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. XXVI.

Contains the best way of planting Trefoyle or great Claver Grass, which is the highest advantage our English Lands will produce.

And herein I will discover the best seed and the best means to gain it, how to sow and husbandry it for food and seed, with the most suitable land thereto, and the profit that may accrew thereby; and for brevity sake shall speak little to what other publique spirits have discovered, but enlarge a little from later experience in relation to our English Lands and Husbandry.

THere are so many sorts of Claver, as would fill a volume,* 1.1 I shall onely speak of the great Cla∣ver, or Trefoyl we fetch from Flaunders call∣ed by Clusius, Trifolliummajus tertium, which bares the great red Honysuckle, whose leaf and branches far exceeds our naturall Meadow Claver; it bears a very small seed as Mustard seed,* 1.2 not so round but longer like a Bean; the best is of a greenish yellow colour, some a little reddish, but the black I fear will not doe well. The

choice whereof is the onely peece in the whole work.

Your Dutch, Holland, or Low Country Seed, or from the lower parts of Germany, is very much of it very hazardous that comes over hither, but being well chose there, the tans∣porting of it by sea is no considerable prejudice unto it, but much that is sold in the Seed-mens shops in London was ei∣ther corrupted by the Dutch before it came thence, or else parched by over-drying, or else by the Shop-keepers, either mingling old and new, or keeping it another year and then selling it for new: I my self within this four year sowed di∣vers Acres with seed bought in London,* 1.3 which cost me about two shilllings a pound and lost it all; I am not able to say a∣ny one seed came up at all. And I have heard that the Dutch out of an evill spirit, lest we should find the same benefit they have, have kiln-dryed it. Therfore my advice is, to send over a knowing man that hath had experience of it, & knows the right coloured seed to buy, and search all the Countrey and buy the best and choicest Seed he can possibly buy for Silver, and take care of the bringing of it over too; and as for the sale of it, if you bring over more than you shall use, you need not, nor shall not want customers to take it off of hand; for I had rather give a double price for such, than run the hazard of common Merchants experience.

But if you desire me to speak my mind from the experi∣ence my self hath made,* 1.4 I do affirm that our own Seed, that is, Seed of our own Claver, after the first sowing of the Dutch Seed, called the great Claver, is the best, and most cer∣tain Seed to grow, and so successively from time to time, if you can ripen it kindly, get it dry, and preserve it. And this will bring me to my second particular.

Which is how to get good Seed, or recover it out of our [ 2] own Crop to sow again, if you could get it kindly out of the husk, which to us as yet is a mystery, and we cannot doe it artificially and feacibly as they do in Flaunders. The best means we do use is to thrash it out of the straw; and then chave it or clense it from the straw, as you do corn, and then polt it, or faulter it as some call it, that is, beat it over again in the husk, and then get out as much of the re∣fuse

by chaving of it with a narrow toothed Rake as possi∣bly you can get;* 1.5 which done, if you would bestow sun∣ning of it in a hot dry season, and then rubbing of it, will get very much of it, for this is all the means that hitherto I have ever heard of in England, but I am confident that it may be very feacibly got forth of the husk, being very throughly dryed in the Sun, upon a Corn-mill, Oatmeal, or Mault-mill, and shelled as they do Oats, by a skilfull Miller, and no seed hurt as they will Oats, and not break the kernel, having his Mill-stones exceeding levell hung, neither too sharp nor too dull,* 1.6 and very curiously set that it cut not the seed, nor yet leave too much seed behind; which if it prove, as I am confident it will, it will be a very great advuntage to the Nation. This upon the very writing hereof came into my mind, which I am very confident of the performance of the work, and resolve to make the experience therof, if God bless my Crop of Glaver this summer. So far as I have hi∣therto seen or heard, our own seed sowed in the husk, hath proved the best, thicker and certainer than that sowed of the pure seed it self, and so shall fall into the third particu∣lar.

The best way of sowing of it, & I do verily beleeve, that if the husk be but once cut and shivered a little that the Seed may but scatter, that it may be best to sow it with the husk or chaff because it supplys the filling of the hand better than any thing I can find out will doe, with these two Observa∣tions.

1 That you be sure to find out a fit proportion of husk and seed together to sow an Acre, & that I cannot prescribe, unless I knew how clean you could make it; your own ex∣perience will discover that perfectly.

2 That you be sure ever and anon to stir up the bottom of your Hopper, or Seed-lop, because the Seed will sink downward, and keep your seed and chaff alwaies in an even mixture and composition, lest you sow that part thicker in the bottom than that that lay overmost; but should you fail of purifying the seed from the chaff for private vse it may do best of all, if the hop bowl or husk be but cut and

shattered as aforesaid: but if you sow that Dutch seed, as that you must of necessity till you get into stock of seed of your own, then the best way of sowing it must be by mix∣ing of it with Ashes of wood, or coal coarsly sifted or with saw-dust, or good sand or fine mould, or any thing else that wil help to fill the hand, & wil spread wel forth of the hand, but I like not wel the taking it up betwixt the fingers & the thumb; or the two fore fingers and the thumb, because they cannot scatter the seed so broad nor so even as they can out of their ful hand. And this I must press as one of the most weightiest things in this Husbandry; to have a most especi∣all care of the even sowing of it, your care herein must be far more than in sowing Corn for these Reasons.

1 Because the Corn with much harrowing (which this will not abide) though uneven sowed will be drawn into wants and uneven places, and much regulated by the Har∣row.

2 Because your Corn is of a heavier and fuller, and weightier substance, and will spread well of it self, but this is so small and little in bulk, sowes a land that it cannot be discerned how it spreads, and whether even or un∣even.

3. Because the wind, though very small, hath powe over this, and not over the other, and how ever you must chuse a calm time as possibly you can, many times early in the morning,* 1.7 or late at even are your calmest times. You may sow it upon any Land you intend to graze upon, any bare places in a Meadow or highwaies troden and poched, and it will soard them; but the usuall way is thus advised, when you have fitted your land by Tillage and good Hus∣bandry, then sow your Barley or Oats, and Harrow them in, and after your Claver upon the same Land, and covered once with a small Harrow or Bush, but sow not the Corn thick as you usually did, but if you will lose this Crop, you may sow it of it self.

And lastly, because if your Corn should miscarry, it is but for one year; but this for many: and as you sow once you must often reap, and will never cover or soard kindly, if

evenness be not effected, to the compleating of which you must have a sober staied Seedsman, that carries his hand high; takes his steps even, and delivers his seed out of his hand at one equall and constant breadth and wideness. It is my constant cry to my own Husbandmen to take heed of Ploough-balking, and Harrow balking, but now I say in a more especiall manner, take heed of Seed-balking. The best season for it is in the beginning of Aprill, or in the end of March rather, if it be likely to be a dry season; late sowing may do in a fruitfull season, but yearly is most cer∣tain.

[ 4] The fourth particular is how to preserve it, and mow it, and make it most usefull for Seed and service, I have heard much talk of three Crops, and truly if it be not reserved forseed, I am confident in a fruitfull year it will well bear it, nay may be more; for thongh I love not fauning, neither affect I smothering the Thuth nor to eclipse any new dis∣covery, I therefore say that if the Seed be good, and the Land either good naturall, or artificially made good by Husbandry it may very well bear three Crops, two to cut, and one to graze, and the first Crop may by mid-May be ready to cut; for this I say, and most will find it, though they otherwise speak high, that this grass will be best alway to be cut green, and before the stalk begin to grow too big, and begin to dye and wither, unless it be for seed: Thefrore, as experience will teach, it will be excellent good to cut it green and young, and give it cattle or horse in the house; for if you cut it to keep, it will go so near together, as it wil doe but little service dry, yet being cut young it will be very good and sweet, and either feed or give milk abun∣dantly; and then after the first cut, let it grow for seed, and herein you must be carfull that it grow till it be full ripe, for it will not be very apt to shed. And if it grow to seed,* 1.8 I cannot conceive of what use those stalks which are so hard and dry can be of, unless it be for Firing in a dear Country, so that the seed must be the advance of that Crop onely; and so it may well enough, and you may have a good after pasture, and may grase it untill Ianuary, and then pre∣preserve

it; but if you would know when your Seed is ripe, observe these two particulars.

First observe the husk, and when the Seed first appears in it, then about one month after it may be ripe.

But Secondly, try the seed after it begins to turn the co∣lour, and the stalk begins to dye and turn brown, it begins to ripen, and being turned to a yellowish colour, in a dry time mow it, and preserve it till it be perfectly dry any man∣ner of way, and then about the middest of March thrash it and cleanse it from the straw as much as you can, and then foulter and beat the husk again being exceeding well dryed in the Sun after the first thrashing;* 1.9 and then get out what seed you can, and after try what a Mill will do at the rest, as aforesaid more at large; but I will give way to a better Discovery. I need not prescribe a time either in Iuly or Au∣gust as best to cut for seed, because some years and lands will ripen it sooner than other will; therefore have respect to thy seed and straw according to former directions; but when thou art got into good seed, thou maist graze it upon thy land, and then be sure not to let it grow too rank and high; for if the stalk grow big, cattell will balk it and stain it more, and it will not eat up so kindly at first, nor grase so even afterward,* 1.10 but exceeding much Milk it will yeeld, and feed very well, but to affirm as some have done, and do confi∣dently unto this day, that it will grow upon the barrennest ground as is on Windsor Forrest I dare not;* 1.11 I have known that there it hath failed; and I am confident must, without exceeding great cost and husbandry, yet that very Land well Manured and Tilled, Dunged, Limed, Marled, or Chalk∣ed, or otherwise made fat and warm, will bring forth good Glover: and other rich commodities, as they do in Flaun∣ders, upon so coarse Lands bestow good cost, and that will do: The nature of the Land is good, bnt the spirit of it is too low to raise it of it self. And this is all is held forth in the discourse of the Brabant Husbandry, exceeding bar∣ren Lands, but well Dunged and Tilled, and then Clave∣red; not that it is the barren Land, but the good and costly Husbandry; onely the oldness of the Land, and restiness

thereof yeelds more spirit to the Grain or Claver by far than the Tillable Land constantly plowed,* 1.12 and being of the same fatness and barrenness, and no better; yet I verily affirm that Tillable Land well husbanded, and layd down with Claver, will do very well also. The quantity of seed to sow an Acre,* 1.13 as I conceive, will be a Gallon, or 9 or 10 pound, though some are of opinion less will serve turn. And so I de∣scend to my last particular, which is,

5 To set forth the Lands most suitable for Claver, with the annuall Profit that comes thereby.

Therefore, as above, I say your old Land, be it coarse or rich, as it is, or hath been disused from Tillage long, is best for Corn; so also is it the best and certain Land to Claver; and when you have corned your Land as much as you intend, then to alter it to Claver is the properest sea∣son.

1 As to the nature of the Land, as I conceive your dry, warm Land,* 1.14 naturally good, betwixt ten and twenty shil∣lings an acre, or your poorer dry Land, betwixt one shil∣ling to ten shillings an acre, well manured or soyled, and brought into perfect Tillage; and to speak properly and plainest, any Land that will bear good Corn, wil bear good Claver.

2 Your earthy, well mixed Land, of a middle temper, will do with good Husbandry as aforesaid, as well as the former.

And lastly your naturall cold Land, well Husbandryed, laid up very dry and warm, and brought into good Tillage, every Land laid high, as the nature and coldness of the Land requires, and every furlong drained, and the furrows cleans∣ed up by the Plough at last, wil bring almost any Lands into a very good condition for Claver, and the better husbandri∣ed the better for this use also.

This I shall lay down for a generall Rule,* 1.15 that whatever Land is neither to rank or fat for any sort of Corne what∣soever, is not too good to Claver, and you shall alway find it best Husbandry, and best pofit upon your best Land, un∣less, as aforesaid, you recover the barren Lands up to a good

and rich condition, which is also the far better Husbandry than to lie pelting and moyling upon poor mean Land un∣fatned by some soyls or other, therefore I advise every man to plow up no more than he can exceeding well overcome by his purse and husbandry, and let the rest lie till he have brought up his other, and then as he hath raised one part take up another, and lay down that to grase, either with Clover or otherwise: And let him that flatters himself to raise goed Clover upon barren heathy Land otherwise than as aforesaid, pull down his Plumes after two or thee years experience, unless he devise a new way of Husbandry.

And as to the annuall Profit that may accrew thereby,* 1.16 I shall little differ from the Flaunders Husbandry, but shall affirm that one acre after the Corn is cut the very next year if it be well Husbandryed, and kind thick Claver, may be worth twenty Marks, or twelve pound, and so down∣ward as it degenerates weaker, less worth. In Brabant they speak of keeping four Cowes Winter and Summer, some cut and laid up for fodder, others cut and eaten green; but I have credibly heard of some in England, that upon about one Acre have kept four Coach horses, and more al Summer long, but if it keep but two Cowes, it is advantage enough upon such Lands as never kept one: But I conceive best for us, untill we be come into a stock of Seed, to mow the first Crop in the midst or end of May, and lay that up for hay, although it will go very near together, yet if it grow not too strong, it will be exceeding good and rich, and feed any thing, and reserve the next for Seed: And if we can bring it up to perfect seed, and it will but yeeld four bushels upon an acre, it will amount to more than I speak of by far, every bushel being wooth three or four pound a bushel; and then the after math, or eadish that year may put up three midling Runts upon an acre, and feed them up: all which layd together will make up an Improvement sufficient,* 1.17 and yet this propety it hath also; that after the three or four first years of Clovering, it will so frame the earth, that it will be very fit to Corn agaen, which will be a very great advan∣tage: First to corn your Land, which usuall yeelds a far

better profit than grasing, and sometimes a double profit, and sometimes more, near a treble profit, and then to Clover it again, which will afford a treble, fou••fold yea 10 or 12 fold Advance, if not more. And so if you consider one Acre of land with the Claver and Husbandry thereof, may stand you the first year in twenty five shilling, the three other years not above ten shillings, the Land being worth no more, which may produce you yearly, easily five, six, or eight pound per annum per Acre; nay some will affirm ten, or twelve pound or more; then most of my Improvements promised are made good, as in my Frontspiece is he'd forth under this first Piece of Improvement.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Seed descri∣bed.
• * 1.2

  Right seed is the best peece in the whole work.
• * 1.3

  Claver sowed but none came up.
• * 1.4

  The best is of our own grow∣ing.
• * 1.5

  I have heard of one that got above 2 bush∣els out of an Acre.
• * 1.6

  A new way of getting out the Clover forth of the husk.
• * 1.7

  Best time to sow Claver.
• * 1.8

  To know when tis full ripe.
• * 1.9

  When and how to get one the seed.
• * 1.10

  Yeelds much Milk, and feeds fat Beef
• * 1.11

  A great mistake about Claver.
• * 1.12

  Old land better for Claver than tillable.
• * 1.13

  How much seed sowe••han Acre.
• * 1.14

  The lands most proper for the Clover
• * 1.15

  A generall rule in Clavering.
• * 1.16

  The Annuall profit of Clo∣ver Grass.
• * 1.17

  Clover ••i's for corning, and corning for clovering.