are best for this work id Sect. 2. Principal Rules to be observed in drowning Lands 21 Cutting the main Carriage id Cutting the Lesser Carriages id Making the Drains id Times for watering 22 Manner of watering of Land by small Streams or Engines id Barren Springs not useful id Sect. 3. Of dry Meadow or Pasture improved id By Enclosure 23 By burning the rushy mossy ground id By stubbing up Shrubs c. id By Dunging or soyling 24 Time for soyling id Soyl for rushy and cold Land id For sandy or hot land id For other Meadows id Sect. 4. Of several new Species of Hay or Grass id Of the Clover-grass 25 Of the profit of Clover-grass id Best Land for Clover-grass id Quantity of Seed for an Acre 26 Time manner of sowing Clover-grass id Of cutting it for Hay and for Seed id Of pasturing or feeding Clover-grass 27 Of thrashing or ordering the Seed id Of St Foyn and the profits thereof 28 On what Land to sow it id Quantity of Seed on an Acre and manner of sowing of it id La Lucern 29 What ground it requires id Time and manner of sowing it id It s use id Sect. 5. Of some other Grasses or Hays id Esparcet id La Romain or French Tares or Vetches id Spurry-seed id Trefoyl 30 Long Grass in Wiltshire id Saxifrage id CHAP. IV. Of Arrable Land and Tillage and of the several Grains Pulses c. usually propagated by the Plough 31 Sect. 1. What Lands Improved by Tillage id Manner of Ploughing each sort 32 Clay stiff cold and moist id Rich and mellow Land 33 Poor and barren Land id Sect. 2. Of digging of Land for Corn 34 Sect. 3. Of the different Species of Grain Corn Pulse c. usually sown or necessary to be propagated in our Country-farm 35 Wheat id Barley 36 Rye 37 Massin id Oats id Buck-wheat or French-wheat id Other sorts of Grain id Pease id Beans 38 Fitches id Lentils id Lupines id Tares id Other Pulses id Sect. 4. Hemp and Flax 39 Impediments to the sowing of Hemp and Flax id Want of Trade an Impediment id Want of Experience id Tythes an Impediment id Hemp 40 Value of Hemp id Flax id Best Seed id Value of Flax 41 Sect. 5. Woad c. id To know when it is full ripe id Profit of Woad 42 Rape and Cole-seed id Profit thereof id Turneps id Sect. 6. Of the manner of setting Corn and the howing it in c. 43 Description of Mr. Grabriel Plat's Engine of setting Corn 44 The second Engine 45 Errors in this way 46 Howing of Corn commended id New Instrument for sowing of Corn 47 The more particular use and benefit of this Instrument 48 1 As to time 2 Equality of Seed 3 Rectification of the Feeder 4 No difference in driving fast or slow 5 No loss of Seed 6 Needs no harrowing General advantages of this Instrument 49 Another excellent advantage of this Instrument 50 Sect. 7. Of the general Uses of Corn Grain Pulse and other Seeds propagated by the Plough 51 Of Wheat id Of Barley id Of Rye id Of Oats id Of Pulses id Of the uses of Hemp-seed Flax-seed Rape and Cole-seed 52 Of the preservation of Corn id Sect. 8. Of the preparation of the Seed 53 Change of Seed an Improvement id Steeping of Corn in Dung-water and other preparations 54 55 56 CHAP. V. Of the Manuring Dunging and Soyling of Land 58 Sect 1. Of Burning of Land id On what Lands Burn-baiting is good 59 Manner of Burn-baiting id Sect. 2. Soyls and Manures taken from the Earth 61 Chalk id Lime id Marle 62 fullers-Fullers-Earth 63 Clay and Sand 64 Earth id Sect. 3. Soyls taken from the Sea or Water 65 Water-sand id Sea-weeds and Weeds in Rivers id Snayl Cod or Snag greet id Oyster-shells 66 Mud id Fish id Sect. 4. Of Dungs or excrementitious soils id Of Horse-dung id Of Cow or Ox-dung id Of Sheeps-dung 67 Of Swines-dung id Of the Dung of Fowl 68 Pigeons-dung id Poultry-dung id Goose-dung id Of Urines 69 Sect. 5. Of several other Soyls or Manures id Ashes id Soot 70 Salt id Rags id Hair 71 Malt-dust id Fern Straw Stubble c. id Bones Horns c. id Bark of Trees and old Earth in Trees id Urry id CHAP. VI. Of the Benefit Raising Planting and Propagating of all sorts of Timber-trees and other Trees useful either in Building or other Mechanick uses or for Feneing Fewel c. 72 Sect. 1. Of the benefit of propagating Timber-trees and other Trees in general id Particular advantages 73 More unniversal advantages 74 Sect. 2. Of Timber-trees in general 75 The Oak its propagation and use id The Elm 76 The Beech 78 The Ash 79 The Wallnut 80 The Chesnut id The Service 81 Sect. 3. Of several other Trees not so generally made use of for Timber as for Fewel Coppice-woods Hedge-rows c. 81 The Birch id The Maple 82 The Horn-beam id The Quick-beam id The Hasel id Sect. 4. Of Aquaticks or Trees affecting moist and watry places 83 The Poplar id The Aspen id The Abele id The Alder id The Withy id The Salley id Ofiers id Willow 84 Sect. 5. Of other Trees planted for Ornament or adorning Gardens Avenues Parks and other places adjoyning to your Mansion-house and convertible also to several uses 84 The Sycomore id The Lime-tree id The Horse Chesnut-tree 85 The Fir Pine Pinaster and Pitch-tree id The Larch Platanus and Lotus id The Cyprus 86 The Cedar id The Alaternus id The Phillyrea id The Bay-tree id The Laurel id The Eugh-tree id Privet id Sect. 6. Of Shrubs and other Trees less useful yet planted for Ornament and Delight 87 The Myrtle id The Box id Juniper id Tamarisk id Arbor Vitae id Some Flower-trees and other Trees of delight id Sect. 7. Of such Trees that are necessary and proper for Fencing and Enclosing of Lands Orchards Gardens c. And the best way of raising such Fences 88 The White-thorn id The Holly id Piracantha id The Black-thorn 89 The Elder id Furzes id The speediest way of planting a Quickset-Hedge id Another way id Of planting the Holly-Hedge id Preserving Hedges from Cattle id Weeding of Hedges id Plashing of Hedges id Sect. 8. Of the Nursery for the more convenient propagation of most of the fore-mentioned Trees 90 Trees produced of Seed id Preserving and preparation of the seed id Election of the seed 91 Place for a Nursery id Manner of sowing id Ordering of the Nursery id Sowing of a Coppice id Sect. 9. Of the transplantation of Trees 92 The time id Of such Trees that come of Slips Suckers c. id Time to slip or lay id The time for Aquaticks id Manner of transplanting id Watering of Trees 93
Defence against Bees 182 To cure the sting of a Bee id Of the Bees work id The numbers of Bees 183 Of the Bees Enemies id Removing of Bees 184 Feeding of Bees id An Experiment for improving of Bees 185 A singular observation concerning the food of Bees id Of the fruit and profit of Bees id Driving of Bees 186 Exsection or gelding of Combs id Of the generation of Bees 188 The making of Metheglin id 2. Of Silk worms 190 Their Food id Time and manner of Hatching Silk-worms Eggs id Their sicknesses id Their time and manner of feeding 191 Their spinning id Their breeding id The winding of the Silk 192 CHAP. X. Of common and known external Injuries Inconveniencies Enemies and Diseases incident to and usually afflicting the Husbandman in most of the Ways and Methods of Agriculture before treated of And the several Natural and Artificial Remedies proposed and made use of for the prevention and removal of them 193 Sect. 1. From the Heavens or Air id Great heat or drought id Remedies for want of water 195 To make Cisterns to hold water 196 Great Cold and Frost 197 Much Rain 200 High Winds id Thunder and Tempest Hail c. 201 Mildews id Sect. 2. From the Water and Earth 203 Much water offending id Overflowing of the Sea id Land-floods id standing-Standing-waters 204 Stones Shrubs c. 205 Weeds 206 Blights and Smut 207 Sect. 3. From several Beasts 208 Foxes id Otters id Coneys Hares 209 Poll-cats Weasels and Stotes id Moles or Wants id Mice or Rats 210 Sect. 4. From Fowls 211 Kites Hawks c. id Crows Ravens c. id Pigeons 212 Jays 213 Bullfinches id Goldfinches 214 Sparrows c. id Sect. 5. Of Insects and creeping things offending id Frogs and Toads id Snails and Worms id Gnats and Flies 215 Wasps and Hornets id Caterpillars 216 Earwigs id Lice id Ants id To destroy Ant-hills id Snakes and Adders 217 To cure the stinging of Adders or biting of Snakes id Sect. 6. Of some certain Diseases in Animals and Vegetables 217 Of Beasts and Fowl id Of the Murrain 218 Of the Rot in Sheep id An approved Experiment for the cure of the Fashions in Horses and Rot in Sheep 219 Another for the Measles in Swine and also to make them fat id Sect. 7. Of Thieves and ill Neighbours 220 CHAP. XI Of the several sorts of Instruments Tools and Engines incident to this Profession of Agriculture and of some Amendments and profitable Experiments in Building either by Timber Stone Brick or any other way 223 Sect. 1. Of the several sorts of Ploughs id Double-wheeled-Plough 224 Turn-wrest Plough id Single-wheeled-plough id Plain Plough id Double Plough id Another sort of Double Plough id Other sorts of Ploughs 225 Good properties of the Plough id Errors of the Plough id A Turfing Plough id Sect. 2. Of Carts and Waggons 226 New sort of Cart id Waggon with sails 227 Sect. 3. Of several other Instruments used in digging id Of the Trenching-plough id Of Spades id Turfing-spade id Trenching-spade id Common Spades id The How 228 Other Instruments used in digging c. id Sect. 4. Other various Instruments id Sect. 5. Of Amendments and profitable Experiments in Building 229 The scituation of a House 230 Securest and cheapest way of building a House 231 Best Covering for a House 232 Of Tiles Bricks c. id Of building of Stone or Brick-walls 233 Of Mortar id Of Timber 234 Of Mills id CHAP. XII Of Fowling and Fishing 236 Sect. 1. Of Fowling in general id Of Fowling the nature of water-fowl id The haunts of Water-fowl id Sect. 2. Of taking the greater sort of fowl with Nets 237 The form of a Draw-net id Sect. 3. Of the taking small Water-fowl with Nets 238 Sect. 4. Of taking great Fowl with Lime-twigs id Of the divers ways of making Birdlime id Of the several uses of it 139 Of the taking small Fowl with Lime-twigs 240 Sect. 5. Of taking Fowl with Springes id Sect. 6. Of killing Fowl with the Fowling-piece 241 Of the choice of Gunpowder id The way to make shot id Of the Stalking-horse 242 Of the artificial Stalking-horse 243 Artificial Trees id A digression concerning decoy-ponds id Of the taking Wilde-Ducks Eggs 244 Sect. 7. Of taking Land-fowl id The greater sorts of them id Of taking Fowl by day-nets id Of taking Larks by day-nets id Of Stales 245 Another way to take Larks by a Day-net called daring of Larks id To take Birds with the Low-bell id To take Birds with the Trammel only 246 To take Birds by Batt-fowling id To take small Birds with Lime-twigs id To take Fieldfares or Bow-thrushes 247 Sect. 8. Of taking Fowl with Baits id To take Land-fowl with Baits id To take Water-fowl with Baits id Sect. 9. Of taking some sorts of Fowl id To take the Pheasant with Nets id To drive young Pheasants 248 To take Pheasants with Lime-twigs id To perch Pheasants id To take Partridge id To take them with a Trammel-net 249 To take them with a Setting-dog id To drive Partridges id To take them with Bird-lime id To take Woodcocks id To take them in a Cock-road id Of Fishing 250 Sect. 1. Of taking Fish by Nets Pots or Engines id To Fish with Nets id With the Trammel or Sieve id With the Casting-net 251 With the shore-net or pot-net id With Fish-pots id With Wears id With Hawks 252 The way of making a Piscary id A Hawk-net id Sect. 2. Of Angling 253 Observations in Angling id Seasons for Angling 254 Seasons not to Angle in id Sect. 3. Of Angling for Salmon Trout 255 Sect. 4. Of Angling for Pike and Perch id Sect. 5. Of Angling for standing-Water or Pond-fish 256 For the Carp id For the Tench id For the Dace 257 For the Roach id For the Bream id Taking of Eels id By Angle id With Bank-hooks id By Sniggling id By Bobbing 258 Sect. 6. Of Angling for the Barbel Grailing Umber Chevin and Chub id Of Cormorant Fishing 259 CHAP. XIII Kalendarium Rusticum or Monthly Directions for the Husbandman 261 In January 265 February 267 March 269 April 271 May 273 June 275 July 277 August 279 September 281 October 283 November 285 December 287 CHAP. XIV Of the Prognosticks of Dearth or Scarcity Plenty Sickness Heat Cold Frost Snow Winds Rain Hail Thunder c. 289 Sect. 1. Of the different appearances of the Sun Moon Stars Meteors or any other thing in the Air or above us 290 Of the motions colours and appearances of the seven Planets id Of the Sun id Of the Moon 292 Of the other Erraticks or Planets id Of Comets or Blazing-stars 293 Of the shooting of Stars 294 Of the fixed Stars id Of Fire or other casual appearances id Of the Clouds 295 Of Mists and Fogs id Of Winds 296
Volatile Mercury or Spirit to the more fixed Salt Spiritus Mediante Anima cum corpore conjungitur ligatur fit unum cum eis say the Philosophers This Sulphur or oyly part is easily separated and distinguish'd in Vegetables by the more curious it ariseth out of the earth with the aforesaid Mercury or Aqueous Spirit though not at the first discernable yet in every Plant more and more maturated and augmented by the Suns influence as the Seed or Matrix is more or less inclined to this Principle This is also that which gives to our hot and stinking Dungs Soils or Manures the Oleaginous pinguidity and Fertility and which begets that fiery heat which is in Vegetables as Hay Corn c. laid on heaps not throughly dry Not only the Duration of Individuals but also the Propagation Of the Universal Salt Willis de fermentatione of the Species dependeth much on the Principle of Salt for the Growth of Minerals the Fertility of Land the Vegetation or Growth of Plants and chiefly the fruitful Foetation and Progeny of Animals have their Original from their Saline Seed This Salt obscurely passeth with the Mercurial Spirit and the Sulphur and is associated therewith where ever that passes and where it finds a convenient Receptable Seed or Matrix it is more fixed than either the Sulphur or Spirit The Salt is that which gives to every Creature a Substance or Body without which neither the Spirit nor Sulphur could be reduced or coagulated into any Form It is in every thing Sal autem reperitur in rebus omnibus It is volatile when carried in the wings of the Spirit and Sulphur by the natural Fire or Motion But afterwards it is more fixed when separated from the Spirit or Mercury and Sulphur by artificial Fire as appears in the ashes or Caput Mortuum of all Vegetables Animals or Minerals distilled or burnt much also of the Sulphureous or Mercurial parts are coagulated by or transmuted into the Saline by natural or artificial Heat or Warmth as is evident in the Sea the nearer it is to the Equinoctial Line and the more it receives of the Perpendicular or direct Beams of the Sun the greater quantity of Salt it contains not only by the exhalation of the Aqueous or Phlegmatick parts but the Maturation Transmutation or Fixation of the more Volatile Spiritual and Sulphureous parts into the more Saline or fixed For in those hotter Climates the Land it self also is more Fertile through the abounding quantity of this Vegetating Salt as appears by the great plenty of Nitre or Sal terrae found in the hotter Climates lying on the Surface of the Earth in the morning like a hoary Frost when the Regions nearer the Poles having not those natural advantages of the Sun-beams in so high a degree are not so Fertile nor abound so much with Salt the most principal cause of Fertility But we will leave these Philosophical Principles as they are simply Of the true matter of Vegetables and apart very necessary to be known by those that Operate in the more-Secret Mystical and Mechanick Indagations of Nature and discourse only of that Universal Spirit or Vapor which daily and every moment perspires and proceeds out of every part of the Earth and is in every thing containing in it self the Spirit or Mercury the Sulphur and the Salt in one body united and without Art indivisible yet some one Part or Principle abounding more or less in every thing as the Water containeth more of the Spiritual or Aqueous part several Fruits Plants Flowers and Soils more of the Sulphureous and Barks of Trees Blood of Animals and several Minerals more of the Saline And wheresoever these Principles are most equally tempered or mixed there is most of Fertility as is evident in the several Natures Tempers and Qualities of Places for the Production or Propagation of Vegetables and wheresoever any or either of these Principles do over-much abound Vegetables are not produced as Waters or any other Liquors or Spirits are not Where Water or Spirits abound Fertile in themselves as to Vegetation unless they are either conjoyned with some other Substance or Matter or the more Phlegmatick parts evaporated and the remaining part maturated by the Sun or Air into an augmentation of the other Principles then is it capable of yielding naturally some sort of Vegetables For although several Plants set in Water only do emit fibrous roots and flourish therein for a time yet is it meerly an attraction of the most Saline and Sulphureous parts or Principles to its own relief as is evident by its better thriving if the Water be often changed At best this nourishment is but weak having so little of the Sulphur and Salt as the Withy Poplar and other Aquatick Plants demonstrate Therefore out of any sort of Waters only it is in vain to attempt any material or effectual increase of Vegetables other than that are naturally Aquatick because they contain a superaboundant Spirit or Moisture Therefore vain is the new received Opinion that Trees and other Vegetables and also other Minerals proceed from Water only But our Spiritus Mundi or Materia propinqua Vegetabilium although it appear in a Liquid form yet it contains actually an equal proportion of the three Principles And the more any Substance or Matter is impregnated or irrigated therewith the more prone or apt it is to Vegetation as Rain-water being animated with it by the continual Exhalations or Fumes ascending from the Earth and by it coagulated and detained is more prone to Vegetation than any other Waters as you may perceive by Plants watered therewith and by its sudden Generation of Animals and Vegetables in the Spring-time then the Earth more copiously breathing forth that Spiritus Mundi which returned again doth by the vivifying heat of the Sun easily transcend into another Species How soon will Horse-hairs receive life lying in rain-Rain-water but a few days in the heat of the Sun in the Spring-time whereof I have seen many in the High-ways after Rain in the Month of May very nimble and quick that had not yet lost their shape of a Horse-hair This is worthy our further enquiry to what Period this may be advanced it may also serve as an Index to point at several other Excellent Discoveries Neither is the more Sulphureous part or Principle of it self capable Where Fumes or Sulphur abounds of yielding Vegetables being of too hot and pinguid a Nature as the Dung of Animals and especially of Volatiles that eject no Urine whereby the more fiery and Sulphureous part of the others is diluted containing much of that pinguidity produce no Vegetables of it self unless commixed or allayed with some other Matter abounding with the other Principles or that it loose it s too fiery or destructive Nature by being exposed to the Sun or Air untill it be evaporated then will it emit several Vegetables Of the like Nature also are the flesh and bones
of Animals yielding a very rich Compost though of themselves through over-much heat and pinguidity sterile The Saline or more fixed Principle which is esteemed by most Where Salt abounds Authors the only thing conducing to Fertility yet is of its self or in an over-bounding quantity the most barren and unfruitful It is prescribed as a sure way to destroy Weeds Vegetables by watering the place with Brine or Salt-water yet what more fruitful being moderately commixed with other Materials of another nature than Salt But observe that Salts extracted out of the Earth or from Vegetables or Animals are much more Fertile than those of the Sea containing in them more of the Vegetative Power or Principles and are therefore much to be preferred Glauber makes it the highest improvement for the Land and for Continuatio Miraculi Mundi Trees also affirming that by it you may enrich the most barren Sands beyond what can be performed by any other Soils or Manures in case it be deprived of its Corrosive Qualities for then will it naturally attract the other Principles continually breathing out of the Earth and in the Air and immediately qualifie it self for Vegetation as I observed in a parcel of Field-Land of about three Acres denshired or burn-beaten in a very hot and dry Spring of it self naturally barren and after the burning and spreading the ashes wherein was the Fertile Salt deprived of its Corrosive sterile quality the Land was plowed very shallow and Barly sown therein about the beginning of May in the very ashes as it were no Rain falling from the very beginning of cutting the Turf yet in thirty and six hours was the Barley shot forth and the Ground coloured green therewith this Salt attracting and condensing the ever-breathing Spirit The like you may observe in Walls and Buildings where several sorts of Vegetables yea trees of a great bigness will thrive and prosper remote from the Earth and without any other nourishment than what that Fertile Salt attracts and condenses as before which it could not have done had it not been purged of its Corrosive and Sterile Nature by Fire when it was made into Lime For all Chymists know that no Salts more easily dissolve per deliquum than those that are most calcined The Salt also of the Sea is not without its Fertile Nature being ordered with Judgment and Discretion as we see evidently that the Salt Marshes out of which the Sea is drain'd excel in Fertility and many places being irrigated with the Sea-Water yield a notable increase Corn also therewith imbibed hath been much advanced as appeared in the President of the Country-man that casually let his Seed-Corn fall into the Salt-Water And in the Isle of Wight it is observed that Corn flourisheth on the very Rocks that are bedewed with the Salt-water by the Blasts of the Southern Winds The shells of fish being as it were only Salt coagulated have proved an excellent Manure for barren Lands after they have lain a competent time to dissolve From what hath been before observed we may conclude that Equal commixture of Principles the highest Fertility and Improvements are to be advanced and made from the most equal Commixture of the aforesaid several Principles or of such Waters Soils Dungs Salts Manures or Composts that more or less abound with either of them having regard unto the nature of such Vegetable whose propagation or advancement you intend Some delighting in a more Hot or Cold Moist or Dry Fat or Barren than others And next unto that from due Preservation Reception and right disposing and ordering of that Spiritus Mundi every where found and to be attained without Cost and as well by the poor as rich It continually breaths from the Earth as we noted before and is diffused in the Air and lost unless we place convenient Receptacles to receive it as by Planting of Trees and sowing of Pulses Grain or Seed Out of what think you should these things be formed or made Out of rain-Rain-water is the common Answer or Opinion But we experimentally finde that this Vniversal Subject gives to every Plant its Essence or Substance although assisted by Rain or Water both in its nourishment and condensation We see how great a Tree is raised out of a small Plat of Ground by its sending forth of its Roots to receive its nourishment penetrating into the smallest Crannies and Joynts between the Stones and Rocks where it finds the greatest plenty of its proper food We constantly perceive and finde that Vegetables having once emitted their fibrous Roots vegetate and increase only from the assistance of this our Vniversal Subject when the Earth wherein it stands is of it self dry and not capable to yield that constant supply of Moisture the Plant daily requires Although we must confess that Rain or other Water accelerates its Growth having in it a Portion of that Spiritus Mundi also better qualifies the Earth for its perspiration That this Subject is the very Essence of Vegetables and that from it they receive their Substance and not from water only is evident in such places where Vegetables are not permitted to grow and where it cannot vapor away nor is exhaled by the Sun nor Air as Underbuildings Barns Stables Pigeon-houses c. where it condenses into Nitre or Salt-Petre the only fruitful Salt though improperly so called containing so equal and proportionable a quantity of the Principles of Nature wholly Volatile only condensed in defect of a due recipient not generated as some fondly conceive from any casual Moisture as Urine in Stables c. though augmented thereby but meerly from the Spiritus Mundi Lands resting from the Plough or Spade are much enriched only by the encrease of this Subject and ordinary way of Improvement Lands defended from the violent heat of the Sun and from the sweeping cleansing and exsiccating Air or Winds grow more Fertile not so much from the warmth it receives as from the preservation of that Fertile Subject from being wasted as we evidently see it to be in all open Champion Lands when part of the very same Species of Land being inclosed with tall and defensive Hedges or Planted with Woods are much more Fertile than the other yea we plainly perceive that under the Covert of a Bush Bough or such like any Vegetable will thrive and prosper better than on the naked Plain Where is there more barren dry and hungry Land than on the Plains and Waste Lands and yet but on the other side of the hedges Fertile either by Inclosure or Planted with Woods an evident and sufficient demonstration of the high Improvements that may be made by Inclosure only Also Land hath been found to be extraordinary Fertile under Stones Logs of Wood c. only by the condensation and preservation of that Vniversal Subject as appears by the flourishing Corn in the most stony Grounds where it hath been observed that the Stones taken away Corn hath not
observe saith Markham that if you cannot get any Of Fullers Earth perfect and rich Marle if then you can get of that Earth which is called Fullers-Earth and where the one is not commonly the other is then you may use it in the same manner as you should do Marle and it is found to be very near as profitable Mr. Bernhard Palisly that French Author cited so often by Sir Hugh Platt commends the same I have not known it at any time practised in England for the bettering of any ground saith Sir Hugh Platt but by all presumption the same must of necessity be very rich because it is full of that vegetative Salt which appears in these scouring effects for the which it is divers ways had in use amongst us Clay is by many commended to be a considerable Improvement Of Clay Jewel-house of Art and Nature to some sorts of light and sandy Ground as Sir Hugh Platt gives the relation of a certain person that assured it to be most true that the very Clay which he digged up in St. Georges Fields being laid upon his pasture-ground which he there held by Lease did exceedingly enrich the same insomuch as he did never regard to seek after any other Soil Also Mr. Gabriel Platt relates that he knew light sandy ground which was good for little or nothing cured by laying thereon a great quantity of stiff Clay-ground which converted it to good temperament whereby it became fruitful and not subject to fail upon every light occasion as it did before but would abide variety of weather according to the nature of Hasel-ground And this Improvement saith he is of no little value for there is a great difference betwixt Land that is subject to fail once in two or three years and Land thus improved that will not fail once in two or three and twenty years through the distemperature of the weather Mr. Bernhard also affirms that all Marle is a kind of Clay-ground and it should seem to differ only in digestion from Marle It is good to try it on several grounds both Arable and Pasture and for several Grains at several times in the year and in several proportions by this means you may finde out the true value and effect of this and by the same Method of all other Subterraneal Soyl or Manure and thereby raise unto your self a considerable advantage By the same Rule and for the same Reason that Clay advanceth Of Sand. the benefit of light and Sandy grounds may Sand be an inrichment and Improvement to cold Clay-grounds as Mr. Gabriel Platt testifieth that he hath known stiff Clay-grounds that would seldom be fruitful unless the season of the year proved very prosperous to have been cured by laying thereupon a great quantity of light Sandy-ground which afterwards was converted to a good temperament like to the sort of ground commonly called Hasel-ground which seldom or never faileth to be fruitful The best Sand for fertility is that which is washed from the hills or other Sandy places by the violence of Rain other Sands that are digged have little fertility in them only by way of contracting to Clay-ground they may effect much as Columela saith that his Grandfather used to carry Sand on Clay and on the contrary to bring Clay on Sandy grounds and with good success Sand also is of great use to be mixed with Soil as Mr. Blith adviseth for the speedy raising of great quantities of Soil in the Winter by the sheep when foulding is generally neglected and that is by making a large Sheep-house for the housing of Sheep in Winter which may be Sheep-cribbed round about and in the middle too to fother them therein you may bring herein once or twice a week several Loads of Sand either out of the Streets or ways or from a Sand-pit and lay it three or four inches thick and so continue once or twice a week as long as you please and what with the heat and warmth of their bodies and the fatness of their Dung and Urine the Sand will turn to excellent rich Soil and go very far upon Land and be more serviceable than you can conceive There are several sorts of Earth that are of singular use for the Of Earth bettering of Land as all Earth of a Saltish nature is fruitful especially all such Earth as lies dry covered with Hovels or Houses of which you make Salt-petre is rich for Land and so are old floors under any Buildings Mr Platt affirms that he hath known many hundred loads of Earth sold for twelve pence a load being digged out of a Meadow near to Hampton-Court which were carried three or four miles to the higher grounds and fertilized those grounds wonderfully and recompensed the labour and charges very well which Earth being laid upon Arable Land within a Furlong of the same Meadow did more hurt than good which sheweth that the Earth must be of different nature from the Land whereon it is laid Also any sort of Earth may be made use of for the folding of Sheep thereon under a Covert after the Flanders Manner as before is said of Sand. All sorts of Earth are very useful to intermix with Lime Dung of Beasts Fowl or any other fatty substance being laid stratum super stratum in pits or on heaps to putrifie together as well to moderate the quality as to increase the quantity of your Soil Street-dirt in Towns and Villages is an excellent Improver of several sorts of Land especially the light and sandy SECT III. Soyls taken from the Sea or Water The richest of all Sands is what comes from the Sea-coasts and Of Water-Sand the Creeks thereof and all Lands bordering on the Sea may be improved by them it is the usual practise in the Western parts of England for the people to their great charge in carriage to convey the Saltish Sands unto their barren grounds whereof some of them do lie five miles distance from the Sea and yet they find the same exceeding profitable for that their inheritance is thereby enriched for many years together the greatest vertue consisting in the Saltishness thereof Others say the Richness of the Sands is from the fat or filth the Sea doth gather in by Land-floods and what the Tide fetches daily from the shores and from fish and from other matters that putrifie in the Sea all which the Water casts on shore and purgeth forth of it self and leaves in the Sands while it self is clean and pure The Sands of fresh Rivers challenge also a place in our Improvements being laid on Land proper for the same but more especially if it be mixed with any other matter as most usually it is where it is cast on shelves at the falls of some Land-waters descending from Hills or High-ways In Devonshire and Cornwal and many other parts they make a Of Sea-weeds and Weeds in Rivers very great Improvement of the Sea-weeds for the Soiling and Manuring
Trees A Shard Vide Gap A Shed a place erected and covered over for shelter for Cattle or any other use against a wall or other Edifice To Sheer is used in the Northern parts for to Reap Shock Several sheaves of Corn set together A Shrape or Scrape a place baited with Chaff or Corn to intice Birds To Shroud To cut off the head-branches of a Tree A Sickle a toothed Reap-hook A Site or Scite a principal Mannour or Farm-house A Skepe or Scuttle a flat and broad Basket made to carry Corn withal A Skreyn is an Instrument made of Wire on a Frame for the dividing of Corn from Dust Cockle Ray c. Also it is usually made of Lath for the skreining of Earth Sand Gravel c. Slab The out-side sappy Plank or Board sawn off from the sides of Timber A Sled a thing without Wheels whereon to lay a Plough or other ponderous thing to be drawn A Sluce a Vent or Drain for water Sneed or Snead The handle of a Sythe or suchlike Tool Souse The Offal of Swine Soutage Course Cloth or bagging for Hops or suchlike A Spade or Spitter wherewith they dig or delve Also a Cutting-Spade wherewith they cut Hay or Corn-Mowes Stack of Corn. See Reek Staddles Standils or Standards Trees reserved at the felling of Woods for growth for Timber Stail The handle of a Tool Stale a living Fowl put in any place to allure other Fowl where they may be taken Stercoration Dunging Sterile Barren Stover Straw A Strike of Flax so much as is heckled at one handful Also it signifies an Instrument wherewith they strike Corn in the measuring Also it is used in the Northern parts for a Measure containing about a Bushel Structures Buildings A Sturk a young Beeve or Heifer A Sty a place for fatting or keeping Swine Succulation a Pruning of Trees Succulent Juicy A Sull a term used for a Plough in the Western parts A Sull-paddle a small Spade-staff or Instrument to cleanse the Plough from the clogging Earth To Summer-stir To fallow Land in the Summer A Sussingle a large Girt that Carriers use to binde or fasten their Packs withal Sward Ground is said to have a Sward or to be swarded when it is well grown or Coated over with Grass or other Vegetables Swath or Swarth Grass Corn or suchlike as it is laid by the Mower from the Sythe Swill Used in the Northern parts for shade or shadow To Swingle Flax a term used by Flax-dressers A Swine-herd a Keeper of Swine A Sythe wherewith they Mow Grass or Corn. T TAre of Flax the finest drest part thereof ready for the Spinner Tares A sort of Grain To Ted To turn or spread new-mown Grass A Teem or Team A certain number of Horses or other Beasts for the Draught Terrasse a Walk on a Bank or Bulwark Tet The Cows Dug by some is called the Tet. A Thrave of Corn contains four Shocks each Shock consisting of six Sheaves A Tike a small Bullock or Heifer Tills Lentils a sort of Pulse Tylth Soyl or other improvement of Land The Tine or Grain of a Fork Tits Small Cattle A Trendle a flat Vessel by some called a Kiver A Trough a Vessel to hold water c. to feed Cattle in c. or for the beating of Apples for Cider or the like A Trundle a thing made and set on low Wheels to draw heavy burdens on A Trunchion a piece of Wood cut short like a Quarter-staff A Tumbrel a Dung-cart V AVat a Vessel to contain Beer Ale Cider or any other Liquor in its preparation Vallor or Vallow or Vate a Concave-Mold wherein a Cheese is pressed Vindemiation The gathering of Grapes or reaping the Fruit of any thing as of Cherries Apples Bees c. To Vindemiate To gather the same Fruits Vinous Winy Vnderwood Coppice or any other Wood that is not esteemed Timber Vrry The blew Clay that is digged out of the Coal-mines and lies next the Coal being crude and immature and used for soyling of Land Vtensils Instruments used in any Art especially Husbandry W AWantey Vide Sussingle Wattell The naked fleshie matter that hangs about a Turkeys head A Weanel a young Beast newly weaned Whinnes Furzes A Wind-row Hay or Grass raked in Rows in order to be set up in Cocks Winlace or Winch that by which any burden is wound up or drawn out of a Well or other deep place To Winnow to separate by Winde the Corn from the Chaff To Winter-rig to fallow Land in the Winter Wood-land Places where much Woods are or it 's generally taken for Countries inclosed Y A Yate or Yatt A Gate A Yoak is either an Instrument for Oxen to draw by or to put on Swine or other unruly Creatures to keep them from running through Hedges Z ZEphyrus The West-winde An ALPHABETICAL TABLE OF The Principal Matters before treated of A OF the Abele Tree Page 83 Agriculture what it is 1 The Air it 's divers signification 298 Of the Alaternus 86 Of the Alder-Tree 83 Almonds 103 Anise the ordering thereof 154 Ants and Ant-hills to destroy 216 Angling 253 The Apiary its form and manner 170 Apples 99 The Apple-tree id April's Observations 269 Aprecocks 107 Aquatic-Trees 83. 92. 93 Arable Land it 's improvement 31 Arbor Vitae 87 Artichoaks 151 Artichoaks of Jerusalem 155 The Ass 160 Ashes their use 66 The Ash it 's propagation and use 79 Asparagus 151 The Aspen 83 Augusts Observations 279 B BAuk-hooks to lay 257 Barbel to take 258 Barley 36 Its Use 51 Barberries 103 Bark of Trees a good Soyl 71 The Bay-tree 86 Bat-fowling 246 Beasts 160 Beam See Horn Beam and Quick-Beam Their signification in change of Weather Several Beasts injurious to Husbandry 208 Beans of divers sorts 38. 149 The Beech it 's propagation and use 78 Beans called French or Kidney-Beans 150 Bees the several ways of ordering them from page 168. to page 188 Beets 154 Small Birds to destroy 213 The Birch 81 Of making and using Bird-lime 238. 246 The Black-thorn 89 Blight to prevent 207 Bobbing 258 Box 87 Bream to take 257 Brick and Tiles to make 232 Buck-wheat 37 Building profitable Experiments therein 229 Burning of Land or Burn-baiting 58 59 60 Of Rushie and Mossie Ground 23 Of Stones Chalk c. 61 C CAbbages and Coleworts 153 Carp to take 256 Carriages in Watering Meadows 21 Carts and Waggons the several sorts 226 Carrots 154 Cedar 86 Cherries 101 Chesnut it 's propagation and use 80 Chevin and Chub to take 258 Chalk the use thereof 61 Cider the making thereof 126 127 Cignet to fat 167 Cisterns or Pits for Water to make 196 Clay and Cold Land its use 32 Clay its use 63 Clouds their signification 295 Clover-grass its improvement and use 25 Cold and Frost remedies against it 197 Coleflower 153 Coleseed its use 42. 52 Codlings to plant 118. 121 Coneys to destroy 162. 209 Cormorant-Fishing 259 Corn its preservation 52 Cows and Oxen 161 Cow Dung 66 Copses
Of Whirlwinds 297 Of the Rainbow 298 Of Noise and stilness in the Air id Of Thunder and Lightening id Of the rarity and density of the Air id Of the Weatherglass or Thermometry 299 Of the Baroscope 301 Sect. 2. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from the Earth and Water 302 Of the Earth id Of the Water id Of the Sea id Sect. 3. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Beasts 303 Of Beeves or Kine id Of Sheep id Of Kids id Of Asses id Of Dogs id Of Cats id Of Mice and Rats id Of Swine 304 Sect. 4. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Fowl id Of Water-fowl id Of Land-fowl id Of the Heron id Of the Kite 305 Of the Crow c. id Of Sparrows id Of the Jay id Of Bats id Of the Owl id Of the Woodlark id Of the Swallow id Of the Cock id Sect. 5. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Fishes and Insects id Of Sea-fish id Of Fresh-water Fish id Of Frogs id Of Snakes id Of Ants id Of Bees id Of Gnats Flies and Fleas id Of Spiders 306 Of Chaffers c. id Sect. 6. Promiscuous Observations Prognosticks id Of Trees and Vegetables id Of Fire id Signes of Rain 307 Signes of Snow id CHAP. XV. Dictionarium Rusticum 312 CHAP. I. Of Husbandry and Improvements in general plainly discovering the Nature Reasons and Causes of Improvements and the Growth of Vegetables c. AGriculture hath been not undeservedly esteemed What Agriculture is a Science that principally teacheth us the Nature and divers Properties and Qualities as well of the several Soils Earths and Places as of the several Productions or Creatures whether Vegetable Animal or Mineral that either naturally proceed or are artificially produced from or else maintained by the Earth Agricultura est Scientia docens quae sunt in unoquoque Agro serunda faciunda quae terra maximos perpetuo proventus ferat saith Varro The Judicious and Understanding Husbandman must first consider Of the Subject whereon the Husband man bestows his labor the Subject whereon to spend his Time Cost and Labor viz. the Earth or Ground which we usually term either Meadow Arable Pasture Woodland Orchard or Garden-ground then whether it be more Commodious or Profitable for Meadow for Pasture or for Woods which in most places are naturally produced to the great advantage of the Husbandman or with what particular Species of Grain Pulse Trees Fruits or other Vegetables it is best to Plant or Sowe the same to his greatest benefit And with what Beasts Fowl or other Animals to Stock his Farm or other Lands Also he is to consider the best and most commodious way of Tilling Improving Propagating Planting and Manuring all such Meadows Arable and Pasture Pasture-Lands Woods Orchards and Gardens and the Reasons and Causes of such Improvements All which we shall endeavor to discover to the satisfaction and content of the diligent and laborious Husbandman But before we enter upon the particular Ways and Methods of Agriculture treated of in this ensuing Work we shall endeavor to unvail the secret Mysteries as they are commonly esteemed of the Productions and Increase of Vegetables after a plain and familiar Method not exceeding the Capacity of our Husbandmen whom this Treatise doth principally concern by the true knowledge whereof a gate is opened to Propagate Maturate or Advance the Growth or Worth of any Tree Plant Grain Fruit or Herb to the highest pitch Nature admits of This Globe of Earth that affords unto us the substance not only Of the Universal Spirit or Mercury of our selves but of all other Creatures Sublunary is impregnated with a Spirit most subtile and Ethereal as it were divinioris Aurae particula as the Learned Willis terms it which the Original De Fermentatione or Father of Nature hath placed in this World as the Instrument of Life and Motion of every thing This Spirit is that which incessantly administers unto every Animal its Generation Life Growth and Motion to every Vegetable its Original and Vegetation It is the Vehicle that carrieth with it the Sulphureous and Saline parts whereof the Matter Substance or Body of all Vegetables and Animals are formed or composed It is the Operator or Workman that transmutes by its active heat the Sulphureous and Saline parts of the Earth or Water into those varieties of Objects we daily behold or enjoy according to the different Seed or Matrix wherein it operates It continually perspires through the pores of the Earth carrying with it the Sulphureous and Saline parts the only treasure the Husband-man seeks for as hath been by some Ingenious Artists mechanically proved by receiving the same between the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes in an Alembick head where it hath condensed and copiously distilled into the Receiver at that season of the year the Earth then more liberally affording it than in the Winter-season which Spiritual Liquor so received is not a Treasure to be sleighted or neglected carrying with it the only Matter of Vegetables as the same Artists affirmed that having placed the same under a Melon-Glass near some Vegetable it was thereby wholly attracted externally and converted into that Vegetable they concluded also the same to be that Materia Prima quae absque omni sumptu labore molestia reperta est quam in aëre capere te oportet antequam ad terram perveniat c. This Liquor undoubtedly would be of singular Vertue and Effect in advancing and maturating the Growth of the more excellent Flowers or Curiosities being irrigated therewith It is easily obtained and that in great Quantities by such that think not a little time and labor lost to scrutine into the Mysteries of Nature But whether we obtain it singly or simply or not this we know that it is to be received by placing the more natural Receptacles the Seeds and Plants in the Earth which gives it us transmuted into such Forms and Substances as are most desired and necessary Although the Spirit or Mercury be that active and moving Of the Universal Sulphur part and that principally appears in the Generation or Conception of any Vegetable or Animal and is also the first that flies in the separation or dissolution of Bodies yet is it imbecile and defective without that most Excellent Rich and Sulphureous Principle which according to the description of the Learned Willis is De Fermentatione of a little thicker consistence than the Spirit and next unto it the most active for when any mixture or compound is separated the Spirits first fly then follow after the Sulphureous Particles The temperature of every thing so far as to the Heat Consistence and curious Texture thereof doth principally depend on Sulphur from hence every Plant Fruit and Flower receives those infinite varieties of Forms Colours Gusts Odours Signatures and Vertues it is that which is the proper Medium to unite the more
proved so well and Trees having Stones laid on the Ground about the Roots of them have prospered wonderfully from the same cause As the Learned Virgil hinted on the same occasion Jamque reperti Qui Saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae Vrgerent In the watering of Meadows you may observe that the superficial gliding watering thereof doth infinitely advance its fertility and accelerates its growth or vegetation not so much from the fruitfulness of the water although that be a very great help and some waters abound very much with that Vniversal Subject but by its condensation and preservation of that Subject as appears by the warmth and early springing of such Meadows where the water thinly and superficially moves over it where on the contrary water standing and submerging such Meadows and lying and soaking long under the superficies of the Earth impedes the motion of that Subject and makes the ground more sterile and backward in its growth or springing That this Spiritus Mundi hath in it a sensible heat as well as fertility we may perceive by Springs in great Frosts when the Pores of the Earth are shut the Body from whence the Springs flow is warm on the contrary when the Pores are open and this Spirit wasted and transformed into Vegetables Animals c. and exhausted by the heat of the Sun then is the Body internally cold as we sensibly perceive by the waters in Wells in Summer-time This Spiritus Mundi whereof we treat is that which in some places perspires more freely than in other and causes that different verdant colour of the Grass in certain rings or circles where the Country-people fancie the Fairies dance The more the Aqueous humour or part is concocted or exhausted by the heat of the Sun in the Summer-time the thicker and more viscous is this subject as appears by its condensation in the Air into Mildews which after a more glutinous manner than other Rains or Dews is by the cool Air condensed into a fat and fruitful matter part thereof resting on the close and glazie leaves of the Oak and such-like Trees is collected and with very little Art transformed by the industrious Bee into that noble substance Honey other part thereof falls on the young Ears of Wheat and the Buds of springing Hops where suffering a further degree of congelation impedes their growth unless a timely shower wash it off It also by its heat tinges the straw of corn and the leaves of some Trees in spots At that season of the year also it usually coagulates in some places into Mushrooms which are meerly formed and made up of this subject undigested and perspire forth in such places in great plenty so that I have seen a Mushroom near an Ell in compass of less than two days growth the Owner in whose Garden it grew affirmed it to be of one night only You may also perceive it in a clear and cool morning condensed into small lines like unto Spiders-webs near the surface of the earth especially on the lower and richer Lands This is that Viscous Vapour that being concocted and digested long in the Air by the heat of the Sun or otherwise is condensed at length into that Sulpherous and Saline Matter and which by its combat in the Air occasions those Igneal Flames and Claps of Thunder which more frequently happen at such seasons of the year and in such Climates when and where this more concocted Vapour abounds and less in the colder Climates and Seasons where it is more aqueous This is that inexhaustible Treasure the Country-man is to preserve much more than the Soils and Dungs and such-like matters washed away with waters into the Sea which are inconsiderable in comparison of this for although Land be never so much impoverished through over-tilling thereof yet duly order'd and defended by this only Subject may it be recruited and fertilized as is evident in the poorest Land where Trees are grown after the removal of them the Land is much inriched by their shelter Also the return of the Soil or Dung that is made of the Product of any Land either by Pasturing or Tilling the same is a principal part of a good Husband and not to feed Cattle cut Hay and sowe corn on some Lands and spend their Soil and Manure on other which is a grand neglect and a main cause of so much barren and unfruitful Land in England Another thing worthy our consideration concerning this Vniversal Subject is the abating or removing the Impediments of its Fertility which do as it were suffocate or conceal that fertile or vegetating quality that is in many things As in Chalk and several other Stones Minerals and Earths the Acid or sterile Juice doth prevent that Fertility which otherwise might be raised from it Therefore do our Husband-men usually burn Stones into Lime which gradually evaporateth the Acid quality and coagulateth and fixeth the more Saline and Fertile which causeth it to yield so plentiful a nourishment unto Vegetables more than before it was burnt into Lime For the same cause is the Superficies or Turf of the Earth burnt in many places which Country-men usually call denshiring or burn-beating only they suppose that the Ashes of the Vegetable contained in the Turf occasions the Fertility But although that doth yield a part yet it is the heat of the fire evaporating and consuming the Acidity of the Earth which makes the Earth it self so prepared to be the more fertile As you may observe by the very places where those hills of fire were made that although you take the Ashes wholly away yet the Earth under those hills being so calcined yields a greater nourishment to such Vegetables growing thereon than on any other part of the ground where the Ashes themselves are spread For the same reason are the Summer-Fallowings advantageous to the Husbandman not only for the destroying of the weeds but for the evaporation of the Acid barren Juyce and digesting and fixing the fertile by which way of Calcination may several Stones Minerals and Earths be made fertile which unprepared are not so this may also prove of great use for the advancement of the growth of many excellent Plants and Flowers as I have been credibly informed hath been secretly practised to that purpose The last and none of the least considerable means for the re-reviving and improving this Subject is not only the planting sowing and propagating of Vegetables in every place but to plant sowe or propagate such that delight in the Soyl or Place under your improvement be the nature of the Soyl or Earth what it will there is some Plant or other delights in it from the highest cold hot dry or barren hill to the lowest valley although in the water it self you will finde either Trees Pulses Grasses Grains or some other Vegetable may be found that will thrive in it Hic segetes illic veniunt faelicius uvae Arborei foetus alibi atque myrissa virescunt gramina
fails than in the Champion Country wet Summers being not so frequent as dry the Vales and Enclosures also being by far the greater Support of our English Granary than the Open Champion and the Hills which yields us 't is true the greater part of our Drink-corn delighting in the more hungry Soil and proves a good Supply in a wet Summer for the other CHAP. III. Of Meadow and Pasture Lands and the several ways of their Improvements either by watring or drowning or by sowing or propagating several sorts of extraordinary Grasses or Hays c. MEadow and Pasture Lands are of so considerable use and advantage to the Husbandman that they are by some preferred above Arable in respect of the advantage they bring annually into his Coffers with so little Toil Expence and Hazard far exceeding in value the Corn Lands and of principal use for the Encrease and Maintenance of his Gattle his better food and the chiefest strength he hath for the Tilling and Improving his other Lands Meadow and Pasture Lands are generally of two sorts Wet or Dry the Wet Meadows are such that the Water overflows or drowns at some times of the year under which term we shall comprehend all such Meadows or other Lands that are artificially watred or over-flown or that are under that capacity of Improvement The Dry Meadows or Pastures are such that are not over-flown or watered by any River or Stream under which we shall comprehend all such Inclosures or Severals that lie warm and in a fertile Soil yielding an annual burthen of Hay or Grass or that are capable of Improvement by sowing or propagating of new Grasses Hays c. or other ways of Improvement SECT I. Of the Watring of Meadows Of Wet Meadows or Land under that capacity of being over-flown or watred there are several sorts First Such Meadows that lie generally flat on the Banks of great Rivers and are subject to the over-flowing of such Rivers in times of Land-floods only Secondly Such Meadows that lie near to lesser River or Streams and are capable of being drowned or watered by diverting such River or some part thereof out of its natural Current over the same Thirdly Such Meadows or Lands that lie above the level of the Water and yet are capable of Improvement by raising the Water by some artificial ways or means over them All which sort of Meadows or Lands under those capacities are very much improved by the Water over-flowing them as every Country and place can sufficiently evidence and testifie Humida Majores herbas alit Virgil. Neither is there scarcely any Kingdom or Country in the World where this is not esteemed an excellent Improvement How could Egypt subsist unless Nilus did annually Fertilize its Banks by its Inundation Several other Potent and wealthy Countries there are in those African and Asian Territories whose richest and most Fertile Lands are maintained in their Fertility by the Sediment of the over-flowing Waters Huc summis liquuntur rupibus Amnes Virgil. Felicemque trahunt limum But these are Natural yet are not some Countries without their Artificial ways of advancing this ponderous Element to a very considerable Improvement as Persia Italy c. abound with most ingenious ways for the raising of the water as well for their Meadows as other necessary uses On the Banks and Borders of our great Rivers and Currents are Of Meadows watred by Floods the most and richest Meadows consisting generally of a very good fat Soil as it were composed of the very Sediment of the Water overflowing the same after great and hasty Rains such Meadows are capable of very little Improvement especially those that border on the greater Rivers as Thames Severn Trent Ouse c. uncapable of obstruction at the pleasure of the Husbandman Yet where such Meadows lying on the borders of great Rivers are of a dry and hungry Soil and not frequently overflowed by Land-floods may Artificial Works be made use of for the raising the water over the same to a very considerable advantage whereof more hereafter in this Chapter Other Meadows there are and those the most general in England Of Meadows watered by diversion of Rivers c. that border on the lesser Rivers Streams c. and in many places are overflown or drowned by diverting the Water out of its natural and usual Current over them This is of late become one of the most universal and advantageous Improvements in England within these few years and yet not comparable to what it might be advanced unto in case these several Obstructions were removed that impede this most noble and profitable Improvement First The several Interests that are in Lands bordering on Rivers Hinderances to drowning hinder very much this Improvement because the Water cannot be brought over several quantities of Land under this capacity but through the Lands of ignorant and cross Neighbours who will not consent thereunto although for their own advantage also under unreasonable terms and some will not at all others are not by the Law capacitated for such consent as we noted before concerning Enclosures Secondly That great and pernicious impediment to this Improvement Mills standing on so many fruitful Streams prohibiting the Laborious and Ingenious Husbandman to receive the benefit and advantage of such Streams and Rivers carrying in their bowels so much Wealth into the Ocean when the Mills themselves yield not a tenth of the profit to the Owners that they hinder to their Neighbours and their work may as well be performed by the Wind as by the Water or at least the Water improved to a better advantage by facilitating the Motion of the Mill whereof more hereafter Thirdly Another grand Impediment is the Ignorance of the Countrey-men who in many places are not capable of apprehending neither the Improvement nor the cause thereof But because some certain Neighbours of theirs had their Land overflown a long time and was little the better therefore will they not undergo that charge to so little purpose or because they are commonly possessed with a foolish opinion that the Water leaves all its fatness on the Ground it flows over and therefore will not advantage the next which is most untrue for I have seen Meadows successively drowned with the same Water to almost an equal Improvement for many miles together It is true the Water leaves its fatness it hath washed from the Hills and High-ways in the time of great Rains but we finde by daily experience that Meadows are fertilized by overflowing as well in frosty clear and dry weather as in rainy and that to a very considerable Improvement And also by the most clear and transparent Streams are improved ordinary Lands that they become most fertile Meadows Fourthly From a greedy and covetous Principle they suffer the Grass to stand so long on the watered Meadows that it is much discoloured and grown so hawmy and neither so toothsom nor wholesome as that on unwatered Meadows
or drowning of Land as you have fed it bare then is it best to overflow from Alhallontide throughout the Winter may you use this Husbandry until the Spring that the Grass begin to be large during April and the beginning of May in some places may you give the Grass a little water once a week and it will prove wonderfully especially in a dry Spring In Drowning observe that you let not the water rest too long on a place but let it dry in the intervals of times and it will prove the better nor let Cattle tread it whil'st it is wet In the Summer if you desire to water your Land let it be in mild or Cloudy weather or in the night-time that the water may be off in the heat of the day lest in scorch the Grass and you be frustrate of your expectation In many places you may have the opportunity to command a 5 Manner of watring of Land by small streams or Engines small Spring or Stream where you cannot a larger or may obtain water by the Engines before-mentioned which may not be sufficient to overflow your Land in that manner nor so much to your content as the greater Currents may therefore you must make your Carriages small according to your water and let there be several stops in them that you may water the one part at one time and another part at another also in such dry and shelving Lands where usually such small Springs are and water by such artificial ways advanced a small drilling water so that it be constant worketh a wonderful Improvement In some places issue Springs whose waters are sterile and injurious 6 Barren Springs not useful to the Husbandman as are usually such that flow from Coal-mines or any Sulphureous or Vitrioline Minerals being of so harsh and brackish a substance that they become destructive to Vegetables Not but that those Minerals and also those waters contain much of that matter which is the cause and of the principles of Vegetation though not duly applied nor equally proportionated as much Urine Salt c. kills Vegetables yet duly fermented and artificially applied nothing more fertile Such Springs that you suspect prove them first before you go too far those that are bad are usually reddish in colour and leave a red sediment and shine as it runs and is not fertile until it hath run far and encreased it self from other Springs and gained more fertility in its passage as we usually observe greater Rivers though reddish in colour yet make good Meadow SECT III. Of dry Meadow or Pasture Every place is almost furnished with dry Meadows which are convetible sometimes into Meadows and sometimes into Pastures and such places much more where Waters Springs and Rivolets are scarce or the Rivers very great or the Country hilly that water cannot so well be commanded over such Lands as in other places they may which dry Meadows and Pastures are capable of Improvement by several ways And principally by Enclosure for where shall we finde better Improved by Enclosure dry Meadows and richer Pastures than in several hilly places of Somersetshire among the small Enclosures which not only preserveth the young Grass from the exsiccating Spring-winds but shadoweth it also in some measure from the Summer-scorching Sun-beams as before we noted in the Chapter of Enclosure Such Meadows or Pastures well planted with either Timber or Fruit-trees in the Hedge-rows or other convenient places and enclosed in small parcels will furnish you with good Hay and good Pasture when your Neighbour whose Lands are naked goes without it for dry Springs or Summers more usually happen than wet besides the shadow for your Cattle and many other advantages as before we observed In several places where the ground is moist cold clay spewy Burning of Rushy and Mossie ground rushy or mossie or subject to such inconveniencies that the Pasture or Hay is short sower and not proveable it is very good Husbandry to pare off the turf about July or August and burn the same after the manner as is hereafter described when we come to treat of burning of Land and then plough it up immediately or in the Spring following and sowe the same with Hay-dust or with Corn and Hay-dust together for by this means will that acid Juice that lay on the surface of the Earth which was of a sterile nature and hindred the growth of the Vegetables be evaporated away and also the Grass which had a long time degenerated by standing in so poor a Soil be totally destroyed and the Land made fertile and capable to receive a better species brought in the Seed from other fertile Meadows It is too commonly observed that many excellent Meadows or Stubbing up of shrubs c. Pasture-land are so plentifully stored with Shrubs small Hillocks Ant-hills or such like that a good part thereof is wholly lost and so much thereof as is mown is but in patches here and there and that that remains not so beneficial as if it were either mown or sed together Now the best way or Method of stubbing up such thorny Shrubs or Broom or Goss or any such annoying Shrubs which proves both laborious and costly any other way than this is ingeniously delivered by Gabriel Platt the Instrument Discovery of hidden Treasures by him discovered is like a three-grained dung-fork only but much greater and stronger according to the bigness of the Shrubs c. the stale thereof like a large and strong Leaver which Instrument being set half a foot or such reasonable distance from the Root of the Shrub c. then with a Hedging-beetle drive it in a good depth then elevate the Stale and lay some weight or fulciment under it and with a Rope fastened to the upper end thereof pull it down which will wrench up the whole bush by the Roots Also Ant-hills prove a very great annoyance to Pasture and Meadow-lands which may be destroyed by dividing the Turf on the top and laying of it open several ways then take out the core and spread over the other Land and lay the Turf down neatly in its place again a little hollowing in and lower than the surface of the Earth and at the beginning of the Winter the Water standing therein will destroy the remainder of the Ants and prevent their return and settle the Turf by the Spring that by this means may a very great Improvement be made of much Meadow or Pasture-land now a great part thereof Bushes and Ant-hills These Meadows and Pasture-lands where the water overfloweth Dunging or Soyling of Meadows and Pastures not at any time are the only places where you may lay your dung or other Manure to the best advantage it being not capable of being improved by water nor the Soil laid thereon subject to be carried away or at least the better part thereof extracted by the water either casually by Floods or any other way overflowing the same The best
Subject Non tantum in agris praestat sed Page 21. etiam arboribus vit ibus adeo ut una eodem plena tonna tantum ad agrorum stercorationem conferre valeat quantum decem simo equino aut vaccine replet a plaustra solent This kinde of Manure either by Burning as before or with the fixed Salts of any thing whatsoever doth also much more enrich your Crop than any other Dung or Soil for this tendeth principally unto fertility ordinary Dung of Beasts more unto the gross substance of the Straw or Hawme than unto Fruit or Seed and also breeds more of Weeds than this our Vniversal Subject There are also several other sorts of Materials to be used as Other Soyls and Manures Soils and Manures for the fertilizing and enriching of Lands Some whereof are taken from the Earth as Chalk Marle Clay c. Others from the Waters as Sands Weeds c. Others also are the Dungs and Excrements of living Creatures and others that are several sorts of Vegetables themselves and other casual things as Soot Raggs c. Of all which we finde these whereof we shall now treat to have been found out and commended to be useful and beneficial to the Husbandman for the purposes before mentioned SECT II. Soyls and Manures taken from the Earth Whereof there are several sorts some of so hard and undissoluble Of Chalk a nature that it is not fit to lay on Lands simply as it is but after it is burned into Lime becomes a very excellent Improver of Lands there are also other sorts of Chalk more unctuous and soluble which being laid on Lands crude as they are and let lie till the Frosts and Rain shatter and dissolve the same prove a very considerable advantage to barren Lands now where any of these Chalks are found it is good to prove their natures by laying them on some small portion of Land crude as they are or by burning them into Lime if Fewel be plenty or to half burn them by which you may experimentally know the true effects and benefits that Subject will yield And although Chalk simply of it self either burnt or unburnt may not prove so advantageous as many have reported yet is it of very great use to be mixed with Earth and the Dungs of Animals by which may be made an admirable sure and natural fruitful Composition for almost any sorts of Lands and raiseth Corn in abaundance Liming of Land is of most excellent use many barren parts of Of Lime this Nation being thereby reduced into so fertile a condition for bearing most sorts of Grain that upon Land not worth above one or two shillings an Acre well husbanded with Lime hath been raised as good Wheat Barly white and gray Pease as England yields English Improver Also that by the same means from a Ling Heath or Common naturally barren and little worth hath been raised most gallant Corn worth five or six pound an Acre By the same Author He also affirms that some men have had and received so much profit upon their Lands by once liming as hath paid the purchase of their Lands and that himself had great advance thereby yet lived twenty miles from Lime and fetched the same by Waggon so far to lay it on his Lands One Author saith twelve or fourteen quarters will Lime an Acre another saith 160 Bushels the difference of the Land may require a different proportion The most natural Land for Lime is the light and sandy the next mixt and gravelly wet and cold gravel not good cold clay the worst of all Also a mixture of Lime Earth and Dung together is a very excellent Compost for Land Marle is a very excellent thing commended of all that either Of Marle Differences of Marle write or practise any thing in Husbandry There are several kinds of it some stony some soft white gray russet yellow blew black and some red It is of a cold nature and saddens Land exceedingly and very heavy it is and will go downwards though not so much as Lime doth The goodness or badness thereof is not Signes of good or bad Marle known so much by the colour as by the Purity and Uncompoundedness of it for if it will break into bits like a Dye or smooth like Lead-Oar without any composition of Sand or Gravel or if it will slake like Slate-stones and slake or shatter after a shower of Rain or being exposed to the Sun or Air and shortly after turn to dust when it 's throughly dry again and not congeal like tough Clay question not the fruitfulness of it notwithstanding the difference of colours which are no certain signes of the goodness of the Marle As for the Slipperiness Viscousness Fattiness or Oyliness thereof although it be commonly esteemed a signe of good Marle yet the best Authors affirm the contrary viz. That there is very good Marle which is not so but lieth in the Mine pure dry and short yet nevertheless if you water it you shall finde it slippery But the best and truest Rule to know the richness and Best way to know Marle profit of your Marle is to try a Load or two on your Lands in several places and in different proportions They usually lay the same on small heaps and disperse it over Use and Benefit of Marle the whole Field as they do their Dung and this Marle will keep the Land whereon it is laid in some places ten or fifteen and in some places thirty years in heart it is most profitable in dry light and barren Lands such as is most kinde and natural for Rye as is evident by Mr. Blithes Experiment in his Chapter of Marle It also affordeth not its vertue or strength the first year so much as in the subsequent years It yields a very great Increase and Advantage on high sandy gravelly or mixed Lands though never so barren strong Clay-ground is unsutable to it yet if it can be laid dry Marle may be profitable on that also It is very necessary in marling Lands to finde out the true proportion how much on every Acre that you add not too much nor too little in medio virtus It 's better to erre by laying on too little than too much because you may add more at pleasure but you cannot take away the surest way is to try some small quantities first and proceed as your Experiments encourage It hath been also experimentally observed that you are to lay your Marle in the beginning of Winter on hard and binding Grounds And on the contrary you are to lay it in the Spring on light sandy dry and gravelly lands but it 's good to try both it 's held to be best to lay it abroad in the beginning of Winter that the Frosts may first make the same moulder into small pieces and so to become apt for Solution which is done by the Rains that more plentifully fall in the Winter You shall
not ruine of the Plant. The same time and Method is to be observed in the transplantation Of such Trees that come of Slips Suckers c. removal or propagation of the Suckers Cions Slips or Layers of the Elm Birch Lime-tree Horse-chesnut and such other Trees that are usually produced of Suckers Layers Slips c. as you do in the removal of the young Seedlings of the other Trees Only that for the slipping or laying of such Branches of Trees Time to slip or lay that had not before taken any Root the most proper time is in the top of the Spring about the time that the Sap is newly risen and the Tree ready to bud All Trees that are raised of Pitchers or Sets as the Poplar Aspen The time for Aquaticks Abel Alder Withy Salley Osier Willow Elder and Privet are to be planted in February or March before they are too forward Let your young Plants be removed rather into a better mould Manner of transplanting though there is but a little about the Roots than a worse let as much Earth adhere to the Roots as you may and leave as much of the Root on as you can abating only the top-root or downright Roots and spread the other every way in the pits or holes made for that purpose which ought to be made larger and deeper than the Plant at present requires and filled up with loose mould that young Roots may the better spread to seek nourishment for the Tree In Transplanting be sure to preserve the smallest Roots which gather the Sap and in filling the Earth about the Tree endeavour to keep them to a level with Earth between them that they may not be irregularly placed for the well settling these Roots will conduce very much to the prosperity of the Tree It is good to plant it as shallow as might be and not below the Plant shallow better part of the Earth into the Gravel Clay Sand nor Water c. but rather advance the Earth about the Tree than set the Tree too deep be sure also not to set it deeper than it stood before In the removal of such Trees that have arrived to any considerable Observe the coast bigness it is very expedient to observe the coast and side of the stock which way it stood before its removal and not to be esteemed such a trifle as Lawson and many other trifling Authors pretend For it is most evident that the Sap doth naturally flow most on that side of the Tree that 's next the Sun and on that side doth the Tree more encrease than on the other as is evident in observing the Pith to be nearer the North than South-side of the Tree But in such Trees that stand thick in a Nursery or have long stood in the shade where the Sun hath wrought little or nothing upon them you may be less critical The Oak Pine and Walnut-trees bear spreading large branches The distance and require greater distances than any other therefore the nearest should stand forty foot The Beech Ash Eugh Fir Chesnut c. may stand somewhat nearer than the other The Elm and the Horn-beam will grow the nearest of any Trees For the other you may plant them at what distance the magnitude of the Tree your occasions or the nature of it requires The Watering of your Trees immediately upon their transplantation Watering of Trees very much conduceth to their prosperity and settling the Earth about the Roots unless in weather extreme cold and where the Plant is of a tender kinde Also the young Plants for the first year will require your aid in watering of them in a dry Spring Also if Trees have been carried far the setting of the Roots in Water some certain time before you inter them conduces much to their revival If the Trees be of any considerable height they ought to be Staking of Trees carefully defended as well from the injurious Winds as the frications of Beasts by staking them and with a wisp of Hay or other soft Ligament to binde them to such stake not omitting to interpose a little Moss or Hay c. between the Tree and stake to preserve it from galling If your Trees be in danger of Cattles injuries then you ought to bind or set bushes about them to prevent rubbing Planters in most places do strictly observe to cut the foot or Planting of Aquaticks ground-end of Poplar Withy or other Aquatick Pitchers or Sets only one way like a Hindes foot pretending that to be a principal observation If either your impatient fancie or your urgent occasions oblige Removing Trees in Summer you to the removal or Transplantation of Trees in the Summer you may tread in the steps of a certain Prince Elector that at Hidelbergh in the midst of Summer removed very great Lime-trees out of one of his Forrests to a steep hill exceedingly exposed to the heat of the Sun the Heads being cut off and the Pits into which they were transplanted filled with a Composition of earth and Cow-dung which was exceedingly beaten and so diluted with Water as it became almost a Liquid Pap wherein he plunged the Roots covering the Surface with the Turf It is presumed that if the Trees were smaller be they of what Wood soever there needeth not so absolute a decapitation Several relations there are of Trees that have been planted or Transplanting of great Trees removed of eighty years growth and fifty foot high to the nearest bough wafted upon Floats and Engines four long miles with admirable success and of Oaks planted as big as twelve Oxen could draw to which effect these are prescribed as the ways to accomplish the like designes Chuse a Tree as big as your Thigh remove the Earth from about him cut through all the Collateral Roots till with a competent strength you can inforce him upon one side so as to come with your Axe at the Tap-Root cut that off redress your Tree and so let it stand covered about with the mould you loosened from it till the next year or longer if you think good then take it up at a fit season Or a little before the hardest Frost surprise you make a square Trench about your Tree at such distance from the stem as you judge sufficient for the Root dig this of competent depth so as almost quite to undermine it by placing blocks and quarters of Wood to sustain the Earth this done cast on it as much Water as may sufficiently wet it unless the ground were moist before thus let it stand till some very hard Frost do bind it firmly to the Roots and then convey it to the pit prepared for its new station But if it be over-ponderous you may raise it with a Pully between a Triangle placing the Cords under the Roots of the Tree set it on a Trundle or Sled to be conveyed and replanted where you please by these means you may transplant Trees
facility from Layers Slips or Suckers than from Graffing Inoculation or from the Seed and such are Codlings Gennet-Moyls Quinces Filberds Vines Figs Mulberries Goosberries Currans and Barberries The Kentish Codling is very easily propagated by slips or Codlings suckers and is of so good a nature as to thrive being set very near that they make a very ornamental hedge which will bear plentifully and make a most pleasant prospect the fruit whereof besides the ordinary way of stewing baking c. being very early makes a delicate Cider for the first drinking These Trees ought not to be topt or plashed as is usual they growing tall and handsom which if topt decay and grow stubby and unpleasant neither do they bear so well The Gennet-Moyl-Tree will be propagated by Slips or Cions Gennet-Moyls as is the Codling but is not so apt to grow in a hedge as the other Both of them bear sooner if grafted as other Apples are The manner of raising the Quince we have already discoursed Quinces where we treated of raising Stocks to Graff on Filberds are generally drawn as Suckers from the old Trees Filberds and will prosper very well and sooner come to be Trees than from the Nut. Any shoot of the last year more especially if a short piece of The Vine the former years growth be cut with it will grow being laid about a foot or eighteen inches within the ground long-ways and not above two or three Buds at most out of the ground about the moneth of February and watred well in the drought of Summer The Fig-tree yieldeth Suckers which is the usual way to multiply Figs. them The Mulberry is a very difficult Tree to raise and is best done Mulberries thus Cut a Bough off as big as a mans Arm and cut it in pieces a yard long or less lay all these in the ground a foot deep only one end out of the ground about a hands breadth let it be in fat and moist ground or usually watred and after a year or two divers young Springs may be drawn with Roots and planted at a distance and the old Roots will yet send out more These three kinds of Fruits yield such plenty of Suckers that Gooseberries Currans and Barberries To lay the Branches of Trees you never need doubt of a supply But if you desire Plants from the same or any other sorts of precious Fruits or Plants and where you cannot obtain Suckers from the Roots and where the branches will not easily take root being separated from the Tree you may obtain your desire by bending down some branch of the Tree to the ground and with a hooked stick thrust into the ground stay the same in its place and cover the same branch with good Earth as thick as you shall think fit and keep the same well watred or if you cannot bring the branch to the Earth you may have some Earthen pot Basket or such like with a hole in the bottom and fasten the same to the wall if against a wall or on some Post or Stake Put the Sprig or Branch you intend to plant through at the hole and fill the same with good Earth and water it often as before Some prick the Rinde that is in the Earth full of holes that it may the better issue thereout small Roots others advise to cut away the Bark This may be done in the Spring from March to May and the Plant will be fit to cut off below the Earth the Winter following By this means you may obtain the Plants of Vines Mulberries or any manner of choice Fruits or Plants SECT IX Of the Transplanting of Trees The best and most successful time for the transplanting or removing 1 The time to transplant of Trees such that shed their leaves in the Winter whether they are the young Stocks or new Graffed Trees or of longer standing is in the Autumnal Quarter when the Trees have done growing about the end of September you may begin the prime time is about the middle of October You may continue till the Tree begins to bud if the weather be open Be careful in taking up the Plants that requiring great care of 2 The manner of transplanting the Remover See the Roots be left on as much as may especially the spreading Roots and let the Roots be larger than the head the more ways they spread the better but you may take away such Roots as run downwards Also take off the leaves if any lest they weaken the Branches by extracting the Sap. The younger and lesser the Tree is the more likely he is to thrive and prosper because he suffers less injury by the removal than an older or greater Tree And an Orchard of young Trees will soon overtake another planted with larger Trees at the same time Plant not too deep for the Over-turf is always richer than the next Mould And in such places where the Land is Clayish over-moist or Spewy plant as near the Surface as you can or above it and raise the Earth about the Tree rather than set the Tree in the wet or Clay The same Rule observe in Gravelly or Chalky Land for the Roots will seek their way downwards but rarely upwards That I have known Trees planted too deep pine away and come to nothing This Rule observed many places may be made fruitful Orchards that now are judged impossible or not worth ones while In the transplanting of your young Trees you may Prune as well the branches as the roots taking away the tops of the branches of Apples and Pears but not of Plums Cherries nor of Wall-nuts The Coast also is necessary to be observed especially if the Tree be of any considerable bigness that the same side may stand South that was South before the Tree will thrive the better Although in small Trees it be not much observed yet it might prove none of the least helps to its growth and thriving The most facile way to preserve the memory of its scituation is to mark the South or North side of the Plant with Oker Chalk or such like before you remove it It is not a small check to a Plant to be removed out of a warm Nursery into the open Field where the Northern and Eastern Winds predominate or its shelter to be removed as by the cutting down of Hedges and other Trees that formerly defended them It is also very necessary to be observed that the ground into which you plant your Tree be of a higher and richer Mould than from whence you removed it if you expect your Tree to thrive the change of Soyls or Pastures from the worser to the better being of very high concernment for the improvement and advance of all Vegetables and Animals These and several other the like Observations if they can be observed will much advantage the growth of your Tree for the first year or two but if place and time and other accidents
much break the Winds and these shelving sides will much expedite the ripening of Pease or other Fruits by receiving more directly the Beams of the Sun and in case the ground be over-moist you may plant the higher and if over-dry then the lower so that it seems to remedy all Extreams except Heat which rarely injures To make a hot Bed in February or earlier if you please for The making of hot Beds the raising of Melons Cucumbers Radishes Coleflowers or any other tender Plants or Flowers you must provide a warm place defended from all Winds by being inclosed with a Pale or Hedge made of Reed or Straw about six or seven foot high of such distance or capacity your occasions require within which you must raise a Bed of about two or three foot high and three foot over of new Horse-dung of about six eight or ten days old treading it very hard down on the top being made level and if you will edged round with boards lay of fine rich Mould about three or four inches thick and when the extream heat of the Bed is over which you may perceive by thrusting in your finger then plant your seeds as you think fit then erect some Forks four or five inches above the Bed to support a Frame made of sticks and covered with Straw to defend the Seed and Plants from cold and wet only you may open your Covering in a warm day for an hour before Noon and an hour after Remember to Earth them up as they shoot in height when they are able to bear the cold you may transplant them Many curious and necessary Plants would suffer were they Of Watering of Plants not carefully watered at their first removal or in extream dry seasons therefore this is not to be neglected Early in the Spring whilest the Weather is cold be cautious of watering the leaves of the young and tender Plant only wet the Earth about it When your Plants or Seeds are more hardy and the Nights yet cold water in the Fore-noons but when the Nights are warm or the days very hot then the Evening is the best time If you draw your water out of Wells or deep Pits it ought to stand a day in the Sun in some Tub or suchlike for your tender Plants in the Spring But Pond or River or Rain-water needs it not and is to be preferred before Well-water or Spring-water If you infuse Pigeons-dung Sheeps-dung Hen-dung Ashes Lime or any fat soil or matter in your water either in Pits Cisterns or other Vessels for that purpose and therewith cautiously water your Plants it will much add to their encrease and multiplication For Cole-flowers Artichoaks and such like let the ground sink a little round the Plant in form of a shallow Dish the water will the better and more evenly go to the Roots Water not any Plant over-much lest the water carry with it away the Vegetative or fertil Salt and so impoverish the ground and also chill the Plant. It is also better to water a Plant seldom and throughly than often and slenderly for a shallow watering is but a delusion to the Plant and provokes it to root shallower than otherwise it would and so makes it more obvious to the extremity of the Weather If you are willing to have the ground always moist about any Plant place near it a Vessel of water putting therein a piece of Woollen Cloth or List and let the one end thereof hang out of the Vessel to the ground the other end in the water in manner of a Crane Let the List or Cloth be first wet and by this means will the water continually drop till all be dropped out of the Vessel which may then be renewed The end that hangs without the Vessel must be always lower than the water within the Vessel else it will not succeed If it drop not fast enough encrease your List or Cloth if too fast diminish it If the Weather be never so dry when you sow any sort of Seeds water them not till they have been in the ground several days and the ground a little setled about them CHAP. IX Of several sorts of Beasts Fowls and Insects usually kept for the Advantage and Vse of the Husbandman OUR Country-Farm is of little use and benefit to us notwithstanding all our care pains and cost in Fencing Planting or otherwise ordering the same unless it be well stocked and provided with Beasts and other Animals as well for labour and strength in Tilling and Manuring the Ground and facilitating other Labours and Exercises as for the furnishing the Market and Kitchin SECT I. Of Beasts The Horse hath the Preheminence above all others being the Of the Horse Noblest Strongest Swiftest and most necessary of all the Beasts used in this Country for the Saddle for the Plough and Cart and for the Pack Where you have good store of Pasture either in Several or in Common or in Woods or Groves it is no small advantage to keep a Team of Mares for the Breed but where there is most of Arable and little of Pasture-Land Horses or Geldings are more necessary which difference we may observe between the great Breeding-places for Horses in the Pastures and Wood-lands and the naked Corn-Countries the one full of gallant lusty Mares the other of Horses and Geldings As to the Shape and Proportion Colours Age Ordering Breeding Feeding and Curing the several Diseases of Horses I shall here be silent and refer you to the several Authors who have copiously treated of that Subject it being too large for this place Asses are commonly kept yet not to be little set by because of Of the Ass their sundry Commodities and the hardness of their Feeding for this poor Beast contents himself with whatsoever you give him Thistles Bryars Stalks Chaff whereof every Country hath store is good Meat with him Besides he may best abide the ill looking to of a negligent Keeper and be able to sustain blows labour hunger and thirst being seldom or never sick and therefore of all other Cattle longest endureth for being a Beast nothing chargeable he serveth for a number of necessary uses in carrying of Burdens he is comparable to the Horse he draweth the Cart so the Load be not great for grinding in the Mill he passeth all others Thus far Haresbatch The Milk also of the Ass is esteemed an excellent Restorative by most Learned Physitians in a Consumption But I presume one main impediment of their not being so frequently kept is their destructive Nature to Trees which they will bark with their mouths where they can come at them This is no ways pleasing to a good Husband The Mule or Moil is bred of a Mare covered with an Ass Of the Male. It 's a hardy Beast much better than an Ass and very tractable and capable of much service These worthy sort of Beasts are in great request with the Husbandman Of Cows and Oxin the Oxe
black or silver-haired are most usually kept tame their Their kindes skins being of great value The great Dutch-Rabbit is the best for their food being much larger than the other But the white Shock-Rabbit of Turkie is the most pleasant having long and fine hair and is now become the most in Mode SECT II. Of Fowl The Countrymans Farm or Habitation cannot be said to be compleatly stored or stocked without Fowl as well as Beasts yielding a considerable advantage by their Eggs Brood Bodies and Feathers amongst which the Poultry seems to have the Of Poultry Preheminence being more universally kept than any other sort whatsoever insomuch that any poor Cottager that lives by the High-way-side may keep of them being able to shift for themselves the most part of the Year feeding on Insects and on any thing almost that 's Edible by any other sort of Animal They are also kept to a very great advantage in the Backsides Profit of Poultry and at the Barns-doors of great Farms and as I have been certainly informed a good Farm hath been wholly stockt with Poultry spending the whole Crop upon them and keeping several to attend them and that it hath redounded to a very considerable Improvement It seems also consonant to Reason especially if within a days Journey of London that they might have a quick Return and a good Market being in a capacity to furnish the Market throughout the Year either with Eggs Chickens Pullets Capons or Cocks and Hens Also the Feathers must needs yield a considerable advantage and the Dung of Poultry being of great use on the Land much exceeding the Dung of any Cattle whatsoever Therefore if convenient places or houses were made for them Feeding and fatting of Poultry as dark as may be which doth much expedite their fatning and the Poultry there fed and their Dung reserved and before it hath taken wet let it be mixed with Earth it will undoubtedly answer the expence of a great part of the Corn you feed them withal If they are fed with Buck or French-wheat or with Hemp-seed Encreasing of Eggs. they will lay more Eggs than with any other sort of Grain Buck-wheat either grownd and made in Paste or whole the former way is the better is the best single fatner of Fowl Hemp-seed as they say giving an ill favour to the flesh of the Bird that feeds on it but this only upon report if it prove otherwise it would be one great encouragement to the planting or sowing of Hemp that the Seed should be of so great use In Egypt they hatch their Eggs in great quantities in Ovens Hatching of Eggs artificially made for that purpose In several places in this Country also one Hen will lead the Brood of two or three Hens so that they be hatched near about a time therefore may you with much facility hatch three or four dozen of Eggs in a Lamp-Furnace made of a few Boards only by the heat of a Candle or Lamp so that you order them that they may hatch about the same time that the Hen hatches her Eggs that you intend shall lead them By which means in a warm Room may one Hen lead many Chickens and raise them up with little charge and without the loss of time of the other Hens This way may be of singular use where you keep Poultry of divers kindes that is of the largest kindes to Lay and a few of the Lesser to Sit and Nurse up the Chickens They are a Fowl very profitable in many places where there Of Geese are Commons to feed them on being a Creature that requires little care and attendance and little charge in feeding them They multiply extraordinary in some places breeding twice a Year and in all places yielding a considerable price Also their Feathers are no small advantage especially if you sheer them as they do Sheep as in some places is usual You may set them on any number of Eggs under fifteen and above seven giving to each Goose her own Eggs for it 's said they will not hatch a strangers The Young or Green-Geese are best fatted if kept dark and Of fatting of Geese fed with ground Malt and Milk mixed together The Old and Stubble-Geese will be fat the same way or fed with new Malt. But in fatting of Geese you may observe that they usually sit A principal Observation in fatting of Geese especially in the night-time with their Beaks or Bills on their Rumps where they suck out most of their moisture and fatness at a small bunch of Feathers which you shall finde standing upright on their Rumps always moist which if cut away close before you put them up to fatting they will be fat in much less time and with much less Meat than otherwise They will feed on and fatten also with Carrots cut small and given them The Jews who are esteem'd the skilfullest Feeders that be do The Jews manner of fatting Geese wrap the Goose in a Linnen Apron they hang her up in a dark place stopping her Ears with Pease or some other thing that by neither hearing nor seeing of any thing she be not forced to struggle nor cry After they give her Pellets of Ground-malt or Barley steeped in water thrice a day setting by them water and gravel by which manner of feeding they make them so fat that it is almost incredible I have heard it also confidently affirmed and related by one that in France he saw Carps fatted by being bound with their Noses upright and daily fed with white-bread and Wine whether their bodies were in the water or no I remember not This as he affirmed made the Carps exceeding fat and pleasant Most certain it is that darkness doth much conduce to the fatning of any Creature and also rest and sleep as appears by the Bears and Foxes in the Northern Climates Gravel also not a little availeth it being usual that when Poultry are penned up and have lost their appetite being set where Gravel is will greedily eat it Tame Ducks being much of the nature of Geese we shall Of Ducks say the less of them only that they require more water to dabble in than do the Geese and that they are not so good Meat There are some sorts of them that lay great store of Eggs which are more to be preferred and are distinguished from the other by the turning up of their Bills more than the other sorts There are also a certain sort of Ducks kept only to draw unto Of Decoy-Ducks them and as it were Trapan whole Flights of Wilde-Ducks and bring or conduct them to the places of their retirement which are Pools made on purpose The manner and form whereof and also of the breeding of these sorts of Ducks and the taking of the wilde-Fowl they bring with them we leave to the more skilful in that Exercise to treat of Turkeys or Ginney-hens or Cocks are a melancholy
if they do they are easily found again If the Worms are not well fed the Silk is small and easily breaks Another way to make these Gummy Bottoms winde easie is this Take Soap-boilers Liquor or Lee which is very sharp and strong and put therein your Bottoms and set them over the fire till the Liquor be scalding hot and so let the Bottoms remain therein about half a quarter of an hour till the Gumminess be dissolved then put the Bottoms into clean scalding water and let them lie a while therein then will they unwinde with much facility A Lixivium made of Wood-ashes very strong will do as well as the aforesaid Soap-boilers Liquor There is a kinde of Tow or rough sort of Silk that will not winde up with the other which may be prepared and good Silk made thereof and indifferent also of the Bags themselves The fine Skeins after they have past through the Scowrers Throsters and Dyers hands may compare with the finest CHAP. X. Of the common and known External Injuries Inconveniences Enemies and Diseases incident to and usually afflicting the Husbandman in most of the Ways or Methods of Agriculture before treated of and the several Natural and Artificial Remedies proposed and made use of for the Prevention and Removal of them SInce the Exclusion of our First Parents out of the state of Bliss or Paradise all our Actions Endeavours and Enterprises have been subject to the various and uncertain dispositions of an Over-ruling Providence and also of Fortune and unexpected chances and accidents and more especially the several Actions and Imployments that are incident and belonging to this Noble Art of Agriculture and its several branches before treated of that no one exercised in Husbandry can promise himself a peculiar Indemnity from the usual misfortunes that generally attend it which is the cause that at some time that very Commodity is dear and scarce which at another time is cheap and plentiful and that some Husbandmen have excellent Crops and good success at the same time when others have the contrary These very considerations have not only stirred up the Ingenious to consider of the Diseases and Injuries themselves but also to seek after the means to avoid those that of necessity attend them and to prevent such that may be prevented which we finde dispersed in several Authors and also finde to have been made use of by many of our Modern Ingenious Rusticks and not yet made publick And first we will discourse of such injuries and inconveniences that proceed SECT I. From the Heavens or the Air. This Island is generally subject to great heat or drought in Great heat or drought the Summer-time which so much exsiccateth and wasteth the moisture and Vegetative Nature of the Earth that much of our common Field or open Land yields but a reasonable Crop of In Corn-Lands Corn nor our open and wide Pastures or dry Lands much Grass or feeding for Cattle yet are these driest Summers most propitious unto us and in them do we reap the most copious Crops but it is because we have so much low grounds under the Shelter and so many Inclosures defended from the destructive and sweeping Summer-Airs where in those dry years we have our richest Harvests so that Nature it self and common Experience hath chalked out unto us a remedy for our dry barren and hungry Lands and Pastures whether Common or Appropriate against heat and drought the two principal inconveniencies attending those Lands if we had but the hearts of men to make use of it It is said that in Cornwal they begin to practise this Husbandry and plant Mounds and Fences with Timber-Trees which growing tall do much preserve the Land from malignant Airs and yield a great profit besides See more of this Remedy before in the Chapter of Inclosures Heat or Drought also produces more particular inconveniencies In planting Trees or injuries as to Trees sown or planted abroad in the open Fields or in Inclosures Gardens c. which is a very great check or impediment to the Husbandman in propagating them the preventions or remedies whereof are several 1. In the driest and most barren Lands in England if you sow the same with the Fruit or Seed of Oak Ash Beech or any other wood whatsoever you may also sow the same Land at the same time with Broom Furze or suchlike which will wonderfully thrive on the worst of Land and become a shelter to the other Trees which when once they have taken sufficient Root will soon out-strip the Furze or Broom or you may raise Banks and sow them with Furze which will soon make a Fence under the shelter whereof you may Nurse up other Trees for it is most evident that the greatest Trees that grow on the barrenest Lands had their Original in the same places where they grow and is most probable that they were thus defended by some small Bush or Brake from Cattle Heat Cold c. till they arrived to such height that they could defend themselves 2. For such Trees that are usually planted in Hedg-rows or other places of Inclosures c. which the heat and drought doth either impede their growth or totally kill them to the great discouragement of the Planter adde to the Roots of them on the Surface of the Earth a heap of stones which is the best Additament and will keep the roots and ground about it cool and moist in the Summer and warm in the Winter and fortifie the Tree against Windes c. but where stones are not easily attained heaps of Fern or any other Vegetable Straw or Stubble c. will preserve the ground moist and inrich it withal but where neither stones nor Vegetables can be had conveniently after the Tree is planted and good Mould or Earth added to the Roots raise a Hillock about it of any manner of Turf Earth c. for it is not the height of the Earth above the ground about the Tree that injures it so much as the depth of the Tree below the Surface or best Earth 3. In Gardens and such near places where you may be at hand and where you have choice Plants that suffer by heat Shadow is a principal remedy as before we noted or water in such places where it may be commanded In several places Water is the principal thing deficient to make Remedies for want of Water them pleasant and profitable and the means whereby to procure it very tedious costly and difficult It is several ways attainable 1. By sinking of Wells which where they are very deep some use a large Wheel for Man or Beast to walk in to raise it others use a double Wheel with Cogs which makes it draw easier than the ordinary single Wheel but this is not so good a way as the double Wheel with Lines the Line of the Wheel at your hand being small and very long this raiseth a large Bucket of water with very much ease and
security to the Winder the Method being usual needs no description here 2. By bringing water in Pipes or Gutters which is easily done the Spring or Stream from whence you bring it being somewhat higher than the place where you desire it 3. By raising water by Forcers Pumps or Water-wheels many and several are the Inventions whereby to effect it but none more easie plain and durable than the Persian-wheel before-mentioned in the Chapter concerning the watering of Meadows 4. By making of Cisterns or Receptacles for water either for the Rain or some Winter-springs to fill them whereby the water may be kept throughout the Summer In this are we very deficient for on the Mountainous dry and upland parts of Spain they have no other water than what they so preserve from the Rain It being the Custom in France where in many places water is scarce to preserve their waters in Cisterns as the French Rural Poet advises That if the place you live in be so dry That neither Springs nor Rivers they are nigh Then at some distance from your Garden make Within the Gaping Earth a spacious Lake That like a Magazine may comprehend Th' assembled Flouds that from the Hills descend And all the bottom pave with Chalkie Lome c. Also in Amsterdam and Venice they keep their rain-Rain-water in Cellars made on purpose for Cisterns capacious enough to contain water for the whole year it being renewed as oft as the Rain falls Why therefore may we not here in England on our driest hills make places Pools or Cisterns sufficient to contain water enough for our Cattle for our Domestick uses and also for our Garden-occasions if we were but diligent few years there are but yield us plenty of showres to supply them though not enough to supply the defect of them much more Rain falling here than on the Continent where those Pools and Cisterns are more used for which cause this Island is by them termed Matula Coeli and yet have we so many thousands of Acres of dry Lands uninhabited untilled and almost useless unto us from this only cause and have so easie means to remedy it If you designe to make your Cisterns under your house as a How to make Cisterns to hold Water Cellar which is the best way to preserve it for your Culinary uses then may you lay your Brick or Stone with Tarris and it will keep water very well or you may make a Cement to joynt your Stone or Brick withal with a Composition made of slacked and sifted Lime and Linseed-Oyl tempered together with Tow or Cotten-Wooll Or you may lay a Bed of good Clay and on that lay your Bricks for the Floor then raise the wall round about leaving a convenient space behinde the wall to ram in Clay which may be done as fast as you raise the wall So that when it is finished it will be a Cistern of Clay walled within with Brick and being in a Cellar the Brick will keep the Clay moist although empty of water that it will never crack This I have known to hold water perfectly well in a shadowy place though not in a Cellar Thus in any Gardens or other places may such Cisterns be made in the Earth and covered over the rain-Rain-water being conveyed thereto by declining Channels running unto it into which also the Alleys and Walks may be made to cast their water in hasty showres Also in or near houses may the water that falls from them be conducted thereunto But the usual way to make Pools of water on Hills and Downs for Cattle is to lay a good Bed of Clay near half a foot thick and after a long and laborious ramming thereof then lay another course of Clay about the same thickness and ram that also very well then pave it very well with Flints or other Stones which not only preserves the Clay from the tread of Cattle c. but from chapping of the Winde or Sun at such times as the Pool is empty Note also that if there be the least hole or chap in the bottom it will never hold water unless you renew the whole labour Some have prescribed ways for the making of Artificial Springs others for the making of Salt-water fresh but those things being not yet fully experienced we leave being not willing to trouble our Husbandman with so great Philosophical intricacies tending rather to lead him from the more plain and advantagious Method to imaginary and fruitless attempts Heat and Drought do not always attend us nor do they so Great Cold and Frost frequently afflict us especially in the greatest part or proportion of this Country but that we have also a share of a superabundant Cold and Moisture but seeing that they do not so frequently happen together as Heat and Drought usually do we will divide them The cold that most afflicts the Husbandman is the bitter Frosts that sometimes happen in the Winter or Spring and are beyond our power either to foresee or prevent yet that they may not injure us so far as otherwise they might we propose these remedies or preventions Some Lands are more inclinable and capacitated by their nature or scituation to suffer by bitter Frosts than others are as those that lie on a cold Clay or Chalk more than those that lie on a warm Sand or Gravel those that lie moist than those that lie dry those that lie on the North or East-sides of Hills than those that lie on the South or West therefore it is good to plant or sow such Trees Grains or Plants that can least abide the cold in such grounds that are most warmly seated And although that it is not an easie thing to alter the nature of the ground yet is it feasible to take away the offensive moisture that doth so much cool the Land whereof more hereafter in this Chapter and also to place such Artificial defensives against the cold that may very much remedy this inconvenience as we see it is most evident that the Frosts have a greater influence where the Air hath its free passage than where it is obstructed To which end we cannot but propose Inclosures and planting of Trees as a remedy also for this Disease for any manner of shelter preserves the Corn young Trees c. from the injury that otherwise would happen to them as we see in Snows and drowning of Meadows that the Snow and water prove defensive against the cold In Gardens and other nearer Plantations the Spring-frosts prove most pernicious the general remedies whereof where the site and position of the place is not naturally warm are Walls Pales or other Edifices or tall hedges or rows of Trees whereof the Whitethorn but chiefly Holly have the preheminence but these seem remote and rather preventions against the winde the more nearer are the application of new Horse-dung or Litter that hath lain under Horses which applied to the roots of any tender Trees or Plants preserves them from the
plain open or high Countries by woful experience do finde To prevent which as to Buildings by common experience and observation we finde that Trees are the only and most proper safeguard for which the Eugh is the best although it be long a growing Next unto that the Elm which soon aspires to a good height and full proportionable body and is thickest in the branches and will thrive in most Lands but any Trees are better than none As to Fruits Walls Pales or any other Buildings are a good prevention and security for Garden-fruits but for want of that Hedges and Rows of Trees may be raised at an easie rate and in little time As to Timber or other Trees which are also subject to be subverted or broken by high windes to abate the largeness of their Heads proves a good prevention especially the Elm which ought to have its Boughs often abated else will it be much more subject to be injured by high windes than any other Tree Hops of any Plant the Husbandman propagateth receiveth the most damage from high windes which may in some measure be prevented Against the Spring-windes which nips the young Buds and afterwards bloweth them from the Poles a good Pale or Thorn-hedge much advantageth but against the boysterous windes when they are at the tops of the Poles a tall Row of Trees incompassing the whole Hop-Garden is the best security in our power to give them Also be sure to let their Poles be firm and deep in the ground As to Corn windes sometimes prove an injury to it in the Ear when they are accompanied with great Rains by lodging of it but the greatest injury to it is in the Grass when it is young I mean Winter-corn the fierce bitter blasts in the Spring destroying whole Fields The only and sure remedy or prevention against this Disease is Inclosure as before we noted of Cold. In Spain c. where the Mist of Superstition hath dimmed Thunder and Tempest Hail c. the Spiritual and Natural sight the Ringing of Sacred Bells the use of Holy Water c. are made use of to Charm the Evil Spirit of the Air which very frequently in those hotter Climates terrifies the Inhabitants that he may be a little more favourable unto them than others But it cannot enter into my thoughts or belief that any thing we can do here either by Noises Charms c. or by the use of Bays Lawrel c. can prevail with so great a Natural Power and so much beyond our Command Prayers unto God excepted which are the only Securities and Defensives against so Potent and Forcible Enemies Blighting and Mildews have been generally taken to be the Mildews same thing which hath begotten much errour and the ways and means used for the prevention and cure have miscarried through the ignorance of the Disease For Mildew is quite another thing and different from blasting Mildews being caused from the Condensation of a fat and moist Exhalation in a hot and dry Summer from the Blossoms and Vegetables of the Earth and also from the Earth its self which by the coolness and serenity of the Air in the night or in the upper serene Region of the Air is condensed into a fat glutinous matter and falls to the Earth again part whereof rests on the leaves of the Oak and some other Trees whose leaves are smooth and do not easily admit the moisture into them as the Elm or other rougher leaves do which Mildew becomes the principal Food for the industrious Bees being of its self sweet and easily convertible into Honey Other part thereof rests on the Ears and Stalks of Wheat bespotting the Stalks with a different from the natural colour and being of a glutinous substance by the heat of the Sun doth so binde up the young tender and close Ears of the Wheat that it prevents the growth and compleating of the imperfect Grain therein which occasioneth it to be very light in the Harvest and yield a poor and lean Grain in the Heap But if after this Mildew falls a showre succeeds or the winde blow stifly it washeth or shaketh it off and are the only natural Remedies against this sometimes heavy Curse Some advise in the Morning after the Mildew is fallen and before the rising of the Sun that two men go at some convenient distance in the Furrows holding a Cord stretched streight betwixt them carrying it so that it may shake off the Dew from the tops of the Corn before the heat of the Sun hath thickned it It is also advised to sow Wheat in open grounds where the winde may the better shake off this Dew this being looked upon to be the only inconvenience Inclosures are subject unto but it is evident that the Field-lands are not exempt from Mildews nor yet from Smut where it is more than in Inclosed Lands The sowing of Wheat early hath been esteemed and doubtless is the best Remedy against Mildews by which means the Wheat will be well filled in the Ear before they fall and your increase will be much more As for curiosity sake Wheat was sown in all Moneths of the Year that sown in July produced such an increase that is almost incredible In France they usually sow before Michaelmas Bearded-Wheat is not so subject to Mildews as the other the Fibres keeping the Dew from the Ear. Hops suffer very much by Mildews which if they fall on them when small totally destroy them The Remedies that may be used against it is when you perceive the Mildews on them to shake the Poles in the Morning Or you may have an Engine to cast water like unto Rain on them which will wash the Mildew from them And if you have water plenty in your Hop-garden it will quit the cost in such years Hops being usually sold at a very high rate SECT II. From the Water and Earth Next unto those Aërial or Coelestial injuries which descend upon us we shall discourse of such that proceed from the Water and Earth that do also in a very great measure at some times and in some places afflict us proving great impediments to those Improvements that might otherwise be easily accomplished and also great detriments unto the Countryman upon that which he hath already performed As the want of water in some places proves a great impediment Much water offending and injury to the improvement and management of Rustick Affairs so doth the superabundant quantity either from the flowings of the Sea over the low Marsh-Lands at Spring-tides and High-waters or from great Land-flouds but principally from the low and level scituation of the Land where it is subject to Springs Over-flowings c. It is evident that much good Land hath for many Ages yielded Over-flowing of the Sea little benefit by reason of the high waters that sometimes have covered it over and destroyed that which in the intervals hath grown and hath also over-flown much good Land so frequently
that it hath become useless but by the extraordinary charge labour art and industry of some publick-spirited persons very great quantities thereof have been gained from the power of that Grand Enemy to Husbandry as may be observed in those vast Levels of rich Land in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Cambridgeshire c. in our Age recovered Many other vast Flats and Levels there are on the Borders of this Kingdom that are beyond the power strength or interest of a private Purse to attempt yet to the publick at a publick charge would redound to an infinite advantage and not only maintain thousands at work imployment being the greatest check to factious spirits but bring in an yearly increase of wealth one of the principal Supports of this Kingdom against its Enemies and that without the hazards of an Indian Voyage Land-flouds in some places especially on the great Flats and Land-flouds Levels prove a great annoyance to the Husbandman that it is of equal concernment to divert the Land-flouds from some Lands as to drain the water that resides upon it and otherwise annoys it As we see in the Draining the Great Level between Yorkshire and Lincolnshire by the Isle of Axholm where the great River Idle Navigable of its self that formerly passed with its great Land-flouds through the vast Level on the Yorkshire side of Axholm by the Art and industry of the Drainers through a new Cut is carried into Trent on the other side of the Isle that the Draining of that Great Level which otherwise might seem impossible to be done by that very means became most feasible So that here we need say no more but that as the conveniency of the place will permit you divert the Land-flouds and Streams before you attempt a through Draining if it be feasible and requisite lest you multiply your cost and be at last frustrate of your purpose The greatest of our In-land annoyances to Husbandry occasioned Standing Waters by water is from the standing or residing of water on our flat and level Marishes Meadows or other Lands whether occasioned from Rains Springs or otherwise Where there is any descent or declining of Land by cutting Drains to the lowest part it is most easily performed But where it is absolutely flat and level it is much more difficult yet are there few such Levels but there are places or Currents for the water to pass out of them which you must sink deep and wide enough to drain the whole and then make several drains from each part of the Marsh or Level beginning large and wide at the mouth of the Drain and lessening by degrees as it extends to the extreams of the Land you drain Be sure to make the Drains deep enough to draw the water from under the Marsh or Bog and make enough of them that may lay it throughly dry If you cannot make a passage deep enough to take the water away from the bottom of your Drain which in many places is a great impediment of this improvement either by reason that you cannot cut through anothers Land or that the passage be long or that some River is near which will be apt to revert upon you or suchlike then may an Engine commanded by the winde be of great use and effect that which by any other way could not be done the description whereof see before in the third Chapter According to the height you raise the water may you proportion the greatness or smalness of your Engine You need not fear winde sufficient at one time or other to keep your Drains emyty for during the greatest Calms are usually the greatest Droughts and in the wettest seasons windes are seldom wanting especially on Flats and Levels Over-much moisture proves also very injurious to Corn and other Plantations the usual remedy whereof is to lay the Land high in Ridges and cut Drains at the ends of the Furrows to carry away the superfluous water In Orchards and Gardens it usually hinders the growth and prosperity of Trees and other Plants against which the best remedy is to double the Land that is by abating the one half thereof about a foot more or less according to the nature and goodness of the Soil in long Walks or Rows about seven or ten foot broad as to you seems best and most convenient and cast it on the other in banks or borders so that you will then have those banks lie dry to the bottom of your Walks and all of the best of the Mould on which you may plant your Trees c. where they will thrive as well as on any other drier Land being planted shallow Take this as a general Observation in Agriculture that most of the barren and unimproved Lands in England are so either because of Drought or the want of Water or Moisture or that they are poysoned or glutted with too much therefore let every Husbandman make the best use of that water that runs through his Lands and by preserving what falls upon his Lands as we have at large before directed in this Treatise and drain or convey away that which superabounds and offends then would there be a far greater plenty of all manner of Tillage and Cattle to the great inriching of this Kingdom Water is also very offensive in our Dwelling-houses that we cannot make Cellars for Beer c. which may be several ways cured or prevented Either by laying the bottom and sides of the Cellar with Sheet-Lead and a Floor of boards thereon to preserve it from injury Several such Cellars there are in some Cities and Towns that lie low in the water but this is too costly a way for our Husbandman Another way is to joynt your Bricks or Stone with Tarris or the Cement before described in this Chapter for the keeping in of water in Cisterns Also you may Bed your Cellar with Clay and then Brick or Stone it over after the same manner as we directed before in this Chapter for the keeping of water c. Or you may sink a Well or Pit near your Cellar and somewhat lower than it into which you place a Pump that at such times as water annoys you it may by that means be removed Sometimes it happens that the Floor of the House you live in or the Barn you lay your Corn in are damp or moistened by certain Springs that some times or other do annoy them to your great detriment as well to your health as injury to your Goods or Corn which if the scituation of the place will bear it as most usually it will the cutting of a Trench or Ditch round about the same of such depth as you may drain it dry by the fall that is naturally from it will cure this disease This Ditch or Trench may be paved walled on the sides and covered as you please so that the Brick or Stone of the Wall on the side next the House or Barn be not laid with Mortar to prevent the issue of the
Water from the Earth into it Much Land there is in England that is capable of a very great Stones Shrubs c. improvement by removing those common and stubborn Obstacles as Stones Shrubs Goss Broom c. which are naturally produced in many places and the faint-hearted lazy and sometimes beggerly Husbandman had rather let them grow and suck out the Marrow and Fat of his Land than bestow any cost or pains to remove them and is contented with now and then a bundle of Bushes c. when the removal of them would not only be an improvement of his Land by their absence but the materials themselves by a right and judicious way of ordering them might become also an additional improvement As first of Stones which being picked up and laid on heaps about the roots of either Fruit or Timber-trees planted on the Bounds and in Rows on the Land is a very great help and advantage to the growth of such Trees and saves the labour of carrying them off the ground which charge usually exceeds the charge of picking them up This only where Stones offend or are injurious Shrubs Goss Broom c. prove a very great annoyance to Husbandry and the difficulty and charge in plucking them up is the principal impediment to their removal to such that are ignorant of the most dextrous ways used to that purpose the best whereof I finde to be this described by Mr. Plat Viz. A very strong Instrument of Iron like unto a Dung-fork with three Grains or Tines only much bigger according to the bigness of the Shrubs you use it about the upper part thereof is a very strong and long Stail or handle like a Leaver Now set this Instrument at a convenient distance from the Root slopewise and with a Hedging-beetle drive it in a good depth then lift up the Stail and place under it across an Iron-bar or such-like Fulciment to keep it streight and that it sink not into the ground Then take hold of the Cord that before ought to have been fastened to the top of the Stail and by this means may you Eradicate any Shrubs c. If it will not do at once place it on the other side c. These Bushes Brakes and suchlike though they are of little worth or use for any other thing yet are they very necessary and beneficial to improve the Land by burning them being dry either by themselves or under heaps of Turf Earth c. as before Chap. 5. was observed Some Lands are more prone and subject to Weeds and that in Weeds some years than other which is often occasioned by water standing on it destroying the Corn and such Seeds that are usually sown in it and nourishing such Weeds that most delight in moisture the only remedy whereof is to lay it dry and add some convenient drying and lightning materials or composts thereon as Sand Ashes c. Also some sorts of Dungs or Manures cause Weeds as Dung made of Straw Hawm Fern or suchlike laid on Lands in any great quantity without any other mixture of Horse-dung Sheeps-dung Lime Ashes or suchlike hot Compost which do in some measure correct the cold and sluggish quality of it but in some years and on some Lands any ordinary cold Dung begets Weeds which injure the Corn more than the fatness of the Dung advantages therefore Lime Marle Chalk Ashes c. are to be preferred in most Lands Weeds in Pasture-lands are best destroyed by burning of it in Turfs as before we discovered or by Plowing of it without Chap. 5. burning Rushes Flages and suchlike Aquaticks are best destroyed by Rushes Flags c. draining so that you cut your Drains below the roots thereof that it may take away the matter that feeds them The Sowthistle proves a great annoyance to some Lands by Sowthistle killing the Grass Corn c. although it be a sure Token of the strength of the Land The way to destroy them is to cut them up by the roots before feeding-time the advantage you will receive will answer your expence and more The way to destroy this so common and known an annoyance Fern. is to Mow it off in the Spring whether with an Iron or Wooden Sythe it matters not for it will easily break which work reiterate the same year as fast as it grows and it is confidently affirmed that it will kill and destroy the Fern for ever after Improvement and bettering the Land by Soyling Marling or Liming c. is also a principal remedy against all manner of Broom Furze Heath and other suchlike trumpery that delight only in barren Lands Very much differing from Mildews is the blighting of Corn Blights and Smut the Mildews proceeding from a different cause and happening only in dry Summers when on the contrary Blighting happens in wet and is also occasioned through the too much fatness and rankness in Land as is observed that strong Lands are usually sown with Barley Pease or suchlike to abate the fertility thereof before it be sown with Wheat which would otherwise be subject to Blights or Blasting Also Wheat sown on level or low Land in moist years is subject to the same inconveniencies for you may observe that the Wheat that grows on the tops of the ridges in moist years to be better and freer than what grows in the Furrows which is usually blighted by means of water and fatness lying more about it than the other for Wheat naturally affects to be kept dry on moist and strong ground Therefore as moisture and the richness of the ground together occasions this disease by knowing thereof you may easily remedy it by laying your Land on high Ridges which if it be never so rich the Wheat growing thereon will hardly be blighted if not overcome with moisture Smut seems to proceed from the same cause therefore need we Smut to say the less Only that sometimes smuttiness proceeds from other causes as by sowing of Smutty-corn by soiling the Land with rotten Vegetables as Straw Hawm Fern c. It is confidently affirmed that the smutty Grains of Wheat being sown will grow and produce Ears of Smut but I confess I have not yet tryed and shall therefore suspend the belief thereof till I have The sowing 〈◊〉 Wheat that is mixed with Smut doth generally produce a Smutty Crop whether the Smut it self grow or not unless it be first prepared by liming of it which is thus done first slake your Lime and then moisten your Corn and stir them well together c. and sow it Or by steeping of it in Brine either of which are good preventions against the Smut You may also prepare the ground by Liming or other ways of inriching it with sharp or saline Dungs or Soils and it will produce Corn free from Smut for it is most evident that Land often sown with the same Grain or much out of heart produces a smutty Crop as may be
because the hot and biting nature thereof hurt their naked and tender bodies therefore as the Rain or other Moisture weakens the Ashes or Lime renew it lest it prove useless Rarely do these offend in the Fields Orchards or Gardens yet Gnats and Flies are they very troublesome Guests in the House where it stands near any Fens Waters or suchlike places tending much to the Generation of Insects To keep the Windows of your Chambers close in the Summer-time especially towards the Evening is a good prevention To burn Straw and suchlike up and down in the Chamber in the Evening before you go to Bed will destroy them for either they will fly to the Flame and be consumed or else the Smoak will choak them Ashen-leaves hanged up in the Room will attract them unto it that you will be the less troubled with them The Balls of Horse-dung laid in the Room will do the same if they are new These usually prove very injurious to some sorts of Fruits Wasps and Hornets to Bees c. and are several ways destroyed First By way of prevention that is in the Spring or Summer before they have encreased to destroy the old ones for from a few do they encrease to a multitude Or you may smoak or stifle them if they are in any hollow Tree or scald them if in Thatch of an House or Barn c. or in the ground you may either scald or burn them or stamp in the Earth on them and bury them To destroy such as come to your Fruit Bees c. set by them Sider Verjuice sowre Drink or Grounds in a short-necked Vial open wherein you may catch many Also you may lay for them Sweet Apples Pears Beasts Liver or other Flesh or any thing that they love in several places upon which you shall have sometimes as many as will cover the Bait which you may kill at once We term those Caterpillars that destroy the leaves of our Caterpillars Trees in the Summer devour Cabbages and other Garden-tillage and are generally the effects of great Droughts To prevent their numerous encrease on Trees gather them off in the Winter taking away the Puckets which cleave about the branches and burning them In the Summer whilest they are yet young when either through the coldness of the night or some humidity they are assembled together on heaps you may take them and destroy them These in some years prove injurious to Fruits by the greatness Earwigs of their numbers feeding on and devouring them And are destroyed by placing Hoofs or Horns of Beasts amongst your Trees and Wall-fruit into which they will resort Early in the morning you must take them gently but speedily off and shake them into a Vessel of scalding water By reason of great Drought many sorts of Trees and Plants Lice are subject to Lice and seeing that they are caused by Heat and Drought as is evident in the Sweet-bryar and Gooseberry that are only Lowsie in dry times or in very hot and dry places therefore frequent washing them by dashing water on them may prove the best remedy Ants or Pismires are injurious to a Garden and also to Pasture-lands Ants. as well by feeding on Fruits as by casting up Hills c. To keep them from your Trees incompass the Stem four fingers breadth with a Circle or Rowl of Wooll newly plucked from a Sheeps Belly Or anoynt the Stem with Tar. Also you may make Boxes of Cards or Pastboard pierced full of holes with a Bodkin into which Boxes put the Powder of Arsenick mingled with a little Honey hang these Boxes on the Tree and they will certainly destroy them Make not the holes so large that a Bee may not enter lest it destroy them Also you may hang a Glass-bottle in the Tree with a little Honey in it or moistned with any sweet Liquor and it will attract the Ants which you may stop and wash out with hot water then prepare it as before Watering often of Allies or green Walks will drive away or destroy the Ants that annoy them Ant-hills prove a very great injury to Meadows and Pasture-lands To destroy Ant-hills not only by the wasting of so much Land as they cover but by hindering the Sythe and yielding a poor hungry food and pernicious to Cattle And may be thus easily destroyed Pare the Turf off beginning at the top and cutting it down into four or five parts and lay it open then cut out the Core below the surface so deep that when you lay down the Turfs in their places as they were taken up the place may be lower than the other ground to the end that water may stand in it to prevent the Ant from returning which otherwise she will assuredly do then spread the Earth you take out thinly abroad Also the proper season for this is in the Winter and if the places be left open for a certain time the Rain and Frost upon it will help to destroy the remaining Ants but be sure to cover them up time enough that the Rains may settle the Turfs before the Spring The greatest injury these Vermine do us is in biting Children Snakes and Adders Cattle c. They affect Milk above any thing and as old Authors say abominate the Ash there may you use the one by placing of it hot in any place where they frequent to attract them where you may destroy them and the other by laying Ashen-sticks in places where you would not have them come But this of the Ash is not to be credited But the most proper remedy against these Vermine is to keep Peacocks which prey upon them Their Sting or Bite is most easily cured if you timely apply To cure the Stinging of Adders or Biting of Snakes a hot Iron to it hodling it so near as you are able to abide it And it is by some Ingenious Persons confidently affirmed that it will attract the Venom totally from the Wound Travellers relate that in the Canaries the Natives cure the biting of a very Venomous Creature that Iurks amongst the Grapes and usually bites them by the Fingers by a streight Ligature below the Wound and holding the Finger bitten upright for some time out of which the Venom ascends it being of a Fiery Nature naturally tending upwards and may therefore be attracted by Fire it 's like SECT VI. Of some certain Diseases in Animals and Vegetables There are several Epidemical and destructive Diseases to Of Beasts and Fowl Cattle Fowl c. which sweep away a great part of the Husbandmans Stock before it ceaseth or he know how to prevent it which is esteemed a great deficiency that those ways that some have discovered and found effectual to prevent and also to cure such Diseases are not made publick the general Stock of the Kingdom may as well be preserved as some few Cattle in such general Distempers it being not our intent in this Book to
are which greatly hinder the Husbandmans ease and advantage and which ought to be remedied And if you will have your Plough do you service and gain you advantage it ought to have these several good properties or as many of them as you can obtain It ought to be well-proportionated for strength according to Good properties of a Plough the nature or strength of the ground you are to Plough that the Irons be sharped and wear bright Also the shorter and lesser any Plough is made having it's true Pitch with it's true cast on the Shield-board and short Wrest and sharp Irons the far easier What else is necessarily requisite in the Plough you may better finde by your Manual and Ocular Experience than by all the instructions that can be here given as in Plautus Pluris est oculatus testis unus quam auriti decem Yet if you are desirous to read the large Descriptions of the several sorts of Ploughs now in use with all their diversities of Coulters Shares Shield-boards Wrests c. I refer you to the English Improver There may be other Ploughs made for several uses not usually known as lightly to pare off the Turf of soarded Land as A Turfing-Plough they usually do that most laborious way with the Breast-plough to be burnt on heaps after it is turned and dried This would save the greatest part of the expence of Burn-beating and be every whit as well if not better I have heard of Ploughs drawn with Mastiff Dogs others promise much of Ploughs driven by the Winde but these I esteem as fruitless to the Husbandman and rather the Products of Superficial Ingenuity Concerning Ploughs or Instruments for the making the Furrow sowing the Corn and covering of it with the same Plough with the several other uses of that and other Ploughs you will finde discovered in their proper places Chap. 4. SECT II. Of Carts and Waggons There are several sorts of Waggons Carts c. some with four some with two Wheels and also for several uses either for the carrying of Timber Corn Dung or suchlike all differing the one from the other according to the several places whether hilly level stony or clayie or to the several occasions for which they are intended In some places they are much more curious in the forming of them making them neater lighter and slenderer as well in the Wheels as in the other parts of the Cart or Waggon The Wheels the more upright or square the Spokes are from the Box or Center the weaker they are when they come to bear on either side to that end they make them concave or dishing and also to secure the Wheel from breaking in a fall The greater the circumference of the Wheel is the easier Contrary to the opinion of some is the motion because the Ring or Bond of the Wheel is the more flat and doth more easily over-pass any stones or other obstructions in the way and sinks not so easily into the Concavities or defective places of the Earth Its motion is also slower at the Center for the greater Wheel of eighteen feet in the circumference goeth but once round in the same measure of ground where the lesser Wheel of nine feet in the circumference goeth twice and so according to the same Rule and proportion where the difference is greater or lesser Therefore the lesser the Wheels are of any Cart Waggon or Plough the heavier it goes and more unevenly or jogging The reason why the Fore-wheels are lesser in a Waggon is only for its conveniency in turning The higher a Cart or Waggon is set the more apt it is for overturning New sort of Carts but because the setting of it low and the height of the Wheels after the usual way of placing them cannot consist together therefore it may prove very commodious to place the Bed of the Cart under the Axle-tree at such distance as the depth or shallowness of the ways or waters you are to go through will bear for by this means part of the weight will be under the Axle-tree which will so far counterpoise what is above that it will very much prevent the over-turning or over-setting the Cart or Waggon For we evidently see that the higher a Load lieth whether it be Hay Corn Straw c. the easier it over-sets and the lower it lies as stones metals c. the more rarely if you make the Tail of the Cart or Waggon turning upwards I cannot perceive any inconvenience can arise from this way They are much more curious in making of them in some places than in other as in Holland they make them very neat and light one Horse shall effect as much with a slender neat and light Cart and Wheels as two shall with a cumbersome heavy one In China Waggons are made to pass frequently with Sails like Waggon with Sails Ships as Historiographers relate It 's probable their Winds are more certain and constant and their ways more level than they are here In Holland a Waggon was lately framed which with Hartlib 's Legacy ordinary Sails carried thirty people sixty English miles in four hours I have seen much done of this nature and more might be done as to make a Cart or Waggon move against the winde and the more the winde blows the faster it shall move against it by the help of the Perpetual Skrew c. But these being not to our present purpose of advantage I shall leave to others SECT III. Of several other Instruments used in Digging c. The Trenching-plough or Coulter is a certain Instrument used Of the Trenching Plough in Meadow or Pasture-ground to cut out the sides of Trenches Carriages or Drains or it is used in cutting out the sides of Turf for the taking of it up whole to the intent to lay it down again in the same or some other place It is only a long stale or handle with a Button at the end for ones hand and at the other end it turns upwards like the foot of a Plough to slide on the ground in which bend must be placed a Coulter or Knife of that length you intend the Turf to be in depth Several fashions there are of them some with one Wheel some with two some with none you may make them as you please There are many sorts of Spades according to the diversities Of Spades of places and the several occasions and humours of men One sort is made very thin light and sharp with a Socket to Turfing-spade put the Stail in like the Hedging-bill the Bit very short and not very broad in shape much like a Spade in Cards of very great use to some though hardly known to others to under-cut the Turf after it is marked out with the Trenching-plough which it doth with much ease and expedition For the cutting Trenches in watery clayie or Morish Lands Trenching-spade they usually use a Spade with a Langet or
we have here in England a more easie and effectual way of preparing it with the Bark of that common and so well known Tree the Holly which Preparation is thus Take the Bark of that Tree about the end of June at which To make Bird-time time it is full of Sap and fitter for your purpose fill your Vessel with it that you intend to boil it in then add thereto of clear water as much as the Vessel will conveniently hold and boil it so long until the grey and white Bark rise from the green which will be about twelve or sixteen hours Then take it off the fire and gently decant or pour the water from the Barks and separate the grey and white Barks from the green which lay on a Stone or Stone-floor in some Cellar or moist or cool place and cover it over with Fern or other green weeds to a good thickness the better to accelerate its putrifaction which will be accomplished in twelve or fourteen days time and sometimes less and it reduced to a perfect Mucilage then pound it well in a large Morter with an wooden Pestle until it be so tempered that no part of the Bark be discerned unbruised After which wash it exceeding well in clear water by renewing the water and your pains so often that no foulness or Motes remain in it and put it into a deep Earthen Vessel where it will purge it self for four or five days together Then scum it clean as its filth arises and when it hath done purging put it into a clean Vessel and keep it close for use The Bark of the Birch-tree is by some affirmed to make as good Lime as that of the Holly being the same way to be prepared so that you may try or use which is most easie to come by Also you need not boil either of the Barks if you give it longer time to putrifie for the boiling is only to accelerate putrifaction When you intend to use it take as much of it as you think fit and put it into an Earthen-pot with a third part of Capons-grease or Goose-grease well clarified and set it over the fire and let them melt together Stir them until they are throughly incorporated and so continue stirring off the Fire till it be cold If you fear the freezing of your Bird-lime add in your last mixture a quarter as much of the Oyl Petrolium as you do of the Goose or Capons-grease and no cold will congeal it When your Lime is cold take your Rods and warm them then a little besmear the Rods with your Line and draw the Rods the one from the other and close them again Work them thus continually together until they are all over equally besmeared If you lime Straws or Strings you must do it when the Lime is hot and at the thinnest by folding and doubling them together before the fire and fold and work them till it be all over throughly limed Put these in Cases of Leather until you use them When you intend to use your Bird-lime for great Fowl take of Rods long small and streight being light and yielding every way Lime the upper parts of them before the Fire that it may the better besmear them Then go where these Fowl usually haunt whether it be their Morning or Evening haunt an hour or two before they come and plant your Twigs or Rods about a foot distance one from the other that they cannot pass them without being intangled and so plant over the place where their haunt is leaving a place in the middle wide enough for your Stale to flutter in without falling foul of the Twigs which Stale you do well to provide and place there the better to attract those of its own kinde to your snares from which Stale you must have a small string to some convenient place at a distance where you may lie concealed and by plucking the string cause it to flutter which will allure down the Fowl in view Prick the Rods sloap-wise against the winde about a foot above the ground or water and if you see any taken surprize them not suddenly if any more are in view for by their fluttering others will be induced to fall in amongst them A Spaniel that is at command will be necessary to re-take them that might otherwise escape out of your reach these Fowl being very strong If you place your Twigs for the lesser Water-fowl as Duck For smaller Water-fowl Mallard Widgeon Teal c. you must fit your Rods according to the depth of the water and your Lime must be such as no wet nor Frost can prejudice the limed part must be above the water Here also it will be necessary to have a Stale of the same Fowl you intend to insnare SECT V. Of taking Fowl with Springes Most of the Cloven-footed Water-fowl delight in Plashes Water Furrows small Rivolets and suchlike places seeking for Worms Flat-grass Roots and the like in the Winter-time especially in frosty weather when many other places are frozen up and these warm Springly Water-tracts are open where you must place Springes made of Horse-hair of bigness and length according to the greatness of the Fowl you designe to take for the Heron or Bittern it must be of near a hundred Horse-hairs and above two foot in length for the Woodcock Snipe Plover c. not above eight or ten Horse-hairs and one foot in length the Main Plant or Sweeper must be also proportionable to the strength of the Fowl For the manner of the making and setting them I question not but every place will furnish you with Directors if you know it not already which is much easier and better than any written Instructions Observe also that you prick small sticks in manner of a Hedge cross-wise athwart all the other by-passages about half an inch apart and somewhat above a handful above the water or ground sloaping towards the place where your Springe is placed the better to guide which is easily done the Fowl into the Snare for such is their nature that they will not press over where they have liberty to pass through any gap If the places where these Fowl usually haunt be frozen you must make Plashes and the harder the Frost is in other places the greater will the resort of Fowl be here SECT VI. Killing of Fowl with the Fowling-piece There are many places where Fowl settle and feed at sometimes yet so uncertain that the former ways are useless and there are also many places wherein you may not have the conveniency or liberty to make use of the said ways of taking Fowl yet there may you at opportune times meet with a good shot with your Fowling-piece the length and bore of which ought to be proportionable the one to the other and both to your strength and the place you use it in Let your Powder be of the best sort as new as you can for with bad keeping it looseth its strength exceedingly
therefore let it be kept as dry as may be Let it be well dried when you use it and clean from dust it hath the more strength and less fouleth your Piece Let your Shot be well sized not too great for then it flies but thin and scattering nor too small the Bird being apt to fly away within it having not weight nor strength to enter far Shot being usually above the value of ordinary Lead and in many places not to be had of the sizes you have most occasion for I shall therefore here set down the true Process of making of it of what size you please under Mould-shot Take Lead of what quantity you please melt it down in an Iron To make Shot Vessel stir and clear it with an Iron Ladle taking off all its impurities that swim at the top When it is so hot as that the colour of the Lead begin to be greenish and not before strew upon it Auripigmentum powdered fine as much as will lie on a Shilling to twelve or fifteen pound of Lead some will require more then stir the Lead well and the Auripigmentum will flame Let your Iron Ladle have a Lip or Notch in the brim for the more convenient pouring out of the Lead and let the Ladle remain in the melted Lead for the most part that it may be of a heat agreeable to the Lead to prevent inconveniencies that may otherwise happen through its being over-hot or too cold Then take out a little of the Lead in your Ladle for an Essay and cause it to drop out of it into a Glass of Water which if the drops prove to be round and without Tails there is Auripigmentum enough in it and the temper of the heat is as it ought to be but if the congealed drops or shot prove not round but with Tails then add more of the Auripigmentum and augment the heat until you finde it right Then take a Copper-plate about the size of an ordinary Trencher-plate with a Concavity in the middle about three inches Diameter perforated with about thirty or forty small holes greater or lesser according as you would have your shot to be This Concave bottom should be thin but the thicker the brim is the better will it retain the heat Place this Plate on two Bars or other Iron-frame over a Tub or Pail of water about four inches from the water and lay on the Plate burning Coals to keep the Lead melted upon it Then with your Ladle take off your Lead and pour it gently on the Coals on the middle of the Plate and it will make its way through the holes in the bottom of the Plate into the water and fall into round drops Thus continue your Operation till all the Lead be passed through the Plate blowing the Coals to keep them alive that the Lead may not cool on the Plate and stop the holes Whilest you are thus pouring on your Lead another Stander-by may take another Ladle and put it four or five inches in the water under the bottom of the Plate and catch some of the Shot as it drops down and see what faults are in it that you may stop your hand until they are rectified The greatest care is to keep the Lead on the Plate in so moderate a degree of heat that it be not too cool to stop the holes nor too hot which will make the drops crack and fly if it be too cool blow the Coals a little if too hot stay your hand until it be a little cooler the cooler it is the larger will be your shot the hotter the smaller As near as you can observe the right temper of the heat and you will have very round shot without any tails Then take your shot and dry them over the fire with a gentle heat always stirring them that they melt not and when they are dry you may separate the small from the great in Sieves made for that purpose according to the several sizes they are of But if you would have them very large you may with a stick make the Lead trickle out of the Ladle into the water without the Plate If the Lead stop on the Plate and yet not too cool give the Plate a little knock and it will drop again Be sure let there be none of your Instruments Greasie Oyly or the like When you have separated your shot if any of it proves too great or too small or not round preserve them for the next Operation Thus having your Fowling-piece your Powder and Shot ready with your Spaniel well instructed and at command not daring to stir till you bid him then are you fit for a walk towards your Game If you are directly between the Winde and the Fowl they will be apt to scent you therefore it 's best to go against the winde or aside it it 's better to shoot at one side of them than before or behinde them for if you break a Wing you are sure of that Fowl It 's best to get as much shelter as you can by Hedges Banks or Trees for the sight or smell of a man raises them whatever danger of Hawks or any thing else be near But if they are so shie and the place so free from shelter that Stalking-horse there be no way to come at them fairly then you must lead forth your Stalking-horse being some Old Jade trained up for that purpose and that will be led in your hand as you please and not startle much at the report of a Gun behinde whose shoulders you must shelter your self and take your aim before his shoulders and under his neck which is better than under his belly If you have not such a Beast ready you may make an Artificial Artificial Stalking horse one of any old Canvas in shape like a Horse feeding on the ground You may make it double and stuff it or single and painted of a brown colour like a Horse Let it be made on a sharp stick that you may fix it into the ground as you have occasion when you take your Level It must be so light that you may carry it in one hand and high enough to conceal your body from the Fowl You may also make an Artificial Oxe or Cow which you may use for a change that when your Horse is discovered through much use you may change for the other and so make your Sport dure the longer Or you may make Artificial Stags or Bucks with their real horns on them which will be best in such grounds where those Creatures frequent and with whom the Fowl are more familiar You may either make the representation of a Tree in Canvas Artificial Trees and painted like one and so spread with small sticks that it may somewhat resemble a Tree or you may with many Boughs so form a Tree that it may shelter you from the view of the Fowl making it with a Spike at the bottom that it may stick into
ways taken either by Nets Pots or Engines by Angling or by stupifying Baits inticing or alluring objects and these ways are used either by day or by night Also at different seasons of the year the Fish as well as Fowl having their seasons of all which we shall give you some hint SECT I. Of taking Fish by Nets Pots or Engines The usual way of Fishing by Nets is of the greatest advantage To Fish with Nets and so of greatest destruction to those watry Animals which if not moderately used destroys whole Rivers of them to prevent which there are several good Laws made though seldom executed And could all men that are concerned in this Exercise agree to neglect the use of Nets but for two or three years the Fish would encrease innumerably that in many years after they could not be destroyed which being very unlikely yet it were feasible to compel all Fishermen that they take no young Fish nor Fish in their Spawning Moneths for if they were permitted to Spawn but once before they are taken they would sufficiently stock the Rivers where they are for the destruction of Fry and Spawns is the ruine of the Fishing in most Rivers The most useful Nets in great Waters are the Trammel and With the Trammel or Sieve Sieve which according to their Mesh may be used for most sorts of Fish The making and manner of using them are known to most Fishermen The most pleasant and recreative way is with the Casting-net With the Casting-Net spreading like a Cloak and verged round with Plummets that over whatsoever Fish it is thrown it brings them to your hand This Net is either thrown off from the Banks side or from a Boat according as the water will give you leave If the remarkable places that you intend a fling at were baited before-hand your Sport would be the better In smaller Rivers where there are Roots or Stems of Trees With the Shore-Net or Poke-Net under which the Fish usually seek for shelter in the day-time the Net vulgarly called the Shore-net which is a Net broad and open before about five foot and ending backwards in a long and narrow Cod. The forepart of this Net is fixed to a semicircular Rod and to the string that strains the two Extreams of that Rod in form of a Bow-string In the use of it you pitch the straight side of the Net downwards against the place or shelter where you suppose the Fish are which Net you hold strongly against the place by the help of a Stail or handle that is fixed athwart the Bow and extends down to the String Whilest you thus hold the Net your Companion with a Pole stirs in the place of refuge and what Fish are there will suddenly bolt out into your Net By this means not only Fish in small Rivers as Trouts Humbers c. are caught but Salmon also in great Rivers where the water is thickned by the Tide the Fisherman standing against the water with the Cod of the Net between his legs and as soon as he perceiveth the Fish bolt into the Net he forthwith lifts it up In several great Rivers where shelter is scarce many have set With Fish-pots large Pots made of Osier with bars in them that when the Fish are in them driven either by the Current or seeking therein for shelter they could not get out again They are also laid in swift Currents and at Mill-tails and suchlike places for the taking of Eels which in dark nights warm weather and thick waters run down with the stream in great plenty In great Rivers the greatest destruction of Salmon and also With Wears advantage is made by Wears erected in the Main Stream that when those Fish whose nature is to swim against the stream and to spring or leap over any natural obstacle that shall oppose them by their endeavour to raise themselves over these Wears try to leap over they fall short and are taken in Grates set at the foot of them for that purpose Many other Engines there are to intercept their passage up against the waters none of which are very injurious to the encrease of that Fish were they discontinued in the Autumnal season at which time those Fish stem the swiftest Currents that they may lay their Spawn in the small shallow streams which Nature hath instructed them to do it being the sweetest meat other Fish can feed and so consequentially the best bait for a nimble and greedy Angler At which season those that do escape these destructive Wears are too often met with by the ignorant Rustick who with his Spear commonly assaults them in t he Shallows and after these Fish have Spawned and their Spawn converted into the young brood the Spring following they naturally descend with the stream and by greedy Millers and others are commonly the greatest part of them intercepted in their Pots yea sometimes in so great quantities that for want of a present Market they have given them to their Swine All which are the principal causes of the great scarcity of that Fish in these parts of England There is a sort of Engine by some termed a Hawk made almost With Hawks like unto a Fish-pot being a square frame of Timber fitted to the place you intend to set it in and wrought with wire to a point almost so that what Fish soever go through the same cannot go back again These placed the one where the River enters into your Land the other where it runs out with the Points of each towards you any Fish whatsoever that moves with or against the water when they are once within the Hawks cannot get back again In case the River be broad you may place two or three of these at an end in it a frame of Timber being set in the water that it break not out on either side nor under lest your Fish escape These Hawks ought to be made moveable to take off or on as you see occasion But in case you are in danger of Land-floods or that you have The way of making a Piscary not the command of the Land on both sides or of suchlike impediment then may you cut a large Channel out of the sides of the River and as deep as the bottom of the River with some part of the Current through it and place these Hawks at each end of it the better to intice the Fish into it At some convenient distance from the River and in the Piscary on the top of a stake pitch'd in the midst of the water and a little above the water fix a Laton-case in form of a Cylinder about three or four inches Diameter and twelve inches long in which set a Candle burning in dark nights the light whereof shines only upwards and downwards it must be open at the top because it preserves it burning the downward light intices the Fish into your Piscary so that no Fish passes up nor down the
River but will seek their way through the Hawk into the light By this very means I have known a Piscary well stored in a few nights There is a Net made round and at each end a Hawk that being A Hawk-Net set in the water and depressed by Plummets or Stones and having in the in-side thereof shining shells or red cloth or such-like inticements the Fish will seek their way in but cannot get out As for Fishing in the night by fire and stupifying of Fish with unwholesome Baits or with Lime or suchlike being ways used by evil-minded persons that rather destroy the properties of other men than lawfully use them for their necessary subsistence I shall decline any advice or directions in that kinde and prosecute that most lawful just and honest way of Angling so much celebrated by the Ingenious of every degree SECT II. Of Angling There is not any exercise more pleasing nor agreeable to a truly sober and ingenious man than this of Angling a moderate innocent salubrious and delightful exercise It wearieth not a man over-much unless the waters lie remote from his home it injureth no man so that it be in an open large water he being esteemed a Beast rather than a man that will oppose this exercise neither doth it any wise debauch him that useth it The delight also of it rouzes up the Ingenious early in the Spring-mornings that they have the benefit of the sweet and pleasant Morning-air which many through sluggishness enjoy not so that health the greatest Treasure Mortals enjoy and pleasure go hand in hand in this exercise What can more be said of it than that the most Ingenious most use it When you have any leisure days or hours from your ordinary Observations in Angling Profession or imployment you cannot better spend them than in this Innocent Exercise wherein observe that your Apparel be No bright Apparel not of any bright or frightning colour lest that drive the Fish out of your reach or make them timorous That you bait the place you intend to Angle in with such Bait the stream or place things the Fish you aim at generally affect for several days before you Angle if it be a standing or quiet water but if a swift stream there is no great need of any but if you do let it be but a few hours before or just at your Angling-time and that above your Hook The best time to provide Rods and Stocks is in December or Provide good Rods. January before the rising of the Sap when gathered dry them by degrees in a smoaky place is best they are better to use at sixteen moneths old than sooner To preserve them rub them over with Linseed-oyl or Sweet-butter never salted twice or thrice a year If your Stock be hollow fill the bore with Oyl and let it stand twenty four hours and then pour it out again this will preserve it from injury If the top of your Rod be brittle or decayed you may whip on a piece of Whalebone made round and taper which will be better than the natural top In making your Lines observe that for most sorts of Fish the The Line Hair-line is the best because it is not so apt to snarl as other Lines and will yield to the streining of the Fish very much before it will break which is a very great advantage in the taking of a stubborn Fish Let the hair be round you make your Line withal and as near as you can of a size Also you may colour your hair of a sorrel grey or green colour but then they are a little weakned by the colouring It is good to provide your self with all sorts of Hooks the The Hook smallest to take the smaller Fish withal and the greater the greater Fish Also with hooks peculiar for the Jack or Pike and hooks to lay for Eels Your Flotes may be made of Quills or of Cork and Quills The Flote and Plummet which are the best and least offensive Let your Plummet wherewith you sound the depth of the water be of Lead about the weight of a Musket-bullet which is very convenient to know the depth of the water by According to the nature of the Fish so you must provide Baits your self with baits Herein observe that if you open the first Fishes Maw that you take you may see what that Fish most delights in for that season If you use Pasts for baits you must add Flax or Wooll to keep the Paste from washing off the hook The Eyes of the Fish you take are good baits for many sorts of Fish for the Trout flies and Palmer-worms made Artificially are the best baits in clear water the season being observed wherein each of them is to be used Any baits anointed with Gum of Ivy dissolved in Oyl of Spike or with the Oyl of Ivy-berries or the Oyl of Polypodie of the Oak mixed with Turpentine will be great inticements to Fish to bite It is best fishing in a River a little disturbed with Rain or in Seasons for Angling Cloudy weather the South-winde is the best the West indifferent the East the worst but if the weather be warm and the Sky Cloudy they will bite in any winde Keep your self as far from the Water-side as you can and fish down the stream In a swift stream where the bottom is hard and not too deep if you go into the middle of it and cast your Fly up against the stream the Trout that lies upon the Fin in such strong Currents and discerns you not being behinde him presently takes your bait In March April and September and all the Winter-moneths it is best fishing in a clear serene and warm day but in the Summer-time in the mornings evenings and coolest Cloudy weather After a clear Moon-shiny night if the day succeeding prove Cloudy is a very good time for Angling for it is the nature of most Fish to be fearful to stir in bright nights and so being hungry if the weather in the morning prove Cloudy they will bite eagerly To the intent that you may not labour in vain I shall give Seasons not to Angle in you a hint of such times that Fish delight not in biting though some that have more than ordinary skill may possibly take a few at any time In the extremity of heat when the Earth is parch'd with Drought there is little sport to be obtained nor in frosty weather the Air being clear unless in the Evening nor in high winds nor in sharp North or East-winds nor immediately after Spawning-time their hunger being abated and the Fish not worth taking Nor yet after a dark night for then the greater Fish have been abroad and satiated themselves but the little Fish will then bite best having absconded themselves all night for fear of the greater The greatest Fish bite best in the night being fearful to stir in the day Therefore that is the best season
the Windows You may now transplant most sorts of Garden-herbs Sweet-herbs and Summer-flowers make Hot-beds for Cucumbers Melons c. Saffron also may now be planted and Madder Now sow Endive Succory Leeks Raddish Beets Parsnips Skirrets Parsley Sorrel Bugloss Borrage Chervil Sellery Smallage Allisanders c. Also Lettice Onions Garlick Orach Purslain Turneps Pease Carrots Cabbage Cresses Fennel Marjerom Basil Tobacco Leeks Spinage Marigolds c. Dress up and string your Strawberry-beds uncover Asparagus-beds and transplant Asparagus slip and plant Artichoaks and Liquorice Stake and binde up the weakest Plants against the winds sow Pinks Carnations c. In this Month sow Pine-kernels and the Seeds of all Winter-greens Plant all Garden-herbs and Flowers that have fibrous roots Sow choice Flowers that are not natural for our Clime in Hot-beds this Month. You may now plant Hops it is a very seasonable time to dress Hop-garden them Now the Bees sit keep them close night and morning if the Apiary weather prove ill You may yet remove Bees APRIL Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1    2 5 15 6 45  3    4    5    6    7    8    9 5 00 7 00  10 Sun in Taur   11    12    13   Cauda Leonis sets in the morning 14    15    16    17 4 45 7 15  18    19    20    21    22    23 St. George   24    25 Mark Evang.   26 4 30 7 30 Vergiliae or Pleiades rise with the Sun 27    28    29    30    Diluculo surgere saluberrimum est THe Mornings now seem pleasant the Days long The Nymphs of the Woods in Consort welcome in Aurora Hail April true Medea of the Year That makest all things young and fresh appear When we despair thy seasonable Showers Comfort the Corn and chear the drooping Flowers A dry season to sow Barley in is best to prevent Weeds If April prove dry Fallowing is good Fell the Timber you intend to barque if the Spring be forward cleanse and rid the Coppices and preserve them from Cattle keep Geese and Swine out of Commons or Pastures Pick up stones in the new-sown Land sow Hemp and Flax. Cleanse Ditches and get in your Manure that lies in the Streets or Lanes or lay it on heaps Set Ofiers Willows and other Aquaticks before they are too forwards You may throughout this Month sow Clover-grass St. Foyn and all French or other Grasses or Hays YOu may yet Grass some sorts of Fruit in the Stock the beginning Garden and Orchard of this Month. Now sow all sorts of Garden-seeds in dry weather and plant all sorts of Garden-herbs in wet weather Plant French-beans Cucumbers Melons Artichoaks and Madder and sow such tender Seeds that could not abide the harder Frosts set French-beans Gather up Worms and Snails after evening showres or early in the morning Sow your Annual Flowers that come of Seed that you may have Flowers all the Summer and transplant such Flowers with fibrous roots you left unremoved in March sow also the seeds of Winter-greens Now bring forth your tender Plants you preserved in your Conservatory except the Orange-tree which may remain till May. Transplant and remove your tender Shrubs as Jasimines Myrtles Oleanders c. Towards the end of this Month also in milde weather clip Phillyrea and other tonsile Shrubs and transplant any sort of Winter-greens Plant Hops and pole them in the beginning of April and Hop-garden binde them to the Poles Open the doors of the Bee-hives for now they hatch that Apiary they may reap the benefit of the Flowery Spring and be careful of them MAY. Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1 Phil. and Jac.   2   Cor Scorpionis sets in the morning 3   The Greater Dog-star sets in the evening 4    5    6 4 15 7 45  7    8   The Goat-star appears 9    10   Aldebran sets in the evening 11 Sun in Gem.  Fomahant riseth in the morning 12    13   Middle-star of Andromeda's Girdle sets with the Sun 14    15    16 4 00 8 00  17    18    19    20    21   Cor Scorpionis riseth in the evening 22    23    24    25    26 3 50 8 10  27    28   The Bulls Eye riseth with the Sun 29 K. Charles his Return   30    31    Cuculus canit quercus in frondibus Delectantque-mortales in immensa terra THis Month Ushers in the most welcome season of the Year Now gentle Zephyrus Fans the sweet Buds and the Coelestial Drops water fair Flora's Garden The Lofty Mountains standing on a row Which but of late were Perriwigg'd with Snow D'off their old Coats and now are daily seen To stand on Tip-toes all in swaggering green Meadows and Gardens are prankt up with Buds And Chirping Birds now Chant it in the Woods The Warbling Swallow and the Larks do sing To welcome in the glorious Verdant Spring The Countrymans heart is revived if this Month prove seasonable with the hopes of a happy Autumn if it prove cold it is an Omen of good for health and promises fair for a full Barn the pleasure of Angling is now in its splendour especially for the Trout and Salmon Now wean those Lambs you intend to have the Milk of their Ewes forbear cutting or cropping Trees you intend shall thrive till October kill Ivy. If your Corn be too rank now you may Mow it or feed it with Sheep before it be too forward weed Corn. In some places Barley may be sown in this Month. Now sow Buck-wheat or Brank sow latter Pease Also Hemp and Flax may yet be sown Weed Quick-sets Drain Fens and wet Grounds Twifallow your Land carry out Soyl or Compost gather stones from the Fallows turn out the Calves to grass overcharge not your Pastures lest the Summer prove dry get home your Fewel begin to burn-beat your Land stub or root out Goss Furze Broom or Fern and grub up such Coppices or other shrubby woody places you intend should not grow again Sell off your Winter-fed Cattle About the end of this Month Mow Clover-grass St. Foyn and other French-grasses Now leave off watering your Meadows lest you gravel or rot your Grass Look now after your Sheep if this Month prove Rainy lest the
them the more fruitful if it prove moist renew and cover the Hills still with fresh Mould Now Bees cast their latter Swarms which are of little advantage Apiary therefore it 's best to prevent them Streighten the entrance of your Bees Kill the Drones Wasps Flies c. AVGVST Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1 Lammas  Orion appears in the morning 2    3    4    5    6 4 45 7 15  7    8   Cor Leonis riseth in the morning with the Sun 9    10 Laurence   11    12    13 5 00 7 00 Sun in Virgo 14    15    16    17    18    19    20    21 5 15 6 45  22    23   Cauda Leonis riseth in the morning with the Sun 24 Bartholomew   25    26    27 Dog-days end   28 5 30 6 30  29    30    31    Non semper aest as erit facite Nidos NOw bright Phoebus after he hath warmed our Northern Hemisphere retires nimbly towards the Southern and the fresh Gales of Zephyrus begin to refrigerate the scorching Sun-beams The Earth now yields to the patient Husbandman the fruits of his labours This Month returns the Countrymans expences into his Coffers with increase and encourages him to another years adventure If this Month prove dry warm and free from high winds it rejoyceth the Countrymans heart encreaseth his gains and abates a great part of his Disbursements You may yet Thryfallow Also lay on your Compost or Soyl as well on your Barley-land as Wheat-land Carry Wood or other Fewel home before Winter Provide good Seed and well picked against Seed-time Put your Ews and Cows you like not to fatting This is the most principal Harvest-month for most sorts of Grain therefore make use of good weather whilest you have it About the end of this Month you may Mow your after-grass and also Clover St. Foyn and other French Hays or Grasses Geld Lambs THis is a very good time for Inoculation in the former part Garden and Orchard of this Month. You may now make Cider of Summer-Fruits prune away superfluous branches from your Wall-fruit-Trees but leave not the Fruit bare except the red Nectorine which is much meliorated and beautified by lying open to the Sun Pull up Suckers from the roots of Trees unbinde the Buds you Inoculated a Month before if taken Plant Saffron set slips of Gilliflowers sow Anise Now is beginning a second season for the encreasing and transplanting most Flowers and other Garden-plants as Herbs Strawberries c. The Seeds of Flowers and Herbs are now to be gathered Also gather Onions Garlick c. Sow Cabbages Colleflowers Turnips and other Plants Roots and Herbs for the Winter and against the Spring Now sow Larks-heels Canditufts Columbines c. and such Plants as will endure the Winter You may yet slip Gilliflowers and transplant bulbous Roots about Bartholomew-tide some esteem the only secure season for removing your Perennial or Winter-greens as Phyllirea's Myrtles c. It 's also the best time to plant Strawberries and it 's not amiss to dress Rose-trees and plant them about this time Prop up the Poles the winde blows down Also near the end Hop-garden of the Month gather Hops Toward the end of this Month take Bees unless the goodness Apiary of the weather provoke you to stay till the middle of the next destroy Wasps and other Insects and streighten the passages to secure them from Robbers SEPTEMBER Day Sun rise h. m. Sun set h. m.  1 Giles   2    3    4    5    6 5 45 6 15  7    8 Nat. of Mary   9    10    11   Arcturus setteth after the Sun 12    13 6 00 6 00 Sun in Libra Equinoctial 14 Holy Cross   15    16    17    18    19    20 6 15 5 45  21 Matthew Ap.   22    23   Spica Virginis is with the Sun 24    25    26    27 6 30 5 30  28   Pleiades rise in the evening 29 Michael Ar.   30    IT is now the Equinoctial that bids adieu to the pleasant Summer past and summons us to prepare for the approaching Winter the beauty and lustre of the Earth is generally decaying our Countrymen and Ladies do now lament the loss of those beautiful Objects Ceres Flora and Pomona in their Fields Gardens and Orchards so lately presented them withal but that their minds and hands are busied in preparing for another return in hopes of a better Crop Gentle showres now glad the Ploughmans heart make the Earth mellow and better prepare it for the Wheat which delights in a moist Receptacle still weather and dry is most seasonable for the Fruits yet on the Trees The Salmon and Trout in most Rivers go now out of season till Christmas This Month is the most Universal time for the Farmer to take possession of his new Farm get good Seed and sow Wheat in the dirt and Rye in the dust Amend the Fences about the new-sown Corn skare away Crows Pigeons c. Geld Rams Bulls c. few Ponds put Boars up in Sty Beat out Hemp-seed and water Hemp gather Mast and put Swine into the Woods Carry home Brakes saw Timber and Boards manure your Wheat-lands before the Plough YOu may now make Cider and Perry of such Fruits as are Garden and Orchard not lasting and gather most sorts of Winter-Pears and some sorts of Winter-apples but gather not long-lasting Fruit till after Michaelmas Sow Cabbages Colleflowers Turnips Onions c. Now transplant Artichoaks and Asparagus-roots and Strawberries out of the Woods plant forth your Cabbages and Colleflowers that were sown in August and make thin the Turnips where they grow too thick Now plant your Tulips and other bulbous roots you formerly took up or you may now remove them you may also transplant all fibrous roots Now retire your choice Plants into the Conservatory and shelter such Plants that are tender and stand abroad Towards the end of this Month may you gather Saffron Now finish the gathering and drying of your Hops cleanse Hop-garden the Poles of the Hawm and lay up the Poles for the next Spring Take Bees in time streighten the entrance into the Hives Apiary destroy Wasps c. Also you may now remove Bees OCTOBER Day Sun rise h.
or expanded or more dense or contracted We shall not take any further notice of the nature of the Air in this place than it serves to our present intention which is only to demonstrate unto you that the Air is an absolute Body fluid and transparent and in several particulars like unto the water both being penetrable alike by their several Inhabitants the Fish with an equal facility piercing the waters as Fowls do the Air they are both Nutriments to their several Animals residing in them they both obstruct the Visual Faculty alike as they are more or less dense they are both subject to Expansion or Contraction but the Air more they are both subject to Undulation as they are fluid The Air is also capable to support great burdens as the vast quantities of water that flow over our heads in stormy or rainy weather which according to the rarity and density of the Air do gradatim diffuse themselves upon the Earth as is most evident in the more hot and Southerly Countries where the Air is more hot and thin there Rain falls with that violence as though it were water poured forth when in the more Northerly where the Air is more dense or gross it distils in minute drops as it were cribrated through the thick Air. We also may discern a manifest difference for in the warmer seasons of the year the Air being then most thin the Rain falls in greatest drops and in the colder seasons when the Air is more dense the Rain distils in smaller So that when the waters are above us or that Clouds or Floods of water are in being in the Air we have only to judge whether they incline towards us or that they are for some other place This rarity or density of the Air cannot be judged by the sight for it is usual when the Air it self is most rare then is it most repleat with vapours c. as water the more it is heated the less transparent it becomes Neither can it be judged by its weight as many do imagine and affirm from Fallacious Experiments for the Air is not ponderous in its own proper place no otherwise than water is in the Sea in its proper place although it be asserted by High-flown Philosophers and Learned Pens with whom it is besides our Primary intentions to contend in this place it being enough here to discover to our Country-Reader these mysterious Intricacies of Nature as they would have them esteemed by familiar Examples and Demonstrations For the true discovery of the nature and temper of the Air Of Thermometry or the Weather-glass as to its density or rarity we have not met with a more certain or compleat Invention than the Weather-glass the various and intricate Descriptions whereof we will not insist upon but take our Observations from the most plain and ordinary single Perpendicular-Glass being only as follows Procure at the Glass-house or elsewhere a Globular-glass with a Tube or Pipe thereto proportionable whereof there are many sizes but be sure let not the Head be too big nor the Pipe too long lest there be not rise enough in the Winter or fall enough in the Summer You must also have a small Glass or Vessel at the bottom that may contain water enough to fill the Tube or more Then having fixed them in some Frame made for that purpose heat the Globe of the Glass with a warm Cloth to rarifie the Air within it and then put the end of the Tube into the lower Vessel and it will attract the water more or less as you warmed the Head You may also add numbers on the Glass to shew you the degrees The water you may make blew with Roman-Vitriol boiled or red with Rose-leaves dry and imbibed in fair water wherein a little Oyl of Vitriol or Spirit of Salt is dropt With this water fill the under-Vessel which being rightly placed on the North-side of your house where the Sun rarely or never shineth against it and in a Room where you seldom make fire lest the sudden access of heat or accidental alteration of the Air might impede your Observations The Air included within the Globe or Ball of this Glass doth admit of Dilatation and Contraction equally with the Ambient Air that whensoever the Ambient Air is dilated or expanded either through the heat of the season or before the fall of Rain c. the Air in the Glass is the same and as by its Expansion it requires more room so doth it let the water in the Tube descend gradually and as it is more dense or contracted either through the coldness of the season or the serenity or inclinability to drought of the Ambient Air so also doth the Air within the Glass contract it self into a less compass and sucketh up the water in the Tube gradually as it condenseth or contracteth whence you may at any time exactly know the very degree of Rarity or Density of the Air Ambient by that which is included in the Glass and thereby inform your self what weather is most likely to succeed at any time Be sure to Quadrate or Contemporize your Observations or Numbers of Degrees with the season of the year for that Degree of Rarity that signifies Rain in the Winter may be such a Degree of Density that may signifie fair weather in the Summer The differences betwixt the highest rise and lowest fall in one day in the Summer is much more than in the Winter for you shall have a cold night and very serene Air which contracteth the Air in the Glass into a little Room after which usually succeeds a very hot day which dilateth it very much when in the Winter no such great difference happens in one day Yet in the Winter in several days will the difference be as great as in several Summer-days Although the Air appear serene and cold to your Senses yet trust not to that if the Glass signifie otherwise We shall not give you any sure Rule by which you may judge of the weather but leave it to your own observations that is draw on a paper a certain number of lines as many as you think fit as Musitians draw lines to prick their Tunes on at the end whereof as they place their Key so number your lines according to those numbers that are next unto the top of the water in the Tube of the Glass whether seven eight nine ten eleven twelve c. Over this Scale mark the day of the Month and point of the winde in the Scale make a dot or prick at what line or number the water in the Glass is at and by it the hour of the day and under it the inclination of the weather At night draw a line downright like the Musitians full time or note the next day mark as before until you know and understand the nature of your Glass and the place it stands in and the season of the year so that then you shall be able
at any time to give a probable conjecture of whatsoever is to be known or signified by that Instrument which otherwise you shall hardly do This new-invented Instrument which is termed the Baroscope Of the Baroscope by which the Authors thereof pretend to discover the temper and inclination of the Air from its weight in brief is thus described Seal a Glass-tube Hermettically at the one end fill it almost with Quick silver and invert it resting the open end in a Vessel of Quicksilver then the Quicksilver in the Tube by its weight presseth downwards into the Vessel and so distendeth or streineth the Air which is but little remaining in the Glass that the summity of the Tube is for a small space void of Quicksilver so far as that small portion or remainder of Air is capable of distention which is much more by Quicksilver the most ponderous of Fluid Bodies than by water in the Weather-glass But they pretend that this Column of Quicksilver in the Tube is supported by the weight of the Air Ambient pressing on the stagnant Quicksilver in the Vessel and that as the Air becomes more or less ponderous so doth the Quicksilver in the Tube rise or fall more or less accordingly which if it were true then in case the stagnant Quicksilver were broader in a broader Vessel would the greater quantity of Air press harder upon it and the Quicksilver in the Tube rise higher but it doth not Also if the Quicksilver in the Tube were supported by the pressure or weight of the Air on the stagnant Quicksilver in the Vessel then would not the Quicksilver descend by the making of some small hole on the top of the Tube which we evidently perceive to do Also when the Air is most rare and by consequence less ponderous if any weight thereof should be supposed then will the Column of Quicksilver in the Tube be higher and when the Air is more dense or burdened with moisture then will it be lower The contrary whereof would happen if their Hypothesis were true But most evident it is that as the Ambient Air becomes more or less rare or dense so doth the Air in the Tube contract or dilate it self which is the sole cause of the rise or fall of the Quicksilver Much more might be said herein and also of the Weather-glass or Thermoscope but I hope this may suffice to induct inquisitive and not exact or perfect Artists The full discourse and discovery of the various effects observations and conclusions of these Instruments requiring rather a Tract peculiar and proper for them only There is also another Instrument that may be made more exact for any of the aforesaid observations or intentions and fit for further discoveries but my occasions will not at present give me leave to perfect it SECT II. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from the Earth and Water If the Earth appear more dry than ordinary or if it greedily Of the Earth drink in Rains lately fallen or Floods suddenly abate it signifies more Rain to follow If the Earth or any moist or Fenny places yield any extraordinary scents or smells it presageth Rain If the Water being formerly very clear change to be dim or Of the Water thick it signifies Rain If Dews lie long in a morning on the Grass c. it signifies fair weather the Air then being more serene and not of an attractive or spungy nature If Dews rise or vanish suddenly and early in the morning it presages Rain If Marble-stones Metals c. appear moist it indicates the inclination of the Air to be moist and subject to Rain But if in a morning a Dew be on the Glass in the window and on the inside it signifies a serene and cool Air and inclinable to drought If the Sea appear very calm with a murmuring noise it signifies Of the Sea winde If on the surface of the Sea you discern white Froth like unto Crowns or Bracelets it signifies winde and the more plainly they appear the greater will the Winde and Tempests be If the waves swell without winds or the Tide rise higher or come ashore more swift than usual it presageth windes SECT III. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Beasts It is a thing worthy of admiration and consideration how the Beasts of the Field Fowls of the Air c. should be capable of so great a degree of knowledge and understanding as to foresee the different changes and varieties of seasons and not from common observations as man doth but from a certain instinct of Nature as is most evident Several significations of the change of weather are taken Of Beeves or Kine c. from the different postures of these Beasts as if they lie on their right side or look towards the South or look upwards as though they would snuff up the Air according to the Poet Mollipedesque Boves spectantes lumina Coeli Cicero Naribus humiferum duxere ex Aere Succum Or if they eat more than ordinary or lick their Hoofs all about Convenit instantes praenoscere protinus Imbres Avien Rain follows forthwith If they run to and fro more than ordinary flinging and kicking and extending their Tails Tempests usually follow If the Bull leadeth the Herd and will not suffer any of them to go before him it presageth Winde and Rain If Sheep feed more than ordinary it signifies Rain or if the Of Sheep Rams skip up and down and eat greedily If Kids leap or stand upright or gather together in Flocks or Of Kids Herds and feed near together it presageth Rain If the Ass bray more than ordinary or without any other Of Asses apparent cause it presageth Rain or windes If Dogs howl or dig holes in the earth or scrape at the walls Of Dogs of the house c. more than usual they thereby presage death to some person in that house if sick or at least tempestuous weather to succeed If the hair of dogs smell stronger than usual or their guts tumble and make a noise it presageth Rain or Snow or they tumble up and down The Cat by washing her face and putting her foot over her Of Cats Ear foreshews Rain It hath been anciently observed that before the fall of a house Of Mice and Rats the Mice and Rats have forsaken it The squeeking and skipping up and down of Mice and Rats portend Rain Parvi cum stridunt denique Mures Avien Cum gestire solo cum ludere forte videntur Portendunt crasso consurgere Nubila Coelo Of all Creatures the Swine is most troubled against winde or Of Swine Tempests which makes Countrymen think that only they see the winde They usually shake Straw in their mouths against Rain As Virgil Ore solutus Immundi meminere sues jactare Maniplos If they play much it signifies the same SECT IV. Of Observations and Prognosticks taken from Fowl As Beasts so have Birds a