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 Fourth Peece of Improvement hath respect unto the Plantations of Hops, Saffron, and Liquorish, both in relation to the mystery thereof, and profits thereby.

CHAP. XXXVII.

Onely treats of Hops Plantations, and how Land is improved thereby.

AS for Hops it is grown to a Nationall commo∣dity. But it was not many years since the fa∣mous City of Lond. petitioned the Parliament of England against two Anusancies, or offen∣sive commodities were likely to come into great use and esteem, and that was Newcastle-coal, in regard of their stench, &c. and Hops in regard they would spoyl the tast of drink, and endanger the people, and for some other reasons I do not well remember, but petition they did to suppress them, and had the Parliament been no wiser than they, we had been in a measure pined, and in a greater mea∣sure starved, which is just answerable to the Principles of those men that now cry down all devices or ingenious discoveries, as projects, & so this day therby stifle, & choak Improvement; yet we see what nationall advantages they have since yeelded and no less will many of the other.

This Hop plantation would require a large discourse, but I shall contract my self to the briefest discovery therof I can possible, & therefore shall under three or four Heads,

1 Shew you the land is best for them, and best Sets to plant withall.

2 The manner of planting them and husbandring them untill they be fit for sale.

3 The profit and advantage that will accrew thereby.

I shall describe it thus, it comes up with severall sprouts like Sparrowgrass, runs up & climbs on an thing it meets withall, bears long stalk., hairy, and rugged leaves, broad like the Vine, the flowers hang down by cushers, set as it were with scales yellowish, called in high Dutch Lupulus in Low Dutch Hopssem, and in English Hop. It is offensive upon this score, hot in the first degree, stuffs the head with the smell, therefore use it not too much, yet the leaves open & clense.

1 The best land is your richest land, and in time you must gain therein, lest another reap the benefit of your la∣bour.

It must be a deep mould, that which lyeth near the Rock, the Poles cannot be set deep enough to stand firm;* 1.1 it would be a mixed earth that is compounded of sand and a little clay, but much solid earth; a strongish land laid dry and warm will bare the most weightiest Hops.

A barren, morish wet soyl, is not natural to the Hops de∣light, but if this be laid very dry and made very rich with dung and soyl, it may do reasonable well.

It will be best to stand warm if may be, preserved from North & East wind, rather by hils than trees,* 1.2 as near your house as may be, & that Land you determine for your Hop-garden, lay as levell & as square as ye can possible, and if it be rough and stiff, it will do well to be sowed with Hemp, Beans or Turnips before; but in what state soever it be, till it in the beginning of Winter with plough or spade, & this not onely the year before, but every year so long as you use it, & the more pains and cost you bestow, the more profit, and the nearer you resemble the Flemming in his hopping.

And for your Sets, those are your Roots taken from your old hils & roots, go to a garden ordarly kept,* 1.3 where the Hops are of a good kind, all yearly cut, and where the hils are raised very high, for there the roots will be grea∣test, & buy choice Sets; they may cost six pence a hundred, and sometimes have them for taking up, leaving things or∣derly and their hill well dressed.

You must chuse the biggest roots you can find, such as are three or four inches about, and the Set nine or ten inches,

long, and have three joynts in a root.

Take heed of Wild-hops they are onely discerned by the fruit and stalks.

The unkindly Hop that likes not his ground,* 1.4 soyl or kee∣per, comes up green, and small in stalk, thick and rough in leaves like nettles, much bitten with a black fly, but it de∣stroyes not the Hop, but hurteth it somewhat, and so you have the first particular.

2 The manner of planting as soon as your roots are got, either set them speedily or lay them in some puddle, or bury them in earth: but leave them not in water above four and twenty hours.

Then begin to direct your hils with a line;* 1.5 tyed with knots or threads thereto, the due distance had need to be 8 foot betwixt, because then you make the fewer and big∣get hils the sun comes about them, the poles reach not one another, and so it may be plowed yearly, otherwise it must be digged some say seven foot, and others say six foot, as our late accustomed manner is, and I am confident there is most advantage by thin planting, but that I leave to each experience.

Your hole under the knot of your line had need be a foot square and deep, then if you can have the wind South or West it is best,* 1.6, if not, go on having made many holes, matter not the wind: be sure to take the moneth of April for the work, and take two or three of your roots; as a great old Gardiner affirms, which by this will yeeld green Scien∣ces or whit buds, and will have small beards growing out, and joyn your sets together even in the tops and set them altogether bolt upright, and there hold them in their place till you have filled the hole with good mould, & set low, but just as the tops may be level with the ground, and then after they must be covered two inches thick with fine mould; be carefull you set not that end downward which before grew upward, which you know by the bud growing upward, and let no part of the dead stalk remaine upon the uppermost joynt thereof,* 1.7 then press down the earth hard to the roots; some will set them every one at a corner of the hole under the line which I rather encline to, because they have room

and stand round; but if you plant late, & have green Springs upon them, then be careful of not covering the Spring; but to set more plants lest some should fail, and in a bigger hole, and round about the same set 8; some say ten or more, which is thought tedious, but I will make a tryal thereof, it being the latest experimented in our dayes; now at this time you need make no hills at all there as aforesaid. Poul∣tery must be preserved from scratting, the Goose especially.

Now for poling,* 1.8 if your distance be 3 yards, or 8 foot, then 4 poles are repuired, else three wil serve, but I encline to 6 or 7 foot distance, and 4 poles, and as many this year as any. Alder poles are very good, taper and rough, and sutable to the Hops desire, but you must take such as the Country will afford.

The time of cutting your poles is in December or Novem∣ber, and then dress them and pile them up dry; if you leave some twigs it will not do amiss.

For length, 15 foot is a good length,* 1.9 except your ground be very rich, or your hills exceeding heightned, or if they grow too thick, your poles need to be the longer. The Hop never stocketh kindly untill it reach higher than the pole, and returneth a yard or two; for whilst it is climbing,* 1.10 the branches that grow out of the principal stalk grow little or nothing. Your poles be strong, 9 inches about the bottom they stand faster: 150 poles make a load, which may be worth a little more than ordinary wood▪ a few wil supply the standing stock;* 1.11 in setting your poles lay all to each hill you intend to set, which speeds the work.

When your Hops appear,* 1.12 as you discern where your prin∣cipal root stands, then set to poling, having a orow of Iron to make entrance for the pole; but if you stay longer, then you will be more subject either by ramming or making holes to bruise the root, or else they will not so easily catch the pole without flying.

Your foot of the pole must be set a foot and half deep, and within 2 or three inches of the principal root; but if your land be rocky, then you must help your self by making your hill higher to strengthen your poles, for w^ch you must stay the longer too lest you bury your Sciences. Your poles of

each hill lean them rather outward one from another, and then with a rammer ram them outward and not inward

If a pole should break you take away the broken pole & ty the top of those hops to the top of a new pole, then wind∣ing it with the sun a turn or two, set it in the hole; but if you can take a stake and ty it too without wresting the wi∣ers of it may do well to peece; but if broken at the neather end shove the pole in again;* 1.13 and if your poles break in the pulling up, or will not be drawn by reason of drought or hardness, you may make a pair of pinsors of 4 foot long, with an iron runing hook upon them, & with a block laid under upon the top of the hil, & so coleweigh up your pole; the mouth whereof made hollow. And for laying up your poles,* 1.14 the usual way is to ty two & two together in the top, being set in 6 opposite hils, & so raise a little earth betwixt the hils as if they were but three hils, and lay some hop∣bands upon the 3 hils under your hop-poles, and so draw your tops nearer together, or further off as you see cause.

When your hops are grown two foot high,* 1.15 bind up with a rush or grass your binds to the poles, as doth not of it self, winding them as oft about the poles as you can, & wind them according to the course of the sun, but not when the dew is upon them: your rushes lying in the sun wil toughē.

And now you must begin to make your hils,* 1.16 and for that purpose get a strong ho, of a good broad bit, & cut or ho up all the grass in the borders between your hils, & therwith make your hils with a little of your mould with them, but not with strong weeds, & the more your hils are raised, the better, the larger, & stronger grows your root, & bigger will be your fruit: and from this time you must be painful in your garden, and ever and anon till the time of gathering, in raising your hils, and clearing your ground from weeds.

In the first year suppress not one science, & suffer them all to climb up the poles, & should you bury the springs of any one of your roots it would dy, so that the more poles are required to nourish the spring.* 1.17 But after the first year you must not suffer above two or three stalks to grow up to one pole, but pul down and bury all the rest. Yet you may let them grow four or five foot long, and then chuse out the

best for use. As soon as your pole is set, you may make a circle how broad your hil shal be, & then hollow it that it may re∣ceive the moysture, & not long after proceed to the building of your hils.

And where you began, or where your Hops are highest there begin again, and pare again, & lay them to your Hops, but lay the out-circle highest to receive moysture; be alway paring up, and laying it to the heap, and with some mould untill the heap coms to be near a yard high, but the first year make it not too high, & as you pass through your garden have a forked wand in your hand to help the hops that hang not right.

Now these hils must the next year be pulled down & dres∣sed again every year.* 1.18 Some when their hop bind is 11 or 12 foot break off the tops, which is better than they that have their poles so long as the hop runs: but if that your hop by the midst of Iuly attain not to the top of your pole, then break off the top of the same hop, for then the rest of the time wil nourish the branches which otherwise wil lose al, it being no advātage in running up, to the stock or increase of the hop.

Now we come to the gathering of thē about Margarets day hops blow,* 1.19 and at Lammas they bell; but when your hops begin to change colour is a little before Michaelmas, but long before som wil turn & change & grow ripe, which howsoever the best way wil be to pul them, & not suffer thē to shed; they are called Midsummer hops; let them not grow til the other be ripe, & as soon as the seed of the rest begins to change then get pullers amain, & as many as you can taking a fair season; & note, you were better to gather thē too early thā too late.

Therfore for neatness sake,* 1.20 pul down four hils standing to∣gether in the midst of your garden, cut the roots pare the same plot level, throw water on it, tread it, sweep it, and make it far, wherein the hops must lie to be picked.

Then begin & cut the stalks close by the tops of the hils, & cut thē asunder that grow one into another with a long sharp hook, & with a fork take them down; you may make the fork & hook, one apt instrument with which you may shove off al from the pole, & carry it to the place. But I have seen of late they carry pole & all to the place and pick them off the pole: strait fine poles is best for this way, but cut no more stalks thā you can carry away in the space of one hour aforehand; for

either sun or rain will offend when they are off the pole you must all stand round the floor, and speedily strip them in bas∣kets; for it is not hurtfull though some smaller leaves fall among them.

And clear your floor twice a day,* 1.21 & sweep it, & if the wea∣ther be unlike to be fair, they may be carried into the house in blankets, but use no linnen, it will stain to purpose. And if you pull them upon poles, then lay them upon forked stakes, & dispatch thē, be careful of wet, lest they shed their seed, w^ch is the marrow of them. When you have leisure take up your poles and pile them, & carry out your straw, & so depart your garden till March unless it be to bring in dung. And for the advancement of your Hop-garden, get dung into your gardē, & lay on some in winter for to comfort & warm the roots, your hills pulled down, & let your roots lye bare all winter season: your old dung is best, rather none than not rotten.

And in April help every hil with a handful or two of good earth when the hop is wound about the pole,* 1.22 but in March you will find unless it hath been tilled, all weeds; but if you have pulled down your hils, and layd your ground as it were level, it will serve to maintain your hils for ever; but if you have not pulled down your hils you should with your ho as it were undermine them round til you come near the princi∣pall, and take the upper or younger roots in your hand, and discerning where the new roots grow out of the old sets, of w^ch be careful but spare not the other; but in the first year un∣cover no more thā the tops of the old Sets, but cut no roots be∣fore the end of March or beginning of April. The first year of dressing your roots you must cut away al such as grew the year before within one inch of the same; & every year after cut thē as close to the old roots; those that grow downward are not to be cut, they be those that grow outward, w^ch wil incumber your Gardē, the difference between old & new easily appears; you wil find your old sets not increased in length, but a little in bigness, and in few years all your sets will be grown into one; & by the colour also, the main root being red, the other white, but if this be not early done, then they wil not be per∣ceived; & if your Sets be small, and placed in good ground, & the hill well maintained, the new roots will be greater than the old; if they grow to wild hops, the stalk will wax red, pul

it down & plant new in their places,* 1.23 As for the annuall charge of the Hop-garden after it is planted, the dressing the hills, the alleys, the hoing them, the poling, and tying to the poles, and ordeing the hops is usually done for 40. s. an Acre, & pulling, & drying, and bagging by the day.

And so I shall proceed to the drying of them,* 1.24 which may be done upon any ordinary kiln, with any wood that is dry, but not too old; or else good sweet Rie straw will do wel, but char∣coal best of all.

They must be laid about 9 or 10 inches thick, and dried a good while on that fide, & then turned upside down, & dried as much on the other side. About 12 hours wil dry a kiln full, w^ch must be followed night and day, & then laid up in a close room upon a heap together for a month if your markets will give way to frume and forgive again.* 1.25 When the stalk begins to be brittle, & the leaf also begins to rub, then the hop is dryed suf∣ficiently, but tread them not while they are hot, it wil tread thē to dust; & thē either against Sturbridge Fair, or what other mar∣kets thou providest for, thou mayst bag them up as close & hard as is possible, either to 200 or 200 & a quarter in a bag, as thou pleasest, but the usuall bag is 200 & a quarter. And so I come to my third particular, to shew you the profits & advantages that are to be gained therby. One acre of good hops may possibly be worth at a good market 40, 50, or 60 pound: An acre may bear 11 or 12 hundred weight,* 1.26 possibly some have done more, many ten, but grant but eight hundred, they are sometimes worth not above 1. l. 4. s. the hundred, and some other times they have been worth 12, or 14. l. a hundred, and usually once in three years they bring money enough. It is an excellent commodity if cu∣riously & well husbandried. I know in cōmon waies of opping a Gentleman hath made of two Acres and a rod 180. l. in one year; the same ground hath after it hath been improved let for 50 l. per an. to a Hop-master; nay I beleeve I could easily presidēt you with 100. l. that hath bin made of one Acre, & may be more. It is usually a very good commodity & many times extraordi∣nary; and our nation may ascribe it unto it self, to raise the best Hops of any other Nation. The constant charge of a Hopgar∣den is usually known, men order and dress thē at a rate by the Acre all the year. And this very way I fear not to make out my Improvements promised.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

Treats of the mystery of Saffron, and way of Planting of it.

THere is another very rich cōmodity wherin our na∣tion hath the glory, & yet is a ver•• mystery to ma∣ny parts of it, they know not whether such a thing grows in England, & yet none such so good grows in the world beside that I have ever read of, & that is Saffron.* 1.27 Now Saffron is a very soveraign and wholsom thing & if it take right it is a very great advantage for price; it hath its ebbings & its flowings, as almost all things have, yet I would fain give encouragement to this Improvement also. I shall briefly give you the story of it; Good land that is of the value of 20. s. an Acre being well husbandryed, tilled & fitted, or wor∣ser land being well manured, & brought to perfect tillage wil serve the turn; but the better, the better for the work. The season is about Midsummer which it is to be set, that being the season they usually take up, or draw their sets or roots and old store, when they may be had, & no time else. The land being brought into perfect Tillage the best way is to make a tool like a ho in operation, but as broad as six of thē, it may be 15 or 18 Inches broad, & with that they draw their land into ranges, open as it were a furrow, about 2 or 3 inches deep, & there place their sets or roots of Saffron about 2 or 3 inches asunder (which roots are to be bought by the strike,* 1.28 sometimes dearer, & sometimes cheaper, and are very like an Onion, a little Onion about an inch and a half over) and as soon as they have made one furrow all along their land from one end to another, then they, after that is set, begin another, and draw that which they raise next to cover this, and so as they make their trench, so they cover the other; they keep one even depth as near as may be, which ranges or furrows are not above three or four inches distance, that so a hoe of two or three incnches may go betwixt them to draw up the weed,* 1.29 which being set and covered, it may come up that summer, but it dies again, yet it lives al winter, & grows green like Chives or small Leeks, and in the begining of sum∣mer it dieth wholly the blade of it as to appearance, that so one may come & take a hoe & draw all over it, and cleanse it very

purely and then will come up the flower without the leaf, and in September the flower of it appears like Crocus that is blew, and in the middle of it comes up two or three chives which grow upright together,* 1.30 & the rest of the flower spreads broad, which chives, that is the very Saffron & no maore, which you may take betwixt your fingers and hold it, and cast away all the rest of the flower and reserve that onely, and so they pick it, and they must pick it every morning early, or else it returns back into the body of it, to the earth againe, untill next morning and so from one to another, for a months space will it bear Saffron, you must get as many pickers as may over∣come it before it strike in again at the very nick in the morning.

It will grow to bear 2 crops and then it must be taken up, & planted new again, and then it will yeeld good store of sets to spare, which cannot be had no other way, it must be taken up at Midsummer and then set as aforesaid. And when you have got your Saffron, then you must set a drying of it,* 1.31 and thus you must do, make a kiln of clay, not half so big as a Bee hive, and very like it will be made with a few little sticks and clay, and serve excellent well, for this service, a little small fire of charcole will serve to dry it, and it must be carefully tended also.

Three pounds of wet Saffron wil make one of dry Saffron.

An Acre of Land may bear 14. or 15 l. of Saffron, if very good, but if but 7 or 8 l. it will do the work; And one Acre of it wil be mannaged with no great charge, I do not beleive it can come to 4 l. an Acre, it hath been sold from 20 s. a pound to 5 l. a pound. It is an excellent advantage and brings in at worst a saving bargain, but it may possibly be worth 30 or 40 l. an Acre; but if it come but to 7 or 8 l. it loseth not, so I have given thee a brief story wherein I would have been more large but having lost my observations upon it which I took when I was upon the very Lands, and received full satisfaction in every particular and member, or branch thereof, but as yet it hath not fell under my own experience; therfore I give the heads as I re∣member, as they were delivered unto me upon the place, though I have forgot many of them,* 1.32 to incourage to the work.

The Saffron Country is on one side and ••ook of Essex, and some part of Suffolk, and at Saffron Walden, and betwixt that and Cambridge is very much of it in their common fields, and

truly these Lands are but of a middle worth. I have seen as rich land again in many parts of England, but it is as I believe loamy ground and of a little saddish nature, it will require to be laid dry and sound, and the land it self must be very sound wholsom Land.

CHAP. XXXIX.

Treats of the Plantation of Liquorish at large.

I Proceed to another Nationall business, in the Plantation whereof we exceed all Nations, and that is Liquorish, our English Liquorish as wee call it, not yet wrote of by any that I could ever see, is far beyond the Spanish small dry Liquo∣rish or any other.

As for the use of it most of you know, but as to the profit & advātage, & the mystery of Planting of it but few understand, & fewer practise; but that I may be as open and full in the discove∣ry of it as I can in this short discourse I have to make, I shal un∣der these two or three heads formalize what I intend to speak.

1. Shall be to discover the best land to bear it.

2. The best way I can find practised to plant it.

3. The profits and advantages of it.

The best Land to raise your Liquorish upon is your richest you can get or make,* 1.33 your warmest you can find out, the sound∣est and dryest that is possibly to be had, of a very deep soyl, you must dig and prepare your Land before you set, and it must be digged three spades depth, and two or three shovellings at the least, laid as hollow & light as may be: you may have it digged out of naturall Land if it be very rich indeed, that it will feed an Ox in a summer,* 1.34 it is the best) for eight pence a rod at Lon∣don, yea for seven pence and sometimes for six pence a rod, for∣ty rods make a rood which is a quarter of an Acre, which comes to about 4 or 5 l. an acre & this is the main charge of all for three year, there is no more unless it be a little hoing, which will off hand very fast, I believe it will not cost above 20 s. an acre more all three yeares both in setting and all the

dressings of it, besides the sets and Land: The sets being doubly trebly worth your money; sets have been sold for 2 s. the hun∣dred & more, sometimes are not worth above 1 s. a hundred, but if your Land be not fresh old Land,* 1.35 or extraordinary rich, & as rich as your best gardens are, it must be made so with soyles & warm Manures, horse-dung is excellent to be intrenched into the Earth, it both warms and lightens it, and makes it very fit for this service. About London is very seruiceable Lands for it, & so is on any dry soyl whatever where it is rich enough & deep. Holland in Lincolnshire must needs be very good,* 1.36 many of the Marshes that are sandy and warm most excellent, that which bears this well, wil also bear your Madder-weed that rich com∣modity: I hear that Liquorish grows naturally at VVorsop in Not∣tinghamshire and about Pomphret in Yorkshire, so also I heare your sparrow-grass grows naturally at Moulton within a few miles of Spauldwin in Lincolnshire, and so I proceed to my third particular.

Which is the best experimented way of planting of it.

Having digged and prepared your Land, and a little raked and evened the same, you may proceed to the Planting of it, & therein you must indeavour the procuring of the best sets you can, and from the best and largest sort of Liquorish. The best sets are your Crown sets or heads got from the very top of the root a little shived down; be carefull of this, of very sound Land▪ for how soon soever you come to the water your Liquorish will check and run not one inch further,* 1.37 and having procured your sets your ground being cast into beds of 4 foot broad, all along your plantation, from one end to another by a long line, you may lay down a set at every foot along the line, which line may have knots or thirds at every foot, if you be so exact, and then a man come with a tool made a little flattish if you will, or roundish, of the breadth or bigness of a good pickfork stail, a∣bout half a yard long with a crutch at the over end, and sharp at the neather, and that thrust into the ground, it being made of wood or iron, but if flat an iron one will do best, and open the hole well, and put in the set and close a little mould to it, and so you may overrun an acre very quickly in the setting of it, and if it should prove a very dry time,* 1.38 you must water your sets wo or three daies at first, untill you see they have recoved their

withered and wanness, and then the first year you may Plant your garden with Onions, Reddishe, or any sallet herb or any thing that roots not downward, and I am confident it will be better too, because it will prevent some weeding, and for the se∣cond it must be hoed and kept from weeds too, and a little the third; but one thing be very curious off, in the taking up and sudden setting thy sets, as soon as took up set again, but if you fetch from far, then as soon as taken up, put a little mould and post them away by horse back,* 1.39 and get them into the ground as soon as possibly, the delay of setting, spoiles many thousand sets. The seasons of planting is in the month of Feb. and March You may the secoud year take some sets from your own stock, but be very curious thereof, but the third year you may take what you please and in the taking of the Liquorish up, the best season for which is in November and December, then there runs from every master root, a runner which runs along the o∣ver part of the ground, which hath a little sprouts and roots or sciences,* 1.40 which will yeeld excellent sets, if they be cut 3 or four of them in every set, which may be about 4 or five inches long, which is also to be planted, and is as good as the crown set, al∣so if it be any thing a moist time, you may take slips from the leaf or branches and set them; and they some of them will grow, but they may be set betwixt the other to thicken, lest they should fail.

There is abundance of Spanish sets come over of late. One M. Walker sells of them at Winchester house in Southwark London, but how good they be I am able to say little, but hear various reports of them, and therefore I will forbear, they are bought cheaper than English sets can be, but if they bring forth a small Spanish Liquorish I shall not much affect them.

The third particular is the profit & advantage may be made thereby which is very considerable, but it is also subject to the ebbings and flowings of the market. It must be taken up in win∣ter, and must be sold as soon as taken up,* 1.41 lest it lose the weight which it must needs do, you may make of one Acre of indiffe∣rent Liquorish 50. or 60 l. and of excellent good, 80. 90. or 100l. it is not of so great use as some other commodities are,* 1.42 and so will not vent off in so great parcells as others will, neither will it indure the keeping for a good market because it will dry exceedingly.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Best Hop-land.
• * 1.2

  How a hop-garden should stand.
• * 1.3

  Best hop-sets, and where to have them.
• * 1.4

  Signs of an un∣proveable hop
• * 1.5

  How to make the hop-hills.
• * 1.6

  The very time to plant in
• * 1.7

  The best man∣ner of setting the sets.
• * 1.8

  How to pole them, & which poles are best.
• * 1.9

  Poles length.
• * 1.10

  The best sort of poling.
• * 1.11

  And spediest way.
• * 1.12

  And best sea∣son.
• * 1.13

  How to draw broken hop∣poles.
• * 1.14

  How to lay the poles.
• * 1.15

  How to turne the hops to the pole.
• * 1.16

  One of the main things in the hop-yard is raising the hils.
• * 1.17

  At first sup∣press not one science.
• * 1.18

  How to heigh∣ten your hils. When to break off the top of the hop bind.
• * 1.19

  When hops blow and bell, and are ripe.
• * 1.20

  How to pull your hops.
• * 1.21

  Neatness about them is very good.
• * 1.22

  How to dress & pruin the roots in Winter.
• * 1.23

  The charge of se••ting & dres∣sing hops.
• * 1.24

  How to dry hops.
• * 1.25

  The sign when they are dry enough.
• * 1.26

  The profits may be made of hops.
• * 1.27

  Best time for Saffron.
• * 1.28

  How to set Saf∣fron.
• * 1.29

  Saffron as green as a leek all Winte.
• * 1.30

  How to pick Saffron.
• * 1.31

  How to dry Saffron.
• * 1.32

  The Saffron Country.
• * 1.33

  The best land for Liquorish.
• * 1.34

  The charge of workmanship.
• * 1.35

  Price of sets
• * 1.36

  The place where best lands lye for this use.
• * 1.37

  How to set your Plants.
• * 1.38

  If dry, water ••your sets
• * 1.39

  Time of plan∣ting.
• * 1.40

  The Runuer yeelds good sets.
• * 1.41

  When taken up, and when sold.
• * 1.42

  The advanta∣ges thereof.