take anie fit time or leisure that is offered you through the whole yeare. The dung is
to be laid on in hills, little lumpes, or heapes, and that along as you meane to cast vp
your furrowes in plowing, and after to spread it in his season, whether it be rotten
dung, or marle. And it shall chiefely be done in Winter, that so the raine and snow
dropping and falling downe vpon it, it may be ou••rcome and caused to re••••nt. The
vnskilfull and bad husbandman spreadeth it all hot, but he lacketh not a faire forrest
of weedes, as reward of his hastie paines: for dung being thus at the first sowne and
spread, though it be ouercome afterward; notwithstanding, see what weedes it hath
receiued from the beasts houses, as being there scattered, it yeeldeth for his first fruits
backe againe vpon the land, and therewithall impaireth much the first crop of corne
that shall follow after, howsoeuer others following may proue more naturall and
plentifull by it, and further, hindereth both the ground and hinds in ••heir working.
And this is the cause why the inhabitants of Solong••e and Beaux, the b••st husband∣men,
cause their Rosemarie to be rotted in Summer, and made manure of in Au∣tumne;
and yet manie times not hasting, but deferring the vse for a longer time. Fur∣thermore,
they continue and hold it from father to sonne as a receiued veritie, That
nothing is more deare and precious than dung, taken in his season, for the enriching
of ground.
Some take dung as it were hot and halfe rotten at the end of their field; but that
doth much harme: because such dung not being ouercome of the snow, raine, and
other helpes of the heauens, but remaining crude or raw, doth likewise ramaine vn∣profitable,
especially the first yeare, doing nothing it selfe, and keeping the better
fruit from profiting and comming on as it would; though the second yeare it may
helpe well, and hinder nothing.
It is true, that if you would enrich a poore field, that it is better done by the dung
newly gathered out of the beasts houses, than with such as is old: and it would bee
spread in the new of the Moone, a little before the seed be sowne, prouided yet, that
it be then plowed and turned vnder the earth. They seeme vnto me not to doe worst,
who hauing gathered their corne in August or September, and cut it somewhat
high, doe burne the stubble and other weedes which are in the fields, whereby they
make a manner of dunging of it by the helpe of raine falling thereupon. This stan∣deth
in stead of the first sort of enriching of their ground, especially in barren and
sandie grounds, and such as stand vpon a cold moistish clay, or such as haue a strong
new broken vp ground. True it is, that they doe not this yearely, because of their
need to couer their houses, and of hauing litter for their beasts. And yet those may
seeme vnto me to be lesse deceiued, who hauing left their stubble long and high, in
the shearing and cutting of it downe, doe presently thereupon bestow an earing vp∣on
such ground, and so vnderturne the said stubble and weedes, there to let them rot
with the Winter raine.
There is nothing so good as the first manuring and dunging of the ground, which
if it be neglected, it will not recouer it for two yeares space againe: so that for ••uch
space he shall gather nothing but Rye in stead of Wheat, and Fetches for Oates, and
wild Fet••hes for kind and naturall ones. It is true, that the first is not sufficient of it
selfe for to dung and enrich the earth sufficiently, and to make fruitfull those that are
barren and leane: but there must be other meanes vsed for to effect such a worke:
and amongst them all, that seemeth vnto me the principall, which is the letting of
the field to lye a yeare or two vnoccupied, not ceasing the while to husband it both
Winter and Summer: as also the first time when you would haue it beare, to sow it
with Lupines, or rather with Pease, prouided that the ground be not ouer-cold, for
then it would profit those Pulse but a little. And if all these meanes should fall out to
be insufficient, it will be good to spread Quicklime vpon the plowed ground in the
end of Februarie: for besides that it enricheth a ground greatly, it cleanseth it also,
and killeth all bad and dangerous weedes: whereupon it commeth to passe, that the
haruest after it is more plentifull, than after anie other dung that a man can inuent to
vse. Furthermore, if the ground be light, it will be good to cause some water to