The 3 Chapter. How you may make an excellent kind of artificiall Saltpeter of the flowre which groeth on walles: how Saltpeter water must bee boyled: howe you may knowe when Saltpeter water hath boyled enough: how Saltpeter water which is burned may bee made good againe: and how Saltpeter in his refining doth waste.

TAke of flowre which groeth on walles foure partes, of vnslaked Lime one parte: This one part of lime must bee well boyled in water ouer a fire, and after it hath boyledPage  9enough, it must be taken from the fire, and suffered to settle, and then it must be strained into another vessell. This done, put the same foure parts of the said flowre into such a halfe but, tubbe, hogshead, or other barrell as before you haue been willed to prepare for earth whereof Saltpeter shalbe made, & powre vppon the same flowre so much of the said strai∣ned water which is named Lie, or Lime water, as will dissolue the same flowre. When the flower is dissolued, let the Lie or Lime water which hath dissolued the flower, droppe out at the bottome of the sayd vessell into another tubbe set vnder the same vessell, and boyle those droppes of Lie or Lime water ouer a fire, till they being put vppon yron wil congeale, and be of a temperate hardnesse, that is to say, neither too soft, nor too hard. It is a signe (as before I haue told you) that the water hath not boyled enough, when the congealed droppes are too soft, and it is a token that the water is burned when the congealed drops are too hard. But (as you haue learned) the water which is burned may be made good againe with a little fresh and cleare water put vnto it. After this Lie or Lime water is well and enough boyled, take it of from the fire, scumme it with a scummer, and doe vnto it all that you haue been taught in the precedent Chapter to doe vnto the Saltpeter water that first droppeth out of vessels filled with earth: So this Saltpeter will bee good with the first boyling, and serue for some vses without any other refining: But for to make gun∣powder it ought to be refined againe though thereby it will waste a little.