Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie
a Rod or more in breadth."--T.R.
[15] make. 1577.
[16] "When you rid it of Bushes or Ant Hills."--T.R.
[17] with turnes so bye. 1577.
[18] "Hedge Greens."--T.R.
[19] "Likely, or thriving, such as will soon require more Milk than his
old Dam can afford him."--T.R.
[20] "The first three days after the new moon or change."--T.R.
[21] "At present we rarely wean under twelve weeks."--- T.R. 1710.
[22] "The hay is given them stuck in cleft sticks."--T.R.
[23] or. 1577.
[24] St. 42 is not in 1577.
[25] "In trenching, bury no Mallow, Nettle-dock, or Briony Roots."--T.R.
[26] "Quick setted Arbors are now out of use, as agreeing very ill with
the Ladies Muslins."--T.R. 1710.
[27] "Wattles are wood slit."--T.R.
[28] they cannot but feaw. 1577.
[29] January. 1577.
[30] "lay them by thy wheate" in _100 Good Points_.
[31] "Such early sown Oats it is likely may be clearer of weeds; and
if I buy my Hay in May, that is, before my Chapman knows what Quantity
he shall have, he is rul'd by his Necessity for some ready money in
Hand."--T.R.
[32] This tilth is a tilture, well forward doth bring. 1577.
[33] Sts. 49 and 50 are not in 1577.
[34] "Barley is now very rarely, if at all, sown on lay land.
The fallow he speaks of I take to be the second ploughing for
Barley."--T.R. 1710. Gervase Markham, in his _English Husbandman_,
directs a digging in May, another, with manuring, in October, and "the
last time of your digging and setting shall be at the beginning of
April."
[35] "Barley-Ground ought to be as fine as an Ash-heap."--T.R.
[36] "Where the Ground is over rich, it fines and sweetens it."--T.R.
[37] "It" in _Tusser Redivivus_. "and." 1577.
36.
¶ _Februaries abstract._
* * * Februaries Abstract and Februaries Husbandry in the edition of
1577 differ much from that of 1580.
_Chap._ 33.
1
Lay compas ynow,
er euer ye plow.
2
Place doongheapes alowe,
more barlie to growe.
3
Eat etch er ye plow,
with hog, shéepe and cow.
Sowe lintels ye may,
and peason gray.
Kéepe white vnsowne,
till more be knowne.
4
Sow pease (good trull)
the Moone past full.
Fine séedes then sowe,
whilst Moone doth growe.
5
Boy, follow the plough,
and harrow inough.
So harrow ye shall,
till couerd be all.
6
Sowe pease not too thin,
er plough ye set in.
7
Late sowen sore noieth,
late ripe, hog stroieth.
8
Some prouender saue,
for plowhorse to haue.
To oxen that drawe,
giue hay and not strawe.
To stéeres ye may
mixe strawe with hay.
9
Much carting, ill tillage,
makes som to flie village.
10
Use cattle aright,
to kéepe them in plight.
11
Good quickset bie,
old gatherd will die.
12[1]
Stick bows a rowe,
where runciuals growe.
13
Sowe kirnels and hawe,
where ridge ye did drawe.
14
Sowe mustard séed,
and helpe to kill wéed.
Where sets doo growe,
sée nothing ye sowe.
15
Cut vines and osier,
plash hedge of enclosier.
Féed highly thy swan,
to loue hir good man.
Nest high I aduise,
least floud doe arise.
16
Land meadow spare,
there doong is good ware.
17
Go strike off the nowles
of deluing mowles.
Such hillocks in vaine
lay leauelled plaine.
18
To wet the land,
let mowle hill stand.
19
Poore cattle craue
some shift to haue.
20
Cow little giueth
that hardly liueth.
21
Rid barlie al now,
cleane out of thy mow.
Choice séed out drawe,
saue cattle the strawe.
22
To coast man ride
Lent stuffe to prouide.
Thus endeth Februaries abstract, agréeing with Februaries husbandrie.
¶ Other short remembrances.
[23]
Trench medow and redge,
dike, quickset, and hedge.
To plots not full,
ad bremble and hull.
[24]
Let wheat and the rie
for thresher still lie.
Such strawe some saue,
for thacker to haue.
[25]
Poore cunnie, so bagged,
is soone ouer lagged.
Plash burrow, set clapper,
for dog is a snapper.[E184]
[26]
Good flight who loues,
must féed their doues.
Bid hauking adew,
cast hauke into mew.[E185]
[27]
Kéepe shéepe out of briers,
kéepe beast out of miers.
Kéepe lambes from fox,
else shepherd go box.
[28]
Good neighbour mine,
now yoke thy swine.
Now euerie day,
set hops ye may.
[29]
Now set for thy pot,
best herbes to be got.
For flowers go set,
all sorts ye can get.
[30]
As winter doth prooue,
so may ye remooue.
Now all things reare,
for all the yeare.
[31]
Watch ponds, go looke
to wéeles and hooke.
Knaues seld repent
to steale in Lent.
[32]
Alls fish they get
that commeth to net.[E186]
Who muck regards
makes hillocks in yards.
Here ends Februaries short remembrances.
[1] Stanza 12 is 4, and st. 22 is 1 in 1577.
37.
¶ _Februaries husbandrie.
Chap._ 34.
Feb, fill the dike[E187]
With what thou dost like.[1]
Forgotten month past
Doe now at the last.
1
Who laieth on doong er he laieth on plow,
such husbandrie vseth as thrift doth alow.
One month er ye spred it, so still let it stand,
er euer to plow it, ye take it in hand.
2
Place doong heape a low by the furrough along,
where water all winter time did it such wrong.
So make ye the land to be lustie and fat,
and corne thereon sowen to be better for that.
3
Go plow in the stubble, for now is the season,
for sowing of fitchis, of beanes, and of peason.
Sowe runciuals timelie, and all that be gray,
but sowe not the white till S. Gregories day.[2]
4
Sowe peason and beanes in the wane of the Moone,[3]
who soweth them sooner, he soweth too soone.
That they with the planet may rest and arise,
and flourish with bearing most plentifull wise.
5
Friend, harrow in time, by some maner of meanes,
not onely thy peason, but also thy beanes.
Unharrowed die, being buried in clay,
where harrowed florish, as flowers in May.
6
Both peason and beanes sowe afore ye doo plow,[4]
the sooner ye harrow, the better for yow.[5]
White peason so good for the purse and the pot:
let them be well vsed else well doo ye not.
7
Haue eie vnto haruest what euer ye sowe,
for feare of mischances, by riping too slowe.
Least corne be destroied, contrarie to right,
by hogs or by cattel, by day or by night.[6]
8
Good prouender labouring horses would haue,
good haie and good plentie, plow oxen doo craue.
To hale out the muck and to plow vp thy ground:
or else it may hinder thee many a pound.
9
Who slacketh his tillage, a carter to bee,
for grote got abrode, at home lose shall three.
And so by his dooing he brings out of hart
both land for the corne and horse for the cart.
10
Who abuseth his cattle and sterues them for meat,
by carting or plowing, his gaine is not great.
Where he that with labour can vse them aright,
hath gaine to his comfort, and cattle in plight.
11
Buie quickset at market, new gatherd and small,
buie bushes or willow, to fence it withall.
Set willowes to growe, in the steede of a stake,
for cattel in sommer, a shadow to make.
[Sidenote: ¶ Runciual peason.]
12
Stick plentie of bows among runciuall pease[7]
to climber thereon, and to branch at their ease.
So dooing, more tender and greater they wex,
if peacock[8] and turkey leaue iobbing their bex.[E188]
13
Now sowe and go harrow (where redge ye did draw[9])
the seed of the bremble, with kernell and haw.
Which couered ouerlie, soone to shut out,
goe see it be ditched and fenced about.[E189]
[Sidenote: Sowe mustard séede.]
14
Where banks be amended and newly vp cast,
sow mustard seed,[10] after a shower be past.
Where plots full of nettles be noisome to eie,
sowe therevpon hempseed, and nettle will die.
[Sidenote: Cut or set vines.]
15
The vines[11] and the osiers cut and go set,
if grape be vnpleasant, a better go get.
Feed swan, and go make hir vp strongly a nest,
for feare of a floud, good and high is the best.
[Sidenote: Catching of mowls.]
16
Land meadow that yeerly is spared for hay,
now fence it and spare it, and doong it ye may.
Get mowle catcher cunninglie mowle for to kill,
and harrow and cast abrode euerie hill.[E190]
17
Where meadow or pasture to mowe ye doo laie,
let mowle be dispatched some maner of waie.
Then cast abrode mowlhill, as flat as ye can,
for many commodities following than.
18
If pasture by nature is giuen to be wet,
then bare with the mowlhill, though thick it be set.
That lambe may sit on it, and so to sit drie,
or else to lie by it, the warmer to lie.[E191]
[Sidenote: Looke well to thy fence.]
19
Friend, alway let this be a part of thy care,
for shift of good pasture, lay pasture to spare.
So haue you good feeding, in bushets and lease,[E192]
and quickly safe finding of cattel at ease.
20
Where cattel may run about, rouing at wil,
from pasture to pasture, poor bellie to fil,
There pasture and cattel both hungrie and bare,
for want of good husbandrie worser doo fare.
21
Now thresh out thy barlie, for malt or for seed,
for bread corne (if need be) to serue as shall need.
If worke for the thresher ye mind for to haue,
of wheat and of mestlen[E193] vnthreshed go saue.
22
Now timelie for Lent stuffe[12] thy monie disburse,
the longer ye tarie for profit the wurse,
If one penie vantage be therein to saue,
of coast man or fleming be sure to haue.[E194]
Thus endeth Februaries husbandrie.
[1] with what ye like. 1577.
[2] 12th of March.
[3] "Pease and Beans sown during the Increase do run more to Hawm or
Straw, and during the Declension more to Cod, according to the common
consent of country men. And I must own I have experienced it; but I
will not aver it so as that it is not lyable to exceptions."--T.R.
[4] "This is called sowing under furrow, just before the second
ploughing, which if neatly done lays them in rows."--T.R.
[5] "Because if they lye until they are swell'd the horse-footing is
apt to endanger them."--T.R.
[6] "This regards Field Land; for in our Author's time Enclosures were
not so frequent as now."--T.R. 1710.
[7] "Runcival pease find now very little Entertainment in Gentlemen's
Gardens.... In their room are got the Egg pea, the Sugar pea, Dutch
admirals, etc."--T.R., 1710.
[8] "A Peacock, altho' a lovely Fowl to look on, ... is a very
ill-natured Bird."--T.R.
[9] "A way of quicksetting or fencing Enclosures out of the common
Field they had in the days of our Author."--T.R.
[10] "This is most in practice in Marshy Countreys."--T.R.
[11] "Those that thrive best with us are the small black Grape, the
white Muscadine, and the Parsley grape."--T.R.
[12] "This Article is very much unregarded by Farmers at present,
for fear, I suppose, of falling into Popery and Superstition; but
lay that quite aside, and let us consult our Interest, Health, and
Gratitude."--T.R. The writer of _Tusser Redivivus_ here enlarges on
the advantages, personal and national, of fish diet. Under Marches
Husbandry, stanza 3, he mentions "Salt Fish, Furmity, Gruel, Wigs,
Milk, Parsnips, Hasty-pudding, Pancakes, and twice a week Eggs," as the
Farmer's Lenten Diet.
38.
¶ _Marches abstract.
Chap._ 35.
1
White peason sowe,
scare hungry crow.
2
Spare meadow for hay,
spare marshes at May.
3[1]
Kéepe shéepe from dog,
kéepe lambes from hog.
If foxes mowse[2] them,
then watch or howse them.
4
March drie or wet,
hop ground go set.
Yoong rootes well drest
prooue euer[3] best.
Grant hop great hill
to growe at will.
From hop long gut
away go cut.
5
Here learne the way
hop rootes to lay.
6
Rootes best to prooue,
thus set I looue.
7
Leaue space and roome,
to hillock to coome.
8
Of hedge and willow
hop makes his[4] pillow.
Good bearing hop
climes vp to the top.
Kéepe hop from sunne,
and hop is vndunne.
9
Hop tooles procure
that may endure.
Iron crowe like a stake,