fruitful All dungings are the Deputies and Loadstones of this Sal Natura and by them ground may be recovered amended and imreproved Another Letter on the same Subject J Have read the Book of Husbandry thorow being very much delighted with the many profitable ingenious and promising Inventions specified therein I wishing that I were a Farmer in the Country to play the practical Philosopher I remember in Cambridge being a youth I was wont to maintain that he was no Natural Philosopher that could not advance his Tillage order his cattel fishing fowling affairs with more dexterity and to greater profit then another man that pretends no skill in Physick This I speak from what I have read somewhere in Ramus who referred all Arts to profitable use in mans life abhoring the vain ostentations of the sophisticated Universities The mention which is made of Experiments of fructification by Salt confirmes me in an opinion that the Sea is as the heart of the World whence the waters run by low and secret waies into the earth as by Arteries carrying the vitality of Salt into the body of the whole earth wherewith it hath lost its mettal and vigour and is become fresh it returnes again by the Rivers as by veins into the Sea to receive a new fructifying and quickning tincture by the way serving to allay the indispositions that Animals finde in themselves by the over-activity of Salt which we call quenching of thirst c. I have long thought of this being moved thereunto at first by considering the like motion of blood in the Microcosine as here the heart resembles the Sea the motion of the blood the ebbing and flowing and circular motion of the Sea waters for the blood being salted in the heart and spirited with subtle Nitre or Gunpowder it by the Arteries in a more secret passage like that of the Sea waters into the earth is distributed through the body where having spent its vigour and metal it by the high and visible way of the veins lying on the surface of our earth is returned to the heart again to be fresh pickled I doubted of the truth of this till I read your book because I remembred that I had read of sowing the ground with salt in the Israelitish wars which I had heard interpreted to make it barren and because I have heard the old women say it will make hearbs dye to have urine to fall upon them How the Controversie about Helmont's Assertions mentioned in the fourth Deficiencie of the Legacy of Husbandry may be reconciled IN your Legacy Deficiencie 4. I finde these words A learned Author Helmot saith that smuttiness of Corn which maketh it smell like a red herring was not known in France till about 1530. At which time the great foul disease began to break forth which he conceiveth from hence to have some original as also the Camp-disease To this your friend at Paris in his letter dated July 22. 1651. replies thus The foul disease had its original full 36 years sooner than Helmot saies viz. in the year 1494. and nothing could be advanced more absurd or ridiculous in the judgement of all sound Physicians than to attribute the original of that disease in any wise to smutty Corn as he doth This difference had been prevented if both your friends had not written without book The place in Helmonts writings is not quoted by the former man nor doth the latter seem to have looked for it You shall finde the passage in Helmonts book called Tumulus pestis in the fourth chapter whose title is Peregrina lues nova there you may finde these words Notatur autem annus 1424 Parth noplicobsidio aetas luis ejusque prima nativitas Here the Printer was negligent as appears by that which follows a great way after in the same chapter Lues saith he ista primùm visa legitur in obsidione Neapolis Anno 1494. Then follows a long discourse wherein he seems to approve the opinion of one that suspected that it was bred by some villain that at the siege of Naples buggered a Mare for that Helmont means by jumeâ—tum imitating the French word jument infested with the farcin or as our Farriers call it the fashions And saith he Non credam facilè unquam antea ejusmodi peccatum in talibus terminis ab origine mundi commissum estque morbus ille Farcin lui venereae similis equinae naturae affinis ac familiaris After this He mout proceeds in the order of time Anno 1540. sub Paulo III. circa Autumnum in Apulia proâ—e Tarentum prima apparuit Tarantula Araneae simile c. Anno 1550. in Augusto Galli primum viderunt Triticum quod vocant roratum sive mellitum in aristae adhuc viridi halecem fumatam odore referens in matura verò nihil nisi faesidum pulverem atrum popularium utinam non morborum plurium causam Anno 1556. nostris oris maritimis he means Flanders Zealand Holland primum apparuit scorbutum veteribus ignotum By all which it is manifest that Helmont hath written nothing contrary to your latter friends assertions and that your former friend in writing that passage trusted more to his memory than it deserved An Observation touching planting of Trees in the Fenns J Received your Legacy of Husbandry though do not yet suppose you dead but rather your own Executor distributing your good things in your life time whilest others are like Swine good for nothing untill dead I have perused the book and cannot but wonder that in your constant residence in London you can see so far into the Country One part I have pitched on and that is the Plantation of a Mulberry Garden for the feeding of Silk-worms and having some already I shall indeavour their increase as much as may be I hope S. R. Weston will comply with your desires and also all others whose abilities shall be accompanied with good affections and a will for to promote all usefull arts and sciences Touching Planting of Trees being lately in the Fens about Whittelsey I observed a kind of Husbandry of planting of Willows by sets upon ridges which in those vast and vacant grounds being alwaies very moist doth soon produce an incredible profit and increase of fire-wood and Timber for many Country uses and doth improve as fast as your Lime-trees As I meet with other things I shal acquaint you with them More Observations concerning Fruit-trees and the great benefit of Furzes for keeping Mice and Rats out of Barn-floors or other rooms as likewise Reeks of Corn and Cheese-racks J Had not untill now conveniency to give you a further accompt of the Sussex Gentleman improving of his fruit-trees my friend will repair unto him and take as he promiseth the particulars from himself and I may then impart it more satisfyingly yet at the present he relateth that he gathereth all the Sult that remaineth in the Channel that conveigheth water to his Meadows and layeth it on heaps
Husbandman that dwelleth within a few miles of any City make a rich benefit by bringing certain loads of Areable earth yearly into Cities and by giving a bushel or two of wheat to certaine Housholders of his acquaintance for the enriching of it as aforesaid The third Experiment or Improvement where is shewed how a rich Compost may be made in form of earth near to the Sea which may be carried many miles You must understand that this Compost is profitable onely for such ground where bay-salt is apt to cause fructification or sea-sand as in divers places in Cornwall where they carry it on horse back divers miles and find that it maketh a very excellent Improvement Well thus may you work and make as rich a Compost as any can be in the world for ground of that nature Let a place be chosen where there is an Acre of kindly earth where it may be floated at every spring-tide and afterward the water dryed away by the heat of the Sun and then ploughed and served so many times till it be as fertile as you please The like may be done by watering the earth with sea-sea-water and by ploughing it with scoopes all summer or till it be as fertile as you please and in some parts of England the sea water may be let into the land many miles for the purpose aforesaid The like may be done by mingling earth with Malt dust Pigeons dung or any other Compost which is found to doe much good with a small quantity as Malt and other Corn spoyled by any accident may be ground into Meal and mingled with earth or putrified with the earth a whole yeare unground till it be turned into earth Also Lime and dung or combustible earth mixed together or all three ploughed divers times for a year till they be turned into earth is a rich Compost If you can find out the true adaptation of this and of all my other Composts then you may save forescore pounds in the hundred pounds in the fertilizing of any Arable land in England and also you may afford to carry your Compost to places and barren grounds far distant which now admit of no improvement within charge by reason of their great distance of place And if the distance be very far then you may try with Bay-salt Saltpeter Soap dissolved in hot water or any other substance which enricheth Arable land exceedingly and when you have hit the mark then you may bring these substances twenty thirty or forty miles and yet you fertilize your Arable land by my new Invention cheaper than with common dung though it were to be had within a mile of the place if you enrich the earth with these Liquors or Salts dissolved and so make use of my Engine for the filling of the holes when the Corn is set The fourth Experimene or Improvement wherein is shewed how a rich Compost may be made in form of earth for the purpose aforesaid which may also be converted into Salt-peter It is found by experience that where the Salt-peter men do find an old house of Office in a dry vault where no moysture doth annoy it there they get their best Liquors Also it is found by experience that Horse-dung being putrified and turned into earth in a dry place doth likewise yeeld much Salt-peter Also it is found by good experience that Clay walls made of some kind of Clay doe yeeld great store of Salt-peter which may be seen in Oxford-shire and divers other places where Pidgeons resort to the clay walls and thereby give intelligence to the Salt-peter men to steep the same who many times finde the liquors so rich that they will steepe many pearches in length of such walls though they make up the walls again at their own charges according to the Law By all these Experiments joyned together it seemeth that a rich Compost either for Land or for Salt-peter may be made as followeth First let an little frame of an house about four foot high be framed in every mans backside as well in Cities as Countrey Towns and let there be nothing but studs and those very thin and let it be length and bigness of a Sâ—wpit or grave or greater or lesser at pleasure Then build a little house of Office over it which be broader than it to keep it from rain and moysture Then make up the walls about a foot thick with this composition of earth following and in less than a eleven years all the walls and ordure will yeeld either good store of Saltpeter or a rich earth for Compost worth twenty shillings a load at the least for the fertilizing of land If every houshold have two of these houses he shall never have more trouble but to make use of one while the other doth ripen The walls must be made of horse dung and so much clay as will temper it and the lesse the better so that it will hold together The Clay must not be of the nature of Brewers clay I mean such as will stop water of the Mawmy clay in Oxfordshire and many other places which is partly of the nature of Marle and will break it self which lying abroad in winter like unto Marle or Lime whereby it is discovered to contain much salt in its composition which if it be well chosen will wonderfully adde to the richnesse of the earth when it is putrified fox both uses to wit for Compost or Salt-peter at pleasure If this work were well put into practise the very ordure of every family might be so improved by my new invention that it would produce as much Corn again as was spent in the sayd house in the former yeares besides that barren land and far distant from other Compost might this way be made fertile And for the poorer sort whom the charge may be made considerable for the building of the houses they may lay a load or two of good earth like a bed in a garden and cover it from rain and with a moveable stoole or seat make this earth as rich as the other But in all works where Salt-peter is expected you must make a little ditch about the earth which shall produce it or else the least moysture will draw away the Salt-peter even as the Salt-peter men doe with their Tubs And if any man would take in hand to build such houses of Office in or near to any Market-place School Colledge or other place where there is a great confluence of people he might gain soundly by it and also doe a pleasure to the Common-wealth And let no man doubt of this relation for if the Compost be apt for the land and seed it is marvellous to see the increase thereof I had the last summer 18. for one upon a tryall which I made with Beere Barly which doe call Barly which some doe call Barly big it hath four square eares and I did nothing to it but steeped in blood for one night and then set it at a eleven
the ditch full of tough clay to keep out rain-water then make a pond in the nether part of it into which make drains under the ground as is taught in the Experiment then raise the water by an engine or water-work of the most fit sort for that place and purpose This work will quit the charge very well near London or in any place where hay and grasse is at a good price A Philosophical Letter concerning Vegetation or the Causes of Fruitfulness I Shall a little tell you what my thoughts are about Vegetation and what I have within my self instituted First I have framed a pretty large Induction upon common and familiar Experiments to demonstrate that without controversie Salt is the seat of life and vegetation and so the subject of nutrition And this being assented to it is in the next place to be considered whether Salt as Salt be this subject or whether all Salts equally nourish Here comes in an examination of Salt by their Tribes as 1. Nitrous Salt 2 Urinous Salt in which are comprehended 3. all Dungs Horns Shreads and the like 4. Common Salt and Sea sand 5. Kaly Salt as Ashes Kelpes Mineral Salts as of Stones or Lime of Marl Chalk Fullers-earth Vitriol And because some Salts doe kill as that of Vitriol also that of Stones and Lime if applyed in quantity and to the plant it self immediately Hence comes the examination of Salts further viz. Whether any Salt doth universally nourish all Plants and make them thrive or whether some doe best agree with one others with another and upon the clear determination of this and this solely doth the great secret of Imbiâ—ition depend if we speak of things rationally and not like Mountebanks But here two knots offer themselves and will do so whether we will or no. First seeing you cannot sow set or plant any Vegetable or Seed in salt alone but must require two other Media viz. Water to dissolve and make sluyd the particles of Salt whereby the pores of the Plant or Seed may be capable of it and admit it 2. Earth as a fit uterus or matrix to keep the thing planted steady Hence a scruple ariseth what is earth abstractedly considered for either it is and or salt or water or some other body If Sand whence comes its clamminess and aptness to sod together If Salt whether is that a peculiar salt and whether can it be separated or not from it If Water how comes it to be unable to nourish without addition stil of moysture If earth be none of all these what is it and what is its property and whether hath it any Energy And indeed this is a very necessary enquiry for my Imbibitions signifie nothing if my earth be beforehand impregnated with another salt of perhaps a much different nature than what my plant imbibed doth require And how shall I know this when all Inquiries about the natures of earth their several salts dispositions their uses and necessity for Germination and their several wayes of composition and correction is wholly lame and unsought after 5. It is to be considered that Water especially Rain-water hath life in it self without any addition of Salt or Earth as is most apparent as by many Experiments so by that famous and commonly known one in Africks That Rain-water in four and twenty hours will ba full of Insects that it will putrifie Now if even Rain-water it self be sufficient for life and do contain manifestly a vital salt in it what is the need of those other Salts which seem more remote from a life or vitality of disposition 6. As no possibility of nourishment nor any approach to Vegetation without moysture so no possibility of life without an excitation and production of it by an actual warmth and this is as well seen in vegetables as in Animals For the earth is there the salt is there and the water is there yet in sharp and cold weather vegetation is not to be effected Hence on the other side produceth nothing simply unlesse in a soyl first sited and cold it self though not a fit season for Germination yet permits of nutrition to many plants who have even their lustre then as the Cypress the Firre the Bay with several other He therefore that will enter upon this great subject of promoting Vegetation must first know what things are prinâ—ipalia what minus principalia tamen necessaria and what part to attribute to each viz. the Earth the Salt the Water or Dew the warmth and the spirit of the Plant it self Secondly he must seriously weigh whether the subject of Fermentation and things that serve to excite and entertain heat be not of one kind subject of nutrition of another Thirdly whether Fermentation being no other than a species of Motion there may not be divers sorts of it arising from the nature and diversity of the Salts or other subjects which cause it And whether according to this divers motion the subject of Nutrition having in it also a vitall principle may not be disposed more or lesse to take this or that figure Lastly he must resolve the several Casualties as I may call them of Vegetation as why the earth puts forth some Plants sponte not other why it very seldom puts forth some unless it be in producing of others as Botanists can tell you that many Plants are rarely or never found unless in ploughed fields either under Corn and Tillage or under Fallow why water should put forth Plants that will not at all grow in the earth Why on the other side some plants destroy even the Vegetative virtue as it were in the soyl where they are as to many Plants as is manifest in Hemp and in Oade These Sir are the Institutes I set my self to in the point of Husbandry In the ignorance of any of which I think a man knows satisfactorily very little They are rudely set down but may afford ground of larger discourses If you shall please either to cheerish or excite this humour in me by laying or propounding of something further for promoting of vegetation upon these comprehensive grounds I shall not refuse to deal very freely with you if you will afford me an occasion by letting me have the thoughts of some better wits than mine own upon them An Extract out of another Philosophical Letter Jf I were to answer the question concerning fertility I would in one word say that the chief cause of the opening of the of Seed and its becoming fruitful is the Anima or Sal Natura and that which is its Deputy or Load-stone and I think that this saying will comprehend all those causes which the Proposer of this Question doth very learnedly reckon up For hence though it be more then the Husbandmen know comes all the ploughing and turning of the clods upside down that so fresh earth like an hungry Loadstone may be exposed to the light by which it may draw in that Sal Natura which doth make it
which he tyeth the Vines by this means his Vines having the reflection of the yard sides of the houses and tiles do ripen very well and bear much so that one old Vine hath produced nigh a Hogshead of wine in one year and I wish all to take this course which is neither chargeable nor troublesom but very pleasant and if all in this Island would do thus it 's incredible what abundance of wine might be made even by this petty way 2. If that any Gentleman will be at the charge of making a Vineyard let him choose a fine sandy warm hill open to the South-East rather then to the South-West for though the South-West seemeth to be hotter yet the South-East ripeneth better as I have seen in Oxford Garden because the South-East is sooner warm'd by the Sun in the morning and the South-West winds are the winds which blow most frequently and bring raine which refrigerate the plants and such a place is very requisite for in other places Vines do not thrive even in France for if you travel betwixt Paris and Orleans which is above 30 leagues yet you shall scarcely see a Vineyard because it is a plain Champion-Countrey So likewise betwixt Fontarabia to Burdeaux in the Southern parts of France for an hundred miles together because the Land is generally a barren sandy Plain where only Heath abounds and Pine-trees out of which they make Turpentine and Rozen by wounding of them and Tar and Pitch by the burning of them and if any find such a fine warm hill and do dung and fence it well he hath a greater advantage of most of the Vineyards of France by this conveniency than they have of our Isle by being an hundred miles more South for most of their Vineyards are in large fields not enclosed on land that is stony and but indifferently warm But some will say that wet weather destroyes us It 's true that the wet will destroy all things Sheep Corn c. yet no man will say that therefore England will not produce and nourish these Creatures and if extraordinary wet years come they spoil even the Vines in France but take ordinary years and our moisture is not so great though some abuse us and call England Matula Coeli but the Vines especially those I have mentioned before will come to such perfection as to make good wine and if extraordinary rains fall yet we may help the immaturity by Ingenuity as I shall tell you anon or at worst make vineger or verjuice which will pay costs Further these advantages we have of France 1. This Isle is not subject to nipping frosts in May as France is because we are in an Isle where the Aire is more gross then in the Continent and therefore not so piercing and sharp as it plainly appeareth by our winters which are not so sharp as in Padua in Italy neither are we subject to such storms of hail in Summer which are very frequent in hot Countreys and for many miles together do spoil their Vines so that they cannot make wine of the Grapes for those Grapes which are touched by the hail have a Sulphureous and a very unpleasant taste and onely fit to make Aqua-vitae Further Sometimes in France cask for their wines is so dear that a tun of wine may be had for a tun of cask and the custome and excize which is laid on wines here is as much again as the poor Vigueron in France expects for his wine Not to speak of the ill managing of their Vines especially about Paris where poor men usually hire an Acre or 2 of Vines which they manage at their spare hours and most commonly pack in so many plants of Vines on their ground for to have the greater increase that the ground and Vines are so shaded by one another that I have wondered that the Sun could dart in his beams to mature them and therefore I cannot but affirm again that we may make abundance of wine here with profit the charges of an Acre of Vineyard not being so great as of Hops an hundred sets well rooted at Paris cost usually but 4 or 6 Sous or pence where I have bought many 2000 will plant an Acre very well 50 s. a year is the ordinary rate for the three diggings with their crooked Instrument called Hoyau and the increase usually four tuns for an Acre which will be profit enough and though I refer all to Bonovil and others who have written of the managing of Vines yet I counsel to get a Vigneron from France where there are plenty and at cheaper rates than ordinary servants here and who will be serviceable also for Gardening 2. I will briefly tell what I have seen In Italy through all Lombardy which is for the most part plain and Champian their Vines grow in their Hedges on Walnut-trees for the most part in which fields they speak of three Harvests yearly viz. 1. Winter-Corn which is reaped in June c. 2. Vines and Walnuts which are gathered in September 3. Their Summer-Grains as Millet Panicle Chiches Vetches c. Buck-wheat Frumentone or that which we call Virginia-Wheat Turneps which they sowe in July when their Winter-Corn is cut and reaped they reap in October In France their Vines grow three manner of wayes In Proveâ—â—e they cut the Vine about two foot high and make it strong and stubbed like as we do our Osiers which stock beareth up the branches without a prop. 2. About Orleans and where they are more curious they make frames for them to run along 3. About Paris they tye them to short poles as we do hops to long ones In France they usually make trenches or small ditches about three or four foot from one another and therein plant their Vines about one foot and an half deep which is a good way and very much to be commended but if we here in England plant Vines as we do hops 4 or 5 foot distant it will do very well but let them not be packt together too thick as they do in France in many places lest they too much shade the ground and one another In Italy when they tread their grapes with their feet in a Cart they pour the juice into a great Vessel or Fat and put to it all their husks and stones which they call Graspe and let them ferment or as we say work together 12 or 14 days and usually they put one third of water to it this maketh a wine less furious Garbo or rough and therefore a good stomack wine but it spoileth the colour and taketh away the pleasant brisk taste In France so soon as they have pressed out their liquour with their feet they put it in hogsheads and after in their Presse squeeze out what they can out of the Graspe which seemeth to fill up their Hogsheads while they work which is usually three or four dayes and then stop them close this is also the way used in Germany and is the best
making deep trenches oft-mowings Chalking Liming Dunging and Ploughing I know where hungry guests Horses soon make an end of them 6. Furze Broom Heath these can hardly be so destroyed but at length they will up again for God hath given a peculiar propriety to every kind of earth to produce some peculiar kinds of Plants which it will observe even to the Worlds end unlesse by Dung Marle Chalk you alter even the very nature of the earth In Gallitia in Spaine where such barren lands do very much abound they do thus first they grub them up as clean as they can of the greater Roots and Branches they make fire-wood the smaller sticks are either imployed in fencing or else are burnt on the ground afterwards the Land being ploughed twice at least they sowe Wheat and usually the Crop is great which the Land-lord and Tenant divide according to a compact then the ground resteth and in three or four years the Furze or Brooms will recover their former growth which the painfull Husbandman grubbeth and doeth with it as formerly I set this down that you may see how laborious the Spaniard is in some places the poverty of the Countrey compelling him to it 7. There are other Inconveniences in the Land besides weeds and trumpery viz. Ill Tenures as Copy-hold Knight-service c. so that the Possessour cannot cut any Timber down without consent of the Lord and when he dyes must pay one or two years rent perhaps more because there is no certaine Fine but is at the Land-Lords mercy But these are not in the power of the poor Husbandman to remedy I therefore passe them by yet hope that in little time we shall see these Inconveniences remedied because they much discourage Improvements and are as I suppose Badges of our Norman slavery To conclude It seemeth to me very reasonable and it will be a great encouragement to laborious men to improve their barren lands if that they should have recompence for what they have done according as indifferent men should judg when they leave it as is the custome in Flaunders I have likewise observed some Deficiâ—ncies in Woods which I shall briefly declare with the best way to remedy the same 1. It 's a great fault that generally through the Island the Woods are destroyed so that we are in many places very much necessitated both for fuel and also for timber for building and other uses so that if we had Coals from Newcastle and Boards from Norwey Clap-boards Barrel-staves Wainscot and Pipe-staves from Prussia we should be brought to great extremity and many Mechanicks would be necessitated to leave their callings 2. Deficiency is that our Woods are not ordered as they should be but though Woods should be especially preserved for timber for building and shipping yet at this time it 's very rare to see a good Timber-tree in a Wood. 3. That many of our Woods are very thin and not replenished with such sorts of Woods as are convenient for the place 4. That we sell continually and never plant or take care for posterity These Deficiencies may be thus Remedyed 1. To put in execution the Statutes against grubbing of Woods which are sufficiently severe It 's well known we have good Laws but it 's better known they are not executed In the Wilde of Kent and Sussex which lies far from the Rivers and Sea and formerly have been nothing but Woods liberty is granted for men to grub what they please for they cannot want firing for themselves and they are so seated that neither fire-wood nor timber can be transported elsewhere I know a Gentleman who proffered there good Oak-timber at 6 s. 8 d. per tun and the Land in those parts in general is very good About Tunbridge there is Land which formerly was Wood is now let for 30 s. par Acre so that to keep such lands for Wood would be both losse to the owner and to the Island But in other parts of the Island it is otherwise and men are much to be blamed for destroying both timber and fuel I have seen at Shooters-hill near London some Woods stubbed up which were good ground for Wood but now are nothing but furze which is a great losse both to the owner and to tbe Countrey For the Land is made worse then it was formerly I conceive there are Lands which are as naturally ordained for Woods viz. Mountainous Craggy uneven-land as small hills for â—he Vines and Olives plain lands for Corn and low moist lands for Pasture which lands if they be stubbed do much prejudice the Common-wealth 2. That all Woods should have such a Number of Timber-trees per Acre according to the Statute There is a good Law for that purpose but men delude both themselves and the law that they every Felling cut down the standers which they left the felling before lest perchance they should grow to be Timber and leave twelve small Standers that they might seem to fulfil in some measure the Statute but it 's a meer falacy and causeth the Statute to fail of it's principal end which is to preserve Timber 3. The best Remedy against thinnesse of Woods is to plash them and spread them abroad and cover them partly in the ground as every Countrey-man can direct by this means the Wood will soon grow rough and thick It 's good Husbandry likewise to fill your Woods with swift growers as Ashes Sallow Willow Aspe which are also good for Hop-poles Hoops Sycamore is also a swift grower In Flaunders they have a kind of Poplar called by them Abell-tree which speedily groweth to be timber 4. That some Law be made that they which fell should also plant or sowe In Bisâ—ay there is a Law if that any cut down a Timber-tree he must plant three for it which law is put into execution with severity otherwise they would soon be undone for the Countrey is very mountainous and barren and dependeth wholly on Iron Mines and on Shipping their Woods are not copsed there but onely Pollards which they lop when occasion serveth I know one who was bound by his Land-Lord to plant so many Trees yearly which according he did but alwayes in such places that they might not grow In France near to the Borders of Spain they sowe Ashkey which when they grow to such a greatnesse that they may be slit into four quarters and big enough to make Pikes then they cut them down and I have seen divers Acres together thus planted hence come the excellent Pikes called Spanish-Pikes Some Gentlemen have sown Acâ—rus and it 's a good way to increase Woods Though the time is long I doubt not but every one knoweth that it 's excellent to plant Willows along the waters side and Ashes nigh their houses for firing for they are good pieces of Husbandry and it 's pity that it 's not more put in practise There is a Gentleman in Essex who hath planted so many Willows that he may lop 2000
his own grounds and the seeds proper for it and seldome pierceth into the bowels of the earth yet if we consider that out of the earth he hath Marle Lime Stone Chalk for the enriching his lands and also Loam and Sand for his buildings often times fuel for fire c. it will plainly appear that it is necessary for him to know all subterrany things and to be a Petty-Phylosopher and that the knowledge of these things will be very beneficial for him And here I cannot but take notice of a great deficiency amongst us viz. that we have not the natural history of all the Sands Earth Stones Mines Minerals c. which are found in this Island it would not only advance Husbandry but also many other Mechanick Arts and bring great profit to the publick I hope some ingenious man will at length undertake this task for the Lord hath blessed this Island with as great variety as any place that is known as shall in part appear anon and it may be proved by that great variety which is found near the Spaw-waters in Knaresborough as Doctor Dean relateth in his Book called the English Spaw Or the glory of Knaresborough springing from several famous Fountains there adjacent called the Vitriol sulphurous and dropping Wells and also other Mineral waters whose words are these Here is found not onely white and yellow Marle Plaister Oker Rudd Rubrick Freestone an hard Greet-stone a soft Reddish-stone Iron-stone Brimstone Vitriol Niter Allum Lead and Copper and without doubt divers mixtures of these but also many other Minerals might perhaps be found out by the diligent search and industry of those who would take pains to labour a little herein Printed at York by Thomas Broad being to be sold in his shop at the lower end of Stone-gate near to Common-Hall Gates 1649. This Letter will not permit me to make a compleat Natural History of the things of this Isle yet I shall relate divers things which may be as hints to set some others to work which I have found in Mr. Cambden and others and shall briefly instruct the Husbandman what he ought to take notice of for his own and others good And first if he live nigh the Sea let him take notice of those things the Sea casteth up for it hath even with us and also in Ireland cast up Amber-greece which is worth so much Gold with the which not long since a Fisherman of Plymouth greased his boots not knowing what it was sometimes it casteth up Jet and Amber as at Whitbey often times In former times we had Oysters which had very fair great Pearls in them of good worth and at this time some of them are found in Denbighshire Coperas-stone likewise is found along by the Sea-Coasts of Kent Essex Sussex Hampshire out of the which Corporas is made a thing very useful for Dyers Curriers c. Further Sea-weeds are not to be slighted for in Jersey they have no other fuel amongst them and here in England it is burnt to make Kelp for Glassemen and is also very good manure for divers Lands also Sea-owse is not onely good to lay on Land but at Dover and other places the Inhabitants make Brick thereof called Flanders-Bricks c. Sea-sands in Cornwall do very much enrich their Lands and in Lancashire out of a certain kind of Sand they extract Salt c. 2. Let him take notice of all sorts of Waters which issue forth of the earth differing from the ordinary in Colour Odour Taste for it is well known how advantagious these waters are often-times not only to particular men but also to the Countrey about yea to the whole Island as appeareth by the waters of Tunbridge in Kent and of Epsham in Surrey Knaresborough c. Spaw in York-shire and by the Allum-waters in Newenham in Warwick-shire like Milk in taste and colour and are excellent for the Stone and wounds and also it appeareth by the salt Fountains in Worcestershire and Cheshire which furnish all those parts with an excellent fine white salt by the hot Bathes in Summersetshire and the luke-warm waters by Bristol c. At Pitchford in Shropshire is a Fountain which casteth forth liquid Bitumen which the people use for Pitch c. 3. Let him not despise the sorts of Sands which he findeth for some Sands are for buildings as the rough sorts others for scowring others for casting fine metals as Highgate-sand others for the Glasse-men as a sand lately found in Sussex In Scotland there is a sand which containeth a considerable quantity of Gold and in divers Countreys fine Gold aboundeth very much in sands and if we may believe an excellent Dutch Chymist there is scarce any sand without it 4. Let him take notice of the Earth Loams Clayes c. which have divers and necessary uses as first the stiffest Clays as Newcastle and Nonsuch are for the Glassemens Pots for Crucibles melting-pots the lesse stiffe for ordinary Earthen wares Brewers Tiles Bricks c. white Clay is for Tobacco-pipes Marle of divers colours and stiffness is excellent for Husband-men Fullers-Earth is found in Kent Surrey and lately in divers other places for the great benefit of the Clothier Rub and Rubrick in York-shire as also divers other in Oxford and Glocestershire excellent for Painters c. Turffe for firing may be found in most parts of this Isle if people were industrious necessity now and then compelleth them to be inquisitive as it did lately at Oxford and Kent where it is found in good quantity In Holland they have little fuel save what is taken out of their ditches and therefore it is truely said that their firing is as it were fish'd out of the water and it 's indifferent good fuel Coals are found in very many places yet divers places are in great want of them 5. Let him take notice of the several stones found in this Isle as of Freestones for building Cobbels and rough hard stones for paving Tomb-stones soft sandy stones commonly called fire-stones because they will endure strong fires and therefore fit for Iron furnaces and this propriety these soft stones have that when they are white hot a steele instrument will scarce touch them to hurt them Alabaster is found at Burton on the Trent and in Staffordshire and at Titbury Castle excellent Marble at Snothil in Herefordshire a course Marble near Oxford in Kent also at Purbrick in Dorsetshire Milstones in Auglesey in Flintshire Darbyshire Lime-stones Chalk in very many places for divers uses Allum-stone is found in Anglesey but especially at Gisborrow in York-shire where the Allum works are which serve this Island Lapu Cslaminaris is lately found in Somersetshire by the which Copper is made brasse Manganese for those that make white glasse lately found in the North the best Emery for polishing Iron in Jersey Plaister at Knaresborough Black-lead in Cumberland and no where else in Europe There is a stone in Durham out of which they make salt
Cures which would be too long and you may read them in Master Markam's works the Countrey-Farmer and others I will instance only in two which some years sweep away Cattel as the Plague doth men viz. the Murrein amongst great Cattel and the Rot amongst Sheep And though divers have wrot concerning the Cures of these Diseases yet we doe not find that effect which we desire and therefore I hope some will attempt to supply this Deficiency and write a good Treatise about the Diseases of Cattel Of these two Diseases I shall briefly declare my mind And 1. Of the Murrein which proceedeth from an inflamation of the blood and causeth a swelling in the throat which in little time suffocateth the Cattel The especial Causes of this Disease are a hot and dry season of the year which dryeth up the waters or at least doth so putrify them that they are unwholsome and also the letting of Carrion lie unburied This Disease is thought to be infectious but perhaps it may proceed from one common cause as the rottennesse of sheep The best way to keep your Cattel from this Disease is to let them stand in cool places in Summer and to have abundance of good water and speedily to bury all Carrion and if any of your Cattel be infected speedily to let them blood and to give them a good Drench c. By these means divers have preserved their Cattel when their Neighbours have perished 2. Concerning the Rot of Sheep not to speak of the Pelt-rot or sheep that are starved but of the ordinary rot called by some the white rot and is a kind of dropsie their bellies are full of water and their liver discoloured I have seen out of the livers of sheep tending to rottennesse living Creatures leaping like small Flounders which without question in little tune will destroy the liver and consequently produce an indisposition not unlike to the Rot. The common people say that these worms are caused by the over-heatings of sheep and that Rottennesse proceedeth from a Plant called Cotyledon or Marsh-Penny-wort which is of a very sharp tast and therefore not likely that sheep will eat it but it may be a signe of wet rotten land as broom is of sound and dry land This is certain that in wet moist years sheep dye very much of the Rot and in dry years on the same ground they hold sound and yet I have heard that in Ireland which is far moisture then England rottennesse of sheep is not known so much It were therefore well worth the labour of an ingenious man to inquire into the causes of these indispositions in sheep The means which have been found very effectual for the curing of these Diseases are these first to drive your sheep up to dry Lands or to keep them in the fold till the dew be off the grass or to feed them some days with fine dry hay especially of salt Meadow or to put them into salt Marshes for in those places sheep never rot or to drive them to some salt River and there to wash them and make them drink of the water this will kill the scab and also the ticks and fasten the wool but if you have not the conveniences before said then rub their teeth with salt or rather make a strong pickle with salt and water and force them to drink thereof Some dry pitch in an Oven and adde to the pickle and have found very good success for these Medicines do exsiccate the superfluous humidities open obstructions and kill worms Some commend the Antimonial Cup as a Catholick Medicine against all diseases of cattel 3. We are ignorant of divers ingenuities concerning feeding and fatting of cattel and other creatures To instance in some And 1. Of the Horse who is a great feeder In Kent and Hartsortshire they usually cut all their Oats and Pease small and give them with their â—haff by this means the Horses sooner fill themselves and eat all the straw up some put the Horse-meat into a bag and so order it that a little only lyeth in the Manger which when that is eaten up more falleth down and not before by this way Horses do not blow their meat nor throw it out of the manger with their Noses A further good piece of Husbandry they use which is this when their Horses are well fed at night they fill the Rack with Wheat or Barley-straw and so leave them the Horse perceiving that that which is in the Rack is not very pleasant lyeth down and taketh his rest which is as good to him as his meat if he rise in the night and fall to the rack and manger as he usually doth and findeth nothing but straw he sleepeth till the morning but if it be Hay Tares or Pease the Jade will pull it all down and spoil it and and likewise will be hindered from his rest by the which double damage doth insue Currying and dressing of horses ought not to be forgot it is half as good as their meat Brimstone and Elecampane roots are the especial ingredients for this Physick For Worms and Surfet are the two commonest Diseases 2. Of the feeding and fatting of Cows We usuall feed cattel with straw in racks in the yard or turn them to the fields and there let them feed as much and how they please which hath many inconveniences as first Cattel spoil as much with their heels as they eat especially if the ground be moist or if the fliebe very troublesome and they blow stench tumble much and if the flie be busie they run up and down and over-heat themselves and fat very little so that often-times in June or July they fatten as little as at Christmas and most of their dung is lost by these means c. But in Holland they do thus They keep their Cattel housed Winter and Summer for the Winter provision they lay in not only hay but also grains which they buy in Summer and bury in the ground and also Rape-seed and Lin-seed cakes and sow Turneps not only for themselves but their Cows also with the which Turneps being sliced and their tops and Rape-seed cakes and Grains c. they make Meshes for their Cows and give it them warm which the Cows will slop up like Hogs and by this means they give very much milk In the Summer time they mow the great Clover-grasse and give it them in racks so that their Cattel are not troubled with the pinching frosts nor rains nor with the parching Sun in Summer neither with the Flie nor do they over-heat themselves or spoil half so much meat and are always as fat as their Masters or Bacon-hogs The Dung and Urine they charily preserve and thereby keep their Meadows of Clover-grass which are constantly mowen twice or thrice yearly in good heart and indeed cattel ought not to go amongst Clover-grass because it usually groweth with long Haum as they call it like Pease which if it be broken will
of plants are so but not as yet observed for ought I know of any This Plant is not sufficiently described by Gerrard Johnson Parkinson or any that yet I have seen For first They speak not of any flowers and yet it hath fair white large flowers almost as big as Rosa Canina but I perceived little smell in them though all other parts of this Plant as leaves bark wood and root especially are very odoriferoâ—s Secondly They mention not the seeds which are about the bigness of Bay-berries many of which I sent out of New-England some of which grew in York-Garden at London but through mishap perished Thirdly This tree is not alwayes green as Parkinson Johnson saith but in New-England casteth its leaves Perhaps in Florida it may perpetually be green for I know that in New-England the wild-Bays which is like our common bays in smell and leaves casteth its leaf in Winter as also a kind of â—ir about Casho-bay out of which is extracted a very odoriferous gum and others in like manner c. In New-England divers in the beginning of their plantations used this Plant in their Beer hoping that it would have served both for mault and spice but it deceived their expectations For in my apprehension it giveth a taste not pleasant and also they that accustomed themselves to this drink especially in the Summer found themselves faint and weak not able to endure labour Animadversor 2. Sarsaperilla will not thrive in England c. First Smilax to which this is referred is two-fold 1. Aspera which is not found as yet with us 2. Levis or Convolvulus this groweth naturally wild with us whose leaves though they differ much from the former yet the root is very like as I have seen them compared together and further the vertues also as I have been credibly informed by divers ingenious Apothecaries 2. This Smilax aspera is found not only in Peru c. But also in Virginia as I am informed by divers which is a Countrey whose Winters are far more piercing then in England 3. In New-England I have seen a Plant with good success used for Sarsaperilla which is a plant about one foot and an half high with an upright stalk with some few leaves at the top I at first sight thought it the plant called Herba Gerardi but the root is very like the Sarsaparil commonly used with the pithyness which maketh me to think that there are divers species of these Smilaxes some of which may well thrive and prosper in England especially those that grow in New-England and Virginia but concerning this plant and divers others which grow in New-England I cannot give you that account I desire because my seeds and papers unhappily miscarried Animadversor 3. Rattle-snake Grasse will not thrive c. Parkinson an able Botanick saith it flourisheth with us in June and July and therefore what should hinder it from thriving to the purpose 2. Virginia as I said before hath sharper Winters then England and yet there it groweth abundantly in the Woods without cultivation why not with us therefore by good managing and art When I was in New-England I was acquainted with an ancient Gentleman who also was a Scholer and had lived ten years in Virginia who certified me that there were two sorts of Rattle-snake-weeds the greater and the less That which he called the greater I casually had in my hand it was a bulbous plant about the bignesse of a Pigeons egge and â—ilky in the root it grew in the water and the leaves like Pistolochia he told me that this was accounted the best the second is called the lesse and according to Parkinsons description the leaves are like the former but the root is fibrous and this is that which is commonly brought for England and for my part I suppose and upon good grounds that not only the former but also the latter will thrive with us I have oft desired many of my friends and acquaintance to send me this plant and divers others which grow even at their doors but could never prevail so far with them and have far greater hope of the flourishing of this wild plant that of Tobacco either of that which in New-England is called Poak much differing from the Virginian or of that other commonly used and sown in Virginia for they grow not naturally in these places and yet Tobacco so flourisheth in England that it pleaseth the State to take notice of it and by an Act to prohibit it And though I cannot deny but God hath given his peculiar blessings to every Countrey yet it doth not hence follow that nothing which groweth in an hot Countrey will thrive in these more Northern Climates for most of our curious plants as Apricocks Peaches c. Flac. Pernvianus Juca c. came at first from hot Countreys yet thrive well with us yea true Rhenbarb if we will believe Parkinson which formerly hath only grown in the East-Indyes groweth abundantly with us This I am sure if it be not the same it is very like in vertue and daily we find that things brought out of a hot Countrey do flourish with us as lately the great Spanish Cane much used by Weavers and Vintners Master John Tradeskin brought from the Western-Isle and it flourisheth well in his Garden and groweth great and tall Animadversor So of Pines and Cedars c. I wonder that the Animadversor should question the growth of Pines in England seeing they grow commonly in the Plain of Poland as Cromer saith and the Pitch-tree is a kind of Pine growing even in the coldest places In New-England I have seen Pines above four foot Diameter and the length accordingly even in the most Northern places Further these commonly grow in the Gardens about London so concerning Cedars they grow of a very great heighth and bignesse in the Northern parts of New-England where show lyeth five or six months and therefore I do not any wayes question their growing with us and do again note that the neglect of these as also of the Fir-tree is a great deficiency in England and to what a straight our State might now be driven for Masts did not New-England furnish us as also for Pitch and Tar is well known And yet these Trees will grow in very barren land and are sweet growers Yea as it appears by our Mosses they have formerly grown in England Further many will stand in a little ground so that I dare boldly aver that one thousand Acres planted with these Trees would in forty years serve this Isle with Masts for ever and help us to great quantities of Pitch and Tar for where these Trees once take they are very hardly destroyed as I have observed in New-England where on an Isle every year in Summer the Planters spent a day or two to cut them down that the place might pasture the better for their young Cattle but these Trees did presently grow again so that they gave over their intentions seeing their
be eaten and are the special food for the wild Turkeys in Winter the leaves differ little from the common Oak but are smaller some of these small Oaks being cut up nigh to a Damme made to turn a small river for the iron works I perceived that out of the young twigs which I never before perceived in the old branches many excrescences did break forth sticking close to the bark flattish reddish set in order like buttons on a Dublet the lower-most biggest and so by little and little less and less the bigger sort bigger then Vetches These excrescences likewise grew on every twig double one range opposite to another I in September when the leaves where fallen for sooner I did not perceive them gathered about a pint hoping that this Oak might be of the same nature with the Scarlet Oak though much differing in leaves but my mishap I lost my berries and never since could obtain more For these reason therefore I believe and I hope others will so far as to endeavour by experience to find out whether the Scarlet Oak which is a considerable Plant will thrive amongst us Animadversor I wonder Linden-trees c. Linden-trees are not mentioned as not growing in England for I know that they grow in many places and in Cobham Park in Kent they make the statelyest Walk I ever beheld but Gentlemen only plant them for pleasure Whereas in other places they make Basse Roap of the Bark c. which is no where done in England that I can hear of 6 Letter Amber onely found in Prussia THis will upon strict enquiry be found otherwise for many report Amber to be found also in considerable quantity in Pomerland Cromer also in his discription of Poland saith it is found in divers Lakes with them especially at Piscia also that in other places they usually dig it up also Master Cambden an approved Author for England saith in his description of Norfolk and also Jet and Amber which saith he I willingly omit seeing that there is great store of these things elsewhere along the Coast Also that Jet or black Amber is cast up at Whitbey in Yorkshire Further I have seen long pices of a yellow transparent Stone or Amber found in a Fountain nigh Lake Neagh about six miles from Antrims which the Irish say though vainly that it is found only there on May-day and doe use it superstitiously about divers things Animadversor Sea-Owse will not make Brick c. I have seen Sea-Owse or Mud do it at Dover also in New-England and it it a common practise and if I am not misinformed that sort of Brick which in London is called Flandersbrick much used for scowring brasse c. is made of the same Material Animadversor Salt out of a Sand c. Master Cambden reports it to be at wyre-Wyre-water in Lancashire page 753. where you may read it more at large and also the same Author reports that at Butterley in Durham there are saltish stones which serve the people for their use pag. 734. Animadversor Not only the Odour Tast and Colour of Waters to be regarded but other things of greater importance I for my part know not how Countrey-men should discern such transcendent virtues in waters otherwise then by these wayes I know ingeninus men may make separations by putrifactions distillations c. And further I suppose that water is of it selfe most Homogeneus Let Faber speak what he please in his Flydrographo and that all the differences betwixt waters is accidental viz. by the mixture of some vapours Fumes or Saline nature which it receiveth by its long course throw divers Earths Clays Sands Salts Minerals Metals Stones c. and further that this mixture is most commonly perceived by our senses viz. by Colour Taste Odour and would be much more perceived by us if we did drink water continually For the use of things of high taste causeth us that we cannot distinguish things of lower gusts For I have known some who could strangely distinguish waters by their tast and further in England I know no water of any considerable vertue but an ordinary palate may distinguish it from the common waters and usually they are discoloured and have some peculiar odour As for the Mechanical uses of waters why some are fit for Brewing Washing others not I suppose the reason is plain enough but that Flatters cannot make good Hats because the water is not good enough for them or the Dary-maid make good Butter or Cheese c. I think these are but excuses by the which they usually cloak their ignorance or knavery Animadversor I am sure that whosoever shall believe Glanberus viz that in all sand almost Gold is found c. The Animadversor may think what he please but I for my part as I have formerly said think Glanberus very ingenious and a man of excellent experimental knowledge and a man of excellent experimental knowledge and therefore am easily induced to believe it considering that Gold is not only found in the parched sands of Africa India c. but it hath been also found in many Rivers of Europe as Tagus Po c. yea in Scotland Gold is found amongst their sands in divers places some of which I have seen and know two ingenious men who intended to have set up a Mercury Mill as they called it for the separation thereof had not the troubles of these times prevented Golden sands are also found in Ireland in Vlster if the Author of the Natural History of Ireland speak truth Animadversor Little fewel save out of Ditches Ditches an improper word I suppose it not much improper for I never saw either in England Ireland or elsewhere fire as it were fisht out of the water I mean that any place is so saving of their Land and so industrious in sowing their Graffs and Ditches to get fewel as in that Countrey which I note rather as a point of good husbandry to be mistated then to be discommended yet I cannot call Turf more then indifferent good fewel and really must say it is inferiour both to Coal and Wood. Animadversor Durham-Wall c. It is misprinted for Durham-Walls c. These places being sufficient for my purpose I know twenty places more may be added The expression concerning Opium and Opiates I suppose very little too large Animadversor Elephants cannot be of use Master Cambden saith in his Description of Essex that the Romans brought over Elephants to England whose bones being found have astonished many perhaps the bone at Aldermanbury is one of them also in our dayes an Elephant lived many years in England therefore to me its probable they may be as serviceable to us as to other places Animadversor An hard task to people with black Fox c. I suppose the Animadversor means to cause them to encrease with us but I think the contrary for black Foxes are found in Ireland New-England Russia and indeed in all cold Countries therefore I see not why they should