Read Ebook: The English Husbandman The First Part: Contayning the Knowledge of the true Nature of euery Soyle within this Kingdome: how to Plow it; and the manner of the Plough and other Instruments by Markham Gervase

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The Canker in fruit tr?es is the consumption both of the barke and the body, & it commeth either by the dropping of tr?es one vpon another, or else when some hollow places of the tr?e retaineth raine water in them, which fretting through the barke, poysoneth the tr?e: the cure is to cut away all such boughes as by dropping br?ede the euill, and if the hollow places cannot be smooth and made euen, then to stoppe them with clay, waxe, and sope-ashes mixt together.

If the barkes of your tr?es be eaten with wormes, which you shall perceiue by the swelling of the barke, you shall then open the barke and lay there-vpon swines dunge, sage, and lime beaten together, and bound with a cloath fast to the tr?e, and it will cure it: or wash the tr?e with cowes-pisse and vinegar and it will helpe it.

If your young tr?es be troubled with Pismiers, or Snailes, which are very noysome vnto them, you shall take vnsleckt lime and sope-ashes and mingling them with wine-l?es, spread it all about the roote of the tr?es so infected, and annoint the body of the tr?e likewise therewith, and it will not onely destroy them but giue comfort to the tr?e: the soote of a chimney or Oake sawe-dust spread about the roote will doe the same.

If Caterpillers doe annoy your young tr?es, who are great deuourers of the leaues and young buddes, and spoylers of the barke, you shall, if it be in the summer time, make a very strong brine of water and salt, and either with a garden pumpe, placed in a tubbe, or with squirts which haue many hoales you shall euery second day water and wash your tr?es, and it will destroy them, because the Caterpiller naturally cannot indure moisture, but if neuerthelesse you s?e they doe continue still vpon your trees in Winter, then you shall when the leaues are falne away take dankish straw and setting it on fire smeare and burne them from the tr?e, and you shall hardly euer be troubled with them againe vpon the same tr?es: roules of hay layd on the tr?es will gather vp Earewigges and kill them.

If your tr?es be barraine, and albeit they flourish and spread there leaues brauely, yet bring forth no fruit at all, it is a great sicknesse, and the worst of all other: therefore you shall vnderstand it proc?edeth of two causes: first, of two much fertillitie, and fatnesse of the ground, which causeth the leafe to put forth and flourish in such vnnaturall abundance, that all such sappe and nutriment as should knit and bring forth fruit, turnes onely vnto leafe, cyons, and vnprofitable branches, which you shall perceiue both by the abundance of the leaues and by the colour also, which will be of a more blacker and d?eper gr?ene, and of much larger proportion then those which haue but their naturall and proper rights: and the cure thereof is to take away the earth from the roote of such tr?es and fill vp the place againe with other earth, which is of a much leaner substance: but if your tr?e haue no such infirmitie of fatnesse, but beareth his leaues and branches in good order and of right colour and yet notwithstanding is barraine and bringeth forth little or no fruit, then that disease springeth from some naturall defect in the tr?e, and the cure thereof is thus: first, you shall vnbare the roote of the tr?e, and then noting which is the greatest and principallest branch of all the roote, you shall with a great wimble boare a hole into that roote and then driue a pinne of olde dry Ashe into the same and then cutting the pinne off close by the roote, couer all the head of the pinne with yealow waxe, and then lay the mould vpon the roote of the tr?e againe, and treade it hard and firmely downe, and there is no doubte but the tr?e will beare the y?ere following: in Fraunce they vse for this infirmitie to boare a hoale in the body of the tr?e slope-wise, somewhat past the hart, and to fill vp the hoale with life honey and Rose-water mixt together, and incorporated for at least xxiiij. howers, and then to stoppe the hole with a pinne of the one woode: also if you wash the rootes of your tr?es in the drane water which runneth from your Barley when you st?epe it for Malt, it will cure this disease of barrainenesse.

If the fruit which is vpon your tr?es be of a bitter and sootie tast, to make it more pleasant and sw?et you shall wash your tr?e all ouer with Swines dunge and water mixt together, & to the rootes of the tr?es you shall lay earth and Swines dunge mixt together, which must be done in the month of Ianuary and February onely, and it will make the fruit tast pleasantly. And thus much for the dressing and preseruing of tr?es.

First then to speake of the planting or setting of the Vine, your greatest diligence must be to s?eke out the best plants, and if that which is most strange, rare, great and pleasant be the best, then is that grape which is called the Muskadine, or Sacke grape, the best, and haue their beginning either from Spaine, the Canary Ilands, or such like places: next to them is the French grape, of which there be many kindes, the best whereof is the grape of Orleance, the next the grape of Gascoynie, the next of Burdeaux, and the worst of Rochell, and not any of these but by industry will prosper in our English gardens: when therefore you chuse your plants, you shall chuse such of the young cyons as springing from the olde woode, you may in the cutting cut at least a ioynt or two of olde woode with the young: for the olde will take soonest, and this olde woode must be at least seauen or eight inches long, and the young cyon almost a yard, and the thicker and closer the ioynts of the young cyon are, so much the better they are: and the fit time for cutting and gathering these sets are in midde-Ianuary, then hauing prepared, digged, and dunged your earth the winter before, you shall at the latter end of Ianuary take two of these sets, or plants, placing them according to this figure:

And lay them in the earth slope-wise, at least a foote d?epe, leauing out of the earth, vncouered, not aboue foure or fiue ioynts, at the most, and then couer them with good earth firmely, closely, and strongly, hauing regard to raise those cyons which are without the earth directly vpward, obseruing after they be set, once in a month to w?ede them, and k?epe them as cleane as is possible: for nothing is more noysome vnto them then the suffocating of w?eds: also you shall not suffer the mould to grow hard or bind about the rootes, but with a small spade once in a fortnight to loosen and breake the earth, because there rootes are so tender that the least straytning doth strangle and confound them. If the season doe grow dry, you may vse to water them, but not in such sort as you water other plants, which is to sprinckle water round about the earth of the rootes, but you shall with a round Iron made for the purpose somewhat bigger then a mans fingar, make certaine holes into the earth, close vpon the roote of the Vine, and powre therein either water, the dregges of strong-Ale, or the l?es of Wine, or if you will you may mixe with the l?es of Wine either Goats-milke, or Cowes-milke, and power it into the holes and it will nourish the Vine exc?edingly, and not the Vine onely, but all sorts of dainty grafted Plumbes, especially Peaches.

Now for proyning the Vine, you shall vnderstand that it is euer to be done after the fall of the leafe, when the sappe is desended downeward, for if you shall proyne, or cut him, either in the spring, or when the sappe is aloft, it will bl?ede so exc?edingly, that with great difficulty you shall saue the body of the tr?e from dying: and, in proyning of the Vine you shall obserue two things, the first, that you cut away all superfluous cyons and branches, both aboue and below, which either grow disorderly aboue, or fruitlessely below, and in cutting them you shall obserue, neither to cut the olde woode with the young cyon, nor to leaue aboue one head or leader vpon one branch: secondly, you shall in proyning, plash and spread the VINE thinnely against the wall, giuing euery seuerall branch and cyon his place, and passage, and not suffer it to grow loosely, rudely, or like a wilde thorne, out of all decency and proportion: for you must vnderstand that your Grapes doe grow euer vpon the youngest cyons, and if of them you shall preserue too many, questionlesse for want of nourishment they will lose their vertue, and you your profit. Now if your Vine be a very olde Vine, and that his fruit doth decay, either in quantitie or proportion; if then you finde he haue any young cyons which spring from his roote, then when you proyne him you shall cut away all the olde stocke, within lesse then an handfull of the young cyons, and make them the leaders, who will prosper and continue in perfection a long time after, especially if you trimme the rootes with fresh earth, and fresh dunge. Againe, if you be carefull to looke vnto your Vine, you shall perceiue close by euery bunch of grapes certaine small thridde-like cyons, which resemble twound wyars, curling and turning in many rings, these also take from the grapes very much nutriment, so that it shall be a labour very well imployd to cut them away as you perceiue them.

Now from the Vine there is gathered sundry experiments, as to haue it tast more pleasant then the true nature of the grape, and to smell in the mouth odoriferously, or as if it were perfumed, which may be done in this sort: Take damaske-Rose-water and boyle therein the powder of Cloaues, Cynamon, thr?e graines of Amber, and one of Muske, and when it is come to be somewhat thicke, take a round goudge and make a hole in the maine stocke of the Vine, full as d?epe as the hart thereof, and then put therein this medicine, then stopping the hole with Cypresse, or Iuniper, lay gr?ene-waxe thereupon, and binde a linnen cloath about it, and the next grapes which shall spring from that Vine will tast as if they were preserued or perfumed.

If you will haue grapes without stones, you shall take your plants and plant the small ends downeward and be assured your desire is attained.

The Vine naturally of himselfe doth not bring forth fruit till it haue b?ene thr?e y?eres planted: but if euening and morning for the first month you will bath his roote with Goats-milke or Cowes-milke, it will beare fruit the first y?ere of his planting. Lastly, you may if you please graft one Vine vpon another, as the sw?et vpon the sower, as the Muskadine grape, or gr?eke, vpon the Rochell or Burdeaux, the Spanish, or Iland grape, on the Gascoyne, and the Orleance vpon any at all: and these compositions are the best, and bring forth both the greatest and pleasantest grapes: therefore whensoeuer you will graft one grape vpon another, you shall doe it in the beginning of Ianuary, in this sort: first, after you haue chosen and trimmed your grafts, which in all sorts must be like the grafts of other fruits, then with a sharpe knife, you shall cleaue the head of the Vine, as you doe other stockes and then put in your graft, or cyon, being made as thinne as may be and s?e that the barkes and sappes ioyne euen and close together, then clay it, mosse it, and couer it, as hath b?ene before declared.

If your Vine grow too ranke and thicke of leaues, so that the sappe doth wast it selfe in them, and you thereby lose the profit of the fruit, you shall then bare all the rootes of the Vine, and cast away the earth, filling vp the place againe with sand & ashes mingled together: but if the Vine be naturally of it selfe barraine, then with a goudge you shall make a hole halfe way through the maine body of the Vine, and driue into the hole a round pible stone, which although it goe straitly in, yet it may not fill vp the hole, but that the sicke humour of the Vine may passe thorrow thereat: then couer the roote with rich earth, and Oxe dunge mixt together, and once a day for a month water it with olde pisse, or vrine of a man, and it will make the tr?e fruitfull: if the Vine be troubled with Wormes, Snailes, Ants, Earewigges, or such like, you shall morning and euening sprinckle it ouer with cowes-pisse and vinegar mixt together & it will helpe it: & thus much for ordering the Vine.

After you haue planted euery seuerall quarter, allye, and border within your Orchard, with euery seuerall fruit proper vnto his place, and that you haue placed them in that orderly and comely equipage which may giue most delight to the eye, profit to the tr?e, and commendations to the workeman, and that now the blessing of the highest, time, and your indeuours hath brought forth the haruest and recompence of your trauell, so that you behould the long-expected fruit hang vpon the tr?es, as it were in their ripenesse, wooing you to plucke, tast, and to deliuer them from the wombes of their parents, it is necessary then that you learne the true office of the Fruiterer, who is in due season and time to gather those fruits which God hath sent him: for as in the husbanding of our grayne if the Husbandman be neuer so carefull, or skilfull, in ploughing, dungging, sowing, w?eding and preseruing his crop, yet in the time of haruest be negligent, neither regarding the strength or ripnesse thereof, or in the leading and mowing respects not whether it be wet or dry, doth in that moments space loose the wages of his whole y?eres trauell, getting but durt from durt, and losse from his negligence: so in like case houlds it with all other fruits, if a man with neuer so great care and cost procure, yet if he be inrespectiue in the gathering, all his former businesse is vaine and to no purpose; and therefore I hould nothing more necessary then the relation of this office of the Fruiterer, which is the consummation and onely hope of our cost, and diligence, teaching vs to gather wisely what w?e haue planted wearily, and to eate with contentment what we haue preserued with care.

Know then, that of all fruits the Cherry is the soonest ripe, as being one of the oldest children of the summer, and therefore first of all to be spoken of in this place, yet are not all Cherries ripe at one instant, but some sooner then other some, according to the benefit of the Sunne, the warmth of the ayre, and the strength of sappe in the branch on which the Cherry hangeth: they are a fruit tender and pleasant, and therefore much subiect to be deuoured and consumed with Byrds of the smallest kindes, as Sparrowes, Robins, Starlings, and such like, especially the Iay, and the Bull-finch, who deuoure them stones and all, euen so fast as they rypen: for preuention whereof; if you haue great abundance of Cherry tr?es, as maine holts that be either one or many akers in compasse, you shall then in diuers places of your holts, as well in the midst, as out-corners, cause to be errected vp certaine long poales of Fyrre, or other woode, which may mount somewhat aboue the toppes of the tr?es, and one the toppes of those poales you shall place certaine clappe-milles made of broken trenchers ioyned together like sayles, which being moued and carryed about with the smallest ayre, may haue vnderneath the sayles a certaine loose little board, against which euery sayle may clap and make a great noyse, which will afright and scare the Byrds from your tr?es: these milles you shall commonly s?e in Husbandmens yards placed on their stackes or houells of Corne, which doth preserue them from fowle and vermine: but for want of these clap-milles you must haue some boy or young fellow that must euery morning from the dawning of the day till the Sunne be more then an houre high, and euery euening from fiue of the clocke till nine, runne vp and downe your ground, whooping, showtying, and making of a great noyse, or now and then shooting of some Harquebush, or other P?ece: but by no meanes to vse slings or throwing of stones, least by the miscarriage of his hand h?e either beate downe the fruit or bruise the trees. In this sort hauing preserued your Cherries from destruction, you shall then know there ripenesse by their colours, for euer those which are most red, are most ripe, and when you s?e any that are ripe, you shall take a light ladder, made either of fyrre or sallow, and setting it carefully against the branches, so as you neither bruise them nor the fruit, you shall gather those you finde ripe, not taking the fruit from the stalke, but nipping the stalke and fruit both together from the tr?e: also you shall be carefull in gathering to handle or touch the Cherry so little as may be, but the stalke onely, especially if your hands be hot, or sweaty, for that will change the colour of your Cherries, and make them looke blacke: if there be any ripe Cherries which hang out of the reach of your hands, then you shall haue a fine small gathering hooke of woode, whose bout shall be made round, and smooth, for nipping the barke of the branches, and with it you shall gently pull vnto you those branches you cannot reach: you shall also haue a little round basket of almost a foote d?epe, made with a siue bottome, hauing a handle thwarte the toppe, to which a small hooke being fastned, you shall with that hooke hang the basket by you on some conuenient cyon, and as you gather the Cherries, gently lay them downe into the same, and when you haue filled your basket you shall descend and empty it into larger great baskets made of the same fashion, with siue bottomes, and hauing vnderneath two broad lathes or splinters, at least thr?e fingers broad a p?ece, within foure inches one of the other, and going both one way crosse ouerthwart the basket, that if either man or woman shall carry them vpon their heads, which is the best manner of cariage, then the splinters may defend the bottome of the basket from the head of the party, and k?epe the Cherries from hurt or bruising, and if you haue occasion to carry your Cherries farre, and that the quantitie grow beyond the support of a man, then you shall packe them in hampers or panniers made with false bottoms like siues, and finely lyned on the out side with white straw, and so being closely trust on each side a Horses-backe, to carry them whether you please. You shall by no meanes suffer your Cherries to lye in any great or thicke heapes one vpon another, but vntill you sell them, or vse them, lay them as thinne as may be, because they are apt of themselues to sweat and catch heate, and that heate doth soone depriue them of the glory of their colour. When you gather any Cherries to preserue, you shall gather those which are the greatest, the ripest, you shall pull them from their stalkes one by one, and vse them at furthest within xxiiij. howers after the time they are gotten.

For the gathering of Plumbes in generall, it is in the same manner as you did gather your Cherries, both with such a like ladder, such a like hooke, and such like vessels, onely some more speciall obseruations are to be obserued in gathering your dainty grafted Plumbes, then of the others, which are of a more hard and induring nature. You shall know then that for gathering of Abricots, Peaches, Date-Plumbes, and such like grafted Plumbes, you shall duely consider when they are perfectly ripe, which you shall not iudge by their dropping from the tr?e, which is a signe of ouer-much ripnesse, tending to rottennesse, but by the true mixture of their colour, and perfect change from their first complexion: for when you shall perceiue that there is no gr?enenesse nor hardnesse in their out-sides, no, not so much as at the setting on of the stalke, you may then iudge that they are ready to be gathered, and for a perfecter tryall thereof you may if you please, take one which you thinke ripest from the tr?e, and opening it if you s?e the stone comes cleane and dry away and not any of the in-part of the fruit cleauing vnto it, then you may assure your selfe that the fruit is ready to be gathered, which you shall with great deligence and care gather, not by any meanes laying one Plumbe vpon another, but each seuerally by another, for these dainty Plumbes are naturally so tender that the least touch, though of themselues, doth bruise them, and occasion rottennesse. Now when you haue gathered them, if either you haue desire to send them any iourney, as in gratulation to your friends, or for other priuate commoditie, you shall take some close, smooth, boxe, answerable to the store of fruit you are to send, and first line it within all ouer with white paper, then lay your Plumbes one by one all ouer the bottome of the boxe, then couering them all ouer with white paper, lay as many moe vpon the toppe of them, and couer them likewise with paper, as before, and so lay row vpon row with papers betw?ene them, vntill the boxe be sufficiently filled, and then closing it vp sende it whether you please, and they will take the least hurt, whereas if you should line the boxe either with hay or straw, the very skinnes are so tender that the straw would print into them and bruise them exc?edingly, and to lay any other soft thing about them, as either wooll or bumbast, is exc?eding euill, because it heateth the Plumbes, and maketh them sweat, through which they both loose their colour and rot sp?edily. As touching the gathering of Plumbes when they are hard, and to ripen them afterward by laying them vpon nettles, to which consenteth the most of our London-Fruiterrers, I am vtterly against the opinion, because I both know Nature to be the perfectest worke-Mistris, and where she is abridged of her power there euer to follow disorders and imperfections, as also that when such things are done, as it were through an ouer-hasty constraint, there cannot proc?ede any thing but abortiuenesse, and a distastfull rellish: from whence I thinke it comes to passe that in London a man shall very seldome tast a delicate or well rellisht Plumbe, vnlesse it be from such as hauing fruit of their owne, make no commoditie thereof more then their owne pleasures: yet thus much I would perswade euery one, that if they haue moe Plumbes ripe at once then they can vse, or spend, that then after they are gathered, to spread them thinnely vpon Nettles or Vine-tr?e leaues, and it will preserue them sound and well coloured a long time together, but if your store be so superabundant that in no reasonable time you can spend them, then what you doe not preserue, or make Godiniake, or Maruulade of, the rest you shall take and sprinkling them ouer with sw?et-worte, or growt, and then laying them one by one vpon hurdles or fleakes made of wands, or twigges, and put them into an Ouen after bread or Pyes haue b?ene taine thereout, and so leasurely dry them, and they will not onely last, but tast pleasantly all the y?ere after: and in this sort you may vse all kindes of Plumbes, or Peares, whatsoeuer. Now for the gathering of the other ordinary sorts of vngrafted Plumbes, which haue both much stronger rindes, and are lesse subiect to rotting, you shall gather them, carry, or transport them, in the same manner that you did your Cherries, onely in these, as in all other sorts of fruit whatsoeuer, you shall not omit neuer to gather, or pull them from the tr?e, till the dewe be dryed cleane both from the grasse and from the tr?es, and that the day be dry, faire, and full of sunne-shine: for the least wet or moisture doth canker and rot the fruit.

As touching the gathering of Peares, though sundry Fruiterrers obserue sundry wayes in gathering them, as some making more hast then good-sp?ed, as either to haue the first tast, or the first profit, some vsing more negligence, thincking their store so great it will neuer be consumed, and some so curious that they will not gather till the Peares fall into their bosomes, all which are dispraiseable fashions, yet I for my part would euer aduise all diligent husbands to obserue a mediocritie, and take the fittest season for the gathering of his fruit: as thus for example. If because you are vnexperienced or vnacquainted with the fruit you doe not know the due time of his ripening, you shall obserue the colour of the Peare, and if you s?e it doe alter, either in part, or in all, you shall be assured the fruit is neare ripening, for Peares doe neuer change their colours, but when they doe desire to be taken from the tr?e: and of all fruit the Peare may be gathered the hardest, because both his owne naturall heate and peculiar quallittie will ripen him best with lying: yet to be more strongly fortefied in the knowledge of the ripenesse of your fruit, and because it is better to get a day too late, then an hower to earely, you shall before you gather your Peares, whether they be Summer fruit or Winter fruit, or whether you meane to spend them soone or preserue them long, take one of them from the tr?e, which is neither the ripest nor the gr?enest, but betwixt both, and cut it through the midst with your knife, not longwise, but ouerthwart, and then looke into the coare where the kirnells lye, and if it be hollow so as the kirnells lye as it were hollow therein, the neather ends thereof being turned either blacke, or blackish, albeit the complexion of the Peare be little, or not at all altered, yet the Peares haue their full growth, and may very well be gathered: then laying them either vpon a bedde of ferne, or straw, one vpon another, in great thicknesse, their owne naturall heate will in short space ripen them, which you shall perceiue both by the sp?edy changing of their colour, & the strength of their smell, which will be exc?eding suffocating, which as soone as you perceiue, you shall then spread them thinner and thinner, vntill they be all ripe, and then lay them one by one, in such sort as they may not touch one another, and then they will last much the longer, you shall also after they be ripe, neither suffer them to haue straw nor ferne vnder them, but lay them either vpon some smooth table, boards or fleakes of wands, and they will last the longer.

If you be to carry or transport Peares farre, you shall then gather them so much the sooner, and not suffer any ripe one to be amongst them, and then lyning great wicker baskets finely within with white-straw, fill them vp with Peares, and then couer them with straw, and corde them aboue, and you may either transport them by land or Sea, whether you please, for they will ripen in their cariage: but when you come to your place of residence, then you must n?eds vnpacke them and spread them thinner, or else they will rot and consume in a sodaine.

There be sundry wayes of gathering Peares, or other fruit, as namely, to climbe into the tr?e and to haue a basket with a line fastned thereto, and so when it is filled to let it downe, and cause it to be emptied, which labour though some of our southerne Fruiterers doe not much commend, yet for mine owne part I doe not s?e much errour therein, but that it is both allowable and conuenient, both because it neither bruiseth the fruit, nor putteth the gatherer to any extraordinary labour, onely the imaginary euill is, that by climbing vp into the tr?e, h?e that gathereth the fruit may indanger the breaking, slipping, and disbranching of many of the young cyons, which br?edeth much hurt and damage to the tr?e, but iudgement, and care, which ought to be apropriate to men of this quallitie, is a certaine preuenter of all such mischeifes. Now for such as in gathering of their fruit doe euery time that the basket is full bring it downe themselues from the tr?e, and empty it by powring the fruit rudely, and boystrously forth, or for beating of fruit downe with long poales, loggets, or such like, they are both most vilde and preposterous courses, the first being full of too much foolish and carelesse trouble, the latter of too much disorder, & cruelty, ruyning in a moment what hath b?ene many y?eres in building: as for the climbing the tr?e with a ladder, albeit it be a very good way for the gathering of fruit, yet if it be neuer so little indiscr?etly handled, it as much hazardeth the breaking and bruising both of the fruit and the small cyons, as either climbing the tr?e, or any other way whatsoeuer.

Now for the gathering of your Apples: you shall vnderstand that your summer fruit, as your Ieniting, Wibourne, and such like, are first to be gathered, whose ripenesse, you may partly know by the change of colour, partly by the pecking of Birds, but cheifely by the course formerly discribed for your knowledge of the ripenesse of the Peare, which is the hollownesse of coare, and liberty of the kirnell onely, and when you doe perceiue they are ripe, you shall gather them in such wise as hath b?ene declared for the gathering of your Peares, without respecting the state of the Moone, or any such like obseruation, but when you come to gather your Winter-fruit, which is the Pippin, Peare-maine, Russetting, Blacke-annat, and such like, you shall in any wise gather them in the wane of the Moone, and, as before I said, in the dryest season that may be, and if it be so that your store be so great that you cannot gather all in that season, yet you shall get so much of your principall fruit, the youngest and fairest, as is possible to be gotten, and preserue it for the last which you intend either to spend, or vtter. Now for the manner of gathering your Apples I doe not thinke you can amend or approue a better way then that which hath b?ene discribed for the gathering of Peares, yet some of our late practitioners dislike that way, and will onely haue a gathering apron, into which hauing gathered their fruit, they doe empty it into larger vessells: this gathering apron is a strong p?ece of Canuas at least an ell euery way, which hauing the vpper end made fast about a mans necke, & the neather end with thr?e loopes, that is, one at each corner, & one in the midst, through which you shall put a string, and binde it about your waste, in so much that both the sides of your apron being open you may put your fruit therein with which hand you please: this manner of gathering Apples is not amisse, yet in my conceit the apron is so small a defence for the Apples, that if it doe but knocke against the boughes as you doe moue your selfe, it cannot chuse but bruise the fruit very much, which ought euer to be auoyded: therefore still I am of this opinion, there is no better way, safer, nor more easie, then gathering them into a small basket, with a long line thereat, as hath b?ene before declared in the gathering of Peares. Now you shall carefully obserue in empting one basket into another, that you doe it so gently as may be, least in powring them out too rudely the stalkes of the fruit doe pricke one another, which although it doe appeare little or nothing at the first, yet it is the first ground, cause, and beginning of rottennesse, and therefore you shall to your vttermost power gather your Apples with as small stalkes as may be, so they haue any at all, which they must n?edes haue, because that as too bigge stalkes doth pricke and bruise the fruit, so to haue none at all makes the fruit rot first in the place where the stalke should be: you shall also k?epe your fruit cleane from leaues, for they being gr?ene and full of moisture, when by reason of their lying close together they beginne to wither they strike such an heate into the Apples, that they mil-dew and rot instantly.

As touching your Fallings, which are those Apples which fall from your tr?es, either through too much ripenesse, or else through the violence of winde, or tempests, you shall by no meanes match them, or mixe them, with your gathered fruit, for they can by no meanes last or indure so long, for the latter which falleth by force of winde, wanting the true nourishment of the earth and the kindly ripening vpon the tr?e, must necessarily shrinke wither, and grow riuelled, so that your best course is to spend them presently, with all sp?ede possible: for the other which hath too much ripenesse from the earth, and the tr?e, though it be much better then the other, yet it cannot be long lasting, both because it is in the falling bruised, and also hath too much ripenesse, which is the first steppe to rottennesse, so that they must likewise be spent with all expedition. For the carriage of your Apples, if the place be not farre whether you should carry them, you shall then in those large baskets into which you last emptied them, carry them vpon cole-staues, or stangs, betwixt two men, and hauing brought them carefully into your Apple-loft, power them downe gently vpon bedds of ferne or straw, and lay them in reasonable large heapes, euery sort of Apples seuerall by themselues, without mixture, or any confusion: and for such Apples as you would haue to ripen soone, you shall couer them all ouer with ferne also, but for such as you would haue take all possible leasure in ripening, those you shall lay neither vpon ferne, nor straw, but vpon the bare boards, nay, if you lay them vpon a plaster floare till Saint Andrewes tide, it is not amisse, but very profitable, and the thinner you lay them so much the better. Now if you haue any farre iourney to carry your Apples, either by land, or by water, then trimming and lyning the insides of your baskets with ferne, or wheat-straw wouen as it were cleane through the basket, you shall packe, couer, and cord vp your Apples, in such sort as you did your Peares, and there is no danger in the transportation of them, be it by shippe, cart, waggon, or horse-backe. If you be inforced to packe sundry sorts of Apples in one basket, s?e that betwixt euery sort you lay a diuision of straw, or ferne, that when they are vnpackt, you may lay them againe seuerally: but if when they are vnpackt, for want of roome you are compeld to lay some sorts together, in any wise obserue to mixe those sorts together which are nearest of taste, likest of colour, and all of one continuance in lasting: as for the packing vp of fruit in hogsheads, or shooting them vnder hatches when you transport them by Sea, I like neither of the courses, for the first is too close, and nothing more then the want of ayre doth rot fruit, the other is subiect to much wet, when the breach of euery Sea indangereth the washing of the Apples, and nothing doth more certainely spoyle them. The times most vnseasonable for the transporting of fruit, is either in the month of March, or generally in any frosty weather, for if the sharpe coldenesse of those ayres doe touch the fruit, it presently makes them looke blacke, and riuelled, so that there is no hope of their continuance.

The place where you shall lay your fruit must neither be too open, nor too close, yet rather close then open, it must by no meanes be low vpon the ground, nor in any place of moistnesse: for moisture br?edes fustinesse, and such naughty smells easily enter into the fruit, and taint the rellish thereof, yet if you haue no other place but some low cellar to lay your fruit in, then you shall raise shelues round about, the nearest not within two foote of the ground, and lay your Apples thereupon, hauing them first lyned, either with sw?et Rye-straw, Wheate-straw, or dry ferne: as these vndermost roomes are not the best, so are the vppermost, if they be vns?eld, the worst of all other, because both the sunne, winde, and weather, peircing through the tiles, doth annoy and hurt the fruit: the best roome then is a well s?eld chamber, whose windowes may be shut and made close at pleasure, euer obseruing with straw to defend the fruit from any moist stone wall, or dusty mudde wall, both which are dangerous annoyances.

Now for the seperating of your fruit, you shall lay those nearest hand, which are first to be spent, as those which will last but till Alhallontide, as the Cisling, Wibourne, and such like, by themselues: those which will last till Christmas, as the Costard, Pome-water, Qu?ene-Apple, and such like: those which will last till Candlemas, as the Pome-de-roy, Goose-Apple, and such like, and those which will last all the y?ere, as the Pippin, Duzin, Russetting, Peare-maine, and such like, euery one in his seuerall place, & in such order that you may passe from bed to bed to clense or cast forth those which be rotten or putrefied at your pleasure, which with all diligence you must doe, because those which are tainted will soone poyson the other, and therefore it is necessary as soone as you s?e any of them tainted, not onely to cull them out, but also to looke vpon all the rest, and deuide them into thr?e parts, laying the soundest by themselues, those which are least tainted by themselues, and those which are most tainted by themselues, and so to vse them all to your best benefit.

Now for the turning of your longest lasting fruit, you shall know that about the latter end of December is the best time to beginne, if you haue both got and kept them in such sort as is before sayd, and not mixt fruit of more earely ripening amongst them: the second time you shall turne them, shall be about the end of February, and so consequently once euery month, till Penticost, for as the y?ere time increaseth in heate so fruit growes more apt to rot: after Whitsontide you shall turne them once euery fortnight, alwayes in your turning making your heapes thinner and thinner; but if the weather be frosty then stirre not your fruit at all, neither when the thaw is, for then the fruit being moist may by no meanes be touched: also in wet weather fruit will be a little dankish, so that then it must be forborne also, and therefore when any such moistnesse hapneth, it is good to open your windowes and let the ayre dry your fruit before it be turned: you may open your windowe any time of the y?ere in open weather, as long as the sunne is vpon the skye, but not after, except in March onely, at what time the ayre and winde is so sharpe that it tainteth and riuelleth all sorts of fruits whatsoeuer.

If the frost be very extreame, and you feare the indangering your fruit, it is good to couer them somewhat thicke with fine hay, or else to lay them couered all ouer either in Barley-chaffe, or dry Salte: as for the laying them in chests of Iuniper, or Cipresse, it is but a toy, and not worth the practise: if you hang Apples in nettes within the ayre of the fire it will k?epe them long, but they will be dry and withered, and will loose their best rellish.

Now for the gathering, k?eping, ordering, and preseruing of Wardens, they are in all sorts and in all respects to be vsed as you doe vse your Peares, onely you are to consider that they are a fruit of a much stronger constitution, haue a much thicker skinne, and will endure much harder season: neither ought you to s?eke to ripen them in hast, or before the ordinary time of their owne nature, and therefore to them you shall vse neither straw, ferne, nor hay, but onely dry boards to lay them vpon, and no otherwise.

For your Medlars, you shall gather them about the midst of October, after such time as the frost hath nipt and bitten them, for before they will not be ready, or loosen from the stalke, and then they will be nothing ripe, but as hard as stones, for they neuer ripen vpon the tr?e, therefore as soone as you haue gathered them, you shall packe them into some close vessell, and couer them all ouer, and round about, with thicke woollen cloathes, and about the cloathes good store of hay, and some other waight of boards, or such like vpon them, all which must bring them into an extreame heate, without which they will neuer ripen kindely, because their ripenesse is ind?ed perfect rottennesse: and after they haue layne thus, at least a fornight, you shall then looke vpon them, and turning them ouer, such as you finde ripe you shall take away, the rest you shall let remaine still, for they will not ripen all at once, and those which are halfe ripe you shall also remoue into a third place, least if you should k?epe them together, they should beginne to grow mouldy before the other were ready; and in the selfe same manner as you vse your Medlars, so you shall vse your Seruices, and they will ripen most kindely: or if you please to sticke them betwixt large clouen stickes, and to sprinckle a little olde beare vpon them, and so set them in a close roome, they will ripen as kindely as any other way whatsoeuer.

Now for Quinces, they are a fruit which by no meanes you may place neare any other kinde of fruit, because their sent is so strong and peircing, that it will enter into any fruit, and cleane take way his naturall rellish: the time of their gathering is euer in October, and the m?etest place to lay them in is where they may haue most ayre, so they may lye dry also they must not lye close, because the smell of them is both strong & vnwholsome: the beds whereon they must lye must be of sw?et straw, and you must both turne them and shift them very often, or else they will rot sp?edily: for the transporting or carying them any long iourney, you must vse them in all things as you vse your Peares, & the carriage will be safe.

For Nuts, of what sort soeuer they be, you shall know they are ripe as soone as you perceiue them a little browne within the huske, or as it were ready to fall out of the same, the skill therefore in preseruing of them long from drynesse, is all that can be desired at the Fruiterers hands: for as touching the gathering of them, there is no scruple to be obserued, more then to gather them cleane from the tr?e, with the helpe of hookes and such like, for as touching the bruising of them, the shell is defence sufficient. After they be gathered, you shall shale them, and take them cleane out of their huskes, and then for preseruing them from either Wormes or drynesse, it shall be good to lay them in some low cellar, where you may couer them with sand, being first put into great bagges or bladders: some french-men are of opinion that if you put them into vessels made of Wal-nut-tr?e, and mixe Iuy-berries amongst them, it will preserue them moist a long time: others thinke, but I haue found it vncertaine, that to preserue Nuts in Honey will k?epe them all the y?ere as gr?ene, moist, and pleasant, as when they hung vpon the tr?e: The Dutch-men vse to take the crusht Crabbes and to mixe it with their Nuts, and so to lay them in heapes, and it will preserue them long: or otherwise if they be to be transported, to put them into barrells and to lay one layre of crusht Crabbes, and another of Nuts, vntill the barrell be filled, and then to close them vp, and set them where they may stand coole. But aboue all these foresayd experiments, the best way for the preseruing of Nuts is to put them into cleane earthen pots, and to mixe with them good store of salt and then closing the pots close, to set them in some coole cellar, and couer them all ouer with sand, and there is no doubt but they will k?epe coole, pleasant, and moist, vntill new come againe, which is a time fully conuenient.

Now to conclude, for the k?eping of Grapes, you shall first vnderstand that the best time for their gathering is in the wane of the Moone, and about the midst of October, as for the knowledge of his ripenesse it is euer at such time as his first colour is cleane altered, for all Grapes before they be ripe are of a d?epe, thicke, greene, colour, but after they be ripe, they are either of a blewish redde, or of a bright shining pale gr?ene. Now for the preseruing them for our english vse, which is but onely for a fruit-dish at our Tables, for neither our store, nor our soyle, affords vs any for the wine-presse, some thinke it good, after they are gotten, to lay them in fine dry sand, or to glasse them vp in close glasses, where the ayre cannot peirce, will k?epe them long, both full, plumpe, and sw?et, but in my conceit the best course is after they are gotten to hang them vpon strings bunch by bunch, in such places of your house as they may take the ayre of the fire, and they will last longest, and k?epe the sw?etest.

Cyder is a certaine liquor or drinke made of the iuyce of Apples, and Perrye the like, made of Peares, they are of great vse in France, and very wholsome for mans body, especially at the Sea, and in hot Countries: for they are coole and purgatiue, and doe preuent burning agues: with vs here in England Cyder is most made in the West parts, as about Deuon-shire & Cornwaile, & Perry in Worcester-shire, Glocester-shire, & such like, where ind?ede the greatest store of those kindes of fruits are to be found: the manner of making them is, after your fruit is gotten, you shall take euery Apple, or Peare, by it selfe, and looking vpon them, picke them cleane from all manner of filthinesse, as bruisings, rottennesse, worme-eating, and such like, neither leaue vpon them any stalkes, or the blacke buddes which are and grow vpon the tops of the fruit, which done you shall put them in to some very cleane vessell, or trough, and with b?etells, made for the purpose, bruise or crush the Apples or Peares in p?eces, & so remoue them into other cleane vessells, till all the fruit be bruised: then take a bagge of hayre-cloath, made at least a yard, or thr?e quarters, square, and filling it full of the crusht fruit, put it in a presse of woode, made for the purpose, and presse out all the iuyce and moisture out of the fruit, turning and tossing the bagge vp and downe, vntill there be no more moisture to runne forth, and so baggefull after baggefull cease not vntill you haue prest all: wherein you are especially to obserue, that your vessells into which you straine your fruit be exc?eding neate, sw?et, and cleane, and there be no place of ill fauour, or annoyance neare them, for the liquour is most apt, especially Cyder, to take any infection. As soone as your liquor is prest forth and hath stoode to settle, about twelue houres, you shall then turne it vp into sw?et hogsheads, as those which haue had in them last, either White-wine or Clarret, as for the Sacke vessell it is tollerable, but not excellent: you may also if you please make a small long bagge of fine linnen cloath, and filling it full of the powder of Cloues, Mace, Cynamon, Ginger, and the dry pils of Lemons, and hang it with a string at the bung-hole into the vessell, and it will make either the Cyder, or Perry, to tast as pleasantly as if it were Renish-wine, and this being done you shall clay vp the bung-hole with clay and salt mixt together, so close as is possible. And thus much for the making of Perry or Cyder.

Now, for the situation or site of your Hoppe-garden: you shall so neare as you can place it neare some couer or shelter, as either of hils, houses, high-walles, woodes or tr?es, so those woodes or tr?es be not so neare that they may drop vpon your Hoppe hils, for that will kill them: also the nearer it is planted to your dwelling house it is somuch the better, both because the vigilance of your owne eye is a good guarde thereunto, and also the labours of your work-Maister will be more carefull and diligent. A Hop-garden as it delighteth much in the pleasantnesse of the sunne, so it cannot endure by any meanes, the sharpenesse of the windes, frosts, or Winter weather, and therefore your onely care is your defence and shelter. For the bignesse of your ground, it must be ordered according to your abillitie or place of trade for that commoditie, for if you shall haue them but for your owne vse, then a roode or two roodes will be inough, albeit your house k?eping match with Nobillitie: but if you haue them for a more particuler profit, then you may take an Aker, two or thr?e, according to your owne discretion; wherein you shall euer k?epe these obseruations: that one mans labour cannot attend aboue two thousand fiue hundred hils, that euery roode will beare two hundred and fiftie hils, euery hill beare at least two pounds and an halfe of Hoppes, and that euery hundred waight of Hoppes, is at the least, in a reasonable y?ere, worth foure-nobles the hundred: so that euery roode of ground thus imployed, cannot be lesse worth, at the meanest reckoning, then sixe pounds by the y?ere: for if the ground be principall good for the purpose, and well ordered, the profit will be much greater, in as much as the bells of the Hoppes will be much greater, full, and more waighty: And thus much for the ground and situation.

As soone as you haue chosen out your platforme of ground, you shal either by ploughing, or digging, or by both, make it as flat & leuell as is possible, vnlesse it be any thing subiect vnto water, and then you shall giue it some small desent, and with little trenches conuaye the water from annoying it: you shall also the y?ere before you either make hill or plant it with Hoppe-rootes, sowe it all ouer with hempe, which will not onely kill, and stifle all sorts of w?eds, but also rot the gr?ene-swarth, and make the mould mellow, and apt to receiue the rootes when they come to be planted.

Now, as soone as your ground is thus prepared, you shall then take a line, and with it measure your ground ouerthwart, and to euery hill allow at least thr?e foote of ground euery way, and betwixt hill and hill, at the least sixe foote distance: and when you haue marked thus the number of thirty or forty places, where your hils shall be placed, intending euer that the time of y?ere for this worke must be about the beginning of Aprill, you shall then in the center, or midde part of these places made for the site of your hils, digge small square holes of a foote square each way, and a full foote d?epe, and in these holes you shall set your Hoppe-rootes, that is to say, in euery hole at least thr?e rootes, and these thr?e rootes you shall ioyne together in such wise that the toppes of them may be of one equall height, and agr?eing with the face or vpper part of the earth, you shall set them straight and vpright, and not seperating them, as many doe, and setting at each corner of the hole a roote, neither shall you twist them, and set both ends vpward, nor lay them flat or crosse-wise in the earth, neither shall you make the hils first and set the rootes after, nor immediately vpon the setting cast great hils vpon them, all which are very vilde wayes for the setting of Hoppes, but, as before I sayd, hauing ioyned your rootes together, you shall place them straight and vpright, and so holding them in one hand, with the other put the moulds close, firme, and perfectly about them, especially to each corner of the hole, which done you shall likewise couer the sets themselues all ouer with fine moulds, at least two fingers thicke, and in this sort you shall plant all your garden quite ouer, making the sites for your hill to stand in rowes and rankes, in such order that you may haue euery way betw?ene the hils small alleyes and passages, wherein you may goe at pleasure from hill to hill, without any trouble or annoyance, according to that forme which I haue before prescribed touching the placing of your Apple-tr?es in each seuerall quarter in your Orchard: and herein you are to vnderstand, that in this first y?ere of planting your Hoppe-garden you shall by no meanes fashion or make any great hils, but onely raise that part of the earth where your plants are set, some two or thr?e fingers higher then the ordinary ground.

Now, before I proc?ede any further, I thinke it not amisse to speake some thing touching the choise, gathering and trimming of Hoppe-rootes: wherefore you shall vnderstand that about the latter end of March is the best gathering of Hoppe-rootes, which so neare as you can you shall select out of some garden of good reputation, which is both carefully kept, and by a man of good knowledge, for there euery thing being preserued in his best perfection, the rootes will be the greatest and most apt to take: and in the choise of your rootes you shall euer chuse those which are the greatest, as namely, such as are at the least thr?e or foure inches about, & ten inches long, let euery roote containe about thr?e ioynts, and no more, and in any case let them be the cyons of the last y?eres growth: if they be perfectly good they haue a great gr?ene stalke with redde streakes, and a hard, broad, long, gr?ene, bell; if they be otherwise, as namely, wilde-Hoppes, then they are small and slender, like thriddes, their colour is all redde, euen when it is at least thr?e yards high, whereas the best Hoppe carieth his reddish colour not thr?e foote from the earth. Now hauing gotten such rootes as are good and fit for your purpose, if the season of the weather, or other necessitie hinder you from presently setting them, you shall then either lay them in some puddle, neare to your garden, or else bury them in the ground, vntill fit time for their planting: and of the two it is better to bury them then lay them in puddle, because if you so let them lye aboue xxiiij. houres, the rootes will be spoyled.

Now after you haue in manner aforeshewed, planted your garden with rootes, it shall not be amisse, if the place be apt to such annoyance, to pricke vpon the site of euery hill a few sharpe Thornes to defend them from the scratching of poultry, or such like, which euer are busie to doe mischeife: yet of all house-fowle G?ese be the worst, but if your fence be as it ought, high, strong, and close, it will both preuent their harme and this labour.

Next vnto this worke is the placing of Poales, of which we will first speake of the choise thereof, wherein if I discent from the opinion of other men, yet imagine I set downe no Oracle, but referre you to the experience or the practise, and so make your owne discreation the arbiter betw?ene our discentions. It is the opinion of some, that Alder-poales are most proper and fit for the Hoppe-garden, both that the Hoppe taketh, as they say, a certaine naturall loue to that woode, as also that the roughnesse of the rinde is a stay & benefit to the growth of the Hoppe: to all which I doe not disagr?e, but that there should be found Alder-poales of that length, as namely, xvj. or xviij. foote long, nine, or ten, inches in compasse, and with all rush-growne, straight, and fit for this vse, s?emeth to m?e as much as a miracle, because in my life I haue not beheld the like, neither doe I thinke our kingdome can afford it, vnlesse in some such especiall place where they are purposely kept and maintained, more to shew the art of their maintenance, then the excellency of their natures: in this one benefit, and doutlesse where they are so preserued, the cost of their preseruation amounteth to more than the goodnesse of their extraordinary quallitie, which mine author defends to the contrary, giuing them a larger prerogatiue, in that they are cheaper to the purse, more profitable to the plant, and lesse consumption to the common-wealth: but I greatly doubt in the approbation, and therefore mine aduise is not to rely onely vpon the Alder, and for his preheminence imagine all other poales insufficient: but be assured that either, the Oake-poale, the Ashe, the B?eche, the Aspe, or Maple, are euery way as good, as profitable, and by many degr?es much longer lasting.

Now, if it be so that you happen to liue in the champian Country, as for the most part Northampton shire, Oxford-shire, some parts of Leycester and Rutland are, or in the wet and low Countries, as Holland, and Kesten in Lincolne-shire, or the Ile of Elye in Cambridge-shire, all which places are very barraine of woode, and yet excellent soyles to beare Hoppes, rather then to loose the commoditie of the Hoppe-garden I wish you to plant great store of Willowes, which will afforde you poales as sufficient as any of the other whatsoeuer, onely they are not so long lasting, and yet with carefull and dry keeping, I haue s?ene them last full out seauen y?eres, a time reasonably sufficient for any young woode, for such a vse. Thus you s?e the curiositie is not very great of what woode so euer your poale be, so it be of young and cleane growth, rush-growne, eight?ene foote in length, and ten inches in compasse. These poales you shall cut and prepare betwixt the feast of Al-Saints, and Christmas, and so pile them vp in some dry place, where they may take no wet, vntill it be midde-Aprill, at which time you shall then bring your poales into the garden, and lay them along in the alleyes, by euery hill so many poales as shall be sufficient for the maine branches, which happely the first y?ere will not be aboue two or thr?e poales at the most to a hill, but in processe of time more, as foure or fiue, according to the prosperitie of the plants, and the largenesse of the hils. After you haue thus layd your poales, you shall then beginne to set them vp in this sort: first, you shall take a gaue-locke, or crow of iron, and strike it into the earth so neare vnto the roote of the Hoppe as is possible, prouided alwayes that you doe not bruise, or touch the roote, and so stroake after stroake, cease not striking till you haue made a hoale at least two foote d?epe, and make them a little slantwise inward towards the hill, that the poales in their standing may shoote outwards and hould their greatest distance in the toppes: this done you shall place the poales in those hoales, thus made with the iron crow, and with another p?ece of woode, made rammer-wise, that is to say, as bigge at the neather end as the biggest part of the poale, or somewhat more, you shall ramme in the poales, and beate the earth firme and hard about them: alwayes prouided, that you touch not any branch, or as little as you may beate with your rammer within betw?ene the poales, onely on the out-side make them so fast that the winde, or weather, may not disorder or blow them downe: then lay to the bottome of euery poale the branch which shall ascend it, and you shall s?e in a short space, how out of their owne natures, they will imbrace and climbe about them.

Now, if it happen after your Hoppes are growne vp, yet not come to their full perfection, that any of your poales chance to breake, you shall then take a new poale, and with some soft gr?ene rushes, or the inmost gr?ene barke of an Alder-tr?e, tye the toppe of the Hoppe to the toppe of the new poale, then draw the broken poale out of the Hoppe and as you saw it did winde about the olde poale so you shall winde it about the new poale: then loosening the earth a little from the neather part of the broken poale, you may with your owne strength pull it cleane out of the earth, and place the new poale in his roome. Now, there be some which are exc?eding curious in pulling vp these olde poales, and rather then they will shake the earth, or loosen the mould, they will make a paire of large pincers, or tarriers of iron, at least fiue foote long with sharpe t?eth, and a clasping hooke to hould the t?eth together, when they haue taken fast hould vpon the poale so neare the earth as is possible, and then laying a peice of woode vnder the tarriers, and poysing downe the other ends to rest the poale out of the earth without any disturbance, the modell or fashion of which instrument is contained in this figure:

This instrument is not to be discommended, but to be held of good vse, either in binding grounds where the earth hardneth and houldeth the poale more then fast, or in the strength and heate of summer, when the drynesse of the mould will by no meanes suffer the poale to part from it: but otherwise it is n?edlesse and may without danger be omitted.

As soone as you haue sufficiently set euery hill with poales, and that there is no disorder in your worke, you shall when the Hoppes beginne to climbe, note if their be any cyons or branches which doe forsake the poales, and rather shoote alongst the ground then looke vp to their supporters, and all such as you shall so finde, you shall as before I sayd, either with soft gr?ene rushes, or the gr?ene barke of Elder, tye them gently vnto the poales, and winde them about, in the same course that the sunne goes, as oft as conueniently you can: and this you shall doe euer after the dew is gone from the ground, and not before, and this must be done with all possible speede, for that cyon which is the longest before it take vnto the poale is euer the worst and brings forth his fruit in the worst season.

Now, as touching the making of your hils, you shall vnderstand that although generally they are not made the first y?ere, yet it is not amisse if you omit that scruple, and beginne to make your hils as soone as you haue placed your poales, for if your industry be answerable to the desert of the labour, you shall reape as good profit the first y?ere, as either the second or the third. To beginne therefore to make your hils, you shall make you an instrument like a stubbing Hoe, which is a toole wherewith labourers stubbe rootes out of decayed woode-land grounds, onely this shall be somewhat broader and thinner, somewhat in fashion vnto a Coopers Addes, with a shaft at least foure foote long: some onely for this purpose vse a fine paring spade, which is euery way as good, and as profitable, the fashion of which is in this figure.

With this paring spade, or hoe, you shall pare vp the gr?ene-swarth and vppermost earth, which is in the alleyes betw?ene the hils, and lay it vnto the rootes of the Hoppes, raising them vp like small Mole-hils, and so monthly increasing them all the y?ere through, make them as large as the site of your ground will suffer, which is at least foure or fiue foote ouerthwart in the bottome, and so high as conueniently that height will carry: you shall not by any meanes this first y?ere decay any cyons or branches which spring from the hils, but maintaine them in their growth, and suffer them to climbe vp the poales, but after the first y?ere is expired you shall not suffer aboue two or thr?e cyons, at the most, to rise vpon one poale. After your hils are made, which as before I sayd would be at least foure or fiue foote square in the bottome, and thr?e foote high, you shall then diligently euery day attend your garden, and if you finde any branches that being risen more then halfe way vp the poales, doe then forsake them and spread outward, dangling downe, then you shall either with the helpe of a high stoole, on which standing you may reach the toppe of the poale, or else with a small forckt sticke, put vp the branch, and winde it about the poale: you shall also be carefull that no w?eds or other filthinesse grow about the rootes of your Hoppes to choake them, but vpon the first discouery to destroy them.

As soone as you haue piled vp your Hoppe-poales, dry and close, then you shall about mid-Nouember following throw downe your hils, and lay all your rootes bare, that the sharpenesse of the season may nip them, and k?epe them from springing too earely: you shall also then bring into the garden olde Cow-dunge, which is at least two y?eres olde, for no new dunge is good, and this you shall lay in some great heape in some conuenient place of the garden vntill Aprill, at which time, after you haue wound your Hoppes about your poales, you shall then bestow vpon euery hill two or thr?e spade-full of the Manure mixt with earth, which will comfort the plant and make it spring pleasantly.

After your hils are puld downe, you shall with your garden spade, or your hoe, vndermine all the earth round about the roote of the Hoppe, till you come to the principall rootes thereof, and then taking the youngest rootes in your hand, and shaking away the earth, you shall s?e how the new rootes grow from the olde sets, then with a sharpe knife cut away all those rootes as did spring the y?ere before, out of your sets, within an inch and an halfe of the same, but euery y?ere after the first you shall cut them close by the olde rootes. Now, if you s?e any rootes which doe grow straight downward, without ioynts, those you shall not cut at all, for they are great nourishers of the plant, but if they grow outward, or side-wayes, they are of contrary natures, and must necessarily be cut away. If any of your Hoppes turne wilde, as oft it happens, which you shall know by the perfect rednesse of the branch, then you shall cut it quite vp, and plant a new roote in his place. After you haue cut and trimmed all your rootes, then you shall couer them againe, in such sort as you were taught at the first planting them, and so let them abide till their due time for poaling.

Although there be much curiositie in the drying of Hoppes as well in the temperature of heate as also in the framing of the Ost or furnace after many new moulds and fashions, as variable as mens wits and experiences, yet because innouations and incertainty doth rather perplexe then profit, I will shunne, as much as in me lyeth, from loading the memory of the studious Husbandman with those stratagems which disable his vnderstanding from the attaining of better perfection, not disalowing any mans approued knowledge, or thinking that because such a man can mend smoking Chimnyes, therefore none but h?e shall haue license to make Chimnyes, or that because some men can melt Mettall without winde, therefore it shall be vtterly vnlawfull to vse bellowes: these violent opinions I all together disacknowledge, and wish euery one the liberty of his owne thoughts, and for mine English Husband, I will shew him that way to dry his Hoppes which is most fit for his profit, safe, easie, and without extraordinary expences.

First then to speake of the time which is fittest for the drying of your Hoppes, it is immediately as soone as they are gotten, if more vrgent occasions doe not delay the businesse, which if they happen, then you haue a forme before prescribed how to preserue them from mouldinesse and putrifaction till you can compasse fit time to effect the worke in. The manner of drying them is vpon a Kilne, of which there be two sorts, that is to say, an English Kilne, and a French Kilne: the English Kilne being composed of woode, lath, and clay, and therefore subiect to some danger of fire, the French, of bricke, lime, and sand, and therefore safe, close, and without all perill, and to be preferred much before the other: yet because I haue hereafter more occasion to speake of the nature, fashion, and edifice of Kilnes in that part of this Volumne where I intreate of Malting, I will cease further to mention them then to say that vpon a Kilne is the best drying your Hoppes, after this manner, hauing finely bedded your Kilne with Wheate-straw, you shall lay on your hayre cloath, although some disallow it, but giue no reason therefore, yet it cannot be hurtfull in any degr?e, for it neither distasteth the Hoppes, nor defendeth them from the fire, making the worke longer then it would, but it preserueth both the Hoppes from filthynesse, and their s?ede from losse: when your hayre-cloath is spread, you shall cause one to deliuer you vp your Hoppes in baskets, which you shall spread vpon the cloath, all ouer the Kilne, at the least eight inches thicke, and then comming downe, and going to the hole of the Kilne, you shall with a little dry straw kindle the fire, and then maintaining it with more straw, you shall k?epe a fire a little more feruent then for the drying of a kilne-full of Malt, being assured that the same quantitie of fuell, heate, and time, which dryeth a kilne-full of Malt, will also dry a kilne-full of Hoppes, and if your Kilne will dry twenty strikes, or bushels of Malt at one drying, then it will dry forty of Hoppes, because being layd much thicker the quantitie can be no lesse then doubled, which is a sp?ede all together sufficient, and may very well serue to dry more Hoppes then any one man hath growing in this kingdome.

Now, for as much as some men doe not alow to dry Hoppes with straw, but rather preferre woode, and of woode still to chuse the gr?enest, yet I am of a contrary opinion, for I know by experience that the smoake which proc?edeth from woode, being a strong and sharpe vapour, doth so taint and infect the Hoppes that when those Hoppes come to be brewed with, they giue the drinke a smoakie taste, euen as if the Malt it selfe had beene woode-dryed: the vnpleasantnesse whereof I leaue to the iudgement of them that haue trauelled in York-shire, where, for the most part, is nothing but woode-dryed Malt onely.

That you may know when your Hoppes are dry inough, you shall take a small long sticke, and stirring the Hoppes too and fro with it, if the Hoppes doe russell and make a light noyse, each as it were seperating one from another, then they are altogether dry inough, but if in any part you finde them heauy or glewing one to another, then they haue not inough of the fire: also when they are sufficiently and moderately dryed they are of a bright-browne colour, little or nothing altered from that they held when they were vpon the stalke, but if they be ouer dryed, then their colour will be redde: and if they were not well ordered before they were dryed, but suffered either to take wet or mould, then they will looke blacke when they are dry.

There be some which are of opinion that if you doe not dry your Hoppes at all, it shall be no losse, but it is an errour most grose, for if they be not dryed, there is neither profit in their vse, nor safty in preseruing them.

As soone as your Hoppes are sufficiently dryed, you shall by the plucking vp of the foure corners of your hayre-cloath thrust all your Hoppes together, and then putting them into baskets, carry them into such dry places as you haue prepared of purpose to lay them in, as namely, either in dry-fats, or in garners, made either of plaster, or boards: and herein you shall obserue to packe them close and hard together, which will be a meanes that if any of them be not dry, yet the heate they shall get by such lying will dry them fully and make them fit for seruice.

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