_The manner of plowing the blacke Clay mixt with red Sand, and the white
Clay mixt with white Sand, their Earings, Plough and Implements._
Next to these grauelly soiles, there be also two other compounded
earths, as namely, the blacke Clay mixt with red Sand, and the white
Clay mixt with white sand, which albe they differ in composition of
mould, yet they hold one nature in their Tillage and Husbandry:
wherefore first to speake of the blacke Clay mixt with red Sand, which
(as before I said) is called of Husbandmen an hassell earth, you shall
vnderstand that it is a very rich and good soile, very fruitfull both
for Corne and Grasse: for Corne, being apt to beare any seede
whatsoeuer: and for Grasse, as naturally putting it forth very earely in
the yeere, by which your Cattell shall get reliefe sooner then in other
soiles of colder nature: for both the blacke and white claies doe
seldome flowrish with any store of Grasse before Iune, which is the
time of wood-seare, and this soile will boast of some plenty about the
beginning of Aprill at the furthest: but for Grasse we shall speake in
his proper place.
{SN: Of fallowing.}
Now for his tillage it is thus: you shall about the middest of Ianuary,
beginne to fallow that field which you intend that yeere shall lye at
rest or tilth, and you shall fallow it in such sort as is specified in
the Chapter of the blacke clay: onely you shall raise small furrowes and
Plow the land cleane, being sure to open and cast the land downeward if
the land lie high and round, otherwise you shall neuer at any time cast
the land downe but ridge it vp, that is to say, when you fallow it, you
shall cast the first furrow downeward, and so likewise the second, which
two furrowes being cleane ploughed, will lay the land open inough, that
is, there wilbe no part of the ridge vnploughed: which done, by changing
your hand and the gate of your Plough, you shall plough those furrowes
backe againe and lay them vpward, and so plough the whole land vpward,
also laying it round and high: the reason for this manner of plowing
being this, that for as much as this land being mixt of clay and sand,
must needes be a sore binding land, therefore if it should be laid flat,
if any great raine or wet should fall, and a present drought follow it,
neither should you possibly force your Plough to enter into it and
breake it, or being broken should you get so much mould as to couer your
Corne and giue the seede comfort, whereas vpon the contrary part, if it
be laid high and vpright, it must necessarily be laid hollow and light,
in so much that you may both Plough it at your pleasure, and also beget
so perfect a mould as any other soile whatsoeuer, both because the wet
hath liberty to auoide through the hollownesse, and also because the
Sunne and weather hath power to enter and season it, wherefore in
conclusion you shall fallow this field downeward if it lye high and
vpright, otherwise you shall fallow it vpward as the meanes to bring it
to the best Ardor.
Now for this fallow field it must euer be made where the yeere before
you did reape your Pease, in case you haue but three fields, or where
you did reape your Wheate, Rye, and Maslin, in case you haue foure
fields, according to the manner of the blacke clay.
{SN: Of sowing Pease.}
About the middest of February, which is within a day or two of Saint
_Valentines_ day, if the season be any thing constant in fairenesse and
drinesse, you shall then beginne to sow your Pease, for you must
vnderstand that albeit this soile will beare Beanes, yet they are
nothing so naturall for it as Pease, both because they are an hungry
seede and doe much impaire and wast the ground, and also because they
prosper best in a fat, loose, and tough earth, which is contrary to this
hard and drie soile: but especially if you haue foure fields, you shall
forbeare to sow any Beanes at all, least you loose two commodities, that
is, both quantitie of graine (because Beanes are not so long and
fruitfull vpon this earth, as vpon the clayes) and the Manuring of your
ground, which Pease out of their owne natures doe, both by the
smoothering of the ground and their owne fatnesse, when your Beanes doe
pill and sucke the hart out of the earth.
Now for the manner of sowing your Pease, you shall sow them aboue
furrow, that is, first plough the land vpward, then immediately sow your
Pease, and instantly after Harrow them, the Plough, the Seedes-man, and
the Harrower, by due course, following each other, and so likewise you
may sow Oates vpon this soile.
{SN: Of sowing Barley.}
About the middest of March, which is almost a fortnight before our Lady
day, you shall beginne to sow your Barley, which Barley you shall sow
neither vnder-furrow nor aboue, but after this order: first, you shall
plow your land downeward, beginning at the furrow and so assending
vpward to the ridge of the land, which as soone as you haue opened, you
shall then by pulling the plough out of the earth, and laying the
shelboard crosse the ridge, you shall fill the ridge in againe with the
same mould which you plowed vp: this done, your seedes-man shall bring
his Barley and sow the land aboue furrow: after the land is sowne, you
shall then Harrow it as small as may be, first with a paire of woodden
Harrowes, and after with a paire of Iron Harrowes, or else with a double
Oxe Harrow, for this earth being somewhat hard and much binding, will
aske great care and dilligence in breaking.
{SN: Of sleighting.}
After your Barley is sowne, you shall about the latter end of Aprill
beginne to smooth and sleight your land, both with the backe Harrowes
and with the rouler, and looke what clots they faile to breake, you
shall with clotting beetles beate them asunder, making your mould as
fine and laying your land as smooth as is possible.
{SN: Of Summer-stirring.}
About the middest of May, you shall, if any wet fall, beginne to
Summer-stirre your land, or if no wet fall, you shall doe your indeauour
to Summer-stirre your land, rather aduenturing to breake two ploughes,
then to loose one day in that labour, knowing this, that one land
Summer-stird in a dry season, is better then three Summer-stird in a wet
or moist weather, both because it giues the earth a better temper, and
kils the weedes with more assurednesse, and as I speake of
Summer-stirring, so I speake of all other Ardors, that the drier they
are done the better they are euer done: and in this season you shall
also gather the stones from your ground.
{SN: Obiection.}
Now it may be obiected, that if it be best to plough in drie seasons, it
is then best to fallow also in a dry season, and by that meanes not to
beginne to fallow vntill the beginning of May, as is prescribed for the
blacke clay, and so to deferre the Summer-stirring till the next month
after, sith of necessitie Ianuary must either be wet or else vnkindely.
{SN: Answere.}
To this I make answere, that most true it is, that the land which is
last fallowed is euer the best and most fruitfull, yet this mixt earth
which is compound of sand and clay, is such a binding earth, that if it
be not taken and fallowed in a moist-time of the yeere, as namely, in
Ianuary or February, but suffered to lye till May, at which time the
drought hath so entered into him, that the greatest part of his moisture
is decaied, then I say, the nature of the ground is such and so hard,
that it wilbe impossible to make any plough enter into it, so that you
shall not onely aduenture the losse of that speciall Ardor, but also of
all the rest which should follow after, and so consequently loose the
profit of your land: where contrary wise if you fallow it at the
beginning of the yeere, as in Ianuary, and February, albe they be wet,
yet shall you lay vp your furrowes and make the earth more loose, by
which meanes you shall compasse all the other Earings which belong to
your soile: for to speake briefely, late fallowing belongs vnto claies,
which by drought are made loose and light, and earely fallowings vnto
mixt soiles, such as these which by drinesse doe ingender and binde
close together.
{SN: Of weeding.}
About the middest of Iune, you shall beginne to weede your Corne, in
such sort as hath beene before described in the former Chapters: and
although this soile naturally of it selfe (if it haue receiued his whole
Ardor in due seasons, and haue beene Ploughed cleane, according to the
office of a good Husband) doth neither put forth Thistle or other weede,
yet if it want either the one or the other, it is certaine that it puts
them forth in great abundance, for by Thistles and weedes, vpon this
soile, is euer knowne the goodnesse and dilligence of the Husbandman.
{SN: Of Foiling.}
About the middest of Iuly, you shall beginne to foile your land, in such
sort also as hath beene mentioned in the former Chapters, onely with
this obseruation that if any of your lands lie flat, you shall then, in
your foiling, plough those lands vpward and not downeward, holding your
first precept that in this soile, your lands must lie high, light, and
hollow, which if you see they doe, then you may if you please in your
foiling cast them downeward, because at Winter ridging you may set them
vp againe.
{SN: Of Manuring.}
Now for as much as in this Chapter I haue hitherto omitted to speake of
Manuring this soile, you shall vnderstand that it is not because I hold
it so rich that it needeth no Manure, but because I know there is
nothing more needfull vnto it then Manure, in so much that I wish not
the Husbandman of this ground to binde himselfe vnto any one particular
season of the yeere for the leading forth of his Manure, but to bestow
all his leasurable houres and rest from other workes onely vpon this
labor, euen through the circuit of the whole yeere, knowing this most
precisely, that at what time of the yeere so euer you shall lay Manure
vpon this earth it will returne much profit.
As for the choise of Manures vpon this soile they are all those
whatsoeuer, of which I haue formerly intreated in any of the other
Chapters, no Manure whatsoeuer comming amisse to this ground: prouided
that the Husbandman haue this respect to lay vpon his moystest and
coldest ground his hottest Manures, and vpon his hottest and driest
earth his coolest and moistest Manures: the hot Manures being
Sheepes-dung, Pigions-dung, Pullen-dung, Lyme, Ashes, and such like: the
coole being Oxe-dung, Horse-dung, the scowrings of Ponds, Marle, and
such like.
{SN: Of Winter-ridging.}
About the middest of September you shall beginne to Winter-ridge your
Land, which in all points you shall doe according as is mentioned in the
former Chapters of the Clayes: for in this Ardor there is neuer any
difference, onely this one small obseruation, that you may aduenture to
Winter-ridge this mixt earth sooner then any other: for many of our best
English Husbandmen which liue vpon this soile doe hold this opinion,
that if it be Winter-ridged so earely in the yeere, that through the
vertue of the latter spring it put forth a certaine greene weede like
mosse, bring short and soft, that the land is so much the better
therefore, being as they imagine both fed and comforted by such a
slender expression which doth not take from the land any hart, but like
a warme couering doth ripen and make mellow the mould, and this cannot
be effected but onely by earely Winter-ridging.
{SN: Of Sowing of Wheate, Rye, and Maslin.}
At the end of September you shall beginne to sow your Wheate, Rye, and
Maslin, all which Graines are very naturall, good, and profitable vpon
this soile, and are to be sowne after the same manner, and with the same
obseruations which are specified in the former Chapter of the blacke
clay, that is to say, the Wheate vnder furrow, and vnharrowed, the Rye
and Maslin aboue furrow, and well harrowed. And herein is also to be
remembred all those precepts mentioned in the Chapter of the blacke
Clay, touching the diuision of the fields, that is to say, if you haue
three fields, you shall then sow your Wheate, Rye and Maslin in your
fallow-field, and so saue both the Foyling and double manuring of so
much earth: but if you haue foure fields, then you shall sow those
graines vpon that land from whence the same yeere you did reape your
Pease; your Wheate hauing no other Manure then that which came by the
Pease, your Rye hauing, if possible, eyther Manure from the Cart, or
from the Folde, in such sort as hath beene shewed in the Chapter of the
blacke Clay, and this of Husbandmen is called Inam-wheate or Inam-rye,
that is, white-corne sowne after white-corne, as Barley after Barley, or
hard-corne after hard-corne, which is wheate after Pease.
{SN: Of the plough.}
Now for the Plough which is most proper for this soile it is to be made
of a middle size betwixt that for the blacke Clay, and that for the red
Sand, being not all out so bigge and vnwieldy as the first, nor so
slender and nimble as the latter, but taking a middle proportion from
them both, you shall make your Plough of a competent fitnesse.
{SN: Of the plough-Irons.}
As for the Irons, the Share must be of the same proportion that the
Share for the red Sand is, yet a little thought bigger, and the Coulture
of the fashion of that Coulture, onely not full so much bent, but
all-out as sharpe and as long: and these Irons must be euer well
maintained with steele, for this mixt earth is euer the hardest, and
weareth both the Plough and Irons soonest, and therefore it is agreed
by all Husbandmen that this Plough must not at any time want his
Plough-slip, except at the first going of the Plough you shall finde
that it hath too much land, that is to say, by the crosse setting on of
the beame, that it runneth too greedily into the land, which to helpe,
you shall let your Plough goe without a plough-slip, till the
plough-head be so much worne, that it take no more but an ordinary
furrow, and then you shall set on your Plough-slips and Plough clouts
also: but I write this in case there be imperfection in the Plough,
which if it be otherwise, then this obseruation is needlesse.
{SN: Of the Teame.}
Now for the Teame or Draught which shall draw this Plough, they are as
the former, Oxen or Horses, and their number the same that is prescribed
for the blacke Clay, as namely, eight or sixe Beasts for Pease-earth,
for Fallowing, and Summer-stirring, and sixe or foure for all other
Ardors: for you must vnderstand that this mixt and binding soile,
through his hardnesse, and glutenous holding together, is as hard to
plow as any clay-soile whatsoeuer, and in some speciall seasons more by
many degrees.
{SN: Of the white clay with white Sand.}
Now for the white clay mixt with white sand, it is an earth much more
barraine, then this former mixt earth, and bringeth forth nothing
without much care, diligence, and good order: yet, for his manner of
Earings, in their true natures euery way doe differ nothing from the
Earings of this blacke clay and red Sand, onely the Seede which must be
sowne vpon this soile differeth from the former: for vpon this soile in
stead of Barley you must sow most Oates, as a Graine which will take
much strength from little fertilitie: and in stead of Rye you shall sow
more Wheate and more Pease, or in stead of Pease then you shall sow
Fitches of eyther kinde which you please, and the increase will be
(though not in abundance, yet) so sufficient as shall well quit the
Plow-mans labour.
{SN: Of Manuring.}
Now for the Manuring of this ground, you shall vnderstand that Marle is
the chiefest: for neyther will any man suppose that this hard soile
should bring vp cattell sufficient to manure it, nor if it would, yet
that Manure were not so good: for a barraine clay being mixt with a most
barraine sand, it must consequently follow that the soile must be of all
the barenest, insomuch that to giue perfect strength and life vnto it,
there is nothing better then Marle, which being a fat and strong clay,
once incorporated within these weake moulds, it must needes giue them
the best nourishment, loosening the binding substance, and binding that
weaknesse which occasioneth the barrainnesse: but of this Marle I shall
haue more occasion to speake hereafter in a particular Chapter, onely
thus much I must let you vnderstand, that this soile, albe it be not
within any degree of praise for the bringing forth of Corne, yet it is
very apt and fruitfull for the breeding of grasse, insomuch that it will
beare you corne for at least nine yeeres together (without the vse of
any fallow or Tilth-field) if it be well marled, and immediately after
it will beare you very good breeding grasse, or else reasonable Medow
for as many yeeres after, as by daily experience we see in the Countries
of Lancaster and Chester. So that the consequence being considered, this
ground is not but to be held indifferent fruitfull: for whereas other
soiles afore shewed (which beare abundance of Graine) are bound to be
manured once in three yeeres, this soile, albe it beare neither so rich
graine, nor so much plenty, yet it needes marling not aboue once in
sixteene or eighteene yeeres: and albe Marle be a Manure of the greatest
cost, yet the profit by continuance is so equall that the labour is
neuer spent without his reward, as shall more largely appeare hereafter.
{SN: Of the Plough.}
As touching the Plough, it is the same which is mentioned in the other
soile of the blacke Clay, and red Sand, altering nothing eyther in
quantitie of timber, or strength of Irons: so that to make any large
description thereof, is but to double my former discourses, and make my
writings tedious.
For to conclude briefely, these two soiles differ onely but in fatnesse
and strength of nature, not in Earing, or plowing, so that the labours
of tillage being equall there is not any alteration more then the true
diligence of much manuring, which will breede an affinitie or alyance
betwixt both these soiles. And thus much for this blacke Clay and red
Sand, or white Clay and white Sand.
{Illustration}
THE
FIRST PART
OF THE ENGLISH
Husbandman:
Contayning, the manner of plowing and Manuring all sorts of Soyles,
together with the manner of planting and setting of Corne.