Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	fish_n	great_a	sea_n	3,519	5	6.8793	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67083	Systema agriculturæ, the mystery of husbandry discovered treating of the several new and most advantagious ways of tilling, planting, sowing, manuring, ordering, improving of all sorts of gardens, orchards, meadows, pastures, corn-lands, woods & coppices, as also of fruits, corn, grain, pulse, new-hays, cattle, fowl, beasts, bees, silk-worms, &c. : with an account of the several instruments and engines used in this profession : to which is added Kalendarium rusticum, or, The husbandmans monthly directions, also the prognosticks of dearth, scarcity, plenty, sickness, heat, cold, frost, snow, winds, rain, hail, thunder, &c. and Dictionarium rusticum, or, The interpretation of rustick terms, the whole work being of great use and advantage to all that delight in that most noble practice.	Worlidge, John, fl. 1660-1698.	1675 (1675)	Wing W3599; ESTC R225414	330,040	361

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

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-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

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-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

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

to Angle for them SECT III. Of Angling for Salmon and Trout The Salmon and Trout are Fish much of a Complexion and Nature different in their seasons from other Fish The way of Angling for them is much after the same manner The Salmon biteth best in the Summer-moneths about three Salmon of the Clock in the afternoon He keeps not to one haunt but swims generally in the deepest and broadest parts of the River near the ground and is caught with Worm Fly or Minnow The Garden-worm is an excellent bait for a Salmon if kept in Moss about twenty days which will scoure them and make them tough and clear You may also troul for a Salmon as you do for a Pike with a Trouling-rod and line Your Artificial Flies for a Salmon must be larger than for a Trout and the wings and tail long In Angling for a Salmon at ground put two or three Worms at a time on the Hook and give him time to gorge the bait The Trout is also taken with Worm Minnow or Fly To Trout fish for them in the night which is the best time for the great Trouts take two great Worms of equal length and put them on your Hook cast them at a good distance from you and draw them to you again on the top of the water not letting them sink and give the Trout time to gorge his bait Instead of these Worms you may use a black Snail or a piece of black Velvet which is as well They bite in the night best in the still Deeps but then unusually in the Streams If you bait with a Minnow you must place it so on the Hook that the Minnow must run round as you draw it towards you and to that end you must have a Swivel on your line lest the running round of the Minnow over-twist your Line The same may you do for a Salmon or Pike If you bait with Flies or Palmers Natural or Artificial be sure to observe the season what Palmer or Fly they most delight in at that time that take or imitate it as near as you can SECT IV. Of Angling for the Pike and Pearch These are two sorts of white Fish that Spawn in the Spring early and are greedy Fish of Prey especially the Pike which will prey on its own Kinde You may take the Pike by hanging your Line to a Tree on the Pike side of the River with a living bait on the Hook as a Minnow Dace Roach or yellow Frog but let not the Line hang at the full length but contracted into a cleft stick that when the Pike bites he may easily draw it out and have time and scope enough to pouch his bait Or you may Trowl for him which must be with a very long Line wound up at the handle of your Rod on a small Winch or Windlace and at the top of the Rod which is stubbed the Line must go through a Ring that when the Fish hath taken the bait he may by your letting him have Line enough gorge his bait and hang himself Your Line must be strong and armed with small Wire next the Hook about seven or eight inches You may Fish at Snap with him as with other Fish if you please but your Tackling must be very strong A Pike bites at all baits except the Fly and bites best at three in the Afternoon in clear water with a gentle Gale from Midsummer to the end of Autumn In Winter he bites all day long In the Spring he bites in the Morning and Evening The best time to take the Perch is when the Spring is far Perch spent for then you may take all near you at one standing His baits are the Minnow little Frog or a small Worm He bites well all the day in cloudy weather but chiefly from eight to ten and from three to six He also bites at almost any bait SECT V. Of Angling for standing water or pond-Pond-fish The Fish that are most usual in standing waters or Fish-ponds are the Carp and the Tench Some there are that are common to both as the Bream Dace Roach Eel and Perch Angling for pond-Pond-fish is the most easie of any way and where there are a good stock much sport there is The Carp is the best of all fresh-water Fish and will live the Carp longest except the Eel out of the water This Fish is very subtil and biteth but seldom and that in warm weather cloudy early in the morning or late in the evening The baits for a Carp are either Worms or Pasts A Paste made up of Bean-flower Honey and a little Assafetida hath proved very well Others have prescribed Bean-flower mingled with the flesh of a Cat cut small and beaten very well in a Mortar with Honey so long till the whole is so tough to hang on a Hook without washing off A little Wooll added in the making of it up will make it hold the better Gentles anointed with Honey and put on the Hook with a piece of Scarlet dipt in the same is esteemed the best of all baits for the Carp The Tench for his sliminess accounted the Physitian of Tench Fishes delights only in standing waters and especially amongst Weeds Flags c. In the hottest weather early and late and all the night this Fish delights most to bite He delights in the same baits as doth the Carp The stronger the Pasts are of Assafetida or other Gums or Oyls the sooner he will bite The Dace is commonly a River-fish yet doth very well in Dace Fish-ponds if any think it worth their costs and pains to keep them there But in either place the best baits for them are flies whereof they affect the Ant-fly above the rest For ground-baits the Grub that is found in plowed grounds Gentles and the young brood of Wasps or suchlike are very good Small Worms Pasts and suchlike they will not refuse The Roach is much of the same nature as is the Dace but Roach more usual in standing waters than the other Worms and other ground-baits are most proper for them Though the Bream be found in some Rivers yet is most usual Bream and best in Ponds or standing waters The best time for Angling for them is from the end of July until Autumn for in June and beginning of July they Spawn and are not in their season The best bait for them is the Red Worm that usually lies at the root of the Dock They also bite at Pasts Wasps Flies Grashoppers c. As for the Perch you have directions before concerning the taking of him in Rivers the same will serve in Ponds The Eel is a Fish that delights in obscure places whilest any Eels light either of the Sun or Moon appears being a sweet Fish and a prey to Fowl as well as Fish but in the night time and the darker the night the better This Fish wanders abroad out of her lurking places and preys on any

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

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

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-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-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

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

destructive Frosts and also by covering whole Beds therewith preserves the Plants or Roots therein Also Straw Hawm Fern or suchlike dry Vagetable will defend any thing from the Frosts although the Litter be to be preferred But such things that are not to be touched or suppressed as Coleflower-plants Gilliflower-slips c. the placing of Sticks like some Booth or suchlike over them and covering them with a Mat or Canvas or suchlike doth very much defend them giving them Sun and Air in temperate days makes them the more hardy and preserves their colour Furze where it may conveniently be had is a very excellent shelter and defence against Cold being laid about Trees or over Plants of what kinde soever It breaks the violence of Winde and Frost beyond any thing else lying hollow of it self doth not that injury to Plants that other things do without support and proves many times better than a supported shelter Preserving them also from Rain unless as much as is sufficient to nourish them is a good prevention of Frosts for the Frost injureth no Plant so much as that which stands wet as I have often observed that Cyprus-trees and Rosemary standing on very dry ground have endured the greatest Frosts when others have perished by the same Frosts standing in moist ground although more in the shelter Also the most pernicious Frosts to Fruits succeed Rainy days a dry Frost rarely hurts Fruit. Gilliflowers and several other Flowers and Plants receive their greatest injury from wet which if kept dry endure severe colds the better Hot-Beds are much in use for the propagating of Seeds in the Spring c. which when they are covered prove secure remedies Conservatories wherein to remove your tender Plants in the Winter are a usual prevention of cold some whereof are made by some degrees warmer than others are suitable to the several natures of the Plants to be preserved But the compleatest Conservatories are large leaves of boards to open and shut at pleasure over your Orange or other Fruit-trees closely pruned against a Wall or Pale and planted either against your Chimney where you always keep a good fire or against some Stove made on purpose Aprecocks so planted against an ordinary wall with such doors must needs avail much in the Spring-time to defend the young and tender Fruit from the sharp Frosts and is a much more practicable and surer way than the bowing the branches into Tubs as some advise Others hang Cloaths or Mats over the Trees in frosty nights but these are troublesome It is evident that part of the same Tree being under some shelter from the Rain will bear plenty of Fruit when other part of the same Tree being open to the Rain bears but little in cold and destructive Springs though alike obvious to the cold and winde Therefore endeavour to preserve your tender Wall-fruits from the wet and you may the less fear the winde and cold To lay open the roots of Trees in the Spring to keep them backwards from springing is a very proper prevention against the Frosts in Apples Pears c. for we finde a forward Spring that excites the early Fruit too soon proves very injurious to it in case any Frosts succeed The freezing of water also proves sometime an injury to the Husbandman either by hindering his Cattle from drink or by destroying Fish that are confined in a small Pond so frozen To prevent the latter if you can let there be some constant fall of water into it though never so small which will always keep a vent open sufficient to preserve the Fish who can as ill live without Air as Terrestrial Creatures can without water Any constant motion prevents a total Congelation If you lay a good quantity of Pease-hawm in the water that part may lie above and part under the water it is observed that the water freezes not within the Hawm by reason of its close and warm lying together which will prevent the death of Fish as well as breaking of the Ice Fruit when it is gathered into the house is subject to be spoiled by Frosts therefore be careful to lay it in dry Rooms either seeled thatched or boarded for in frosty weather the condensed Air which is most in such Rooms adhering to the Fruit freezeth and destroyeth it which is usually prevented covering them with Straw c. but best of all by placing a Vessel of water near them which being of a colder nature than the Fruit attracts the moist Air to its self to the preservation of the Fruit even to admiration Great Rains prove injurious to such Lands that are of themselves Much Rain moist enough for the remedy whereof and to prevent such injuries see more in the next Section In such Lands that lie at the bottoms or foot of Hills where the great falls of Rain do annoy the Corn or Grass care is to be taken for the conveying away of the water by Channels or Passages made for that purpose In the time of Harvest the greatest Enemy the Husbandman usually finds is Rain against which the best remedy is Expedition To make Hay whilest the Sun shines It is a grand neglect that there are not some kinde of Artificial shelters made in Lands remote from our dwellings for the speedy conveyance of Corn into shelter in dripping Harvests and there to remain till fair Weather and leisure will admit of a more safe carriage Worthy of commendation is the practise used in Sommersetshire c. where they lay their Wheat-sheaves in very large shocks or heaps in the Fields and so place them that they will abide any wet for a long time when on the contrary in Wiltshire and other more Southernly Counties they leave all to the good or bad weather though far remote from Barns sometimes to their very great detriment so naturally slothful and ignorant are some people and naturally ingenious and industrious are other Where their Lands lie two or three miles from their Barns as in some places in Champion Countries they do the covered Reek-staval much in use Westward must needs prove of great advantage in wet or dry Harvests to save long draughts at so busie a time Where Lands lie at a far distance the one from the other several Barns built as the Land requireth are very convenient for the more speedy housing of the Corn for the better preserving of it the more easie thrashing it out the more convenient fothering of the Cattle with the Straw and for the cheaper disposing of the soil for the improvement of the Land where on the contrary one great Barn cannot lie near to every part of a large Farm nor can Corn be so well preserved in it nor with so much advantage disposed into Mows nor thrashed nor the fother nor soil so easily dispersed High-winds prove very pernicious and injurious to the Husbandman High Winds in several respects to his Buildings Fruits Trees Hops Corn c. as many in the

easily perceived where the same Seed hath been sown on two sorts of Land of different goodness the one Crop hath been smutty the other free so that Smuttiness seems to be a kinde of sickness incident to Corn which may by the aforesaid means be cured which if the Smuts themselves would really grow and produce Smut again all Remedies proposed and attempts to that purpose were needless SECT III. From several Beasts Against the Trespasses of Domestick Cattle breaking out of your Neighbours grounds into yours it 's needless to say any thing every one knowing that a good and secure Fence is the best prevention and a Pound the best remedy or cure if the other will not serve But other Beasts there are that no ordinary Fences will keep out and will hardly be brought to the Pound As Foxes which usually torment the laborious Husbandman Foxes by taking away and destroying his Lambs Poultry Geese c. that in some places near great Forrests and Woods they can hardly keep any thing but under lock and key against which Gins are usually made use of which being baited and a Train made by dragging raw flesh across his usual paths or haunts unto the Gin it proves an inducement and a snare to excite him to the place of his destruction A Fox will prey on any thing he can overcome and feeds on all sorts of Carrion but the food he most delights in is Poultry He proves injurious and destructive to Coney-warrens and destroys Hares also whom he taketh by his subtilty and deceit They may be taken with Greyhounds Hounds Terriers and Nets as well as Gins. It is also a very commendable and Noble Exercise in our Nobility and Gentry to Hunt these destructive Beasts and did they prosecute it at their breeding times and at other times also with an intent to destroy the whole Breed or Kinde there would soon be an end of them The Otter is a pernicious destroyer of Fish either in Pond or Otters Brook and her abode is commonly under the root or stem of some Tree near the water whence she expects h●● food By her diving and hunting under water few Fish are able to escape her They are taken either by insnaring them under the water by the Rivers side as you may do a Hare on the Land with Hare-pipes or by hunting them with Dogs where you also make use of the Spear In several places the Husbandman suffers much by Coneys and Coneys Hares c. Hares that feed down his Corn c. when it is young especially in hard Winters and in many places they have not liberty to secure their own from them The Hare is no great destroyer of Corn yet where there are many of them the Countryman may lessen their number as he sees cause either by Hunting or Coursing them at seasonable times or by setting of Hare-pipes where he finds their haunts or by tracing them in the Snow Coneys are destroyed or taken either by Ferrets and Purse-nets in their Buries or by Hayes or by Curs Spaniels or Tumblers bred up for that sport or by Gins Pitfalls or Snares which some Ingenious Countrymen will prepare the goodness of the Game rather than the prevention of the damage prompting them thereto It is not a little injury these Animals do to Warrens Dove-houses Poll-cats Weasels and Stotes Hen-roosts c. but the ways by taking them in Hutches and in small Iron-gins like Fox-gins are so well known that I need say nothing of it Only that to prevent Poll-cats or suchlike from destroying your Pigeon-house be sure if you can to erect it where you may have a Ditch or Chanel of Water to run round it and it will keep those Vermine from making their Burroughs under the ground Moles are a most pernicious Enemy to Husbandry by loosening Moles or Wonts the Earth and destroying the Roots of Corn Grass Herbs Flowers c. and also by casting up Hills to the great hinderance of Corn Pastures c. The common and usual way of destroying them is by Traps that fall on them and strike the sharp Tines or Teeth through them and is so common that it needs no description But the best and compleatest sort of Instrument to destroy them that I have yet seen is made thus Take a small board of about three inches and a half broad and five inches long on the one side thereof raise two small round Hoops or Arches at each one end like unto the two end-Hoops of a Carriers Waggon or a Tilt-boat capacious enough that a Mole may easily pass through them in the middle of the board make a hole about the bigness that a Goose-quill may pass through so is that part finished then have in readiness a short stick about two inches and a half long about the bigness that the end thereof may just enter the hole in the middle of the board Also you must cut a Hasel or other stick about a yard or yard and half long that being stuck into the ground may spring up like unto the Springs they usually set for Fowl c. then make a link of Horse-hair very strong that will easily slip and fasten it to the end of your stick that springs Also have in readiness four small hooked sticks then go to the Furrow or passage of the Mole and after you have opened it fit in the little board with the bended Hoops downwards that the Mole when she passes that way may go directly through the two semicircular Hoops Before you fix the board down put the Hair-spring through the hole in the middle of the board and place it round that it may answer to the two-end Hoops and with the small stick gently put into the hole to stop the knot of the Hair-spring place it in the Earth in the passage and by thrusting in the four hooked sticks fasten it and cover it with Earth and then when the Mole passeth that way either the one way or the other by displacing or removing the small stick that hangs perpendicularly downwards the knot passeth through the hole and the Spring takes the Mole about the neck Though this description seem tedious yet the thing is very plain and easily performed and much cheaper surer and feasible than the ordinary way Others destroy them very expeditiously by a Spaddle waiting in the Mornings when they usually stir and immediately cast them up especially about March when they breed by turning up the Hills whereunder they lay their Young they usually making their Nests in the greater Hills and are most easily discerned then also will the Old Ones come to seek their Young which you may presently take The Pot-trap is by some much commended which is a deep Earthen-vessel set in the ground to the brim in a Bank or Hedg-row which wisely set and planted at all times but especially in the natural season of Bucking-time about March will destroy them insensibly Also where Moles annoy your Gardens

Fin like a knife turned up by the side of the Spade and sometimes on both sides to divide the Clay or moist Earth and cut the small Roots that it come clean away The ordinary Spade is made several ways but the most commendable Common spades are the lightest and thinnest wrought not wanting their due strength the cleaner they are kept the better they work The How is an Instrument of very great use and it is great pity The How it 's no more used If the spare-times of the year except when the Earth is frozen were but made use of to How the several creeks corners and patches of your Land it would undoubtedly prove a very great Improvement More hereof in their proper Chap. 4. places Besides the Spade and How and their kinds there are several Other Instruments used in Digging c. other Instruments used by the Husbandman for the grubbing and raising of Trees both great and small and Bushes Brakes c. and for the making holes and passages in hard and stony Lands for several occasions and for the loading and spreading of Dung Earth c. As Mattocks Pick-axes or Grubbing-axes and also the great Instrument described by Mr. Platt for the quick riddance of Shrubs Broom and suchlike mentioned before Chap. 10. The Iron-crow or Iron-bar are not to be wanting Also Shovels the Dung-fork Mole-spades or Paddle-staffs you will sometimes have occasion for SECT IV. Other various Instruments He that goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing is an old and true Proverb Therefore it behoves our Husbandman that intends to thrive to possess or furnish himself with all things necessary and of present necessity for his Occupation that he may not put himself to the trouble of borrowing nor the damage he is likely to sustain for want of nor the scorn or disgrace of being denied any thing he wants That you may not be forgetful of any or at least of the most useful and necessary Instruments besides the fore-mentioned I will enumerate such as come into my minde and advise you to add what you finde deficient and let them be all placed in their proper places according to Xenophon's advice Supellex Instrumenta varia Rustica suo quaeque loco ordine disposita in promptu sint quoties vel promenda vel requisita seponenda sunt Belonging to the Arable and Field-land are Harrows Drags Forks Sickles Reap-hooks Weed-hooks Pitchforks Rakes Plough-staff and Beetle Sleds Roller Mold-spears and Traps Cradle-sythes Seed-lip To the Barn and Stable Flails Ladders Winnowing-fan Measures for Corn. Sieves and Rudders Brooms Sacks Skeps or Scuttles Bins Pails Curry-combs Main-combs Whips Goads Harneys for Horses and Yokes for Oxen. Pannels Wanteys Pack-saddles Sussingles Cart-lines Skrein for Corn. To Meadows and Pastures Sythes Rakes Pitchforks and Prongs Fetters and Clogs and Shackles Cutting-Spade for Hay-reeks Horse-locks Other necessary Instruments Hand-barrows Wheel-barrows Dibbles Hammer and Nails Pincers Sissers Bridle and Saddle Nail-piercers or Gimlets Hedging-hooks and Bills Garden-sheers A Grindstone Whetstones Hatchets and Axes Sawes Beetle and Wedges Leavers Shears for Sheep Trowels for House and Garden Hod and Tray. Hog-yokes and Rings Marks for Beasts and Utensils Scales and Weights An Aul and every other thing necessary SECT V. Of Amendments and Profitable Experiments in Building As the Manners and Customs of Men are in every Age refined and tend more and more to Purity and Perfection in these Northern and formerly-rude and salvage Countries or rather grow more exact and imitate the other more Southerly and first civilized parts in Language Manners Arts and Sciences so do they also endeavour to reform their most gross undigested and ill-contrived Structures and Edifices not only in Cities and Towns but in their Country-Villages also that we now compare some of our Cities and Towns with most of theirs and even excel them in several and that not a few of our most suavious and delectable Rural Seats as well for their Magnificent Regular and Artificial Structures and most Ingenious contrivances as in their most salubrious convenient and pleasant Scituations And for the future were but the Rules of Architecture duly observed and those new and compleat Methods and Models contrived for Building and the Scituations of places according to the best judgments taken notice of in such Buildings that may hereafter be raised either de Novo or in the restoring or reedifying of our ancient and decayed Seats in our Country-Villages our England in a few Ages would appear a Kingdom beset and adorned in every part with curious and admirable Habitations possessed with Noble and Ingenious Inhabitants and would at large represent to the view of all what Middlesex it's Epitome now doth and would contract the envy of other Nations as the Land of Canaan formerly did Therefore let me advise all such that are willing or necessitated to Build that they sit down and consider of the manner and Method of Building as well as of the charge and expence and that they will make choise of such Surveyors and Workmen that understand what they go about and not be guided or perswaded by such that are wedded to an old deformed Custom who will in no wise consent to a more compleat way although it be much more Beautiful and Regular and also with less materials and cheaper and more convenient than the other for no other reason but that it is a Novel and not as our Forefathers did before us yet perhaps are willing to bestow expence enough upon it in inriching it although but with little skill or Art But I suppose it is better to erect that which will be pleasing to and content both Wise-men and Fools then that though done by the same cost and expence which will only please Fools This is a digression from our intended design and here inserted only to perswade such that intend any store of Building to make use of such Authors and persons that understand that Art which in this place we do not undertake to teach only shall give the Husbandman a few general Rules and Directions that I have casually met withal about the scituation and building of a plain Country-seat and the building of Walls Barns Mills c. Praedium Rusticum bonum Coelum habeat c. Let your Country-house have a good Air and not open to Tempests The scituation of a House seated in a good Soil let it therein excel if you can let it stand under a hill and behold the South in a healthy place let there be no want of Workmen or Labourers let there be good water and let it stand near some City or Market-Town or the Sea or some Navigable River or have a good Road or way from it Thus Cato advises Little more can be said but that Woods also as well as water may be near it they being the principal things that adorn a Country Habitation But if you cannot conveniently seat your House amongst the Trees yet are there few

bait that is fleshie either Worms Snails raw Flesh Frogs young Birds or the like You may Angle for them in the night in standing waters as By Angle you do for other Fish and they will bite so that you lie near or on the ground Also you may bait many Hooks over-night with Worms and With Bank-books fasten them on the Bank-sides Let the bait lie in the stream on the ground all night and you will have almost on every Hook an Eel so that you be there at day-break in the morning to take them for as soon as day-light appears they will unhook themselves though it be to the tearing to pieces their own Intrails You must be sure that your Hooks be strong and your Lines may be of good fine and strong handle-bound Pack-thread Eels commonly abscond themselves under stones in stony waters By Sniggling and under Timber Planks or suchlike about Mills Wears Flood-gates Bridges c. in the day-time where you may take them by this way of Sniggling that is by baiting a strong Hook on a short but strong Line with a large Garden-worm Then with a stick cleft at the top fasten therein the Line near the Hook and guide the stick into the places where you think the Eels are and thrust it up and down and you shall be sure if any Eel be there as soon as she feels the stick she will turn and bite but be sure you pull not too hard lest you tear out your ●old There is a way of taking Eels by Bobbing which is thus By Bobbing Take of the large Garden-worms well scoured and with a Needle run some strong twisted Silk through them from end to end and wrap them oftentimes about a board then tye them together with the ends of the Silk that they may hang in Hanks and fasten them at the end of a small cord with a Plummet of Lead about three quarters of a pound a little above the Bob The other end of the cord fasten to a long Pole and therewith may you fish in muddy water after a Rain When you perceive by moving of your Bob that the Eels do tug at it then gently raise them to the surface of the water and so bring them to Land for the Eels being greedy of the Worms swallow them and the Silk hangs in their teeth that they are easily taken five or six at a time Some make up a bundle of new Hay and Worms together and so let it down into the water which the Eels readily come to and thrust their heads into the Hay after the Worms and by that means are taken Others take a round Net made fast to a small Iron-hoop and let down into the water with a bundle of Worms in the midst which when the Eels come unto by a sudden raising the Hoop are taken in the Net for in some gravelly Tide-waters Eels especially the small Grigs will seek abroad in the day-time and give you excellent sport SECT VI. Of Angling for the Barbel Grailing Umber Chevin and Chub. These Fish are not so Universal as the other before discoursed of therefore the less shall be said of them As for the Barbel Barbel it is a Fish very plentiful in the Trent and comes in season about the end of May and so holds it till near Michaelmas and hath his haunts amongst weedy and hollow places amongst Piles and Stakes is a strong Fish and must be taken with very strong tackling His bait is a very well-scoured Worm Gentles or Cheese steeped in Honey The Grailing and Vmber are near alike they are in season Grailing and Umber all the Summer and are then taken with a large Grashopper the wings being taken off After the Grashopper is on the Hook at the point put on a small Cadworm and keep your bait in continual motion Let the Hook be shank't with Lead and covered with the bait The Vmber is taken with a Fly as is a Trout The Chevin and Chub are common in the Trent but no very Chevin and Chub. pleasant Fish They are in season all the Summer and are taken with Worms Flies Snails Cherries Grashoppers Grain Cheese c. There are many other sorts of small Fish as the Bleak Flounder Small Fish Gudgeon Ruff Minnow Loach and Bullhead The ways of taking them for brevity sake I shall omit In the Isle of Wight and other places Westward in the Rocks Cormorant Fishing on the Sea-shore are great numbers of Cormorants bred being a large Fowl and live only by preying on Fish and are so dextrous at it that in the open Seas they will dive and swiftly pursue their game and take and carry them to their Nests that the Inhabitants near adjacent do often go to these Rocks and furnish themselves with Fish brought thither by them at their breeding-times These Birds may be so brought up tame that they will in our ordinary clear Rivers dive and take you as many Trouts or other Fish as you please or the place affords putting but a small Collar over the neck of the Fowl that the Fish may not pass into her stomack When you intend for your game you must carry her out fasting put on her Loop or Collar and let her go into the water she will dive and streightly pursue the Fish she hath most mind to forward and backward and when she hath caught her game she gives it a toss into the Air and receives it end-wise into her mouth which will stretch like the head of a Snake and admit of a large Fish into her throat which will stop at the Collar Then hold out an Eel to her which you must carry alive or dead with you to that purpose and she will come to your hand and will by your assistance disgorge her prey immediately and to her sport again and will so continue till she hath furnisht you with as much as you can desire By this means may you take more than any other way whatsoever and exceeds any of the Sports of Hawking or Hunting Kalendarium Rusticum OR MONETHLY DIRECTIONS FOR THE HUSBANDMAN Being CHAP. XIII SHEWING The most Seasonable Times for the performing of his Rural Affairs Throughout the YEAR Operum memor esto tempestivorum Omnium Hesiod LONDON Printed by J. C. for Tho. Dring in the Year 1675. THE PREFACE TO THE KALENDAR RUri sicuti in urbe singula opera sua habent peculiaria tempora There is a peculiar time for most Affairs in the World but more especially for such Labours and Actions that depend upon the mutable seasons of the Year which being duly observed is no small advantage to the Husbandman Ephemeridem habeat quid quoque tempore faciendum is Florentines advice that every Countryman may have his Draught before him to direct him and reinforce his memory that his multitude of occasions may not so far obliterate those things to his loss and disadvantage but that he may here daily revive and

not to another for I observe the Propinquity of the Sea is to be considered every place lying nearer to some one part of the Sea than another and on which Coast the Sea is nearest that Winde more frequently brings Rain to that place than to another where the Sea is more remote Therefore I desire all such that expect any success to their Observations that they quadrate the Rules to the places where they live and not trust to the Observations of other places Windes also are of different qualities according to the several places they either proceed from or pass over as the East-winde is counted propitious neither to Man nor Beast which I judge partly to be from the Fens or moist Countries as Holland the Fens in Yorkshire Lincolnshire Cambridgeshire c. from whence Windes usually proceed and must of necessity prove unwholesome both to Man and Beast except to those that inhabit on the Western Coast for the Winde hath sufficiently purged it self by passing over so much Land as to leave its noxious quality behinde it Also the Northern Windes are more serene with us than the other one cause I suppose is from the quantity of Land in Scotland and England it comes over unto us as is observed in other Countries that from the Continent the coldest and most serene Windes proceed If the Winde turn to the South from any other Coast or remove from the South having been long there it usually brings alteration of weather Windes do produce several and various alterations and effects in the Air in the Water and in the Bodies of Men and Beasts as the South and West-windes are usually more hot and moist and not so clear as the other the North and East are more clear dry and cold When the South-winde blows the Sea is blew and clear but Bacon deventis when the North-winde it is then black and obscure The Eastern-windes usually make our fresh waters much clearer than the West The North-winde is best for sowing of Seed the South for Grafting or Inoculations The South-winde is the worst for the bodies of men it dejecteth the appetite it bringeth Pestilential Diseases increaseth Rheums men are more dull and slow then than at other times Beasts also are not to be exempted from these influences The North-winde makes men more chearful and begets a better appetite to meat yet is injurious to the Cough Ptisick and Gout and any acute Flux The Eastern-winde is drier more biting and deadly The West-winde is moist milde and calm and friendly to all Vegetables The East-winde blowing much in the Spring injureth Fruits by breeding Worms All Windes blowing much cleanse the Air still and quiet Summers being the most unwholesome and subject to Pestilential and Epidemical Diseases If in great Rains the Windes rise or fall it signifies that the Rain will forthwith cease If the Winde vary much in few hours and then be constant to one place it signifies the Winde to continue long in that place If at the beginning of the Winter the South-winde blow and then the North it is like to be a cold Winter but if the North-winde first blow and then the South it will be a warm and milde Winter The blowing of the Windes from several Coasts other concomitant causes concurring are the truest Presignificators of Thunder The blowing of the Windes aloft with a murmuring or hollow noise more than below commonly presageth Rain The blowing or compression of the Windes downwards causing smoak to descend c. more than usual signifies Rain to follow If the Windes blow directly downward and cause a motion Of Whirl-windes on the water several ways or force the dust to arise with the Winde which is repercussed by the Earth if they also inforce the Hay Corn or other things in the Fields up aloft into the Air which denote unto us the crassitude of the Vapours in the Air which by the heat of the Sun do emit such casual blasts for they rarely happen but in the Summer and the day-time yet sometimes when no Cloud is near they signifie Winde and sometimes Rain to succeed other causes concurring or otherwise extream heat But if these Whirl-windes are very great they presage Tempests to be very nigh as Virgil. Omnia Ventorum concurrere praelia vidi Quae gravidam late segetem ab radicibus imis Sublime expulsam eruerunt Immensum Coelo venit agmen aquarum c. This watry Meteor and the greatest Miracle in Nature besides Of the Rainbow its Divine signification being produced of natural causes hath also its natural effects In some Countries more Southward it 's an ordinary Presage of great Tempests at hand but here various weather succeeds according to it 's various appearances and colours It is the lowest of Meteors saith Bacon and when it appears in parts and not whole or conjoyned it produceth Windes and Rain If it appear double or triple it usually presageth Rain If the colours thereof tend more to red than any other colour Winde follows if green or blew predominate then Rain The Audibility of Sounds are certain Prognosticks of the Of noise and stilness in the Air. temper of the Air in a still Evening For if the Air be repleat with moisture over us it depresseth Sounds that they become Audible at a far greater distance than when the Air is free from such moisture or vapours as you may observe in Building the lower and more ponderous the Roof or Floor next you is the farther and plainer may you hear any thing therein which is the true cause of the quick hearing at the whispering-place in Gloucester-Catherdral which is not only from the closeness of the passage as is generally conceived but from the weight and Massiness of the building over it The like I have observed in Rooms covered with Lead Stone c. and in places under large Cisterns of water From whence you may conclude that in such nights or other times that you hear sounds of Bells noises of Water Beasts Birds or any other sounds or noises more plainly than at other times the Air is inclinable to Rain which commonly succeeds The same may be said of Ecchoes as of other noises and Of Ecchoes sounds When it Thunders more than it Lightens it signifies great Of Thunder and Lightning Windes but if it Lighten oftner than it Thunders it signifies great and hasty showres Morning-Thunders signifie Winde Noon-Thunders Rain roaring or distant Thunders signifie Winde but cracking or acute Thunders Windes and Rain According to the Opinion and Rules of others and our own Of the rarity and density of the Air. Observations we have given you the best and most probable indications of the future changes of the Winde Weather c. from the several and usual appearances above either certain or uncertain or accidental Now it remains that we say somewhat in relation to the temper or qualification of the Air it self deducted from its own being more rare