Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie
sufficient for a single load of wheat; but farms were not so large, nor
the produce so great when Tusser wrote.
[E80] A _pulling hook_ is a barbed iron for drawing firing from the
wood stack.--M.
[E81] "A nads" = an adze, an instance (like a nall = an awl, above) of
the _n_ of the article being joined to the following vowel. Similarly
we have "atte nale" = at the ale-house, a corruption of A.S. æt þan
ale.--See Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. Text, Prologue, l. 43. So in
Sir Thomas More's Workes, 1557, p. 709, we have "A verye nodypoll
_nydyote_" for _idiot_. Other instances of the prefixed _n_ are "nonce,
a nother, nagares (= augers)." Cf. "One axe, a bill, iiij _nagares_, ij
hatchettes, an ades," etc.--Shakspereana Genealogica, 1869, p. 472.
[E82] "A Douercourt beetle" is explained by Dr. Mavor as "one that is
large (like the rood of Dover once so celebrated) and capable of making
a great noise," and he adds that "there is an old proverb 'A Dover
Court: all speakers and no hearers.'" But this explanation is entirely
erroneous: there is no reference whatever to _Dover_, but, as the
following extract will show, a Dovercourt beetle simply means one made
of the wood of the elms of Dovercourt in Essex, which were celebrated
for their soundness and lasting qualities: "Of all the elms that euer I
saw, those in the south side of _Douer court_, in Essex neere Harwich,
are the most notable, for they growe, I meane, in crooked maner, that
they are almost apt for nothing else but nauie timber, great ordinance,
and _beetels_; and such thereto is their naturall qualitie, that being
vsed in the said behalfe, they continue longer, and more long than
anie the like trees in whatsoeuer parcell else of this land, without
cuphar [cracking], shaking or cleauing, as I find."--Harrison, Descr.
of Eng. part i. p. 341.
[E83] In the Hist. of Hawsted, Suffolk, by Sir J. Cullum, 2nd ed. p.
216, we are told that there, in the 14th century, oxen were as much
used as horses; and, in ploughing heavy land, would go forward where
horses would stop. "A horse kept for labour ought to have every night
the 6th part of a bushel of oats; for an ox, 3½ measures of oats, 10 of
which make a bushel, are sufficient for a week."
[E84] "The ploughstaff is alluded to by Strutt (Manners and Customs,
ii. 12): 'The ploughman yoketh oxen to the plough, and he holdeth the
plough-stilt [_i.e._ principal hale or handle] in his left hand, and
in his right hand the _ploughstaff_ to break the clods.' See plate 32
(vol. i.) in Strutt, and the picture of a plough at work prefixed to
Mr. Wright's edition of Piers the Plowman, copied from MS. T. [MS. R.
3. 14, Trin. Coll. Camb.]."--Piers Plowman, ed. Skeat, B. vi. 105.
[E85] "Moether" [and "mother", 16. 14.]. This word is derived by Sir
H. Spelman from Danish _moer_ = an unmarried girl. "_Puera_, a woman
chylde, callyd in Cambrydgeshyre a _modder_." "_Pupa_, a yonge wenche,
a gyrle, a _modder_."--Elyot's Lat. Dict. 1538. "_Fille_, a maid,
girle, _modder_, lasse."--Cotgrave. Ben Jonson uses the word in his
"Alchymist": "Away, you talk like a foolish _mauther_."--Act iv. sc. 7.
Richard Brome also has it in the Eng. Moor, Act iii. sc. i.:
_P._ "I am a _mother_, that do want a service.
_Qu._ O, thou'rt a Norfolk woman (cry thee mercy,)
Where maids are _mothers_, and _mothers_ are maids."
"I have been informed by an intelligent friend, who is a native of
Norfolk, that on a certain trial in that county, it was asked who was
the evidence of what had been stated. The answer was, 'A _mather_
playing on a planchard.' The Judge was nonplussed, till the meaning was
explained, namely, 'A girl playing on the floor.'"--M.
[E86] "Hoigh de la roy," that is, excellent or proper; but why, I
cannot say.
[E87] A _cradle_ is a three-forked instrument of wood, on which the
corn is caught as it falls from the scythe, and thus is laid in regular
order. It is heavy to work with; but is extremely useful for cutting
barley or oats, which are intended to be put into sheaves.--M.
[E88] Tar was the common salve for all sores in cattle. "Two pounds of
tar to a pound of pitch," is a good composition for sheep marks.--M.
"Every shepherd used to carry a _tar-box_, called a _tarre-boyste_ in
the Chester Plays, p. 121, or a _terre-powghe_ (= tar pouch) in P.
Pl. Crede, l. 618. It held a salve containing tar which was used for
anointing sores in sheep. Compare
"Heare is tarre in a potte
To heale from the rotte."
--Chester Plays, p. 120.
See also History of Agriculture and Prices in England, by J. E. Thorold
Rogers, vol. i. p. 31. Note to P. Plowman, ed. Skeat, C. x. 262-264.
[E89] "Sealed and true," _i.e._ certified and stamped as correct. In
Liber Albus, ed. Riley, p. 233, we read: "No brewster or taverner shall
sell from henceforth by any measure but the gallon, pottle, and quart;
and that these shall be _sealed_ with the seal of the Alderman," etc.
See also the Statute of Sealed Measures, _id._ p. 290.
[E90] _Striking_ is the last ploughing before the seed is committed to
the ground; previously to which the ridges are to be harrowed.
[E91] "Sowe barlie and dredge." In the 13th century the grain crops
chiefly cultivated in England were wheat, "berecorn," _dragg_, or a
mixture of vetches and oats, beans and pease. The regulations for
the brewers of Paris in 1254 prescribe that they shall brew only "de
grains, c'est à savoir d'orge de mestuel, et de _dragèe_." "_Dredge_
mault, malt made of oats, mixed with barley malt, of which they make
an excellent quick sort of drink."--Bp. Kennett's Gloss. "A mixture of
oates and barley; and at present used very seldom in malting."--T.R.
"_Dragée_ aux chevaux, provender of divers sorts of pulse mixed
together."--Cotgrave. From Way's Notes in Prompt. Parv. s. v. Dragge.
[E92] Forby (Vocab. 1830) says: "Crow-keeper, a boy employed to scare
crows from new sown land. Lear, in his madness, says: 'That fellow
handles his bow like a crow-keeper.' Besides lustily whooping, he
carries an old gun, from which he cracks a little powder, and sometimes
puts in a few stones, but seldom hits, and still seldomer kills a
crow." Cf. Romeo and Juliet, Act i. sc. 4: "Scaring the ladies like a
crow-keeper."
[E93] A Marsh Wall is a Sea bank, made with considerable slope to
sea-ward, which is called a Break or Breck; it is faced with Turf which
sometimes is worn by the sea, or Holes made in it by Crabs, etc. The
Foreland is a piece of Land that lies from the foot of the Bank to
Sea-ward, and must be well look'd after, that it wear not away or come
too near the Bank (as the Workmen term it).--T.R.
[E94] A brawner should be kept cool and hard, which encreaseth his
shield, as the skin of the shoulder is called.--M.
[E95] Measles in hogs are small round globules or pustules that lie
along the muscles; and are occasioned by uncleanness and want of
water.--M.
[E96] The retting of hemp, as it is called, should be done with care.
It should be taken out of the water as soon as it begins to swim. The
smell left by hemp and flax is extremely unpleasant, as travellers in
the flax districts of the North of Ireland well know.
[E97] "In time of plenty of mast, our red and fallow deere will not
let to participat thereof with our hogs, more than our nete: yea, our
common pultrie also, if they may come vnto them. But as this abundance
dooth prooue verie pernicious vnto the first, so the egs which these
latter doo bring foorth (beside blackenesse in color and bitternesse of
tast,) haue not seldome beene found to breed diuerse diseases vnto such
persons as haue eaten of the same."--Harrison, Descrip. of Eng. part i.
p. 339.
[E98] If your dog sets chaunting (crying) these lawless hogs, haunting
(or frequenting) your fields so often, he does you a benefit.
[E99] _Shaken_ timber is such as is full of clefts and cracks.
_Bestowe_ and _stick_ it, is to lay the boards neatly on each other,
with sticks between, to admit the air.
[E100] The _hook and line_ is a cord with a hook at its end to bind up
anything with, and carry it away.--M.
[E101] "Flaies," probably a misprint in the edition of 1580 for
_flails_, which is the reading of the other editions.
[E102] Cotgrave has: "Hastiveau, a _hasting_ apple or peare;" and
"Hastivel, as Hastiveau; or a soon-ripe apple, called the St. John's
apple." Lacroix (Manners, Customs, etc., during the Middle Ages, p.
116) mentions "hastiveau, an early sort of pear."
[E103] "Vergis and perie." "Verjuice is well known to be the juice
of Crabs, but it is not so much taken notice of, that for strength
and flavour it comes little short if not exceeds lime-juice."--T.R.
"Verjuice, or green juice, which, with vinegar, formed the essential
basis of sauces, and is now extracted from a species of green grape,
which never ripens, was originally the juice of sorrel; another sort
was extracted by pounding the green blades of wheat."--Lacroix,
Manners, Customs and Dress, during the Middle Ages, p. 167.
[E104] Make up your hedges with brambles and holly. "Set no bar" = put
no limit, do not leave off planting quicksets while the months have an
R in their names. See chap. 35, stanza 6, p. 77, and note E112, for 19.
33.
[E105] Laying up here signifies the first plowing, for Barley it is
often plow'd, so as that a Ridge-balk in the middle is covered by two
opposite furrows.--T.R.
[E106] By Fallow is understood a Winter-fallow, or bringing Ground to a
Barley Season.--T.R.
[E107] "Brantham" parish, in Essex, in which Cattiwade is situated,
and the place where Tusser first commenced farming. The average yield
of corn in his time was, on each acre well tilled and dressed, twenty
bushels of wheat, thirty-two of barley, and forty of oats and pulse.
[E108] Wheat does not thrive well either on very poor or very rich
land. If the land is _peeled_ or poor, the grain is _burnt_ or
_steelie_, and if _proud_ (too heavily manured), the grain is apt to
run to straw.
[E109] "There grows in several parts of Africa, Asia, and America, a
kind of corn called Mays, and such as we commonly name _Turkey wheat_.
They make bread of it, which is hard of digestion, heavy in the
stomach, and does not agree with any but such as are of a robust and
hail constitution."--A Treatise on Foods, by Mons. L. Lemery, London,
1704, p. 71.
[E110] _Breadcorne_ and _drinkcorn_ mean wheat and barley, the first
being used for the making of bread, the second for malting purposes.
Mr. Peacock, in his Glossary of Manley, etc., has: "_Breadcorn_, corn
to be ground into _breadmeal_ (_i.e._ flour with only a portion of the
bran taken out, from which brown bread is made); not to be used for
finer purposes. It is a common custom of farmers, when they engage a
bailiff, to give him a certain sum of money per annum, and to allow
him also his _breadcorn_ at 40_s._ per quarter." Cf. Piers Plowman, C.
Text, Passus ix. 61: "A boussel of _bredcorne_."
[E111] Hazlitt gives as a proverb: "To play the devil in the bulmong."
An acre of bullimong land was worth 33_s._ 4_d._; see note E370.
[E112] According to Norden (Surveyor's Dialogue, 1607, p. 239) the
best mode of making a quickset hedge is as follows: "The plants of
whitethorne, mixed here and there with oke and ash"; if the plants
are not easily procured, then "the berries of the white or hawthorne,
acornes, ash keyes mixed together, and these wrought or wound up in a
rope of straw, wil serve, but they will be somewhat longer in growing.
Make a trench at the top or in the edge of the ditch, and lay into it
some fat soyle, and then lay the rope all along the ditch, and cover
it with good soile also, then cover it with the earth, and ever as any
weedes or grasse begins to grow, pull it off and keepe it as cleane as