you doo it then the conditions of a man for being well tylled it wyll not deceaue you but deale iustly with you To knowe the nature of euery grounde Iscomachus in Xenophon dooth wyll you to marke wel the plantes and the yeeld of the Countrey except you wyll loose your labour or fyght with god Varro counsels you to looke whether there be in the land eyther Stone Marble Sande Grauell Raddell Chalke Claye Preble or Carbuncle that is ground ouer heated and parched with the Sunne whiche wyll burne the rootes of what so euer commeth in it Also yf it be wette or weepyng ground or subiect vnto other inconueniences and suche grounde also according to the nature of the soyle is good or euyl In some Countreys stonie grounde is altogeather barren specially for Corne and Fruite In other places agayne they vse stones in the manuring and bettring of their lande as in certayne places of Arden is to be seene Theophrascus wryteth that the Corynths dyd cast away all the stones out of the Feeldes of Sarragosa and thereby made the ground the woorse when the stones being away and the Countrey hot there was no succour left to defend the ground from the extreame heate of the Sunne In other places in stonie and hilly groundes Otes doo prosper well In lyke sort in all Countreys we must regarde the layre of the Countrey and the nature of the seede that we sowe for Grauell in some places is cast vppon the ground in steade of doung and some thinges prosper best in grauelie groundes In Barbarie as Columella dooth wâ—tnesse the very rotten sandes exceede any other grounde in fruitefulnesse It is also something to the purpose whether the grauell be white redde or yellowe besides some grounde dooth deceaue both with colour and qualitie In some Countreys the blacke mould is onely esteemed in others the fat redde mould is thought best In Englande the chalkie grounde beareth good corne and pastures very well In some places the thicke and the clammie ground is most fruitefull In al these it is to be learned what is best for the hill ground what for the valley what for the tylled what for the leye grounde what the moyst seggie grounde requires and what the drye and barraine Also in planting what ground is best for Uines what for other trees what delightes in drie ground what in moyst ground Virgil commendeth a mellowe ground that is fatte and wyll soone be resolued for such ground is tylled with smalest charge and labour the next is that whiche is faâ—â—e and stiffe which greatly recompenceth the husbande his trauaile and charges the woorst is that which is dry leane and stiffe for both it is tylled with great labour and beside neither answeareth in his croppe the husbandes trauayle neither serueth it for good meddowe or pasture any time after and therfore such ground is not to be medled withall Also the goodnesse of the ground is easely perceaued by perfect tokens for a clod sprinckled with a litle water if in working with the hand it be clammie and cleauing and sticketh to the fyngers like Pitche when it is handled as the Poete sayth and breaketh not in falling to the grounde this sheweth a naturall fatnesse and richenesse to be in it besides you may knowe the mould that is good for Corne yf it beare Bulrusshes Thistels Threeleaued grasse Danewoort Brambles Blackthorne and such like as neuer growe but in good grounde as on the other syde lothsome and illfauoured weedes declare a leane and a bitter ground Ferne and withered plantes a colde grounde sadde and heauy coloured a moyst and a wette ground a raddell and a stony ground is discerned by the eye a stiffe and tough clay by the labour and toyle of the Oxen A good token is it also of good ground where the Crowes and the Pyes folowe in great number the Plowe scraping in the steppes of the Plowman The goodnesse is likewyse knowen yf at the Sunne setting after a Raynebowe and in a shewre of rayne folowyng a great drouthe it yeeldeth a pleasaunt sauour also in taste it wyl appeare yf tasting a clodde that hath been watred in an earthen vessell you finde it sweete it is a signe of riche grounde yf bitter a great token of barren grounde yf it be saltishe it is to be shunned and not to be vsed vppon the dounghill You must remember also that ground wyll some times change and of fruitefull become barren whiche hath been seene as Plinie reporteth in the olde time in Thessali and in our time in sundry places of our Countrey Beside one kind of ground though it be neuer so fertill wyll not beare all thinges as the Poete wysely noteâ—h Ne serues one ground for euery Croppe Moreouer the disposition of the Heauens is a great matter all Countreys haue not the weather and ayre alike wherfore it is the part of a good husband to knowe the nature and propertie of his ground and to marke the disposition of it for euery part of the yeere he must also consider what Croppe is best for euery layer Some ground serueth for Corne some for Uines some for Oliues some for Meddowe some for Pasture neither may all thinges well be sowen in riche grounde nor nothing in barren ground Suche thinges as neede not muche moysture are best sowed in lyght ground as the great Elauer Sperie Chich and the other pulses that are pulled and not cut Those that require more sustenaunce are sowen in richer ground as Potte hearbes Wheate Rye Barley Linseede Some of them doo good to the grounde the yeere folowyng as Lupines that are vsed to be sowen for the beâ—tering of the grounde There is difference also to be put betwixt fruites for pleasure and such as be for profite as fruite trees and flowres and suche thinges as yeeld both pleasure and sustenancâ— and are also profitable to the grounde You must choose for Wyllowes Osyres and Reedes a wette and a marrish ground and contrary where you wyll haue Come Pulse that delightes in drye ground Sperage such like must be sowen in shaddowy places and other ground for Quicksets Tymber Mast Fewel yea such ground as is very grauely and barren hath his vse where you may plant Birche suche like and waterie groundes where you may set Alders Broome and Bullrusshes RIGO Surely the temperature of the ayre dooth very muche in the fruitefulnesse of the grounde for I haue oftentimes marked that one kinde of ground is more fruiteful in one Countrey then in an other CONO In Venefri the Grauell grounde beares Oliues best where as about Granado they require the richest ground that may be When in other places the Uine dooth not prosper very well in stonie groundes about the Rhine the very ragged rockes doo yeelde as fruitefull Uines as may be seene Plinie dooth witnesse that in some places the Uines do grow euen in the Fennes and Marshes suche a secrete force is there in
nor are in danger of storme or tempestes as other kinde of grounde is except suche parcels as lye neare Riuers and Ilandes whiche are sometimes ouerflowed and that discommoditie is sufficiently recompenced with the fatnesse that the water leaues behinde it whiche enricheth the grounde and makes it the better yeerely to yeelde his gayne eyther in Pasture or Meddowe The Pastures wiâ—h vs doo commonly serue both for Pasture or Meddowe when we list specially in suche places where the grounde is ritche and drye whiche they had ratired to employ to Pasture because with dounging of Cattell it waxeth â—â—wayes the better whereas with continuall bearing of Heâ— in hath growen to be mossie and nought but where the grounde is alwayes wette and watrishe there it is better to let it lye for Meddowe Columella maketh two kindes of Pasture grounde whereof one is alwayes drye the other ouerflowen The good and the riche grounde hath no neede of ouerflowyng the Hay being muche better that groweth of the selfe goodnesse of the grounde then that whiche is forced by waters whiche sometime notwithstandyng is needefull yf the barrennesse of the grounde requireth it for in badde and noughtie grounde good Meddowe may be made if it lye to be ouerflowen but then must the grounde neither lye hollowe nor in hilles lest the one of them keepe the waters vppon it to long and the other presently let it soorth agayne Therefyre lyeth the grounde best that lyeth leuelest which suffereth not the water to remayne very long nor auoydeth it too soone If in suche grounde it chaunce to stand ouerlong it may be auorded with water streame at your pleasure for both ouerplus and the want of water are alike hurtfull vnto Meddowes It is very handsome where drye and barrayne grounde lyeth so by the Riuer as the water may be let in by Trenches when you lyst in fine the occupying of Pasture groundes require more care then trauayle First that we suffer not Busshes Thornes nor great Weedes to ouergrowe them but to destroy some of them as Brembles Bryers Bulrusshes and Sedges in the ende of Sommer and the other that be Sommer Weedes as Sowthystell and all other Thystels in the Spring You must take heede of Swyne that spoyle and turne vp the grounde ilfauouredly and all other Cattell except it be in hard and drye weather for otherwyse they gult and maâ—re the grounde with the deepe sincking of their feete treading in the Grasse and breaking the Rootes The badde and barrayne groundes are to be helped with doung in Winter specially in Februarie the Moone encreasing and the stones stickes and suche baggage as lye scattered abrode are to be throwen out sooner or later as the grounde is There are some Meddowes that with long lying are ouer growen with Mosse whiche the old husbands were woout to remedie with casting of certaine seedes abrode or with laying on of doung specially Pigeons doung but nothing is so good for this purpose as often to cast asshes vppon it for that destroyeth Mosse out of hand Notwithstanding these are but troublesome remedies The best and certainest is to plowe it for the grounde after his long rest will beare goodly Corne. But after you haue plowed it it wyll scarse recouer his olde estate againe for Pasture or Meddowe in three or foure yeeres When you meane to let your ground lye againe for Meddowe or Pasture your best is to sowe it with Oates and to harrowe the grounde euen and leuell and to hurle out all the stones and suche thinges as may hurt the Sythe for Oates is a great breeder of Grasse Some doo cast Hey seede geathered from the Heyloaft or the racks ouer the grounde before they harrowe it Others agayne when their Meddowes haue lyen long sowe Beanes vpon them or Rape seede or Millet and the yeere after Wheate and the thirde yeere they let them lye againe for Meddowe or Pasture You must beware that whyle the ground is loose and soft you let not in the water for the force of the water wyll washe away the earth from the rootes of the Grasse and wyll not suffer them to growe togeather neither must you for the like daunger suffer Cattell to come vppon it except in the seconde yeere Goates or Sheepe or suche like after you haue mowed it and that yf the season be very drye The thirde yeere you may put on your greater sort of Cattell againe and yf the grounde be hilly and barrayne you may doung the highest part of it in Februarie as I saide before casting on it some Hey seede for the higher part being mended the rayne or water that comes to it wyll carry downe some part of the richenesse to the hottome as I saide before when I spake of the manuring of earable grounde But yf you wyl lay in newe grounde for Meddowe and that you may haue your choyse take such as is ritche dewye leuell or a little hanging or choose suche as valley where the water can neither lye long nor runne away to fast neither is the rancke Grasse alwayes a signe of good grounde for what goodlyer Grasse is there saith Plinie then is in Germanie and yet you shall there haue sand within a little of the vpper part Neither is it alway a watrie grounde where the Grasse growes hie for the very Mountaines in Sycherland yeeld great and hie Grasse for Cattell The Pastures that lyes by the Lakes of Dumone in Austri and Hungry are but selender nor about the Rhine specially at his falling into the Sea about Holland as likewyse in Frislande and Flaunders Caesar Vopiscus the Feeldes of Roscius were the principal of Italie where the Grasse would so soone growe as it woulde hide a staffe in a day You may make good Meddowe of any grounde so it may be watred Your Meddowes are to be purged in September and October and to be ridde of all Busshes Brambles and great foule Weedes and al thinges els that annoy them then after that it hath often been stirred and with many times plowing made fine the stones cast away and the cloddes in euery place broken you must doung it well with freshe doung the Moone encreasing Let them be kept from gulling and trampling of Cattel The Mouldhilles dounging of Horse and Bullockes must with your Spade be cast abroade whiche yf they remaine would eyther be harberours of Antes and suche like Uermine or els breeders of hurtful and vnprofitable weedes your Meddowes must be laide in towardes Marche and kept from Cattell and made very cleane yf they be not ritche they must be mended with doung whiche must be laide on the Moone encreasing and the newer the doung be the better it is and the more Grasse it makes whiche must be laide vpon the toppe of the highest of the grounde that the goodnesse may runne to the bottome The best hearbe for Pasture or Meddowe is the Trefoyle or Clauer the next is sweete Grasse the woorst as Plinie saith is Russhes
where the springes feede them and of great profite the other neare to the Sea where Neptune doth yeelde them both store of water and Fishe for examples may serue the Fish-ponds of Hortensius whiche rather pleased the eye then the purse The best making of Pondes is eyther by the sea as Lucullus who to let in the Sea into his ponds made a passage through the midest of a great hill whereby he thought him selfe as great a Lorde of Fishe as Neptune him selfe or els to haue them feede from some great streame or Riuer that may bring in both water and Fish which by Fludde or Sluse may let in alwayes freshe water not suffering the old to corrupt but alway refreshing it and bringing more Fishe The next in goodnesse are those that are fedde with Pipes or secrete passages vnder the ground may be let out agayne by Sluse which Sluses must so be made as wheÌ„ you lift you may let the water into your Meddowes to make them more fruitefull as is to be scene in the countreys of the Swytches and Heluetians and in many other places And therefore the waters as I said must be well enclosed with good Bayes Bankes and Wales that they may be able to abide the rage of the fluddes and the water The worst and last kind is such as are made in Lakes standing Pooles and Rayne waters These kind of pondes though they be the worst by reason of theyr vncleane stinking and corrupt water yet where there is no better are to be made account of for though they be not the holsomest for keeping of Fishe yet they yeelde some commoditie and are most necessary about the house eyther for watering of Cattell keeping of Beefe and Duckes and washing and other like vses but yf so be you can make them eyther by the Sea or neare sâ—me great Riuer so as the water may be let in and out at your pleasure and when so euer you open the Sluses to let out the wâ—ter Be sure that you haue them well grated that the Fishe can by no meanes passe through and let the passages yf the place wyll suffer it be made on euery side the Pond for the old water wyll best voyde when so euer the streame bendes the currant lye agaynst it These Sluses or passages you must make at the bottome of the Ponds yf the place wyll so serue that laying your leuell with the bottome of the Pond you may discerne the Sea or Riuer to lye seuen foote higher for this Columella thinkes wyll be a sufficient leuell for your Pond and water yenough for your Fishe Howbeit there is no doubt the deeper the water comes from the Sea the cooler it is wherein the Fishes most delight And yf so be the place where you meane to make your Pond lye leuell with the brym of the Sea or the Riuer you must dygge it nine foote deepe and lay your currant within two foote of the toppe and so order it as the water come in abundantly for the olde water lying vnder the leuell of the Sea wyll not out agayne except a greater rage come in but for the Pond that is subiect to the fludde and the ebbe it is yenough yf it be but two foote deepe In the bankes and sides of these Ponds you must haue Busshes and Creeke holes for the Fishe to hide them in from the heate of the Sunne besides old hollowe trees and rootes of trees are pleasant and delightfull harbours for Fishe And yf you can hansomely conuay them it is best to bring from the Sea little Rockes with the weedes and all vppon them and to place them in the middest of your Ponds and to make a young Sea of them that the Fishe may skarsly knowe of theyr imprisonment About Turwan in Fraunce and in other places you shall finde in Loughes and Rayne waters euen in the wyldernesse and Heathes great abundance of Fishe In diuers places of the lowe countreys where they haue theyr Ponds fedde with the Riuer which they may shutte out at theyr pleasure they so order them as they be eyther enuironed or deuided with deeper Ditches wherein the Fishe doth liue in the Sommer time and the rest of the ground betwyxt the Ditches the water being voyded and kept out by Sluses and Bankes is sowed with sommer corne and after haruest the water let in agayne whereby the ground being wonderously enritched dooth yeelde great croppes of Barly and Sommer corne and as the Poet sayth for the land so may be sayde for the water Not euery ground for euery seede â— but regarde must be had what for euery one meete The Romanes keepe in theyr Ponds Lampryes Oysters Luces Mullettes Lamporns Guyltheddes and all other Fishe besides that are vsed to be kept in freshe waters Ponds for Oysters were fyrst deuised by Sergius Orata at the Baynes about the time of L. Crastus the Oratour before the battayl of Marsie not so much for delicasie but for his commoditie and gayne Cocles and Musles were kept in Ponds by Fuluius Hirpinus Moreouer diuers Fishes delight in diuers places The best Pykes and Luces were thought to be in the Ryuer of Tyber betwyxt the two brydges the Turbottes at Rauenna the Lampreys in Sicylli so Riuers Lakes Pooles and Seas in some places haue better Fishe then in others Whereto to returne to my Fishponds from whence I came neyther may all sortes of Fishes be kept in euery one for some sortes are Grauellers delighting only in Grauelly Stony and Sandy waters as Menowes Gudgiâ—s Bullheddes Ruffes Trowtes Perches Lamporns Creuisses Barbylls and Cheuins Others delight agayne in Muddy places seeking euer to lye hyd in the Mud as the Tench the Ele the Breame the Carpe and such others Some agayne delight in both as the Pyke the Luce the Carpe the Breame the Bleake and the Roach The Grauelly Fishes specially the Menowes are ingendred of Sheepes doung layed in small baskettes in the bottome of a grauelly Riuer The Luce or Pyke groweth as likewyse dooth the Carpe to be great in a short time as in three or foure yeeres and therefore in such Ponds as haue neyther the Sea nor Riuer comming to them we vse euery fourth or thyrd yeere to drawe the olâ— and to store them with young And in these parts we cheefely store them with Carpe hauing small Ponds and Stewes for the purpose to keepe them in so as you may come by them at your pleasure Thus much I thought good to declare vnto you touching my profession let vs now see what you MELISSEVS can say for your Bees and your Hony MELISSEVS Because I wyll not haue our discourse of husbandry depriued and maymed of such a profitable member whose vse may in al places be they neuer so desart or barren be had I thinke it good as a conclusion to the whole to shewe you for my part the manner of keeping and ordering of Bees for the good husband by cherishing of them picketh out many times
these wylde sort in Sarmatia PVLLARIVS They say that in Liuonia Sarmatia from whence is brought hyther great store of Waxe and Hony the country people doo geather it in great abundance in hollowe trees and desart places MELISSEVS The greatest token of Bees and Hony neare is where they be in great numbers about the waters for yf you see the number but small it is a signe it is no good place for Bees and yf so be you see they come in great numbers you may soone learne where theyr stockes be in this sort as Columella and others haue taught You shall carry with you in a saucer or such like thing some redde colour or paynting and standing neare to the springes or waters there aboutes as fast as they come touche them vpon the backes whyle they are a drinking with some little strawe dipped in the colour and carry you there tyl such time as you see them returne If the Bees that you marked doo quickly returne it is a token theyr houses be not farre of yf it be long eare they come it shewes they dwel farther of wherfore you may iudge by the time If they be neare you may easely finde them yf they be farre of you shall come to finde them in this sort take a peece of a Reede or a Kex with his knottes and ioyntes and making a small hole in the syde powre into it eyther Hony or some sweete thing and lay it by the water and when you see the Bees haue found it and entered the hole for the sauour of the Hony stoppe you the hole with your thome and let but one goe out at once whose course you shall followe as farre as you can see him and this shall bring you part of the way When you can no longer see him let out an other and followe him and so an other one after an other til you come to the place Others vse to set some little vessells with Hony by the water which when some one Bee or other hath happened to tast she geueth straight knowledge to her felowes whereby by theyr flying in number they come to fynde out their dwellinges If you finde the swarme to be in some such hole as you can not come at them you shal driue them out wich smoake and when they be out bring them downe with the ringing of a lattin bason so as they may settle vpon some tree from whence you may shake them into your Hiue If the swarme be in some hole aboue in the branches you may sawe of the branche handsomely and couering it with a white cloth place it amongest your Hiues If they be in the body of the tree then may you softly sawe of the tree aboue the Bees and afterward close vnderneath them and being couered as before carry them home stopping well the chinkes and ryftes yf there be any He that seeketh the Bees must beginne in the morning that he may haue the hole day before him to marke theyr labouring Thus farre of the kindes of Bees and getting to them nowe wyll I shewe you of the placing of them ordring and keeping of them The place for your Bees and your Hiues must be so chosen as they may stand quietly and secrete standing specially in such place as they may haue the Sunne in winter and in the spring time alway at the rising and such as is neyther to hotte nor too cold for the excesse of eyther doth hurt them but rather temperate that both in sommer and winter they may haue moderate warmth and holsome ayre being farre remoued from the company of either man or beast Where neyther wind may come whose blastes forbyds Them bringing home theyr loades nor Sheepe nor wanton Kids To spring among the flowers nor wandring best Shake of the dew and trampling spoyle the rest For they most of all delight in quietnesse beware beside that there be no hurtfull creatures neare them as the Tode that with his breath doth both poyson the Bee and also draweth them to him the Woodpecker the Swallowe the Sparro the Storke Spydars Harnettes Butterflyes Serpents and Mothes Dryue from thy Hyues the hurtfull Lysart greene Keepe Throstells Hennes and other byrdes vntreweâ— And Progne on whose brest as yet is seene The blooddy marke of hands that I t ys slewe All these destroy thy Bees and to their nestes doo beare Such as they take in flight to make their young once cheare Of such thinges as hurt your Bees I wyll hereafter speake more where I shall shewe you of their diseases and harmes in the meane time I wyll goe forward with the placing of them The place where they should stand would rather be in the valley then very hie but so as the rebound of no Ecco doo hurt them whiche sound is very noysome vnto them so shall they flee with more case and speede to the higher places and come laden downe againe with lesse trauayle If the seate of the house wyll so suffer it is good to haue your Bees stand neare your house and to be enclosed with a hedge or a pale but on such side as they be not annoyed with the sent of sinke priuie or dounghill The best standing is within the sight of the maister by whose presence they are safest kept For their better safetie yf you feare them you may set them a yarde or more from the ground enclosing them with little grates left open against euery Hiue or so lettysed with stone as the Bee may easely come out and in and scape both birdes and water or yf you list you may make a little house by for the keeper wherein you may lay your Hiues for your swarmes and other necessaries meete for your Bees setting neare to the Hiues some shadowing trees for them to swarme vpon according to the Poets aduise And plant the Date tree neare or pleasant Olyue tree That with their floury branches sweete thy Hiues may shadowed be That when the captaines young leade out their lusty swarmes The pleasant shade may them allure to shun the greater harmes Not needing for their ease in places farre to roame When as they may more safely syt and better speede at home If it may be let them haue some fayre spring neare them or els some water conueyed in pipe for without water they can neyther make Hony Waxe nor breede vp their young and therefore sayth the Poete Haue sâ—unt aynes sweete at band or mossy waters greene Or pleasant brooke that passing through the Meades is sweetely seene And straightwayes after If eyther standyng poole be neither to them ny Or â—â—rning streame with hasly course their dwellings passeth by Cast â—owâ—â— of Wyllowe crosse and mighty stones withall That may preserue the faynting Bee that in the fludde doth fal Round about the Beeyard and neare to the Hiues set hearbes plantes and flowres both for their health and profite specially such as are of the sweetest and delicatest sauour as Cithysus
wâ—ter or running water in maner of a Fishepond and there he would haue Horse and Oxen comming from the Feelde or stable to be watred and washed and to serue likewyse for Sheepe Swyne and Geese In the vtter court would he haue a Lake to cart in wheeles staues and peeces of timber for instrumentes of husbandry that they might there be seasoned This court he woulde haue often strawed with strawe and Chaffe that being trampled with cattell it may serue to laye vpon the grounde You see in this court a double dounghil one of them newely throwen out of the stables an other olde one seruing for the Feelde for new doung is nothing so good as the olde for manuring of the ground RIGO What meanes these twigges bowes and strawes cast vpon the doung CONO This preserues the doung that the iuyce that the ground requires be not sucked out of the sunne and hyther also runnes the water from the Laundry to moist it the better Varro woulde haue here also a lodging for seruantes But lest we tarry to long among the dounghilles let vs goe see the other buildinges about the court These great roomes that you see be Barnes to laâ—â— Corne in In some places they vse houses in others agayne stackes set vpon proppes which they call mowes but the houses are a great deale better Next to the Barnes are the stables standing arowe round about the court And because Virgil woulde haue the stable stande towarde the south and Vitrunius neere the fyre I haue folowed their order in building my stables And first haue I set here my stable for my Cart horse I haue an other stable neere myne owne lodging for my Horses of seruice and Hackneyes RIGO That seemeth to be very handsomely built CONO The next are houses for my sheepe and next them for Kine Calues Heyfers There is a Hogstie with two roomes one for my farrowyng sowes the other for Hogges and Bores There is also a thirde stie not farre from the washouse for the fatting of my Porkes euery kinde hath their keepers lying neere them that they may be at hand whatsoeuer chaunceth Last of all there stands my Heybarne which hath in the vpper roomes my Hey and beneath Waynes Cartes Carres Waggons Coaches Harrowes Sledes Plowes Rowlers Wheeles Naues Cartshooes Yokes Rakes Plowbeames and suche other like which are there safe from wet and from pilferers RIGO I pray you who dooth looke to all this geare and keepeth euery man to his woorke CONO My Bayliffe as I tolde you before ouerseeth both my woorke and my woorkemen besides I haue â— Stewarde that looketh to the receauing of my reuenues and commodities RIGO Your Bayliffe had neede to be a skilfull and a trustie man. CONO You say true for as Xenophon sayth the choyse of a Bayliffe and a Phisition ought to be one you must choose suche a one as being a very expert husbandman may well be able to take the charge and not to be ignorant of those things him selfe that he commaundeth others to doo for nothing is well taught or learned without example For as Cato sayth of a husbande of the olde stampe it goeth ill with that maister whom the Bayliffe must teache As Iscomachus being demaunded of Socrates whether he would buye a Bayly as he woulde hire a Smith or rather teache him him selfe at home He answeared he would haue him of his owne teaching RIGO But this is after the olde world wherein no man was vnskilfull but it is a woonder how you that haue alwayes been brought vp in Princes affayres could in these dayes when very fewe except Plowmen and such as haue no other trade of lyfe haue any skill in it apply your mind so vnto it as a man would thinke you had neuer minded any other profession CONO Surely I thinke he shall neuer haue a good Baylye that is not able him selfe to iudge skilfully of him nor let hym euer thinke to haue his woorke wel doone that knoweth not how nor which way thinges ought to be doone but must be faine to learne of his man for theâ—e is none can iudge of a woorke but a woorkeman Therefore in the choyse of a Bayliffe I woulde haue foure thinges cheefely considered that he be louing diligent meete to rule and trustie and yf you wyll adde a fyft I am well contented that is that he be not geuen to drunkennesse for a drunkenman looseth with his memorie the regarde of his duetie I doo not enquire whether he haue been brought vp ciuilly or deyntely but I woulde haue him a hard fellowe brought vp from his childehood to labour and one that were throughly well skilled of a meane age that he be not vnwylling to woorke for youth nor vnable to crauayle for age I woulde haue him haue some skil in Carpentrie that if there happened to be any thing broken about his Stables his Cartes or any other his instrumentes he might speedely mend them and that he coulde mend Walles and Hedges I woulde haue him also not vnskilful in y diseases of cattell such a one as hath been brought vp with skilful husbandes wyll prooue meetest to haue charge For there be a great number that though they be skilfull yenough in their profession yet haue they not gouernment in them but eyther vsing to much sharpnesse or to muche gentlenesse towardes suche as be vnder them doo hinder the profite of their maister and therefore I woulde haue a Bayliffe well tryed before he be taken neither is it onely to be sought whether he be skilfull in this craft but whether he be trustie and louing to his maister without whiche he is not woorth a rushe though his skill be neuer so great And cheefely he must be skilfull in this to know what worke is meetest for euery man for some woorkes require strength more then skill and others otherwyse And therefore in appointing of these he ought to haue great iudgement and good discretion which he can not haue except he haue good skill Therefore a Bayliffe is as well to be taught as a Smith or a Carpenter and the knowledge of husbandry is greater and of more difficultie Wherefore I marueyle that in this so necessarie an occupation there are found so fewe maisters and prentices RIGO Perhaps the tediousnesse and hardnesse thereof driueth them away CONO Why haue not Orators been likewyse driuen away for hitherto as Cicero sayth there hath been no perfect Orator found RIGO Of whom would you haue your Bayliffe to be taught CONO Your question is good I wyll shewe you though very few haue taught what belongeth to a husband in all things neither shall you finde many skilfull in euery point Therefore he that shall be a Baylie must be taught by degrees he must fyrst begin when he is a childe with keeping of Sheepe or Swyne and when he is elder with droues of cattell and keeping of horse he must learne next to digge to threashe to set to
sowe to hedge to build to mend such thinges as are broken to play the butcher to geue drinkes and medicines to sicke cattell and such other like thinges And thus must he proceede from one to an other tyll hauing passed them all he come to be a maister euen as Gregory Nazianzen teacheth of a Byshop and as Tully would haue a generall after he hath borne all other offices of the feelde RIGO You shewe me woonderfull Philosophie CONO As I saide at the fyrst his best age is betwixt thirtie and threescore for the flames of lustie youth beginning to abate he wyll not be so hotte in his wooing for whyle he folowes that game he wyll haue no minde but of his minion neither shal any reward be so welcome vnto him as the fruite of his fancie nor any greefe so great to him as the fayling of his desire If he once passe threescore he waxeth slouthfull and vnable to labour For I had rather haue the woorke of a painefull and diligent Bayliffe then the seruice of a great number of slouthful lubbers as he that had rather haue a Lion captaine ouer Hartes then a Hart captaine ouer Lions This must cheefely be looked vnto sins early going to woorke is a great matter that the Bailiffe be a good riser and that supplying his maisters place he may be the fyrst vp in the mornyng and the last that goeth to bedde and that he see the doores fast locked and euery man in bedde that the cattel haue meate yenough and be well littured that he set forward according to the time of the yeere suche as doo loyter in their labour that he him selfe goe lustely before that he suffer no man after it is day to lagge behinde but that they folowe the Bayliffe lustely with a courage as yf he were their captaine in a skirmishe and that he vse sundry deuises to cheare them vp in their labour sometime as it were to helpe him that fainteth to take his toole out of his hand and labour lustely before him And as a carefull shepheard earlie carying out his sheepe and bringyng them home late looketh that he leaue none of his flocke behinde him so likewyse ought a good Bailiffe to carrie out his men and to haue good regard ouer them If any of them happen to be hurt or sicke let him looke to the dressing of them and yf they be very sicke to carrie them to the sicke folkes lodging and to see that they be well ordered and to that vse haue I built yonder house that you see remooued from the other buildinges that the sicke may be had thyther and looked vnto specially yf their diseases be contagious lest other should be infected It is the maisters duetie to haue such regarde of the health of his seruauntes and to haue such care of them that their sicknesse may be preuented by good medicines and good looking to as to see that theyr meate and drinke be wholsome and good and geuen in due season beside that the Bailiffe eate his meate with them and not by him selfe whereby it shal be the better ordered And because Phisitians are not alwayes at hand in the Countrey it behoueth to vse such remedies as experience hath taught and such as haue holpen others of like diseases Those that labour in the Sunne because the Sunne hurteth the body and the vaynes theyr diet must be the thinner that they make not to great meales but eate litle and often this order keepeth them in health and helpeth digestion Some doo vse to geue Woormewood wine or potage made of Woormewood It is very necessarie for them sometimes to reâ—reate them selues so that in the meane whyle they geue not them selues to noughtinesse There must be heede taken that they drinke not when they be hotte nor lye vppon the colde ground yf their water be not good it must be wel purified It is very good also to let them drinke Barly water We must remember that seruantes be men besides such good looking to wyll breede a greater good wyll and duetie and lightly they wyl serue the faythfuller and better when they haue their health whiche haue had good cherishing in their sicknesse and besides which is not so well obserued in greater gouernours the Bayliffe must beware that he deale not to cruelly nor to gently with them that he alwayes make much of those that be diligent and painefull that he be not to hastie with the woorser sort that they may rather reuerence him for his seueritie then hate him for his crueltie whiche he shall easely bring to passe yf he rather beware that they offende not then after their offence to late to punishe them For there is none so good a bridle for an euil disposed person as to let him alwayes be occupied So that Catoes saying herein is most true that men in dooing nothing learne to doo euyll Let them haue their allowance and their meate in due season let them alwayes feede togeather in one place and the Bayliffe with them that he may be an example to them of all thriftinesse If he â—inde any of them to haue labourâ—d painefully and tâ—uely let him geue them a good countenance encourage them with rewardes to make them the wyllinger to doo their dueties beside let him looke that they be rather well clothed then curioâ—â—â—â— apparelled that their garmentes may keepe them from the colde aâ—d the rayne let their wages be well paide them that the wâ—at thereof be no excuse for them to loâ—â—er in their labour And as meate and apparell is necessarie for them so likewyse is correctâ—on For the wyse man sayth Geue a Horse the whip an Asse the snâ—â—â—ell and a Foole the rodde And agayne He that deales to gently with his seruauntes shal make them in the ende stubborne and froward Aboue all thinges let hym see that they feare God let him in no wyse suffer them to sweare or to blaspheme nor to vse filthy or vngodly speache but let him prouide that they be instructed in the Catechisme that they vse prayer that they go to Sermons vpon the holy dayes and receaue the Sacraments at times appoynted that they be not hunters of Alehouses or euill company For as the Poet sayth It is lawfull to be well occupied euen on the Festiuall dayes When they haue serued GOD and dyned let them walke abrode in the ground let them looke there be no cattell in the Corne and stoppe suche Gappes as they fynde open and looke that their cattell be in safetie abrode To be short the Bayliffe must in all these matters be as it were a Byshop or a maister of the woorkes so shall euery man the better doo the woorke that belongeth vnto him The Bailyffe must neuer be from their heeles least in his absence they fall to loytering neither must he suffer them any time to be idel he hym selfe must not be geuen to drinking or gaming nor to huntyng or fysshing except for his maisters profyte let him
doung and the drye ground the lesse RIGO I remember I haue yer this seene Earth taken out of the Feeldes neere adioyning and layde vppon the lande I therefore gesse the earth may be mended with earth CONO The Germanes besydes sundry other sortes of enriching of their groundes doo in steade of doung cast vppon it a kinde of pith and fatnesse of the earth Plinie countes it to be fyrst deuised in Englande and Fraunce called Marga as it were the fatte of the Earth but I rather thinke it to be the inuention of the Germanes with whom yet both the name and the vse is retayned it is gotten in deepe pittes but not alike in all soyles That part of Fraunce that lyes vpon the Maase dooth shewe a sandy kinde of Marle differing from the fatte Marle of Germanie but of the same qualitie whiche caried vppon the Sea in vessels is sold as a great marchandize In some places the skowring of Pondes and Ditches is vsed to the great enriching of the grounde in the mountaynie and barren groundes In some Countreys they make their land very fruitefull with laying on of Chalke as Plinie testifyeth of the Burgundians and the Gaskoynes And in Germanie in our dayes this maner of mendyng of ground is common But long vse of it in the ende bringes the grounde to be starke nought whereby the common people haue a speache that ground enriched with Chalke makes a riche father and a beggerly sonne A litle lower not farre from the Maase in the Countrey of Lyege they mende their lande with a kinde of sâ—ate stone which cast vpon the ground dooth moulder away and makes the grounde fatter In Lombardie they lyke so well the vse of asshes as they esteeme it farre aboue any doung thinking doung not meete to be vsed for the vnholsomenesse therof Columella wryteth that his Uncle was woont to mende sandy and grauely groundes with Chalke and chalkie hard grounds with grauell and sande whereby he had alwayes goodly Corne. So doo I thinke that Riuer lande by ouerflowynges and fast ground with mudde mingled with sande and grauell wyll be made muche better RIGO You haue tâ—ught me sundry wayes of mendyng of ground I would gladly nowe learne the ryght way of plowyng and sowyng CONO In plowyng and orderly preparing grounde for seede consistes the cheefest poynt of husbandry Cato affyrmeth the fyrst point of husbandry to be to prepare the grounde well the seconde to plowe it well and the thirde to doung it well Of plowing and turnyng vp the grounde the fashion is diuers accordyng to the nature of euery soyle countrey All great feeldes are tylled with the Plowe and the Share the lesser with the Spade The Plowes are of sundry fashions accordyng to the diuersitie of Countreys some single some double some with wheeles some without The partes of the Plowe are the Tayle the Shelfe the Beame the Foote the Coulter the Share the Wheeles and the Staffe The Share is that which fyrst cuttes the way for the Coulter that afterwards turnes vp the Forowe Where the ground is light they vse only a small Share In Lifflande they haue for their Plowe nothing but a Forke In Syria where they can not goe very deepe they vse as Theophrastus writes very little Plowes Plinie wryteth that wheeles for Plowes were deuised by the Frenchemen and called Plugrat a Germaine name which corruptly is printed Planarati In diuers places where the grounde is stiffe they haue a litle wyng on the ryght syde of the Coulter whiche wyng is to be remooued to whiche syde you list with the Rodde or Staffe well poynted the plowman maketh cleane his Coulter When you woorke your Oxen must be yoked euen togeather that they may drawe more handsomely with heads at libertie and lesse hurt to their neckes This kinde of yoking is better liked of many then to be yoked by the hornes for the Cattell shal be able to drawe better with the necke and the brest then they shall with their heades and this way they put to the force of their whole bodyes whereas the other way being restrayned by the yoke on their heads they are so greeued as they scarsely race the vpper part of the earth Where Horses may be vsed their vse is more commodious for the Plowe and the fewer of them the better for many Horses drawe too hastyly and make too large Furrowes which is not good whereby we see the grounde to be excellently well plowed in Gelderland and about Coleyne where they plowe alwayes with two Horses going very softly In Fraunce and other places where they plowe with Oxen they make theyr Furrowes rather deepe then brode Where the ground is stiffe the Coulter must be the greater and the stronger that it may goe the deeper for yf the crust of the earth be turned vp very brode it remayneth still hole whereby neither the weedes are killed nor the ground can be well harrowed The Furrowe ought not to exceede one hundred and twentie foote in length for yf it doo as Columella sayth it is hurtfull to the beastes because they are to muche weeried withall but this rule where the feeldes are large is not in many places regarded as in the Countrey of Gulicke where the feeldes are great their Furrowes are drawen very long You must not plowe in wette weather nor wette ground nor when after a long drouthe a little rayne falling hath but wette the vtter part and not gone deepe If it be too wette when it is plowed it dooth no good that yeere You must therefore haue a regard to the temperature of your season that it be neither to drye nor to wette for too muche moysture maketh it to durtie and too great drynesse maketh that it wyll neuer woorke well for eyther the hardnesse of the Earth resisteth the Plowe or yf it doo enter it breakes it not small yenough but turneth vp great flakes hurtful to the next plowing For though the land be as riche as may be yet yf you goe any deapth you shall haue it barren which is turned vp in these great cloddes whereby it happeneth that the bad moulde mixed with the good yeeldeth the woorser Croppe Where you haue plowed in a drye season it is good to haue some moysture in your second stirring whiche moistning the grounde shall make your labour the lighter Where the grounde is riche and hath long borne water it is to be stirred againe when the weather waxeth warme and when the weedes are full growen and haue their seedes in their toppe whiche being plowed so thicke as you can scarse see where the Coulter hath gone vtterly killeth and destroyeth the weedes besides through many stirringes your Fallowe is brought to so fine a moulde as it shall neede very little or no harrowing at all when you sowe it for the old Romanâ—s as Columella wytnesseth would â—ay that the ground was yll husbanded that after sowing had neede of the
Harrowe Moreouer the good husband must trie whether it be wel plowed or no and not onely trust your eyes which the Balkes being couered with mould may easely be deceyued but trie it with your hand which is a certainer proofe by thrusting downe a rodde into the Furrowe which yf it pearce a like in euery place it sheweth that the ground is wel plowed If it be shallowe in one place and deepe in an other it declares the grounde to be euill handled in the plowing If you are to plowe vpon a Hill you must plowe ouerthwart and not vp and downe for therby the inconuenience of the steepenesse is met with and the labour of both Man and Cattell is lightened but herein you must beware that you plow not alwayes one way but sometime higher sometime lower woorking a slope as you shall see cause Touching the season of your plowing it must be cheefely in the spring as the Poete well teacheth VVhen as the pleasaunt spryng c. For in Sommer the ground is to hard and churlishe and in Winter to fowle and durtie but in the Spring the ground being mellowe is easely to be wrought and the weedes are then best turned in whiche both doo good for the enriching of the grounde plucked vp by the rootes before they haue seeded wyll neuer spring agayne And therefore with vs we vse to begin to plowe about the middest of Marche but in sandy and light grounde they vse to plowe in the middest of Winter yf the season wyll suffer Plinie is of opinion that stiffe ground also should then be stirred A slendar and leuell ground subiect to the water would be fyrst plowed in the ende of August and stirred againe in September and prepared for sowyng about the twelfth of Marche The light hilly ground is not to be broken vp in Sommer but about the Ralendes of September for yf it be broken vp afore being barren and without iuyce it is burnt vp with the Sunne and hath no goodnesse remayning in it Wette ground some would haue broken vp after the Ides of April whiche being plowed at that time shoulde be stirred agayne about the tenth of Iune and after againe about the Ralendes of September according to Columellaes minde But those that are skilfull in husbandry agree that after the tenth of Iune without great store of rayne you shall not plowe for yf the yeere be wette there is nothing to the contrary but you may plowe in Iuly In the meane time beware that you deale not with ground ouerwette as I gaue you warnyng before RIGO May I plowe in the night yf I lyst CONO Yea very well in Sommer time and in hotte Countreys you may begin in the Euening and continue til the Sunne ryse that the moisture and fatnesse of the grounde may remayne shadowed vnder the Clodde and that the Cattell through ouermuch heate of the Sunne be not diseased nor hurt Howe oft you shall plowe the ground that you meane to sowe partly the nature of the soyle and partly the condition of the seede wyl teache you as when we come to it I wyl tel you for it is not needeful to stirre a grauelly and a light ground so often as the stiffe ground yet we finde that land the oftner it is stirred the better it beares So that for some seede you must not only twyfallowe threefallowe your ground but also fourefallow it as they vse in the fruitefullest places of Italy and Germanie In Misnia and Austria they plowe but twyse Stiffe ground as they commonly doo in Italy is best to be sowed vpon the fifth stirring in Tuscan vpon the nienth Thus hath euery Countrey both in this and other matters his fashion according to the nature of the grounde RIGO But may I not sowe one peece of grounde euery yeere without resting CONO There are some groundes you may sowe yeerely as in Italy and Austria and likewyse in some partes here about the Riuer that are fruiteful eyther by nature or by ouerflowyng In other places you must obserue the olde saying of the husbande Take not too muche of your grounde Virgil would haue grounde rest euery other yeere which if you haue store of ground out of al doubt is best Hereof had the ground that is sowed euery yeere his name in the olde tyme but commonly euen the best grounde requireth rest the third the fourth or at the farthest the fifth yeere Varro wryteth that in Olynthia the lande beareth euery yeere and euery thirde yeere most plentifully But yf you wyll doo well you must let it lye euery other yeere according to the nature of the soyle or els sowe it with lighter seede that soketh out lesse the substance of the ground as Lupines and others that we wyl shortly entreate of It is also muche to be considered whether the ground that you plowe be laye ground yeerely sowen or fallowe If you breake vp newe ground yf it be riche heauie and prepared for seede it suffiseth to plowe it once and to sowe it immediatly and harrowe it If it be lighâ— and grauelly ground you muâ—â— thryfallowe it specially at the first breaking vp RIGO Here you speake of diuers tearmes belonging to this trade I pray you make me to vnderstand them before you proceede any farther CONO This arte as likewyse al other hath certaine woordes peculiar and belonging to it selfe and because sundry men of good learning haue herein been deceiued least my matter shoulde be marred with darke and strange tearmes I wyl declare the woordes as plaine as I can digressing a whyle from my farther â—peache RIGO I beseeche you hartely CONO We take Agrum a Feelde in out speache not for a iurisdiction a Diocesse or a Shire as the olde Lawiers take it but with Iabolenus and Florentinus we count it a parcell of grounde eyther earable or pasture Ager Aruus or Aruum we call earable grounde that is to be plowed and sowen Varro would rather haue it called Aratum and not Satum The Feelde that is called Restibilis is that which is renewed euery yeere sowen called of the Greke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because his fruietfulnesse continueth to the next yeereâ— yeeldeth his Crop euery yeere Ager Noualis is called of Varro the grounde that hath been sowed fallowed of Plinie counted to be sowen euery other yeere with the Lawiers it is counted ground newe plowed that hath lyen a yeere we according to the vulgar speache for we must speake with the most iudge with the fewest doo call Nouale Agrum that which is new broken vp and hath not before been plowed whereof commeth Noualium Decimae the cythes of new broken vp land yet I know there are some learned that count it that which after his Crop lyes lay Veruactum is of Varro taken for the grounde that in the Spring time is turned vp and hath been for a whyle spared Oftentimes is this also called Nouale both the
in them Midae Lomentum is the Meale which the people in olde tyme dyd vse for the smoothing of their skinnes Fresa Faba was the Beane that was but finally broken and hulledâ—in the Myll Refrina was that whiche they vsed to offer in sacrifyce for good lucke with their Corne. It is good to steepe your Beanes in the water of Saltpeeter a day before you sowe them you shall keepe them from Wyuels as Palladius sayth yf you geather them in the wane of the Moone and cherishe them and lay them vp before the encrease Beanes and all other Pulse doo mend the ground that they are sowen in The next to Beanes in woorthynesse and sowyng is Pease called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Pise and Piselle in Spanishe Aruera in Frenche Pese in Dutch Errettem a Pulse that groweth with hollowe stalkes and full of branches lying vpon the grounde many leaues and long the Coddes rounde conteyning in them round seedes and white though Plinie wryte that they be cornerd as Chych of which sort we haue some at this day blewishe with flowres in shape like the Butterâ—lye purple coloured toward the middest There are two sortes of Pease the one sort coueteth to climbe aloft and runneth vp vppon stickes to whiche with little wynders he bindeth hym selfe and is for the most part onely sowen in Gardens the other sort groweth lowe and creepeth vpon the grounde both kindes are very good to be eaten specially when they be young and tender they must be sowen in warme groundes for they can in no wyse away with colde they are sowed eyther vppon fallowes or rather in riche and yeerely bearing ground once plowed and as all other Pulse in a gentle and a mellowe moulde the season being warme and moyst Columella sayth that ground is made very riche with them if they be presently plowed and the Culter turne in and couer that whiche the Hooke hath newely left They are sowed among Sommer Corne commonly with the fyrst Fyrst Beanes Pease and Lentiles then Tares and Oates as is sayde before Pease and Tares must be sowen in March and April and in the wane of the Moone leâ—t they growe to ranke and flowre out of order where as the best sowing for all other Pulse and grayne is in the encrease of the Moone There are that count Pease to be the Pulse that the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Eruum the Italians Eruo the Spaniardes Yeruo the Dutchmen Eruen of which there are two kindes the one white the other red The later is wylde and groweth in Hedges and Corne feeldes it is a small plant hauyng his leaues narrowe and sâ—lender his flowre eyther white or medled with purple growyng neere togeather like Pease there is no great businesse about it it delighteth in a leane barren ground not moyst for it wyll be spilt with too muche rancknesse it must be sowed before Marche with which moneth it agreeth not because it is then hurtfull vnto cattell Eruilia is a Pulse like smal Beanes some white some blacke and others speckled it hath a stalke like Pease and climeth lyke a Hoppe the Coddes are smoothe like Pescoddes The leaues longer then the leaues of Beanes the flowre is a pleasant foode to Bees In Fraunce and Lumbardie it is called Dora or Dorella Phaseolus in Latine in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 garden Smalax some call it Fasiolum and Dolichium among the Italians some call it Fagiuoli some Smilace de gli Horti others Fagiuolo Turcheses others Lasanie the Spaniardes call it Frisoles the Frenchemen Fasioles and Fales Pinceos the Dutchmen Fasâ—len or wyld Bonen It is a kynde of Pulse whereof there are white redde and yellowe and some specked with blacke spottes the leaues are lyke Iuie leaues but something tenderer the stalke is sâ—lender wyndyng with claspes about such-plantes as are next hym runnyng vp so hie as you may make Herbers vnder hym the coddes are longer then Fennigrecke the Graynes within diuers coloured and fashioned lyke Kydneys it prospereth in a fatte and a yeerely bearyng ground in Gardens or where you wyll and because it climeth aloft there must be set by them poales or staues from the whiche runnyng to the toppes it climeth vppon Trees seruyng well for the shadowyng of Herbers and Summer houses It is sowen of diuers from the Ides of October to the Ralendes of Nouember in some places and with vs in Marche It flowreth in Sommer the meate of them is but indifferent the iuyce not very good the Coddes and the Graynes are eaten togeather or lyke Sperage The Iewes sell them at Rome preserued to be eaten rawe Lens and Lenticula in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Lendi iae bon maenastre in Spanishe Lenteza in Frenche Lentilla in Duch Linsen is a Pulse very thicke and busshy with leaues lyke the Tare with three or foure very small Graynes in euery Codde of all Pulses the least they are soft and flatte The white ones for theyr pleasauntnesse are the best and such as are aptest to seethe and consume most water in their boylyng It is sowen with vs in Germanie in March and in April the Moone encreasyng in mellowe ground being riche and drye yet Plinie would rather haue the ground leane then riche and the season drye it flowreth in Iuly at whiche tyme by ouer muche rancknesse and moysture it soone corrupteth Therefore to cause it quickely to spring and wel to prosper it must be mingled with drye doung before it be sowen and when it hath lyen so mingled foure or fyue dayes it must be cast into the grounde It groweth hyâ— as they say when it is wette in warme water and Saltpeter before it be sowen wyl neuer corrupt being sprinckled with Bengwin and Uineger Varro wylleth that you sowe it from the fiue and twentieth day of the Moone to the thirtieth so shall it be safe from Snayles And Columella affyrmeth that yf it be mingled with Asshes it wâ—ll be safe from all annoyance Cicer in Latine in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Ceci Cicere Rosso and Cicere bâ—ance in Spanishe Ganrangos in Frenche Chiche and in Dutch Cicererbs is a busshy kynde of Pulse hauyng a rounde Codde and therein a couple of three cornered seedes whereof there are that make three kindes whyte read and blacke differinâ— onely in the colour of theyr flowre the best kinde hath a stiâ—â—e stalke crooked little leaues indented a whyte a purple or a blacke flowre And wheras other Pulse haue their coddes long and brode according to their seede this beareth them rounde it delighteth in a blacke and a riche moulde is a great spoyler of land and therefore not good for newe broken vp ground it may be sowen at any time in March in rayny weather and in very riche ground the seede must be steeped in water a day before it be sowen to the end it
may spring the sooner it flowreth in Iune and Iuly and then falleth to seede it flowreth a very long while and is geathered the fourth day being rype in a very short tyme when it is in flowre of all other Pulse it receyueth harme by rayne when it is rype it must be geathered out of hande for it scattereth very soone and lyeth hid when it is fallen In the chych there neuer breedeth any worme contrary to all Pulse else and because it dryueth away Caterpillers it is counted good to be set in Gardens Cicercula in Latine in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Cicerse in Spanish Cizerche it differeth from the Chych only in that it is somewhat blacker which Plinie accounteth to haue vneauen corners as Pease hath and in many places about vs they vse them in steede of Pease esteeming them farre aboue Peason for they both yeeld more flowre then Pease is lighter of digestion and not so subiect to wormes Columella countes it rather in the â—umber of Fodder for cattell then of Passe for man in which number are these that followe And â—irâ—t Viciâ— in Latine in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Dutch VVycken in Frenche Vessae so called as Varro thinkes of wynding because it hath 〈◊〉 or claspes as the Uine hath wherby it clymeth vpon such stâ—lkes as growe next it it groweth halfe a yâ—rde hie leâ—â—â—ed like Tyutare sâ—uâ—ng that they be something narrower the 〈◊〉 like the â—lowre of Pease hauing little blâ—cke seedes in 〈◊〉 nor altogether ounde but broâ—e like the Lâ—ntell it reâ—uired above ground though it wâ—l also grow wel yenough in shadowye places or â—any ground with small labour being not trouâ—le come to the 〈…〉 it requireth but once plowing and sâ—â—keth for 〈…〉 â—or doungâ—ng but â—nricheth the lande of it seâ—â—e specially if â—he grounde be plowed when the crop is of so that the Stalkes may be turned in for otherwise the Rootes and Stalkes remayning doo sucke out the goodnesse of the ground yet Cato would haue it sowen in grassie ground not watrishe and in newe broken vp ground after the dâ—awe be gone the moysture dryed vp with the Sunne and the Winde You must beware that you sowe no more then you mâ—y wel couer the same day for the â—east deawe in the world dooth spoyle it Neither must you sowe them before the Moone be 24. dayes olde otherwise the Snayle will deuoure it his tyme of sowing is as Plinie writeth at the setting of the Starre called the Berward that it may serue to feede in December the secoâ—d sowing is in Ianuarie the last in March. In Germanie they vse to sowe them in March or Aprill chiefly for fodder for theâ—r cattell To sowe Tares and as Plinie sayth Beanes in not broken vp grounde without lâ—sse is a great peece of husbandry they flowre in Iune at which tyme they are very good of skowre horses it is good to â—aye them vp in the codde and to keepe them to serue Cattell withall Tares Oates make a good meslyne sowed together Lupinus in Latin in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian and French almost as in Latin in Spanish Altramuz in Dutch Roomsche Boouen is a Pulse hauing one onely stalke the leafe tagged in fiue diuisions like a starre the flowre white the coddes tagged indented about hauing within them â—iue or sixe seedes hard brode red the leaues thereof doo fal This pulse requireth least trouble and is of smal pâ—ice and yet most helpeth the grounde of any thing that is sowen for there can be no better manuring for barrayne Uineyardes and Corne â—eeldes then this which eyther vpon barrayne ground prospereth or kept in the Garner endureth a wonderfull wâ—yle being sodden and layd in water it feedeth Oxen in Winter very well and in tyme of dearth as Columella sayth serueth men to asswage their hunger it prospereth in sandy and grauelly groâ—ndes in the worst land that may be neyther loueth iâ— to haue any labour bestowed vpon it nor weyeth the goodnesse of the ground So fruitfull it is as if it be cast among Bushes and Brâ—er yet will it roote and prosper it refuseth both Harrowing and Raking is not anoyed with Weedes but killeth the weedes about it If doung be wantyng to mende the ground withall this serues the turne aboue all other for being sowed and turned in with the Plowe it serueth the turne in steede of dounging it is sowed timeliest of all other and reaped last it is sowed before all other Pulse a little after Haruest couer it how sclenderly you wyll it careth not an excellent good seede for an euyll husbande yet desyreth it the warmth of Autâ—me that it may be well rooted before Winter come for otherwyse the colde is hurtfull vnto it It flowreth thryse fyrst in May then agayne in Iune and last in Iuly after euery flowryng it beareth his codde Before it flowreth they vâ—e to put in Cattel for where as they wyll feede vpon all other grasse or weedes onely this for the bitternesse thereof whyle it is greene they leaue vntouched Being dryed it serueth for sustenaunce both of man and beast to cattel it is geuen medled with Chaffe and for bread for mans vse it is mingled with Wheate flowre or Barley flowre it is good to keepe it in a smokie loaft for yf it lye moyst it is eaten of lâ—ttle woormes and spoyled The leafe keepeth course and turneth with the Sunne whereby it sheweth to the husbande euen in cloudie weather what time of the day it is Fenú grecum in Latine in Greeke with Theophrastus and others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Dioscorides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Frenche Fenegres and Fenigrent in Italian Faenigraeco in Spanishe Alâ—oluas in Dutche sometime by the Latine name and commonly Roherne and Lockshorne commeth vp with a small stalke the leefe lyke a Threeleaued grasse it is sowed well in a sclender barrayne ground you must take heede you plowe it thicke and not very deepe for yf the seede be couered aboue foure fyngers thicke it wyll very hardly growe Therefore the grounde must be tyld with small Plowes and the seede presently couered with Rakes There are two sortes of it the one called of the common people Siliqua or code whiche they sowe for fodder in Sepâ—ember the other in Ianuarie or the beginnyng of Februarie when they sowe it for seede it flowreth in Iune and Iuly when also it beareth his codde but the seede is not ripe tâ—ll August it is dressed to be eaten after the order of Lupines with vineger water and salt some put to a little oyle it is vsed both for fodder and diuers other vses Furthermore of Pulse called of Gelliuâ— Leâ—amentâ— we haue these generall rules that they al beare coddes and haue single rootes euery one except the Beane the Chich growyng deepest The stalke of the Beanâ—
poore people as not able to beare the charges were banished from the costlier eates and driuen to content them selues with the basest foode And hereof sprang at the fyrst the planting of Orchardes and making of Gardens wherewith the poorest creature that was might store his Kitchin and haue his victuals alwayes at hand the Orchard and Garden seruing for his Shambles with a great deale more commendable hurtlesse dyet Herein were the olde husbandes very careful and vsed alwayes to iudge that where they founde the Garden out of order the wyfe of the house for vnto her belonged the charge thereof was no good huswyfe for they shoulde be forced to haue their victuals from the Shambles or the Market not making so great account of Colwoortes then as they doo nowe condemning them for the charges that were about them As for fleshe it was rather lothed then vsed amongst them Only Orchardes and Gardens did chiefely please them because the fruites that they yeelde needed no fyre for the dressing of them but spared wood being alwayes of them selues redy dressed easie of digestion and nothing burdensome to the stomacke and some of them seruing also to pouder or preserue withal as good marchandize at home as Plinie sayth not driuing men to seeke Pepper as farre as Indie Of Lucrin I the Oysters not regarde as the Poet sayth And therefore to make them of more woorthynesse and that for their common profyte they shoulde not be the lesse regarded there were diuers noble men of the house of Valerius that tooke their surnames of Lettuse and were not ashamed to be named Lettismen The olde people had in great estimation the Gardens of the daughters of Altas and of the kinges Adonis and Alcinoi of whom Homer so muche speaketh as also the great vaulted Gardens eyther built by Semiramis or by Cyrus the king of Assyria Epicure is reported to be the fyrst that euer deuised Garden in Athens before his time it was not seene that the pleasures of the Countrey were had in the Citie Now when Thrasybulus trauayling in the affayres of his Prince chaunced to come to the house of Marius and carryed by him into a Garden that he had whiche was very beautifull being ledde about among the sweete smelling flowres and vnder the pleasaunt Hearbers what a goodly sight quoth Thrasybulus is here howe excellently haue you garnished this paradise of yours with all kinde of pleasures Your Parlers your banketting houses both within and without as all bedecked with pictures of beautifull Flowres and Trees that you may not onely feede your eyes with the behâ—lding of the true and liuely flowre but also delight your selfe with the counterfaite in the middest of Winter seeing in the one the painted flowre to contende in beautie with the very flowre in the other the woonderfull woorke of nature and in both the passing goodnesse of god Moreouer your pleasaunt Herbers to walke in whose shaddowes keepe of the heate of the Sunne and yf it fortune to rayne the Cloysters are hard by But specially this little Riuer with most cleare water encompassing the Garden dooth woonderfully set it foorth and here withall the greene and goodly quickset Hedges in chargeble kinde of enclosures differeth it both from Man and Beast I speake nothing of the well ordered quarters whereas the Hearbes and Trees are seuered euery sort in their due place the Pot hearbes by them selues the Flowres in an other place the Trees and the Impes in an other quarter all in iust square and proportion with Alleys and Walkes amongst them Among these goodly sightes I pray you remember according to your promise for so the time requireth to shewe me some part of your great knowledge in Garden matters syth you haue vppon this condition heard me heretofore garbring or rather weerying you with the declaiming of my poore skill in the tilling of the Feeld MARIVS Your memorie is herein a littel to quicke but what shal I doo promise must be kept and since you wyl needes force me you shall heare me babble as well as I can of my knowledge in gardning but not with the like pleasure that I heard you talking of your grasyng and your ground THRA Yes truely with as great pleasure and desire as may be MARIVS Come on then let vs here sitte downe in this Herber and we wyll nowe and then ryse and walke resting vs as oft as you wyl in the meane time IVLIA shal make redy our supper And fyrst euen as you began with the choosing of a place meete to set your house vpon so must I with the choise of a Plot meete for a Garden The ordring of Gardens is diuers for some are made by the Manour houses some in the Suburbes some in the Citie where so euer they be yf the place wyll suffer they must be made as neare to the house as may be but so as they be as farre from the Barnes as you can for the chaffe or dust blowing into them and eyther subiect to the Doung heape whereby it may be made riche or els in some very good grounde that hath some small Brooke runnyng by it or yf it haue none suche some Well or Condite whereby it may be watred An excellent plotte for the purpose is that which declineth a little and hath certaine gutters of water running through diuers partes therof for Gardens must alwayes be to be easily watred yf not with some runnyng streame some Pompe is to be made or Kettell Myll or suche like as may serue the turne of a naturall streame Columella would haue you make your searche for water when the Sunne is in the latter part of Virgo which is in September before his entrance into the Winter Aequinoctial for then may you best vnderstand the strength or goodnesse of the springes when after the great burnyng heate of the Sommer the grounde hath a long whyle continued without rayne If you can not thus haue water you must make some standing Pond at the vpper part of the ground that may receyue and conteyne such water as falles from aboue wherewith ye may water your Garden in the extreame heate of the Sommer but where neither the nature of the soyle nor conueiance by Conduite or Pompe or running streame is to be had you haue no other helpe but the rayne water of Winter which yf you also haue not then must you delue lay your Garden three or foure foote deepe which being so ordered wyll well be able to abide what so euer droughth doo happen This is also to be regarded that in Gardens that are destitute of water you so order them into seuerall partes that what part you wyll occupie in Winter may lye toward the South and that which shal serue you for Sommer may lye towardes the North. In a Garden as in the choyse of Corne grounde you must looke whether the goodnesse of the ground be not hindered by the vnskilfulnesse of hym that hath
occupied it You must also make choyse of your water of whiche the best as Plinie sayth are the coldest and such as be sweete to drinke the woorst that comes from Ponds or is brought in by trenches because they bring with them the seedes of Grasse and Weedes but the grounde dooth most delight in rayne water which killeth Woormes and baggage that breedes in it but for some Herbes salt water is needefull as the Raddishe Beete Rue Saâ—rile to which al salt water they say is a speciall helper making them both pleasaunt and fruitefull to all others sweete water is only to be vsed And because I haue begunne to entreate of watring I must geue this note that the times of watring is not in the heate of the day but early in the mornyng and at night least the water be heated with the sunne onely Basyl you must water at Noone the seede something wyl come the sooner vp yf they be sprinckled at the fyrst with hotte water You haue here heard that the fyrst needefull thing for a Garden is water The next to that is enclosure that it be well enclosed both from vnruly folkes and theeues and likewyse from Beastes least lying in wayte for your Herbes your Fruites they may both bereâ—ue you of your paynes and your pleasure for yf eyther they be bitten with Beastes or to often handeled with Men it hindereth them both of their growth and seeding and therefore it is of necessitie to haue the Garden well enclosed Nowe for enclosures there are sundry kindes some making earth in mould doo counterfeite Brickwalles others make them of lime and stones some others of stones laide one vpon an other in heapes casting a ditche for water rounde about them whiche kinde Palladius forbiddes to followe because it wyll drawe out the moysture from the Garden except it be in marrishe grounde Other make their fence with the seedes and settes of Thorne some make them of mudde walles couered with strawe or heath Varro maketh mention of foure kindes of enclosure the fyrst naturall the second wylde the thirde souldierly the fourth of Carpenters woorke The fyrst and naturall is the quickset Hedge being set of young Thornes whiche once well growen regardeth neyther fyre nor other hurt The seconde is the common Hedge made of dead wood wel staked and thicke plasshed or raylde The third the Souldiers fortefying is a deepe Ditch with a rampier but the Ditche must be so made as it may receyue al the water that comes from aboue or falles into it wherin the vaumure must be so steepe that it may not easily be climed This kinde of fence is to be made where the ground lyes neare the hie way or buts vpon the Riuer of which sort I shal haue occasion to speake more hereafter The fourth fence made by the Carpenter or by the Mason is commonly knowen wherof there is foure sortes eyther of Stones or of Brickes of Turfe and Earth and little stones framed in moulde Columella folowyng the auncientest aucthours preferreth the quickset Hedge before the dead both because it is lesse chargeable and also endureth the longer continuing a long time which Hedge of young thornes he teacheth to make in this sort The place that you determine to enclose must after the beginning of September when the ground hath been wel soked with rayne be trenched about with two Furrowes a yard distant one from the other the deapth and breadth of euery one of them must be two foote whiche you must suffer to lye emptie al Winter prouiding in the meane time the seedes that you meane to sowe in them which must be the Berries of sharpe Thornes Bryers Holly wylde Eglanttine which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Dogge Bryer The Beries of these you must geather as ripe as you may and mingle them with the floure or meale of Tares whiche when it is sprinckled with water must be put vpon olde ropes of Ships or any other ropes the ropes being thus handled and dryed must be laide vp in some boorded â—â—oore Afterward when Winter is doone within fourtie dayes after about the comming of the swallowe yf there be any water remayning in the Fâ—rrowes it must be â—et out and the mellowed earth whiche was cast out of the Furrowes in the end of Sommer must nowe be cast in againe till you haue fylled them vp to the middeâ—t then must you handsomely vnfâ—lde the rope and lay them in length thorowe both the Furrowes and so couer them taking good heede that you throwe not to much earth vpon them for hindering the spring whiche commonly vseth to appeare within thirtie dayes after when they be growen to be of some heyght they must be made to encline to the space betwixt the two Furrowes in whiche space you must haue a little walled Hedge to teache the springes of other Furrowes to clime by whiche wyl be a 〈…〉 and a comfort to them But I haue an other a more redyer way of making of them which you fyrst practisyng in this Countrey diuers others haue folowed I also doo make a certayne Ditche and geathering in the wood the young springes of Thornes cutting of their toppes I set them on the bancke of the Ditche so that they stand halfe a foote out of the grounde plucking vp al the weedes specially the fyrst sommer that growe about them and sucke away the iuyce that comfortes the set The rootes being thus ridde I couer all the earth about them with strawe whereby both the dewe of the night is let into the rootes and the poore plant is defended from the burnyng of the Sunne The yeere after I make a little sâ—lender rayle of powles wherevnto I leye vp the springes weauing them in such sort as I wyll haue them to growe which I yeerely make higher according to the height that I woulde haue the Hedge to spring Eyght or at the vttermost niene foote is a sufficient heyght and what so euer spring aboue must be plasshed of one side or the other to make the fence the stronger When I haue thus done I matte it thicker and thicker euery yeere filling vp the places where I see it thinne with suche bowes as I see growe out of order and thus is it wouen so thicke with yeerely bindinges that not so muche as a small birde is able to passe thorowe it nor any man to looke through it When it is thicke yenough and bigge yenough the superfluous springes must euery yeerer be cut This Hedge can neuer be destroyed except it be plucked vp by the rootes neither feareth it the hurt of fyre but wyl growe the better for it And this is my way of enclosing a Garden as the pleasantest most profitable and of least charges THRA There is an other way of making of a quicksette Hedge which our Hedgers in the Countrey doo vse which is something the stronger For setting the young settes as you haue sayde
before when they be growen to some greatnesse they cut the Thorne neare to the grounde and being halfe cut and broken a sunder they bowe it along the Hedge and plashe it From these cuttes spring vp newe plantes which still as they growe to any highnesse they cut them and plashe them againe so dooing continually tyll the Hedge be come to his full height This way the Hedge is made woonderfull strong that neither Hogge nor other Beast is able to breake through it but the other is a great deale more pleasant to the eye But yf I haue not settes yenowe to serue may I make an Impe Garden of their seede MARIVS Yea very wel Make your Thorne Garden or store plotte in this sort Take your Berries or Stones and mingle them with earth lay them vp for the fyrst yeere in some place meete for them the next yeere sowe them as thicke as you canne and ye shall within a little time haue a whole wood of Thornes THRA You haue nowe spoken of water and enclosure two principall poyntes in a Garden it nowe remayneth for you to speake of the ground meete for a Garden and of the order of dressyng of it MARIVS Of the sundry sortes of ground and of the discerning of them because you in your describing of Corne ground before haue sufficiently spoken I doo not thinke it needefull for me to repeate it Againe it is yenough to me to adde onely this that the ground ought not to be too riche nor too leane but fatte and mellowe which bringeth foorth a small kinde of Grasse lyke heares such ground requires least labour the stiffe and the riche ground asketh greater paines about it but dooth recompence it agayne with his fruitefulnesse The stiffe leane and cold ground is not to be medled with as Columella wryteth in appoynting good ground for Gardens The ground that geues the ripe and mellowed moulde And dooth in woorking croomble like the sandes That of his owne good nature yeeldeth manifolde Where Walwoort with his purple berrie standes For neither dooth the ground that still is drye Content my minde nor yet the watry soyle Whereas the Frogge continually dooth crye Whyle in the stincking Lakes he still dooth moyle I like the land that of it selfe dooth yeelde The mightie Elme that branches broade dooth beare And rounde about with trees bedeckes the feelde With trees that wylde beares Apple Plome and Peare But wyll no Berâ—oote breede nor stincking Gumme Nor Yewe nor Plantes whence deadly poysons come And this much of the Garden ground which as I sayde is watred or may be watred and is enclosed eyther with a Wall a Hedge or some other safe enclosure After this it is needefull it lye well to the Sunne and warme for in grounde that is very colde the warmth of the Sunne wyll not muche auayle it And contrary yf it be a hette burnyng Sand the benefite of the heauens can little helpe it You must yet looke that it lye not subiect to ill windes that are drye and â—â—â—â—ching and bring frostes and mystes But nowe to the ordeâ—ing of your Garden Fyrst you must be sure that the grounde whiche you meane to sowe in the Spring be well digged in the fall of the leafe about the kalendes of October and that whiche you garden in the fall of the leafe must be digged in May that eyther by the colde of Winter or the heate of Sommer both the clodde may be mellowed and the rootes of the weedes destroyed nor muche before this time must you doung it And when the time of sowing is at hand a fiue dayes before the weedes must be got out and the doung layde on and so often and diligently must it be digged as the ground may be throughly medled with the mould Therefore the partes of the Gardens must be so ordered as that which you meane to sowe in the ende of Sommer may be digged in the spring the part that you wyll sowe in the spring must be digged in the end of Sommer so shal both your fâ—llowes be seasoned by the benefite of the colde and the Sunne The beddes are to be made narrowe and long as twelue foote in length and sixe in breadth that they may be the easyer weeded they must lye in wette and watrye ground two foote hie in drye grounde a foote is sufficient If your beddes lye so drye as they wyll suffer no water to tarry vpon them you must make the spaces betwixt hyer that the water may be forced to lye and auoyde when you wil. Of the kindes and sortes of dounging being sufficiently entreated of by you I wyll say nothing onely adding this that the doung of Asses is the best because it breedeth fewest weedes the next is Cattels doung and Sheepes doung yf it haue lyen a yeere The grounde as I sayde whiche we meane to sowe in the Spring we must after the ende of Sommer let lye fallowe to be seasoned with the frost and the colde for as the heate of Sommer so dooth the colde of the Winter bake season the ground When Winter is doone then must we begyn to doung it and about the fourteenth or fifteenth of Ianuarie we must digge it agayne deuiding it into quarters and beddes Fyrst must the weedes be plucked vp and turffes of barrayne grounde must be layde in the Alleyes which being well beaten with Beetles and so trode vpon that the Grasse be worne away so that it scarse appeare it wyll after spring vp as fyne as littleheare and yeelde a pleasaunt sight to the eye which wyll be very beautiful When you haue seuered your flowres by them selues your Phisicke hearbes by them selues and your potte hearbes and sallettes in an other place the beddes and the borders must be so cast as the weeders handes may reache to the middest of them so shall they not neede in their labour to treade vppon the beddes nor to hurt the hearbes And this I thinke sufficient for the preparing of your ground before the sowing Nowe wyl I speake of sowing and what shal be sowed in euery season To speake of all sortes of hearbes and flowres were an endlesse labour onely of those that are most needeful I meane to entreate And first of hearbes some are for the potte some for the sight some for pleasure and sweete sauour and some for phisicke And agayne some are for Winter some for Sommer and some betwixt both The first time of sowing after Winter is the moneth of March April and May wherein we vse to sowe Colwoortes Radishe Rape and after Beetes Lettuse Sorel Mustardseede Corrâ—ander Dyll and Garden Cresses The second season for sowing is in the beginnyng of October wherein they set Beetes and sowe Smallage in Gellaci and Arreche The third season which they call the Sommer season in some places the Gardners begin in Ianuarie wherein they set Cucumbers Gourdes Spinnache Basyl Pursline and Sauery Many thinges may be sowed betwixt these
of the rootes which after two yeeres you must remooue into a warme and wel dounged grounde The trenches where you meane to set them must stand a foote a sunder and a shaftman in depthe wherein you must so lay your Sponges as being couered they may best growe bnt in the spring before they come vp you must loose the earth with a little Forke to cause them the better to spring and to make the rootes the greater Cato woulde haue you to take them but so as you hurt not the rootes after to pull the plant from the roote for yf you otherwyse breake it the roote wyl dye and come to nothing But you may so long croppe it tyll you see it begin to growe to seede in which yeere for the Winter tyme you must according to Catoes minde couer it with strawe or such like least the colde doo kil them and in the spring open it againe and doung it well Some thinke that the fyrst yeere it is needelesse to doo any thing to the plant but onely to weede it From the rootes which they call the sponges there springeth fyrst certayne buddes with crompled knoppes very good and pleasaunt for sallettes whiche yf you suffer to growe it straight bussheth foorth with braunches lyke Fennell and at length growe to be prickely after it hath flowred it beareth a Berrie fyrst greene and when it is rype redde If you would haue Sallettes of Asparagus al the yeere through when you haue geathered the Berries open the rootes that runne aloft by the grounde with dyggyng and you shall haue the rootes send foorth newe buddes out of hand It is thought that yf you breake to poulder the horne of a Ramme and sowe it watring it well it wyll come to be good Sperage In the Spring time they make a very good sallet being sodde in water or fatte broth tyll they be tender for yf you seethe them too muche they wyl waste away When they be sod they dresse them with Uineger Oyle Pepper and Salt and so eate them or as my freend Wylliam Prat very skilful in these matters telleth me they cutte them in small peeces lyke Dyse and after they haue parboyled them butter them with sweete butter a little Uineger and Pepper THRA You haue very well shewed me the orderyng of Asparagus I pray you goe forward to Rue MARIVS Rue which the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Rutam the Italians Rutache the Spaniardes Ruda the Frenchemen Rue de gardin is planted at the ende of Februarie or in March prospering best in drye and sunny groundes it abhorreth both water and doung whiche all other hearbes most delight in it most delighteth in asshes and where all other plantes wyll spring of the seede this they say wyll neuer doo it The branches being slipped of and set in the spring wyll very well growe but yf you remooue the olde roote it dyeth it delighteth in the shadowe of the Figge tree and being stolne as they say it prospereth the better it is sowed with cursyng as Cummin and diuers other and can not abide the presence of an vncleane woman THRA I see goodly Lettuse here I pray you howe doo you order it MARIVS Lettuse is called in Dutche Lattich in Frenche Laictue in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Lactuca and so in Latine in Spanishe Lechugas whereof besides the wylde there are three kindes one croompled whiche Columella calleth Caecilia and Spanishe Lettuse of the Countreys where it most groweth and is greatest esteemed in Dutch called Krauser Lattich in Frenche Crespue the other Cabbedge Lettuse in Dutch Knopf Lattich in Frenche Laictue testue of Plinie called Laconica and Sessilis because it groweth round like an head or a apple The third sort is called Rotunda because it groweth in compasse vpon the grounde THRA But howe come you to haue so good Lettuse and how doo you order them MARIVS At the ende of Februarie or in the beginning of March we vse to sowe it that it may be remooued about April or May. In hotte Countreys as Palladius telleth they sowe it in Ianuarie or in December with intent to remooue it in Februarie but you may sowe it at any time of the yeere so the ground be good wel dounged and watred When you remooue them the rootes must be pared and rubbed ouer with doung and such as be already planted their rootes must be bared and dounged they loue a good ground moyst wel dounged they spreade the better yf you set by thâ—m the Rape or when they begyn to stalke the stalke being tenderly clouen you lay vppon it a clod or a tyleshard they wyl be white yf you sprinckle them often with sand or tye sande within the leaues and both tender white you shall haue them If two dayes before they be geathered theyr toppes be tyed vp they wyll be rounde and Cabbeged yf the roote being remoued when it is growena hand brode in heyght be pared and smered with freshe Cowe doung and earth cast about it be well watred and when it growâ—th hye the top be cut a poâ—shard laide vppon it the sweeter also they wyll be the more you restrayne the stalke from shooting vp which must as I said be kept downe with some stone or weight that they may spreade the better If the Lettuse chaunce by reason of the badnesse of the soyle the seede or the season to waxe hard the remoouing of it wyll bring it agayne to his tendernesse it wyll haue sundry and diuers tastes yf taking a Treddle of Sheepe or Goates doung and hollowyng it cunnyngly with an Alle or a Bodkyn you thrust into it the seede of Lettuse Cresses Basyl Rocket Smallage Parsley and Radyshe and after wrapping it in doung you put it into very good grounde and water it well The Parsley or Smallage goeth to roote the others growe in heygth keeping styl the taste of euery one Constantine affyrmeth Lettuse to be a moyst and a colde hearbe a quencher of thyrst and causer of sleepe and that being boyld it nourisheth most and abateth lecherie for which the Pithagoreans doo call it Eunuchion Galen himselfe the prince of Phisitions dooth greatly commend it who in his youth dyd alwayes vse to eate it rawe and after in his elder yeeres boyled whereby he kept his body in good temperature Endiue in Latine Intabum or Intubus not vnlike to Lettuse some call it Garden Succory the Dutchmen and common sort Endiuiam the Italians and the French Cicoriam the Spaniardes Endibia it is sowen as other Garden hearbes in March it loueth moysture and good earth but you must make your beddes when you sowe it the flatter least the earth falling away the rootes be bared when it hath put foorth foure leaues you must remooue it vnto well dounged grounde that whiche is sowen before the kalendes of Iuly dooth come to seede but that which is sowen afterâ— seedeth not You must sowe that which you
would haue to serue you in Winter in October in warme stonie places for sallets in Winter they vse at this day when his leaues be out to fold them vp together tye them round in the toppe with some small thing couering them with some little earthen vessell the rootes still remayning to nourishe them withall thus dooing they wyll growe to be white and tender and to loose a great part of their bitternesse It is said that they wyll be whyte yf they be sprinckled a fewe dayes abroade and lying vpon sand be wasshed with the rayne and thus is Endiue with his encrease preserued all Winter Some there be that contentyng them selues with lesse charges and labour doo onely couer them with earth others agayne with strawe this order of wintering of it is nowe in euery place growen to be common THRA I see also in this pleasaunt Garden Colwoortes that we Countrey folkes be so well acquainted with MARIVS Is it meete my Garden shoulde want that whiche as you knowe Cato preferreth before all other hearbes in describing the woonderful properties and vses thereof and this place I onely appoynt for suche common potte hearbes as Colwoortes Beeâ—es Endiue Onyans Rapes Nauenes Leekes Carrettes Raddishe Garleeke and Parsneppes the woorthyer sort I place by them selues and as the nature of euery one requireth Colwoortes is commonly called in Latine Brassica or Caulis in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Frenche Choux in Italian Caule in Spanishe l'erza in Dutche Koil The olde wryters made diuers sortes of it as at this day there be One sort with great and broade leaues a bigge stalke and very fruitefull This sort is commonly knowen whiche being the pleasaunter in Winter when it is bitten with the frostes is sodde with Baken and vsed in porredge The tender part of the toppe being a little boyled is serued for sallettes dressed with oyle and salt The second sort with the croombled leafe of that resemblance that it hath to Smallage is called Selinocis or Apiaria of the common people crompled Col or wrinckled Col. The thirde sort whiche is properly called Crambe hath a smaller stalke and leafe smoothe tender and not very ful of iuyce The fourth sort is the great Cabbedge with brode leaues and a great head called in Dutche Kappes in Frenche Cheux Cabuz of the olde wryters Tritiana Brassica and this kind is only most set by In Germanie there is one kind of them that they call Lumbardy Colwoort or Sauoy Colwoort sweeter then the other and not able to endure the Winter and an other with very brode leaues croompled and full of wrinckles but a great deâ—le blacker whiche the Italians call Neâ—â—â—caules and the Latines Nigra Brassica of the number of thâ—se that they call commonly redde Col of the olde wryters Marucina Brassica There are besides other sortes takyng their names of they Countrey where they growe as Aricina and Cumana The best time for setting and sowyng of Colwoortes is after the Ides of April In colde and raynie Countreys the oftner it is dounged and raked the better a great deale wyl the Colwoortes be some vse to sowe them about the Kalends of March but then the cheefest of it goeth out in leafe and when it is once cut maketh no good stalke for the Winter after yet may you twyse remooue your greatest Col and if you so doo you shal haue both more seedeâ— and greater yeelde for it so aboundeth with seede as it is sowed with no lesse aduauntage then Rape seede For the making of oyle Colwoortes may be sowen all the yeere long but chiefly in March after it is sowed it appeareth within ten dayes except your seedes be olde and drye for olde seede wyl growe to Rapes as olde Rape seede wyl to Colwoortes Some say it prospereth best in salt ground therfore they vse to cast vpon the ground Saltpeter or Ashes which also destroyeth the Caterpiller it is remooued in Iune chiefely when it hath put foorth sire leaues and that when the weather is rayny so that you couer the roote before with a little freshe doung and wrappe it in sea-weede and so set it More diligence is to be vsed about the Cabbedge it must be sowen in March in the full of the Moone that it may remayne in the grounde two Moones and in May you must take them vp and set them agayne two foote asunder The ground must be well digged where you set them and as fast as they growe the earth must be raysed about them so that there appeare no more then the very toppes of them for to cause them to growe sayre and great you must as oft as you remooue them banke them vp with earth about them that nothing but the leaues appeare And this you must often doo to all the kindes of them the hoare frostes make them haue the greater sweetenesse The Uineyardes they say where Colwoortes growe doo yeelde the woâ—â—ser Uines and the Col corrupteth the wine THRA I pray you proceede with the rest of these pot hearbes MARIVS You see hereby Spinage so tearmed as you knowe of the prickly seedes called in Latine Spinacia and euen so in Italian Spanishe Frenche and Datche it is sowen as those before in March Apryll and so tyll September yf it may be well watred it commeth vp in seuen dayes after the sowing you shall not neede to remooue it The seede must presently after the sowing be couered and afterward well weeded it refuseth no kinde of grounde but prospereth in euery place you must often cut it for it continually groweth it is to be boyled without any water where in the boyling it doth yeeld great store of iuyce and contenting it selfe with his owne licquour it requireth none other Afterwarde being beaten and stirred with the ladell tyll the clamminesse be gone it is made vp in little balles the iuyce strayned out and boyled vppon a Chafyndishe with Ole or Butter some adde therevnto Uergius or the iuyce of soure Grapes to make the taste more tarte I shewe you in order as you see all my Kitchin hearbes nowe followeth Sorel called in Latine Acetosa in Italian likewyse in Spanishe Romaza in Frenche Oxella in Dutch Surick of the sowrer therof There are sundry sortes of it we haue at this day two kinde the Garden Sorel and the wylde whiche are pleasant both in broth and sallettes and of this hearbe the wyld sortes are both sowrer in taste and smaller in leafe it is sowed as all other potte hearbes are and it groweth of it selfe in Meddowes and Gardens Cummin and Corriander require well ordered ground they are sowed in the Spring and must be wel weeded Cummin is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Cuminum and almost like in all other languages it is sowed best as they thinke with curfyng and execration that it may prosper the better Corriander called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Coriandrum and in almost by the
call the common Borage the lesser Buglose and the greater Buglose is thought to be that whiche Dioscorides calleth Circium the true Buglose the flowres of both sortes are vsed in sallettes and in wine because it maketh the hart meery and therefore is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say gladnesse the leaues are also vsed in dressyng of meates it is sowen about March and once sowen it wyl neuer away there is also a wilde kinde of it THRA I pray you goe forward and tell vs some thyng of Straberries which here grow with great plentie and beautie helped as it seemeth with good orderyng MARIVS They are so for we vse to bring rootes out of the wooddes whiche beyng set and planted in the Garden prosper exceedyngly two or three yeeres togeather and after we eyther remooue them agayne because they waxe wylde or set the wylde in theyr places and so haue we them to yeelde theyr fruite twyse in the yeere in the spring and in the ende of sommer And although it groweth of it selfe in shadowy woods in great plentie as yf it delighted in shadowe of Trees yet beyng brought into the Garden it delighteth in sonny places and good orderyng yeelding a great deale more and better fruite it creepeth vpon the ground without a stalke with small stringes comming from the roote with a white flowre and a leafe lyke a Trefoyle indented about The berries whiche is the fruite are redde and taste very pleasauntly the Dutchmen call them Erdbern the Frenchemen Freses There is an other fruite that groweth somethyng hygher whose berrie is also like the Straberie Dioscorides seemeth to call it Rubus Idaeus the Bryer of Ida because it groweth in great abundance vppon the mountayne Ida. It is not ful of prickles as the other brambles are but soft and tender full of branches whytish leaues it beareth redde berries somethyng paler then the Straberie and very pleasaunt in taste The Grecians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Dutchmen Imberen the Frenchmen Framâ—osas THRA What is that groweth yonder a yard in height MARIVS It is commonly called Liquerise in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Dulcis Radix in Italian Regolitia in Spanishe Regaliza in Frenche Reclisse in Dutche Clarits or Sussholts THRA I dyd not thinke to haue founde it here I heare it groweth very plentifully about the Meyne I woulde be glad to heare howe you doo order it for it hath a roote for the sweetenesse thereof whence it taketh his name very commendable MARIVS It is set of young springes of the roote as the Hoppe is in drye light ground and sonny THRA What say you to small Reazyns called in Latine Ribes doo you thinke the olde wryters knewe this bushe MARIVS That whiche we call at this day Ribis and the Dutchmen Saint Iohns pearle because about Midsommer it is garnished with redde riche berries hauyng a tarte taste quenchyng thyrst cheefely the ragyng and extreame thryst of feuers and coolyng the stomacke whiche the Appothecaries in Suger or Honie keepe all the yeere is thought was vnknowen to the olde wryters but nowe a comâ—on bushe vsed for enclosyng of Gardens and makyng of Borders and Herbers it wyll easyly growe but that it is somethyng troublesome by reason of his sharpe prickles to be bent about sommer houses THRA You spake euen nowe of Hoppes doo you set in these your princely paradises that plant that is so common with the Countrey man for about vs they make great gayne of it MARIVS Tell you therefore I pray you howe they doo vse it THRA It is set of the young shootes as you tolde a little before of Liquerise and that in the ende of sommer or yf they feare a hard winter in Mâ—rch The seâ—tes or shootes are cutte from the olde rootes and are set in grounde well couered with doung and good mould and afterward hilled and so suffered to remayne all Winter In the spring the earth is stirred with Rakes and not with Spades and the hilles raysed and the grounde ridde of all hurtfull weedes About May certayne powles are set vp vppon whiche the Hoppe clymeth all the spraye that springeth aboue the flowre is commonly cutte of About September or in the ende of August the flowres or bels are geathered and kept to make Beere with when the Hoppes are geathered the remaynes are cut downe close to the ground and the hilles being agayne raysed are couered with doung The toppes and the young buddes that come fyrst out in April are vsed to be geathered for sallettes and keepeth them from growyng to ranke But nowe I pray you goe on and returne to the description of your Garden O what excellent Mellons Pompens Cowcumbers and Gourdes haue you here I pray you tell in what sort you order them MARIVS Melons whiche some because they are fashioned like Apples call Pomes are of the kinde of Coucumbers and so are the Pepones which the Frenchemen cal Pompeons The Coucombers in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Cucumer in Italian Cucumero or Cedruolo in French Dutch Cocumbre They change to Pompeons and Muskemillions from whiche they onely differ in shape and greatnesse when they exceede in greatnesse they become Pompeons and when they growe rounde they are Mellonpompeons al these kindes are called of some wryters Melons The Grecians call all the sortes as well Coucumbers as Mellonpompeons by the name of Pompeons and Mellons though there are some that make a difference betweene Pompeons and Mellons neither doo the learned yet throughly agree vpon these meanes nor can it be certaynely saide what kinde the olde wryters ment by Pompeons and Melonpompeons Pompeons doo creepe along vppon the ground with ruffe leaues and a yellowe flowre and are pleasaunt to be heaten when they be ripe The sweetest sort of them they call Succrino or Muskmillions The Mellonpompeons are supposed to spring first in Campania being fashioned lyke a Quince This kinde hangeth not but groweth rounde lying vpon the grounde and being ripe doo leaue the stalke Some Coucombers are called Citrini of their yellownesse when they be ripe and also Citruli or Citreoli they growe all in length and are spotted as the Citrons are some be called Maâ—in and be called in Italian Cucussae Marinae the seede whereof is to be eaten before they be ripe they are cut in peeces and porredge made of them not much vnlike in fashion to the Mellon There is also an other kinde of Coucumber of a houge compasse almost as bigge as a busshel the Mowers and Haruest folkes in Italie vse to carrie great peeces of them to the Feelde with them to quenche their thyrst You must set al these kindes in March the seedes must be set thinne two foote one from an other in watrie ground well dounged and digged specially sandy grounde you must lay them in milke or water and honie three dayes and after drye
them and sowe them so shall you haue them very pleasant They wyll haue a very sweete sauour yf theyr seedes be kept many dayes among Rose leaues Your Coucumbers shal be long and tender yf you see vnder them water in a brode vessel two handfulles vnder them They delight in water so much as yf they be cut of they wil yet bend towarde it and yf they hang or haue any stay they wyll grow crooked as also yf you set oyle by them which they greatly abhorre The flowres being suffered to growe in Pipes doo growe to a woonderfull length They loue not the Winter no more then dooth the Gourde wherevnto they are almost like in nature for the flowres the leaues and the claspers are lyke of them both but the Gourde is more busie in climing so that with hastie growth it spreadeth quickly ouer the Herbers and sommer houses runnyng vp by the walles and mountyng vp to the very Tyles of the houses hauing a great fruite of a monstruous bignesse hangyng by a small stalke in fashion like a Peare and greene in collour although when it hath flowred it wyll growe in what fashion you wyll haue it they say there hath been some of them mene foote in length The rounde ones also growe to be vsed for great vesselles the rynde of the newe ones is soft and tender but of the olde ones hard whereof when the meate is out trauaylers make great bottles to carrie drinke in The Gourdes that are vsed to be eaten in sommer are sundry in shape for some are rounde some long some broade and though the fashion be diuers yet the nature is all one for it is made by arte to growe in what shape you wyll as in the forme of a creeping Dragon or what yelist they are called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Zuma in Spanishe Calabaz in Dutche Kuirbisch the French Vne courge The seedes that the Gourde â—eareth next to the stalke as Paladius sayth are longest they in the middest rounde and those that lye on the side short broade and flatte yf you set the sharpe ende of the seede downeward as Columella sayth you shall haue them both greater Gourdes and Coucumbers It delighteth in a moyst riche wel dounged and well watred ground That which groweth without water bringes the pleasanter fruite and that whiche hath water yenough needes the lesse looking to The flowres where they be set must be digged a foote and a halfe deepe the thirde part whereof must be filled with strawe and then with good ritche mould it mâ—st be filled to the middest then the seedes being set must be watred tyl they be sprong and after earth layd to them styll as they growe tyll the Furrowe be filled They must be set thinne two foote a sunder it commeth vp in sixe or seuen dayes after the setting Those that are set in drye grounde must be very well watred therefore they vse to set by them earthen pottes full of water with ragges or cloutes in them to water them When they be a little growen they must haue helpes set by them to climbe vpon the longer they be the better the meate is You must beware there come no women neare where you set them for their presence dooth greatly hurt them Those that you keepe for seede you must suffer to remayne vpon the stalke tyll Winter and then geathering them and drye them eyther in the sunne or in the smoke for otherwyse the seede wyll rotte and perishe They wyll long be preserued and continue freshe yf after they be geathered they be put into a close vessell with the leâ—ues of white wine or hanged in a vessell of vineger so that they touche not the vineger THRA What meaneth that great Thistell that springeth there MARIVS Dyd you neuer reade in your Columella of the Hartichoch specially in his verses that he wrote of Gardnyng where he sayth Goe set the brystled Hartichoch That well with wine agrees c. Athenaeus in his second booke Dipnosophus out of Sophoclus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Thistell is the Hartichoch that euery where dooth growe It is a kinde of Thistel by the diligence of the Gardner brought to be a good Garden hearbe and in great estimation at noble mens tables it is as you see framed with a round prickly head hauing a great sort of flakes set in order steeple wyse The Greekes call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Strobilum because the fruite of it something resembleth the Pineapple The Frenchemen call it Alticocalum of the Arabick article Al and Cocalos a Pineapple whereof it is corruptly called Artichault in Italian and Spanishe Cardo in Dutche sometime by the Frenche name sometime Strobirn It is called of Columella Cinara because in his growing he cheefely delighteth in asshes The seede is best sowen in March and the settes in Nouember yf you wyll haue it yeelde fruite in the Spring you must bestowe much asshes vpon it it wyll hardly beare the first yeere that it is sowen Beware that you sette not the seede with the rong end vpward for so shall your Artichoch prooue very little and euil fauoured It loueth good grounde and well dounged and prospereth best in fatte ground Palladius woulde haue you moreouer to sette the seedes in well ordered beddes in the encrease of the Moone halfe a foote a sunder and not deepe but taking them in three of your fingers thrust them downe tyl the earth come to the first ioyntes of your fyngers then couer them tenderly and water them often specially toward Sommer so shall you haue the bigger fruite When they growe vp they must be continually weeded and dounged as I saide with asshes They say they wyll loose their prickles yf the toppes of the seede be made blunt vppon a stone before they be set and sweete they wyll be yf the seede be laide in Milke You must keepe them from Mowles Myse with Cattes or tame Weesels as Ruellius teacheth you Athenaeus calleth the stalke of the Artichoch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that lyeth vpon the grounde and that whiche standeth vpryght 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THRA Well what hearbe is yonder same that commeth vp as it were heares with a blewishe flowre and pale hauyng in the middest of the belles as it were fierie yellowe tongues MARIVS It is Saffron in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Crocus in Italian and Frenche so in Spanishe Aczafran THRA What neede we care any more for either Corycum Sicil or Cyren from whence we fetche it with so great charges MARIVS Yea there groweth great plentie of it in Germanie about Spirs and diuers other places whiche may compare in goodnesse with any other place It is set in Marche of the head that it hath rounde and in cloues as the Lyllie the Leeke and the Sea Onyon Constantine affyrmeth that it may be set of the roote as soone as the flowre is
of The rootes or the heads doo so encrease vnder the ground that of one of them some yeere springeth eyght or niene others In many places they are remooued euery seuenth or eyght yeere into better ground wherby they come againe to be as good as at the first In the Countreys lying vpon the Rhine they plucke them vp euery third yeere and lay them a drying in the sunne till August and then pulling of the outer skinne they set them agayne halfe a foote one from the other the best heades are those that are fattest and haue little heares the woorst looke rottenly and â—â—fauouredly and haue an ill sauour It delighteth to growe by hie wayes and neare springes and to be trodde and trampled on prospering as it were by oppression it groweth greene all the Winter it is geathered in Autumne when it is come to his colour by plucking out the little yellowe tongues from the bel whiche are afterwardes dryed three or foure dayes togeather and well picked and purged and so made vp in boxes some thinke it best to drye it in the shadowe It is craftely counterfeited by the Apothecaries braying it in sodde wine whiche they besmeare adding therto the skumme of siluer or lead to encrease the weyght the craft is perceiued by the dustinesse therof and by the sauour of the sodde wine The proofe of the good is yf it crackle betweene the handes as a brittle thing which the counterfeite dooth not or yf in putting it to your mouth it cause your eyes to water Wherefore the best is that which is newe and hath a pleasant smell in colour like to golde and dyeth the fyngers in touching it In Marche you must purge the grounde where it groweth and whether ye plucke it vp or not notwithstanding other hearbes may very well growe there vntill August Pursleyne Parsley or suche like hearbes doo best growe there And when the Saffron beginneth to flowre you must ridde away the other hearbes for in haruest time about September or October it flowreth THRA Here is great store of Rosemarie the cheefest beautie of Gardens and not to be wanted in the Kitchin. MARIVS Of the orderyng of Rosemarie sith you wyl haue me I wyll speake a little There are whiche suppose it to be the same whiche the Greekes call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it sauoureth like Frankencense in Latine it is called Rosmarinus and in al other tongues it keepeth the name it serueth both for pleasure and profite Theophrastus maketh two kindes of it a barrayne and a fruitefull and is set of small slippes in April it is sette by women for their pleasure to growe in sundry proportions as in the fashion of a Cart a Pecock or such like thing as they fancie It delighteth in stonie or rough ground and in the toppes is the seede inclosed in little huskes white and round It flowreth twyse a yeere in the spring and in the end of sommer it is geathered from May tyll September and it is good to plucke of the flowâ—e often that it may not flowre too muche In the higher partes of Fraunce it groweth wilde in such plentie that they vse almost no other fewell it is in colde Countreys in Winter set in Sellars and hotte houses is brought agayne in the spring into the Garden But here you must beware that when you fyrst bring it out you keepe it from the March sunne setting it in the shadowe acquaintyng it by little and little with the ayre some vse to house it with strawe and horse doung and so leaue it in the Garden Sauge in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Saluia and like in other languages is an hearbe common in euery Garden it is planted both of the seede and the slippe in March in any kind of ground it maketh no matter where the Gardners vse to lay bucking asshes about it whereby it prospereth the better Next to Sauge is Mynt in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Menta in Dutch Myntz in Italian and French after the Latine in Spanishe Yerua buena it is planted and ordered in all thing as Sauge is it prospereth both in drye and wette groundes and groweth well by waters If you lacke seedes you may take the seede of the wylde Mint and set them with the toppes downeward whereby they shall leaue their ranknesse and being once sowen or sette groweth euery yeere Pimpernell in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Pimpinella is vsed both in the Kitchin and in Phisicke and being once sowen groweth euery yeere both in sonny places and in shaddowy it groweth in most plaâ—es wylde Hysope in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Hyssopus and so called in moâ—â— tongues in Europe a common hearbe knowen to euery Gardner it desireth though no sonny ground yet good and ritche grounde it is planted both of the seede and the slippe when it hath once taken roote it careth not for the sharpnesse of Winter Sauery in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Satureia or as Columella sayth Cunila in Italian Coniella Sauoreggia Thymbre in Frenche Sauoreje in Dutche Kuuel Zwibel hisop groweth in barrayne places and is sette and sowed as the plantes before The next is that whiche commonly is called Basyl in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Ocymum in Frenche Italian and Dutche Basilica an hearbe that is vsed to be set in the middest of knottes and in windowes for the excellent sauoure that it hath it is also good for the potte it is sowed in March and April and delighteth in sonny ground you must put two seedes still togeather Basyl is best watred at noone whereas all other hearbes are to be watred in the mornyng and in the euenyng it may be remooued in May. Theophrastus sayth that it prospereth best when it is sowed with curses Marierum in Latine Amaracus and Maiorana is also in like sort vsed the Dutche and the Italians call it after the Latine the Spaniardes Amoredeux the Frenche Mariolaine and Thyn in Greeke of Dioscorides and Paulus Aegineta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this also for the pleasant sauour it hath is set in pottes and in Gardens it is sowed in Marche three or foure seedes togeather halfe a foote a sunder in May when it groweth to some heyght as Basyl it is remoued Time neare of kinrede to these in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Frenche Italian and Dutche like the Latine in Spanishe Tomillo delighteth in stony light and sonny ground it springeth both of the seede and of the slippe and also of the flowre as Theophrastus sayth These three tender and delicate hearbes are to be sowed with great heede eyther in earthen pottes or in garden beddes Hytherto haue I described vnto you suche hearbes as serue for the Kitchin and because the latter sortes are also esteemed for the sauours I wyll goe forward with the description of the rest that
a tree with an Augur eyther to the pith or the vttermost rynde going something sloapewyse downeward and getting out all the chippes cleane take a Uine or an arme of the best Uâ—ne not cut from his olde mother and paryng away the outer rynde thrust it fast into the hole being all moyst full of sappe leauyng a budde or two onely vppon it afterward stoppe the hole well with Mosse and Clay and commit it to the earth In this sort may you graffe Uines vpon Elmes so shal the branch liue being both nourished by his olde mother and his newe father Two yeere after you shal cut of the newe graffed branche and the stocke wherein you graffed you shall sawe of a little aboue the boryâ—g so shall the graffe become the cheefest part of the plant The lyke doo our countrey men takyng a branche of a Beeche a foote thicke and when they haue cutte it and bored it they set in it the branches of the best Peare or Apple that they can geat setting the same in a very wet ground in March and in the same moneth the yeere after taking vp the Beeche they cut it a sunder with a Sawe betwixt the holes the branches and euery peece of stocke with his branche they set in very riche and fruitefull grounde There are some that bragge of â—n other kinde of graffing not much vnlyke to the former whereof notwithstanding Aâ—rican in Constantine maketh mention as tryed in a Peache They wyl a man to take the branch of a Wyllowe as bigge as your arme two cubites in length or more this they would haue you to bore through the middes and after slâ—pping of the branches of a Peache as he standes lâ—â—â—ing only the toppe vntouched they would haue you to make the Peâ—câ—e passe through the Wyllowe batte and that done to bowe the wyllowe lyke a bowe seâ—ting both his endes into the eaâ—th and so to binde vp the hole with mosse morter bandes The yeere after when as the head of the Peache hath ioyned hym selfe with the pith of the Wyllowe that both the bodyes are become one You shall cut the tree beneath and remoue it and rayse vp the earth so as you couer the Wyllow bowe with the toppe of the Peache and this shal bring you Peaches without stones This kinde of graffing must be done in moyst places and the Wyllowes must be holâ—en with often watringes that the nature of the tree may be of force The kindes and maners of propagation are declared by Plinie who telleth of two kindes the fyrst wherein a branche of the tree being bowed downe and buried in a little furrowe and after two yeeres cut of and the plant in the thirde yeere remoued which yf you entende to carry any farre distance of it is best for you to burie your branches in baskettes or earthen vessels in whiche you may appliest carry them And an other more delicater way he speaketh of which is to get the roote out of the very tree laying the branches in baskettes of earth and by that meanes obtaynyng rootes betwixt the very fruite and the toppes for by this meanes the roote is fetched from the very toppe so farre they presume and from thence fetche them vsing it as before in whiche sort you may also deale with Rosemary and Sauyne Columella sheweth a way howe slippes of all maner of trees may be graffed in what trees you lyst THRA And some are also sette of the slippes or slyuynges I mee selfe haue plucked a branche from a Mulbery tree and broosing the ende a little with a Mallet haue set it in the ground and it hath growen to be a fayre tree the like hath been tryed as they say in Apples and Peares MARIVS You say well for nature hath shewed vs that the young scyences plucked from the rootes of the trees wyll growe the youngest are best to be planted and so to be pulled vp as they may bryng with them some part of theyr mothers body In this sort you may plant Pomegranates Fylbertes Apples Seruysses Medlars Plomes Fygges but specially Uines sometimes Cheryes and Myrtels Of the stocke and the branches are also planted the Almond the Peare the Mulbery the Orenge the Olyue the Qâ—â—â—ce the Iuye and the turkishe Plome whiche the oftner you remoue them the better they prooue Plinie sayth that branches cut from the tree were at the fyrst onely vsed for hedges Elder Quinces and Bryers medled togeather afterwardes for vse as the Poplar the Alder and the Wyllowe at this day we set them where we best lyke Heede must be taken that the stockes or the settes be of a good kinde not crooked knotty nor forked nor sclenderer then that a man may well gripe with his hand nor lesse then a foote in length THRA It remaineth nowe that you speake of the settyng of the fruite or kernell MARIVS Nature as Plinie sayth hath taught vs to set the kernel by the seedes deuoured of birdes and moystned with the warmth of their entrayles and after voyded in the boughes and ryses of trees whereby we finde many times a Plane tree growyng out of a Bay a Bay out of a Chery and a Chery out of a Wyllowe Many trees are set of the fruite kernel or stone whiche growe yeerely of them selues by reason of the falling of the fruite as Chestnuts Haselnuts and Wallnuts Columella sayth they are the fruitefuller trees that spring of their fruite then those that are sette of the stocke or the branche Some delight to be set in trees and not in the grounde and when they haue no soyle of their owne they liue in a stranger Of the fruite or kernell are planted Nuttes Almondes Pystaces Chestnuts Damsons Plomes Pineapples Dates Cypresse Bayes Apples Peares Maples Fyrtrees Cheryes Peaches and Alm coâ—tes but set or planted they prooue to be the kyndlyer Some of these doo growe in graffing and other wayes for experience teacheth that the Nutte and the Tereâ—â—ith are graffed and Demageron witnesseth as much neither are all fruites kernels and stones set in like sort as hereafter shal be seene Some are layde in water before others not some lye three dayes in hony and water and at the fal of the leafe are buryed in the grounde tyll March and then sette Nuttes are onely layd in moyst doung a day before and of some in water and hony onely a nyght lest the sharpnesse of the hony destroy the sproote Some are 〈◊〉 with their toppes standyng vpward as the Chestnut others downeward as the Almond though this is not greatly to be regarded sith we see the fruite that falles from the tree or is let fall by Byrdes dooth prosper best of any other THRA I haue a woonderfull delyght in the Impe Gardens of these Countreys I pray you tell me howe they be ordered MARIVS The orderyng of an Impe Garden may not be passed ouer wherein as in a Parke the young plantes are nourished And
because the Nurse sometimes ought to be kineder and tenderer then the Mother a meete ground must be chosen for the purpose that is a ground drye fatte and well laboured with the Mattocke wherein the stranger may be well cherished and very lyke vnto the soyle into whiche you meane to remoue them The kernels or stones must not be altogether naked but a little couered with some part of the fruite so shall they afterwarde endure the longer They must be sette a foote or there aboutes a sunder after two yeeres they must be remoued And because theyr rootes doo runne very deepe into the ground they must be somewhat bent or turned in to the end they may spreade abroade and not runne downeward Aboue all thynges you must see it be free from stones and rubbishe well fenced against Poultry and not full of chinckes or cleftes that the sunne burne not the tender rootes they must be sette a foote a halfe a sunder that they hurt not one y other with their neare growing Among other euils they wyl be ful of wormes and therefore must be well raked and weeded beside growyng ranke they must be trymmed and proyned Cato woulde haue them couered ouer with Lattuses vppon forkes to let in the sunne and to keepe out the colde Thus are the kernelles of Peares Pineapples Nuttes Cypresse and such others cherished They must be gently watred for the fyrst three dayes at the going downe of the sunne that they equally receyuyng the water may open the sooner Zizipha or Turky Plomes Nuts Wallnuttes and Chestnuttes Bayes Cheryes Pistaces Apples Dates Peares Maples Fyrres Plomes and diuers others are sette of the stone or kernels In remouyng of them haue speciall regarde that they be sette in the lyke soyle or in better not from hotte and forwarde groundes into colde and backward nor contrary from these to the other You must make your furrowes so long before yf you can that they be ouergrowen with good mould Mago would haue them made a yere before that they may be well seasoned with the Sunne and the weather or yf you can not so you must kindle fyres in the middest of them two monethes afore and not to set them but after a shewre The deapth of their setting must be in stiffe claye or hard ground three cubites and for Plome trees a handfull more The furrowe must be made Furnase like strayght aboue and broade in the bottome and in blacke moulde two cubites and a hand broade being square cornered neuer deeper then two foote and a halfe nor broader then two foote broade and neuer of lesse deapth then a foote and a halfe whiche in a wette ground wyl drawe neare the water Suche as delight in the deapth of the ground are to be set the deeper as the Ashe and the Olyue these such like must be set foure foote deepe the others it suffiseth yf they stand three foote deepe Some vse to set vnder their rootes rounde little stones both to conteyne and conuey away the water others lay grauell vnderneath them The greater trees are to be set towarde the North and the West the smaller toward the South and the East Some wyl haue no tree remoued vnder two yeere olde or aboue three and others when they be of a yeeres growth Cato resisteth Virgils aucthoritie that it is to great purpose to marke the standing of the tree as it grew at the fyrst and to place it towardes the lame quarters of the heauen agayne Others obserue the contrary in the Uine and the Figge tree being of opinion that the leaues shall thereby be the thicker and better defend the fruite and not so soone fall beside the Figge tree wyll be the better to be climbed vpon Moreouer you must beware that by long tarying the rootes be not wythered nor the winde in the North when ye remoue them whereby many times they dye the husband not knowyng the cause Cato condemneth vtterly all maner of windes and stormes in the remouing of trees and therefore it is to great good purpose to take them vp with the earth about them and to couer the rootes with a 〈◊〉 and for this cause Cato woulde haue them to be carryed in basaet◠fylled with earth vp to the toppe the tree must so be sette as it may stande in the middest of the trenche and so great heede must be taken of the rootes that they may not be broken nor mangled THRA Let vs nowe goe forward with euery tree in his order MARIVS Among all trees and plantes the Uine by good ryght chalengeth the soueraignetie seeing there is no plant vsed in husbandry more fruitefull and more commodious then it not alonely for the beautifulnesse and goodlynesse of the fruite but also for the easinesse he hath in growyng whereby he refuseth not almost any kinde of Countrey in the whole worlde except suche as are too extremely skorched with the burnyng heate of the Sunne or els to extremely frozen with the vehement colde prosperyng also aswell in the playne and champion countrey as it dooth vppon the hilly and mountayne Countrey lykewyse as well in the stiffe and fast grounde as in the soft and meilowe ground and oftentymes in the loamie and leane grounde as in the fatte and foggie and in the drye as in the moyst and myrie yea and in many places in the very rockes it groweth most aboundantly and most fruitefully as is to be seene and prooued at this day about the ryuer of Rhyne in Germany and the ryuer of Mosel in Fraunce and aboue all this it best abideth and beareth the contrary disposition of the heauens THRA No doubt it is the most excellent plant but whom doo you suppose to be the fyrst aucthour of the plantyng of it the common sort doo attribute the fyrst inuention of it to Bachus MARIVS We that are taught by Gods holy woord doo knowe that it was fyrst founde out by the Patryarke Noe immediatly after the drownyng of the worlde it may be the Uine was before that tyme though the plantyng and the vse thereof was not then knowen The Heathen both most falsely and very fondly as in many other thinges doo geue the inuention of the same vnto the god Bachus But Noah liued many yeeres before either Bacchus Saturnus or Vranius were borne THRA It is most likely so but I woulde faine knowe whether the planting of Uines doth more enriche the husband then other husbandries doo MARIVS About this question there is no little adoo among the wryters of olde where there are some that preferre grasing tyllyng and woodsales farre aboue the Uines and yet agayne there wantes not great and learned men that affyrme the Uine to be most gainefull as declareth that olde fruitefulnesse of the Uines mentioned by Cato Varro and Columella which vpon euery acre yeelded .700 gallondes of Wine and the Uineyardes of Seneca wherein he had yeerely vppon one acre .1000 gallondes when as in Corne ground Pasture or Woodland
riche and liuely dooth very well agree with this tree Chalkie ground is vtterly to be refused and watry and maryshe ground woorst of all The â—yke is a barrayne sand and a hungry sand but you may see it well in corne ground where eyther the Wylding or the â—asthelme hath growen but betwixt the Oke and it there â—â— great hatred for yf the Oke groweth neare it flyeth away and â—â—â—inâ—eth towardes the earth and though you cut downe the Oke yet the very rootes poysoneth and kylleth the poore Olyue The lyke some affyrme of the trees called Cerrus and Esculus for where they be pulled vp yf you set the Olyue he dyeth so dooth it as Plinie sayth yf it chaunce to be brused of the Goate On the other side betwixt the Olyue and the Uine there is great freendship and loue and it is sayde that yf you graffe the Olyue vpon the Uine it wyll beare a fruite that shal be halfe Grape and halfe Olyue called Vuolea in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Olyue grape There are sundry wayes of plantyng of Olyues some take the biggest branches from the trees and saweing of the youngest plantes of two â—ubites in length they set them orderly in the ground some set the whole tree togeather Some agayne cuttyng of the toppes and all the branches set the stocke about the rysing of the starre Arcturus Many make them Impe Gardens in good grounde and mellowe suche as is commonly the blacke mould herein they set the young branches the lowest and the fayrest two or three inches in thicknesse and very fertill whiche they geather noâ— from the body of the tree but from the newest and latest bowes These they cut into prety settes of a foote and a halfe in length takyng good heede that they hurt not the rynde and paring the endes very smoothe with a sharpe knife and markyng them with redde Oâ—re that they may knowe whiche way they stoode afore and so settyng the lowest part into the grounde and the hyghest towardes the Heauen they put them in the grounde and so they growe the faster and beare the better for yf you should set them with the lower end vpward they would eyther hardly growe and prooue vnfruitefull and therefore they haue a regard of the setting of them You must beside before you set them rubbe ouer both the toppe the foote with doung mingled with ashes and so set them deepe in the ground coueryng them foure fyngers thicke with rotten mould You may choose whether you wyll set them all vnder the grounde or sette some part within the grounde and suffer the rest to appeare aboue the grounde those that be set all within the ground neede not to be marked but suche as shall stand with one part aboue the ground Didymus would haue them so set as they may appeare foure fingers aboue the ground and then to make a little trench for the receauing of the water and this maner of planting with the bowes is of Didymus best liked Where you meane to plant you must purge the ground of all other plantes busshes and weedes and the trenches must so be made as with the winde the sunne and rayne it may be mellowed made crombling that the plantes may the sooner take roote If your businesse require haste you must a moneth or two before burne in the trenches eyther stickes or reede or suche thinges as wyll easily take fyre and this you must doo diuers dayes togeather Your trenches must be three cubites or there about in deapth fourtie cubites a sunder wherby the trees may haue ayre yenough the first yeere second the third the earth must be trimmed with ofteÌ„â—aking the first two yeres you must not meddle with proppingâ— the third yeere you must leaue vpon euery one a couple of branches and often rake your Impe Garden the fourth yeere you shall of the two branches cut away the weaker being thus ordered in the fyfth yeere they wyll be meete to be remooued the stocke that is as bigge as a mans arme is best to be remooued let it stand but a little aboue the grounde so shall it prosper the better Before you remoue it marke the part that stood South with a peece of Oker that you may set it in like maner againe You must fyrst digge the trenched grounde with Mattockes and after turne in stone plowed earth and sowe it with Barley yf there be any water standyng in them you must let it out and cast in a fewe small stones and so settyng your settes cast in a little doung After the tenth of Iune when the ground gapes with the heate of the Sunne you must take heede that the sunne pearce not through the cleftes to the roote From the entryng of the Sunne into Libra you must ridde the rootes of all superfluous springes and yf the tree growe vpon the edge of a hill you must with little gutters drawe away the muddy water The doung must be cast on at the fall of the leafe that being mingled in Winter with the mould it may keepe the rootes of the trees warme The mother of oyle must be powred vpon the great ones the mosse must be cut of with an iron instrument or els it wyll yeeld you no fruite Also after certayne yeeres you must cut and loppe your Olyue trees for it is an old prouerbe that who so ploweth his Olyue Garden craueth fruite who doungeth it moweth fruite who cutteth the trees forceth fruite In the Olyue tree you shall sometime haue one branche more gallant then his fellowes whiche yf you cut not away you discourage all the rest The Olyue is also graffed in the wyld Olyue specially betwixt the rynde and the wood and by emplastring others graffe it in the roote and when it hath taken they pull vp a parcell of the roote withall and remooue it as they doo other plantes Those Olyues that haue the thickest barkes are graffed in the barke The time of graffing them is from the entryng of the Sunne into Aries and with some from the .xxii. of May tyll the fyrst of Iune The tyme of geathering of Olyues is when the greater part of half the fruite waxeth blacke and in fayre weather the riper the Olyue is the fatter wyll be the oyle In geathering of Olyues there is more cunnyng in making oyle then in making wine the lesser Olyues serue for oyle the greater for meate There is sundry sortes of oyle made of an Olyue the fyrst of all is rawe and pleasantest in taste the fyrst streame that comes from the presse is best and so in order The best oyle is about Venafri in Italy and Licinia in Spaine The next in goodnesse is in Prouence except in the fruitfull partes of 〈◊〉 The Olyues that you may come by with your handes you must eyther vpon the ground or with ladders geather and not beate them downe for those that are beaten downe doo wyther and yeelâ—e not so much oyle as the other
the berries be white It is graffed also in the Figge and the Elme which in olde time they would not suffer for feare of corrupting Of the Mulbery is made a very noble medicine for the stomake and for the goute they wyll longest endure as it is saide kept in glasses The leaues doo serue to feede Sylkewoormes withall whereof some make a very great gayne and set them rather for that purpose then for the fruite THRA What tree is that with the ruddy coloured fruite like a Chery MARIVS It is a Cornell tree called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Cornus in Italian Corneolo in Spanishe Zereko seluestro in French Cornâ—er in Dutch Cornelbaum the tree is thought neuer to exceede twelue cubites in heyght the body is sounde and thicke like horne the leafe is like the Almond leafe but fatter the flowre and â—he fruite is like the Olyue with many beryes hangâ—ng vpon one stalke first white and after redde the iuyce of the ripe beries is of a blooddy colour it loueth both mountaynes and vâ—lleys and prospereth both in moyst gound and dry it groweth both of the sâ—â—ppe and of the seede You must beware you plant it not neare to your Bees for the flowre dooth kill as many of them as â—asâ—eth it THRA What tree is tâ—e same that groweth next vs MARIVS That tree is called Ziziphus in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Giuggiâ—le in Spanishe Azâ—feâ—fo in French Imubae in Dutch 〈◊〉 the beries whereof are like the Cornel beries the lowâ—e like the Olyue flowre but more sweeter Columella speaketh of two kindes thereoâ— the one redde the other white they are set of the stones in hotte countreys in Aprill and in colde places in May or els in Iune you may set both the stone and the brancâ—e it is very slowe in grâ—wing yf you set the plant you mâ—st doo it in March in soft grounde but yf you set the stone you must set them in a little trenche of a hand broade three stones togeather with their poyntes downeward it loueth not to riche a ground but rather a lâ—ght groâ—nd and a warme place in winter as Palladius sâ—yth it is good to lay stones about the body of the tree The next are Italian Fylbertes in Latine Pistaâ—ea in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Paâ—â—inachi in Spanish Alhoziâ—o in French Pistaches in Dutch Welsâ—e piniâ—ernus the leafe is narrowe and browne for vpon the branches hang the Nuttes lyke the Nattes of the Pine. Of this tree it is thought there â—s both male and female and therefore they growe commonly togeather the male hauing vnderneath his shell as it were long stâ—nes it is graffed about the first of April but vpon his owne stock and vpon the Terebâ—â—th and the Almond tree They are also set as Palladius witnesseth in the fall of the leafe in Ocâ—ober both of the sâ—ippes â—nd the Nutte it delightâ—th in a hot and a moyst countrey and ioyes in often watring THRA Because I remember you tolde me bâ—fore that of plantes and trees some doo growe of the seede or fruite and some are graffed and becâ—use I haue heard the graffing of most of them I would nowe fayne heare you speake of suche trees as growe only oâ— the stone or berry MARIVS Your remembrance is good for thoâ—gh they commonly growe bâ—tter when they be graffes yet some therebe that prosper the better being sowen and wyâ—â— scarse growe aâ—y other way And thâ—ugh same of the foresayde trees being set doo well pâ—osper as the Midlâ—r the Cornell and diuers other yet sometimes they waxe wyldeâ— and are long before they come to perfection which Virgill also affâ—rmeth For that same tree that of the seede the stone or berry growes Doth slowly spryng and â—long it is ear any fruite â—e shewes And when it comes it proueth wyld and dooth degeneraâ—e And loseth that same relishe sweeâ—e that longeâ—h to bâ—â—state but by graffing it is restored agayne Some of them agayne howe so euer they be sowen or set doo not degenerate or grow out of kinde as the Bay the Date the Cypresse the Peache the Abricoct the Danison the Pistace the Fyrre tree and the Chery and because they be not all of one order I wyll tell you seuerally of the chefest of them To plant trees of the seede nature as I saide before taught men at the fyrst the seede being deuoured of birdes and with the doung let fall in the cleftes of trees where they after sprong and grewe The Bay in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Laurus in all other tongues almost as in Latine The berry is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Lauri â—aâ—â—s in Italian Bacche de lauro in Spanishe Vaya de laurel in Dutch Lorbâ—ren a most gratefull tree to the house a porter to Emperours and Byshops whiche cheefely garnisheth the house and standeth alwayes at the entry Cato maketh two kindes thereof the Delphick and the Cypresse the Delphick equally coloured and greener with great berries in colour betwixt greene and redde wherewith the Conquerers at Delphus were woont to be crowned The Cypresse Bay hath a shorter leafe and a darker greene guttered as it were rounde about by the edges which some as â—linie sayth suppose to be a wylde kinde it groweth alwayes greene and beareth berries he shooteth out his branches from the sides and therefore waxeth soone olde and rotten it dooth not very well away with colde grounde being hot of nature it is planted dâ—uers wayes the berries being dryed with the North winde are geathered and layd abrâ—ade very thinne lâ—â—t they cluster togeather afâ—erward being wet with vrine they are set in furrowes a handfull deepe and very neare togeather in March they be also planted of the slippe and the sâ—yens If you set them of the sliâ—pe you must set them not pâ—sâ—ing â—â—ene foote a sunder but so they grow out of kinde Some thinke that they may be graffed one in an other as also vpon the Seruiâ—se and the Ashe the berries are to be geathered about the beginning of December and to be set in the beginning of March. Nutte trees are most commonly planted of the Nutte as all other shell fruites are Of all Nuttes the Almond is counted to be the worthyest called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Mandorle in Spanishe Almeidras in French Amandes in Dutch Mandelen they are set in Februarie and prosper in a cleare and a hotte ground in a fat and a moyst ground they wyll grow barraine they cheefely set suche as are crooked and the young plantes they are set both of the slipes the roote and the kernell The Nuttes that you intend to set must be layd a day before in soft doung others steepe them in water sodde with hony letting them lye therein but only one night least the sharpnesse of the hony spoyle the plant and being thus ordered Columella sayth they wyl be both
Hogges doung you set it in the ground Agayne you shall haue them wâ—thout stones yf you pearce the tree thorowe and fill it vp with a pinne of Wyllowe or Cornell tree the pith being had out the rootes of the tree must be cut and dressed in the fall of the leafe dounged with his owne leaues you shall also at this time proyne them ridde them of all rotten dead bowes If the tree prosper not powre vpon the rootes the lees of olde wine mingled with water Against the heate of the sunne heape vp the earth about them water it in the euenyng and shadowe them as wel as you may Agaynst the frostes lay on doung yenough or the lees of wine medled with water or water wherein Beanes haue been sodden yf it be hurt with woormes or such baggage powre on it the vrine of Oxen medled with a third part of Uinegar The Date tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian in Latine and in Spanish Palma in French Arbor de Dattes in Dutch Dactelenbaum the fruite in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Palmulae in Italian Dattoli in Spanish Dattiles in French Dattes in Dutch Dactelem it groweth in a milde grauelly ground delighteth in a watry soyle though it desyre to haue water all the yeere long yet in a dry yeere it beares the better and therfore some thinke that doung is hurtful vnto it About the riuer Nilus in the East partes it groweth plenteously where as they vse to make both wine and bread of it this tree in Europe for the most part is barrayne though it be planted of many for noueltie sake The stones of Dates are planted in trenches of a cubite in deapth and breadth the trenche filled vp agayne with any maner of doung except Goates doung then in the middest of the heape set your stones so as the sharper part stand vpward other would haue it stand towarde the East and after when first they haue sprinckled thereon a little salt they couer them with earth well medled with doung and euery day whyle it springeth they water it some remoue it after a yeeres growth other let it growe till it be great Moreouer because it delighteth in salt grounde the rootes must be dressed euery yeere salt throwen vpon them and so wyll it quickly growe to be a great tree The settes are not presently to be put in the ground but fyrst to be set in earthen pottes and when they haue taken roote to be remoued Date trees haue such a delight one in the other that they bend them selues to touche togeather and yf they growe alone they waxe barrayne They are planted as Plinie sayth of the branches two cubites long growing from the toppe of the tree also of the slippes and slyuers The same Plinie affyrmeth that about Babylon the very leafe yf it be set dooth growe THRA I remember you tolde me once the spring and scyens that groweth out of the rootes of some trees wyll very well be planted MARIVS I tolde you before that diuers of the trees whereof I spake might be planted of the branches and of the scyences hauing some part of the roote plucked vp with them and so I sayde the Chery might be planted as also the Hasel the Laurel the Myrtel and the Medlar likewyse the fayrest branches slipped of and the endes a little brused and thrust into the ground commonly doo growe to be trees as I mee selfe haue tryed both in the Mulbery the Peare tree and the Apple tree One thing I wyll adde beside that the trees that beare fruite ouer hastely doo eyther neuer come to their iust bignesse or the fruite that they beare dooth neuer long endure wherefore I thinke sprang fyrst that lawe of Moses that fruite trees should for three yeeres be counted vncircumcised and theyr foreskinnes with theyr fruite should be circumcised that is the burgens and blossomes should be plucked of lest he should beare before his time or when he hath borne lose his fruite but I keepe you too long in the describing of my Orchard THRA O no I rather whilest I heare you imagine mee selfe to be amongst them planting and viewing of theyr fruites but now remaineth that in steede of a conclusion to your talke you declare the order of preseruing them to that end specially that those thinges that are appoynâ—ed for remedie being not duely or in time administred be not rather a hurt then a helpe MARIVS Your motion is good fyrst therefore and generally dounging and watring is needefull for fruite trees a very fewe excepted and herein heede must be taken that you doo it not in the heate of the Sunne and that it be neyther too newe nor too olde neither must it be laide close to the foote of the tree but a little distance of that the fatnesse of the doung may be druncke in of the roote Pigeons doung and Hoggerdoung doo also heale the hurtes or woundes of trees The water wherewith we water them must not be Fountayne water or Wel water yf other may be had but drawen from some muddy Lake or standyng Poole Moreoner you must take heede as I also tolde you before when we began to talke of planting of an Orchard that your trees stand a good distance a sunder that when they are growen vp they may haue roome yenough to spreade and that the small and tender be not hurt of the greater neyther by shadowe nor dropping Some woulde haue Pomegranate trees and Myrtels and Bays set as thick togeather as may be not passing mene foote a sunder and likewyse Chery trees Plome trees Quinces Apple trees and Peare trees thyrtie foote and moe a sunder euery sort must stande by themselues that as I saide the weaker be not hurt of the greater The nature of the soyle is herein most to be regarded for the Hill requireth to haue them stand nearer togeather in windy places you must set them the thicker The Olyue as Cato sayth wyl haue fiue and twentie foote distance at the least You must set your plantes in suche sort as the tops be not hurt or brused nor the barke or rynde flawed of for the barke being taken away round about killeth any kind of tree You must also haue a regard of the shadowe what trees it helpeth and what trees it hurteth The Wallnut tree the Pine tree the Pitch tree and the Fyrre tree what so euer they shadowe they poyson The shadowe of the Wallnut tree and the Oke is hurtfull to Corne the Wallnut tree with his shadowe also is hurtful to mens heads and to all thinges that is planted neare it The Pine tree with his shadowe likewise destroyeth young plants but they both resist the winde and therefore good to enclose Uineyardes The Cypresse his shadowe is very smal and spreadeth not farre The shadow of the Figge tree is gentle though it spreade farre and therfore it may safely yenough growe amongst Uines The Elme
Mast bearing Oke there is called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— in Latine Quercus siluestrum in Frenche Chesne a kinde whereof some thinke the Cerre tree to be called in Latine Cerrus growing in wilde and barrayne places Tâ—ere are some that doo number the Chestnutte tree amongst the Mast bearers but of this I haue spoken before The best Mast is the Oke Mast the next the Beech and the Chestnutte then the wylde Oke c. all very good and meete for the fatting of cattell specially Hogges The Oke Mast or Acorne maketh thicke Bacon sounde fleshe and long lasting yf it be well salted and dried on the other side Chestnuttes and Beeche Mast make sweete and delicate fleshe light of digestion but not so long lasting The next is the Cerre tree that maketh very sounde and good flesh the Mastholme maketh pleasant Bacon fayre and weyghty Plinie saith that it was ordayned by the lawe of the twelue tables that it should be lawfull for any man to geather his owne Mast falling vpon the ground of his neighbour which the Edict of the cheefe Iustice dooeth thus interprete that it shall be lawfull for him to doo three dayes togeather with this prouiso that he shall only geather the Acornes and doo no harme to his neighbour as Vlpianus witnesseth Glans Mast as Caius saith is taken for the fruite of all trees as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth with the Greekes though properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be those fruites that are shelde as Nuttes and suche other Upon these Mast bearers there groweth also the Gall in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in French Noixâ— de Galle in Italian and Dutch as in Latine in Spanish Agalla a little ball rugged and vneuen without whereof some be massie some hollow some blacke some white some bigge some lesser It groweth as Plinie saith the sunne rising in Gemini comming all out suddenly in one night in one day it waxeth white and yf the heate of the Sunne then take it it wythereth the blacke continueth the longer and groweth sometime to the bignesse of an Apple these serueth best to curry withall and the other to finishe the leather the woorst is of the Oke and thus of such trees as beare Mast. Nowe wyll I ioyne with all the principalest of the other trees to make vp your Wooddes amongst whiche are the Elme and the Wyllowe the Elme in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Vlmus in Italian Spanish Olmo in French Orme in Dutch Vlmbaum and Yffenholiz the planting whereof because it is to great vse and easily growes we may not let passe fyrst because it groweth well with the Uine and ministreth good foode to cattell secondly as it is al hart it maketh good tymber Theophrastus and Plinie doo both affyrme the Elme to be barrayne peraduenture because the seede at the fyrst comming of the leafe seemeth to lye hyd among the leaues and therefore it is thought to be some of the leafe as Columella affyrmeth He that wyll plant a Groue of Elmes must geather the seede called Samara about the beginnyng of March when it beginneth to waxe yellowe and after that it hath dryed in the shadowe two dayes sowe it very thicke and cast fine sifted mould vpon it and yf there come not good store of rayne water it well after a yeere you may remoue it to your Elme Groue setting them certayne foote a sunder And to the end that they roote not too deepe but may be taken vp agayne there must be betwixt them certaine little trenches a foote and a halfe distance and on the roote you must knit a knotte or yf they be very long twyst them like a garland and being well noynted with Bollockes doung set them and treade in the earth rounde about them The female Elmes are better to be planted in Autum because they haue no seede at this day in many places cutting of settes from the fayrest Elmes they set them in trenches from whence when they are a little growen they geather like settes and by this dealing make a great gaine of them in the like sort are planted Groues of Ashes The Ashe in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Fraxino in Spanish Fresno in French Fraisne in Dutch Eschen the Ashe delighteth in riche and moyst grounde and in playne countryes though it growe well yenough also in dry groundes he spreadeth out his rootes very farre and therefore is not to be set about corne ground it may be felled euery third or fourth yeere for to make stayes for Uines The Ashe groweth very fast and such as are forwardes are set in February with such young plantes as come of them in good handsome order standing a rowe others set such Ashes as they meane shall make supporters for garden Uines in trenches of a yeere olde about the Calendes of March and before the thirty sixth moneth they touch them not with any knife for the preseruing of the branches after euery other yeere it is proyned and in the sixth yeere ioyned with the Uine if you vse to cutte away the branches they will growe to a very goodly heygth with a rounde body smothe playne and strong Plinie writeth of experience that the Serpent doth so abhorre the Ashe that if you enclose fyre him with the branches he wil rather run into the fire then goe through the bowes Byrch called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Betula as Theoprastus writeth in his fourth booke is a tree very meete for Woods it prospereth in colde countryes frosty snowie and grauely and in any barraine ground wherfore they vse in barraine grouÌ„des that serue for no other purpose to plant Byrches it is called in Italian Bedolla in Dutche Byrken in Frenche Beula Pine Woods Fyr Woods Pytch tree and Larsh are common in Italy about Trent The Pine tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Pinus in Italian Spanish Pino in Dutch Hartzbaum is planted of his kernells from October to Ianuary in hotte and dry countryes and in colde and wette places in February or March the kernelles must be geathered in Iune before the clogges doo open and where you lyst to sowe them eyther vpon hilles or else where you must first plowe the grounde and cast in your seede as ye doo in sowyng of corne and couer them gently with a light Harrow or a Rake not couering them aboue a hand broade you shall doo well if you lay the kernells in water three dayes before The kernells of the Pine are called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Spanish Pinones The Fyrre tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Abies in Italian Abete in Spanish Abeto in Dutch Deamen loueth not to haue any great adoo made about it if you be too curious in planting of it it wyl growe as they say the worse it growes of his owne kernel in wilde mountaines playnes or any
where The Pitch tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Picca in Italian Pezzo in Spanish El pino de que se haze la pez in Dutch Rododemem is a tree of the kinde of Pines and very like to the Pine sweating out his Rozen as he doth for there are sixe kindes of these Rozen trees the Pine the Pitch tree the wylde Pine the Fyrre the Larsh and the Tarre tree the planting of them al is alike The Alder a tree also meete for woods in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Alnus in Italian Auno in Dutch Elsen in French Aulne it groweth in plaine and marishe places neare to Riuers Theophrastus saith it yeeldeth a fruitfull seede in the ende of Sommer many places are commodiously planted with Poplar whereof there are two sortes the white called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the blacke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the white is called with y Italians Populo bianco with the Spaniards Alamo blanco the blacke of the Italians Populo negro of the other Alamo negrillo in French Peuplier in Dutch Peppelem it is planted of the branches and settes and delighteth in watry places or any other grounde it proueth very fast the blacke hath the ruggedder barke his leaues rounde while he is young and cornered in his age white vnderneath and greene aboue The tymber hereof is good for buyldinges specially within doores his Wood is whitishe within and the rinde blackish whence he hath his name Theophrastus addeth a third kinde called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some call the Poplar of Libya and of the Alpes it hath a rugged barke like the wylde Perry a leafe like Iuy and is in colour like a darke greene sharpe at the one end and brode at the other The blacke Poplar groweth in greate plenty about the lower partes of the Rhyne though Homer call the Wâ—llowe a fruitelesse tree because his fruite turneth into Cobwebs before they be ripe yet is the soueraintie geuen him amongest Wooddes that are vsually feld Cato geueth the third place of husbandry grounds to the Wyllouwe preferring it eyther before the Olyue Groue corne grounde or meddow for it is oftner to be cutte and groweth the thicker neyther is there so greate gayne with so little charge in any thing it delighteth in watry groundes darke and shadowy and therefore is planâ—ed about Ryuers and Lakes howbeit it groweth in the Champion and other ground it is planted of young settes a foote and a halfe long and well couered with earth a wette ground requyreth a greater distance betwixt them wherein you shall doo well to â—et them fiue foote a sunder in order like the sinke vppon a Dye in the dry ground they may be set thicker to geather yet Columella would haue them fiue foote distance for passing by them There are two sortes of Wyllowes one sort enduring for euer called Osyar seruing for making of Baskets Chayres Hampers and other country stuffe the other kinde growing with greate and high branches seruing for stayes to Uines or for quicksettes or stakes of Hedges and is called stake Wyllowe it is planted both of the tiwgge and of the stalke but the stalke is the better which muâ—t be set in a moyst ground well digged two foote a halfe in the ground before it spring and when the twygges are bare you must take them from the tree when they be very dry otherwyse they prosper not so well these stakes or settes being taken from the young stocke that hath ben ones or twyse cutte and in thicknesse as mâ—ch as a mans arme you must set in the ground three foote or a foote and a halfe deepe and sixe foote a sunder laying good moulde about them fence them well that there come no cattell to pill of the barke of them After three or foure yeeres you may pull them whereby they wyll growe and spreade the better and so you may continually cutte them euery fiue or fourth yeere wherof you may make sets for planting of more for the olde ones are not so good to be occupied The time of cutting of them is from the fall of the leafe vntill April the Moone encreasyng and in Westerly or Southerly windes for yf you doo it the winde being in the North we finde by experience they wyl not growe so wel you must cut them cleane away that the olde branches hurt not the young springes some thinke the young Wyllowe to growe the better the nearer the ground and the smoother he is cut The Osyar commonly groweth of his owne selfe and is also planted of his roddes in watry and marishe groundes the earth raysed vp and laide in furrowes it is planted and springes most plentifully where the earth is beaten vp with the rage and ouerflowinges of the water it serueth as a sure defence for making of Bankes and Walles in Marshes and that cheefely in March the Moone encreasing the Osyar may be cut euery yeere or euery two yeere yf you wyll Loe here haue you concerning Wooddes what needefullest are for our countreymen to plant for as for Woods of Cedar Cypresse and other strange trees it is not for our husbandes to busie them selues about wette and riche groundes that are meete for corne is also good to be planted with Okes Beeche Wyllowe Poplar although the Oke and the Beeche refuse hilly and lighter ground sandy and barraine groundes are good for Byrche Bramble Broome and Hethe as I haue sufficiently saide before Nowe perhaps you would haue me proceede with Coppisse wooddes that are continually to be feld THRA I would yf it were no paine to you MARIVS Coppisse or sale wood were fyrst brought vp as Plinie sayth by Qu. Martius This kinde of Wood groweth commonly of his owne accord in Forrestes and watry places but all Wooddes are not for this purpose for some trees there are which yf you cut and poule often wyl fade and dye as the Ashe the Iuâ—iper the Chery the Fyrre the Apple and the Pyrry and some againe yf they be not cut wyll perishe the Uine requireth yeerely cutting the Olyue the Myrtel and the Pomegranate eache other yeere In cutting of them as they are diuers so is their order for the Oke as he groweth slowly so is he not to be cutte before he be of seuen or eyght yeeres growth and the nearer the ground you cut him the better he growes though he may be polled seuen or eyght foote aboue the ground the like is of the Beeche sauing that he may sooner be cut The great Wyllowe and the Poplar are cut after one sort as I shewed a little before though the Osyar may be cut euery two yeere or euery yeere The Chestnut may be feld euery seuenth yeere both for Fewel or for Uine stâ—ues Trees are cut and pold sundry wayes for eyther they are feld close by the ground or the body is pold when it comes to be of the bignesse of
wylde Oke serueth also well in water woorkes so it be not neare the sea for there it endureth not by reason of the saltnesse it wyll not be pearced with any Augur except it be wette before neyther so wyll it suffer as Plinie sayth any Nayle driuen in it to be plucked out agayne The Mastholme in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tree well knowen in Italy the wood whereof is tough and strong and of colour like a darke redde meete as Hesiodus sayth to serue for Plow shares it may also be made in Waynscot and Payle boorde The Larsh tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Larice in Dutch Lerchenbaura was in the olde time greatly esteemed about the Riuer Poe and the Gulfe of Veniz not onely for the bitternesse of the sappe whereby as Vitruuius sayth it is free from corruption and woormes but also for that it wyll take no fyre which Mathiolus seemeth with his argumentes to confute It is good to susteyne great burdens and strong to resist any violence of weather howbeit they say it wyll rotte with salt water The Escle is a kinde of Oke called in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Esclus is soone hurt with any moysture the Elme the Wyllowe and the Poplar whereof I haue spoken before wyll very soone rotte and corrupt they wyl serue wel yenough within doore and for making of Hedges The Elme continueth very hard and strong and therfore is meete for the cheekes and postes of Gates and for Gates for it wyll not bowe nor warpe but you must so dispose it that the top may stand downeward it is meete as Hesiodus sayth to make Plow handles of The Ashe as Theophrastus sayth is of two sortes the one tall strong white and without knottes the other more ful of sappe ruggedder and harder The Bay leafe as Plinie sayth is a poyson to all kinde of cattell but herein he is deceiued as it should appeare by the likenesse of the name for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the young tree whose leaues as is certainely tryed killeth all such beastes as chawe not the cudde Ashe besides his manifolde vse otherwayes maketh the best and fayrest horsemens staues whereof was made the staffe of Achilles whiche Homer so greatly commendeth it is also cutte out in thinne boordes The Beeche whereof I haue spoken before although it be brittle and tender and may so be cut in thinne boordes and bent as he seemeth to serue onely for Caskettes Boxes and Coffâ—â—s his colour being very fayre yet is he sure and trusty in â—earing of weyght as in â—xeltrees for Cartes or Waynes The barkâ— of the Beech was vsed in the olde time for vessels to geatâ—er Grapes in and other fruite and also for Cruettes and vessels to doo sacrifyce withall and therefore Cuâ—iâ—s sware that he brought nothing away of all the spoyle of his enimies but one poore Beechen Cruet wherein he might sacrifyce to his gods The Alder is a tree with a strayght body a soft reddish wood growing commonly in watry places it is cheefely esteemed for fundâ—tions and in water woorks because it neuer rotteth lying in the water and therefore it is greatly accounted of among the Uenetians for the fundations of their places and houses for being driuen thicke in pyles it endureth for euer and susteyneth a wonderful wâ—â—ght The rinde is plucked of in the Spring and serueth the Dyâ—r in his occuâ—ation it hath lyke knottes to the Cedar to be cut and wrought in The Plane tree is but a stranger and a newe come to Italy brought thyther onely for the commodiâ—ie of the shadowe keeping of the sunne in Sommer and letting it in in Winter There are some in Athens as Plinie sayth whose branches are .36 cubites in breadth in Lyciaâ— there is one for greatnesse like a house the shaddowe place vnderneâ—th conteyning â—1 â—oote in bignesse the tymber with his sâ—ftness â—atâ— his vse but in water as the Alder but dryer then 〈…〉 the Ashe the Muâ—bery and â—he Chery The Lynder in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so in Italian in Spanish Laâ—era in Dutch Lyndon this tree â—hâ—ophrasâ—uâ— counteth best for the woorkeman by reason of his softnesse it breedeth no woornes and hath beâ—wixt the barke and the wood sundry little ryndes â—â—ereof they were woont in â—linieâ— time to make Ropes and Wythes The â—yrch is very beautiful and fayre the inner rinde of the tree called in Latine Liber was vsed in the olde time in steade of paper to wryte vpon and was bound vp in volumes whereof bookes had fyrst the name of Libri the twigges and bowes be small and bending vsed to be carried before the Magistrate among the Romanes at this day terrible to poore boyes in schooles The Elder tree called of Dioscoridus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Sambucus in Italian Sambuco in Spanish Sauco in French Suseau in Dutch Hollenter dooâ—h of all other trees soonest and easelist growe as experience besides Theophrastus dooth teache vs and though it be very full of pith yet the wood is strong and good it is hollowed to diuers vses and very light staues are made of it It is strong and tough when it is dry and being laide in water the rynde commeth of as soone as he is dry The Elder wood is very hard and strong and cheefely vsed for Bare speares the roote as Plinie sayth may be made in thinne boordes The Figge tree is a tree very wel knowen and fruitefull not very hye but somewhat thicke as Theophrastus sayth a cubite in compasse the tymber is strong and vsed for many purposes and sithe it is soft and holdeth fast what so euer stickes in it it is greatly vsed in Targettes Bore tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Italian Boxo in Spanishe Box in Frenche Bouys in Dutch Busthaum an excellent tree and for his long lastyng to be preferred before others The Box that turned is sayth Virgil. Iuniper called both of Theophrastus and Dioscoâ—ides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it driueth away vermine for with his sauour Todes and Snayles and suche lyke are driuen away in Latine it is called Iuniperus in Italian Ginipro in Spanishe Euebro in French Geueure in Dutch Wachoiâ—er it is very like to the Cedar but that it is not so large nor so hye though in many places it groweth to a great heygth the tymber wherof wyll endure a hundred yeeres And therefore Hanibal commaunded that the temple of Diana should be built with rafters and beames of Iuniper to the ende it might continue It also keepeth fyre a long time insomuch as it is saide the coles of Iuniper kindled haue kept fyre a yeere togeather the gumme whereof our Painters vse The Cedar tree in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Cedrus and almost like in other tongues the hardnesse of this tymber is onely praysed and that it wyll neither rotte nor
and the wylde Oke but the Fyners rather desyre the coles that are made of the Pine tree because they better abide the blowing and dye not so fast as the other The Cerre tree though the tymber be of no great vse yet serueth it wel to make cole of for the Brasse Forges because as soone as the bellowes leaue the fyre ceasseth and there is little waste in it but for building the tymber thereof is altogeather vnprofitable because it dooth easely breake and moulder away but being in â—ostes vnhewed it serueth well yenough within doore The aptest to take fyre is the figge tree and the Olyue tree the Figge tree because it is soft and open the Olyue tree for the fastnesse and the satnesse The Earth tree as Vitruuius sayth resisteth the fyre though Mathiolus as I sayde before goeth about to disprooue it In all the bodyes of trees as of liuely creatures there is skinne senowes blood fleshe vaynes bones and marowe theyr skinne is their barke of great vse among countrey people the vesselles that they geather their Uines and other fruites in they make of the barke of Lynd tree Fyrre Wyllowe Beech and Alder. The Corke hath the thickest barke which though he loose he dyeth not for so be benefâ—ciall hath nature been to him â— that becâ—use he is commonly spoyled of his barke she hath geuen him two barkes Of his barke are made Pantoffels and â—â—yppers and Floates for fyshing nettes and Angles yf the barke be pulled of the wood sinkes but the barke alwayes swimmeth The next to the rynde in most trees is the fatte the softest and the woorst part of the tree and most subiect to woormes therefore it is commonly â—ut away The sappe of the tree is his blood which is not alike in all trees for in the Figge tree it is milkie whiche serueth as a rennet for Cheese In Chery trees it is gummy in Elmes saltishe in Apple trees clommy and fatte in Uines and Peare trees watrishe they commonly spring the best whose sappe is clammiest The iuyce of the Mulbery is sought for as Plinie sayth of the Phisitions Next to the fatte is the fleshe and next to that the bone the best part of the tymber all trees haue not any great quantitie of this fatte and fleshe for the Box the Cornel and the Olyue haue neyther fatte nor fleshe nor marowe and very little blood as neyther the Seruisse nor Alder haue anâ— bone but both of them full of marow Reedes for the most part haue no fleshe at al in fleshe of trees there are both vaines and arteryes the vaines are broader and fayrer the arteryes are onely in such trees as wyl cleaue by meanes of which arteryes it commeth to passe that the one end of a long beame laide to your eare yf you doo but fillippe with your finger vppon the other end the sound is brought foorthwith to your eare whereby it is knowen whether the peece be straight and euen or not In some trees there are knoties on the outside as the wenne or the kernell in the fleshe of man in the whiche there is neyther veyne nor artery a hard knoppe of fleshe being clong and rolled vp in it selfe these are most of price in the Cedar and the Maple In some the fleshe is quite without veynes hauing only certayne small stringes and such are thought to cleaue best others that haue not their stringes or arteryes wyll rather breake then cleaue as the Uine and the Olyue wyll rather breake then cleaue The whole body of the Figge is fleshy as the body of the Mastholme the Cornel the wylde Oke the Mulbery and suche others as haue no pith is all bony The grayne that runneth ouerthwart in the Beech was taken as Plinie sayth in the olde time for his arteryes THRA There are other commodities beside the tymber to be geathered of these trees MARIVS Uery true for as I sayde before of the Medlar the Oke the Chestnut the Pine and the Beech these trees that growe in the Wooddes beside their tymber beare fruite also good and meete to be eaten So of the Fyrres the Pitch trees and the Pines we geather Rozen and Pitch to our greate commoditie and gayne as of the Oke the Beech the Chestnut the Medlar and the Pine we haue fruite both meete for man and also good for feeding of Hogges and other cattell In time of dearth both our forefathers and we haue tryed the good seruice that Akornes in bread hath doone yea as Plinie and others haue written they were woont to be serued in amongst fruite at mens tables Neyther is it vnknowen what great gaynes some countreys geat by Akornes Rozen and Pitch the Gaile also groweth vpon these Akorne bearing trees whereof I haue spoken before Amongest all the trees out of which runneth Rozen the Tarre tree a kinde of Pine is fullest of sappe softer then the Pitch both meete for fyre and light whose boordes we vse to burne in steede of candelles The Cedar sweateth out Rozen Pitch caled Cedria Moreouer of trees is Brydlime made the best of the Cerre tree the Mastholme and the Chestnut specially in the Wooddes about Sene and neare the sea side where they are carefully planted in great plentie by the Byrdlyme makers for they geather the berryes from the trees and boyle them tyl they breake and after they haue stamped them they washe them in water tyl al the flesh fall away Plinie affirmeth that it groweth only vpon Okes Mastholmes Skaddes Pine trees and Fyrre Byrdelyme is also made of the rootes of certaine trees specially of the Holly whose rootes and barkes withall they geather and lay them vp in trenches couered with leaues in a very moyst grounde some doo it in doung and there they let them lye tyll they rot then take they them out and heate them tyl they waxe clammy and after washe them in warme water and make them vp in balles with their handes it is vsed beside other purposes for the taking of byrdes Besides all this there sweateth out of trees a certayne Gumme knowen to all men as of the Chery tree the Plome tree the Iuniper the Olyue the Blackthorne the Iuie and Almond Out of the Iuniper commeth Uernish out of the Myrrhe Scorax out of the white Poplar Amber Plinie wryteth that Amber commeth out of certayne Pine trees in the fatte as Gumme dooth from the Chery tree And thus these thinges that I haue here at your request declared touching the order of plantyng and sowing I beseeche you take in good woorth you heare my wyfe calleth vs to supper and you see the shaddowe is tenne foote long therefore it is hye tyme we goe THRA I geue you most harry thankes that you haue thus freendly enterteyned me in this your fayre Orchard with the sweete desâ—ription of these pleasant hearbes and trees IVLIA Syr your supper is redy I pray you make an ende of your talke and let the Gentleman
placed as it may alwayes be in the masters eye and to be lightsome least the Horse being vsed to the dark his eye dasel at the light Some thinke they will be the gentler if they be vsed to the light and the fayrer if they haue the sunne at his rysing in somer time let as mutch ayre come to them both day and night as you can In winter your stable should rather be warme then hot and therfore your stable must stand toward the south but so as the windowes may open toward the North which being kept shut in winter may be warme opened in somer you may let in the coole ayre EVPH. The like we vse in our oxe stalles HIPPO Besides whereas the bodies of Cattell haue nede of rubbing as well as mens bodyes for many times it doth the Horse as much good to be stroked downe the backe with your hand as to feede him The Horse is to be continually curryed in the morning at night and after his labour In currying of them we must begin at the head and the necke for it is a vaine thing to make cleane the lower partes and leaue the other foule It is good also to obserue due times for his feeding his watering his trauayle Thus much of his exercise Now followeth to speake of his dyet and because we haue spoken before of his pasture we must also say sumwhat of his other feding The better a man would haue his Horse to proue the better must he looke to his meate for the good feeding the country people say is a great helpe to the goodnesse of the Horse If the Horse be young as I said before of Coltes he must be fed with grasse chaffe and hay if he be elder and mete to trauaile his foode must be the dryer as Chaffe Barley Oates and Hay Chaffe doth not so well nourish by reason of y drynesse but it keepes the body in good plight and because hard meate is hardest of digestioÌ„ it is therefore to be geuen to those that labour The stocke or studde must be pastured in large pastures and marshes as also vpon mountaines and hilly groundes but euer well watred not dry rather champion then woddy and rather soft sweete grasse then hye and flaggy if y pasture be too short they sooner weare their foreteeth are toothlesse before their full age And where as euery kind of Creature is naturally moyst a Horse ought cheefely whether he be young or old to be fed with moist pasture for y better conseruatioÌ„ of his natural temprature Some would haue you in no wise to geue your Horse grasse in the spring time but in Iune or the fall of the leafe they would haue you geue them grasse with the deaw vppon it and in the night season Oates Barly Hay Howbeit in y colder couÌ„treys in Germany France England where the pasture is very good they doubt not to skowre their Horses with greene grasse and weedes of the meddowes and in the chotter countryes they doo the like with greene blades of wheate or barly Sâ—me vse to geue theÌ„ Aples shared in peeces to skoure theÌ„ withal thus much of skouring of Horses Generally who so euer will haue his Horse helthy and aâ—le to endure trauaile let him feede his Horse with Oates mingled with chaffe or strawe so shall he be temperatly well fed and yf so he labour much geue him the more Oats His meate must be geuen him as some thinke best in a lowe manger set so lowe as they are forced to eate their meate with some difficultie or trauaile which they say is to make them bend their neckes by which excercise both the head and the neck groweth bigger and they wyll be the easier to be bridled besides they wyll be the stronger by reason of the hard setting of the forefeete Howbeit in some places they vse hie standing mangers after what sort so euer they be they must alwayes be kept clene and well swept before you cast in their meate Their prouender though diuers Horscorsers that liue by sale of Horse do feede them with sodden Rie or beanemeale sodde pampering them vp that they may be the fayrer to the eye yet is it not good â—oode to labour with The best prouender that is is Oates and for defâ—wâ—e of them Barly you must beware you geue them neyther Wheate Ric or any dry pulse their prouender must be geuen them rather often litâ—ell then once or twyse a day in greate porcâ—ons least you gluâ—te them therewith they are vsed to be fed comonly â—iue times a day when they stand in the stable keeping an equall number of houres betwene y times when they trauaile you may geue them meate seldomer but in greater quantitie yf their iournies be long they must haue prouender besides in the night alwayes remembryng as I said that you glâ—â—â—e them not The better a Horse feedeth the better wyll he labour you must also beware that you geue him no prouender neyther Oates nor Barly after any great labour till he be thorowe colde notwithstanding you may geue him a little hay to coole his mouth The hay must be sweete and wel made and 〈◊〉 shaken before it be cast in the racke and specially seene too that there be no feathers of any fowle amongest it If the 〈…〉 very hotte after his labour let him be well couered and softly walked tyll he be colde before you set him vp when he is sâ—â— vp 〈◊〉 him well leâ—â—t the coldnesse of the ground stâ—â—ke into him in any wyse washe him not when he is hot but when he is through colde water him and washe him wiping him dry when you bring him in If the Horse forsake his meate some vse to stampe Garlike and Pepper and to geue it him rubbing his teeth well till his stomacke come to him some would haue a cloute wette in salt water tyed vpon a sticke and thrust into his Iawes In watring you must looke well vnto him for as Aristotle saith beastes doo feede and are nourished the betâ—eâ— yf they be well watred Horses and Camels do loue best to drinke a thicke troubled water in so much as yf y water be cleare they wyl trouble it with their â—ecte For the most Bullockes againe desire a fayre cleare water and 〈◊〉 The same Aristotle also affirmeth that a Horse may suffer thyrstâ— 4. dayes without drinke Varro wylles you to water your Horses twyse a day which order we obserue that is once in the morning and againe in the afternone but in winter yf they drinke but once a day it suffiseth before you water him he must be well rubbed and then ledde into the water vp to the knees specially yf he be leane yf he be fatte he may goe the deâ—per Notwithstanding there are some that holde opinnion they ought not to goe so deepe as their stones touche the water specially if the Horse be young After Marche the
spring it is very good to ryde them vp and downe in some Riuer which wyll exercise their legges for the water dryeth the legges and restraineth the humors from falling downe and kepeth them from windgalles as soone as they come from the water you must with a little strawe wipe them cleane for the dampe of y stable causeth inflamation in the Horses legges that be wette The water acording to Vegetius his minde would be cleare and springing other like it a little running and troubled in a clay ground for this water by reason of the thicknesse and fatnesse doth better nourishe and feede the Horse then the swyft running streame yet those Horses that are vsed to the swyft and cleare Riuers are comonly the stronggest and best trauaylers and therefore it would be well considered how the Horse hath ben accustomed the colder the waters are the lesse they nourish the deeper a Horse drinkes the fatter he proues and therefore some Horscoursers vse to washe their Horses mouthes first with water and after to rubbe them with salt to geue them an appetite to their meate and their drinke EVPHOR I pray you let vs here some remedies for Horsses diseases for as Aristotle saith a Horse hath as many diseases as a man. HIPPO As touching diseases in a Horse it is better to preuent them by good heede taking and as Vegetius saith to be more careful in keeping a Horse helthy then when he is sicke to cure him which health you shall continue with ease yf you wyll obserue those thinges touching his diet his stable and his labour that I haue told you of before Who so euer wyll haue a good Horse and keepe him in good estate must often times see him come to him handel him and stroke him for that both makes him gentill and geues him a fayre coate and be still mindfull of the olde prouerbe the Maisters eye maketh a fatte Horse and to be short to haue him so still in his sight as he rather want his owne meate then his Horse should for he that neclecteth his Horse neclecteth him selfe To let him haue moderate exercise and to ryde him nowe and then yf the weather be fayre into the Feelde wyl doo him great good the morning is better to labour him in then the euenyng neyther must you in Winter or in Sommer ouerlabour him for being in a sweat and after taking colde he falleth into daungerous diseases And therefore remember what I sayde that where so euer you haue laboured him or rydden him be sure you couer him with some cloth and walke him softly that he may be cold before he eyther be suffered to eate or drinke when he is colde he may be led to the water and washed so as when you bring him into the stable you lytter him well and throwly rubbe him and so geue him meate If he be ouer trauayled the only remedy is rest and after his sweating to washe his mouth in Sommer with water and vineger in Winter with brine for the neclecting of these thinges hath been the destruction of many a good Horse Also to powre into his mouth wine and oyle in Sommer colde in Winter warme as Vegetius teacheth and as we finde by experience is very good for it is commonly seene that a tyred Horse yf necessitie forceth a further iourney with powring in a quart of good wine wyll trauayle lustyly You must not suffer your Horse to drinke after his iourney tyll he be colde howbeit yf he sweate not to extreamely and be rydden soone after it is not so daungerous it is farre better to let him thyrst then to geue him colde water yf he be hotte If a Horse haue long rested he is not to be trauayled vpon the sudden eyther in galloping or long iourney but to be laboured faire and softly at the fyrst A Horse that is weery or tyred wylbe woonderfully refreasshed so as it woulde seeme he had neuer been trauayled yf he may wallow him selfe eyther in the stable or other dry place out of the wynde and rayne and therefore Xenophon would haue neare vnto euery stable a place meete for their wallowing wherein after their iourneyes they may tumble them selues for in so dooing they shewe they are in health and refreashe them selues You must looke diligently that they be well looked to at night and that after their sweat they be wel rubbed and curried and that they be not disquieted when they should rest In Winter they would be clothed with Wollen for taking of cold and in Sommer with Camias to keepe them from flyes You must beware that you iourney them not long without staling but after you haue trauayled an houre or such a thing prouoke them to stale by ryding them out of the way into some place where sheepe haue dounged or into some hie Grasse Ferne or Stubble which order was continually obserued by the best dyeter of Horses that euer I knewe in England one Henry King who hauyng charge of that most woorthy Gentlemans Horses syr Thomas Chalenour caryed a fayre company of Geldinges from London to the Court of Spayne who notwithstandyng their long iourney through Fraunce and the painefull passage of the Piremies by the skilfull diligence of their keeper came thyther in as good plight as they came out of England And yf so be you see he can not stale or staleth with paine you must bathe hym with bath appoynted for colde that is oyle mingled with wine powred vpon his loynes also a Louse put into his yarde or Sope put into his fundament hath been seene to helpe him If this doo not helpe you must squirt in Hony boyled thinne with Salt into his yarde Some woulde haue the licour of the lyme Bitumen squirted in Aeliomus wryteth that the Horse that can not stale is presently remedied yf so be a mayde strike him vpon the face with her gyrdell the feete which is the cheefest matter in a Horse you shall alwayes keepe sound yf as I tould you afore your stable be well paued with round stone or well plancherd and kept cleane which done you must stop his hoofes with Cowe doung or for want therof with Horse doung watred and the legges must be often rubbed with a strawen wispe To cause the hoofe to growe or to repaire the broken hoofe take of Garlicke heades seuen ounces of Hearbegrace three handfulles of Allome beaten and sifted seuen ownces of Barrowes grease very olde two powndes mingle all these with a handfull of Asses doung boyle them and annoynt the hoofes therewith After their iourney see you searche their feete well suffering no grauel nor filth to remayne therein you shal well refreashe their hoofes with the oyntment aforesayde The ioyntes or the pasternes woulde be well bathed after their trauaile with warme wine or an egge or two would be thrust into their howfes the legges them selues would be washed with warme beere or some like bath If the Horse thrust out one of his feete and stand not
euen it is a signe of some fault in the foote the Horse halteth eyther by reason of the spoyling of his hoofe in iourney or by yll showing or by vnholsome humours fallen downe by long standing in the stable or by windgalles If the fault be in the showing strike vpon the head of euery nayle with the hammer and when you perceiue him to shrinke plucke out that nayle or powre vpon the hoofe colde water and that nayle that is fyrst dry plucke out yf it matter squeese it out and powre in Pitch well sodden with olde Swynes grease you must also speedely open his hoofe belowe that the matter yf it be full of corruption may descend least it breake out aboue the hoofe and so cause a longer time of healing The signes of it be yf he holde vp his foote which yf you doo pare him to the quicke and where you perceiue it to looke blacke open it and let out the matter if he be hurt inward and standeth but on his toe it sheweth the fault to be in his hoofe but yf he treade equally with his foote it declares the greefe to be some other where then in his hoofe yf in his haulting he bowe not his ioyntes it is a signe the sore is in the ioyntes For al halting generally mingle Hemp with the white of an egge and stop the foote withall and after clap on the showe yf it be a wound put herein the pouder of Oystershelles and Uerdegrease to drye it vp or the white of an egge with Soote and Uineger The Cratches as they commonly call them is a malady that happeneth betwixt the Pastornes and the Hoofe in the manner of a skabbe and is ingendred of the dampes of the stable whyle he standeth wette legged the remedy whereof is all one with the paines which is likewyse a sâ—raunce breeding about the ioyntes breaking the skinne and mâ—ttring taking away the heare washe the sore with warme Bâ—ece or with the broth wherein is sodden Mallowes Brimstone and Sheepes suet which must be bounde about the sore place morning and euening or else Sheepe suet Goates suet Swines grease Uerdegrease and quicke Brimstone Bolearmeniacke and Sope boyled and made in oyntment wherewith you shal anoynt y sore twyse a day washing it first with warme wine after it is dried annoynt it in the meane time kepe him out of the water the lees of wine is also sometime vsed in the curing of the Cratches Windgalles which are swellinges and risinges in the legges are cured with cutting and burning some thinke they may be restrayned and cured by rideing the Horse oftentimes vp and downe in some colde and swyft streame also by washing his legges with Salt Uineger Swynes grease and Oyle wrapping them vp certayne dayes or by launcing or skarrifiyng they are cured the outward sores are healed by burning If the backe be wrong with the saddell or otherwise hurt that it swell Vegetius would haue you to seeth Onyons in water and when they be so hotte as the Horse may suffer to lay them vppon the sore and binde them fast which wyll asswage the swelling in one night Item salt beaten and medled with Uineger putting to it the yoke of an Egge layed vppon the swelling wyll heale it besides Arssmart stamped and layd to dooth presently asswage the swelling If the backe be galled washe it with Beere and Butter or cast vpon it the pouder of a Lome wall There is a disâ—ase that is common in Horses called the Uynes which yf he haue turne downe his eare and launce the sore at the roote of the eare take out the matter but take good heede you cut not the vaine that lieth a little aboue If a Horse haue been set vp hot after his iourney and in his heate hath been watred or taken colde whiche the Germanes call Verfaugen in Englishe foundred or in some places fraide the remedie is the skinne of a Weesel cut in smal peeces fresh butter a rotten egge and vineger mingled together and powred into the Horse with a horne after whiche let him stand couered with a wet cloth tyll he waxe hot A present and assured cure for this disease I learned not long agone of that honest wyse and valiaunt Gentleman captaine Nicholas Malbee in whom there wanteth nothing belonging to a woorthi souldier his medecine was this Garter each legge immediatly one handfull aboue the knee with a liste good and hard and then walke him to chafe him and put him in a heate and being somewhat warmed let him blood in both the brest vaines and in the vaines of the hinder legges betwene the hoofe and the Pastorne reseruing the blood to make a charge withal in this maner Take of that blood two quartes and of Wheate meale as it commeth from the Myll halfe a pecke and sixe egges shelles and all of Bolearmeniacke halfe a pound of Sanguis Draconis halfe a quarterne and a quarte of strong vineger mingle them all togâ—â—â—her and charge all his shoulders brest backe loynes and forelegges therwith walke him vpon some hard ground three houres after leade him into the stable and let him stande tyed two houres to the racke without meate or drinke walke him then two or three houres more and then geue him a little warme water with ground Malt in it and after a little Hay and prouender then walke him againe vpon the hardest ground you can geat you shal ryde him the next day a myle or two softly and so from day to day vntyll he be wel which wyl be within three or foure dayes Rememember to let him stand y first day after his first walking two houres in water vp to the belly this medecine is infallible The collicke or paine in the belly is thought wyl be eased in a Horse or Mule onely with the syght of a Ducke or any water foule To keepe your Horse froÌ„ flyes it is good to washe him ouer with the iuyce of the leaues of the Gourde in the middes of Sommer Many times Horses are troubled with wormes or bots which you shal perceiue yf they cast their looke vpon their belly yf they wallow oftentimes and strike their belly with their foote the remedy is Harts horne Sauine beaten and geuen him with a little vineger in a horne Columella would haue you rake the Horse with your hand and after that you haue plucked out the doung to washe his fundament with sea water or brine Bâ—asanolus in his Commentary vpon Hippocrates declareth howe he cured the Duke of Ferars Horse being in great daunger with woormes by geuing them quicke siluer and Scordium or water Germander when no other medâ—ines would helpe The Rhewine or distillation maketh a Horse slothful dull and faint yet wyl he be ledde rydden and moderate labour is not amisse for him let him drinke warme water with Wheate branne the moâ—e fylth he voydes at the mouth the better wyll it be for him There are some diseases thought to be
Horses for the sight of the Ducke as Vegetius and Columella say is a present remedy to this beast For the Flix or the Laske which in some places they call the Ray take Sloes and dry them in powder and geue it them to drinke yf it be the blooddy Flixe the old fellowes were wont to cure it in this sort They suffred not the beast to drinke in three dayes and kept him fasting the first day and gaue him the stoanes of Reazins or Grapes dryed and made in powder two poundes with a quart of sharpe tarte Wine and suffered them to drinke no other drinke and made them eate the browsing of wyld Olyue trees and Mastyxe trees and yf they mended not with this they burnt them in the forehead to the very brayne pan and cut of theyr eares The woundes tyll they were whole they washed with Oxpisse but the cut partes were to be healed with Oyle and Pytch If your Calues haue the Ray or Laske take sweete Milke and put therein the Rennet of a Calfe make it no thicker but as the Calfe may well drinke it and geue it him luke warme If your Bullocke haue the Cough and yf it be but beginning geue him a pint of Barly-meal with the yolke of an Egge the Reazins boyled in sweete Wine and strained a pint mingle them togeather and geue it him fasting Also Graines beaten and mingled with Floure fryed Beanes and meale of Lentylls all stirred togeather and geuen him in a mash Columella would haue you geue them Grasse chopt and mingled with Beanes that are but a little broken in the Myll and Lentylls small ground and mingled with water The old Cough they cured with two pound of Hysope steeped in three pintes of water and mingled with Floure which they made him to swallowe and afterwardes powred into him the water wherein Hysope had been sodden also Peason with Barly water and sodden Hony when they had the Cough and Consumption of the Loonges To keepe them aliue they vsed to burne the roote of a Hasell and to thrust it through their â—ares geuing them to drinke a pint of the iuyce of Leekes with the like measure of Oyle and Wine For the Cough of the Loonges I vse to geue them long Pepper Graines Fenegreke Bays Anysseede Ortment balles Turmericke and Madder beating them all togeather and seething them in good Ale grounes If your Calues haue the Cough take Sentury and beate it to powder and geue it them If they haue the Feauer or Ague you shall perceaue it by the watring of theyr eyes the heauinesse of their head the driueling at the mouth beating of the vaines and heate of the whole body let them fast one day the next day let them blood a little betimes in the morning in the tayle after an houre geue them a thirtie little stalkes of Colwoortes sodde in Oyle Water and Salt which must be powred fasting into them fiue dayes togeather Beside you may geue them the toppes of Olyue trees Lentylls or any tender brutinges or branches of Uines and wype theyr mouthes with a Spunge geuing them cold water thrise a day The blood faling downe into the legges causeth them as Vegetius sayth to halt which as soone as you perceaue you must straightwayes looke vpon his hoofes the heate whereof wyll declare his greefe beside he wyl scarse suffer you to touch it But yf so be the blood be yet aboue the hoofe in the legges you shall dissolue it with good rubbing or yf not with that with Scarifâ—â—ng or Pouncing the skinne If it be in the foote open it a little with a knife betwene the two clawes and laye to the sore cloutes dipped in Uineger and Salt making him a shooe of Broome and be well ware he come not into any water but stand dry This blood yf it be not let out wyll breede to matter which wil be long eare it heale yf it be opened at the first with a knife and made cleane and after cloutes dipped in Water Salt and Oyle layd to it and at the last annoynted with olde Swynes grease and Goates suet boyled togeather it wyll quickly be whole This disease as I take it the countrey people call the Fowle or the Wyspe which they sometime cure with drawing a rope of strawe or heare through the Cleese tyll it bleede or by searing of it with a hotte iron If the blood be in the lower part of the Hoofe the vttermost part of the Clee is pared to the quicke and so the blood let out and after the foote wrapped with clowtes and shooed with Brome you must open the Hoofe in the middest except the matter be ripe If he halte by reason of the Crampe or payne of the sinowes you shal rub his knees thighes and legges with Salt and Oyle till he be whole If his knees or ioyntes be swolen they must be bathed with warme Uineger and Linseede or Mylet beaten and layd to it with water and Hony. Also Spunges wette in hotte water and dryed againe and annoynted with Hony are very good to be layd to the knees yf vnder the swelling there be any humor Leauen or Barly meale sodde in water and Hony or sweete Wine must be layd to it and when it is ripe it must be opened with a knife and healed as before All greefes generally yf they be not broken must be dissolued whylst they are new with bathes and fomentations and yf they be old they must be burned and the burning annoynted with Butter or Goates suet If he haue hurt his heele or his Hoofe stone Pitch Brimstone and greasie Wooll must be burnt vpon the sore with a hot iron The like must be done when he is hurt with a Stub a Thorne or a Nayle being first plucked out or yf it be very deepe it must be opened wyde with a knife and so handled for kiâ—ed heeles take and cast him and bind his legges fast togeather then take your knife and cut it out as nie as you can and let him bleede well then take a peniworth of Uerdegrease and the yolke of an Egge and temper them well togeather and bind them close to the place and he shall heale If the Udder of your Kine do swell you shall bathe them with Iuie sodden in stale Beere or Ale and smoke them with Hony Coames and Camomell If the Bullockes feete be neare worne and surbated washe them in Oxe pysse warmed and kindling a fewe twygges or spraps when the flame is doone cause him to stand vpon the hotte imbers and annoynt his hornes with Tarre and Oyle or Hogges grease They wyll neuer lightly halt yf after they haue ben laboured their feete be washed wel with cold water and afterwards their Pastorns and the places betwene the Clees be rubbed with old Swynes grease The skabs or manginesse is gotten away with rubbing them with stamped Garlicke which also cureth the biting of a madde Dogge besides Peniriall and Brimstone beaten and boyled
him selfe in a little house vppon wheeles sleepes hard by his charge The Sheepe of Greece Asia an Toranto and those which they call couered Sheepe are commonly vsed to be kept in houses rather then abroade for the excellencie and sinesse of their wooll EVPHOR What times doo you appoynt for the shearing of your Sheepe HEDIO The times of shearing are not in all places one but varry according to the disposition of the ayre the cattell and the countrey the best way is to haue good regarde to the weather as the Sheepe be not hurt by shearing in the colde nor harmed by forbearing in the heate In some places they haue two seasons in the yeere for shearing of their Sheepe the fyrst season for their shearing is eyther with the beginning of May or els with the ending of April the seconde season of theyr shearing is about the beginning of September Such as doo vse to sheare theyr Sheepe but once in the yeere doo commonly appoynt for their season the tenth of the moneth of Iune about which time also such as do sheare twyse a yeere doo sheare their Lambes Three dayes before you sheare them you must washe them well and when they be full dry you may sheare them they doo not in all places sheare their Sheepe but in some places as Plinie sayth pull them The old husbandes did account for the best wooll the wooll of Puglia and that which in Italy was called the Greeke fleese the next in goodnesse they tooke to be the wooll of Italy in the third place they esteemed the Milesian fleese the wooll of Pullia is but short and meete to be worne onely in ryding clokes The wooll about Toranto and Canas is thought to be passing good but the best at this day is the wooll of Englande The fyner your pasture is the fyner as it is thought you shall haue your wooll The wooll of suche sheepe as are slayne by the Woolfe the garmentes made thereof as Aristotle saith is aptest to breede Lyse If you happen in the shearing to clip the skinne you must foorthwith annoynt it with Tarre when you haue shorne them some thinke it good you annoynt them with the iuyce of sodden Lupines Lees of olde Wine and the dragges of Oyle made in an oyntment and after three dayes to wash them if it be neare you in the sea or yf the sea be farre of with rayne water sodden with Salt. And being thus ordred you shall not haue them to lose their wooll all the yeere but to be healthy and to carry a deepe and a fine fleese and therfore Virgil biddes you Goe plonge them oft in healthy streames There be some agayne that woulde haue you to annoynt them three dayes in the yeere the daâ—es being soone after you haue washed them with Oyle and Wine mingled togeather Against Serpents that many times lie hid vnder their Cribbes you must burne Cedar Galbanum or womans heare or Hartes horne in the ende of Sommer is your time for drawing and seuering of them as I tolde you before when you must sell your Sheepe that through feeblenesse they fayle not in the Winter Beside killing one or two of them you must looke well vpon their Liuers and yf the Liuer be not sounde for hereby is foreseene the daunger then eyther sell them or fatte them and kill them for veâ—y hard is it to saue them their Liuers being perished Infected Sheepe are more subiect to skabbes and manginesse then any other cattel which commeth as the Poete witnesseth When coldest stormes doo wette them neare And â—oary frostes on ground appeare Or yf you washe not of the sweate of the Sommer with Salte water or otherwyse If when they be shorne you suffer them to be hurt with brambles or thornes or yf you put them into houses where either Horses Mules or Asses haue stand but specially lacke of good feeding whereof procedeth poorenesse and of poorenesse skabbes and manginesse The sheepe that is infected is thus knowen yf he eyther scratch stampe with his foote or beate him self with his horne or rubbe him self against a tree whiche perceiuing him so to doo you shal take him and opening his wool you shal finde the skinne ruffe and as it were itchy diuers men haue diuers remedies for this malady but such as are not at hand to be had Virgil thinkes there is no presenter remedy Then at the first to clyppe away the sore For being hidde it festereth the more Constantine out of Dydimus affirmeth that the skabbes of Sheepe are healed by washing them with Urine and after annoynting them with Brimstone and Oyle The common shepheardes when they perceiue a Sheepe to fall a rubbing they strayghtwayes take him and shedding the heare doo seare the place with Tarre others doo teache other remedies more hard to be come by which are not for euery sheephard nor euery countrey to vse And yf the hole flocke be infected it dooth many times so continew as it shall be needfull to change houses and which in all other diseases behoueth both countrey and ayre This on alonely medecine haue I alwayes proued for the keeping in health of this cattell to be most present and soueraine take the berries of Iuniper beate them small and sprincle them with Oates and Salte mingle them all togeather and geue it your Sheepe three or foure times in the yeere for though they refuse to eate the Iuniper berries of them selues yet for the desire of the Salt and the Oates they wyl easely take them altogether If they be lowsie or full of tickels they vse to beate the rootes of Maple and seething them in water and opening the wooll with their fingers they pouer the licour so as from the ridge of the backe it runne all ouer the body Others vse the roote of Mandracke being wel ware that they suffer them not to tast it If they haue the feuer you must let them blood in the heele betwixt the two Clees whiche the Poete teacheth saying It easeth straight the flaming feuers payne If in the foote you strike the spinning vayne Some let them blood vnder the eyes some behind the eares The Fowle a disease betwixt the Clees is taken away with Tarre Alome Brimstone and Uineger mingled togeather or pouder of Uerdegrese put vppon it The swelling betwixt the two Clawes must be cut with great warinesse lest you hap to cut the woorme that lieth in it for yf you doo there commeth from her a hurtfull mattring that poysoneth the wound and maketh it vncurable Maister Fytzherbert a Gentleman of Northamptonshyre who was the fyrst that attempted to wrighte of husbandry in England appoynteth this cure his woordes be these There be some Sheepe that haue a woorme in his foote that maketh him to halte take that Sheepe and looke betwixt his Cleese and there shall you finde a little hoâ—e as much as a greate pinnes head wherein groweth fiue or sixe blacke heares like an inche long or more take
made it in this sort They put into a newe earthen vessell Uineger and suffered it to boyle softly vpon the fyre tyll the vessell had drunke vp the Uineger and into that vessel they powred in milke set it where it might stand stedfast whereby they had within a whyle theyr desyre But mee thinketh I haue for my part done yenough it coÌ„meth nowe to your turne EVMEVS to goe forward with the rest EVMEVS That the keeping of Swyne belongeth to husbandry dooth euidently appeare by the saying of the auncient husbandes counting him asseuthful and an vnthristie husband that hath his Bacon rather from the Buâ—cher then from his owne roofe for there aryseth as great profite many times to vs of our owne Swyne as doth to you that be keepers of greater cattell of your flockes for yf Bacon be away the cheefest supporter of the husbandmans Ritchin is wanting And wheras Swynes flesh seemeth abominable to the â—oolish Iewes I beleeue veryly they neuer tasted the Gâ—monds of Fraunce so highly commended by Varro Strabo Athenens and other learned wryters which I suppose were no other but the flyches of Westphaly so greatly esteemed at this day not onely in Germany but in Rome and that they were called by the names of Celtyck Gamonds because the old wryters specially the Greekes called all the countreys on this side the Alpes both French and Dutch by the name of Celtyck Surely there is no beast besides that makes more daynty dishes there is in him neare fifty different tastes where euery other beast hath but one and hereof came at fyrst the sharp law of the Censores forbidding it to be vsed at suppers the vdders the stones the trypes and the forepart of the heads of Swyne as Plinie witnesseth And most apparant is it that not onely the French and the Dutch in those dayes but also the Italians and the Greekes nourished great heardes of Swane Among the Greekes Hamâ—â— maketh mention of one of my name that had twelue Hogsties euery stye conteyning â—ifty Porklinges and Polybius wryteth of more then a thousand to be rered at a time among the auncient Italians Tuskans and French Varro accounteth a hundred but a small heard Who so wyll nourishe Hogges must haue regard both to the fayrenesse and the age Varro addeth beside the nature of the kinde and the country And because the young doo commonly resemble theyr parents he would haue you choose such as are fayre and large bodyed and which makes most to the matter as fruitefull as may be which Varro dooth cheesely commend those that be of one colour their bristelles would be thicke hard and blacke yf it be in a cold country if in a temperate you may nourish the smooth Theyr proportion would be long large syded and bellyed wide buttocked short legged footed bigge necked and well brawned short groyned and turning vpwarde his tayle wrynckled The kinde is most commended that bringeth many Pigges the country that breedeth large and greate the best age for the Boare is a yeere oldâ— though at half a yeere old they are able to serue a Sowe one Boare is yenough for tenae Sowes and mâ—â—e The Sowe is sufficient to bring Pigges at a yeere old and so for seuen yeeres after the fruitfuller she is the sooner she wâ—reth old at her fyrst farrowing you shall easely see what number shee wyll bring foorth for shee wyll not much differ in the other The best kind of Sowes haue twelue pappes the common sort tenne or not so many Euery Pigge doth knowe his owne pappe that he was borne to sucketh onely that and none other yf you take away the Pigge the pappe dryeth as both Plinie and experience sheweth They were woont to be bought bargained for in this sort Doo you warrant that these Swyne are sound that I shall well enioy them that you wyll answere the faultes and that they be of a healthy breede A wet moorish ground is meetest for this cattell for he delighteth not in water but in durt and myre so much as Varro wryteth that the Woolfe as soone as he hath caught a Sowe draggeth her to the water because his teeth is not able to abide the heate of her fleshe And although this beast wil away with any ground for he seedeth both in mountaynes champion and marish yet his cheese delight is in the Woods that is full of Quagmires where there groweth store of Oke Corke Beech Mastholme wyld Olyues wyld Dates Haselnuttes Crabbe trees Plome trees and Chery trees for these doo fruite diuers times and feede the heards almost al the whole yeere Where there wanteth Woods they must be fedde from the ground wherin a marrishes to be preferred before a dry ground that they may mousell in the marsh digge vp woormes wallowe in the myre and toomble in the puddels of water which in sommer is most needefull They also hunt after rootes specially Fearne rootes and the rootes of Bullrushes Rushes and Sedges beside good grasse well feedeth a Swyne and Orchardes of Cheryes Plomes Apples and Nuttes And notwithstanding all this the Barne for you must feede them often by hand when meate fayles abroade and therfore you must preserue store of Acorns in Cestornes in the water or dryed vppon smoky Floores also Beanes Pease and Tares must be geuen them and not so much as Barly spared for this kinde of feeding dooth make them fayre and not onely fattes them but geueth the fleshe a pleasant tast When they are yet young and sucke both they and theyr dammes must be well fedde they must be put to feede early in the mornyng afore the heate of the sunne after kept in shadowy places where there is good store of water Afore they goe to pasture they must be medecined least the grasse skarre them to much by which they wylbe greatly weakened In winter they must not be put abroade tyll the frost be of the ground and the yse thawed And though the Swyne wil roame at the knowen voyce of theyr swyneheard yet Varro will haue them be brought both to pasture and homeward with the sound of a horne theyr meate must be geuen them kattred thinne so shall both lesse suffise and the greater shall not harme the smaller as soone as they heare the horne though they be neuer so farre of in the Woods they come running with all haste Polybius telleth that the Italians vse not to follow their heardes as the Greekes and others doo but going a pretie way before them they blowe theyr hornes theyr heardes being aquainted with the blast doo follow them in great order They doo so well know and obay the call of the swyneheard yf we may beleeue Alianus that when certayne Rouers landing vppon the coast of Tuskan and taking great numbers of them out of theyr styes caried them aboord the theeues hauing wayed vp their anker and being vnder sayle y Swine vpon the hearing of theyr keepers voyce suddenly ran to the one side
of the ship ouerturned her wherby the Pirates drowned the Swyne came safe to land to theyr maisters As I haue here told you of the condicions of the Boare and the Sowe and of theyr keeping so wyll I nowe shewe you the maner of theyr breeding The breming time is reckoned to be from winter tyll the twelfth of March so shall you haue them to farrowe in sommer for the Sowe going foure monethes with pigge farroweth in the fyfth Shee is with pigge at the fyrst breming but they vse to let them goe often to Boare because they soone miscarry And if you wyl haue two farrowes in one yeere you must put your Sowe to Boare in February or Ianuary that she may farrowe by April or May when as there is good pasture abroade and milke is in his cheefe strength and when they be weaned they may well feede vpon strawe and grottens and after the Sowe may farrowe agayne in the end of Autum for Varro sayth her farrowing times are so diuided for the nonce as she may farrowe twyse a yeere whyle she hath foure moneths to beare them and two to feede them As soone as they be with pigge you must keepe the Boare from them for with his vnrulinesse he maketh them to cast Young Swyne for breede must not be lesse then a yeere old as Varro would haue it howbeit they begin at eyght moneths continue seuen yeeres The Boare beginneth at eyght moneths or sixe and continueth wel foure yeeres and after at three or foure yeeres old you may geld them and faâ—te them Some would not haue you keepe vp aboue eyght others not aboue sixe not that the Sowe is able to keepe no more but that she that keepeth more sooner faileth Varro reporteth that the Sowe of Aeneas Lauinus farrowed at one time thirtie white Pigges but it is monstrous when she farroweth more then she hath pappes Euery Sowe must haue her stye by her selfe when she hath farrowed and not suffered to goe with the whole heard as other cattel are but little Cotes to be made for them wherein they may be kept eyther farrowing or with farrowe for Swyne yf they lye togeather in any number being commonly yll manered doo lye one vppon the other whereby they hurt such as are with pigge And therefore you must haue seuerall styes where they may farrowe and made hye that the Sowe can not geat out for couered they must not be by no meanes that the swyneheard may looke that the Sowe ouerlay none of them to see what they want that he may make it cleane and as oft as he cleanseth it he must straw sand or such like to drye vp the moysture for though she be but a swynishe creature yet loueth she to haue her chamber cleane When she hath farrowed she requireth greater quantitie of meate whereby she may geue the more milke specially Barley steeped in water or ground tempered with water And yf you haue not good store of meate your best is to sell the Pigges so shall the damme being deliuered of her burden be sooner with farrowe agayne Such as are farrowed in winter are commonly poore wretched both because of the cold that their dammes doo not lyke them for wanting of milke biting their pappes If the Sowe eate her pigs it is no wonder for swyne of all other beastes can worst away with hunger whiche when it prouoketh they eate not onely their owne but young children which not long since happened in Sussex to the pitifull discomfort of the parent They suffer not the Sowe to goe abroade in tenne dayes after her farrowing except it be to drinke after they suffer her to go about the house that she may the better geue milke When the Pigges ware great they desire to goe abroade with theyr dammes at which time they are fedde by them selues aparte to the eâ—de they may the sooner forgeat their mother which they wyll doo in tenne dayes It behooueth the swyneheard to be carefull and diligent about his charge that he haue in memory euery one of them both old and young that he consider euery farrow and shute vp those that be great with Pigge that they may farrowe in theyr Stye He must haue special regarde of euery young Pig that euery one of them be brought vp vnder theyr owne damme for yf they geat out of the Stye they strayghtwayes mingle one company with an other wherby the poore Sow is forced to giue milke many times to more Pigges then her owne and therfore the swyneheard must shâ—tte vp euery damâ—e with her owne Pigges And yf his memâ—ry serue noâ— to knowe them al let him pitch euery Sowe and her Pigs with a seuerall marke for in a great number it shall behooue him so to doo for confounding his memory The old husbands obserued alwayes two times in the yeere for cutting of them the spring and the fall of the leafe whereby they auoyded the danger both of the heate and the colde The Bore pigges they â—utte when they were sixe monethes old and againe at â—oure yere old to make them fat making two wounds and taking out the stone of euery side or els when you haue taken out one stone you muâ—t thrust your knife agayne into the wound cutting asunder the skin betwixt both the stones drawe out with your fingers the other so shal you make but one skarre but this kind of cutting is somewhat more dangerous The Sowes are sayd by burning y Matrixe with an iron and the skarre healed vp whereby they wil both haue no more Pigs and be y fatter Aristotle following him Plinie would haue the Sowe after two dayes fasting hanged vp by the fore legs so cut wherby she wil be y sooner fat but I iudge it better to cut thâ—m when they be young at two monethes olde or younger for so are they in least ieopardy After they be cut you must keepe them from drinke and geue them but little meate the wound must be annoynted with freshe butter and sowed vp As the wrystlyng and turnyng vp of the tayle is a signe of a sound Hogge so be there certayne assured signes of their sicknesse for yf you plucke of the bristles from the backe and finde that theyr rootes haue blood in them it shewes the Swyne is not well Besides yf your Hogges be sicke or taken with a feuer they hang theyr heades a toneside and suddenly as they runne abroade they stay and being taken with a turning giddinesse they fall downe and therfore you must marke wel on which side they hang their heades that you may cutte the eare of the contrary side to let them blood and vnder the tayle beside two inches from the roompe you shall strike the vaine which there is easely to be seene for the bignesse of it you must fyrst beate it with a little sticke and after it swelleth with the beating open it with your knife and hauing bledde sufficiently binde
it vp with the rinde of Wyllowe or Elme after this keepe them vp in the house a day or two and geue them warme water with a good quantitie of Barly flowre If the Quynsey or Vnula to which desease this beast is wonderous subiect chaunce to take them Dydimus woulde haue you let them blood behinde aboue the shoulders others vnder the tougâ—e some agayne cure them with settering If the kernells swell in the throate you must let them blood vnder the tongue and when they haue bledde rubbe their mouthes within with salte finely beaten Wheate floure Democritus woulde haue you geue to euery Sowe three pound weyght of the beaten roote of Daffadyll If they vomite and lothe their meate it is good to geue them before they goe abroade the shauinges of Iuory with fryed salte and ground Beanes Swyne whyle they feede abroade by reason of their great deuouring for it is an vnsatiable beast do wounderously labour with the abundance of the Splen for remedy wherof you shall geue them water as oft as they thyrst in Troughes made of â—amaryce the iuyce of whiche wood is very holsome for them Democritus teacheth to geue vnto Hogges that haue the Splen the water wherein the Coles of Heath haue been quenched This beast hath somtime a sicknesse wherin he pines away and forsaketh his mâ—ate and yf you bring him to the feelde he suddenly fallâ—th downe and lyeth as it were in a bead sleepâ— which as 〈◊〉 as you pâ—rcâ—iue you shall shuâ—â—e vp the hâ—ly heard in soâ—e house and make them to fast one day both from water and meate the nâ—xt day the roote of the wyld Coucumber 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 with water is geuen them to drinke wâ—â—ch aâ— soone as they haue taken they fall a vomitting and so purge themselues When they haue thus expelled theyâ— câ—â—ller you shall geue them hard Beanes strained with brine An exâ—elleâ—t 〈…〉 against all pestilence of Swyne doth Hieroâ—â—mus â—raâ—us teach which is when you see them infectâ—d â—o geue them the rootes of Polipodi or Oke Ferne boyled in wine whereby they shall purge what so euer is euyll from them and most of all choller wherewith Swyne are most troubled tâ—â— same Hieâ—â—n as I remember teacheth for a Horseâ— though it be without my commission to meddle with them â— If he be sicke and suddenly fall downe of a disease that you know not to put vnder his tongue a peece of a Ferne roote wherevpon you shall see him immediatly voyde vpward and downeward what so euer is in his body and presently amende this he sayth and truely I dare beleeue him that he prooued with a Horse of his owne But to my Swyne whereas thyrst in sommer is hurtfull and daungerous to all kind of cattell to this beast it is most hurtfull and therefore you must not water them as you doo Sheepe Goates but twyse or thryse a day but yf you can you must keepe them by the water side that they may go thereto at pleasure for the Swyne is not content with drinking but he must often coole and plong his filthy panch in the water neither delighteth he in any thing so muche as to wallowe in the durt And yf you haue no suche places neare you must draw some water from the Well and geue it them in Troughes abundantly for except they drinke their fyll they wyll fall sicke of the Loonges which disease is cured as Columella wryteth by thrusting the roote of Setterwort through their eares Plinie affirmeth the Tode to be a present remedie for the sicknesse of Swyne Some say that yf a Sowe lose one of her eyes she dyeth soone after otherwyse she liueth fyfteene yeeres There is a kinde of disease amongst Swyne though otherwyse they be healthy and fatte wherin their fleshe is all infected with little graines as bigge as Peason the Greekes call them Chalazos and we at this day measled Swyne which you shal soone perceiue by the sight of the tongue and the horsenesse of their voyce this disease they say is naturall vnto them from which you shal preserue them yf you nayle certaine places of lead in the bottome of their Trough You shall also keepe them from this disease yf you geue them to drinke the roote of Briony the general and common remedy is Allome Brimstone and Bay berries of eache alike adde therevnto a handful of Soote beate them all togeather and put them in a bagge which bagge you shall cast into their water when they drinke and renue it twyse in the yeere EVPH. I pray you EVMEVS doo not dissemble but tell vs truely how you doo to haue your Hogges so fatte I beleeue you are in the Barne sometime when you should not be EVMEVS What meanes soeuer I vse in ordring my flocke is not to my mauters losse no more then is your diligence wherby you bring your cattell to be so fayre I told you before that he was an vnthrifty husband that had his Bacon from the shambles and not of his owne prouision and besides my maisters the Phisitions geue great commendations to Hogs flesh in that it hath such a nearenesse agreement with our bodyes neither is there as I sayde before a beast that makes more dishes And therfore it is greatly for profite to haue the husbandmans kytchen well stored with Bacon wherwith he may sustaine his houshold al the whole yeere You shal easely though woods be wanâ—ing â—ind Barnes Marshes Corne feeldes to feede them with They wyll be fatte as Plinie supposeth in threescore dayes specially yf they be kept from meate three dayes before you feede them they are fatted with Barley Otes or other Corne or Pulse eyther geuen whole or ground but of all others best wâ—th Mast and that flesh is better and of more substance that is fed with Acorns then that which is fatted with eyther Bâ—â—â—â— mast or Chestnutte This beast wyll in time be so fatte as he wyl be able neyther to goe nor stanâ— Yea Varro telles that there was seene in Arcadia a Sowe so fatte that she was not only vnable to ryse but suffered a Mouse to make her nest in her body and to lay her young there The same Varro reporteth that there was sent to Volumius a Senatour of Rome a peece of Porke of two ribs that wayed three twentie pound the thicknesse of which Sowe from the skinne to the ribbe was one foote and three ynches Your best is to put to fatting your Swyne of two or three yeeres olde for yf they be younger their growing wyll hynder their seedyng To keepe your Bacon any long time you must vse great diligence in the saltyng and drying of it whereby you shall haue it both holsomer and sweeter and besides to continue diuers yeeres to serue the turne yf scarsitte happen Your Hogge being in this sort fatted you must shut vp and not suffer him to drinke the day before you kyll him whereby the fleshe wyl be the dryer
and yeeldeth good aduantage hath with their broode and feathers for beside the profite of theyr Egges you may twyse in the yeere at the spring and the fall of the leafe pull them Moreouer they are a very good dishe for the â—able yea being more watchfull then the Dogges they geue warning when they sleepe And therfore they wâ—re with the Romanes had in great honor because they with their gagling bewrayed the enimie that otherwyse in the night time had taken the Towne Plinie wryteth of a Goose that would neuer be from the Philosopher Lacydes Your choyse must be of those that be of the fairest kinde Varro liketh best the white ones which colour was most esteemed in the olde time as appeareth by the presentes that were geuen the same Varro accounteth the gray for a wyld kind They are kept in Marshes Fennes Lakes Moorish commons for to Corne ground Medowes and Pastures it is a very hartful Foule she biteth whatsoeuer young spring she may reache what she once hath bitten doth neuer lightly prosper againe Besides she stencheth the ground with her vnprofitable or rather most hurtfull dounging wherefore as I sayde it is best to keepe them in Fennes Lakes and Marshes If you haue store of such ground you shall doo well to keepe them for you can not well keepe them without good store of water and pasture The Goose delighteth in such meate as is naturally moyst and colde and shunneth naturally such thinges as are hurtfull for her as the leafe of the Bay and as Alianus wryteth the Oleander the best and meetest time for them to breede in is from the Kalends of March to the tenth of Iune They tread most commonly in the water whyle they swymme in the Ryuers or Fishponds Columella would haue you keepe for euery Gander three Geese thinking by reason of theyr vnweldynesse this number to suffise within your courte you must make them for theyr better safety seuerall and secrete pennes in sundry partes thereof where they may sitte breede Some would haue the Goose roome framed in such order as euery Goose may haue her place to her selfe which yf any man thinke too troublesome he may make one sufficient wyde roome to serue them all The places where they shall lay must be dry and well strawed with strawe or such soft matter and well defended from vermine The Goose must not be suffered to lay out of her nest but when you shall perceaue they seeke it you must grâ—pe them and yf they be with Egge which you shâ—ll easely feele shut them vp in theyr nestes which you shall not neede to doo aboue once or twyse for where she hath once layde shee wyll alwayes of her selfe seâ—ke to be They wyl laye as some hold opinion thryse in the yeere yf they be not suffered to sitte as it is best you doo not for theyr Egges are bettâ—r to be hatched vnder a Henne then of them selues and wyll â—etter a great deale prosper The Egges of Geese Swans were vsed as Alianus witnesseth as a most daynty dyshe at â—â—nkettes among the Kinges and Princes of the Indies Aristotle affirmeth that the Goose alwayes vseth to sitte and neuer the Gander contrary to the order of many other Fouleâ— continuing alwayes tyll shee haue hatched After the last laying you shal suffer them to sitte and marke euery ones Egges with a seuerall marke that they may be sette vnder theyr owne Goose for it is thought they wyll neuer hatch a strangers Egges without she haue her owne vnder her Of Goose Egs as of Pehennes Egges you shall as I sayd before neuer sette vnder a Henne aboue fiue nor vnder three but vnder the Goose you shall set at the least seuen and at the most fifteene You must keepe to lay vnder your Egges the rootes of Nettles which they say preserueth them against the stinging of Nettels which otherwyse many times killeth the Gosling yf they sling them The Egges wyll not be hatched yf the weather be cold before the thyrtieth day yf it be warme in lesser time howbeit for the most part the Gosling is hatched the thirtieth day after the sitting Some doo vse to set by the nestes Barly steeped in water or Malte whereby the Goose shall not be forced to be any whyle absent from her Egges When your Goslinges are come foorth you shall for the fyrst tenne dayes feede them with the Goose in the nest Afterwardes when the weather is faire you may suffer them to goe abrode taking good heede that they be not stinged with Nettles nor that you let them goe a hungerd into the pastures but to geue them afore they goe abrode the leaues of Endiue or Lettuse chopt to asswage their hunger for yf you put them a hungerd into the feelde they straine and breake their owne neckes with pulling at the tough and stubburne weedes by reason of the sudden starting backe againe of the weede The Goslings of diuers broodes must not goe togeather nor be shutte vp togeather for hurting one another When they be foure monethes olde or somewhat before is the best time for fatting them the young ones are soonest easeliest fatted If you geue theÌ„ ground Malt wheate floure you neede to geue theÌ„ nothing so you let them haue drinke yenough and keepe them from going abrode The Grekes did vse to put to two partes of ground Malt foure partes of Bran tempring it with water letting them drinke thrise a day at midnight If you would haue theyr Lyuers soft and tender you shall mingle dry Figges well beaten with water and making pellets thereof cram them with it for the space of seuenteene or twentie dayes The Iewes at this day being the skilfullest feeders that be doo vse a strange order in the fatting of them wrapping the Goose in a linen Aporne they hang her vp in a darke place stopping her eares with Peason or some other thing that by neyther hearing nor seeing of any thing shee be not forced to stroggel or crye after they geue her pellets of ground Malt or Barly steeped in water thryse a day setting by them water and grauell by which maner of feeding they make them so fatte as the Lyuer many times commeth to be fiue pound in weyght Whylest I was at the councell of Wormes there was a Lyuer of a Goose brought me by a Iewe that wayed foure pound Plinie is also a witnesse of the greatnesse of the Lyuers of fatte Geese affirming that they wyll growe after they be out of the bodyes being sprinckled with milke The common order of fatting with our countrey people is to shutte them vp in a darke and a narrowe place and to set before them Barly or Beech wheate geuing them water with a little Sand or Grauel in theyr Troughes and with this order they haue them fatte in fourteene dayes After haruest they wylbe fatte with the Grotten or Stubble They are plucked as I sayd before twyse in the yeere in the spring
the last yeeres bringing foorth for the olde ones be neuer fruiteful One Cocke is sufficient for two Hennes they breede once a yeere and lay to the number of twentie Egges beginning in April and somewhere in March but they are better to be brought vp vnder a Henne so as you set vnder one Henne fifteene Egges obseruing the time of the Moone and the number of the dayes as I tolde you before of the Henne The thirtieth day they come foorth for the first fifteene dayes you must feede them with Barly floure tenderly sodde and cooled vpon which you must sprinckle a little Wine After you shall geue them Wheate Grashoppers and Antes Egges let them not come neare the water for catching the Pippe whiche yf they chaunce to haue you shall rubbe their billes with Garlicke stamped togeather with Tarre They are fatted in thirtie dayes with Wheate floure or Barly floure made in pellettes the pellettes must be sprinckled a little with Oyle and so put into their throtes you must take heede you put it not vnder their tongues for yf you doo you kill them neyther must you geue them any meate tyll you perceaue the first be digested PVLLARIVS What say you to Turtle Doues these are also brought vp and kept in some countreys CHENOBOSCVS Columella affirmeth that Turtles wyll neyther laye nor bring foorth in the house nor Partredges and therefore they vsed to take them wylde when they were full ripe and to feede and fat them in little darke roomes like Pigion holes the olde ones be not so good as neither the Pigion is In Winter you shall hardly haue them fatte in Sommer they wyl fatte of them selues so they may haue plentie of Wheate and Corne the water must be very cleare and freshe that you geue them They holde opinion that the Turtle after he hath lost his mate continueth euer after solitary But because there is greater store of Thrushes Blackbirds we care the lesse for keping of Turtles Though Thrushes and Blackbirdes be kept in diuers places yet as Plinie sayth there is in no place greater company then is taken in the Winter time in Germanie that they were vsed for great daynties appeare by Horrace No dayntier dishe then is the Thrush Nor sweeter then the Trype They are commonly dressed whole and not drawen for theyr inward partes may well be eaten so they be new theyr Crops are commonly full of Iuniper berryes M. Varro wryteth that Thrushes were in his time at twelue pence a peece Where they vse to keepe them they also put as many as they take wyld among the others that they brought vp before by whose company and fellowshyp they passe away the sorrowe of theyr prisonment and fall to theyr feeding for you must alwayes haue old fellowes for the purpose by whose example they may learne both to eate and drink They must haue houses warme as your Pigions haue crossed through wâ—th small Pearches for aâ—ter they haue flowen about or haue fedde they desire to rest The Pearches must be no higher then a mans heygth so as you may easely reache them standing vppon your feete The meate must be cast in such places of the house as lye not vnder the Pearches for filing of it Columella and Palladius wryte that vnripe Figges beaten and mingled with Wheate flowre must be geuen them that they may eate thereof theyr filles Aristotle maketh many kindes of them among which he also putteth the Colmons that feedeth vppon Grapes Our Thrushes doo feede for the most part vppon Iuniper berryes which theyr Crops being opened as I sayd doo shewe They vse also in many places to kepe Quailes which is rather a Byrde of the earth then of the ayre as Plinie sayth but because they feede vppon Elebor and venemous seedes and beside are vexed with the falling sicknesse many doo marueile as Athenaeus wryteth why they be so greatly esteemed They say their young must be fedde with Ants and Emets Egges as the Partryge It is thought that he flyeth ouer into other countreys in the Winter time as the Crane and the Storke doth following for theyr guyde the oldest Quaile called the mother Quaile PVLLARIVS You haue forgotten one noble and goodly Foule that is vsed to be brought vp in the husbandmans Ponds Lakes and Riuers I meane the Swanne CHENOBOSCVS You say trewe for this Byrde is commonly brought vp in the lowe countreys and kept in great numbers in Linconshyre a countrey replenished with Gentlemen of good houses and good house keepers And Athenaeus aledging the aucthoritie of Aristotle accounteth this Foule to be very fruitefull and of great stomacke so much as it is thought they dare geue battayle to the Egle. They are bredde and kept as you well sayd in Lakes Riuers and Fishponds without any charge at all and doo great good in the Riuers by plucking vp the weedes and other annoiances for the excellencie of his downe and dayntinesse of his fleshe he is greatly esteemed There is one excellent kind of them that taketh his name of the gooâ— watch that he keepeth and is alwayes cherished and kept in the Ditches of Citties and Fortresses for his great faithfulnesse in geuing warning They be kept almost in like manner as Geese are but that they vse to sitte longer sitting a whole moneth or there aboutes they bring foorth seeldome aboue eyght and so many did my Swannes bring me and sometime fiue They make theyr nestes hard by the water of Sedges Weedes and like stuffe theyr young ones they carry streyght into the Riuers If the Lakes and streames be frozen in winter you must house them This Byrd is counted among such as liue longest foreshewing her owne death as Plato and Martiall witnesse with a sweete and lamentable song Thus much concerning my profession I haue told I trust you that be my freendes wyll take it in good part and nowe PISSINARIVS I resigne my place to you to whose turne it is come PISSINARIVS It falleth out in good order that from talking of water Foules we should come to entreate of Fisheponds and Fishe although I doo meane to entreate larglyer both of keeping and taking of Fishe in my Halientycks but because the husbands house both for watering of cattell and other vses can not be without Ponds and Lakes and that euery house is not so seated as it hath earable ground about it it is lawfull for the husband to make his best aduantage of his Ponds and Waters The Noble men and Gentlemen of Rome were woont to buyld about theyr houses fayre Fysheponds and many times satisfied herein theyr pleasure with exceeding cost and expences as M. Varro wryteth of the sumptuous and costly Fyshponds of Hortensius Hircius and Lucullus M. Cato when he had the wardship of Lucullus made foure hundred pound of the Fyshe in his Pond The same Varro maketh mencion of two sorts of Fishponds the one of sweete water the other salt the one amongst the common people
b. Cheese not to be made of beâ—steâ— that haue more then foure pappes 147. b. Chestnuts 94. b. Catoes ansvvere touching bicedyng 111. b. Catoes Oracle 15. a. Cabbedge 56. a. Coâ—le crompled 56. b. Cytâ—ons 91. a. Cordum a kinde of Hay 45. b. Cotryander 57. a. Cornâ—lltree 92. b. Cresinus his diligence 46. a. Coucomber 62. a. Cumyn 57. a. Cypresse 107. b. Cyrus kyng nursed by shepheardes 113. a. Cytisus 37. b. Cattell their breaking 128. a. Colts their handling 119. a. Cattell keeping and tyllage their felovvship 111. a. Cattell keeping the antiquitie and vvoorthynesse 113. a. Corke tree 109. a. Corke groue 101. b. Gornefloore 12. b. Covve barreyne 128. Castryl 170. a. Covve her age 128. b. Covve her making 128. b. Covve her caluing * 127. a. Calues their geldyng * 127. b. Cockes theyr choyse 158. a. Capons theyr makyng 161. b. Chickins hatched vvithout the Henne 159. a. Chickins diseases and remedy 160. a. Cock a moouer to repentance 158. a. Crosses 58. a. Cardiaca his vertues 192. b. Carduus Benedictus the vertues 191. a. D. Date tree 97. a. Damsons 96. a. Dyll 57. b. Drone Bee. 176. a. and 182. a. Dogge the starre his rysing 189. a. Dogges to ridde them of Tycks 156. a. Dogge for the house 154. a. Dogge for the sold. 154. b. Dogge maâ—â—de the tokens 156. b. Dogge his age 155. a. Dogges tayle the cutting 155. b. Dogges theyr feedyng 155. b. Dogges coolours 154. b. Dogges their kindes 154. a. Dogges kinde to be regarded 155. a. Dogges of vvoonderfull pâ—ice 153. b. Dogges diseases and remedyes 156. a. Dogges names 156. a. Dogges their lyttures 155. a. Douehouse buildyng 169. a. Doues to keepe from the Halke 170. a. Doues their foode 169. b. Doues their foes 170. a. Doues their price 168. a. Doues their kindes 168. b. Doues to allure them to the house 107. a. Doues young their feedyng 169. a. Doung the sortes 19. b. Doung nevve best for medovves 20. a. Doung olde best for come ground 20. a. Doung for Vines 82. a. Dounghill 13. a. Dvvelling house 10. b. Doung best the maisters foote 30. E. Elme 102 Elme his vse 106. a Egges their sortes 161. b. Eldar 107. a. Elecompany 68. a. Emperours of Nethardes 113. a. Endiue 55. b. Egges to be hatched 158. b. Egges hovve to choose 159 b. Egges kept from thunder 159. b. Eye of the maisters fattes the horse 121. b. F. Flax. 38. b. Firre tree his vse 106. a. Flovvre gentle 65. b. Filbert 94. b. Fruitefulnesse of diuers countreys 19. a. Figge tree 107. a. Fenell 57. b. Fenugreeke 36. a. Fodder for Cattell 36. b. Fish delighting in mud 173. b. Fish delighting in grauell 173. b. Eishepondes their sundry sortes 172. b. and 173. a. Fishpondes vvhere best 172. b. Fishpondes 172. a Frye 173. b. G. Garlicke 60. a. Galles 102. a. and. 110. a. Garners 42. b. Goose pennes their standing 163. b. Goose liuer of great bignesse 164. b. Goose her hatching 164. a. Goose their fattyng 164. a. Garden hearbes the sowing 52. b. Garden the standyng 52. a. Garden vvhat mould best 51. b. Garden dounging and digging 52. a. Gardens of great antiquitie 48. a. Garden a shambies 48. b. Garden vvithout vvater 49. b. Garden yll declares an euyll husvvyfe 48. b. Garden vvhen to water 50. a. Graffing 72. a. Graffing the season 71. a. Graffing a nevve vvay 74. a. Graffing diuers sortes 72. a. Graffing vvith the toppe downevvard 73. b. Gelliflovvres 66. a. Gourdes 62. b. H. Helecampany 68. a. Husband his good nature 17. a. Husbandmen most happy 7. a. Husbandmen come to be Emperours 5. b. Husbandry nurse of all other sciences 6. a. Husbandry Cosen Germane to vvysedome 6. b. Husbandry her nobilitie 6. a. Husbandry her antiquitie 6. b. Husbandry pleaseth GOD. 6. b. Husbandry no base trade 7. a. Holly the tree 107. b. Hony coames vvhat fashion 183. a. Hony coames 175. b. Haruest for Otes 41. a. Happy vvho is 7. b. Haruâ—st of Hâ—mpe 41. a. Hâ—ruâ—st of VVheate 41. a. Haruest of Rye 41. a. Haruest of Rapeseede 40. b. Haruest of VVinter Baily 40. b. Haruest of all other Corne and Pulse 41. a. Hempe 39. b. Hartichocks 63. a. Heauens their state for the ground 52. a. Heauens their state for planting and sovving 53. b. Horses age hovve to knovv 117. a. Horse loueth troubled vvater 121. a. Horse his proportion 115. a. b. Horse broken vvynded 124. a. Horse forsaking his meate the remedy 121. a. Horse halting the remedy 123. a. Horses their colours 116. a. Horses the Cratches 123. a. Horses soundring 123. b. Horses gald 123. a. Horse described by Virgil. 115. b. Horse vvyndgalles 123. a. Horse to be in health 121. b. Horse prouoked to stale 122. a. Horse tyred the remedy 122. a. Horse hauing vvoormes the signes and the remedie 124. a. Horse to keepe from Flyes 123. b. Horse vvhen to be broken 119. a. Horses feete the cure 122. b. Horse his rhume the cure 124. a. Horse mangie 124. a. Horse the vyues 123. a. Horse payned in the belly 123. b. Horse hovve long he liues 117. a. Horse holsome to trauayle 121. a. Horsing of Mares the time 117. b. Horses vvatring 121. a. Horsâ—s gelding 119. b. Horses carrying 120. a. Horse is ordring after tratrauayle 121. b. 120. b. Horse his prouender 120. b. Horse his skovvring 120. a. Horses generall remedies 124. b. Horses stables 119. b. Horse clothes 122. a. Horse lesse hurt by dravving then bearing 119. b. Horses vvallovvyng holsome 122. a. Horse hotte not to be vvatred 121. b. Horse colde to haue 118. a. Horse hovve to choose 115. Horse suddenly sicke the cure 151. b. Heye making 45. b. Heye cutting 5. b. Heye vvhen to cut 45. b. Husbandes bestovving of tyme. 2. b. Hogge sicke the signes 151. a. Hogge mesled 152. a. Hogge sound the tokens 151. a. Hogges theyr breaming and farrovvyng 149. b. Hogge sicke of the Quinsey and the Kernels 151. a. Hogges their gelding 150. b. Hogge the feuer 151. a. Hogges their herdes 148. b. Hogges diseases and the remedies 151. a. Hogges long sicke remedy 151 b. Hogges sicke of the mylt 151. a. Hogges turnesicke 151. b. Hogges made to the horne 149. b. Husbandry commended 5. a. Hedge dead 50. a. Hedge quicke preferd 50. b. Hedge quicke sundry vvayes of making 50. b. Hennes for broode their choyse 157. b. Hennes hovve long in hatching 160. a. Hennes house the standyng 162. a. Hennes hovve long in sittyng 158. b. Hennes their feeding 163. a. Hennes hovv to fatte 161. a. Hennes must haue dust 163. a. Hennes vvhat ligges to set vnder 159. a. Hennes to keepe from sittyng 158. b. Hennes the number to a Cocke 158. a. Hearbes for pleasure and beautie 65. a. Hearbe vvhat for pastures 45. a. Hippomanes 117. b. Horda vvhat 128. a. Hysope 64. b. Hony of the â—eath 184. a. Hony making 185. b. Hony the kindes 184. a. Hony the best 184. Hony hovv corrupted 184. Hyll hovv to plovve 21. a. Hiues of Bees