The English improver improved, or, The svrvey of hvsbandry svrveyed discovering the improueableness of all lands some to be under a double and treble, others under a five or six fould, and many under a tenn fould, yea, some under a twenty fould improvement / by Walter Blith ... ; all clearely demonstrated from principles of reason, ingenuity, and late but most real experiences and held forth at an inconsiderable charge to the profits accrewing thereby, under six peeces of improvement ...

CHAP. XV.

Sheweth the manner of Plowing, and working Lands to so great Advance, with two Incredible Presidents of Advance.

THere is a parcell of Land in VVarwickshire,* 1.1 near Stratford upon Avon, that is Oaded every four∣teen yeares, and Corned divers yeares after that; and so there may be many more Parcels also besides this I speak of, and so I know there is, and after that fourteen yeares rest and Grazing, Oa∣ded again and Corned also: So there are some in Northamp∣tonshire, Buckinghamshire, and many other parts will do the like; And so runs round, Grazing fits for Plowing and Corning, and Corning fits for Grazing; A most gallant opportunitie; Doubles the Grazing-rent, while under Cor∣ning, and more under Oading; And Grazeth again imme∣diately at a very considerable Rent, and might do the first year at old Rent, and so forward, Would they Plow but three or four yeares according to my direction, but they Plow five, six, or seven; Such a Method would please me gallantly, advance the Common-wealth exceedingly, and prejudice whom, I would fain know: Abundance of poor set on work; Abundance of Corn raised; Abundance of Straw which spent and fed upon the Land, shall make that

up again what ever the Plowing fetched out: Doubles Rent and more, four or five yeares in one and twenty: And so every age near fetcheth in the Purchase; And the Land where it was, and would be as rich as it was, if it be not (my directions observed) a great Estate raised out of nothing: Why not thus in a thousand other parts of this Nation, as good Land, and better, and as suitable to this Advance, and not improved to it?

O Sloth! stand by, & let Ingenuity try a trick or two more, and wonder at thy own Ignorance and Weakness, and now see how to work it.

Secondly,* 1.2 consider thy Land how it lieth, whether round with Ridge and Furrow, then use your own discretion for the manner of Plowing; for the first year however, Plow it as well as you can possibly, both clear from Balks and Slips, and of such a stitch or depth as the Land will bear; however go not under the true and naturall Soyl of the Earth, neither plow it too thick, for that will be a great prejudice to your second Plowing, because your Fur∣rowes will rise most hard and stubborn, and so moil both Teames, Work-men and Servants, as is incredible. But if it be Lands and great Balks together, then for the Lands Plow them as you please, that is, whether Ridge-Are, or Cast them, but for your Balks before you, Ridge them all. And although it will ask paines, cost and hot water, yet fail not herein:* 1.3 And though the Rushes be thick and strong, yet be not discouraged; Mow the Rushes in the beginning of Winter as low as you can possibly, and then you may with paines and patience, a good Teame, and good Ploughs with sharp Irons, all made true, sharp, and smooth, do it with incredible dexterity;* 1.4 fail none of these directions, you can not conceive the wonderfull advantage in this exactness; And were it so the Land were such as there must be requi∣red as much cost and paines with the Spade, as with the Plough, I would bestow it, and never question how it shall answer the same: For, say the cost be extraordinary, and say one Acre cost thee as much overcomming it, and laying it round, sound, and fair, as usually thou or others bestow on

two or three Acres; Yet what is that to the fruit or profit it may produce? I dare say one Acre of Corn thus throughly husbanded may be worth two Acres, nay three slubbered o∣ver and done many times as most men commonly do there∣in; And what is it to lay out a five shillings or a noble extra∣ordinary in every Acre in the Husbandry, and reap it by the Pounds in the Crop, as I dare say you shall in the two first Crops,* 1.5 which are the onely Crops requiring such paines and exactness. I could tell thee an Experiment if thou durst beleeve it, 'tis this; I once held a Piece of Land worth nine shillings an Acre, and no more to a Graze; I gave fifteen shillings to Plow, it was great Lands, as great Balkes betwixt them, full of your soft Rushes, and as high some of them as any ordinary Beast, and lay very wet; The Land conceived by me not able to bear Barley, nor never would, it was so weak and Barren, so cold and Queasie: And the neighbours very able Husbandmen round about so discou∣raged me (out of their love unto me) as that they de••ired me to forbear Tillage of it, because it would never answer ordi∣nary cost bestowed on it, nor be worth an old Grazing-rent to Plow, and that they cleared to me by very clear Evi∣dence as they conceived, affirming that the Land next unto it, but a hedge betwixt, which was far better Land, (and indeed so it was very near as rich again) husbanded by very able husband••, the best in that Country, and that Land good Barley-L••nd, yet never answered the pains and cost bestow∣ed; yet I resolving to make a full triall thereof, I set upon it according to the prescription aforesaid, Each Acre Plow∣ing and Harrowing, Spading and Dressing (for indeed I made Harrowes on purpose also) of divers Sizes, it cost me about fifteen or sixteen shillings an Acre the two first Crops the very Dressing of it;* 1.6 And for these Crops, being but of Oates, I could have had five pound an Acre, being offered it by an Oat-meal man of himself, though never asked, growing upon the ground; Nay six pound an Acre, if I would have sold it, which is a vast Rate for Oates in the middle of the Nation; And indeed I found the ground so poor, that it would not bear Barley, for I tryed some Acres

of the best Land in it, but it was not worth an Acre of my Oates, and after Plowing I gave the old naturall Rent as it was ever set at or really worth, and that for many years, and the Land is better, lyeth sounder, warmer, and both yeelds more Milk, Summers as many Cattell, and Winters far more, and feeds better than it did before, without any other cost bestowed, and the very first year I layd it down after Plowing, it kept me more Cattell and better than ever it did before; and will continue better for it for ever after.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Stratford upon Avon Presi∣dent.
• * 1.2

  Th•• manner how to Plow such L••nds.
• * 1.3

  Mow the Ru∣shes.
• * 1.4

  Especiall di∣rections for plowing.
• * 1.5

  Experiment of Plowing the second sort of Land and the fruits of it.
• * 1.6

  A President of the fruit that came of poor Lands worth but nine shil∣lings an Acre.