and then shooting of some Harquebush or other Péece but by no meanes to vse slings or throwing of stones least by the miscarriage of his hand hée either beate downe the fruit or bruise the trees In this sort hauing preserued your Cherries from destruction you shall then know there ripenesse by their colours for euer those which are most red are most ripe and when you sée any that are ripe you shall take a light ladder made either of fyrre or sallow and setting it carefully against the branches so as you neither bruise them nor the fruit you shall gather those you finde ripe not taking the fruit from the stalke but nipping the stalke and fruit both together from the trée also you shall be carefull in gathering to handle or touch the Cherry so little as may be but the stalke onely especially if your hands be hot or sweaty for that will change the colour of your Cherries and make them looke blacke if there be any ripe Cherries which hang out of the reach of your hands then you shall haue a fine small gathering hooke of woode whose bout shall be made round and smooth for nipping the barke of the branches and with it you shall gently pull vnto you those branches you cannot reach you shall also haue a little round basket of almost a foote déepe made with a siue bottome hauing a handle thwarte the toppe to which a small hooke being fastned you shall with that hooke hang the basket by you on some conuenient cyon and as you gather the Cherries gently lay them downe into the same and when you haue filled your basket you shall descend and empty it into larger great baskets made of the same fashion with siue bottomes and hauing vnderneath two broad lathes or splinters at least thrée fingers broad a péece within foure inches one of the other and going both one way crosse ouerthwart the basket that if either man or woman shall carry them vpon their heads which is the best manner of cariage then the sprinters may defend the bottome of the basket from the head of the party and kéepe the Cherries from hurt or bruising and if you haue occasion to carry your Cherries farre and that the quantitie grow beyond the support of a man then you shall packe them in hampers or panniers made with false bottoms like siues and finely lyned on the out side with white straw and so being closely trust on each side a Horses-backe to carry them whether you please You shall by no meanes suffer your Cherries to lye in any great or thicke heapes one vpon another but vntill you sell them or vse them lay them as thinne as may be because they are apt of themselues to sweat and catch heate and that heate doth soone depriue them of the glory of their colour When you gather any Cherries to preserue you shall gather those which are the greatest the ripest you shall pull them from their stalkes one by one and vse them at furthest within xxiiij howers after the time they are gotten For the gathering of Plumbes in generall it is in the same manner as you did gather your Cherries both with such a like ladder such a like hooke and such like vessels onely some more speciall obseruations are to be obserued in gathering your dainty grafted Plumbes then of the others which are of a more hard and induring nature You shall know then that for gathering of Abricots Peaches Date-Plumbes and such like grafted Plumbes you shall duely consider when they are perfectly ripe which you shall not iudge by their dropping from the trée which is a signe of ouer-much ripnesse tending to rottennesse but by the true mixture of their colour and perfect change from their first complexion for when you shall perceiue that there is no gréenenesse nor hardnesse in their out-sides no not so much as at the setting on of the stalke you may then iudge that they are ready to be gathered and for a perfecter tryall thereof you may if you please take
when you come to your place of residence then you must néeds vnpacke them and spread them thinner or else they will rot and consume in a sodaine There be sundry wayes of gathering Peares or other fruit as namely to climbe into the trée and to haue a basket with a line fastned thereto and so when it is filled to let it downe and cause it to be emptied which labour though some of your southerne Fruiterers doe not much commend yet for mine owne part I doe not sée much errour therein but that it is both allowable and conuenient both because it neither bruiseth the fruit nor putteth the gatherer to any extraordinary labour onely the imaginary euill is that by climbing vp into the trée hée that gathereth the fruit may indanger the breaking slipping and disbranching of many of the young cyons which bréedeth much hurt and damage to the trée but iudgement and care which ought to be apropriate to men of this quallitie is a certaine preuenter of all such mischeifes Now for such as in gathering of their fruit doe euery time that the basket is full bring it downe themselues from the trée and empty it by powring the fruit rudely and boystrously forth or for beating of fruit downe with long poales loggets or such like they are both most vilde and preposterous courses the first being full of too much foolish and carelesse trouble the latter of too much disorder cruelty ruyning in a moment what hath béene many yéeres in building as for the climbing the trée with a ladder albeit it be a very good way for the gathering of fruit yet if it be neuer so little indiscréetly handled it as much hazardeth the breaking and bruising both of the fruit and the small cyons as either climbing the trée or any other way whatsoeuer Now for the gathering of your Apples you shall vnderstand that your summer fruit as your Ieniting Wibourne and such like are first to be gathered whose ripenesse you may partly know by the change of colour partly by the pecking of Birds but cheifely by the course formerly discribed for your knowledge of the ripenesse of the Peare which is the hollownesse of coare and liberty of the kirnell onely and when you doe perceiue they are ripe you shall gather them in such wise as hath béene declared for the gathering of your Peares without respecting the state of the Moone or any such like obseruation but when you come to gather your Winter-fruit which is the Pippin Peare-maine Russetting Blacke-annat and such like you shall in any wise gather them in the wane of the Moone and as before I said in the dryest season that may be and if it be so that your store be so great that you cannot gather all in that season yet you shall get so much of your principall fruit the youngest and fairest as is possible to be gotten and preserue it for the last which you intend either to spend or vtter Now for the manner of gathering your Apples I doe not thinke you can amend or approue a better way then that which hath béene discribed for the gathering of Peares yet some of our late practitioners who thinke themselues not cunning if they be not curious dislike that way and will onely haue a gathering apron into which hauing gathered their fruit they doe empty it into larger vessells this gathering apron is a strong péece of Canuas at least an ell euery way which hauing the vpper end made fast about a mans necke the neather end with thrée loopes that is one at each corner one in the midst through which you shall put a string and binde it about your waste in so much that both the sides of your apron being open you may put your fruit therein with which hand you please this manner of gathering Apples is not amisse yet in my conceit the apron is so small a defence for the Apples that if it doe but knocke against the boughes as you doe moue your selfe it cannot chuse but bruise the fruit very much which ought euer to be auoyded therefore still I am of this opinion there is no better way safer nor more easie then gathering them into a small basket with a long line thereat as hath béene before declared in the gathering of Peares Now you shall carefully obserue in empting one basket into another that you doe it so gently as may be least in powring them out too rudely the stalkes of the fruit doe pricke one another which although it doe appeare little or nothing at the first yet it is the first ground cause and beginning of rottennesse and therefore you shall to your vttermost power gather your Apples with as small stalkes as may be so they haue any at all which they must néedes haue because that as too bigge stalkes doth pricke and bruise the fruit so to haue none at all makes the fruit rot first in the place where the stalke should be you shall also kéepe your fruit cleane from leaues for they being gréene and full of moisture when by reason of their lying close together they beginne to wither they strike such an heate into the Apples that they mil-dew and rot instantly As touching your Fallings which are those Apples which fall from your trées either through too much ripenesse or else through the violence of winde or tempests you shall by no meanes match them or mixe them with your gathered fruit for they can by no meanes last or indure so long for the latter which falleth by force of winde wanting the true nourishment of the earth and the kindly ripening vpon the trée must necessarily shrinke wither and growriuelled so that your best course is to spend them presently with all spéede possible for the other which hath too much ripenesse from the earth and the trée though it be much better then the other yet it cannot be long lasting both because it is in the falling bruised and also hath too much ripenesse which is the first steppe to rottennesse so that they must likewise be spent with all expedition For the carriage of your Apples if the place be not farre whether you should carry them you shall then in those large baskets into which you last emptied them carry them vpon cole-staues or stangs betwixt two men and hauing brought them carefully into your Apple-loft power them downe gently vpon bedds of ferne or straw and lay them in reasonable large heapes euery sort of Apples seuerall by themselues without mixture or any confusion and for such Apples as you would haue to ripen soone you shall couer them all ouer with ferne also but for such as you would haue take all possible leasure in ripening those you shall say neither vpon ferne nor straw but vpon the bare boards nay if you lay them vpon a plaster floare which is of all floares the coldest till Saint Andrewes tide it is not amisse but very profitable and the thinner you
say them so much the better Now if you haue any farre iourney to carry your Apples either by land or by water then trimming and lyning the insides of your baskets with ferne or wheate-straw wouen as it were cleane through the basket you shall packe couer and cord vp your Apples in such sort as you did your Peares and there is no danger in the transportation of them be it by shippe cart waggon or horse-backe If you be inforced to packe sundry sorts of Apples in one basket sée that betwixt euery sort you lay a diuision of straw or ferne that when they are vnpackt you may lay them againe seuerally but if when they are vnpackt for want of roome you are compeld to lay some sorts together in any wise obserue to mixe those sorts together which are nearest of taste likest of colour and all of one continuance in lasting as for the packing vp of fruit in hogsheads or shooting them vnder hatches when you transport them by Sea I like neither of the courses for the first is too close and nothing more then the want of ayre doth rot fruit the other is subiect to much wet when the breach of euery Sea indangereth the washing of the Apples and nothing doth more certainely spoyle them The times most vnseasonable for the transporting of fruit is either in the month of March or generally in any frosty weather for if the sharpe coldenesse of those ayres doe touch the fruit it presently makes them looke blacke and riuelled so that there is no hope of their continuance The place where you shall lay your fruit must neither be too open nor too close yet rather close then open it must by no meanes be low vpon the ground nor in any place of moistnesse for moisture bréedes fustinesse and such naughty smells easily enter into the fruit and taint the rellish thereof yet if you haue no other place but some low cellar to lay your fruit in then you shall raise shelues round about the nearest not within two foote of the ground and lay your Apples thereupon hauing them first lyned either with swéet Rye-straw Wheate-straw or dry ferne as thâ—se vndermost roomes are not the best so are the vppermost if they be vnséeld the worst of all other because both the sunne winde and weather peircing through the tiles doth annoy and hurt the fruit the best roome then is a well séeld chamber whose windowes may be shut and made close at pleasure euer obseruing with straw to defend the fruit from any moist stone wall or dusty mudde wall both which are dangerous annoyances Now for the seperating of your fruit you shall lay those nearest hand which are first to be spent as those which will last but till Alhallontide as the Cisling Wibourne and such like by themselues those which will last till Christmas as the Costard Pome-water Quéene-Apple and such like those which will last till Candlemas as the Pomeâ—de-roy Goose-Apple and such like and those which will last all the yéere as the Pippin Duzin Russetting Peare-maine and such like euery one in his seuerall place in such order that you may passe from bed to bed to clense or cast forth those which be rotten or putrefied at your pleasure which with all diligence you must doe because those which are tainted will soone poyson the other and therefore it is necessary as soone as you sée any of them tainted not onely to cull them out but also to looke vpon all the rest and deuide them into thrée parts laying the soundest by themselues those which are least tainted by themselues and those which are most tainted by themselues and so to vse them all to your best benefit Now for the turning of your longest lasting fruit you shall know that about the latter end of December is the best time to beginne if you haue both got and kept them in such sort as is before sayd and not mixt fruit of more earely ripening amongst them the second time you shall turne them shall be about the end of February and so consequently once euery month till Penticost for as the yéere time increaseth in heate so fruit growes more apt to rot after Whitsontide you shall turne them once euery fortnight alwayes in your turning making your heapes thinner and thinner but if the weather be frosty then stirre not your fruit at all neither when the thaw is for then the fruit being moist may by no meanes be touched also in wet weather fruit will be a little dankish so that then it must be forborne also and therefore when any such moistnesse hapneth it is good to open your windowes and let the ayre dry your fruit before it be turned you may open your windowe any time of the yéere in open weather as long as the sunne is vpon the skye but not after except in March onely at what time the ayre and winde is so sharpe that it tainteth and riuelleth all sorts of fruits whatsoeuer If the frost be very extreame and you feare the indangering your fruit it is good to couer them somewhat thicke with fine hay or else to lay them couered all ouer either in Barley-chaffe or dry Salte as for the laying them in chests of Iuniper or Cipresse it is but a toy and not worth the practise if you hang Apples in nettes within the ayre of the fire it will kéepe them long but they will be dry and withered and will loose their best rellish Now for the gathering kéeping ordering and preseruing of Wardens they are in all sorts and in all respects to be vsed as you doe vse your Peares onely you are to consider that they are a fruit of a much stronger constitution haue a much thicker skinne and will endure much harder season neither ought you to séeke to ripen them in hast or before the ordinary time of their owne nature and therefore to them you shall vse neither straw ferne nor hay but onely dry boards to lay them vpon and no otherwise For your Medlars you shall gather them about the midst of October after such time as the frost hath nipt and bitten them for before they will not be ready or loosen from the stalke and then they will be nothing ripe but as hard as stones for they neuer ripen vpon the trée therefore as soone as you haue gathered them you shall packe them into some close vessell and couer them all ouer and round about with thicke woollen cloathes and about the cloathes good store of hay and some other waight of boards or such like vpon them all which must bring them into an extreame heate without which they will neuer ripen kindely because their ripenesse is indéed perfect rottennesse and after they haue layne thus at least a fornight you shall then looke vpon them and turning them ouer such as you finde ripe you shall take away the rest you shall let remaine still for they will not ripen all at
I will in my next Uolumne shew you the choise of all manner of Garden Hearbes and Flowers both of this and other kingdomes the seasons of their plantings their florishings and orderings I will also shew you the true ordering of Woodes both high and low as also the bréeding and féeding of all manner of Cattell with the cure of all diseases incident vnto them together with other parts of Husbandry neuer before published by any Author this I promise if God be pleased to whom be onely ascribed the glory of all our actions and whose name be praised for euer Amen FINIS The definition of a Husbandman The Vtillitie of the Husbandman Of the necessitâ—e of a Husbandman Of holding the Plough How many beasts in a plough Of sowing of Pease and Beanes Of sowing of Barlâ—y Of sowing Oates Of Fallowing Of sleighting Barley Of Summer-stirring Of weeding Of stone gathering Of foyling Of Manuring The vse of Pigion or Pullen-dung Of sowing Wheate Of winter-ridging Obseruations Of the Plough The vse and handling Of the draught or Teame Of Fallowing Of Spring-foyling Of Sowing March-Rye Of the harrow The diuersitie of Harrowes The vse of Harrowes Of the sowing of Pulse Of Pease Lentles and Lupines Of Manuring Of sowing Barley Of Summer-stirring Of sleighting Of Foiling Of sowing Rye Obiection Answere Of Winter ridging Of the Plough Of the coulture Of the share Of the plough-slip Of Plough clouts The houlding of the Plough Of the draught Of the white Sand with Pible Of the white Sand with Marle Of Fallowing Of sowing Pease Of Spring-fallowing Of sowing Barley Of Summer-stirring Of Manuring Of Weeding Of Foyling Of Sowing Wheate and Rye The choise of Seede Of Winter-ridging Of the clensing of lands or drawing of water-furrowes Of the Plough Of the plough-Irons Of the draught Of fallowing Of sowing Pease Of sowing Barley Of sleighting Of Summer-stirring Obiection Answere Of weeding Of Foiling Of Manuring Of Winter-ridging Of Sowing of Wheate Rye and Maslin Of the plough Of the plough-Irons Of the Teame Of the white clay with white Sand. Of Manuring Of the Plough Of setting Wheate Of setting Barly or Pease Of the profit of setting Corne. The choise of seede Wheate The choise of seede Rye The choise of seede-Barly The choise of seede-Beanes Pease and Pulse The choise of seede-Oates The getting in of Masline The getting in of Wheate The getting in of Barly The getting in of Oates The getting in of Pulse The mixing of Stockes and Grafts The choise of Grafts How to graft in the Cleft Notes Graf 〈…〉 twee 〈…〉 barke Grafting with the Leafe Grafting on the toppes of 〈◊〉 The effects of Grafting The taking vp of trees Proyning of Trees Of Barke-bound Of the Gall. Of the Canker Of worme-eaten barkes Of Pismiers and Snailes Of Caterpillers and Eare-wigges Of the barrainenesse of Trees Of the bitternesse of Fruit. Of proyning the Vine Experiments of the Vine The medicining of the Vine Of gathering and preseruing Cherries The gathering of stone Fruit. Of gathering hard Plumbes Of keeping of Plumbes Of the gathering of Peares Of transporting or carrying of Peares farre Of gathering diuersly The gathering of Apples Of Fallings Of carriage and keeping Fruit. The seperating of Fruit. To keepe Fruit in frost Of Wardens Of Medlars and Seruices Of Quinces Of Nuts Of Grapes Fit ground for Hoppes Of the Situation The choise of Rootes Of Poâ—les The proportion of the Poale Of cutting and erecting Poales Of the Hils Winter businesse Of the drying Hoppes Of packing Hoppes Of the ground Of the situation The fashion The ordering of Alleyes Obiection Of the Quarters Of Dunging Diuersitie of Manures Of Knots and Mazes Yeâ—llow White Blacke Red. Blew Greene.