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 ...

The Sixt Parcell or Pice, which is a new Erection, or Plantation of di∣vers sorts of Wood, and Timber, in such a way as shall raise as much in twenty yeares growth, as usually and naturally groweth in forty or fis••ie▪ years, whereby the Draynes or Ruins of Wood in this Nation may be gal∣lantly repaired, and severall Groves or Plumps of Trees may be Erected about any Manour, House, or Place, for delight and pleasure; And in such severall formes as men desire, and as much Wood for quantity raised in one Acre, as is usually in three, four, or five Acres of our usuall Copices, or Spring Woods in most parts of this Nation. As also how to thicken those Spring-woods that grow so thinne, as usually most doe, whereby they might be made as thick

again, and yet not hinder the growth thereof.

CHAP. XXIV.

Speakes of the nature of the Land, and shew∣eth the severall sorts of Wood, and how to plot out the same to most delight.

TO which purpose let all men use their utmost endeavours and skill to lay their Woods and Coppices, or Spring of Woods, as dry as pos∣sibly they can, for Wet and Coldness is as prejudiciall and offensive to the fruitfulness, thereof, as it is to Corn or Grass, or any Fruit-Trees, whe∣ther Apples, Peares, Plums, Cherries, &c. All which though every man indeavours little herein, and though to their ancient Spring-Woods little opportunity can be gained, yet what can be gained hereto prosecute it, as of great Ad∣vantage.

And for a new Erection of W••od, where never any grew and raising of a new Plantation, which is one of my main designs, a Piece so little practised, which before I have fully ended, you will wonder it should have been so much neg∣lected being so feacible.

Therefore when thou hast designed a Piece or Plot of ground thereto, which should be dry, sound, and pretty hearty, thou needest not much matter what nature of Land it be; so that thou canst but get two Spade-graft, or one and an half of good Earth, before thou either come to the strong Clay or Land, yea though it have some Gravell, or Stones, be it but well mixed with good Earth; it may do well, yea best of all, because of hollowness and lightness of it, though it should be very boggy Land, yet if it have any richness

of nature or heart in it, thou shalt find a marveilous suita∣bleness therein, to make a very good Improvement this way, yet the most natural Land hereto in the Experiences I have made or seen, is your warm, open, gravelly, sound Land, the richer the better, as aforesaid.

When thou wouldest plot out thy Land thou designest to plant, which thou mayst cast out if thou aim at thy de∣light and pleasure onely, either int a square, consisting of four Equall sides or e••se into a Triangle, having but three equall sides or else into a long square, which hath two e∣quall sides longer, and two equall sides shorter, or an O∣vall Capacity, or else into a Circular plot either as thy phantasie leads thee, or if thou mindest onely thy profit, and intendest onely to raise Wood for thy use, & increase, and the Countries service, it matters not into what form thou cast it into; how ever seeing the first is as easie & no more chargeable, to cast or lot out thy Wood into an Ar∣tificial uniformable plot as to do it rudely or confusedly▪ I rather advice it but press it not, no further than as to the Gallantary and delightfulness of it, or thy spirit thereto, wherein may be as much pleasure, Delight and Recreation, as in your curious Gardens, Orchards, Walks and Bowers, especially being planted about a Mannor House; or dwel∣ling place, for warmth in Winter, & shaddow & Coolness in the summer; for which Advantages many of the nobles & Gentry to this Nation would give great sums to pur∣chase; Which herby may be obtained at an easier rate.

Therefore having cast thy Land into any of the plots a∣foresaid except the Circular, which I conceive of least suit∣ableness of all to this work, then suppose it be ten, twenty, or thirty Acres, I suppose less, if thou cast it into a Square or Triangle, or Ovall way, then having found the midle of it, thou mayst if thou please, cast out a Circular round Plot or Ovall, containing either a ninth part, or a seaventeenth part, or but a fifth part; and that Incompass in with a little Ditch, well quieksetted with thorn, and here and there an Ash, Oak, Elm, or Witchazell, reserving a Grass-plot to walk round about, of fifteen or eighteen Foot wide, and

then equally divide the rest into so many parts as thou in∣tendest severall falls therein, & every Division seperate with a walk, or Grass-Plot betwixt them, containing fifteen or eighteen Foot wideness, which will serve as a Cart-way, or Passage, to fetch out thy Wood at every fall, as well as for walks for thy recreation, because in this manner of Plant∣ing, thou canst not Cart along thy Wood, as thou dost along thy us••all spring Woods, but onely along thy Borders, which when thou hast so divied all by Ditches which make thy Divisions, thou may if thou pleasest to cast thy Banks outward, and set thy Hedge inward, Plant the Banks with Strawberies, which will delight themselves herein, & grow fruitfully, either on the Sun or shady sides. Now when thou hast plotted out thy ground, prepare for Planting, and first inquire, and search about the Country for Set-gatherers, such as will bring them every two days fresh, for the fresh ga∣thering & sudden setting of them in their places, is of more Advantage to the furtherance of the growth, than thou Ima∣ginest.

Secondly prepare such Servants here as will not deceive thee; And avoid the getting of Eaten, Bitten, Rough, and Brushy, all being unproveable sets, receive them not, but give them such wages as they may afford to get such as are fruitfull and proveable, and if possible get them from off as hard Land, as thou Plantest them upon, however be sure they be thriving smooth Rooted, or smooth Barked sets, of what sort soever they be, & as straight as possibly thou canst pro∣cure.

Thirdly, for the severall sorts of Wood quickest in rising and growing, generally are your soft Woods; as Poplar, Willows, Asp, Sicamores, Maples, Witchazell, &c. your Ash is a gallant thriving Wood also, and indeed for quick∣ness, and profit too, it is the best in my opinion, some good Oak set will do very well, and Elm also towards your outsides; but if thou resolvest to be a Planter to purpose, then thou must be a sower of all Seeds of the severall Woods aforesaid, or setter of many Sciens, and a Breeder up of Nu••ceries continually, for indeed were Planting more in

fashion, Sets would prove very scarce, which now for present are plentifull eno••gh, and in most part of the Nation may be had for two shillings, or two shillings six pence a thousand, some more some less according to the goodness and bigness of them, and dearness of the Country for workmens wages, & indeed the lesser the sets the more certain of growing, but the bigger they are, the fatter, and sooner they rise to their growth, only some of them may fail.

Fourthly, having prepared thy Sets, then set to Planting of them, which I advise after this manner. All thy Borders made, or but cast out, thy Sets must be all Planted in the same way as thou wouldst Plant, or as usually men do Plant a Thorn hedge: First cast up by a Line a little Ditch about two foot and half, or three Foot broad, just so deep and but a little deeper than thou canst take up good mould, and so as all Labourers begin their turning Turfdo thou, and then lay up a little mould, and there lay thy first Row of Sets, some say three Sets in each Foot, but I conceive if thy Sets be good two may do very well, then cover them.

Secondly, raise another Border about nine Inches above that, thy Mould or Bank layed well ashore, or sloaping, and there plant another Row: and cover them well also, as men do their second Row of Quick-sets.

Therdly, cast up another Dike against that like a double Dike, so as both may meet together upon the Top, and lye close together, and then plant two Rows more of Quick as was directed on the other side, and if thou hast any quan∣tity of space, betwixt thy two upper Rows of Quick, thou maist plant one Row upon the Top, or two, if thou seest cause, if thou hast room to spare; And so thou must go on throughout thy whole Plantation, a Dike and a Land or Bank, and again another Dike and a Land, and so through∣out. And be sure however thou do, to plant all thy Sets in the over-most best Mould or Earth, that thy Sets may nei∣ther root in stiffe-binding Clay: nor hungry Sand, and fear not, leave no Land undigged or unwrought, nor plant none in Green-soard by no meanes.

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'Tis a simple Piece I confess to make good the issue pro∣mised, but when thou hast proved the truth of it, then thou shalt be better able to judge of it. Many Objections wil be raised against it, but let not the simplicity thereof offend thee; for I shall assure thee, I will give thee such a President before I have done; and leave the thing so clear, that there shall not be left the least cause of Suspition.

CHAP. XXV.

Answereth severall Objections against this Projection, and gives a President for ma∣king good the same.

THat you will lay your Land so dry and deprive your Sets of all Moysture; that it is Impossible they should grow at all, especially in dry, san∣dy, or gravelly Land, much less to grow to such an Increase as is promised.

Hath two branches; First all Sets and Plants for the most part require Soundness, and warmness, and were many of our Spring Woods more dry and warm, they would pros∣per much the better, although much dry, haskey, sandy, hungry Land doth not many times afford a thick Cop∣pice, or good Spring, w^ch is especially occasioned by reasō of the Barrenness of the Land, and the ill Husbandring of the Spring after falling, not Preserving of it from Cattells brusing of it, as wil appear more fully before this discourse be ended. But secondly, Experience shews the same, that upon a sandy gravell Land, all the aforesaid Woods pros∣per exceedingly in the way of the aforesaid Planting, in so much that should I tell you the Experience thereof, you would a little wonder at it.

A new Erection planted twelve yeares sithence, at the E∣leventh years end, a Fall was made, & so much VVood cut upon the same as was worth or sold for sixty pounds an

Acre or more; it was much Pole-wood, yea a good part of it made Spars, and some part of it small building Timber, that a Gentleman of that County builded himself part of a very good Barn, the whole Roof of it with that Timber; and this year was another Sale of Eleaven years growth of as good a Value, the Land it was planted on was worth about ten shillings per Acre, and every Acre cost somwhat under seven pound an Acre, al Digging, Quick-sets, and all charges in the Planting of it; And the second Crop they make accompt will be as good at eight years growth; And to me it seems possible it may, if not better, This President is at Billing at the Earl of Thomunds in Northamptonshire, managed by a most Ingenuous Gentleman called Mr. Cart∣wright.

This way of Planting will certainly be so thick, that they cannot prosper one by another, or else it is Impossible the Earth should yeeld Fruit, Heart, or Sap, to so thick a Plantation.

Your Spring-woods, in some parts of them grow as thick, especially where your old Roots grow so thick, as you can scarce set one foot betwixt them, and every Root may send forth twenty or forty Spineyes, and yet all nou∣rished from the Earth, & these Stools they grow upon also.

Secondly, I answer that Experience hath also made it good as aforsaid; For other Planters in these parts Planted a foot or more asunder, and yet came not near this, nor is neither half so much in quantity; Nor yet the other thinner Plantation, although little or never the whit the bigger, or taller than this, which is so thick Planted, nor never worth so much by the Acre of many more years growth, as this at the Eleventh year.

And for the effecting of this Design, thou must take in two or three more particulars, one is a strict Observation of the Season in Planting; And then secondly your Demea∣nure towards it after Planted.

First, The Seasons are as soon as the Leafe is faln, the earlier the better, fail not to be well prepared of Materials to begin with November, and so thou mayst continue three

months compleat untill the end of Ianuary, and possibly some part of February, but it is somewhat hazardous, and may exceedingly fail thy Expectation. And for the Moons Increasing, or Declining, matter it not at all, nor any Sea∣son, Wet or Dry, Frost or Snow, so thy Labourers can but work, and be sure that what Sets be gathered one day, may be s••t the next if possibly, or next after; And shouldst thou be occasioned by any hindrance, to keep thy sets longer Unset, be thou sure thou get their Roots into the ground, well covered with good Mould until•• thou canst set them, and be not drawn away to the contrary by any Workmans perswasion whatsoever, for though the lying out of Mould of Unset, do not kill them, yet will it so backen them that thou mayst lose a full half years growth in them.

Secondly, Thy Ground thus planted, thou must be care∣ful in the Weeding of it, for I know no greater cause of this so great Advance than this; The keeping of the Ground clean from Weeds, and as mellow and open as possibly, which will cause the Roots to shoot exceedingly, and the Plant to grow abundantly, thou must for the first & second year prize it, and dress it almost as a Garden; And there∣fore be sure thou preserve it from any Beast, Horse, or Sheep biting it, in the least measure; should Cattell break in they would destroy one yeares growth in a mo∣ment.

As for Boggy Land, much of it that is perfectly Drai∣ned to the bottom, that is little worth will nourish a Plan∣tation of Wood to good Advantage, especially your Pop∣lar, and Willow, and Alder, your Ash will grow well also; But therein you must observe to make your Dikes and Draines so deep that you may lay it compleatly dry, you must goe under all your Bog, to the cold spewing-Spring & near a foot below that, & then what you plant upon the Bogs or Lands you may expect a wonderfull issue: 'Tis very common in four or five years that the Willow rises to gallant Hurdle-wood, & in five or six yeares, to Abundance of Fire-wood, and small Pole for Hops, and other Uses. One Acre of new Planted Willow upon some Land not

worth two shillings an Acre, may in Seven years be worth near about five pound, in some parts an Acre; and in some parts of this Nation more. And I verily beleeve were all the Bog-Lands in England thus planted, and Husbandred well, after these Directions, might raise Woood enough to maintain a great part of this Nation in Firing; and for other sorts of Wood, the well Ordering & Nourishing it, although in Lands so bad, would produce a wonderfull profit far more than I will speak of.

And I suppose, he is no ill Husband that can raise a bog to a double advance, considering some of them are worse than nothing; But when they are so exceeding Coarse and barren you cannot expect such Fruitfulness ordvance; as from that Land that is of a fatter or better nature; For cer∣tain all plants and Woods will do much better, on better Land than on coarser; and in case thou shouldst bestow Soyl or Manure on thy Land before thou Plant it, it would be both Labour and Cost exceeding well bestow∣ed and conduce much to the nourishing of a young Plan∣tation.

Now shall follow a piece or Device how to thicken your Springs or Coppices, where they grow thin or are decay∣ed; Which fully observed, may doubly improve the same, & such a way is here projected as is little used in any Woods where I ever yet came, and as unlikely also to any thing I have yet spoken unto, which is no more but this, at every Fall where thy Wood groweth thin, take a goood straight Pole or sampler growing of Ash or Willow, at the usuall growth of the Wood, and Plash it down to the Ground, a∣bout four or five Inches above the top of the Ground; not cutting it wholly off, and cut off the head of it, and put the over end of the Pole after the head cut off, a little into the Ground, which thou mayst do, by bending it in the midst like a Bow and so thrust it in, and so fasten it down, once or twice from the middle of it, and upwards, close to the Ground with a Hook or two, and out thence where any branch would put forth standing, will put forth lying, and more and more grow up to Plants and Poles, as the o∣ther

Spring doth, and so you may, though it be uncapable of Sets, or Planting with the Root, lay over all your Va∣cant places, and thicken your Woods where ever they are wanting.

And let me beg of thee thy credence here, it is most cer∣tain, I speak out of my own Experiēce, one of the gallantest Woods I know in England, it is constantly used at every fall in some place or other of it; the Wood is eighteen fals, every fall eighteen years growth; their very Faggots made at length of the Wood (besides all their Pole-woods) all their brush being faggoted into the Faggot, were this year sold for one pound three shillings four pence a hundred, & forty Faggots make a Load; it is worth about twenty five pounds an Acre every fall Study warmth all that possibly thou canst, for any Plants are helped much in mounting a∣loft thereby; therfore as I conceive they prosper worse up∣on your cold Clay, which nourisheth the Tree little, and hath no quickness nor life to quicken the growth therof; but by toughness and coldness of the Earth the Sap is shut in, and cannot get in to spread so frankly as it should, and so instead of thriving of the Tree, the moss prospereth more fruitfully than the Tree.

Your Elm Plants may be gotten of young sprouts grow∣ing forth of the Roots of the old Elm, many thousands, which being slipped and set, will grow very fruitfully.

Your Sicamore is a very quick growing and thriving Wood, especially if it be planted upon some warm, sound, and rich Land, they will thrive wonderfully, and rise to gallane shade, excellent to make Walks & Shaddow-bow∣ers, useful for in ward building, where better is wanting, & for firing where wood grows scarce.

As for Sets of this nature, if you go to any place where Sicamors grow, and there in the beginning of the Spring you shall sind the Seeds chitted up and down as thick as possible; which gather up, and set them presently, and you shall have your increase at large, being planted curiously from any the least prejudice of biting, breaking, or shaking the said Trees after planting; according to the first di∣rections.

Sith the destruction of Wood increaseth so upon us, the which I should not so plainly reprehend, were there any care, zeal, or industry in the planting new▪ therefore I shall take boldness to inlarge my discourse a little further, and by way of addition speak a little more particularly to some speciall sorts of the most serviceable usefull Wood now growing, or necessary for the supply of the Common∣wealth among us, hoping thereby to convince some of profitableness, others of the fecibleness; some of the com∣modiousness, others of the usefulness, and all of a possibi∣lity to recover some hopes of supplies hereafter, when the old stock is yet more wasted on purpose to provoke the ingenious to the Work. Old Virgil hath this passage;

That if of Woods he should frame a Song, To Princes care they do belong. Ile make so bold as ad to this, If Rulers slight it, 'tis much amiss.

And if the Romans ordained that Consuls should have the Charge of Woods, that Timber might not be wanting for Shipping, and Buildings, and publick Works, I hope our States will judge it a unum necessarium among us. Ve∣nice at this day appoints an Officer for the Woods, who sees to planting yearly, as well as cutting down; and be∣cause we may be left more naked & convicted of our weak∣ness in this grand neglect of so great a publique & perso∣nal good as is the advance of Timber, I shall herby inform you, that there is scarce the worst Land we have, but will bear as good Oak as the best Land in England. I have read, it was a generall Custome amongst the Ancients that when they found any so barren Earth as would not graze, they presently plowed it, and sowed it with Acorns, Ashkeyes, &c. and all other sorts of Wood-seed. We should grow wi∣ser than our Fathers, and we may easily outstrip their ex∣periences; but herin of all things else are we beneath them, they the planters, we the destroyers.

I shall therefore pray we may set upon this so good a

Work, every man do a little. I shall therefore affirm, that we can scarce tell how to imploy one acre of ground to more and greater advantage than to the sowing of it with Wood-seeds a bed, or two in a Garden of each would be a sufficient Nursery to plant many acres; some to be drawn forth one year, some another as the Plants grow in bigness, so they will require to be drawn forth to give the other more room; I dare say that should every Gentleman of a good Estate, but maintain one or two acres as Nurseries of all sorts of Wood, he might be furnished to plant every year a thousand Trees, and so as he drew his plants, repair his nurcery again, and need not have one hedg-row un∣planted with good Wood and Timber.

And for further inconragement herin, I shall further say, that Trees well planted, and carefully preserved, will grow to good perfection in one age, especially if the ground be open and loose, and not too binding. Many men in En∣gland have set a Tree, and lived to see it come to such a growth, as hath been worth above twenty shillings, near thirty; but I have been credibly informed by a gallant in∣genious Knight, who reported of his knowledge, that a Gentleman in the Low-Countries, or Germany, planted one hundred ashes, and at the end of fifty years resolved to sell them, and did, the price for which he sold them was five hundred pound; and he that can improve so much Land better, I shall desire earnestly to be his Scholler. The same Knight also affirmed that he knew another Mer∣chant there, that planted so much wood in his own Life, that he would not take 50000l. for. Then how much Wood may be planted in this Nation, & the Lands not less worth than now they are. I know some Lands not worth above 6s or 8s. an Acre, that hath yeelded in wood above 50s. an Acre per annum: And if this Government should compel all men to plant five times as much as they destroy, they compel them to their own great advantage & honor, witness my aforesaid English Northamptonshire President. Now to those common & most usefulll Woods among us a word or two, & first of the Oak, that non-decaying timber

It is somewhat slow of growing, by reason of the weight substantialness, and worth therof, yet will in the way of ingenious husbandry quit his cost & charge bestowed; you may either plant it from the Set, or Acorn; from the A∣corn I advise because then you may chuse your seed from a likely thriving Tree, which sowed in a Nursery, or on Beds of purpose, no disparagement to your Gardens, or Orchard Nurceries, to have a Nurcery of all sorts of Woods planted among them. I know a gallant Gentleman in Kent, most ingenious for publique improvements, as wel in waies of Husbandry, as publique services, who main∣taines a constant Nurcery of all sorts of Wood-plants from the Kernel, among his Nurcery of Orchard Fruits, and is so stocked with all sorts of Sets, not onely to supply him∣self, but may furnish a great part of the Country also it is Colonel Blunt, living within a mile of Greenwich, not on∣ly honourable in his name, but in the effects and fruits of all his actions.

I conceive it is indifferent, when you sow or set your A∣corn, your ground prepared and in good tillage; but why not at or in October, as soon as they be ripe, or in the Spring early; but be sure the Acorn be full ripe, and the best time to remove them, or transplant, may be in the end of Novē∣ber or December, into your fields where you do intend they shall grow, being planted a good depth in as good double field mold; which done, you must be as carefull of biting, shaking, or breaking of them as you are of the Nurcery, un∣till they be so rootened and stifned so strong that they will endure a beast rubbing upon them, which had need be a∣bove seven years; and if you intend them for Timber, cut not off the heads by no means, but chuse strait and smooth thriving barqued Sets as you can, and support them from shaking with the wind for two or three years at least, until they be most firmly rooted, so will they run up strait and tall, and prove gallant large Timber; and in the remo∣ving of them, be very carefull of bruising them also, for if you bruise the top or head of any part, better cut it off; but if you intend them for lop or shade, or for bearing

mast, then cut off the heads of them, they will spread the better, inlarge their boughs and branches further, and yet make good Timber too, & very good, though not so long, yet may possibly be as profitable as the other. The Oak agreeth well with any Lands, good or bad, Clay, Gravell, Sand or mixed Land, warm or cold, dry or moist, as ap∣pears by the naturall growth of it in all Countries; but for artificial planting, I should advise to a middle mixed Land, yea though it be but barren, it thrives excellently upon as barren Lands as any are in England; the coldest, stiffest Clay is worst for all sorts of Woods, your open loose Lands is best for any Woods, or Fruits, and the Oak takes not pleasure in your richest soils of all but I question not the wel prospering of it there two, & may be the cause why so little of it is found upon your richest Lands, may be, because the Land may, or is put to a more profitable use; for this I must needs acknowledge, that in many parts where Land is rich and dear, or lyeth near great Towns, and letteth at great prizes, the wood being in danger of stifling and spoiling by Wood-stealers, the Land may turn to greater profit; yet however, where Land is good, I should advise to some wood, though planted here & there a tree in hedg-rows, & where they may not prejudice the grass, or shade the ground, it wil be not onely an improve∣ment in good measure of the Land, by adding to the in∣com the fruit thereof, as well as of the grass, but an honor & delight unto your self and Posterity. The Oak-mast ma∣keth fat fast flesh, and long lasting Bacon, and will feed Deer, Sheep and Poultry exceeding well and profitably. I have read of one Oak in Westphalia, from the foot to the nearest bough, one hundred & thirty foot, and twelve foot thick, and of another ten yards thick, which may possibly be; but I am sure profit and honour sufficient will attend an ingenious plantation of any sorts of Wood.

This is most renowned for Shipping, or any the strong∣est and most enduring works or buildings, or for the most curious Wainscot, or indeed for any use whatever. I shall be brief in all the rest, because that much that I have said in

the planting of this may be applied to the rest; the Barque is of as great worth, as of need and use.

The Beech is also a mast-tree, and very usefull and pro∣fitable, both in the Body, Branches and fruit thereof. The Body is very good Timber for the Joyners use, and for the Husbandman for Axol-trees, and for much Building, and the bough for Firing, and the Fruit for feeding Hogs and Deer, and I know not whether for Poultry or Sheep, but it makes meat sweet and delicate light of digestion, but not so long lasting as Peas or Acorns. It delights most in your warm Land, it growes well upon gravelly Land, and Lands very stony; and in the Chiltern Countries, and sandy ground, and balks not the barrennest Land, likes well, and better the hill and mountains than the plain; The Barque thereof is usefull for the floats of fishing-nets, and pantofels for Winter, and if you spoyl them of their Barque, they die. This wood grow∣eth somewhat quicker than the Oak, and is more inclined to some Countries than to others, especially your wood-land parts.

The Elm groweth easily; it is all heart if it be fallen in his season, which is when the sap is fully and clearly down in the root betwixt November and February; it takes great delight in ditch-banks, and dry places; they will grow thickest of any wood whatever, and prosper, and as I con∣ceive the most advantagious planting them is in hedg-rows, or in little Plumbs of themselves. As for the Elm-seed, I can say but little, because I never made experience there∣of, onely it is affirmed that there is a male and a female of the Elm, and that the male Elm beareth seeed, and not the female; which if it do, then the seed when it is ripe may be sowed as other seeds are upon a bed by themselves: and fine mould sifted and cast upon them; and if they be dry, they as other seeds must be watered, and so sowed in little rows, that a little trench be betwixt row and row, that they may not root one into and upon another, but so as that they may be taken up again with more ease, to remove and trans∣plant where you please.

You may get Sets of the very roots which sprout forth of

it, and set them, and they wil grow; and very many affirm, that any Elm, or a very chip: when the sap is firm & proud, will grow unto a Set.

But this I had from a Gentleman of credit as a speedy & unfailing to raise Elm-sets or Plants; W^ch is, dig round about a well-grown Elm a foot or more from the body, unto many, or most of the Master-roots, and cleanse away all the earth, and then cut the root almost quite through with an ax, and so serve most of the roots, and if you cut some full through, you may, and forth of both those ends of the root you cut or divide in sunder, will come forth gallant sprouts, or plants, which you must take off with a little part of the root, or a little chip thereof, and plant it, and it will assuredly grow to a good Tree.

The use and worth of the Elm is little inferiour to the former; it is of absolute and singular use, especially for wa∣ter-works; good for building, where it may ly constantly dry, or constantly wet, but sometimes dry, and sometimes wet, it will not long endure: It makes excellent plank, and good board, the best wood in England for Wheelwrights Nathes or Hubs for wheels, and good for felly timber also.

In your second plantation, or removall, set them in very good order, and be carefull of preserving them as a garden from shaking with wind or cattel, or from biting or rub∣bing by all means.

Some write, that in your second removall you may do best to tie some knots of some of the string, or twist them like a garland, and then set them and tread the mold down about the roots first annointed with Bullocks dung; but my self having made thereof no experience, cannot press it; all I say is, a small matter wil make out the experierce, which I encourage to. The Elm groweth to great worth, hinders little ground, delights in sound warm Land, dry, sandy, gravelly, or mixed Lands, but it must have good store of mold by all means; it doth not delight in cold moist clays, nor spewing weeping Land. One Acrs length with 1. or 2. rows of Elms upon a ditch bank at their full growth may be worth 20. or 30l. it runneth up generally to the greatest

height and length of any Wood in England.

The Ash is also a gallaut quick-thriving Wood, but it takes not so much pleasure in a hard, barren mountainous Land as the Oak or Beech do. It will grow in good Land, and in Land of any nature or temperature almost, whats ever; it will thrive reasonable well upon a Boggy ground, so the same be deep Trenched to the bottom, and laid dry and sound. It delights it self in dry sound Land, and will grow very fast if it like the Land; faster than any of the a∣forsaid Woods; witness the Dutch Precedent I brought before, speaking of the excellent and great advantage Wood might yeeld in my discourse about the Oak, which I here forebear.

The use of the Ash is most manifold; good for Building, and for any work where it may lie dry; most prime for Coopers Hoops, & Rimms for Sives, and Wheels, as Oak is also; and excellent for the Wheelwright, Ploughwright, and the Husbanman; far tougher than any of the woods a∣foresaid and very rich and profitable, and the best Fire∣wood, fittest for Ladies Chambers, will burn exceeding well and sweet, though green; but all this excellency unless for firing is quirkly spoyled, If you fall it forth of season, it will be worst of any Wood bare the mistaking of the season; the Worm will take it speedily, & make it the most unserviceable of any wood whatever. The onely season is from November untill the end of Ianuary; for if the sap be∣gin never so little to arise, forbear falling Ash. It spreads his root very large, and so is most offensive to your Corn land; because it both draws away the hert from the land, and offends the plough by his roots.

You may sow the Ash Keyes, which are the onely seed, in beds by themselves, and they will grow amain; two or three good beds will store a Country; draw then as they biggon; and at last draw all away, or else they will de∣stroy your Nurcery: plant them in Ianuary or December, mould them very well and carefully preserve them; cut not off the the top if you would have it to grow in length; it being a pithy wood, it wil somwhat endanger it; but it

may prosper well, though cut a little off the top, & spread bet∣ter, and be very usefull both for Timber, Lop, and firing: I have heard of a poor woman that had two or three ash-trees in her Garden hedge, and a strong wind came and blew the Ash Keyes all over the Garden, that at the Spring, her Garden was turned from that to a hopefull plantation of Ashes as green as a leek above the ground, the woman was at a great debat, to loose her Garden she was loth, and to destroy so hopefull a crop she was unwilling: at last she re∣solved to let them grow, and now her garden is turned into a nurcery, and she is turned a planter, and hath ever since maintained it to that use, and made many times more profit than she did before.

The slips from the roots are not so good sets as the sci∣ens or sprout from the Key, that is far the best Set, beeing straight and smooth barked, and free from canker. Their removing must be in the depth of winter, that it may have a whole winter to fasten the roots, the roots may be cut in the removing a little, but the strings no whit at all. It is a Tree of marvellous great advantage to the Common wealth, and very profitable to the Planter. Pliny writes that the Ser∣pent so abhors the Ash, that it will rather choose to run into the fire than through the Ash boughs, but no more of this.

The Birch tree will grow in the barrennest land, it will not prosper in good land, it is good for some common mea∣ner uses, as to make Oxe yoakes, and somewhat usefull for the Turner, but most especially for the fire, where wood is scarce and deere, it may be worth your planting, or where the land is so barren that it will beare nothing else: Theo∣phrastrus writes of it, that it will grow in frosty, snowy, cold Countries, and on the hardest gravelly land, and therefore on the barrennest land they plant Birch, Pine wood, Firre, Pitch tree, and Larsh.

The Walnut of another use, & that beareth a very gallant de∣lightful fruit, taketh his pleasure in dry sound wholsom land; the usuall way of raising them is from the Nut, set or sowed, and preserved a year or two in the Nurcery, and then drawn forth and planted; it will not indure cold nor moysture,

and seldome any grow in your strong clay land at all; if they be well planted and preserved, they will make a good shady walk, or set in row at a good distance will prosper very well, but they require great room, and good land, it groweth to a great bignes, and is very usefull for any hous∣hold use, excellent for the joyner, and curious for the Gun∣smith, and the fruit thereof is most delightfull and no less profitable.

The willow though Homer calls it an unfruitfull▪ Tree, yet I shall ingage much in the praise of it; it is the quickest of all wood for growing, and riseth more in one year than many doe in three: And for profit, I must questi∣on whether any can or may come neer it; it comes off with less charge than any, and hath a prehemency in lightness and toughness, and is very serviceable for spades and Gun stocks, and manifold uses more, to be kept dry it will scarce ever decry; It delights in low ground wet and shady, yea the most watery the more suitable, and yet will grow upon a dry bank, and in the Champion also: It is very good for firing also. It is to be planted of young sets cut off of any bough, about two foot and a half long, or somewhat shor∣ter, set or thrust into the soft earth or soft ground, almost any bog, being cast up in great lands, and on each side there∣of a Trench so deep as to go a little below the bottom of the bog, and these set a foot and a half a sunder in strait lines or else two foot asunder; the sets being thrust into the earth within eight or nine inches of the top; and this to be done in February and beginning of March, and in three or four years it will come, if it prosper as it should, to make win∣dings or hurdle wood, in a year or two more to make hop∣poles, and great sets to bee planted at seven or eight foot length, to be set for Trees about eight or nine foot distance by river sides or little brooks, or more, if you would not have your ground shaded, which must bee secured by stakes or thorn, or some other means for two years, from rubbing or shaking with wind or cattell; it is conceived, that those planted moyst thrive fastest, but those upon a dry land indureth the longest: bee sure to cut your sets a little

aslope at the heather end, and set the biggest end down∣wards, and close the earth pretty close to it when it is set, and cut off all twiggs that come out of any part of the set. They may be cut as you have occasion to use them, at three, five, or seven yeares.

The Osier must be planted after the same manner, from short sets as abovesaid, & must be planted upon very good land, and then it will yeeld a crop every year, & may pos∣sibly be worth three pound an acre or more: is of especiall use for Basket-makers, and fishermen for making Leaps & instruments to catch fish in. The Osier is quick of growing & very profitable in its use, you may plant them where the Sea ebbs and flows, and covers them all over, for that they have but time now & then to lye dry, they will prosper no less there than else-where: you may maintain some stan∣ders here and there of two or three yeares groath, to make big splents or supporters for your great work.

The Lime Tree is also newly discovered as useful in our English plantations, but it groweth to be of great credit among our Gentry. It thriveth exceeding well upon mid∣ling land, makes a fine flourishing Tree, and being headed and set in walks in roes, makes a very gallant shady walk, they begin to be much planted about London, Surrey, Kent, Essex, &c. It carrieth a very fair smooth leaf, somewhat like the Beech Tree: And as for the fruit of them, and the manner of planting them, I shal say no more, but leave each man to his own experience & tryall, til I have further ex∣perimented them, and shall say that they are most pro∣bably exceeding profitable, and what hath been said of o∣ther Woods for the manner of planting may in a great measure be applyed to this.

So I have done for present; Which particulars, if thou hast seriously perused, although thou hast passed many thing, offensive possibly, which hath been the Authors de∣sire justly to Administer: And if any thing unjustly have offended he is very sorry, and hopes, and verily beleeves▪ it either ariseth from want of a clear Representation of his meaning in more Significant Termes, or Artificiall Lan∣guage

to the Readers mis-understanding of the Authors Sense, or mis-conceiving of his way of of Practice, w^ch I beleeve upon a second unprejudiced Consideration, wil more clearly represent it self unto him. As for the curiosi∣ty in its composure, or Exact Method in the handling, bear with the want thereof, thou must expect no better from a Treatise of this nature, Rudely digested out of Confused principles & Notions, & from Experiences most of them Compleated but some in present practice, which when throvghly Experimented, (If these weak Discoveries find acceptance with thee, and shall appear with the least Ad∣vantage to the Common Good (if God be pleased to give opportunity, he may present thee with a second part to the same Tune; wherin he hopes to Compleat or make up the whole part of practicall Husbandry, or give thee in a whole new Plantation of old England.

As also something may be Digested after the uttermost Improvement made upon thy Lands, how to make the best Improvvement of thy Stock, to greatest advantage it is possibly able to yeeld thee and the Nation, or what else shal fall into Experience in the interim as fit for Publique covery under the nature of Improvement; Thy loving ac∣ceptance hereof and practice therein will undoubtedly Command.

And though I have in some things been too Tedious, which I could not well avoid, yet I hope I have dealt truly with thee, I am sure in my own Experiences, I can make good unto the Eye what I have presented to thy Ear, and what I have also seen as other mens, I have Represented them in Truth as near as my abilities were able to judge of them; or I able to receive their information; Therfore I have acquainted thee where thou mayst discover Truth in all: And if I have taken any thing up by bare information, it may fail in some circumstances, but I hope and do in good measure know it doth not, nor shall not fail, in the substance thereof; and if I shall here but make good or clearly hold out a double Improvement, it will be worth acceptance, (to me it hath beeen worthy Respect and Imi∣tiō,

when I could but advance any Land, one half or third part, by any Information) but if I have made out clearly to the Nation the severall opportunities of such vast im∣provements, that there is such Lands, and such Capacities to advance them, as I have held forth in my Title page, & have also as truly shewed that they have been done alrea∣dy, and may be done for future, with the severall Wayes, Rules, dnd Means for their accomplishments: & that also at so rationall, easie, and familiar cost and charges, and principally and chiefly by the poor Mans labour, who cryes for it, and must have it: I hope I shall not be accom∣ted or at least not Scandalized as a projector, but as a poor and faithfull Servant to his Generation Farewell.

Notes

• The most na∣turall Land to plant with Wood.
• How to cast our thy Wood-plots for plea∣sure.
• Method and con••usion to thee bring of an equal price, and probably be the cheaper▪
• How to cast out thy plot into most de∣lightfull divi∣sions.
• Planting Strawberyes, is excellent
• How to get thy se••s for planting.
• The quickest growing wood.
• What Sets are best.
• How to plant thy Sets.
• How to make thy Dike to Plant thy Sets in.
• How to plant thy Quick, and mould them also.
• Object.
• Ans. 1.
• Ans. 2.
• 2.
• A President of Wood planted that one Acre was worth 60. at 11 years growth.
• What an Acre costs plenting.
• Object▪
• Ans. 1.
• Ans. 2.
• No Observa∣tion of the Moon. Eccl. 11. 4, 5, 6.
• Weeding most necessary.
• Boggy-Land will bring forth a Plantation of Wood.
• What one A∣cre of Willow Planted on Boggy Lands may be worth.
• How to thick Woods that grow too thi••.
• A president of a wood thick∣ned.
• Elm plants.
• Sicamore plants.
• Land as well imployed by planting wood, as any way.
• A president of 50. years growth of Ash.
• Oak plants.
• A president for Nurseries of Wood.
• How to plant for Timber.
• Open loose land the best for any wood.
• An Oak above 40 yards in Timber. Another ten yards thicknes.
• Beech wood the use and fruit.
• The Elm de∣scribed.
• How to raise Elm-plants.
• The use of the Elm.
• The descripti∣on of the Ash.
• The use of the Ash.
• Season for the Ash its selling.
• A president of Ash his growth and advantage.
• The best sets &c.
• The best time to remove Ash.
• Birch.
• The Walnuts.
• The use and advantage of it.
• The Willow.
• Osier his use and how plan∣ted.
• The Lime tree.
• Causes why the Reader di∣gest not the Discourse.
• The Aut••ors promise to mend.
• The author clear, his en∣deavours are for publique good.