the scale Quick conceitâ— soone forget The names of all particulars are to be set downe Confâ—â—ing Mannors are to be noted How to take a distance They that informe must know what they say Raw reports without knowledge are vnfit to be recorded Houses are called after the names of Tenants To number trees A Surueyor should seeke to know the number of timber trees Difference betweene timber trees and vnderwood The place to be coÌ„sidered To note speciall places of profit A good Water-Mill an ornament to a Mannor Not good for a Lord to alâ—â—n his Custome-Mill Humor and Necessitie two Emperors opposite Cottages on the waste Thâ— Iury must subscribe their verdict The parts of an acre Peeces of equall sides may make vnequall quantities How to cast â—p a triangle Base perpendicular quid Base and perpendicular questions The base multâ—plied by the perpendicular Triangles surest measuring A circular forme Measuring hilles and valleyes Irregular formes must be measured by regular parts Many rules of casting vp contents Benese a Canon Randolph Agas Valentine Lea. M. Digges Countrey land measurers will cast by memory Casting by the parts of money All Schollers haue not best memoryes Admirable memories of some great persons Some would forget and cannot The vse of the former Tables How to finde the quantity when the number of perches exceede any table in the booke How to lay out many acres by the former Table Perches dyuers in diuers Countreys A Cornish Acre The great or small measure all one to the Lords â—ood measure Why woods are measured with the 18 foote pole Great difference betweene the 18. and 16 ½ pole Whence an Acre taketh name An Arpent or French Acre The kings Arpent Maior minor mensura Molland Molland and Fenland contrary A Surueyor must be secret for his Lord. M. Leas booke of Surueying Labour that lawfully gets is a game of delight Al men may learne Ignorance enemy to art Cold ground breedes weedes Bridges ouer draines The Fennes Captaine Louell M. William Englebert The Alder treee enemy to al grounds The Aldâ—r necessary for many purposes Necessity a coÌ„mander Alder good to make piles Firre tree lien in the ground since the floud Alder hath no seede Meddowes Pratum quasi semper paratuÌ„ Best meddowes in England Riuers ouerflowing good Nilus in Egypt Ios. 3.15 The Lauent and the Leame Bournes Water smelling like violets Leuis putredo Sence deceiued Boggie grounds helps by ouerflowing Two sorts of meddowes Vpland meddowes haue but the name Hard to distinguish grounds Meddow of different natures Clay ground Helpes intended sometimes hinder Bringing of street water into grounds profitable How water doth good to meddowes Water â—ow it may be hurtfull to grounds Mils of too high a pitch pen the water How to amend weakned meddow Gauly places in meddows Clauer gras To till meddow grounds Meddow ground burned Meddow most beneficiall Land like the bodie To plant Willowes Setting of Willowes Ozier hope Ozier brooketh no shadow All grounds good for some vse Peaze vpon the beach grow naturally Pewets and Oliues c. Hoppes Carret roots Many waste grounds might yeeld profite Hempe Mustard-seed Flaxe Apple trees Syder Perry Kent Men vntaught know little Many follow old husbandrie Oke Ash and Elme Oke much decayeth 35. Hen. 8. Gentlemen sell their woods too fast A Surueyor must counsel frugalitie Affection Simple men do manage mens busines through flatterie All men ought to preserue timber 35. Hen. 8.1 Eliz. The Statute abused Want of Wood and Timber feared Holmes dale Thirty yeres haue consumed much wood and timber Glasse houses Great woods wasted Woods destroyed for cornes sake 140. Iron workes in Sussex Wasting of woods in Sussex good for the common wealth Mens manners of their place of breed Diuine grace shapes new minds Complexion neuer a true argument of good or euill men The benefit that Sussex findeth by decay of woods Fewell of constrainâ— Middlesex stocking The vse of firing necessarie A commoditie present should not depriue future times of a better DepopulatioÌ„ dangerous Fish ponds Fish ponds many in Sussex and Surrie Fishmongers buy pond fish far off Ponds necessary for Mills Ambitious building ridiculous A house with necessaries commendable Horace Ferne. Theophrastus lib. 8. Manuring what is ment by it Ferne destroied by ferne The vse of ferne in diuers places Bushy ground The cause of mosse The earth not manurde what becomes Great Brittaine sometimes a desert Cilchester Verolamium Wild beasts in Brittaine Colidonian beare and bore Former ages had more art and industry then ours The earth not in the beginning as 〈…〉 Lands formerly arable now wood Mosse Oates in clay Barly in sand A mutuall agreement betweene graines and grounds Marle pits Grounds well manured greatest intrest Ill ground made good Sea sand a good soyle in Cornewall DeuoÌ„shiring Limestones Pibble and beach good to make lime Difficulties pretended where is no will Moore earth Murgion Mawme Meddowes cut and caried into dry grounds London soile Difference of stable and stall dung Tandeane the Paradice of England A prouident master Good husbandry in the West The manner of husbaÌ„dry in the VVest Great yeelding of wheate The Sheepefold Sheepes treading good for corne Grounds long in grazing The cause why grounds will not graze in long time Thistles how to kill them Thistle the nature The rootes of vegitable things like the liuer in the body Rushes Flagges Heath Saltnes hot and drie Hather Ling. Heath diuers kinds Heathy ground vnprofitable How to find the natures of the heathie grounds The earth commanded to deny vt fruite without labor All kinds of grounds haue their helpe Furse Whynns Dwarfe furses French Fâ—ures Quick set hedges of Furse Fences of Turffes and Stones Hay boot what it is Hedge boote and hay boot the differeÌ„ce Dead hedges deuoure How to make a quick-set hedge Time of quick setting How to make a grouet Seuerall trees and the grounds the like Gorse Broome Furse Broome Brakes their nature How to kill Furse Broome and Brakes All hidden benefits must be sought for Ignorance and Idlenes enemies to thrift None should be idle Ps. 107.34 Psal. 72.26 Iob. 9.24.8.21.7 Psal. 37.22 Psal. 1.3
water which when you wash your hands with it smelleth like violets Some would no doubt giue much for such excellent water Sur. Though the smell be sweete I hold not the water so wholesome for we doubt it is in it selfe Leuis putredo a kind of light putrifaction whiâ—h passing lightly by the sence of smelling deceiueth the sence which if it tooke a more serious note of it would find â—t a kind of stincke as your purest muske and Câ—uet the more neerer the sence it commeth and the more the sâ—â—ce chargeth it selfe with the whole sent the more lothsome it will prooue But these are things comming into our talke by the way let vs returne to our matter of meddowes the cause of whose goodnes is the soyle and ouerflowing with the most muddy water Bay No doubt it is an admirable helpe vnto them nay I by small experience that I haue found can tell you a pretie paradoxe how say you to this Boggy and spungy ground whereof we discoursed before though in it owne nature it be too moist yet if it be ouerflowed with water often it wil settle and become firme which howsoeuer in my poore vnderstanding it should seeme opposite to reason that water should helpe watery ground yet experience findeth it so Sur. All ouerflowing waters doe bring a slymy and fat substance with them and leaue it behind them which together with the working of the water thorowe the spungie ground you speake of worketh that effect in all grounds where it comes Bai. But water cannot be brought into all kinds of boggy grounds nor into all kinds of meddowes Sur. No for there are two sorts of meddowes lowe moist and vpland and dry meddowes of these kinds the lowe is commonly the best because they are aptest to receiue these falling and swelling waters which for the most part brings fatnes with it and besides it moistneth the ground and makes the grasse to growe cheerefull yet howsoeuer fat fruitefull they be continuall moouing yeerely without intermission may weaken them and impaire their goodnes and will require some helpe vnlesse they be such meddowes as I recommended vnto you yeâ— while that are so fed with fat ouerflowing waters as do still maintaine them in strength Bai. Then must the vpland meddow by often and continuall sheering needes decay Sur. The vpland meddowes haue but the name of meddowes for indeed they are but the best pasture grounds laid for hay And to distinguish betweene that kind of meddow and pasture ground or betweene pasture and arable is friuolous for that kind of meddow is most properly pasture and all pasture grounds may be tilled For when we say arable it is as much as if we said it is subiect to the plow or land which may be plowed and why then may not a man say that which is now pasture is arable that is conuenient to be tilled And on the contrarie that which is now tilled may be pasturable namely apt to graze and to feede cattle Bai. You prooue that it is superfluous in manner to distinguish the qualities of grounds Sur. I confesse a Surueyor may note the quality of euery kind as he findeth it in the time of his perambulation and view But peraduenture the next yeere he that comes to distinguish them may enter them cleane contrarie to the former And therefore it is not amisse in all such entries to adde the word now as to say now tilled or now pasture now vsed for meddow vnlesse it be low meddow alwayes mowne But he that shall enter a peece of vpland ground though it be sometimes mowne vnder the name of meddow erreth in his entry But for that let all men follow their owne fancies But because we speake of vpland meddowes we will accept all mowable grounds in that sence And of such I will first speake They are either of a clay soile and so naturally fat or stiffe or a sandy earth inriched and made fat by industrie and both of these by mouing yearely without intermission and supply of helpe may be so impaired as it will yeeld little benefite to the owner The nature therefore of euery ground must be considered for the vpland and high ground may be also watrie and consequently cold and moist which kind of grounds are generally clay for a sandy and grauelly ground lying high and depending is seldome or neuer found moist by nature but drie and consequently hot So that all vpland grounds are commonly either too cold and moist oâ— too hot and drie either of which must haue his seuerall helpe For as the constitution of a mans bodie is found by the effects of fatnesse leanenesse heate and cold So do the earths discouer their natures by their fruite which nature causeth them to bring foorth in infinite kinds The cold and watry grounds yeeld long but foure and vnprofitable grasse rushes and rancke Mosse which kind of ground must be cured if need require with draines but commonly these grounds are of clay and clay will neuer giue way or euacuation to the water because the ground is hard and stiffe contrarie to the open and spungy ground which is thin and open And therefore the hottest chalk or lime is best to kill the foure grasse vnprofitable mosse So is cole-dust ashes chimney foote if sufficient quantity could be gotten after these things thus laid it is expedieÌ„t to giue it a tilth or two then to let it lie againe if it be to be vsed for meddow or pasture And for the other grounds which are hot and drie by nature the contrary is to be vsed by vsing meanes to coole the heate and to moisten the drinesse and that iâ— by bestowing some fat and slimy Marle vpon them which will much cherish reuiue the parched grasse and kill the hungry mosse that groweth by the drinesse of the 〈◊〉 as a scurfe or tetter on the body by the heate that proceedeth of a salt humor The natures of these two kindes of grounds are also found out whether they be cold moist or hot and drie by the quantitie and qualitie of their fruits as the seasons of the yeere be drie or moist for that ground that groweth best in a moist yeere is hot and drie The clay ground in a moist yeere if it be not too moist may be also comforted because in too drie a yeere the clay becommeth so strongly bound that the tender grasse can hardly make way through the obdurate earth whereas moderate moisture molifieth the same cherisheth the roote and giues way for the grasse and if it haue too much moisture it becommeth so slimie and the rootes so drenched as it turneth the grasse into a spirie kind and that but short and by the cold that commeth of the too much moisture it increaseth rushes aboundantly and thicke mosse So that it appeareth that the seasons of the yeere doe either helpe or hinder the increase of
that is a Surueyor to be able to do it and that he be painefull industrious hauing this quality with the rest more necessary he may be then called a Surueyour Farm What are they I pray you Sur. To little purpose I thinke I shall tell you yet because you may know that euery one that hath the name is not indeede a Surueyor for besides the former faculty of measuring and plotting he must haue the vnderstanding of the Latin toong and haue some sight in the common lawes especially of Tenures and Customes and must be able to reade and vnderstand any auncient deeds or records French and Latine and to iudge of the values of Land and many other things which if time will permit I will hereafter declare more at large vnto you Farm Why is there such a precise knowledge required in a Surueyor Sur. Because they are imployd in such businesses as concerne greatest persons in their estates for although men be indowed by the prouidence of God and in his â—ounty with Honors Mannors Castles houses lands tenements woods and other like reuenues which indeed are the sinnewes and ligaments which conioyne tye Honor and Habilitiâ— together yet if these be not managed guided and carefully continued and increased by a discreet honest Surueyor foâ— and in the name and behalfe of his Lord and the Lord agayne proportion his expence and charge according vnto or within the compasse of his knowne Incomes the Lord may be disabled to maintaine that which he hath gotten the title of Honor where Honor is without meanes it wanteth the substaÌ„ce hath only y e shadow of it self to looke vpoÌ„ Far. It behaues not only men of Nobility but inferior meÌ„ also to looke vnto theÌ„selues for y e preseruation of their estates but they indéed y t haue but little may quickly view it Sufficit exigno strigilatio curta caballo But he that hath many Honors Mannors Lordships Tenements Farmes can not of himselfe take view with ease for indéede they lye for the most part dispersed in many parts they must be ayded by the skilfull industrious trauaile of some iudicious Surueyor who finding by his view examination the true values yearly possibilities of his Lords Lands may be a good meane to retaine his Lord within compas of his reuenues and to worke him to be good to his Tenants and by that meanes the Surueyor shall deserue prayse his Lord win more honor But I maruell how such great persons did before surueying came vp for this is an vpstart arte found out of late both measuring and plotting Sur. You speake I thinke according to your conceit but I will proue it far otherwise that measuring plotting and surueying hath bin vsed in ages of old As for description it was vsed in Egipt by Ptolomy the King who described the whole world And where the Riuer Nilus in Egipt ouerflowed the bancks as at this day it doth about haruest the violence of the inundations were such as they coÌ„founded the marks bounds of all the grouÌ„ds that were surrounded in such sort as none knew his own land wherupon they deuised to measure euery mans land to plot it so that afterwards alwayes at the waters recesse euery man could finde out his owne land by the plot Far. Truly that was a most excelleÌ„t inuention I thinke it indéede a most necessary course to be held in some grounds y t I know in England which are subiect to like coÌ„fusion many marsh lands néere the sea coast in Kent Sussex Essex Suffolke Lincolneshire Cambridgeshire other Shires confining the Sea or subiect to great waters if they were thus plotted out as you say I must needs confesse it were a good worke howsoeuer these kind of grounds should be hereafter surrounded increased or diminished by the force of Seas continuall rage whereunto they are dayly subiect for by y e meanes if the ditches which are the ordinary méeres meates bounds betwéene seueral meÌ„s lands be confounded this deuice might after the winning of these surrounded grounds againe truly reconcile them and allot euery maÌ„ his own which otherwise will be impossible to bring to true appropriations And this in my conceit is not the least part of your professioÌ„ to lay out grounds in their true formes that euery seuerall parcell may be distinguished froÌ„ other for I know where great strife hath risen by confounding one Mannor with another where y e sea hath woon lost grouÌ„d deuoured y e true bouÌ„ds of which I am not alone witnes it is dayly seene y e questioÌ„s do rise by like casualties where townes houses fields woods and much land hath béen and are dayly deuoured and in some places augmented Riuers by force turned out of their right courses vpon other confining lands whereof time hath takeÌ„ such hold as y e truth is now brought in question to the stirring vp of quarrels betwéene parties which if these places had béen formerly laid out in plot the doubt would be easily answered In these things I can not but agrée with you that your profession may stéed men that haue vse of your trauaile in this kind although no such arte hath bin nor is it reported to haue had any vse in y e word of God Sur. Is there a necessity to produce the vse of this from examples out of the word of God when these indifferent things are left to the discretion of man for matters of politike and ciuill society If euery profession should be driuen to fetch authority from the vse in sacred things many things plentifull amongst vs that liue in a Common-wealth would be found prophane but because you seeme to vrge it I will not stuck to let you know that it is not without example in the diuine old Testament If first you wil haue the proofe of measuring looke into the second Chapter of Zachary and there shall you finde that the Prophet reporteth that hee saw a man with a measuring line in his hand and he asked him whither he went and he said vnto him To measure Ierusalem that I may see what is the bredth thereof and what is the length thereof Farm I doe remember now that I haue read such a thing indéede but as I take it this measurer was an Angell of God Sur. Then is the warrant of measuring so much the more strongly coÌ„firmed vnto meÌ„ But you may perceiue that measuring was then in vse in other things for had not there bin the vse of the measuring line before how could the Prophet haue knowne it to be for that purpose Farm Yes being a Prophet Sur. He could not haue called a thing by it proper phrase that had not bene in vse before neither could his relation thereof bene vnderstood of them to whom he declared it vnlesse they also had before knowne the like Farm Can you prooue the like of Surueying Sur. Ioshua
That is the woorst that you can do But I trust I may be a Bayly good inough yet want one part of that which my place requireth to performâ— Sur. Euen as well as a horse may be said to trauell well inough and yet lacke one legge Bai. I would be sorie that comparison should hold for than I could not but confesse that I were a same officer as there be in other kinds â—uen of your owne profession many But I am not onely not wilful but I am willing to learne and I do not thinke any man so absolute in his place and calling but he may learne some point of his function if at least he will confesse his owne imperfections Sur. Whether he verbally confesse them or not the execution will bewray them and the world will obserue them in him And therefore it behooueth all such as vndertake and enter into any office or function to examine the duties appertaining to such an office and finding his fitnesse or vnfitnesse to performe it so to leaue or take though few stagger at any If his abilitie be weake reason and duty may moue him to seeke expedient knowledge lest he shame himselfe and slander the place he is in And therefore I wish you to aske aduice not onely in this case but in all other belonging to your charge For as it is commendable to know more and more so is it no shame to aske often Bay I pray you then tell me Sir how must this péece of ground be handled to be made meddow as you say it will be made or good pasture Sur. It must be drained Bayly If that be all I thinke I can say it is to little purpose for I haue made trenches to that end as you may sée where and how But it became little or nothing the better and therefore I thinke cost will be but cast away vpon it Sur. It is a true Prouerbe Ignorance is an enemy to art and experience What you did it may be you had good will to do the Lord seruice in it but the course you tooke was not in the right kind It is not enough to make such ditches as appeareth you haue done they are too few too wide Neither did you rightly obserue the fall of the water Baylie That were hard to be done in such a place as this where the water hath no fall at all neither is y e water séene much as you sée but it is the moistnes of the earth that â—arres the land Sur. But the moisture comes by water and the water is swallowed vp in this spungâ—e ground and lyes vnseene yeâ— if you marke it well you may obserue which way it reâ—les for as you see though this plot of ground be very leuell in apparence yet if it were tried by a true leuell it would be found declining towards yonder forlorne brooke which you see is stopâ— vp with weedes that iâ— permitteth not the water conuenient passe Therefore the first worke is to rid the sewer or chiefe water-course and then shall you see that the grounds neere the cleansed brooke will become more drie by the moisture soking into the sewer then make your other draines vsing discretion therein namely in cutting them streight from the most boggie places to the maine brooke euery of them as it were paralelly then cut you some other draines sloping which may carry the water into these first draines which againe will conuey it into the maine Bayly You see the ditches that I made they were broade enough and deepe fit to conuey much water yet they did no good can you prescribe a better forme Sur. Your ditches for the forme were too broad and as it seemes too deepe and that makes the water to stand in them and being broad aboue and narrow in the bottome makes the loose earth to fall in and choake the ditch But if you will make profitable draines you must first obserue how the water will runne in them for so will it appeare presently and to make them as narrow aboue as at the bottome which at the most must not be aboue one foot and a halfe broadâ— and the crust of the earth will hold that the earth fall not in againe So will it in short time make it appeare that the moisture will decay and the grounds become more drie and as it becomes freed of the superfluous moisture so wiâ—l the weedes that are nourished by it beginne to wither as they are depriued of their nouriture which is too much water which breedeth too much cold and too much cold is the life of such weeds as increase in this ground and therefore the weedes should be often cut downe in the spring time and by that meanes they will consume and better grasse come in their steade and the better if cattle feed the ground vpon the draining as bare as may be Bayly But the â—raines you speake of may be dangerous for cattle especially for shéepe and lambes Sur. Not if they be kept alwaies cleansed and open that sheepe and cattle may see them for the bigger sort may steppe ouer them and the lesser may haue little bridges of the same crust by vndermining the earth some three or foure foote that the water may passe vnder Bail Indéed if the crust of the earth will hold it this course is necessary But there is much land in England lost for want of draining as the Fennes and low grounds in Lincoln-shire Cambridg-shire Northfolke and other places which I did thinke impossible euer to be made dry by the art or industry of man And yet as I heare much of it is made lately firme ground by the skill of one Captaine Louell and by M. William Englebert an excellent Ingenor And truly it is much to their owne commendation and to the common good of the inhabitants néere But these grounds are not drained by such meanes as you speake of Sur. Indeed the draines are of vnlike quantitie but like in qualitie one and the same rule of reason doth worke both the one and the other But to say truly vnto thee the people of those countries especially the poorer sort where this kind of publike benefite is thus gotten had rather haue the want by their Fathers error then to reape good and more plenty by other mens art and charge And in their conceits they had rather catch a Pike then feede an Oxe Bayly They are either very vnwise or very wilful But no doubt authority is aboue such country wilfulnesse and doth or may inioyne them for the common weale to consent and yeeld all ayde in the businesse But if they will needes fish and foole and refuse rich reléefe we will leaue them to their wils till reason in themselues or compulsion bring them to a more generall desire of so great a blessing Sur. Let it be so What Alders are in the next ground Baylie They are the Lords too Sir but the ground is so rotten
that no cattle can féed in it Sur. The Alder tree is enemy to all grounds where it growes for the root thereof is of that nature that it draweth to it so much moisture to nourish it selfe as the ground neere it is good for no other vse Baily Do you thinke this ground would be good if the trées were gone Sur. Yes for commonly the ground is good enough of it selfe onely it is impaired by this kind of wooe and therefore if the cause were taken away the effect would die Bayly Then will I cause them to be stocked vp Sur. Nay first it behooueth you to consider whether it be expedient or not for although this tree be not friendly to pasture meddow or arable land yet it yeelds her due commodity too without whose ayde in some places where other wood is scant men can hardly husband their lands without this For of it they make many necessary implements of husbandrie as Ladders Rayles Hop poles Plow-stuffe and Handles for many tooles besides fiering Bayly If it be so commodious it is not onely not good to stocke them but expedient to cherish them and where none are to plant Sur. There is great difference betweene necessitie and the super abundance of euery necessarie For want is a great commander inforceth oftentimes and in many places they desire and search for that which will in the time of plentie meerely neglecteth And therefore where none of this kind of wood groweth the place destitute of other meanes and fit for this kind of commoditie wil may be forced to giue place to occasion as in other things Bayly I haue heard that this kind of wood is also good to make the foundations of buildings in riuers fennes and standing waters as also piles for many purposes in moorish and wet grounds Sur. It is true this kind of wood is of greater continuance in watry places then any other timber for it is obserued that in these places it seldome or neuer rots Bayly It loued the water and moisture well in growing and therefore it brooketh it the better being laid in it But I thinke the Firre-tree is much or the same nature for I haue seene infinite many of thâ—m taken out of â—he earth in a moorish ground in Shropshire betweene the Lordships of Oâ—westry and Elsemere which as is supposed haue lien in the moist earth euer since the Floud and being daâ—ly taken vp the people make walking-staues pikes of them firme and strong and vse the chips in stead of candles in poore houses so fat is the wood to this day and the smell also strong and swéet Sur. I know the place well where I saw pales made of an Oke taken out of the same ground of the same continuance firme and strong blacke as Ibony and might haue fitly bene employed to better vses and I take it that most wood will last long vnder the earth where it neuer taketh the open ayre But the wood now most in vse for the purposes abouesaid is Alder and Elme Bayly May a man sow the séedes of the Alder Sur. It beareth a kind of seed yet some haue affirmed the contrarie But the seeds will hardly grow by art though by nature they may The branches of the tree and the rootes are aptest to grow if they be set so as the water moisture may be aboue the plant for it delighteth only in the moistest grounds Is not this next close the Lords called Broad-meddow Bayly It is for I perceiue you haue a good memory being but once and to long since vpon the ground Sur. It is most necessary for a Surueyor to remeÌ„ber what he hath obserued and to consider well the natures and qualities of all kinds of grounds and to informe the Lord of the meanes how to better his estate by lawfull meanes especially in bettering his own demeisnes So shall he the lesse need to surcharge his tenants by vncharitable exactions And forasmuch as of all other grounds none are of their own nature so profitable and lesse chargeable as meddow grounds which are alwaies readie to benefite the owner summer and winter they especially are to be regarded Bail That is true indéede and peraduenture it takeâ— the name of the readinesse for we call it in Latine Pratum as if it were semper paratum either with the fleeze for â—ay or with the pasture to féede and this meddow wherein now we are is the best meddow that I know and I thinke for swéetnesse and burden there is not a better in England Sur. You do well to aduance the credite of the Lords land and you speake I thinke as you conceiue because you are not acquainted with the meddowes vpon Dâ—ue-banke in Tan Deane vpon Seauern-side Allermore the Lords meddow in Crediton and the meddowes about the Welch-poole and many other places too tedious to recite now Bai. These he like are made so good by art but naturally I thinke this may match the best of them Sur. Indeed meddowes very meane by nature may be made excellent by charge but they will decay vnlesse they be alwaies releeued But these that I speake of require little or no helpe at the owners hand onely the ayde of these riuers ouerflowing do feed them fat giues great burden and very sweet Bayly These yearely ouerflowings of fat waters after flouds no doubt are very beneficiall as appeareth by the annale and yearely ouerflowing of the riuer Nilus in Egypt which maketh the adiacent grounds so fat and fruitfull as they be famous through the world for their fertility and was allotted to Iosephs brethren in Egypt Sur. You speake of a matter wonderfull in the conceits of some that the riuer should so ouerflow in the summer and yet it neuer raines in those parts at any time of the yeare Bai. So I haue heard indeede and that the flouds grow in the heate of the yeere about haruest betwéene Iulie and September with the snowe melting that falls in the winter time among the Mountaines Sur. We haue in England matter more strange as the riuer neere Chichester in Sussex called the Lauent which in the winter is drie and in the driest Summer fâ—ll to her banckes So is the Leam a riuer in Barkeshire neere Leambourn Baily That is strange indéede one studious in naturall Philosophie could tell the cause of this Sur. I take it to bee because they are only fed with springs which runne only when springs are at the highest And that also is the reason why many bournes breake out of the earth in sundry places as we may reade it hath done somtimes neere Mergaâ—e in Hartfordshire corruptly called Market and neere Croydon in Surrie neere Patcham in Sussex and in many other places in this Realme which breaketh foorth suddenly out of the driest hills in Summer Bay Because you speake of Angleton I can assure you there is a Well that sometimes yeldeth
all kinds of grounds which the art or industry of man cannot preuent For many times the helpes that man vseth to assist and helpe nature doe binder it as where compost and stable soile is layd vpon a drie ground reserued for grasse if a drie yeere followe the heate of the soile and the drinesse of the yeere doe so impouerish the grasse that it yeeldeth the owner lesse increase then if he had bestowed no soile at all yet men ought not to be remisse in soiling their lands for if it preuaile not in one yeere they shall find it at another time very profitable and for all seasons I perswade men to make meanes where it may bee done to induce out of streetes lands wayes and ditches all the water that by some extraordinarie raine passeth through them into their grounds by making some little dam or barre to drawe them into to their grounds for the matter which this water bringeth with it is commonly so rich and fat as it yeeldeth a maruailous refection to all the grounds high or lowe into which it may be brought which kind of husbandry is much vsed in Somerset Deuon Cornwall to their admirable aduantage and in some other place heere and there but not so generally as in prouidence men might Bay This is a good course no doubt in places where it may be put in execution but as you say all men are not so prouident and painefull which indéede is a great fault and wherein I my selfe I confesse haue béene culpable but I will be more carefull aswell in that as in other things whereof you haue put me in minde And truly I thinke there is much profit wilfully lost in many places by negligence want of skill and sparing of some small charge You haue hitherunto spoken only of vpland meddowe grounds but you deuided meddowes into two sorts what say you to the second namely lowe meddowes for I haue seene and obserued as great defects in them by reason of their too often moouing without rest as may require some consideration how to repaire them for some of these grounds are as much annoyd by too much moisture as the vpland with the want of it Sur. For the too much moisture if it be but in the winter season and continue but vntill the middle or end of Aprill it doth not only no harme but good for if you marke and obserue it well you seldome or neuer see bogges where the water ouerflowes and stands in the winter time But if it be more permanent and of longer stay there must be meanes vsed for the euacuation for in many places you may perceiue certaine lowe places in meddowe grounds where if the water once take a standing it will cause the ground to sinke more and more and therefore that kind of water must be vented betimes for otherwise it killeth the grasse makes the place bare in a drie summer when the water is gone or else it will cause such a coldnesse to the earth as it will bring foorth more rushes then grasse And therefore it must be a principall care to haue all riuers sewers and water draines well cleansed and scoured that vpon occasion when time requireth when you will conuey the water from the meddowes it may haue a due current Bay But estoples of water courses do in some places grow by such meanes as one priuate man or two cannot by force or discretion make remedy As when sewers be common sometime betwéene Lordship â— Lordship parish and pâ—rish or betwéene a multitude among whom it is alwaies séene some wil be peruerse and wilful and hinder the best publike action that is though the doing of it be neuer so profitable to themselues and the omitting hindrance Besides this you see vpon diuers streameâ— Water-mils which by reason of their high pitch bat backe the water that shuld haue cleere passe so that sondry mens grounds are drowned euen vntill and at the time of haying And for the most part thesâ— mils do appertaine to great persons who rather then they will lose a penny oâ— their profite will hazard the losse of a pound to poore men What remedie is these for any of these mischiefes Sur. For euery of them the lawe hath prouided remedie And the greatest hindrance is either neglect or feare of complaine 2 and upon complaint in places and to persons appointed to reforme neglect of iustice to be executed 〈◊〉 or law-dayes generall Sessions Commissioners of Sewers and actions at the common Law are prouided to right these wrongs therefore speake no more of this as matter of impeachment of the grounds which of themselues are naturally good or euill But rather seeke the meanes to better and helpe the ground which as you obiect is weakned by ofteÌ„ cutting When a man obserueth such decay in his meddowe let it lie some few yeeres to pasture and be eaten very lowe it will procure some heate againe If not take the fattest earth that may be gotten let it lie a yeere if you can to dissolue and when it is drie and will crumble small mingle it with good and well fatted dung and lay them a while in a heape vntill they be sufficiently incorporated which will bee in one winter then carrie it into your meddowe about the beginning of March or before and then cast it abroad vpon the meddowes not too thicke nor the clods too great it will reuiue the weakned mould and make the grasse spring againe very freshly Bai. I thinke this bee good also for barraine pasture Sur. It is very excellent for pasture for hee that will bestowe the cost shall find his recompence in short time Bayly I see in some meddowes gaully places where little or no grasse at al groweth by reason as I take it of the too long standing of the water for such places are commonly low where the water standeth not hauing bent to passe away and therefore meanes must be first made for the euacuation of the water for the continuall standing of the water consumeth the grasse and makes the place bare and sinketh it Sur. In such a place therefore sow in the Spring time some hay seed especially the seed of the clauer grasse or the grasse hony-suckle and other seeds that fall out of the finest and purest hay And in the sowing of it mingle with it some good earth But sow not the hony-suckle grasse in too moist a ground for it liketh it not Bayly Is it not good sometimes to â—ill and sowâ— the meddow grounds Sur. Yes vpon good occasion as you find by the slender croppe of hay it beareth in a seasonable summer that the ground begins to faint as it were vnder the burthen of continuall bearing fallow it and let it lie a whole summer and in the fall of the leafe plow it againe and at the season sow it with pease or fetches next with wheat and lastly with fetches and hay dust
part of Hamshire they haue another kind of earth for their drie and sandy grounds especially betweene Fordingbridge and Ringwood and that is the slub of the riuer of Auon which they call Mawme which they digge in the shallow parts of the riuer and the pits where they digge it will in few yeares fill againe this Mawme is very beneficial for their hot and sandy grounds arable and pasture And about Christchurch twineam and vp the riuer of Stowre they cut and dig their low and best meddowes to helpe their vpland hot and heathie grounds And now of late the Farmers neere London haue found a benefite by bringing the Scauingers street soyle which being mixed as it is with the stone cole dust is very helpefull to their clay ground for the cole dust being hot and drie by nature qualifieth the stiffenesse and cold of the soyle thereabouts The soyle of the stables of London especially neere the Thaâ—es side is caried Westward by water to Chelsey Futham Battersay Putney and those parts for their sandie grounds Bai. Whether do you accompt the better the stall or stable dung Sur. The stable dung is best for cold ground and the stall dung for hot grounds if they be both rightly applyed And of all other things the Ashes that proceed of the great rootes of stocked ground is fittest and most helpefull to a cold clay So is the sinders that come from the Iron where hammers or forges are being made small and laid thin vpon the cold moist land Bay I was once in Somersetshire about a place neere Tanton called Tandeane I did like their land and their husbandry well Sur. You speake of the Paradice of England and indeed the husbandrie is good if it be not decayed since my being in those parts as indeed to be lameÌ„ted men in all places giue themselues to too much ease and pleasure to vaine expence and idle exercises and leaue the true delight which indeed should be in the true and due prosecution of their callings as the artificer to his trade the husbandman to the plow the gentleman not to what he list but to what befits a gentleman that is if he be called to place in the commonwealâ— to respect the execution of Iustice â—he be an inferior he may be his owne Bayly and see the managing and manuring of his owne reuenewes and not to leaue it to the discretion and diligence of lither swaines that couet onely to get and eaâ—e The eye of the idle master may be worth two working seruants But where the master standeth vpon tearmes of his qualitie and condition and will refuse to put though not his hand his eye towards the plow he may if he be not the greater for I speake of the meaner gentlelize it awhile but he shall find iâ— farre better and more sweet in the end to giue his fellow workmen 〈…〉 in the morning and affably to call them and kindly to incite them to their businesse though he foyle not his fingers in the labor Thus haue I seene men of good qualitie behaue them towards their people and in surueying of their hirelings But indeed it is become now contemptible and reprochfull for a meane master to looke to his laborers and that is the reason that many well left leaue it againe before the time through prodigalitie and improuidence and mean men industrious steppe in and where the former disdained to looke to his charge this doth both looke and labor and he it is that becomes able to buy that which the idle and wanton are forced to sell. Now I say if this sweet country of Tandeane and the Westerne part of Somersetshire be not degenerated surely as their land is fruitfull by nature so do they their best by art and industrie And that makes poore men to liue as well by a matter of twenty pounds per annum as he that hath an hundred pounds Bayly I pray you Sir what do they more then other men vpon their grounds Sur. They take extraordinarie paines in soyling plowing and dressing their lands After the plow there goeth some three or foure with mattocks to breake the clods and to draw vp the earth out of the furrowes that the lands may lye round that the water annoy not the seed and to that end they most carefully cut gutters and trenches in all places where the water is likeliest to annoy And for the better it riching of their plowing grounds they cut vp cast and carry in the vnplowed headlands and places of no vse Their hearts hands eyes and all their powers concurre in one to force the earth to yeeld her vtmost fruite Bai. And what haue these men in quantitie vpon an acre more then the ordinarie rate of wheat which is the principall graine Sur. They haue sometimes and in some places foure fiue sixe eight yea ten quarters in an ordinarie acre Baily I would thinke it impossible Sur. The earth I say is good and their cost and paines great and there followeth a blessing though these great proportions alwaies hold not And the land about Ilchester Long Sutton Somerton Andrey Middlesâ—y Weston and those parts are also rich and there are good husbands Bai. Do they not helpe their land much by the fold Sur. Not much in those parts but in Dorset Wilt-shire Ham-shire Barke-shire and other places champion the Farmers do much inrich their land indeed with the sheepfold A most easie and a most profitable course and who so neglecteth it hauing meanes may be condemned for an ill husband nay I know it is good husbandrie to driue a flocke of sheepe ouer a field of wheate rye or barly newly sowne especially if the ground be light and dry for the trampling of the sheepe and their treading doth settle the earth about the corne keeping it the more moist and warme and causeth it to stand the faster that the wind shake it not so easely as it will doe when the roote lyeth too hollowe Bai. I cannot reprooue you But I knowe grounds of a strange nature in mine opinion for if they be once plowed they will hardly graze againe in 6. or 7. yeeres yet haue I seene as rich wheate and barly on it as may well approoue the ground to be very fruitfull And if a stranger that knoweth not the ground looke vpon it after a crop he will say it is very barraine Sur. Such ground I knowe in many places as in the Northwest part of Essex in some places in Cambridgeshire Hartfordshire Buckinghamshire Wiltshire But commonly where you find this kind of earth it is a red or browne soile mixed with a kind of white and is a mould betweene hot and cold so brittle in the vpper part and so fickle as it hath no firme setling for the grasse to take rooting so soone in such sort as in other firmer grounds and for this kind of ground good and well rotted stable
dung is fittest Let vs I pray thee walke into the next field the Lords demeisnes called as I take it Highfield Bay It is indéede a large ground you sée it is and good pasture but so ouergone with Thistles as we can by no meanes destroy them Sur. This kind of Thistle approoueth the goodnes of the ground they seldome or neuer growe in a barraine soile Bay Yes I haue seene thistles in meane ground Sur. It may be so a kind of smal hungry dwarffy thistle but this kind which you see large high and fatty you shall neuer see in aboundance in a weake soile Bail But I wish they were fewer in number though they may be a note of good ground I find theÌ„ nothing profitable vnles it be to shrowd the vnder grasse in the parching Summer â—rom the heate of the scorching Sunne for they are good for no other vse that I can find Sur. That is some benefite but the best way to kill them is to take them vp often by the rootes euer as they beginne to spring and either presently to rake them vp and carry them out of the fields or else to beate them in small peeces for their nature is to reuiue againe like an Adder that is not thorowly battered in the head and cut in peeces Such is the nature of this kind of Thistle that though it be plucked vp by the roote if it lie still vpon the ground as soone as it receiueth the euaporation of the earth his sliâ—â—ie nature gathers a kind of new life and beginnes to fasten cleaue it selfe to the earth againe and to shoote foorth small strings which entring into the earth againe will bring foorth many for one Bai. That is if they be cut when they are seeded the seedes fall and increase Sur. Nay if you cut them in their infancie for if they be not cut often that as soone as they shewe themselues a foote high or lesse the roote will recouer and bud againe the roote is as the liuer in the body from whence proceedeth all the bloud that feedeth the veines that quickneth the body which by obstrâ—ction and stopping of the passages putrifieth So the rootes of these vegitables when the branches are againe againe cut off as they spring the roote is left so ouercharged with moisture that it wil in the end yeeld and giue ouer bearing and die as will also Rushes Flagges and such like which though they be strong by nature yet by this meanes they will be destroyed soonest Baily But what say you to this heathy ground I thinke of all other grounds this is the most vnprofitable Sur. Indeede naturally all heathy grounds are barraine and that comes by the saltnes of the soile Bai. Doth all barrainnesse procéede of saltnes Sur. As leannes in a mans body is principally procured by saltnes of the humor So is barrainesse in grounds for salt is hot and heate drieth and too much drowth breeds barrainesse and leannesse And according to the measure and proportion of the decree of hot and cold moisture and drinesse are all grounds fruitfull and barraine as the bodie by these causes is fat or leane Therefore though heathy grounds be commonly in the highest degree of barrainesse yet are some more in the meane then some Some are more tractable and more easily reduced to some vse then others and therefore hath sundry names Heath is the generall or common name whereof there is one kind called Hather the other Ling. And of these particulars there are also sundry kinds distinguished by their seuerall growth leaues stalkes and flowers as not far from Graues end there is a kind of Hather that beareth a white flowre and is not so common as the rest and the ground is not so exceeding barraine as some other but by manurance would be brought to profitable tillage Some and the most doth beare a purple or reddish flowre as in the Forest of Windsore and in Suffolke and sundry other places and this kind is most common and groweth commonly in the worst ground In the North parts vpon the Mountaines and Fells there is a kind of Ling that beares a berry euery of these hath his peculiar earth wherein it delighteth Some in sandy hot grounds as betweene Wilford bridge and Snape bridge in Suffolke And that is bettered especially and the heath killed best and soonest by good fat marle Some in grauelly and cold earth and that is hard to be cured but with good stable dung But there is a kind of heathie ground that seemeth altogether vnprofitable for tillage because that the grauell clay together retaineth a kind of black water which so drencheth the earth causeth so much cold as no husbandry can relieue it yet if there be chalk-hils nere this kind of earth there may be some good done vpon it for that onely or lime will comfort the earth drie vp the superfluous water and kill the heath But the sandy heathie ground is contrarily amended as I told you with fat marle and that is commonly found neere these heathie grounds if men were prouident and forward to seeke for it Euery of these heathie grounds are best known of what nature they be of whether hot or cold by the growing of it as if it grow low and stubbed it argues the ground to be grauelly cold and most barren where it groweth ranke and high and the stalke great the ground is more warme and more apt for tilth yet it requireth some kind of composte else will it not beare past a crop or two contenting the owner but if men will not indeuor to search for the hidden blessings of God which he hath laid vp in store in the bowels of the earth for their vse that will be painefull they may make a kind of idle vaine â—hew of good husbandry wheÌ„ indeed they only plow and sow and charge the earth to bring foorth fruite of it owne accord when we know it was cursed for our sakes and commanded to deny vs increase without labour sweate and charge which also are little auaileable if we serue not him in feare and reuerence who is the author of true labors and of the blessings promised thereunto Bai. I thinke there is no disease in the body of man but nature hath giuen vertue to some other creatures as to hearbes plants and other things to be medicines for the same so is there no kind of ground so meane barren and defectiue but God hath prouided some meanes to better it if man to whom he hath giuen all will search for it and vse the same to that end it was prouided for And yet this peece of ground adioyning hath had much labour and great cost bestowed on it and the ground little or nothing the more reformed This fursy close Sur. In deed it is a strong weed called in the North CouÌ„try Whynns It seldome giues place where it