Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie
What croppers bée
here learne to sée.
20
Few after crop much,
but noddies and such.
21
Som woodland may crake,
thrée crops he may take.
22
First barlie, then pease,
then wheat, if ye please.
23
Two crops and away,
must champion say.
24[6]
Where barlie did growe,
Laie[7] wheat to sowe.
Yet better I thinke,
sowe pease after drinke.
And then, if ye please,
sowe wheat after pease.
25
What champion knowes
that custome showes.
26
First barlie er rie,
then pease by and by.
Then fallow for wheat,
is husbandrie great.
27
A remedie sent,
where pease lack vent.
Fat peasefed swine
for drouer is fine.
28
Each diuers soile
hath diuers toile.
29
Some countries vse
that some refuse.
30
For wheat ill land,
where water doth stand.
Sowe pease or dredge
belowe in that redge.
31
Sowe acornes to prooue
that timber doe looue.
32
Sowe hastings[E102] now,
if land[8] it alow.
33
Learne soone to get
a good quickset.
34
For feare of the wurst
make fat away furst.
35
Fat that no more
ye kéepe for store.
36
Hide carren in graue,
lesse noiance to haue.
37
Hog measeled kill,
for flemming that will.
38[9]
With peasebolt and brake
some brew and bake.
39
Old corne[10] worth gold,
so kept as it shold.
40
Much profit is rept,
by sloes well kept.
41
Kéepe sloes vpon bow,
for flixe of thy cow.
42
Of vergis be sure,
poore cattel to cure.
Thus endeth Octobers abstract, agréeing with Octobers husbandrie.
¶ Other short remembrances.[11]
[43]
Cisse, haue an eie
to bore in the stie.
By malt ill kept,
small profit is rept.
[44]
Friend, ringle thy hog,
for feare of a dog.
Rie straw up stack,
least Thacker doe lack.
[45]
Wheat straw drie saue,
for cattell to haue.
Wheat chaffe lay vp drie,
in safetie to lie.
[46]
Make handsome a bin,
for chaffe to lie in.
[47]
(Séede thresht) thou shalt
thresh barlie to malt.
Cut bushes to hedge,
fence medow and redge.
[48]
Stamp crabs that may,
for rotting away.
Make vergis and perie,[E103]
sowe kirnell and berie.
[49]
Now gather vp fruite,
of euerie suite.
Marsh wall too slight,
strength now, or god night.
[50][12]
Mend wals of mud,
for now it is good.
Where soile is of sand,
quick set out of hand.
[51]
To plots not full
ad bremble and hull.
For set no bar
whilst month hath an R.[E104]
Like note thou shalt
for making of malt.
Brew now to last
till winter be past.
Here ends Octobers short remembrances.[13]
[1] 1577 inserts--
Plie sowing a pace,
in euery place.
[2] St. 6 is not in 1577.
[3] furrowing. 1577.
[4] Sts. 8-30 do not occur here in 1577; but sts. 32-37 follow.
[5] Sts. 19 and 20 are in Septembers Abstract in 1577.
[6] In Septembers Abstract in 1577.
[7] strike. 1577.
[8] ground. 1577.
[9] In 1577, sts. 38 to the end are much transposed.
[10] graine. 1577.
[11] Cf. note 12, p. 33.
[12] First couplet of st. 50 not in 1577.
[13] Cf. note 12, p. 33.
19.
¶ _Octobers husbandrie.
Chap._ 17.
October good blast,
To blowe the hog mast.
Forgotten month past,
Doe now at the last.
[Sidenote: Laie vp barlie land.]
1
Now lay vp[E105] thy barley land, drie as ye can
when euer ye sowe it so looke for it than:
Get daily aforehand, be neuer behinde;
least winter preuenting do alter thy minde.
2
Who laieth vp fallow[E106] too soone or too wet,
with noiances many doth barley beset.
For weede and the water so soketh and sucks,
that goodnes from either it vtterly plucks.
[Sidenote: Wheat sowing.]
3
Greene rie in September when timely thou hast,
October for wheat sowing calleth as fast.
If weather will suffer, this counsell I giue,
Leaue sowing of wheat before Hallomas eue.
[Sidenote: Sowe edish betimes.]
4
Where wheat vpon edish ye mind to bestowe,
let that be the first of the wheat ye do sowe:
He seemeth to hart it and comfort to bring,
that giueth it comfort of Mihelmas spring.
[Sidenote: Best wheat first sowen.]
5
White wheat vpon peaseetch doth grow as he wold,
but fallow is best, if we did as we shold:[1]
Yet where, how, and when, ye entend to begin,
let euer the finest be first sowen in.[2]
6[3]
Who soweth in raine, he shall reape it with teares,
who soweth in harmes,[4] he is euer in feares,
Who soweth ill seede or defraudeth his land,
hath eie sore abroode, with a coresie at hand.
7[5]
Seede husbandly sowen, water furrow[6] thy ground,
that raine when it commeth may run away round,
Then stir about Nicoll, with arrow and bowe,
take penie for killing of euerie crowe.
[Not in 1577.]
A digression to the usage of diuers countries, concerning Tillage.
8
Each soile hath no liking of euerie graine,
nor barlie and wheat is for euerie vaine:
Yet knowe I no countrie so barren of soile
but some kind of corne may be gotten with toile.
9
In Brantham,[E107] where rie but no barlie did growe,
good barlie I had, as a meany did knowe:
Five seame of an aker I truely was paid,
for thirtie lode muck of each aker so laid.
10
In Suffolke againe, where as wheat neuer grew,
good husbandrie vsed good wheat land I knew:
This Prouerbe experience long ago gaue,
that nothing who practiseth nothing shall haue.
11
As grauell and sand is for rie and not wheat,
(or yeeldeth hir burden to tone the more great,)
So peason and barlie delight not in sand,
but rather in claie or in rottener land.
12
Wheat somtime is steelie or burnt as it growes,
for pride[7] or for pouertie practise so knowes.
Too lustie of courage for wheat doth not well,
nor after sir peeler he looueth to dwell.[E108]
13
Much wetnes, hog rooting, and land out of hart,
makes thistles a number foorthwith to vpstart.
If thistles so growing prooue lustie and long,
it signifieth land to be hartie and strong.
14
As land full of tilth and in hartie good plight,
yeelds blade to a length and encreaseth in might,
So crop vpon crop, vpon whose courage we doubt,
yeelds blade for a brag, but it holdeth not out.
15
The straw and the eare to haue bignes and length,
betokeneth land to be good and in strength.
If eare be but short, and the strawe be but small,
it signifieth barenes and barren withall.
16
White wheat or else red, red riuet or whight,
far passeth all other, for land that is light.
White pollard or red, that so richly is set,
for land that is heauie is best ye can get.
17
Maine wheat that is mixed with white and with red
is next to the best in the market mans hed:
So Turkey or Purkey wheat[E109] many doe loue,
because it is flourie, as others aboue.
18
Graie wheat is the grosest, yet good for the clay,
though woorst for the market, as fermer may say.
Much like vnto rie be his properties found,
coorse flower, much bran, and a peeler of ground.
19
Otes, rie, or else barlie, and wheat that is gray,
brings land out of comfort, and soone to decay:
One after another, no comfort betweene,
is crop vpon crop, as will quickly be seene.
[Sidenote: Crop vpon crop.]
20
Still crop vpon crop many farmers do take,
and reape little profit for greedines sake.
Though breadcorne & drinkcorn[E110] such croppers do stand:
count peason or brank, as a comfort to land.
21
Good land that is seuerall, crops may haue three,
in champion countrie it may not so bee:
Ton taketh his season, as commoners may,
the tother with reason may otherwise say.
22
Some vseth at first a good fallow to make,
to sowe thereon barlie, the better to take.
Next that to sowe pease, and of that to sowe wheat,
then fallow againe, or lie lay for thy neat.
23
First rie, and then barlie, the champion saies,
or wheat before barlie be champion waies:
But drinke before bread corne with Middlesex men,
then lay on more compas, and fallow agen.
24
Where barlie ye sowe, after rie or else wheat,
if land be vnlustie,[8] the crop is not great,
So lose ye your cost, to your coresie and smart,
and land (ouerburdened) is cleane out of hart.
25
Exceptions take of the champion land,
from lieng alonge from that at thy hand.
(Just by) ye may comfort with compas at will,
far off ye must comfort with fauor and skill.
26
Where rie or else wheat either barlie ye sowe,
let codware be next, therevpon for to growe:
Thus hauing two crops, whereof codware is ton,
thou hast the lesse neede, to lay cost therevpon.
27
Some far fro the market delight not in pease,
for that ery chapman they seeme not to please.
If vent of the market place serue thee not well,
set hogs vp a fatting, to drouer to sell.
28
Two crops of a fallow enricheth the plough,
though tone be of pease, it is land good ynough:
One crop and a fallow some soile will abide,
where if ye go furder lay profit aside.
29
Where peason ye had and a fallow thereon,
sowe wheat ye may well without doong therevpon:
New broken vpland, or with water opprest,
or ouer much doonged, for wheat is not best.
30
Where water all winter annoieth too much,
bestowe not thy wheat vpon land that is such:
But rather sowe otes, or else bullimong[E111] there,
gray peason, or runciuals, fitches, or tere.
[Sidenote: Sowing of acorns.]
31
Sowe acornes ye owners, that timber doe looue,
sowe hawe and rie with them the better to prooue;
If cattel or cunnie may enter to crop,
yong oke is in daunger of loosing his top.
[Sidenote: Sowing of Hastings or fullams.]
32
Who pescods delighteth to haue with the furst,
if now he do sowe them, I thinke it not wurst.
The greener thy peason and warmer the roome,
more lusty the layer, more plenty they come.
33
Go plow vp or delue vp, aduised with skill,
the bredth of a ridge, and in length as you will.
Where speedy quickset for a fence ye wil drawe,
to sowe in the seede of the bremble and hawe.[E112]
[Sidenote: A disease in fat hogs.]
34
Through plenty of acornes, the porkling to fat,
not taken in season, may perish by that,
If ratling or swelling get once to the throte,
thou loosest thy porkling, a crowne to a grote.[E113]
[Sidenote: Not to fat for rearing.]
35
What euer thing fat is, againe if it fall,
thou ventrest the thing and the fatnes withall,
The fatter the better, to sell or to kil,
but not to continue, make proofe if ye wil.
[Sidenote: Burieng of dead cattell.]
36
What euer thing dieth, go burie or burne,
for tainting of ground, or a woorser il turne.
Such pestilent smell of a carrenly thing,
to cattle and people great peril may bring.
[Sidenote: Measeled hogs.]
37
Thy measeled bacon, hog, sow, or thy bore,
shut vp for to heale, for infecting thy store:
Or kill it for bacon, or sowce it to sell,
for Flemming, that loues it so deintily well.[E114]
[Sidenote: Strawwisps and peasbolts.]
38
With strawisp and peasebolt, with ferne and the brake,
for sparing of fewel, some brewe and do bake,
And heateth their copper, for seething of graines:
good seruant rewarded, refuseth no paines.[E115]
[Sidenote: Olde wheat better than new.]
39
Good breadcorne and drinkcorne, full xx weekes kept,
is better then new, that at harvest is rept:
But foisty the breadcorne and bowd eaten malt,[E116]
for health or for profit, find noysome thou shalt.
40[9]
By thend of October, go gather vp sloes,
haue thou in a readines plentie of thoes,
And keepe them in bedstraw, or still on the bow,
to staie both the flixe of thyselfe and thy cow.
[Sidenote: A medicin for the cow flixe.]
41
Seeith water and plump therein plenty of sloes,
mix chalke[10] that is dried in powder with thoes
Which so, if ye giue, with the water and chalke,
thou makest the laxe fro thy cow away walke.[E117]
42[11]
Be sure of vergis (a gallond at least)