Maison rustique, or The countrey farme· Compyled in the French tongue by Charles Steuens, and Iohn Liebault, Doctors of Physicke. And translated into English by Richard Surflet, practitioner in physicke. Now newly reuiewed, corrected, and augmented, with diuers large additions, out of the works of Serres his Agriculture, Vinet his Maison champestre, French. Albyterio in Spanish, Grilli in Italian; and other authors. And the husbandrie of France, Italie, and Spaine, reconciled and made to agree with ours here in England: by Geruase Markham. The whole contents are in the page following

CHAP. III.

What manner of Husbandrie is required about Medowes.

SVch as obstinately defend and maintaine,* 1.1 that there is not anie paines or labour to be vsed about Medowes, seeme vnto me (vnder correction) void of all sound iudgement: for euerie where, in processe of time, the earth becommeth wearie, and standeth in need to be refreshed in some parts of it, yea, to be sowne againe, and fashioned, if need be, especially in feeding grounds, and Medowes, appointed for pasture for horned beasts: for such cattell as beare Wooll, doe not desire wa••••ie places (as Medowes would be) but being con∣tented with Shepheards, graze along by the wayes, and vpon the plowed grounds. And as for your heards of young Horses and Asses, they feed naturally and commo∣diously with your other cattell. Yea furthermore, I haue seene in Campaine, as it should be about Pont vpon Seine, a Medow countrey, the Geese and Turkies daily and ordinarily driuen to the pasture, for the sauing of charges at home: which thing would not agree well about the places of Monfort l'Amaurye, where is kept some part of the Kings breed of Horses and Mares; for the downe, and other feathers of those fowles, as also their dung, would make these sorts of beasts sicke, euen Horse, Mare, Mule, or Asse.

Besides, according to the opinion of all good husbandmen,* 1.2 these fowles are of all creatures the most preiudiciall that may be, not onely to Medow grounds, but also to all manner of Pas••ure grounds whatsoeuer: for besides the annoyance which their feathers and downe make, their dung is so poysonous vnto the earth, that it makes it barren, and forceth it to bring forth nothing but Goose-grasse, which is such a sowre and vnwholesome weed, that no beast will touch it, and which, in short space, will ouer-runne a great deale of ground, and make it vtterly vselesse: there∣fore euerie husband must be carefull to keepe these fowles both from his Medowes and his feeding Pastures.

But whatsoeuer others say or doe,* 1.3 sure I am, that a good Farmer must not neglect his Medow ground, seeing the husbanding of them is a matter more of care than of paine and labour: For the first care must be to keepe it that it grow not with 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and thornes, or great high stalkes of other hearbes, all which would be pul∣led vp by the roots in Autumne, or before Winter, as bushes, brambles, and rushes: some other of them in the Spring, as Succories, Hemlocke, and such other weeds,

which are vnprofitable for the feeding of the heards of Horses and Mares. Likewise there must not be left in them anie stones,* 1.4 nor yet anie other thing, that may hinder the digging of them, when the earth is to be stirred. The ground being freed of stones, shall be made euen and smooth verie handsomely in the Winter time, and af∣ter that, tilled and turned ouer verie diligently and ••inely with the plough, and after harrowed,* 1.5 especially that which is leane, and lying with some descent, but not watred otherwise than the raine vseth to water it. It must be dunged also in Ianua••ie and Fe∣bruarie, when the Moone is in the encrease, that so it may be fatted, and store of iuice brought into it for the growing of grasse. The best manuring that can be bestowed vpon it,* 1.6 is fine crumbling earth mixt with dung, which will doe it more good than the best and purest dung that you can find in your Neat-house. For the making here∣of, you must gather in Summer the dust that is by the high wayes most haunted, and mingle the same with the dung of cattell, the ••ilth and sweepings of the house, the dyrt of the streets, the parings of the house, and the great and little Court, the dung of Hennes and Pigeons, Oxe-dung, Horse-dung, and all other such excrements, which must be let incorporate and mingle together the whole Winter, vntill such time as this matter, watered with water, and throughly pierced with the frost, be sufficiently ripened. This mixture when it is spread, entreth better below into the earth 〈◊〉〈◊〉 dung alone, and also incorporateth it selfe better with the earth. But aboue all, there is no dung more excellent for Medow grounds, than the rotten staddell or bottomes of Hay-mowes,* 1.7 or Hay-stackes, which, putrified with the moisture of the earth, lookes mouldie blacke, and most filthie; and with this, if you mixe the sweepings of the Hay-barne floore, and the scattered seedes which fall from the Hay when it is shaked vp or bound into bottles, it will be a great deale the better, and the earth will put forth his encrease in much more plentie. These Medow grounds must also be verie well drained from water, if they be subiect thereunto, and sluces and draines* 1.8 made either by plough, spade, or other instrument, which may conuey it from one sluce to another, till it fall into some ditch or riuer: for as the sudden washing of the earth fatteneth and enricheth the same, by reason of the mud, slime, and other fat sub∣stances which it leaueth behind it; so the long abiding of the water vpon it, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the soyle, rots the roots of the grasse, and either makes it vtterly barren, or 〈◊〉〈◊〉 it to a bogge-myre: Nay, where the water lyes long vpon the ground, there it will ••ome the grasse to reed, rushes, or other vnprofitable weeds: therefore by all meanes preuent the continuance of flouds, and onely esteeme of a gentle washing, and no more. A∣gaine, in your Medow grounds you must be exceeding carefull to know the good∣nesse or badnesse of the same: as, which is fruitfull, which barren, which quicke of growth, which slow, which will beare but one entire crop, and which two, and accor∣dingly you must lay them, that is giue them time of rest for growth; as thus: If your ground be verie fruitfull and rich, yet through the coldnesse of the clyme will not beare aboue one crop, it shall not be needfull for you to lay it before May day: but if it be but of a reasonable fruitfulnesse, then you may lay it at the Annuntiation of our Ladie: but if it be verie hard and barren, then it is best to lay it at Candle••••ss, that it may haue the vttermost of the Spring & Summer to grow in: also, if it be exceeding fertile, and so warme and close couched, that it will beare two croppes, then you shall lay it at Candlemas, that you may cut it at the end of May and the midst of Septem∣ber; for to cut it after that time, is both ill husbandrie, and profitlesse: for howsoeuer men may be opinioned, either through custome, or the imitation of their neighbors, yet they shall find it most certaine, that the hay, how good soeuer the growth be, yet if it want the Sunne and kindly withering, it can neuer be good either to feed or su∣staine nature with: but hauing the iuice rotting and not dried within it, becommeth black, vnpleasant, and unwholesome, insomuch, that the worst straw is better than the best of such hay: therefore let euerie husbandman haue a great care to the good and kindly withering of his hay, and esteeme euer the qualitie before the quantitie. After Medowes are laid, then the husbandman shall haue a great care to his ••ences, least ei∣ther his owne, or other mens cattell, by day or night breake into the same, for they may

doe him more iniurie in an houre than they can doe him profit in a moneth: for the young and tender grasse, if it be nipt or bitten at the first springing, hardly after pros∣pereth, till the sythe haue cut it: for it is with grasse as with stronger plants, which if they be nipt or bitten, forthwith loose the beautie of their flourishing, and groweth not straight or vpright, but low, crooked, and ill-fauoredly, neither to fast as before it did, but verie slowly, and manie times without seed: therefore by all meanes pre∣uent the cropping of your Medowes, by cattell at their first springing. Also, if you haue anie riuers, ditches, or small rundles, which butt vpon your Medowes, you shall at such time as you lay your Medowes, be sure to cleanse and scoure them both of weeds, madde, and other filth, that shall anie way cloy or fill them, that the water may thereby haue a more free passage and a larger receit to receiue and conuey away anie floud which shall happen: for after your Medowes begin to grow, if anie floud shall come vpon them, the sand and other filth will fasten to the rootes, and lye vpon the grasse in such manner, that not being able to be cleansed by anie husbandrie, it will make the hay vtterly vnwholesome, so that lying in the stomacks of the beasts, it will engender manie mortall and pestilent diseases. And herein is also to be noted, that the mudde and other compasse which you shall take out of these riuers or ditches, would be spread vpon the Medowes, and when it is drie, with small clotting maules be bea∣ten as small as dust; for this is also an excellent maner of manuring your Medowes.

Notes

• * 1.1

  To sow Me∣dowes.
• * 1.2

  Geese a greas enemie to good grounds.
• * 1.3

  〈…〉〈…〉
• * 1.4

  To gather out the stones.
• * 1.5

  To horrow it.
• * 1.6

  The manuring of it.
• * 1.7

  Bottomes of Hay-mowes.
• * 1.8

  Sluces and Draines.